Baby shower

Saturday my wonderful mother threw me a baby shower. She went overboard (like usual) and there were fun games, yummy food, great prizes, and amazing presents. My little boy made a hall. We got darling clothes, diapers, and some amazing homemade gifts. I definitely have the best friends and family. So thanks to all of you who were able to come. Here are a few pictures to highlight our great time.Me with my mom and Kelsi. Kelsi came up from Indiana for the weekend. It was so fun to see her and her cute little girl Maya (we were sad Hayden had to stay home). Kelsi was my only sister able to come. Everyone has moved away now except Hailey, and she ended up having to take a class that day. We missed you Hailey!

My mother in-law surprised me with this cute fish quilt she made.

Us playing games.

Two of my high school buddies- Leslie & Tara, it has been so fun to have them living close by. I'm so glad these girls were able to come.

Kelsi & her friend Emily- with Emily's little boy and cute little Maya.

Me with Cynthia Besecker (Kelsi's mother in-law). She knit me this darling little bear- so cute!

Our little Princesses

Another fun Halloween. Once again our girls were Disney princesses- Savannah was Cinderella, Paige was Belle, & Lydia was Snow White. This is Savannah's 4th year being a princess- no surprises there. The girls are already planning which princess they want to be for next year.

Savannah made herself a little bouquet of leaves & Paige held her dress up like a little princess.

I'm sure you can imagine how long Lydia's crown stayed on. It only took her 2 houses to figure out that she was getting treats, and then she was excited to go to every house after that.

Blessing Outfit

I just finished our little baby boy's blessing outfit. I thought it turned out pretty nice. I chose a classic pattern- McCall 3063. I used an off-white dupioni silk for the pant/vest/bow tie, and a white pine cotton for the shirt. I'll admit I was nervous to use all white materials. I washed my hands each time I went to work on it, and I worried I would poke myself with a pin and get blood on it (that did happen, but it was a very small drop in a location I don't think anyone would ever notice!). I was nervous to make it, but now I'm glad I did. We can't wait for our little guy to wear it.

Carving pumpkins

Yesterday we went to a neighbors house for their annual pumpkin carving night. We were told to bring a treat to share. All of you who know our family know that we are big fans of all kinds of breads (rolls, wheat, white, cinnamon rolls, etc. etc.), so we decided it would be fun to give doughnuts a try. We went with a spudnut recipe we found on the internet, and they turned out delicious. We made 4 dozen (plus all the doughnut holes) - after a few deliveries and our pumpkin carving fun they are all gone! That's a good thing.

We had a great time carving our pumpkins- in this picture Lydia has her classic scowl on (I don't know where that comes from).The girls wanted fancy pumpkins, so Savannah picked out a mummy pattern and Paige picked out a clown pattern. Notice Savannah eating a doughnut- I think this was her fifth of the day. She just kept sneaking them.

They turned out pretty good. Dan carved the mummy for Savvy and I carved the clown for Paige. I lucked out and the clown only lost one tooth. When I told Paige I was sorry she said, "that's okay mom, clowns are missing teeth anyway right?" I'm guessing she got that from T. V.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today my wonderful mother is 54 years old! Any of you who know her know what an amazing woman she is, and how much she is always for others.

We had her over for dinner the other day to celebrate her birthday. We decided against the 54 candles, and went with 5 on one side 4 on the other. Angel food cake per her request. My girls had no idea what that was, I cannot believe I have never made them one before.

Mom, you are the greatest! I hope you have a wonderful birthday. We love you.

Dresses done

I haven’t been keeping up my blog lately because I’ve been sewing. I just finished my girls’ Christmas dresses. I know it is not even Halloween, but I know once we hit Halloween time will fly and I will not have time. After making fancy Christmas dresses last year, I decided to do a less complicated corduroy dress. I used Burda pattern 9595 and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.

Paige in her dress.

Property returned

About 6 ½ years ago, Dan and I went on a short vacation to Portland Oregon. While we were there Dan’s beloved handgun was stolen out of our car. It was the handgun his Grandpa Malan had given him when he was 12 years old. We called the police, filed a report, and gave them the serial number of the gun expecting to never see that gun again (hoping it would never show up in a crime). Well lo and behold we received a letter the first week of July from the Portland Police informing us that they had Dan’s gun. We contacted the police and found out that his gun had been recovered 2 weeks after it was stolen! Whoever stole it from us sold it to a pawn shop dealer who ran the serial number and returned it to the police. So we started the process to get the gun back. First, we had to call 3 times to figure out what we needed to do to get the gun back. Then, we had to PAY the pawn shop dealer half of what he paid for the gun (unless we wanted to go to court up in Portland to get it back). Finally, they mailed it to the local police department where we had to have several documents notarized. A month later (after us calling 3 times) the gun has been returned to us. Here is the gun in all of its glory- A Smith & Wesson K-22

The part that cracked us up is they sent us a letter telling us we had 30 days to claim our property, yet they had our property just sitting there for 6 ½ years! After telling us that we had 30 days- it still took them another 3 months to return our property - minus the holster (which they told us they also had- sigh). Oh well- Dan’s precious gun is returned, and I have a happy husband.