Until next time, Michigan...

But first... what is going on with Babers' hair? It is as if a banana clip is holding it up, but I think it is just greasy!

Quick trip to Seabrook/Kiawah Island before we decided on a whim to visit Michigan.

Grammy's house! Noa was Cheeto crazy on this trip!






Not sure why I don't have pictures from Mark & Betsy's house. I'm always better at taking pictures towards the end of the trip when I realize time is running out. Thankfully Betsy took these pictures.

The second half of our trip was at my Dad's house. The girls loved playing at the mall and riding the carousel.


"Coo Crith" ("Uncle Chris" in Ruthie's language) and Daddy were nice enough to ride along with them twice.








Mommy & Daddy's night out to see the stupidest movie in the world. We still enjoyed our little break! :)

More pool time at Dad's.


We drove all the way out to pick raspberries but it was closed!! They were nice enough to let us visit their petting zoo though. The girls loved the goats and Noa especially loved feeding the baby goats.


Noa is less than enthused about Mommy making her stand by the growth chart in the 95 degree heat...

Quilting Again

And loving it! I wanted to make quilts for the girls' beds and spruce up Noa's room a little bit since it has been so random for so long. Hard to get motivated though, when toys are constantly everywhere. Anyway... found this beautiful fabric line called "Just Wing It" and I swear these pictures do not do it justice. They pinks probably look more red than they actually are. Anyway, I love it.

I always love a simple patchwork quilt, so thought I would take the sting out of it by ordering strips of fabric (better known as a jelly roll) rather than cutting it all myself. Come on, people! I have small kids! Lots of them! Anyway, it was a great way to get the whole line too.

Either way, it was still a lot of cutting and sewing tiny squares, but I love the result. Love, love, love it. And, one day when I am able to line up the corners perfectly, I think I will be both proud of myself and sad that it looks less homemade. :) Here's the planning of Noa's quilt. I see all the great quilting bloggers do this (even with patchwork quilts!) and I actually eliminated this step for Ruthie's quilt and it turned out pretty much the same with a lot less work. ;)

No, that isn't a "z," it is an "N" that I appliqued on one of the squares. I love how it blends in. It is kind of like a Where's Waldo quilt, except the girls already know where their letters are. I thought it would only be fun that first time, but they seem to love finding their letters over and over again.

After everything was pieced together I taped the back to the table...

placed the batting on top of that...

put the top layer on and pinned the layers together. After machine quilting a little bit (maybe about 1/2 way through), I had to re-tape and re-pin. It was worth it to avoid the bunches.

Machine quilting a bunch of swirlies (stippling) - this part makes me soooo nervous as I'm constantly concerned that I'm getting areas that bunch up after all of the previous hard work. The pinning made a lot of difference this time though, and I didn't get any bunching on either quilt. Why am I blogging this like a tutorial? Who is the last person you want to reference for quilting issues?! Me! I'm the quintessential "figure it out as you go" type person.

I did Noa's quilt first and kept breaking needles! I was making rookie mistakes and annoying myself to no end! At one point, my finger hit the needle, the needle went through the side of my finger and broke off (see picture below). I had to cut the thread to get it out of my finger and of course I was bleeding everywhere! Didn't get any on the quilt though, just all over the thread.

Ah! My beautiful binding!! So yummy. This fabric isn't from the same line, but I couldn't keep my hands off of it when I was in the fabric store. It coordinates perfectly and Noa loved it too. Here's a tutorial on what to do with binding. I reference it every time I go down that long and "binding" road. Ha. I'm such a dork. But, I do reference it a lot.

Cuteness break. Lydie is saying, "Hey Mom, why are you ignoring me? Are you still obsessing over that quilt?"

O.k. Back to work. Here I am squaring up the sides (cutting off the excess batting & material) although I use the term "squaring" loosely, since my quilts are always a bit wonky. Unintentionally. "Perfectly Imperfect," as a friend would say. This is actually one of my favorite parts, since the ever-so-scary machine quilting is done.

