Weekend

Cade had a friend come home with him from school Friday. The kid spent the night and they stayed up til 3am. I went to bed at 930. Andy told me Saturday morning that they boys were up that late.

Saturday after watching some football, Go Dawgs!, I took Cade and his friend to a Birthday Sleep Over. We picked Cade up Sunday afternoon and the Mom said that the boys were up til 5:30am!!
So here is how Cade spent the rest of his Sunday!

Have you seen this??!! Amanda Jean has written a book! I can't wait!

Sports Weekend

Not much sewing going on here this weekend! Our nephew, Stewart spent the weekend with us and Saturday morning we had to have him at the baseball field at 830am. UGH!

Stewart did really well! He got a hit and scored! This is his first year playing baseball. Andy and I thought the coach was a big jerk! He was yelling and screaming and these kids are 7 & 8 years old! I was glad when the game was over.

After baseball, we grabbed Chickfila and then went to Cade's karate graduation. He is a brown/black belt, the last belt before BLACK! This graduation was almost 2 hours long:( and it was hot:( Here is Cade doing some of his kicks. I was hoping to get a pic of the lady in the red shirt, left corner of the picture. Everybody around us was pretty sure that she was drunk. Maybe she had just had a bad night.

Here is Cade and Stewart after the grauation. Cade was so sweaty!



This is Cade and his buddy Luke. Cade and Luke started karate at the same time. Whenever they perform they stand beside each other and do their moves exactly together. Makes them look really good! Poor Cade, Luke is almost 2 years younger than Cade! Cade is just a shorty!

They are holding their new belts. They start training for their black belts this week!

Hope that you all had nice weekends!

Hello Middle School

My baby started Middle School today:( He was excitied and very nervous. He got up and got ready super fast which meant that we had alot of nervous time to kill. He talked about silly stuff and got in some last minute hugs with Ruby.

He is such a fun kid! I really do miss him when he is not around. I am trying to stay positive about Middle School but it's my least favorite school experience..for me and my kids.

I have started my laundry and gone for a stress relief walk:) Now, for a shower and some stress relief sewing:)

Have a great Monday..I am sure that I will be just fine and so will Cade...I just wish that his voice hadnt sounded so shaky when he said "bye"

Summer

We are still enjoying our Summer. I don't like the heat but I love the long days with "nothing" to do. Staying up late and the kids sleeping in:)





I am rushing to finish Kelsey's quilt. She picked out the fabric herself. It is Central Park by Kate Spain. It has some really pretty colors and some cute animal prints. I bought a layer cake of it so I had to find a pattern to showcase the animals and that would be ok without yardage. We decided on Flower Show. It is from the Spring 2010 Quilts and More Magazine. It is a very simple and quick quilt to make. I am already well into handquilting it.






We had a wonderful 4th. Cade was so happy to get to spend some time with cousin Sydney!

I'm Back!!

WOW!! It has been a long time since I blogged!! I have sure missed you all! I hope to catch up on everyone's blogs very soon!

My problem???? The beginning of May, Kelsey was on the computer and Ruby (the cat) jumped up on the tower (as she often does) and the computer just went off!! The monitor was fine, we just couldnt get the computer to come on! It went into the shop, only to be told that it was fine!??? Oh well, guess Ruby needs to lose a little weight!

I did notice that I get a lot more done without a computer but I sure missed emails and getting my quilt "fix" every morning! We finished the last book fair of the year. Some of the girls from the school got together and we had a little "good-bye" lunch for me. I am going to miss seeing everybody next year. I'm not really looking forward to having a middle-schooler either!

Today, we should be at Cade's 5th grade graduation. We arent because him and Joey ar being tested for Mono!!
What a way to start the summer!!

Japan Embroidery

I finished my embroidery piece for the quilt that Mom Wald's Place is making for the earthquake victims in Japan. The theme is fruits/veggies. I put alot of pressure on myself to make this block perfect. Of course, it is not perfect. I did my best but faces sure arent my specialty. So why did I pick a pattern with faces on it?? Because it is so darn cute!! I found the sweet pattern on Flickr by the awesome member MMAAMMBR

I love her vintage patterns and find myself using them alot! I am so glad that Mary is doing this project and I am so glad to help out.

After finishing up my embroidery I decided to go check out the new Quilt Shop. It is called Sewn with Love. I know the owner from the quilt shop that I used to work at (she worked there a little while too) She has always wanted to own a shop and when the only quilt shop in town closed..this was her chance! It's a cute shop and she has some beautiful stuff! I didnt have my camera or I would have taken a few pics. To help her stay in business I bought some 1/2 yards and a fat quarter. I was surprised to find out that her FQ's are still $2.50. I was immediately drawn to all the large scale prints but I remembered that I have PLENTY of those at home so I tried to buy some blenders. I love the fabrics that I got!

