All I want for Christmas...

is my 2 front teeth-----to come in already for I could quit crying...lol. Oh and some jammies. Santa, I seem to have had a blowout.



Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas from our house to yours. :)

i think*i hope*i pray

that I'm done shopping for Xmas...I keep going over and over my list thinking I've forgotten something-but isn't it like that every year?

Wow, I've been hearing so many stories of it taking over 1/2 hr to get from one parking lot to the next or just that long to get OUT of a parking lot. I'm so thankful I'm finished and can officially stay in here (blogging-lol) in my pj's while 2 boys are snoring upstairs in a warm house. I'm watching the "wintery mix" out the window the weatherman is talking about on the tv right now.

We've gotten a big jump-start on wrapping each night when the kids are in bed. Only 1gift for Chloe has made it under the tree and you'd think it was a box of gold the way she is eyeballing it -so excited. She can't stop talking about that one little bitty gift-it's hilarious. If she only knew how many were in the basement. lol

There's been a few times in the past week that Santa (or the lack thereof) has been brought up in our house. Apparently a boy in her class announced that there is no Santa (what?) and that their parents lie and buy it all and wrap and sneak it under the tree when they're asleep. When asked what she believes she says (chuckle) that she DOES believe but she didn't tell him cos she didn't want to get into it. She says she KNOWS there's NO WAY her parents could afford all of that and that the whole idea is NUTS. Like my mp3 player from last year was in the HUNDREDSSSSS there's no way you could buy that for me! (um...try 29.95 cough cough but ok...)

Stupid people suck!

Open letter to the dumbass who hit my 2 yr old with her car in the doctor's parking lot this am:
Scrape your damn windows! How hard is it-really!? Look before you back out-you're in a PARKING LOT there may be PEOPLE walking by your CARRRRRRRR...

(*%^&$%^*%(*_*&^&^$^&$&$%
lol
Ok I guess I'm done.

What an eventful morning!! So I go in for a checkup with the urologist to talk about the pathology of that nasty kidney stone and on the way in this lady just puts it in reverse and runs right into Gabe!!! (This kid-I'm thinking doesn't have the best of luck-huh?) Now honestly-I don't know how hard she really hit him...I screamed as I felt him going down while holding his hand-not sure if it was the car that pushed him or him slipping on the snow as he tried to get out of the way since it all happened so fast. I yanked him-hard-a couple feet and she stopped and just sat there. Oh ya- lady? Thanks for getting out or even cracking your window to ask if he was ok by the way...errrrrrrrrrr...

So I squat and brush the snow off of his ENTIRE BODY since I drug him out of the way and she sits there not moving-staring at us in horror thru the 5 inch swoosh of open glass she thinks is appropriate to brush off her drivers side window to see out. I give her the eye. I shake my head. I yell a couple choice words. She sits there. Says not a word. As we walk in I turn and look back a couple of times and she's still sitting there backed 1/2 way out. Probably shitting herself. I hope so.

The receptionist asks if it's slick out. I said ya but luckily I didn't slip when I had to yank him out from under the bumper of a car out there. That's when it happened. Oh boy.....tears galore!!!!! Total mama meltdown w/ bout...oh say...20? people staring at me?! She runs to get her boss and they wisk us back to an exam room and check Gabe out all over. I said the only thing hurting if any would be his shoulder from me yanking him as hard as I did...He's totally fine thank God and it could have been so much worse...Doesn't stop me from shaking like a leaf and bawling though...So in comes hospital security.....then a Spfld cop to take reports. mortified. No I didn't get her license plate. Dummy.

Oh ya in other news-wooooooooohoooooooooooooo I can't eat chocolate anymore! What's that you say? yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa CHOCOLATE you heard me right. Things are not right in thsi world today. He says the pathology shows it's dietary. Here's your list of food to avoid. I scroll down saying ah not bad,I don't drink soda,coffee,tea much...eh tofu? no problem...say whaaaaaaaa?????-does this say chocolate? You've gotta be kiddin me! God help me it's the holdiays!

