Quick and easy tote for swimming

So I have been going to aquafit 4/5 times a week now. I was using an old kinda carry on/ luggage piece that I had kicking around. It worked fine but I wanted something a bit prettier :)

I looked for a while and came across this tutorial: 

Super Easy Tote Bag Tutorial from Poppyseed Fabrics

I printed out the instructions and looked how much material I wanted to use the pink vinyl covered cotton for the inside of the bag. 

I upped the bag dimensions to fit the fabric I had and started sewing. 

Bag pieces cut:

2 pieces of batting: 19x10.5

2 bag pieces: 19x21

2 pocket pieces: 19x17

handles with 3 inch x length of fabric (4 pieces = two handles. I sewed them together and turned)

This tutorial is great for the vinyl cotton as it keeps the sticky vinyl to the inside until the final top stitch around the bag. 

Here it is filled with my pool stuff. As you can see the blue made pockets on the outside. 

yes NC got snow. and yes they cancelled school and the gym closed early. 

looking down on my bag

this is what I fit in it. 

very cute bag. I love it

except

its too small still. 

I have already headed out to Hancocks and got more fabric to make a bigger one!!

Maybe I can figure out how to have pockets on the inside AND outside :)

meet and greet 2 and night caching

NinjaChipmunk ( +Debbie Hudson ) hosted another geocaching Meet and Greet. 

+Dave DeBaeremaeker and I got a sitter and were able to enjoy the night without having to fuss at kids!

 We had many people who can come out for the first time

 the 2 on the left came up from Charlotte and stayed at our house and went caching with Dave the next day.
the 2 on the right had not even signed up for a geocaching account and they came out to meet new people and see what it was about

 full house!

 We really packed the room and will need a bigger room next time!

First cache ever!!

It was a fun night!

I hope those new to caching will sign up and continue to find new ones!

Google Christmas Party 2013

I realized that I never posted about Google's Christmas Party this past year. 

We went to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. Luckily we had some friends more there (not even 5 min away from the Grove Park) so we left the kids with them overnight. 

Dave had heard on a podcast about a haunted room and wanted to see if we could get it. And we did. 

Haunted room?

We didnt notice anything strange happen. 

Apparently where the girl fell from/to her death. 

Dinner time!

me and Rachel

Dinner

dancing

in the hotel

Main lobby of the hotel. The fireplaces are Huge!

More pictures including some of the gingerbread competition:

Its All About Me

OK- maybe not all about me but this year I have decided to make it a year where I can focus on me.

I am writing this to see how things go. kind of as a bench mark and goal setting thing.

here we go:

- Started at the gym. Started with aquafit (because I know I love it from doing it in the past)  and we will see where we go from there.  I have an assessment tomorrow to see where I stand and to set goals etc.
The gym also has some child care so this is a bonus.

- I hired a house cleaner every other week. She just did a whole house clean to start.
It feels good to not have that hanging over me.

- I want to finally finish a quilt for my own bed. A nice big king sized one for our queen bed.

-I also need to get my teeth worked on.  Next step for them is to get the wisdom teeth out.

- I need to do more studying of the bible and creating my own devotional time


eating better and getting more exercise with flow with this soon as well.

Baby Quilt for Rebecca

My friend is having her 3rd baby!

This will be her second girl. I made this quilt for her last baby

I went to a new quilt shop in Gastonia NC and found this fabric. 

Thinking that I had an extra copy of "Guess How Much I Love You" book, I bought it to give together. 

I havent been able to find it. oh well- it makes a cute quilt regardless!

 some random wavy lines to make it crinkle

The backing I had in my stash from my trip to Keepsake Quilting

Cute, no?

its cuddly too!

Name tag ready for after the birth

Signed

out of the half yard I had of the green, this is all I had left!

I was happy I had enough to do all the binding!

DOH!!! It was just pointed out to me that I did date it wrong!! oh no!!

Abigail-isms

Abigail has been talking a lot lately and has been developing a sense of humour. 
(20 months)

Silly faces

Jan 15th, 2014
So Abigail was crying in bed after she had been quiet for a while. That is unusual for her. So I decide to go in.

AS soon as I open the door she stops crying and says "nose, dirty"
so I say "do you want me to wipe your nose?"
"yeah"

SO i wipe her nose and tuck her back in and ask if she needs anything else."no". So i say goodnight and close the door and hadnt heard from her since. 

ps- i dont think it was dirty

examining my quilt

Jan 16, 2014
Abigail is at the nursery and I picked her up after Bible Study. 
She had her sippy cup in her mouth holding it with both hands after I got her jacket on.

I asked her to put it down so i could button her up. 
So she takes her hands off of it. I can now reach her buttons at least. 
but I say "thats not what I meant when I said put it down"
so what does she do?
with sippy cup hanging from her teeth she looks down!

its true that the sippy cup got lower... just not what I was expecting!

ham

New Years Eve 2014

This year, while in Canada, we decided to go to the Oh Canada, Eh? Dinner show in Niagara Falls. 

Dave, Debbie, Michelle, Amanda, Melissa, Bob

A group of 6 of us get a table for ourselves.

It was a great show full of show tunes. 

Cabar-EH! Musical Revue & Dinner - Our talented cast take to the stage to perform their favourite hits and classics, a great way to ring in the new year!  Our New Year's Eve Bash also features a live dance band, champagne toast and more! Performing December 29 and 30 with our Cabar-EH! New Year's Eve Bash on December 31,2013.

They provided new years gear

The place was packed!

Dave got to enjoy some Canadian beer

Dinner included: Salad, Cream of mushroom soup, ham and cheese stuffed chicken, Fish, steak, potatoes and veggies with a maple cream topped marble cake. 

It was soo good!

 We enjoyed some Entertainment.

 The Waiters were the entertainers too. (ours was the brunette)

After the entertainment they moved the tables and set up a band. they played 50s/60s/70s type music and acted like a 1950s band- all bouncy and happy :)

Happy New Years!

It was a great night. 

It had something for everyone. 

more pictures:

(And no one knows that I wore my winter boots all night instead of changing into dress shoes.)