10 - TEN!

We wanted to have a party for our oldest.  We aren't "party" (haha) people and we usually just invite both sets of grandparents for birthdays.  But he turned 10!  TEN!  We wanted to let him invite some friends and host a movie night, borrowing our neighbor's 10'x17' outdoor movie screen and projector.  We also decided, to invite the families of those friends! We had neighbors, cousins - all totaled over 50!  :)  It was a beautiful night!

Q and my dad!

Q and my mom!

Q and T's mom!

Q and T's dad!

A big and serious game of kickball in the front yard!  So thankful to the other dads (and mom) who helped to keep the game running smoothly!

I *do not* decorate cakes!  I do, however, enjoy eating them!  I ordered this size because it said it would feed 60.  We have 1/3 of it left.  Shucky darn...what will I do with all that? ;-D   Did I mention the serious game of kickball before serving cake?  If not - you'll see evidence of the seriousness on my hubby's shirt sleeve! Eeww!  ;-)  And I'm so embarrassed by those candles!  I had forgotten to pick some up so they are candles that have been used several times!

Do you see our youngest (camo hat) pointing to the piece he wanted?  The hockey puck?  He was not so lucky to get that piece, as we started cutting on the opposite end.  We should hit the hockey puck later this week or maybe today! ;-D

I know! I know!  Two cake slicing pictures in one post has to be a blog faux pas, but I had put this one in to show the enormous screen in our driveway!  Awesome, isn't it?  We have the most amazing neighbors (and amazing friends and amazing families!)  We are so BLESSED!

Speaking of awesome friends - here's one of the best!  And his awesome wife was the lone mom helping in the kickball game - and was more than willing to take pictures for us that evening!  M&B - you rock!  And had I remembered to ask, I know you would have shown up with some totally awesome candles for that cake! ! ! !   These two are a pair!

And now, for random pictures with no captions necessary! :D

 (Below - that is not E on the right, but her cousin!)

The Grandpas!  This will be Quinn (left, T's dad) and Colin (right, my dad) in 55 years!

Yeah, the last one cracks me up, too!

Summer Vacation!

School has been out for almost 3 weeks now and I've been to the beach with some girlfriends, went to a Phillies game in Baltimore and I've been sewing!

The beach was wonderful...thanks to grandparents and my awesome hubby, I had 4 days to only take care of myself.  I was so spoiled!  But I'm happy to be back in my reality and I really did miss my kids and hubby!

We enjoyed a day trip to Baltimore to see the Phillies lose to the Orioles.  Prior to the game, we took the kids to the Baltimore Aquarium and had a really fun time.  The ticket holder behind us (with a season ticket) treated us to a ball stamped with the 20th Anniversary of Camden Yards logo!  Awesome!  I love that my kids have their Phillies apparel on and the boys are wearing hats - one camo, one Cummins (truck engines!)

As for sewing, I've been trying work at getting "Ready to Ship" items into my etsy store. Last week I stayed up a wee bit late (1:30am) to finish a bag that I had planned to take to the beach.  The next morning I awoke and decided I didn't need a new bag, so I figured I'd put it on etsy.  Normally, my bags are listed as "made to order" so this was my first bag that was truly ready to ship.  I first posted the picture on fa.cebook and later in the day I posted it to etsy.  Only 20 minutes after posting to etsy, a friend of a friend purchased it after viewing it on fac.ebook!  I was leaving for the beach the next day and my sweet hubby offered to keep my business afloat by running it to the post office (after depositing a check from a previous order)!  :-D

Here's the bag that sold last week on etsy:

And here's the duffle bag I made (which I used to tote my things to the beach)

The duffle was my biggest project to date - but so much fun to make.  I can't offer them for sale yet, because 2 of the inside seams are not "finished" because I do not own a serger.  

Another item I've been sewing are these cute Teddy Bears!