July Giveaway Winner

 

Thanks to the 9 of you that entered my giveaway!  I appreciate all the name suggestions.  Now we just have to wait to find out what we’re having.  I find out in 18 days!!

Anyway, the winner is:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6

Timestamp: 2011-07-10 22:38:19 UTC

#6 is Alison! 

Alison said...

Oh fun give away! Sad I missed the last one!
My favorite names, which I probably will never get to use, being perpetually single :) are, currently:
girls - Lauren, Clara, Devin and Lily
boys - Isaac, Ethan, Chase and Andrew

(I thought it was kinda interesting that 1/3 of the people that entered my giveaway had the name Alison.  It is one of my favorites, but I don’t think I would ever name a kid that since we’d have Abbie and Allie.  Too matchy for me.)

Anyway, Alison, send me your address and thanks again to everyone who entered!!

Boater girl

I grew up around boats and boating on the Mississippi River.  My dad has always had a boat and many of my childhood memories revolve around time spent on the river.
So naturally we wanted to get Abbie out on my dad’s boat while we’re home for the summer.  Abbie’s very first boat ride took place when she was about 6 weeks old.  Obviously now she’s quite a bit more interactive so it’s lots of fun to take her out on the boat because she LOVES it.  She asks to “go on grandpa’s boat” quite frequently.

Abbie and her cousins watching the boat go down the ramp.

Abbie loves to watch the “water splashing” behind the boat.

I love this little thing!!

She also likes to help grandpa drive the boat.  My dad said the first time she was in his lap on the boat, the first thing she reached for was the throttle.  And the next thing was the steering wheel.  And she didn’t want grandpa helping her drive because she could do it herself, so she kept pushing his hand away from the steering wheel.

The last time we were on the boat, she was begging my dad to go faster.  He thought I set her up to say that, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it.  The kid likes speed and I was exactly the same way when I was her age.  So Grandpa got the boat up to 72mph for her that time and she was shrieking with laughter.  It was fun to watch her, although going that fast in a boat makes me a tad bit nervous now that I’m a parent and have a little one aboard.

Friday Fill-in

1. Does your Significant Other read your blog?  Why is this a good or a bad thing? submitted by Mrs. Alana’s Miscellany  Only because I email it to him.  I think he goes through and looks at old posts of mine, especially the ones about Abbie occasionally too though.  I like that he reads it.  I’m an open book with him.  I have no secrets from him, so I don’t mind that he reads it at all.
2. What is one item in your house that holds the most sentimental value and why? submitted by The Albrecht Squad  This is kind of hard to answer since I’m not in my house and I haven’t been for the last 3 months.  But right now it would probably be the last t-shirt that Mark wore before he left.  I put it in a plastic bag and put it in the closet to save until he gets home.  Or the orchid he gave me for Mother’s Day last year.  I hear it’s blooming right now.
3. When it comes to water fun in the summer do you prefer the beach, the pool, a lake, or the sprinklers? submitted by The Turvo Times  I like the beach, but I prefer to be on the beach verses in the water.  When I’m in the water I’m constantly looking for sharks, jelly fish, sting rays, etc and it pretty much stresses me out.
4. What is the one special thing that you do for yourself to get you through the first week of a deployment/separation? submitted by A Creed and a Psalm  I guess I don’t really do anything special for myself.  I try to stick to our routines and keep things flowing the way they did before he left.
5. What is your biggest guilty pleasure website? submitted by Christine’s Little Blog  Amazon.  Not so much now that I’m back in the States, but when I’m in Italy, I LOVE shopping on Amazon.  Or any of the quilting fabric shops online. 

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!**

June 2011 Abbie-isms

* Tonight we were video chatting with Mark on my phone and we had kind of a bad connection.  The video and sound kept skipping, and sounded like a skipping CD where it repeats the same tiny clip over and over.  Abbie was pretty freaked out by it at first and she kept asking “What’s daddy doing?”  I explained that it was just the computer making things funny, and so she started imitating what she was seeing, which was HILARIOUS.  She was squinting up her eyes funny, and doing this ticking thing with her head and making funny noises just like the phone was.  I wish I’d gotten it on video.

