Where Have I Been?

No, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth.  I'm still here.  I feel like I've been so busy lately.  I tried to put a picture on here, but it isn't wanting to work for me.  This past Saturday my son Andrew was baptized.  We were very excited for him and it was really nice.  We had lots of relatives and friends come to support him, so he felt really special. 

Our First Broken Bone

 Last week on Monday I went to pick up the kids from school, as I usually do.  We walked to the van and started to get in. Andrew was pretending to have a hard time getting into the van, so he had his hand in the door frame to hoist himself in.  Emmy was already in, so she decided to close her door.  She didn't see Andrew's hand there and she closed the door on his hand, but it didn't latch.  Andrew really cried and he had a large bruise and huge bump on the back of his hand.  When we left for the hospital Derek and Emmy stayed home and Derek said as soon as we walked out the door Emmy started sobbing about how she had hurt Andrew.  We saw the doctor and Andy got x-rays taken of his hand.  The doctor said it looked like he had a hairline fracture in his second metacarpal.  A nurse wrapped his hand in a splint.

On Friday I took Andy to a bone specialist.  He said it looked like there were two fractures, one in the second and one in the third metacarpals.  He wrapped Andrew's hand in a sturdier splint and will see him again in a couple of weeks.

I was surprised he didn't do a cast, as is almost everybody I talk to about it.  I've had to rewrap the bandage several times already and I've had my mom do it, too.  Sometimes when he is playing he forgets that there are some things that he can't do and his bandage comes undone at the end.  I can't wait till he gets to take it all the way off.  This is the first broken bone that either of our kids has had and hopefully will be the last.

Peppermints in the Christmas Tree

Remember when I made checkers for my checkerboard?  No?  Huh, maybe I haven't told you all about that yet.  Well, anyway, today I'm gonna talk about how I used the left over wooden circles. 

I had 13 and I painted them all white. 

 You can see my plans that I made before I started, along with part of a grocery list and some math I had been doing.

Then I drew pen on them to guide me to paint the red stripes.  They looked good enough to eat.  I decoupaged them for a little shine and to seal them. 

I got Derek to drill tiny holes in each one. 

I cut ribbon and burned the edges before putting it through the hole in each peppermint. 

Here are a couple on the tree.

I thought they turned out pretty good.  I know the pictures aren't great, but my flash was a bit too bright I think.  It always happens when I take a picture of something white, but I don't know enough about what I'm doing to adjust the flash. 

Like my tree?  I can't have any ornaments near the bottom because our cat, Penelope, likes to mess with them.

This is the Season, Beloved of the Year

We are getting into the Christmas spirit at our house.  We've put up the Christmas tree and decorated it with ornaments.  I want to make some ornaments that look like peppermints this year.  I need to find little wooden disks to paint.  In my mind they look really cute. 
We had a nice Thanksgiving this year.  We went to Derek's parents' house.  We took 4 pies.  I was told to bring that many because of how many people were coming.  I kept getting confused because when my mother-in-law would list off the people coming there would be a certain amount, but then she would give me a different number.  Lo, and behold, there were three surprise guests.  Some of our Utah relatives showed up, so that was really cool. 

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Derek and I have been married for 9 years.  Sometimes it just doesn't seem that long.  Then I think, "wait, I have a 7 yr old.  I better have been married for 9 years!"  These 9 years have been great.  We hardly ever argue with each other, we enjoy each other's company, we agree on most things, and only tease each other a little bit.  We seem to have been designed for each other.  Okay, that's enough sappiness.

Ready and Waiting!

We're getting ready for Halloween! 

Emmy is Tinkerbell.

Andrew is Luke Skywalker.

Nephew's Got a Brand New Bag

Well, so far we've made good progress on Halloween stuff.  Emmy's costume is completely done, Andrew's is almost done, and I still need to make my riding hood, but I at least have the fabric.  Yesterday I got a text message from a sister-in-law asking me if I had made her son a trick or treating bag last year.  I told her I did the bags at least two years ago, so he wouldn't have been born yet, and therefore no bag was made for him.  Luckily, I'm a packrat.  I still had the fabric leftovers from when I made the bag for her daughter.  I used a different color to line it, though, and a different trim.  Hers was a rick rack I think and his is a satin ribbon that says boo.  Now they'll be able to tell the difference.  Here's a picture of the little boy's bag I finished yesterday.

Now I just need to get it to my Father-in-law so that he can deliver it for me.  It's hard to live so far away from everybody.