Whew!!!

Taylor Anne is back from Girl Scout Camp!!! She survived!!!

She didn't get homesick... at all...

She had a wonderful time and wants to go back next year!!!

Taylor Anne made lots of new friends, and learned all about the fun of life at Girl Scout Camp. She said the food was great, the songs and games were fun, and she loved all of the crafts and meeting other girls. She didn't like the 'dirty' showers, and she didn't quite understand the concept of wearing socks with tennis shoes (lots of blisters!).

Taylor Anne said that she LOVED Camp - which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Taylor Anne and her friend, Zoe-they have been friends for 4 years

While Taylor Anne was gone at Camp, there were lots of busy bees working away at our house! My parents, Mike, and I transformed T.A.'s room by painting, rearranging furniture, cleaning, designing, and then building a new shelving system for all of her 'stuff'. It was a pretty serious undertaking - and it took all of us working diligently to get it done. We even recruited one of my Mom's childhood friends, who happened to be 'in town' visiting family, to come help out one day!

Check out Taylor Anne's new digs: (Two 'before' shots - then two 'after' shots)

"After" Shots:

I am so happy with the way the room turned out - it is wonderful! My Sister, Mary, found the bed set at a really great price - it's organic cotton bedding, and had the colors I was looking for when I thought about painting Taylor Anne's room. The AWESOME shelving unit is made to look 'built-in', and it has tons of storage space, divided out so things can be put away quickly and easily when it's time to clean up. Taylor Anne had talked about wanting a green room with a pink and yellow stripe on the walls... I thought it needed blue, and why not have a few polka-dots too? When we were done putting it all together I just kept thinking that it would be perfect for Taylor Anne - it has the greatest colors together, and I just thought she would love it when she got home. She had no idea that we were doing this - it was a total surprise to her!

Check out the video: (once it loads, skip ahead to 1:30 to see her walk in)

She now has to be dragged out of her room... I think she likes it.

Girl Scout Camp

It's official... summer camp season is here - and Taylor Anne is now old enough to go away to Girl Scout Camp! She is gone for the WHOLE WEEK to a session called Tinkering Tinkerbells... she's at a wonderful camp on a lake, great cabins, wonderful activities... She's one of the youngest girls there, and she has been really excited about it ever since we arranged for her to go. She even has one of her best buddies attending with her (in the same cabin too!!!) We packed everything into a duffel bag, her backpack, and her sleeping bag, and I know she has everything she needs, and she's been camping plenty of times... but still - I'm sitting here wondering if she's OK. I wonder if she's taken a shower or not... if she likes the food... if she's passed the swim test... gone canoeing yet... caught any toads, is she behaving herself???

She's going to do so many fun things! I remember loving Girl Scout Camp as a kid - I looked forward to it every year. We got to shoot arrows, ride horses, tie-dye shirts, drink bug juice, learn cool songs... etc. I know she'll learn so many things - about herself, about her friend, about new friends... I know she won't recognise that she's learned a lot of these things until many years later... I'm so excited that she has this wonderful experience available to her.


I also know she's having a blast - she's got a new cute haircut to make everything (showering/brushing) easier on her and she's got all of her outfits together for each day. We dropped her off yesterday... it's been more than 24 hours and I haven't heard from her (not that I expected to!). I know she's in good hands, and I know she's making memories that will last forever - that's why I sent her... but I think I'm going through a teeny tiny bit of empty-nest syndrome... or something like that... I can't imagine what it will be like when she goes off to college! Yikes! I'm not going to think about that today - I'll think about that tomorrow... (or not!)I just need to keep reminding myself of all of these things that I know, and not worry about the things I don't know... (for now!)

Anyway - my baby is away at camp... she's not a baby anymore I guess...

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of you wonderful Dads out there!

Taylor Anne with her Daddy today before leaving for a week of GS camp:

This is a special video for my Brother-in-Law, Marshall, who is deployed in Iraq right now. His daughter is staying at our house for the weekend while my Sister is traveling.

The first two rows

Update on the Old Red Barn Co. Quilt-Along

I sewed the first two rows of blocks together yesterday, and took a quick picture of them in the evening... I love these colors and really can't wait to see the whole thing put together. I am working on it more tonight, but probably won't have the top done for another few days. I also want to put one or two borders on the outside to make it a little bigger... hopefully to fit a double bed. I just need to figure out what fabric/colors to use for the border(s). The corners seem to be coming together nicely (thanks to liberal pinning techniques!)

Another corner shot:
I'm knocking on wood in hopes that I don't jinx myself with this first attempt.

The Boy

Anderson turned 3 on Sunday... growing so fast... he's already such a big boy!

A few days old...

Learning to walk while visiting the beach...

Exploring in the woods...

Playing at the park on his 3rd Birthday...

I can't wait to see what this year brings us! I know it will be fun!