*For about a month or two now, when she tastes something she doesn’t like, she’ll immediately spit it out and say “Me no like that.”  And now if she sees something she doesn’t like she says “Abbie no like that.”  (Onions are something she doesn’t like.)  We went to visit my friend, Rachel’s, horses and Abbie was very interested, but she was also afraid of them when they got too close.  She was saying “Me no like that horse” quite a bit, while she glued herself to my leg.

*She was eating a chocolate chip cookie and dipping it in milk, of course.  (She ALWAYS has to dunk her cookies in milk.)  Anyway, the milk was dripping off of the bottom of the cookie after she’d dunked it and she gave us a funny look and said “Why’s it leaking??”.

*Abbie was eating a piece of candy in front of my dad and he told her he wanted some, but she’d already put it in her mouth.  He said to her “Is that piece yours or is it mine?”, to which she immediately responded, “It’s ours!”. 

*My parents call me “Bear”.  They’ve called me Bear since I was Abbie’s age.  And now, since Abbie hears them call me Bear all the time, she’s starting to call me Bear too.  The other day we were in Target, getting ready to leave.  I walked up to the cart Abbie was sitting in and Abbie looked at me and said “Are you ready to go Bear?”.  Sheesh.  She also calls my dad “Leap”, which is a play off of the German – leibchen – which means “my love”.  My mom calls my dad “leap” and so Abbie calls him “leap” occasionally too, especially when we’re eating.  On more than one occasion she’s said to him, “Are you going to eat that, Leep?”

*Sometime during this month, Abbie has started calling peeing, “psssing”.  Like she makes the “psss” noise.  It sounds an awful lot like she’s saying “pissing”, but she’s really saying “psssing”.  Today we were outside and Abbie said down on the grass and said “I’m psssing!!”.  And then she got up and said, “All done!”.   I have to admit, I laughed.  **Okay, my mom just informed me that when she puts Abbie on the potty, she says “Go pssss!”.  No wonder Abbie is saying that now!

*We were out on the boat on the river when we spotted a pair of A-10’s flying around.  (I think they were in town for the air show coming up this weekend.)  We pointed them out to Abbie and we all had fun watching them.  After a little while we lost track of them and all 6 of us (my parents, myself, my sisters kids – aged 4 and 6, and Abbie) were searching the skies for them.  And wouldn’t you know, Abbie was the one to spot them first and point them out to everyone else.  She pointed at them and yelled “There are the jets!!”  She’s definitely her daddy’s girl.

The turtle

Last week my parents found a turtle on their way home from town, so they decided to pick it up and bring it home to show Abbie.  Abbie was most interested in it, and wasn’t afraid to touch even right away.

We decided to put it in Abbie’s little pool overnight and of course Abbie wanted to hold it before we put it in the pool.  She’s such a curious little thing.  She really had to inspect it thoroughly before she was willing to put it down.

After she put the turtle in her pool she had to stand back and observe him for a while.  (She looks like she’s about 10 in this picture, instead of 2!)

The next day we took the turtle back to where my parents had found it and returned him to his home.  He took off as soon as my mom put him down and I’ve honestly never seen a turtle move as fast as he did on his way to the water.


**If you haven't done so already, don't forget to enter my giveaway here!**

A day at the farm

My good friend, Rachel, has 2 horses that she keeps at a small barn that has LOTS of animals.  She invited Abbie and Cam and Miles (my sister’s two kids) out for a ride on her beloved horse, Jay.  (We usually call him Jay Jay Angel.)
This little barn had four mini’s and a donkey, who I could have taken about 3000 pictures of in itself.  The thing was ADORABLE!

Cam and Abbie enjoyed petting a cat, and Cam also held it.  Then they got to pet the GIANT rabbits!  I guess these are the largest breed of rabbit, and they were really cute!

And then we walked down to the barn to see the horses.  Abbie was VERY hesitant around the horses and she was clinging pretty tightly to my mom and me.  She said “Me no like horses” more than once, but I’m glad she had a little fear verses being completely unafraid of these huge animals.

