Fun at Grandma's House!

The boys and I spent a week in Quincy. We had so much fun!

The boys enjoyed watching the squirrels in Gradma and Grandpa's backyard.

And the name is . . .

Lucille VicBetsia !

(I came up with that one at 3:00 am, while I was sitting up with a feverish little boy. Can ya tell!?!?!?)

I think I will call her "Lucy" for short, becase I love watching old "I Love Lucy" reruns; she somehow makes my life seem almost sane!

And the "VicBetsia" is a combination of "Victoria" since she is a Viking, and "Betsie" for Betsie Ross. Oh, and as I told my sister, I often holler out "Whoa, Bessie" while I sew, and cook, and clean, because I get in too big of a hurry.

Yep, that is her name, and I like it. (Aren't ya all glad I had boys instead of girls? Who knows what kind of names I would have picked out for a girl baby!)

Thank you so much for all your great suggestions, and Amy, I will still call her "Gertie" once in a while in honor of you!

I haven't been able to play with her as much as I would have liked, but I have worked on a few small projects. Oh, and I got some marvelous moda "Posh" charm packs for my birthday. So I am going to make a new purse for Easter, after I help make my three niece's Easter dresses!

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A New Arrival at the Kealen Household!!!!!

I am proud to announce a new arrival at the Kealen home. She arrived at our home this morning at 10:47 a.m., weighing approximately 5 pounds. She is white with an emerald guide, and as fun as can be!

So far, she is quiet and smooth, so that is an added plus!

Pics of her in her new home to come soon, but for now, here is her online picture.



Isn't she cute?!?!?!?!

My only problem is that I can't think of a good name for her. So, I am taking suggestions from my friends. I want a fun, girly name for my new little friend.

I will take ideas until Thursday, and I will post her new name next weekend.

Thanks for your help!

VBS, Machine Shopping, and other boring details . . .

Well, I see I let almost a month go by with no post, and no pictures.
sigh.

Here is a list of the Kealen Kalamities from the past three weeks.

We are down to one car. Yes, let's all take a moment of silence for my little green car, ELN. She was a great little car, but in the last year she began to go downhill. First we noticed the little coughs when she started. Then we noticed the knocking and the tinking. Still, she started even on the coldest morning when I had to take Jackman to school. But then, the strangeshifting of driving speed began, and we realized that her situation was most likely terminal. Because of her advanced age (seventeen human years equals about a million in car years), we realized that the cost of replacing a transmission would not be worth our investment.

So, little miss ELN went to a teen in our church, who has the time and effort to try to learn how to fix her. Nick has promised to take good care of her in her final golden years. I just hope he appreciates what a precious gem he has in my first car.

I REALLY miss her!

****************************

As to other things, my sewing machine is giving me fits, again! I really almost threw it out in the street yesterday. (Notice the aversion to the machine and the love for the little car!?!?!?! Are my priorities mixed up here?!?!?!?) But, unlike ELN, I never developed a strong attchment to my machine. But, I'm a thinkiing that could all change if this little beauty comes into my possession!



or, maybe this one?!?!?!





















As you can see, I am undecided on a machine right now. I have almost $500 saved up, and I want the best machine for the money.

In other news, I am trying to wrap up the 2010 VBS for RBP. Trying to put parables to a 2s and 3s level has been challenging indeed! But, they are coming along, and I am pleased with all the activities that go along with the lessons.

So, that is my life right now! Oh, and the boys and Husband are still alive and well.

Hooray! It is finished!

I started this baby quilt for Nat's cousin while Rachel was still pregnant.
She didn't know what she was having, so I got material for both a girl and a boy.
I chose to start the "girlie" quilt, and I was hoping that she would have a girl.

Thankfully, she did. So, baby Anna will have a soft and comfy, very girlie blanket.
I used flannel material for the nine patch blocks, then I used some lavender softness that I found on sale at our
local quilt shop. Man, I want a blanket made out of that stuff!
I used Heather Bailey's tutorial for the binding, which was soooo helpful.
The back of Anna's blanket is leftover pink flannel.


I really enjoy quilting, but I must admit that I struggle with the actual "quilting" step. I just did a basic "in the ditch"
quilting style with my machine. However, I really, really want to learn some other steps and processes for machine quilting.
I would welcome any suggestions that you have!

In the meantime, I will finish some other small projects that I have on my To Sew list, while I continue saving up for a new machine.
Happy sewing and blogging!

Belated Birthday Blog, Part 2

Well, here are pics from Jack's cake.

It was a cross between Speed Racer, NASCAR, and
just plain cars.

I love the cheesy grin in the picture below.
He was sooo ready to get on with the presents.

Belated Birthday Blog

In my feverish state, I had time to go through some older
pictures. Here are some belated pictures of Andrew's birthday.
He LOVES Lightning McQueen!

A friend from church has been helping me with the basics of cake decorating.
Thanks, Jennifer!

And the birthday boy from Septemeber 20!

The Flu Is Flying Around . . .

And the Kealens are beginning to drop like flies!

Andrew got it first (of course) on Friday night.

I didn't feel well on Saturday, but had no symptoms.

Jack woke up with a fever on Sunday, but no other symptoms. The boys and I stayed home from church on Sunday, just to be safe (and no, we didn't watch the Superbowl either).

By Monday I thought we were all better, I even made another ten cards and almost completed the baby quilt I have been working on.

Then, it hit me last night. . . and it hit HARD!

I will spare you the gross details, but let's just say that I now have a can of Lysol and a container of Lysol disinfecting wipes on each toilet in our house!

So, Andrew and I are hanging out with Diego and Thomas the Tank Engine this evening, and I am hoping that Husband and Jack are spared from this little bug!

Oh, and as soon as I have the strength and energy, I will post the picture of the baby quilt I am making for Nat's cousin's little one. It is sooo soft and cuddly; I want one for myself!

Weighing In on the Issue

In case you have not heard of the CPS issues, check out the latest info, and

Save Handmade!

What's for Dinner, Mom?

Tonight's dinner plan: Cereal!
I am thinking about adding Cereal Night to our monthly meal plan.

No, I don't usually let the boys have Froot Loops, but we needed them for a
school project.
And, just to make sure they were getting all their vitamins, we followed up our
meal with a fruit dessert buffet.

Yep, Cereal Night and Tom and Jerry cartoons. Can't get much better than that!

Help!

Okay, here is my desk that needs to be repurposed as a "something-to-be-used-in-the-dining-room."
I want to store my better dishes in the top part, but it seems too dark.

The desk drawer is broken, but Husband says he can fix it tomorrow on his day off. (Notice the drill in the right hand corner?)

I am open to painting, texturizing, wallpapering, or any other idea you may have.
I do change my curtains and dining room tablecloths a lot, so I want something neutral that I can use
with my ever-changing color schemes.

Oh, and here is a close up of the bottom part of the desk. I was thinking about maybe doing a cute
fabric curtain to hide the open part?!?!?!?
Please let me know what you think!

A Prodigal's Christmas

Our church held a dessert theater a month ago. (I know, I know; a bit late on the post!) Here are a few pictures of the decorations and table settings.


Everything was absoluetly beautiful!





















The setting of the play takes place in a park. We used a lot of artificial trees, along with a few branches from some trees on the church's property.

For the background, we strung icicle lights on floral wire and drapped them with tulle. It really added a soft touch to the background of the stage.

Oh, and in the opening scene, one of the girls in our church "ice skated" (with roller blades) on the top level of the stage.

We had almost three hundred people attend the performances, in spite of the 3/4 inch if ice that caused numerous power outages and cancelations! We praise the Lord that we did not have to cancel any of our performances.

Even though the dessert theater was a lot of hard work, it was really exciting to see so many members of our church taking part in this community outreach event.

Now, I am trying to come up with ideas for next year's performance.

Any suggestions?!?!?!?

Misplaced Pictures

My camera is not the greatest, but I wanted to post at least a few of the horrible pictures of some of my Christmas projects.

All together, I made ten different tote bags and purses, some of which were in adorable Christmas patterns. They are fun and really simple to make.
Then, I stole an idea from my absolutely brilliant niece Beth and made some cute Christmas skirts for my three nieces.

This is part of the quilted purse I made for my sister.

I used this pattern as a guide, but I made quite a few changes.
As a side note, I really like this line of material and patterns from Jo Ann. Not quite up to Moda's standards, but I do like it.

I really wish the pictures of my finished projects were not deleted, but at least you get the idea that I was busy at Christmas!

Winter Fun!

The Kealen family enjoyed a day in the snow!

Jack-Jack on his snow fort

Andrew LOVES to get his picture taken!

ID-TEN-T Problem, part two

Okay, for those of you who didn't get this (don't worry; I didn't either for a looooong time), here it is:

ID-TEN-T

or
IDIOT

In other words, it is a cheeky way of saying that it is a "user" error and not a software situation!

:-)

"ID-TEN-T" Problems

My husband, a former company IT guy, has a saying when things go wrong in the computer world: ID-TEN-T.

Now, spell this word out, removing the hyphens and using the numeral "10" instead of the word.

Get it?

Anywhoo, that is what I am facing this morning. I cannot get my super-cute pics of my new purses up!!!!!!!!!!

I will figure out my computer error, and post them TODAY, Lord willing!

I Won! I Won!

I always sign up for the giveaways at my favorite blogs, but I usually don't win anything.

Until yesterday!

Sometime next week, I will be receiving a beautiful and fun Christmas apron made by none other than Beth at Life is a Musical. If you have never visited Beth's blog, go and check out all you have been missing!

Oh, how I love Christmas!!!!!!!!!

Tag . . . I'm It?!?!?!

Okay so Rochelle tagged me. Now, I am supposed to share six (only?!?!) quirky things about me.

1. I LOVE lime pickles. Seriously, it is like an addiction to me. I have been known to eat a whole jar in a day's time. Thankfully, Nat's aunt and uncle make to-die-for lime pickles, and they always bring them to family gatherings!

2. I talk to myself. All the time.

3. I always rub off the "fuzzies" on my bananas before I eat them. I hate the feel of the fuzz on my tongue.

4. I love to diagram sentences. I get a rush out of ripping apart a sentence and seeing each word propped on its particular diagram line.

5. I love the thrill of good garage sales. To me, finding a great garage sale is like fireworks, Christmas, and birthday all rolled into one delicious moment!

6. One of my favorite guilty pleasures is Wendy's french fries dipped in a Frosty. That treat is the perfect combination of sweet and salty, high calorie and . . . high calorie, and artery-clogging fat.

7. (When did I ever follow the rules?!) I love to pretend that I am the host of a cooking show each time I cook. (That is something that I used to do as a little girl, and to this day, I still find that habit hard to break!)

Okay, so now you know something more about me!

Zoo Trip Odds and Ends

Even though it seemed as if we saw a lot of back ends that day, we had fun!