Daniel and Elaine are expecting!

Recently we had a baby shower for my only brother's wife! They are due middle of September and it is their first little one. We are all so excited and hoped this day would come. They will be married 6 years on October 12th. They have had many travels and adventures and are now ready for their own family to grow!  So for her shower gift I made this! A guitar themed baby quilt.

              Daniel and Elaine are so into music that I just had to make this guitar themed baby quilt for their little bundle that no one knows what it will be. I just love surprises!!

     
Here it is closer up, lying on the grass in the back yard. I just love the little people in the border.

Being I'm a farmer's wife, we just had to have a farm party with all sorts of animals having a jamaboree for the backing. 

I so enjoyed making this for them. Fabric selection was so easy, it just seemed to be them and the right colors and pattern. I hope little Baby Coughlin will get lots of use and warmth from it knowing Auntie Jacque loves them very much! 

My Sister came for a visit and a lovely sweetie turns 4

My oh My!!! Thursday my sister called and said she and Zechariah were coming to visit for a long weekend here in Wisconsin. She lives with her family in California so seeing my only sister is a rare event. We went to the Stone Barn in Nelson, WI for wonderful fire baked pizza. My favorite is their Thai pizza. It's got a spicy peanut sauce with fresh cilantro, chicken, orange peppers and onions along of course with the yummy cheese. It was so nice as Matthias, Celia and her family, Pascale and Z and I all went together. Afterwards we had a bonfire. God blessed us with a cooler night and we all enjoyed relaxing by the fire making S'mores over the fire along with cousin Matthias showing Z around a dairy farm and the babies along with a new born baby and watching cows get milked. It was a perfect night with almost a full moon and lots of fireflies to catch and release. True joy on a summer's night.

My youngest son, Eliah hanging with cousin Zechariah around the bonfire. 

Esther made a new friend with her cousin Zechariah. And speaking of Esther, she turned 4 years old this weekend too! She is my honey baby and I LOVE spending time with her and having her spend the night and experiences with Mimi. I'm obviously Mimi. I am blessed to spend about a night a week where she spends the night at Mimi's house and we try to give her experiences that help her grow as a person. We really have so much fun together and someday I can't wait to teach her to sew, but for now I love watching her grow and learn and enjoy where she is in life. Especially when they grow up too fast! Got to savor each moment and encounter with these little people. 

Here we are going on an adventure together! 

Love those sunglasses she has on! Meow! 

     Esther and Sampson together! They love each other and he just jumped in to the chair with her. He is growing so fast and such a funny little ham bone!

 

Esther and I spending some time at the park. I love how she's looking away,  a non-posed picture.

      Here's our Sassy girl. She dressed up and then gave us her "Pose".

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Esther with Uncle Matthias at the 2019 Pepin County Dairy Breakfast checking out the milking parlor. Our parlor looks a lot like this one. I love how she looks at him. She loves him and he has a very gentle way with her. He'll make a great daddy someday!

More adventures to come. I'm doing a sew-along and a knit-along I'll post on in a few days. Enjoy the true heat of the summer season. Around here it is long over due. It was a cold, wet spring.  

Sheboygan Adventures

     I had a work related conference on Monday and Tuesday of this week. I live 9 miles from the Mississippi River and ended up driving, with my partner in crime and co-worker Lois, to Sheboygan, WI. Our conference center and hotel were right along the shore of Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful location with a lighthouse within walking distance. It was a beautiful walk as long as the flock of seagulls flying around weren't using your head as a target!

I have fond memories of being in middle school when I lived in Burlington, VT and swimming in Lake Champlain with friends on a hot summer day. Not sharing your french fries with the gnarly birds often resulted in you being the target of the seagulls as they flew over you. I can attest to being a victim at least once. Luckily I was heading for the water already when I got hit. Yes, fond memories, thankfully it never happened again.

I appreciated this conference, great speakers and presentation content. Lois and I got a few pictures in on the beautiful Monday. We even enjoyed a bonfire and smores with our coworkers. It was a conference to remember.

 This is our hotel behind us. It was called the Blue Harbor Resort. Very New Englandish. My room even had a wonderful fireplace I got to enjoy every evening while settling down for the night. Great room size and a boathouse where the kids could sleep in a boat or bunkbeds.

                                             Here's the Lake Michigan behind us.

 There's a tugboat behind us towing in what appears to be a dredging ship. So fun to see those little tooters working.

Well, back to the old grind. Have a relaxing and reflective Memorial Day weekend. Thank you to all military personnel for protecting this country and Veterans who have served. We honor you.

Springtime and family

It has been such a long time since I sat down and actually wrote what's on my mind, let alone anything that isn't work related. Time to get back in touch with writing, which I enjoy doing so much.

Today was a day of getting caught up on household chores and enjoying being home and doing some sewing. I accomplished what I had wanted to do and was thankful I felt good enough to do these things. Beginning this week I think I was fighting a bug, lots of illness going around again in the community. I had such discomfort for so many days I wondered if this would be a new normal, but Thank God, the last 24 or so hours I am feeling like myself and the pain has greatly subsided and I was able to have a productive day.

Since I last wrote so much has happened. Matthias, now 28, is engaged to be married to his sweetie, now Fiance' Rachel on October 12th of this year. I am so glad he found someone to love who loves him back. He comes home to visit us almost every other weekend when he doesn't have to work and we enjoy and treasure the time we get to spend with him. They got engaged on June 14th, 2018 at the Stone Barn in Nelson, WI. I was honored to be present when he proposed. I am so happy for them!!!

On April 19th, 2018, my only daughter, Celia and her hubby Johnathan brought a most wonderful little man into our family and lives, Sampson Gabriel was born, just in time to share a birthday with our youngest son Eliah. We never expected that to happen. She went early with Esther and we thought she would do the same thing, and then she went overdue and by golly, what a day of celebration it now is in this family!! Two wonderful guys with the same birthdays, what more can we ask for!?! Here is Sampson with Poppop, he learned to say Poppop on Easter Sunday! It's so neat to hear him call Mike that. Mike is completely smitten with him, we all are!

 Here's Sampson with Celia (mama) doing an Easter Egg hunt on the farm!! He is such a hambone and quite a character, such a sweet, gentle disposition.

 And of course, here is Ms. Esther, my dolly!!! She is such a little lady! She has a wonderful strong will, expected for a first born, and I love spending time helping her grow, have new experiences, learn right from wrong and how to be a nice person to others. She is my little buddy and I love any time I can get to spend with her.

Blessings to you all as the earth in this Northern Hemisphere is experiencing Spring, new birth and the awakening of nature after a very long winter's rest.