a full, fun father's day weekend . . .

It started out Friday evening with a surprise call from Kim, wanting to know if I wanted to get in some "Sawyer time" that night. Are you kidding me?! Of course! I suggested they bring Sawyer over for a sleepover, so they did! I love Sawyer sleepovers!

We had pizza for dinner. As you can plainly see, Sawyer likes pizza . . .

I know it looks bad, but he cleaned up very nicely! He sure can cram some pizza into his little mouth.

After dinner, Sawyer and I went out for a ride on the golf cart. He *loves* to ride around the camp. We went down the low road and saw this . . .

At first I was very startled, but then I remembered that we had the Christian Southern Archers coming out on Saturday for an event, and they'd already set up their targets. Sawyer didn't know the difference, though, and for the rest of our sixty-minute ride, he growled at every animal we came upon.

Especially this big ol' guy, up in the upper meadow. Even when we got close enough to touch it, Sawyer just growled and growled. It's very funny to listen to and even funnier when you know that he's actually mimicking his Aunt Jocelyn's cat, Leia (who growls at most everyone).

Sawyer even growled at this fellow . . .

Can you see the little Frog Prince in the center of the photo? Every time he jumped, so did Sawyer.

And I couldn't get a smile out of him for the life of me -- he was too intent on all the animals. He was hard-pressed to look away from them long enough for him to look at me!

Back at the RV, I turned on our happy lights and he amused himself walking up and down the stairs about a million times.

And once we were cleaned up and in our "escape proof" pj's, he still wanted to go outside!

We had a good night's sleep and his mommy and daddy picked him up early, to go visit Kim's dad. After checking on the archery group that was already up at the camp, I headed to the grocery store. It was a relatively quiet day, with Todd working down on the dock, and me doing domestic things and working on the ministry's newsletter, when a violent storm popped up and passed through the camp.

It took with it a couple of trees, including this one which came down over the main road *and* the road into the main camping area.

And yes, if you look closely enough, those are power lines and we were (once again) without power. I've never been so thankful for my husband's foresight than when he purchased that generator!

Saturday night we went to sleep lulled by the sounds of the cranked generator. We got up Sunday morning for a happy Father's Day breakfast of french toast and bacon -- Todd's favorite!

A quick call to Huntsville Utilities confirmed they did still have our repair ticket and that they'd get to us when they could. *sigh*

Sunday was a hot, hot day. Our raccoon visitor stopped by and took a little dip.

He really is very cute!

Later that afternoon, everyone came up for a little Father's Day get-together. We celebrated with Todd's favorite; a Carvel ice cream cake. I think it may be Sawyer's too.

Just take a look at the blue from the ice cream frosting, around his mouth!

Then Todd got down to business and opened presents!

He was very pleased and surprised by the Kindle! Yay!

And I couldn't post it on my blog on Friday, but this was actually the first Kindle holder I made! One for my dear man's new toy. :)

Sawyer makes himself right at home. I found my old cell phone for him to play with. He loves to carry around cell phones and remotes!

And here are the hers and his Kindle cases! We'll always be able to tell our Kindles apart.

And this morning, I played around just a little bit with quilted postcards.

This is definitely something I'm going to need to play around with more and get in lots of practice. I did two different techniques for securing them (mainly because I wasn't real pleased with how the first one turned out), but the second one did better. This will be a fun past time when I feel the urgent need to create. I even got them in today's mail!

Whew. I need a week to rest from the weekend!

:)

other birthdays . . .

I think I may have mentioned that my folks and my youngest sister and her family spent some time with us earlier in the month. My sister and her crew were very brave, and pitched their tents for the visit! She, her husband, and their two youngest slept in the big tent, and her two oldest (12 & 10) slept in the smaller tent. Which, by the way, they pitched completely on their own. I was so impressed!

Sawyer's birthday also happens to be Ali's birthday, the oldest of my sister's children. She had a pretty monumental birthday . . . twelve . . . and had to celebrate it on the road (they traveled here from Texas). So I thought she should have something special for her birthday! When I happened upon this tutorial for making a petal pillow from Cluck Cluck Sew, I knew it was the perfect gift for my darling niece.

I did take a little liberty with the felt colors (since when did I make something that I didn't put my own twist into), but I loved the multi-color look . . .

And I think Ali loved it too!

It was fun and easy to make (although I'll admit it took me a little longer than the 30 minutes she talks about in the tutorial) and made the ideal gift for a nearly teen birthday girl!

Speaking of which, our family celebrates another today . . . my nephew Ben! Ben is the one for whom I made the Boy Scout quilt!

He'd probably kill me if he knew I'd posted this, but since I'm fairly certain he doesn't read my blog, I think I'm safe. Besides, I knew him when he was tiny. Happy birthday, Ben!

:)

happy baby . . .

Praise God, he's a happy baby here . . .

But do you see the little red bump on his head? Evidently my darling, precocious grandson is already trying to pull himself out of his crib. Talk about this grandma's nightmare!

He'd been down for his morning nap and all was quiet . . . and then I heard a bang, followed by the kind of wailing that lets you know something's really wrong. I sprinted for his bedroom, and sure enough there he was, out of the crib and on the floor. We cried together for a little bit. Then he stopped, and I continued to cry for a little bit.

I do love smiles around the pacifier!

