Technology can blow my mind!

Technology amazes me almost every day (and it also frustrates me many days), but today it is amazing.  This past week I went back to Iowa for Thanksgiving.  Right now, I am typing this post while I am flying back to Atlanta!  How amazing is that...Internet on my flight!  It is pretty awesome.  I know Airtran (and other airlines) have offered in-flight Internet for a while, but I have never paid for it.  During the holidays this year Airtran is offering FREE wi-fi while in flight...so I decided to try it out.  Pretty awesome (and so far no motion sickness from being on the computer either)!!

Back to the past week...this past week was a great time spent with family and friends.  I got to see my friend Val while I was home (I am lucky she has a job that has her traveling close to Decorah).  I got to spend time with my sister, her husband, and their three kids; my brother and his girlfriend, my parents, and also some aunts and uncle!  It was a good week, with many blessings to remind me to be thankful for everything I have.

Here are a few pictures from this week.  On Sunday, we went to the La Crosse Children's Museum, they had a new Dinosaur exhibit.  Avery was very excited about the Dinosaurs, Madelyn not so much...

Playing with the water and boats.

Drew and Mommy on the slide.

Avery and Madelyn playing in the store...this was a very serious task.

On Tuesday, I got to go to dance class with Avery and Madelyn.  Here the girls are shaking their sillies out.

Madelyn ready to dance!

Avery showing off her first position.

After dance class was done.

I also got to babysit on Wednesday, and we were able to start the morning off with a picture of all three of the kids.

And of course, we decided to scare Mommy and e-mail her a picture like this.  What it would be like to have twins!

Playing with the photo booth application on my computer.  Sisterly love!

Madelyn and I...a classic Madelyn face.

Madelyn, Rachel, and I (and party of the doll's head).

A bigger group...Drew's expression is great, 'What the heck are you guys doing?"

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  Back to a regular work week on Monday. :(

Remember this fabric?

A while ago, in September, I decided to participate in a challenge event being put on by my local quilt shop, the Dragonfly Quilt Shop. I was given (as were the others that participated) a yard of this fabric, not knowing what it was.

Do you remember this fabric?

This was the challenge fabric.

I came up with several ideas for the fabric, but finally decided on a jewelry theme project.

I started with making a necklace holder. Here it is displaying some of my necklaces.

Then I decided to make an earring holder to go with the necklace holder. Here they are pictured together.

I made a necklace using the fabric.

Made some flowers to put on a baby headband.

And finally, I made a set of earrings to be displayed on the holder (here is the close-up picture, sorry it isn't the best quality).

The shop's website has pictures of all of the participants' projects. And if you happen to be in the Athens/Watkinsville area, you can go in and vote for my project as your favorite (if mine is your favorite) until December 11th.

Tis the season...for Christmas Cards!

If you can't tell by the sudden revival and life to my blog, I am back in Iowa for the week on Thanksgiving break. As we are gathering with family and friends for Thanksgiving, of course my first thoughts go to "It's almost Christmas!" and this of course leads to some level of panic with everything that needs to be done before the 25th of December. One of these items: Christmas Cards!

I have always enjoyed receiving and sending Christmas cards. I remember as a kid looking at all the pictures and updates we would receive and now I always look through the basket of cards, letters, and pictures when I am home for the holidays. This year I am thinking I may have to use Shutterfly to make some holiday cards...with of course pictures! While I don't have cute children of my own to use in a card, I still have a few options for this year: the standard a picture of Parker and myself, picture of me with my adorable nieces and nephew, or pictures from my summer in London. So many choices...

I think I like the cards with multiple pictures, that way you can experience more of my year!

Option 1: Cheery and Red

Option 2: Colorful Snowflakes

Option 3: Cute Stocking Card

Option 4: And finally, a card with 6 pictures!

Place your vote for which card you would like to see in your mailbox this holiday season! And make sure I have your current address!

And of course Shutterfly offers other products that I need to take advantage of, like photo books! My goal is to put together a photo book to help organize my few thousand pictures from my 6 weeks in London! I can't wait to start working on it, I might have to make more than one! Or maybe I should just make a calendar...that way I can have new pictures every month! So many options!

Check it out: Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… learn more here.

Baby M's Shower

This year has been a great year of friends' weddings, pregnancies, and babies! Last weekend myself (along with Katie, April, and Randi) threw a baby shower for our friend Meg Mierswa (and her husband Myles, too). We had such a great time throwing the shower and can't wait to meet little Mazlyn in February!

Here are some highlights from the day.

Decorations and gifts made the place look great!

Randi and April's diaper cake.

Mazlyn's monogram and some of our great bunting!

Some of the food...delicious, if I do say so myself!

Some of our outside seating area!

Mazlyn songbirds.

Opening my gift!

All of the guests.

We had an activity to decorate onesies so Mazlyn is outfitted with some custom attire. Here is some of the final collection!

Four hostesses with Mom-to-be!

And of course we needed a belly shot!

Meg and I with the diaper bag I made her!

Just Meg and I

And of course we need a few face pics...my favorite, "Can we fit everyone in?" We have: Katie, April, Meg, Me, Britton, and Randi all in one face pic...so much fun!

Is it really Thanksgiving?

As you can tell by lack of posts, fall semester came into full swing and took over my life. And somedays, it has no end in sight, but it will be over before I know it. Things have been going well so far, but can be draining at times. Teaching 3 classes and taking a class as a student has been taking their toll lately, so when I am not working I am usually trying to relax (or craft) and apparently not posting here regularly.

So a few updates on what has been happening (and future topics for posts):

• I have seen several losses and wins by the Bulldogs...while not the best season in history it has still been fun, at least to tailgate.

Tailgating in style with the limo.

Tailgating with baby Caroline (Courtney and Dom's baby) in October!

• At the end of September I got to spend a few days in Nebraska for Kristin Warner's (now Vest) wedding. It was such a great weekend, with a beautiful wedding and wonderful time with friends.

A picture with Kristin...while she was still a Warner!

And then at the reception with Mrs. Vest!

Hanging out with the MOH Carmen while Kristin and Rich were taking pictures.

• The girls with Britton on her first night at Thursday night dinner at La Fiesta! A custom La Fiesta onesie and all!

• I had a Glee-ful Halloween. Katie, April, and I dressed up as some of our favorite characters on the show, Glee.

Meg (the fifties housewife) and Me

• I have had some good time crafting, when I fit it in. Lots of new babies have joined us and even more babies to come, so I am being kept busy making gifts for these wonderful blessings!
• And less exciting I spend a lot of time writing lectures, exams, and papers. No pictures or exciting stories to go with this.

Hopefully I will keep the updates more regular in the future (with more pictures of course)! I hope to even post about some previous events too...just to get all of my pictures updated!