Avast ye landlubbers, it be Talk Like A Pirate Day, arggh! (But, no, I'm not going to do this whole post in pirate talk). I hope you are rewarded with pieces o' eight, not made to walk the plank. Alright, that's the extent of my pirate lingo. You may have noticed, though, that I've been blogging quite a lot lately. What's up with that? Ya'll are getting spoiled. LOL Anyway, I just wanted to share another couple of layouts that I did. Both are of my darling baby girl MoMo. I can hardly believe she's about to turn 9! NINE!!! Sheesh! They grow up too fast.

Unfortunately, Big R is at that age where he is sometimes resistant to being photographed so I don't have as many photos of him to scrap. But I do have some and I'm planning my next page to feature him.

So, I also have some photos of my newly finished Triangle Baby Quilt! Woo hoo!

I love, love, LOVE it! It's kind of hard for me to part with it. But I will. ;)

Alright, well, I better go. Things to do, things to do...

Hello, hello. So, we have an addition to our household. For MoMo's birthday we decided to get her a kitty of her very own. One of Hubby's coworkers has a whole lotta kittens he was trying to find homes for so today (even though it's not quite her birthday yet) we went and let her pick one out. She picked this guy.

He's not a tiny kitten. He's 5 months old so not full grown, either. They had little baby kittens, too, but their not quite ready to leave their mama. They were calling this guy One-Eyed Willie-not that he literally has only one eye (obviously) but when he and his littermates were babies and their eyes started opening only one of his opened and the other stayed closed for several more days. So, they called him One-Eyed Willie. But MoMo decided to rename him Peanut Butter. He is the most snuggly kitty. When you pick him up he's kind of like a ragdoll. Just lets you do whatever and he's very relaxed. MoMo already told me that he is everything she hoped he would be. Cuddly and soft and playful. So far he's getting along with our other cat well. He's very laid back and just made himself at home. Mrs. Kitty (our other cat) is a bit jealous but she's not bothering him. She's not very aggressive, in general. Mostly she's just trying to make sure he's not sitting on MY lap by sitting there herself. I'm her favorite. She doesn't want to sit on MoMo's lap, anyway. So, here's a photo of MoMo and Peanut Butter. She's so happy and excited.

In other news, I am almost done with the triangle baby quilt. I got it quilted and I just need to finish sewing on the binding around the edge. Yes! And I loved making the doll for my niece so much that I think I will make another for the quilt recipient's big sister.
 
Then I also started a sewing project for MoMo's birthday.  I hope to have some photos to share soon.

Ok, well, I guess that's all for now. Until next time...

Hello. I'm back again. I've got some more photos for you. First, my Dad's birthday present. One day (this was months ago) we were at the thrift store and I spotted a paper piecing pattern. When I saw it I immediately thought of my Dad. One of the things he really enjoys is fishing. When we fish, it's almost always for trout. And the pattern was for a tie with a paper pieced rainbow trout. So I bring you the rainbow trout tie.

It actually is a whole tie. I just took a picture of the pieced part. Because, really, the rest looks like a regular tie. And even though I told him I didn't expect him to actually wear it he says he's going to. :)

I also said I might have some photos for you of my hourglass quilt but I don't. I have some blocks done and sewn together but I haven't taken pictures. And I need to finish the triangle baby quilt because the baby I'm making it for was born yesterday! Better get it done.

Ok, so this morning I surprised my kids and woke them up at 3:30am. They had no idea why. When I woke them I told them just to get dressed because we were going somewhere. The surprise destination was the Great Reno Balloon Race! I have wanted to go but usually I have found out that it was going on too late to be able to go. But not this year! They start with a cool thing called the Dawn Patrol where a few select balloons lift off in the dark. And they light up and glow. We got to watch that as we were sitting in traffic trying to get into the parking lot. These photos were all taken from the car. Sorry they turned out blurry. No one here is a trained photographer and it was dark! And the car was moving at intervals.

We finally got parked and found ourselves a spot at the top of a hill overlooking the field. Here are some pics of us waiting for the Mass Ascension to begin.

No, not smoking, chewing on the straw from his juice box

My girl and I

Smiling and it's not even 7am yet!

Then they started inflating the balloons...

It was fun to see the design as they filled up. We kept wondering about the one there on the right that's tan with brown triangles. Then we saw that it was...

Smokey Bear! I think that one was my favorite. A couple of years ago Big R got to go with his class at school and they had a shaped Darth Vader one that year. He wasn't there this year, though. But there was...

Spider Pig! He even had a curly little tail. Unfortunately we never saw that one lift off the ground. It inflated but didn't lift off. There was also a fun shaped Wells Fargo Stagecoach, a soccer ball, a panda bear...

A whole lotta balloons in the air.

There were almost 100 balloons. Can you see the strawberry one?

And a last shot of MoMo with balloons in the background .(and some random people)

Once we got home naps were definitely in order. 3:30am is EARLY!

It was just the kids and I at the Great Reno Balloon Race. Hubby is off with his buddy scouting hunting area for a buck hunt. His friend is the one with the actual tag. But they are both out there supposedly living off the land. Or at least trying to. I think they did take a can of soup or two as backup in the event they weren't successful. :)

Perhaps next year we'll make it to the camel races in Virginia City. We've been wanting to do that as well but it's the same weekend as the balloons and, again, we usually hear about them too late to go. I hear they also race emus and ostriches. It's supposed to be great fun. Well, that's all for now. Signing off...

Hello again! Well, I've done some more scrapping. My MIL actually took some pictures when we were down visiting so I scrapped a couple of those.One of me...I know, I hardly EVER scrap with photos of me!

And one of my Auntie & I. We only had a few days to spend down in So Cal and I definitely wanted to see my Auntie while we were there. My MIL graciously invited her to a get together she was having so we got to spend some time together. Not nearly enough, though! I really wish we lived closer to everyone.

Hubby's sister and niece came out to visit from all the way across the country. It was really good to see them and the cousins always have a fabulous time together.

And my sister and nephew went to the beach back in June. I totally stole pics and quotes from her Facebook page to scrap! I'm sneaky like that.

Isn't he the cutest? I sure missed seeing him this summer. He and my sister didn't make it to the family campout or Grandma Camp. Well, hopefully we'll be able to see them again soon. Thanksgiving or Christmas, if not sooner.

Ok, well, I'm going to wrap this up for now. But I want to wish my Dad a very happy birthday! Hope you like your present and I really don't expect you to wear it (unless, of course, you want to LOL). It's hard to get something for the man who has everything (well, it certainly SEEMS that way sometimes). But when I saw the pattern I thought of you. I'll share a picture of my Dad's birthday present in a couple of days just so I don't spoil the surprise. Plus I may have some progress to show on the Hourglass Quilt I'm making. I spent some of yesterday cutting, sewing, and pressing. I hope to be able to sew some blocks today. Maybe get some rows sewn together.

Alright then, TTFN (ta ta for now)!