Oh Sew Happy!

My mother came to Arizona during Rodeo Week and brought presents with her. Let me start by saying that my mother is a talented cook, crocheter, and sewer extraordinaire. She has crocheted each of my little ones a blankie to leave the hospital with and keep them warm during the night. Through the years, she has made countless burp clothes, changing table covers, and hats for my little ones. I love having these amazing blankets and other items as keepsakes for each one of my children.

Katie's original blankie was a gigantic project for my mom. It took her much longer than anticipated to finish and turned out to be more "fragile" than we expected. Since Katie can't really use her blankie on a nightly basis, Granny decided she needed another one. Katie received her new purple blankie...she was SO excited and now sleeps with it every single night. Bobby got his new Toy Story blanket and loves curling up with it at bedtime...he insists that it go under his comforter and that he gets tucked in just right.

I was gifted with my very first sewing machine and several days of lessons to go with it. My mom patiently taught me how to read the pattern instructions, how to pin and cut the material, and then how to slowly piece it together. I undertook 2 projects while my mother was available to train me.

Katie has fallen in love with Tiana from The Frog and Princess. She loves to play dress up and pretend to be a different princess every day. So, I promised her (quite boldly) that I would make her a Princess Tiana dress. Little did I know that I was undertaking a complex pattern for my very first project. My mom read the pattern instructions with me, explained sewing terms to me, and helped me get all of the fabric cut out. After 2 days of juggling kids, cleaning, and cooking, her dress was finally ready to be pieced together. I truly enjoyed watching the dress "come together" as I carefully stitched each piece together. Although there were some moments of frustration, I had so much fun making Katie her princess dress and am very happy with the model product!!!

Bobby, not one to be left out, decided he needed me to make something for him too. He picked out a Musketeer cape and tunic pattern and then carefully selected the fabric for his costume. We cut out the fabric, but saved his project for the end. Although I was able to make the tunic on my own, I was having trouble reading the directions for piecing the cape together. Fortunately, my mom had a couple of hours before she had to head back to Kansas to show me how the pieces fit together. Bobby's cape took much less time than Katie's dress. Just a few short hours of stitching the pieces together and Bobby now has a reversible cape to pretend play with.

I love, love, LOVE my new sewing machine. (Thank you, Mom!) I can't wait to start my next project and look forward to making some extra special outfits for my little ones.

Thinking Happy Thoughts

The other day, a fellow blogger, co-worker, and friend (Jaymee - o' ye who wears many hats) bestowed the honor of the Happy Award and challenged me with the task of passing on the torch. So here goes Jaymee at Catching up with the Fishers... :)

So here are the rules with this award:
* Copy the image and display it on your blog.
* List 10 things that make you happy.
* Try to do at least one of them today.
* Pass on the award to 10 bloggers who brighten your day.

So here it is. My list of the top 10 things that make me happy. They aren't in any particular order, however I did save the #1 spot for my husband. (He's always joking with me that he never makes it onto my blogs.)

10 Things that make me happy:

10. My children

9. Giggles

8. Footie rubs

7. Bubble baths

6. A good book

5. Spending time with friends and family

4. Going out for dinner

3. Shopping (by myself, but for others)

2. Chocolate and peanut butter

1. My husband

Since I am fairly new to blogging, I don't think that have 10 bloggers to pass this on to, but I'm going to pass it on to the blogs that I follow and enjoy. Here is a list of the blogs that I think deserve the Happy Award. They make me laugh, cry, and feel "normal":

*The Best Things in Life are Three... (This blog and the woman who writes it are AMAZING! If you stop by, you'll need a few hours...you can't read just one!)

*Corbelli Cooking (You'll find some YUMMY recipes here!)

*Corbelli Crew

*Sarah and James plus One

*Keeping up with the Pearsons

*My Little Life

*Her Womb, Our Hearts

Who will carry on the torch and share their happy

thoughts?

Vail Pride Day 2010

A little background information for those of you who follow this blog, but do not live in Vail...

My husband and I bought our first house in 2006 in a little suburb called Rita Ranch. With young children that would begin attending school in a few years, we chose this area because of the fantastic reputation of the Vail School District. After closing on our house, I interviewed for a teaching position in Vail that spring. After several interviews and some sleepless nights, I was offered a position at Desert Willow Elementary for the upcoming school year. I currently teach Kindergarten at Cottonwood Elementary (just a hop, skip, and jump away from our house) and Bobby and Katie attend school there as well.

