Bigger Boy, Big Boy Quilt

The "rebound" Picture Play quilt from my last post has been reinstated on Gregory's bed. He recreated the picture from six years ago, too.  I told my daughter-in-law that he looked sad today, but she explained that he thought he looked like he did in the old picture! 😉 Okay, we'll go with that.


Yesterday I finished piecing the central portion of his new, big boy quilt.  It will get two more, narrow, outer borders before I go shopping for a backing piece. This went together beautifully. I used Deb Tucker's Studio 180 tools to mass-produce 140 Shaded 4-Patch units with the Tucker Trimmer and that same number of Wild Geese units with the Wing Clipper.

The quilt was designed in EQ8. Gregory selected the design from these three possible choices:

Initially, my plan was to make the quilt very scrappy using only tans, greens and blues; but, ultimately, I came up short (who woulda' thunk?) in the scrap department with such a limited palette. Let's hope when this new quilt is finished and on his bed that we'll see a much broader smile!🤞

Life is Good!

Just Like That...

... July is gone and this boy is NINE years old already! NINE!! What? How did that happen?

He celebrated his birthday by swimming in the county wide championship swim meet on his birthday that very day. He did extremely well too, nine days post-op. 😲 His friends from his relay team shared a pool themed birthday cookie and a birthday sleepover party at his house later in the day. Our very talented daughter in law created the birthday tees for Mason's party. They were a hit!

She also created this adorable shirt for the birthday boy's sister. This was her right before the championship meet.

And this was Lucy Ann a few days later, sporting the hardware to back up her shirt's claim. She is speedy!!  Yep, and just like that it is August already. My life has been stuck on 'fast forward' lately.  I will catch up, I know that. It's all good.

Life is Good!

This Mom's, and Nana's, Observations...

Of course you already know that I am going to say something about time passing much too quickly... blah, blah, blah. Well, that's a given, lets go ahead and get that out of the way on this, my son's (the youngest, he's my baby) 33rd birthday! Here is Lynnleigh, his baby, at seven months. Jokingly, I had remarked about her being proud of this new sitting-up skill. No joke; she is so enamoured with sitting up, and the ability to do so on her own, that it actually interferes with her sleep! She and Gregory spent the last few nights here and I found, at naptime and bedtime, that she often sits herself up immediately after being put down and then cries pitifully because she's in that position! I got lucky with this picture, a quickly snapped photo (looking ever-so posed!) in the kitchen while I was making dinner earlier in the week. Her crawling has been halted in a similar fashion because all she wants to do is raise herself up onto her feet. With her hands planted on the floor in front of her, and her hind-end straight up in the air, she is the personification of a capital "A" (or inverted "V") and she cannot move. I tried to show her how to put her knees down on the floor, time after time, but she's not one bit interested in Nana's solution; right back up she goes!

Gregory is a little sponge, absorbing everything around himself and spouting back to us his own observations and experiences on the world in which he lives. These two commentaries kept us entertained, enjoy; I am posting here two personal status updates from Facebook:

e

Valuable information from Gregory to keep in mind before your next shopping trip; this will, undoubtedly, save you time and miles on your vehicle.
At WalMart you can buy dog food, cups and see the fishies.
At Lowe's you can buy better lawnmowers.
At Target you cany buy shoes, but... (this is important!) you need to pay first!

 e

With apologies to his Methodist grandparents, Gregory is showing his deep Lutheran roots; instead of being happy about our new television in the kitchen he is very concerned about where the old one went. At lunchtime today he said, hanging his head, that he is "very sad" that the old TV has been taken to Goodwill, he " really loved that one"!

e

Time is going to fly, we can't stop it or hold on to it or bottle it up to use it later; but, we can enjoy each phase and document the passing of time with photos and sweet stories of precious children growing up and exploring their world. We can be ever grateful that we're on this adventure called life right along with them! My daughter sent photos over the summer of Mason building and writing; of Lucy Ann painting at the easel... miraculous achievements for children who were, seemingly, only born a few days ago! 

I feel much closer to my own parents now. They've always reminded me about times long since gone with questions of  "remember when..." referring to occurences with my own children. To be honest, sadly, I don't recall most of those same things that they do; I guess I was just too preoccupied with being a Mom and getting it all done.  Now, I understand; grandparents were created for just this very thing, thanks be to God!

Life is Good!

What's For Supper?

Today is joyous day for children where we live; the last day of school and the beginning of summer vacation! I can easily recall the seemingly endless chain of glorious summer days when I was a little girl (in those days before air conditioning, with big fans fitted snugly into window frames) they always concluded with a home-cooked, hot meal on the table at suppertime. Well, almost always. There were a few rare occasions, every summer, when we ate a different kind of evening meal, outside on our screened-in porch. It was a supper I always loved and looked forward to: Uneeda Biscuits* and milk! Dad worked for the local highway department and on those hot and humid days when it was just too uncomfortable to heat up the kitchen, and my Dad was beat from resurfacing roads outside all day in the scorching temperatures, Mom would get down that familiar box from the kitchen cupboard, along with the cereal bowls, and carry them out to the porch table with the oilcloth cover. I would carry the spoons, and the sugar bowl! Later on, after I grew up and left home, those screens became windows and that porch space was claimed for year-round living; transformed into a family room. In my mind, though, it was always a porch; and, even now, a hot and humid day can transport me right back there to my chair at that very same table, and my most favorite of all summertime meals. Ah, summer... bring it on!

Life is Good!

*Sadly, Nabisco has discontinued making these crackers.

They've gone away with those big ol' window fans...

First Day of Preschool

Mommy says she didn't cry~
Nana did, when she saw this picture!

According to the report,
Mason just loves his preschool
with all the activities and friends.

Life is Good!

High Hopes

..."Just what makes that little old ant
Think he'll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, can't
Move a rubber tree plant

But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes
He's got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

So any time your gettin' low
'stead of lettin' go
Just remember that ant
Oops there goes another rubber tree plant"...

Life is Good!

* lyrics from the song "High Hopes" by Sammy Cahn/ James Van Heusen, 1959