New Beginnings

With the new school year come new activities.  Girl Scouts have long been providing opportunities for the young ladies of our lives to experience friendship, personal development and service.  One of my friends is leading a new group of Daisy Scouts.  She requested cookies to get the year off to a sweet start!  Here ya go, girls!

Thank You!

 On Sunday, September 11, 2011, we remembered those who lost their lives in the terrible tragedy of the terrorist attacks on our country.  We also honored the first responders and others who risked their lives that day.

We have many dedicated men and women in our communities that, every day, run IN to danger instead of away. 

We are blessed to have these First Responders that work to make our live safer.  We honored our local Fire, Paramedic, and Police departments at our church on 9/11/2011 with words, songs, and sweet treats.  These were just small ways to say

Another Giveaway - Ruby!

Here's another great Jelly Roll giveaway from the Fat Quarter Shop, through Love Affair With My Brother! Just imagine the fun you could have with these prints!

And now for something different!

One of my other loves grabbed me today- quilting! I went in to the shop to pick up splines to make Roman shades for my french doors, and walked out with a new pattern and a bag of fabric! Stay tuned!

Then tonight, I was "surfing" and found a fun website, that is doing a fun give-away- of charm packs of the fabrics I bought today! Oooh, I could make even more stuff if I had those! Or better yet, use them for the quilt and use the yardage for something else!

Now I have to wait ALL WEEKEND to find out if I am a winner- boooooo! Check out Love Affair With My Brother

I also found out tonight that my daughter and son-in-law's wedding quilt is coming out of the frame at the church quilters! They just celebrated their third anniversary, and have a beautiful 4 month old baby girl. So all in all, I'm not too late! I told the next daughter that she better choose a pattern and fabric soon. If all goes according to plan, we have a year of internship then several of grad school before it has to be done, so there is a chance! THEN I'll have to start my sons (but he just started sixth grade).

Summer 2011

I can't believe summer is already gone! My son is now in Middle School. My second daughter is in her last year of college. My granddaughter (oldest daughter and her wonderful hubby) is already over three months old! Time flies!

I've done a bit of baking this summer. After making Mothers' Day cookies for church, the fathers HINTED that they would love some too! So we rallied the kids to decorate tie cookies for each of the dads. No two were alike out of the 100 we made.


In July, we had an open house to celebrate our granddaughter, and to welcome DD2 back from her mission trip to Honduras. We decorated the house with pennants made from Dr. Suess fabrics, and I made lots of cookies. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have taken any pictures! We had round red cookies with "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" on them, green eggs, and square cookies with a hint of Horton's trunk with a pink dust speck on it. I had planned a topsy turvy cake with One Fish, Two Fish icons on it, but you know how time goes.....
It tasted great in separate layers covered in ganache! Who really needs the fancy decorations?!

LL Baseball kept us busy through July. The coach hosted a swimming party to finish off the season. Baseball cookies were a hit!


I finished off the summer with a cake and cookies for a beautiful little princess! I had a little time to play with this one, so finally got out my Cricut Cake electronic cutter to help with details. I must say I think I got it right this time!

I have one cookie project I know of for September. I also need to get my sewing machine humming to catch up on stacks of projects! See you soon!

No, I did not really disappear...

I am not a good blogger. I am a wonderful Internet surfer, and am always interested in what everyone is doing. Before the world of IM, texting, and email, I was not a good letter writer. I'm terrible about getting out Christmas cards, too!

The greatest event of my life recently was the arrival of my beautiful granddaughter, Gracie. She arrived on Mother's Day, all 7 1/2 pounds of her (tiny in my book!). DD1 and Son-in-law are wading through the wonders of new parenthood. Some good, some bad, all blessed!

My son graduated from elementary school last week. Oh, I am not looking forward to doing Middle School again!

It is always interesting to see what DD2 will do next! She is pursuing two degrees, so will be in college another year. Then grad school. She is headed to Honduras this summer on a mission trip, and is looking forward to immersing herself in the Spanish language, her minor at school.

Just for fun, I've tried to fit in some baking. Here's what I've been up to lately: Baby Gracie cookies, LWA graduation cookies, and a cupcake tower with cookie topper for a wonderful young lady at church!

Happy Independence Day!

I hope you are all having a good beginning of the weekend! We have done a little work, but are mostly just relaxing! We may check out some fireworks tonight, and then plan an adventure to the St. Louis Arch tomorrow for the airshow and fireworks over the river. It has been several years since we last went, so should be fun. We won't have to carry a tired toddler over the Eads Bridge at the end of the night this time!

After all the cakes I did mid-May through mid-June, I got busy with cookies! First were dear hubby's 50th birthday cookies and balloons.

We surprised him at the office. He hates surprises. He also hates getting his picture taken! (He prefers to be behind the camera. Check out his photography blog at Lsqrd Imaging.)
.

My daughter is a lifeguard at the local YMCA this summer. She decided to make cookies for the crew! This was her first foray into cookie decorating- now she is hooked! We downloaded clipart to use as templates and handcut the dough for the shapes she wanted.

The whistles, complete with licorice lanyard, were the favorite! She came home and made another batch! (I emailed a cutter company the next day to price a custom cutter for her!)



I think it is now time to take a little break! I have some other projects that must be addressed before I can have more fun!

Have a safe celebration of our wonderful nation's independence!

Thank you to all of our military heros and your families for your sacrifices.