Oh-and you should know-I brushed every*stinkin*snowflake off of each and every window of the van when we left!!

awol

So I'm typing away the other day and my screen goes dim-check my plugs, then find the light on the power box thingie on the cord is out. Trav has had to resolder some connections in there a few times-it had officially bit the dust.

So thank goodness that my brother in law has an old laptop he doesn't use often since he prefers his desktop. It's gotten us by for a few days to finish up some xmas shopping online and to order a new power source and also a new laptop(merry xmas to us, huh?)-so now we'll have 2-no more racing to see who gets to the computer first-lol. Seriously-we needed a new one so bad anyway-it runs sooooooooo slow.

I have been having some SERIOUS AOL-IM withdrawls here!I hate that I can't upload pics, no photoshop to work with, can't access my photos on the comp to make xmas gifts I had planned......that power cord better get here FAST! I have too much to do! **panic!!**

Ohhhhhhhhhh but in other GOOD news!! I went shopping tonite at that crazy Design Ideas holiday store they do every yr (gel gems galore...) and snagged some really cute candle sticks for the dining room. Everything else ended up to be display type stuff for jewelry...I don't get it-I went in looking for stocking stuffers and came out with these crazy looking glass contraptions-I think they were called "candle aquariums" anyhow,they're metal and have glass on all 3 sides bout 10 inches high-maybe 16 inches long or more...I am totally seeing them as jewelry displays. I bought 2...I wonder if I need to go back for more........eek! I think I will...lol. Now I just have to fiddle around with how to make it into something...Sure wish I could post a picture *cough cough* and get ideas from others what I could do with them...soon enough...OHHHHHHHHHH I also got these huge humungous hot pink flowers for my front door! Come on spring! Hurry up and get here so I can put these puppies on my front door! lol.

Why am I excited over working?

I'll be working at the Art Association today until noon. Come visit me! What's that I hear? No diapers? No whining? No fighting? Adult interaction? Cool artwork? I am SO there. They may have to force me to leave.

Mary!!!

Thank you so much to Miss Mary!!

I've mentioned Mary and her dad on here before. He makes these awesome wooden cars and she manages the whole shebang.



This was sent to Gabe as a gift to ease his little toofer pain-lol. She felt bad about his teeth getting knocked out. Here's a great shot of the infamous lack of teeth and his awesome racecar! If anyone has any little ones to shop for for Christmas please visit their Etsy shop for great gift ideas!

For Angela~

If you happen to be one of my parents stop.right.now.

But honestly you probably won't pop on here anyway since you never seem to pay attention when I tell you guys you can come on here to see recent pix of the kids...lol. Oh well...

In any case-here ya go Angela-the finished project! I love how it turned out. Frame was 5.99 at TJ Maxx. Sorry-bought both they had-lol. My mother in law will get the same-except for her I plan to make xmas ornaments in the style of soldered photo charms-only larger-wallet size-ish...

I love how each one looks exactly like them-obvious who's who.




As far as how it's done-there are a couple different ways. The first way I heard was to take a profile pic then print, cut out carefully then paint black and paste onto white paper. Would probably have been easier and quicker than what I did in photoshop. I started w/ the magic wand and set to pure white and took out sections of the background as much as possible (best if profile has plain, light background w/ no shadows) then do the same for the head-except switch to black...then enlarged really big and switched to the paint brush to do detail work and the sections the wand didn't do-then do the magic wand again on both just to clean it up and make back and fore grounds uniform in color...

Make sense? Any questions just ask! :) I'd say it took close to an hr or a little less on each.

One went missing...

So Gabe will wear his Santa hat all day long-in fact he tried to wear it to a doctor appointment yesterday. Can I get him to jump in for a simple photo with it on? Ya right...I got these 2 little elves to sit still for me for a few minutes at least. :)

Here's Sawyer all decked out in his Christmas shirt. He just turned 6 months. So hard to believe.

What does YOUR wild side look like?

