The makings of a civil engineer, perhaps?

Seth loves his Brio train tracks, and it appears to be a benefit not to have furniture in our living room. He puts together a few of the tracks but mostly likes to play with the trains, cars and buses. That is, until his beckoning me away from the kitchen surprised me with this impressive network of tracks and bridges. No joke we didn't help him with it, and he figured out to put blocks under the "up-and-downs" to support it. Little smarty pants!

The First of a Series of Random posts

Happy Autumn, Everyone! My mental "I-should-blog-about-that" bucket is filling up, so following are random thoughts and happenings over the past month or so...and I do mean random, so don't try and find a connection between them. You've been warned...here goes.

Will the real seamstress please step forward?

Mom found an excerpt from a 1949 sewing manual. Enjoy, and just try not to giggle just a little, if not laugh right out loud.

"Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to do...never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or beds unmade. When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do these first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing.

When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Put on a clean dress. Keep a little bag full of French chalk near your sewing machine to dust your fingers at intervals. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on. If you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband will come home and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should."

How about that? You have a smile on your face, right? You're welcome.

Now what?

After seven years of gainful employment here, I was notified today that I am being layed off. Hmm...my first thought was "what??" and my second thought was "what now?" What does this mean to me and what will it mean for our family? Anytime you put your energy into work, hobbies, church assignments, parenting, or whatever, it's not just what you do but becomes part of who you are. Now who am I? True, we shouldn't define our lives by our work, but as long as working was necessary, I took pride in what I did, made the best of it, contributed value to the company, and yes even enjoyed it.

These days it's so commonplace to hear of layoffs. But believe me, when it's YOU, it's anything but commonplace. Today I allowed myself to just wallow. Tomorrow I'll get up and decide what to do next. I'll learn something from this, as is the case with trials, but for now I'm in a bit of a tailspin, looking for a soft place to land. Thankfully, I can find that very thing at home...a husband's shoulder to cry on, a special boy's infectious laugh and a sweet baby's warm cuddle. Even with the uncertainty in the road ahead, I'll sleep well tonight.

Happy Birthday Seth!

Three years ago, September 26th:

Fast forward to last Saturday, September 26, 2009:

(My best attempt at a Handy Manny cake, as requested)

We love you, Seth!!

Weekend Away

This past weekend was the 6th annual Mountain Valley Quilt Retreat hosted by my mom in lovely little Loa. This year there were 20 attendees from Nevada, Utah and Washington. She's a super talented teacher (she makes up the pattern herself!) and puts so much time and energy into making it fun. My sisters, aunt and I go every year to cook the meals for everyone, and we get in a little sewing time too. Mostly we cook, goof off, cook, sew, cook, nap, cook, visit...you get the idea. This was my first time flying by myself with both kids, a feat not as monumental as I originally feared.

So, while everyone else was using one of these...

(my dream machine)

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...to make one of these...

(gorgeous, don't you think? - Mom's original creation)

...we did some of this:

(see above reference to goofing off)

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(2nd cousins Jake and Hannah - thank goodness for washable markers!)

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(two cute aunties with one cute little sweetie)

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(the best reaction for a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" - a week early)

Bottoms up!

OK, who else besides me thinks it's the cutest EVER when their baby sleeps with their bottom up in the air like this? It's all I can do not to pick her up and smother her with kisses. Of course, that would be the end of the nap so I have to settle for gently patting her on the bum and waiting for her to wake up and play later.

And here she is just so tuckered out she didn't make it to her bed before crashing. Another of my favorite things...baby girls in tights.