We're still here

I know I haven't posted in awhile but it's because I don't have any pictures and I feel like I can't make a post without pictures.  But I will give you some quick updates.

Ann's soccer team has been doing great.  They have won their last 3 games.  They have already won more games than the team did all of last season.  So they are headed in the right track.  Which is great.  Last night as we were waiting for Ann to come out of the locker room 3 girls came out on crutches.  Isn't that terrible?  I am so thankful that no matter how hard Ann plays she never gets really hurt.  Knock on wood.

Jon has his first hockey game Sunday night somewhere in St. Louis.  I am excited that hockey season has started but they placed this game right in the middle of Brady's birthday party.  So I am not for sure if I am going to make it.  I will have to see.  I hate not going but I hate missing Brady's party.  If I would have had a better heads up I may have been able to juggle things a little better.  Geez.

Ken was on vacation all week and spent it up at the camper.  I joined him once but the rest of the time he was by himself relaxing.  Except for Tuesday when the duplexs sewer line collapsed and he had to come home and fix it.  Which he was not very happy about.  But he fixed it with the help of Jon, Scott Hillman, and dad. So back to the camper he went.  Now he's working so I won't see him for days.

As for me, nothing to report except that Ken got me an awesome new phone.  Now I have one like Ann.  I seem to have become addicted to it so I can't really tell you any of the details from Ann's game yesterday because I kept playing on the phone the whole time  : )

So that's about it.  I will make sure I have my camera with me this weekend so I can post something on here.

The many faces of Jon

Maybe I shouldn't sit around taking pictures of Jon anymore.

My quilt

One of the things I love it do when I have time to just sit around and watch tv is work on my quilt.  My mom taught me how to paper piece a quilt together last year and I am currently on my second one.  Is my first one completely finished, no, but that's just a minor problem.

This one I am doing a flower garden pattern with red white and blue patterns.    Paper piecing takes alot of time and patience.   The first thing I do is find a pattern.

Then I make copies of the pieces I need to cut out.  With the quilt I am working on now I figure I need 560 of these little suckers.  Yes, that is quit a bit of cutting.

I am using a lot of different designs in this quilt all with the same theme.  Some type of red, white, or blue.  A Patriotic quilt.  I am hoping to have it done by next July.

Every piece of material gets a piece of paper sewn onto the middle of it.  This way all my pieces are uniform.

This is what they look like after the paper is sewn into them.  Each "flower" will have the same middle which will tie the quilt together.

By using a whip stitch I sew the pieces together.  After sewing all six pieces to the center one I will have a completed piece.

These are what the final "flower" looks like.  My next step will be to sew all of these together to make a large quilt top.  I will let you know when I get to that part.  As for now, I will keep cutting  : )

Nothing exciting going on here

I wish I could say I have some exciting things to post, but I do not.  I wish I had pictures to post, but I do not.  I wish I saw my family to take pics and do exciting thing, but I do not.

I might have pictures if I could remember to take my camera with  me when I go somewhere.  Like Ann's or Brady's games.  Or to the camper.  Or just sitting in my living room on the computer.  But I never remember the dang thing.   So I say sorry and promise to carry my camera with me this week!

Jon, the guinea pig

Poor Jon.  Since he is pretty much the only one besides me who is home every night he has been sucked into my "fresh food" kick.  Sometimes this works in his favor, sometimes not.  Tonight was not.  I was all excited today about the fact that I was going to try and make homemade macaroni and cheese.  I went straight to the store after work and bought all the ingredients and got started.

First try, I misread the butter amounts and melted a whole stick of butter instead of a half.  After 20 minutes of cooking and wondering why it wasn't thickening up I realized what I did.  Down the drain it went and take 2 was under way.  This time I measured right but I guess I didn't cook the flour and butter long enough because the entire dish tasted like flour.  Ugh.

Good ol' Jon tried some, ate a little and just got himself another pork chop  : ).  Never once complained or rolled his eyes at me.  Which is better than when I asked him to try my peach ice cream.  He got this look of horror on his face and put his hands over his mouth.  After I yelled and threatened him he took a bite (a teeny tiny bite), shrugged his shoulders and walked away.  And this dish turned out awesome!!!

I guess Ken and Ann lucked out tonight.  But I have more recipes to try so watch out Jon  : )  The pizza rolls are in the freezer   : D

Zumba

Do you know what happens when you decide you want to do something your daughter does so you can spend time with her?  If you are unfortunate like me, you begin going to Zumba class.  That's right.  Zumba.

