emmy's 1st birthday!

My precious baby girl turned 1 today! 

She is such a joy and brings a smile to everyone's face.

I think she liked the cake...

yep, definitely like it :)

And she unwrapped her presents all by herself.

This puzzle was a big hit.

Regan made her a little scrap blanket using all different textured fabrics- Emmaline though it was pretty funny to throw it on the floor and have one of her siblings pick it up and give it back to her.

Happy Birthday, Emmaline Grace!

family vacay

We got back on the 22nd, but I had a crazy busy week and am just now sitting down to go through pictures from our trip to Luray, VA.

We left on Tallulah's birthday, but not before a breakfast of donuts and opening her birthday gifts.  This Lego set was actually the only thing she asked for for her birthday and she was very happy to receive it :)

Next it was off the the gas station for a pre-vacay fill up and car wash...

We stopped in Monticello on the way to visit Thomas Jefferson.  We had never been before and really enjoyed our short visit- despite the heat index being in the 100's.

Emmy loved riding around on dad's back both in Luray Caverns and hiking in Shenandoah.

Here are all the cousins but the two babies

And this is the newest addition to the family- we were all excited to meet our newest niece/cousin for the first time :)

We swam in a nearby lake...

and in the hot tub at our cabin

There were water balloon fights...

and talent shows.

We hiked to Dark Hallow Falls in Shenandoah (it was beautiful, but it took a whole week for my knee to recover from that 1.5 mile, steep, rocky climb!)

And before we headed home we stopped back by Luray Caverns to do the ropes course (super fun and even Addie could participate on the low ropes part!)

We had a great time visiting with the hubby's family and just relaxing for 6 day.  I even read 2 books! Divergent and Insurgent, in case you wanted to know- It is a young adult, Hunger Games esque series- book 3 comes out in October.  In enjoyed them, but wouldn't want my middle-schooler reading them (there was lots of kissing).

happy birthday, lulu!

Tallulah had her 7th birthday party last week. 

She invited 5 of her friends over and they had a blast decorating cupcakes...

and making baloon bracelets.

I heard at least one report of it being "the best party ever!"  (mostly due to the large amounts of candy consumed).

Happy Birthday, Tallulah! 

vampire baby

I LOVE this picture.  It captures Emmy perfectly.  She is such a silly, happy baby- all the time.  And I finally captured her vampire fangs before it was too late. She got her top side teeth before her front ones and with them the nick name Vampire Baby :)

sewing class show and tell

The girls finished up two new projects in sewing class this week.  Regan missed a week of class while she was at camp, so she still needs to attach the backing to her quilt, I'll post pictures as soon as she finishes it :)

The hand sewing class learned the blanket stitch this week and finished up felt pin cushions.

One more project and then we are done for the summer!

camp - round two

Dropped these two off at camp this morning.  First time for Max (can you tell he does not like having his picture taken?) and the first time I've ever sent more than one kid off to camp at the same time.  I am glad they wanted to go together.  We are having a week long "girls date" here at home- lots of chick flicks and junk food :)

free july embroidery pattern

Here is my July calendar pattern.  August is another month that I have yet to design, so who know how long it will take me to get that one done, but at least July is ready in July!

July Embroidery Pattern by Amy Wirtz

As always, if you stitch up your own version of my pattern I would LOVE to see it! Please share pictures in my Flickr group! And feel free to ask any questions about any of the patterns and I will answer them in the comments. Happy stitching :)

addie had gotten awefully quiet...

and when I walked into my room looking for her this is what I found

pretty impressive, huh?

making healthy choices

 Last month I finally started to put my good intentions into practice.  After Emmaline was born I was at my heaviest non-pregnant weight ever, and even though I kept saying I wanted to exercise and loose those pounds, I wasn't taking any real steps to make those things happen.  I was overwhelmed, not knowing where to start on the weight loss front and unable to do a lot of exercise because of knee pain I have been experiencing for about 2 years.  I had watched my sister transformed by joining Weight Watchers and finally, 6 weeks ago, after months of talking about it I joined too.  I've already lost 10 pounds.  Here are my "then" and "now" photos (sorry the first one is so blurry, it's a phone pic):

The benefits have stretched beyond the weight loss though- I am making healthier choices about what I put in my body, and finding myself more willing to try new things that I would have previously turned my nose up at.  And as I've seen the benefits of the good choices I've made already, it has made me want to make other positive/healthy changes in my life.  Two weeks ago I started physical therapy for my knees and also to strengthen my core (which has been stretched beyond measure by 6 full term pregnancies) and am already starting to feel a difference- now I am looking for other ways to fit more exercise into my days.  Ultimately I am hoping that these healthy changes I am making in my own life won't just effect me, but my whole family.
One blog I am loving right now for good healthy recipes is Skinnytaste.com.  I've already make a handful of her recipes for dinner and they have all been good.  This one has probably been our favorite so far.

monday

We dropped Regan off at camp this morning.  She is officially way to cool for me- I could hardly even get her to come down from her bunk and say good bye to her baby sister let alone me!  Her counselors seemed nice and I am sure she is having a blast.  Usually she doesn't want to leave when we pick her up at the end of the week :)  The boys go next week and they are asking to pack their bags already!

Thanks to Sew Mama Sew's post today I found myself completely sucked in to The Great British Sewing Bee.  I plugged in the headphones and watched two episodes this afternoon while I worked on finishing up July.  All I've got left is to stitch the letters on and I will be done!  So, if I find another chunk of time soon I just might have the pattern up by weeks end!

I totally dropped the ball on photographing Craft Night (again). The couple of pictures I did take are so dark they are not worth sharing.  I've really got to figure out how to take decent pictures in here at night.  Anyway, 15 people came and together they made 20+ bracelets.  I think everyone had a good time. I would love to do this craft again, it really was fun (addicting too!)