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Oh yes! It's BLOGTOBERFEST YALL! Thanks to Kat @ I Saw You Dancing for the invite! 31 days of blogging madness... I'm up for the challenge! If you'd like to join us, click the link above and sign up!

In other news, Sept 22 was my birthday. I don't mind being a year older. In fact, I spent about 6 months of last year thinking I had turned 35, when actually I was only  34! I feel like I sort of gained an extra year. And... 30s aren't bad. Not bad at all. I'm finally turning into a real grownup. I'm thankful. My 20's were rocky. My teens... yikes, you couldn't bribe me with all the money and chocolate in the world. 30's are good. Settled. Calmer. Thoughtful. I feel like that perfect pair of jeans.. not brand new but gently worn and comfy in all the right places.

For my birthday I got a digital camera. I'm still learning how to use it! It has a wide angle, which is exactly what I needed to improve my quilt pictures. (If you've never taken a picture of a king size quilt, lucky you!) Previously I was using my phone cam. Seriously. Great for sharing pics on instagram. Not so great for sales.

So back to BLOGTOBERFEST! If you haven't signed up, get over there!!! It's gonna be FUN!

Meeting Aralyn...

Meet Aralyn, aka, Super Ninja Toddler.

The toddler years....

Introducing, Aralyn. She's 2.5 short, blonde, cute and "SupahDupah" sweet. No really, she is totally a doll.Well, dolls don't say "NO!"and "NUH UH!" and "WHY?" But, that's ok. They don't usually break things like laptop screens, cochlear implant batteries or pour ten pounds worth of sugar on the floor (I know, I'm still trying to figure out that one too). But they also don't give super "I love you mama" kisses, or say "Thank you mama" or sing "Tinwkle tinwkle widdle staw-wah" like she does either. So, I'd call it a fair trade.

Favorite snack- fresh strawberries at the market

 Speaking of dolls, she loves them. She refers to them all as her "babies"... even the stuffed dinosaur. She puts them to bed, feeds them, gives them a stern talking to when they are bad.  Cutest. Thing. Ever. 

Checking out the sunflowers

Poor thing. Out of 8 kids, she was the only girl stuck with an older and younger brother, though she gets along with her older sisters really well. (Except when she gets in their stuff. She's a makeup/ hair accessory diva, and loves to sneak off to get into the big girls stuff. She also demands to change clothes every chance she gets, her favorite being her pink batman shirt.

Gotta love the two year olds... sweet and sassy. That's my girl.   

Roses and the Naked Ladies

So the fall flowers aren't overflowing just yet since the flowerbed is only a few weeks old... but here's a snippit of what I get to see every day... and hopefully my neighbors get to enjoy them also .


These are Spider Lilies, aka Naked Ladies... I dug these bulbs up from my mom's house years ago and they've been blooming and multiplying ever since. The bulbs seem to just sit there... and sit there... nothing... then suddenly they start shooting up left and right, almost overnight. It takes about 3 days to go from sprouting out of the ground to full bloom.


Not a good shot but this is my Scentinial rose.. smells like a sweet perfume. I love the combination of red and white.. the color (in real life!) is so beautiful! I've planted this rose close to the front door, in hopes that this rose gets much, much bigger as the nursery owner promised. Natural air freshener!



This the Pinata Rose... another lovely. I'm so crazy about orange. This rose starts off with a yellow bud, then opens to more orange and before the bloom fades it goes to red. Finally it fades to red and whites, just lovely!! There isn't much to the scent, but it truly makes up for it in tons of flowers and color. Amazing to watch the colors change over the course of a day.



As you can see I need to spend some time weeding and mulching. I'm ready to get through the winter with lots of quilting and home renovations, then it will be on to spring. One day at a time!

Here's two of the crew that are keeping me busy today-

Have a happy Saturday!

Daffa Daffa Daffa Dils!

Happy Friday everyone!

