How can she be Four

 Another day another party! Oh my :) DD#3 kept it simple and sweet for this years party. Just a morning at the park with friends, family, and cake.

 Kara's favorite thing in the world is time at the park, having friends along is icing on the cake

 She had fun passing out juice boxes and Hello Kitty treat bags

 Eating cake was pretty fun too

They are all growing up just too fast.

 

Today we have NO parties!!!! I do have to deliver my SIL and her hubby for their adventure, lunch, and tour at the track and more than likely dinner for the gang at our house tonight but that's it!! (can we say call in pizza) Wheee, am I ever over all the festivities.

 

Seeing as how I must drive by one of my favorite quilt shops on the way to the track I do believe I will swing in to stimulate the economy a bit. I need NOTHING but I plan on buying a little something new :) The last newsletter I received from them had a super cute tote that would make a nice Christmas gift, humm. Fabric...maybe just a little. The rest of the day will be devoted to the sofa with a book. It's just to darn hot to do much else.

 

Our house is upside down, the fridge needs to be cleaned out, laundry needs to be done, bills to pay, a mini Birthday party for Kara on Wednesday with family only to plan but for today it will all have to wait.

 

Has anyone else hit the end of their rope in the festivities department? Summer has just started and I am already over it. I say bring on the fall and winter. Of course that's easy for me to say here in the south as we don't have to shovel snow in the winter :)

Surprise Birthday Party

 We had a surprise Birthday Party last night for my Sister In Law, boy was she ever surprised :)

 Her hubby has been thinking, planning, and worrying for 3 months to make sure he could give her a special night. Her daughter and Son In Law (on the left of this photo) from NJ were able to sneak into town to add an extra special surprise to the night.

 Everything went off without a hitch!! What a fun night for a special lady.

BIL has been so cute with e-mail and phone calls giving me clues and tips on her favorite things so everything would be perfect for his sweetheart. One of the many things he wanted her to have was a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. I didn't want to order the typical over the hill sort of thing done on a cake, maybe for men it's OK, us ladies....not so much :) For some reason this little lady cake spoke to me. Thankfully she found it just a funny and cute as I did.

Another late night enjoying time with the adults only in the family. Well except for Tater Tot who is much too young to leave with a sitter. I have been so worried one of us would have a slip up and spill the beans with my SIL since they arrived in town on Thursday thinking they were just having a 4th of July family visit. The best part of all was her reaction when she saw her Daughter as we entered the private room at the restaurant.  Awww. SIL and her hubby are travelers now that he has retired, they love to cruise!! Our DD's and mutual friends that attended HOOKED her up with some great cruse related clothes and accessories. She was so excited to have so hip new things for thier next trip.

I had my heart set on sending them on a mini vacation to Baltimore Estates for a tour and evening at the Inn as our gift. Hubby nixed that idea as dumb, MEN. Instead we are sending them on a 3 hour tour of the speedway along with lunch at the Speedway club and matching NASCAR tee's. UGH. Oh well so much for a romantic overnight getaway :) I couldn't let our gift be all BOYISH so I tucked a Pandora bracelet and breast cancer survivor charm in with our gift from ME. Us ladies have to stick together!!

Off this morning for yet another party, the fun just never stops. We are having Kara's 4th Birthday party this morning at the park. It won't be as fancy as our evening at the Melting Pot but I am sure Kara will rock her party.

Fun from the 4th of July

 If Tyler had his way he would sit all day holding Tater Tot. Our new little boy gets a whole lotta love from his sister and cousin's.

 Bikes, trikes, and scooters decorated and loaded for the big parade

 Karsyn had practiced her Miss American wave all week

 Mason man wanted to ride his scooter cause it's super fast

 Kara went with a trike, once again speed won out over style

 Parked and ready for the big parade

And there off

 

A beautiful morning for a parade!!! Albert took all that humidity and heat right along with him as he headed away from NC. The temperatures were perfect and the kiddo's had a ball. Tater Tot an I waited at the car as not a one of us remembered to bring a stroller for him :) Note to self get the stroller back in my car.

