Baby Bubba has a name!!

Please welcome Mason Robert, the newest love of our life!!
8 pounds 10 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long

He is a handsome little guy don't you think? Mason has had a name for some time now but we wanted to keep it a secret from my Hubby. Mason's middle name is after his Papaw, such a sweet thing for the kids to do.

He has the cutiest little cowlick in front that is sure to steal the hearts from all the girls, I know he has stolen all of ours in no time flat! So far he seems to be a really good baby, no fussing, crying, or pacifier needed, he is just checking us all out and snuggling down with whoever has him at the time.

Mommy is doing wonderfully, she has had no pain meds since the C Section this AM. The night nurse was taken aback by that and insisted she have something ASAP or she could be in for a long hard night.
We are all overwhelmed that God has blessed us once again with a new life. How could anyone question that there is a God in heaven when they see this miracle?!!

This Boy

Tyler 7 days old
Tyler and Papaw with the new train set Nanny had put back for this special night. It was to say the least a hit with both of my boys. Tyler is so sweet, I could hear him asking Papaw "How did Nanny know we wanted this special Christmas train?" Papaw replied "Little man, Nanny knows everything" I tell you my Hubby is brilliant!! HA

Where did the time go? Our little man is already 5 years old.

Tyler is having a sleep over with us tonight so Mommy and Daddy can get to the hospital bright and early, as soon as "Baby Bubba" arrives we will head to the hospital to finally get our turn with him in our arms!! It's hard to believe 5 years have past since Ty boy came into our lives, he changed our world, we will never be the same.

I can remember way back when ladies would go on and on about their grands, I would think wow they must have been crazy over the top when their own children were born if they are this into their grands. HAAAA, that was before God blessed us with our own Grands. Grands are nothing but PURE pleasure and love, no worries over how we will discipline them, educate, feed clothe, potty train, buy cars, pay for college, nada, nothing, no worries at all, just the joy of sharing their little lives. Tomorrow God willing we will have a new little boy to hug and kiss, all he will need from us is to love him with all our heart, we got that covered!!!!

Living room tree, most of the tree skirts I use are really table clothes of our Grandmothers or Hubby's Mom, They are only used for Christmas.
Advent house and musical toys on the grands toy shelf. We picked up the advent house a few years back at Pottery Barn outlet for $20.00, I put one M&M in each door for Tyler, the little girls don't know what candy is!!

My splurge for Christmas this year, I have NO business buying any more decorations but he was to cute to pass up and on sale for $19.99

This is one of 2 fireplaces we have on the fire place mantel that Hubby bought for me a few years back. We had to pick up the second one for the grands ornaments "Baby Bubba's" is in the mail on its way, just in time for Christmas. Last year we bought each of our Daughters family's the fireplaces as well, unmarried Daughters is put back until she gets her tail down the isle!!

I somehow finished another Christmas project I wanted to make this year for Daughter #2, I had to change the plan 3 times before I finally gave up and went for easy, just get the durn thing done!!! It was making me CRAZY. Hubby called to invite me to lunch around 10:00, so sweet, I thanked him kindly but passed, I wanted to finish the project I was working on and start something new. After a little hesitation on his part (OH no I hurt his feelings) he spilled the beans, he needed me to bring his reading glasses and watch he forgot this AM. I did meet him for lunch and handed over the missing items, who the heck does his errands when he is on a project! Back to the never ending stocking project.

Holly Jolly

Fancy Chubby Girls tree is just for fun, I have a few friends that exchange with each other when we can find the perfect chubby girl.

Grands Nativity tree and baby's first Christmas tree, we put each of the grands and big girls first ornaments on these trees

The Grands are welcome to play with the Nativity ornaments, but Nanny's Nativity is OFF LIMITS

8 Stockings are hung, 3 more are under construction, the baskets are full of Christmas toys for the Grands, they even have their own Nativity from Fisher Price.com A MUST for every family!!

My kitchen tree holds our collection of Hallmark house ornaments, we are on year 28. As much time as I spend in the kitchen I so need my own tree.

