For all those who come to this happy place, Welcome!

(all prints are from the black apple - you can find her blog link on the side)  working on the surveys for my thesis - I've been reading a lot of definitions of friends. Here are a few I liked : 1. "Somebody that is there for you when you need them or will help you even when they don't know you are struggling... (so I guess "Betsy" isn't a friend, I help her, but she never really helps me. It is a one sided friendship and I'm okay with that). 2. Someone that cares about you and wants to know your okay... spends time with you, calls, checks in, goes out to eat with you - and just spends lazy time together... 3. Someone who shares your history , feelings, and you can depend on. 4. Some one who likes you as much as you like them. 5. Someone that makes you a better person. Someone you spend time with little or long... Friendship should be easy. 6. Someone that sticks with you through everything, loves you, argues with you, gets over it and holds you up whe...

I am temporarily on a sewing fast. For the next few weeks I am making a decided effort to work on my thesis and that has meant lots of library time. Almost all of my research is online which I could do at home, but it is so hard to do anything at home. I am way too easily distracted... so I try to spend a few hours every night at the library MCC (if Jason is on call) or ASU (If he' not - their open 24hrs.) Anyway, my friend Jill stopped by tonight. Normally I would be getting ready to sew, but instead I was packing up my lap top to head off to the library. Being the wonderfully thoughtful person that she is she brought me a study kit. 2 bottles of Coke (what would I do without the stuff), pens, notebook, coloring kit (when I need a break - yet I here I am blogging), a letter "M" to remember motivation (oh and Maren... look at that), and a cd with "brain food" music. It was all so sweet and thoughtful. Can't you see why I love my "sewing ladies" ...

my friend Christie made these adorable baby shoes for Abbey. I ran across a pattern for them and posted it on our Secret Stitch Blog . I had no idea they would turn out so cute or that she would make them for Abbey. I figured I'd get around to it by the time they wouldn't fit her anymore. So here's to good friends. Also check out the matching onesie she made. Is Abbey the most stylish baby or what?

Since last weekend Jason & Paige had a Daddy Daughter Date by default (James had fallen asleep and couldn't be awaken). They went to see Hotel for Dogs & then went out to eat at Lonestar . James was mad when he woke up, so I promised him a day where he & I would hang out and just do things he likes to do. So we went to the park in the morning & took all new sand toys (so he wouldn't be "sharing/taking" them from other kids with responsible moms that remembered to bring them). We stayed at the park for a couple hours with tons of kids he knew and plenty of babies to kiss on. Then went to Peter Piper Pizza for lunch. We took his best friend Cade with us and met up with Olivia & Reece (two other kids he loves). They had a blast. We had to pick up Paige from school but after that we went and got ice cream cones from McDonald's . How's that for a Mommy Son Date?

Paige got to have a Girls Day - on MLK day, since they were out of school. She decided to have a tea party (this is becoming an annual event) - She was allowed to invite 10 friends. She loves all kids and the ages ranged from 2 years to 7 years. And here she is wearing her own special apron that I made her. Here are some of the girls getting ready to frost the mini cakes we had baked. This is the "little girls" table and the table that Paige wanted to stay at. She doted on Myla (age 2) and Lydia (age 3). James was spoiled even though he was exiled from the party. My friend Christie picked him up, took him for a ride around the airport, got drinks at Sonic, and then they got to play trains at Christie's house (one of his favorite things to do) with his best friend, Cade Here is Paige & Myla. Paige let me do her hair & she did her own gorgeous makeup. Here is our group. The girls could come in costume if they wanted. We had out our dress-ups if they were so in...

We were invited to James friend Austin's birthday party. It was 'pirates gone wild!' It was so fun and there was buried treasure to be found. My Pirate Princess Paige... she can arrrggh - like no other. Pirate Maren & baby Abbey got into the pirate themed spirit of things. Abbey in her pirate garb. I made her this onesie before the party so she could fit into this rough crowd. James is walking the plank while Paige guides him to his final destination. Christie & Gavin and Maren & Abbey chat it up. Like the do? - My friend Chelsea rocks!

Happy Birthday Paige!! My little girl just turned 6 years old... and she will be in 1st grade. Should I start feeling old now? Paige is a birthday junkie. She keeps count of days and then is always asking if that's all the presents we got her. She is such a funny girl. She spreads it out as long as she can and you can't skip even one tradition with her. Here she is Birthday morning waking up before daddy left for work to see her brand new bike. it has since lost the training wheels and she's not to thrilled with that, but promises to try to learn how to ride a 2 wheeler (so far that means Jason holding onto the back the entire time when they go for bike rides). Paige insisted on chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast with candles (like Aunt Jen makes) - I swear you miss just one birthday and you make up for it every year by having a new tradition added to their lists. I shaped it like Mickey Mouse & added the whip cream & cherry. It turned out cute & didn't ...

This is Avery Brooks Carter & Paige when Paige was a few months old. Avery is the oldest child of my sister Kelly. She also has 2 younger brothers but always wanted a " stister " - from an early age Avery adopted Paige as her younger stister . Don't they look like they could be stister's ? This summer we get the pleasure of having Avery stay with us for 13 days just by herself. Paige has been at her wits end for weeks waiting for Avery to get here. Yesterday... that day came. My baby sister Megan flew down from Utah with Avery. She was super excited to ride on a plane AND get to spend the summer in " Marizona " with her favorite Aunt & cousins. Paige wanted to take them out to eat - so we went to my kids favorite restaurant, IHOP . Avery & Paige had the chocolate chip face pancakes. Megan couldn't decide which was tastier, her stuffed french toast OR the syrup on James cheek. Paige & Avery got to attend their first Quinceneara (I k...

During the summer a bunch of local theatres offer Summer Kids Clubs, where they show previously released kids movies for a dollar or two a ticket Harkins , Cinemark , & AMC (they might have it where you live) - anyway, it's movies like Shrek the Third, Bee Movie, Flushed Away, etc. This weeks movie was the cartoon version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & I almost didn't take them because I didn't think they would really be into it. As you can see from the pictures, I am wrong. We went to Target & they couldn't stop fighting in the aisles. They wanted swords so I bought them these little softee baseball bats in the dollar section. Then when we came home they were determined I could make them masks. So I made them masks & capes out of old t-shirts, you can check out the SSC blog where I explain how I did it in 6 easy steps. Needless to say - it provided a fun afternoon & my kids (and their friend Seth) have been wearing the capes daily since we...

It's summertime... It's in the 90's and the bathing suits have come out in full force! We don't have to look for an excuse to get in the water. Arizona actually means: "get thee to the water" The other cool thing about "the valley of the sun" is that there are splash parks all over & the public pools are chock full of water features that look like Willy Wonka must have created them. We went today to our favorite The Tempe Splash Park. It is actually a few weeks late in opening. The have remodeled & taken out the sand area from last year. I'm not that sad. The sand is like 300' degrees in the summer time. This is hands down the best way to cool off. Paige had a "play date" with our good friend " Libia " (Olivia) after school and played fast & furious for about an hour before we were ready to head home. It's only about 5 minutes from our house which adds to the good times. We headed home to enjoy a coupl...