Hey there

Has it really been a week since I last posted? You know how it goes--the weather was really nice last weekend, so we were outside the whole time; then we had company for a couple of days, then Rob has been home, so I have to get in line for the computer...

Anyway, things are moving along. Spring has finally arrived. I have the Claritin at the ready. We planted veggies and herbs last weekend. This weekend promises AWESOME weather, so we'll be outside the whole time again.

The birthday/holy communion invitations are stacking up (as they do every year), so I've been crafting away.

And I finally made my peace with the fact that even "simple" lace is going to have to wait for another time. I've found some really super-easy patterns, and I'm making progress.

Now if I could just find a couple more hours in the day, I might actually have all these gifts finished in time.

Visiting

Here are the kids with my grandfather on Easter morning. They're all fired up about chocolate bunnies.
These are the people I grew up with. My brother is NOT crossing his eyes in this photo. That is a minor milestone for us--he likes to cross his eyes and make faces in family pictures. At least once, a relative of Rob's has seen family pictures like that and wondered aloud whether Mike was "special." Oh, he is so very special...(*giggle*)

Here is Mike with his Special Lady Friend, Katrina. We finally got to meet her. I think we all took her aside at some point and warned her never to go anywhere with my father when he says, "come on go with me."

I was lucky enough to get to take home some of my grandmother's old books. Here they are. My Grandma liked to put things in her books--recipes from the paper, old letters, etc.
When I opened the Gardening book, I found this:

This is from my third grade Christmas program in 1978. How awesome is that!

I'll have more treasures to share another day!

Settling in

I have to say, after sharing a room with hubby and the kids for the last five days (and two of those nights, sharing a bed with my wiggly daughters), last night I had the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. My own bed. No dog to wake me in the middle of the night. No sharp elbows or knees in my back. No little boys falling off the bed. No headaches. (It was a very busy few nights!) It was bliss. Today I picked up the dog from the kennel, so vacation is offically over.

Now we're (and by we, I mean I am) catching up on laundry and mail, attending conferences, and generally wondering when the bomb went off in the house, cause it sure is a mess!

I hope that by the weekend, we'll be all caught up in the "put it back together" department.
And by then, I'll be able to get back to some crafty fun!

We're Back!

We rolled back into town at about six o'clock this evening.
We had a wonderful visit with friends and family, but we are so, so glad to be sleeping in our own beds tonight. I have many (over 200) pictures--I promise not to share them all (wouldn't that be a snooze!), but I will get some good ones up soon. For now, the laundry is calling. I was computer-free for the last five days, so I look forward to catching up with all of you!

Q & A

Q: Hey, did you finally (after like two years) go back to blonde highlights and chop about four inches off your hair?
A: Yes, I did!

Q: Did you make a bag for your niece's 13th birthday, and isn't she taller than you now?

A: Yes, and (sadly) yes!

Q: And did you put your first-ever zipper in a tote bag for this particular gift?

A: Yes, I did! I found a tutorial online and used that as my guide. I'll be doing that again.

Q: And are you leaving town tomorrow? And shouldn't you be packing and doing 50 other things besides blogging? And are you making those stuffed bunnies to take with you?

A: Yes, yes, and yes! The Evans family hits the road tomorrow, so I probably won't be back here until next week. We're going to be visiting with many, many family members, and I'm very much looking forward to this trip! I wish you all a very happy Easter--see you next week!

There has been no knitting...

Sigh. I am going to frog it and start over. I think some sort of cleansing ritual is in order...something involving chocolate and maybe some wine.

In the meantime, I've been keeping busy. Remember that cute Buttercup Bag I made a couple of weeks ago? Well, it's just too tiny for me--my wallet filled the whole thing up! Yesterday I enlarged the pattern, and now I have a new spring bag:
And here they are side-by-side. It's Mama and Baby Buttercup!Last weekend, Bobby had a party to attend. Here's the gift:

I wish everyone a happy weekend. I am suffering the endlessly runny nose--I originally thought it was allergies, but now I'm not sure. All I know is that the Zyrtec made me feel so much worse. It's going to be a rainy one, at least through tomorrow, so we're going to snuggle up with a movie tonight--I'm off to the Red box!