Quilting Retreat

It's been so long since I have posted but part of that is because since having my last child things have gotten so busy and little things, like keeping up with a blog, fall to the side. Life flies by so quickly and I don't take the time to sit down and write about it. It's a shame. However, I am still a mom and I am still a quilter.

That being said, I just returned from an amazing weekend at the beach with my quilting friends. Each year this group that I have been quilting with since I moved here takes a few days off and heads down to the beach. We rent a beach house and quilt like crazy! We have been doing this for four years now and this is my second time. We always stay up too late, eat too much and laugh a lot. It's kind of like college! I managed to finish three quilt tops while I was there.

The first quilt I finished the very first night I was there (Thursday night). The squares were already cut for me and I cut the sashings (the white pieces), cornerstones (the little black squares) and borders (around the outside) before I went to the beach so all I had to do was sew them together. It was a really easy pattern so it zipped right up.
This quilt is a pattern called "yellow brick road". It makes a really cute baby quilt. I have used this pattern many times and it turns out different every time. This quilt will go to Chris's resident at work whose wife is having a baby girl in April. I made this quilt on Friday.
This quilt was the "mother" of all quilts at the beach. No other quilt there was this labor intensive. To be fair, I started making the "flying geese" blocks two years ago. I got the pattern from a quilting magazine and the pattern is called "rhubarb crisp". I fell in love with the pattern and immediately pulled out some fabrics from my stash. It has 480 "flying geese" blocks so it has taken me two years to want to get back to it. I was determined to finish it, however. I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. Monday finishing it. I wanted to go home with the top done. I must say, I love it and it is not leaving our home once it's finished.

For all you non-quilters, this little block is a flying geese block. Can you picture it? They flying geese, I mean. It measures 1 1/2"x3".
In other news, Chris was called to be in the bishopric the night before I left for the beach. The timing was impeccable.

Summertime Fun

I keep thinking things are going to slow down and I will get back into the habit of blogging again but I never seem to have enough in me at the end of the day to write down my thoughts. Life with three young kids is very busy. We have been trying to keep busy this summer too.

Kennedy had her dance recital about a month ago. She did really well. She was in a group that performed a ballet routine and a tap dance. Kennedy was front and center in both dances.

Kennedy and Tristan had two weeks of swim lessons. Kennedy took right to the water but Tristan never did much. I think he doesn't like the idea of not being able to touch the ground. That is kind of scary when you think about it. Jack and I would sit in the baby pool while the other two were in lessons. He didn't like it much at first but now he loves going.

There was a vacation bible school at the church where Kennedy went to preschool. Kennedy and Tristan were able to attend that. I had never heard of vacation bible school until last summer when a church by our house had one and I took Kennedy. She had so much fun she talked about it for months after. I think she and Tristan really enjoyed it this year too. Every once in a while Tristan with break out into, "Jesus in my heart, Jesus in my heart".

Jack turned one on June 10th. He is just growing up. He's a busy little guy. I can't keep up with him. He will empty a drawer and while I'm cleaning that up he's making a mess out of the toilet paper or something.

We are still trying to get Tristan fully potty trained. He has had such resistance to #2 for some reason. We are at our wits end. If anyone reading this has any suggestions I would LOVE to hear them. I feel like we have tried everything. He doesn't respond to incentives at all. At this point I am wondering if he will just have to wear diapers for the rest of his life!

Happy 4th to all. Be safe and have fun.

Busy Spring, Busy Summer

Kennedy has her last week of preschool this week. I have a pretty busy summer planned for her. On top of company and traveling she has two weeks of swim lessons, three summer camps, tap lessons and horse riding lessons. She has had a wonderful preschool year but she is excited to start kindergarten. She is doing well with her writing and she is starting to read well too. Last week they had dress up days at preschool. One of the days she was supposed to dress up like a character in a favorite book. She thought of Daisy Head Maizy. You can see her in the orange dress in the above picture. There is also a picture of her playing baseball. She is also enjoying dance and her recital is in two weeks.

Tristan is excited to have his sister home more. However, I wonder how many days it will take for him to realize that he had it pretty good while she was at school. (He gets a whole three hours to himself with no siblings (Jack napping) every day). He is a busy three-year-old. He enjoys playing outside and with his trucks still. He is starting to write his letters. He'll take swim lessons with Kennedy and also a tumbling class this summer.

