A Brother's Love

I don't think I ever blogged on this before, but last year, Ben, Rachel, and I visited Ben's Grandma down in Florida. We had some GREAT pictures that we weren't allowed to post at the time. See, this was before Ben's brother, Joel, got married, and Ben's Mom was working on her masterpiece wall hanging for them. So, Ben actually helped out w/ the stitching....he loves his brother that much!

Ben even taught his Mom, Grandma, and Great Aunt a few things about stitching. Me? I just couldn't keep a straight face while Ben was trying to understand what "stitch in a ditch" or other cross-stitching terms that the three stitching, sewing ladies were tossing about as if completely normal. Ben provided a new stitching term for his Mom, Grandma, and Great Aunt....he calls it "The Long Arm." Basically, it's b/c this is how he "stitched" his mark on Joel's gift......dragging his long arm w/ the needle and thread all the way down to the floor. He keeps us laughing!!! I'll warn you now, there's a lot of pictures, but I couldn't stop taking them....he was so funny! I especially loved his mom's reactions to her crazy son:-)
Taking a little lesson....he talked her into letting him do some actual stitches (she probably re-did them later - don't worry Joel)....up until this point, he was just leaving his name on the outer edges that would be hidden in the frame.
She's thinking, "Oh, this oughta be good!"

Inspecting his work.....
Ben's demonstration of "The Long Arm"
She can't watch anymore....it's just too much!
Ben's Mom practicing "The Long Arm"