oy vey! what a day he's apparently having!
we try to get him to do at least 300 push-ups a day ;)

and good thing he can't walk yet cause this could get MUCH worst! i havent been crafting much lately. nathans at this really fun stage right now where all he does is smile and giggle and want to play with whoever is around. so of course i've been treasuring these moments! but i did manage to make a tie for jaren for fathers day.

and it's a little after midnight and i just finished a baby blanket. the fabric is michael millers "babys first sight". i machine quilted it and machine binded it.

thats all for now. goodnight!

ANOTHER GREAT GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

here in town we have a GREAT little fabric store called strawberry patches. they offer great quality "higher-end" designer fabric. so the other day suzanne (the owner) was blogging about some new fabric and was giving away 8 fat quarters (18x22 piece of fabric) and a 1/2 yard of tangerine chenille fabric. to enter, you had to leave her a comment as to why she should choose you to win the fabric. how could i resist fabric?!?!

so here's what i shared with her...

i love strawberry patches! when i went past my due date with my son, my mother took me to your store to try and "walk me into labor". it didn't work, lol. but we sure did have fun looking at all your beautiful fabric! and the trip was topped off with a piece of coconut cake from the bakery next door :)

i am a new volunteer for the ronald mcdonald house that just opened up here in town. i would love to win the fabric so i can make little things that will bring sunshine to the families that stay there.

her response later that day was...

I remember you! Glad you are doing well and thank you for the charitable work you do!

and today i get...

Hi Kathryn: Just picked my give away winner and guess what? It's you! I'm writing my post now and will publish it later tonight. Congrats!

oh my goodness I was picked out of 67 entries!! YIPPEE!! below is the fabric i'm receiving (not including the chenille)

and to make my day even brighter, she blogged about it!!

here's what she says...

*******************************************************

June 29, 2009

And the winner is...

I've just reread all of your comments so I can pick a winner for my little give away. To be honest with you I am the winner here. I didn't do this give away to gather praise for the store, but that's what I got and I am so humbled by your sweet comments! I've heard from friends that have moved away and miss our little store (I love that my blog keeps us connected over the miles), the poets of the group - Rory and Margaret and from all of you who can just use a little more fabric. But the one comment that got to me the most was from Katheryn Gilbert who recently started volunteering at our brand new Bakersfield Ronald McDonald House.

Katherine is a new mommy herself and to think that she would volunteer her precious time to families in crisis really touched me.

As some of you know, our oldest son has a son that has spent extended time in a children's hospital and we saw first hand the very real needs of families of critically ill children.
Katherine, thank you for all you do and if you'll send me your address I'd love to send you your fabric, chenille and I've added a yard of Minkee to your prize.

Congratulations and thank you for making me aware of the Bakersfield Chapter of the Ronald McDonald House. I think I may have found a new charity to get involved with (the good Lord knows I have plenty of soft Minkee blankets that I could donate)!

**************************************************

did you read that? she's also throwing in a yard of minkee. my oh my i'm going to make some GREAT stuff for the house!!! i can't wait to post those pictures!

and some of her readers have also left me nice comments...

Congratulations, Katherine! Having spent 53 days with my grandson in PICU, I was very aware of how much a personal touch can cheer the hearts of everyone in the room. Bravo to you for making it a priority. And thank you,Suzanne, for choosing such a generous person to receive the prize. Both of you will make a difficult time easier.

Great choice Suzanne! Nothing feels better than giving to others, esp. those in need. Keep us posted if we all can help

***************************************

and another great part, suzanne emailed the house director and is also going to start donating her time!! she sent out a tweet to her followers also to rally together and lets all volunteer to make the house a successful part of bakersfield.

but now comes the hard part. what should i make? any suggestions? what would make life for them a little easier?

courtesy of awkwardfamilyphotos.com

duct tape

ROFL!

not photoshopped ;)

courtesy of anne taintor and last night we hung out with the fortners. here was a cute moment...

