Flag Football

This is the last week of flag football. I thought I would post a few photos :) I am so proud of the progress DS's team has made!

Latest Project

Here is a photo of my latest project! A Christmas dress for DD :)

Christmas Blessings!

We are so blessed this Christmas. We have such wonderful friends and family! Last night we had a church dinner and I sat there amazed at what God has done in our lives in the last year. A year ago we had 20 people in this little church plant and now it has grown to close to 200. What an amazing ride it has been! We are blessed to have seen so many come to know Christ in a new way and to see change in people's lives. God is doing amazing things.

We received gifts of goodies from several people and an awesome card from our middle schoolers. The kids sang a few songs and then the high schoolers sang a few songs and we all closed with Silent Night. It was a wonderful evening for which I am so thankful. We are truly blessed.

Saturday's Schedule

Wow, did we ever have a busy Saturday! I went to a women's group Christmas breakfast with Mollie this morning. It was wonderful to share Christmas memories and traditions that we are passing on to the next generation. After breakfast, we went to Charles' football game. And they had their first win of the season! Yeah! Then we came home and did a thorough cleaning, as we are hosting a Christmas Party tomorrow for our "life group" from our church. It is basically a group of 12 - 14 people who get together for fun and to grow together spiritually as well as pray for each other and be a real community for each other in this age of isolationism. Anyway, we set up the tree last night and tidied up the house today. We got a little crazy and even did the garage! (Which means I can now get to more of my fabric stash - lol).

And with all the busyness, I went to the mailbox and what did I find? My Secret Santa package from the Bee Sew Whimsical Swap! It came all the way from Australia from the wonderful Bronwyn. She doesn't have a blog, so I won't link her :) . I already put the ornaments on the tree and have hung the banner in my kitchen! It was such a beautiful package with many wonderful items inside, two beautiful handmade ornaments (I wish I could do embroidery stitches that small!), a card, a banner, a magazine, candies, a beautiful Christmas cracker, and an adorable tape measure. I am getting ready to sit down for a spell and read the gorgeous magazine that was in the package. This swap was so much fun and now I have a new friend too :) Thank you so very much for the awesome package! All in all a busy and wonderfully full day. Life is good.

Giveaway at Daisy Quilts

There is a gorgeous package being given away at Daisy Quilts, go check it out!

Thanksgiving

We will be heading northward for Thanksgiving, so we went to the beach last night to enjoy a little of our Florida weather before we head into the cold! I didn't bring my camera, but we saw a wild boar (too fast to photograph anyway). There is always something we see on the way out there!

The water was a little chilly, but the kids got in anyway and we saw a friend there and her kids were in the surf as well. They said you get used to it!

Our Local Beach

We went to the beach and stayed until sunset the other day.
Here are my favorite two photos of the time there. It is a natural beach with a lagoon that we drive through to get home. That is where we saw that jaywalking gator!

Charles and the Pumpkin Patch

When I went to pick up the kids one day, there was Charles' teacher with a wagon and two rather large looking pumpkins. Little did I know, he had brought some of his own money on the fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch. The one was enormous and way too large to eat. The other was more medium sized and he wanted to give a real pumpkin pie a try. So we cleaned and baked and pureed and mixed and baked again. And we saw that it was good! Now there are several more bags of pumpkin in our freezer awaiting their turn. I mentioned pumpkin soup, but the kids said no to that one! LOL We did taste some plain cooked pumpkin with a little butter and brown sugar and that was deemed to be ok, so hopefully I won't have to make a bazillion pies!

Well, I sent my gift to my Secret Santa in the Honeypot Swap from Bee Sew Whimsical. I was excited to send the few little things that I had made. I am even more excited for her to get my package and for us to be able to contact each other and not be secret anymore. I have been lurking her blog LOL I feel soooo sneaky! I really hope she likes what I made. I sent a chocolate bar in the package, just in case :)

Old Red Barn Co Quilt Giveaway

Check out the Old Red Barn Co from the button on the top left! They are giving away three absolutely gorgeous quilts! They also have a great blog with lots of gorgeous items. I know I would love to win one of those quilts... wouldn't you?

Christmas is Coming!

I am starting to get excited about Christmas. I love the sights and smells and the Savior, but for me, the giving of gifts to celebrate God's gift is what I really truly love. I have always loved making and giving gifts. Gift giving is my "love language" (find your love language here). I have so much fun deciding on the perfect gift for someone and have so many ideas traipsing around in my head. I wish I could spend unlimited amounts of cash on gifts for those I care about, but... unfortunately can't. I am able to buy some craft supplies, and ummm, well, I seem to have a few on hand *blush* Now is the time of year that I am delighted to have a fabric stash, a paper and embellishment stash, a yarn stash and a knitting needle/crochet hook stash! And I have limited myself to 3 types of craft stashes since our house is not that large. I can only imagine what I would own if I had kept supplies from all of my different crafty phases. Let's see, there's basket weaving, jewelry making, painting, and on and on. I am so glad that Christmas is coming and I can use up some of my supplies!

I have been working on a few things for a couple of swaps that I am doing, so I can't show them here, lest a dear reader or two get a spoiled surprise :) I know that some of the family may be out there lurking too, although I haven't seen any comments :( So I dare not post what I am making for them! One thing I am making is a cute star ornament that I learned to make from a fellow classmate at Big Picture Scrapbooking's Giving Well Class. It is interesting to fold and unfold, but once you do it a time or two, it's easy. Several people will be getting these, but I will keep them a surprise for now.

Free Knit Webkinz Sweater Pattern

Super Easy Knit Webkinz Sweater

I have this for sale on etsy, but I thought I would share it here too. Leave me a comment if you make one. Thanks!

Worsted weight yarn (two strands- can be the same or contrasting colors)

Size 13 needles

Cast on 16 for a lil’ kinz and 20 for a regular size webkinz

Rows 1-3: knit

Row 4: purl

Row 5: knit

Row 6: purl (you may add a few rows here to make it longer, alternate knit and purl rows)

Row 7: knit 2 together, knit most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 8: knit 2 together, purl most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 9: knit 2 together, knit most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 10: knit 2 together, purl most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 11: knit 2 together, knit most of row and knit last 2 stitches together

Row 12: cast off all stitches

Crochet neck band with a size G or H hook (14 stitches) and sew sides together (first 6 rows).

Find the crochet version here.

Giveaway at Sew Katie Sew

There are a lot of great giveaways going on right now, here is one for some yummy looking fabric!