Nice Hair!

This is what happens when you get the big brother to cut the little brother's hair! I am happy to say, that he did cut it off and he is not currently walking around like this! Whew!!
Couple of things on my mind this day before Easter.
1. I am not happy with Easter and St. Patrick's day basically being in the same week. I did not decorate for Easter and it makes me sad. However, I may just put some bunnies out for Spring.
2. I am doing well on Weight Watchers, lost 2.4 pounds this past week!! WooHoo! That is 11 total since Feb. 6th.
3. Why can't someone make jeans that fit my body? I really don't think it is asking too much.
4. I love to watch college basketball. There seems to be a game on at all hours of the day and night since it is March Madness!
5. I can't wait for Red Sox baseball. Total fanatic.
6. Really want to try to make a skirt. Of course my dumb self, just wants to use a skirt that I like and trace it out and make a pattern and let the seam ripper fly! We will see.
7. Great finds yesterday at the thrift store. A basket purse (vintage), a pair of little girl size 9 hanna andersson clogs (never worn) for 5.00, and some sweet old children's books.
Ok, enough rambling for today. After watching sweet Ms. Emily (Inside a Black Apple) on Martha the other day I learned something about putting a little softie animal together. So, now I can finish the 2nd pig and possibly not dread making the 3rd.

Happy Easter to you all! May it be filled with egg hunts and smeared chocolate kisses. I miss those days..... guess I will just have to wait for grandchildren!

Big Willy Style

So, Will started today on a pitch count of 50. He did a great job! Course I am not bragging or anything! I couldn't be prouder! Hope you all had as good a day as I did. Nothing better than sitting on the ballfield watching your kid play on a beautiful "bluebird" day! Oh, yes Peggy that is Pete in the background playing second!

Random thoughts

Ok for some reason everytime I try to upload a picture, blogger freezes. So, you are out of luck. I did have some pictures to share, but not today! Had a pretty good day at school today. I am trying to get a lesson up and running on the Smartboard. This is a great tool! It looks like a giant whiteboard but it is connected to a laptop. It has all these graphics in there and the kids can actually go up to the board and move things around with their fingers. They can write on it with their fingers or with the special markers. We are going to do a sorting activity with it tomorrow. I got it all set up and saved it to my thumbdrive, but when I tried to reopen it, it was there only teeny tiny. Apparently operator error! Hmmm, that is what the IT guy is for!!! I called him and he is coming to my classroom tomorrow morning. He should have never given me his cell number!!! So other than the teeny part, it was way cool and fun. Can't wait to do the lesson with my little kiddos, they are going to love it! Have any of you tried "Skinny Cow" ice cream sandwiches? They rock! The best part is that they are only 2 weight watchers points. I will gladly save my points til the end of the day just to have a little ice cream! Ok, i will try again later this week to post the picture. For now, Happy Hump Day!

Migraines and other things

First of all have had the wortst migraine since yesterday. My head was actually thumping this morning. It has subsided somewhat but I know it is still there just waiting. Ok, on to more happy things. Number one happy thing from yesterday, I bought some cuties. Don't know what they are? Little Mandarin oranges. Oh my goodness they are wonderful!! Sweet as sugar! And the best part two of them are only 1 weight watchers point! Two! Can't even believe it! Yes, I rejoined weight watchers. I am heavier than I would like to be. There, enough said about that. Number two happy thing, my child went on an overnight camping/4 wheeler trip about 2 hours away and he survived it and had a great time. This was big for me, letting him go. But it is bound to happen, he is a junior in high school and will be in college soon enough. When that happens, I will have no idea what he is doing. You know no one tells you about this letting go stuff when you have a baby, too bad they can't stay 5 forever. I am currently working on a scarf, it is being knit out of eyelash pink yarn. I hate this yarn, really hate it. But it is for a sweet little 6 year old I know and that is the only reason I am doing it. Thank goodness I am almost finished. I feel bad I haven't posted all week. I have been way to busy. Time to slow down. Hope everyone out there in blog land has a relaxing, headache free sunday.