I love this new blog I stumbled across! It's an elementary art teacher who posts projects on her blog for kids to do from her classroom. She's even got them seperated by grade level or medium. Chloe and I sat and scrolled through and picked one out to try the other day and here is the one we tried~



You're supposed to draw a line down the center of the paper and draw your calm side and your wild side.It was actually pretty difficult for Chloe to do (notice she's got 2 noses lol) Evidentally my wild side has huge nostrils-who knew?

In other news-my silhouette frames turned out AWESOME if I do say so myself. I have been cheesin out over how great they turned out :) Two gifts down...how many to go? ack! lol

Thanksgiving traditions

Here's my noodle roller in action... This year for Thanksgiving I decided to make my Granny's homemade noodles for the first time. My mom came over to make her batch and walk me through it and Gabe helped us both out. I was so excited that they tasted just like Granny's and plan to start making them every year.



Tonite we went to the festival of trees. We always try to go either the day or day after Thanksgiving. It's always interesting to see what the people decorating the trees will come up with. I think this one is my favorite-it was definately different! Would you concider this origami? It was all paper ornaments folded in really intricate ways. Amazing.



Just look at the tree topper...I'd never have the patience! lol



I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Cousins

I made this for my cousin's daughter who just had her 7th birthday. Hopefully she likes it. Chloe still gets tons of comments when she wears hers...I love making those little letter beads :)

Not much to gab about. I'm soooo sluggish today! Recently went through allergy testing and took Zyrtec today for the first time- it's been all I can do to keep my eyes open all afternoon! ugh.

Haven't made a single thing in the past week but do have a couple beads set aside to make pins with and a bunch of beads pulled out to put into groupings to list on etsy. Maybe I'll work on pictures, etc this weekend after Thanksgiving is over and the tree is up. Tomorrow is pie shell and noodle making day with my mom. I've got my list of handmade gifts I really need to get crackin on too. :)

I just love this little guy!

Gabe is my little buddy. He's just got the sweetest personality in the world. Even for how challenging 2 yr olds can be-he's pretty darned good. Here he is laying on our bed in the sunshine with his beloved froggie.


Been working on those silhouettes! Chloe's is finished (but may need to be tweaked) and here is a shot of Gabe's. I think it turned out pretty good!!! And it looks exactly like him which I think is so cool. :)


My friend Kim and I have been mulling around ideas for fun classes to take. We'd both really love to do some sort of sewing/knitting class but so far none to be found in my area. I think a digital photography class would be awesome and I have a feeler out hoping to track a class down........Anyone in Spfld know of any good places? hint*hint*

Took a walk today...

down memory lane. I'm not finished either.

My dad brought over a bunch of old boxes that had my name on them that he found in the attic. I love digging thru my old things finding goofy treasures I had forgotten about and remembering...Among the goodies- Rubber bracelets, swatch watch protectors, fingerless gloves, wedding planner/wedding notes/rsvp's, my fave stuffed animal, all of my cosmotology notes and tests, tons of old aveda bottle from the first salon I worked at (still smelled yummy) and photos.....

Here's senior year homecoming w/ a couple friends~don't laugh!

What kills me is Chloe wore a similar outfit to school the other day-although without the metal toed doc martins or hat-lol.

Handmade pledge

With all the talk out there about taking the handmade challenge I'm just curious if any of you have done this as well? I really really really wish that I could but with kids it's jut unrealistic right now with the plastic junk they want from Target.I do always try to make a little something for each person in some way at Christmastime. I am ALWAYS looking for new ideas! I know family members assume and expect something with glass beads and I like to shake it up a bit...

Now I saw this in a magazine and thought they were precious-these hairbands. I am envisioning a glass bead instead of a button in the center of coarse and different fabrics-but you get the idea. I also picture them as pins as well as hairbands. *sniff* since I just cut 13 inches of Chloe's hair off I guess she can't use anything like this-lol.

