project

Tom and the kids are out at Cody's CAP meeting so I get to do one of my favorite things......Sewing. I have been on this fabric basket kick. I am working toward selling at my very first craft show in November so I am busy "working" on some projects (although it really isn't work, for me it's play). Anyway, thought you might like to see one...

baked goods

This has been a bit of a busy week here. Both boys had their open houses at school. So we went to them. It was kind of strange going to Cody's and being back in our old high school again, this time as a parent! Jordan's PTO had a bake sale and I made sunflower cupcakes......I also had my final cake class (of this session. A new class starts on Oct. 4th) Here is my final cake. I think that I got the hang of the roses.

Cody also got his school pictures this week.
And his first progress report. Biology, he's got an F. Oh the fun!

#2

So here is cake #2. (keep in mind that we only have about 1/2 hour in class to decorate our actual cake.)

Love

The only thing you can really take with you when you die is the love inside.-Patrick Swayze

dinner

The kids are both away for the weekend. Cody went on the senior high retreat with our church and Jordan went with Uncle Lenny to his house. So since we had a free night Tom and I had a date night. We went to Don Pablos for dinner. As you can see he needs his reading glasses more and more.......

It was a nice "quiet" dinner....

CQ

CQ stands for craft quickie......my newest one. If you are like me you have a ton of canvas tote bags laying around, given to you because you went to a seminar or volunteered for something. Well I found this great idea on the web. You basically take an ugly tote bag, they usually have some sort of writing on them, and make it into something brand new.
I Started with some fabric I had and a tote bag...I added a pocket to the bag to cover the writing. In hind sight I should have put a back on my pocket with my fabric.......From there I basically made a cover for the bag. Turn your bag inside out and lay on the fabric. Cut a piece that is approx. 1/4 inch larger than the bag all the way around. Put right sides of fabric together and stitch the sides. Insert tote bag into the fabric cover and fold down the top to meet with the bag and top stitch.The result is a tote bag with a pocket inside that I wouldn't mind taking to the grocery store or farmers market!

Pitt

Last weekend my brother Len took the boys to see a Pitt game at Heinz Field! They had a blast....

All I can say is GO PITT!!!!!!

football

Did y'all watch the Steelers last night? I loved all the "stuff" before hand, the concert and fireworks ect. Time to get out my new banner that my sister in Ohio sent to me. She lives in Cleveland and bought it there! LOL. Our rivals!

learning

I've been taking a cake decorating class at the local Jo Ann Fabrics store. Don't laugh but, here's my first "masterpiece"! Okay, it's just a cake......
It would have been much better but we were pressed for time. I had to slap the writing on it real fast at the end. Anyway, it tasted great so that's all that matters!

interview

Here is an exclusive interview with the one and only Jordan McKelvey upon his arrival home from his first day of school in 2 years......

plumbing

Think Tom is throwing in the towel?????

Plumbing problems are no fun. Tom worked on it all day tuesday, My brother Len worked on it for about 5 hours thursday night, and we still have no hot water in the shower! These colder than the artic showers are shocking my body! Len will be back tomorrow to hopeful, help Tom finish the job. Isn't home ownership fun?

it came

So the day is finally here.......It came this morning ............What is it you ask? No, it's not christmas, It's the first day of school for the boys in 2 years!

It's now official, I have a son in high school! OMG! He was too cool for a backpack this morning.Jordan was up before me this morning. He was eating breakfast with Tom when I came down. Tom was off. Actually he was called in to work today but got up this morning and discovered that we had plumbing problems in the bathroom and a flood in the basement.......not a good way to start the day......Anyway, Jordan got on the bus and is now, hopefully, in school. I only cried a couple of times!

camp out

Since the "end" of summer is drawing near, the kids head back to school tomorrow, we decided to have some fun this last weekend. We had a family backyard campout! There was a camp fire where we cooked hot dogs and mountain pies...... just a tad smokey.............

Apple mountain pie and ice cream..........Then we all (yes, even me and my darling husband) slept in tents in the yard. It was fun despite the fact that the kids pitched our tent on a hill and I slept with rocks in my ribs all night. The dog kept escaping rom the kids' tent. Now Jordan thinks this is going to be an every weekend thing!

ER

SO we spent another afternoon at the ER today. Cody bites his nails alot and I always warn him about getting an infection......well this week it happened. Monday we saw the doctor and it was only swollen. ice was prescribed.......tuesday night it was swollen and getting dark under the nail......doctor visit again on wednesday.....antibiotics...... by thursday it looked like this.......

This photo was taken before the intense pain started.....He said to me, "good thing you don't have your camera". "Don't challenge me buddy, it's always at the ready"! LOL they actually sliced open his finger, and she had to squeeze it to get all the "stuff" out of it. This is where the crying like I have never seen him cry before came. I felt so bad for him. it is wrapped now (resembles something obscene) antibiotics are on board. They even gave him tylenol with codeine for the pain. we see his family doctor today. Think he learned a valuable lesson here?

zoo

Spent the entire afternoon at the zoo today. Aunt Martha wanted to go. It was a beautiful day in the 'burgh so we headed out to the African Savannah.......

Cody tried to see if he was as tall as Big Ben, but it turns out instead, he's only about half the size of a female elephant!Lunch was good but what they really want is .........ICE CREAM!!!!!The kids were all having a good time....Touching things that are soft ........and things sort of slimy......Till Jordan came face to face with a maneater.....LOOK OUT! SWIM FOREST, SWIM......

We decided we had time for one last photo op before someone "accidently" got eaten for real. "HUM, don't know how they fell in there".

We took Aunt Martha to the Pirate game on Sunday. She likes baseball and where she lives there is only minor league games. The Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Although I think they are more fun than the majors. They do more zany things to entertain you. If you have ever been to a Pirate game you know that they always have the great perogie race between innings. Well we were playing the nationals so the perogies didn't race against each other they had the perogies vs presidents relay. Somehow seeing giant president heads on people racing is very funny......

This would be George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt.

The perogies won but I have to say the best part was the view of Pittsburgh from the park..

picnic

When is it going to really be summer? Our weather has been really lousy this summer. It's raining again today. We did manage to find a nice day and have a picnic this week. Aunt Martha is here visiting from South Carolina.
We went to the big park in Monroeville. The kids had fun running around and playing, riding bikes, playing tennis. Even the "grown ups" had fun. It turned out to be a really nice day.

camp

We discovered something reasonably new this week......Jordan is a serious camper! He left on Sunday for camp kidzone with our church. The senior high youth group put it on. Sleeping bag? check. clean underwear? check. Getting embarrassed by my Dad? check. The bus was late bringing them home today. We were all in the parking lot waiting when all of a sudden we heard all this honking and cheering, low and behold here comes the bus into the parking lot. Who was hanging out the farthest back window?

Yep, you guessed it....my kid!

The man who was a leader in his cabin told me "he was really good. I enjoyed having him, and boy can he eat!" Huh? Jordan? You've got to be kidding me! So why does he still weigh 50 pounds? ( Okay keep the jokes about my cooking to yourselves!)He also told me that Jordan wanted to keep their cabin flag....as you can see they were team spruce.He had such a good time. He said that he wishes he could come home for a day, shower and get clean clothes and go back. (Since when does he care about clean clothes or showers?)