Baby Ben

This is Ben. How cute is he? Even cuter b/c he is wearing a hat that I knit!! I couln't be prouder! Like I had something to do with it! Everything is going well, or at least that is the report that I am getting from the homefront! His two big sisters are happy, at least for now. Wait til he is bigger and getting in their stuff, then he won't be so cute. Welcome baby Ben. I can't wait to get my hands on you and smother you with kisses. You can come stay with your Aunt Gigi anytime.

Baby Ben Is Here!!!!

Great news!! My sis had baby number 3 today!! Baby Ben is 8lbs 6oz and mom and baby are doing great!! I will post a picture soon. The ones right after delivery are not the best, so soon, I promise. My mom made it down to Tampa yesterday and her water broke at 11:00 last night. So, that was lucky. So happy to have a new baby. A nephew. I am great with boys. Give me a bug box, a field guide, mud, and a two year old, and let the good times roll!! Congratulations sissy! I love you!

Hey there is my kid in the paper!!

Yes, that is Will soaring in for a layup on Friday night!! Woo Hoo!! This was in our local paper. Thanks to Randy Davie who took the photo. If you look close you can see my parents in the stands. Mom in the orange sweater, with dad right beside her. That is me behind dad sitting with Lachelle. We are busy, busy , busy with basketball. Friday was the last regular season game, we won. We start the conference tournament tonight. 8:30! Sheesh! I am usually in bed by 9. We have to go to East Duplin which is an hour away. I am going to be a tired pup tomorrow. Had a nice long weekend. Finished little Ben's quilt. I will have to take a picture of it and post it. It is strips, but no patches like the girls. It is very bright. Red, blue, yellow and some cute fabric with red whales. Too sweet! My sis is still prego. We are hoping for a Wednesday birth since it is the full moon and a lunar eclipse. He is due on the 29th, but my sis is hoping for earlier. I just hope she is done and home by sunday so we can watch the oscars together over the phone. I know my mother thinks we are crazy b/c we watch tv together over the phone, but I will take what I can get!! Can't believe that in a month it will be Easter! Yikes. My mom leaves for Tampa tomorrow to be there for the birth. The good news for me is, no waking up early to walk. So, I can sleep in, but will have to fit in a walk or run later in the day. Ok, you guys have a great week. I will try to post again this week with the quilt! Peace, Love and recycling.

Lucy's Quilt is done!!

Ok, I finished Lucy's quilt in record time!! I would post a pic, but it is the same as Lilly's basically. I am working on some little softies that I will share hopefully this weekend. I have one made, but haven't finished the second one. Thought I would have finished it on Sunday, but all the quilt making wore me out!!! Heard through the grapevine that my friend peggy is opening a yarn shop here in town. I can't tell you how happy that makes me!! I won't have to drive to buy yarn, I can just walk down the street!!! I hope there will be some chairs at The Salty Sheep, cuz I am going to be spending a lot of time there!!! Way to Go Peggy!!! Can't wait!

Ding Dong the Quilt is done.....

Ding Dong the quilt is done, which 'ol quilt? My first quilt!!! Well, it turned out better than I had hoped. The chenille was a great idea!! Got that off of sewmamasew. The top pattern was from Amy Karol's book Bend the Rules Sewing. Which I love!! But the addition of the chenille makes it nice b/c I didn't have to put anything in the middle. I have almost finished the top of Lucy's. Hopefully I am on a roll and won't let hers sit for months like I did Lilly's. The embroidery on the purple panel says Lilly, I (heart) you. Aunt Gigi. Anyway, I like it and will probably make more b/c it was super easy. You can't really see the cool flower stitch that I top stitched with but it shows up great b/c I used a hot pink thread. Anyway, hope it inspires someone out there!!!

Home with sick child

Ok, so this the pile of scarves for my Kindergarteners. This picture does not show all 23 however, I think I ended up with 4 green, 6 red, 2 blue, 7 pink, 2 orange, 1 purple, 1 black. Fun times! I think maybe next year if I decide to do this I should ask them their favorite color the first day of school. That way I will have more time. Yes, Ward is sick today. Sore throat, fever. I finished the quilt!!! Well, it is sewn together. I am in the process of tying it right now. Going slow, may take me a while. My machine has the cutest flower stitch, I put it all the way around the quilt. I am very please with my first try with making a quilt. Now I have to get started on Lucy's. I think with the left over chenille I will make the girls some pillows or maybe a cute pink pig! All for today. Off to minister to the sick.

