Sunday picnic

Welp, the porch floor was sanded but the stain was NOT the right color or covereage sooo-it's not done like I had hoped it would be by now...

So I decided today since no big projects were going on we would go have a picnic at the park-it was GORGEOUS out. Sunny, blue skies,a slight breeze and 84 out. I took some pics w/ our, um, "camera" (I want a new one soooooo bad!)

It's interesting w/ 3 to get pics of-it was hard enough w/ 2 but now-lol-they just don't seem to work out. I am trying the new mindset of "they all don't have to be looking at me at once-just don't have your tongue hanging out or crying or trying to run in the opposite direction" ya know??? Here is a great example of every picture I have tried to take since Sawyer has arrived-LOL.

Note: Gabe crying, Chloe looking very uncomfortable and Sawyer looking like "um ya, let's not drop me ok?" **sigh**

Here's a few more from today...
Might have to start calling her Angelina~

Gabe-can't seen to get one of him looking straight at me-oh well~

Sawyer-complete w/ the required 5 week baby acne and dry skin~

A great one showing how Chloe is-flitting off on her own flipping her skirt around w/o a care in the world~"l la laaaa"

OPAM Progress!

So here is how the porch is looking at the moment...

Last weekend the siding was painted, lights up,doorbell on and my vent back up. (I'm finally making beads again!!)
Our porch furniture is ordered and should come on Monday. This weekend we hope to get the floor sanded and stained and the columns built. It's looking so good! I finally am starting to see an end in sight!!!

Chloe's birthday gift...

This pretty much speaks for itself...



Let me say this: I am NOT a basement person-I loathe ours. BUT it's the only place for this monster right now. I can't count how many times a day she's begging to go "just play a 5 minute game??!!" lol. She was thrilled and SO surprised!

OPAM

I've been inspired! Tara Whitney has started on her blog a OPAM (one project a month) challenge. I just LOVEEEEE the family portrait wall she just completed!! OMG. http://tarawhitney.com/justbeblogged/2008/06/02/opam-may-08-photo-wall-in-living-room-after/And upon reading some of her comments from others and seeing their projects and what they've gotten done it's lit a fire under my butt to try and get a few things done around here!!

Now that I've said that please bear in mind that with the remodel of a house that is what-104-105 yrs old there is ALWAYS a project of some sort going on anyway. I feel like a bit of a cheater this month because I've decided my project should be to finish the front porch -since it's already in the midst of being worked on anyway...Only problem is most of the work comes from Travis. It's actually almost finished being painted and only needs the columns built, floors stained and rail built. I guess MY job would be to find and order porch furniture, doorbell, mailbox, house numbers,doormat and some pots and flowers for the steps. Maybe I could throw in a bit of landscaping too- I was actually just out there w/ a hose trying to come up w/ a curvy shape for out and around the tree,etc...Not feelin it yet...

So-the before pics are already on here a few posts back-no need to re-post those. I'll hopefully be posting a finished porch pic at the end of July!! :)

So-I challenge you all who stop by here!! Go for it! Let's get some little projects done that we've been saying "oh I'll get around to that!" If you do this --don't forget to show me some before and after pics! :)

Happy Birthday to our little girl!!

I just cannot believe that Chloe is 7 years old today! **sob*choke*gasp** Where has the time gone? One minute I'm laughing at her crazy spikey hair and the next I'm helping her with math homework-agh! It's all going way too fast...









Her birthday dinner of choice is Culver's (gee, what else is new? lol) She will have a scavenger hunt to find her birthday gift after we get home...She's gonna freak when she sees what it is. -Pics tomorrow :)



She always did the silliest "cheese!!" face when we'd take her picture when she was about 2-3...



She's really grown into a great kid. She's got her moments of coarse, but for the most part she's pretty helpful, makes good decisions and cares about other's feelings.:)



I just love to sit and look at how much she's changed over the years...



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETIE!!

A visit to the White House

Don't we look like we're really there? lol





While Trav's aunt and uncle from Florida visited we took a trip to the Lincoln Museum ( I swear we're the only ones who live here who have never gone-lol) It was pretty cool! Chloe seemed to be more into it than I thought...and disturbed by images of slavery and Lincoln being shot...It was worth seeing-especially the ghosts of the museum show-very neat!





