Quilting cave

If you can't be handsome, you might as well be handy!

Thankfully for me, my husband is both! For Easter Jesse made me a quilting frame after we realized the ones at the store were $100+ dollars... on sale. Today I brought the frame out to use and the kids thought it was a new toy for them! So Jesse put a blanket on it and attached some toys to the side bars. Rosalee and the boy I babysit were in heaven! The quilting frame is at the right height that the kids can run under it and stand while playing. Jesse has told me (since I was pregnant with Rosalee) that he wanted to build a sensory cave/room for our kids. So now I get the quilting frame I've wanted for years (for less than $30 mind you!) and our kids can have a fun sensory fort/cave/area to play in. Thanks Jesse!!!

The frame is large enough that it fits a queen size blanket really well. After Jesse put up some of the toys I took a quick picture before the kids started playing in the cave.

Rosalee was having fun running through the cave. It is the right height for her because she barely touches the blanket with her head.

Rosalee loved smacking, pulling, etc. all the toys for at least 20 minutes straight.

While I was writing this Jesse made lunch for the kids and then they decided to have a picnic inside the cave. I thought it was cute to see Jesse hanging out with the kids eating homemade burritos. Rosalee's burrito was made with soy cheese and surprisingly it melted and smelled like normal dairy cheese.

On a side note... Jesse was on the 11 o'clock news last night! For his senior project he was in a group that worked on improving the local water systems. They interviewed him about his ideas and it ended up on the news. I'm very happy and proud of Jesse for all he's been able to learn and accomplish over the past 3 years here. It was nice to open the WLFI website this morning to see my husband's photo on the main page. I've included the article from the website below.

Wabash river clean-up plans
Watershed project coming in 2011
Updated: Thursday, 23 Apr 2009, 10:14 PM EDT

Published : Thursday, 23 Apr 2009, 10:14 PM EDT
Kristin Crowley
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - " If we want to have long-term sustainable water quality in the Wabash river, we have to do that through improving the water quality in the water shed that drains into the river," said Wabash River Enhancement Executive Director Stanton Lambert.
Lambert said there are various strategies to improve water quality, such as putting up green buffers along the creeks and rivers that feed into the Wabash River, and reforestation along creeks to help hold water and soil so the soil sedimentation doesn't wash into the river.
Purdue wildlife students like Jesse James were put into groups this semester to come up with ideas for river improvements and shared those ideas with the community. James' group said high quality prairies could help clean the river.
"It reduces agriculture run off which will provide clean water for Wea Creek as well as the surrounding areas, which will dump into Wabash landing," said James.
Watershed Coordinator Sara Peel said implementation of the watershed plan will start in the fall of 2011. Peel said she wants as much input from the community as possible before that time.
"The next steps we'll be having some community meetings, we'll be attending the fairs to get more information out to the community that isn't here tonight," said Peel.