Gophers in the snow.

I finally convinced Matty and his Dad to go outside and play in the snow. They first walked out onto our deck and Dad told Matty to make a snow angel on the deck. I'm sitting here thinking to myself "Why did we buy a house with a yard if you were just going to play on the deck?"

So then they eventually get out into the yard to play and Matthew gleefully announces:
"I'm going to dig a big tunnel in the snow. I'm going to dig like a gopher!"



He digs for like 10 seconds and then runs over to supervise his Dad making a snow fort.

Dad: "Matthew, help me roll this giant snowball."
Matthew: "Naah. You can do it."
Dad: "Its heavy, I need your help."
Matthew: "No, you can roll it, I'll just brush the leaves off."

They played in the snow for like 7 minutes and then decided they were cold/done and came inside.

Pretty wimpy gophers if you ask me.

Bizkit the Sleep walking dog.

Read about this on one of my favorite blogs, dooce, and just about peed my pants watching it.

Baaahhd Girls.

The picture in my title is from a recent scrapbook weekend spent at Sheep Hill Bed and Breakfast (in Lancaster area of PA). We met this group of ladies a couple years ago at a crop and were fast friends. We enjoy getting together for small crops about once a year, and have been exchanging sheep jokes via email in anticipation of this crop for about the last 6 months. Melissa (my sister) found these cute sheep bonnets on etsy.com (a site for people to sell their hand made items) and they were adorable! The lady who made them did such an amazing job ... the yarn she selected was just perfect to look like fluffy sheep heads! Much laughter was had by all to see all of us in our cute bonnets!

Twisted Bargello

Is the name of the quilting class I'm signed up for with my friend Melissa at Pennington Quilt Works. It is a beautiful small quilt that can be used as a wall hanging or lap quilt. I have a basket of blankets in my living room, and I decided that it would be fun to change them out so that the entire basket consists of blankets that I have made. This will be the first one! Here is a picture of the finished quilt design:



And here are the fabrics that I (with about an hour of assistance from the lady who is teaching the class!) have chosen for my quilt:


I can't wait to get started! I had to send my sewing machine out to be serviced (it cost about half what the machine cost to start with....gasp, cough) and then the class is on April 5. I will definitely post more about my progress later!

Stand By Me video ... Playing for Change

I really loved this video ... thanks to one of the ladies on my Gratitude project (charlenenglish) who posted a link to it. Its basically street musicians from all over the world who have been recorded on the street and digitally combined ... I thought it was v. cool so if you have a minute you should check it out ... I hope it gives you a little inspiration for your day!

Can you see my big fat tummy?

Ok so Matthew comes out wearing a simply stunning outfit he has designed and asks if I like it. Itell him I am amazed and that this is definitely picture worthy so hold still for a photo.

Matthew: "Can you see my big fat tummy in the picture?"

Me: "Well no. I don't actually think you have a big fat tummy."

Matthew: "Well I'll turn to the side and you can take another one. Now can you see it?"

I agree that I can see a little tummy, and he runs back to his bedroom. He returns in a few short moments with more 'accessories' added to his outfit, I take another picture and he runs back to his bedroom.

He's back in a few minutes in an outfit which his father proclaims is 'over the top'.

Matthew: "See the orange thing here (points to stuffed pumpkin tucked into his scarf)? This is my other head. Do I look like I'm prepared for anything?"

Me: Sure, what do you think you are prepared for?

Matthew: "Well, flying and other stuff. See I have a thing on my back like Boba Fett and Jenga Fett had (points to wrapping paper tube stuck in his Speedo floatie)."

Dad: A jet pack?

Matthew: "Yeah a jet pack. So I can fly."

Dad: That looks like its stuck in your pants. Is it an exhaust tube? (explains what an exhaust tube is used for and what fumes might be exhausting from his pants ... this results in loud cackling from all parties)

Good times.

Jenn ... Lord of the Flame

Of course you know there has to be a story behind that.

So to preface the story, I have to tell another story about when I was scrapbooking at Miriam's house a few years ago and she had some lit candles (!!!) on the table where we were scrapbooking. As I got ready to leave, I set my paper bag full of scrapbook paper on top of the table, it leaned over and was just close enough to the candle flame to catch on fire. Miriam noticed the flames, gave out a little shriek, grabbed the bag, rushed it over to the sink and put out the fire. After telling this story to her family the next day, Knox (age 5 -- who had been watching a lot of the movie "Ice Age") christened me 'Jenn, Lord of the Flame'.

Ok fast forward to this week ... I had a candle burning on the bedroom dresser. I went in to check on my husband who was sleeping and noticed the candle burning low but decided to let it burn. I came back in later that night to go to bed and noticed that the candle had gone out on its own from lack of wax ... there was a little smell of smoke in the air, but just the kind of smoke like when you blow out a candle so I didn't really think any more about it. The next day I went to throw the candle out and realized that the candle jar had shattered from the heat and there was a big black burn mark underneath where the candle was sitting on the dresser.

So, I am extremely grateful that 1) My husband didn't die from smoke inhalation or fire and 2) My house did not burn down.

I'm participating in the year-long Gratitude Project and below is my page for my gratitude book that I made about this incident: