Count down

Summer is coming to an end around here. The days are getting shorter, cooler, and the start of school is a little over a week away. We have to squeeze in as many more fun things as we can.

Yesterday we went with my mom (Yeah, we do a lot f fun things with my mom) to see a lighthouse.


The view from the top was beautiful. You could see NY on the horizon. Simon swore he could see the Statue of Liberty. My eyes must not be all that good after all.

I tried to get a good picture of the kids while we were up there. They were all lined up after all. Just a little smile is all I wanted.

"Hey guys, turn around so I can take your picture." This is what I got.


There were lots of tight turning stairs to get to the top though. Seth made me carry him back down. Yikes!


Next week we have something planned everyday. Busy bees we are. Philadelphia, peach picking, playdates, beach, etc. Somewhere in there I have to get ready for the kids to go back to school. I don't want to go through the warm clothes yet. It feels so final. Admitting summer is over. I actually enjoyed summer this year and feel like it's ending too soon. I think this is a first for me. Usually I can't stand it and I want it to be fall in mid July.

Did it, did it!

I actually finished the baby quilt yesterday! I shirked all my parenting duties on Wednesday and sat around in my pj's working on the quilt. Seth played on the computer and watched a few shows.

I pieced to top...

Basted it...

Stippled it...

And finally, bound it.

I finished the binding on Thursday morning and I even manage to get a label on it and get it washed! Phew.

The quilt came to together really quickly and really well. I love this one. Thankfully the mama I gave it to yesterday also loved it.

Baby quilt

As you can see I went with what I wanted. I had envisioned a quilt with nothing but little square in square blocks from edge to edge. Even though it turned out to be a pain the rear to make all these little devil squares and it probably won't be ready in two days, I made it the way I thought I wanted it to look anyway. She'll have to wait for her quilt I guess. Maybe if I do nothing but quilt for the next two days I'll finish it!

Nah, the kids might get hungry...

I love the fabrics in this quilt because they are left overs from the two quilts Hannah and I made for Seth before he was born. I didn't know I was having a boy, honest. I made the one on the left by myself and Hannah and I made the one on the right together.

Working farm

Once again we went to Long Street Farm. I think it's really neat there even if Tiff, who came with us, doesn't like nature very much. :)

Here's some pitures, just because.

Must touch all the animals.

He fed the horse lots of hay.

So did she.

"Yuck, don't touch the muddy pigs!" At least, I was hoping it was mud! Didn't smell like mud though.

Ah, it's so calm and beautiful there...

Of peaches and jam

Wow. Making jam is hard work I tell ya. Making this...

Into this...
Takes a while.

It seems so simple when you read the instructions. 4 hours of hard work turned the peaches into scrumptious peach jam. It was lots of fun though (I guess I am sadistic, huh?). I'd never done any canning before. I also have to say I had no idea how much sugar was really in jam. For each 4 cups of crushed peaches you added 7.5 cups of sugar! Holy crap. No wonder jelly and jam are so sweet. We were worried about messing with the recipe since it was our first attempt at making jam. Next time, with smaller batches, we'll mess with it.

I managed to make the blocks for the baby quilt. I am debating whether or not to do more little blocks to get it to the size I want (7 x 8 so I'd have to make 26 more blocks) or just doing borders since I'd like to be done with it this week. I'll stipple quilt it a) since I know how and b) because it's quick. What do you think, more blocks or borders?

Trains and ice cream

Yesterday we went on a train ride. The park has a play area so the kids played and we ate lunch before heading over to the train.


It wasn't all that exciting from my perspective, after all the train went around in a circle, but Seth was certainly thrilled. They rode up high in the caboose.


I heard Seth proclaim, "Me ridin' train, mommy! Me ridin' train!" It's the little things that are so cool for kids. At this point in Seth's little 2 year old life trains, tractors, and dirt are just about the coolest things ever!

I took this picture out the back window of the caboose. I think it's kinda neat.

Today, I was hosting a MOMS Club event at my house called Silly Snack. I decided to make ice cream. We almost didn't get to make any ice cream though. I went to the grocery store I usually use and they didn't have any rock salt. They actually looked at me like I was asking for crack. I explained multiple times that you use it to make ice cream not just to melt ice in the winter. It sounds all wrong doesn't it. Can be used to make a delicious treat for children and strong enough eat ice off your sidewalk. Sounds yummy! Anyway, I called a few stores and found one that had it. Phew. What fun would a silly snack be if you didn't have to work for it.

Here is the recipe we used if you'd like to try it yourself. It was fun and messy. I was too busy filling bags with ice and shaking up the ice cream to get any good pictures.


Oh, not that you'd expect any quilt up dates but I am going to give it a go. I have to take my aunts quilt in this weekend. I completely forgot to take it in... oops. Not like it doesn't already take months to get them back from the machine quilter anyway. I also am going to throw together a quick baby quilt for one of the mamas I know out here. She just had her 3rd baby at home. I would have loved to have been there but birth isn't a spectator sport. Here are the stash fabrics I want to use.


Tomorrow, my mom and I will attempt to can some peaches. Stay tuned.

