Where did the month go?

Tomorrow morning we head to Robbie's elementary school for their monthly assembly. Our kindergartner was selected as a "Jet of the Month." He will be honored with others in front of all the classes. The announcement came home last week in the form of a form letter and it read, "For the month of Honesty." Yes, we had a good laugh about that. Good thing it wasn't the "month of Attendance" because we've blown that one. We took a quick but awesome family trip to Tahoe and SNOW! Lots of it. We knowingly pulled the boys out for a few days, and then all of us got sick and they missed more after our return home. We are still making up the homework.
The holiday started out waking up in a hotel along the Sacramento River, a short walk from the California State Railroad Museum, our first destination. Here's our view of the Twin Tower Bridge, processed through the Old Photo PRO (free!) phone app.

My nephew's quilt

We were in the Bay Area briefly this past week, sandwiching a family Tahoe snow trip. So much fun! More pictures and stories to follow, until then, a little filler with the story of the quilt I made for my nephew. I've been meaning to post a picture for many years now...
My sister hosted us at her house late Monday night; my Mom made a yummy pot of soup, my Aunt came along and brought home-baked goodies, and Robbie played with his cousins and all of their toys. (After a brief run to see Great Grandma at her home, Cub was in quarantine back at the hotel with Noel. He was developing a cold and had an eye infection, so we kept him away. Poor Cub! He missed out on a really fun time.) I snapped this picture of the quilt in Johnny's room before the end of the night. If I remember right, when my sister was pregnant I asked her what nursery theme or colors she chose. She forwarded me a link with the design, so I tried to make a custom wall quilt to more or less complement the room. "JP" in the center represents my nephew's initials - "J" is his Dad's middle name, "P" is Dad's great friend and his godfather's name. "L" is his Dad's sister, "M" is our family name, "B" is for his Dad, "A" and "C" are for my Grandma and Aunt, and "F" is his paternal Grandma. "S" is for my sister and "H" is for me! The numbers were chosen at random, and "D" got in because I wanted to add a dog. All applique was by hand, created and designed by me using various online clip art pages and fonts. The piecing and minimal quilting was by machine and binding was by hand. Finished size is approximately 34 x 48 inches.
Robbie was very young and Cub had yet to come along, but it took me nearly a year to complete. My gracious sister never complained, even when the "final" product was delivered without a hanging mechanism. They improvised and seemed to do just fine!
Working on the quilt ornaments this past holiday made me wish I had more time for quilting, and seeing this makes me want to make something for my niece, but I have to be OK with this hobby being on the back burner for a bit longer. Hang in there Sarah, I haven't forgotten you! ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!

More from the backpack

Preschooler art alert! Another masterpiece came home in the backpack late last week. It was rolled and later smashed, hence the fold lines. I snapped a few pictures then placed it in the area of our paper recycles. Robbie found it and asked why I had it with the recycles, not wanting to part with it. Darn, the kid just won't let me throw anything away. I took it out of the "trash" pile and will let it sit a few more days, but will sneak it into the real trash bin one morning this week while the boys are in school. He'll never remember unless he starts reading this blog. At the rate he's learning, that will be sooner than I think.

Happy New Year!

A lesson in patience

This past Sunday the boys and I hit the farmers market a little late. The produce vendors were packing up; the popcorn vendor had already left. I looked around but no one had any ripe, yellow bananas left. Only the green ones you see here (small "apple banana" variety - I think in St. Lucia they called something similar the "five fingers" banana, but I could be off here). No bananas ready to eat made us switch up our normal routine a bit - finding a shady bench and having a few bananas before we get back in the car.
The hardest part is getting the boys to stop opening them when they're green. I don't cook with green bananas, so we waste a lot when the boys tear into them and realize they're not what they were looking for.
This bunch went on top of the fridge (and out of reach) once we were home. By Tuesday the boys were getting anxious for one, so I let them open a few, not expecting them to be consumed. But ripening on top of the fridge worked! They were ready and the boys learned a little more about their favorite fruit.