Aprons

Here is a really cute, very functional apron pattern that I found. After such a difficult week I needed to create something. The pink polka dot is for Christopher's kindergarten teacher and the blue flower is for my sister Heater, who will be returning to China on Monday. If anyone is interested in one I will make one for you for $15 plus cost of fabric.

The Martins

For those of you who are wondering...Who is this Wendy person she keeps referring to...it is my best friend and this is her and her family. Nick, her husband, is in the Navy and has been selected to complete a PhD program in Maryland. So they moved away in July of this year. They have two really great kids, Tana 7 and Andrew 3, of which Christopher and Joshua miss immensely!

The Martins stayed with us for about a week after their stuff was packed up into a moving van.On one of our last nights together the 2 big boys constructed the Lego Millenium Falcon while Wendy and I watched a sappy chick flick. We miss them beyond expression!

Run, Steve, Run!

Doesn't he look like a champ? Dispite his injured knee he has found a way to cope with the pain. Instead of running on the asphalt, he does an incline circut on the treadmill for 40 minutes. Mixing it up every other day with weightlifting. He is by my estimation in the best shape ever!

It's all Chinese to me

The boys are just having way too much fun with their cousins from China. It's nice to have a crowd around. Elijah is speaking a little bit of English and Chinese as well as some other words that he has made up all on his own...perhaps a hybrid of English and Chinese. Aidan speaks very clearly in English and can count to 10 in Chinese.

A couple of visits from the Tooth Fairy

Christopher has lost his 1st two teeth and now a top front tooth is loose. Hopefully they don't all fall out at once.

Kindergarten

Today is the day! Christopher's 1st day of kindergarten! He was so very excited. He had been asking "Do I go to Kindergarten today?" since the last day of preschool. I was finally able to say today is the day!!! And I didn't even cry.

Three little bumpkins

While Heather and Jojo are in LA we are taking care of Aidan. He has worked his way in to our little clan just fine and seems to be quite happy to be just another half naked little boy running around getting dirty and stuffing his face with what every he can find to eat.

Happy Birthday to you

We had a joint birthday party for the 3 kids born in August.
Joshua is 3 and loves loves loves trains and race cars. He likes cupcakes, but not the icing. And "Bwuder" is his "bestfwend" whom he "wuvs so much"!

Logan is 5 now and will also be starting Kindergarten in about 2 weeks. He is really doing well at karate and swims like a fish!

For those of you who have not seen Londyn, my only niece, lately...here she is in all her glory. She is now a whopping 1 years old and loving every minute of it. The night of the big birthday party after she went to bed she decided that all the yummy things that she consumed for the first time ever, like pizza, candy and cupcakes, were all too good not to be viewed again. So she spit it all up in her crib...MMMM, YUMMY!

Skypebooking anybody?

Now this will be a repeat for those of you who view Wendy's blog, but it was too cute a picture not to put this on my site as well. We started "Skypebooking" 6:00pm my time (9:00pm her time) and crafted for about 4 hours. We now proved to ourselves that it is possible to bond no matter near or far.

Also on the cutting table

This is a quilt that I am working on for Uncle Fred. He is a retired track coach and has one too many t-shirts lying around. Perhaps we can put them to better use? I hope to be sending off to my friend Sally, who has her own quilting business, to be quilted together in time for Christmas. I'll keep you posted.

On the cutting table

This is a Christmas quilt that I am currently working on for Quilters Quarters, a small quilt shop in downtown Hanford. A little brightly colored for my taste, but easy none-the-less. It is the second quilt that I have done applique on. I should be done with it soon, infact, I should be working on it right now.

Wii-laxing

Heather and Jojo are back from China for just a short while to raise some more support and to tie up some lose ends with INS. They came to visit us in Hanford for a couple of days before heading on to LA. Hopefully in the midst of all the hard work of support raising they are able to find some time to goof around and relax.

Felt fun

Thank you for the great felt book Grammy Anne. As you can see the boys are having a terrific time creating imaginative creatures. Joshua directed and Christopher created.

Summer fun

We had a get-together for the end of the summer celebration just to keep ties and a total of 8 adults and 9 children showed up. Steve cooked really yummy chicken and tri-tip, which we are still living off of 3 days later! The adults all had fun catching up on summer activities and the kids had a blast playing in the water in the backyard. Farwell long summer days.

Keeping in touch

I am so inspired by Wendy's amazing ability to stay connected to all that care to know what she and her family are up to and create a wonderful memorabilia for her kids. So I have decided to give this a go and see if I have the tenacity to stick with it. Wish me luck and visit me often!