CHRISTMAS AND BIRTHDAY WITH ABIGAIL

We are now visiting DS#2, DIL & Abigail.  We arrived here Christmas Eve and will be here another week. 

Abigail, Me & DH

Abigail eating her birthday cake.

She's TWO!!!

She is a real sweetie!  We're having such a good time with her and, of course, our son & DIL.  We're camping in our camper not too far from where they live.  Yesterday, they came out to the camper and had a "picnic" lunch.  It was pretty warm, so we ate outside, went to the playground & to see the pig and geese that live at the campground.  Abigail and her cousin Jonah (he's 2 1/2) are such fun to be around.  We'll sure miss them when we go back home and are far away from them again.  Of course, two year olds do wear us out - but I guess that's what they are supposed to do.  

Happy New Year, everyone!

PICTURES OF LIGHTNING STRIKE

In my last post I told you how my oldest son's plane was struck by lightning while flying over Oregon.  He is a pilot for Federal Express and was flying through a snow storm.  He thought his engine had blown up, because there was a loud noise and a huge flash of light that blinded him for a minute.  It turned out that the wing had been hit and below are a couple of pictures.  The lightning put a couple holes through the metal wing.  You can see the size compared to his finger.  He was able to land the plane with no problem - once he realized that the engine was still running!  We are so thankful!!

We are visiting DS#2, DIL & Abigail now and I will be posting pictures soon.  Last night was Abigail's 2nd birthday party.  We were worn out by the time we got back to our camper.  We're camping near where they live.  

There is a giveaway for a new magazine over at Vignette in Stitches Blog.  It's a new magazine about quilters and quilts - what else?  Go over there to sign up for the giveaway.

OUR EARLY CHRISTMAS

We have been with DS#3 & DIL for a week now helping out with Jonah and the new baby, Eli.  Mostly, we're trying to keep Jonah occupied plus doing a lot of cooking.  Here are some pictures of this special time for  our family.

Eli and Jonah

Eli at 12 days

Daddy & Eli

Grandma & Eli

Jonah getting a haircut (with GM & GP)

Mommy, Daddy, Jonah & Eli

 Jonah having lunch in the camper with Grandpa - he wants to do it every day!

Eli today after having his weight checked - Yay!  he passed because he gained an oz. per day as instructed by the doctor.  He already looks fatter.

We took Jonah to a discovery play center while Mommy & Daddy took Eli to the Doctor.  Jonah notified everyone that the baby was at the doctor's!  He is talking a lot now.  I played a Ricky Tims "Jingle Bell" song and he loved it, so now he wants to play it several times per day!  I tried to link it, but it didn't work.  You can see it by going to You Tube & type in Ricky Tims Jingle Bells.  We'll be leaving here in a couple days and going to DS#2 to spend Christmas & Abigail's birthday with them.  I'll do another post when we get pictures from there.

Yesterday our oldest son, who is a pilot for Federal Express had a scare as he flew somewhere over the state of Oregon.  His plane was struck by lightening!  Fortunately, he is fine and was able to land the plane safely.  It was hit on one of the wings.  We'll find out more soon.  We're very thankful that he is fine.

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends!

NEW GRANDSON!

Our new grandson, Eli, was born on December 7.  Here is a picture of him with his other GM.  It looks like he's trying to figure out what she's talking about.  Tomorrow we will go to see him and spend about a week there helping out.  Can't wait!

I made these cute angel ornaments from a pattern I got from the Dutch Sisters.  You can get the free pattern here.

I've been busy baking cookies to take with us, making lefse,  getting presents ready, etc.  We'll be with Eli's family for a week, then will go to Florida to be with DS#2 & family for Christmas & Abigail's 2nd birthday.  So we've got lots of presents ready to pack: new baby gifts, Christmas, birthdays, etc.

I think I told DH that I wasn't going to get any more doll beds to fix up, but I couldn't resist a vintage set of doll beds at a garage sale.  They can be set up as bunk beds and have wicker type sides.  I didn't take a picture of them yet.  I also got a really nice wood doll cradle.

In case I don't post again before Christmas, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

I AM ON A ROLL!!! ANOTHER WIN!

There are so many quilting bloggers having giveaways, and I enter them if it is just a matter of leaving a comment.  So, I have gotten very lucky lately and here is a fabulous giveaway that I won from Melissa at Libbies Home.  There are several pictures.  The first one has a candle on the left and 3 votive candles on the right in a wood box that says "Simplify."  These are battery lit candles and I love them!  They even flicker!  That's not all.

Next is this cute little pillow.....

Then, this stocking with the pattern and fabric to make several more.....

Then, these three snowmen on a string.  They really smell good.

And, last but not least, the plaid towel, which I placed in front of my fireplace with the pillow leaning on my rocking horse and the snowmen on a string hanging on the fire screen.   Can you believe all the cute gifts I received?  Thanks so much, Melissa!

Another blogger  (Thread Head) is having a "quilt along"  and I really like the pattern, so I decided to join in.  However, I'm not really quilting along very well.  There is too much going on right now, but I plan to pick up on it later.  I decided to make a couple test blocks to see how I like it.  The second block is this churn dash - and that is what actually convinced me to join in, because I had been wanting to make a churn dash quilt.  I love this block!  The 2 main fabrics were some I bought in Illinois when we were there and I love them.  

This block is called "Alabama Variation" and it will be the alternating block.  If you go to look at the web site you can see all the other blocks she has posted so far.  I am thinking about using some and not others, or even just using the churn dash blocks alternating with the Alabama variation block.  I will be thinking about this and won't be working on this until sometime next year.

In about a week and a half, we'll be leaving on our trip to visit 2 of our sons and their families.  We are looking forward to the birth of a new grandson and just being with our family.  I hope all of you will be able to spend some time with family over the Christmas holidays.