Zumba is a Latin inspired dance fitness program that originated in the 1990's.  It's hip-hop, samba, mambo, belly dancing and all other kinds of crazy stuff mixed into a 1 hour period.  And let me tell you, that hour is LONG!  When I walk out of the building I am dripping in sweat and I swear I hear my leg muscles screaming profanities at me.

But I love it.  It is really a lot of fun even though it is really hard work.  I was scared to try it in a class so I bought it for my Xbox Kinnect.   I was able to to all the workouts even though I didn't always keep up with the little lady on the screen.  So I was very nervous when I went to my first class.  Could I keep up?  Would anybody notice if I zumba'd right out the back door?  But when I walked in and saw that it wasn't a class full of little skinny people, but people like me I started to relax.  Then I started to dance and I have been going every since.  I actually have gotten some friends to go with me which makes it even more fun.  Or funnier.  Because now I have someone to laugh with me about how stupid we look and how evil the instructors are for making us do some of this stuff.  I wonder if I can get a vote on taking out the leg squat routine.  I bet I  would win.

Remembering

Today was the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.  I am glad this anniversary fell on a Sunday because it gave the nation a weekend of remembering and paying tribute to the lives lost.  I spent it laying on my couch at the camper watching football.  And I will say the Budweiser commercial was my favorite.  I thought it was an awesome tribute for New York.  I spent the evening with my family watching football then watching a special on 9/11.  I think today is a great day to spend with family and  the things that really matter.

May God bless the USA!!!!!!!

Love it, love it, love it

I love it!  That is how Ann is describing her time at Lindenwood University.  She is having an absolutely wonderful time.  In fact, she is doing everything she can to get Cody there too.  Because she says it is the coolest school ever!  She loves her teachers, the administrators, the kids, the soccer team.  Everything!!!  Yay me for convincing her to go!!!

Her soccer team has had a rough start.  They lost the first two games 4-1 and yesterdays game 5-3.  But the girls looked really good yesterday and already are showing improvement.  This program is only 2 years old so they are still trying to get the pieces together, but I think it is doing just fine.  Ann said that even though they have lost these games the girls never fight and still laugh at joke at the end.  Hallelujah!!

Some of the fans.  Now keep in mind it was over 100 degrees during the game.  Yes that's right.  I said 100 degrees.  And these poor guys sweated so much the paint dripped right off them.  I enjoyed watching them jump around and chant THE ENTIRE GAME.  Win or lose they were there.  How cool!

Ann said one of the great things about the school is how nice everyone is.  She said she already knows half the kids at school.  She said everyone talks to everyone.  And apparently these boys know Ann.  All during the game they were yelling her name, cheering her on.  After the game she said that was pretty cool.

Ann has been playing really good.  She has a confidence on the field now that she didn't have last year. I think it's because the coach doesn't put any pressure on her and she is just able to enjoy herself.  I am so happy she  enjoys the game again.

Go Annie, Go Annie!!  Does anybody even call her Annie anymore?

One of the coaches walked by me after the game and commented "She's tough.  I LIKE it".

Can you tell I figured out how to make my pictures larger.  It's like a whole new world has opened up to me !

Epic Battlegrounds

Gettysburg, Iwo Jima, the beaches of Normandy, the hummingbird feeders at my camper.  All places where historic battles have a taken place, where hero's fell defending their ideals.  Or in the case of my hummingbirds, just trying to get some food.

Being a newby to the bird watching game, I never really paid much attention to hummingbirds.  Of course, it could be because I never really saw any because they are so small and fast and it would have meant planting flowers that attract them.  But regardless, I am now fascinated.  And I am also now scared of them.  I have had some close calls sitting on my porch.  In a battle for the top feeder I have had these sweet  pretty birds come right at my head.  And I don't know they are there until they whiz past me.  And they are mean!  Or territorial.  But I say mean.

And impossible to photograph.  I could sit there all day with my camera in my lap but never get a picture of them fighting because they are so crazy fast.  But I will keep trying.  I am determined to get 2 mid air!

This one guards my left bird feeder.  He sits there looking sweet and pretty until another poor hungry hummingbird comes by to try and get nourishment.  Then his evil twin comes out and whoosh...he marches off to battle to kill the invader.  One of these days I'm going to look on the ground and see little hummingbird bodies, and this bird wearing a crown.

Yay for fast shutter speeds!

What???  Two birds one feeder???  Who captured this magical moment??  Oh wait, me!!!  I am assuming the bird on the left didn't see bird on the right.  Or all hey diddle diddle would have broke out.  I just sat back and enjoyed the peace.  For a second, half second, millisecond.