Can't believe that my kid is driving!!!

So, a lot has happened since my last entry. For one thing, I am the parent to a licensed driver!! Holy Smokes!! Can't hardly believe that my little Will is mostly grown! Even though I worry about him, it has given me an extra arm. He can drive himself to and from practice, which is nice. We had a great Christmas around here. Lots of presents and surprises. Had a nice visit with my father in law and brother/sister in law. The ECU Pirates won their bowl game, that was exciting! I finally finished the scarves for my kindergarten class. 23 is a lot of scarf knitting. They were thrilled to get them, even if it was after Christmas. I had so many of the same color, that I backstitched their first initial on the bottom of each one. I am working on hat number 2. I like the first one I made, but think that it could be a little longer. So, I am trying again. I have one more deadline for the yearbook, really want to finish it! Maybe next year I will pass that baton to someone else. This month is too crazy with yearbook, report cards, and 2nd nine week assessing to do. My sister is in the short rows of her 3rd pregnancy. Can't wait for little Ben to make his appearance. Ok, I will post hopefully tomorrow, I have lots of pictures to share from the past month. Off to embroider on Lilly's quilt. (yes, I know, it isn't finished yet!)

Your moment of Zen.......

This was the sight out my front window on Tuesday morning. Beautiful. This was at 6:45am. Course I had to run across the street and stand out on the dock, but I thought it was beautiful. Just wanted to share this with everyone and hope that it calms you down in this stressful, busy season. Take some time, stop, relax, enjoy!

Sorry

Ok, I know, it has been a while. First things first, my beloved Red Sox won the World Series and I couldn't be happier! Ok, now on to other things. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did. My mom and dad went to Tampa to be with my sister and her family, so I cooked and we had a nice relaxing day. Made real dressing and a real chocolate pie. Scalded the milk and everything. My granny would have been proud. I kinda hate this week, this last extra week of limbo between thanksgiving and christmas. What to teach at school this week? What else.... Wants and Needs. Hmmm.... Tough one when you are 5, let me tell you. I have finished the top of Lilly's lap quilt, have decided to put chenille on the back instead of binding it, read it on a blog (sewmamasew) if you haven't checked it out, do it. They have a craft a day for the month of november and some of them are great!! So, have to go into town and get the fabric for the back and sew lucy's. I have also decided to make scarves again this year for my little kiddos at school. Yes, I know I have 24 kids and I only had 18 last year. Yes, I know I have started way too late on this project. Yes, I know I am crazy!! I have 7 completed. I really shouldn't be typing at all right now, I should be knitting. I have a birthday coming up, still trying to figure out what I want. Can you wrap up time? I need time. Time to knit, time to sew, time to bake, time to visit with my friends, time to talk to my children. Over the next few weeks I am going to try to slow down and enjoy everthing and everyone that I love.

It's that time of year!!!

It is trout tournament time! This was last Sunday, Ward won 4th place in the Ed Sewell speckled trout tournament. $40.00 check and a $50 savings bond, he was pretty stoked! But then he fished on Saturday in the Friendly City Speckled Trout Tournament and he came in 2nd place!! $100 dollars and a plaque. Pretty exciting stuff. I have enjoyed my day off today, have made lots of cleaning progress. I have thrown away a ton of stuff!! I want to clear out before the holidays so that I can enjoy it. I am back on the knitting scarf deal! I have made 2, 22 to go! Hope I can make it by December 20th. I have made two this weekend, so I am gonna have to step it up! Ok, off to knit! Happy Birthday Lilly! Can't believe you are 3.

