Vinyl Crafting

I forgot to post a picture of my latest vinyl efforts! I really love working with vinyl but I am still a novice. I wanted to update our Trek candy bar drawing container so I downloaded the Trek jpg file, edited it a bit so it was easier for me to use, shadowed it, and used a large piece of vinyl for the background. I had the most difficult time with the large piece of vinyl!! It was really difficult to put on straight. I will have to do some research on that. Here it is:

If you don't look too closely, maybe one eye covered, you won't notice all the wrinkles in the green vinyl!!

It was a bouncy kind of week!! :)

We started our week out right - at church, of course!! It was our first night of AWANA and being an example of the no cell phones rule, I have NO photos!! :( I forgot my camera. We had a great time and I was reminded was a tremendous blessing AWANA is to our me and my family. The children were all very excited about starting in their new clubs. Kristine is a Cubbie, and lets everyone in ear shot know, "I Tubbie!! I TUBBBIE!!" Beatrice is a Sparky. She was so excited, even though she already knew John 3:16, she studied it everyday. Robert moved up to T&T and earned his shirt AND his book this week. He is going to need a larger size. He is using Maddie's old shirt. Lindsay is in her last year of Sparks and she will, if she can, finish her book by October. Maddie is in Trek with me. This is the middle school group. It is loads of fun, but always overwhelming for the new sixth graders.

On Monday, we finished school and headed to my friends' fabric shop (she doesn't own it but has worked there for years). Sadly, it was closed, so we went to Monkey Joe's instead. I am not a paranoid or overprotective Mom but I really don't like places like this. They are GERM magnets!! But their air conditioner was broken, and we got a reduced rate. It would have cost me $40.00 for all five of the children but it only cost me $20.00. They had a ball and it was worth it! Here is the fuzz proof!

In hindsight, this is probably how our Beatrice got so sick over the weekend!!

If you look closely at the upper left hand side of the phoot, you can see Robert poking his head out exhorting Kristine to keep going! She made it to the top.

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 You may not be able to tell from the photo, but these are flamingo lights!! In my kitchen!! They will match perfectly with the decor: bright floral curtains and zebra print seats. Not kidding.  Can't wait till I finish everything so I can post photos! I live on the edge. Dorothy bought me the lights.

 Here they are at night!! :)

This is one of my favorite photos. Beatrice told me she would help Kristinie the Great get dressed. Didn't she do great?

 Here is as much of Maddie's quilt I can fit in a photo. I am slowly but surely getting it done!! I have seriously been dragging my feet.

And here is Maddie's creativity in full display. She used my cricut, all by herself, and cut the letters out to decorate her room. And just in case she fogets her name!! Hee hee...

Video game junky and only 2 years old.

 We had a fun time at the park with one of my homeschooling friends. Lindsay loved sitting up there. I think she could see all sorts of things from this vantage point.

 Maddie and one of her good friends.

Our photogenic child. Notice the "summer shoes"! HA!

This is my nephew John, who rarely eats anything! I can attest to this because he goes out a lot with us for lunch. He spent the night with us Friday evening and we took him to IHOP, my personal favorite. He had a ball and ate great. He was inducted into the Clean Plate Club! Beatrice stayed at his house with his sister and my brother and his wife. She had a great time but came home sick, poor soul. Not from their house, she probably caught something at Monkey Joe's. See why i don't like going there?

 The girls are like me. They don't like people dressed up in characters. They have gotten better at Walt Disney World but they ran from Elmo!! Poor Elmo!!  Robert gave him a hug!

 One of the priorities in our family is: Can you cross your eyes? Beatrice is an expert at it. As you can see, the others, not so much!

I even tried to help Robert!!

There you go! Our fun week. We are praying that Beatrice will get well soon and she will be back to her bouncy self. And I am also praying no one  else will get sick.



