Here it is! The log cabin quilt. Sarah and Grandma made this quilt together. Sarah had picked out this pattern awhile ago and wanted to make it a purple log cabin. Grandma talked her out of the purple because she thought that it might just be a passing pre-teen phase. Sarah agreed to use a more traditional color palate and it came out beautifully. They made it fit a full sized mattress. Sarah helped sew some blocks. After Grandma got the quilt top completed we met Grandma at a lady's house that was going to quilt the top to the bottom. Sarah got to see the process and the huge sewing machine. It was hooked up to a computer with lots of design software. Sarah chose a star and heart pattern and variegated red, white and blue thread. Sarah is proud of her quilt and she should be. It is beautiful!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Quilt
Here it is! The log cabin quilt. Sarah and Grandma made this quilt together. Sarah had picked out this pattern awhile ago and wanted to make it a purple log cabin. Grandma talked her out of the purple because she thought that it might just be a passing pre-teen phase. Sarah agreed to use a more traditional color palate and it came out beautifully. They made it fit a full sized mattress. Sarah helped sew some blocks. After Grandma got the quilt top completed we met Grandma at a lady's house that was going to quilt the top to the bottom. Sarah got to see the process and the huge sewing machine. It was hooked up to a computer with lots of design software. Sarah chose a star and heart pattern and variegated red, white and blue thread. Sarah is proud of her quilt and she should be. It is beautiful!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Rubik's Cube anyone?
Daniel has become a Rubik's Cube addict. He mastered the 3x3 cube pretty quickly. He can now solve that one in less than 2.5 minutes. Trust me. We know this because we have a stopwatch. I bought him a 4x4 sided cube a few days after he solved the 3x3 and he has now figured this one out! Smarty pants!
Yummy! Cupcakes!
We went to a Cub Scout party yesterday and I decided to take these fun cupcakes for the party. They were so yummy. Problem was....they are not that portable. They fell all over the cupcake Tupperware and were quite the mess to get upright again. Frosting was everywhere. Not really a problem for the boys. They ate them right up!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
1994
My friend Susanne challenged me to tell all about the year 1994. This was a great year! I don't exactly remember what was going on at the beginning of 1994. Probably was working full time and Bill was teaching and coaching the girl's basketball team. I think his team was getting pretty good by the Feb. 1994 timeframe, but the good stuff for his team wasn't until the next year.
In the summer of 1994 Bill and I took the trip of a lifetime. We had friends, Doug and Carol that now lived in Singapore. They invited us to come and visit. We decided that this was a perfect time. We had been settled into the new house for over a year now. No kids yet, everything moving along quite smoothly. We had a lot of fun planning for our trip. We first planned to do it in the summer. This way Bill would not have to take any time off of work. Summer was also my slower time of the year at work. It took a lot of time to plan where we were going to go. Lots of money to pay for it, but it was just so darn exciting.
We tried to plan the trip to not be too difficult with all the time changes and long airline flights. To start with, we spent three nights in Hawaii. This was 6 hours difference from Florida and 6 hours difference from Japan. It really did help to get somewhat acclamated. We had gone to Hawaii for our honeymoon in 1990 so we decided to stay at a really nice resort on the north shore of Oahu. It was called Turtle Bay.
After our three day layover in Hawaii, it was off to Tokyo. Japan was not easy to negotiate. We had been wrongly informed that many of the young people could speak English. NOT true!
We managed to make our stay more difficult by planning a trip that would have us staying in a different city each night. We had to then take our luggage with us everywhere we went. Some hotels that we had previous reservations in let us at least check our luggage for storage so we didn't have to drag it with us. We visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Hiroshima. We bought Japan Rail passes and traveled all over the country. Japan was clean, safe and pretty. I was tired of chicken and rice by the time we left. Ordering food at restaurants was always a challenge or an adventure depending on how you looked at it that day. Our favorite and most effective things to do was to take the waiter outside and point to the representative plastic food in the window. We managed to see so many temples that they started to look the same. We got on the wrong bus one day and ended up at the end of the line and it was nowhere near where we wanted to be. The busdriver was so sweet and took us all the way back to another stop and talked to another busdriver to make sure we got off at the right stop.
We then went to Hong Kong. I will never forget that airplane landing! Our flight had many altitude drops along the way and I really HATE those turbulents. BUT the incredible landing through the city between buildings so close to the buildings that you might just pull some laundry off the clothes line was too much for me. They have since built a new airport several miles away. Hong Kong was much easier to negotiate. First of all, it was British at the time we were there. Since then China has regained the rule. It is so much easier when you can talk to people. We enjoyed exploring Hong Kong and stayed at the YMCA while there. We did not have to drag our luggage everywhere.
Our next stop was Singapore. We finally were able to see our friends Doug and Carol. They lived in an absolutely AMAZING apartment. It was huge and every surface was covered with marble. The floors, the walls, the ceiling. Beautiful. We were able to see so much of Singapore. Rested up quite a bit. Ate wonderful foods, saw shows, went to a really cool place called Sentosa Island. Doug had to make a quick overnight trip to Bangkok. Bill and I decided to join him. We hopped on a plane and Doug hooked us up in an amazing hotel. One of those 5 star world class hotels. We had a room butler that Bill swore would wipe your butt when you went to the bathroom if you asked him to. They put fresh (strange) fruits in our room every time we left and came back. Got to ride in a tuk-tuk (scary little taxi thing), go to the center of the city where they had this walled area with the most beautiful wats. They are the temples with gold and jewels. So, so pretty. They didn't like me wearing shorts, so I had to leave my passport to get a 'rented' skirt.
We went back to Singapore and then flew back home the next day. Had a layover in Tokyo and then arrived in the US in Chicago. Nancy was in Evanston at the time so we go to visit with her a the airport between flights.