Mullet

Ahhhh, Mullet weekend, is there any better day of the year?? I say no! This is Will and his buds the morning of the mullet. Every year since I can remember, at least 20 some odd years we have gathered at Dee Dee's moms house for breakfast before the parade. We would always take a picture of all of us together.come to think of it, we didn't this year, bummer! Anyway, I did get this one of Will and gang. Should become a family classic. We ate our bellies full and then headed off to the parade. Usual parade..... firetrucks (loud), candy thrown off floats (not enough), no Miss North Carolina!!! Don't know what happened to her! Then off to downtown and the vendors selling their wares. I found a couple of things to buy. I bought a couple of tshirts, to really cute hair ties (which I am going to figure out how to make), a red sox stepping stone (I know we are 3 games back, don't mention it!), and an ECU crabpot floaty thing. Ok, that last thing is not easy to describe. It is 3 floats like you put on crabpots and they are painted purple and yellow with the ECU pirate on the biggest one. I have it on my porch and I like it. My sister couldn't make it this year, and it made me sad. It wasn't Mullet without her. Maybe next year she will be here. It was nice and cool in the morning, 54 when I got up to run at 6:30, but warmed up quick and I was looking for shorts by the end of the day. Usually I see somone from my past that I haven't seen in ages, but this year, I don't believe I did. I did see a lot of people that I love and had fun catching up. But no long lost anybody. Maybe next year I need to sit my butt downtown for an hour or two and people watch. Then I am sure to see someone! Oh, almost forgot! Will had a ton of teenage types around the house all weekend. That is what happens when you live in town. Anyway, from 12:30-2:30 while I was work a horde of teenage girls that don't really know me came in my house brandishing a waffle iron and all the stuff to make waffles and MADE WAFFLES IN MY KITCHEN! Don't you find that odd and random? If it was girls that are here a lot that call me Ms. Gregg, then I could have kinda understood and been OK with it, but these girls were randoms. According to sources in the house at the time there were about 15 girls in my kitchen cooking! Hmmmm....... WEIRD. They did clean up and stacked the dishes in the sink, even though the empty dishwasher was sitting right there. But, at least they put everything in the sink, boys would never do that, I would have found waffle dishes all over my house. So, that was my mullet in a nutshell. Went to Diana's during the evening, chatted for a couple of hours, then went home to watch the Red Sox (they lost). Ok, enough rambling for today, and no, I have not finished the quilt!

Lap Quilt For Lilly

Ok, I am trying to make my first quilt. It isn't very big, but Lilly is small and it will just be a throw around whatever quilt. I am also making one for Lucy, but Lilly's is first. This is what it looked like last week when I layed it out, I have sewn half of the strips together and hope to finish sewing it this week. Then I am going to embroider Lilly's name on the bottom corner and the date. I haven't bought the backing yet, need to make a yarn and fabric run. This pattern came out of the book Bend the Rule Sewing by Amy Karol. It is fab! I highly recommend it. I would link you right on over to amazon so you could buy it, but I am a dud and don't know how to do it!!! The weather is suppose to cool off tomorrow, I sure hope so. I have lots of nice new long sleeve shirts and tights to wear and it has been to darned hot!! Maybe that is why I have been in such a crummy mood! The Mullet Festival is this weekend. I truly love the Mullet. It is one of my favorite days!! Get to see lots of old friends, eat lots of good food. Can't wait! The temp. is suppose to be in the low 70s. Couldn't be better! When I finish the quilt, I will display it for all the world to see! I am going to have to get my friend Darlene to help me with the binding, don't know if I can do it. Ok, off to eat dinner!! Oh and by the way......GO RED SOX!!!!!

Target and Homecoming

First things first, thanks to Peggy for reminding me about my Target teaser! I forgot that I did that! So here it is .........................how cute is that??? I just had to have it! I know it is not October yet, but who cares?? They also had some really cute hand towels, which I bought and some nice Thanksgiving stuff. I bought two hand towels and a turkey bath mat. I was so happy to find some Thanksgiving stuff, that poor holiday is usually forgotten in the rush from Halloween to Christmas. I have got to crawl in my attic today and find the rest of my Halloween stuff. I am missing some light up pumpkins for my mantle. I think they might be in my Thanksgiving box because I left them up til December last year, they weren't jack-o-lanterns, just pumpkins. Ok, now on to homecoming. We lost the game, but is that really the point of going to a homecoming game? No, you go to visit and see old friends and see the court. One of my former Kindergarten students was the Freshman representative she looked very pretty. Courtney won. She looked absolutely beautiful. Will and his date Erica look great. I loved her dress and thought she looked beautiful! Will looked very handsome. I was so proud of him. It was kinda surreal, I can't believe that he is Junior! He will be a Senior before I know it and then off to college. Scary! I wish time could slow down just a little. He is slipping through my fingers and it breaks my heart. Ok, no teaser today, because we know that my brain forgets!

