My Little Barn Quilts

I've been enjoying painting barn quilt blocks lately!

They're fun size :)

I start by measuring and marking the board and then bit by bit, tape off and paint the sections.

This one was made for a dear friend/neighbor's birthday...

This one was painted specifically for my mom.

I wanted to make one to remind her of the total solar eclipse this summer.  She had an awesome experience viewing it and recently made some eclipse quilt blocks.

You can see those here on her blog.

And then I just made this one a week or two ago for another friend's birthday...

I enjoy playing around with the designs and color combinations.

I'm finding out that the more contrast between the colors there is, the better.

Halloween 2017

 This year for Halloween Josh wanted to be an escaped convict...

Abby and I finally came up with "A Pig in a Blanket"

Matt just wanted a green morph suit...wasn't really anything in particular...

And Andy had found an inflatable T-Rex on clearance in July and kept it a secret from the kids until Halloween morning.

They got a kick out of it :) 

About the only favorite characters of Ben's that he hasn't been for Halloween yet were Mater and Elmo.

I have yet to see a Mater costume that I think looks good so that left me with Elmo.  I decided to go super easy...for my benefit and his.

We were able to go visit Grandma O. after school...

 Mom and Dad came over for dinner as usual during the trick or treating fun.

Andy redonned his costume for them.

He even went out around the neighborhood for a while and posed with several children at the request of their parents.

 Mom is always good to bring the root beer and dry ice...Josh's favorite :)

The kids are old enough that they pretty much go and do their own thing with their friends so it was kind of a quiet but enjoyable night.

Abby's Finally a Teenager!

I say 'finally' because it seems like she has been one for a long time...in more ways than one.

Abby's always been a good girl and so very helpful around the house.  She's always willing to help out with Ben when I need it.

She's also a great friend and has a super fun personality that sometimes gets a little out of control ;)

I think she's really loving the added sociality that middle school offers her.

She's talented and a great student.

We're awfully proud to be her parents! 

Abby wanted a phone but I told her I was only willing to get her an old style flip phone so that she can contact us...and we can get a hold of her.

She reluctantly agreed that one of those would be better than no phone at all.

I think she's been pretty happy with it.

The next night we celebrated with James since it was his birthday too.

Sweet Music

The kids had their fall piano recital...

 They all did a fantastic job and I'm proud of them :)

I had fun making my annual caramel apples again this year...

It's a full day production and my feet end up pretty tired but I love the end result!

I tried to add up the calories this time since I'm currently counting mine.

I ended up having to do a round about figure because of the different toppings and sizes of apples.

I think it ended up being around 1200 for a small one and 1400 for a large.

It's fun to give them to Andy's student teachers.

They're always very appreciative and complementary.

It makes the effort worth it :)

Matt is 11!

My sweet Matt turned 11 in October.

Here are some pictures from a couple of his celebrations...

It was fun to have Maggie and Angie there...

...and Jo and T (and everyone else too :)

Matt asked for a ripstick.

I love this guy!

One of my very favorite things about Matt is that he is so friendly!

He is kind to everyone.

He also has a fantastic sense of humor :)