Shirley Anne’s Heart

Brunch with Santa – a Perfect Day – December 2011

Posted By drsao on December 18, 2011

Today we had brunch with Santa – THE REAL SANTA – at The Boat House in Brandermill. It is a family tradition and we have done it EVERY year since we moved to VA………seven years ago. It is just wonderful. Santa goes to each table and talks – in addition to the “sharing of the wish list.” I THINK THAT I WAS MORE EXCITED THAN ANYONE.

The food was great (I had a CA Omelette with mushrooms, avocado, and goat cheese) and I discovered that I like homemade biscuits with strawberry jam and fresh ground pepper (Grandangel Cooper peppered it for me!!)

Here are my pictures to PROVE that Santa is real – and we had brunch with him today. PS…if you click on the pictures you can see my DD’s head on her body at the lake! :):)

: Grandangel Cooper and DD Christi

: SIL Greg and Grandangel Leanna AKA Nanna

: Grandangel Sarah and gmasao

: Here’s Santa and COOPER

: Cooper is overwhelmed with happiness

: It was a beautiful day – the lake at Sunday Park was gorgeous

: The Epps Grandangels Clowning Around

: Time for a family gift – JUST DANCE 3

When we got home the Epps family opened their first FAMILY GIFT – a WII game – JUST DANCE 3. OH MY is this ever fun. I am here to tell you that it is the BEST EXERCISE ever – but you don’t even know you are exercising. You are just trying to dance and keep up with the little dancer on the screen. I am so uncoordinated, it is pathetic. BUT….I had fun anyway…..and there will BE NO PICTURES OF THIS EVER on my blog – or anywhere else, for that matter!!!!!! lol

Seriously – if you need a gift idea – JUST DANCE 3 for the WII is a winner and good for folks of all ages! It passed the three-generation test here today!

Category: Life Comments, My Favorite Things, SAO's Family, SAO's Grandangels | No Comments »
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VIRGINIA SCRAPPERS – December 2011 fun

Posted By drsao on December 18, 2011

The Virginia Scrappers met Saturday for the last time this year. We had lots of fun sewing, sharing, laughing, eating, shopping, laughing……..Catherine was in rare form. I wish I could remember all of the FUNNIES! But hey, I learned LOLWAY and that should serve me well in the future!

Also we finally figured out WHY THE CHICKEN CROSSED THE ROAD……but I will have to wait until Catherine reads this blog and leaves the story. I don’t want to mess it up.

Enjoy the pictures and the beautiful projects!

: Admiring Nancy’s grandangels

: Isn’t this adorable! PERFECT POINTS (Marla made it and I am impressed!)

: Love Catherine’s Angel Necklace

: Thanks Patsy for the gift!

: Love Nancy’s quilt

: Carmen shared her boy jeans

: Camen models her new scarf

: Nancy’s SUPER DUPER BARGAIN COAT

: sao’s pineapple afghan is growing….

: Love Nancy’s goodies

: Catherine’s RMQG gift

Category: Quilt Retreat, Virginia Scrappers | No Comments »
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Daddy’s 90th Birthday Extravaganza December 2011

Posted By drsao on December 18, 2011

This post is X-rated…..X-tra Special FAMILY FUN…..so quilting friends, proceed at your own risk! 🙂

Quite a few of our extended family members gathered to SURPRISE Daddy and help him celebrate his 90th Birthday in Kansas City, MO! We ate, we laughed, we played…..and we took LOTS and LOTS of pictures! We had a pizza party at home for the FIRST PARTY….the next night we had a gala Italian dinner party at our favorite KC Restaurant – Cascone’s…..and Saturday Daddy’s sister and some of his nephews surprised him at yet another birthday party! Daddy said it was a party worth waiting 90 years for THREE DAYS OF PARTIES!

We had LOTS of fun. Daddy’s Grandangel Amanda decorated his cake with clowns – oh my – GREAT CLOWNS made out of icing!

The NEXT GENERATION of his grandangels and great-grandangels had a ping pong tournament that was SIMPLY MEMORABLE. The guys dressed for the occasion…..it was hysterical. They even had an official tournament bracket thanks to technology. (YEARS AGO we just played and the winner stayed in and welcomed a new opponent! LOL) Grandangel Amanda and Great-Grandangel Harry won the tournament! 🙂 Daddy even had fun pinging and ponging a bit!

At the end of the pictures you will see some pictures of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri and some shots of Crowne Center – even the Emory Byrd and Thayer Laughing Santa!

