What I've Been Doing

Project 365 - December 1

Since I'm now up to December, I thought I would show you a little of what I was doing in October and November.


Jed and I made these gingerbread ornaments to give to the neighbors, tucked in with some gingerbread cookies. He did all the work on them except the scarf, which was pretty tricky.

These little balsam bags were so much fun to make...I've been saving the needles off our Christmas trees for two years, and they still smell just as nice as they did when I stripped them. I'm not much of a seamstress, so don't look too closely at the crooked seams. :)

This is a tissue box I made for our bathroom...
I painted it with Lumiere's acrylics and added the wire and beads. This was pretty different from what I usually make, and it was fun to be stretching myself a little.

These last two items were my favorites to make...
charm bracelets for my two nieces. They weren't as easy as I thought they would be,


but it was much more exciting than I expected, especially as they started coming together. The hardest part was deciding when to stop...which obviously, for the Poe fan, was a challenge. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Project 365 - November 26












We were delighted with the invitation to share Thanksgiving dinner with two families from our church. Particularly since the host grew up in Virginia, and the other couple lives in Savannah during the winter months.

Aside from all that geographical connection, it was sweet to fellowship around our common gratitude for the Lord Jesus Christ and His love for us.

Birthday Tea

Project 365 - November 21

Lois and I hosted a birthday tea for Cynthia, just a couple of months post-
birthday.


There's nothing like stretching out the fun, eh?

I thought the table was especially lovely.

Serendipity

Project 365 - November 4

It had been my goal this year to be finished with the Christmas preparations by Nov 1.


I knew I wasn't going to be able to meet that goal, so I changed it to December 1 and spent the latter part of October and all of November finishing up projects and shopping, all of which was great fun.

One of the highlights of that fun was this day, the day we got Jed's Christmas pictures taken at Sears. We had an early appointment and were just finishing up when we heard an excited buzz around us...it was snowing!

We shopped for hats and gloves for Jed while Christmas music played throughout the store and we grinned ear-to-ear. A nice way to start the season, even if the snow didn't stick.

All Hallow's Eve

Project 365 - October 31

Halloween sneaked in pretty quietly this year.














There's nothing quiet about Jed, however...especially when he's got candy on his mind and a scary costume on his person.








Trick-or-treating is a rather bizarre custom...
children going door to door begging for candy.




You couldn't ask for a better moon on a Halloween night.

Farewell

Project 365 - October 30

My dear friend Rita lost her battle with cancer while we were gone.

I had been watching her lose ground nearly every day for a while, and I knew I would not be seeing her again in this life when I said good-bye for the last time the day before we left on our trip.

The joyful thing is I know I will see her again. It is a bittersweet thing when a Christian dies...but it's mostly sweet. Because it's not really good-bye, it's more like be-seeing-you.

When Jed and I were visiting Rita back in the Spring, he noticed that her little lighted village was gone from the hutch in her dining room and asked about it. Rita told him it was a winter decoration and she had put it away. She then asked him if he liked it and when he said yes, she told him he could have it some day.

Rita's sister Doris set the village aside for us before she headed back home to Florida after the funeral. Our friend Lois gave us the boxed up village the day we met up to go to the graveside together. I was so happy for Jed to have it, and I got it all set up as soon as we got home on the cedar chest upstairs in the loft.

However, I didn't realize how much it would mean to me.

I found myself discontent with it being upstairs, since I'm not up there much. After a few days I moved it downstairs to a little table in the livingroom.

I can't tell you the joy it has given me to be able to see something every day that was Rita's.

My grandmother used to set out a little village scene every year at Christmas and it was magical to me. I hope Rita's village will be the same for Jed when he reflects back on his childhood, and I hope it will help him remember her. At least till he sees her again. :)

A Happy Boy

Project 365 - October 23

It's great to be six!

Happy Birthday Again

Project 365 - October 21

Jed loved Elijah's bowling birthday party so much he wanted to have one of his own.

So after a few days of resting up from our trip, we headed out for the birthday bash.

First stop: McDonald's. Naturally.




Elijah shows off his impressive form.








Jed shows off his impressive form. :)










Taking a break.










Taking another break. :)












The heated competition didn't spoil the fun and friendship.












This was Elijah's first time playing air hockey!














Making a wish.













Goofing around.






A fun day.

On the Road Again

Project 365 - October 15







We headed home to Maine today...what a trip. Drove straight thru, rained all the way and heavy traffic to boot.

That's all I have to say about that.

Thank Goodness Birthdays Only Come Once a Year

Project 365 - October 14











Jed's sixth birthday was October 16, so we took the opportunity to celebrate it with his Grandpa and Grandma before we left Virginia.

The plan was to take Jed to the Virginia Children's Museum, purportedly a very cool place, but the plans went south when we arrived and found the doors locked.

And by south, I mean way south. About as far south as a parent can get.

We celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese's.



























