Happy Birthday Aiden

Today was Aiden's 6th birthday party, can you believe he's 6 already ! We had such a fun time in their back yard, pizza for lunch and cake and ice cream, lots of munchies, we all decided the potato chips and dip were the best since who ever eats "real" potato chips ! The kids and all the "friends" had a great time in the jumper and even Papa and Ethan got in for a little while ! It was an absolute beautiful Arizona winter day so we loved being outside.

Here's our birthday boy ! Hey I got in a picture with my little buddy !
Fun was had by all, thanks for the fun party Aiden, you make life a joy !

Spending the night

Well we had one fun evening/night/morning ! Garrett and Aiden got to come have a spend the night, just for fun. I picked them up at 5 and we went to Chick fil a for dinner, we played on the toys until Papa got there from work, they gobbled up their dinner....my goodness those boys pack it away ! But we left one little spot for some ice cream so we drove over to Swirl and introduced Papa to one of our favorite places ! Then of course it was dark, so this picture is taken at the Riparian Preserve where we stopped to see if they had public viewing at the telescope. It was a clear night, we've had so much rain for Az that it was fun to go and see what they were looking at. We got there in time for them to rotate the roof opening and then we all got a chance to see Orian. It wasn't the belt but the sword or spear or something like that for all you astronomers that know such things. It was fun to show the boys how it looked in the building. We got home and jammied up and had time for a little of this... and other play, a story and off to bed went 2 very tired boys !

They got up early all excited to be here so we played and then made some pancakes...chocolate chips added of course with Garrett helping thru the whole process ! We had time to play and we decided to play tools so we were fixing all kinds of things, here is Garrett fixing the sink ! Oh to be 3 and fit in the sink !

We decided to head out to the park then and enjoy the sunny day so we tried Cosmo park which was alot of fun, it's actually the new dog park and Aiden and I got such a kick out of watching the dogs leaping off the ramp to catch the frisbee and belly flopping into the water. We did lots of climbing up the hills and such and ended up at the lake "making turtle soup". Of course Garrett fell in so we were on our way to the car when the rest of their family showed up to join in. They were going to do some geo caching and invited me to join, we found both of the caches and had lots of good walks and fun in between the areas....one was in the pedistrian bridge over the freeway so that was the first we'd all been on one of those !

They all enjoyed the tire swing but Ethan really wasn't very sure about it !

Even after they went on home I had fun meeting Chris for lunch and a trip to the baby store just to see what we could see ! It was fun to have him help me pick out a little outfit or 2 so the coupon wouldn't go to waste ! What a fun morning !

Visiting...

Ethan and I enjoyed a little time "visiting" yesterday. We went to my parents home and enjoyed some time with them, including a snack ! Ethan had a good time playing with the toys and the checking out things around the house.
Then we had to stop at the quilt store, they all thought Ethan was sooo cute ! His little flannel shirt and warm vest ! Then we stopped fast to see Papa, that was a bit scary with all the machines running so he had a tight hold on me but did let go once to touch the levers on the fork lift, what boy could resist that ! The big boys get to come tonight for a spend the night so I"m excited !

Dinner out !

We had such a fun evening last night with Chris and MB. We went out to eat at a neat place in Old downtown Scottsdale called Bandera. Yumm, slow roasted chickens, everything cooked over wood fired grills. It was so good. The tables all encircle the kitchen so you can watch the chefs grilling the meat, the yummy skillet cornbread coming out of the oven, it was a treat ! Then we thought maybe we should walk down the block to ....

Yep the Sugar Bowl, that place has been there since I was a little girl ! We had great ice cream sundaes and bananas splits. What a treat ..... Ok, we aren't eating this week at all ....tomorrow night is celery for dinner! But first MB and I brought home half our dinners for our lunches at work tomorrow !

Cabinet Progress

Ken and I both worked on Saturday so this was a catch up sunday with errands and one of our stops was the cabinet shop so I got to see the progress of the week on Jeremy and Jamie's cabinets. Here is the kitchen looking one way with spots for the dishwasher and stove...
Here is back the other way with the big refrigerator cabinet ...These are the ones for the laundry, the big broom cabinet and a lower one...

This one goes in their dining room corner to house the small refrigerator, it gets an upper over it. And here is the start of the island, it'll get bead board on 2 sides and the granite will overhang... That's the cabinet man measureing for the doors. He's got them all ordered, drawers ordered, this week he starts all the uppers while he waits for the doors to come in for finishing. It's coming together ! Jamie your camping/cooking days are numbered !

