My family is here!
Guess who’s visiting? It’s my family from Germany and I’m just in heaven!
My grand-daughter Lily just turned 3 and she chats away in both German and English. If she’s talking in German to me, I can say “Lily, tell Grandma in English” and she’ll translate.
It’s amazing to see what children can do when they are raised with two languages. Mon always speaks German to her and Dad speaks English. She goes to an American/German pre-school and one teacher speaks German and the other speaks English. Because she’s learned both languages at the same time she thinks nothing of it.
Every morning Lily and I take the dogs for a walk. I take the stroller just in case one of them gets tired. Usually it’s Chelsea, my little short leg chunk.
It’s a little crazy around here now with family getting together. Day trips are very involved and usually include a caravan of two cars. A trip to the beach takes at least an hour to get ready. We find ourselves cooking dinner for 9 to 10 people, running the dishwasher daily, and our grocery shopping has increased by leaps and bounds. Of course going out to eat is an event in itself. Large tables are a highly prized commodity.
When I think about how normal this must sound to many of you I’m both amazed and a little jealous. Today everyone went camping and the quiet around here is seems so strange. Don’t you love it when your family visits? Do your children all live close to you, or do they travel to see you? Do you take trips together?
Behind the scenes, we’re still working to finalize our new website. It’s into the testing stage and almost ready. When the new site is up and running it will look the same, but we’ve added new products, a few pdf patterns (we’re starting with the Petite patterns and we’ll add more as we go along), you’ll be able to set up your own account to make check-out easy each time, or just check out as a guest. I’ll let you know when it’s up so you can explore the new site and give me your feedback. I expect there to be a few glitches but I hope our testing will have covered most of them.
We have another shipment from Valdani coming on July 7th and I hope to have all the floss kits for the punchneedle patterns in stock at that time. Currently we have everything you need to make our Sweet Pea pocket, including the wool, trims and floss in stock. You’ll find everything on our website.
We’re having a heat wave here for the next week and it’s just awful. The fire danger is high with the 4th just around the corner. I hope the 4th is fun and safe for you. Keep those animals locked up inside. The shelters here are already expecting to be on overload. We have several cats who hate fireworks, and it’s our first 4th of July with Milkshake. I don’t know how she’ll react but I’ll be ready.
I’ll be back soon.
Anne
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35 Comments
Sarah
Lily is beautiful. Bilingual people are so clever I think. How long have you got the family from Germany visiting you?
Mary Ann
Its always fun to have a houseful of sweet little faces and their very loved Mom and Dad’s. 2 of my daughters and their families moved to bay area last year so we have been more the visitors. Our house is so quiet most weekends now. I am getting a few more projects done but i would trade that off in a minute to run over for a breakfast together. And I know how hard it must be for you to have Lily so far away! looking forward to the new projects and website Anne.
Kim
Aren’t children just so smart, I wish we start languages for our children in kindergarten instead of high school here in the USA.
I have a granddaughter named Lily too, she’ll be six in August and she lives far away from me, so we travel to see her and sometimes she travels to the beach in NC to see me. Enjoy your visit with Lily she will grow up so fast!
Good luck with your website and
Happy Sewing
Jackie Roisler
Lovely photos & sentiment Anne :) Thank you so very much for sharing.
Jeanne
Lily is precious. Milkshake is so sweet and adorable napping with Lily. How did he do with the fireworks? My dog was fine, 1st year for the 4th. Hope Milkshake did well, too.
I saw your stroller. I think its a Pet Gear? Do you know which type of stroller? I’m looking for one for my dog.
Thanks so much for all the appliqué kits you do. Love them!
Jeanne
Ann P,
Lily is beautiful! Enjoy your time with your family. A week ago we had all six of the grandchildren for a weekend. We had so much fun. While I was tired when they all went home, our house felt so empty. We love to take family vacations but unfortunately it is hard to organize those very often. I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July.
ina
happy 4th to you and your family! i’m hoping for sewing time and cooler weather. ;p
Vicky
Goodness, that child has grown. She’s so beautiful – just like her granny! Have fun with your family. Happy 4th!
