Yeah Me

I finished my latest quilt.  (The crowd goes wild!!)  It is actually quilted, bound and beaded.  (Woo-Ho)  I know you are all impressed.  But, seriously the thing sat and taunted me for at least 2 months.  I didn't know what design to quilt on it, so i let it hang in my closet.  I finally decided to have it done for today's quilting meeting and i was super happy with the end result.

SEE....  

 

I quilted a falling leaf pattern down the center and twirls down the sides.  It reminded me of Autumn and so logically, leaves and wind followed.  And then the whole idea of motion of the leaves and the wind mixing.  

I decided next to bead it with tiny glass beads. Reminds me a little of the sight chill in the air that Autumn sometimes has.  OK, ok,  very artsy I know,  but it is truly the first quilt I have finished that felt like an art project!  It was very energizing!  Go me!

playtime

Yesterday, it seems, was a very hard day for the kids.  There must have been something in the air.  Everyone had a bad day.  Mark and Jack had disagreements with friends and were awful moods when they came home.  Both were frustrated, angry and just plain grouchy.  As kids can get, it seemed as if  the world was about to end!!  I had multiple hats on, math tutor, chef, and psychological counselor.  I couldn't wait for John to get home!  When he finally made it home I briefed him on the day and gave him his assignment.  John went off to spend time with Jack while I sat down with mark.  When all was settled down I went upstairs to see how John and Jack were fairing.  They were busy playing tickle torture so I left them alone.  After awhile John came limping into our room and said, "My leg has been cut off."  Which was odd because obviously it was still attached.  To which I responded, "how did that happen dear?"  The story I got goes as follows.  After a rousing game of tickle torture, "the boys' decided to play light sabers.  (Not unnecessarily they best choice in hindsight)  After a few minutes of battling they stopped to take a break.  Jack began banging his light saber on the ground repeatedly.  Then he exclaimed, "hey dad!  do you know what I call this?" as he continued to hit his light saber on the ground.  John says sarcastically, "NO, Jack.  What do you call it?"  To which Jack promptly stops,  replies "A Distraction!!!!" then swings and hits John in the shins with the slight saber. 

Football, Fall and Fabric

That's right folks it's College foot ball season!

This is Mark's favorite time of year.  This is how he will look for the next few months until the last game is played.  Ever loyal and faithful to the Ohio State Buckeyes.  The only reason he didn't have his jersey on is because he couldn't find it.  (oh don't worry he will wear it dirty.)  So, he watched game after game after game, until mom made him stop to do a book report.  Meany.  Then home from school and on to Monday Night Football.  The good thing for Mark, is that because most games start on eastern time, he can stay up and watch them.  Ah, the dreams of an adolescent boy.  

Mom however was busy doing projects.  Here is my valance I finished for the outside porch.  I am hoping to continue this trend of decorating outdoors to make it more like an additional living space.  As you  can see our grass is still green.   There are no changing of leaves to be found here in El Paso.   The mornings are a brisk 70 and i actually saw a woman today in a wool sweater.  Did I mention I was wearing shorts.  It is however a lovely time to sit out and enjoy the porch.  I miss the fall apple picking, raking the leaves into big piles for the kids to jump into, the blooming ragweed, (OK maybe not everything)  but it is sad to see, or to not see the change of seasons.

Change is occurring here at the house not only with redecorating.  Notice no teef.  Emma was super excited about loosing her tooth and cannot stop singing "All I want for Christmas is My two front teeth."  Although there were some tense moments when she realized the tooth had fallen out of the tooth pillow and was missing.  Never fear, mommy to the rescue, all is well and the tooth fairy made it, minus the Rudolf song.  

I have not picked up my knitting in FOREVER!    So it is a good thing knitting group is tomorrow.   Maybe I will actually finish one of the THREE projects I have on the needles.  (or maybe I'll start one.  I got the greatest yarn on sale at Tuesday Morning---cashmere---ooh-ahh.)  In any rate I finished my block of the month for the quilt guild meeting on Saturday and it brings us full circle to the OSU football.  Whatcha think?

Vocabulary and Sibling Rivalry ?

Mark entered Emma's bedroom at 9:10 on Sunday evening in a panic.  "We have a vocabulary test tomorrow!"  super.  Nothing like the last minute cram session to get you right off to sleep.  After getting Emma tucked away, Mark and I proceed to study his vocabulary.  Now, Mark, I have often been told has a large vocabulary, so this was really not a worry for me.    He shot of the vocabulary words left and right and after 20 minutes we not only had the vocab memorized we had sentences for each one memorized.  His teacher is now requiring, that they not only know the definition, they also be able to compose a sentence using the word.  Makes sense to me.  Off to bed goes Mark.  Anyone who has kids knows on the way to and from school in the car is prime study time.  Often spelling words are reviewed, vocabulary, as in today's case, is quizzed and speeches for science fair  projects are revised.  This morning was no different.  Mark and I first ran through the words in record time.  Then I had him give me the sentences.  For the word arid "El Paso has an arid climate."  ruffle.. "Emma has a ruffle on her dress." (ok, technically it's a pleat) stamina... "Emma and I have to have a lot of stamina to run a 5K race."  adverse..."I have an adverse reaction to vocabulary tests."  Now, I knew he was getting cocky because the sentences became increasingly creative.  mimic ...   "I often mimic my brother and sister."(so true)   At this point Jack and Emma perk up and say "Hey!"  Then they want to know what mimic means.   serene "Emma is rarely serene." (unfortunately also true) Jack asks what serene means and when we tell him,  Emma starts to pout.  Then she makes a grab for Mark.   constrain.... "Jack will have to constrain Emma from attacking me."  Now they are all giggling and Emma is taking swings at Mark.  Jack is cheering her on and Ginger is barking.  Remember I am driving the car! assailant...  "Emma was the assailant in the car on the way to school."  Just another day in the life, but a highly productive one.

