Not much on the handwork homefront

My stitching this summer has pretty much been non existent. Not because I want it to be...I have been missing my needle. It's because I've been so blazin busy since those school doors flew open the last day of school. I've loved every second of it though....I can honestly say that this summer has by far been the best summer any of us have ever had. Not exaggerating here. Seriously. We've had more fun this summer than any summer of our entire lives, and I'm looking forward to many many more. This is our second summer living here. We had a good summer last year but were still in the adjusting phase. There's still a few more weeks left until school starts, and I'm pretty sure I can squeeze a lot more fun out of those weeks.

So back to the hand crafting....I don't have much time for it right now, so when I do I prefer to work on something that finished quickly so I can feel like I've accomplished something. I really need to start working on some Christmas ornaments. For now though, I'm happy to report that I've made a curtain for the door in my little sewing room. I love how it turned out! Now I just need to paint the door. I've put it off for a while as I really despise painting, but now that I've got the curtain up, it's a good incentive to get it done. Whatcha think? I also need to mention how much I LOVE the curtain rods. Whoever came up with the idea of magnetic curtain rods for steel doors was a genius! Mike didn't want to screw in to them, and I really didn't want him to either.

I love my little room SO much! It's so cozy, and all mine! I need more old looking Annie dolls for my room. I love them.

Chicago, Another visitor, & Reflecting

Mike's mom came for a visit for a week and went back home this past Saturday. While she was here she watched the kids for a bit and Mike and I went to Chicago for a couple of days. Most of the trip was good...some of it wasn't. We have some friends who live in Indiana who drove up the day we got there to spend the day with us. They're friends from high school. My buddy's name is Nicole...I'd not seen her in over 3 years and was really excited that I got to spend some time with her. I really wish they could've stayed the second day too. While we were there, we had lunch at Dave & Buster's, went to Hershey's Chicago for some sweet treats, took the water taxi to the Sears Tower, went up in to the Sears Tower Skydeck and stomped around on the new glass ledge up top, ate yummy Chicago style pizza, went to the Ghiradelli chocolate shop for sundaes, went to the Shedd Aquarium, went to Navy Pier for the night and took a ride on the ginormous ferris wheel, walked through Millennium Park, went over to Buckingham Fountain, and went to Garrett's Popcorn shop and got some yummy cheese corn that everyone raves about. Very good, by the way. Here are a few of my favorite pics....















I've really been feeling kind of blah lately. Kind of useless I guess. Or like I'm not good enough. Seems as though I'm the only stay at home mom around here. Never in the past have I've ever thought it's not enough until the past few months. Seems as though I feel like everyone thinks that I need to be working. Which has got me thinking that maybe I should. Then at least maybe I'd feel like I have some kind of identity because quite honestly, I've been secretly feeling like a caged up rabbit. Cassie has pneumonia again too, which isn't helping my blah-ness too terribly much.

Beach Trips, Visitors, & Fireworks

I know, it's been way too long since my last post. Everything's been a whirlwind since school let out. Busy, busy, busy, I've been! It would take hours to go over everything we've been doing in detail, so I'll do my best to catch you up as quickly as I'm able. I have slacked a bit though. In the free time I have had to blog, I've found myself Facebooking instead. Oops. Shame on me.

WARNING: Tons of photos coming!

Right after school let out, we took the kids on a dolphin watching tour in Virginia Beach. It lasted about an hour and half, and we saw tons of dolphins. I didn't get any good pics because the buggers are fast but I did get a few fin pics. The boat ride was so much fun..that is until they turned the boat around to head back. The swells in the ocean were huge and Joshua and I started to get sea sick. I nearly abandoned ship. Next time, I'm taking some Dremamine before we set sail.

A couple of days after, Mike went on a business trip to California, so the kids, dogs, and I drove to WV to visit my parents for the week. We we did lots of fun things and got to spend a lot of time with my family. We went on a tour of a coal mine, went on a tram ride from the top of a mountain down to the bottom by the river, played in a beautiful waterfall, and visited my dad's family cemetery.

After we came back from visiting my parent's, we had a few days to get ready for my brother to come visit for the 4th of July. He took a couple of extra days off so he could enjoy the East Coast. We went back to VA Beach on Friday, came home and went to a party, and then went to D.C. to see the fireworks on Saturday.

Yesterday, Cassie and I dropped the 3 guys off at Nationals Stadium to watch a ball game, and then the two of us headed over the way to have a girlie day in D.C. We hadn't been to Ford's Theater yet where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, so we parked ourselves in the Ronald Reagan Building, ate lunch in the food court, then walked ourselves over to the theater to see if we could score ourselves some tour tickets, and that we did! We were both SO excited! Before the presentation began, we were allowed to take pics. It was very dim inside, so the pics didn't come out well, despite all the setting changes we tried. Here's a pic of the box he and his wife were sitting in...it's not the best pic, but you get the idea.

We also got to go across the street to The Peterson House, where Lincoln died.

We had a really great time on the tour! Afterwards, we walked over to a bakery in the National Press Building and had a snack. We had a really fun girl day together!



The amount of time it has taken me to find and upload all of these photos is a good incentive for me to not let this much time pass without posting again!