Narnia Reading Challenge

Carrie @ Reading to Know is hosting the Narnia Reading Challenge again this month.

C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia is one of my favorite series and I plan on reading through the whole series again this month as part of the challenge. In addition, I am reading "Aslan's Call" by Mark Eddy Smith and "A Field Guide to Narnia" by Colin Duriez. I look forward to sharing more with you as the month goes on. Would you join us?

2nd Quarterly Top 5

It's been a long time since I posted ... in fact the last time I posted was last quarter. I'm definitely thinking about doing some changes to what my focus is since stitching has taken a back burner at this point in my life (still working on projects but not nearly as many at a time to talk about). So for now, here are my top 5 pictures of little one for the months of April, May and June. Click on the banner if you want to link up and participate :) Can't wait to see everyone's pictures.

Without further ado:

This first picture I just love the backlighting and the smirk on her face. This was just one day taking pictures in her room.

I decided to play with editing the color on the camera for this one ... love her looking around the shower curtain. She loves bath time.

We went to the beach for a week at the beginning of May. This is one of my all time favorite pictures from that trip. Her daddy and granddaddy are in the background fishing and she is just staring at the ocean ;)

We went strawberry picking at a nearby farm. She enjoyed picking the berries (didn't eat many though) and had a great time.

This last pictures is at the children's garden at the local botanical gardens. She has so much fun whenever she is around water. I love the water in the foreground of this picture.

It was hard to narrow it down to 5 pictures from the past three months. I hope you enjoy a small glimpse into our lives. God Bless!

March Quarterly Top 5

It's time for the first Quarterly Top 5 of 2011. This is hosted by Amber's Articles, Click it Up a Notch and Nap Time Momtog. It's a chance to showcase our five favorite pictures that we have taken of our children during the months of Jan, Feb and March.

As usual, it is hard to narrow down to my favorite pictures since we do take a lot of my daughter. Here are the five that I chose for this go around:

This first one showcases what a goofball Caitlyn can be. She was making faces out the door in the kitchen so I decided to go around and get pictures from the other side of her. There was a whole series but I loved the pucker face in this one.

I take monthly pictures of Caitlyn in this glider in her room. This just shows how hard it is to get her to sit still these days. This one was taken on her birthday. I love the lighting in the picture and how it softens it.

I chose this picture because she decided to climb in the box herself. She started to bring the toys in with her.

This one was taken at a local park that our family enjoys on nice days. Unfortunately it's gotten cold again recently but I am looking forward to heading back again. This is just one of my all time favorite pictures ... I love the backlighting and the expression on her face.

This last picture is from our visit to my parents. It was a beautiful day so we headed to the park. I love the wind blowing her hair as she comes down the slide with her daddy.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm looking forward to sharing more in June.

Smile!

At the end of last year I participated in the top 10 of '10 hosted by Amber's Articles. She has decided to do something similar this year. However, instead of choosing 10 photos at the end of the year, we share 5 photos every quarter (so we'll share 20 throughout the year). Click on the button for more information and if you want to participate as well.

Recent Projects

Blogging has definitely taken a back burner right now. I just started a new school in preparation for a new job. I have been crafting and such. I am finally able to show you the sampler that I stitched for my sister and her new husband as a wedding present. I had it framed at my local LNS as I usually do and it turned out great. Without further ado:

"Wedding Blessing"

Designer: Cathy Bussi (from the Cross Stitcher July '10 Issue)

Fabric: Silkweaver 32ct Autumn

Threads: DMC (converted to my sister's wedding colors of coral and green)

I have also been able to start my daughter's stocking. I am hoping to be able to complete that before Christmas. I definitely don't have as many projects in progress at the moment (other than as ideas in my head). I have one other cross stitch project that I am currently stitching on and hope to finish soon. It is a gift for our nanny in appreciation for how she takes care of our little one and has really become part of our family. I hope to be able to share that with you soon.

In addition to cross stitch, my sewing machine has also been getting a workout. I made my first attempt of making clothes for my daughter. I decided that I would make her a Valentine's Day outfit rather than buying one this year. I used a L'amour honey bun from Moda (the line is designed by Sandy Gervais) for both the skirt and the applique. I decided to use the strips to cut a heart from rather than a solid fabric so that it would coordinate with the skirt. I think it turned out alright for my first skirt.

So I think that covers most of the crafty stuff that I have done lately. Hopefully I'll be updating more frequently with more projects and other types of things. Have a great night!

Christmas Stitching

I just wanted to do a quick post to share the gift I made for my mom this Christmas. I shared a sneak preview earlier in the month but here it is all finished:

Little Women "Baking" Threadpack

Designer: Diane Williams

Threads: Included Crescent Colors

Fabric: 32 ct Cocoa Belfast Linen (Silkweaver)

I thought I had a picture of the cube I finished but can't find it right now. I know I have pictures of my mom opening it. I picked out a nice fabric with poinsettias on it to go with the stitching. I hope you are all having a Happy New Year and may 2011 bring you much joy!

Top 10 of '10

I saw this linked on Rachel's blog and decided that I would participate as well. If you would like to join me you can link up here. Caitlyn joined our family at the very beginning of 2010 and many, many pictures have been taken of her through out the year. Here are what I have chosen as the 10 I would share in chronological order:

1. This was taken about a week and a half after little one was born (January). I was taking pictures of her laying on my lap and just really like how she's looking at the window behind the couch.

2. I love, love, love this picture. I love the look on her face as she watches her mobile in her crib. I took this in February while I was still on maternity leave and spending all day with the little one.

3. Another of my favorites. This was taken at the end of April in our backyard. It was a gorgeous day and we were watching a bunny or two that were hanging out in the backyard. I think I had her propped up on my knees when I took this picture.

4. I had to include this picture from June. My husband was on his last underway before detaching from his sea command. We watched videos of him reading to her often while he was gone.

5. This photo is from July ... we were hanging out in the office. She has the greatest expressions and I just love how she looks like she was caught red handed doing something.

6. Caitlyn had to be put into a Spica cast back in August ... this photo is from shortly after that. You can just see it in the photo but I wanted to include it since this demonstrates her personality and just how happy and well adjusted she was even in the cast. Nothing can get this girl down.

7. I took this picture during one of our many visits to my parents this fall. I love the look on her face and how excited she is with her book. This particular picture is from early September.

8. This photo is from a session that we did in our back yard in the fall. It was a fairly warm day for November and we had a lot of leaves on the ground. Her intense study of the leaf in her hand is what made me chose this picture out of the many I took that day.

9. This is just a random picture from December when she was climbing on her bean bag chair. I love the pictures I take when she is looking over her shoulder back at the camera. You can see some parts of what we like to call the results of Hurricane Caitlyn.

10. We love to rip tissue paper. We went to my sister's house for Christmas and the first day she was there, one of the packages caught her attention and she just needed to pull the tissue paper out and start ripping.

It was very hard to narrow down the many pictures that I took this year to just 10. I hope you enjoy a small glimpse into our year. Thanks for stopping by. Thank you to Amber's Articles and her fellow bloggers for hosting.