NASCAR!

Today was beautiful and THRILLING! The bright colors were amazing! It was so loud! You could see it, hear it and felt it all! 200,000 people! We spent the day over at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. We saw all the favorites...Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Kyle Busch...and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr was the first car out today. Even if he isn't your racer you gotta love him. Tony Stewart was there....he is the only racer I don't like.

Look at these young guys walking to the race.

There is Madi...look where our seats were...turn 3...they were great seats. On the 3rd lap there was a crash and the car was on fire right there...we felt it hit the wall twice. WILD!

Ben, Steve and Madi watching the action.

It was a long but fun 341 laps...we were there 6 hours. Did you watch the race on tv? Some serious crashes on the last 5 laps. As long as the drivers are okay those are sure a crowd pleaser if they don't include your racer. Today, car #2 Kurt Busch won. That is who Madi picked before the race started. It was an amazing and fun fun fun experience!!!

the reason my kids don't want to move...

...family...their cousins!!! We have never been stationed so close to family before...Teresa lives in Savannah about 250 miles from Atlanta but she drives it all the time. Nana, Great Grandma, Deedee and Haley came for a visit. Today was the last game this basketball season and Nana really wanted to see one.



Madi's game....stunk. It was so bad that when it was her turn to sit out she wasn't even interested in watching her team...she turned to watch another.









Look at Great Grandma in those new kind of Sketchers with jeans on. I think she is the most fun Great Grandma.




There is Ben #34. We are sad the season is over.










Deedee is such a sweet and playful young lady. She had all three of the younger kids on her back. The kids had a ball playing together. After the games we went out to Mellow Mushroom for dinner and then I went and did some spring shopping. I needed a nice relaxing day.

crafting to stay sane...

There is tooooo much military paperwork to do when moving your family overseas!!! Especially now that my kids are getting older. I have done the kids school clearances, all three of our dental clearances, Madi was seen downtown at Emory to get her clearance from her Pediatric Endocrinologist on Wed., yesterday I had two of my clearances taken care of and this afternoon are the last two from Ben and Madi's Pediatrician. I am telling you it's a bit much!!! Plus my kids have activities 4 out of the 5 week nights. So in any spare moment I could find I made this fun colorful table runner out of some favorite scraps of fabric.

Yesterday at one of my Dr. apt. that was scheduled for 1100 and I was asked to be there 15 min. early...well I was not seen until 1PM!!! Thank goodness I had taken a fun magazine and my stitching supplies...I finished my new March stitchery.

Calgon PLEASE take me away!

I think we need new passports...

Look how sweet they were. Ben was 22 months and Madi...only 6 days old in her last passport photo. We moved to Germany when she was almost 8 weeks old. A child's passport is only good for 5 years, so we are on a mission for new ones now that we know we are moving to Korea.

Seoul, Korea....here we come!

We are moving to the 3rd largest city in the World...Tokyo(lived there), New York, Seoul, Korea. 14 million people...it's gonna make Atlanta look like a one-stop-light town.

Rock-N-Roll Friday...

starring Madi bee...that is her nickname. I whipped up these fun pants last night using an indygo junction pattern. They are so cute and only cost me $8 and an hour of my time. I have a feeling Madi will be getting a few more new pairs of pants...I need to try making shorts.

4 down 4 to go

Man oh man...Madi had 4 baby teeth pulled today. She went to the orthodontist a few weeks ago and he said to have 8 baby teeth pulled to allow her adult teeth to come in in the proper place. My poor little girl. But she will be rich tonight after the tooth fairy comes!

Plus, her sweet dad walked in from work tonight and surprised her and Ben and I with 4-day passes to Disney World...13 days and counting.

Madi's quilt

I finished Madi's quilt! It is so her...fun, loving, bight and cheery. It's a scuffily quilt. Last summer I saw the pattern on the modabake shop. It's a pattern that rachel from p.s. i quilt ca

me up with. She comes up with lots of fun stuff to make. Remember those fabric necklaces.

I am so in love with Madi's new quilt. It's white on the back. I used a variegated thread to sew around the squares for the quilting part...thanks to Jamie from my local quilting store for that idea :-)

I am so addicted to this quilting now...I am already looking forward to starting something new again.

The Greatest Show On Earth!

Last night we headed downtown to Phillip's Arena...to watch the circus...Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey....The Greatest Show On Earth. And boy was it great!!!




First we ate dinner in the CNN Center.




Madi got a picture with a Wolf Blitzer stand.

Back in 2003 we all watched the war news from Warrior One in Iraq...the CNN Humvee.

The circus was so magical. We saw the acrobats

...the tight rope

...tigers

and the elephants. It really was a fun magical night!

Now today? Steve thought it would be fun to go back over to Athens, Georgia to watch another basketball game. Well Ben didn't and he wanted to stay home to play with friends. So I am at home and Ben's twin friends Blaine and Bailey are here. Madi and Steven?...are in Athens watching the University of Georgia vs. Alabama play basketball AND a girls softball doubleheader...Georgia vs Virginia Tech. Steve has the perfect child...a little sports buddy.

