white dresses

I was asked by Rochelle, when she was still pregnant, if I would make the blessing dress for their new baby. I happily agreed. I love working with white fabric. It looks so angelic. This is the baby's dress.
Rochelle made the tatting along the sleeves. I added the belt loops for 2 reasons...1- to hold the ribbon on and b- so that the ribbon could be exchanged for another color of ribbon to allow the dress to go a bit farther. I love this dress.

Along with the blessing dress, they asked if I make Blaklee, their other daughter, a dress for the temple. They are also being sealed and needed another white dress. This is what I came up with: again... I made a slot for the ribbon to slide in, but also that it could be replaced with another color of ribbon. Rochelle made the tatting for the sleeves of this dress as well. It is so pretty and delicate! These photos do not give the tatting justice.
Since Penny and Blaklee are about the same size, I wanted to see it on a little girl. Penny loved this dress. I'll be making one for her very soon!

(Penny is signing more here...)

sleepover fun

Last night we had a few pals over from church. We had so much fun with them!
Penny wanted to play with our Hans Solo. She even said "sowo" to get to hold him. Hans Solo is the puffiest hamster I have ever seen!!
Once I put Hans Solo back into his crate, I heard laughter from the living room. One of our friends had found the dress-up box and came down in the scooby-doo costume. Then the boys wanted to karate play fight.
Our other friend joined in the fun of Karate fighting.
Aren't they adorable?!! The boys slept sideways on the bed, so that all 4 of them could fit. They are way to sweet!!

on the prowl

On my prowl of the internet, looking for a few ideas, I came across these onesies. Aren't they funny?!

game onze

Tonight's game was another smack-down. Team Cal played very well . Clyde said that they could use a bit more defense. He is right. (Like Penny's new bang cut? She wiggled a bit when I was trimming them, so I had to even them out, which made them a bit shorter than I'd like. It's a good thing that hair grows back.)
Clyde is kicking the ball back into play.
Just zoomed in...
Nice catch...
This was Clyde's kick to the goal. He kicked the ball super hard. Two of his team mates approached him after the game and said that they had him in the wrong position. He needed to be a forward with that leg strength.

so busted

This afternoon, I had to run and pick up a few supplies for my secret project. I needed two things. While checking out the craft deptartment, I hear someone talking. I look over to find this:
I stood and watched her for a few minutes and was bummed that I only had my cell phone to snap this shot. Once she saw me looking @ her, she closed up our old, non-working cell phone to act as though she hadn't done anything. Then a few minutes later, I caught her doing it again. Here she is realizing that I caught her and she had removed the cell phone from her ear and was snapping it closed.
So busted! How cute is she?!!

stick pull

Yesterday was our annual Ward pool party. The primary decided to add an activity, since families would be coming to the ward pool party anyway. We played a few pioneer games. The game that I was responsible for was the stick pull. I loved this game. This was one of Joseph Smith's favorite games. The children, including the Wardlings got into this one.

Another game was throwing bean bags @ these water bottles, with animals attached to them...kinda like they were hunting for food.
Our camera battery lost it's charge so there weren't any more photos. We had a 3 legged race and relay. The finale was building a temple out of marshmellows. I think that it went well. As soon as the closing/ opening prayer was given there was a herd of children heading to the pool. What a fun evening!

Clyde's surprise

Today is Clyde's birthday! Happy Birthday! Since today is filled with helping people move, possible baby shower attendance, a primary activity, and the Ward pool party; there isn't much time to celebrate Clyde's big day. I realized this last week and invited a few of our good friends to help me give him a surprise dinner. For our anniversary this year we went to Tripps and Clyde really liked it. I knew that he would enjoy it again for his birthday. I sent secret e-mails and made secret phone calls. It worked!! Clyde didn't have a clue. I was so happy! Thank you all for coming and making the evening so much fun!! I love my Clyde!

game dix

Unfortunately tonight was a shut-out by the other team. The game was fast paced and quite exciting. There were a ton of little gnats or baby mosquito's that were a total annoyance. I get bitten all the time and tonight was not the night to have forgotten the bug repellent. I felt like Pig Pin from Charlie Brown, because wherever I walked, I was followed by a swarm of little bugs. Everyone was for that matter. No one could escape their biting mouths. I hate bugs!

