Life around here lately.

Making cookies for best friends.

Playing with new Webkinz bought with a little spending money. (That's Tigey the Tiger Snake.)

Building a new Indiana Jones LEGO set.

Building more LEGOS!

Making amazingly intricate LEGO worlds out of the millions of cool little pieces in their stash. (My mom bought the kids this cool set of people and it has proved to be a real winner - highly played with. Secretly, I knew it would be.)

Finishing a pretty pink skirt for a pretty little girl. (Made it with this WONDERFUL tutorial! Easy as pie and so well finished off. Love it. Will definitely make more.)

Trying on our new Ron Jon Surf Shop shirts/necklace from our loving Aunt Jamie.

Embroidering names on fabric and making little pillows after learning about Medieval tapestries in our Artistic Pursuits book. (Great job Jacob and Nicole - they had so much fun and worked so hard. With a little help from a nice long nap from Mikey we got it done in an afternoon.)



This is the stuff of days. These days are wildly exhausting, mighty frustrating at times and super crazy, but they are blessed days - happy and blessed beyond measure.

Mosaic Meme

Thanks to Melissa for doing this. It really was fun to do!

Here's how to play:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page, pick an image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.
4. Save image to hard drive and post to blogger.
5. Copy HTML code for flickr photo credits and paste into blogger at the bottom of the post.

1. What is your first name? Celeste
2. What is your favorite food? Tex-Mex
3. What high school did you go to? Mt. Carmel High School
4. What is your favorite color? Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Dennis Quaid
6. Favorite drink? Frappacino
7. Dream vacation? White sand beach
8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate cake
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Heavenly
10. What do you love most in life? Jesus
11. One Word to describe you? Busy
12. One hobby of yours? Quilting




1. Celeste Yawning, 2. Not available, 3. Bellfort Street and Mt. Carmel High School — Houston, Texas, 4. blue and white...2008, 5. Dennis Quaid, 6. 29/365, 7. White Sand Beach, White Island, Camiguin, Mindanao, Philippines, 8. Velvet Chocolate Cake with Prunes Soaked in Earl Grey Tea, 9. Heavenly, 10. Jesus from the Deesis Mosaic11. Not available12. Not available

Daddy's Helpers

When, oh, when did my big boys get so darn big?

Andrew, 3 years old, master grass blower

Jacob, 7 1/2 years old, weedeater extraordinaire

Another Poem

This was a really fun poem - a bit of a tongue twister in spots!

Ten years ago...

and about 5 days ago, I married the man God planned for me.

Last Friday, July 11th, we celebrated our tenth anniversary. It is amazing to think that it has been that long and yet such a short time. I always dreamed of marrying a wonderful man and having lots of children. I couldn't be happier. I am so glad God's will was also my dream.

Brian, I love you with all my heart. Thank you for loving your terribly imperfect wife so perfectly and with such determination. I couldn't ask for a better love, a better life.

Happy Anniversary!

Celebrating a lovely dinner out in Kemah.
It is funny, but this photo looks almost identical to a
photo taken the day after we were married
(we were at a restaurant in Galveston then).

Hungry?

Ravioli with marinara sauce

Apple slice

One word

Margaret posted this. It seemed quick (right up my alley these days) and relatively brainless (also a plus these days), so I thought I'd try it. It was fun and a bit more challenging than I thought.


1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your significant other? Brian
3. Your hair? Done
4. Your mother? Mommy
5. Your father? Daddy
6. Your favorite thing? Fabric
7. Your dream last night? Huh?
8. Your favorite drink? Margarita
9. Your dream/goal? Saints
10. The room you’re in? Study
11. Your church? Catholic
12. Your fear? Unknown
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Alive
14. Where were you last night? Cleaning
15. What you’re not? Affectionate
16. Muffins? Pumpkin
17. One of your wish list items? Love in the Little Things
18. Where you grew up? TX
19. The last thing you did? Talk
20. What are you wearing? Shorts
21. Your TV? Music
22. Your pets? None
23. Your computer? Wonderful
24. Your life? Happy
25. Your mood? Determined
26. Missing someone? Always
27. Your car? Caravan
28. Something you’re not wearing? Perfume
29. Favorite store? Hobby Lobby
30. Your summer? HOT
31. Like(love) someone? Many
32. Your favorite color? Blue
33. Last time you laughed? Unsure
34. Last time you cried? Yesterday
35. Who will re post this? Robin


Have a blessed day!

What is normal?

Do normal people stay up to all hours of the night making felt food? I guess that depends on your definition of "normal". Anyway, here is the fruits (and veggies) of my labor.





I have wanted to make felt food for a while now. It is all the craze out there in the cyber crafting world. Just do a search on Etsy and you will find felt food by the grocery cart full. This stuff is just way too cute and these people are way too talented. I even bought myself a book in Japanese about making felt food. (And, no, I do not know a lick of Japanese.) I have no intentions of selling the food - I just want to play and have fun! So I tucked away my book because life has been so busy that every time I looked at it laying on my sewing table, I was depressed that I had no time to work on it. Yesterday I was inspired by Laura's creations to grab my stuff and start stitching! And, oh, is it fun! And easy! And cute! Really, I still have no more time for sewing than I did several weeks ago. I just made a choice. I know I will not spend my time crafting all day, everyday. But I have to choose to do it some time - for my sake and for my children's. I think it is good for them to see their mother being creative and using her gifts and working with her hands in a joyful way.

This is such a fun craft to work on. And it is so easy to do! It really took very little time to make the strawberries and lettuce and tomato slices. And the rewards are so great - so darned cute!!!! It is a very forgiving craft, too. There is little precision or exactness needed. If you've ever wanted to try it, I encourage you to get your needle and felt and embroidery floss and get started. Too fun!

Next on the agenda - ravioli and marinara sauce. At some point, I will have to go buy more felt. Right now I am seeing what I can make with what I have in my stash.

Happy day!

Mikey the Man

DONE!

It has been a long time in the making, but one of my all time favorite quilts is done. I made the quilt top 5 to 6 years ago and it has been waiting to be quilted since then. I was afraid to touch it myself since I felt I could not do it justice on my own sewing machine. I've done many smaller quilts but never a lap size one. I could manage, but I was afraid of messing it up big time, especially with all the bulk of the quilt I would have to force under the arm of my machine. Also, I wanted more than just straight lines - definitely can't do that on a bigger quilt. I had been saving some money from family for quilting and I decided to spend it to have a lady in the area with a monster quilting machine quilt it for me. What a great decision. She did beautiful work! I have had it back since March and again it has been sitting waiting for binding. I had cut the binding weeks ago, but haven't had a lick of time lately to even dust off the machine! But Friday morning, I spent some time with Nicole and I prepared the binding to be sewn on. Yesterday I did it - I sewed on the binding and finished it off. Now after all these years I am able to enjoy my blue and white. I love quilting!!!