First MOPS

We had our first MOPS meeting of the year today. I'm really excited to be getting back into all of our regular schedule of activities. There were a bunch of new moms and a bunch of new babies.
I was a little worried how Carter would do in the childcare, since it's been since May since we were there last. He didn't seem to have much of a problem with me leaving. When I went to pick him up, he was still vegging out from a nap. Hopefully he'll always be that easy to drop off.
It looks like it will be a good year! :)

What a weekend!

Yesterday was crazy! We got up at 6am (when Carter woke up) and left almost immediately so we could spend a few hours hanging out with Tim's family before our niece Lauren's first birthday party. Carter loved to give Lauren kisses and hugs. He also gave Ben, his three year old cousin, a hug so big it knocked him over. We headed home after the party was over.
My friend Katie's bachlorette party was last night too. I went into the party not knowing how long I would stay, but I ended up staying until the end at 2am. It was fun to have a girls' night and Katie is a hilarious drunk. I definately feel too old to stay out like that anymore. (Or should I say pretty much ever, since I've never been too much of a partyer.)
Tim is working today, so I've been trying to have a pretty mellow day with Carter since I;m so tired. We went to get some apples at Pinetree Apple Orchard, one of our favorite fall places. Carter loves to bite into apples now that he has he teeth to do so.

Dear neighbor,

Please refrain from parking your stroller with a screaming/crying toddler in front of my house ,(Especially during my child's nap time) unless you would like to watch my child for the evening who is now short an hour on his nap.
Thank you!

State Fair Pics

I'm really bad a remembering to take pictures while we are out and about. I did, however, make sure to take some pictures of my boys at John Deere. Tim, being a former farm kid, is a huge fan of anything John Deere.

Last Year


This Year

2 baby quilts finished for 2 baby girls

One of my former coworkers had twin baby girls a month ago. She is the sweetest lady and I wanted to make something special for them. I tend to fall in love with each and every project I do, but I definitely think this are my best quilts yet. :) Now I need to get back to work on the many Christmas presents I have started.

I'm going crazy. . . .

Without my sewing machine. It's only been a few days, but I'm dying to have it back. I'm leaning towards buying the more expensive sewing machine. Now the only problem is deciding where to buy it from. In the Twin Cities there is only one authorized dealer of the Inovis 900D which is Creative Sewing Center. It is the full retail price right now. From my research online, it seems that I should be able to get it for almost half of that. Unfortunately,it's not sold online, so I can't buy it that way. I am considering checking with sewing machine stores in Rochester and St. Peter to see if they'll give me a better offer. For a $300+ difference in price, it would be worth the drive.
Maybe I'll just have to borrow my moms machine until I can find a better deal.

My sewing machine

While sewing yesterday all of my stiches started to go all whonky. Usually this means the tension is off. So I took out the bobbin and a metal piece fell off. At some point the screw that attached this metal piece to the bobbin fell out. I searched all over, but the screw is still missing.
I was planning on buying my new machine soon anyways, but I guess this is just my kick in the butt to figure out what I really want and go for it. I looked at a shop that carries only Berninas last week. While they were really nice, the cheapest one was more than $800. At this point in my life, I can't imagine spending that much on a sewing machine. So today when Tim gets home, I'm going to take a little trip to one of the other local sewing machines stores to take a look at what they have that is much more in my price range ($400-$600). From my online searching, I'm very interested in the Brother SE-350. I'm hoping they will have that one in person so I can try it.

Wow!

I've been really bad about blogging lately. I think my plan with "back to school" next week is to try to get our lives much more on a schedule. Hopefully this will mean much more blogging.
What's new with us? I've been hitting the job search hard again. At this point, I've been applying mostly for part time positions, so that we can hopefully manage to keep Carter out of daycare for a little bit longer. (FYI, i have no issues with actually putting kids in daycare, it's just an expense we can't afford at this point.)
I've also been busy looking for a new sewing machine. I made almost $300 sell stuff I no longer needed at a family garage sale, so I can afford to buy a much nicer machine. I think I will be investing in a Brothers machine in the next week or two. The one that I want has the ability to monogram. :) This will also come in handy for one of the Christmas presents I want to make for Carter and maybe some of his little friends. I'll post pictures once I start them.
Carter is growing so tall and skinny now, just like his daddy. He's starting to talk so much more now and in short phrases. His favorites are "what is it? an "want that." My favorite addition to the list is "I love Ray". (The neighbor dog at my parents.) I will not say that he loves anything else, just Ray.
Tim might have a potential job development. Right now it's too early to say if it will become anything. If this works out somehow, it would be the answer to so many prayers.
My mom is doing fairly well in the first two weeks of chemo. She's tired, but no other real side effects yet. Her head is starting to get itchy, so that means that her hair will probably start to fall out soon. Luckily, I saved quite a few silk scarves from my buying office days, that she'll have a pretty good variety to wear. I'm tempted to email a few of my old vendors to see if I could buy hats directly from them, so that I could get some fun ones.