Are Y’all still there?

I started this a couple weeks ago but never seem to get more than a thought or two in before something gets in my way and then I have to start again.  Lets see if I can finish tonight…

Life has been very busy around here and this week looks to be about the same… so I best try and get this post done while I can that week was busy and I never got back here to finish.  My daughter is going up to MA without… let me be clear… WITHOUT the kids - so Granny and Pops will be in charge for 4 full days.  The two older ones are fine – it’s the Tornado baby that is the challenge.  There are 6 gates installed on the main floor of my house… and you still have to have eyes on him at all times… AT ALL TIMES!  He has been here long enough and grown just enough to be able to climb into and onto anything he sets his mind to… the chairs, couch, rocker… even a pile of boxes of stuff my daughter had ordered.  There was just enough space from box to box for him to get a toe hold and he was up a good four feet off the ground in no time.  The only cabinet door that doesn’t have a catch on it is the corner twirly cabinet that has the plastic stuff and pots and pans… up until today he was content to grab a couple plastic lids or containers and play with those… but he emptied both levels of the cabinet today.  I told The Engineer he needs to add a catch to that door as well.  It took me over an hour to put it all back – I was thankful I had just mopped the floor so I didn’t have to wash everything too.  Well I did wash the grater… the boy licked it when I told him to put it down – yeah the face was priceless as it wasn’t what he expected… he didn’t hurt himself and it was rather funny…

early in the unloading process…

gotta love the face… even with the breakfast mask applied…

and just in case anyone questions his ‘manhood’… skull & cross bones diapers and the ‘man tuck’ of the hand… LOL  The other hand was busy with his bottle…

Miss K will be starting school here on Monday and Kai will be attending a pre-school… goodness – summer is over already?!  Miss K is very ready – although it’s been fun going to the kids programs at the gym she is looking forward to getting back to a school routine.  Probably happy to have a few hours each day away from us and her little brothers too.

I got her started with some embroidery…

The boy enjoying some ice cream Pops dished for him…

And did someone day Pig Pile?

Since it is getting towards the end of summer - would someone please tell my tomatoes to STOP… I don’t have time for tomatoes.  We are eating as many as we can – I am cooking sauce and making salsa and throwing them away if they even look a little bit questionable.  If I had known I would have so little time on my hands I wouldn’t have planted a garden – I don’t water or fertilize anymore… and they just keep growing!  LOL  We have enjoyed our fair share of zucchini (those plants have died – yea!) we did not get nearly enough cucumbers for my liking, we enjoyed a few melons the chipmunks didn’t make houses out of, there are a fair number of red and yellow peppers which have been delicious.  I wanted to be able to can some blackberry jam and syrup… but I’m not sure that will happen.  Maybe I should go ahead and get some berries to cook down and then once the kids get into their school program I can pull the sauce out of the freezer and can jam and syrup.

Oh and in my last post… a month or so ago… I should have given some details on my Crayon Challenge quilt but didn’t have the info with me at the time so I posted without doing anything other than showing a picture of it.

The pattern is Russian Rubix from Prairie Grass Patterns.  Although I loved it when I bought the pattern and I had fun picking out all the prints.  It was a challenge to make.  The pattern gives you a template to use to cut the octagons from 3 3/4 inch squares… really??!  I suppose that size is what is necessary in order to get to the final size… but starting with a 4 inch square would have been so much easier.  I considered having a acrylic template made – but chose in the end to make up a paper piece pattern and work with that.  I am very happy with the end result but it was a good bit of work doing all the trimming that goes with paper piecing.

My colors were cerulean blue, olive, and yellow orange… the border print was perfect.  A ‘block’ is made up of two of the octagon units with 2 small white corners and 2 large white corners.  Four of those are put together to make the circle.

Yes Professor… if you see this I’d love to get credit if I can – I need to review my list and update things – not that I’ve had any time to get into the sewing room recently. 

I do need to get this posted before the kids return from Karate tonight…

If you never hear from me again – well… you’ll know we didn’t survive Momma being gone 4 days... LOL