Five on Friday

Things that made me smile this week.

1. Watching the girls really enjoy being at a Nationals game.

2. The new baby on the block. (She's a cutie!)

3. Cucumbers (finally) from our garden. The girls ate them before I could get a photo.

4. Learning that a college friend had a brand new baby girl. (Another cutie!)

5. Reading Catching Fire in two nights.

Pay It Forward Gifts

At the beginning of the year, I signed up for a Pay It Forward challenge on Facebook. Here are the first 2 of the 5 handmade gifts I owe to people this year.

Butterfly ornament for Brenda in UT Austin orange (her school).

Zee pillow for the daughter of one of the other participants. I've made 5 of these this year: 2 for my girls, 2 for my nieces, and this one. They whip up pretty quick. I blanket stitched the edges instead of gluing them.

Five on Friday

Five things that made me smile this week:

1. Discovering that my office building still has a functioning mail chute. Bonus: Discovering that the patent for the original mail chute was issued on September 11, 1883.

2. A. receiving the "Potty Bear" at school for making progress in using the potty.

3. Designing, stamping, and finishing my Halloween cards. All in one evening.

4. Finding out that my friend Kim's new book has been released and that several reviewers think it might be a contender for the Newbery Award this year. {fingers crossed}

5. Spending Saturday morning outside in the beautiful weather playing with the girls.

August Birthdays

Wow! That was a crazy summer. It went by faster than a speeding bullet. I accomplished very little crafting, but I have bunches of photos.

Here are a couple from the girls' 3rd birthday at the beginning of August. I bought cake pops for their cake, and then realized I couldn't put candles in them, so we also had doughnuts. Everyone loved the cake pops.

A. above and L. below

My birthday at the end of August was less of an event. I spent the day in Chicago at a professional conference and had dinner at the Cubs game. The whole week was marked with sickness by everyone in the house and included Hurriquake 2011. Exciting in ways we'd rather not have.