Dodging a Bullet

My town is nicknamed "Hurricane Alley" and with good reason. Since 1995 I have been through at least TEN, yes TEN hurricanes. I say at least because after four I quit counting. And this year we got to know Hurricane Irene. Thankfully, we had minimal damage but she was 600 miles wide and lasted over 24 hours. The rain started at 9:30. The NATIONAL weatherman told me the first band would hit Wilmington around 2 but, as usual, they were wrong!! Jim Cantore DOES NOT know everything about hurricanes. He needs to take some lessons from George Elliot. He knows a lot more about them than anyone I know. Anyway, God blessed us. We did not lose power, we did not have damage, and we did not have flooding. Here are some photos from Hurricane Irene:

 This is leaving the doctor's office for the SECOND time. I had to go back for Robert's math book and then go back for my pocketbook. If you look on the sidewalk you can see Canadian geese walking along. I think they figured out the sky wasn't safe but can't find a safe haven.

 Dark and lowering skies!

Yep, Mr. Handsome in the hurricane!! He is such a nut! I love him!! :)

Hurricanes, unfortunately bring creepy creatures out of our little wooded area. They are looking for dry land. We were leaving for AWANA and Mr. Handsome noticed a wiggly THING about nine inches long trying to get in our garage, under the door! It was a copperhead snake. Mr. Handsome got out, opened the garage door, grabbed a shovel, and chopped its head off. The only good copperhead is a dead copperhead!! 

OK, enough of the hurricane. We had a rather busy week last week. Everyone is finally settling into school and they seem to be enjoying it. Beatrice is going to have a rough time - she is not a morning person. She takes after Mr. Handsome. He sets his alarm for 5:20 with a 10 minutes snooze and doesn't awaken until 6:45!!! Thankfully, I wake up at 6:00 so I don't have to hear it too long. We got the chance to go swimming last week and here are couple more photos:

it seems a little strange to be swimming and then stuck in the house from a hurricane, doesn't it? Well, that's how we roll down here on the coast. One day swimming, another day waiting for the storm to pass over! I attempted to use my laundry baskets and it turns out the girls had started a stuffed animal babysitting business. Maddie was the owner/proprietor. She also made cloth diapers for the animals - very green indeed!

And here is what happens when  you skip your son's underwear and sock drawer for four years!! Yes, it's true and I humbly admit that I have neglected to sort through his underwear and socks for that long!! Look what I found:

Needless to say, he won't need anymore socks for awhile!

We have been enjoying the original Dennis the Menace series on netflix for the past week or two. We went to my favorite fabric store - Mill Outlet Village - and Robert bought leather scraps. He asked my friend if he could make holsters (or horsters, as he calls them) and she showed me how to shape them. So, here are his "horsters" :

And today was a big day!! All the girls were promoted in Sunday School. AND it was a rather sentimental day for me because our last, we think, child is leaving the nursery. Beaker moved up to the 3-4's Sunday School class. Beatrice moved up to the K-1st grade class, Lindsay moved up to the 2nd-3rd grade class, and Maddie moved up to the 6th-8th grade class. Robert will move up next year. Since I'm a slacker and didn't get any back to school photos, here is our back to Sunday School photo:

Looking forward to a terrific week!! :) 

Smooth Operator Strikes Again!

Getting back on my Sunday evening posts, here I am three days after my last post! I didn't think I'd have much to write about but we had a rather busy three days. Friday was a fun day - Maddie went to the nursing home with the youth group while we went swimming with my sister-in-law and her children. Here is the proof:

