Brian and Ethan, hiking

I'm not even going to try to put these in order. This summer Ethan and Brian went hiking, A LOT. These weren't wimpy little hikes either. Some of them took hours. One of them they ended up hitch hiking back to where the car was parked because they took a different trail down which ended up being a few miles away from where the car was parked. These pictures are a treasure to me. I love that my men enjoy spending time together and already have a hobby they do together. Enjoy.

Grid Paper

This post is totally for me....
Kendra, if you want to print out some grid paper to draw a quilt to scale, use one of these links:
Grid Paper PDF
Grid Paper PDF
Thank you.

One Step Closer

I had a coupon and an opportunity to go to JoAnne's ALONE. Do you think I passed it up? Heck no! When I pick fabric I sit and stare at it for a long time. Then I hold a bunch of it together, see if it seems right together. Then, I put some back, ask innocent bystanders their opinions, and stare some more. That isn't very fun for anyone who has to come with me. Just ask my kids. So going by myself was an absolute delight!
I really wanted to go see what the quilt stores had, but right now $8+ a yard is NOT in my budget! So I just avoided those stores altogether. But, I was very very pleased with what I found at JoAnne's. And I'm very excited to get started on the quilt for the little man baking inside of me. He'll be done soon, so I need to get my act together.

Here are the fabrics that won a chance to go home with me:Hopefully, they will be transformed into a quilt in the near future. But I've misplaced my magic wand, so chances are it will be done about 24 hours before I give birth.See, No Wand.

Inspiration

I was realizing that I haven't made a quilt for a couple months now... And I need to get busy, seeing as how I only have about 2 1/2 more months before baby #3 joins us. So for inspiration I've decided to post pictures of the quilts I've made, I know there aren't that many, but someday when my kiddos are all in school it will be my hobby, passion, and maybe even a source of income.

Garage Sale Scores

Today we went to check out some Garage Sales because Ethan has been saving for a bike all summer. So we all hopped into the mini van at 8:30 this morning and started driving around. Our first score of the morning was a kids snowboard. Still a little too big for Ethan, but it was an absolute deal, and he will be snowboarding with his dad and need his own board. Plus he's got cousins that can use it in the meantime. Second score was a Kelty Kids Hiking Backpack. I personally think it was the best deal of the day. Those suckers are expensive! I know, I've been looking at them since we had our first baby. Brian said he can't wait for our baby to be born so he can take him hiking. Cute! And last but not least we found a great little garage sale that had all sorts of awesome stuff... We really used restraint. We got a Camelbak in Ethan's size (he is always hiking with Brian). And after looking at every garage sale in town, we found a 16 inch boys bike!!!!! It was marked $30, then $20 and Ethan only had $13 in his jar of money. He talked to the boy who was selling it and the boy (6 years old) said he'd take $13. Sweet! Ethan worked really hard doing chores, selling lemonade, and earning etiquette quarters at dinner to earn that money. It was so great to see him be able to pay for the bike all by himself, and even do a little bartering in the process. Here is the merchandise and the market price, and how much we paid:

Range $30-$70 We Paid $3

Selling for around $140 We Paid $10

Retail $230 We Paid $20

At WalMart $50 Ethan Paid $13

That's right, $450 dollars worth of stuff for $46 dollars. I feel so thrifty!

First Day of Kindergarten

Ethan just got dropped off at school. I kissed him, took some pictures, and said goodbye... He ran off to play with the other kids. It was AWESOME. He is going to love school. I thought this day would never come. I know I sound insensitive, but really he was born to go to school. Everyday for the past month he has woken up bright and early, gotten dressed (in some pretty crazy outfits) and asked me if he could start school today. When I would tell him, no not yet, he would go get out his workbooks and work on his math and writing. No joke.

He dressed in all camo (down to his skivvies) and got his hair spiked. I love his sense of style.

I'm proud of my little man, and excited for him to start this new chapter in his life. He's such a stud!

99 more days

Woohoo! It's officially less than 100 days until I'm due!

The Price of a Sunday Nap

It's a.....

Boy!

Sorry, I didn't add the picture of the proof that it's a boy. That view always seems a bit graphic to me. And I didn't want to embarrass the guy before he was even born!

Me, pregnant

I don't have very many pictures, but here I am in all my round glory.

Like the Earth

Nora is laying next to me in bed and she said, "Mom, your tummy is getting real tall, like the Earth!"

It sure is!

Baby Jardine's Quilt

My sister Emmy Jardine is having her first baby. And I give each of my sister (including in-laws) a quilt for their first baby. Emmy had already bought a bedding set that included a quilt, so I made a snugly blanket/quilt instead. I love how it turned out, and it is so so so soft.

Lemonade Stand

When we get to Texas (in a little over a week), Ethan is going to become a business owner. He has been saving for a bike for a little over a month now, and is starting to really really want one. All the other kids in the neighborhood have bikes and ride them everyday. Ethan has his 3-wheeler. It's totally sweet, but he just can't keep up. So we decided to speed things up a bit in the earning money area. Now, I don't have the money to pay him for any little "job" he does around the house, and when I do pay him it's meager. So I told him about Lemonade Stands. he was so pumped. We wrote up a business plan and figured out how many days he'd have to be open and how much he'd have to charge in order to earn his bike.
Today we made some signs. They turned out very nice. He can't wait to get to Texas and open his first entrepreneurial venture. His MBA father is so proud.

Strep

This is me right now.
It's 83 degrees in my house, I'm shivering.
I have strep throat.
Yuk.




Update: Thanks to modern medicine I'm feeling much better today.