Saturday was a busy day for us. Even though we only slept a few hours the night before, we got up early and drove to Baltimore to spend some time at the aquarium there.

It is a really cool place. I had been there before with Leighton over the summer but no one else had. It was also the only day I had off to spend this much time with the family.

The weather was not too bad, cloudy but not too cold so that made it bearable to walk around some.

After we left Baltimore, we went out to eat and then went see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" which is almost a 3 hour movie. We were so exhausted by the end of the night. But it was a great way to spend my birthday. So the next day, we spent most of it in bed before we got up and I opened presents (thanks for all my goodies and cards!), Keith made breakfast and baked me mint brownies. Then it was off to work. It was a great weekend and we had a fun time. Now another year is done and off to another good one, I hope!

Dolphin Trick

We went to the National Aquarium on Saturday and it was loads of fun. Here is a quick clip of the dolphin show we attended.

Merry Christmas to everyone. Joshua came in Christmas morning and we could not wait to jump in and unwrap presents!

Joshua received a new laptop and was quite happy about it. Kyle got money so that is not as fun to show off especially since it went straight into his account. Now that they are older, the gifts get fewer though more expensive!

Here is how we now spend quality family time!

We had a pretty good dinner and Kyle said it was the best rice and gravy he ever ate. Those kind of compliments always make me think of Mom and give me a lump in my throat cause I wonder if it is even possible to cook as good as her. I keep trying though!

We had a great day and was even blessed cause I got off of work. We went see the movie Seven Pounds and it was incredible. Now, on to the next celebration!!

Happy Christmas Eve

Kyle has been home over a week now and it has been some kind of fun. Tonight I only had to work for an hour so that was awesome. We went eat out and then came home and thought we would watch a movie or something on the tv but there was nothing. Keith was up early cause he flew today and of course, fell asleep. Kyle and I are mean and like to make fun when he does.

Keith finally woke up and we took a picture. We were kind of bored. Right now, Keith and Kyle are playing Tiger Woods golf on the Wii. We are just in a hurry for Josh to come so we can really feel the Christmas spirit. And we are wishing Michelle were here, we miss her sooooo much...

On another note, Keith did fly today and made 5000 hours. That is a big deal in the flying community and he got a patch which is posted underneath. So, congratulations, honey. We are all so proud of you!! And everyone else, hope you have great holidays...I know I will be thankful for the day.

Yep, that is Kid Rock with his nasty hand on my husband. Keith just got back from a USO tour with him, Kelly Pickler, Lewis Black and some other "celebrities". The only reason he took a picture with one is cause I told him to so I could blog it not knowing how much trouble the Kid would be. I will not go into a rant about how some celebrities think they are above everyone else and think they can do whatever they want but it can be irritating for the people around them and possibly cost people their jobs. I am just glad that Keith is back home and safe with us and ready to celebrate the holidays!

Here is my tree all decorated. And of course it has pink lights on it too! When I come home from work late at night, Keith always has the lights on so that I can see them and they are so pretty. This week has been dark cause Keith has been on a trip and Kyle does not turn on the lights for me. I hope everyone is enjoying the season...I know I am...lots to be thankful for every day.

Happy Birthday to the best daughter in the whole wide world! It is hard to believe that a quarter of a century has passed us by but the best is yet to come for you. This next year should hold a lot of great things for you and you deserve every single one of them. Once again, you are the bestest of the best and I am blessed every day for having you for a daughter. I should be showering you with gifts but it seems as if the gifts are all mine. I love that our relationship has moved into the realm of best friends and it makes what we have even more special. I love you and I hope you have a great day! I wish we could be together but know that you are always in my heart.

Keith and I went to a Christmas tree farm to pick out our own Christmas tree and I thought Keith was going to have to cut it down his own self but they had two guys out there to cut it down for us. It was a really cold and windy day so we made our selection quickly.

Don't let Keith fool you, he is a real tree hugger.

This is our tree and it is probably the biggest one we have ever bought before and it only cost $35.00 bucks. We thought it was quite a steal. It definitely the cheapest tree we ever bought together. It took a few days for us to decorate but we finally got it done. I will have to wait until Kyle gets here with his camera to take a picture of the finished product cause Keith went on a trip and he has the camera. Happy Holidays!