The boys had a great time riding Jay.  Jay is close to 30 years old and he was used as a lesson horse that barn I taught at for many years.  He’s a very laid back and easy going animal that’s pretty much seen it all and just goes along with it.  He’s a very good boy.

Abbie wanted me to hold her hand at first when she got on, but about halfway around the ring I convinced her to just hang on to the horn and she did really well!

She looks so tiny up there!  But she talked about riding Jay Jay Angel (and yes, she calls him Jay Jay Angel) for DAYS afterwards!

After the boys trotted around on Jay for a while and we got the group shot, we went to feed treats to the donkey and the mini’s and Jay.

And then we got to play with the dogs!  (They also had 5 dogs, including a weina dog puppy that I was VERY tempted to take home with me.  I LOVED him!!!)

Thanks for letting the kids ride your pony Rach!  I appreciate you taking time out of your day off to show us around the farm.  Let me know when I can take more pics of you and Jay and Tequila!



**If you haven't done so already, don't forget to enter my giveaway here!**

Fabric for charm quilt

Yesterday my mom and I (and Abbie, who was a huge help – NOT) went to Joann’s.  My MIL had gotten me a gift card for there for Mother’s Day and I they were having good sales so we went to check it out.
I got 2 quilting pattern books for 40% off each of them.  One is for charm packs and one is for jelly rolls.  (For those unfamiliar with quilting terms, a charm is a 5x5 piece of fabric and a jelly roll is 2 1/2 x 40” strips of fabric, as seen at the bottom of the Jelly Roll Quilts book.)

This is the pattern I plan on using for the fabric I got,

and this is the fabric I chose for that quilt.

 

Choosing the fabric is half the fun of making a quilt, although it’s not quite as “fun” with a 2 year old who needs a nap in tow.  But I managed to pick it out and I’m excited about it.  I’m not sure when I’ll make this quilt, since I don’t have tons of time to quilt, but I’m glad to have the fabric to take back to Italy with me.  My goal is to get enough fabric to make at least 5-6 quilts and take it back with me since I have to buy fabric online when I’m over there.  Italy has zilch as far as quilting fabric, and the VERY small selection they do have is much more expensive than what you can get in the States.  So even the Italian quilters buy their fabric online from the States.  And online fabric shopping isn’t nearly as fun as buying it in person and being able to hold different fabrics up to each other to compare colors and stuff.
I’ll try to take pictures of the other fabric I’ve bought for various quilts soon.  I’m planning on doing this quilt-along next, and I have the layer cakes for it already, I just need to find binding and backing for it.  I’ll probably wait until I have the quilt top done to do that though so I can just take it to the store with me to compare colors.
I just love fabric and creating stuff with fabric.  I wish I had more time to do it and was better at it, but even though I do it rarely and I’m not very good, it’s fun to try.  And it’s fun to have a stack of quilt tops that I’ve made to look at.

**If you haven't done so already, don't forget to enter my giveaway!!**

Friday fill-in

1. Have you (spouse) ever considered joining the military and what do you think of dual military couples? submitted by Project Army Wife  I did think about joining the Air Force as a nurse when I was in nursing school, but obviously that didn’t end up happening.  More power to dual military couples.  I sure couldn’t do it, but if they can, great!
2. What is your idea of a perfect Sunday afternoon? submitted by A Few of My Favorite Things  At this point, just having my husband home and being together as a family sounds perfect.  Doesn’t matter what we do, but Sunday afternoon naps are the best!
3. What do you usually do for the 4th of July holiday? submitted by Anchor’s Away  We don’t have a “usually” for any holiday yet.  We’ve moved 5 times in our 5 years of marriage so we haven’t really established many holiday traditions.
4. If they could make an Olympic event JUST for you that you know you’d medal in, what would it be? submitted by Pants are Confusing  Afternoon napping while snuggling with my weinas.  I’m a professional at that, especially lately.  Isn’t that first trimester fatigue supposed to be better by now??  I’m over 16 weeks pregnant!
5. What have you been doing to get yourself bathing suit ready for the summer? submitted by Not Just an Army Wife  LOLOL!  Uh, nothing?  Again, I’m 16+ weeks pregnant…  I don’t think anything I do at this point is going to make me “bathing suit ready”.  =)

**If you haven't done so already, don't forget to enter my giveaway!!**

July giveaway!

