Family Fun

When you have a large family like we do, it seems that birthdays come almost every month. Yesterday hubby and Mr. B, our second grandson celebrated their birthdays. However, we had a party on Sunday for Mr. B. It was so much fun! Here is the birthday guy with his dad.

Our youngest grand with the oldest family dog~Lily.  Lily is 9 years old and starting to act like an old lady.

We had a great lunch and then presents, with some jokes as well. I wrapped B's presents in a Chewy box and even threw in some treats for the dogs, everyone got a laugh out of it~Lily's birthday was this weekend too.

It was a beautiful, hot day and the kids all enjoyed water balloons.  Our oldest grandson, now 16, even got involved and ended up having the girls surround him with the balloons and hose.  He was dripping wet.  Such a good sport!

Rice Krispie treats-yum.

I love that the cousins have such fun together.  I love that our family all lives nearby and that we can have so many fun family days.
Off to the pool today with the group-to watch swim lessons and then enjoy the pool.  Hope you have a great day!
Hugs,
Noreen

Up, Up and Away

Happy Monday to you! I hope you all had a great weekend; we certainly did and while I hoped to have pics to share from our sleepover, I am having issues with them....but will try tomorrow. So yesterday morning I was getting the newspaper from the driveway and heard the unmistakable sound of a hot air balloon. Low and behold there was one hovering above the street a block over.

WE also had a historical demonstration of WWII planes for the entire weekend; we loved seeing them.

On the bottom photo you can see the writing on the front of the plane with it's name.

We had a family birthday party yesterday and I took hubby out for dinner for his birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE, YOU ARE AN AMAZING HUSBAND AND DAD AND I'M SO THANKFUL FOR YOU!
This week will be so busy and full; not sure when I'll be around, but I'll do my best.
Hope you have a fantastic day!
Noreen

Happy Thursday to you!  Today I've been busy as usual-walked my 3 fast miles with my neighbors this morning, took grands to swimming lessons and hung out for lunch and in a little bit will go get my hair cut.
It's been a good week with lots of sewing, reading and quilting plus running around a lot.  Hubby is off to get his driver's license renewed; we are at that magic age where we have to go in to the office for an eye test.  Tomorrow he goes in to our eye doctor for a check up.  Tomorrow night we've got 7, possibly 8 granddaughters coming for a sleepover; we love it!  They will bring movies, but they also want to watch our recorded American Ninja Warrior and I'm hoping they'll want to watch Homestead Rescue about the Rainy family helping homesteaders out.  I really want the boys to watch it so they can log in some important information about building, but the girls could also learn about building a chicken coop or livestock pen.  Now that the oldest girls have been working on installing the wood floor at our daughter's house and become quite adept at it, I thought this demonstration on the show would be good for them to watch.  You never know which grand or grands will end up on a ranch and need to do the work themselves.
Sunday we are celebrating our grandson's birthday, which is Monday the same day as my hubby's.  It should be a lot of fun.
Well I'm off to the fabric store before my hair cut, so I will bid adieu.
Noreen

A Fun Day for Kiddos

Happy Wednesday! Yesterday was such a fun day for our grands; when you are a kid and can dress up to get a free lunch, it's a good day. I choose not to participate(I was actually out of construction paper), but enjoyed seeing the kiddos and my girls reap the rewards of dressing up. What a great restaurant/chain to offer this once a year special; I can tell you that they were packed. I even saw men who were wearing signs and cow masks so they could get their lunch. One sil is out of town and forgot about this yearly even; he needed someplace quiet to go prep for a meeting-thankfully Carrie reminded him that Chick-fil-A would not be a great place to prep in.

As if it weren't enough to get a free lunch, yesterday was 7-11 and Seven Eleven was giving away free Slurpies. You can still see their cow-spots. The girls and I don't drink sugar laced drinks, so just the kiddos got them. You can see the oldest two grands both got two drinks. I think it made it great for all of them.

The afternoon was quiet and I enjoyed more time downstairs.  I've never sewn so much in the summer as I have this one; my mini group has truly made a difference in my life with encouraging me to sew all year round.
Off to the pool this morning for grands lessons and then we stay for lunch.  Not sure what this afternoon will hold.  Hope you are having a great day!
Joy to you!
Noreen

Fun and Quick

Good Morning Friends, I wanted to share the easy placemats and runner I made for the month of July-specifically for the 4th, but they will stay out all summer. With my new machine I was able to practice some new stitches and while hand quilting will still be my passion, I had a blast making these.

The table runner wasn't planned and I just utilized the scraps from the placemats. O.k. so here is the disclaimer-it is the right length for the island, but too long for the corner star square. I didn't have enough fabric to make it wider, so left it like this. If I happen across fabric I love, I will probably make another one, but for now it works just fine. I also want to look for some sort of patriotic centerpiece that will help offset it being out of proportion.