Here are a few shots form Cade and Andy's adventure. The went to The National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center. They loved it!!

This is the little chapel on base. They both want to go back!

Enjoy this day! I have to go to the grocery store then I HAVE to get a quilt basted!

Catching Up

We are still on "Winter Break" It seems more like Spring Break. We have had beautiful weather, highs in the 70's. We did have a "spring like" rain come through this morning. Sunny skies now though. We have our Spring Break in April...it will probably snow! lol

Jill's PIG question for this week is " What was your last finish? and. What UFO are you working on right now?" Hmmmm...well, I havent done a single thing on my PIG/UFO list! I started a baby quilt for my niece-in-law. This will be the first "great grand baby" on the Dillard side. They are having a sweet girl in July. I am using Bliss (LOVE) and Jodi's Pinwheel pattern from Moda Bake Shop. I have made this quilt before, it is a great pattern and perfect for a baby gift!

Andy and his brother took Cade and our nephew on a Guy's Only Day. I was happy to be left at home! They went to Dahlonega Ga, and panned for gold. Here they are at a still!

and Cade panning for gold. Why is it so hard for a 10 year old boy to smile at a camera??? or atleast try to look like you are having fun?? They all had fun and Andy said they laughed and laughed at the boys! Cade told me that they told alot of jokes but he couldnt tell them to me. Hope he doesnt repeat them at school!

I hope that everyone is having a great week. I dread school starting back:( On a good note, though, I am going to go to a new bible study at our church. It starts on tuesday morning. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. Tuesdays are my days at the library..I will have to swap..Please pray that I am strong enough to tell the school "no" and go to the bible study. If I want to keep "Balance" in my life I have to learn to say "no" to the school. Now, that Sherry is back, I should be able to do this!

Cade's Ice Day

We got a good bit of ice here in Georgia. Here is our road. The tracks are Andy's where he tried to go to the Fire Dept. before dawn, he didnt get far, had to come back and wait until daylight. It took him over an hour to get to work. It usually takes about 30-40 minutes. I hope they don't have many calls but they probably will with people out trying to drive in this mess.

Very slick icy road.

Cade got this big chunk of ice out of his sled. He wanted me to take pictures of it.

He really thought it was something.

He carried that ice chunk across the road to show my Mother.

Wendy liked it too! She kept taking big bites out of it until Cade dropped it.

I hope everyone is staying warm.

I hope we don't have school tomorrow!

Bah!

Not much going on around here! I have been very busy at the library..and am starting to feel panicked about not being at home. Not having time to sew, not having time to shop, not having time to myself...blah blah blah! Most of you know that I am filling in for my son's schools librarian, who has cancer. I feel so mean and selfish for gripping about helping someone out!! I am glad that I can do it! I am honored that God has chosen to use me this way. and I really do love being with the students but I guess I am just grouchy!! Anyway, at school Friday, I was given several little gifts of appreciation!! and invited to the staff only luncheon! Now, I did not expect anything and they sure dont owe me anything! I was so touched though to be appreciated!

Some fool decided that our school system should go to school Monday and Tuesday of this week! Those kids were nuts on friday, they are going to be really wound up come Tuesday. We will have Polar Express Day. They all come in their pj's, have a class party and watch the movie The Polar Express. I will be in the library taking down all our Christmas themed stuff! Ready for the break.

Kelsey came home Saturday. She had the flu and final exams last week. I sure hope she doesnt bring the flu home to us.

Cade graduated to a new belt in Karate. He is a first degree Brown belt. In less than a year he will be a black belt! Here is a picture of him when the instructor set his push-ups and sit-ups to 100!

Cade Meets the Governor

After the funeral of Andy's grandmother, we all went to The Varsity then to the State Capitol. Andy's brother, George is friends with Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. Cade said that he wanted to meet Sonny so George took us on the behind the scenes tour. and Cade got to meet Sonny!!! He was very very nice!! He was between meetings so we had a nice little visit. I was scared to death that Cade was going to break something in the office. But nothing was broken!

In sewing news, me and a couple of ladies from church have signed up for a quilting class in December. Its a pj party starting at 7am until..whenever! Sounds like fun!

Lots of library and bake sale and t-shirt work at school this week!

Warty Wednesday

What a morning!! Right now (8am) it is 46 and pouring rain!! It is so dark that I made Cade wait for the bus with a flashlight! I stood on the porch freezing to make sure that he didnt drown or get ran over!! Please note that I would have been more than happy to drive him but he wanted to ride the bus in the rain!! He is also trying the school breakfast for the first time! Considering that this kid eats nothing, I doubt that he will eat the school breakfast!

