Lately

I haven't posted in a while! But reading some of my favorite blogs, and the changes happening in life right now are inspiring me.

Several big things :

We are moving! Less than two miles from our wonderful condo to a place with similar square footage, but with a yard and a two car garage! It is just going to feel so much bigger! We are so blessed!

Yesterday was my last day at Templeton Montessori Preschool. :( I am going to miss Heather (my boss) and all the wonderful children I have invested in over the last two years! And I am starting my new job on Tuesday! At a Montessori in SLO, about three miles from where we'll be living (maybe I'll get a bike and stay riding!), where I'll be doing the after school care while I go back to school to get my Early Childhood Education units so I can actually become a licensed preschool teacher! Woot! It's exciting! I started classes two weeks ago and so far so good!

Andrew is working on a HUGE deadline that is approaching next week. Of course... The day before we move! He works so hard. God has truly blessed us to be able to own this business and see it flourish. We are working at following him and listening to his lead. Thankfully Andrew works pretty well under pressure. And when they finish this deadline, they'll be diving right into another at the end of October!

One of the blogs I read posts "gratitude lately" once a week. I'm going to start doing that! I tend to be a grateful person anyway, but it's nice to share, too!

Today I am truly thankful for a free day at home. We originally had a super packed weekend planned, and our plans fell through. I was able to spend the whole day packing and Andrew switched all of our utilities and got to spend a large chunk of time working.

I am also thankful for craigslist. In the last three days I have done three trips to get free boxes... Over 50 of them! Some of them are really great moving boxes!

I am thankful for the wonderful people I come in contact with on a regular basis. The children and parents I get to work with. I love when I get to make an impact.

I am thankful for friends who come over for dinner after a long, hot, exhausting day and play video games and fall asleep on our couch. I think Andrew and I agree that our friends make our home feel like home more than anything else we keep in it.

Thank you all for reading! I hope to post more in the coming weeks as we transition and new things happen!

Christmas tree and small pants!

I'm attempting to post from my phone so we'll see how this goes! My pictures will probably be quirky.
:)

We spent the day with good friends: shipping, out to lunch and then to a Christmas tree farm for two trees. :)

Finishes!

Hello! It's been over a month! Sad.

But I have a few things to post real quick here!

My mother-in-law picked out some fabric when she came to visit a couple months ago, as well as a pattern, and I started right in! I think I actually finished it pretty quickly (for me!). I gave it to her this past weekend when we were visiting for Thanksgiving.

Double Wedding Ring Finish!

OH my goodness has it taken a long time to finish this quilt! And I actually finished it several weeks ago, but my busy schedule and a few rainy days prevented me from taking some good pictures until now!

This quilt was made at the request of my sister-in-law. She requested a DWR and pink. She has three dogs. So...pink and dogs! I believe I started it back in late January/early February? Hmm. Maybe it first showed signs of life as early as December last year! So...nearly ten months! Yikes!

Phew! That white is BRIGHT in the sun! Note to self...take photos on a slightly foggier day.

I decided to make one full circle in brown. It's not super obvious when it's on a bed, and still a little subtle in the pictures. It's very large and hard to take pictures of! :) But I'm not complaining.

I tried to follow a pattern, but didn't understand the directions (and possibly printed the paper piecing patterns different sizes since I had to go back several times to make more), so I made it up! I appliqued circles in the connecting corners. I think it turned out very cute and a little twist away from traditional!

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom's Quilts Finish it Up Friday!

Monday I will be linking up to Sew Modern Monday. :)

Update

My mother-in-law requested that Hubby and I post on our blogs and let the world know about our lives. :)

There has been a lot going on. I have finished a few projects and started several more. I've moved closer to finishing long projects and started a list of things I want to hand make for Christmas gifts.

I also nearly completely switched around my work schedule. No more days off for me. (I was only working 3 days a week...very full and LONG days, but still...5 days off! Who would complain!) Hubby and I started a couples bible study with some friends. I'm actually babysitting quite a bit. Weekends have been even busier than week days!

Here are some things that have been going on:

Finished adorable quilt (not good pictures...will do a longer post when I get better photos!):

Nearly done with a LONG project for my sister-in-law...just in time for Christmas!

Picked up crochet. My friend Erikka, who I made this quilt for when she married Greg, has her own Etsy shop and makes the cutest crochet things. They keep popping up on my Facebook...so I decided to learn to crochet. :P This may or may not be a Christmas gift...

This last weekend was spent in Yosemite with a (slightly smaller than normal) group of our awesome college friends that now live spread out all over California. My knee has not been happy with my half marathon training (only 6 days away, EEK!!!), but it was a champ when we hiked Vernal and then Nevada Falls (straight up!).

We were supposed to have bible study tonight, but since one couple is still in college and barraged with homework (tends to happen around week 4), and the other couple includes a fisherman who was heading out tonight for a trip no shorter than 24 hours...we postponed this weeks meeting. So...I got a little ambitious and decided to make pumpkin pie from scratch (including the pumpkin part!),

and make some strawberry jam. Buying strawberries, jars and instructions was about as far as I got. It is a little more involved than I thought. :P So in my spare 3 hours tomorrow, that is what I will be doing. I grew up on this stuff and I'm sure my siblings would love to receive a jar for Christmas?

I've also been hanging out with these kids at work:

Seeing this little guy once a week (he loves throwing rocks in the creek!):

Taking this guy to Avila Valley Barn (today his mom said I wiped him out and he fell asleep for the first time during quiet time in a long time!):

And hanging out with these guys after they get out of school two days a week! Last week we went to the pumpkin patch where they played on these things:

The pie was delicious. :) I'll let you know how the jamming goes!

Clothes!

So...I bought Handmade Beginnings by Anna Maria Horner. One of my favorite bloggers wrote about making some pants for her one year old. They had the book at my local Beverly's and I kept picking it up and flipping through...and putting it back down. Then I had a 40% off coupon, so I decided to finally buy yesterday.  

And today...I made a pair of those adorable little pants!

Front:

                      

 Back:

And the best part...they are reversible! :D

See those cute little socks!? They're on the back, but I didn't get a good picture, so this'll have to do for now. :)

And the even better than best part...they are going to look adorable on my friend Alyssa's second son! I made them as a gift. Shh!

Linked up at Canoe Ridge Creations!

Homemade Pesto!

I did it! I have lots and lots of basil and not too many uses for it. A friend suggested pesto, and I remembered Brett making some that was delicious (though I'm not generally a pesto fan), so I decided to try it! The first store I visited didn't have pine nuts, the second did - boy they are expensive!

It even looks like real pesto! I used this recipe, but instead of fresh lemon, I used a tablespoon of lemon and a tablespoon of lime (I'm not a huge lemon fan, but I have had a recent lime addiction, so I thought I'd just do a little of both). It tastes pretty good! I'm going to make pesto chicken tonight using this recipe!

(I spent about an hour last night trying to get the labels and glue off of 5 glass jars I had saved, so I figured I'd use one for the pesto. Perfect!)

Free Stuff!!!

I am going to offer a giveaway sometime next week for my followers. If you are not currently following my blog, do so now so you will be entered in! I'll probably post again next week with the details of the giveaway and give you a few extra days after...but keep this in mind!