We are going to have another SURPRISE party for Daddy’s 100th birthday – but I guess since he reads my blog, it won’t be a big surprise! 🙂

Enjoy the pictures!

: sao’s DD and Grandangel Leanna were the first SURPRISE GUESTS!

: Daddy is still the FAMILY Chinese Checker’s Champion

: Sao’s son Rob and Grandangel Harry were the NEXT SURPRISE GUESTS from CA

: The Texans and Joey

: DD Christi and Brother Dan – one of my fav pictures from the trip

: Me and my grown up babes!

: Grandangel Leanna and Aby (I made a hand quilted quilt for her!)

: Daddy on his birthday scooter

: SIL Elaine – our “family saint”

: sao and Son Rob at Cascone’s

: Grands Eric and Joey

: Brother Fred and DD Christi

: LOVE THESE GRANDANGELS, Harry and Nanna

: Brother Jim and Daddy at Cascone’s

: SIL Kerry with GREATS Tara and Preston

: Daddy and his Cascone’s Birthday Cake

: Grandangel Leanna with Great Grandangel Mason (the youngest in our clan)

: Grand Joey and Great Mason – – SO CUTE!

: Grandangel Amanda and LOOK AT THOSE CLOWNS THAT SHE MADE

: Brother Jim and his family

: Daddy and his sister – the THIRD BIG SURPRISE

: Cousins Ricky and Shirley

: Cousins Randy and Ronnie

: My DD and DS

: Grandangel Andrew

: Got camera?

: Amanda the CAKE MAKER and the BIRTHDAY BOY

: FIRST COUSINS

: Cousins with spouses

: Our BELOVED “OUTLAWS”

: Brother Fred and family

: Daddy with some of the Kirksville Family

: Daddy with some of his GRANDS

: Daddy with some of his GRANDS and GREATS

: Can you believe these ping pong outfits……JOEY AND ERIC started it!

: wow Tyler really looks like an 80’s nerd pro!

: They GUYS ready for the ping pong tournament

: Daddy had fun pinging and ponging

: My grandangel Harry really dressed his part – and wore MAKE UP SCARS…..guess it helped because he and Amanda won the tournament

: Joey and Christi

: Amanda and Harry won the ping pong tournament!

: My DD and Grandangel

: Saying Goodbye to the CA Family

: sao and Brother Dan

: Emory Byrd and Thayer Laughing Santa

Category: Daddy's 90th Birthday 2011, Life Comments, SAO's Family, SAO's Grandangels | No Comments »
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Richmond Modern Quilt Guild Christmas Gala December 2011

Posted By drsao on December 18, 2011

I have to say that our RMQG Christmas Meeting was pretty spectacular. I cannot believe the REVEAL of our Round Robin Quilts. The talent in this group is amazing! We put all of our quilts up on the wall and SERIOUSLY it was like walking through an art gallery!

Not only did we get to ooh and aah about our quilts – but we we also had lots of wonderful goodies to munch on – a gift exchange – AND A SILENT AUCTION. Is that not an evening full of wonder and fun?

KUDOS to all of the people who planned and made this meeting operate like clockwork. It was perfect! I hope you enjoy the pictures! I wish that I had included the quilt originator’s name in the picture – but great thoughts often come “after.” I remembered only a couple……..LOLWAY.

: Susan’s

: Catherine’s

: Doe’s

: Christine’s

: A big THANK YOU to President Catherine

: Our Auction Tables

: sao’s

: Patsy’s

In case you were wondering….this is a quilter’s term………LOLWAY……Laughing out loud WHAT A YOYO!

Category: Quilt Guild, Richmond Modern Quilt Guild | 1 Comment »
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What’s on my Design Floor, Monday December 5, 2011

Posted By drsao on December 5, 2011

I am happily working on Orca Bay 1 and Orca Bay 2 – Bonnie Hunter’s current Orca Bay Quiltville Mystery (I am making two.) I wonder if I will ever get caught up……maybe if one of the future steps is a short and easy one! 🙂

Here is Step one – Orca Bay 1 – COMPLETED (I am now working on Orca Bay 2 Step 1) There are 244 of these little QST Blocks!

Orca Bay 1 Step 1

Orca Bay 1 and 2 are both complete for Step 2…..I absolutely love these tiny little string blocks! This was an easy and fun step – only 72 little blocks (times two for me! :)) I paper pieced mine on newspaper – no ink stains and no hassle pulling the paper off if I set my stitch to 1.4!