In other fun news, Cade has a wart on his foot that I had hoped would go away on it's own! But my ignoring it hasnt cured it so we are off to the doctors this afternoon to have them do whatever it is that they do to a wart!! The excitement never stops!!

Andy is off from work today so even though this would be a perfect "stay in and sew" day. I have a feeling that he has other plans!

Here is a bad picture of my black featherweight. Andy bought it for me on one Mother's Day. It is perfect and sews like a dream. I keep it out in my living room so that I can look at it (and it can collect dust) I need to get some better pictures of it and the white one. They are so much fun!

Have a wonderful wednesday!

Libby

Happy Halloween!

I figured out how to put pics on this computer!! Here are the fat quarters that I bought at Joann's. They have a really nice feel to them and they are pretty!

Cade decided to carve the pumpkin this year. Andy is helping him.

This being Cade's first time carving, he didnt go for anything too complicated!

and because I'm a great Mom...I forgot to take pictures of my son in his Halloween costume:(

He went as Aries the Greek God of War.

Check Out My New Cake Stand

...it's Batman approved!

Enjoy your weekend!

The Good, The Not So Bad and The Ugly

I have had one trying week here! I will start with THE GOOD:
I have been having some heart-to-heart prayer time with God! My weight has gotten so out of hand! It is very hard for me to write this! Anyway, I have a huge desire to get healthy and lose some of this weight! I know how to do it, I have done it many times before! HA! I also want to cut down on our grocery bill. I think that in my mind I'm still buying for a family of 5. Kelsey is away, Joey is hardly ever home for supper, Cade eats very litlle and NEVER wants to eat what I cook and Andy and I both want to cut down and eat better. We waste alot of food which means we are wasting money! I have inspired by Darlene's blog. She is eating better and exercising, last I heard she had lost 18 lbs!!! and I have found a wonderful blog called Leading the Weigh. Heather lost over 80 lbs and has kept it off for 8 years. She did Weight Watchers, exercise and changed her lifestyle!! Her blog is very motivating!!! She tells it like it is! It is a great blog, lot's of healthy eating and exercising tips. I have always been the "girl who lost weight and gained it back"...I want to be the "girl who kept it off"

Now THE NOT SO BAD:
This week I have been getting out and walking and eating healthier!! I feel great and it's not so bad!

Now THE UGLY:
I debated with myself if I should even write this but sometimes writing makes me see things clearer and feel better so here goes! I have posted about my 10 yo Cade riding the bus. My other 2 never got to ride. Andy is big time over protective and didnt like the idea. Cade begged to ride this year. We let him try it in the afternoons. He loves it. He begged to try it in the mornings. HMMM.. That was hard cause the bus picks up elementary through high school. We let him try it, he loves it. Then the problem started. Cade asked me what to do if a kid wanted the seat he was in. I said "let him sit with you or tell the driver" He said "It's a big kid and he wants the seat I sit in" I said "well, you can either get up or stand your ground, you don't have to get up" In fact, I believe my words were "Stand your ground, it's not like this kid is going to put his hands on you!" HA! Now we are finding out the kid started being mean about the seat, slapping Cade on the back of the head and threats. Cade never told anyone and held his ground until Friday. This Junior in High School punk-assed kid tried to yank Cade up by the arm, Cade yanked back, kid almost fell, angered he grabbed Cade with 2 arms and snatched Cade up then he threw my baby across the aisle into the other seats!!!! While my son was on his hands and knees on the floor between the seats this idiot threw Cade's bookbag onto Cades back and head. !!!! A few kids yelled and one middle school girl tried to stop it. NOONE told the bus driver!! Not even Cade!!
Well, all hell broke loose when Andy showed up at Cade's school to eat lunch!!! Cade finally told us everything. We told our school administrators who were furious!!! The high school was contacted and the principle called us after witnesses and the High schooler were talked to. It was also recorded. We were told the kid admitted to the assault and would be punished. We asked "How?" For privacy reasons they won't tell us !! They won't tell us when this kid will be back on the bus!! My husband is livid!! Andy mentioned that the boy was lucky that Cade didnt kick him in the privates... We were told that if Cade had kicked this kid then Cade would be in trouble also!!! EXCUSE ME??? My 10 yo was attacked by a 17 yo and if he had fought back he would be in trouble?? Later that night, after begging my husband not to go to this kids house and beat him senseless...we got a call from one of the witnesses parent...who just happens to be a police officer. He said that from what his son told him we should make a police report. I was unsure about this.. I kept thinking about this kids Mom. In the end we decide to make a report. We are not going to press charges but I really hope that a visit from the police will scare this punk!! I don't know if we will put Cade back on the bus or not. He wants to ride again. I do know one thing...we told Cade that if this boy EVER lays a hand on him for Cade to punch, bite, kick, scratch, scream whatever!!! and if Cade is suspended we will celebrate every day of it!!

