A Break in the Action

Life's been busy, what can I say. There's been little time to post, much less do anything else I really enjoy. The posts would mainly all be about school, anyway, because the school year has started up and the time I'm home is now filled with Ian while he's awake, and working on lesson plans, grading papers, and writing IEPs when he's asleep. We've been in school for 4 weeks now, and I think things are starting to work themselves out and I finally have things in order enough to take some time out for myself and update everyone on our lives.

We went home to see our parents Labor Day weekend. First time Darrin had been home since spring break in April. Darrin's parents had a fish fry and we took my dad to see The Dark Knight (mom had to work). It was such a relaxing weekend. I didn't touch a computer the whole time I was there. I did try to trim Ian's hair around his ears. I did such a terrible job my sister took the shears to it and gave him a summer haircut just in time for the weather to turn fall-like. It took a few days to get used to, but I love it now, and the best part is I don't have to worry about getting him a haircut for a long time now.

This past weekend it was rainy and cool here; perfect quilting weather. I made some progress on my Shadow Play Ocean Waves quilt, getting all the green/tan center strips completed. Now I just need to sew the big triangles on. I've got only 4 of those done, but at least it's a start. I'm glad there's a bunch of colors in the quilt, because these tans look a bit funny together. I'll be able to play with it more. This weekend is Quilting Sunday so I'll be able to make more progress.

That's really about it from here. Work will be interesting this year. I love my 4th graders. I had them last year in 3rd grade, so they're used to me and we picked up right where we left out. Still working on the relationships with the 3rd graders and trying to determine exactly what each needs to be the best student. They're a very interesting bunch- and there's only 4 of them. I'm sure by May I'll love 'em like I love my 4th graders.

Darrin's busy working on a school project for me, too. He always sits at home and programs at night (even though he does it all day long at work!). I decided if he was going to do that, might as well program something I can use for school, so he's making something to help my students with sight words. Can't wait for that to be done, except for I promised a batch of cookies when he finished...

Reading Books

One reason I don't get a lot done around the house is I get completely engrossed in a book and I can't put it down until I finish it. I become obsessive. All I can think about is finishing the book. That's how I know the difference between a book I love and one I don't; the one's I don't I can put down for a few days before I return to. Two days ago I was obsessed with James Patterson's book Sunday's at Tiffany's. He had such an interesting point of view as to how imaginary friends come into your life, and their impact on your future (it's a total romance story). Better than his interesting view is the fact that he uses my first and last name in the book. I was so struck by seeing my name in the book I had to run and show it to Darrin, who, of course, didn't think it was nearly as cool as I did.

Ian is also obsessed with books, particularly the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Darrin and I have it memorized we have read it to him so many times. For awhile now, he's been "reading" the pages of the words he knows when we read to him, those pages that say, "No, please, buh-bye". He pulled his book off the shelf last night and started reading to himself. When he would get to the red page where the pigeon gets really mad because he can't drive the bus, Ian's voice would go up and get loud. I swear on the page that says, "True story" Ian was trying to say it as he kept saying "Oooooooo". But the kicker for Darrin and I was as he was flipping through the book, not in any order, he came across the page that says "Vroom-vroom-vroomy-vroom-vroom" and without any prompt, Ian goes- Vroom. Darrin and I looked at each other in shock. It's so amazing to us how quickly Ian picks up words and says words we haven't really worked on, like Vroom, meow, and lion. Here's Ian reading a bedtime story for you:

Bliss is when...

your son, who is normally up shortly after 6 in the morning, sleeps in until 9!

That's how Saturday started, and it was fantastic. I can't remember the last time I got to sleep in that late since Ian's been on a regular sleeping schedule.

Saturday continued its blissfulness, as Darrin hung out with Ian and I got to go back-to-school shopping for myself. I'm not a big shopper; I do it at this time of year and Christmas. It was actually enjoyable this time. Most clothes I tried actually fit really well.

Then, what's better than having your hubby make homemade pizza for dinner. Ian really enjoyed it.
Ian enjoyed even more the frozen yogurt we got at TCBY for dessert later that night. He wore his cowboy outfit for the first time, and it actually didn't get completely covered in yogurt.

The weather has been perfect this weekend. We took Ian on lots of walks, and then spent today playing in the water. First, he helped me wash my car.


And then he had a blast playing in the yard sprinklers.

Got caught up on some things around the house I was behind on, so not really any quilting or scrapbooking this weekend. The kids show up at school tomorrow. It brings more routine back into my life, but more stress and work, too. Can't wait to see what this school year holds.

Runaround

With work starting up again tomorrow, I'll be running around town; commuting to work, picking up Ian, running errands in-between. What better way to run around town than with a runaround bag.

