Papa's Shop

Three little boys came to stay with us this past weekend while their Mommy and Daddy were off on the other side of the world on their trip to Paris. I drove up to Carefree to their other Grandparents house first thing friday morning to get my oldest 3 grandsons. We decided to make a stop on our way home to see Papa at his shop.....the following gobs and gobs of photo's are from the fun we had in the 2 hours we were there. First thing Papa did was show them his HUGE VACUUM ( dust collector!) How fun to watch all the wood shavings and sawdust just go right up that vent!!!! time to move on but they could have done that for hours on it's own!They all decided they wanted to build something...Papa pulled out some wood and they each got to build a box.
Ethan getting ready for some loud noise from the saw! He turned 3 this summer and is Mr. independent and so ready to be a big kid!
Here is Garrett, he turned 5 this summer and informed me he's gotten his kindergarten shots so he's ready for school next year!
Aiden our 2nd grader is 7 and has a mouth full of teeth of every size with some gone, some coming in and some part way up, so cute!
They all got to use the power nailer and nail their box together...
Long post I know but how many 3 year olds get to sit on Papa's work bench and help nail a box! It was a very special time for Papa too!

Look it works to sit on ...
Aiden checking his out to stand on...
Garrett came home and immediately put all kinds of things inside his, all his little animals and special things he'd brought along.
Then even more fun....every little boys dream.....riding on the fork lift!
Making the forks go up and down, Papa found all kinds of things that "just needed" to be moved, so they hauled sheets of wood from one side to the other...
Made the forks go up and down....do you think Garrett is having fun?

Ethan ready for his turn...
Lots of fun moving those levers...

Ethan you did a great job!

Aiden getting his turn, they got to go outside....
and run those forks way up as tall as the building!


They moved Papa's truck tool box....and yep they could have done that all day too!
What fun was that! Fun memories in the making for these little guys!
We left Papa and went on home to see what other things we could do on our fun day! More photos of that to come!

Block Challenge

Two more blocks done for my block challenge group. One more to do this month and then I'll post a photo of all of them done thus far.
Almost done with 12 blocks. Have to get an appliqued one done yet for Oct. I'm starting to like these 6 inch little guys. It took until I layed all of them out next to each other to see how they'd work together and I think it's going to be great.

Fun with Friends

I enjoyed a fun evening this week with these great friends. They treated me to an awesome Thai dinner in downtown Mesa, it was wonderful! Then we went on to see a performance at the Mesa Arts Center. It was my first time to see a show there, what a wonderful venue! We saw the National Acrobats of the People's Republic of China. What a show! It was amazing, they do things that are just amazing. What a wonderful evening, it was so beautiful outside afterwards we stood and talked for a long time enjoying the weather and each others company! It was great catching up with Denise and Judy and Linda!

Block challenge block

Another one done, this one is called Duck and Ducklings. It gave me fits as it came out perfect, then I measured it, half inch to big....rip rip rip. It's now fixed and all is well altho when I look at it, it makes me mad...I'll soon forget tho about those 11/16th inch pieces UGH!....when I get this months blocks all done I think I'll post a photo of all of them so far. This is the 3rd month with 4 blocks each month... we'll have 12 done already! Little 6 inch buggers!

Amy and Chris

Here is a picture of Amy and Chris early one morning this last week, They are currently on a long awaited for vacation to Paris! One that's been in the plans for a long time and it's finally here! A fun first real getaway adventure for them without the boys. They are up in Carefree at their other grandparents home and I get to go get them on friday morning to come and play here until they get home on sunday night. I'm sure these 2 are having a great time by now and I warned them this just makes you hungry for more! We've heard from them a couple times with emails and texts and they are having SO MUCH FUN!

Sew and Go

Well if you missed tuesdays class this week at Scrapbooks we had a great time making these darling "witch " towels. But don't fret as we are running the same project again next Tuesday.Everyone went home with their towels all done, spiders and bows on and many an extra kit in hand!
We had great show and tell today with alot of people bringing in their jelly roll race quilts, some even DONE! ( wasn't that class just on Friday!) We also had news of a new "official class baby" being born! Kathy shared the great news of her grandson, we hope both he and Mommy will be back to class soon with their Grandma as we've all awaited his birth!
Melissa with her fun towel, what a great day for her to skip out on her job and come and "play" with us!It was fun to see all the different "skirts" for these witches!

