Stitching My Story

While Mom's at Work....

Unit Four has been busy painting. This is one of my all time faves. I'm not sure if you can tell, but there is a bicycle chain attached around the edge. Perfect.

More of Ben's One-Eyed-Wonders....

Benjamin's One-Eyed Wonders...

My youngest son seems to have a bit of a theme going....

(check out this SOCK MONKEY COMPANY... Such nice people, and such cute kits!)

Gnomes Sweet Gnomes....

The kids are catching the needle felting bug, too. Ben made the sweet red guy with the pink boots, and Jenny called to say she finished a gnome and a little black dog that looks like grand-fur-baby Dazy.

Unit Four is Now Minus His Appendix.....

It's been a long week. Ben's stomach was bothering him AGAIN last Monday morning. It finally kind of dawned on Scott and I that he was exhibiting the same symptoms his sisters did when they had appendicitis. A trip to the doctor, followed by a trip to the imaging center for a cat scan, followed by a trip to the surgeon, led us straight to the second floor of our local hospital. Appendicitis.

I read somewhere that only about six percent of the population gets their appendix removed. So far, three of our four kids have needed the surgery.... Weird. Jason came to the hospital to sit with his brother before the surgery. He looked a little queasy when he realized that he was the only one of our children still completely intact. It seems he is rather fond of his various parts and would like to keep them.
; )

Needless to say, Benjamin is a strong boy and he is already feeling a lot better. He has an impressive band-aid on his tummy and some soreness upon rising or descending from the couch but, overall, his recovery seems to be progressing quickly.

Unfortunately, cross country season is ending a few weeks early for this kiddo. The upside is that he has time to get back in his creative "groove". Above is a needle felted robin he made during his down time today.

Below is a pillow I made for our window seat. Having a sick kid is no fun, but it does tend to slow life down to a nice, creative stitching pace.

My Colorful Children...

"Pear"
Gouache on Canvas
By Benjamin

"Bruise"
Tennis Racket on Forehead
By Emmy

People used to ask me HOW I managed with four children... But just LOOK at these pictures!!! My life would be so much less colorful without "the littles"! Yesterday, totally staying in character, Benjamin sat outside at dusk painting a pear, and Emmy (who has managed to turn tennis into a contact sport) got whacked in the head with a racket (Ok... she whacked herself in the head during an especially exuberant serve, but I'm not supposed to blog that part).

It is with a bittersweet feeling that I watch these last two babies of mine growing up right before my eyes. I am trying so hard to stay InThEmOmEnT... so I don't miss a THING.

Gratitude List for March 11th...

(picture by Benjamin)

1. Ruby kitty getting used to the new house (she spent the first couple of days throwing up, but that seems to have passed)
2. My view from the hill.... trees and trails and a bit of the bay.
3. Only one box left to unpack in my studio.
4. Really ripe bananas... perfectly ready to be made into banana bread (I'm going to try to time it just right so that the house smells yummy when the kids get home from school... I'll post my recipe on my foodie blog... link to the right)
5. A morning LIFT at the gym with BFF, Cindy.

Gratitude List for December 14th...

Having a few minutes at work to talk with Suzie's sweet grandson (and to CaTcH the kisses he threw my way)...

The combination of a warm house and a rainy day...

Girlfriends who don't give up on me even when I miss a dinner date with them (sorry girls!)...

A daughter who is making sock puppets to act out scenes from "The Scarlet Letter" in AP English class...

Christmas cards designed by my son....

Benjamin's drawing...

Ben has been taking a class on making comics. He's learned a lot about copyright, agents, drawing, production costs.... It has been fun listening to him share his new insight into a world that is so foreign to me.

Here is a picture he drew last night while waiting for his sister to finish up a tennis match with dad. He thought it would be a good quilt design. I think he might be right.