Thanks for listening to me! As you can tell my brain and stomach are still churning! Hopefully a good walk will clear my head!

Spending My Time

Stitching with my favorite helper. Watching out the window for the school bus to bring me my boy.

First Day

He had a great day! Liked the teacher and LOVED the bus ride. By 4:30 he was doing this:

Back to School

Thought that I would share the little label that I made for my Sister-in-laws quilt. This was my first embroidered label. I was happy with the way it turned out. This is the little Sunbonnet Sue quilt that my Mother-in-Law and I made. Nanny hand embroidered the blocks and I put the quilt together and quilted it. We had the baby shower Friday night. it was beautiful and special. We are all so excitied for this baby!



Cade started school this morning and I guess I have the "empty house blues" It will probably get worse because Kelsey moves back to college on Friday. I know you hear it all the time but kids really do grow up too fast!

I am hoping to get some much needed cleaning done and maybe a little sewing time! Today will be the first time ever that Cade has ridden the school bus. He is trying it out this afternoon!! Maybe that is why I'm nervous and flitting around getting nothing done!



Have a great day!

Libby

Day Trippers

This week, Andy, Kelsey, Cade and I all took a day trip to the North Georgia Mountains. It is about a 2 hour drive so it's not a bad drive from here. The scenery is beautiful and the 2 kids take their ipods so it is a nice relaxing drive for us! I do have another son that is 18 years old. He went on this trip once, a couple of years ago and said that he would never go back!! He drove us crazy that trip so much that we still point out places like "Oh remember that store? That is the place that Joey got kicked out of" He decided to stay home and hang out with friends. I guess her prefers to get kicked out of places in his own hometown!!

We went to Ellijay, Blue Ridge and Dillard, Georgia. These towns are beautiful but they are really something in the fall when the leaves change! They have apple and pumpkin festivals and hayrides. We love going in the Fall but also like to visit during the summer. This is where Andy and I honeymooned and spent a second honeymoon!! We were married in December, we stayed in a cabin and got snowed in!! It is also where we "made" Kelsey, we told her this, she was disgusted at the thought, and probably won't go back with us!!!

Here are some of the pictures that I took. (they are out of order) We stopped at lots of antique shops, general stores, a quilt shop and a few holes in the wall places! We had supper at The Dillard House. A popular family style restaurant in Dillard Ga. It has a little resort, stables and a petting zoo. Lots of porches, rocking chairs and walking paths. Our last name is Dillard and my husband's family is a very very distant relation.

Here is Kelsey at one of the hole in the wall places at Tallulah Gorge. My husband remembers when these places would be so packed with visitors that you couldnt get a parking place. Sadly, the state cut a new super highway that bypassed some of these little places. Most of them have been shut down.

We thought this was pretty funny. Andy had to hold Cade up. There was a cage of bunny rabbits beside them. The owner of one of the shops looked like what my Grandma would call a "Wooly-Booger" Me and the kids stayed outside, we tried to get back in the truck but Andy had locked it. When Andy came out, Cade said "We were scared of that man" Andy said "you should have seen the one inside"

Dillard City Hall. Cade was so happy to be out in the sun!

Horses at the Dillard House.



Beautiful view!!!

Dillard House. Andy and I ate here on our honeymoon. I had just become a Dillard!

Thanks for "hearing" about our trip. I will have to take a picture of what I bought and show it later.

Have a great Day!!

Libby

Why?

Every time that I piece a quilt, I always, always, always go ahead and make the binding. Everytime...so please tell me why I was so happy to finish quilting this baby quilt, only to find out that I had NOT made the binding ahead of time??!! So, instead of spending the evening sewing on the binding, I am making the binding! Oh well..it has to be done.



I finished the quilting on this quilt because I have had some free time at home. Monday morning, Cade woke up with a fever. Trip to the Doctor and he has strep throat. No school for him Monday or Tuesday. I will admit that I have enjoyed having that boy home with me! I feel so bad that he was so sick! He is much better today and will be back at school on Wednesday. I am staying clear of the Library, and Sherry, until I am sure that I'm not going to come down with strep.

I hope to have pictures of a finished baby quilt really soon!

Libby

Happy Birthday Cade!

My sweet baby boy is 10 today! He is our joy! The answer to many, many prayers! Happy Birthday Cade! I love you forever!

Mommy

p.s. if you click on this photo, you can see his pink toe-nails! He painted his toe-nails, by himself, in my living room!! He was so proud of himself!