The Faces I Love

I ran across these pics and realized I had never posted them and they are probably some of my favorites. 

Airborne & Special Operations Museum

Fayetteville, NC

 Seated and ready to jump

 Look guys there's someone back there. No really. . .

 Iron Mike

Troy, Eric, and Jacob

Tryon Palace

New Bern, NC

 Look, it's our backyard.......LOL

yeah right.

READY...SET...GO...

 racing through the garden

 O.K. the look on Eric's face here is AWESOME!!

I see you brother 

Off to the Palace 

 Sailing the "Sturdy Beggar"

The canoe formed from fire.

Out of all the wonderful activities they have at Tryon and the new History Center (which were awesome), Eric's favorite was riding the huge golf cart back to the parking lot. The man driving was an older retired Marine and when he stopped by our car to drop us off Eric started crying and saying "more, more, more". Well, he didn't get let down and he got to go for a big circle around the parking lot and he even sat in the front seat. I will NEVER forget the look on Eric's face when he came around the last corner. If there was ever a bigger smile in the world I never saw it. He redefined smiling from ear to ear!! Thanks to all the people at Tryon that made our visit so special!!

Accountable Kids

Well, these are MY words of wisdom for the week... 

Our family has been using Accountable Kids for about 9 months now and I can't sing it's praise enough. I happened upon it while on a search for the perfect chore chart. Their instructional video mentions all the things I had been concerned about. I had 2 kids with serious "I want" issues and I was a tired momma trying to keep the house in order. I was left wondering where they got the feeling they were so entitled to EVERYTHING. They have always had to pick up their toy's every night but this added another element. It really made them realize how important they are as members of our family (and how to help momma not go insane). I am happy to report things have changed, and all for the good!! I have 2 happy helpers that have responsibilities they know they have to do everyday to earn their privileges. They also know exactly what they have to do to earn their own money to buy a special toy. One thing I never expected was for them to be SOOOOOOO excited about flipping their last chore cards for the day. I love the sound of, "NO MORE CARDS" (think of a kid yelling this really loud and then turn up the volume another 3 notches). It's just a little star sticker but it means so much to me and to them. Well, I could sing it's praises all day but try it out for yourself.

Words of Wisdom By Jacob...

"Mommy, this cinnamon sugar is falling off my raisin toast like, hair falls off a dog and feathers fall off a bird."

Hmmmm. O.K.

Good to know!!

I can already tell this is going to be an interesting day. The boy's will not leave each other alone and I have a lot to get done. Ready or not here I go. Off to the sofa for school and we'll take it one thing at a time from there. Have a good day!!

I Got Mail

Thing #1
I got goodies in the mail today!! Woo Hoo!!

I have been checking out Camille Roskelley's book "Simplify, Quilts for the Modern Home" for awhile and it came in the mail today!! So many fun projects and so many beautiful ideas and thoughts. I can't wait to get quilting!! Also, if you are at all interested in quilting check her blog out as well. It is a great read and she has the most adorable little boy's!! This box also had "How to Train Your Dragon" in it. Jacob broke our first copy so I have 2 little happy campers again!!

Thing #2
My second package of goodies, courtesy of Fat Quarter Shop (if you haven't checked them out you are missing out people), had a few charm packs to finish up some projects and their notion of the month, Fons & Porter Quarter Inch Seam Markers, for marking perfect triangles. I have NEVER done a perfect triangle so this is a welcome tool!!

It really is the little things in life that thrill me!!
Happy Quilting!!

Organization??

Well, if there is one thing I strive for it's a sense of order in our home. Let me tell you there are times when I have my moments of brilliance and then there are those times when I have epic failures. I realized this morning I had both of these things sitting not 4 feet from each other. Case in point:

Lego's organized to within an inch of their lives...

and the junk pile.

Now all the other toy's have a place (i.e. special basket, or bin) that they go in but this large bucket I guess has become our overflow or the "look mom I'm all done picking up" area. What to do, what to do?? O.K. I secretly know the answer is to down size the toy load but those colder months are coming up which means more indoor time. I WILL come up with a solution (see how i'm trying to convince even myself) and let you know how it pans out. I often think how much i would love a professional organizer to come and give our house a look. Would I get an A, B or an "oh lady, just light a match". I would like to think I'm some where in the A-, B+ area. Where do you fall? (And yes Kristy W. you are an A+++!! Lady you could organize a hurricane!! You have a gift!!)

My other love.....

O.K. so I totally LOVE a great deal. These sites have been my new loves:

Rue La La
This site features different things everyday at huge discounts from great brands. Another cool thing Rue La La does is have you pay shipping once and then it's free shipping on ALL your purchases for the next 30 days. Wooo Hooo!!
http://www.ruelala.com/invite/tsayler

Ebates
I was turned onto this by a friend (Thanks Sarah). It is a site that pays you money for shopping online. You get a $10.00 gift card just for signing up and then when you need to buy something online you enter their site, find the store you are going to shop at (they have hundreds of them Gap, Sears, Land's End, Barnes & Noble etc.) click on the store and they create a tracking ticket. Enter your site as usual and when you make a purchase Ebates credits your ebates account and mails you a check. I'm not kidding. I've gotten checks. How cool is that!!
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=MmmkItAMzvyY%2FuxkgUgvpg%3D%3D

Check them out and tell me what you think!!

Why I LOVE to quilt

 I love that this.....

...can turn into this... 

..with A LOT of ironing and a good sewing machine.

The other bonus of this pillow project is that you don't really know what it's going to look like until you pull back all the edges to expose the fabric beneath. I am really pleased with the results. I think it will look great on the sofa for fall! Oh, and mom I hope you like it because I am sending it to you!!


BTW - The free pattern I used for this pillow came from:
http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/04/charming-window-pillows.html#more
It looks kind of intimidating but it really isn't. The instructions are so well written you will be able to tackle it. I know you can!!

P.S. I totally messed it up and had to re-iron the last step of ironing because I flipped it before i folded instead of leaving it the way it was and ironing up the corners. I guess I didn't read those great instructions all that well. Oops!! So you can probably do it better. LOL!!

Fresh Start

Wow, I have really let this blog go by the wayside. I have let Facebook picture posting take it's place but I much prefer the story telling that happens on my blog. Soooooo.......what am I going to do about that. Well, I guess this is my chance to start fresh. Lots of new things are happening this year. This is my first year homeschooling the kiddos. Preschool has been challenging, amazing and more rewarding than I ever thought possible. It has really revealed our families strengths and weaknesses (I really enjoy the relaxed learning and the freedom to stop and play out the stories, Jacob has an amazing ear for detail and can answer any question you ask about something we read, Eric always has the right answer and it is ALWAYS Why-lie (his word for Lightning McQueen from Cars) and Troy continues to expand our vocabularies at the dinner table (very interesting to hear him explain politics to a 4 year old). Most of all it has really inspired us all to rediscover our love of learning (and playing). I have also rediscovered my love of quilting and sewing. I have tried to reignite my love of scrapbooking but I'm not sure it's working. So here I go. Let's see what lands on these pages from my busy life.