For the next week prepare yourself for Christmas decorations and pictures of "Baby Bubba" We are almost finished decorating, 2 more small trees to finish tonight and the live tree to put up in a couple of weeks. New wreathes are hung outside and hubby finished the few lights we put out and animals for the Grands. I am dog tired today, lots of moving out furniture and stuff to put up tree's then unpacking and decorating followed by vacuuming and more vacuuming, thank goodness for leftovers!! After the last trees are done tonight I will continue to work on the little girls stockings, will they ever be done???????

This turkey is ready

I had to sneak a quick photo of Daughter#1's baby bump, she hates having her picture taken when she is prego. This little turkey is big enough to join the family Wednesday!!

Does this look like Christmas to you? Not so much, but it will be super cute when its done and ready to go under Daughter #2 tree.

Hubby ended up working a full day today so no Christmas decorating happened, instead I finished up the Thanksgiving feast clean up and packed up all the fall decorations. We will hit the floor in the AM bright and early to get with the decorating program before heading over to Daughter #1 to help them finish up "Baby Bubba's" nursery.

With the extra time on my hands today I cut up the bright pile of fabric above for a tree skirt for Daughter #2's funky girl tree. I will have to hit the shop for a bit more background fabric (ran short) other than that everything came from my stash. I will piece some leftover batting from other projects then dig around to find some backing. This should turn out to be a super frugal project that will be perfect to dress up her tree. Not to be left out Daughter #1 now wants wreathes to hang on her dinning room chairs and a little something for the front porch. Daughter #3 hasn't started her Christmas decorating, I'm sure she too will have a wish list of a few holiday extras. If we didn't have all girls I think I would have a lot more time on my hands to finish things I would like to do!! I shouldn't have to cook for at least 2 more days (LOVE LEFTOVERS) so that will free up a little more time to put the pedal to the metal on the sewing machine!!

Pre Thanksgiving Cooking

Home made pie shells are over rated, mine never look nice
This one turned out a little nicer

Chocolate layer desert with dark chocolate leaves

Tyler's cupcakes

The tables are set, just need to move in more chairs

14 hours in the kitchen doing pre Thanksgiving day cooking seems a bit much to me. From the looks of these photo's all I did today was to make deserts. Not so!! Below is my list of accomplishments for the day, now it's off to bed. Gotta get the turkey in to roast early in the AM along with a ham that needs to bake, still have rolls and a few more sides to knock out before the crowd piles in.

Cornbread dressing - Finished

Bread/sausage dressing - Finished

Sweet Potato casserole - complete (taters from our garden)

6 pints of vanilla bean ice cream - in the freezer

3 pints mint chocolate chip ice cream - in the freezer (Tyler's favorite)
Chocolate pie - check

Pumpkin Pie - check

Chocolate layer desert - can't wait to dig in

Pumpkin cupcakes - finally done!

Turkey- soaking in homemade brine

Ham - ready to bake in the AM

Have a blessed Thanksgiving

The spending is over!!!

Christmas table runner complete.

What a crappy photo, maybe if I have the time I will try to get a better picture tomorrow, it's hard to make out how cute this turned out since our table is black and it's 11:00PM! The free motion quilting took forever on this thing, black thread on black material is pretty hard to see, in addition for some dumb reason I did little bitty tiny swirl quilting. The quilting is the best I have ever done but a crazy amount of time went into it. In the next week or two it along with all the other handmade Christmas gifts will be headed to the post office!!! So thankful that I forced myself to work over the summer on Christmas gifts, I could never pull it all off if I would have waited until December this year.

I was able to finish ALL of the Christmas shopping today, even had time to return home organize the rest of the family sewing gifts to see what additional notions I will need and back out I went to pick everything up. I can now put my feet up and enjoy the Christmas season!!! We did come under budget but by the hair of our chinny chin chin. Shopping the sales during the year was key to keeping the cost down. I don't bother buying clothing for anyone, it's gift cards from shoe stores, fav department or clothing stores and a few to some discount stores. This gets me off the hook for disappointed big kids (wrong size, color, style) and they can purchase twice as much shopping the after Christmas or New Years sales.