The pattern is by Lazy Girl Designs and it was so easy to put together. Took about 2 hours and only two fat quarters. Super-Duper Easy. I may need to get the Miranda pattern. Thought I'd have no use for a bag that big, but with school starting, I may need a new bag to take schoolwork home in.

Apparently I took too long making dinner last night...
Ian asked for a towel and curled up at the table. He's been dragging the blankets around in the basement and asking to rock-a-bye with a blanket before bed, so I'm finally getting some use out of the quilt I made him.

Dinner must have revitalized him, though, because he and Darrin played peek-a-boo with the banister afterwards.

Week with Grandma and Grandpa

My parents left Tuesday after spending a week here with us. Ian loved having them here, mostly because they would do everything he wanted, but that's what grandparents are for. Ian quickly learned the word 'hat' while they were here. He would bring grandpa both grandpa's hat and his hat to show grandpa he wanted to go outside. They went on at least two walks every day.

Their first night in town I had a softball game and they all came to watch. Ian met a girl who was passing out Lucky Charms to us on the team (we were behind in the final inning-and their luck worked). Ian was, of course, right next to her since she had food. I think he made a new friend. The crazy thing is that she's four, and I never would have guessed she was that old when they were standing next to each other.

The next morning, Ian had to take his grandparents to his favorite place, the zoo. Ian went wild in the aquarium, bouncing from one side of the tunnel to the other to look at all the fish and sharks. Thank goodness they were there to chase after him! The weather was perfect for the morning out and the animals were all awake and active. It was a great day.
Ian spent every night out in the pool on the deck. He didn't care what he wore, either. He'd get in with his clothes on, his swimsuit, just swimmers, or nothing at all. He loves walking around in the pool and dumping water from one container to another. He doesn't mind the water getting dumped on him, either. So much time in the pool has carried over to the tub, though. He won't sit down, just wants to walk around. Might have to pull the ducky tub back out.


Ian also had his 18-month pictures while they were here. The pictures turned out okay, but Ian just doesn't show his trademark smile there because they want to pose him and he wants to do his thing. We have the benefit here of capturing him in the moment. Here were some of our favorites that they got.

Goodbye summer...

This is the last weekend before I go back to life as a teacher, and what's back-to-school without a new haircut. The last time I had it cut was February. It was really long, and this is the shortest I've had since freshman year of college. So here's a picture mom and dad...
Before I got overwhelmed in grading papers and writing lessons, I had to get a red, white, and blue star done for my prolific online quilting group. One of the girls is serving overseas, and many of us are making a block to be sewn into a quilt for her. Here's my block. It's the 'Nebraska' block from Carol Doak's book (can you guess why I picked it?)


Ian will be 18-months-old on Wednesday, so he got a birthday present from us. He's been driving his tractors and cars all over our furniture like crazy these last couple of days. I saw this toy at Target and decided he needed it and it couldn't wait until Christmas, hence the 18-month gift. He loves it. It's the only thing he's played with since he got it, and that was at 3:00 today.

Darrin questioned whether or not Ian should have gotten a gift. He's been a pistol this last week. We think it's the terrible two's hitting already, and they sure are annoying. If he doesn't get his way on anything, he throws a fit. Most the time it's okay, just a few seconds of crying and rolling on the floor before the thumb goes in the mouth and all is well. During meals is when it's really bad, though. If he doesn't get his way, his criss-crosses his arms quickly infront of him and anything in the path gets cast onto the floor. BBQ, ranch, mac 'n cheese, yogurt, you name it- it's seen our floor this week. Unfortunately whoever built our house put carpet in the only place a table can go, and unfortunately Darrin and I bought a table that doesn't leave enough clearance to pick up Ian's chair enough to get it under the table with something covering the floor. As a special education teacher, I've taken quite a few behavioral classes, and my education tells me that I should take him away from the table when he does this, but the mother in me doesn't want him to starve... hopefully this ends soon.

We're really loving our new Nikon. We've taken more picture in this month so far than we did the whole month a year ago, and Ian's was just as cute then as he is now. Here's my boys washing dishes in the sink:

Iowa Shop Hop

Wow! What a four-day quilt shopping trip through Iowa. I went with Marlena, her mom, and another quilting friend. It was so much fun and I bought so much. My main objectives were to get 40 fat quarters for Miss Rosie's Gone Buggy pattern, find some different threads to try in my machine, find the back for the Dick and Jane quilt, some fabric to finish off my Shadow Play quilt, and anything else that might be shop-specific. I was able to get that, and so much more. I have so many projects to work on now, and I'm not good at having multiple projects going on at once, so I've got to get going on one so I can get it finished up. We ended up going to 11 stores over the course of the 4 days. Here's the list of them, plus what I bought.

