mosaic Monday...Brooklyn's birthday weekend

A few mosaics of Brooklyn's birthday weekend. I am so thankful to have spent 4 days with her celebrating her first year!

She enjoyed cake 2 days in a row - her birthday was Friday and her big party with family was Saturday. She usually doesn't like any headbands or anything on her head but it was almost like she knew how cute she looked in her birthday crowns because she kept both of them on :)

Grandma really loves this photo of her two little Princesses!

Brooklyn loved her party and watching her play with her cake was hilarious...

Brooklyn really wasn't into opening gifts until she got to sit in her new wagon with her cousin Braxton and then it was a huge hit with her.

I really enjoyed having my whole family together for 2 days and I believe Brooklyn did too!

mosaic Monday...

After several hard freezes the only blossoms in my garden these days are the hardy mums and these beautiful asters. I love the color combo of the purple with the orange asian beetle.

On Saturday, Jeff discovered a beaver dam being built in the drainage ditch on our property. The ditch is really low in water right now since we are in a drought so I imagine the beaver is trying to create deep enough water to survive this winter. We took a walk down to see it close up on Sunday afternoon.

The dogs accompanied us and of course on such a beautiful autumn day decided they needed a swim. Hershey checked out the dam looking for a stick that she could play " "retrieve" with - it's her absolutely favorite thing to do in the world. Doesn't matter who you are, if you are on our yard she brings you a stick or a ball.

After finding an appropriate sized one - she soon had Jeff tossing it into the water for her.

Many times over she retrieved that stick from the water - Jeff got tired of the game before she ever did :) My favorite photo was this next one - she takes a running leap off the bank and jumps down to the water - I love the circles in the water from all the splashed water drops :)

ruffles, ruffles...Ruffles!

I don't consider myself knowing how to sew by any means but I have found that sewing ruffle skirts is extremely easy and I love Ruffles! Last summer, my daughter, Jayme, found this tutorial on how to make the skirts. I have since modified the directions to fit my style of sewing but the basics are all in the above tutorial. My first attempt was a 4th of July skirt for Brooklyn...

Next up was a football skirt - again for Brooklyn to cheer on her Daddy's football team which is doing extremely well again this year.

Then I decided how fun it would be for the girls to have skirts for all the holidays so off to the fabric store I went for fun seasonal prints. I fell in love with the cute candy corn print so Halloween skirts were planned. As I mentioned in my last post, I had Mari last Friday. I managed to sew her skirt with her sitting on my lap! She needs to be right in on the action and was so curious to watch me sewing. Her skirt is the 5 ruffle version...

Since Mari's bottom showed in a few of the photos, Brooklyn's skirt became a 6 ruffle version...

The final skirt was also the tiniest for little Miss Bailey. Four ruffles was all it took for her outfit...

What fun it is to see these cuties in their ruffle skirts & matching onsies...Grandma has already purchased Thanksgiving and Christmas prints so you'll be seeing ruffles on this blog monthly :)

week in a review...

Another busy week has flown by since the last time I posted. Last Friday, I had the pleasure of hosting Mari for the day which is always a joy! She is such a happy girl except when auntie Marsh tells her she can't stand up on the stool - then I get this look :)

She also helped me with a sewing project and was thrilled to sit on my lap and watch me sew. Photos of the latest projects I made in tomorrow's post - I'm waiting for some photos first. Saturday, Sunday & Monday I spent up north with Brooklyn. She and I spent some quality time while her mommy and daddy got their basement put back together as well as had a date night. Grandma brought her a new dress to wear so she had fun modeling it for me...

I can't hardly believe she is going to be celebrating her first birthday next week...time sure flies! Brooklyn loved carrying her doll around in her very own car seat as well as playing by giving her a pretend baba (bottle).

Brooklyn's mommy always wanted to be a Sea World trainer when she was a young girl so we pulled out one of mommy's old stuffed Shamu's and put on a show :)

Love this girl!

This week at home it was back in the office as well as a full day of garden clean up. I'm almost done but had to quit for a few days while my sore elbow rests. I also spent a lots of time with Baby Bailey - she has been not feeling herself this week with a nasty cold and fevers off and on so Grandma didn't shove any cameras in her face. Lucky for me (and you) I have lots of photos of the day to share from the daily text messages her mommy sends Jeff and I. Love this girl!

