sweet emotion

The first pics here show a striking contrast. Thanks to the BEAUTIFUL weather of last week, our snow is almost gone. Look at the wonderful yard we now have uncovered!

This second picture is from last winter at about this time. See what I mean?! Gil is out walking by the same tree because our car is stuck in the drift right in front of our house. While we have had plenty of snow and cold temps this winter, and will probably still get more, I don't think anything can compare to the wrath of winter 2009/2010!!!
I didn't realize this picture was sideways, sorry! One of Jude's new favorite things is wearing big shoes! Oh, and the superman jammies are courtesy of my friend Alaina. Aren't they adorable?!
Here is what I have done on the quilt so far. The front is basically completed. I didn't take a close up of the mitered corners on the outside border. It's probably a good thing, because they look pretty good...as long as you don't look too close! Backing, batting, and binding is up next.
Here is a video of my new favorite trick of Jude's. He is so emotional!

Progress

Due to the fact that I always forget my camera (among other things...pregnancy brain I guess!) when I go to mom's to work on the quilt, I have no pictures to prove my progress. But progress I have made! I now have the entire middle sewn along with the inside border and half of the outside border. It looks better and better the further I get. The most challenging part so far has been the outside border due to the fact that I am mitering the corners. Mom and I had to look up YouTube videos on the topic to wrap our minds around how exactly to do it. I accomplished one of the corners Wednesday night and I think it turned out okay. Since I am not the "make sure everything is done perfectly and precisely" type that Gil is I tend to just wing it and hope it turns out. So far so good though I think! Next steps are finishing the outside border and then I guess on to quilting the batting and backing to it...yikes! Still don't know how that is going to work. I'm thinking I'll purchase a pattern and draw it on and then follow it. Any tips!? I'll have to get a pattern and a quilting foot before I start that though.

Teaching is going well. I've gotten into a routine now and THINK I know what I'm doing most of the time. Math is still a challenge. It's all a challenge really. So hard to teach such a big group of students with such a wide range of abilities. The story of a teacher's life! Then there are all of the social and behavioral problems that complicate things further...Oh for a perfect world!

Jude is doing fabulous. He is talking so much and seems like everyday there is something new he is doing or learning. Yesterday it was nice enough for us to go outside after school and even swing (although the snow is still a good foot above the ground in that spot!). As he was swinging I asked him to show me scared and he gets a frightened look and shakes. Then I asked him to show me happy and he laughed. Then I asked him to show me sad and he did a little fake cry! It was hilarious! He can also show his muscles. We weighed him last night and he has broken the 30 pound mark. He is 30 lbs. 6 oz. He has discovered Veggie Tales ("Bob") and wants to watch it EVERY DAY! He knows that we can play it whenever since it is a DVD. But he also is getting more imaginative with toys and books. His favorite toy is probably a balloon right now, but his most favorite is the bath. He isn't afraid of the water at all. The swimming pool should be fun/interesting this summer:)