We made it through the week with minimal damage. No missed buses, no ER visits, fires, 911 calls or anything dramatic.I'd even go so far as to call it somewhat a boring week. No complaints here, boring is always good and I hope it stays that way.

 *knock on wood*

The summer roses are still blooming, which I love. My Scentinial Rose is giving me about one or two blooms at a time, while the Pinata roses look like they are ready to explode. The buds are just showing, but I'll get a picture soon. I LOVE flower gardening! Right now I'm loving it more than sewing even, though I'm just a newb learning all the ropes. I guess my "specialty" should be roses, since I keep collecting new rose bushes every time I am at the market. There is a local vendor there that really knows his roses and gives me an awesome hookup on new plants. At this rate, we're going to have to get a bigger house so I can have a bigger yard... but for now this will do! I reallllllly love my roses.... but...

Roses only bloom in spring and summer... so I've got to have something pretty in the yard year round... for very early spring I've ordered some bulbs to plant... and I can't WAIT till they get here. I've been checking the mail daily, just waiting for them to come in the mail.

Pink Daffodils! Aren't they ADORABLE??? Seriously... I love the good ole yellow kind, and if these don't work out I'll go back to the old fashioned... but I LOVE these. I loved them so much I ordered 50 of them. *sigh* I don't think I do anything on a small scale, like, ever. Anyone who has seen me in the same room with chocolate or cheesecake or kids or quilts or fabric can attest to this. "Go big or go home!!!" That's my story and I'm sticking to it!


I hope you have a great weekend, I'll be stalking my mail lady in hopes that my daffodils are in her care!

*Update- After speaking with the seller it turns out that my daffodils won't be here until sometime next week. What a bummer! But... they're pink daffodils so that makes it entirely worth it right?

Family days and a side of quilting

August was... WOW.

Birthdays

... My oldest turned 18 or... HOLY COW! I'm the mama to an ADULT! I'm still not claiming my old lady badge... yet.... But so grown, smart and beautiful. I have no idea where the time went. Seems like just yesterday she was 2 and planting daffodils in the yard with my mom. Or 5 and riding her bike all over the place. *sigh* I'm thankful. I'm thankful she's turned into such a wonderful young lady. I hope her adult life treats her well. She deserves it!

Lexi turned 9! Such a big girl now. But this age... so hard to find the "right" gift.  Most toys are to young, girly stuff is to "old" and everything in between is... commercialized boy band, boy crazy JUNK. Next year I'll just give her a  gift certificate for junk food since that seems to be all she really loves to spend her money on lately. 

Paul! Haha Mr. Batman turned 27. There's an 8  year difference between us but it works. We did cake and ice cream, just the family. He's my rock and my opposite. I couldn't love anyone more than THIS guy. 

We also celebrated our 3 year anniversary. Two babies in 3 years... and so, so much more. I'm looking forward to many, many more anniversaries with Mr. Batman. We make an awesome team. 

Not only did we celebrate a plethora of family holidays, we also started back to school. Homeschooling for the little ones and "regular" school for the older kiddos. Not an easy combo but we manage to make it work. This year I'll be homeschooling 4th, K and preschool. FUN!!! We're looking forward to lots of science experiments and writing. Lots and LOTS of writing. Now that Ollie is a bit bigger we're also hoping to get out more for field trips. We'll see!

In the sewing world, I've completed several quilts, including this one that I finished quilting this morning:

Don't you LOVE my camera phone?? It's a wonder the thing still works. Anyway, terrible lighting, fuzzy photo and overall bad photography aside, you get the idea. This quilt still needs binding... I'm thinking a small black and white stripe, but haven't decided just yet. This one will be in my Deaf Mama Designs Shop. I've been slowly adding more quilts to the shop and working on the overall look, so check it out! Don't forget to check out the gallery for quilts I've made in the past. Let me know what you think, I'm always up for suggestions.

That's all for today!