Day 181

Do you like the self picture of my latest piece? It is the necklace version of my Mother's Day bracelet. Only this time I used black crystals on this pringle necklace. At first I wasn't sure about the choker length, but after wearing it for a couple of hours, it will be fine and if I want to make it longer, I can just add a length of chain to the back.

Day 180

Happy Birthday MOM!!

The beginning of my buggy barn quilt. I spent most of the meeting time tonight working my 30 fat quarters into three stacks of ten. Once I was finally done fussing and liked how my stacks went together, I cut out the pattern and then started sorting again. Once the pattern is cut out, you take the top layer of the petals off and put them on the bottom of the stack. Then you take off the top two layers of the middle to expose your third fabric. The other gals really liked how mine was turning out and I'm excited to start sewing it all back together.

I know you are all wondering how in the world I got it home. Saran Wrapped the fabric on the cutting mat and it's currently sitting on my work table ready to be unwrapped and sewn together. The sewing will have to wait until tomorrow night once the boys are asleep. This project is one where little fingers could really mess it up.

Day 179

One of Andy's preschool friends was having a birthday party today and we were invited to attend. This was honestly our first girl birthday party and I wasn't really sure what to expect, but there was a bouncy house and a trampoline to expel some energy and plenty of conversation between the parents. It was also interesting to go shopping for a girl present as Andy wanted to buy Thomas the Train items or pirate games. We did settle on a princess matching game and puzzle. I snapped a picture of the butterfly cake and lady bug cupcakes. The ladybugs were marshmallows covered in frosting and decorator sugar.

Day 178

One of the best things about having to run errands sometimes is getting to stop by the local farmer's market. We went to Redmond this morning to do a few errands together as a family and I wanted to stop by the market to pick up some House Bread. This bread is expensive, so it's only going to be a treat every once in a while, but oh my goodness, it is so good. The ingredients are fresh, organic and all local. The family who runs the business are also believers as they used to be part of Crossroads Bible Church, but are now serving in The Downtown Church.

Day 177

The quilting group I am a member of is starting a new quilt project from the company Buggy Barn. The quilt I am doing is called Spring Fever and is a flower pattern. The fabric on the far left is my starting off fabric which is from the Belle collection from Amy Butler. I went over to my mother-in-laws house today to pick up my collection of fat quarters as she has been assisting me in collecting 30 fat quarters for this quilt. All the fabric needs to be washed and ironed and ready to go for Monday nights quilt meeting. I'm really excited about this project because I'm doing a quilt for me and it's girly too.

Day 176

The theme of the week seems to be yellow as I made a pair of earrings on Tuesday and today made banana mango orange smoothies for an afternoon snack. Aaron has had the flu this week and I have been trying to find ways to aid in his feeling better. The boys loved the smoothie and I thought it was quite tasty as well.

Day 175

It's another Wednesday which means a trip to the Sammamish farmer's market. Luckily, Aaron is starting to feel better, so we were able to go pick up some fresh veggies for dinner. As we were walking back to grandma's house, the boys wanted out of the double stroller. I just had to snap a picture as my boys will only be this little and this sweet for half a moment.

Day 174

A while back I was browsing at my local bead store and noticed a pair of earrings they had for sale in a kit. I have this attitude of I can do that myself without a kit and proceeded to find the few beads I needed to make the same kind of earrings for less. I'm not sure if these are exactly as the kit, but none the less, I like them.

Day 173

Today was a lazy day at home. Aaron is still under the weather, but at least he stopped tossing his cookies. This morning, Andy pulled his down comforter cover into the living room and wanted to use it as a tent. Mom helped him out and turned it into a fort for him and brother to play with. Unfortunately, Andy doesn't quiet understand the concept of physics yet, as he kept trying to jump into the middle of the fort. The boys had a good time and I'm sure we will try it again another cold, rainy day.

Day 172

Happy Father's Day!!