Sunshine, lollypops and rainbows

As I said in my last post we went out of town for the Labor Day weekend.  John's parents were in town from Ohio and it is always fun to be able to share some of the southwest with them.  We spent the weekend in a little hotel in Silver City, NM. called the Palace Hotel.  It was an old historic building with cute rooms and antiques everywhere.  The kids were full of questions about "what was it like a long time ago?"   We did have a lot of rain on Saturday night which fortunately only hampered our plans slightly.  Our original plan was to explore the Gila National Forest, including the Gila Cliff Dwellings.  However, due to excessive rain the road to the Cliff Dwellings was closed. (bummer)  

Just the drive to the Forest was impressive, we saw lots and lots of trees which can be exciting when you live in the desert. (plus the drive gave mom some much needed knitting time! bonus) We were also witness to several small mule deer and LOTS of humming birds.  The kids loved to watch the humming birds.  Mark was so enamored by them, he talked Grammy and Papa into buying him a humming bird feeder for home.  (That's what Grandparents are for!)  Jack and Emma  were able to complete yet another Jr. Ranger program, receiving their 7 th badge of the year!  (national parks were in abundance on our vacation this summer).  

We did venture out on a small hike and were amazed to find tons of sunflowers!  I haven't seen sunflowers since we lived in Ohio!  The sunflowers lined the path and towered over us! It was as if  we were inches tall.  Not just sunflowers but lots and lots of wildflowers.  That alone made the trip worthwhile.  

Since we were unable to stay as long as we wanted in the Gila National Forest we had extra time on the drive home and stopped at the City of Rocks.  We have taken the kids here before and they love to climb and jump on all of the rocks.  Jack loves to play "what does that look like?"  with rock shapes. (Not unlike the game we play with clouds)  We found a face, a dinosaur egg cracked in half, a gargoyle and a Pokemon. (of course)

Here they are being smashed into a kidwich.  Despite our plans changing everyone had a great time!

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs

The West Texas and Southern New Mexico have had quite a bit of rain this past week.  As a result many critters have been out and about here in El Paso.  While in Silver City, New Mexico this past weekend we encountered several different types of bugs.   The kids had a blast discovering all of the new types of bugs and showing mom and Grammy.  Emma had a few moments of panic when told by the Ranger that the millipede we found was poisonous.  It however, was not and after much reassurance from Daddy,  we were able to calm her down.  When your new coloring book is used as a shovel to pick up a 6 inch long millipede you are bound to be a little squeamish.  Rest assured we did get a new coloring book, just to be sure.

Jack was awed and a little freaked out by these grasshoppers.  We were again, told falsely by the Ranger at City of Rocks State Park that these were locusts that had not developed wings.  They were very brightly colored, with blue or orange heads.  Most of them were between 3-4 inches long, and there were millions of them.  As we drove along the road with the windows rolled down you could hear them squish under the tires.  Piles of dead grasshoppers were being eaten by other grasshoppers, it was pretty disgusting.   I emailed the bug guy on Whatsthatbug.com and asked him to identify the bug as grasshopper or locust.  He assured us it was a plains lubber grasshopper, not a locust as we were told by the ranger.  See Marks fabulous picture at his website here.  It is a fascinating website if you need to find out what you have crawling around.  This picture and the others were all taken by Mark. 

This is a Hueco (pronounced Way-ko)  which form in rocky crevices all over the southwest.  The insects and some amphibians lay their eggs in the rock which survive the dry spells when the rains come the eggs develop.  We think these are tadpoles?  There are several very tiny toads in this park.  

Here is one on Mark's hand.

Jack and Emma also have become very fond of a large black ground beetle we see roaming EVERYWHERE (will post a picture asap).  They enjoy taunting the poor thing by trying to make it climb their sticks, or shoes or rocks.  They had many of the folks in Silver City in stitches watching them play with the bugs.  All in all it was a very buggy weekend and the kids LOVED it!!!

Ahchoo round 2

To catch everyone up,  Emma and Jack were sick.  (see Ahchoo)  Saturday the 23 Emma had croup and we spent saturday in the Dr's office. Yipee.  Both Jack and  Emma returned to school and then .....
(SNIFF, sniff, sniff...)  Surprising as this may sound Thursday morning Mark came down with a fever.  Just to make it fair, I took him to get a strep test (and a flu shot).  No strep!  YEAH!! However, he has a nasty cough and is allergic to most over the counter cough syrups. (yeah.) Mark was given a new cough medicine, which is unfortunately not working. (Cough, cough) Round the clock cold medicine and cough drops, as well as the occasional vitamin C and herbal tea (when I can coax him). His fever has subsided (thankfully) and we are improving ever so slowly.   Emma has been complaining of an ear ache since Saturday evening.  Since, we were out of town for the weekend, we have been treating it with decongestants and warm compresses.  No new, fevers so maybe it has cleared it's self up.  Time will tell.  Knock on wood, Jack is still well.  By the look in this picture I think Ginger is feeling a little ill...

John and I have been adamantly refusing to get sick.  Despite the scratchy throats and slight warmth we are feeling, we are NOT sick.  We are only empathizing with our children.  We don't have time to get sick.  period.