i suppose it's been long enough

Well, I won't be updating my blog every day, but I can do better than I have been. Just want to post with some pics of what I've been up to lately.

On Friday, 9/26, these friends came for a visit.

You may remember me talking about them before: Jason, Jessica, and Riley. Jessica had Riley 6 weeks early, but now she's a strong, healthy, 8 lbs and travelled from Cincinnati to Bowling Green to see us AND spend the night. We were honored. LOVE hanging out with them, I only wish they lived 3 hours closer.

They spent the night and went to watch Greg coach a soccer game. This was the next to last one of the season, and the last in which all 5 players would be there, so we had their party a week early.

I made these for each of the players, with photos of the team individually in little pouches.

I don't really have directions for the project, but here's the basics:

1. Use 4x6" photos
2. You'll need one 8.5x11 or 12x12 sheet of Kraft Cardstock for each pouch (a 12x12 sheet will yield 3 pieces, of which you only need 2)
3. Cut 2 pieces to 5x7"
4. Hold together and use a corner rounding punch on all 4 corners
5. Use a circle punch (you may choose which size you want, but I used a 1.5")
6. Hold punch upside down (so you can see how much of the Kraft you are cutting), and cut a semi-circle through both sheets at once.
7. Now, you're ready to sew the pieces together. You may either hand-sew or machine sew, but leave a 1/4" margin.
8. Insert your pics and voila!

The week after I gave these to the kids, Devon's (the soccer prodigy on the team) mom came up to me and said that last year they had trophies, but this year, Devon was thrilled with the pictures that were all his own. He had strict orders that the pics were to be framed along with his pouch and he was upset when that task took longer than a week. How cute it that? The ultimate compliment for me.

Below are some more pics from the soccer party.

Emily, a sister of one of the players was there. She was also born prematurely (at 27 weeks) but is now healthy and strong. It was encouraging for Jessica to visit with her grandmother and she felt so blessed to have made it as far along as she did with Riley.
Patrick....a ham!
Noah and Woods....competing for position to walk on the rocks. Now if only Noah would have been that competitive on the field!


Later that day, we had the pleasure of attending the annual fish fry in Lafayette, TN (pronounced LUH-fay-et, not lah-FEE-et, don't ask...it's country and they can cook fish, so I don't judge).

The fish fry was at the Birdwell's and here's Ronald battering the fish...the secret ingredient?

MUSTARD!!!!

Step 2 of the process....look at all those fryers!!!



And, the final step.


These 3 sit with my mom (and hence, me when I visit) at church. From L to R (Taylor, Caleigh, Mackenzie). The one on the right is a spitfire....you never know what she's going to say.

And, out in the country at the fish fry, my husband found this:


Yes, and there he is TOUCHING it....don't those things have diseases?
Mackenzie (the spitfire) promptly called this a "chicken snake" and Greg reverted back 20 years and snarkily said, "Well how do you know it isn't a pig snake?" Of course this sent the girls in a full set of giggles....ah, that age.

A week later, we had another busy Saturday.

Before the final soccer game, I had to rush to Carter's first birthday party. Cara (one of SC's kit-packers) had such cute activities for the kids. She had a play-doh table, a face-painting table, a golf activity for the adults. Also, she had arranged to have 4 types of soups and it ended up being the perfect day...about 65 degrees for the party, and sunny. Great weather and great times.

The Birthday boy himself.

Below, 2 victims of the face-painting booth.


Tasha

Josi



And One last picture for you....my sweet cuddle-bugs.
Yes, Jett sleeps with his tongue out. Thankfully, Greg doesn't (at least not that I know of).