Old McDonald

One other earth shaking event happened on Friday noon - it the first time that Keith and I took Brooklyn to McDonald's! LOL! It was so much fun, at least for us. We got her a Happy Meal that had chicken nuggets, apple slices and milk. You can see in the photo that she really liked the apple slices and the milk! The nuggets didn't win any prizes, but that's ok. Another scrapbook-worthy day filled with photos!

Beautiful Timing

Oh what a weekend filled with joy! It all started on Friday when I was able to leave early. But the leaving early wasn't the source of the joy, it was the fact that I got to go by the daycare and pick up Brooklyn. :) My mom, brother and sister-in-law were coming to town on Friday afternoon to stay the weekend and of course I wanted them to see the little one as much as they could.

And on the way home from the daycare, while Brooklyn was sleeping, a most amazing thing happened. I was riding along thinking about what a blessing it's been to have this little girl in our life. Next thing I know the song "The Fingerprints of God" by Steven Curtis Chapman came on the radio. Here are some of the lyrics:

Never has there been and never again
Will there be another you
Fashioned by God's hand and perfectly planned
To be just who you are
And what He's been creating
Since the first beat of your heart
Is a living, breathing
Priceless work of art

And I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know it's true
You're a masterpiece that all creation
Quietly applauds
And you're covered with
The fingerprints of God

Just look at you
You're a wonder in the making
And God's not through
In fact, He's just getting started!














Lucky for me I came to a red light about that time, so i pulled my trusty "grandma" camera out and reached over the backseat and her car seat to take this picture. Yes, she is indeed covered in the fingerprints of God.

Amen.

Stick A Fork In Me, I'm Done!

Yes me, Queen of Unfinished Projects, has actually completed something!

It all started when I saw the pattern for the Everlasting Bagstopper on Knitty. Cute, but didn't give it another thought really. And then while looking through Ravelry I saw one done in the most amazing colors and fell in love. I emailed the photo and pattern link to some girls at work and thought that was that.

Except that these girls fell in love with the bag and started knitting! The picture is one of our in progress pictures. From left to right: mine, Princis, Loni, Audrey. Since this photo was taken all bags are finished (yeah, I was last!), Lynne' has started one, Audrey has finished another one, and all three girls have started another. Bag making machines I tell you!

One of the comments we make over and over at work during our lunchtime knitting is that "it takes a village to knit a project" because we love to brainstorm. Each bag has some subtle differences as we all discover our favorite methods.

I am one of those people that really dislikes changing colors while knitting, so I bought one of the giant skeins of Bernat cotton so that no joining would be required. ;)

My changes from the pattern: the top edge is stockinette stitch instead of garter stitch and my handles are knitted. I picked up 10 stitches and knit probably about 14 inches, then picked up 10 more stitches on the other side and knit for 6 inches, then used the kitchener stitch to join. A lightbulb went on for me while knitting the second handle and this time I did my kitchener stitch with all knit stitches since it's a garter stitch handle and I'm a lot happier with it.

Too cute! I was absolutely ready to start making another bag, but have a deadline project I'm working on before I can do another. My goal is to have enough to take grocery shopping so that I no longer have to use the plastic bags.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Finally last night I made cupcakes again and I had so much fun doing it. I really need more hours in my day/week to do all the things I enjoy! :)

So far the comments at work have these as the best cupcakes I've brought to date. My car smelled oh so good on the way to work this morning.

These are not the prettiest I've ever made, partly because of the icing. The icing consists of cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and frozen strawberry puree. As I was piping it on the icing became less and less able to hold its shape, so I plopped the whole lot into the refrigerator for a while. The second batch did a little better.

Regardless of appearance, these were awesome. Keith is not normally a fan of "scratch" cakes because they are more dense. This recipe made a very light cake full of flavor.

Edited to add link to recipe. :)

Fear

Eleanor Roosevelt is credited as having said "face something you fear every day." I heard this quote a few weeks ago and was so taken with it that I sent it in an email to several people at work. Apparently they were not nearly as smitten as I never heard anything back. ;) But the quote has stayed on my mind and this past weekend I was able to "put my money where my mouth is" so to speak.

I love the concept of the quote. By facing that which we fear we are able to conquer it and fear no longer has any power over us. Between that and having God as my co-pilot it stands to reason that I am king of the world!