I feel blessed to be a part of the Vail family. My children love their teachers and enjoy school. Bobby has an amazing teacher that I am fortunate enough to work with and learn from this year as well. We love you, Mrs. Montes!!!

Katie has the same pre-school teacher that Bobby did. Ms. Debbie does an incredible job of documenting Katie's time at school. Katie loves being in Ms. Debbie's class. Even though I cannot volunteer in her classroom, Ms. Debbie sends me updates and pictures of the special things Katie is doing at school.

I am also proud to say that I teach in Vail. I am responsible for enriching the lives of the little ones in my care and I truly enjoy my job. I work with a team of fabulous women that inspire, encourage, and support me daily. Many of the people I work with are not just colleagues, they are my friends. My principal is an incredible woman, who has created a family of learners at Cottonwood and makes me want to be a better person. I couldn't imagine working for anyone else. I have a dynamic group of children that make me laugh (and cry) and remind me daily of the important things in life. I know that what I am doing makes a difference...for me, my family, and my community.

Vail School District began the tradition over 10 years ago of hosting an annual event to celebrate the fantastic things happening in our schools and community. This year, Katie performed with her pre-school class and Bobby had his Kindergarten work displayed. This is Bobby in front of his display and Katie with her teacher, Ms. Debbie:

As we face some pretty icky budget cuts in the upcoming year, I hope that there will be a Vail Pride Day 2011.

Three Little Leprechauns

I can't believe how quickly time goes by. I know it sounds cliche', but it feels like yesterday that we were waiting at the hospital to welcome our newest member of the family. We were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little one and wondering if we would be meeting Andrew Scott or Emilia Anne.

Andrew Scott made his arrival on April 29, 2009. (He arrived after the end of the school day, much to the disappointment of my 2nd grade students. According to one of my little girls, I just needed to push harder. LOL!) Time has flown by and Andy will soon celebrate his one year birthday. We visited Babies R Us last night to get him a big boy car seat. He has outgrown his carrier and needed some leg room. My little man has gotten so big, so fast. Where does the time go?

So last night there was a cute display of St. Patrick's Day attire right next to the check out. On top of the display was a stack of adorable leprechaun hats. Since I never leave home without my camera anymore, I couldn't resist the urge to torture my children for just a moment. I hope you enjoy my little leprechauns as much as I do! :)

Laughing leprechaun Andy

Lady Luck Katie

Lucky Duck Bobby

Five Question Fridays

One of my fellow blogger friends challenged me to participate in 5 Questions Friday. So, Jaymee at Catching up with the Fishers, here goes! :)

1. What are you most afraid of?

The little things: spiders, bees, and cockroaches.

The big thing: Cancer. It scares me to death. It strikes without warning, does not care about the age, gender, or race of its victim, and seems to be everywhere these days. I'm terrified that one day we will lose our fight against this monster and it will take away one of my loved ones.

2. Do you use a flat iron or curling iron?

I rarely curl my hair, but when I do I use the old fashioned curling iron.

3. Hands-free or phone to the ear?

I'm a phone to the ear kinda girl. I hate when people put me on speaker phone and don't think it is really any "safer" to us a hands-free device. I always keep one hand on the wheel, two eyes on the road, and my children's safety is my priority!!!

4. Do you have a matching bedroom set?

No, we do not have a matching bedroom set...yet. :( We have slowly been adding REAL furniture to our house since moving into our first home a few years ago. The baby's room was first, Bobby inherited my husband's bedroom set from then he was a boy, and we just bought a new living room set 2 years ago. My goal is to get a new bedroom set by the time we celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (which is in a little over 2 years).

5. Do you believe in the paranormal?

I believe in life after death and the presence of angels on earth. So to make a long answer short, I guess my answer would be yes. As a child growing up, I always felt like my grandma and grandpa Hobbes were watching over me. (I LOVE the song Guardian Angels by the Judds.) With the recent passing of my husband's sister, I believe she visited me as she passed into the spirit world. She stopped by my dream to say good-bye and leave me a message about her girls. I know that she is keeping her loving, guiding hands on her girls and will be with them throughout the years to come.

I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about me. Thanks for the challenge Jaymee! I'm looking forward to next Friday's 5 love questions!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Splish splash I'm taking a big boy bath!

Post-It Note Tuesday's