Quilt show

My friend Tammy and I were able to go to the big quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky. The husbands watched the kids while we took a day trip to admire some beautiful works of art. It is always so fun. We also enjoy shopping at all the vendors that are available in one place. This is our third trip there to view this show. Some of you who have not seen me in a long while might be wondering why my e-mail is quiltmommybeckett. I will tell you. About 5 years ago I quit my job at the SIUE bookstore to stay home so that we could get used to having one income before having children. We thought that we would get pregnant right away, but it took us over a year. In that year and a half I was home and had nothing much to do I spent a lot of time in my sewing room. I also took up quilting. I had always wanted to but didn't have much time to learn. Plus, I had been sewing clothing and decor since I was in jr. high so it wasn't as though I was starting from scratch. I thought how hard could it be. It wasn't hard and I had many opportunities to practice because everyone in my Sunday school class was getting pregnant and having babies. I made them all baby quilts. Each one was different and unique. That year was so much fun. By the time that I had to make Cameron's quilt I was much better than when I had first started. I think that I made around 10-12 baby quilts in that first year. After Cameron was born that pace of course slowed down. I have made maybe 10 or less quilts since he was born 4 years ago. I find that I have to be creative with my spare time because I have so many hobbies and little time. I have an embroidery machine which I use to embroider designs on quilts, clothes, and anything else I can find. I have a serger to make clothes with and other such things. Right now on my list of to dos is to make a shirt for Cameron, make some bib overalls for Garrett, make a small quilt for my Mom for Mother's day, and make four baby blankets. That is just my short term list. I also meet with my friend Bonnie every Thursday at my house and we work on charity quilts and community projects. God gave us these gifts and we want to use them for His glory. We have a lot of fun and the boys consider her Grandma Bonnie.

The quilt above is one of the baby quilts that I have made.

Garrett has another first

Garrett went to the bathroom in the toilet like a big boy today. Yeah! This was the first day that he had done that so far. I hope that it is the first of many days like that, but I am not going to get my hopes up too high. Cameron went to the bathroom in the toilet for the first time around this age also, but it took him and year and a half before he would be fully potty trained. I had begun to think that he would never be trained. I learned my lesson with him and I am not going to try so hard with Garrett. He will be trained when he is ready. Once Cameron got it in his head that he would do it he did potty train quickly and he has hardly ever had any accidents for six months now.

Memorable weekend

This was a very memorable day because Mike put the final 80 lb. block on the wall today. That is it in the first picture. After much back breaking work the wall is finally in place. We now move on to ordering dirt and putting on the capstones. I must say that I am very proud of Mike because this is by far the biggest project he has ever undertaken. You also have to understand that in the household he was from they just hired someone to do the work for them. I came from the family where if you want something done you do it yourself. He has come a long way in the eight years that we have been married. In fact, we tried to hire someone to do this job for us but he never got back with us and he considered it a very difficult job so when Mike said that he would take it on I was more than a little surprised. It has been a very long road, and we are not through yet but at least our house will not fall down the hill anymore. Yeah! We broke ground on July 4th of last year and Mike did 95% of the work himself with his Dad helping out when he could. I watched the kids and shoveled a little bit of the rock. The boys even helped a little as you can see in the pictures above. My main job will be to do all of the planting on the new dirt. My newfound hobby is flower gardening. I have already ordered most of the plants that I want to put out back.


We had three memorable events that happened this weekend: the first was adopting our newest family member Pippen whom I already mentioned in the last post. The second was that we took Cameron and Garrett to see the movie "Horton hears a Who". This was significant because it was Garrett's first movie in the theater. He did very well especially when he was in charge of the popcorn. There is something about his obsession with food. I hope that he outgrows that fast. Although he does take after Pop and Pop likes his food. The third memorable event was the finishing of the actual retaining wall structure. What a busy weekend.

Newest member of the family

We didn't last very long without a rabbit. We went yesterday to the pet store and the boys and Mommy found another bunny to bring home. He looks almost like Mopsy except that he is all black instead of dark gray. As you can see he lets the boys pick him up and hold him. I keep calling it a him, but we are not exactly sure what it is yet because he is too young to tell. We named him Pippin from Lord of the Rings.



