Thankful

I have come to learn that being a friend has a large spectrum of meaning.  I am grateful for all kinds but this Thanksgiving season I am particularly vulnerable to the kind that goes beyond reproach and exceeds all expectations.

I was doing a quilt-along (doing the same quilt pattern along side other quilters) with some interested unnamed individuals, who turned out to be flakes and ultimately uninterested named Rigel and Gillian individuals.  Since they are family I let them off the hook way too easily and began my thousand y-piece hexagon quilt alone.

In an effort to take advantage of the quilting machine while in Muncie for Thanksgiving so I could give the quilt to Caleb for Christmas, I tried to cram down a years worth of quilting the week before we were to leave.  I had to get the top pieced so I could quilt the top, middle, and back together.  The night before or otherwise D day, my nine month pregnant, mother of two, husband in medical school astonishingly amazing friend Ann showed up unannounced at 9 o'clock at night with sewing machine in hand and said,

"Let's do this".

One of the most thoughtful acts of kindness someone has ever done for me.  I love my friends.

Halloween 2012

Fall is my favorite season.  This year we went to the apple orchard and pumpkin farm, carved pumpkins, dipped apples, made apple pie, delivered ghost rice krispies, homemade hot cocoa, and pumpkin bread, went trick or treating three times (as if that's necessary), ate fresh donuts and warm cider, drank hot chocolate for breakfast many a days, ate ourselves sick on candy, and tried at least ten new soup recipes. 

My jeans are so tight.*

Animal costumes on toddlers are the best.  They look like little mascots.  Does that make me an Anne Geddes fan?

Rolling down the hill with the kids took me back to my grandmother's house, where we would hang out in the yard with our cousins until dark and then a little longer.  Totally juvenile, but I remember now exactly why we would do it for hours.  It wasn't only the kids highlight of trick or treating at SVSU(local university here).

And the best part of Halloween was having Cruella DeVille fly all the way from Reno to come trick or treating with us.

Did I ever mention that we love having visitors.  Friends and family are the only reason I remain sane while raising three small humans.  Well, mostly sane. 

*And just to make myself feel better, I did hold a garage sale, help Anne reupholster a chair, and dragged Jesse to my insanity class (memorable).

Enzo

Proof that I do take pictures still, even if he is the third child.

     

On more than one occasion we have found the kitty snuggling up to Enzo at night.  Avery could not have picked a more tolerant animal.