When I returned home for the night I had a message from our bank to call ASAP due to a fraud alert on our account due to unusual activity. After speaking to the rep and assuring her we made all the purchases she ask if she could be adopted, HA, not likely sweetheart we have more than we can afford already. I rarely use a debit card, it's cash only around here, when the cash runs out it's time to head home. Christmas is the exception to that rule, I'm not comfortable carrying a lot of cash around so the debit card gets a good workout. I feel like a free woman now that the shopping is done, instead of laying out $$ the month of December we will be tucking some cash in the savings account.

Shopping Marathon

I hit the stores at 10:15AM this morning, returned home at 5:30PM then back out until 9:00PM. I think we are very close to being finished with our Christmas shopping. I need to input it all in an excel sheet to see if there are any holes in the gift list. We will exchange names within the family on Thanksgiving day for all who will be in town for Christmas this year so we will need to pick up 2 more gifts after Thanksgiving but other than that I should only have to get it all wrapped. I haven't totaled everything up yet but I am thinking we are still under budget but not by much. If no monkey wrench's get thrown in tomorrow I will finish up and call it complete. WHEEEE, I could use a hot bath and a tall glass of water!!

I do have some sewing projects that I would like to complete for our big girls and a few baby gifts that would be nice to finish up before Christmas but I refuse to stress about any of that. Thanksgiving dinner is the next biggie on the list followed up by decorating the house and yard then we are home free. We are pumped to hold the newest addition so it's all hands on deck until next Wednesday when "baby bubba" joins us

Back to checking my list, everybody has been nice, no one has been naughty, it would be cheaper if we would have had a few stink pots on the list!!

Why is my list growing??? grrrr

Hubby is once again rebuilding his helicopter, while I worked on some sewing projects. See how close we were working, we may survive re-entry after all!

Tyler is adamant we have no pie for Thanksgiving, he calls each day to check on Thanksgiving dinner progress, so funny

Tyler needed/wanted a new handsome shirt for Thanksgiving this year, we couldn't find a thing for little boys who are the size of a 9 year old, so Nanny worked this into the to do list today.

$5.00 Wally world shirt has been transformed into something appropriate for a 5 year old fella who loves holidays

No matter how hard I try I can't get to the end of my to do list. Every day (sometimes each hour) something new lands on the list. Lots of deep breaths and rearranging things to get it all in. As we sit watching Alton Browns Thanksgiving special tonight we are both wondering who will fall asleep first, I think he is sure to go first!

We worked in some Christmas shopping Saturday and Sunday. We have finished doing Daughter #1 shopping for her. She is so larger with "Baby Bubba" we want her to stay off her feet as much as possible, having a 5 year old and 1 year old to keep up with as well as a full time job it's not easy to work in any down time!! She will come over and spend some time doing her wrapping and her Christmas to do's will be done. The whole family will get together the Friday after Thanksgiving to help them get the house and yard decorated. "Baby Bubba" will arrived only 3 days later, we hope having everything done around their home will give them some down time to enjoy baby #3.

Hubby and I got a good dent made on our own shopping, I'm thinking an additional day should do it. SOOOO hope to have it all in the house before turkey day, then its on to the wrapping. I think we will stay under budget, however our budget is pretty large compared to what seems to be the norm of $500.00. If I left it up to hubby there would be no budget at all, he goes crazy at Christmas. So whats the budget you might ask....if we can keep it under $500.00 per adult child (son-in-laws included) I would be a happy camper, but it's a struggle to keep it that low. I know that might seem an extravagant amount to spend but compared to the past its much more frugal (blush) and its a cash only deal in our house so no pile of bills will hit the mail box in January. The grands receive one gift each from us and a Christmas ornament in their stockings at our home. Everything else is home made (lots more to do)

The other budget rump kicker for us is all son-in-laws Birthday's fall over the holiday's, Son-in-law #1 BD is December 23rd, Son-in-law #2 BD is November 23rd, special boy friend's BD is October 31st. Can our girls pickem or not!!

Off to bed to work up the new revised list for tomorrow, I'm gonna whip this deal no matter what

Bits and Pieces

Table runner I wasn't able to post yesterday
Cut fabric for this little jewel out during nap time today

While the babies napped this morning I dug around in my room for fabric that would work on the Santa table runner pictured above and did a little cleaning up. Why don't I put things away as I go? I realized while cleaning up I have very little red fabric, hum... red is not my favorite color but it does come in handy now and then.

