First Quilt Block

I can't believe it's been 4 months since I've posted to my blog! I missed a lot including Christmas! Well, I'm back...

For my sister-in-law's birthday, I decided to make her a quilted hot pad. This was not my first attempt at quilting, but the first project I actually finished! It was only one quilt block, but that was hard enough for me!! There were several mistakes to it but overall I think it looked good. This block is a pinwheel design. Can you see the pinwheel in the middle? Here are some pics...

Emma

Emma is our new kitty. We've had her a couple of months now. Phillip loves cats, so he talked me into getting one for Daniel. We had wanted to get him a dog for his 1st birthday but we didn't have a fence, so instead we now have a cat! She is very sweet and good-natured (especially since she has to deal with a toddler every day!). Daniel loves his kitty! This has been a good learning experience for Daniel on how to treat her gently. He's a little rough to say the least. But he's learning. We adopted her from the Fayetteville Animal Shelter. They have so many animals there, so if you're thinking about getting one, check there first! You may be able to save a life!

Josh and Xiaoyu

Here are some pics that Xiaoyu sent me. They are (remember) in Ohio while Josh works on his PhD. They went hiking at a place called Hocking Hill and took pics of the fall colors there. These pics are great so I thought I'd share them!

Memories from the past...

I made this slideshow/video for the high school girls' Bible class that Krystal and I are co-teaching this year at FCS. We've been talking about waiting for God's timing and His choice of a life-mate for them. Anyway, Krystal and I both shared our story of how God led us to our husbands and I put this presentation together to show them some pictures of my pre-married days, my wedding, and of course Daniel!

P.S. If you're getting this post by e-mail, you'll have to visit my blog to actually see the video - http://www.theaudreys.blogspot.com/.

Fall Colors

We've been taking lots of pictures this fall because the trees have been so beautiful!! A couple of weekends ago, we went up to Pinnacle Mountain in Elkins (very close to where Phillip and I lived when we first got married - in a cabin on top of this mountain with a great view!) and took pictures near the old community church. We were trying to get family pictures of all 3 of us, but Daniel was too interested in exploring...

Devil's Den

My mom and I took the kids to Devil's Den State Park today. We have been wanting to take a drive to enjoy the fall colors and thought that Devil's Den would be pretty and the kids could play on the playground there. The drive was beautiful; but when we got there, the play area was blocked off for construction. So instead, we went on a little hike, which was just as fun!! It was very cold until we started walking and got our blood pumping. Probably in the high 40's! Here are some pictures...

18 months old!

Still working on not making huge messes when we eat! :)

What a sweetie!

Loves his shoes!

Here's Catalina (almost 3) in the first dress made from our (mom and me) sewing business. More on that later!

Daniel turned 18 months old on Saturday. What a milestone! :) Oh, and yes, it really is 4:30 am. Daniel was having trouble sleeping so I just got him up. After a while he'll go back to sleep (this happens fairly often by the way...why???). He has never been a good sleeper. At this point, he only takes one nap a day for about 30-45 minutes. Still doesn't sleep through the night. I hear awful stories about some kids who don't sleep through the night until 5 years old and I just have a feeling that's where we're headed. But despite his "problems," he's really learning a lot of new things and getting better at old things. The latest thing that he just loves to do is dip food (chicken nuggets into ketchup, etc.). This can keep him completely happy for an entire meal (yeah!!!). He also loves his shoes and can now say the word. He has just started saying "please." His favorite word is probably "kitty" especially since we got one recently. This story will be a post in and of itself. Let's just say Daniel LOVES his kitty. He's graduated to the Toddler room at church. He'll stay there until he's old enough to go to the 3 year old class. Apparently, he's also old enough to start throwing fits! So, we've been working on that...Anyway, Daniel is not my little "baby" anymore! :( and :)