New Posts!

After being busy this summer, I finally got some time - and encouragement/nagging - to catch up on the blog the other night.  Then, I forgot to say that there are FIVE new posts here from the other night!  I'm planning on doing a couple more on Sunday or Monday but, for now, please read the FIVE posts.

* Quilts
* Vacation Bible School
* Swimming, Swimming!!
* Houston Trip
* Birthday Boy

That is, if anyone else besides ______________ is reading the blog!

Blessings to you!

Tena

Quilts

Part of being 'off' for the summer is catching up on things I neglect during the school year.

Some of the things neglected are sewing projects, cleaning the house, organizing closets, etc.  I have spent some time getting caught up in the sewing room and have even purchased a new shelf to help keep that room a bit more organized.

Brenda's quilt.  Special request for my Alaskan outdoorsy friend!  She loves it so much that she won't put it on the wall in her bedroom as it was intended!  It was to 'replace' a quilt I made for her over 10 years ago...

Becky's quilt:  All Minshew or district shirts for a special coach that is moving to a different building.  Boohoo!  Miss her already!

Denim quilt:  Includes my grandfather's overalls, my dad's jeans, my brother's jeans, my mom's jeans and also my husband's jeans.  I predict that I'll have to make another one - and you know there's plenty of jeans left over!  Very heavy without batting...I just put a flannel backing and binding on this one.

Eli's holding one of his blankies that I had to fix...

There are other quilts that I've finished but didn't include due to the fact that they haven't been delivered yet.  So stay tuned to see what's next!!

Is anybody even reading this blog anymore?

Vacation Bible School

In an effort to be 'more involved' in our small hometown, I /volunteered/suggested/agreed to help at one of the church's Vacation Bible School weeks and found myself in charge of one of the projects. 

It was a lot of fun.  I met some fun people.  Eli had a blast!  We got a new CD and t-shirts.  We had fun.  I took a few pics...The project I was 'in charge of' was a quilt, of course.  Actually, seven of them...

Each child was able to decorate a square (or two) related to the lessons we learned about that week.

Now a group of talented quilters will put the backing and batting together with the tops and have them ready for the auction in the fall.  Or one will be given to a sick child or any number of things.  In any case, it turned out great and everyone enjoyed them.  Sherry embroidered the weeks' words on each quilt for us.

I'm using this blurry pic on purpose since it kinda obscures Eli's friend's face...He had so much fun!!

And two weeks later, we found ourselves at our church doing yet another VBS.  Husband asked me to discuss the differences between each church - and there were many - but each was awesome in it's own way.  At our church, I was in charge of a crew of 4-5 year olds and we traveled from activity to activity together.  Eli wasn't with me but had an awesome time.

That's me and my crew.  What a great group of kids!

Swimming, Swimming!!!

This summer, I've been determined that Eli will learn to swim...so, we started the very first week of summer with a week of daily lessons.  He did pretty well with the instructor and he did come away with a better understanding of how he is supposed to move in the water...but, he didn't want to put his face in! 

He did swim with his instructor in the deep end and he did jump off the diving board one day but he just didn't want to hold his breath and put his face in - for very long...

He did look pretty cute in his goggles and gear and he was pretty excited about lessons.  Since then, we've been swimming almost every day and we've been practicing...he can now hold his breath under water while either kicking or moving his arms and he is diving for sticks and other toys under water.  We are definitely on our road to being a swimmer.  And there are three weeks of summer left for me and six weeks of summer left for him...plenty of time to really get it going with more practice!!

Houston Trip

The week after school was out, we headed to Houston for a reunion of the Geiger's.  It was fun to see everyone and do a little 'catching up' but it never seems like we get enough time together...

While in Houston, we were able to attend a Houston Astros game (Houston lost), swim in my brother and Kit's pool for several hours, eat some yummy Italian food, visit the Art Car Museum, shop in The Heights, etc.  Enjoy some pics of our time!  (This is a lot more pics than I usually post but I haven't been posting much lately...)

Cousin John, Eli, Uncle Terry and Crazy Cousin Eddie enjoyed sitting really close together at lunch!

Eli and Cousin Virginia on our way to seats at the Houston Astros game.  He says he loves her!  She was so good with him!

Eli got to hug the ChikfilA cow and then he sat next to Grandma at the game.  The crowd did the wave three times and Eli just kept going.  He was like the Energizer Bunny!  (Until the game went into overtime...)

This is one of the Art Cars at the Museum.  It is made out of spoons!

Cousin John got in the pool for awhile with Eli and taught him how to ride the shark!  THAT was fun!

My parents bought this shark for Terry and Kit sometime after they had their pool put in but they had never used it.  So, when Eli came to town, we had Crazy Cousin Eddie blow it up so Eli could ride!  He spent several hours in the pool that afternoon and was happy as could be - with Cousin John, the shark, Mommy and some water guns and lots of relatives coming outside to visit you, who wouldn't be, right?

Cousin John and Cousin Gayle with me after my long swim!  I was so pruny after being in the pool for so long and I was sure to share some of my pool-wetness with them!  haha

Grandma stopped at the Blue Bell Creamery and we had to have a sample...Yummmmy!

At the Children's Museum in New Braunfels, Eli got to play in a real kayak!  It was just the right size!!

There was also a mock-up of the Guadalupe River that we used to tube in when I was in college.  Excepts instead of coolers and people in the tubes, this one had rubber duckies and plastic tubes...very cute!  Even though this was outside, it was my favorite part!

And on our way back into Dallas, we stopped to visit Daddy's stone and add some flags.  Eli posed behind the stone to show how much he's grown.  No matter how much time passes, I keep missing Daddy and Eli talks about him more.  We try to tell him things that Daddy did with him but he's coming up with some accurate information on his own.  Smart little bugger!

Birthday Boy!

Okay, so Eli turned 4 in May.  He had a superhero birthday party at a local park and had an excellent time.  We had the party on a weekday and invited (mostly) friends from his class.  Besides the weather being SUPER-DUPER windy, it was a beautiful day!

My mom took a ride on the really high, bumpy slide before everyone arrived.

I think everyone took at least one ride down the high, bumpy slide.  You have to be careful or you'll slide ride off the end of the slide on your bum!

Trish and Dresden came with Aunt Sherry!

Hurry and blow out the candle before the wind gets it!

He continues to surprise/amaze us with his extensive vocabulary. He is interested in all kinds of music and frequently sings along!  His favorite group is The Wiggles and we listen to them in the car and watch them on DVD often.  He loves stickers and coloring (but not in the lines, sorry!)  He loves to watch "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" on tv, his favorite movie of all time continues to be "Sound of Music" but he also likes "The Bee Movie" or "Shrek."  His favorite veggies continue to be tomatoes and cucumbers.  (Many thanks to Grandad for that!)  We are taking swimming lessons and trying to be vigilant about getting him to swim by himself before summer is over...wish us luck!  He does question our authority to the point that we ask him 'who's in charge?' but he gets back in line quickly, of course!  He's such a joy to have around - even in the difficult times - and he is the best boy ever!  We are biased, though...