Practicing Instruments

The girls practice their instruments 30 minutes a day. Usually they take turns but not today. I started laughing when I walked in to the den to see them playing different songs at the same time. Watch this little video that Ellen and I put together this evening.

Congrats Daniel

Daniel was selected by his department chair at Midlands Tech to receive the Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year award. This is a great honor as he was one out of 12 of the 500 Adjunct faculty members at MTC to receive this award.

It is amazing that he is recognized for this award especially since he is juggling so many other jobs at the same time. He is teaching 5 classes at MTC and USC, writing a dissertation, and applying for jobs, in addition to being an amazing husband and father. He is working extremely hard right now trying to finish things up here at USC. Congratulations Daniel, the girls and I are so proud of you!

Napkin Pillows

My mom gave us our beautiful red couch a couple of years ago. I had an idea to use napkins to recover the pillows that came with it since they didn't match the room. I love the fabrics at World Market so I bought 3 napkins @ $1.99 each. The first time I sewed the pillows about six months ago, I used the store bought napkins for the front with some antique napkins from my grandmother for the back. Her old napkins were so soft (and thin) that they wore out in only a few weeks! I guess there is a reason that people use upholstery fabric on upholstery:) This weekend I bought some scrap upholstery fabric from Hancocks for $2.50 and this afternoon I made the pillows again. This time I'm hoping they'll last a little longer.

Notice the $10 price tag on the top of the old Singer machine. Daniel bought this for us at a garage sale years ago. He keeps it working for me and it works like a charm.

I don't do much sewing--really just halloween costumes, hems, and these. I think the pillows turned out nice and it just took less than 2 hours. More importantly, it cost only about $2.75 a pillow.

Fall Break Beach Trip

This was our 5th annual beach trip with friends from Virginia and North Carolina. This year their were 4 families (8 adults, 10 kids from 2-11). We found this beautiful house right on the beach in Emerald Isle. Besides the first day being a little windy the weather was gorgeous.

This year we gave the older kids (5+) had a lot of freedom and told them they could head out to the beach whenever they wanted. During this time of year the beaches are not very crowded so the kids had tons of space to play. As you can imagine, the big kids did not want to come inside.

Our house.

Scott and Daniel getting ready for a long day at the beach.

Ellen.

The kids spent a lot of time digging holes. Here's Daniel covering them up.

Brothers, Alder and Heath jamming to Dan Zanes.

Feeding the pigeons.

Kalen flying the kite.

Everyone in the water (except the moms).

Daniel and Arianna

Alder, Arianna, and Kalen inspecting the treasures.

 

The dads during the horse shoe marathon. That game is a lot harder than it looks. I can't even get the horseshoe anywhere near the other side!

Madelyn and Arianna. Notice the red streaks. Anna and Scott added henna coloring to all the girls' hair.

All of us.

Last walk on the beach.