Fun Summer Morning!

Summer is just flying by and we're trying to get out an enjoy it as much as we can ... despite being 7.5 months pregnant and the weather starting to get super hot. :) Less than 2 months left until the baby comes though so we'd better enjoy these last 1-child days.

We have an awesome park in our neighborhood that is right next to the lake - it's got great climbing toys and lots of soft sand to play in. Mason feels right at home at the beach when we go there.

We went today with my 2 friends and their 3 kids - Mason's best buds. It is so fun to have such great Mama's that are my best friends and have them have such awesome kids that are Mason's age, too. It works out so well. I love our little playgroup.

We played in the sand with all the sand toys and spent some time swinging and going on the slide and climbing the spiderweb. And running across the "plank" of the "ship" as Mason likes to call it.

And this is how I know that it's time to put the camera away, or at least stop trying to get any photos where he's looking at me - the Blank Stare.

We went to the pizza buffet after and then next door to our favorite shaved ice place for a treat - what a fun morning!

Yay for summer!

May Quilting Bee Blocks

May was a big month for the 3 Quilting Bees I am in ... each bee had 2 blocks due, so that was SIX block I needed to make. I hate being behind but I'm so glad that all six of them are done and going in the mail on Monday!

It's an interesting thing making a block for someone else ... with the fabric that someone else has chosen ... you never exactly know if they're going to like it or not or what their tastes are or if there's a particular thing that they just HATE. I guess signing up for a quilting bee you kind of know that - and that's what makes it fun is getting a ton of different perspectives on the same general idea.

So the blocks I made for the month of May were:

For the Pieced Together Quilting Bee:

Allison's drunkard's path block:

Colleen's right angels & strippy squares block: (my favorite of the month)

For the Cottage Quilting Bee:

Carolyn's tree block:

Ashley Ann's rainbow scrappy block:

and for Sew Connected 3:

Quayandco's scrappy log cabin block:

Sunnynole's owl block:

You can click on any of the blocks for more details on each of them -- I had a great time making blocks this month - there was some terrific fabrics sent out!

Also for anyone reading this that may be in a quilting bee -- I started a new group on Flickr specifically for Quilting Bee Blocks - that is, any block that you make for someone else from fabric that they send you. If you're in a quilting bee right now please join our group and add pictures of all the great blocks you've made. We've got a great collection of blocks so far and also a master list of all the different quilting bees that are out there right now - there are lots of them! If you aren't in a bee yet, it's also a great place to post that you might be interested in joining one and seeing what bees are going to be starting up soon.

Spring is fun!

I've been slacking on posting about day-to-day stuff here, which really is what this blog started out to be. As one of my good friends says - she blogs for selfish reasons, to have a record of her family and kids and all the fun things they do. I usually am pretty good about uploading my iPhone pictures to my Flickr (hello emailing straight from the phone to Flickr easy-peasy!) but then the pictures just sit there and I NEVER seem to get the pictures from my hard drive over here anymore. I figured it was time for a big post catching up with some of the fun stuff we've been doing in May. (And is it already June?!)

Riding bikes:

Going to 31 cent ice cream night:

We got season tickets to the Bees (minor league baseball team for the Angels) and have been going to lots of baseball games. Marc takes Mason a lot just the 2 of them. Their favorite way to get there is the Trax (light rail). Mason LOVES riding the train.

Going to the library.

Eating out when it's too hot to cook:

Having popsicles or ice cream on the front porch every day after naptime.

Summer rainstorms with rainbows after:

Backyard bbq's with cousins:

Swinging on a big-boy swing for the first time:

Eating out in our backyard almost every night:

This was a big one - going bowling for the first time! (More about that later)

Getting a new t-ball stand, reading the instructions to Daddy:

Going to the quilt store with Mama (not his favorite errand):

Relaxing in the pool:

Going to the baseball game with friends: