Pasta Time

I love to make fresh pasta. It's delicious and everyone likes it. But it is work. Well I was blessed recently, for our 2nd Anniversary, with a connector for my Kitchen Aid. I make the pasta then I run it through the kitchen aid mixer to flatten the dough then cut it into shapes like fettucinni and spaghetti, or angel hair or even ravioli.

Confirmation

Luther was Confirmed last night. It was a very long beautiful Mass. The bishop gave a lovely homily that was serious and made us all consider our faith and how it affects our lives, yet he was funny and engaging. Luther brought up the gifts. The bishop read the letters that each of the children wrote to him about why they wanted to recieve the Sacrament of Confirmation. All the letters were very though out.

Unfortunately, we forgot our camera with all the hubbub of getting ready and rushing out. But we should be getting a picture from our Priest who always arranges a photograph session when we have Communions and Confirmations.

We stayed after the mass for a gathering. Food was served for us and we had a lovely time of fellowship. We got two invitations to visit at people's homes but it was getting late, Sara was in pain, and Peter was getting fussy, Nicolas fell and scraped his elbow and was miserable about it, so we just went home afterwards.

The only thing that could have made the night better would be having all of you, dear family and friends from up north, be able to be here. We miss you all!

Family Game Night

There are several games that our family plays regularly, they are: Monopoly, Scrabble, Pay Day, Clue, Upwords, Blokus, and several card games.

We don't have a specific family game night, although I think we should. We just play whenever we are bored and need something to do.

Some of you have not heard of Blokus or Upwords. Blokus is a very easy game for ages 5 and up. Here is the link to the site http://www.blokus.com/.

This next game, Upwords, is a cool word game similar to Scrabble only a bit easier for children to play. You make a word and then you can change a letter or two to make a new word and collect the points. Just make sure that when you change the word it doesn't mess up the other word connected to it, or that it works with the other word. Have fun and have a family game night! Turn off the t.v. pop some popcorn and have some laughs!!

A Blessed Easter

We had a lovely Easter celebration here at home with my family from Pa. They drove so far to visit and we are so grateful for their sacrifice. We had about 4 days to visit, so we tried to squeeze in as many good times together in that time. We went to the park, the museum, and took a bus tour through Montgomery. We also took them to our parish to attend some of the masses of Holy Week. We attended the traditional Easter Vigil Mass where a family of five joined the Catholic Church that night. It was a lovely Mass.

We spent Easter Sunday coloring eggs, had an egg hunt, and enjoyed our last day to visit. There were so many things we wanted to do, but not enough time. But the most important thing we did do was to spend time together: talking, laughing, eating, and playing. What more do you need?

The weather was great and we look forward to the next time we can all be together again.

Flu, flu, go away!

We are finally over the flu. It was horrible. Poor Peter is on his third ear infection. Hopefully his last for a while. Today Nicolas has an earache, but no one has flu or cold symptoms. It was a rough couple of weeks. This flu caused our fevers to shoot up to as high as 103.8 and higher for the little ones. Thankfully Tom stayed healthy throughout the ordeal.

Hopefully we will stay healthy for the rest of Spring. Speaking of which, spring is definitely here. It was 78 degrees yesterday and has stayed in the 70's for a few days now. We hope the weather continues to stay lovely for my sister's visit next week! We can't wait to see them. We haven't seen them since Thanksgiving 06'. They will finally get to meet Peter, who is now ten and a half months old.

It's fun to be at the YMCA

(not actual YMCA facility)

On Monday we all joined the YMCA. Don't sing the song, Tom hates it! LOL. Anyway, we are enjoying it immensely. It is only $57 a month for all of us. We have access to all the work out classes, the weight room, the bikes and elypticals, stair masters, etc.. The kids love to swim most of all. And believe it or not, we have worked out everyday this week so far! We shall see how long the enthusiasm lasts!!

Frenchy Bag and More!

As I am able to find time, make time, or steal time, I allow myself the pleasure and treat of making something with fabric and my sewing machine. This past week I purchased the Amy Butler Frenchy Bag pattern. I couldn't wait to get started on it and I got it done in one afternoon and evening with lots of interruptions. I started it after mass on Superbowl Sunday and got it done before midnight. It was "SEW EASY" and it is roomy without being too large or bulky. Below is a picture of the inside and pockets. I forgot to buy a magnetic snap so I need to add that. I think velcro would work too.

Below is my very first baby quilt. I finished it a couple of weeks ago but took far too long to finally mail it. My first attempt at mailing it, I ran other errands came home and completely forgot to go to the post office. I planned to go again the next day, but it was so rainy and ugly out that I decided not to go out at all that day. The next day was Saturday and I missed the deadline for the Post Office. On Monday I got so caught up with cleaning and school and then got sucked into sewing, that I didn't go out at all again. Then finally today, Sara had a doctor appointment and I had to go to the post office to get stamps to mail some bills so, FINALLY, I mailed it out. Thank goodness my nephew isn't due for a few more weeks!! I hope you like it Steph!

I was looking to buy some fabric checkbook covers to got with my Frenchy Bag or future bags I will make, so I went on ebay and bid on a couple. I lost the bids because I was too cheap to bid higher than $5, so I decided to research how to make my own. I found a free pattern online for the checkbook cover and made one. I used my Chocolate Lollipop fabric (which doesn't match with my bag, but will match with the next bag I make). It turned out nice but I made a few changes to the pattern to make it work better with my checks. Here is what it looks like. The colors are nice, pink and chocolate! YUM!

I am thinking of making a few and selling them on ebay. But first I will start by making them for family and friends as gifts.

My next new project will be making another smaller bag also by Amy Butler called Stash and Dash Bags. These little bags are great when you don't feel like carrying a purse or tote but have more than a handful to carry. I am expecting my pattern in the mail any day now. I bought a stash of fabric at Walmart for $1 or $2 a yard. But I want to invest in a few yards of designer fabric too, which can run about $9-$14 a yard, but are very pretty and unique.