Except not so much. There are things that I'm afraid of. And it's a funny thing about fear - those that don't share your fear seem to tsk tsk at it. Sometimes facing a fear is really, really hard. I faced several this past weekend and it wore me out!

The first has to do with the boat. I love the lake and was practically raised on its waters. But at some point in the last couple of years I have developed a deep fear of being on the water. Keith asked me why I'm afraid and really who can ever pinpoint the cause of a fear? So when he asked me if I wanted to start learning to drive the boat the inner me ran and hid in a corner. Exterior me looked that fear in the face and decided to count it as my fear for that day. I sat behind the wheel and I kid you not I had locked elbows and legs! My chin was quivering and I was reciting the 23rd Psalm over and over as I sped up. But God and me, we got through it. His gentle whisperings of encouragement helped me to slowly relax. I can't say that I got to the enjoyment phase of that boat trip, but at least a large part of the fear was faced. And the next day, with water smooth as glass, I drove again and did actually enjoy it!

And then that evening after dinner Keith suggested we go out and ride the motorcycles. Mind you, I've ridden these things for probably 30 years and always enjoyed them. But having the wreck almost two years ago changed the enjoyment to fear. "But Lord, please don't make me face two fears in one day!" "You can do it little one." ~ sigh ~ I walked out to the little scooter and got on. We rode for a while and again, I never got the enjoyment back. But the terror that I've felt each time I think of riding them has now passed.

With all the fear facing this weekend I was glad to get back to work today and relax! :)

Happy Dog!

Home from another fabulous lake weekend and we're all POOPED!

I love this picture of Joe because it shows his big smile. One of the girls I work with didn't know that dogs smile, so I had to dig through some old photos and show her. Who can deny this doggy smile?

We had pulled up to a beach and all jumped in to play in the water. Joe is stylin' in his new life jacket and he gets giggles many times around the lake. But he's a senior citizen and I just worry about him getting over tired. Actually though he's always had a lifejacket for in the boat. Safety first!

The Little Tree That Could

Try as I might, I cannot get this image out of my mind. This picture was taken at the lake and I suppose it shows a great example of recycling. These tires are being used as a breakwater between a very large lake and the boat docks, slowing the waves down before they could get to the docks and do any damage.

Look at the center of the picture and see the little tree growing amongst the tires. That's the image I keep seeing in my mind's eye. And with it I see several stories....and it's at this point that my family groans... ;)

• Bloom Where You Are Planted - We've all heard the saying and we all have examples. Whether your example refers to where your home is, who your friends are, where you work - it implies a certain easygoing nature. And looking at this little tree, growing where it honestly shouldn't be able to, brings it to mind.
• He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. Luke 17:6 WOW - that is really quite powerful. Like so many others, there's several things going on in my life right now that are causing a bit of upheaval (and my first case ever of hives - joy!). And the one thing that I always try to do is to keep my eyes open to the many things that God puts before me and this is a perfect example. This tree has been "uprooted and planted in the sea" ... so to speak ... and is there for me to witness.

I know that I'm not a gifted or eloquent writer, but the Lord has truly put this little tree on my heart.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace." - Numbers 6:24-26

Yarn Shopping With Brooklyn

This is what happens when you go yarn shopping with an almost 1 year old!

She had an absolutely grand time wrapping yarn around everything and laughing and talking to it. And of course I had a fabulous time watching her do it!

It did occur to me after the fact that maybe this wasn't a good idea for me to let her do it. Her mom also knits and hopefully she won't think that it's always ok to mess with yarn this way. But isn't she cute??? (and yes, I did purchase the yarn that she messed up.....) Now that I think about it, her mom and aunt were there too and nobody stopped me, so SURELY it was ok. ;)

Loni's Birthday Card

I completely forgot to upload the card I made for Loni's birthday!

Look really close at the heart and see the little kitty faces. Loni dearly loves her two cats so I thought this stamp would be perfect for her. Unfortunately I have no idea who made the stamp as I bought it unmounted at a stamp convention about ten years ago.

I'm pleased with how it came out and am glad I actually got it made in time! :)

Wii Had a Wii Bit of Fun!

My favorite daughter-in-law's birthday was Friday, so as is tradition in our family she got to choose how to celebrate. I kept hearing hints about Pink Lemonade Cupcakes, so of course I didn't want to let her down. I made the cupcakes and tested out my new little bitty Wilton heart pan with the rest of the batter.