During their afternoon nap I got busy cutting up the fabric so I can start piecing it when I have a free moment here and there. Not sure how much free time I will be having until the first of next week. The evenings are still filled working on the little girls Christmas stockings, SO HOPE to finish up the piece and needle work by the weekend so I can begin the sequins and bead work, my least favorite part. sigh..

Hubby arrived home this afternoon with a pile of laundry and a hankering to head to the grocery store to by our turkey before they sell out. The laundry is underway, I talked him into waiting until tomorrow to do the grocery shopping. The man can not be trusted in a grocery store unsupervised.

Tyler also had Thanksgiving on his mind, he called after school today to check on the size of turkey we were having also suggested we needed ham, no potatoes, green beans or sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows, he wants mini marshmallows on the side. Also a big no! on pies, he wants super hero sugar cookies instead. He explained to me Thanksgiving was for praying and having a feast with all your favorite foods. "oh ya Nanny and don't forget Thanksgiving day sprinkles for our ice cream" Need to update my menu plan for the big day!! Gotta love what 5 year olds come out with. Hubby thinks Ty is right on with some of his suggestions.

Making Do

The house was as clean as it needed to be today so I decided to start a Christmas table runner from a pattern I picked up last summer at one of the super sales, problem was I hadn't bought fabric to make the runner with. Time to dig into the stash and scraps to see if I could pull it off.

It took 92 (2 1/2 x 2 1/2) squares of green fabric pieced together to make the trees, the background white and tan fabric was leftover from something last Christmas, the red polka dot is something everyone should have on hand, can't go wrong with polka dots in any color.

I didn't have anything Christmasy (is that a word?) big enough to use for the backing so I pieced together 2 different fabrics then added 2 more trees to make it look a little less patched.

Did some free motion quilting, added some bling to brighten it up and bingo, its done. With ZERO cost, all from scraps.

I will have to post a photo of the entire runner on a later post, blogger won't let me post any more photo's on this post :( The runner turned out really cute and I got lots of exercise running up and down the stairs looking for fabric to use so it was a good day! I would like to say I used up a pile of fabric but in reality very little was needed, still have lots of piles that need to be cleared out. I have been spending WAY more than I should on fabric lately, of course the jumbo Harley quilt sucked the bucks right out of my pocket but I have begun stock piling fabric again. NO MORE!! I intend on using up what I have for a very long time. If I were to sew each and every day for a year I don't think I would run out. This bad habit is kicking my spending plans rump, it's so close to the end of the year if I don't get a handle on my evil ways we will never make our goal of saving 35% of our take home pay for 2011. There is still more Christmas gifts to buy, Baby Bubba to spoil, a new Mommy to pamper and very few paydays left in the year. Time to buckle down and be more thrifty. Today was a small step in that direction.

TA DAAAA

Lots of sewing the rolls of quilt squares

Ironing the seams, each and every one, not my favorite thing to do.

But it was all worth it to finish this quilt for one of our many wounded hero's

It's done!!! I am so excited to hand this quilt over to the long arm quilter to do her thing, then it will return to me for the binding, hand stitching, and the label. I found the perfect fabric for the back today, a nice flannel red, white, and blue plaid, PERFECT!!!!

While at the quilt shop I picked up supplies for 2 more "Quilt of Valor" quilts, one of the many goals I have for 2012 is to donate one quilt each month to our wounded soldiers. Sure hope "Baby Bubba" turns out to be a good baby or I am gonna have a plate overflowing next year.

I will be tightening our spending plan up a bit after the holiday's to include the cost of making 12 quilts. This will not be an inexpensive endeavor, but I will not use cheap fabric for men and woman who fight for my freedom to live in this country. Now on to putting the journal/scrapbook together as well as the quilt case required when it's time to mail this labor of love off. So STINKIN EXCITED, can you tell?

This and That

More quilt blocks finished

Some seam riping was going on

All the quilt blocks are ready to go!!

