Coastal Carolina Airshow

This past weekend we went to the Coastal Carolina Airshow with Grandaddy & Grandma Tee. We had been watching the weather because they were calling for rain & thunderstorms but because there were no rainchecks on the tickets that Grandaddy got for everyone, we decided we were going to brave the weather & take our chances on it getting rained out. There were plenty of other things to see before the show started so we thought if nothing else, we would get to see some fun planes & vehicles. And boy were we right! We saw this HUGE plane right off the bat & the kids literally started running towards it, they were so excited!
When we first arrived, the back hatch was closed so we just got some shots of the exterior. But once we were leaving, they had opened up the hatch & we could go inside!
That was so cool! It is unreal to me that something this big & heavy can fly in the air. How? Someone please explain this to me, because I really just can't wrap my brain around it!!

We moved on to smaller planes that were just the right size for the kids to stand next to!
Randy checked a few of these out himself!
And then the kids got to go inside the FedEx plane. Grandma Tee joked that this was her favorite plane! (because it delivered so many fun things from her shopping!!)After the Fed Ex plane, we moved onto something much cooler - an apache helicopter! The kids were in awe!!Eli especially wanted to check out where the "big bullets" go...The kids also got to check out a firetruck....

And there was a monster truck there too!Eli & the girls waited in line to jump on these huge trampolines. I was pretty surprised that Eli was the one to do this yet Jackson wouldn't. This was really backwards considering their personalities! But, Eli kept such a serious face the whole time. He would NOT smile! I did ask him afterward if it was fun & he said it was. But you would have never known from the look on his face - it was all business!!
After all the kids got to jump, we went on to wait for the airshow to start. The clouds were pretty ominous at this point & the wind was whipping around us like crazy. It was knocking over chairs that were set up, big speakers, etc, so we figured that it wasn't going to happen. But we went ahead & waited for the official word to be announced. We waited for about an hour or so....
The kids were pretty patient for the most part during the waiting process. We had some snacks & were able to see some planes take off on the runway. Eli liked that part! And he liked keeping up with all the helicopters that were giving people paid rides....After too long though, his demeanor started to wane & we saw a lot of this face:He has a bazillion expressions! We just love that!
They officially cancelled it after we waited for about an hour & a half. So we packed it up & headed back to Grandaddy & Grandma Tee's just in time to wait out the storms back home & the ones that came through Wilmington before heading back home. Thankfully we avoided all the tornadoes that ripped through NC that afternoon & we had no damage at our house. Unfortunately others can't say the same. There has been some real devastation in our area & I pray for those families. Some lost loved ones, some lost homes, & some lost both. It was terrible!

Thanks for the fun day out Grandaddy & Grandma Tee. And sorry the weather held up the process but we had fun despite that! Maybe next year??

Easter Egg Hunt

Eli had an easter egg hunt / party on the last day of school before Spring Break. There were 12 eggs per kid to find on a very small playground, so it was a little crazy trying to get pictures! I did manage to get a few! Most of the eggs were pretty much in plain sight....
But that just made it more of a race, rather than a hunt!
I felt bad when Eli beat Alyssa to this egg on top of the house. Alyssa cried (& Eli didn't feel bad at all, I don't think!) He showed off his eggs...And here is his friend, Kensey. She is so cute & she reminds me so much of my friend Meredith's little girl, Hailee. She is petite, blond, & soft spoken....
After the hunt (er, race) was over... we headed back inside for a little party! There were yummy cupcakes & snacks to gobble up! And Alyssa's mommy sent me this picture she took of me & Eli..
I was apparently having a better time than Eli, wouldn't you say?!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope you find a fun egg hunt to attend! I have a feeling we will be having one in our yard, too!

Sweet Little Sneaky Boys

Today is the first day of spring break for the boys. I had an amazingly fun day planned in my head for them that included their cousin Kaleb spending the night last night. All started off well... we picked up Kaleb in time to head to evening services at church & afterward hit the newly opened Krispy Kreme in Fuquay. Yum!

All that came to a screeching halt once Eli began throwing up at our next destination: Walmart. Clean up on aisle 5!!

Just a few hours into our fun sleepover, Kaleb had to go home - because let's face it- no one wants to catch a stomach bug! The boys were devastated & I have to admit, so was I!

No more vomiting has taken place but we have laid low today just in case. So the boys have played with tractors & trucks, played store, wrestled, and other boyish things!

