sewing projects!!!

 One of my new year's resolutions was to start sewing a bit. Sew...(play on words) I've given it a shot, with a couple of things, mainly really easy projects from Pinterest.  Here are a few burp cloths I made to give away for presents.

 And I made these camera strap covers for belated Christmas gifts for two dear friends. Pretty cool huh!

And then there's this one, love this picture because SC's covering up the not so pretty part of this dress. I kind of went out on my own and tried to sew some cute fabric to an old stained tshirt. It didn't quite turn out how I thought it would, BUT she didn't mind and loved it.  Not sure anyone will be seeing it in public but hey at least I tried!  I also have made about 7 little 5 inch square boo boo packs out of a really cute fleece.  They are filled with rice to keep in the freezer or to microwave.  Next up is home made baby legs for another baby shower!

Basketball...

 We started playing basketball last Saturday at a local church.  #3 Ollie Hannam, seems to really enjoy it.

 Here he is waiting to play, his best buddy Conner is sitting to the right of him.

 That's right...on defense!

This one is a little blurry, but you can see the thumbs up he was giving us...he has just scored his first basket!! 2 points!! It felt like slow motion as we waited to see if the ball would go in!

The post game hand shake! Go Bears!

the January catch up...

I'm on a blogging update marathon tonight, so here goes! We had a couple inches of snow last weekend and got the day off on Friday to play and enjoy! What fun it was! The biggest difference between this year and last year (well last year we only got one snow) miss Sarah Claire loved every minute of it!

2012...a year's review in pictures

Happy new year, here is a photo tour of our year, these are my favorite pictures from each month!
January...got a new lens 50mm for Christmas, stays on my camera almost full time.

 February...our one and only snow, love that pony tail!

March...soccer season!

 April...Easter pics with a real live chick, love the lighting in this one.

 May...we took our camper out for a practice run in Virginia for Memorial Day weekend.

 June...on the big road trip. (June...has a few pics)

 June...Badlands, South Dakota

 June...love this girl and her flair!

 June...Mt. Rushmore

 June...cookie party in Skampy the Campy!

 June...Junior Ranger at Yellowstone National Park!

 June...Skampy!!!

 June...Grand Tetons!

June...last one...love the double twirl action!

July...took a trip to Charleston!

 August...our Kindergartner on his first day!

September...headed to the beach for Labor Day weekend.

October...did the Virginia Creeper Bike trail with friends!

 November...Thanksgiving with our new cousins and family in Blacksburg!

December...visions of sugar plums danced in their heads!

2012...whew what a year, so very thankful for all the fun and blessings that came our way this past year!  According to my computer I took 6, 383 pictures this year...wowzers! 

I put this quote in our summer trip photo book we got for Christmas:
"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." Eleanor Roosevelt

May you "taste experience to the utmost" this new year in all you do! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

These cuties and their parents would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Birthday Ben!

Remember Baby Ben, my friend Jacki's baby born last December...he celebrated his 1st birthday this past weekend.  I was able to capture some pictures of the fun.

Jacki did a fabulous job with her Pinterest, Winter "One"derland theme!! So many cute pictures around and decorations.  Little Ben is a lucky guy! And a cutie at that! Happy Birthday, sweet Ben!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

 Christmas!! We went to the parade this past Saturday, LOVE this little elf! Love his spirit and his abundant enthusiasm for all things Christmas this year!

 And here's my girl, decked out in her cute Christmas dress.

 We had our church's Christmas program this past Sunday night, Ollie was the cow, he did a great job with his lines, "I am the cow all white and black, I gave him my manger to rest and relax."

 And all the pre-school kids were angels...so cute.

 Here is angel Sarah Claire on stage, she sat perfectly still the whole time, (um she might have had a bit of stage fright) as other preschoolers would get up, run around a bit and then come back to their seats...so, so cute!

 And the cow again.

And Santa sent us an elf on Saturday morning, actually we're calling him an "ulf" because he's a knock off of the real thing, but you get the point and hey our kids do too.  We named him, Candy Cane and every night he's been doing little antics around the house.  Like here, in our pantry (please don't judge the organization!) Even SC looks and finds him every morning! Fun times! Merry, merry to you and yours!