Catching Up! Seven Posts in One!

My Heart is Racing Still!
My sister called this morning to tell me that her 2 1/2 year old grand daughter (my great niece) was hit by a car yesterday. She is okay!!!! Thank God!!! She and her 6 1/2 year old sister (both pictured below) were playing when she ran into the neighbors' driveway just as the neighbor backed out. She was apparently just knocked to the pavement, not run over. She has lots a scrapes and is sore. They ran all kinds of tests and found nothing else. But, can you imagine what it must have been like for her, her big sis, who is the only one who actually saw it happen, her mom and dad, the neighbor, and my sister? I don't want to imagine! Hold on, give hugs and kisses, and love those little ones in your life!!!



Happy Birthday to my daughter!
She's 27 today! Let's see, can that be true? Yep, I was 30 when she was born, and I'm 57 now! What a fast track we've been on since then!!


Distraction!
I have been distracted for the past week, and here's why!
This is Little Man. His mom said that as long as I blurred his face I could post a photo. He had a ball playing in my cabinets, especially this one because he was a perfect fit!! He is the son of our daughter who is having a birthday today! He likes to give high fives, wave hi and bye, look out of the side of his eyes with the flirtiest smile you ever saw, walk around dragging his dad's shoe by the shoe string, and throw up his hands for a "touchdown," along with lots of other really cute and charming things. He LOVES his mommy!!!

Here's Emory! She's almost 2, and is a hoot! When asked what a surfer says, she says, "Hey, dude!" .....a golfer....."Fore!" or sometimes she says, "six." At least she knows it's a number! She can tell you what all the animals say, and her mom taught her to say,"Huh?" when asked what Grandaddy says, and "What?" when asked what Granmomma says. Her mom posted a video of her performance this morning. Our daughters are trying to tell us we are getting old and hard of hearing. Hum.... I guess I can't argue with that! She loves the movie "Annie" and says, "Annie, dress" and "Annie, dancing" and "Annie, this" and "Annie, that" throughout the movie. She gives a play by play! This photo was made at an outdoor concert in which my cousin's son's band performed. He is a very talented musician.



Next is Riley. She's 3 1/2 now. She was sick with a stomach virus most of the time they were here. Poor thing, she sat in her mommy and daddy's laps almost the whole time. She was running a fever and vomiting. She is such a little sweetheart. She cried when they left because Granmomma and Grandaddy weren't going back home with her. I hope she remembers some of the fun times she had while they were here. She did roast a few marshmallows. She actually made her Papaw (my FIL) his first ever s'more! My husband made a fire pit in our backyard. We have plans for a lot more fun stuff out back.

Then, there's Jenna. She's 6 1/2. She is such a sweetheart. She lost a tooth while she was here. It was her third. The tooth fairy found her, thank goodness! She is a little actress, singer, swimmer, and knee boarder. She learned to knee board last summer when they were here. Her great uncle has a boat and has taught all of the generation that my girls are in to ski, etc.... Now, he's teaching Jenna and Kellen. Jenna is a loving little one. She loves to give hugs, and what wonderful hugs they are! She loves to sit next to me and rub the "fluffy" skin on my arms! She likes to be a big help. She helped clear the table and anything else that she could to help her granmomma.

Our oldest grandchild is Kellen. She is 9! How in the world did that happen?!? She is also an actress, singer, swimmer, skiier, etc....... She loves animals and anything about nature and science. She and Jenna put on a puppet show for us while they were here. She is the writer, stage manager, production chief, puppet master, etc..... The girls all liked to dress up in the dress up clothes in the play area I fixed for them. They really liked it when I pulled out some of her mom's and aunts' old prom dresses, etc... for them to dress up in one night. Kellen is also a great helper. She really had fun with the "little" cousins.

Am I blessed, or what!?! The only bad part is that they all had to go back home after such a short and busy visit! We fit in a weekend trip to the lake to visit with all of my husband's family. There were over 30 of us in all. The grands got to go to our local park and play in the sprinklers. We went to a local ice cream/milk plant, and, of course, ate yummy ice cream. We built a fire and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. We even had a watermelon seed spitting contest at Mamaw and Papaw's house one evening! We visited Great Grandmother (my mom, who is much better, by the way!) We stayed up late, watched kid friendly movies, read books, played with all kinds of toys, and ATE WAY TOO MUCH YUMMY FOOD!


Orange Sweaters!
My husband's cousin's wife, pictured here with my husband, and 2 brothers-in-law, knitted the orange sweaters that the guys are wearing. She also knitted the sweater she's wearing. She taught our two older grand daughters a little about knitting. She's good, isn't she? She made the sweaters orange because she knows that we are all BIG University of Tennessee fans, and that orange and white are our colors. These will be perfect for the cool fall Saturday afternoon football games.


Purse Organizers Not Forgotten!
I have not forgotten that I have some purse organizers to make for some of my blogger friends. Pictured here is a purse that I made for Emily who commented on my post about a give away. I decided to make her a purse that has pockets on the insides rather than just an organizer. I hope she likes it. She asked for light blue and lime green. I already had these place mats (yes, place mats) to make hers with before she made her request. Luckily, there was light blue and lime green in the design. I hope she doesn't mind the other colors! I will be getting the adults' purse organizers made very soon and all of them in the mail. Thanks for your patience!


More Inspiration From the Past!
Isn't this handkerchief about the most beautiful piece of art work you've ever see? I say "art work" because what else could one call this? Can you imagine how much time it took to make this? Look at the LOVE that went into this! My daughter bought this at her husband's aunt's store. She wanted me to use it in a Christening outfit for a baby boy if she ever had one. But, she has 3 daughters and couldn't be happier. Her girls actually wore the 3 Christening dresses that my girls wore as babies. I will find a use for this, no doubt.

Here are some of the different strands of tatting that my grandmother, Honey, made. The tiny row of lace is some she made for some little girls in my church. They are grown women now. Their mom found it recently and gave it to me. She never got around to using it. It was their dad who was my mom's dear friend who died recently.



Inspiration From My Cousin!
My grandmother who taught my cousin and me to sew, also taught my cousin. Below is an example of the work my cousin does now. This is a new quilt that she just finished. Isn't it gorgeous!?! This cousin just had surgery on her shoulder yesterday. She injured it at her school where she is a 4th grade teacher.

Malinda, my cuz, who made the quilt, gave me this frame a few years ago. I keep it with a photo of the two of us on my sewing table. She is a real treasure to me. We are only 4 months apart in age and grew up next door to each other. She is closer and dearer to me than most sisters are to each other. She's also the mom of the musician whose band we went to hear that I mentioned above.