Caliente!

It is not hot no matter what the name is! It is frigid. We went on a 4-wheeler ride and I thought my ears would fall off. The kids have really had fun. They've done puzzles and read stories with Grandma, played with cousins, drove kid cars, played air-hockey and run wild. Roy's was able to get some shooting in.

Here are K's favorite new friends.

They are Aunt Tika's Alaskan Malamutes.

At first K was afraid of Allie and Schnook. It is really no wonder, they are both as tall as she is! She ran and being dogs they assumed she was playing. . . After a few more encounters, she warmed up though. She even climbed into the back of the truck to say good-bye to Allie and Schnook when they left today. They are beautiful dogs!

We're headed back to Delta for a few more days. Vacation is zooming right by!

Christmas Morning

D got his Lego City Airport. His faith in Santa is renewed for another year! A didn't even make it through her stocking before she was done. K bounced around and between she and D the actual opening was fairly quick. I love watching their faces as they anticipate and open presents. I love their excitement over watching others opening presents. The whole air is electric.
After all the gifts were opened, hugs given and breakfast ate, D went down to put together his Leogs. He was not seen again for most of the day.
This afternoon we headed out to Grandma Pyatt's house. She was having a family dinner with 3 of Roy's siblings and their families. I really like Roy's siblings. We talked, laughed and ate. We'll be here for a few days before heading home. It's so fun to see everyone!

Christmas Eve

This morning the kids played in the snow and built snowmen with Grandpa and Roy. They were so excited!

I love Christmas Eve. We have established some great traditions. Some from when Roy and I were kids and some from hearing what other people do.

This afternoon, the kids and I decorated some cards for Jesus. We did this last year. We make a card and write on it our gift for the Savior. It is something we will do to improve ourselves and/or help others. This year, I plan to put these cards somewhere for us to review them periodically. Then next Christmas we will hopefully have a year of improvement to show for our gift. I want to keep these in a fancy Christmas stocking or package. This is still evolving a bit.

After a nice Christmas eve dinner of ham and trimmings, D and K decorated cookies for Santa Claus.

A decorated a cookie too but we didn't give it to Santa.

We started the evening singing carols and hymns and opened the Christmas jammies to get ready for bed.

This moved into the acting portion of the evening. Starting in Helaman we read Samuel the Lamanite's prophecy about the birth of Jesus Christ. Uncle Rick was Samuel and the kids were the wicked Nephite's throwing 'stones' of wrapping paper that, despite the scriptural account, hit Samuel quite regularly. Then we changed into the New Testament. Grandpa was the narrator, Roy was Joseph, K was Mary, Uncle Justin was the donkey and a wise man, Grandma was the innkeeper, Uncle Rick and D were the shephards and wise men and A was a very large and mobile baby Jesus. I was the camera operator trying to get the chaos on film for future generations to enjoy. Despite the lack of professionalism, it was really amazing. K was a great Mary, trying to get everyone to look at her baby. A was sweet as a little baby/sheep/stone-thrower/chaos-spreader. D took his parts very seriously. It was great having other people around to fill in the gaps.

After the nativity, we read a Christmas story called A Christmas Dress for Ellen. I buy a new book each year. The kids were sweet and settled down so we took a ride to look at lights. A went to bed and the Uncles stayed home to be with her (plus there's not enough room for all of us to be in one vehicle!) K fell asleep on the ride. D made it through the ride and was super excited for Santa when we got home. He was tired enough he fell asleep quickly despite his excitement.

I really enjoyed the evening. It was great having family around. My dad shared some stories that I was able to record on the video. It was a really meaningful and special night.

Good NIGHT!

We were supposed to get up reeeeaaally early this morning to drive to Utah (think 2-3 a.m.). However, last night at 9:00 we said good-bye to our home teachers, looked around at the wired children bouncing off our walls, looked at each other and made a decision. Roy said, "Let's go." I said nothing -- just left a little dust outline of myself on the way to the van.
That's right folks, we drove all night. This is a much better experience in the van than it ever was in the '98 Chevy Cavalier. Trust me.
The kids snuggled down and slept while Roy and I lost ourselves in Harry Potter 7. Jim Dale is AMAZING. I'm thinking Harry Potter marathon next summer when we got to Wisconsin. It was great fun this morning when we called Grandma to tell her we stopped for breakfast....IN OGDEN! She was surprised. Well, she was surprised once someone finally told her where we were. All she could get from K was, "We're at a restaurant."
On the way south from Ogden A threw up. Then again. She was a smelly mess. It just wouldn't be a proper road trip without puke.
But we are here! Finally here! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve then Christmas! Yipee!