Here's a few pics of them playing store:

At one point, Eli was looking around for something else he could hand to Jackson to "buy." Well, he took the dogs bone right out of his mouth! Zack decided it wasn't for sale during the pass off to the cashier!
{Side note on them playing store. This is a new favorite game that they play together & the other night in the car they were playing it somehow in the backseat. I overheard this conversation:
Jackson (to Eli): "Name?"
Eli: "Zurg Randy"
Jackson (writing down the name, goes to question 2): "Phone number?"
Eli: "8788"
Jackson (again writing this & then tapping his fingers on the car door as if he is computing a total):" Ok, your total is...... $1 and 225 cents. "
Eli: "Okay, Here you go!"

I just love to hear their funny little conversations! But I had to make the point to Jackson that $1 and 225c was really $3.25 (which he assured me he already knew!)}

Anyway, back to today. After some play time & lunch, I deemed it time for "rest." (Translation: Eli, you will be napping & Jackson, you will be reading or having quiet time so E can sleep!) I was just down the hall in my craft room working on a small project when I heard Jackson say, "Eli, I wish we could nap together." I quickly send word down the hall that that wasn't going to happen (there would be NO resting!) & all was quiet. A little while later, I decided that maybe they were sleeping because it was really quiet. So i checked on Eli first & found this:

Then I checked on Jackson & found this:

However, I could hear slight whispers. So I quietly followed the sound of the whispers & while they weren't being very obedient, I couldn't resist how sweet this was when I found them (in Jackson's closet!)....

I went ahead & let them finish that same old seek n find book before making them disperse to their own rooms! Plus this gave me enough time to finish my quick project: A camera strap for my new (to me) camera! I made several of these at Christmas for a few friends, so I remembered how to make them & whipped one up for myself! Here is a (not so good) picture of it!

Canon D10

I know you've already heard me say before that I have the best in-laws ever, right? Well, it's true, I do. They love me & welcomed me into their family with open arms not quite 10 years ago & have been nothing but supportive & loving ever since. They would do literally anything for us that they could. And sometimes they do things they are too tired to do (like take care of my kids when I work). They are a blessing to us in more ways than I can even begin to describe.

But today's blessing I can describe... because it is a material blessing.

I have been wanting a nice DSLR camera for awhile. I had contemplated saving my money for Christmas upon Christmas to get myself one, but I never committed to it because I was overwhelmed with even thinking of trying to learn. But I want to be able to take good pictures of my kids. Usually, I get my father in law or brother in law to do it for me (which is where all our family portraits come from)... But I wanted everyday good photos, not just posed ones.

A few weeks ago, Dwight (my FIL) told me that he was looking into getting a new DSLR and that if he did, then he would give me one of his older ones. I was floored. At first, I was thinking he was kidding or that he wouldn't really get another DSLR... he already had 2 for heavens sakes!

Then last week, he told me to come pick up my camera (& 2 lenses!), he had gotten a new camera!! He gave me his older Canon D10. It is heavy, let me tell you... but so far, it has taken some great photos for me (which is great considering I don't even know how to take it off of auto flash yet! LOL!) I see a lot of fun in my future! 'Cause you know, I needed another hobby, right!? Here are a few pics I took so far that I like... (and I know, I have a lot to learn!!)

{love the bokeh in this one... unintentional, of course! These are my candytuft blooms in my yard}

{More flowers in my yard... and when this one is full screen on my computer, I can see pollen specks on the far right flower! Crazy!}

{Here is a the pup peeking out the dirty front door!}
{And one of sweet little Sara Beth.... love those blue eyes!}

I can't wait to get more fun pictures! I am going to the air show with my dad this weekend, so maybe I can take it & fiddle with it some more there!

Thanks, Dwight! You are awesome & I love you dearly. Not just because you give me awesome gifts, but because you have such a giving heart!

Tyler!

This past weekend, Tyler was home for the first time since starting Tarheel Challenge Academy back at the beginning of January. The boys have really missed getting to hang out with their cousin. So when we met up for dinner on Saturday night... each one got a few snuggles in.

Tyler looks awesome! I love his hair cut this short. It is soft & fuzzy & he just looked more mature! Of course, that doesn't mean he always acts it, right.....??

Eli let him help him play on Kaleb's nintendo DS. That's love right there!

We miss you Tyler & can't wait for you to be back home for good in June!!

My first quilt

I have been wanting to attempt a real quilt for awhile. However, I have been very intimidated by it & this made it hard to get started. When i made tee shirts quilts for Christmas gifts, there was no batting or binding required, so it wasn't a true quilt in that way. So, when I was at my friend, Joye's house, and i spotted her quilt - I knew it was the one! Her mother had made this amazing circle quilt for her & i just loved it! She was gracious enough to get the pattern from her mother for me so I could give it a shot.