Since I bought my new machine, I have made more things in one month than I ever had. It is so fun! After I finished it, I started working on the blocks for my fall table runner. Simple blocks, but I'm hoping to use another decorative stitch on it. Today I will be watching grands in swim lessons and then we will all head to Chick-fil-A dressed as cows(not sure whether I'll participate, but even my daughter's do)for a free entree. I may even just put a sign on with some black circles. Should be fun! This afternoon I will be downstairs sewing away.  I know the Chick-fil-A sounds pretty silly, but every year all of the family(except hubby and I)go-so thought I'd join the fun. I'll be sure to take photos.
Have a fantastic summer day!
Noreen

Dark Deception by Nancy Mehl and a Giveaway

Nancy Mehl has once again spun a riveting, suspenseful tale of intrigue.  If you like mysteries and thrillers plus faith interwoven together, this is a book you'll love.
Centering around Katie O'Brien attack by a  serial killer and the murder of her twin sister, we watch her life in the Witness Protection Program.  After settling into life in a small town, evidence comes to light freeing the killer.  The deputy Marshall whose protected her throughout the trial and ordeal, steps back in to escort her to a new trial.  It seems that it will not be that easy to escape the past and the murderer.  Will this beautiful woman ever escape the past and find a normal life?  While this had me on the edge of my seat, I also found it hopeful and couldn't put it down. I will say that if my hubby had been away, I would have waited to read this book.
Here is a synopsis from the publisher:

"Kate O'Brien's quiet life in small-town Shelter Cove, Arkansas is shaken when her past suddenly comes roaring back to life. Four years ago, she and her twin sister were attacked by an elusive serial killer. Only Kate survived, and she's been in witness protection ever since.

When new evidence arises to suggest the convicted man wasn't the murderer, she's subpoenaed to testify in the new trial. Afraid to go back into that world, Kate only agrees if Tony DeLuca, the deputy Marshal who protected her during the original trial, escorts her to St. Louis. 

Tony readily takes on the assignment; Kate's beauty and inner strength made more of an impression on him than he expected. But when Kate's safety is threatened, Tony must race against the clock to keep her alive and put this ugly case to rest before anyone else gets killed."

If you would like to read this book, leave me a comment~you must be a blogger and a follower of mine.  I will randomly choose a person on Wednesday 7/12/2017 and will happily send this book off to you.

Disclaimer:

As part of Bethany House blogger program, I received this free copy.  No review, positive or otherwise, was required; all opinions are my own.  Thank you Bethany House for this program.

Noreen

Happy Sunday to you.  It's a warm 94 today and we are inside enjoying the difference in the temp.  Our A/C has not kicked on yet, but the house is so much cooler.  Friday night we had a blast with the grandsons; they all arrived at 5:00 and the Mr. B was making his famous hamburgers.  Little Man was so excited to be at Nana and Papa's for his first sleepover that he didn't even flinch when the rest of his family left.  We had a great dinner, complete with excellent burgers, french fries and watermelon.
After dinner, we headed downstairs because there was a total of 6 movies to choose from.  Kim had told us that Little Man would be tired and probably just fall asleep on the couch.  The boys choose Indiana Jones(with clear play that edits out inappropriate language and scenes); I'm glad that Little Man fell asleep during it because I had forgotten many details-like all the snakes.  We watched it and then the older boys put in Rogue 1.  We had given Kim's oldest this movie for her birthday, so the little guy had seen it before.  Of course he woke up in the middle of it and stayed awake until it was over at 10:15.  There are times when Kim's kiddos are allowed to stay up and watch movies on the weekend, but that is still pretty late for a  5 year old.  The boys dusted off three bags of popcorn(I blame it on being teenagers).  I was impressed because when hubby and I got up, the older boys were awake but the little guy was still sound asleep.  I will tell you that the older boys rock!!!!  WE were so impressed in how they paid attention to everything their cousin had to say and were very thoughtful with him.  In a world where we hear so many negatives, it was so wonderful to see their character.
I was tired yesterday though~when we have kiddos spending the night, I just don't sleep well. Next Friday we will have 7 of 8 granddaughters spending the night.
Today  after I got home from church, I fed some plants  outside and hope to get downstairs to work on my autumn table runner; it was a challenge I threw out to our mini group and I need to get it done before our September meeting. Mind you I'm still quilting at night and have another quilt to work on when I finish my granddaughter's.  I also have several patterns I got in South Dakota that I want to make; add in some Christmas presents too and you know where you can find me.
So I hope you having a fabulous Sunday filled with blessings from above.
Joy to you!
Noreen