Now if there any immediate family members reading stop NOW! lol


So~
I've been thinking alot about those old silhouettes we all used to make back in the day. My dad still has mine hanging in their house from kindergarten. I look at it and remember how much it sucked to sit that still so the teacher could trace my shadow on the wall. There ain't NO way my kids would sit that still. Thankfully there are ways to digitally do this w/ profile pictures. I found the cutest little triple matted frames to do all 3 kids. The openings are about the size of a large wallet picture and have a double mat of black around each opening. This photo is an example from etsy but I left and didn't get the etsy address-sorry! Mine will be littler than this one-hope it's not too difficult to do as small as I want!!

I'd love to hear if anyone out there makes/buys handmade. I think it shows the person receiving that you cared to do something special just for them. :)

A gift...

I love making personalised jewelry-and I love that my neighbor Lindsey asks me to make it for her to give as gifts. It makes me feel great to know someone else out there appreciates the same style.

Here's the necklace I whipped up for her friend Leslie. I hope she likes it. I understand she also received a watch in gold/silver tones for her birthday. Funny coincidence. :)

Come see me...

I will be working in the gallery at the Holiday Hall on Sat. Dec 6th from 10am-12pm-drop by to see me!

*You're invited*

The invites have been sent and posters hung. Anyone in the Springfield area-come by to check out some great handmade works! Lots of great ideas for Christmas or if you'd like to spoil yourself....I can't wait for the artists' preview night to see who/what is there this year.

I will be signing up to work on a Saturday-once I get the date/time firmed up I'll let you all know so maybe you can come visit me...:)

Great friends...

We had a blast! Goes to show you it doesn't matter how much time is in between visits-we just pick up right where we left off. I can think of no one else I would feel comfortable with hanging out in my mis-matched pj's in the morning drinking coffee and hanging out with. The party was fun and the kids all got to go to Chuck e Cheese w/ the dads while we did our thing-then we all stayed up late gabbing while the kids played.

We ended their visit with eating mexican for lunch as we always seem to do. Funny how much of a comfort that can be. I can't wait until we can get together again. We really miss them.

I...must...eat...me...some...yummy...lookin...beads!

Oh well-I guess I'll just settle for rice cereal. First time for everything...Mom says glass doesn't taste too hot anyway. I reallllly wanted to eat that bead though! That was mom's first successful hollow bead and was so excited that it turned out and has been whipping them out now! :)

Just cleaning and waiting...

Been cooking and cleaning all day getting ready for a Tastefully Simple party here tonite. I guess it's what I had to do to get our friends Tim and Jolene and their kids down here to visit for the weekend-lol-she sells TS so I offered to do a party for her. They live bout 3 hrs away up close to Chicago. I'm so excited to see them! It's been about a yr and 1/2 since we've seen them-and even longer since Chloe has seen their kids-so she was sooo excited going to school today knowing when she got off the bus they'd most likely be here...Can't wait!

Happy (late) Halloween!!

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

I dressed them early and headed outside for pictures before Travis got home.

Here's the punk witch and horsie~



The toothless chef~



Witch, Elvis and Obi Wan~


As you can see we have a ton of kids on our block. I think there are actually 3 or 4 missing from that picture!~

Gabe's outfit was whipped together out of play clothes we had laying around-so easy but everyone made comments all night about how cute it was. We heard lots of "dough boy" and "Pierre" lol.

Making "ghosties"

as Gabe calls them. This was interesting to do w/ a 2 year old with all the Elmer's glue running down my arm...Turned out cute-although next time I may add starch or something to make them stiffer...

Here's a picture of what we used...(1/2 elmer's 1/2 water)


One balloon blower-upper


Drape over the balloons and let dry overnight-in a nasty basement or not-your choice.(this was before the teeth incident)


Chloe modeling the "after"-before we hung them from the porch.

Big brave boy

I am so proud of that little booger. He did so good today when they pulled his teeth! Oh-and the remainder of yesterday was better than expected-was scared they'd bother him or hurt but he did ok...