All kinds of BOYS

I had a fun BOY day today, seeing many different BOYS ! First off was Ethan, we were hanging out together today during preschool and went to McDonalds again since it was raining like crazy and windy outside ! He thought it was so fun to have the umbrella over us running into the grocery store as the wind was whipping it inside out ! Course it helped since Grammy was squealing ! Next BOY I hung out with was Chris for lunch at Subway !

This afternoon I got to go hang out for a bit with these two charming BOYS ! This is Carrie, my friend Linda's daughter and her 2 BOYS ! They are here for the week from California so they are hanging out in the rain here instead of floating away there ! Levi is the oldest and Clark the baby. Clark has his first official trip to AZ. It was my first time to meet him and whew he's right up there with the chunky monkey's like our great nephew Connor ! Love those cheeks ! Levi showed me how his trash truck works and I took over a bag of bigger boy toys for him to get thru some rainy days with !

Grammy Day

It was Ethans turn for Grammy day on tuesday ! We had such a fun time. We went to McDonalds to play on the toys first. It was a blustery wet day so it was great to use their toys for some runaround time. Then we got some McGriddles and milk and played some more... Then we had to do Grammy's chores and run to Walmart, he's so cute now as he holds his little snack in his cup in the shopping cart, that whole little arm and hand around it securely ! Then our leftover milk jug from McDonalds with a straw ! We had to have a talk about blowing bubbles in it tho, he sure knows what you are talking about when you tell him no bubbles, he puts the straw just close to his lips and looks at you and slightly blows to see if you are watching. Ethan you are a charmer for sure !

More shop samples done

I made these 2 bags last fall and finally finished them, they just needed buttons and little cute zipper pulls.. They are to hang at the quilt shop but will be mine when they've done their time! I can't wait to use this little travel bag on a trip, it opens up to a nice pocket, has the secure zipper... This is the back, an open pocket and then I made that outer pocket big enough for my Iphone. The strap is long enough for across the body so it'll be great for hands free secure travel. hmmmm I need to go somewhere !

This was a cute little pouch for your bag, it's small but fun, course it's one of those that I changed the pattern on since the directions had you putting the zipper in by hand. I'd make changes on the next one too, but it was fun to do and it's ready to go too. Yea for time to finish things and get them out of the sewing room that self-imploded sometime in November ! This is the 11th thing out of there in the last week so maybe soon I'll find the counter and the floor !!!

Little Boy Fun

The Big Boys and I had a small adventure today. Papa didn't want to be left out since he was at the shop working so we went down there for our adventure. We met at McDonalds for some fast play and happy meals. Here is Garrett...

Then we went to the Cabinet shop to ride on the Fork Lift ! Boy what fun for little boys !Here's Aiden ! he was in charge of all the levers for the "forks" to move them up and down and tilting. He did so good with remembering each lever and what it did as it's backwards to the way it actually goes. Fast learner for that eye/hand/brain function !

Garrett had the steering wheel, they moved every pallet they could out in the parking lot and then put it back, the did a donut in the parking lot and one in the sawdust inside, and they picked up a load of wood that was up high and brought it down ! Wow ! (amazing how fast the sawdust got on my camera lens down there !) Once the serious work was over it was great fun to run in the rention area to collect pinecones, they were sure their Mom would want them to make bird feeders out of !

This is serious work ! They are each seriously watching what they are in charge of ( papa too )

After all that work we needed a snack, we let Papa to his jobs and went home by way of Swirl :-) yum !

Aiden had Chocolate and vanilla mounded with gummy worms and sprinkles, Garrett planned in the car to have chocolate and Ba-nilla but then picked strawberry and chocolate syrup and strawberries/blueberries and chocolate rolos. I of course had chocolate on chocolate ! It ended a fun adventure !

3 bag set

I'm hoping this year to work on alot of unfinished things. This group of bags is now "OUT" of my sewing room. Made last November(but not finished) as some samples for the quilt shop, but mine to keep. They've been waiting patiently for their turn to get handwork all done, buttons sewed on, closures and the like. And Yea they are done. So they'll go live at Zoe's for the time being as a pattern to sell things called Jelly rolls ( 2 1/2" strips all coordinated) and the pattern for the bags, all 3 coming out of one set. I liked the handbag with the bow and the little travel bag but the big tote seemed more like a small garbage pail with a ruffle. Maybe once I get them back it will grow on me ! Yea for something off the sewing room floor that needed finishing !

Ken the cabinet guy

So I stopped at the shop today to take pictures for Jeremy and Jamie of their kitchen being built, a bit of an update for them since they left on sunday and it was all just a pile of wood. So I thought I'd throw one photo on here, this is their penninsula, those are going to be nice big drawers for pots and pans and things ! I'm sure Jamie has that all figured out ! For those of you "lurking" :-) the rest of the photo's you'll get to see on their blog I"m sure as I just sent to J&J via email, Ken's going to actually set the kitchen up so as he finishes them he can put them in their place. The stain looked wonderful since the other pieces were all in the spray room with their finished coat on them. How fun to get to see them go together. This will turn into an ongoing saga as they are all going to be transported to Mississippi when done.

Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert

Mindy told me about a new dessert to make that is quick and yummy. So I made it for one of our Christmas in Jan. celebrations when Jeremy and Jamie were here. I had no recipe so I made it up as I went. Now on line I'm seeing some, but this is how mine went. It went together pretty fast altho your hands just freeze unwrapping all the ice cream sandwiches. I added the strawberries, heath bar and chocolate shell topping, you could do anything you have or want tho so use your imagination ! It was great but next time I'd leave the strawberries off and maybe add them later, they became hard as a rock frozen, duh, didn't think of that !

Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert
24 ice cream sandwiches
Cool whip,
Strawberries, sliced
Chocolate hard shell ice cream topping
Crushed Heath bars

Layer the frozen ice cream sandwiches in the dish and then frost with a layer of cool whip, I added the crushed heath bars and the sliced strawberries that I had ready to go. Then add the next layer of ice cream sandwiches ( at least your hands unthaw between the 2 layers)
Then I frosted the whole thing with the cool whip, had to push it down the sides in areas to cover the sandwiches, then put the toppings on top all pretty and there you go !

Jeremy and Jamie's Visit

Well the dust is clearing so I'm going to try and get some pictures up so you know we've all survived the whirlwind visit. What a great time we got to have, all of 3 days and we made the most of it !

Jeremy and Jamie got here about midnight on wed. with a few fun events of their flight being cancelled and such, but with just being delayed a couple hours they made it ! We had a fun thursday,Jamie and I got to shop a couple stores, Jeremy got to get some sawdust on him at the shop, then we met Chris at Someburros for lunch. That night we had more mexican food at home ( they had to get their fill while here) The Grandparents all came to join us and catch up with a few Columbus Mississippi stories and celebrate a late Christmas with them too.

Here are my parents...

Ken's parents....

My Sister Marcy and her husband Vince.... We all had a great time and...

Chris came too so the brothers got to hang out a bit, play some Wii, we had a great first day !

Jeremy and Jamie's Visit

We had a fun friday and Ken and Jeremy got all involved with a new TV in our bedroom and ended up getting that all accomplished with trips back and forth to Costco and Home Depot ! Fun in the attic too ! Amy, Chris and the boys came over and we all ate leftover mexican food for lunch. Jamie and the boys were having fun...
And Jamie's been introduced to Ms. Pacman, ok, she is now a pro ! We all had fun playing and seemed you'd all the sudden hear it going again, then someone saying "when you die I'll play too !"
We took everyone out for dinner that night at Patsy Grimaldi's, that was fun, pizza and salad, it was great ! We ended up back at Chris and Amy's to play Bohnanza...the bean game.
Lots of fun for everyone !

Our Christmas in January

So Saturday started off with everyone meeting downtown Gilbert for some fun family snapshots. We got some fun pictures taken with Chris being the photographer and then running to be in the picture ! Those will appear at some time....might be for valentines day ! You never know what I"m up to ! You know those Christmas cards that don't go out sometimes morph into something new ! We got home and had to munch thru some early lunch and then we could finally open our Christmas presents, the boys were so patient for so long ! Garrett did kind of have to go check out his stocking and just take one little thing out to sample tho! He was very quiet at it, It was so cute...caught in the act !Chris with Ethan, what a grin !Garrett all ready to go play Army man. Canteen, knife, binoculars and here's a map ! Chris helping Aiden with his new GIJoe rocket launcher

Here's Aiden.

A cool space book with 3D glasses !

Jeremy and Jamie...

Amy and Chris got matching hats.

Chris and MB with the Baby's stocking, next year it'll get a "real name".

Here goes Ethan, he got a plasma car...nothing better than your blankie around you and your plaz ! And if you are really good at it you can use the ball popper too !

Garrett got a neat "CARS" computer !

flashlights and binoculars, what great little boy things you can find for stockings !

Papa and Ethan having some giggles.

We had time for games and cooked our prime rib and shrimp, ran around outside while it was so nice, It's been so nice to have Jeremy and Jamie here ! They just sent a text that they landed in Columbus... back to the cold, that artic air swooping down into the midwest has them in the 20's during the day ! At least they made it, of course their flight home was cancelled too so they spent part of Saturday figuring it out, but they made it and Aileron's new dog bed is crammed in another suitcase, the other 2 will have to wait until the truck of cabinets comes to Mississippi. What a great visit we had !