I finally received my tote in the mail that was designed by William. I am really excited about it. I have been using it for work and everyone there loves it and I love saying that my brother designed it!

I also got a new coat while Michelle was here and I have been wearing it ever since. It goes very well with my new bag.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I know I am late but it has been a whirlwind since Michelle got here on Thursday. When Keith and Michelle walked in from the airport, they said the house smelled like MaB's and it was the greatest compliment I ever had. We had pork roast instead of turkey and it was really good but it is hard to mess up one of those from Adrien's. We had a nice day but I had to leave and go to work that afternoon so it was short.

On Friday, Keith felt like frying shrimp which was fine with Michelle and me. Of course, Michelle needed an appetizer of rice and gravy beforehand!

The shrimp were great and Keith fried them up perfectly. They were quite spicy! The place we bought them had all kinds of seafood including Louisiana alligator meat! Today is Saturday and we went see a movie, Four Christmases, which was very funny and walked the mall a little bit. Tonight we are going to go eat out at Dover Downs which has several restaurants and a casino. I am finally off tonight so we have the whole day and night but Michelle leaves tomorrow which is to soon for me. But it was fun while it lasted. We love you, Michelle and we will miss you.

Michelle and John came in Saturday for the day. We had breakfast at the IHOP and it was really good. They brought me this really funny magnet with the woman on the phone telling her child "Sweetheart, I die a little bit each day that I don't have a grandchild." That one made me laugh hard and still does when I see it on my fridge. I just want my kids back!

Even though we are almost a month early, I let Michelle open her birthday present and she does it like such a ham!

she was quite excited to get a new purse. I think it shows on her face.

Here we are again at the IHOP. The reason the pictures are different sizes is because I took the IHOP pictures from Michelle's MYSpace page. She had a good one of Keith but she did not post it. You know what I am talking about, Michelle. Anyway, it was great to see them cause even though Michelle will be back on Thursday, I won't see John for quite a while. Can't wait for Thanksgiving!

alright, this is my last blog about the quilt. It is finished, well, except for the actual quilting. The top is finished and I am very pleased with it. I certainly feel a sense of accomplishment for something I was really unsure I was able to do. Of course, it took a great teacher like Edna to help me and she had lots of patience.

This is the final borders I put on. I love the last border the best and it was one of my favorite fabrics. I think it really brings the whole quilt together.

Edna convinced me I needed to make pillow cases to match my quilt so I did (cause I always do what Edna tells me!). They were not as hard as I thought to make and when I put it all together on the bed, it will look really good. I am now in the planning stages of my next quilt (or two) and very excited about it. Thanks to everyone for the good wishes and compliments....I always appreciate the support.

Before it gets to be winter, I want to post some fall pics. This one is me coming home after work at 12:30 a.m. and it is so foggy, I can hardly see anything. I drive down some back roads where deer hang out so it is quite scary when I can't see.

These are just pics of some pretty trees that I get to see all the time. Because we live in a rural area, there are lots of trees and they were such pretty colors but now they have mostly lost their leaves and winter is heading in. It is supposed to snow tomorrow!

Finally some real progress. Thursday, I sewed all my blocks together and got this. I had quite a few problems and let me tell you, ripping out seams and re-sewing takes a lot of time but some of my blocks did not line up. However, with Edna's help and the help of a few ladies that came in the shop, I finally got it together good enough. Quilting ladies have quite a few opinions when it comes to how things are done but I find it all quite amusing. I still have to sew on three borders but it was extremely satisfying to see it finally come together. I am already talking about my next quilt and looking at different patterns. I guess that is a good sign.....

This is called squaring up. I had to get all 24 of my blocks and make sure they were 13 and 1/2 inches all the way around by using that clear square thing on top of my block and cutting them straight. I go for my lesson today and Edna and I are going to lay out all the blocks in some sort of pattern and then I will start sewing them together. As you can see, one part of my block is light and one part is dark. By putting the light and dark in a certain way, it will form a pattern. That is what Edna says anyway. I will let you know.