Our father's day around here was a bust. Poor Aaron came down with the stomach flu and mom spent the day cleaning and doing laundry. Everyone else seems to have been spared, PRAISE THE LORD, but it was a day of rest and hugging on a little guy. We will celebrate once Aaron is feeling better and I can make it out to purchase a gift.

Happy Father's Day to my dad! Love and miss you!

Day 171

Happy Father's Day

This evening after Mike and I returned from our little getaway, we celebrated Father's Day with Mike's family. His brother, sister-in-law and nephews joined us at his parent's house for dinner and some family time. I wanted a picture of the three generations of Sorensen men to commemorate the time together. Obviously, this picture was taken at the end of the evening as little sour puss on the left was tired and ready to go home and sleep in his own bed. He's so not my child at all, haha.

Day 170

Happy Anniversary to my sweetheart of 10 years!! I can't believe I have been married to Mike for ten roller coaster years and I'm renewing for another ten years too.
Okay, so technically we went to Hawaii in January to celebrate our anniversary, but we weren't about to let the day go by without some sort of celebration. Mike surprised me with a night away to the Willows Lodge and dinner at Barking Frog. It was a great time away and the dinner was outstanding. We had the 5 course tasting dinner and it was just so incredibly worth the price. Thank you honey for ten wonderful years and two great kids!

Day 169

Tonight was our BBQ for our bible study fellowship group to kick off our next study. It was a potluck and I brought dessert. Double chocolate espresso brownies topped off with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream and double vanilla bourbon ice cream. It was so good. Everyone really liked the dessert and one of the guys who is lactate intolerant suffered just to eat some of the vanilla bourbon ice cream.

Day 168

Tomorrow our family is going over to our fellowship group to have a BBQ and discuss the next study we would like do. I volunteered to bring dessert, so the menu plan is cinnamon ice cream, double vanilla bourbon ice cream and double chocolate espresso brownies. Tonight I am putting the custard together for the double vanilla bourbon ice cream and will freeze it tomorrow. The recipe calls for the following:
milk, sugar, salt, cream, vanilla bean, vanilla extract and bourbon.

Can't wait to have some with my brownies!!

Day 167

Andy's favorite line: "I am your child."

Here is my little Darth Vader riding his bike, wearing his preschool summer camp shirt today after school. I walked into the kitchen and noticed Andy's glasses on the kitchen table and wondering where this child of mine is who is without his eye wear. I went to the back door and discovered the activity of a normal 4 year old out riding his bike, wearing a Darth Vader mask.

Day 166

Today was the first day of preschool summer camp for Andy and mom didn't pay that much attention to the ending time of the camp. I showed up 30 minutes early without realizing that camp was over at noon and not 11:30 am. Aaron and I were in the car killing time and I let Aaron out of his seat so he could move around a bit. He decided he wanted to stick his head out the sun roof like brother is prone to do when the roof is rolled back. I looked up and just loved what I saw, so I grabbed the camera and took this picture. Such a great shot of my little guy who is getting so big.

Day 165

Tonight the family got together to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday. Her favorite dessert is apple pie, so a little pie, ice cream and coffee topped off our dinner. It was a nice evening even if the boys went into melt down mode. Ha ha, nice pun :)

Day 164

Today was the first ever See Kai Run warehouse sale. It was absolutely nuts, crazy, insane and fabulous. A local mom founded the shoe company that specializes in infant and toddler shoes. I have purchased a few pairs for the boys and was thrilled they were having a warehouse sale. I sent out an email to most of my friends informing them of the sale and a few of us carpooled up to Woodinville. We had a great time to hang out without our kiddos and find some great shoes for the little ones in our lives. Maybe next time See Kai Run will have the bigger kid shoes, Eleven, in their sale.

Day 163

I want to be like big brother! Aaron had grabbed his brother's helmet and climbed on the tricycle. His look just cracks me up! I'm not ready for my little toddler to be all big boy.