I swear...why does Gabe feel the need to be all "girls gone wild" all the time? He approaches strangers this way and I can't count how many pictures I have of him lifting his shirt-lol. What a goof.

Needing a creative outlet...

Wow-it's been awhile since I've made any beads! Trav took down my vent unit outside yesterday so he can paint behind it (still working on the porch) and now all of a sudden I'm pacing around here like crazy wanting and NEEDING to melt some glass! Looks like I'll have to wait on that. I've been kicking around putting some bead sets together to list for something different...

Here's a pic of how the porch is coming along...Getting close! All that's left is the yellow paint, stain the porch floor, frame an build up the columns and rails, and hang lights and ceiling fan...yea!!



It's going to get busy here soon anyway. Trav's aunt and uncle from Florida will be here today for a week visiting and Chloe's (7th-*gasp*) birthday is in a week and is still unplanned and no invites have gone out...sigh. Better get on that, huh? We always need to celebrate it a week after or so since everyone's always busy for the 4th of July and alot can't make it if her party is that weekend anyway...

Summer...

Lemonade stands, popcicles, swimming, sprinklers and knees covered in scabs...
And yes-Gabe finally got a haircut-lol.

Etsy baby shower

This was so fun to get in on!

One night in etsy's chatroom I had a lady ask if I had heard of etsy's baby virtual baby shower? I hadn't...she signed me up-and next thing I know I had some of the CUTEST STUFF sent to my door by these very talented sellers specializing in children's items!!

I can't wait til things settle down and I can be on the giving end of a shower-I think it's such an awesome idea!

So I thought I'd share some pics of my new goodies and the etsy artist's info in case anyone would like to take a peek at their shops! :) Thanks again guys!!!!!


Here's the coolest travel bib-isn't it neat?
Thanks Shelly!!
www.Odannysgirl.etsy.com




Aren't the onsies cute? I should have taken his picture in them instead-lol. Thank you Jessica!!
www.ALaineDesigns.etsy.com




Here's another funky bib with matching burp cloth-I like how it unsnaps for easy clean up...She also sent me an adorable crocheted butter yellow blankie-but I forgot to photo it...Thank you Jacqueline!
www.SnappyBibs.etsy.com

Guess it's time...

I thought it was time to introduce little Mr. Sawyer Reid...



He is now 17 days old. He does look a smidge different now (this was taken in the hospital) but I don't have a good newer pic. I should get to that, huh?

He's a very healthy and pretty content little guy. :)

Stuff Chloe says~

Today was Father's Day. Chloe sat dejected on the front steps asking why none of her friends were outside. After explaining that they are probably spending time w/ their dads since it's father's day like she has been she continued pouting then says "I wish there was a 'FRIENDS DAY'!"
Goof.
I said it's summer-everyday is friends day.
Another one:
This morning I glance over at her watching tv on the couch and got a good look at her feet and say "good grief-when did your feet get SO BIG???!!!" I mean they're huge! And she's 6! So she shrugs and says ......"I dunno-vegetables?" (she always says she's taller than all her friends since she eats her vegetables) lol.

End of school

Today was Chloe's last day of first grade! Her report card was awesome and they had an assembly today where she won an award for most improved reader in her class. She is reading at "end of 2cd grade" level!!!!!!! Isn't that great? I'm so proud-she was shocked when they called her name-I'm glad I was there to see it! We're going out tonite to celebrate that as well as the last day of school...she picked Steak n Shake-LOL.



Last night and again today we had some major storms blow thru here. Lots of trees and limbs down-TONS of lightning last night-the really scary "i think that just hit my neighbor's house" type...Needless to say no one got much sleep-well, except for Gabe-it didn't phase him at all!

So today is the last time I'll have a view of this when I look down...ever.

I'm being induced tomorrow early morning. Cross fingers and toes that all goes well. The next post hopefully I will be showing a picture of a healthy little boy.

Ahhhh silence.

I love it when the house is this quiet-no tv, kids yelling, hammering from the porch. This is awesome!