Jack's new nickname is tsunami Jack. He destroys everything in his path. His favorite things are emptying any cupboard (see picture above) or drawer, lifting the toilet lid and seat, climbing the stairs, and unrolling the toilet paper. Chris and Christi work too hard, are exhausted at the end of the day, don't get enough sleep and can't wait for a vacation.

Tristan's Birthday

Last Friday my little Tristan turned three. He is such a sweet boy. He asked me if we could go on a picnic for his birthday. I made us a nice lunch and we picked up Chris from work and drove over to Duke Gardens. It was quite busy but we found a secluded spot and spread out our blanket. The kids enjoyed biscuits and jam, fruit and chips. I let Tristan pick out some cupcakes at the store. We had a few presents for him to open, one being a soccer ball that he and Kennedy were able to kick around after lunch. Later that day we colored Easter eggs.
Tristan was a little confused and wasn't sure why he was getting so much attention and why he is three now when he just started to understand that he was two.
Jack turned 10 months on the same day and I think we are in trouble. Check out this picture and imagine what kind of mischief he will be into when he turns two!

Hair cut

Kennedy has had long hair for quite some time now. She has been throwing out comments lately like, "I want hair like yours, mommy", "when will I have short hair?", etc. So we took her this weekend to have her hair cut. It looks pretty good on her. I wish it would have been long enough to donate because she has really good hair (besides the cowlick b

ut she kept that!). She seems to like it. I think it will be good for summer. What do you think?

In other news, Jack is now 8 months old. He is crawling all over the house. He loves that he can do this and his favorite place is the vents in the floor. He moves himself over them and pulls them out of the floor--I think we're in for it if he is doing these kind of things already!
Jack has two teeth now and he loves to use them. He loves eating. His favorite things to eat are crackers, especially graham, cooked carrots, and anything mom will give him that's homemade, like pancakes, muffins, waffles, etc.

I guess I better report on Tristan too. He is such a sweet little boy. We started potty training him when Mom and Dad were here in December. He has done pretty well so far. He still has some learning to do but that will come with time. He is registered to start preschool next fall at the same preschool as Kennedy attends. I can hardly believe it. His 3rd birthday is in April and he has grown up so much in the last year. A few weeks ago we had to speak in church. I was the first speaker and Chris sat in the congregation with the kids. My topic was "teaching your family reverence for the sacrament." As I was giving my talk Tristan came up onto the stand. Daddy couldn't get up fast enough so I just kept on with my talk. It was mere coincidence that my very next comment was, "Children learn by example". I probably had 20 people tell me how funny they thought that was and wondered if I had planned it. Tristan is always keeping me on my toes.
Chris and I are managing to keep busy. We are painting our bedroom this week and having a playset installed in the backyard for the kids. We are excited for these changes.

Balsamic Roasted New Potatoes

Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 TBS minced garlic
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary*
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme*
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 pounds small new potatoes, quartered
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, optional
Vegetable cooking spray

Preparation
1. Heat oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add potatoes and next 4 ingredients. Toss. Remove skillet from heat; place in oven.
2. Roast potatoes, uncovered, at 425* for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. Add vinegar, toss well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast, uncovered 6 more minutes. Serve immediately.
*1/4 tsp. dried herbs may be substituted for fresh herbs. If you have to choose between the two herbs, use rosemary.

Seven Months Old

Jack turned 7 months old on Saturday. We got some pictures taken at Target but this one is just one I took at home. It seems to me like around 6 or 7 months my babies all change drastically. They turn into different babies--not infants anymore.

On Saturday morning I noticed Jack's first tooth finally poked through. He's been working on that for over a month now. Finally. . .

Jack can now sit up. Each day he is able to sit up more and more. We had pancakes for dinner last night and I gave him a few nibbles (well, more than a few--he ate at least one whole pancake) and he loved it. He gets cuter and cuter every day.

I know it's just a matter of weeks before he is crawling. Poor kid doesn't get as much floor time as the other two had. He spends more time in a car seat than Kennedy and Tristan did but we're working on it.

Kennedy sure loves her little brother. She likes to take a blanket and make a little "tent" over Jack and they play and giggle under the blanket. He knows when she walks into the room. We sure love him too.