Family Gathering

Disclaimer to family: If I posted a picture with you in it, and you do not like it, I apologize in advance. Don't kill me!

Saturday, the 6th, we had a family gathering at one of the more local state parks. Ma-maw loves to have her entire family around her on her birthday, and we love to oblige her! There is always lots of food and fellowship.

Ma-maw with most of her great grandchildren (there are 2 missing)

Two girls (who are seriously outnumbered!)... sweet little Megan (with her mommy Susanne) and....
Janae who is holding her own well with all the boys!

This picture below is "the one" picture that is hideous (for obvious reasons!!!!). According to Aunt Carolyn, Randy makes this face for the camera at least once a year. :-P

Rook games are usually played.....

And the kids play too....

We moms and aunts took the kids for a hike... here they are waiting for us on the bridge ahead

Ryan with his beloved monkeys (he informed me he wants 15)

Fishing

It's the season for fishing. Michael and Justin went with cousins David & Jared a few days ago. They had a great time and caught some nice bass. I like these pictures. I had gotten the boys ready for bed, but they were just too excited to go because their Daddy was cleaning fish!

Jonathan's Fort Picture

Click the picture above to see the detail!

While I was reading to the boys this morning, they were drawing. Sometimes I get a real "kick" out of some of their artwork. Jonathan's usually has shooting in it (I imagine child psychologists would have a field day with his! ha!). Today's was pretty imaginative, so I thought I'd share it.

According to him, what you are looking at is a fort with cowboys on the top. Beside the door is the jail cell with an Indian peeking out. One lone Indian is running for all his might! The rest, well, they are ascending into Heaven. (At least they were Christians huh?). So who are the bad guys? You can make that choice I guess. The fact that the Indians are going to Heaven makes it less of a mystery perhaps? But look at the flag on top of the fort. Hmmmm.... thought provoking! Or NOT! The picture just comes from the imagination of a healthy all-American boy. ;-)

Mom's visit

My sister, oops, I mean my Mom (someone asked her if she was my sister) flew up to spend the weekend with us on Friday and flew back home Monday evening. We had a great time!
We went fishing on Saturday and afterward found a great park for the boys to enjoy. This slide was so big; it made me nervous!

Playing on a caboose

They loved this tank

Michael in his element

When we left, they were happy, dirty little boys...

We really only caught a few small fish, but we had a fun time.

The boys riding their big wheels at the park behind our house

Waiting at the airport for Mom to check in her luggage

A recorded voice always comes over the loudspeaker at the airport and tells you to report suspicious behavior. I thought these two were acting very suspicious!Monday was Michael's birthday. He had the best birthday present ever... to spend the day with his mother in law! :-)

Transforming Blue Jeans into New creations: Good sewing practice!

One of my friends has been after me to blog about my sewing projects. This is for her, and for anyone else who loves this type of thing. :-)

I am very new at sewing. I just started last year, so I still have a lot to learn. I love sewing with blue jean material. I also love "bend-the-rules" type sewing. The reason I don't go by the rules is maybe because I don't know what they are yet!!! I am learning by experience.

Mom gave me a bunch of her old jeans and I have cut them up for scrap fabric. I have also gone to the thrift store and have bought pants, jumpers, and skirts to re-make into new things. And of course fabric stores have clearance items too.

The nice thing about this is that if you mess up, no sweat (well maybe I should say "you didn't lose much money" instead of "no sweat".. huh?)!

I am new at sewing, so to me, this is a fantastic way to learn!

Here are a couple of my recent projects:

Blue jeans made into a long jean skirt... EASY! Just cut the seams and sew in a panel. You can cut it to any length you like (I like mine touching the tops of my shoes!).
The best thing about it is that it doesn't have to be perfect! I didn't take pictures while I was sewing this but if you do a search on "pants into skirts", you can find a lot of tutorials.

Blue jean purse (sorry it is side-ways!). Cut patchwork squares and sew them together (I cut 12 8 inch squares). Line one side with material and fold in half into a purse. Add straps and a tie to close it.

Apron... one of my first projects (made out of a jean jumper and some old shirts). It didn't last very long because it unraveled a lot. I made a lot of mistakes but I also learned a lot while making this, and I did get several wears out of it.
Patchwork quilt: I made this for my mom. It wasn't perfect but I had fun doing it and learning. I learned how to do this from Kathy's site . She has all kinds of great tutorials!

Mary also has some great tutorials. I have made these <---(click here) too, but I can't find pictures of mine for some reason. Mary has great tutorials for rag rugs and aprons too... check out her site! Go to the sidebar and find the topic/tutorial.

For Thrifty Thursday tips go to www.generationcedar.com