How could I have forgotten?

This is not my first time in the 18 month old camp. So how did I forget the movement and messes? The constant, never-tiring-until-dropping, unrelenting movement that results in frequent and hair-pulling messes.

This is what A did around my feet while I wrapped presents.

This is NOT what it looked like when I started. And there used to be a lamp in that corner.

This is what she was doing at the moment I had my camera.

That basket used to be in a drawer in my bathroom. A drawer I cleaned and organized YESTERDAY!!

Since I started this post, she has gotten into the potatoes, run around like a headless chicken, pulled dishes out of the bottom drawer, begged for milk and water and is currently playing with a toy shopping cart. HOW DOES SHE DO IT?!

Time marches on...

We're so glad when daddy comes home...


Talking to Grandma and Grandpa. Lots of talking.


The following pictures are from going to Lowe's and making a train engine. The kids love Lowe's Build and Grow workshops!

Too. Much. Sugar...

Yesterday I made toffee, fudge, cookies and cupcakes. Today I am languishing in a sugar induced slump. I need to be sanding and staining mangers for the YW. I need to clean up my house. I need to fold laundry (although not so much because I spent hours on Monday doing laundry). Yet I have done none of these things.

In happier news, here's a few pictures from the Festival of Nativities that we went to on Sunday.

This was K's favorite nativity. It is fun to take the kids and have traditions. I admit it would be nice to be able to browse the nativity displays rather than spend all the time in the kids room. As it was we only had a cursory walk through of the displays all the while sounding like a broken record. "Don't touch that. No touching. Please don't touch. That's not for touching. Put your hands in your pockets. Stop touching. Don't. No. Stop. Don't touch." So on and so forth. It was with a sigh of relief I took the kids in the kids room and said, "Now you can touch."

Here's D and A in the story telling booth. They are cheerfully not listening to the story. In fact, here's A's favorite part of the whole evening:

These were wooden beads forming a curtain to seperate the story telling tent. She just kept going back and forth pulling and feeling the beads. In the back, you can see D listening to the story for the approximatly 3.9 seconds he paid attention.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of K's favorite part. There was a display with some 2-D sheep. She kept sitting on them like she was riding a horse. She likes sheep. There are some sheep that live in a field across the street from our church. She calls them the "sheepy-sheep" and is always updating us about their status whenever we drive by. "The sheepy-sheep are out!" "Where are the sheepy-sheep? I can't see them." "The sheepy-sheep are getting rained on." Etc.

And this picture is just for the sheer cuteness factor.

Reasonable?!?

Last night while I was at Young Women's D called me. "Mom, I don't mean to bother you but I have some bad news. (Seriously, that is exactly what he said!) K knocked the tree down." !! Me, "Like the big tree in the front room?" Yes. Like the big tree in the front room.

Now before I go on, let me just say that Roy had a terrible night with the kids. I left him with a messy kitchen which he felt he needed to clean up. A had two stinky diapers -- Roy hates and tends to get overly dramatic about stinky diapers (think, "I'm going to throw-up. No really, I'm going to throw-up!"). And the culminating experience of the night was K knocking over the 7-8 ft. tree in the front room.

Another night, I would have left after D's phone call to get home and help but last night was craft night and I had put 3 of the 4 crafts together. I kind of needed to be there to help everyone know what went with what and such. So I chatted with D for a minute, reminded him to be GOOD! and HELPFUL! before hanging up and getting back to handing out craft supplies.

About an hour later, D called again. "Mom, I don't mean to bother you...." He proceeded to explain that Roy had cut off part of the tree and to not be surprised if the tree looks weird when I get home.

Apparently in a fit of "this tree is too big for this stand or it never would have fallen over" Roy trimmed what he felt was a reasonable amount off the bottom of the tree.

You be the judge.

Before:

After:

Making Marshmallows!

These have been on my mind for a while but I haven't been brave enough to try them. It just seems like making your own marshmallows should be hard. Turns out it isn't! My friend Jenn from next door came over and we had a fun time making them together. She brought me a Christmas present....a new CANDY THERMOMETER and some really fun Christmas spatulas! I'm so excited. And it was very timely because we used the thermometer to make our marshmallows.

