mission, accomplished

Lily dressed

and decided to take out the trash

Lily

you are a

treasure!!

debut of a quilt

I figure I spent about 15 1/2 lovely hours

and about 1/2 not-so-lovely hour

on my California Dreamin' quilt

Lexi loves it almost as much as I do

you know I can't leave the back alone;

I've got to add a little surprise

I entered this in the Spring Bloggers' Quilt Festival

here, on my 'bragging blog'

Before and After Designs

if you want to see a few more pictures

babysitting the boy

Today is Luke and Lana's 2nd anniversary

so we got to keep Aiden for a few hours

The boy is an eater!!

Green veggies? Bring 'em on!!

What else you got for me??

Of course,

he was well taken care of by his aunts

which he tolerated like a trooper.....

and yes - Lily and Aiden both had wardrobe changes.

Lily's was just cause that's what Lily does;

Aiden's was because

well

Aiden peed on Poppa and got it all over himself, too

Corporate Family Day 2010

look what I found

on the camera....

The boys told me they had taken some 'great' pictures of the kitties.

Normally

their 'great pictures'

aren't.

Fortunately

Alice doesn't mind them playing with her babies.

Las Vegas, of all places

Lana's main b-day gift from us this year

was two tickets to see Sharon Randall again.

She picked me to go with her!

We found her every bit as delightful as last time.

I'm a bit out of my league, though

standing there with two published, paid authors....

~

love you, Baby Girl!

Tips for Tony

As a way to help Tony become successful in his new job,

Tyler solicited advice

aka

'Tips for Tony'

from his coworkers.

He gave away prizes

- okay, a buck each -

to the top ten tipsters.

We blocked out the name of the contributors

and I read through them all

marking out all duplicate suggestions.

Several ideas led to further discussions...

Then I read through the submissions again

and noted the ones I thought were most valuable.

I'd marked twelve.

We talked some more

and from those twelve, Tony chose his top ten:

I've taken the liberty of changing some of the tips

slightly, as per our discussions

10.

Make sure guests have everything they'll need

before their food arrives;

no one likes to wait on a condiment.

9.

Nobody likes to pay good money

for a steak that wasn't prepared to their liking.

Make it easy for guests to let you know

if their's wasn't

even if, when they first checked, it appeared to be.

8.

Don't forget the kids when it comes to refills;

ask them if they need more drink.

Usually, kid cups are opaque,

so you can't gauge their beverage needs just by looking.

7.

Make certain that salads are dressed 'perfectly'

I like a lot of dressing on my salad.

Probably part of why I'm fat.

If it really needs more, I'll ask

but often, I would prefer more, but it's palatable as is

so I won't ask for more.

However, if a server were to ask

if I had the perfect amount of dressing,

it would make it easy for me to say, "Actually, I could use a bit more."

~

We're going for an awesome meal, not mediocre.

6.

Have personal knowledge of the food so you can offer suggestions.

Tony is on a pretty tight budget.

Just 'cause he's suddenly making a bunch of money

doesn't mean he's got a bunch of money to spend.

We've worked on his spending / saving plan together

and will tweak it as needed

but one of the things we built into the budget

was a fairly generous amount

to enable him to try several dishes

so he would be better equipped to do his job.

5.

Never let a drink glass get empty.

'specially water and tea.

I

for one

hate to be without water;

I'll still tip if I run out, but I'll do it begrudgingly.

Not every one feels the same, though;

this tipster said, "An empty glass could mean an empty tip jar!"

4.

As much as it is possible

meet guests needs before they have to ask.

3.

Suggest coffee when a guest orders dessert.

Just last night,

Tyler & I went out to eat.

We went to vote,

and figured we'd just make it a date :-)

Anyways.

we'd ordered this 2 for $20 deal

and I imagine the waitress thought

she had no opportunity to increase the ticket total

because an appetizer and dessert

(measly portions, I might add) were included.

BUT

I would have ordered coffee if she'd offered....

2.

Be happy to be at work and serve your customers cheerfully.

Bare minimum service often yields bare minimum tips.

1.

Send a message to your guests that they can relax,

that you are there to take care of anything they might need

while they are with you and they are free to enjoy their evening

and

Tyler and I came up with a bonus tip last night.

Rather than asking, "Can I get you anything else?"

which puts the burden of asking for something on the guest,

ask, "What can I bring you?"

This lets the customer know that you would like to bring them

something to make their visit more enjoyable,

they need only let you know what that something might be.

And if there's absolutely nothing that can be brought

well, then

they are probably thoroughly enjoying their evening / day

which is

precisely

the goal.

~

Many thanks to Tyler's friends for caring enough

to take the time and effort to offer Tips for Tony!!

getting there

I misjudged (shocker!) how long my prep work would take

and Lexi didn't go to bed till after 12:30

so

I stayed up waaayy too late last night

getting my quilt pin-basted.

