A Night on the Plaza

DH and I took our son to the airport and then decided to enjoy the 55 degree day here in KC. It was still the middle of the afternoon and the lights wouldn't be on yet at the Plaza so we headed down to Westport and had a beer at McCoy's brewery. YUMMY!!!

We watched some soccer on the TV there and then headed to the Plaza. It wasn't completely dark yet but the lights were on. We were shocked at how many people were there for a Monday. I guess the warmth paid off!!! Here are some of the sights...

Christmas fun!!!

It was a different Christmas...my first in 48 years without my siblings and dad. Sad yes, but I was not as despondant as I thought I would be. We had a lot of fun...just the 6 of us here in KS...probably our last in this house! SO...new memories were made!!! And they were great!!!

Joe and Kevin volunteered to make dinner for Christmas Eve. It was AMAZING!!! They did an awesome job and the food was devoured!!! Thanks Joe and Kevin!!!

There was a lot of serious game playing going on as well!!! OH we are all so competitive so it gets interesting!!!

And then there are the traditional pics by the tree!!! Gotta love 'em!!!

The kids and DD's dog!!! Another great memory made! We are blessed!

I hope your family had amazing memories made during this Christmas season!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

May your day be blessed with love, laughter, and hope!!!

A little quilty something happened today!!!

I wanted to stay home ALLLLL day in my jammies!!! And that is EXACTLY what I am doing! I decided to make a postcard for Christmas bridging our lives in MN to our lives in KS. It's ok...nothing super-duper (KS is a boring shape!!!). I put a white bead where we live(d) in each state and just strung a string of Christmas lights around it...I'm OK with it.

It started out raining this morning. Dan (our fireman) came home from his 24 hour shift around 8:20 or so this morning. Within 20 mins his pager went off and his depts. 4 stations had responded to 4 accidents within about 5 miles of each other on one single stretch of road. Dan was glad he was off duty! The rain has turned to ice and while Dan was out getting his haircut and a few groceries for me. He called while at the grocery store and ALL firefighters were called back to the station because they were overwhelmed with calls. Pray for their safety and all people on the roads today. It's supposed to warm up and turn to rain so hopefully he won't be gone too long.

Now to go upstairs to the sitting room, turn the fireplace on and read a book! AWWW...life is good!!!

Christmas in MN

We celebrated Christmas with DH's family this past weekend. It was fun and we had a great time. We missed Dan though cuz he had to be a firefighter! Here is our fam pic without him!

MIL wanted to sing Christmas Carols...the boys hate to sing Christmas songs so they played the accompaniment on their beer bottles! LOL...it was AWESOME!!!

Here is DD opening a gift that contained $40 but you had to play pinball in order to open the "tray" that contained the money!!!

The 2 boys and the DD drove home today in HORRIBLE conditions throughout southern MN and Iowa. The roads were dry but the blowing snow was AWFUL at times. We made it safely and Dan opened his gifts from my in-laws.

All in all it was a good time!!!

*S*N*O*W*

Well...3 of the kids and myself drove to Rochester last night...arrived at 1:30am!!! The weather forecast for today's planned drive was for a LOT of *S*N*O*W* from the MO/IA border all the way to Rochester. We chose to do the late night drive instead and I am sooooo glad we did! It is gorgeous here but conditions are to deteriorate rapidly throughout the day. Tomorrow is supposed to bring blizzard warnings until we hit the Iowa border...I will NOT be looking forward to that! UGH...but for now...it's time to enjoy family and Christmas early!!!

This isn't our snow now...but our dd's dog in her first snowfall last year!!!

Have a great day everyone!!!

Christmas...I might have a hint of the spirit!

Here is Dan putting the tree in the stand! Isn't he a doll?

Dan and I ALWAYS put the lights on the tree together. We've done it since we moved to KS 7 years ago! I'll miss this tradition with Dan!!!

Here we are...lights and all! No ornaments cuz I can't/won't dig them out of the storage room (it's full of storage stuff from decluttering in this impending move. SO...my other DS, Kev, said he'll make popcorn strings and a paper star for the top...a Real Charlie Brown Tree he called it! We'll see about that!!!

And, last but not least, the last wallhanging for the JCFD station #3. Dan will deliver it tomorrow!!! I really liked how this one turned out!

Have a great week!

The quilts were a hit!!!

The banquet went well on Sunday night. Jessica seems pleased with her gift!!! She's such a cutie and works so hard for the men's soccer team!!

Here is my dh in the background watching Coach Born read the label. People who call quilts "blankets" *SHUDDER* don't realize there's a label! LOL...I had to point it out to him.

Her is my son Kevin, helping Coach Born hold up the gift. THE QUILT!!!! Coach was so very impressed and said that gift cards are great but that this "blanket" is the most special gift he'd ever been given! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Soccer Quilts are DONE!!!!!

The quilts for my son's college soccer banquet on Sunday are DONE!!! The first one here was actually made in 2004. I hung on a quilt rack during soccer seasons. Now it is going to be given to Jessice, their team manager/stat girl! She DESERVES it!!!

And here is the finished product of the star siggy blocks from this post. (scroll down to see the signing part) Remember that?

I did a meandering star pattern on the borders.

The background of the center medallion was done in swirls...kind of a water/wind looking fill. I used a blue/yellow variegated thread on the whole quilt.

And here is the backing. I did manage to get rid of quite a bit of my soccer ball fabrics! WOOHOO!!!

I'll take pictures at the banquet and post an update next week! Have a good week everyone!

SURVIVOR...

Today marks the 10th anniversary of my diagnosis of breast cancer. I HAVE KICKED CANCER IN THE ASS...and I am proud of it! (here is my story In honor of that I had my last tattoo done today. I had a breast cancer ribbon done with some music notes around it. The music notes were in honor of my dh's love of music. I am not one to have his name tattoed on my body but music notes works! It was kind of creepy cuz I told the l) ady tatoo artist that I wanted the BC ribbon with some music notes around it. I also said I want it smaller. She said no problem. I hemmed and hawed about telling her how many notes I wanted but decided against it. The notes were my love for dh. I was STUNNED when she showed me her drawing...there were SIX notes...as you look at the pic you will see that I feel the top 2 notes are dh and I and the bottom 4 are the 4 kids. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today was a SUPER day!!!!!!!!!!!