"N" for Noa!

"r" for Ruthie! (This one is a little harder to find - even for me, and I know right where it is!)

The backs: Ruthie's is blue, Noa's is pink. I was going to give Noa blue, but she insisted on the pink color. She has been all about pink lately! (Sorry the picture is turned)

The fronts: The colors are a lot brighter and more fun than this picture makes them seem. The coral color binding was perfect for the edges! Just don't look at the corners. I'm not that great at mitering, they are just whip-stitched to death. If anyone has a great youtube tutorial on mitering, send it my way! My corners have "amateur" written all over them.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately) after seeing them in action, I know I have to make one for Lydie too. Russ just rolled his eyes... But, now that I'm back in the game with no bebe in my tummy, my mind is reeling with quilt craziness... Expect more soon! (O.k., maybe not soon, but in the not-so-distant future.)

Thankful Thursdays

This week I am thankful for:

All of the Fathers in my life. I have had the privilege and blessing to have a wonderful Dad, a great father-in-law, an amazing daddy to my girls, and most of all a gracious and loving Heavenly Father who is the foundation of it all. What a great thing to celebrate this week!

Progress on the quilts! You better believe there will be a post about it soon! I only have yet to put the binding on and then the big reveal - but here is a teaser. :)

Tough conversations. Life-giving conversations. Perspective.

Crazy Bible study. It has gotten crazier! But I still like it. :)

Ummm, can't believe I didn't write a whole post about this already... but, I lost and then later found my incredible engagement ring! Enough time elapsed between the two to warrant some major panic on my part. I kept it to myself at first and then a few days later I told Russ. After combing over the entire house many times, I prayed one last time and had the idea to look in the bathroom garbage can. Lydie was sleeping in there, but I still went through the trash piece by piece and found my ring in the bottom of it! There are probably about 15 posts wrapped up in this one event, but suffice to say it was a good moment. A really good moment.

The fact that even when teething, Lydie is the easiest baby in the world. She melts my heart about ever 10 seconds. Wow Lord, You are good to us! To me!

The challenge of a life full of faith and the continual conversation going on in my head about what it looks like (yes, daily...hourly) to be filled with the Spirit. I love this stuff!

Homemade gifts that come in the mail! Thanks Jenn! What kind of a friend (with a busy toddler of her own) takes time to make three pairs of pants and three skirts with matching hairclips? A good one!! They are all fabuloso! (And by that, I mean all the pants, all the skirts, all the hairclips, and mostly my friend, Jenn.)

The heat! (o.k. just kidding. I can't imagine when I would ever be thankful for the heat.) But let's turn that frown up-side-down and thank Him for the rain we had about 5 days ago. My husband always says it is like money falling from the sky. Send more, Lord! We don't want to pay to water our lawn!! (Side note: I've started conserving water while taking showers. It is actually quite refreshing and not so hot.)

DORITOS!! I am eating them right now... typing with my nasty, cheesy fingers... smiling a big orange smile. This is a good moment. A really good moment.

Ephesians 5:19-20 - "Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I *heart* Ruthie

How many kids can you fit into a kiddie pool?

A lot!!! 8 to be exact. Well, I guess Isaac and Lydie never went in, but I think they would fit!

Ruthie took the longest to warm up to the whole scene. Not a big fan of the pool at this point...

Noa, on the other hand, loves anything water related. Funny that when the sprinkler is on though, she runs around it, not actually through it. I guess it is still too scary or something. :)

We'll have to do it again soon, friends! Summertime is here! Just don't come over today - we have some cleaning to do!

Ewwww....

Thankful Thursdays

Today I am thankful for these cute skirts that were WAY on sale at Old Navy. I love watching the girls (minus Geegs) twirl and dance around in them! A pretty shallow Thursday, but then again, maybe not. Simple things make me happy. :)