Our first stop was Adel Quilting and Dry Goods. It was a tiny shop, but had so many cute things, such as stitcheries and jackets. I picked up a few fat quarters for my Miss Rosie's Gone Buggy pattern and this cute stitchery from Mac-A-Doodles. I'm going to have to wait til we're actually done having kids... which means I should probably start stitching now or our youngest would probably be 21 when I would finish.
Next stop was Creekside Quilts in Clive, Iowa. This shop was big and while the last shop had only about 1000 bolts, this one had close to 3000. Even though it had so many bolts, there weren't a lot that really stuck out and I just got a few more fats for Miss Rosie.

From Clive we headed to Grinnell Fiberworks. This stop was definitely not my taste. I bought a spool of Superior thread to try on my machine and that was it. This shop had lots of Amy Butler and Kaffe Fassett. I think the big, bold designs of their fabric just intimidate me. The others along really loved the shop, though.

We stopped by two places in the Amana Colonies. The first was Fern Hill. This shop was amazing. They sold antiques and had their own fabric artist on staff, so they had their own line of fabric. The staff was so helpful and I walked out with 7 fat quarters. I wanted two of the kits they made up, but I had my objective list and was trying to not veer too much. I veered at the next store, though. Heritage Designs had a TON of reproduction fabric, as well as many stitcheries. I got a panel to make Ian a farm book. He already has confiscated it so I don't have a picture. I got a few more fat quarters there, a spool of Aurifil thread, and these fabrics to make the Foldover Bag, which I already had the pattern for. The paisley fabric is the main fabric, the cream is lining, the blue is top and the brown the bottom.

That brought the end of day 1, and what an exhausting day. I was surprised at how all the shops were different, and at how I had done a pretty good job of restraining myself....

Day two started at Quilter's Quarters in Lamont. This was my favorite place of the trip. She had SIX THOUSAND bolts of fabric. You could barely walk down the aisles there were so many. I went nuts in this shop, and the great thing is, I drive past it every time I go to visit my parents! I wanted to by fat-quarter sets of all the lines she had. She just had so many things. We spent at least 2 hours in the store. I bought 11 fat quarters for Miss Rosie- which were actually priced at 1/4th the cost of the bolt instead of a flat rate. I found the back for my Dick and Jane quilt here as well. I also got this pattern for a future project and a fat quarter collection from Buggy Barn- In the Pink II line (the star pattern was from Quilter's Cupboard).

We drove a scenic route to Lansing along which we saw many barns with quilts on them. Our stop in Lansing was Yellowbird Art. It was another shop that had fabrics too 'out there' for my taste. I ran into friends from childhood at the store though, so it was completely worth it. I bought the cream lining for my fold-over bag here and that was it.

We spent the rest of Saturday night and most of Sunday quilting. I sewed together Ian's farm book so I had something to give him and worked on Shadow Play. On the way from my friend's house to my parent's house, we stopped by the quilt shop her aunt's own- Forest Mills. I got a few more fat quarters for Miss Rosie.

We left for Omaha Monday morning and our first stop was Quilting Connection in Ames. By this point in the trip, I was expecting shops to look the same, but you could still find fabric lines and patterns that no other shop we had been to had. My Miss Rosie collection grew by 8 more fabrics.

Just a short trip down the road took us into Ankeny and Quilter's Cupboard. This is where I got the star pattern I'm using with the pink and brown fat quarters above. I once again added to Miss Rosie's (2 fats) and got a Christmas table runner. The table runner pattern comes with more applique designs than just the holly berry, so you can make one for all the seasons. It is "brewed" by "Tea for Two" from Cherokee, Iowa.
Our final stop of the trip was to Elk Horn and Prairie Star Quilts. This place was a close 2nd to the Lamont shop. They had lots of fabrics, mostly reproduction and country. They had a neat mailing you could sign up for; for $7, they would mail you a 5 in. square from every bolt of fabric they got in that month. That really allowed you to see how diverse their fabric line was. I actually didn't get any fat quarters here for Miss Rosie's. I did buy the Runaroud Bag pattern by Lazy Girl and fabric to go with, along with some reproduction fabrics for an Americana wallhanging I have a pattern for.

It felt like while we were shopping, I bought more than that. Looking at the total bill, though, it was enough. We've already begun planning for next year. Our thoughts are to invite all our female family members down to Omaha next year and rent a cabin to quilt in for the weekend. We're planning on inviting our family members that quilt and don't quilt, and have a few 'classes' for those who are new to choose from. Now we just need to figure out a name for our group. Here's all the fat quarters for Miss Rosie. Not sure if I have all that I need yet, but I'm pretty darn close.