Happy Birthday Callie!

Callie at Bible Methodist Camp~2009

Callie woke up quite late this morning. She was worn out from playing outside at camp! This is her fresh out of bed, bed-hair and all, excited to see her b-day castle cake. Now that I have the cake finished it's on to the decorating. She's having a princess party with her brothers & cousins tonight!

Callie's Photo Shoot #1~~~with a litle help from Samuel

Today, I did some sewing for Callie. I bought the Care Bear fabric for her quite a few weeks ago. She was sooooo excited that mommy sewed it up for her FINALLY!!

"Where's Samuel?"

"Is he around here?"
"There he is!"

Samuel makes a face......

.....Callie makes a face!

Walkin' down the stone path that we uncovered after 50+ years of growth was removed.

Callie's Photo Shoot #2~~~completely unprofessional, of course :)

This jumper and 2 hair bows was made just for tonight. Callie is going by herself with Daddy to camp! She's VERY excited!!

"Mommy, can I count the flowers?"

and she's off.....

"Mommy, take a picture of me running!"
"I love to run!" "Am I done...can I go inside now?"

photo shoot is over.....sewing day is over.....

at least until tomorrow! :)

I'm blogging just for YOU....you know who you are! :)

At the urgent request of a certain friend, I am finally posting some more pictures! :)

Maybe later, I'll post some pictures of the reason why the blog has been silent.

Here's Callie & I on Father's Day with our matching outfits. I made Callie's skirt on Sunday morning before church!!! Sorry, I know it's Father's Day, but know pictures of Daddy & the kiddies this year. :(

Samuel wanted to show off that he could ride his tricycle. Since Sunday, he has learned how to ride his big bike. That really motivated Callie......she HAD to learn how to ride the tricycle. She did!!! She's one determined little girl. She goes sooooo fast that she tips it over! :)
Callie & Samuel in the Ladies restroom. Samuel's not too into his picture taken with a bunch of flowers!

Seth & Christopher in Sunday School. I found out that Christopher loves pink. Much to the dismay of the pastor & his wife & daughter, I HAD to go out and find him a pink shirt!

Daddy with a picture frame that Seth made for him.

A card from all the kids.....betcha can't guess who picked a Dora card out! :)

So there we have it........another post....FINALLY!

Did ya ever wonder what you look like when you pick berries?

On Friday, Grandpa Thomas took us to pick strawberries. This was Callie & Samuel's first time to help out! They had fun!!!

I didn't get as many picked as my father-in-law. I had to stop EVERY time Callie & Samuel picked a berry to exclaim how big & beautiful it was!!!! :)
Callie shows off another berry she's picked, while Samuel checks to see if the berry he picked is good enough to put in the bucket.

Mommy, is this a BIG one?

It's just a little sunny out!

Pictures taken on the way home...

Click on the picture below to make it bigger. Quite the sight.....I'm glad I didn't give my camera to my FIL to take a picture of ME while I was picking berries! :)

Callie & Samuel with their bucket of berries!

Oh so yummy.....red juicy berries!!!

Before lunch I had 2 batches of jam made and the rest of the berries cleaned and frozen! For supper we enjoyed some homemade bread & fresh jam! Yum....Yum.....

Callie's Solution to Car Trouble

My two youngest children are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Friday. Once again, Mommy will have a day off and be able to spend ALL day doing things with them. They have a trip to the park on their agenda along with taking a 'towel' to have a picnic! We might even pick strawberries early in the morning.

Meanwhile, they are trying to convince me to take them to the park tonight! I told them that the van won't start. (it's having issues---one day it starts...the next day it doesn't---grrrr) A little while later, Callie comes over and says, "But Mommy, the stroller will start!" What a smart 2 year old! I just had to laugh at her solution for us going to the park. I guess at this point I could tell her, "But Callie, my legs won't start!" LOL

AND THE WINNER IS.........

Early this morning, I printed off all the comments from all you crafty people. Thanks for all the entries. It was fun learning what you all do and do NOT like to do craft-wise! :)

My trusty assistant helps fold all the entries and put them in the basket.
All the entries folded.
Once again, my trusty assistant helps out by drawing the winning name.

And here is the winning slip.....the flash went off.....blinding all the words off the slip of paper. Who could it be?????? Is it you???????

HERE IS WHAT THE WINNER SAID.....

ooooohhhhh, a MYSTERY! :-)

To be honest, the 'fabric cutting has got to be my least favorite part of sewing. I LOVE to 'sew'......but with the cutting, I am always afraid I will mess-up.

Thank you!

Mrs. B

So a great big CONGRATULATIONS to Mrs. B of
FOR THE KEEPER AT HOME

I'll be contacting you for your address so I can ship your gift!
Update: Mrs. B, I have tried to contact you through the comment link and your web page is coming up invalid. Soooo......you'll need to get contact me with your shipping address. :) If I don't hear from you, I'll have to choose another winner.

Here is what I came up with for my giveaway. I've got to admit....It's a little intimidating shipping something to another crafty sewer! :) I used leftover scraps from this year's Easter outfits and last years Mother's Day outfits. I neglected to take a picture of the black & white floral lining inside the purse. I used no pattern.....just came up with the idea for this purse in my head, started cutting & sewing! I would have loved to put a bright pink button on, but black was all I had in this size! Hope the winner enjoys!!!

