Aurelia Marie

More pictures of some items I made for my upcoming trip. Handle covers and a tag for the suitcase, a huuuuge bag to carry around my “daypack” at the conference, and some trainers for Aurie. A lady at church has a serger that I can use to finish the rest, but I wanted to do a test run, so this is the test. They are all a bit drab green. Maybe I’ll try out some freezer paper stencils to add some designs to the front.

 

 

 

Aurelia is dressed up as a lion this year. I made her a mane and ears to wear, as well, but she won’t put them on. *sigh* The fleece jumpsuit also was too hot by the afternoon, so she got to wear her new pumpkin skirt, instead. It was the easiest skirt. Cut selvage to selvage, so no edge finishing, and then use a ribbon to enclose the hem, so no real hemming! Took 30 minutes.

 

 

In the afternoon, the teachers had games set up: bean bag tossing, pick a duck, put the nose on the jack-o-lantern, and a touch and feel table. Aurelia fell in love with the gak and would not leave it to go play other games. I finally convinced her to share it with another child, and we tried out the other activities. There were lots of non-candy prizes!

 

 

It’s that time of year, again. The leaves are changing colors and falling, the sky is crystal-clear blue, the air is crisp and cool, the fields are all a yellowy crunchy color… Oh, wait, this is Florida. Let me rephrase. The leaves are still on the trees and waxy green as always, we have fog every morning because the humidity is almost 100% everyday, the temperatures are in the upper 80’s, and the fall gardens have just been planted for a great winter crop. Well, aside from the last bit, Florida totally bums me out this time of year. I want to see big orange pumpkins and colorful woods against still-green grass. I want to feel compelled to take out my sweaters and wear a jacket. It’s almost November, for crying out loud!

*sigh* It feels good to get that off my chest. Perhaps I’ll see a hint of fall in Pittsburgh next week. Please pray for Marcus and Aurelia while I am away. He’s going to be playing the single parent for 4 days next week! It’s one of those times that a grandparent down the street would really be handy. Maybe some day…

Finally splurged on a new point and shoot since the old one kept malfunctioning and got to be a real pain to use. (The camera would turn off everytime your hand slipped just a little.) So here are some test images.

 

 

 

There will be more comments and a few photos from homecoming to come.

We really enjoyed getting caught up again with friends that we don’t get to see very often. Most of our friends who have moved elsewhere in FL made it back for part or all of the weekend, and some from further away, too. We missed getting to see friends from AL, almost AL on the panhandle, and the ATL. You know who you are – and we missed you!!

I also had a great birthday! Marcus kept Aurelia at home and let me go tailgating by myself on campus for the first half of the game. I had a lot of fun hanging out with my friends as “just me” without having to worry about where the munchkin was all the time. Not that I don’t love her, but toddlers have a way of making conversations difficult, especially in a public space. I received some interesting gifts, as well – cards, a piece of cake from a yummy bakery in Ocala, a video game to play cooperatively with Marcus and a contract. Yep, a contract. We signed it and filed it away for later reference. Those that read it at tailgating agreed that it was a sweet gift, indeed. I’ll share if you’d like, but it’s not for posting…

So, after a weekend of pizza, playdates, tailgating, songservice + regular worship + fellowship meal + camera shopping, and lion suit-making, it was a busy long weekend. I have to get back on my rocket ship* at school and prepare for a busy week. And we didn’t even get to do the laundry, yet!

Here we goooooooo…

*My new line for referring to the “trajectory” that I’m on right now – writing chapters, finishing data collection, writing a presentation for a 4-day meeting in 2 weeks, potty training, and all the “normal” stuff too. It’s a busy time!