Moody Blues

I seem to be having "one of those days"; and it's hardly begun! I just feel down, I guess. I need to get moving and have some breakfast and light a fire or work out or something to turn the day around. I love this song ("So You Had a Bad Day) by Daniel Powter but it doesn't always help to change things. Dido's song "Thank you" helps a little.

Circus

We all had a wonderful time at the circus Friday!









This was Landon's first time and he loved it!









I know Brian had to be cringing when he watched these girls hanging from their necks; I sure was!











Parker was so funny when he was watching the motorcycles in the cage; he was jumping up and down and banging his arms on the seat almost the whole time. And this from the boy who insisted just the day before that he wasn't going to go because, "the circus is boring!" He's also the only one who fell asleep even though they were all exhausted

Landon's 2nd Birthday

February 12th was Landon's 2nd birthday!
Happy Birthday, Baby!

Landon is such a sweetie! I love age 2! It has some challenges but they're still snuggly and they're learning so much and beginning to talk which is so much fun.

Landon didn't want to open his presents and was hiding under his blankie.

He finally gave in when Brian and I said we were going to open it if he wasn't going to.

Landon loves cars, trucks, planes and trains!

Steps 1 through 5

Well, I'm back to quilting! And I have to say that I'm quite proud of myself for getting back in it.

Step 1: Decide on a color palette and fabrics

Step 2: Decide quilt pattern

(Steps 1 and 2 sometimes switch places)

Step 3: Wash and iron fabrics

Step 4: Measure and cut pieces

Step 5: (optional) Lay pieces out in order to be
sewn

Withdrawals

I read a beautiful quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes today on Alicia Paulson's blog: "Take your needle, my child, and work your pattern-it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that... one stitch at a time, taken patiently." It made me teary. I haven't quilted since August and I'm really missing it lately. I think I kind of got burned out with having completed so many projects over the summer and I saw a quilt I had made for a friend being used for a very messy purpose and it was very disheartening. I usually put alot of thought and time into making one quilt (I do all the stitching by hand, after all) and so it was "off-putting", to say the least, to see that the work I had put into it was disregarded. But as Holmes says, "Life is like that." Sometimes, ... many times,... we put our all into a project or daily chores or ministry or someone's life and it isn't always appreciated. But, and here's the sticker, I will continue to do what I love and what God wants me to do. So, I'm off to prepare some fabric for another quilt and I can hardly wait to see the end result of a project I pour myself into and I'll do my best not to worry about how it will be used!

Generations - Part 4

These are some of my favorite pictures of my dad, Michael, my Uncle Rick and my Aunt Linda.

My Grandpa with Rick at Belle Isle.

My Grandma holding my dad with Rick and Linda on the couch.

Rick and Michael playing in the snow.

Dad


Rick and Linda

Generations - Part 3

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures on the computer of my Mom when she was a kid or my Aunt Robin. But here are a couple of the ones I do have.

This is my mom, Pam, when she was less than a year old. She's such a cutie!

This is my Aunt Robin on the left and my mom on the right. Robin is 8 years older than my mom. They look like they are probably around 16 and 8 years old in this picture. Mom, correct me if I'm wrong.

My mom and dad at one of their proms. Mom looks beautiful but that blue brocade tux is a bit much, Dad! ; )

Generations - Part 2

As promised, here is the next installment of my favorite pictures.

These are all pictures of my dad's parents, Bob and Maggie. I'm so blessed to have known and grown up with all 4 of my grandparents! My Grandpa Johnson was such a sweet man and had a wonderful sense of humor. My Grandma Johnson, who just passed away last summer, was a firecracker! She loved gardening, cooking, sewing and watching birds. She was great at all of those things!

This is a picture of my grandfather and his brother-in-law; my Grandpa is on the right and SO handsome! He was born and raised in Tennessee and moved to Detroit with his brother when he was just a teenager.

A neighbor friend of theirs took this picture of them and it's probably my favorite.

Grandpa served in the Coast Guard during World War II and my grandmother followed him from station to station.

Some of the things I remember most about my grandmother are: her plastic covered ottoman, polyester, playing solitaire on said ottoman, and when she would go through weeks and weeks of cooking batches of zucchini bread, bran muffins, caramel corn, etc..



I wish I knew where this picture was taken. I just love that he looks quite at home with these two silly statues!

This one is probably one of the last ones of them together in their farmhouse in Addison, Michigan. They worked so hard on that house and in that yard! He leveled an old rotten barn in the back and together they planted an enormous vegetable and flower garden. It was a wonderful place to spend the summer! We loved the baby chickens and riding with Grandpa on the riding lawnmower.