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!)