***Clyde informed me that it wasn't a complete shut-out...Blake did score one goal.***

I thought that this was funny...Clyde was calling for his sub...

Before the game started, our boys ran off to play behind the goal with a few boys, who's dad plays on our team. I looked over and saw our Jacob drop his pants and pee on the net of the goal. I need to mention that it, the goal, is in broad light, no privacy, no bushes; just an open field and our Wardling was peeing. Such class! :)

game huit et neuf

This is what game huit (wheat) looked like for us. Clyde missed his soccer game to take the girls to see the Hoppers play.
The sky was way cloudy on game neuf night. Jacob noticed a ball in the drain and climbed in to get it. There he found another ball to make 2 in the drain. We didn't realize that he had slid all the way through until we saw him come out the other end. The first thing I thought was baby Jessica in the well. Then the sister, outta the brother/ sister duo on our team, told Jacob that it wasn't safe to go in there, because if it rained he could get stuck and drown. She is so right! Hopefully he won't do that again...
As I mentioned before the sky was dark and before half time the ref's called the game due to bad weather. We had to wait for 25 minutes to be able to play again.
After the 25 minutes were up, team cal got back to playing. This is one of Clyde's awesome saves.
kicks...
We won this game. Clyde even scored a goal! dang it too, because i missed it. He was so thrilled, as I was to learn about it. One point in the game, he kicked the ball in and hit his co-worker, Jane, in the butt with the ball. It was pretty funny!

***hotel fun***

This past weekend Clyde and I had the chance to get away. Maylee came and watched all 5 of the Wardlings for us. How sweet! Thank you, thank you Maylee!! Clyde reserved us a hotel room and we were off Friday night as soon as Maylee arrived. We went to Concord and had some serious fun! We had forgotten how easy it is to get in and out of the car, stores, restaurants, or even trying clothes on, when we don't have 5 Wardlings under foot. We arrived @ our hotel, dropped off our stuff and we were out to dinner. (There was an Asian fella checking us in and he was a bit intimidated by Clyde. He actually asked why Clyde was giving him a hard time. Clyde wasn't giving him a hard time, he was being friendly. The Asian manager warmed up to us and told us about him going to Carowinds the next day because he got free tickets.) It was a late dinner and had we had our babies with us, it wouldn't have happened. However, I was so tired myself, that during dinner, I went to grab Clyde's soda and it slipped from my hands, hitting the table with a loud clank. I did manage to catch it, with just a few drops spilling on my shirt. That's me though...way clumsy.
We stayed at the Marriott. Our room looked like the one that we stayed in when we visited New York a few years ago with our pals the Barlows. New York!(insert deep sigh here.) The hotel had a nice continental breakfast, pool, workout room, yadda yadda. The air conditioning was blasting and it was such a comfortable place to spend the 2 nights we were away. Ahh...hotel fun! ;)

We were able to go to Concord Mills Mall and pick up the things that we needed, either for back to school or for my Christmas list. I found a killer deal @ AC Moore on some supplies. And yes- the Michaels ban is still on. We hit some other cool sales of 50% off the clearance price. That was fun! We also went to see the new Batman movie. It was rated pg-13, but it shoulda been rated R. It was so violent with adult themes that the pg-13 rating was / is way too soft. There aren't but maybe a few expletives, but again the explosives and all the deaths shoulda made the movie an R. This is not a film for families with small, young , tween, or teen children. It is dark and Clyde loved it. Just FYI.

When we checked out of our hotel room this morning, the Asian manager was back and told us all about his trip the previous day to Carowinds. He asked if Clyde was going to give him another hard time. Silly guy! Then he said something funny that we had to giggle at. He was said, as he was talking about the wait in the Carowinds lines that "as the day got longer, the less more people were in line."