 

Later in the day we all got a belly full of traditional picnic food and just kicked back. It's a rare thing to be able to sit outside this time of year, yesterday....perfect! We finished up the evening at DD#1's home to enjoy fireworks. Enjoy is an overstatement on my part, I HATE little kids around fireworks!!!! Sparklers are on the very top of my hate list, but no one got hurt so it's all good

 

Today is looking to be just a nice as yesterday. We have enough leftovers that I don't even have to cook. Yep it's going to be a great day. 

A Finish!!

 It's been a long time since I have been able to hang a finished quilt on the clothes line :)

 This quilt feels like a teen/tween quilt for a boy to me but a girl would be happy with it as well

A fun ocean backing from my stash.

 

I have spent most of the day in the kitchen getting ready for our 4th dinner tomorrow, can't think of any where else I would rather be. Well maybe stretched out on the sofa with a good book would be pretty nice :)

 

Gonna finish tonight with favorite sweet treats as I am playing along with Sharon

 

Which would you prefer?
1. Donuts or Cookies – Home made cookies
2. Bake Cake or Ice Cream Cake –  Cake with frosting. Hubby loves the ice cream cakes
3. Milk Chocolate or Dark Chocolate – Dark Chocolate!!!!
4. Hard candy or Chewy Candy – Hard butterscotch
5. Pie or Cheesecake – This is a hard one as I love both. I will go with Cheesecake since it's so hot outside
6. Hershey’s Kisses or Dove Chocolates – Doves dark chocolate :)
7. Reese’s or Kit-Kat – Not a big fan
8. Cupcakes or Brownies – Cupcakes
9. Pumpkin, Apple or Pecan Pie – Oh my, I love each and every one. Better go with pecan seeing as how we are in the south
10. Pieces or Bar – Bar
11. Classic Twizzlers or Pull and Peel – I live under a rock, I didn't know there was such thing as pull and peel
12. Regular or King Size – Regular, gotta watch the waistline
13. Favorite Candy Bar – Anything that's dark chocolate
14. Ice Cream Cone or Dish – Dish with some hot fudge or a big slice of chocolate cake
15. Original Oreo or Double Stuffed -Original with a glass of cold milk please

Frugal 4th of July Projects

 While cleaning the sewing room at the crack of dawn this morning I ran into this table cloth I picked up last year on the after the 4th of July sale for 75% off, total cost $18.00!! Seeing as how I have nothing else to do today (ya right) Figured I might as well do something with it seeing as how it was lost but now it's found :)

 While the fabric looks like burlap it's really polyester, it should hold up much better than burlap. SEW easy to do! Just cut it the width I wanted then ran a side seam hem.

 The runner was much longer than I needed sew...I cut the extra off and ran another seam on the end. Super easy table topper.

 I ended up with THREE table runners, one table topper, and extra fabric do to something else with that is floating around in my head, just need to find the time to use the leftovers up.

 Since I already have a 4th of July table runner I am using one of the three for the hall table. Lets pretend that the pitcher is full of sweet daisy's. I need to make a run to the grocery store, daisy's have been added to the list.

 A friends DD made this burlap tan and blue wreath for me to use during winter. I took the snowflakes off then added a few odds and ends I found at the dollar store. Cost...maybe $5.00. I can convert it back to a winter wreath come January :)

Last 4th of July  DYI is a bit of yard art. Free pallet from the home improvement store, then used some spray paint I found in the garage. Hubby's messy garage is good for something after all. Total cost ZERO!!

Over the past few years I have been working at moving holiday decorations from the attic to shelves in the garage. Before loading them on the shelves I have been pretty brutal in cleaning out stuff I just don't like anymore. After almost 40 years of marriage we have collected a whole lot of holiday STUFF. It is just to hard for me to climb in the attic to pull stuff down. The new system is not working as well as expected :)

Hubby decided the best place to park his Harley is right smack in front of the holiday shelves. Moving that heavy prize possession of his is not something I can do so...we didn't have many 4th of July decorations out this year, that is until today!! YAAAA

Now that I have played around for most of the day I have GOT to get my rump in gear!!! House still needs to be cleaned, groceries to buy, food to cook, yada, yada, yada.

