trees, trees and trees

Another free pattern...just google pillowcase dress and find one you like. This is suppose to be a pillowcase shirt to be worn with a brown t-shirt underneath and jeans on Madi. I loved and bought this tree fabric last spring...before Steve left, and I have been waiting for September to arrive to enjoy making this for Madi....but with our cloudy day and rain I couldn't wait any longer.

4 Things about me:

1. Hot Tamales are my favorite candy

2. I have watched General Hospital everyday for over 13 years.

3. I love old music...from the 50's and 60's....country and rock from those good old days. Here in Atlanta they have a radio station named The Legend and I love it.

4. When I was younger I wanted to be a Park Ranger in Yellowstone or Grand Canyon.

after school bag

This is my new purse. It was SO easy to make...no pattern needed. At this link thequiltingdiaries.blogspot.com/2009/04/32-minute-messenger-bag-tutorial.html is where you can find the directions...it's just 2 cuts of 1/2 yard of your favorite fabrics. I made this on my dinning room table one day after school last week while Ben and Madi sat with me doing their homework. They were actually impressed seeing this bag come together.

Back in my skinny days

The other day my Aunt Bonnie emailed me some of my pics to make sure I had copies. Most of them I have hard copies but these already scanned ones are great. I have the most wonderful Aunts...and quite a few of them too. My Aunt Bonnie is my dad's sister. In my dad's family my Aunt Linda was born first in the month of December. The very next December my Grandma gave birth to twins...Brenda and Bonnie...can you imagine! Then came my dad and two more. I posted about my Grandma here my-love-of-lemon. I wish the kids and I could go to Ohio again this weekend...everyone is gathering to celebrate my Grandma's 82nd birthday. Okay so now onto my cute and skinny pictures. And my goodness...how many Olan Mills pictures can a girl have of herself?

Me at age 3

Me turning 2.

Me turning 3. I have this dress too.

My Aunt Bonnie set up this photo shoot. We got the peppers out of my Grandpa's garden. This is me and my 3rd red headed cousin Michelle I mentioned in a previous post.

Me, Michelle and our Aunt Bonnie.

Halfway done and stuff

Yesterday morning I asked the kids what they might like for dinner. In half a second Madi spoke up and requested Cheese Chicken. So last night when she smelled it baking she was happy. When I first got out of the Air Force I used my medical skills and got a job working at Spokane Orthopedic and Fracture Clinic...this is when we were stationed up in Washington state. I worked with the sweetest lady named Nancy and this is who shared this favorite family recipe with me.


Cheese Chicken

4 chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 TBSP butter
2c. grated cheddar

mix soup and cheese in baking dish
lay chicken in mixture
top with sliced butter

Bake 350 for 1 1/2 hours
Serve over rice

I have been doing so much sewing lately my paper crafts had been forgotten. So last week I had my paper fix and made some cards. The cool stamp I used is from Studio Calico. For the last few months I have ordered Studio Calico's kit of the month and LOVE them.

Well we have made it halfway through Steve's deployment to Iraq. He has done 1 tour in Afghanistan and is now on his 3rd tour in Iraq but this is the worst one as far as getting to talk to my guy. He has a satellite phone in his office but that is a hunk of junk! No DSN phone near him so we have to pay for phone cards...okay but the stupid PX over there is out of them...can you believe that. So I need to go buy some phone cards to mail him but right now it doesn't make me feel better because it's going to take at least 10 days for him to get them. We have only talked 4 times since he has left. But I am doing okay. I can't believe we are halfway done! My lifesaver has been my crafts. I have totally immersed myself in my favorite crafts and have accomplished so much these last few months. So thanks to all those wonderful crafty blogs out there for sharing so many wonderful ideas and motivating me!!!

It's a HAPPY Friday

I am so relieved right now. Yesterday I went to the dreaded dentist. No cavities!!! But today I had to go to the Periodontist because I had an issue with part of one of my gums. I was so scared of what it might be. Well....when I was younger I wore braces and they made my tooth move right through the bone. So the area that bothers me is where my root is not in bone and only protected by thin gum tissue. NO PROBLEM. The guy I saw today was so nice and said I had good teeth and nothing was wrong but I can go back for a gum graph to thicken that area that bothers me...no thanks. I was so happy I went straight to my quilt store to shop. I got this sweet fabric to make Madi something to wear for Christmas. I love this sewing stuff. Even though it's expensive Moda fabric I can make Madi an adorable skirt for $7 or less.






