A few more screen bags

Julianne has been invited to a couple birthday parties this weekend. The part for Saturday she requested I do a screen bags with peace signs on it. I scoured the area for peace sign fabric and the only thing I came up with was a very patriotic FQ pack at Jo-Anns. I got it just for the one piece but didn't want the purse to look too red/white and blue (even though it is summer and 4th of July is coming up). I dug through my stash and found a cute little red and white flower fabric so now, even though it is r,w &b ~ it is more reminiscent of the age of peace and love, which is what the girls are all into now.
I heard it was a hit at the party and Julianne said one of the girls that really liked it was the girl who's party is on Sunday. Her party is a Hawaiian theme so she's getting this one.. I don't know which one I like more, but I do love making them (good thing, huh!).
I think this week I will do more and put them in my poor neglected Etsy shop I've gotten some really cute fabric combos together lately and I'm also going to be putting in some new screen beach bags so check back soon, okay!
Now, to see if you all have been paying attention and read all the way down to here... I'm doing a give-a-way.... I'm giving away the other 4 FQ's from the patriotic FQ pack. Leave me a message between now and Wednesday. I'll pick a name from the hat and send these out to you! Good luck.




Here's a pic of the 4 FQ's I'm giving away...

Honey's Bday part 2

So, I think Richard had a good birthday..
His mom came up the day before. We went to the "end of the year" softball game. For about 6 yrs now 4 of the elementary schools in the area play off against each other at the minor league stadium. We love going ~ the kids love seeing their teachers play and hanging out with all their friends. My son spent most of the game talking on the phone to 3 girls ~ yes 3! Me, I helped sell foam fingers for the PTO.
On Friday I made chocolate chip muffins for breakfast and Julianne put candles in Richards so we could sing "happy birthday." Most of the day was spent hanging out at the pool, grilling hamburgers and just chillin!
I made Richard a "mat" for his desk. It's something he's been asking for. It's kind of like a very large place mat. It's all coffee themed fabric which is appropriate considering he is a Starbucks addict. Julianne also made him a matching coaster. From the kids he is getting a family kayaking trip which we will probably do sometime in June. I think we will meet up with Jen and Jeremy in St. Augustine and even Richard's mom is gonna come with us. Should be a fun time.
We went over to Orlando in the late afternoon to the Ikea store there. We had never been and it's quite overwhelming. Afterwards we went out to dinner and had good drinks, good food, and good desserts

Happy Birthday Honey!!!

Today is my Honey's birthday! He has been such an amazing husband and still my very best friend. I could never have imagined still being this much in love after all these years but I just can't help myself. Here are a couple of pics of him through the years...








He's just the best dad I could ask for with the kids and a partner in every way possible. He spoils me rotten and indulges me in my sewing and flamingos and tinkerbells. Who could ask for more, really!

For his birthday I am taking him (and the kids) kayaking. He really doesn't want "stuff" and this is something he's always wanted to do. I think he'll be surprised!

This and that

Just a couple of things I wanted to show off... Jen made me this beach ball clock for out by the pool for Mother's day. Isn't it so cute?
Here are some papers Julianne made me while I was sick. She's so thoughtful.
And one last pic from Julianne. This was a school project and I think it is spectacular
Nathaniel has long since established himself as a very cool and creative artist but Julianne seems to be pulling up right along side of him.
Oh and Richard finally got my Tinkerbell MP3 player up and working! I am one happy camper!

Some landscaping finally done

We've recently had some landscaping done at the house and it's starting to look so much better. We'd like to do something much more later when the economy is more stable but for now, this will do. Basically we had the palms cut way back and had new mulch put down. They also planted a few new plants here and there
They need to come back out and trim the bushes next to the pool cage. They made them even but they need to be cut much shorter so they'll fill in more around the bottom.
All in all, it works for now and I'm looking forward to spending the summer in the pool! Wanna come join me?

A really good Sunday

Like I said before, once I got to the doctors my recovery was much much faster. I was really worried I wouldn't get to make the trip to Orlando to see my cousin Cathy and her son Logan. Cathy's mom and my mom were sisters. They were in town to visit her dad and his family and I haven't seen her in almost 40 yrs. My sister and I used to go up to NY every summer and stay with her family and I was so looking forward to seeing her again, especially now that we have been back in touch via the internet.
Sunday came and I really felt so much better so we decided to go for it. Cathy's son Logan is 24 but she also has three little girls that are 7, 10 & 11 who didn't make the trip down. I wanted them to have something from Florida so I made them these three little screen bags for her to take back for them. These pictures were taken on the way to Orlando since I was still hand sewing the buttons on, on the way. You know I had to get some Flamingos in there! I hope they'll like them.
We had a few directional issues finding the hotel and then the room but once we got there it was all good. We were talking so much and so fast that I ended up having a 15 minute coughing fit which was really embarrassing but once that stopped we headed out for dinner at Buca di Beppo which is a great Italian restaurant that serves food family style. We had great lemon chicken with capers, fettuccine Alfredo, great salad and some mozzarella with tomato and basil. I wish I had taken a pic of the food but trust me, it was to die for!
So here are the pics from our reunion. This is Logan, Cathy and Me. Sorry about the red face on me but I had a bit of a reaction to the meds and it made me look sunburned. The next pic is all of us together We literally sat for hours chatting and even after we left the restaurant we hung out outside the mall and chatting for a few more hours. We really didn't want the night to end. It was so good talking about our childhood memories together and discussing family. They have invited us out to Vegas (where they live) and hopefully sometime we'll be able to do that. I miss that connection to my mom's family.
All in all it was a wonderful day ~ and I am finally on the mend and ready for another crazy week this week.

Friday was graduation day, sort of

Thursday was spent in bed, coughing my fool head off and trying to survive. I did manage to crawl out of bed, take a shower get dressed and take Nate to his Middle School interview with the counselor for his accelerated classes. Unfortunately after all the effort, the counselor was not there. They supposedly left me a message the day before to reschedule but I never got it. I was okay with rescheduling cause I felt like crap but wished I hadn't had to go through all the effort.
Julianne had her "bridging" ceremony with the girl scouts but her scout leader picked her up and dropped her off so no pics of that and I went back to bed.

Friday was the 6th grade graduation ceremony for Nate and no way was I going to miss that. He received several awards and we are so very proud of him. The biggest part of the ceremony was the "Dancing through the years" that each class did. His class was the 1980's and they danced to Mickey ~ oh mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind ~ hey Mickey! hey Mickey! Now tell me that's not stuck in your head! They were really cute and Nate moonwalked across the stage and got a big cheer. Here is a short clip of one of the videos. Nate is on the far right in pastel clothes.

Here he is walking on stage to get his certificate from the principal. His teacher is the blonde with the basket

After the ceremony the 6th graders got to go home and we kept Julianne out for the day. We went out to breakfast at Nate's favorite diner and then he and Rich went out to see the new Terminator movie (Rich does not recommend it) while I went back to bed and Julianne stayed by my side, putting cold rags on my head, feeding me sips of gingerale and putting vix vapor rub on the soles of my feet (it helps keep the couching to a minimum).
All in all Nate's had a fairly successful school year this year. His teachers were wonderful and we are all looking forward to Middle school. I think he'll do really well. The kids actually have a few more half days of school left this week but they will be doing absolutely NO work at all!