Sneak Peak...Snow Day

I am in denial. I am keeping myself from looking outside the windows. It can't be...snow in October. All morning I refused to get out all the snow gear from the attic. After finally letting in, and trudging up to the much too messy attic, I threw down the hats, gloves, snow pants, boots, snow jackets, all destined to lay upon my tiny laundry room floor soaking wet. I am grieving the loss of bathing suits and flip flops, 90 degree days, and the roses in bloom. I have already forgotten the tomato bunker crop we had this year. Instead of popsicles and water ice my kids are already begging for hot chocolate with marshmallows. As I type, branches are snapping off trees left and right. I am expecting the yard to look like a war zone tomorrow when our caseworker comes to inspect our home. I was hoping to grace our front entrance with mums and carved pumpkins, colorful leaves upon the yard. Instead we have stark white snow, a snowman, made of snow AND leaves, in our front yard and a huge tree branch laying upon our front walkway. Can you tell I get annoyed when things don't go my way?

Let us get on with Sneak Peak Saturday and celebrate the roses that had bloomed plentiful in my garden this year. $5 each. I have taken to wearing one with every outfit.

Update

The restaurant event last Tuesday night was a great success. Regretfully, I neglected to take any photos. I am thankful to everyone who came out, or stood beside me and told me it will all come together. Seamus Kelleher was amazing. I feel indebted to him for donating his time and ability to our fundraising. He definitely rocked the house and set the tone for the fun. I don't know how to begin to thank him. The thought of friends coming out, celebrating and supporting our desire to adopt was overwhelming. I could feel the love and was blown away by the fact that it is all finally starting to feel real. The encouragement is needed daily.

I am behind on many things, which is okay. With the craft fair sneaking up, I try to get at least one thing crafty or paperwork related done each day. Sometimes that's finishing a binding on a quilt, creating a cool Noah's Ark drawing, or rolling some more rosettes. I have lots of items in our dossier completed and I yearn for that day when we can sit back and relax in the "waiting" stage. I've got big plans in this stage. If you know me at all, you know I am a planner, and I am most happy "preparing" for something.

Tonight, Troy and I get interviewed. Next, will be our home inspection. I spent all day Saturday securing paint and hazardous liquids deep into our crawl space and making our basement a little "safer". The productive weekend is just what I needed.

Now to conquer the dining room table...

"How was your day?"

"So, how was your day?" What did you do today?" These two questions I am getting asked every night at the dinner table by Jack. For the first two months of him asking me these questions, I have been too shocked that my 11 year old is engaging me in adult conversation to not say much more than, "Fine...I don't know what I did really...laundry, work, park..."

Really Kelly? This is the best you can come up with? Stop giving one word answers and shake it up a little! I am notorious for being guilty of exactly what I get all bent out of shape with what my own kids do. What kind of conversationalist I am?

So last week, I chose to shake it up a little.
On Monday I got some eyebrow raises when I told them I drove to the airport and watched airplanes take off all day.
On Tuesday, I told them I spent the morning watching ESPN highlights then drove to the Lego store and bought all their Christmas presents.
On Wednesday, I told them I tried out for a role in the upcoming play, Fiddler on the Roof and got the lead.
On Thursday, I told them all about how I took first place a lawn mower riding contest and won us a trip to LegoLand, but I had to turn it down because of the play performances.
On Friday, I blew their socks off when I explained all about how Clark and I went fishing and caught a 6 foot catfish in the creek behind 7-11 and was asked to be a guest in that creepy show, "River Monsters".

What I got was some great laughs.
This week, I am asking them what they did...

Sneak Peak Saturday!

Another quilt. This one is everyone's favorite. We are calling it the cupcake quilt. I used the stippling technique to quilt around the circles. The back has a yellow pattern and it has a dark pink binding. (That dark color isn't black, it's purple)

Clark turns TWO!

This photo says it all. We had a terrific day. 

Dinner and Drinks at The Other Side and Chambers

One week from now, we are hosting an event at a restaurant in town. 20% of the sales will go towards our adoption and orphan care in Ethiopia. I am praying for a successful night where we can all relax, listen to some fun LIVE music and enjoy adult company. Our neighbor, musician Seamus Kelleher, graciously accepted our invite to entertain our guests. I've seen Seamus' guitar collection and I tell you, he is the real deal. I am very excited to hear him play.

Sneak Peak Saturday!

I will be selling a few handmade quilts at the craft fair. This one turned out very special.

Last week, I marveled at my children. Clare came running to me one evening pleading for orange satin. "Mommy, I REALLY REALLY need orange satin. It is important." I laughed to myself and looked her in the eye, and said, "Of course", handing over the satin. Cole asked to make a stuffed bear dressed in BEARS fabric and a little mustache in honor of Coach Ditka. I watched while he cut and sewed. I love seeing my kid's eyes light up with an idea even though it comes with a huge amount of mess in the end. I don't always have the energy for it. We don't do it enough, everyone sitting around the table creating something. I always say it is the process that is more important than the outcome. I have failed countless times. But a few times, I have succeeded. While I knew that bear would probably be found under the bed long forgotten and the orange satin would be thrown away before week's end, I hope the memories of creating and the stirring of their imagination will always be there.

Connecting the dots

The weather around here has FINALLY been BEAUTIFUL. This is when tolerating our high heat and humidity during the summer months pays off with highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid 60s. The sweet potato vines wake from their slow slumber of growth and begin to trickle out of the garden and into the grass, as if they were more like a overflowing lake and less like vegetation. Stretching their limbs, they seem to claim it as their right for surviving the summer months as well.

It's a lot easier to tolerate those summer months when you've already experienced the moderate-ness of the remaining seasons. It's that 20/20 hindsight, or something like that. I read this quote this morning from Steve Jobs “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” If hindsight vision and perspective were for sale, they would make someone awfully wealthy.

This is where faith comes in and why we have to trust that if we put the most important things first, everything else will fall into place and the dotswill eventually connect, creating an image, a life that makes sense with beauty in it's entirety.

Why Ethiopia...

Super Hero Capes

Custom Superhero Capes are here!

All capes are machine sewn for durability, with the felt emblems sewn by me by hand for a custom & handcrafted look. The capes are BRIGHT & COLORFUL. I believe they should be as cheerful as your kids’ personalities! Capes are made with colors of your choosing. For the outside, red, blue, dark pink, dark purple or green, soft cotton and for the inside, yellow, orange, pink, green, or blue satin.

My capes have a Velcro closure at the neck for safety. Emblems are customized by the child's initial and the shape of the emblem can be chosen as well. Capes are $30.

Please specify size:
Small: (21 inches in length, 2-3y)
Medium (24 inches in length, 4-6y)
Large (28 inches in length, 7-8y)

Super C has a solid red outside and blue satin inside for the classic superman look...:)