Last month while in Ohio I fell in love with this ABC fabric and brought some home with me. I made this little back to school quilt and let the kids right on it too. I LOVE it.

Here are some birthday gifts we gave away. I wanted to share my monogram idea and the Army looking one. All the kids friends know there dad is in Iraq so I thought these cards looked so cute on the camouflage wrapped gift. TGIF!

All about teeth day

Ben got his braces on this morning.

Here is Hillbilly Madi. Her tooth was hanging by a thread this morning but she couldn't get it out before school. While dropping Ben off at school after he got his braces on, Madi's teacher walked through the office and told me her tooth came out. I am about to see her....I go up to the school to give her her insulin shot everyday at lunch. It's the first tooth she lost on the top. She is going to look so cute.

Here we go again

It's hard to believe it's Sunday night again and we are ready for our 2nd week of school. This weekend we had a super fun getaway! Nana and Great Grandma drove from Savannah to Macon and we also went to Macon to have a fun-filled weekend full of family and those beloved cousins. Aunt Alicia's house has a pool and so tonight we are all a little pink and very tired. Here is a picture of B&M last Monday on the first day of school. I used an iron...well I printed from the computer 'second grade' and ironed it on for Madi.

My tradition has always been that at the end of the first week of school the kids give their teachers an apple with a homemade card. These are what the kids took in last Friday. Click here to see last years cards....easy-saturday.

My love of lemon

I love lemon and I know where I got it from. My Grandma Erwin. As a kid I LOVED being with my grandma...and still do I just don't get to see her very often. When at her house, after dinner and bath we would sit on the couch under the big window and watch TV while sucking on quartered lemons.

While living at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, Germany my friend Susy introduced me to one her friends...sweet sweet Alyssa. She made the best Lemonade cookies. She got the recipe from allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lemonade-Cookies/Detail.aspx. But every time I make them they are Alyssa's Lemonade cookies. These are such a yummy summer cookie.

Here is my beautiful Grandma Erwin...my kids Great Grandma Erwin. There are Ben and Madi with their Papa (my dad)too. My grandma is so smart and filled with stories. She too was a military wife...my Grandpa retired from the Navy...he was on the U.S.S. West Virginia on Battleship Row when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. As a young boy my dad lived on Hawaii before it was even a state due to my Grandpa's military assignment there. My Uncle Ronnie was born at Tripler Army Medical Center...that huge pink hospital on the side of the mountain that overlooks Pearl Harbor, Honolulu and Waikiki Beach. I love to hear about all the places and stories.

Growing up I was always with these 2 red heads...my cousins Christina and Kelly. We share on the same side of the family another red headed cousin Michelle who is in Indiana and couldn't be there. This was so fun seeing them. I have lots of cousins, 26 to be exact(I needed more time because there are a few I didn't get to see). Ben and Madi can't believe that when we went to this restaurant that the whole section was our family.

On our last day in Ohio we ate out breakfast with some relatives and then went to Gantz park to play basketball. Papa and Uncle Ronnie got their game on with Ben and Madi..they played horse.

Ben looking handsome with his new Ohio State jersey he bought at the campus while there.

The hoop was really high so Uncle Ronnie tried to help Madi get a shot in.

Ben won the game of horse. Papa held up Ben's hand and was loudly chanting his name...it was so funny.

I had to get a picture of Aunt Linda the picture taker over there.

While the kids played ball at the park Grandma Erwin and Aunt Viv visited while watching the action. I love my Grandma so much...she was my first and last stop on my visit there.

The Boys

Yesterday was Ben's much anticipated Fantasy Football Draft with his dad. It is just amazing how things work today. Steve is all the way in Iraq and Ben sat at our dinning room table and together they had such an enjoyable afternoon. Steve got a league set up with his friends who are all over...Shaw AFB, several in Iraq, Cleveland, Fairchild AFB, Germany and a few other places and of course Ben. Ben is really good at using a computer. Yesterday for over 2 hours, he had his Yahoo Football page open, with his dad close by in a small window on google talk so they could chat while waiting for their turn to pick.