Essence flowers

Last week my friend Amber made the prettiest cards. So last night with my extra scraps of fabric from my quilt I thought I would try making some of the flowers for some cards of my own. Sewing background fabric onto paper was a little tedious and annoying but I still like the way they turned out (Ben says they look like dead flowers)....just next time I think I will use paper on the card with the fabric flowers.

My new quilt

I had so much fun making a quilt out of Essence fabric by Moda. The pattern was a free one I saw on the Moda Bake Shop a long time ago...I just now got the nerve to try it. It was sew easy!

My kids are out of school this week. Madi has asked me to make her a 'pretty' quilt so we picked out some OZ fabric by Moda. We have already starting sewing it...see the kids arranging the squares in the order they think would look best.

Steve never stops cracking me up. On Monday night he went to Griffin, Georgia. The 2nd Baptist Church of Griffin was hosting a Wild Game Banquet and the guest speaker was UGA's football coach. So Steve wanted to go munch on Bear, Elk and Moose burgers to be able to hear what the coach had to say. The High School in Griffin has 2 kids The University of Georgia wants to come play football...see the catch.

UGA vs SC...basketball

All the snow we got here in Atlanta didn't stop us today. Ben and Madi's basketball games were cancelled because of the snow. So, we headed over to The University Of Georgia in Athens, Georgia (about 65 miles from our house) to watch a college game. Our Bulldogs played South Carolina and the Dawgs won!!! I am never in many pictures with my kids...so of course my eyes are closed.








We saw the UGA baseball team practicing...in the snow. Their games start in a week or two.

OMGosh! I am sure every college has their own...you know the guy how wears nothing but Speedo's printed with the American Flag and he is more cheerleader than all those girls put together. If you look closely he is in the student section about 5 rows up behind the hoop. He was NON-STOP entertainment! This was such a good game...a one point game in the last 50 seconds. What a super fun day! We can't wait to go again sometime.

We may not have had a White Christmas...

...but we are having a White Valentines. I guess Atlanta decided to join the rest of the snow-covered nation. Steve thinks we have already gotten 4 inches and we are only halfway through the winter storm.

Yes, that would be my man shoveling our driveway.

The kids are going down the street to their friend Isaiah's house for a HUGE snowball fight. Look at all that snow...huge flakes.

We are in an Olympic mood now! The kids have been playing Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games on the Wii today and now the snow. Have fun watching the Olympics!!!

Saturday

It's just Saturday. But I have done all my important things today and it feels good.

This morning Steve was the last one to get up. When he walked out I was in the kitchen. He came in and asked if I saw Madi. We both crept down the hall so we could both peek. She was on the other side of her bed reading a chapter book aloud...it was just funny...she was all alone and content.

Tonight for dinner we made Pioneer Women's enchiladas. They were alot of work but were soooo yummy and worth every minute.

I had not been very motivated to run lately. It's hard right now. I was doing so good...that's gone and it's HARD! But the other day I was really motivated. My cousin betsy has 5 kids. They are 8, 5, 3 and twins that are 4 months. She has been running everyday and started training for a half marathon...and she had a c-section to get those twins 4 months ago. So if she can put forth the all that effort I can too. I have been running everyday since! Thanks Betsy!!!

looks like Valentines

I can not function...for two days now!!! Why? Sometime soon we will have to move. We are stationed at Ft. McPherson (Atlanta, Georgia) which will be closing July 2011. So within 16 months we have to move. Yesterday some overseas choices came out. We have already spent 7 years overseas and loved it, but here are our choices:

Youngson, Korea...we would go as a family for two years. We have been to Seoul and liked it...we are big city people. They even have brand new housing there. This is Steve's first choice.

Kadena, Okinawa, Japan...LOVE Japan. I was stationed at Yokota AB (Tokyo) but both Steve and I spent plenty of time down on the island. The base is huge...it's a fighter jet and tanker base, they have some of the nicest facilities in the whole Air Force.

3 bases in Germany...but we just left Germany 3 1/2 years ago not sure if I am ready to go back.

Vicenza, Italy...it's an Army Base only 45 minutes from Venice. Steve would work lots and most likely deploy 2 times out of the 4 years we would live there. Italy has lots of crime...base housing made garages to protect cars from theft and they are not very friendly towards Americans like the people in Germany...I just couldn't go shopping easily at flea markets and stores like in Germany. But it's hard to say no to Italy. Plus we have never been to this base.


So We are not sure what we want to do!!! I can't function because it's all I am thinking about.






Thank goodness on Monday I put all my Valentines decorations out before all this talk about moving distracted me! Ben has been home all week...poor guy still doesn't feel well. We went to the pediatrician yesterday, no need for antibiotics, just time and rest I guess.

I am NUTS about you!

Ben and I finished his Valentines. He likes them...and that is hard to do! Poor Ben woke up in the middle of the night with a fever so he stayed home from school today. It was nice having one on one time with him. We enjoyed a lunch of fried Bologna sandwiches together.

I also finished a small quilt/table runner for Valentines. This is my best sewing yet! I am getting the hang of this. There are SO MANY things I want to make.

I hand stitched the binding on...but still learning. My corners are good though.