Long "catch-up"; another sick child

Well folks, I had complete intentions of working on my Cathedral Stars today. This is the quilt that my Dad requested for his VFW (Veteran's of Foreign Wars) Quilt raffle at the end of January. It (OF COURSE) is one of Bonnie's patterns and I fell in love with it. When my dad requested a raffle quilt of me, I knew this would be the perfect pattern.

Anyway, I worked on some of the piecing yesterday, and I had hopes to complete all blocks today. I worked for a couple hours this morning before realizing I needed more 4-patches. (See the "missing pile" in the stacked ready-to-piece blocks? DUH! I forgot about those!) Anyway, I made it this far before needing to break for lunch. Then, just as lunch was finishing, it was lil' Candace's turn to be hit by that nasty dreadful bug!!! Sadly, and unfortunately, she is not old enough to understand the "make-it-to-the-toilet" concept, so I had some cleaning up to do. The first "round" wasn't so bad, because it was on the hard-wood floor, but the second round happened in our carpeted bedroom. *sigh* She has FINALLY fallen asleep in our bedroom, so I thought I would take this time to catch up on our Holiday Fun.

Cassie was also hit with the bug on Christmas morning, JUST before Santa came to pay a visit. (Since we were at my parent's, we had Santa make a special trip to Grandma's house.) He arrived at 9:30am, and Cassie used everything in her to stand for a quick photo before bolting to the bathroom. Sadly, her "episode" lasted much longer than Caitlyn's 5 hour ordeal----Cassie was finally feeling better after 12 hours. And when we finally made it home, the first toy she wanted to play with was her Easy Bake Oven that was given to her by Aunt Jenny (my SIS). She made a small batch of Sugar Cookies. (VERY SMALL BATCH!!! SIX cookies!) But they were very delicious!

I think the best present for me this year was my new camera, given to me by my sis, BIL, and parents. It is smaller than my other one, and I love how this camera handles close-ups AND the lack of red eye! Seriously----even WITH red-eye features on other cameras, none have done this well. Caitlyn and I ALWAYS have red eyes......But not now :0)







DH's (Paul) favorite gift was a Dual Basket deep fryer, given to him by my sis, BIL and my parents. When we visited his sister's on Friday, he opened it up and turned her kitchen into the China Buffet! He made batches upon batches on egg rolls and wantons! One thing you need to know about his sister, though, is she is an EXTREME health fanatic. Everyone kept joking with her if she would ever be able to recuperate from the fact that so much grease was present and used in her kitchen! The second picture shown here is Paul cleaning up OUR kitchen! Naturally, he (we) needed to use his new gift at our house, as well. So we were making some chicken strips, onion rings, and cheese curds when he opened a cupboard. A package of something-er-other fell out and plunged into the hot oil, splashing it ALL OVER--INCLUDING on DH's arm!!! He's this "big-ol-tough-guy", so he refused to put any ointment on the burn---thankfully it doesn't appear to be completely all that bad. We are just very thankful that the girls were not in the kitchen at the time! Besides---the other "good" thing is that my kitchen got the mopping it needed!


Candace actually was dressed perfectly to help out Dad if needed. This is SUCH an adorable "Pet Doctor" costume that my parents gifted her. Her nametag even says "DR. CANDACE." How adorable!!!!!!



Another hit of the Christmas presents is "Moon Sand." I hadn't known too much about it, but the box says "better than play-doh. It doesn't dry out and easy to clean up." Well........after see these masterpiece-makers at work, I sure HOPE it's easy to clean up!!!!!




Candace's 3rd birthday was celebrated over the weekend as well, since we aren't going to have a get together prior. She will be 3 on January 4th. Pay no attention to the half-eaten birthday cake :0) My niece's birthday was also celebrated the night before, however Candace was sleeping at the time, so we weren't able to get a pic of her blowing out her candle. Another "hit toy" for Candace was her Potty-Chair baby. Candace has only shown SLIGHT interest in potty training, so my sister and I talked about getting gifts to help promote it. This doll is so blasted cute! She says when/if she's thirsty, tired, and that she needs to go "potty." She "slurps" when taking a drink; she "farts" sometimes when she's on the toilet; she gurgles and turns her head side-to-side when her teeth are brushed. Technology now-a-days is absolutely amazing.

Here is my sister, Jen, that spoils ALL of us!!! She doesn't have children of her own, so she DEFINITELY is "Favorite Aunt Jenny!" She and I often chuckle about the panties that we wear. We both have admitted to only have "seasonal" underwear---for one simple reason! Once holidays are over (Easter, Halloween, C'mas, etc), the "seasonal" underwear always go on sale!!! Here is this year's collection of panties! *giggle*




Oh yes----yet another HIT! The table-top Foosball table, given to DH (and family?) by Jen.








On the other side of the family, (DH's side), here are the oldest cousins! Cassie, our oldest, and then Westin (middle) and Walker (right). Both boys are the oldest children of DH's sister (the one who is the health fanatic!) :0) Westin is in 8th grade, while Walker is 4th. While we visited on Friday, they spent some play-time outside giving snow-mobile rides around the house.




**TIMEOUT**
*sigh*
Short interruption----round 3 just made an appearance. Ya know.....it IS inevitable that I WILL get sick after nursing three children through their vomiting spouts, REGARDLESS of how much soap and hand-sanitizer I use.



These last few shots are me playing around with the camera. Pictured with Caitlyn is my mother. TYPICALLY, she hates having her picture taken, but I must say it's much easier to get pics of her when she has a grandchild on her lap. The "sepia-toned" pic of Candace is a fun feature. However, most photo-software programs have that feature, so having it on the camera isn't so special. Still neat though........

DH is out fishing for our supper right now. The deepfryer will be making a presence again in the event he comes home with LOTS of bluegills or other panfish. YUM!

I hope to make it back downstairs sometime today/tonight. I hope to finish the entire Cathedral Stars quilt this week so I can deliver it to my parent's when we visit again next weekend for Christmas #3. (My MIL's side of the family is planning a get-together next Saturday.) And, KNOWING that it's inevitable that I will get sick, I want to be sure to use my non-sick time as wisely as possible :0)

Happy Sunday......