So today-they strapped him onto a board that's got some straight-jacket thing attached to it. They strapped him in and numbed his gums w/ goo. Then came the numbing shots-which he fought against and cried. He had to lay for about 10 minutes for it to take full effect and we talked and looked at toys as he cried then calmed down then cried over and over again. Once the dentist was able to pull them out (ring side view-*gag*choke*wah!) he gave him a couple stitches and up he popped to pick out toys...They all said he did much better than most they've seen. I'll get some pictures of that toothless grin once his top lip shrinks back down-he looks like a platapus still!-lol.

Tomorrow I need to get all of the jewelry run over to the art association. Today I am getting business cards, price tags and pricing finished up and boxed and ready to go...Yea! Now I can sit back and breathe and start thinking about the holidays...

I've got the queasies...

And lots of tears as well. Poor Gabe fell down a portion of the stairs this morning right onto his face. Correction-right onto his front teeth-which are now pointed backwards towards the middle of his tongue. I've never quite seen anything like it and I promise I will spare you the pictures-(of coarse I had to take a few just to have them-but they literally made me sick to see them afterwards-so no picture post today)

I am in mourning for his adorable little chicklet teeth already. I can't beleive the tooth fairy will have to pay him a visit this young! How much you wanna bet Chloe will point out that he since he doesn't sleep w/ a pillow yet where will the tooth fairy leave him his money? lol

The ped dentist said to come back tomorrow to have them pulled so in the meantime he gets to walk around w/ his mouth hanging open and blood streaming out (nice visual,huh?) He cannot close his mouth-his bottom teeth hit the uppers and push them towards the roof of his mouth. My foyer looked like a murder scene this am and his beloved froggie-COVERED in blood. Luckliy with some peroxide and oxiclean and a good bath in the washer he looks good as new-whew (pretty traumatizing for a 2 yr old to see his best bud bathed in blood)...

Now that he's sleeping I can hopefully get my tears to dry up and get some things finished up around here-a ton on my list to do...

Can't I wait until the last minute?

I hate pricing stuff and getting ready for this show. I hate it. Haaaaaaaate it. Miss Whiney Procrastinator here who has nothing better to do than sit here and b*%&$. Ok...back to work-sigh...

Deep thought of the day~

The past couple of days has me thinking about my life before kids and how it will be until they are in school and beyond...

Having been a hairstylist for 16 years-my schedule had always been 10am-8pm (sometimes later) and including Sat's. Once I opened a salon in our home I was packed-so busy I could hardly eat lunch. It was very profitable and fulfilling but very busy and time consuming-with little to no time left over for myself, my needs, our home, etc.

Once Chloe came along my priorities shifted big time. I went part time, then I went to every other Saturday-family time was more important to me. Laundry had doubled and dinner earlier than 9am became a necessity.

Then here comes Gabe. We discussed and decided not to send him to daycare and to try to keep a few clients around. It was difficult. It ended up good that we didn't send him to daycare since he was a very sickly baby and picking up every germ he could. If he went to daycare I cringe to think of the $ spent sending him there only to be nursing him better at home...

So here I am with Sawyer and Gabe both at home. I have had a few clients call and have made it work. I digress-this is getting long and I need to get to the point...

So I have this friend/client-She was a high school music teacher for years who quit when she had her 2cd child. While home with him she still had her "foot in the door" so to speak-with music and making a living-just not all day full time teacher stuff...She started a show choir for kids from the whole school district to come try out and they travel evenings and weekends to perform at senior centers,other schools,etc. Neat that she created this whole other life w/ her love of music and what she was educated in.

Secondly a lady who runs a veryyy popular chili parlor here in town is calling it quits. She's sold off her family business that she's spent her whole life in (from what I know) BUT the way she's keeping her foot in the door is by still keeping her spices for her famous chili a secret and it going to package them and sell them back to the parlor and other resteraunts out of state...

SO my point is-I feel like I should be doing something with my life-to help our household-somehow-by what I know-but not by doing it. Does that make a darned bit of sense??LOL- NO I know it doesn't.

