Life Can be a Whirlwind...

I can't believe how long it has been since I have taken the time to sit down and connect with everyone.  Thanks to those that have emailed to check in and make sure all is okay, or to just let me know that I am still on your radar.  Life has just been a whirlwind...

 

Since September, the kids are back in school, I am back to work,  and our days have been crazy busy, leaving little time for myself or my stitching.  This Christmas break has given me the time to catch up on a few things:  downloading a ton of pictures and actually putting my needle and thread to fabric.  I have missed my stitching time and truly hope to remedy that problem in the new year!

 

Here's a picture walk of some of our adventures from this past fall:

The youngest had a blast playing paintball with his friends.

He ran cross country...finding that even though he did well, he prefers triathlons.  We'll be back to training for the upcoming series soon.

The middle guy still loves catching...

But is also realizing that he can hold his own on the mound, pitching a complete game.

The oldest continued to do his job...

And explored his options by playing a weekend tournament with a new team...This will be the team he has committed to for the following year...change can be scary, but in this case, after sitting down with him and the offers from both teams, I am comfortable that the decision was a good one. 

 

We were even able to catch one of my niece's soccer games...

 

 

My husband and I took a trip by ourselves to Disney.  Yes, Disney without the kids...needless to say, they were not happy...but we had a blast!  We were there during the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot and while the parks were decorated for Halloween.  The highlight of the trip was taking the Behind the Scenes Animal Trek Safari at the Animal Kingdom.  Amazing!!

Beautiful skies and no humidity the entire visit...

We got stuck in a "giraffic jam"

Our safari lunch...so delicious...

 Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party...

Hauntingly beautiful dancers during the parade... 

One of my favorites...

Another favorite...The Lion King...

Our home during the visit...The Wildnerness Lodge...

This was during the beginning of the trek...I have a fear of heights, so the smile is twofold...one, because walking directly over the crocodiles was amazing and two, because I made it across the bridges!

 

I also went on a little adventure of my own...a friend invited a few of us to celebrate her 40th birthday in Las Vegas.  I had never been...two words...sensory overload...

The lights and sights, the food and drink, the shows, and best of all, the friends, both old and new...

 

Some more random snaps...

Thanksgiving with cousins, grandma & pappy and uncle...

Bowling with the cousins...

An extremely warm December day, led to a hike..

Some football fun in the park...

Watching the games...

A boy and his dog...

A peaceful spot...

We traveled to Kloby's Smokehouse to meet up with the hubby's brother and family (minus my oldest niece, who is currently over in Asia having a grand adventure).

Kloby's is owned by my husband's cousin and his family...can you tell the men are related by blood?

And the food....omg....delicious...upon arriving home, the comfy stretchy pants went on...

 

For the Panzer followers...

 

Phew....are you still with me!?!

And the little stitching that I have done...

A baby sampler...

My start on His Eye is on the Sparrow by Heartstring Samplery...

I See Trees of Green, also by Heartstring Samplery...one of my favorite songs, so I had to stitch this one!

 

If you have made it this far, thank you.

So much time has come and gone..and in these oh so busy times, I have to remind myself of this...take the time to stop, breathe, take it all in...sometimes looking up brings beautiful rewards...

“When you do the things that you can do, you will find a way.”
― A.A. Milne

 

Two Months ~ Really!?!

Wow!  I can't believe it has been two months to the day since I last visited this corner of my world.  Here's a quick update on some of what has been going on.

We have all been battling one type of crud or the other off and on, there were family visits, a wonderful Christmas and New Year's holiday season, job challenges, days of cleaning out closets and rooms, and winter storms!  The following are a few of my favorite happenings.....
Panzer loves Christmas.

Although, he was thinking that perhaps Santa should have brought him a bigger stool...

A smaller, simpler Christmas this year, and you know, I think we all actually enjoyed the day more!

 Longwood Gardens...floating displays....many, many floating apples....

Floating displays on the pond...

My brother-in-law, his wife and my beautiful nieces...

The cousins all together.....

So proud of these girls...for the oldest, this upcoming Polar Plunge will be her seventh in support of Special Olympics and her sister.  The youngest will be plunging as well, as a way to say thank-you to the Special Olympics for giving her so many opportunities.  If anyone would care to donate to this cause, please just email me (address is in the profile) and I will send you the link.

Some pics from our winter storms....the birds preparing....

The final total of this last storm....

The middle guy and Panzer...the wind blew snow off of the tree just as I snapped this one, creating a magical photo!

After no significant snow last year, it is safe to say that Panzer loves the snow!

Love the rosy cheeks....

After one boy comes in to warm up, Panzer recruits another to stay outside....

Eating snow from his boy's hands....

Off and running again....

Love the pop of red....

 

And, there has been stitching!!  I am not one to make a resolution, but this year I decided to allow myself time to stitch each day, even if for only a few minutes.  And so far, I have stuck to that ~ it is amazing how a few stitches a day can add up.  Here is what I have been up to....sorry if the pictures look wonky, on my computer they look fine until I load them into blogger....

the first two pieces are from the Ladies Prim Society Club, hosted by Dyeing to Stitch in VA, and were designed by Threadwork Primitives.

This next one is designed by BBD and is part of the club mentioned above and is my current wip.

The next final two are designed by StitchersAnon.  If you aren't familiar with this lovely lady, please pop over, read up on her story, and enjoy her designs ~ some for sale and others for free.

It feels so good to be getting back on a regular stitching schedule ~ hopefully, I can stick to it!

I also have some thank~yous to hand out. 

First, I want to thank June, of Butterfly Wings for sending me these goodies back in December..

a sweet little booklet of monthly bookmarks, holiday tissues, an elf ornament and sweet stocking.

Isn't this cute?

And the card is so pretty ~ one I can display year after year.

Thanks, June!!

I received this wonderful magazine from Carmen at Cardan Antiques and Needlework.

It is hard to see, but she also included the booklet on the right about samplers from Middle Tennessee.  Both were fun to read and re~read.  Thanks, Carmen!

Then, from Marly, over at Samplers and Santas, this wonderful PS Chart.  These will make for good Santa Sunday stitching!  Thanks, Marly!

And this sweet pin-pillow from Shelly over at Arizona Stitcher.  It is adorable and she filled it with balsam, so it smells wonderful!  And the reindeer is a refrigerator magnet clip.  Thanks, Shelly!

The front...

The back...

A giveaway from Krista over at Just Stitching Along,  the chart for Emma Miles.  I have had my eye on this chart for some time and will be adding this into my rotation as soon as I can get over to my LNS to choose some fabric.  This is the picture from the Scarlett Letter website.  I just love that band of holly.  Thanks, Krista!

And finally, this was a giveaway from Kim at Wisdom With Needle and Thread.  A beautifully hand painted porcelain box and canvas.  Thanks, Kim!!

The pictures are borrowed from Kim's blog.

I am very excited about this, as I plan on finishing it for my niece as part of her graduation gift this coming spring.  She loves horses ~ so this is perfect!  Here is one that Kim finished herself...

Kim is hosting another giveaway for her Blogiversary ~ another hand painted box ~ this time a beautiful butterfly.  I know a few of you that love butterflies, so pop on over and enter!  She said there will be other goodies as well.

Thanks again to everyone! 

 

So, there it is...my catch~up post.  Phew....are you still with me?  It is always so hard to know where to begin when one has not posted in so long, so I thought this would be an appropriate quote to leave you with...

“And now all the others are saying, "What about Us?" So perhaps the best thing to do is to stop writing Introductions and get on with the book.”
― A.A. Milne, The World of Winnie-the-Pooh