Ava Gardner museum!

The girls and I drove up to Norfolk today to visit Auntie Erin and Uncle Collin. On the way, we passed a billboard for The Ava Gardner Museum. I didn't know it existed. Took the exit and checked it out. Great old little town with impressive architecture and lovely Main Street.

My father tells us how much my mother looked like her. Though we didn't pay admission to go in, we took the opportunity to take a few pics ( and here's one of my mom, too).

No words...

beachcombers

Mabel and Lucy smiled the entire afternoon...

Lucy hunting for hidden shell treasures in the rocks...

The view below my rock perch...

I could have sat there for hours watching them splash, seek, play...

Daddy taking it all in... and - yes - that is a Clone Wars shirt. ;-)

"I love this place"

I LOVE YOU camp

Lucy spent this past week at Camp Thrills and Skills at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind. The kids got to ride horses, swim, and experience lots of adventures while learning new ASL skills. The teachers and counselors are fab and Lucy looks forward to seeing them next year.

This year, the students worked together on a painting centered around the sign for I LOVE YOU.

Big thanks to everyone at the school and to all of the counselors!

Locks of Love

Today, Lucy and Mabel donated their hair to the Locks of Love program.
For years (yah - that long) I've been struggling with cutting the girls' hair. It's so so long.
When we met Mabel, she was nearly 3 and her hair was practically to her scalp... buzzed short short. It took a long time for her her hair to grow to even hold a barrette let alone a small pigtail.
I'm so proud of my munchkins.

More about the program at www.locksoflove.org

hello

so yeah. it's been toooo long. thanks for the emails prompting me back to it.

The short of it: A pooch was added, holidays celebrated, a munchkin turned 9, and mama got blog-lazy. will catch up over the next month.... really.

possible new family addition!

If all goes as planned, this little guy will be hanging at the Reed house by Saturday afternoon!

BOO! 2008

Another spooky and fun halloween. It took us most of the afternoon to convince Mabel to go out. She was too frightened of Lucy's costume to do it. Once we put her in her ghost costume and she got her black lipstick on, she was good-to-go, though.
Once again - we had to work up separate costumes for school. Students were to dress up to show a career they wanted to pursue. Lucy picked a veterinarian. Lucky for me, her scrubs from last year's dentist costume still fit her... change out giant tooth with stuffed dog and...
Mabel still wants to be a princess when she grows up.

Hope your halloween was a good one!

grand sunday: the park

Really enjoyed the weekend.

Yesterday we got all of the piled up recycling to the local facility. We had a TON of it. Glad to have it out of here.

Today, we took the girls to Gahagan Park. Gahagan has an enormous play structure that seems to go on forever... slides, towers, climbing walls, monkey bars, rope ladders... you name it. There are even musical pipes and little theaters incorporated into the design. We LOVE this park. And the weather was finally cool enough to enjoy it.

We brought Lucy's bike along so she could practice some more. She really wants to get rid of her training wheels, but it's been tough to learn to ride here. Our neighborhood lacks sidewalks but is full of speedy drivers and the driveway doesn't give her the room to really take off.

After the park, we definitely needed ice cream. :-) Then it was on to the fabric store to grab the last bit of black i needed for Lucy's GRIM REAPER costume and to the book store to browse. Finally we had dinner at our local Chinese place and headed home.

LOVE days like this. No schedule - just hanging together and going with the flow...

(Finished Lucy's costume -- will get a pic tomorrow.)

getting ready for Lucy's 9th: birthday crown

Have been trying to get a head start on birthday celebrations. Lucy celebrates her 9th on December 4. Going to throw her a party at the new Charleston Animal Society. She LOVES dogs and wants to be a pet helper or vet when she grows up - so seems appropriate. More on that as it gets closer.
Wanted to start a birthday crown tradition. I regret not doing it earlier - but better late than never, i suppose. Went ahead and made Mabel's while i was at it.
I intend to add embellishments each year.

Chinese Moon Festival 2009

We celebrated Chinese Moon Festival tonight - starting with a Chinese dinner out. When we got home, we waited for dark and went outside to ponder the moon and eat the traditional Mooncakes. More about the tradition and meaning of the celebration on a post from last year HERE and pics from our 2007 Moon Festival celebration HERE.

sewing: wee jacket

a quick little jacket for a sweet little niece... finally packaged up and ready to post. Next stop - Madison, Wisconsin...

pattern from Amy Karol's book Bend-the-Rules Sewing

for fun: yearbook yourself

Amy: 1978, 1974; Lucy 1962; Edward


Edward, Lucy and I just spent the last 40 minutes or so playing at yearbook yourself. Hilarious!

14 years with smoochie-boy

H A P P Y A N N I V E R S A R Y !

in the groove

I really LOVE working at home. I just finished up a couple projects for the Food + Wine Festival and am sitting at my desk eating Chinese dumplings in my pajamas. There is a load of laundry in the washing machine and the girls are in their rooms reading and playing dress-up.

Don't get me wrong - days like this are not the norm. There have been many times when I wish I was away from the home-craziness and in a studio away from home... free from the home telephone, immune from the frequent interruptions from the kids, and hanging in a space with other grown-ups. But for the most part - it doesn't get much better than this.

animal adventure

Edward and I tried to get the girls to the Animal Planet expo at the fairgrounds today. After fighting traffic for nearly an hour (normally it takes us 5 minutes), we were barely to the fairgrounds.

(Insert change of plan here)

New destination: The Charleston Animal Society. If you haven't been over to this new SPCA facility you're missing out!








I know, I know - we've got a zoo here already, cats, birds, rabbit (kids). But we know we will be ready to add a dog to the family soon. To start, we've all been considering the care, time, money and love that goes into it. A visit to the shelter to pet and experience the variety of dogs and cats was a great step. Lucy and I gathered some educational materials to help prep us as well.

We didn't have the camera with us, so pics here are from the shelter's site.

After a rare lunch out, we headed to the library for books and movies.

Was a great day! a

Lake Huron and Tikis!

3 generations of Stewarts!

We've been stopping at this Pinconning Cheese Shop since I was a tot...

... the perfect place to load up on penny candy (and Michigan wine)!

Beach beauties!

Happy paddling with my man.

Nightly campfire...

Lucy in the firelight.

My nephew dressed up and ready for a show!
Paper Mache masks and bowls in progress.

What a needed getaway! A full week at the Mai Tiki Resort (not really resortish!) on Michigan's Lake Huron. The Mai Tiki was so cute... a bunch of little multi-colored cabins, a giant Tiki sculpture on the beach next to a Tiki hut and bonfire, playground and a great stretch of beach on the lake.

Each of my siblings and my parents got a cabin and we hung together for a week. Swimming, kayaking (we brought our sea kayaks with us), cooking and eating, crafting, making s'mores... we even did karaoke by the bonfire!

Hubby was so amazing. He knew how much I love to kayak and was looking forward to paddling the lake. I was so discouraged by my slow knee recovery I didn't think I'd be able to get in the boats. He made sure that i got into the kayaks (with help cuz my bum knee) several times and we paddled up and down the shore. Thanks, babes.

oh - did I mention that Lake Huron is COLD! :-)

Auntie Erin took Lucy out rock hunting nearly every day and she came home with lots of souvenir stones.

The best part - all of my siblings and my parents were in the same place for the first time in several years. It was GREAT to see my brother. He and his family met Mabel for the first time.

My mom's brother and sisters even surprised us with a visit.

definitely good times... the best.