She is definitely "Grandma's little cupcake" her cuddly sweetness is the best. I sure hope she feels better soon! So that about sums up my week... no time for blogging because I was sewing, working, gardening and loving on those precious girls :)

autumn collages...

In late September, I drove up to Jayme's to return Brooklyn who spent a few days enjoying her grandparents attention. I was awestruck by how beautiful the fall foliage was on my drive. In our area of the state we just went from green to a dried up brown except for the sumacs, a consequence of the drought we are experiencing. After spending the night at their house, I left for home at 7 am when they left for work. It was a brisk cool morning and I couldn't help but notice the steam rising from the warmer waters of the St. Louis river into the cold air. I pulled into the Scanlon river park and took a few shots of the sun rising over the steamy waters.

On my drive home I also noticed a steam covered lake along the highway and several huge fields of pumpkins waiting to be picked.

I love this time of year and watching all the birds that are migrating through the garden including the white throated sparrows and warblers. There are many Harris sparrows still around but they have yet to stop and pose for me :) The junco flocks have arrived so sadly that means winter is not to far away.

Last week I started the garden cleanup but there were many blossoms left to enjoy. We've now had several hard freezes so next week the remaining garden will be cut down.

The photos are not really great in this last collage because they are from Jeff's trail cam - we've been hearing about a partial albino fawn in these parts and finally got a few photos of him. Jeff calls him the Appaloosa because of his coloring :)

vacation photos...Devil's Tower

After my post yesterday, my friend, Debbie, wrote in the comments "where's the kiss photo"? So just for Debbie, here is a "vacation kiss" shot from Devil's Tower National Monument, Wyoming. You know me, a tradition is a tradition and can't be broken :)

It was a perfect sunny day when we visited, I loved how blue the sky looks in most of the shots.

mosaic Monday...picnic

According to Wikipedia, a picnic is defined as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors, ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view. Jeff and I love cycling and love picnics - you very seldom see a photo on this blog of Jeff's bike without our picnic bag strapped to it. It is a cooler with dinnerware that I bought at a garage sale for $5 and we have used (and loved) for years. Here is a photo I've taken of it in the past.

In September, we spent a week cycling the black hills area of SD & Wyoming and enjoyed a picnic every day.

Usually the scenery is the highlight of our picnics but on this trip we were amazed at the bravery of the gray jays in circling and coming in to pick up any dropped food. We do not see these birds in our area of MN so I was especially thrilled that they were not afraid of us and kept landing a foot or two away.

Just as entertaining but not nearly as brave as the gray jays were dozens of chipmunks. We also tried to feed them but a jay would always swoop down and get the food before these little guys had a chance.

bugs in the garden...

My granddaughters got dressed up in ladybug costumes that I found at garage sales for a cute photo shoot. Poor little Bailey didn't know what to think - I think it was the first and only time she's been set on the ground! Brooklyn was more interested in leaves than her cousin or grandma & her camera.

Brooklyn was known as Baby Bee before she was born so her mommy couldn't resist picking her up a bee costume at a garage sale as well. On this beautiful day, Mari came over for a playdate with Brooklyn and Auntie Marsh so she became the cute little ladybug :)

Brooklyn couldn't quite walk yet and Mari would rather walk away than sit for a photo shoot so I took 50+ photos and didn't get a single one with both looking at the camera at the same time!

I am so thankful for these girls, they are such a joy to be around...

mosaic Monday...Bailey's baptism

Today's mosaics are of Bailey's baptism which was held on September 23rd. It was such a joyous and blessed occasion for all of Bailey's extended families.

Bailey had 6 sponsors all aunties & uncles...Jayme & Scott, Jenny & Jesse and Jody & Shaun. Her auntie Jayme also sang a special song, A Mother's Prayer, during the service.

My daughter made the comment on her blog about the family photo above, "I love how my family of four has grown" - and I agree. How blessed we are! Brooklyn stayed wide awake for church even dancing through a few hymns but fell asleep as soon as the service was over so she is zonked out in the family photos. We did take one later of her family so we had one of her awake. Everyone took a special part in Bailey's day...Jayme & Scott were godparents, Grandma Jeff was the council representative who welcomed Bailey to the congregation and lit her baptismal candle and Grandma Marsha got to create her beautiful gown and headband. Lots of love and prayers went into these stitches...

Bailey also used the very special baptism blanket made by my mom before she passed away for my future children. It was used first by Nathan and now Bailey and hopefully for a few more generations as a family heirloom.