It's been quite some time since I've done any quilting

so I put together a fat quarter sandwich

and practiced a bit this morning.

I love the look of stippling

but I think I like the drapiness

(spell check doesn't like my word. hmm)

of a looser meandering stitch a bit better

so I'm going with that.

Josiah has been itching to sew lately

and he needed a wallet

so

Brandon helped him make one

check out those stitches!!

There is a pocket for bills

a pocket for change,

both velcro shut

and

a magnetic snap

so when he folds it in half

it stays put.

~

great job, guys!

Tony is a full-fledged waiter now

having finished up his (extensive) training on Monday.

Lexi wasn't real happy for him to head out the door....

We are so proud of you, Bud!

a little piece of heaven

Some young friends had a baby last night,

Olivia.

After church

I rushed home

and instead of making lunch,

I made a tiny tutu and a flower headband.

We had PB & J for lunch.

Tyler and I headed to St. Edwards

after getting the girls down for their naps.

Olivia is on oxygen

so I wasn't sure we'd get to see her;

I was hoping for a peek through the glass.

As we were walking to their room,

her parents were heading down the hall to go see her.

Her daddy let me take his spot in the NICU!

(can you hear me squealing??)

I helped change her diaper

and then

I got to pick her up from the bed

and pass her to her momma.

I must confess

I passed her awfully slowly....

I couldn't help it.

I held her fresh-from-the-womb cheek against mine

and breathed her in.

perfection

~

thank you, Lord

for allowing me to be at the right place at just the right time!

multi-tasking

the new gathering spot

'course

who could resist??

Once the 2nd baby arrived

(which was about 3 hours after the first)

Alice finally started being a good mama.

I'm a little concerned about the white one;

he's the smallest

his little tummy isn't nearly as round as his siblings'

and

his body temp is low

kangaroo care?

So far

I'm not impressed

with Alice's mothering skills.

Hopefully

instincts will kick in here pretty soon!

reading circle

I love the movement

and their facial expressions

as they're nearing the climax

alrighty then

I'm just coming out of a very dark season

a very l o n g dark season.

Never mind the gory details.

One

of the good things though,

that came from this,

is that I have let go of pretty much

all

of my perfectionism.

~

take these completely non-matched up seams

I am ok with them.

really.

I am.

little miss lex'

only woke up one time last night!!!

we're pretty tickled about that

wide load

turns out

I

have a rose garden

m-day gifts

I always tell the kids

I don't want them to get me anything

for Mother's Day.

And it's true;

I really don't want them spending any money on me

but

they like to anyways.

Often Tyler has a Papa Shop

they can purchase from

for a very sick price.

It seems the Papa Shop isn't very well stocked this year.

So

just in case

anybody really wants to buy me something

here's what I've been eyeballin':

From Yeagers:

8" forever and ever hydrangea

if it's forever & ever - surely I won't kill it ~ right?

a new porch swing

Yeager's has one for $44, probably isn't super comfy

but it'd work.

Our swing broke the day after

Gramma & Grampa were here for a visit.

Gramma Joyce and I had spent a good bit of time

visiting on that there swing;

I am so glad it didn't break when she was on it!!

Harbor Freight finally put their letter stamping sets on sale

I've been watching for for that for about a year!

Just so it's not weird that what I want

comes from the hardware store,

I've also been whining for a tortilla keeper

ever since we left a tortilla in ours right before Lana's wedding

and found it a few weeks later.

Remember

we make our own tortillas

out of freshly ground flour.

with no preservatives.

The tortilla keeper was half full of nasty green fur.

I was so disgusted

I threw the whole thing away!

Had I known Walmart no longer sold them for $5

I would have bleached the darn thing.

Right after somebody snatched it up

we saw one at a yard sale a few weeks ago for a buck.

She didn't have a clue what it was for!

I should've offered her $5 for it

I also want a french curve someday

and then

there are always books....

playin' with Lex'

Thursday evenings

it's just the two of us;

everyone else is at Riverwalk.

Somebody was grouchy

so we headed outside

and I grabbed the camera to play a bit.

she still isn't entirely sure she wants to cooperate

but

maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea

yeah

this could be fun

okay, Momma, I'll play

but these shoes are buggin' me a little

but

I'm cool with them now

I can't believe I am posting this!

no makeup, whatsoever

except that little bit of yesterday's mascara

smeared all over the place

I guess I don't have to add the disclaimer

that this photo is untouched...

but

Lexi liked the picture

and

hey

this is me...

yep, Momma, that is you

hmm, what do we have here?

more shoe trouble??

nah

just a little rest

whoops

looks like we're done now