Day 162

This afternoon for snack time, I introduced brie cheese to my boys, and I'm in trouble. They loved it. I had bought a wedge of it when I had gone shopping at Trader Joe's this week. They didn't care for the olive tapenade, but the cracked black pepper crackers and brie were a hit. The little hand of Aaron snuck in and snatched the cracker while taking the picture. I want to be a mom who introduces various types and flavors of food to my boys in order for them to be healthy eaters.

Day 161

As we were driving home this afternoon, I had to stop the car in order to let the deer cross. Unfortunately, my iPhone isn't very speedy in getting ready to snap photos, so the deer are already across to the other side, but you can still see then on the driveway. It's a daily reminder of where we live and how we must interact with God's wonderful creation.

Day 160

The gals in my Sunday school class are getting together this summer to study 1 Thessalonians every Tuesday morning. We met this morning to hang out and get to know each other at one of the local parks because our child care wasn't completely finalized. It was a fun morning and I'm looking forward to this study.

Day 159

We had received balloons from a birthday party last week and most of the helium had gone out of them so they wouldn't fly away. Andy decided to take them outside to play with them. I think they lasted about 10 minutes between the two boys before they popped.

And Happy 35th Anniversary to my parents! Thanks!

Day 158

I walked out the front door this afternoon and discovered a fun little deposit from nature. A spider had left who knows how many eggs, but they were attached to my front deck ready to take off and fly away. Okay, maybe I've read Charlotte's Web a few too many time.

Day 157

I miss participating in the music ministry at Crossroads Bible Church and today I had the opportunity to join again. When I was pregnant with my oldest, my body decided at 19 weeks pregnant that I was done singing as I couldn't breathe, which is a little bit of a good thing to be able to do. Since then, our church has gone through a couple of music ministers and the program has gone through a few changes. I was able to participate in the Easter celebration when I was about 17 weeks pregnant with number two, so I knew my time was limited.

This past year we have had the honor and privilege of having Timothy James Meaney as our worship leader. He hosted a worship workshop for those who were interested in participating in some manner or just learning more. I have yet to sing for him so I can be part of the worship team on Sunday mornings, but I do look forward to being part of something I enjoy.

Which means......I'm not preggers, PRAISE THE LORD!!

Day 156

In the search of more fabric for my buggy barn quilt, I headed to Quiltworks in Bellevue. Aaron was the lucky child to accompany mom as Andy went to the Mariner game with dad. Quiltworks has a great little toy corner for the fortunate children who have to go with mom to the fabric store. Aaron had a great time playing with the Lego's while mom found more fat quarters for her quilt.

Day 155

The boys and I were invited to join some friends of ours for a pre-birthday party celebration. We went to Kidz Bounce in Preston and then had lunch at Red Robin in Issaquah. The table was set with balloons on each chair and the static electricity was crazy. I snapped a picture of Aaron with the balloon stuck to his hair. It's so great because he was laughing because we were laughing at him.

Day 154

My happy, pretty, orange toes. I spent the morning working at the Kids Sale at Pickering Barn and then rewarded myself with a pedicure. I had to wait on the junior high girls to get finished first (err), but it was well worth the wait and I have happy feet again.

Day 153

One of Andy's daily activities is to strengthen his left eye by patching. Part of the time, he is able to watch tv or play on mom's computer. Today I let him have some play time on PBS Kids. He decided he needed to have his seat raised a bit and proceeded to pull out several of my cookbooks to give him some height. I must say that Andy did this completely on his own with no help of any kind from mom, which is why I had to snap a photo. Since the Sears and JCPenny catalogs don't really exist anymore, this is what is handy and available for a four year old.

Day 152

Today was the beginning of the twice yearly Kids Sale. The sale is a consignment sale of all things children. I am consigning a few items the boys have outgrown or never used. As part of a consignor, I get to pre-shop the sale and this is my haul. I picked up a new diaper bag, some clothes for the boys and a pair of designer jeans for me. I'm more excited to see how the Skip Hop bag works as one of my friends gives it rave reviews.