Special Apron

I wish I had taken a before and after pictures of this. I have had this cloth for many years. At one time, its original use was curtains in my grandmas house. My mom thinks they were there in the early 1960s. .

One of my neighbors is a great seamstress and I asked her what she thought about making this into an apron. Well she thought it was a great idea and took on the challenge. She went to a local fabric shop and found the fabric for the trim.

And yesterday this is what I received. I wish I had a better way to show it off - it is beautiful. The green material looks like it was made for it. I just love the long ties and the ruffle across the bottom. (It does sorta blend in with the chair fabric)

I dont plan on using it as the material is thin - but I just wanted a special way to display something special.

Attic Spring Cleaning (in January)

Last year we had our roof replaced - including all the plywood. Imagine the embarrassment of all the neighborhood getting to see this site:

So that had become a biggie on the to-do list. Summers in Texas are no time to be in the attic! With the weather in January being so nice and spring-like - we finally attacked this. (Well I had to be pulled in kicking and screaming - thanks honey). We pulled everything down except the kids clothes which I will sort thru this spring. We went thru everything including the Christmas stuff I had just put up a few weeks before. We did have a lot of fun looking at old things from our honeymoon and even boxes of things from years before we met. We have taken boxes of things for donation and I have a nice sizeable stack of items that I am currently trying to ebay. (the best are old 80s rock concert tshirts - I will post some of those when the auctions close - who knew people liked these so much).

BUT here is the end result - my lovely, tidy attic. There are no cardboard boxes and all the boxes are labeled and organized. I didnt even have to go buy plastic tubs to replace cardboard boxes. I had so many that we emptied that we just reused them!!

Top Question of the Week

Around here there are always some questions that make you really wonder what is going on in your childs brains. This one is at the top of the list:

Hey Dad - What would you do if I could throw up $100 bills?

Exactly how are you supposed to answer that?? Never a dull moment for sure!!

One Happy Girl

After Hank chewed the foot off of Amanda's doll, she had to be shipped to the Doll Hospital. She has worried every day about when she would be home. What a blessing it was to see the UPS man show up today with her package. 'Sarah' came home in a hospital gown and a certificate of good health. Can you tell Amanda is a 'little' happy to have her home?

Andrew's Recital

Andrew had his first piano recital last night. He played 'Twelve Days of Christmas" He did such a great job - we are so proud of him. (Maybe next time I will figure out how to tape it and put it online.)

More Traditions..

For every Christmas since we have had children, we have always visited with Santa at our neighborhood firestation. It has been the same Santa & Mrs. Santa Claus for that entire time.

Merry CHRISTmas!!

This is an annual tradition - 13 years of Santa photos. They are so fun to look at and see how the Clan has changed. Amanda was the only one that was ever a screamer : ) I have always told the kids that they will always be required to have family Santa photos made every year - even when they are 40.

(I didnt notice until I got home that the photo says 'Happy Holidays' - I should have skipped that border.)