Dislocated shoulder

My dear husband slipped on the stairs last night and dislocated his shoulder! It looked so wrong and he was in a lot of pain. Our friend John came over to the house in case the midgets woke up and I hurried him off to the ER to sit and wait. Almost 2 hours after he dislocated it they got it back in place. He was quit loopy from the Demerol. We finally got out of there about 2:45 am. He's doing alright. His shoulder obviously hurts like hell.

Back to reality

Vegas at night.

Day.

Hey, wasn't I just there?

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

I had a whirlwind trip full of fun and late nights. Las Vegas is sort of well, weird. Bright flashy lights, half naked people, money, and alcohol to fuel it all. My cousin ran around yelling at the top of her lungs, "I'm f***ing 21!!!" and most people cheered for her.

I ended up staying the hotel with my family because Michelle couldn't do the late night stuff. She works at 6 am. Can't blame her one bit. It was wonderful to see her though.

MGM Grand, where we stayed.

We walked a lot too. Everywhere you wanted to go was a hike. Hell, just leaving the hotel was a long walk. Those places are huge with everything you need right inside of them. There was even a lion habitat inside the MGM Grand.


Michelle suggested we take everyone to dinner at Dick's Last Resort one night. OMG, it was so fun. They give you shit, you give them a hard time and it's really funny. They made big paper hats for us to wear that said obscene things on them. Mine said, "All my toys require car batteries." I think Chris had the best one. At least, I laughed the hardest at his.

Miranda's says, "For my 21st I want all 21 shots to my face." Chris, " I fart KY Jelly."

Then she got a lap dance from fat guy in a g-string called Taco.


I didn't drag my camera with me everywhere. It was hard to get night shots so I left it in the room most of the time. Of course at night you could see some nasty things... like roaches crawling around...

A few of our other adventures include- Swimming in the lazy river with inner tubes. Hoping on the inclinator at the Luxor (the elevator goes at an angle because of the pyramid shape of the hotel). Drinking with some Canadians who apparently love tube steak jokes. Walking ALL the way from our hotel down to Treasure Island to catch the Pirate Show at 11:30 pm.

It was all very fun. I have now had my Las Vegas experience. There were tons of things that we could have done that we missed. I don't know if that means I need to run back there anytime soon but I did want to see some shows and go dancing. I suppose I should mention I also fed a few dollars to the slot machines. They were very hungry.

Next on the agenda

We had a great time while Laura was here and we sent her home on Wednesday with quite the sunburn. I saw her put sunscreen on. Really. But she turned into a lobster anyway. Hey, at least when she's home in CO and people ask her how come she so burned she can tell them she was on the beach. When we were at the beach Laura went with the older two kids way out in the water. So far that I had to not watch because I was getting too nervous. I could tell that the ground stayed rather level but they were so far out!!! AHHH. They are still alive and my heart is still beating too.

Do you see the specks in the middle of the picture sooo far away that I can't even zoom in on them? Yeah, that's my kids with Laura.

I focused on Seth and playing in the sand instead.


Who wants to come visit next? Yeah, I know. It's probably our turn to come back to Denver but 5 airplane tickets for the whole famn damily isn't exactly free.

Yesterday the kids and I went to my moms to do some canning. In our brilliant "thinking it out" process we didn't get the peaches early so ah, well be canning those next weekend when they are ripened. We did however have a fabulous time strolling through her local farmers market, making fresh pesto for lunch, and making some home made salsa with most of the ingredients from her garden.


I had fun. How big of a dork am I? I love doing things like that. I'll have to pick up some pint sized jars for next weekend though.

Well, I better get off of the computer and finish packing. I leave for Vegas today. It's gonna be a long day too. My cousin turns 21 after midnight... it will be 3 am my time... I think I might be a bit delirious tomorrow.

Hey, maybe after I get back I could get in a bit of quilting. After all what is life without quilting?

Total tourists

Laura and I packed in a lot in one day in the city! Purely for entertainment value we decided to take the Staten Island Ferry into NYC.


Once there we had to figure out which subway train to take to get us to the Guggenheim Museum. There are so many freakin' subway trains!

We took the 4 line to 86th St. Found a nice little Italian place called Bella Cucina to have some lunch and walked the rest of the way to the Guggenheim.


May I just say, and this is coming out of ignorance so I should bite my tongue, I don't understand art. At all. The exhibit was Loiuse Bourgeois' work. Most of her sculptures I just didn't get. I did like her "Cells" that she has done more recently. I think I'll stick with quilting. I get that.

After we finished up there we sat outside Central Park and looked at our little subway map to see where to go next. Rockerfeller Center.

Back to the subway. We got off at Grand Central Station. Wow, what a building!

While walking toward Rockerfeller Center we passed the NYC Library. I'd love to go back there. It was a huge beautiful building. You know, were Carrie (SATC) was to be married. There was also a huge street fair going on 6th Ave. I don't know what it was for but it was fun to walk around it.

This is where they film the Today Show.

We thought about doing the Top of the Rock thing but we didn't want to pay $20 just to see the city from the top of the building. I'll go back and do it some other time.

Next on our stop, Times Square. I don't think I'll ever get over how many people are there all the time.


Then back on the subway to our last stop for the day. Ground Zero. I just wanted to see it.


All done for the day. We stopped by Starbucks (Sorry mom, they didn't have any mugs) as we walked back to the South St Ferry Terminal. It was a day full of sight seeing and we didn't even see much. Guess I'll have to go back.