Tuck the shoulder strap inside and 'voila'---a clutch!

The side & back. This was 'sew' fun to make and an exciting giveaway to participate it!!!

MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!!!!

IT'S A SURPRISE......

Okay! I am (at the last minute) deciding to participate in a giveaway in celebration of a new blog starting on Monday, June 8th. Here is the link if you want to check it out. http://www.sewn.net.au/ Or here is a quote from the blog author:

"The Creative Director of a new site for sewers, called SEWN. Exciting right? I KNOW. The website will have just about everything you can think of that you would want online as a sewer. There are forums, online advice from industry experts, conversion charts, colour wheels, free patterns and class listings.
There will be interviews with all your favourite designers, quilters, patterns makers and authors. There will be tutorials with me and with other sewers from here and overseas, podcasts and coverage from shows and articles about all maner of exciting things.
Best of all, there are great unique gadgets - Fabricmatcher, which is an online tool which lets you match patterns to fabrics and see what your project will look like without sewing a stitch, and Find Fabric, which is the niftiest thing that will find the fabric you are looking for without you having to search for it for hours on the internet. It's so clever it even searches shops in your vicinity first to save you on international postage. How cool is that?
Plus there will be an online buy and sell area called SEWiNg, which is where you can sell the stuff you sew to the people out there who don't sew - and some of the ones who do :)"

All you have to do to win the prize I am giving away is comment about something crafty you like to do or NOT to do! :) I will send a mystery surprise to the winner. Right now, it's a mystery to me.....but didn't want to pass up the opportunity to be a part of this new blog launch! The winner will be announced on Monday, June 8th. Good luck!

Another purse....

....to give away.

I've had the brilliant idea of giving a purse away to all the girls/women at Callie's birthday party this year. Didn't think the men would want one! LOL So......I thought I'd better get started. I absolutely love creating new things with my sewing machine! I found a dresden petal purse pattern online, printed it out, and changed it up a bit. I have great difficulty making something exactly like the pattern. I always like to add my own touch to it! :->

The inside has pink lining (not my favorite color, but others LOVE it), a large pocket, small pocket & magnetic snap. Sorry about the incredibly blurry picture. Had to take it without the flash. That's a little hard to do when you're holding the purse open with one hand & the camera in the other. Oh well....It was a fun purse to make!!!

I had a dream....

I have had lots of dreams over the last 31 years. Some of them BIG. Others very small. Some of them have come true, while others are still wishful thinking. One of my dreams was to have my very own hammock in the back yard. Last summer, a friend & I went to a garage sale. At this garage sale, my friend spotted a hammock and bought it. I called my husband up at work and told him all about this awesome deal my friend got on a hammock at a garage sale. A few hours later, my husband arrives home from work with my very own hammock. He went to the store and found one on clearance! I was sooooo happy. Now, I'm finally getting to use my hammock for the second summer. For those of you that have never tried one.......Aaaahhhh, you're missing out. :) I lay back, close my eyes, and let the wind gently rock me. It's instant relaxation!!! That is, until 2 little munchkins come running and give me a GREAT BIG push......

;->

How surprised I was on the day my

Awesome hubby came home with a

Massive box just for me!

My long ago college dream

Of having a hammock in my backyard

Came truer than true that day.

Keep dreaming your dreams, no matter how silly. 'Cause one day, they might come true! :)

I'm excited to see all the vegetables in our garden peeking through the ground. Samuel checks the tomato & pepper plants every day! He can't wait to pick one for mommy!!!

4 boys & a little girl=5 kids with lots of energy!

My 2 youngest & my sis-in-law's 3 youngest. All together makes 5 kids for Aunt Regina to watch. :) They all had fun playing in the sand together.

The oldest....had too much fun and decided to hide when his mommy came to pick him up. Like to scared his mommy & aunt half to death! We were so relieved when he came walking out of the house. He was hiding under Seth's bed.
Samuel....the next oldest. He is planting a 'flower'.

Callie....the only girl. I don't think she minds! :)

The twins.....full of energy!

It was fun watching my nephews.....they are adorable little boys!

Our Memorial Day

Duane went farming early in the morning. (He ended up putting 10 hours in!) The boys filled up the pool for Callie (and themselves). Mommy stayed inside and sewed. (sorry..no pictures of me:>) Seth asked to take the camera outside to take some pictures.

I'm wondering why my 8 year old needs goggles for 2 inches of water. :)
Throughout the day, I delivered various kids to daddy for a tractor ride. Seth is in the tractor in this picture.

For Simon's ride, I sent the camera along with him. He took pictures of what the tractor looks like on the inside.....

...and what it looks like on the outside.

Callie and Daddy taking a ride. She rode for about 4 hours! I guess she loved it! She's wearing her new 'dot' outfit (as she calls it) that I sewed for her that morning.

Samuel's ride on the tractor.

That evening, we went to Daniel & Tina's house for a cookout. Here is Tina with one of her birthday pies I made for her.

My poor brother-in-law got teased mercilessly by me. I think it's hilarious that every time he uses his laptop, he drags out a card table to set it up on. Kinda defeats the purpose of a laptop to me! :) Gotta love the eccentricities of the Thomas guys!

Hope every one had a nice Memorial Day!