One more thing to share regarding the 4th of July. Earlier this week I saw an interview on the news about Pizza 4 Patriots, check it out!! They raise money during the year to provide a pizza party for our military hero's on the 4th of July and during the Super Bowl. Talk about a big bang for just a few bucks:)

Busy Beaver

 Lots of sewing has backed up on the kitchen table. Time to get caught back up :)

 Once I get the binding on this quilt it will be going to Project Linus for a tween/teen boy or girl.

 While I was out and about yesterday I ran into a great sale at Babies R Us on some newborn/preemie outfits for Bitty Baby

 A bathing suit for Karsyn's Bitty

 And one for Kara's Bitty

 Onesies on sale for $2.50 each. The easiest way to re purpose them into Bitty clothes  (to me) is to cut off the bottom.

 By adding some binding the onesie is now a Bitty dress. I am leaving the dress longer than they maybe should be so the Grand girls can use them on regular size American Girls when they are older.

I have no idea why this photo showed up twice, also have no idea how to make it go away :)

I HAVE to concentrate on sewing and cleaning the sewing room today no matter what. Everything is upside down. It's too stinkin hot to do anything else. The humidity is just awful with a tropical storm sitting off the NC coast.

We have hubby's Sister and Brother-In-Law coming in this week to celebrate the 4th. Need to plan some meals, bake, and do a bit of cleaning before Thursday. All that will have to wait until I get the fabric and sewing projects that have taken over the house back in some sort of order.

I haven't had the time to get any Linus quilts ready to turn in next month until today. Thank goodness I had a quilt top set back from last year. If all goes as planned (never) I should be able to get a second tween/teen quilt ready to turn in. Sew much fabric sew little time :)

Taking time out in the evenings for the past few days have made such a difference in my mood and energy level. I am just too darn old to go a hundred miles and hour for so many weeks.

Is anyone else spending time indoors now that Summer is in full swing?

So Many Happy Things

 One of the many happy things on my list is spending time with Tater Tot. Time just flies by, he is a month old already!! Slow down little buddy we can't keep up :)

 Another happy thing was remembering the 4th of July is a week away, EEEEK The little girls need new shirts!! Happy, happy, happy that I worked up the 4th appliques while on our girls cabin vacation back in March. In a skinny minute I had their shirts and bracelets I found at the dollar store awhile back ready for the holiday.

 Happy that Rhonda inspired me to clean out the fridge and freezers. Thanks Rhonda :)

 Over the MOON happy with this cute fabric that LINDA shared with me from her stash to make more pillowcases for ConKerr charity!!

 The Happy from her box didn't end there!!! Check out these quick sew tops she was sew sweet to share :) I can't wait to have the time to stitch these up :)

See how cute the front and back are on these tops!! There are FIVE tucked in her box. Thank you, Thank you!!

Just a happy, happy day all around today. A few more should have been done a long time ago projects are complete. I even put my feet up in the afternoon to take some time off to read my "The One Year Bible for Women" book during the day (I will share more on this book later). I have been so down for so long with all that has happened the past few month's that a Happy, Happy day was just what I needed.

I have given up on a To Do list for awhile. Just flying by the seat of my pants and hoping for the best :) I really don't need a To Do list to remind me of what needs to be done. One look around our home and something is always screaming "Do Me, Do Me" :)

Today is my meals on wheels day for Elijah and his family. It will be a happy sad day in the kitchen. Happy and blessed that we have enough to share with this sweet sweet family. So sad that Elijah is in this nasty fight. There will be lots of tears going into this meal :( It still feels like a dream that Elijah has cancer...how can this be? Elijah and his family needs prays, they need laughter, they need normal. It's hard to be normal when we are around any of them. We all just want to fall to our knees and cry out why, oh why do little children have to suffer. OK, here come the tears, it's time to get this show on the road.

If you would like to join in as Prayer Warrior for Elijah just click on his name :)