Trav took Chloe to the pool today during Gabe's nap. I whipped up an apple salad that my friend Kim gave me the recipe for to take to a neighbor's cookout tonite and plopped down on the couch to be lazy on the computer. :)

Last night I took Chloe out for a "girl's night". We saw Nim's Island at the theater and went to Culver's and ate on their patio afterwards. It was nice to just kick back- just the 2 of us girls and the weather was beautiful. I figure this would be our last chance to do this for awhile...

Our porch floor has been laid and ready to sand/stain. The ceiling boards are out there and ready to be put up. I think he plans to run some wiring for the porch fan and side door lights first. I can't wait!!!

Looks like I'm going to be on a school calendar committee. One of the school board members contacted me to see if I'd be interested in participating. I said yes of coarse- but the 1st meeting is this Thurs...well, I'm being induced on Wed so there goes the 1st meeting! I hate not being in the loop from the get-go since I'll end up feeling lost...Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine.

I'm going post this new picture of Chloe and Gabe-it's grainy since I zoomed in to cut me out-it's the first good smile we've gotten from him on purpose for the camera. No comments about his hair!!! Yes, I am going to cut it!! It's Trav who has been so resistant-if you can believe that-lol.

I knew he was being too quiet...

Dad and Conni kept Chloe and cousin Olivia last night so they could have a slumber party then had church and donuts this morning. When they brought Chloe home they brought in leftover donuts. I come into the living room to see Chloe after they left for 2 seconds and realised just how quiet it was in here and just knew...



He scaled right up there and somehow got the lid off the box. What a little stinker...

It's been awhile...

I guess I haven't been all that motivated lately. I've made a few beads, put together a pair of earrings for Chloe's teacher for an end of the year gift but that's about it...I actually can't reach my torch very well these days since my belly makes me sit too far away and I've had to adjust how I hold my arms and it's honestly a big pain in the rear (well, shoulders-lol)

Soooooo-I've decided to just chill out and not worry about making anything right now and when I think of something cute I just jot it in my notebook for later days. I"ve had tons of contractions lately so I've gone ahead and set my etsy shop on a temporary close down til I'm up and at em again-Maybe a couple weeks/month?

Other than trying to get ready for baby I've been just trying to organise what we'll be doing this summer. It's time to start planning Chloe's 7th (dang I cannot believe it!) birthday party, Trav's aunt and uncle from Fla coming up to visit at the end of June, trying to come up w/ a long weekend trip (so far it sounds like hiking at Starved Rock by our friends Tim and Jolene) and scheduling vacation bible school, swimming lessons and art camp for Chloe...

I'll check back in here soon and hopefully have more exciting stuff to talk about and maybe some pictures...:)

Featured in more ways than one...

I woke up one morning last week and saw that my little pink earrings in my shops views had jumped over 400 views overnight...what on earth?????? After digging around I found that I had been featured on etsy's front page! :) woohoo-pretty cool!

I then received a nice email from Blossoming Tree Bodycare that she'd like to feature me on her blog and sent a little interview to fill out. Of coarse I did it and she's got it posted up today...

I think that's a really neat thing to do-feature other artists and get some exposure for them-maybe one of these days I'll get organised enough to try that out. :)

In other news-I've been taking it pretty easy. Been trying to figure out what I want to make for Chloe's teacher for her end of the year gift and making some disks for earrings...Nothing too exciting. With only about 3 weeks left until the baby comes (or less??) I'm trying not to dive into anything new or time consuming projects right now.




Speaking of time consuming projects! Trav has been rebuilding our front porch for the last few weeks...Looks like I may have a porch to actually sit on this summer!!! I am so excited. It's ready for the flooring to be put down-he's ordering it today. I feel like I've got the ugliest house right now-1/2 of the siding on the porch is gone w/ just that black paper exposed, nasty brick columns have been torn out and the whole thing is being supported by 2x's-scary thing is he put those supports in the day before that earthquake-so of coarse when that hit the first thing he did was run for the window to see if the porch had fallen down-lol. This whole project has been a pain in my rear for at least 2 yrs now. He started it when I was on maternity leave w/ Gabe---this house was so messed up-the original wrap around porch had been all enclosed so what we did was take the side porch area and make it into a sunroom where my studio is now and knock back the front enclosed area to turn it back into a porch. The first shot is what the house looked like when we bought it-Yikes-( it was in foreclosure) and the next one is with the support walls in place so he could tear out those columns-that wall is now gone as is that column and is being supported w/ what looks like toothpicks (to me) lol. Hopefully in about a month or so I'll have a prettier picture to show :)

New bracelet

Here's the toggle bracelet that I listed today. It was pretty hard to photograph to show the colors well...