I snuck in a little quilting between loads of laundry, vacuming, mopping and general cleaning up. I do believe I will finish up the quilt top by the end of the week if things go as planned (doesn't happen often)

We pulled out what I thought was all the fall decorations this morning but now that I have broken into the tubs looks like I am missing a tub or two, durn. It's back to the attic in the morning so I can finish up decorating for Thanksgiving, then on to our meal plan. As usual hubby wants it all!! He is away from home so much eating restaurant food that it takes him a few weeks to get his fill of home cooking.

So far the only response I have had on Veterans Day blog candy is from Carla over at 1/2 dozen daily, Carla you get your pick of any of the three pieces posted, just let me know!!

Off to bed early again tonight, I can't seem to get my body on the new time, up at 5:30 then ready for bed by 9:00.

Weekend Wrap up

Cupcakes at Daughter #1 baby brunch

One stocking pieced and needle work done, second stocking is on it's way

Quilt of Valor cut out and ready to go

Finished 3 sets of quilt blocks, only 3 more design sets to go

We have had a steady weekend of running around, spending time with the Grands and even worked in an afternoon nap today before we head out to eat with some friends tonight. Having hubby home has been a nice change of pace. He will be headed to Savannah, Ga for a week tomorrow then it looks like he will be working out of the local office for awhile!! It will be an adjustment for both of us to live together full time but we normally do pretty good other than the TV blaring 24-7 grrrrr.

I'm happy with the progress of the Quilt of Valor, slow and steady works for me. I do believe I might be able to have the quilt top done this week!! I have 3 more sets of quilt squares to do, I'm thinking maybe 10 of each then its putting them all together. This week is looking to be a slow week around the house so I will use the extra time for quilting this special labor of love.

We had Daughter #1's Baby Bubba Brunch this morning, nice and easy, early enough in the day to have some at home time to relax, love that! Baby bubba received WAY to many clothes, if Mom changes him 10 times a day he still won't be able to wear it all, his closet is already overflowing with "cool baby stuff" as Tyler would say. They have come up with a name for the baby but it's a bit of a secret, the big announcment will be November 30th when he joins the family.

Remember to leave a comment or send me an e mail on what you did for our troops on Veterans Day this year to have a chance at some blog candy.

Veterans Day Blog Candy

How would you like a Linen Tea Towel
Maybe a Fall Apron

Close up of the apron

Or an assortment of sweater pumpkins, 1 large and 2 small

Get your name in the hat for any of the three prizes above as a thank you from me for making a donation of any sort or for any amount of $$ to our Veterans today. Leave a comment or send me an e-mail to share in what way you decided to honor our fighting men and women, no need to tell the amount you donated!! I will do the drawing on Monday of next week for the winners.

We are back from our family outing, everyone survived and best of all we are all still speaking to each other. I will share in another post of our adventure, today is for our troops!!

I am on my way to having the "Quilt of Valor" cut out and ready to piece, not sure how much piecing I will get done today after a late afternoon nap I will get back on it and work when I can over the weekend. I have never tried the pattern before so it might be a slow but steady pace, our local quilt store has offered to help me free of charge if I get stuck. Here is the really great part, Deborah Norris has donated her time and materials to do the free arm quilting!!!!!! Thank you so much Deborah for you help!!!! I may not get the quilt done until this winter but I will devote as much time as I can when I can to completing this labor of love.

The most intimidating part of the process for me is the journal that the organization requests you do while working on the quilt. They ask that the journaling be in your own hand writing and add photo's if you would like. Since my spelling is atrocious (when spell check is down you know I am speaking the truth) I want to keep my journaling short and sweet, as a scrap booker photo's are a must. I decided to use a 8x8 scrapbook as my journal, that way I can have my Daughters (who can all spell) proof read my journaling before I slide it into the book, the photo's and blinging out pages should be easy peasy. Check out some of the organizations listed below if you are unsure of what or where to make a donation.

GOD BLESS the USA and all who are willing to give up their life so the rest of us may live free.

http://www.qovf.org/

http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=scarves
http://www.operationwritehome.org/
http://www.operationshoebox.com/

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

http://www.aerhq.org/dnn563/

Nanny Time Day 5

Assembly line of sweater pumpkins

Day 5 of my Nanny time was spent once again try to clean up and clean out in the AM before I allowed myself some playtime. All the freezers are cleaned out and organized, my list of items I need to start watching for coupons and sales is ready. The pantries are looking spiffy again, I need to make a run to the warehouse store soon for kidney beans and Lima's if the grocery doesn't run a sale soon. The computer amour got some badly needed TLC, yet another list that I need to pick up of desk supplies. I put all the different lists in my planner so they won't get lost in never land, hopefully that will make shopping trips and scanning sales ads a little bit faster.