So there is still some room if you haven't signed up, we only have so many black towels so be sure and get signed up if you want to join in the fun yet! Sew and Go is every tuesday, the first and second weeks is one project, the 3rd and 4th tuesdays is a different one.

Botanical Gardens in Phoenix

Our family all met last week at the Botanical gardens in Phoenix for a fun get together. Amy had rounded up free tickets for all, planned a great sub sandwich supper and we all met there after work. It's over by the zoo we like to hang out at but a bit further down the road and another great discovery. We had such a nice time and such a pretty venue to stroll around in, I'm already anxious to go back.
MB had all the boys having such fun on the bridge...metal, open, great for stomping your feet and making cool noises, love those little grins with the 2 cousins!Isn't it neat what fun you can have running around and stomping your feet, Bode had a blast with the freedom and playing with his cousins!
Ken, Aiden and Amy...
More happy faces coming off the bridge!
Chris and Chris....
Priceless giggles aren't they!

Garrett you have the best smile!
Bode with his very cool first flashlight! Lots of sparkly lights. Only Grandma's buy 4 of those just for the fun!

Garrett with his cool halloween flashlight. They all got cool different ones that blink. Wonder if they'll last until halloween!A few of the glass yucca plants on display yet from the chihuly glass exhibit a couple years ago, amazingly beautiful blown glass all lit up.
Ethan with his chips!

Now that Bode is toddling around it was quite the chase! He was lovin his time out of the stroller to toddle around!gotta love Daddy holding his hand!
Amy and Aiden

Here's MB with Bode. Can you see the huge ant sculptures coming down the hill, they were all wooden sculptures and so neat to see.Ethan checking out the huge dragon fly sculpture.
And we even saw a desert tortise, I guess it's rare to see one there.
Bode just looking cute!
Aiden, Garrett and Ethan...
And here's the gang. Can't wait to go back and look around more at this great area.

Thursday club birthday's

I got to meet up with my "thursday club" this last week to celebrate Kathy's birthday. Mindy hosted us at her house and we had such fun talking and catching up from the summer. We had a great dinner we all brought part of, then we made a fun little project. I won't show you that as I have more to make for gifts to give!!!! going around the table L-R are Cindy, Ann, Judy, Kathy, me, and Mindy. It sure was fun spending the evening with these friends!

Jelly Roll Race at Scrapbooks Etc.

Barb and I hosted quite the class last week at scrapbooks. It was a Jelly Roll Race. ( a jelly roll is a pack of 40 strips of fabric cut 2 1/2" wide by the width of fabric) We had 14 people come to join in the fun....and tons stopped in to see what was going on that was that much fun! We kept having smiling faces peeking in the door as the participants were cheered on. Barb and I kept helping everyone with their pile of fabric so the machines could keep running. We spent the first 1 1/2 hours of the class prepping the pieces and snacking the participants. Then at noon the race began. Barb had taped the horns from the Kentucky derby that you always hear, so we played that to start them off and by the end of that they were all laughing so hard they could hardly sew. My Iphone timer was going and away they went sewing strips together. And at 43 minutes Wanda was done! We have a winner! A couple minutes later Julie was done! It's amazing but you can actually get this sewn together in an amazing amount of time! Wanda had come to learn this technique to show her group that meets to sew charity quilts, she decided she'd quilt her own so she gave her winning prize ( which was getting her top machine quilted) to Julie. How nice was that!
And bringing up the rear at about 1 1 /2 hours is Isabelle! she finished and isn't it pretty! I think a quilt top in 1 1/2 hours is an amazing feet even if she didn't get first place. Actually she got a great prize of another jelly roll, now she can practice up and make another. What a fun class it was, 14 charming quilt tops left the building and everyone had a smile knowing they'd had a great time and had success!

what a tease....

I know alot of you watch to see what's going to happen at Sew and Go class at Scrapbooks Etc. Just cuz I seem to be the one that "leaks" what we are doing before the actual class! Sometimes we give hints at what the project is, but other times it has to be a surprise. Since we don't want any of you to bail if you know "YOU"LL HAVE TO DO A ZIPPER" or something as scary as that! And nope, there isn't a zipper in this one... So... for the project for the first 2 tuesdays in Oct. this is your TEASE !!!!! It's just a tiny little tease, so that's all you'll get for now! Come join us and see what we really have going on! :-)