Happy Halloween!

Well, we made it a little farther this year than last, despite the rain. We again trick-or-treated with Caelan's friends, Malerie and Lauren, and their families. Last year, Garrett wore his costume for all of 3 minutes. We pretty much forced him to go to one house, where his ill-humor escallated into full-blown tantrum by the time we were on the front porch. Bob brought him home and I continued on with Caelan. Tonight, we went an entire block, both sides of the street (10 houses or so) before Garrett called it quits. I didn't blame him. We were all soaked. He managed to growl at a few people- it was OK as he was a dog (AGAIN). I was ready to head home myself, so I brought him home this time, while Bob continued with Caelan.

We have more candy than I know what to do with. I think I will sort through all of the colorful stuff and save it for gingerbread houses. We don't need to eat all of that. I actually had Garrett pass out boxes of crayons to his friends at school, while Caelan passed out skeleton placements. I am all for candy in moderation, heck I have a secret stash at home, but all this is too much. Though, I asked Caelan what she thought of the placemats and she said she liked them, but it was a little wierd. I am OK with wierd.

Enjoy.

Quilt top

I am pleased. I started the quilt on Friday. Worked all day. 9am to 10pm. Then messed around with it over the weekend. Yesterday I finished the last three squares. Fixed one that I felt like didn't really work and then power sewed all of the squares last night! Well, what do you think? I haven't sewed anything in the last 5 years and the handful of quilts that I did then were less than spectacular. But, I am pretty proud of this:) It looks from the picture that it gets smaller towards the right, but that is just the camera angle (I am standing on a table).

Now, I need to sew a border, though I haven't selected a fabric yet, and then pick a fabric for the back. The quilt lady will put it together for me and Bob's mom will bind it.

Friday night I am planning to work on the scrapbook!

Even more Wishes

Here are seven more wishes. I spent the entire day quilting yesterday and though I still have three more squares to work on, we are done with collecting:) The quilt has 80 squares in total. They are all 8 x 8 squares. Twenty of them are the white/silver pattern from the "Family" wish. Some have only one piece of fabric in the 8 x 8 square, some have four different pieces. They are all squares. As soon as I finish the last three squares, I will sew the squares together. I will take a picture the next time that I set them out. I expect that one more day of power quilting will get me through the quilt top and then off to the quilter it will go to finish with the "quilting" part of it. Bob's mom is going to do the binding. So, with these wishes and the 8 I have material for but no wish yet, it brings our total to 116 ( I think).

We are done collecting wishes! 116 in total!!!

OK, I now have 113 pieces of fabric and I am expecting 3 more. That will bring our total to 116 Wishes!!!!! Thanks to everybody who participated. I plan to finish the quilt top this weekend. This is very ambitious of me:) Here are 16 more wishes, so a total of 100 wishes. Some people have given me their fabric but are still working on their cards, so I will post them when I get them. I am also working on the scrapbook now too!

Loss of a Car & Eleven more wishes

Well I want to say a fond farewell to our trusty friend, our little Saturn SL. She rode off into the sunset with her new owners last night. We are now a one car family, that is until we can pick up my parents old car. We decided to sell the Saturn, buy my brother's boat (which will be a lot of fun next summer!!), buy my parents old SUV, which can tow the boat, and then when our lease expires (soon!) we will purchase/lease a new fuel efficient family vehicle. I have my eye on the Vibe, which is considered a compact car, but seems spacious enough to fit the three car seats in the back and our very large dogs in the way back, when necessary.

Also, I have 11 more wishes. That brings our total to 84 (I think). Bob and I are still planning to do at least one more each. I am expecting a few more through another exchange with some members of my two yahoo groups. To those of you who are mailing them out, I can't wait to get them and will be starting my quilt on Sunday!!

By the way, no new list yet.

Bob is still working on one, I am going to have him handwrite it. Here are two from him.



Two more wishes from me




Bob's cousins, Shelley, Jan and Kathy (OK, with some help from me)


Bob's aunt Joan


Bob's cousin's daughter, Brandi


My very good friend, Tracey


My Uncle Pat and his family (with some help from me)


My Uncle Tom and his family (with some help from me)


My Aunt Kay and her family (with some help)

6 More Quilt Squares!

After ordering the album, I decided that we must finish our squares as well. Bob is still putting the "finishing touches" on his two squares, and I plan to do one more but I don't yet have the fabric. I also forgot about the last one, which was never moved to my quilting box. By the way, I am still collecting squares!! I have 73 in my hand. Bob has two more almost completed. I will do one more. That leaves 24 more to collect:) I am going to start the scrapbook as soon as I get it in the mail.

Here is one of mine, this is the same square that I mailed out to other families that I exchanged squares with.



Caelan's two squares



Garrett's two squares



A Delton family, who is also in the process of adopting from China

Adoption Update

Well, passports have arrived for everybody. We are ready! Now all we need is our Lia:) Our agency has matched 33 children from this current list of waiting children. There are still 5 children waiting on the website, but I am pretty sure they are done making calls from the current list. Last I heard they were expecting a new list at the end of this month or November. Will Lia be on this list? I think that it is a possibility, but I am not planning on it. To pass the time, I plan to finally get started on the scrapbook and quilt for Lia. We have now been waiting for just about 7 months (remember- average wait time is 8 months:)).

The kids are doing well in school. Caelan said that her day goes so fast and she is never ready to come home. She had her first field trip today, but siblings are not allowed, so I wasn't able to help out. I volunteer in her classroom once a week and am the aide in Garrett's "Good Shepherd" class- a Catholic religious education class, which also meets once a week. Preschool is going well for Garrett as well. He is doing better than I expected, though Picture Day this week was very traumatic for him. I am not sure why- he is a ham at home.

Oh, I have a JOB. Yes, I was just hired by Sylvan Learning Center to work as an online tutor. It will likely be 10 hours a week or so, but I can do it from home in my PJ's. Tutoring math 3rd- 9th grade level. I haven't officially started, I just send in my paperwork and then have training to do before actually tutoring students. It will be interesting- but the extra money will go directly towards the adoption trip.

100 Wishes: Wish #62-67

Six More Wishes, getting us to 67 wishes. I just ordered a scrapbook today so that I can start organizing the wishes. I am starting to look through quilt patterns. I want to make an easy quilt. I know how I get when I have projects that are difficult to complete- they never get done. Easy. I need an easy quilt pattern. BUT- I still need more, so if you haven't sent one yet- I would still LOVE your squares!!!

This is from my very best childhood friend, Beth. Note the leaves on her fabric and the picture of the two of us buried in leaves- we were probably five years old:) Thanks, Beth!



Beth's mom, Mrs. Lawson also sent a square.


An Indiana family with an April, 2007 Log in Date


Mr. and Mrs. Drainville, friends of my parents


My Aunt Jane and Uncle Tom


Marilyn and Jack Kosiorek, Friends of my parents and my Godparents