K was a big help. She tested each batch for quality control. As you can see, it was a sticky job but someone had to do it.

Recipe and Tutorial for Marshmallows from OurBestBites.

Keeping Busy

I have several things I've been wanting/needing/putting off doing. Yesterday was the day. Christmas decorations have been slow to come but I finally got around to bringing in the ladder and putting out my decorations. I had lots of trimmed branches from our tree so I used them to create a garland feel. Don't be deceived, it is just a bunch of branches up there but I think the effect is pretty nice.

I still had a bunch of branches left over when I was done so I thought, "Well, I'll just make a wreath. How hard can it be?" It turns out that if you want to make an odd mishapen mass of evergreen it isn't too hard. If you want to make an actual wreath on the other hand....

Finally, I've been meaning to try my hand at homemade laundry soap. I bought the ingredients but still needed to put them together. Since I ran out of laundry soap half way through the job I didn't have much choice. It looks a bit like lumpy lemonade. It smells really clean and fresh. I'll let you know how the washing goes.

Even though I didn't put up or decorate the trees yesterday, I am just now getting around to taking pictures and posting them. I need to get some pictures with the kids in front now!

Weekend Wrap-up

Saturday morning we had a yummy breakfast before heading off to Lowe's (the hardware store). They have a program called Lowe's Build and Grow. The kids and Roy discovered it by accident a couple of Saturdays ago when they went to return a thermostat and came home with two snowman picture frames the kids made. I knew about it and knew LB&G would be making trains in December. Of course we had to go! We built the caboose this week. D has spent hours, HOURS I TELL YOU, playing with that caboose. He may have even slept with it, nothing can be proved.

Saturday afternoon I made two more Christmas pillowcases. They are ridiculously easy! I LOVE IT! I also bought more material to make crayon rolls. I over figured on the fabric. So when I cut the pieces, I have enough to make at least 8 crayon rolls! I got one done after the pillowcases. During this fest of sewing, Roy and K were doing this:
They are watching THE civil war. You know the great battle between North and South; between Orange and Green; between Ducks and Beavers. If you pay attention you can figure out which team Roy is rooting for.

I said the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting this week. As soon as I started praying I heard a little voice calling, "Mommeee, mom, mommeeee, mom, mommeeee, mom" This tribute contined for the entire prayer. Luckily A's pitch is somewhere near the range of a dog whistle so many people probably didn't even hear her!

Sunday was a nice laid back day of finishing up a FHE packet I started months ago. I ran out of lamination and had to give the laminator I borrowed back before I got more. The poor, partially completed packets have been in my drawer for months. I finally got around to borrowing another laminator and finished them up. Good times.

K is frequently telling me, "'Kena is my friend." I'm so glad :)

Long ramblings about nothing much

Today I went to D's school to help in the classroom. I really like being able to do that. This was only my second time but I totally want to go more. I helped with math groups (we were practicing tally marks :) and making 'warm fuzzies' to put on posters. Warm fuzzies is an exercise where the students write one nice thing about a class member on a little fuzzy cartoon guy. Then they attach these fuzzies to a poster for each class member. It is a good writing activity plus it makes them evaluate and determine something positive to say about another student. The most common thing written today? "His nis" For those of you who don't speak kindergarten-spanish/english dual learning-ese that is: "He's nice" Deep.

Last night was young women's night and I helped out with the Beehives (12-13 yos). We were making Christmas pillowcases as per a thing Tyce found online. Tyce and I picked out the fabric yesterday morning. It was . . . . interesting to watch the girls sew. The cases all turned out great but each was a unique creation. I had to explain technical sewing machine terms like: "the foot" or "bobbin" or "that knob over there on the side". Really, it was fun.
The Mia Maids (14-15 yos) babysat for FREE so parents could have a night out. One family took advantage of this. ONE FAMILY!! If I didn't have to be at mutual, I sooo would have sent my kids. Even if I dropped them off at the church and sat in my car reading a book for an hour, I WOULD HAVE DONE IT. There's no accounting for these things. The Laurels (16-18 yos) ate food prepared especially for them by the Priests (16-18 yo boys). The delicacies served were egg rolls and chocolate moouse. It is a combination that makes you tilt your head and say, "Huh." Go ahead. Apparently it was good although no one thought to bring some down to the beehives.

