Sam and Claire made beautiful valentines for all of their friends at school. They were very excited about the crafting and the parties and the CANDY! I was pretty excited about the candy too and was lucky enough to receive a few pieces from my generous kids.

While most people will be eating chocolate candies and sniffing bouquets of roses, we’ll be riding buses, flying in airplanes and driving vans to California! We’re going there to visit family and to partay. It should be a fun time

Claire and I are stressing out about the dress code at the party venue. I can’t find pantyhose to wear with my dress (although I’ve been informed most people don’t wear pantyhose anymore) and Claire doesn’t know what to do about her hair.

She may be onto something here…

Christmas crafting has begun in earnest around here. I’m working on a REALLY big and REALLY great (at least I think so) project for my son, which I’ll write about in detail soon. I’m also trying to brainstorm things I can make for some of my other favorite people, but that can be challenging. Most of them already have a fair number of wonderful things.

For instance, I don’t think my kids NEED many more toys, although I’ll certainly give them a couple of fun things to make the day special. I’m really trying to think of other types of gifts that would give them pleasure and possibly serve a practical use. Just this morning, I made something for my daughter, which will definitely be a big hit since (a) it has a cat on it; and (b) it “spawkles.” My girl loves all things that spawkle.

I rummaged through her closet and found a plain t-shirt. (My friend, Sarah, says that Lands End has great plain tees for kids…) I then ironed on the cat motif I purchased from Glitz and Glamour at the Pacific Northwest Quiltfest earlier this year. Easy and spawkly!