Even though this was an amazing trip, the best part of 1994 was the fact that we found out that I was pregnant with Sarah right before we left for our Asia trip. I was so blessed to not have morning sickness on the trip. I was a bit tired and had to watch what I ate. No raw food or fish and if the sanitation was questionable, I was to drink bottled water. I only got sick one time on the entire trip. We didn't tell anyone about the pregnancy until we returned from our trip.
The rest of 1994 was spent preparing for our new little one.
In the summer of 1994 Bill and I took the trip of a lifetime. We had friends, Doug and Carol that now lived in Singapore. They invited us to come and visit. We decided that this was a perfect time. We had been settled into the new house for over a year now. No kids yet, everything moving along quite smoothly. We had a lot of fun planning for our trip. We first planned to do it in the summer. This way Bill would not have to take any time off of work. Summer was also my slower time of the year at work. It took a lot of time to plan where we were going to go. Lots of money to pay for it, but it was just so darn exciting.
We tried to plan the trip to not be too difficult with all the time changes and long airline flights. To start with, we spent three nights in Hawaii. This was 6 hours difference from Florida and 6 hours difference from Japan. It really did help to get somewhat acclamated. We had gone to Hawaii for our honeymoon in 1990 so we decided to stay at a really nice resort on the north shore of Oahu. It was called Turtle Bay.
After our three day layover in Hawaii, it was off to Tokyo. Japan was not easy to negotiate. We had been wrongly informed that many of the young people could speak English. NOT true!
We managed to make our stay more difficult by planning a trip that would have us staying in a different city each night. We had to then take our luggage with us everywhere we went. Some hotels that we had previous reservations in let us at least check our luggage for storage so we didn't have to drag it with us. We visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Hiroshima. We bought Japan Rail passes and traveled all over the country. Japan was clean, safe and pretty. I was tired of chicken and rice by the time we left. Ordering food at restaurants was always a challenge or an adventure depending on how you looked at it that day. Our favorite and most effective things to do was to take the waiter outside and point to the representative plastic food in the window. We managed to see so many temples that they started to look the same. We got on the wrong bus one day and ended up at the end of the line and it was nowhere near where we wanted to be. The busdriver was so sweet and took us all the way back to another stop and talked to another busdriver to make sure we got off at the right stop.
We then went to Hong Kong. I will never forget that airplane landing! Our flight had many altitude drops along the way and I really HATE those turbulents. BUT the incredible landing through the city between buildings so close to the buildings that you might just pull some laundry off the clothes line was too much for me. They have since built a new airport several miles away. Hong Kong was much easier to negotiate. First of all, it was British at the time we were there. Since then China has regained the rule. It is so much easier when you can talk to people. We enjoyed exploring Hong Kong and stayed at the YMCA while there. We did not have to drag our luggage everywhere.
Our next stop was Singapore. We finally were able to see our friends Doug and Carol. They lived in an absolutely AMAZING apartment. It was huge and every surface was covered with marble. The floors, the walls, the ceiling. Beautiful. We were able to see so much of Singapore. Rested up quite a bit. Ate wonderful foods, saw shows, went to a really cool place called Sentosa Island. Doug had to make a quick overnight trip to Bangkok. Bill and I decided to join him. We hopped on a plane and Doug hooked us up in an amazing hotel. One of those 5 star world class hotels. We had a room butler that Bill swore would wipe your butt when you went to the bathroom if you asked him to. They put fresh (strange) fruits in our room every time we left and came back. Got to ride in a tuk-tuk (scary little taxi thing), go to the center of the city where they had this walled area with the most beautiful wats. They are the temples with gold and jewels. So, so pretty. They didn't like me wearing shorts, so I had to leave my passport to get a 'rented' skirt.
We went back to Singapore and then flew back home the next day. Had a layover in Tokyo and then arrived in the US in Chicago. Nancy was in Evanston at the time so we go to visit with her a the airport between flights.
Even though this was an amazing trip, the best part of 1994 was the fact that we found out that I was pregnant with Sarah right before we left for our Asia trip. I was so blessed to not have morning sickness on the trip. I was a bit tired and had to watch what I ate. No raw food or fish and if the sanitation was questionable, I was to drink bottled water. I only got sick one time on the entire trip. We didn't tell anyone about the pregnancy until we returned from our trip.
The rest of 1994 was spent preparing for our new little one.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day
I worked today and then came home and made these yummy treats. They are actually very easy to make. The hardest part for most people would be finding the heart shaped muffin pans. I had two of these remaining from my cake decorating days. I had gotten rid of a lot of my stuff, but this is one set that I saved. I put my regular recipe for chocolate chip cookies in the pans and then baked a bit longer than normal. This time I used store bought Wilton frosting in a spray can. Very easy. Made the house smell yummy and I have to tell you, after having one a little bit ago, they themselves, are yummy!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Pinewood Derby
Saturday was the big Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. This will be Daniel's last as he is moving up to Boy Scouts next month. He built this Rip Stik car and it was very fast. Daniel won first place in his Webelos II division and then went to the finals. In the finals he was tied with another boy for first place. They had an all or nothing race off and Daniel came in second. I was very proud of his sportsmanship. He did not cry and he also went over to the winner and congratulated him on a great race! Grandpa brought Allison to the race, too. Daniel let Allison use his car that he had made for the Open division so she could race, too. The car was so fast, it came in 3rd place. Allison won a medal and had a great time. Daniel even let her keep the car. Good boy!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Hidden Mickeys
Finding hidden Mickeys throughout the Disney parks is something that we like to do when we visit Disney World. Some are easy to spot. Some not so easy. We happened to be in the Living Seas at EPCOT and I looked down in the aquarium and spotted one! SCORE! Do you see it?
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