Benjie and Boo visit (some of) the animals

 *note: all narration provided by the 2yo, several weeks after the fact.*

Benny is feeding the chickens mom! He is dumping some food, it is weally messy and he is in trouble.  Gan' Boo gave him more food. Come here, Chickie, 'mere! Do NOT run away.

 They like it mom! I fwow more.

 He needs a coat, Mom.  Chickens say, "ba ba bawk bawk!"

 I chased them and gave them more food...

 ...but they went inside to lay an egg.  Benny is looking for one egg.

 The sheeps like their food, Mom.

 Benny will give them more food.

 So soft, Mom! Gan' Boo says "move over, Sheep!"

 Sheeps say "BAAAAAA BAAAAAAA!!!!" and I can pet them.

 Right there, sheep.  You need to eat your dinner!

 Benny is petting the so soft sheep.  Boo says "time to go." I like the sheep bewwy much. The blue one likes me.

the end.

another in-law joins the outlaws

the imposter throws a pretty good party, as it turns out.  Welcome to the family, other emily.

proof that I am not a hermit

Tomorrow is a red letter day.  Deputy Danny and I are entrusting these kiddos

 to this lovely couple

so that we can go to the big city to see this beautiful lady

and spend some time with these two (who are also perfectly splendid)

and perhaps come home with a little something special to celebrate my birthday. Only a moth late ;-p

to hold my pots

My Granny is a spectacular quilter.  Every color is perfect, every stitch tiny.  She hand quilted beautiful wedding quilt for me using squares first pieced by her own mother that has been on our bed for most of the past 8 (!) years and I bet it will last at least another 100.  I think of her often when I am in the sewing room, but my skills don't even come close to hers.  Yet still I create, and it makes me happy.

On the phone recently Granny agreed with me that sometimes "done" and "useful" is better than "beautiful" or "perfect."  I think she was just being nice, but I'll take it!  So, on the day after her birthday (oops), I thought it only fitting to make a little quilt.  A.K.A. potholder.  It looks better (more square) in person, but I will be the first to admit it is a FAR cry from perfect.  But the colors (mostly from a bag of pre-cut strips from my cousin, thanks Amy!) are great and with a layer of batting and a layer of felted wool in the middle, it will be quite useful.  Also, it quickly satisfied a crafting urge that struck once I realized all three boys were playing happily in 3 different corners of the house AND might very well stay that way for at least 20 minutes. 

Happy birthday Granny!  Maybe next time you visit I can get a few more pointers from the perfectionist =)

Call me "Old Fashioned" if you will...

...but there is something about skirts, front porches, and sock darning that makes me smile.  A purring kitty never hurt either ;-p

What I'm wearing: skirt from a free clothes place (!), shirt rescued from a college student who destined it for the trash, bracelet from my mom's cousin Susie (btw, if you see this, I LOVE it and am reminding the H every month that I want matching dangly earrings for my birthday!), newly repaired favorite watch, wedding ring. 

Christmas on any given day

on Friday we had Christmas. We watched classic Rudolph and Grinch (abominable snowman still in the queue) and decorated cookies: We also put on our Christmas jammies and took a picture:
Saturday we had Christmas again. My dad always gets the best trees:B enjoyed helping hand out and unwrap presents:We skyped with Tim, cuddled with Emily (and everyone else!), and were ridiculously excited about our gifts.
On Sunday, we had Christmas with the other side of the family. And guess what? We get to do it again on Monday with just us. Pics from those two events forthcoming...after we take naps and play outside, that is.

creek with the girl cousin

thanks for coming to play, T! We love you :)

Plan For the Day (according to the 3.75 yo)

note: parenthesis are mom's interpretations. All else is dictated straight from the artist.

At Aunt Erin's house, I am going to play with this ayfo-ant (the blobby thing up there) and cars. The "I Love You" is for Aunt Erin because I love her now (sometimes says no to get a reaction) and I'm going to tell her that. The car is going to have an AMAZING crash into a monster truck. Then he will get a new car, not from a (transporter) truck, from a factory. It will be a made-up car. AND, the earth will burn up (cousin was talking about the 2012 movie) but the world will still be made. When God wants it broke, he breaks it and the car won't be able to drive anymore and he'll drive a monster truck instead.