This is just a random shot I took while I was driving and on the phone with Michelle. I thought the trees looked pretty though there are other prettier trees but I never have my camera with me when I see them. This is for people down south that are still sweating in the heat while I am wearing longjohns because it is so cold here!

Saturday, Keith and I worked at a craft fair selling frito pies for the spouses group for Keith's squadron. Please don't ask how I got roped into that. The amazing thing is how many people asked what a frito pie is. I thought people all over ate that but apparently that is a southern thing.

Really, Keith did not want to sell frito pies so he took his show on the road. He pulled a wagon around the fair and sold cold drinks on the go. I swear! It was quite the day for us.

First, I am disappointed because Keith and I met John in Philly on Saturday but I forgot to take any pictures. It could have been because we went to the Terminal again to eat lunch and it is such a cornucopia of food that I was distracted. Anyway, it was great to see John since I haven't seen him in such a long time and I used to see him all the time so I miss him a lot. My future son-in-law is a great guy and I am glad he is going to be a part of our family. Hope to see you again soon, John!


Ok, my quilt is progressing. There is more to quilting than just sewing. I had to cut all my fabrics and little by little I am building these blocks. I pin them together to sew and I can tell you, I have pricked myself a million times already.

Then I sew them together. I am getting better at the sewing as I go on but some on my blocks are a little crooked. Sometimes I want to do them over but Edna tells me I am to hard on myself and that it will end up ok, so I will trust her in this since she is the expert. Also, I have had trouble threading the needles and such and end up bringing the whole shebang to Edna at the shop to help me. The machine is the hardest thing to learn.

There is a LOT of ironing involved which I had no idea when I started this. Everytime I sew a block, I have to iron it. All in all, I have 24 blocks so that is going to be a lot of ironing and most people know, I am not the ironer in my family.

Then I have to cut the blocks each time to start sewing a new fabric on to it. Keith thinks this is all very tedious but I find it kind of relaxing though it is very time consuming since I am trying to go slow and do a good job.

Then I have my blocks but I still have 3 more fabrics to put on so I had better get to work because my next class is tomorrow and Edna will want to see lots of progress.

I am about to embark on a brand new hobby. I have wanted to learn how to quilt for some time now but I thought I was to dumb to do it. Of course, I thought the same thing about me going back to school and I guess that turned out ok (thanks again, Christine) so I guess I can learn to quilt. I have to start at the very beginning since I don't even know how to sew. I had to buy a sewing maching and have to learn how to work it. I was lucky enough to find a lady, Edna, who will teach me one on one to work the sewing machine and quilt once a week.
Here are the fabrics I picked for my first Log Cabin Quilt I am going to attempt. I really have no time for this right now since I am still Christmas shopping, I am in the middle of a big Christmas project that I am not telling anyone about and I am about to pick up a book that has about 800 pages. Oh yeah, and who knew a job took up so much time. But I am determined and excited about it so I will just have to cut out my computer time or something! Wish me luck....

The last C-17 arrived last week and there was a big ceremony. That is Keith standing on the end if you can't tell. Sometimes those guys all look the same in the flight suits. Anyway, his picture was in the paper and it was a really big deal. I was unable to go because of work (shucks). But now, Keith's squadron is complete and they are full steam ahead.

Michelle recently visited with Kyle at college. And though this is her picture to blog, I am stealing it for a reason. She told me while she was with Kyle that they talked about me and how I am doing with an empty nest. The day before that, Josh had asked me how I was doing with an empty house and it struck me how concerned my children are with how I am doing. As most people know, I carry a purse with my kids pictures on it and many people comment on how beautiful they are but I always want to say "But they are so much more than that". Their concern for me at a time when they are on their own, doing their own thing, shows how much heart they have, how kind and caring and unselfish they are. Every single day I feel blessed with these children and how much we all love each other. It is also what makes life without them in the house that much harder. But I will be alright eventually and I will get through this empty nest mess. I have heard grandchildren help!!! Just Joking, children. I love you.