A has learned a very important new word/sound. It goes something like this, "Uh uhhh" usually accompanied by a little head shake. That's right she has learned how to actually say "no" in a way that doesn't involve throwing or crying. And she's not afraid to use it.
Me: "Ready for a nap?" A: "Uh uhhh"
Me: "Want to snuggle?" A: "Uh uhhhh"
Me: "Are you a sweetie?" A: "Uh uhhh"
And when she says it you almost can't tell it is supposed to be one word because she puts so much effort behind it. Inhale short "Uh", long pause for air to circulate body, exhale long "uhhhh". She is so sweet it makes my teeth hurt.

K/Wyatt/"AlftaPig" is still a walking super hero in her own esteem. Better than a squirrel.

Who's Wyatt?

K has a new favorite show. It is Super Why on PBS. We don't actually get reception to PBS but we borrowed a Super Why DVD from the Library a few weeks ago. She has watched that thing more times than I care to remember. So lately she has changed her name. We will call her and she will say, "I'm not a ladybug. I'm Wyatt!" When she is being Wyatt she also refers to herself in 3rd person. For example, "Wyatt is getting his shoes."

She has taken to carrying around a small plastic magnifying glass that she calls her "alftabet letters" in honor of Alpha Pig. He uses a magnifying glass to find alphabet letters.

Don't worry, the madness goes on. She will walk around barefoot and when I tell her to put on shoes she informs me that she is wearing her blue Super Why shoes. Tonight she came down without a shirt on. Roy told her to got put on her pajama top and she responded that she was wearing her Super Why shirt. He told her she could just put her Super Why shirt over her pajamas but that she needed her pajama shirt on. As you can see, we've embraced the madness ourselves.

We had some rope out from getting the Christmas tree. K found it and was using it as her "Lucky Letter Lasso" also courtesy of Alpha Pig. She would ask me, "Mommy, where's the Q?" I had the good sense to point to some part of the room far away from me so as to put some distance between myself and the Lucky Letter Lasso!

Everyday there are hundreds of mentions of Super Why or Why-Fliers or Why-Highlighters or Zapping letters or well, you get the idea. It seems we will be living with Wyatt for some time to come.

Family Traditions

The day after Thanksgiving is a big day! Not Black Friday -- we don't do that. Rather it is Christmas Tree cutting day. One amazing thing we've discovered up here is that there are farms everywhere and you can get fresh almostanything. This includes Christmas Trees. So today we went to a tree farm and picked out our tree.

The tree before it was cut

We are learning more about trees each year. This year we selected a Grand variety. We usually get Douglas trees but thought we'd branch out (branch out....heehee...) and try a different variety. The kids loved tromping around the tree farm selecting this tree then that one as the perfect Pyatt Family tree. Once the decision was made Roy started sawing. About 1/3 of the way through he was asking himself why this was a fun family tradition. Much like he does every year : )

Giving Daddy a thumbs-up

One great feature we always appreciate is having our tree shake and baled. They set the tree on a little machine that shakes all the loose needles and squirrels out. Then they pull the tree through a net that bundles the tree up making it soooo much easier to transport and set up. This year our tree was too fat. It refused to be baled. Believe me, we tried. Well, mostly I stood back and took pictures of Roy trying to push and the farm owner trying to pull the tree while the owner's wife and son and D tried to hold the table down. After a few minutes of this the owner offered us a discount to not have our tree baled.

Shaking... (no squirrels)

It was futile. That tree was NOT going through the baler.

We got the tree home with only minimal worry and no problems. When we got the tree in, A was very concerned. No, she was scared of it. Apparently trees are fine and great in the outdoors but should not be brought inside. She is such a funny little body. However, by the time we had it standing up and mostly stable she had come around to our way of thinking and was laughing and squatting down to check out daddy under the tree.

Cum'on it don't get much cooler than that!

We also got a small tree to put downstairs in the toy room. The kids always get excited to have their own tree. Last year it was a little scraggly Charlie Brown thing. This year we got an actual tree that happens to be small.