There was hardly anyone at the pool Friday and Lindsay and Robert had a ball making rafts. After the pool, we picked up Maddie from church and headed home. Mr. Handsome and I were going out on a date. We have dear friends who have VOLUNTEERED to babysit our children so we can go out together occasionally. We have had many people "volunteer" to watch our children and we have taken them up on it but it's not for the faint of heart. Oh, it's not because our children are naughty or anything like that, it's a lot of work taking care of five children!! And if they sense you are insecure, they are children. You know, if they see you blink, you're history? Yes, well, that's how they are!! Well, these friends not only know how to handle them, but our children LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!! If one friend volunteers, they immediately ask if the other is going to come too; and vice versa!!! Isn't that sweet? How many children look forward to being babysat? AND when we come home everyone is bathed (if needed), fed, and the kitchen AND living room are clean and everyone's quiet!!! I thank the Lord for them. Mr. Handsome and I had a great time at our favorite place to eat: Bento Box. And I even had sushi - novice sushi - nothing uncooked and no eel or octopus or slimy stuff!!

Here is what our children look like after my friends who babysit feed them!! WHAT are they feeding them?????

On Saturday, Mr. Handsome did his new Saturday morning thing: surfing. I am so thankful he does it because he really loves it. This day was not to be like the other days, though. As I was sound asleep he came in and woke me up - nearly scared me to death! - to tell me he had to go to the doctor's. He was hit in the head by his own surfboard. He uses a longboard. It is very heavy and approximately seven feet long. He fell forward and it slammed into the side of his head. He had to get 11 stitiches and had a concussion (I only found out that he actually had a concussion when he was talking to our Preacher on the phone. He called to see how he was feeling.). I thank the Lord he was OK because as he was walking up the beach to his truck, two people were dragging another guy out whom Mr. Handsome thought had broken his neck and had knocked his teeth out. I am praying that that fellow is OK.

So, after that, Mr. Handsome spent the day in bed. He was pretty out of it really. Not in an alarming call 911 sense but just not feeling great. So he rested while we went to FAMILY FUN DAY! at church. We had a really fun time. There was great food and I got to sit around and talk with my friends while our children played with their friends. And they got to use an air shot gun or something like that. I don't know anything about guns but it looked pretty serious. It only shot a metal ball, I guess a BB, so it wasn't too dangerous. Here is everyone playing around with guns:

 Robert

 Lindsay

 Lindsay and her target

 She is NOT one of my children but IS one of my children!! Ha ha ha... She looks happy getting her picture taken doesn't she!! :) She is Maddie's cooking buddy, babysitting mentor, all around pal when she's around!! :)

 Beatrice

Beatrice was so cute I had to take a second picture. Look at how she's trying to look through the site!! Or is that sight, or cite? Hmmm.... I think I need my merriam-webster!! :)

And here is our last picture: I do not like to get dirty. Don't act so surprised!!! So my friend decided to have compassion on Beaker and hold her because she was covered with sand from the sand pile!

Today was spent in the usual fashion: church in the morning. Well, except on this particular morning Mr. Handsome was not there to start Sunday School and our pastor was running late because he was having water problems or something. So our music director took over and got everyone where they needed to go and get everything done. I thank the Lord for him and his wife. I will get a picture up of them. They are so sweet and they love, love, love our children. When we go to the nursing home he leads the music there. Anyway, it was a bit of a crazy morning. God got us through it. I taught a friend's Sunday School class and it was great. We learned about Blind Bartimaeus. He wasn't afraid to tell people what the Lord did for him!!! WOW!! If I could be so bold!! God has done so much for us! Hey, He kept Mr. Handsome from ending up in the hospital with no teeth!! 

We went to Smithfield's after church which was lots of fun. We saw a family from church there so we sat near them. They area always amazed at what a great testimony our children are so they were glad for us to sit by them. We sat the children at one table and we sat at another so we had sort of a date I guess!!! Ha! After lunch, we came home, I made another Sunday Afternoon Skirt, then headed back to church. We are getting geared up for AWANA to start next week so I had my meeting with my leaders to get everything ready for our first night. We thought we were all ready but the catalog was wrong and we got the wrong books!! BOO!! Our AWANA order person is going to fix it. I was pretty wigged out. I am not used to orders getting messed up!!! Thankfully it was not O.E. (operator error) this time. Looking forward to a great week this week.