*If you're still reading*~~~~~So here I am asking for comments, suggestions, thoughts-anything. I know ya'll are visiting me-I see you on my feedjit (lol) so shoot me your thoughts. What on earth could one do w/ a hairstyling background to allow themselves to stay at home still- yet not on my feet for 8 hrs w/ crying babies underfoot covered in hair!?

Making jewelry is expensive. It's doubley expensive when it doesn't sell...Of coarse I am hopeful the Holiday Hall goes well but with the economy these days I'm just not too optimistic. I am convinced that unless you are published it's difficult to really get anywhere in this biz. I love sitting at the torch and creating-it's fulfilling but had also turned into a luxury since it's few and far between that I can have a solid block of time to do this in during naptime-IF I can get them to both cooperate. Which isn't very often. But I DO intend to continue making beads and jewelry...

So please-if anyone has any ideas throw them my way. Sorry for the babble. My mind just feels cluttered today...

Crackin myself up here...

So on a neighbor's facebook page he had this fun yearbook site-I died laughing looking at his different pictures he did of himself. Before I realised you uploaded your picture I was thinking "gee, John had a really weird haircut in high school!!" LOL.

Anyhow...since I'm usually the one behind the camera I played around w/ a picture of Chloe and one of Trav. Here's the photo I used...

And here he is in "1970" (I think)
LOLLLLLLLL.
You've gotta go to that site and upload some pix and check it out. I gave Chloe a Farrah Faucet do...

Saturday

I just thought this picture was so cute of all of them lined up watching the game. Chloe's getting SO good at soccer. It's taken awhile for her to get aggressive and not shy away from the ball anymore.

There is nothing new to report here-it's been fairly boring. Think I'm finished with the pieces I'm sending over to the Holiday Hall. I still need to tweak the toggle necklace-thinking a round toggle may be in order........er. I hate when I picture something in my head and it doesn't turn out how I want.

I have a commissioned piece that I need to find a finding for which is driving me berserk and a birthday necklace to whip up BUT the beads I had made and set aside for it have disappeared! It's just been one of those weeks...Now I have to sit myself down and figure out business cards and price tags and get it all priced and ready to go. Funnnnn times.

My little artist...

We had our neighborhood fall festival yesterday (which happened to fall on our anniversay-eek-12 years already?) There was lots of pumpkin decorating, face painting, kids games, a firetruck visit and a chili cookoff finished up with smores by the firepit...The kids all had a blast. I started face painting then there was a lull so I wandered off. When I came back by the table I found Chloe with a line of little girls and she was busy as can be...

Gabe's so funny-when he concentrates his little tongue sticks out of his mouth...
Here's my brave (stupid?) husband attempting to ride the neighbor's unicycle...You'd think he'd have learned from his skateboarding adventure a few years ago when he shattered his elbow. Nope! Not him! Luckily there was no ER visit for our anniversary-lol. He's now even talking about wanting to buy one...God help me.

Wanna play?

As I struggled against yawning at the school board meeting the other night I found my eyes wandering around the room. I had never noticed all of the children's art projects decorating the walls before...


When I saw these "playground paper scultures" I thought 'what a cute project for Chloe!' So yesterday after homework was done and reading minutes recorded we got to work on our playgrounds!

Gabe is having so much fun with it-who knew!? I drew a stick figure on a strip of paper and he makes it walk all around "doo doo do doooooo" (gotta have the sound effects) and makes him swing and go down the slide-lol. It's so cute! Chloe ended up taking hers in today to give to her teacher :)

A Walk to Remember

Here are a few photos to share from the walk on Saturday. It was a beautiful day.

Our group of balloons we sent up. Blake's is the blue one, the other 3 are for our friends Kim and Mike and their daughter Isabel and their twins.

Chloe- writing a message to her brother

Gabe spinning the pinwheel that we plant in the "field of dreams"

Balloon launch-all of ours stayed together for a long time-you can see them in the center...

