Future Restauranteur

John spent two days learning how to fold a cloth napkin. He was obsessed, even folding the napkin as we drove along in the car!

His guide was this book that Tim picked up at a yard sale called Fancy Folds The Art of Napkin Folding by Linda Hetzer and illustrated by Robert Penny.

This fold is called The Candle. The napkin stands upright and stays up.

Buffet server II

Swan

Echo

Regimental Stripe

Double Fan, displayed in a glass.

Rio

I got such a kick out of seeing his determination to fold this napkin in at least twenty different ways including  the Astoria, Algonquin, Bow Tie, Flower Pot, Arrowhead, Mexican Fan, Flamingo, Elegante, Emerald and a Cow for children. Seriously, who knew there were so many ways! He had to follow line drawings and think spatially in order to make these folds and spent so many hours doing it that I surprised him by allowing this to be his math lesson for the day!

Signature Baby Gift

Mom C. developed this fabulous baby gift idea a number of years ago and we still LOVE to create these custom receiving blankets for new moms and their babies.

All that is required is one yard each of coordinating flannel fabric, matching thread and in this case, satin blanket binding in a matching or contrasting color.

There is a huge selection of these soft flannels to choose from. We like to get two pieces that are different but look well together. The brown blanket above was designed for a baby boy whose parents like dogs and this wonderful bicycle print was for my grand-daughter.

I lay the fabric right sides together on a cutting board and cut it about 37 inches x 37 inches.

I leave the two pieces inside out and sew around three sides.Then I turn it right side out.

The seams are pressed out and the top seam sewn across after tucking in the edges.

Because the G-man absolutely loves the satin biding around his baby blanket, Meg decided to add it to these two that we were making, for a change. We pinned it on and worked on the corners to make a nice square.

The final result is an extra large, extra warm and soft receiving blanket which has two sides. They are fun to take out in public and give as gifts because they are custom made and unique.

These are the swatches from two blankets that we made a couple of weeks ago for my newest niece!

 Dear Lord, Thank you for your generous gift of life! In your great mercy and love, please help all the new babies in the family to thrive. Amen. 

Enjoying The Moments

Trip Trap, Trip Trap who's that crossing over my bridge?

The little guy playing trains which he can do for an hour.

 Dear Lord, Please help me to remember that I have the best job in the world!  It will all go so quickly... Please help me to stay positive and loving and to enjoy all the beautiful moments. Amen.

Getting To Know You

 We waited as long as we could to give these new parents a chance to rest after coming home from the hospital with their new bundle of Joy.

 It was time for Uncle John to meet his new nephew.

 Grandma and Grandpa are getting used to their new roles. It seems like not long ago we were the young parents.

 On this day, Hank came to our house to visit for the first time. He looks like a baby doll!

 The "grand guys" or boy cousins meet.

 We are so grateful that this little fellow is growing so well and that his mom is already nursing like a pro!

Imagine our delight  as it becomes clear that for now, this little prince is a red-head!!!!!! Yea, God!!!

In the Company of Cousins

 Although this bunch looks very relaxed or even tired in this picture, I am pretty sure that all the kids really enjoyed spending more than 24 hours with some of their cousins from 3 families on a recent week-end.

 Here, the kids were playing  a wholesome card game called " Drug Dealer" in the late afternoon!

 I wanted to have some fun and devoted my weekend to cooking for this large group of kids. I didn't want to intrude by taking a lot of pictures so I only pulled my camera out this one time. They also spent time playing board games, running around the yard, roller blading, and riding 4 wheelers. By God's Grace, we had a safe time.

 In the evening, we all watched a movie together, "Tron" which was very good. The boys set up a tent indoors to camp out in and the ladies slept in the guest room.

I had plenty of groceries on hand for this hungry bunch and enjoyed every minute of serving meals and snacks to them. Our 15 passenger  "Party Wagon" came in handy to transport our crowd to Mass on Sunday morning.
 It was such a pleasure to entertain so much family. There were 25 people here on Saturday when the kids were being dropped off for the weekend and it almost seemed like a holiday.  Many thanks to all the adults who hung out with us and to all the kids who played so well together. Let's do it again sometime!