Yvonne
Lovely to hear all about your family, I see very little of my children (8 in all) they are scattered around the world, but it is such a treat when they come home to visit.
Have a wonderful time & treasure every moment,
Happy 4th July
Yvonne & Bailey & Poppy the NZ Bichons
Ronda
Oh Anne how wonderful to have all your babies home. We are very blessed to all live in the same town so I see my granddaughters almost daily. We just got back from a vacation to Gulf Shores beaches and we took the family. It was so much fun and sooo much work all at the same time but wonderful memories were made. I hope you get to continue to enjoy your family as long as they can stay!!!! cant wait to see the new web site!
Lorraine Isaac
I just had my family visit as well, I have a grand daughter 41/2 and a grand son 21/5, they are so precious, I never knew being a grand mother would feel so special
KatieQ
Lily and Milkshake look like a perfect pair. Thanks for sharing your family visit with us. Lily looks beautiful.
Karen Martin
Looks like you will have a fun and busy fourth–love the new project–so cute!
Doreen
Hi Anne, I have a brother and sister-in-law in Belgium and my 2 year old niece is learning language the same exact way as your beautiful grandaughter. German/English and now a little italian. They are coming to the US the end of September. I know exactly what you are saying about getting ready to go out and the increase in food bills. We like on a lake and in the summer it seems to be the vacation destination. It is fun since all six kids live in different places. I adore when they come to visit. It is an adjustment when the quiet comes after they leave. It just makes us miss them more. Enjoy your time…. Spoil your grandaughter…Life is too short, breath in every moment. Happy 4th! Hugs, from NH
Dawn
Hi Anne, That’s a lovely photo of Lily and Milkshake, brought a big smile this morning, thanks for sharing.
Good news about the patterns going on PDF, the postage to UK is crazy. Also when I post to USA its gone up, so looking forward to that as I would like to make the reindeer for christmas gifts.
Happy 4th July
rpsa
Great pics.Have a wonderful time with them!
Jeanne Jones
Janet, I have two daughters. Each daughter has one boy. One of the daughters lives 5 minutes away, but the other one lives 2000 miles away. We live in Atlanta, GA and she lives in Tucson, AZ. We see her about once a year and she and my grandson will be here on Saturday for 2 weeks. I know just how you feel. Thank goodness for Skype, we use it 3-4 times a week.
Carmen CountryMouse
How wonderful! Enjoy your time with family, it always goes too fast. Lilly is just darling!
Janet
I can’t believe how grown up Lily is! Here’s hoping all your furry ones have an easy 4th. It’ll be interesting to see how Milkshake does!
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your wonderful patterns – this thanks goes to the Sweet Dreams Lily quilt pattern. I re-sized your teddy bear block and made it red and the corner block on a navy/white churn dash for my new Great Nephew … may be my fave quilt yet!
Have a blast!
tammy spencer
Happy 4th of july (coming in a few days). Today, we celebrate our Canada Day here. Lots of fireworks in the plans for tonight. It’s very hot here as well and the pool is getting well used. Lots of family these past 2 weeks with family from out of town as well (between 12-40 people for dinner every night). I think this summer is going to be a hot one and I’m grateful for the wet pool to cool off in. Your grand daughter is beautiful- how nice it would be to have learned an extra language when young. Enjoy your family time and have a happy summer.
Anita
Lily is so precious! What a great benefit to her to be able to understand two languages, I’m sure it will come in handy throughout her life. Love your new pattern too :)
Barb
Oh Anne, Lily is just too precious! All of your granddaughters are so beautiful!! I can just imagine you are in heaven to have your family with you – enjoy and cherish every moment!
Love the doggies,too – so cute!
Happy 4th of July to you!!
marcia
Have a wonderful time with the family. I have a spot in the closet where I will be hidden with my girls.
PAtricia G Hayes
Hello Dear Anne. thanks so much for sharing your adorable young blond, Lily, with all of us.