Garrett still calls the bunny Mopsy because he doesn't fully understand what happened to Mopsy.
Cameron loves to hold and pet the bunny and he is just the right size for him. Although the new one is a little jumpy, but he will probably get used to us in no time.

Did you feel the Earthquake?

We felt the earthquake at 4:37am. Mike and I were soundly asleep and we woke to the sound of the handles on our dressers shaking and our bed rocking back and forth. Then I gradually realized that it was an earthquake. I was glad that it was not any bigger. Then I thought what will I do if this quake is any greater. What furniture would I take the kids under? I really don't know. At least they both slept through it.

In Memory of Mopsy

Yesterday was a sad day in our family because Mopsy, our sweet little bunny died. He had been sick since last Christmas, but he kept hanging in there. He would have good days and bad days. Some days his back legs would not work and then he would work the kinks out and he'd be fine for a few weeks or days. He was such a sweet little guy and the perfect size for the boys because he was a dwarf rabbit. We will all miss him very much. I have had a 6 rabbits in my life. That covers 17 years of my life. They are just a part of my family. We will probably have another one sometime soon even though Mike is allergic to them. He actually bought Mopsy for me around Christmas of 2002. That was the year that I lost my Moonlight who had been with me since high school and Tango a dutch rabbit that I got from my friend Lisa. So far Mike has had to bury 4 of our animals, three rabbits and one cat.

The Past Week

Let me catch you up on the last week. It has been a busy one and that is why I haven't written on here for a while. Last Thursday night I went to a Mary Kay success meeting, the first one I have been to since Cameron was born, and I saw my director who lives in Nebraska. That was fun! Then we went to the Cheesecake factory at the Galleria afterward. Let me tell if you have never been to one you need to go. The cheesecake is out of this world. It is a little pricey but it is worth the splurge every once in a while. While there an opportunity was laid before me to go Career Conference which is a big deal in Mary Kay. I have never been since I started my business 5 years ago. It was very inspiring not only from a business perspective, but also from a life perspective. I need to learn to be more of an optimist and to step out of my comfort zone more often. I find that I am more and more comfortable the longer I stay at home. I don't associate with many people outside of my church family and so I forget how to talk to other people. I don't usually strike up a conversation with just anyone. I need to do this both for my business' sake and for more witnessing opportunities. Well, the conference was on Friday night and Saturday. I ended up skipping the last two hour session on Saturday so that I could go to meet my family at the zoo. I can tell you that I was the best dressed person at the zoo because I was still in my business dress. Then that night I had a date with my husband while Memaw and Pop let the boys spend the night. Sunday after church was spent painting. Monday the boys and I had a day. It started off with Garrett spreading his Stage one toothpaste all over the floor, at least it was clear. Later on when we went to the store Cameron threw a huge fit in the middle of the store with crying and the whole nine yards. We were very close to going to the bathroom, if you know what I mean. Finally, he settled down and he was fine the rest of the store. It was all because he didn't want to sit in the cart and I didn't want to let him out because he would be all over the place. In other words he just wanted his own way which is typical. If I know anything about strong willed children it is that they always want to win the fight. I have to fight Cameron on just about everything because he wants to win. Tuesday was bunko night and we had to clean the house together. The boys did "help" a little. It wasn't too bad. That should just about catch you up.

New furniture

This is a picture of the Cameron's new wardrobe which he desperately needed because they only clothes storage that he had were four small drawers under his bed. Now when /if his brother has to move into his room there will be plenty of room for both of them to store their clothes.


Here is our new hutch that we spent the last two weekends painting. Mike did the first coat and I did the second. It was a labor of love, but in the end I love it and it fits well in our dining room. It was a cream/yellow color before and that didn't match our rose and green walls. I had a last minute boost to get it done because I had bunko at our house last night and I wanted to get the breezeway back to normal. It was a mess because we were painting the hutch in there and I am also using it as my little greenhouse for all the seeds I have started. I have about 5 or 6 trays of flower seeds out there and most of them are coming up. I am waiting for after April 15th to plant them outside. We were able to get them all arranged nice and neat because we moved the bakers rack from the dining room to the breezeway to make room for the new hutch.

Moving video

Here is a very powerful human video that our church youth group did at church a couple of months ago. It makes me cry because it shows how much God loves me even when I am not following His ways. Sorry that it is a little hard to see. It is so much better in real time.


http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=b6470e47a8a7a812b766