Fabric!!

Thanks to my wonderful husband for the Christmas gift of being able to treat myself to lots of impractical and indulgent shopping for sewing supplies! I have a whole list of projects that I want to make, and I've stocked up on fabric for about four or five of those projects. I'm pretty sure that no one recommends buying fabric for so many projects before you've even started them, but it was so much fun. I was so excited when the postman delivered two of my orders from fabric shops on Etsy today! It was so much fun to see the fabric in person after choosing it online, and I love each one as much as I thought I would. I'm totally hooked on the fabric-collecting (not to mention vintage button-collecting) side of sewing so far, now lets see if I can follow through on my big plans and bigger aspirations and actually accomplish these projects! I've already washed, dried, and folded my new fabrics, now it's time to start cutting patterns and getting the machine a-sewing. Wish me luck!

Yosemite 2011

After unwrapping all of our presents on Christmas morning, we started packing amidst all of the chaos for a quick three-day trip to Yosemite. We stayed in the tent cabins in Curry Village again, knowing that we would at least be warm thanks to the heater that we can crank as high as we want as long as we want. Although it was cold there, alas, all of my snow-play preparations were in vain, as it apparently has been a very dry winter in the Sierras so far. Oops. So, not much snow for us to play in this year, but at least the kids were warm! We're definitely not used to walking to breakfast in 29 degree mornings! All in all, we had a nice, easy trip, with a few walks in the woods here and there, lots of Lego building in the cabin, a drive out to Glacier Point for a great view of the Valley (access to this area is usually closed by November, but not this year...), a short bike ride in the Valley along the river and through the meadow, and lots of picnics in the back of the truck. We keep saying that we'll have to try camping on our next trip to Yosemite, as it will be much easier be able to cook our own food, and camping is just fun all-around. We'll definitely have to bring our bikes again next time.

I of course am incapable of choosing just a "few" representative photos from our trip, so you'll have to accept my thirty pics instead...

Mommy and Parker

Here is Parker's school photo from this year (his second year of Preschool), and my Kindergarten school photo (from when we were living in England). Lately I've been seeing a lot of myself in Parker, as well as my brother Ian, and one day I thought of this photo of myself and just had to see these two pictures side by side. I love Parker's freckles these days :)

Bon Voyage to Dee and Collen!

Dee and Collen were leaving from San Diego for a cruise to Hawaii on the same day that we went for a family outing in the Bay. So we just had to drive the fishing boat down to the cruise ship docks to wish them a Bon Voyage before they crossed the ocean. We made a few cell phone calls trying to get ahold of Dee, in the hopes that we could wave goodbye, and luckily enough she and Collen were able to step out on their deck and see us and we all had a good wave before we headed home and they headed to Hawaii! It was pretty cool, and it's pretty ridiculous that I'm just now getting around to posting these photos, considering that they are already back from their trip! 

A Day in San Diego Bay

School Christmas Party

It's been a long time since I've posted on our blog, so I'll try to do some catching up. I've just felt too overwhelmed by photos since Christmas and our trip to Yosemite. But I'll do my best!