At least there was birthday cake waiting for us at Grandpa and Grandma's. :)

A Day at the Beach

Project 365 - October 13

Tracy, Jed and I struck out on our own the second day of our visit, heading to Virginia Beach.




Our first stop was the Virginia Marine Science Center, near Rudee Inlet. This was one of Brad's favorite places to go when we were visiting Grandma and Granddaddy, and it's even better now, with more hands-on activities.








This was one of my favorite things in the center: a tunnel of mirrors...it was really incredible.






The next stop was the beach...








where the water was warmer in October...



















than it is in the middle of the summer in Maine. :)

You Can Go Home Again

Project 365 - October 12

A favorite activity when I'm home is riding the ferry from Portside to Waterside in Norfolk.

After the wedding festivities, we drove to Portsmouth to visit with my parents before heading back to Maine.


We stopped for lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, where this boat was an irresistible prop. :)




This is the Portsmouth Lightship, a portable lighthouse built in 1915 and retired in 1964. One of my oldest memories.

The Big Day

Project 365 - October 9


I didn't take my camera to the wedding since I knew there would be a much better photographer than me capturing every moment.

I'll post more pics later when I receive them, but in the meantime, here is one of my favorites, borrowed from the photographer's blog.

On a side note, no, I don't know why my son is wearing a teal jacket. I'm just not cool enough to understand. :)

You can see their super-cool engagement pictures here, Jennifer's gorgeous bridal photos here and here, and more pictures of their big day here and here.

Family Treasures

Project 365 - October 8

One of the highlights of the wedding week was the bridal luncheon. It was so fun to meet Jennifer's friends and spend the afternoon with this group of vibrant young women.

I vaguely remember being that way myself once upon a time. :)

Since I hadn't been able to attend any of the bridal showers, I took this opportunity to give Jenn a couple of personal gifts.

One was a little family heirloom..."heirloom" being loosely applied here. It probably has no monetary value at all, but it does have a sweet and funny story.

When I was growing up, my great-aunt had a little ceramic doghouse and two dogs sitting on top of her console television set. It was a real treat to be allowed to play with them once in a while, and when she passed away many years ago, I asked for the set to remember her by.

What I didn't know until it was given to me was that Auntie and Uncle Austin each claimed one of the ceramic dogs, and would put each other's dog in the doghouse when they were miffed at the other person. As I was cleaning them, I was amused to discover a mended crack all the way around the larger dog...apparently Auntie was a little more than miffed on at least one occasion. :)

It was fun to be able to pass along this little family treasure to Brad and Jenn with wishes that the dogs will see daylight much more often than they'll be subjected to the interior of the doghouse. hehe

One of the other gifts was a family cookbook, full of Brad's favorite recipes growing up. I loved making this! And interestingly, I was able to use leather from a bomber jacket of Uncle Austin's to bind the book.

I think Auntie would be pleased.

That's My Boy

Project 365 - October 7

This was a good day...the first time I had seen Brad in over two years.




I hope that never happens again. I wouldn't recommend it.

On a side note, isn't the apartment awesome?? That's Jennifer's artwork you see hanging up.

On another side note, no, I don't know why Brad is holding his dog that way. :)

We went to lunch together, just the two of us. I would say it was like old times, but it wasn't.

It was better.

I like him even better as a man than I did as a boy. Even though he was the sweetest boy I had ever known.

Danger is His Middle Name

Project 365 - October 6

Brad has this crazy idea to give his (future) son the middle name Danger, so he can tell people Danger is his middle name.

I thought this was the funniest thing I had ever heard when he told me about a year ago, and I thought it was even funnier when I found a tshirt earlier this year with that very saying on it. It was even more perfect when I saw the tshirt beside it...the female version.

Brad and Jenn had just gotten engaged, and I bookmarked the site so I could purchase the shirts for them later as a wedding gift. Only my computer crashed in the summer and I lost all my bookmarks. Despite many hours of internet searching, I could not find the tshirts on any site. I was trying not to panic, but time was running short.

Then I had a crazy idea...maybe I could get them screenprinted. While searching for local screenprinters, I discovered the most amazing thing...there are websites where you can design your own custom tshirt and order even just one...and for just a few dollars more than you would pay for a non-custom shirt.

So I set to work feverishly, trying to recreate the perfect tshirts to the best of my memory, which, as my mom will tell you, is not too good. It was not working. I finally (and very reluctantly) decided to forget trying to duplicate someone else's work and create my own tshirt design.

And oh, am I glad I did - it was SO fun!

Awesome, Man!

Project 365 - October 4

I'm a little out of chronological order here, because we were using two different cameras during the trip.

Our first stop in North Carolina was Asheville. Tracy had a meeting scheduled for Monday morning and he spent Sunday afternoon preparing for it while Jed and I went exploring.

We didn't get too much exploring done after Jed saw this totally awesome miniature golf course built into the side of a mountain, complete with waterfall. It was totally worth it!