Winter Break, so far

With Billy still working during the holidays, we do our best to keep a normal schedule, but have more time to play, since school is out!

Emily's gift from Uncle John and Aunt Diem, was the last one we were waiting on, and she was so excited when it arrived!

And we got our bill from William's mishap earlier this year. If I weren't posting about Christmas and other fun things, I would go on a rant about insurance costs and medical bills, but let's just say that I'll happily pay the $702.

My mom bought Juliet an Ariel shirt, because she *loves* the little mermaid. But then Grace found a hello kitty dress at the other end of the closet, and while it is a tiny bit big for her, it is a dress not a shirt, which meant that Juliet rejected the shirt.

So my mom found a skirt for me to make her shirt into a dress.

Both are knit material, so it is loose fitting, and kind of on the big side, but she loves it just the same.

And, with the leftover elastic band, I was able to make her a matching headband (with buttons also courtesy of Avia.)

William is usually a willing partner when Alice is looking for someone to play the Wii with her, but he's not necessarily helpful.

I think I bought too much ham.  The kids an I had it for lunches twice, and we had a full leftover meal with Billy, my mom put some in a breakfast casserole, and I put some in omelets, and still have some left. = O

I served up a breakfast brunch earlier in the week, which usually goes over pretty well with my crowd, because it is a come and eat as you are hungry.

They gathered up every blanket they could find.  I think they might be a little cold here in Michigan.

I installed my Christmas gift from Haley & Chris:

The twins got into my stamps, and stamped a bunch of empty envelopes.  I'm thankful that they at least knew what stamps were used for, and only wasted one by sticking one on a computer cabinet.

William and I ventured out to the dentist in unreal temperatures. = /

I saw this this line on our bill this month, and I'm so thankful for the people who made this happen.  It is too cold here to be without electricity!

I did finally get them to all sit down for lunch with me, when I made grilled cheese and tomato soup = )

And it snowed again.

Yesterday I got the urge to start on teacher end of year gifts, but had to clean off my sewing pile first.  So I mended a towel, and remade my bag.

I made myself a purse over the summer, but the material was thin and did not hold up to the stress of daily use.  It was literally ripping to shreds, but I'm proud to say my seams were holding up just fine!  I had to wait until I had a chunk of several hours, because I actually don't have a back up.

I cut out the inside lining, because it had all of my handy pockets and elastic straps, but I had to add fabric to the top, bottom and sides to make it the same size.  I had just barely enough to make a new one!  While I was adding fabric, I gave myself an additional pocket and sunglass loop, because I could. = )

Even my old strap was in poor condition, so I had to make a brand new one.  This time I used fusible fleece on all of the components, so I'm hoping it will hold up better than before.

The lining fabric puckered a bit, but the whole piece feels sturdier than before.  And I'm glad I made the cord for my Aldi quarter purse so long, since I had to cut it out of the old one.

I also cut out the pieces for the teacher gifts, so once the feeling comes back I'm already one step in. = )

later days