Introducing my Tadpoles!

Some of you have heard me mention my tadpoles...and may have even seen pictures of them. While others of you may be family or friends.

I think it is time that I introduce them here...in birth order. That makes this easier for me. Remember in my profile that I said there were 7 of them!!

Taylor - female, involved in Drama Club, plays basketball and softball and going to start track/field this year. Loves to read and write. Liked by all, fun personality, great all around young lady.

Madeline -  female, we call her Mad for short, very aggressive in sports i.e. basketball and softball. She loves to draw. Animals people you name it. She should illustrate her sister Taylor's writings! Going to be a future quilter! (Well, one can always hope.) 

Sven - male, likes basketball and baseball and anything to do with dirtbikes/atv's...just ask his best friend whose name rhymes with his...he owns a dirtbike and a four-wheeler...we do not!!

Eric - male, loves his mother. He is so sweet most times. He is liked by everybody in school...especially the girls! He gets invited to every girl's birthday party...and he goes. He loves the attention. he also plays basketball and baseball. He is a lefty...and he pitches Minor League ball.

Devin - female, a blondie. She is fun-loving. Loves to do cartwheels...everywhere! She can do them off the bed, against a wall, do one and then land in the splits. She is quite the girl. She also loves to read.

Cheryl - female, button-nosed beauty, she is a great big sis to her youngest brother. They play all day long together. She wants to go to school...very badly...and she will in the Fall. She loves to dress up. She has a baby doll and a stuffed dog that she pushes around in their stroller.

Kirt - male, looks just like Eric in every way. Loves the movie 'Cars'. Wants to watch it over and over again. (No, we don't let him watch it continually.)  He is happy dressing up with his older sis and wearing a pink Barbie dress or bathing suit depending on the time of day. He also is the keeper of our dog, Sardi. Kirt feeds him by hand...and likes to let him in the house to play.

AND...the good looking guy behind the sunglasses in the photo is my sweet husband Bryson. He is into photography about as bad as I am into quilting! And...we are the best of friends. We work together daily and it takes both of us to raise our large family. I love him very much!

He took this picture of us while we were on a family trip to Yellowstone National Park in August 2009.

Frogger gets a Lift!

I like my vehicles lifted...so when the opportunity arrived for me to purchase a Hydraulic Lift for Frogger...I jumped!

Sometimes I sit to quilt...most times I stand. And, because my tadpoles like to quilt too, purchasing the lift just made sense.

Taylor is only 3" shorter than I am, and may very well pass me up in another year or so.

Madeline is short and seems to have a natural talent for quilting...but has a difficult time using Frogger when it is set at the height that I need. In fact, when the lift arrived the other day, she was more excited than I was!

I can't wait to see her reaction when she sees Frogger tomorrow! 

SO...now we ALL can be happy...ALL the time. Well, except for when one of us is quilting and the others want to quilt.  Fortunatley for me, I have more tops done than the tadpoles do...so I get more time on MY Frogger. ;0)

We even mounted the switch in a better spot so it would be easier to access. How cool is that! 

Now, the challenge to keep Kirt from messing with the new switch! That should be interesting...he will most certainly notice it as it is next to his 'other' favorite switch...the fabric advance control.

Life is full of challenges...isn't it? But so worth it in the end.

Tadpoles' A's and B's

Our 5 oldest tapoles are in school. Grades 1-7.

Report cards just came out for the 2nd Quarter. You guessed it...all A's and B's.
In fact..here is the breakdown.

A+ 9
A   12
A-  5
B+ 3
B   3
B-  1

All but received one more honor too...Perfect Attendance. The oldest missed one day of school for an ear infection. Not too shabby though in my opinion.

We are very proud of our little tadpoles!

My Favorite Piece of Jewelry!

I went to the eyedoctor today...and I am getting new eyeglasses.  And..my prescription improved slightly. Not that that is saying much...ever wonder what it is like to have 20/1200 vision. It stinks really. But, I improved. YAY!  I have worn them for 30 years now...so maybe at this pace..I won't need glasses anymore by the time I turn 70.

Do you know how hard it is to find something really stylish/WILD/different in a town of 4000 people?!!

I wanted something different since eyeglasses are one of the only pieces of 'jewelry' that I wear everyday. Sure, I wear a wedding ring, and sometimes earrings, and sometimes a bracelet..but eyeglasses are a BIG Deal. They are one of the first things that people notice when they look at you. They can say alot about you...such as, "I am confident", "I am fun", "I like myself".

Well, I finally found something that I like....I think. Funny thing is, I am so blind without my glasses...that I have to try on new frames and then stick my face almost completely into the mirror to decide if I like how they look on my face. I did have help from my two oldest tadpoles. One can certainly hope that they wouldn't lead me astray and let me look goofy! It is a good thing too that I trust the lady at the Doctor's office. Without her...I never would have made up my mind. She 'threw' at least 50 pair of frames in my direction...and she really liked the ones that I picked. Thank goodness.

The hunt for new glasses is over..I hope. They won't be in for 10-14 days...so we will see when they arrive if I can muster the courage to break away from my 'cool' green-tint glasses to something NEW!

Meet Frogger!!

Frogger is my APQS Green Millennium that I 'gave a home to' in November of 2008. It is a longarm quilting machine with a 26" throat that allows me to quilt up to 18" in a single pass. I just love it. You will be seeing lots of Frogger and what we are capable of together.


I have been longarm quilting now for just over 1 year. I have a wonderful family on the APQS forum and have learned so much there.


Thanks everyone for sharing what you know and letting me be a part of a great group!

Our Pond

I thought for my first post...I would show you a picture of what our pond looks like.


It is continuously fed...so can't freeze..but WOW...isn't it pretty! We have had nearly 18 inches of snow this past week and now my tadpoles...aka kids...are snowboarding, sledding, rolling, falling...you name it...in the snow.


But what fun to be had by all.   ;0)