I Love You Because...

Optimism

Babysitter Bliss!

Something magical happened when we moved here last summer. It wasn't something we noticed immediately but, as we look back a year later we can see it and everyone in the family has noticed the difference. We now have babysitters! I know it sounds silly but seriously, it's made a HUGE difference to our family! Doug and I now go out on regular dates and it's wonderful. We go to the theatre, we check out great local restaurants, we're able to go shopping by ourselves and sometimes we get to go golfing with friends... 

Having a weekly baby-sitter is really something we haven't been able to enjoy ever before and now we have multiple babysitters we'd trust with any of our kids all within 5 minutes of the house. It's been over 9 years since we could go out on a whim to the movies or to dinner by ourselves and it's completely changed our marriage. We have so much fun together and are able to be ourselves instead of just in parent mode. While we both look forward to being together all week sometimes Doug forgets exactly who his date for the night is...

(maybe he still has a thing for pirates!)

Thanks for stopping by! 
J 

Summer Swim

Cam's first swim, hope your Memorial Weekend is going to be as fun as ours!

Love,
J

Girl's Movie Night

Girl's Night. We're painting nails and watching Secret Garden in our Garden . I swear, Summer nights just can't get cuter then this!

Silent Sunday

Piper June's Flower Quilt

You know those new years resolutions you give yourself that are dropped off the 'to-do list' before Feb. 1st? I mean you really want to do them, accomplish that goal but actually doing it seems next to impossible?? Yeah, I have had the goal to learn to quilt for at least 5 years and even made it an official resolution for a few years now. Even though I took a class last year, I didn't even finish that project or go to the last few sessions of class so that didn't count as actually accomplishing it but this year? This year I did it! I am officially deeming myself a quilter! I have caught the bug and am completely addicted to this new hobby. In January I started working on a brick quilt thinking that 'if I start now, I'll be done by Christmas.' But I worked almost every week on it and made sure to get it done before Mom came out in March. I wanted to be able to show her what I'd done and get a couple lessons from her while she was here and holy cow did she ever keep me busy! We made curtains and pillows and fixed clothes. (and by we I really mean MOM) But after all that my lessons started.  She brought me a great Jelly Roll Quilt Book and after a quick trip to the quilt store We were rolling. 

(ignore the sade, saggy table and beat-up mismatched chairs... we will have our dining room put together very soon!)

We made up 2 quilts over Conference Weekend and I love, LOVE them. After she left, I sent them off to the quilter and got to work on 2 more quilt tops. 

The first one is a baby quilt I made for my bestie's baby. She had her baby the same week I had Cameron and I had been seraching for the perfect baby gift for months and really as soon as I saw this fabric line from Moda I feel in love with the colors. I made a throw for my garden/deck and a baby quilt from it. Piper's Baby Quilt is simple 4-2inch blocks making a square alternating w/ a 4inch block w/ pink sashing. 

I embroidered her name in the corner and had it long-arm quilted in the girliest pattern I could find... hearts and daisies. I wasn't able to get the binding just perfect but, I'm still learning and in the end I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT! 

and it looks like she does too! 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure my Mom created a monster because I'm not stopping anytime soon. If you need me, I'll be sitting at me sewing machine for the rest of the day. 

Happy Monday!
JJ 

 

 

Success

She adores her boys.

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.
-Marc Brown

Snip-Snip

Husbandface's thoughts on today....
T minus 3.5 hours and counting 'til I go under the knife... Don't think Valium and some local anesthetic will be enough, but that's what I'm up against. The family Jewels will just Doug's Jewels by this evening. Sigh

My thoughts on today....
He's the best Husband and Father Ever!

Doug, right after he found out we were pregnant with Ethan. 
Pawtucket, RI- May 2002
(no more positive pregnancy moments like this anymore)

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need a good laugh? Doug on his way home from his 'procedure' this afternoon. 

http://youtu.be/6ntvQ8IVs90  

Some toys you never grow out of.

Owen wanted to play with Baby Cam this morning.... 

and surprisingly, they both loved it. 

Personally, I'm hoping they both stay this little forever...


Being the Mom to so many boys might not be that bad afterall. I love springtime in Georgia.
J