Happy Thanksgiving

Roy was carving the bird and this was the conversations going on:
D -- He was obsessing over the turkey's uvula. He was very curious about it wanting to know where it was. Do turkey's even have a uvula?
Uvula tangent: D kept calling it a "sucker". Later we were watching Ice Age 3 when Buck is telling about how he got out of Rudy's mouth. Buck says, "I grabbed onto that sucker and swung back and forth and back and forth and ..." All of a sudden it clicked why D was calling it a "sucker"!
K was very curious about the whole idea of a turkey. She was a little scared of it. As Roy started cutting into she kept telling him the turkey was peeing. She'd say, "Daddy, it's peeing!" It was the juice escaping out.
A probably came pretty close to eating her body weight in turkey today. She snacked on some while Roy was carving the bird. I tossed a large chunk on her tray before we got started thinking it would last her the meal. She was finished before the blessing on the food was over. And she didn't stop there!
D wanted one of the turkey legs of which he managed to eat half. K was thoroughly enjoying the skin, much to my consternation. My kids are full on carnivores. There were two salads, mashed potatoes, rolls, sweet potatoes, and stuffing. I believe they each ate turkey and one or two bites of one other item.

This was my second Thanksgiving to prepare alone. I'm happy to report that all went well. The smoke detector only went off once and we think it was because of the heat not because of any smoke. The turkey was cooked all the way through. All in all, very successful!
I hope you all had a great day full of laughter, food, family and gratitude!

My oven and other exciting things

Great news! My oven is working again! Our replacement part came in a day early so Roy and I spent the evening last night putting it in and (YIPEE) it works! Roy may have done the actual work but I want you all to know how vital my part was. After all, I was the one who *gasp* read the directions. I know, very edgy of me. I like to think he couldn't have done it without me. (Especially since he wasn't going to look at those directions.) Anyway, it's turkey and hot rolls tomorrow!

Today the kids and I made Oreo Turkeys. They are actually "Tuxedo" Turkeys because I bought the store brand cookie. If you have a Safeway nearby and like Oreo's give the Tuxedo's a try. I think they are just as good.

The kids were bouncing off the walls to get at all that sugar. We made two cookie packages worth. I let the kids pick some friends to take a cookie to. D picked several and K picked one. She wanted to take a cookie to 'Kenna next door. When she and D went to take their cookies over no one was home. By the time K got back with her turkey it was barely recognizable. Later the kids went to try again. I figured that turkey was done for when part of it fell off before she even got out the door. No one was home again and when K brought the pitiful little thing back we just buried it in the backyard. It was done for. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?

Here's a shot of how our turkeys turned out. Sorry for the blur. I am shopping for a new camera this holiday season.

I have spent hours online shopping for toys. Not just any toys -- one very, very specific toy. I keep hoping to find it on sale in one of the Black Friday or Cyber Monday ads but no such luck. If anyone has a brand-new-still-in-the-box Lego City Airport they would be willing to part with for less than $60 please let me know. I don't know what the girls are getting for sure. I have some ideas but.... yeah, we'll see. I also don't know what Christmas Tree Ornaments to get this year. I get a new one for each kid each year. I try to make it meaningful for the year they've had but I don't know what to do for the girls. I want to get D a starting school one. I've seen a few cute ones. But the girls....I don't know. Any ideas?

Two Hour Late Start

School is on a 2-hour late start schedule because of the black ice on the roads. We used this time to get some quality sledding in on the ice flow next door.

Last night our neighbor's water heater was pouring water and creating a small river down their driveway. It was a big bummer last night. Then it froze overnight creating the latest winter fun.

*Update* D just came in crying. Care to guess what happened on the ice? Don't worry he's fine. It is pretty much a forced cry for attention. ;)

Weekend Wrap-up

Yesterday I made turtle pretzels (great pics and tutorial here) for my friend Tyce. Since my oven is broken I went to my neighbor's house and made them. Not only was this better than trying to nuke 'em, but it was also a lot more fun!

We did them in the evening so A was already in bed. D and K went with me to play with the kids -- and play they did. Near the time we were ready to go, I walked over and sat down next to K. She peremptorily told me she was not ready to go yet. I said it would be time soon. Her response, "How 'bout you go home and I stay?" Umm....yea....no. As we were walking home she told me she wanted to "sit by 'kenna at church tomorrow." I believe I mentioned something about we could probably sit near them or something.