Gabe-facinated by the amount of balloons above him

Time

It really does fly...I can't believe he's already 4 months old. We've really been blessed-he's such a good baby! This new finger sucking thing is just cracking me up. Chloe and Gabe both took binkies but Sawyer is all about those fingers! :)

Show and tell

Here's another I finished up last week. I feel like it needs tweaking to make it lay right so I'll be fiddling with that...I love glass toggles!

Yesterday was a long emotion filled day. We went to the yearly Walk to Remember at our park. It's put on by the Share program in memory of babies who have passed away. It's near and dear to our heart since we lost our son in 2002 when I was 5 months pregnant. It's a nice time for rememberance each October. We also received the Angel of Hope statue in our park! That's a HUGE deal and the dedication was yesterday after the walk. Chloe and I visited this morning since yesterday so so packed we weren't able to get up and read the plaques w/ names on them. Of coarse I get there and my camera battery was dead since I left it on yesterday-sigh...

I*love*it!!

I have fallen in love with this necklace! I love the colors, shapes and feel of it. I will make myself one-one of these days...I guess the nice thing is if it doesn't sell I can keep it for me-lol.

Here's one of the necklaces I just finished up. The toggle is fused fine silver and the heart is moretti copper red/green. I love the color reactions that color gets! It's got that gorgeous copper patina color, some pinkish undertones that especially pop out from under the clear and a metallic sheen that pops out here and there. It tends to get a somewhat rustic look overall-pretty cool!

Almost

I've got 2 projects under way that are just*about*done. It's amazing-I started both and had them so close then kid stuff happens... I feel like I never can quite finish what I start around here anymore. Between nap schedules varying for 2 little ones (seems like when one goes down the other is waking-agh!) and trying to drag out and sort thru fall/winter clothes or Chloe would be going to school in shorts. It got darned chilly FAST here. So anyhow, I HOPE I can finish those up today and get some pictures taken soon. One necklace I am especially loving and will make one for myself like it......hehehe...

Our neighbor bought a necklace I had listed on Etsy for a friend who is moving and reported this morning that she loved it and had cried-aw-that is always great to hear :)

Over the weekend we celebrated Travis' birthday. One night was dinner with his mom and the next was the "September birthdays" party at my Aunt and Uncles on the lake. Those consist of my Dad, Step-mom, Uncle and Trav. Before grilling out we went on a pontoon ride around the lake. The weather was just perfect-the sky a little cloudy then the sun would burst from behind the cloud and blind you for a moment before going back under...He let each of the kids drive the boat and honk the horn-which of coarse is the highlight dontcha know?! It gave me flashbacks of being little and my Uncle giving each of us kids motorcycle rides thru the country when they lived out there and honking the bike horn and being sandwiched together on there together. How on earth did we fit that many on a motorcycle-safely? Who knows-lol. It brought tears to my eyes a couple of times sitting back thinking how fast times goes by and wondering if one day in their 30's they'll be thinking back to "remember riding Uncle Bud's boat and driving around all those bouy's and honking like crazy?"

Woohoooo!! :)

A huge woohooooo for my friends Kim and Mike who very much deserve the little one (or 'ones') growing in her belly...
Congrats guys!! I'm so excited for you!
~A

Another fun feature~

I was chosen this week to be featured on The Red Door blog-a blog devoted to showing artists' workspaces. I used the same photos I already used on here to do my studio tour so it's not anything you haven't already seen-but it's a very nice article. :) Thanks Kerry!!!
Here's the link if you want to check it out-

http://www.etsystudios.blogspot.com/

Ok Sesame Street fans...

What favorite song of Gabe's do you think we sang for an hour while making these? It's enough to drive a person mad when sung over and over-it's also the only way we get him to sit still for his inhaler as well-lol.

Let's see if this works for ya-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bj9aS0x2r4

Using his muscles to mix...

Thought he was being sneaky but I didn't mind today-

Little fingers figuring out where to place the dough-


We had a cookie picnic on the porch after they cooled-turns out he ate too much dough to enjoy them after they were cooked-lol.
In other news-I'm starting to feel a big difference in how I'm feeling today-no longer as crampy or as tired so that's good! Yea!