What a Week!

Man I tell you it has been a week from "h e double hockey sticks!" My mom and sister and the two wee ones left Wednesday for Tampa. I will miss my sis so much and probably won't see her til after the baby is born (February). Hopefully they will opt to buy a new car over Christmas and will drive up to buy one from Johnny Stevenson in Wilmington. Other than that I fear the only way I will see her is if I fly to Tampa. Maybe I will take a long weekend and call in sick to Kindergarten! Hee Hee!! So, back to my week. I have a cold. Don't know how I caught it or from which 5 yr old, but I have the green snot flowing! Lovely! So, this cold hit me on Thursday afternoon and I felt absolutely terrible on Friday. Should have stayed home and slept, but no, went to school to be punished and have medicine head! I had the worst night on Wednesday. I woke up at 1;30 and tossed and turned. Finally sat up and read from 2-3 then tried to go back to sleep. My mind was racing with all the things that I have to do at work in the next two weeks. Tons of meetings and paperwork to fill out, observation to complete, grant to fill out, Individual growth plan to fill out, oh, and teach. Don't forget that! The good news of the week was that Will was asked to escort Erica for Homecoming court. She is a sweet girl, cheerleader, pretty. Her mom works with me. Now, I have to figure out what Will needs to wear. He says her dress is black and tan. Hmmmm..... I would like to buy him a new shirt and tie, but I wonder if we should just borrow a black suit for him. But, would that be too much, a suit? I don't want him looking like a dork! Black dress pants? I hate black pants, I am really more of a khaki kinda girl. Then you have to wear black shoes, cuz top siders would look stupid with black pants. Sheesh!! All this has to be figured out like today! I guess we will have to go shopping maybe Monday. I really don't want to be at the mall on Thursday night trying to figure this out!
I have decided that when clothes are washed/dried, they need to be folded right away. My husband however feels different about that! We have a laundry basket in our laundry room and about 2 weeks ago I sat down with it, folded everything and it was all clean. That is when I decided I was sick of it being piled high with clothes. I figured if you don't have time to wash, dry and fold, don't wash! I have mentioned this to my husband, but apparently he is deaf. I told him that is like in baseball when the pitcher is taken out of the game, all the runners on base are his responsibility, just like the laundry in the basket. So, this morning I folded laundry that he washed that was in the dryer, and put the new clothes in the dryer. He has assured me that when he gets up, he will take care of it. Hmmm.... we will see. I hate to leave all those runners on base, but if that laundry basket is overflowing when I get home from work that is where it is staying. Ok, this is a long post..... I will tell you what I bought at Target later. I love it!!

Ward is 13!!

I know this is a little late, but my sweet little wardy is a TEENAGER! ACK! When did that happen. I swear, you blink and they are grown. I can't believe it. My boys are slipping through my fingers and it is tough on this ol girl! Ward was such a wonderful baby and toddler. He was so sweet. Loved his momma. I have been able to let Will go a little, but it is going to be hard to let my "baby" date, go off in a car with another teenager, etc. I can't imagine my life without you Ward, we are two peas in a pod. I like the fact that you remember all the lines from my favorite movies and quote them back to me at random times. Your Billy Madison is dead-on. I love the fact that you love the Red Sox, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Zepplin. You were born decades too late, you should have been a child of the 80's, you have such a wealth of knowledge of that decade. I feel that I have raised you well. Not many 13 yr olds list The Breakfast Club, The Princess Bride and Ferris Buellar as their favorite movies. You are lucky and blessed and I love you more than I can ever tell you!

I Love You,

Momma

My Daddy

This is my Daddy, W.T. He is 66 years old, almost 67. He works so hard. My parentes own a Dry Stack Marina and my dad is actively involved in the daily workings of his business. If there is concrete to be poured, he is raking, shoveling, spreading. If someone's boat needs to be worked on, he is right there in it on his hands and knees trying to fix it. He has spent so much time on his knees over the years that they are flat. I love him, but he works way too hard! I wish my parents could retire and just travel and be together. I don't think my dad could stop coming to work everyday and being in charge. I guess you chose how you want to live and if he didn't want to do it, he wouldn't. But, all the same, I wish he would relax!! I love you daddy.