Today we walked into church and sat two rows behind them. K promptly walked up to "Sisser Harberson" and announced she wanted to sit with them. Jenn gave K a hug and let her sit next to 'Kenna. I watched K during the Sacrament and it was the absolute MOST REVERENT I have ever seen her be. She stayed in the SAME seat on her bum for nearly the entire meeting! And when she moved it was onto 'Kenna's lap. I think we may have stumbled onto something here....

When church was over it was a mad house. Every child in the primary (and a few from the Elder's Quorum) was bouncing off the walls because there were GIANT snowflakes falling outside. It was beautiful. We don't get alot of snow here and we really don't get it this early in the season. It didn't snow for too long but some of it was sticking.

Roy and I had a little family time in the garage learning how to put on our new snow chains. The snow doesn't warrant it at this point but you never know what tomorrow will bring. Lest you scoff, let me tell you that we live in a city that does not own snow plows. Seriously. Our first year here it snowed and shut down the whole city for days. It was somewhere close to a foot. We drove on chains for a few days.

Roy is giving the cat milk. He seems to think this will make up for the fact that she has to sleep in the garage and it is winter. This is even funnier if you know Roy's take on cats. Plus I've seen the amount of fat and fur that miniture lion has and she'll be fine.

Daily update

We had pork chops for dinner tonight. I told K we were having pork from a pig. She launched into a story about how the pig gave her the pork in her hands. She is so innocent.

Today we went to Safeway. I had to buy very important ingredients. We are going to try making some Oreo Turkeys and Pretzel Turtles. K fell asleep on the way home. She slept and slept despite several attempts to wake her up. Guess who's not going to bed tonight!

D made chocolate pudding for dessert tonight. He got a kid's cookbook from the library yesterday. Naturally his first desire was the dessert section. I'm hoping he'll pick a few main dish items to try. He has been such a bum about eating dinner for the last while. It doesn't matter what I make, he doesn't like it. Even things he likes he doesn't like. IT IS DRIVING ME NUTS!! and all the great parenting tips (ie let him help prepare it, make it look like something he usually likes, etc) don't do any good. Sometimes it helps to let him pick the meal - not all the time.

I am feeling tired and dull. I hope it is not to obvious in this post. Maybe I should go to bed.

Dogs, Crayons and Rocking Chairs

Tonight D read to the dogs at our library tonight. He has done it once before but it has been a while. He read to a cute little shiz tzu dog named Guiness. He did so great and was thrilled.

In other news, I made this today. It is an experiement. I order crayon rolls for the kids in February from an Etsy shop. I wanted to put them in their Easter Baskets. Well, I still haven't received them. I've contacted the shop owner several times and each time she is very apologetic. I really don't think she is scamming me or anything. I think I just fell through the cracks due to some mistakes on both our parts. Anyway, now I am thinking I'd like to give the kids one for each of their stockings on Christmas. This was my trial. I learned that I really can't sew a straight line. Now I want to get some cute fabric and make one for each of the kids. If you want a tutorial check here. If you want send me some cute fabric, please feel free :)

A is so stinking sweet. She has recently (like in the last 4 days) decided maybe it isn't so bad to get rocked before going to bed. She has always been adverse to getting snuggled before put in her bed. She's been my kiddo who just wants to get in her bed and take care of things herself. The last few nights when I've gone it to put her to bed she has pointed to her rocking chair and grunted. This means she wants it. I also sing to her and if I stop singing before she's done listening she will hum little musical notes "mmmm-mmm". It is all very precious.

Some moments make the day seem worth it

Tonight as I started rocking K to sleep. Before I could say it, she asked me, "Do you love me?" Of course I said I did! Then she said, "I love you too. Grandma loves me too." Indeed she does. Moments like these are why we did not send her to the pound years ago.

D hopped off the bus merry and bright -- not a trace of the sad, pitiful face that drove away this morning. Yea! He also left me a note on my bed: front "For: Mommy" back "I MADE YOU'R BeD" And so he had. When I thanked him tonight, he mentioned that perhaps I could do the same for him sometime.

In crafting news, I made a tree skirt to go under our Christmas tree this year. I am so proud of myself. Anytime I make something with my sewing machine and it comes out decent I feel overjoyed. We are not very compatable, my sewing machine and me. But this renews my confidence. Which is good because I still need to make A's Christmas stocking.

Close up of fabric

Completed Tree Skirt! Yea! I'm ready to get a tree to put it under now ;)