I loved this weekend. There is nothing better than being able to spend time alone with my sweetie pie. It is easy to forget or get wrapped up in so many other things, that the relationship Clyde and I share is put on the back burner. It was heavenly to be able to talk, listen, hold hands, and spoil each other with affection. I love my Clyde!!

libby

Our baby Libby turned 10 yesterday. Where did the past decade go? When Libby was born, she didn't open her eyes for the first 2 days of her life. I think that she wasn't quite ready to leave heaven. Now she is a bright, cheerful, pleasant girl, with a double digit age. We had a few of her pals from church over for a birthday bash. Libby is our 'cupcake girl.' She doesn't want a cake, she wants cupcakes. She wanted blue icing this year. We had fun decorating the cupcakes. (Thanks Michelle A. for the usage of the cupcake stand!!)
Another tradition has formed between the friends...ahhh...the cupcake smooshed in her face. Libby talked about it all day and I think that she would've been disappointed if it weren't squished in. The icing even went up her nostrils. She loved it!
Libby had a house full! She even invited her primary teacher to come to the birthday party. Sister Lineberry rocks!
Libby got this really pretty Kit outfit, scooter and grace from Bubbie and PopPop. When she opened the box and pulled out the items, she knew the name of them all! Like the puppy's name is Grace, and the summer outfit of Kit, and obviously the scooter. :) She was more than thrilled! Her friends gave her some really nice gifts as well! Webkinz, purses, $, coloring game, and a magnitized photo frame. Awesome! Thanks a bunch gals!!
Our gift for Libby was taking the girls out to a baseball game. We gave Libby the choice of the pool or a baseball game. Clyde said that they had a blast! They were dancing and appeared on the big screen! My sister and her hubby joined in the birthday fun @ the ball park. Thanks guys for lending a hand! Clyde is such a good Dad!!
Happy Birthday Libby!!

stickers galore

This morning, I took Penny into spectrum for some follow-up blood work. She did such a good job! She only cried for 10 seconds. We had a great nurse, who got it in one stick. Penny kept signing hurt arm and the gals felt a bit sad for her. They loaded her with stickers and a barbie band-aid to help take the hurt away. Last night after the soccer game, we ran around, finishing up our errands. We stopped in @ Office Depot and saw this... an entire herd of cats. We counted 8 of them. I called Animal Control, but because there isn't a leash law for cats, they couldn't do anything about it, unless Office Depot filed a complaint. I called Office Depot to express my concern and the fella said that they were well aware of the cats and that 'the cat people' were taking care of them. He also said that they had been neutered/ spayed. I said that they must have missed a few because there were little kittens running around too. Just a concerned citizen...

game sept

Tuesday's game was a hot one. The weather was hot, but thankfully it wasn't too humid. Team Cal had yet another forfeit. A member from the opposing team slid over to play with us, and the ref played with our team again to make 7 players. Teams must have @ least 6 players to play...5 players and 1 goalie.
Look @ Clyde's fancy foot work!



I was trying to get a picture of our boys who wait behind the goalie net to 'shag' the balls. Penny walked right in front of the camera with a grinch grin!

you can moo

The day before yesterday, Clyde got a random e-mail from dr.pepper. In the e-mail it said that if you dressed up like a cow, then chick-fila would give you free sandwiches or nuggets. The more detailedthe costume was, like an all over cow costume, you would then get free complete meals. I was out of town helping @ my parents' house, so this is what Clyde came up w/ for the Wardlings. Way A++++ to my Clyde!!! The Wardlings are wearing my eyeliner, a baby cow blanket, gifted from auntie Julee when Penny was born, Clyde's soccer sweat bands with socks in them for ears, and happy faces. I cannot stop smiling even as I type this. What a fun night! Thanks Dr.Pepper, Chick-fila and most importantly Clyde and the Wardlings!

connect four

Maylee joined us again this weekend. We just love having her here. Last night the girls wanted to challenge Maylee to a few games of connect four. Heaven bless Maylee, because my girls stomped her. Well, except for one game. Penny wanted to play too, so she climbed up into Maylee's lap. Do you like Maylee's hat?? I knitted that yesterday waiting for my Mom...
This is Penny and Maylee thinking about their next move...

Penny was so into this game! She would get so mad when it was someone else's turn, or if anyone else would touch the game. She was saying,'no no no!!' while hitting Erin's head. It was really funny!