Since I’ve been back in the States, I’ve been on the hunt for a decent daily face cream.  I’ve tried a few in the past – mostly cheaper ones you can get at Target and Wal-Mart, but they didn’t seem to help my dry face at all.  I looked at Macy’s but just couldn’t justify paying $80+ for 2 oz of face cream, even if it did work wonders (which I don’t know if they did because I didn’t buy any).

And then I discovered L’Oreal’s Youth Code.  I wanted something with SPF in it, and I wanted it to smell decent, but not be completely overpowering.  And I wanted it to work on the dry skin I have on my face.  This lotion fits all my criteria and then some.  I seriously love it!

So I wanted to share my good find with one of my followers!   To enter this giveaway, please leave me a comment and tell me your favorite names for boys and girls.  (Mark and I are still trying to think of name options for baby #2.)  Please make sure that you leave your email in the comment if you have your profile set to no-reply, and again, this giveaway is only for people that follow my blog.  I will only ship to US or APO addresses.

I’ll be picking a winner on July 10th, so be sure to leave a comment before then!  Good luck!

Disclaimer:  This giveaway is sponsored by me only. 

Baby quilt done!

I recently sent my friend, Erika, a quilt that I made for her baby, Elise, who’s now a month old.  I had every intention to have it finished before Elise was born, but honestly, I was terrified to try free-motion quilting for the first time.  So it took me a while to get the guts to try it.  It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I think they’ll still like it anyway.

Here’s a picture of the front and back.  I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out, even though there are quite a few mistakes.  This is the 2nd quilt I’ve completely finished, so I didn’t expect it to be perfect.  I had fun making it and I learned a lot also.

Oliver is my trusty side-kick, as usual.

Congrats on your beautiful baby girl, Erika and Brian!  Sorry your gift was so late!

100 minus 4

Last Sunday we had a birthday party for my 96 year old grandma.  Could you imagine living to be 96?  I asked her if she felt like she was 96 and she said that no, she didn’t and she couldn’t believe she was.  She’s doing really well considering she’s only 4 years away from being a century old!

We have a fairly small family and most of us were at the party.  The younger cousins had fun spending time together.  Of course any sort of electronic is going to keep them riveted for quite a while.

Kyle (the older cousin) had fun doing an “egg cracking” simulation on Miles (orange shirt) and Cameron (white tank top).

My family is full of people that like to take pictures, so there were cameras galore at our little gathering.

My uncle Jerry and Aunt Claire made the trip out from Colorado for the special occasion.  My parents, Abbie and I are going to Denver to visit them in August and I’m pretty excited about that trip.

My Godmother, Avis and her husband John came also.  Avis was one of my mom’s college roommates.  John and my dad always have a lot to talk about.

Marc (below with Miles) is my cousin, and Allison (below with Abbie) is his wife.  They took all the younger kids to a nearby park for a while.  I was worried that Abbie was going to be a handful as she sometimes can be, but they said she was great when they got back, so that was good to hear.  I’m always worried that friends and family are going to think my kid is a holy terror, especially when I’m not around, but they seemed to enjoy their time with her, so I was relieved.  Allison said it reminded her of when her kids were Abbie’s age.

Abbie and my grandma are 94 years apart in age!  Abbie enjoyed seeing her great-grandma and I’m glad I got a few pictures to capture the moments.

Since grandma wasn’t able to attend Abbie’s birthday party last month, she gave her her gift last week.

She gave Abbie her first tiny necklace.  I think this is my favorite picture that I took all day.  There’s just something so symbolic about an elderly person’s hands.  Just thinking about everything those hands have touched, how much food they’ve made, how many people they’ve helped – it’s just amazing really.  I think I would recognize my grandma’s hands anywhere.

We also got another 4 generation photo with my grandma, mom, Abbie and myself.  I can definitely see the resemblance between my grandma and Abbie.

And one more of my little stinker.  She’s full of funny faces!