FAV THINGS SWAP!!

kelly over at according to kelly is having a favorite things swap :) HOORAY!

what's a favorite things swap you ask?...

it's really quite simple: as a participant, you will be asked to choose at least three objects (i don't think anyone would mind if you decide to send more) that are some of YOUR favorite things to send to your partner... maybe it's an apron you made, your new favorite book, or that favorite flavor of lip gloss. be creative & most importantly have fun with it! objects can be new or vintage, bought or handmade... just remember, it is best to send something that you'd be pleased & excited to receive yourself. ready to join the fun? please e-mail your particulars to accordingtokelly@gmail.com. sign-ups will be open until friday, july 3rd... so get your friends involved! upon receiving your "rsvp" i will send out a confirmation email, if you don't hear from me, email me again, sometime emails can get lost & i don't want anyone left out in the cold! so here's what i need from you:
• your name.
• mailing address.
• email address.
• website / blog (must be involved with at least one of these).
• a little something about yourself.
• please indicate if you are willing to ship internationally.

swap partners will be emailed to you shortly after the sign-up deadline. the delivery date for this swap is Friday, July 31st... please have it postmarked by then. once you receive your package, be sure to post photos here, for everyone to enjoy! if you have any questions/ comments, just drop me a line at: accordingtokelly@gmail.com. i'm so excited! i can't wait. i hope you are too!

here's pictures of nathan and his buddy kolton.

we started reminiscing about how there daddys met 21 years ago on the father son campout. who would've thought they would both have boys 2 months apart! can't wait for next years campout when they're both gonna attempt to take the boys. LOL.

in no particular order, here are some recent pictures...


nathan went to a friends first birthday party on saturday.
it was a pirate theme. here he is all dressed up...

here's the birthday boy eating his cake.

here's a current picture of nathan.

we took a family picture before church one day a few weeks ago.

this past weekend we went to the "supply sergeant store". it has supplies and anything you can think of for people who are serving in the miltary. they had a submarine in the parking lot.

a soldier guarding the door.

and military vehicles also in the parking lot. inside they also had displays of old military jeeps and old uniforms and helmets from different wars. it was basically a store/museum. it was pretty neat!

we were there looking for dog tags that we could handstamp for a friend for fathers day. here's our final product...

handstamping jewelry is my new favorite thing! jaren made the above tags. but i'm going to be ordering different shaped tags (hearts, circles etc.) and making more girly ones.

saturday night we went to our friends house for dinner. i was in charge of bringing meat, cheesecake and fruit. so here's my homemade fruit bouquet like the ones on edible arrangements that go for hundreds of dollars...

jaren made the dog tags for his friend, so i thought i would make something for his wife. i decopauged pictures onto wooden hearts.

decopauged scrapbooking paper onto the back and glued a magnet to it. so now she has adorable fridge magnets.

to go along with my nieces other birthday gifts, i also made her a purse out of 10 capri sun pouches. this was a very easy project! and it cost me only $2!

today is my nieces 3rd birthday :) my sister asked us to make her a princess pvc chair so here it is...

i of course did the sling chair and the arm cushions. jaren made the chair (without a pattern) and painted it.

she's also getting one of those kitchen playset thingies. so i also made her an apron with a matching chefts hat. yes i know the band is upside down. my bad :( but she's 3 and won't mind ;)

my model was just stunning!

i made homemade thin mints yesterday and they were delicious and VERY easy! i found the recipe over at little birdie secrets. i just LOVE that blog!

i used low sodium ritz crackers. melted 1 cup dark and 1 cup milk chocolate melting wafers. then added peppermint extract to the chocolate until it got to the taste i desired. then i dipped the cracker in and smothered it with the chocolate and let them dry on wax paper. again, they were yummy!!

i can't really give credit to any blog for having this idea since MANY of them have it, i wouldn't know where to begin. i took a plastic bowl (dollar tree) and flipped it upside down and used e6000 (GREAT GLUE!) craft glue from walmart and glued a plastic plate (dollar tree) on top to make a unique cake or goodie plate. the glue also works great if you were doing this glass dishes .

Lullaby Renditions by Rockabye Baby!

have you seen these lullaby cds that are renditions of popular songs? they have metallica, guns and roses, u2, the rolling stones, nirvana, no doubt, the eagles, bob marley, the beatles, the cure, green day, ac/dc, 80's pop songs and that's just to name a few! i believe you can get them at target, barnes and noble and amazon.com. i have napster and was able to listen to a few albums. i think you can also get them on itunes.

what a great world we live in! lol.