Moms & Muffins

Friday morning Kelly's school had a "Mom's & Muffins" event. We had OJ or coffee and yummy muffins while we read together. Here we are in Kelly's classroom. She wanted to read to herself, but I explained that I was supposed to be reading to her this time. It was a great start to our morning.

Yesterday at the Swap Meet Tom bought a Singer Sewhandy machine, perfect for Kelly to sew with. He spent the afternoon tuning it up. Kelly started sewing with it. It does not have a pedal. Instead, it has a switch. My quilting instructor said that Kelly could attend class with me and she would work with her on using a machine. Now Kelly has one to call her own.

Mandi's First Quilt (continued)

Saturday was my second quilting class. I spent almost the entire 5 hours sewing my squares together. I haven't sewn the rows together yet, but this is what it will look like once I do. This was supposed to be the last class, but since no one was able to finish it, the instructor scheduled another one in two weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done then.

Sad News About the Bunny

I'm sad to report that our bunny took a turn for the worst on Friday night. His injuries were too severe and he passed away. The top picture is of the burial spot that Tom & Kelly made Saturday. The bottom is on Friday afternoon before the bunny died.

Our Bunny

Last night while I was sewing at the dining table I heard some funny yelps. I ran out the door to find our cat trying to finish off a cute baby bunny. I was able to catch him and take him inside to inspect his wounds. The cat got him on his hind shoulder, foot and eye. I washed the wounds, but the one on his shoulder was down to the muscle. I tucked him into his "house", unsure whether he would make it through the night.

Update on the bunny

This morning I checked on the bunny hoping he'd still be alive and he was! In fact, he tried to get away from my hand as I reached in to catch him. I'm going to the pet store later to find some formula so he can eat.

Our New Piano

This is our new digital piano that we bought on Thursday. The owner of the store was able to get 3 for his showroom. However, this model isn't available in the United States. It's made by Kurzweil and is supposed to be the most realistic sounding and feeling piano. As you can see, Kelly loves it and hopes to start piano lessons soon.

Mandi's First Quilt

With some encouragement from Tom, I signed up for a quilting class at the base hobby shop. It is a 2-day class that started today and ends next Saturday. The quilt that I am making is a patriotic stars and stripes quilt. We started by choosing our fabric and by the end of class I was already running my machine. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to finishing my quilt. When it's all done I'll be sure to take a picture and post it here.

Here I am hard at work. I am trying to get more sewing done at home so I will be able to finish the quilt at my last class.

Here are the various pieces that I am using in my quilt.

This gives you an idea of what it will look like when sewn together.

50's Day at School

Today was 50's day at Kelly's school. We used her skirt from Pioneer Days and decorated it with a poodle and ribbon. Here she is with Kristin's son, Andrew. Don't they look cute!??

My New Glasses

After 12 years I finally updated my glasses in hopes of wearing them more often. Here's what they look like. The picture didn't turn out too well since I took it myself (plus it's 6 in the morning!).

The other night as we were sitting on the couch I noticed something stuck to the patio door. To my surprise, there was a little frog stuck to the window. Tom managed to catch it and hold it for a while. Then we stuck the little guy in the pond. Isn't he cute!???

Happy Easter

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning I took Kelly to Lighthouse Church for an Easter egg hunt. She had a good time finding the eggs.

The kids were divided into various age groups. Kelly's group hunted for eggs on the playground. This is the playground where I watch the elementary kids after school.

Kelly and her friend Jenna work on a butterfly craft.

Friends

Yesterday my friend, Kristin and I went to the farmer's market with our girls. We enjoyed walking up and down the small street buying our goodies. Kristin bought a crepe filled with Nutella, strawberries and bananas. Can anyone say YUM? She shared it with us.

On our way back to the car she shot this cute photo of the girls.

Our Trip to Legoland

We had free tickets to Legoland California, so I took Kelly and her friend, Annie. We had a blast, but I must say my feet were very tired by the end of the day.

The girls drove their own cars at the Volvo Driving School. They had the track entirely to themselves except for one little boy.

Legoland Mini-World

This was mini-world. They had replicas of many famous places, including New York City, Southern CA and the Hollywood Bowl. All of these places were built entirely of legos.

We went on the dragon roller coaster. Annie was too short so I had to sit with her. Kelly was upset b/c she didn't want to sit by herself. Luckily, a nice mom behind us offered to let Kelly sit with her. This picture was taken by the park's camera.

The girls went on so many rides. Some of the rides they enjoyed were the rocking pirate ship and the pedal cars. It was such a nice day. The lines weren't long so we were able to do a lot. The longest we had to wait for a ride was about 10 minutes.

Mandi's 31st Birthday

We celebrated Mandi's 31st birthday at our weekly Friday night gathering. Our great friends, the Seling's got a b-day cake, and Lou gave her the lovely flowers in the background.

Missing Front Teeth

Kelly finally lost her two front teeth a few weeks ago. Her adult teeth have already cut through.

Our visit to Maine

During our visit to PA Tom and I drove up to Maine to see our 85 acres. It took about 12 hours to drive there. There was a lot of snow in Maine! We spent only a brief amount of time there, but were able to explore the land and see the surrounding towns. We were so happy that we finally got to see it.

Digging Out

Tom tried to dig a spot on the side of the road to park the truck, but there were layers of ice and snow. Plus, the shovel broke. Luckily our nice neighbors across the street introduced themselves and let us park the truck in their driveway.

This is the house and the barn. The house needs some remodeling, so we're not sure if we're going to keep it or tear it down and remodel. Anyhow, it was fun staying in it, even if the temperature was only 17 degrees!

This is our backyard. The neighbor told us that a family of moose live on our property.

Blazing the Trail

Tom blazed the trail almost the entire way. I took over toward the end. Whew, it was hard work cutting through all that snow!

Here I am standing at the eastern border of our land, which butts up to the Canadian border.