Brooklyn enjoyed eating one of her mama's birthday cupcakes. Or rather eating the frosting off one of the cupcakes. And her grandpa was sitting right next to her during cupcake time and the two of them giggling together warms my heart every time.

But the main event for the day was a friendly family Wii tournament. I'm not positive what games they played (my focus was on a certain almost one year old), but I know they wore themselves out. And we had a bit of team play going on as shown in the picture. I can't say enough about how much we have enjoyed this game. Who knew?

And this is one of Brooklyn's absolute favorite things to do right now - grab your fingers and WALK! I had her sitting in my lap at one point and she wiggled her way to the floor, turned around and got my fingers and off she went again. She even got so brave as to only hold on with one hand...until she realized what she was doing! Then she teetered and tottered until Grandma had to grab hold of her again. It truly won't be long now and she'll be running all over the place. As it is, she's in the speed racer stage of crawling and can go FAST!

Indy How I Love Thee!

Throwing in a random thought here because my blog titled reminded me of it. Yes we did go on opening weekend to see the new Indiana Jones movie and yes I thoroughly enjoyed it. When they first played the famous theme music I couldn't help but smile and settle in to enjoy the ride.















Now on to the real reason for the title - last night was the Bombardier Learjet 550 at Texas Motor Speedway and we had a blast. Love this picture of Keith and Lynne' that I took right after we got there. :) None of us had ever been to an Indy race before and it was absolutely mind blowing how fast these cars go.

But before the race we had another thrill watching Captain Robbie Knievel jumping over 21 Hummers and setting a new world record. I know there's probably some of you rolling you eyes abot now, but it was honestly rather a thrilling thing to watch.

We've been to many Nascar races out at TMS and one of the things that was really cool about the Indy race was that during driver introductions the drivers walk down THROUGH THE STANDS and out to their cars! This is how close we were to E.J. Viso and that was awesome. And after the race they actually open the fence and let all the fans down in the pit/garage area to walk around and see the cars. Unfortunately it was already very late and Lynne' had to be at work early this morning, so we left. The good part about that is now we've saved something to look forward to next time. :)

And of course, the crowd favorite, Danica Patrick. This was the clearest picture I got of her car and it's during the race as she was going in for a pit stop. Again, these cars go fast and by the time your brain registers that they are in front of you they are already around on the back stretch. Anyway, one thing that struck me about the Danica fans was that there were lots of younger girls that cheered any time she did anything. I wonder if Danica has any idea how much inspiration she is to the Hannah Montana fan base? Lynne' and I got a kick out of watching these young girls jumping and screaming for Danica. :)

--<>--

I just went back to proofread what I typed and when I looked at the picture of Lynne' and Keith I realized that I hadn't blogged about this event from last weekend. Lynne' went in and got her hair cut off for Locks of Love! Not only am I enormously proud of her for doing this, I really think it's C.U.T.E. on her!

Saturday With Brooklyn

It hit me when I sat down to type this entry that one of the things I say too many times is "I just had the best weekend ever!", but honestly it's true. We just have so much fun and are so blessed and this past weekend was no exception.

We started out with getting to watch Brooklyn while J&L went to the lake with friends. Yes, once again we got the best end of the deal! Keith and I went out to breakfast and took Little Bit with us where I am proud to report that we discovered she likes grits! J&L do NOT like grits, so I guess this culinary treat will have to be enjoyed with her grandma. We shared grits and I tore little bites of dry pancake off for her to pick up and poke in her mouth. She giggled and played with her grandpa and we had so many people stop by our table and talk about what a doll she is.

Our next errand was stopping at a nearby store and once again we had a great time. Grandpa put her in the little car/shopping cart combo and the two of them had a grand time honking the horn for a bit. He decided she's still a bit too little to ride in it around the store, so he opted to carry her instead. :)

She fell fast asleep on the way home and finished up a brief nap. Oh how I wish I could sleep with such abandon! A part of me wishes I could get away with wearing the cute little outfit too - LOL!

Once she woke up it was time for some quality grandma and Brooklyn time. Loni had gotten a book for me (or Brooklyn???) called Read To Me Grandma and it's filled with Disney stories. Brooklyn really enjoys hearing stories read to her, but I also discovered that I don't turn the pages fast enough for her liking. We were able to reach a compromise though, with me reading a few sentences on a page before she'd turn them. It made for an interesting story with bits of Jungle Book, Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin all jumbled up together. Add in grandma singing songs from the movies and we pretty well cleared the room. :)