Going back to Cali..

I really cannot believe I have not blogged once this December until now. I have a really good reason though. We are moving back to San Diego in about 3 weeks! Jon will go to Korea for a year while me and the girls will live in our hometown then after that year who knows? Germany again? D.C. area? Who knows! It has been the worst move ever for us and soooooooo draining emotionally and $$ and about to be physically when they come pack up our 16 thousand pounds of fabric household goods:) Never ever move during Christmas. We got our orders the day after Christmas and have to be out of here by mid January. Nice huh?  It's a long story but to sum it up, we have been trying to get our orders since before October.

*below is our Christmas Cards from this year*

What have we been doing? Visiting friends back in Stuttgart, 

Kelly from my old work. She's one of the last from the original group of girls still working there.

Below is our friends from Stuttgart also. Jayery and Andreas. Jayery babysat Emily from about 1 month to about 3 years and Ava a little bit. And Andreas was Jons roommate in the Barracks before I arrived in Germany. We will miss them.

A lot of embroidery that I need to photograph. This was the perfect craft project to take outside and do while hanging out with my friends. We put my swing in the garage and sit there every single day at 2 with coffee. It's awesome and I will really really miss them.

one day of snow

Just a cute photo of the girls titled "the unsuspecting bathers".

Sewing little stuff to keep me busy while we waited for orders and our house was already half in boxes. The movers are supposed to do this but I'm a little anxious to get this done so I started boxing stuff at the end of October. 

Got this knitter for Emily but really I enjoy it more. It just makes these tubes but I'm so anxious and uptight lately that it's nice to do this while watching t.v.

Got this super cool wolf-eating-granny at Ikea

And Mendocino Feathers! I made 3 large ones and 3 small ones.  I have made other things but all the motivation has left me for now. I just want to get this move over. Not anxious to leave Germany and all we've known for the last 10 years but anxious to get on with my life and get Jon back from Korea. I want to blog again and sew and all that good stuff. I might show up again with stuff I've done over the last couple of months or you might not see me again till I'm in California!

No place like home

 Lots of beach pictures from our visit home.

This is La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Children's Pool 

You may have noticed the seals in the beach photo (4th row up). This is La Jolla Children's Pool which has been taken over by seals. Here's what I found on the web:

Originally designed and developed as an enclosed beach for children to play and swim at, this popular, man-made cove is now inhabited by hundreds of harbor seals, which can be seen lounging on the beach day and night. Controversy surrounds the future of the pool as some community members feel the seals should be expelled and the cove should once again serve as a place for children to swim, while environmentalists argue that the seals are protected by federal law and are entitled to their adopted habitat.

They have been there forever! I remember them in high school so it's at least been 20 years.

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We're back from our trip home. The flight was the worst yet. Ava was at her worst of course so there was no sleeping on the plane and lots of irrational behavior:)

This is Ava:

I want to lay down.

I dropped my toy.

My butt hurts.

I want to sit up.

Emily's touching me.

I dropped my toy.

I want a pillow. Not that pillow.

Where's my bottle?

I want daddy!

I dropped my toy.

My tummy hurts.

I want to take a bath.

I dropped my toy.

I want to get off the plane.

I want mommy!

No, I mean daddy.

I dropped my toy and you're not picking it up fast enough.

and so on...it never stopped.

Jon was in a different row so of course when I would tell Ava no, she wanted daddy. We didn't want to bother the other passengers so we'd switch seats. Well, after we would do that she'd then want the other parent, the one not sitting  next to her. She'd throw a huge fit. It was awful. I wanted to spank her butt sooooo bad but it would have made things worse for so many reasons.

Oh and after getting off the plane and taking a 10 minute shuttle bus to our car, the ticket machine won't take my debit or credit card so I can't pay our car-park bill and leave. Jon and I get in a huge fight and after me getting back on the shuttle to get money from an ATM at the airport, getting on the shuttle again and finally getting our car out of the lot, we have a 2 hour drive home. Yay!!!!!

And in case you're asking, yes, I had checked to make sure they took Visa/Master card before committing to this particular car park so the card should have worked but for some reason the machine couldn't read 3 different Master cards!

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Now we have horrible jet lag and we're all cranky and irrational!

Ocean Beach Pier

Click on pictures to enlarge
Emily & Ava with their Cousin Bird (Jon's niece) and Aunt Jessica (Jon's sister, Bird's mom) at the Ocean Beach Pier.

Below is Bird and her friend Jennifer.

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I forgot to post about these little memo pads I had made months and months ago. They are from artscow.com

I had them made when they were having a $1.99 each including shipping sale. The only crap part is they aren't sticky and I had some made with photos of the girls and if you don't get the transparency just right your photo can be so washed out on the pad that you can barely see it.

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See what this car is called?

I would want it except it looks like a short bus.

Emily the other day on the way to school.

I tried to squeeze in some sewing between cleaning but only got a little done.

I can find time to blog and cruise the Internet though.

Elephants

Corinnea asked me to make a diaper/wipe holder out of this adorable elephant fabric we just got in for her daughter who is expecting.
I'm so proud of it becasue it's a one-way fabric. I always avoided this kind of fabric when making these but now since I altered the pattern it will be easy. Yay!

**that's Lauren from the frame shop in the above photos.

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Below is a picture that Mary framed for me. It's a black apple print appropriately named Ava:) The print is about 8x10 but looks small in this picture. Thanks Subaru Ho!

And this fabric....swoon...I have to have this! It's Critter Camp by Michael Miller.

Did I mention I'm going home???? After 4.5 years??? Did I? Oh, I did..But did I tell you that only my parents have met Ava? When she was 2 weeks old? It's been 2.5 years since I've seen any family. I need to see family, friends, SHOP and EAT! I expect to gain weight. Especially from here (weird it's named that, huh?). And as of now I'm ok with that (I'll let you know how ok I am after I gain the weight) I love this place. I love chili cheese dogs. LOVE THEM! Especially Pretzel Bun Chili Cheese Dogs...salivate

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And I expect to go broke at baby gap and target and Joann's and Michael's. So far I've only heard of one independent fabric store there. When I lived there I didn't quilt, I sewed so I never looked for that kind of fabric store. We have an Anthropologie in two of our malls and an H&M:) I want to get a pedicure for $10. I want to get Starbucks EVERYDAY from every corner in San Diego. I'm about to pee my pants with excitement!!! 2.5 more weeks!! I have to go change my pants:)