After a good lunch, a bottle, and a bath, I put him down for his afternoon nap. Do you know he went straight for the bumper pads and pulled himself up to standing...AGAIN?!? Of course this time measures had been taken to ensure he wasn't going anywhere. Still -- evidently the fall wasn't a painful enough experience to keep him from trying again! I see lots of boo-boo's in this boy's future!

But look at my little angel here, all wrapped up in his quilt. I think I probably teared up a little when I was looking at him here, too. :)

The rest of day went well, although I do admit, I felt compelled to hold and cuddle him as much as he would let me!

He's such a happy fellow -- he charms my socks off!

And he's a boot-scootin' baby, too! He's not bothering with his knees, but his arms are so strong, he can get where he wants to, faster than you can blink! See my evidence . . .

Gosh I LOVE him! And yes, that's my maniacal laughter at the end. Sheesh.

Ah, and I have a grandbaby-on-the-way item, too! Joc had an appointment yesterday and said everything is looking GREAT! She sounded really pleased with how things had gone. She really likes her doctor and that makes *me* happy!

And on a non-grandbaby note, I came home last night and these wonderful things were waiting for me . . .

Tea towels!! Aren't they pretty?! Oh the plans I have for them . . . !!

Happy day!

:)

glue gun monday!

Monday was the epitome of a beautiful October day. It was sunny and clear, with enough of a crisp nip in the air to keep you mindful that cold is coming! Sweater weather! This truly kicks off my favorite time of the year -- from now until the end of December!

Todd & I headed to town early, had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then headed to the Madison Baptist Association to have our picture taken for the directory. We also ran some other errands -- bank, Tractor Supply for bird seed, and Hunter Road for slippers -- before heading back to the camp. The weather was perfect and traffic was light because all the schools are out for fall break.

To that end, my daughter (the teacher) and I celebrated by meeting up at Emma's Tea Room for lunch. And my sweet girl brought me a pretty ceramic pumpkin! It totally went with my outfit, so the proprietor, Rebekah, insisted that I hold it in the picture.

My beautiful daughter is twenty-one weeks pregnant and just found out last week that she's going to have a BOY!! She's very excited, as is this grandma! Another grandson for me! I'm *so* very blessed!!!

After lunch, we made a trip to Hobby Lobby. I love that place! I could have spent a LOT of money there, but RV living makes that rather pointless, so I restrained myself to this darling little thing . . .

It rather perfectly goes with our whole "living in a campground' way of life!

From there, we headed over to Earth Fare. We had planned to go one Saturday in May, but the day before we were supposed to go, I had the wreck. It's a nice store -- fairly similar to our favorite Whole Foods Market, in Nashville! I can see it getting more traffic from the two of us! She did mention that it would make sense for us to coordinate our menus, so that we could shop & split. Since we're both cooking for two, it makes sense!

While I was there, I purchased an apple and a pear. When I finally got home, I made a yummy apple & pear tart for Todd & I. It seemed like the perfect fall dessert.

After dinner that evening I got out my trusty hot glue gun and finally started on the candy corn wreath for my Secret Pal. My sister gave me that hot glue gun AGES ago for my birthday, and it's the best one I've ever worked with. It's cordless, so I can remove it from the base and not be hampered by a pesky cord. It's been a while since I'd used it -- I forget how much fun they are!

I used a round, straw wreath form, instead of the styrofoam form (which has squared edges). I have to admit it made the placement of the corn a little more difficult, but I like the look better.

I'll hang it outside on Friday, once the candy corn has had time to get good & stale, and I'll spray the whole thing with a preserving spray. Once that's dry, I'll but the black ribbon on it and it'll be ready for delivery.

While I was playing with Jocelyn, Todd gathered up some acorns for me. I figured while I already had the glue gun out, I'd use those and some tiny pine cones I'd collected from Hunter Road to make something fallish.

Isn't it nice the way nature supplies such great crafting materials??

These little pine cones are really darling. And they look like flowers, when you look down on them!

Just playing around with things I had, I fashioned a cute napkin ring holder. Cute, huh? Worth making a second, I think. It was super easy -- it's just ribbon wrapped around a section of sleeve cut from a paper towel cardboard. I hot glued the ribbon in place, and added the decorations I wanted. Super simple, but pretty cute.

Finally, I was going through my fall pdf files, and stumbled across this little guy that I'd found in Martha Stewart's Living magazine. I haven't finished cutting him out, but you get the gist. It's a favor holder -- you fill the log with chocolates or nuts or candy. Since I'm using them more for decor than for favors, I'll fill 'em with pea gravel. I just thought they were really cute!

Happy Fall, ya'll!

:)

candy corn . . .

One of the MANY things I really like about autumn is candy corn. And not necessarily to eat, but because it just looks so - fun! It's orange, yellow, and white -- happy colors! And it's triangular -- happy shape! It makes great turkey beaks, nicely fills a clear glass candle votive, and, evidently, makes a great wreath, too!

I happened upon the latest Woman's Day on the newsstand this week, and this was their cover photo:

Cute, non? And since my Secret Pal *loves* candy corn, I figure this may be my next project AND secret pal gift! I'll post pictures when I've finished.

Instructions are easy and can be found on the Woman's Day site, HERE.

They also had great instructions for preserving the candy corn and/or the finished wreath HERE!

Bon appetit...errr...Happy crafting!

:)