Christmas gifts given

Christmas is over... 10 quilts were given, only one unfinished, given and then brought back home to work on...
Here are the three graces and their quilts... I couldn't have bribed them to give me better reactions... The youngest patted it on her lap and squealed, "Mine!"

Christmas Eve joys

Merry Christmas!
Our 31-person extravaganza has begun and will continue over the next 4 days.
After j and I finished putting all the bows on our boxes last night, I looked at the 3 mountains of presents, and I realized why I'd been feeling stressed over the past few weeks... Knowing just how many of those boxes were filled with handmade gifts... Wow. And the stress lifted. (it also helped that at the last possible moment I found a gift for the kids that I'd lost for over 2 months!)

Today we are at my parents home for the Christmas Eve extravaganza... This year, Mimi insisted on a nativity play that we all must star in, complete with costumes, skripps, and stage dreshins. Daddy is Jhosif and I am Marry, according to our skripps. Z is the innkeeper.

Z has been very very sick all week and yesterday he made a miraculous comeback in time for our plans to continue. Quite a scary week, but this morning he was back to his wild abstract humor that had us in stitches...
Ready?

- he started the morning by praying over our food, exclaiming "happy birthday Jesus!"

- we were discussing what kind of fish might be good for a family pet... A goldfish? a Betta fish? Z pipes in: "I WANT A MINI LOBSTER!"

- then he found an old Bible he'd never seen before... "mom, there's a Bible here and it doesn't belong to anyone here! (who then?) well, it says it belongs to BONDED LEATH-HER!"

And with that I wish you our very merry Christmas... Much love to you all!

Sewing for Christmas

Art show is done... Now it's time to cram in the last sewing for
Christmas. Here's another quilt for a beloved kiddo in my life. I've wanted to photograph it outside, but other than the art show I haven't been outside in days. It's been pouring nonstop rain for 3 days and we have 3 to go... LA is not built for rain... And the two big kids have fevers. Oh what fun!
Back to sewing... Happy crafting to you. (and wishes for your good health!)

Art arrives finally

Oh man has this been a stressful week. The art show is this Friday and the art didn't ship from the printer until yesterday. REALLY freaky, considering I ordered it with a week and a half of cushioning according to the printer's guidelines.
Today I kept some sick kids home and in the house all day and we waited for that fedex truck...
When it came, I gave the kids a mini show and asked z to text daddy that everything had arrived.... Here they are pretending to be in the collages...

Happy Holidays from us to you!

What it looks like here

J calmly asked me last night if he could have the dining room table back. It's been covered in THESE for about a month now. And this isn't even all of them... These are most, I think I can count 4 or 5 others that are not pictured here...of what I'm sewing for Christmas.
I've also been told by my ever patient husband that he thinks between these, the art show (this Friday!), and my not-so-regular life... That I may have bitten off more than I should have this holiday. Maybe...
The hard part is that I am having fun with these, but misplacing important things and showing up to parties at the wrong time. My head is clearly a little overcharged. (oh, and that whole midnight feeding thing doesn't help either). I literally drive the minivan around making sure I've got tabs on where all the kids are... "am I forgetting anyone?"
Would you believe that I have about 4-5 Christmas related projects that I wish I still had time for? Not going to get to them in 2010...
Tomorrow is a craft night here for the local mamas. That should be fun... But it also involves clearing off the dining room table... Better get back to it....

Prints for the show

Oh am I excited! (and I needed it today). Four of my collage prints arrived for the show today. No one over 6 years old is here to celebrate, so I'm all giddy by myself. I texted my neighbor to come over and celebrate with me... I need someone to squeal with!

Update

Hope you are all well!

I am just posting this to inform you there will be no more entries here on foster care or the child we had in our care the past few months.
I'm sad about this, but it has to be done.

If you are a personal friend or a reader I have "known" for a while, feel free to email me and I can put you on my update list. I know many of you are vested in this emotionally, but I have reason to believe I should not post any more updates or images here.

Thanks all!!!!