Then it was play time, I finished up all the mending, organized my thoughts for a card workshop at the nursing home for Christmas and made a quick trip to goodwill for more sweaters. Daughter #1 put in a request for sweater throw pillows, they won't be happening for awhile but I needed an excuse to get out of the house and enjoy some time in the beautiful weather.

Today I hit the floor in high gear. Hubby will be arriving home a day earlier than expected. He wanted to get out of MI before the winter storm hit, southern boys don't do snow!! I have had to rearrange my plans to work around the new schedule. Once I finish up the pile of pumpkins on the counter I will get started on the "Quilt of Valor" I would love to have enough time left in the day to begin the piece work but just to get it cut out will be a big help.

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, I planned on working on the quilt the entire day but hubby has set up a family outing.... I have already forwarded him I want to be home soon after noon so I can spend the rest of the day working on the quilt. I so hope I don't have to give anyone the 'Mommy look" but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to have time to honor our fighting men and women. We did make a nice donation to the Soldiers Angels phone home organization http://soldiersangels.org/operation-phone-home.html but I have my heart set on doing more.

Don't forget blog candy for our soldiers is tomorrow Veterans Day, leave me a comment on what you have done to help our fighting men and women, I will post the goodies sometime tomorrow. I will wait until Monday to do the drawing, as always you are welcome to send me an e-mail instead if you don't want to leave a comment on the blog!!

Nanny Time Day 4

Lucky find!! It is almost as big as the wood stove.

The view from my bathroom window this morning

Who posts views from their bathroom window? Well um...... me, for some reason the fall colors coming through the window made waking up a little sweeter, once the sun was up that is! I'm itching for a pot of something today to celebrate the end of my Nanny time and the beautiful colors of fall, chicken and dumplins might just do the trick. I need to get my rump in gear and make up noodles for the freezer so I can throw a pot of chicken noodle soup together in a pinch but the kitchen counters are still covered in various unfinished projects.

Yesterday was more running around (booooo) everything was on my do to list so at least I was able to mark lots of things off. One of my stops was to meet a friend to get her input on the sweater covered pumpkins, the stems were giving me fits, together we came up with the idea to cover some Styrofoam in brown moss and use a bit of beading wire for the vine swirly things along with a felt leaf or two they should be done, mark another thing off! The Harley quilt is now in the hands of the long arm quilter, can't wait to see what she comes up with for a design. I still have to pick up fabric for the binding to finish it up. I have been keeping up with receipts on the quilt so when the time comes our Harley buddies want me to make one for them I can give them the true price not figuring in any labor, I am sure they will be as shocked as I am over the price.

While I was out and about I ran into another Michael's in search of more pumpkins to cover, out of luck, everything fall or Halloween were marked down 80% so the pickins were might slim. Another thing I was on the lookout for was some sort of decoration for Daughter #1 front porch, at 80% off I figured I would put together a floral arrangement of some sort for her. A huge pre made arrangement caught my eye, but with a $150.00 price tag I was just scoping it out for ideas. The clerk that was working in the area told me they were also marked down 80% off, PAY DIRT the cost was $31.00, "I'll take 2 please" load um up!! My sister gave me a tip that Wally World had plastic jack a lanterns on clearance, since I was covering them in sweaters it didn't matter what they were decorated as, at $1.19 each I loaded the buggy.

Today I get to stay home!!!! I have a ton more things I want to knock out, while I won't get everything done I am feeling a little less stressed by the piles of unfinished projects and household chores I have been putting off. We are now on baby countdown so I have got to get ahead of the game, "Baby Bubba" will be joining the family November 30th!! The last ultrasound showed chubby cheeks, button nose and a bald head, can't wait to get this little guy in our arms.

I'm off to work on my list and get a chicken in the pot to stew.