This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

A Special Birthday

Thing 2 just turned 8.  Now you might not say that's a special birthday, and I would agree with you.  It's not hitting double digits, or becoming a teenager, or being old enough to drive.  It turned into a special birthday because we were able to celebrate in a unique way. 

The birthday cake has turned into quite a tradition in our family.  My bestie taught me the basics of cake decorating shortly after Thing 1 was born.  This is certainly a frustrating craft for me but I'm determined at every birthday to make something special for the boys.  Sometimes I fail, sometimes I nail it, but it's always a dramatic experience in the house.  The kids know to leave me alone when I'm working on a cake because I get so frustrated when it doesn't cooperate!  Frosting is nothing like fabric!  I can make fabric do almost anything I want it to.  Frosting and cake seem to have a life all their own.  With this cake tradition, there must be a family dinner to celebrate.  This year it was a small gathering due to a few conflicts and last minute scheduling, but the cake was a hit with the boys.

This might not make much sense to many people, but this is a creeper from the game, Minecraft.  Minecraft is a game that has taken off and they older two play it whenever they possibly can!

The special celebration came during our vacation.  We certainly didn't plan our vacation around Thing 2's birthday.  It just happened to be the only week during summer break that worked for both families.  So Thing 2 had the amazing experience of spending his birthday at Disneyland!  We visited Town Hall on main street where he received his special Happy Birthday button and all the boys received a I'm Celebrating button.  What a day!  He counted.  He received 18 Happy Birthday wishes from Disneyland workers thru the day, rode every ride in the front seat, and was the rebel spy on the Star Tours ride. 

Of course you have to top off your amazing 8th birthday with a large piece of chocolate cake!  This truly was a birthday to remember.

Family Vacation

I know many families that take big vacations several times a year.  Their kids are very well travelled.  Much more so than myself, that's for certain!  Being a family of 5 on one income, large vacations are rare.  We have done our best in the past to do small car trip vacations to have new experiences and spend time together, but big trips haven't been in the budget.  Well, this year was different. 

Conversations about this vacation started this past Christmas.  I had mentioned to my sister-in-law that I thought this might be a good year to take the boys to Disneyland.  Before I knew it we were planning a trip for both our families to travel together.  Five boys, four adults, one week, two theme parks, one museum, and a beach!  My hubby thought we were nuts, and maybe we were, but we had an amazing vacation!

There were many firsts for the boys.  First plane trip for Thing 3.  First rollercoaster for Thing 2.  First time at Disneyland for Thing 2 and 3.  Many first foods tried from calamari to a mint julep.  Virgin of course.  First time seeing the open ocean.  Many firsts indeed.

My head is still full of all the experiences and memories created on this vacation.  Watching the boys faces as they walked into Disneyland for the first time.  Their excited stories as they would come off a ride.  Watching them have wonderful moments with their cousins.  Chasing the waves on the beach and squealing as they got wet.  Trying to dig a hole to China.  Being inspired by the Lego creations at Legoland.  Getting a special behind-the-scenes tour to see how Legos are made.  Watching Thing 3 light up seeing a giant Tigger or riding It's A Small World. Yes, we tourtured the entire family with that ride.  It truly was a vacation I don't think any of us will forget.

First Day at Market

Every experience in life is a learning opportunity.  No matter what the experience is, there is always something you can learn from it.  After many long nights, we pulled together a decent showing of items to sell and at 1am the morning before market, the quilt was completed. 

 There were baskets of candles, a small assortment of soaps and a few beautiful beaded golf counters my mom put together for us to sell. 

Lessons were learned on the logistics of loading up all the gear we needed to take, what gear we needed, how to set up and tear down the canopy, etc.  The main missing ingredient was customers.  The weather was less than perfect, but was dry.  It was the first day of market.  Schools are still in session.  There were many reasons the turn out was light, but it was still dissapointing to a 13 year old that has large ambitions of making money to attend national Jamboree next summer.  Many times thru the evening I reasurred him that things will pick up when school is out, the weather turns around, etc.  It was still a bit dissapointing to make a grand total of 9 dollars in 4 hours. 


Other lessons were learned around what we have to offer and how it showed.  There were two other vendors with candles and one other with soaps. 

The raffle quilt certainly set us apart and was the main draw of attention, so this weekend I will start working on a few other items that will be unique to other vendors.  Patterns have been poured thru and printed from the web to make some table runners and placemats to add to our inventory.  If nothing else, everyone will be receiving homemade candles, soaps and table runners for the holidays this year.

T-minus 1 Day

Candles, tags, quilts, signage, displays, soaps, oh my!!  The house has been bustling with activity for our first farmers market for the past several days.  The quilt needs it's binding sewn around the edge.  Tags need to be attached to the candles.  The soap base and molds just arrived.  Display baskets need to be found around the house.  Just a few things still to do before our first farmers market on Wednesday.

Boy, the lengths we go to for our children.  To teach the value of a dollar and working hard for something you want.  Who's learning these lessons...him?  Or us?

Quilt Day - Giving Back

There have been many quilts and projects completed in my sewing room thru the years.  Quilts to celebrate weddings, new babies, special milestones, and some just because I felt the urge to sew something.  There truly isn't anything that compares to making something in service of others.  In my sewing career I haven't experienced many of these projects.  There always seemed to be a birth, wedding, etc. that took priority, and frankly, comes with a deadline.  This past weekend two projects were started in service of others.  My bestie has begun a quilting journey I'm not sure she ever thought she would take.  A very close friend of hers passed away recently that was quite sudden.  I believe this has weighed heavily on her heart.  In her friend's memory and honor she has begun a quilt project that captures the heart of her dear friend.  She is enlisting other quilters to join her on the journey to create Hawaiian quilt works of art that will be shown and sold to benefit the Brain Aneurysm Foundation http://www.bafound.org/.  Take a moment to visit her blog where she captures the journey of the project and provides details for others to join her.
Taking on the challenge of making a Hawaiian quilt is not for the faint of heart.  It takes precise workmanship, a steady hand, and a leap of faith...or maybe the naivete of not having a clue what you are getting yourself in to.  I blindly jumped into the realm of Hawaiian quilting years ago when I made one for my mother-in-law.  After several years of hard work, putting it away for a year at a time, I swore I would never make another one.  Well, you know I can't let my bestie embark on this amazing project without me!  I will be joining her in a few weeks with my own creation to be donated to the cause.

My quilt day wasn't spent entirely helping my bestie with her project.  There was another service project happening this past weekend.  Thing 1 has been accepted to attend the national boy scout jamboree next summer.  You would be right to ask what this has to do with quilting.  Thing 1 has the daunting task of funding as much of the costs as possible to attend.  One of the grand ideas he had to raise funds was to set up a table at a local farmers market for the summer to raffle off a hand-made quilt and possibly some hand-made candles and soaps as well.  This was quite a lofty idea.  In an effort to not automatically shoot down his idea, I reached out to a local farmers market about doing this.  Certainly this idea wouldn't be accepted.  About two weeks ago we received the call.  Low and behold they LOVE the idea!  They love the community effect this will have.  Needless to say, our house has been full of frenetic activity trying to pull everything together for opening day.  Thing 1 has very limited sewing experience so there was a lot of education at each and every step of making the quilt.  I seemed to spend quilt day floating between advising on the Hawaiian quilt and teaching Thing 1 how to operate my machine and sew a straight line.  Although I did very little sewing myself, there was great progress made on both projects. 

The feeling of doing for others is truly a wonderful feeling and one I plan on repeating.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.