What a special time for your gift visit from Germany. I am so happy these times for you.
I wonder if you ever got my thanks and thanks and thanks for my wonderful gift of fabrics that were waiting for me when we got home from NH. We had been visiting with our three yr old GGrands twin boys who had arrived from NY to visit with us for a week. Blessed are these visits, little girls and boys, any little people for sure. Makes us young again, heh!
I tried to find an address to send a proper thanks you note to no avail. So sorry that you have to receive this way.
Patricia G Hayes
Linda Hnath
Thank you for sharing your family’s visit with us all. How wonderful that you are all together. Hugs for Milkshake and hoping she does ok on the 4th.
Susan
I am very lucky that all my children live here (Az.) with the exception of my oldest granddaughter who lives in Portland Or..
Your granddaughter is beautiful and I know the moments you spend with her and family are precious. Love all your fabric and your punch needle work….:)Enjoy making wonderful memories with your family!
Lisa E
Yes, it’s been hot in the Bay Area. I’m so glad that your family is visiting you. Can’t beat the little ones!
becky m
I live for those visits from my family too. The letdown afterwards is so hard though. Especially with my 5 yr old who doesn’t quite understand about distances yet. I love that Lily is bi-lingual! My daughter has a 5 yr old friend who is bilingual French and English. She also thinks nothing of switching from one language to the other and it’s amazing to watch!! Keep those languages up for her, she’ll love you for it!
Hildy
Anne, it’s so great that your family is visiting you and you all have a great time. It’s sweet to see Lily walk the dogs I’ll bet she thinks she’s a big girl now as she can walk a dog all be herself.
Enjoy your time with your family:-)
sunny
~~sigh~~ I guess now I have to learn how to punchneedle. I don’t NEED another hobby, but a girl has to make certain sacrifices… Lily can’t possibly be 3! You just announced her birth a month or so ago. Didn’t you?? Enjoy all the lovely family time that you can.
DeAnna Dodson
Awww, isn’t Lily beautiful! And I just love Milkshake. She looks so sweet and huggable. :D
I’m jealous of Lily’s ability to speak two languages fluently. That’s such a wonderful thing to be able to do.
I hope you all have a wonderful time and a fun, safe 4th of July!
Pam in Indiana
Oh, Anne, I’m so happy for you! Our five kids are all out of state — but our son just moved back from Monterrey, Mexico after three years. He just arrived back at Notre Dame for a year so were really glad he’s back in the States. Our youngest is flying home tonight from Omaha with our first and only grandson, Henry, for his baptism on the 12th. Everyone will be home except for Molly who is a nanny in Oklahoma.
Then I go to Michigan for my quilt week with my six BFFs at Kristen’s lake cottage.
Love seeing sweet Lily — that is so wonderful that she is bilingual. Meredith is taking Mandarin and is teaching Henry — they’re such little sponges at this age.
Enjoy your time with everyone. Our house is about to get wild for a few weeks but I love it. I miss the old days with all the kids!
XO
Louise
Oh my, Lily has grown so.. What a little sweetie. Our family for the time being all living in different states, and I am hoping it won’t always be so. Chicago, Newport Beach, Surprise, Az and we are up here in the very Pacific Northwest. We enjoy their visits so much but they never seem to last long enough! Enjoy the 4th of July, be safe.
Mary T Salmon
Anne:
I am so happy for you! I know the feeling well. Lily is an absolute doll, as your other granddaughter. Mine is two and a demon at times. So stubborn. She will need it in this world. She is so inquisitive. I love watching her.
Have a wonderful time and take lots of pictures!
Love,
Mary
Happy 4th…I will pray for rain.
mimi'sdarlins
Oh, I”m so happy for you! I’m sure you just live for these visits. We are blessed to have our family nearby, but it wasn’t always this way, and I still pinch myself that we’re all together again. Thank you for sharing your beautiful granddaughter, and enjoy all the special moments these days will bring :)