I had decided I would work on the quilt on the annual spring craft retreat that I go to every year with the awesome ladies from church. I usually scrapbook & I think they were all shocked that I didn't this year! :) But I knew that I wouldn't be able to get it all done in a weekend, so I did a lot of prep work before going. All in all, I think this quilt has taken me about 2 months to complete.

The first thing I did was make a short table runner from my scrap pieces in order to practice top stitching (quilting) and binding. I did this all in one Saturday & I was glad I practiced the binding in particular because it was not my forte! And quilting in the ditch (in between the seams) is not easy either!!

After I finished this up, I went ahead & worked on cutting out & attaching all the circles for the actual quilt to white muslin squares in order to be ready to piece each peice together on the first day of the retreat. I broke this into about 4 nights. On the last night, I laid them all out on my living room floor to decide where I wanted each to be in the quilt. Once i decided, I took a picture of it for reference later & then stacked each row & put each row into it's own gallon ziploc bag (labeling which row of course!) for transport to my retreat!
Having each row separated made it much easier for me to see my progress as I worked! And having the photo came in handy so that I knew which end was which of the row when it came time to piece each row together to make the top. So Day 1 of the retreat went off without a hitch! I got the top pieced together & called it quits for the day. My plan was to piece together the top on day 1, put together the top/batting/backing & quilt it all on day 2, and then work on the binding the final day. I was apparently in La La Land because things started to unravel on day 2! I got the layers all put together with a basting gun (& i thought it was pretty smooth) which took at least a couple of hours. And then after I quilted 2 rows in the ditch, I turned it over & realized there were large puckers everywhere on the back! Argh!!! Why did i wait until i sewed 2 lengths of the quilt before I checked? I have no idea. Stupid, I tell ya... stupid.

I spent the next 24 hours with my seam ripper until my eyes were crossing. Several ladies (thanks Jana & Randi!) had pity on me (I think they could tell my mood was suffering just a smidgen!) and they each took a turn ripping out the seams to give me a break. By day 3, the quilt was ready to start again. But after chatting about it, we decided that maybe the basting gun tags weren't holding the layers tight enough together. Soooo, that meant cutting all 1000 of those out (not literally, but it felt like it!) and smoothing out all three layers again & rebasting. This time, I used basting pins. They are like safety pins but they are shaped more like a jelly bean which is supossed to make it easier to get them in/out. The second time I was basting, those same ladies helped me out by smoothing & pinning with me & of course, giving me a pep talk the entire time. I was quite ready to throw it all out the window at this point!
Here they are (along with Sherri) hauling it back down the stairs again so I could get started on the quilting again.

They were so supportive & helpful. Even when they weren't down in the trenches with me working on the quilt, they were trying to brainstorm with me or keep me excited about the project! So i spent that last day getting about halfway through with the quilting in the ditches. I got about halfway through the quilt before my last, yes LAST, needle broke. Arghhh. At this point, I just packed it all up & called it quits.

It took me several days to figure out that my bobbins were the wrong bobbins which was causing a lot of needle breaks (& jammed up stitches). I broke a whole pack of needles on this trip! Once i figured out this issue after getting back home though, things were smooth sailing. I worked on finishing up the rest of the stitching in th ditch one Sunday afternoon & then debated with just binding it from there.

But after deliberation, I decided I wanted to look back & know I didn't take any shortcuts. So I finished the quilting by making diagonal lines across each block on another weekend day. Of course, then I began to procrastinate on binding it. I let it sit there for about 2 weeks before I even got started on that part! I worked for 2 separate nights on my own (while watching a movie) until my fingers were practically numb from the handstitching . Then my mama came up for the weekend & I took it over to my sisters to work on while they worked on some projects. By the time I got there, they were done with their projects already! So, my mom (being the gal that she is) got right in there with me & asked for some thread & started to stitch on the other end! Whoop! In 2 hours or less, we were done!!!
It feels soooo good to be done with this project! And so many thanks to everyone who helped me whether it was words of encouragement, getting in the trenches with me by basting & rolling it up, or even binding it with me. This quilt has a lot of memories already attached to it! And I am loving how it brings all the colors in my living room together! (Not to mention, it will be laid across Randy's late grandmothers very green chair as soon as we can haul it over here from his parent's house! I am talking 1970s green! I am so excited!) For now, the rocking chair will do...
She's done! My very first quilt! My Memaw would be so proud (regardless of all the flaws!!)

And here's a peek at the backing fabric....
Thanks for hanging in there with me if you have endured this very long post! Randy told me that this blog has turned into a craft blog. :( Sorry if that bores you! I hope not because if you are here then that means you must be interested in what I am up to, whether that is tending to the kids or neglecting them in my crafts! Lol! The blog is for all of that- the good, bad, & the ugly!