Emerson's First Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Emerson!! The official turning one day is not until Wednesday, but we celebrated Emerson yesterday with a huge party at her house. The day was beautiful, but the sun did not shine as bright as this little darling did!She made her rounds to her guests and was the perfect hostess...of course, Grandma and Paw Paw got their time in!! She had a gorgeous Princess theme and her cake was a beautiful castle.........complete with her fellow Princesses!
A special cake was made just for the birthday girl!!
Before cake, there were presents to open!
She sat nice on her mommy's lap.....for about a second and then she was ready to do her own thing!I wish you could have seen her face when she saw this baby doll. Her mouth went into a big O and she was just amazed!
That baby had a binky and she loved putting the binky in and out!TJ was SO good....he did not have an issue with his sister getting gifts. He was a sweetheart through the whole party!

I think TJ's favorite person in the world is his Uncle JJ (Rachel's uncle). I know....hard for me to admit, but JJ is a FUN guy! Here he is teaching TJ the finer points of the NFL....Finally, it was time for CAKE!Happy birthday to you......happy birthday to you.....happy birthday dear Emerson.....That's my girl!!! Grandmammy (Rachel's mom) took over clean up!It was a wonderful day for Emerson and a great time for all of us!! That girl was so tired by the end of the day, she was in bed for the night before 7 pm!Thanks for stopping by to see my granddaughter's celebration!!

Saving Grace

This is one of my favorite pictures. It speaks volumes!!!

I am taking a break from blogging, in case you had not noticed. I plan to be back on Monday with pics from Emerson's 1st birthday, but not sure how much time I will have to blog in the near future. Homeschooling is going great and life is happening. I plan to check in with my blog list, just not everyday, but promise I won't be gone from Pieces From Me forever. Take time to count your blessings and give some of your day to Him.

Cotton Gag-Me Pink

I have a deadline. A BIG ONE!!! In 100 days I need to have this completely done PLUS several table toppers completed! So why am I not pounding away on the Basket Case??? Over the last year, I have worked on several quilts. Most were baby quilts, one was a lap quilt. All were hand quilted (except the one done as a joint effort with Coleen). First was the hand applique, hand quilted, SBS for Emerson...... I loved making this quilt.Then the Star Sampler for my sister....all colors I love, so it was not a stretch for me.Then I jumped right on the Peter Rabbit challenge at Easter time. LOTS of pink and lavender, yellows, and baby blues....All the while I was still working on the pink and brown quilt....the never ending albatross that will one day be my best work.Then the baby quilt with all those leftover pastels....by now I am gagging.And of course the Basket Case is all pastels.....
I feel like I have overdosed on cotton candy this year! So why am I not pounding away on the baskets???? Why am I making trees????
Trees that do not have a deadline, or a hint of cotton gag-me pink in them???......
Trees that take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to make.......
Why do I want to spend my hours making 12 more trees when I have a deadline to meet??? I have no answer. I do know I have to be stopped!!! I need to put down my rotary cutter and step away from the trees!

I plan to make a list of quilting goals and do a challenge with my friend Sue. She is a great one to keep me accountable. She has her list done through Dec 2010....not sure if I will go that far. With all I have going, maybe I will need to!! I do know the trees will be on that list!

Tomorrow school starts.

The kids are excited to start a new year. It will be a fun day....the 4 of them will be here and we will go over schedules and what will be required of each child. Anya and Alphia will only be here part time and will be doing school at home part time. We will do no actual school work except Bible, where we will learn the author of the book of Romans, the reason it was written and some background to help us understand it better. After that we will be taking a trip to the Borders Bookstore where each child will chose a book to read at home. They are required to spend 20 minutes or more each day reading outside of school. Charlotte will do much more, but the other kids I am not sure of.

I guess I better go do some dinner prep and then grab that quilting needle....I am pretty sure I am on a pink basket......

Decorating

How are you all spending your long weekend?? We are working. Yes....working on Labor Day. Sweetheart is working on the outside, and I am working on the inside. I put up some fall decorations today.
Not a lot....less than usual, but it is easy to get a fall feel in my home because I use fall colors to decorate all year long.I even put out my pilgrims and turkey planter. I know it is way too soon, but I like them, so I decided to enjoy them a little longer this year.A few extra splashes of Autumn color and some cinnamon scent and there you have it! Winona made me these wonderful harvest themed coasters last year. I spread them around to all the end tables in the room.
It all ends up being subtle little additions to a room that already has a fall feeling to it.One room in my house that needed special attention, was my bedroom.
The dust was thick and out of control!!! See the plea??? "Dust Me". I did a deep clean in here today!!!
Not a speck left!!!!! Dusted, vacuumed, and decluttered, with fresh washed sheets and starched pillow cases.....Now I can kick back for a while between loads of laundry. I may quilt....I may read....I may sew. What ever it is, I will enjoy it!

I had the grandkids yesterday.

They are out of town today with their parents, visiting their other grandparents. They will be back Monday, but I sure enjoyed my time with them yesterday!!! Lots of TJ snuggles (which I don't get too often any more) and Emerson is just as darling as could be. She seemed to want a nap at one point, but only rested for a while. My son and Rachel came to get them after dinner and spent a couple of hours with us too. It was wonderful to have my whole family here at once. With my son's work schedule, that does not happen too often. He just got off 11, ten hour nights in a row, so he can enjoy his long weekend while he plays in a golf tournament with his father in law.

I can hear all the kids (mine, plus the neighborhood) playing kickball in the backyard. Sweetheart is working in the front yard and I could take advantage of being in the house by myself.....I think my rotary cutter is calling me!!!!

Feeling Fall

It is in the air!! Fall. I love this time of year, though I am not ready for winter, so I am praying we have a long Autumn season. Sweetheart's sunflowers are blooming. He has 3. One is fully bloomed, and one is just starting to open up.The other one is still closed up.

I found a treasure today. I have been wanting this certain table cloth for over a year. I even posted about it last year. Well I found it today for $7.99!!It is wonderful! I love all the colors and it reminds me of patchwork, so that is a plus! I moved the table runner to the breakfast bar again. This table runner is probably 10-12 years old. It was the first one I ever made. It has been washed a gazillion times and is still in mint condition...well, I guess the fabrics are a tad faded.

I did no quilting today. I plan to spend tonight hand quilting, but my plans to quilt today were thwarted by the mailman. Two new (used) books were delivered.I am thrilled to read both of these. I spent some time in the one on food allergies today. It is very interesting, and I am certain I suffer from food allergies. Hopefully, I will discover what to do about it! One thing I know....whole foods as much as possible. I made whole wheat bread from scratch yesterday and ground up some slices into bread crumbs for tonight's meat loaf. I put the rest in a baggie in the freezer. Better than processed. I am not reacting to wheat (I don't think), but preservatives and high fructose corn syrup are horrid in my body. I had meat loaf made with all natural ingredients, baked potato, and green beans for dinner. Nothing that should have bothered me. Still I am itchy and for about 1/2 an hour after I ate, had a hard rapid heart beat. I guess it could be the Marie Callendar Coconut Cream Pie I ate after dinner........After checking the box (after I ate some) it contains high fructose corn syrup AND a form of the preservative, glutamate. *sigh* Also, I am pausing (click here if you are pausing too), so who the heck knows!! I know I am sick and tired of being sick and tired and I am the only one who can fix it. Enough whining! I need to educate myself, but for this evening I will quilt!

Oh My Goodness!!!!

I am in awe of this woman!! She never raises her voice...she is never too busy for one of her 18 children...she is an amazing example of Biblical Womanhood!!!! When I grow up, I want to be just like Michelle Duggar!!!

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