Just made a few sets of disks and droplets to hopefully whip up a couple pair of earrings tomorrow. I just didn't have the patience to sit in there any longer today-I was so hot and uncomfortable! It's so muggy and humid and gross out today-turning on the ceiling fan doesn't help since it just blows my flame all over...er. I'm glad though that we haven't been hit with the severe storms they've been calling for all day-large hail,damaging winds,etc...although I don't think we're in the clear yet.

So my house smells like a brewery-sigh. Trav made and bottled his own beer and it was in the basement-well,it's literally all OVER the basement. They started exploding 2 nights ago (that was interesting-him running downstairs trying to figure out where someone was breaking in at-lol) we found the broken beer bottles the next morning-what a mess!!! With all hardwood floors that smell just comes right up through them...I wonder how long it will take to air that smell out? He's cleaned it all but...may take a little time-agh!

Earrings...

I whipped up a few pair of earrings today that may be spoken for already...If my neighbor decides on diff colors I will get these listed... This isn't the best picture but oh well-you get the jist.



I kinda like the simple wire wrapped pair and am thinking about making a pair for myself......I like how the earwires feel. I made that bead in a teardrop shape then wrapped the upper area to hide the hole. I'm thinking about experimenting w/ diff sizes/shapes in that style...hmmmmm...

Today at Chloe's school was wacky clothes day. The kids who pay a quarter ($ is a fundraiser to help support a summer camp) got to dress up crazy. There were some interesting outfits-lemme tell ya. Chloe was all pink and green w/ striped tights, fun capris, more stripes on her shirt....Our neighbor Sydney had the best outfit-all layered up w/ tights, leggins, skirt, backwards jean jacket, 2 different shoes and wacky hair...Her mom took a picture of them before school so hopefully I can get her to forward that to me to put on here :)

UGH!

How sick would this make you?



Not the artwork taped to the door-the glass in our practically brand new storm door! Luckily we've got that inner door that was open when this happened and I slowly closed to make sure no pieces fell on the inside. Trav was mowing the grass and apparently it caught a rock and next thing you know....sigh. Make me sick! I'll tell ya-9 months pregnant and picking itty bitty pieces of glass out of our yard was sure fun last night.

New Etsy shops!

I listed the pink and green post earrings today....bout time huh? I've got a few ideas for sterling cooking up in my brain to make...more time consuming but(not to mention the cost of silver right now...ugh!)....we'll see if/when they get made. I made a funky name bead yesterday I've to figure out what on earth to do with.....I should get a pic of it-maybe someone would have a suggestion-lol. Been meaning to do a little metal work today and just never got around to it. Gabe was just sleeping too good and didn't want to start hammering away...

On another note....my cousin Shyla has officially set up her etsy shop-although nothing's been listed yet but she's working on that. She sews, quilts, appliques,etc to make adorable baby and child accessories. Her site is www.ZanBryDesigns.etsy.com

And another great shop to come is a collaboration between my cyber-friend Mary and her father. He looks to be a very talented woodworker (and really devoted grandad) and Mary's doing the fun computer part for him. He makes the cutest baby cars and trucks made of wood and are completely safe for these little guys to play w/-non toxic,etc...They also don't have anything posted yet but I'm anxiously waiting for some cars to start popping up in the shop since I know Gabe would totally be into them now...The site is www.SimpleWoodenToys.etsy.com

If anyone reading frequents etsy I think you should heart these shops if you have kids or kids to buy gifts for!! :) *wink wink*

Gorgeous weather

There's been too much baby chasing outside to get much done. It's been so nice all week and Chloe has had such cabin fever I just can't get her to stay inside...which then I feel I need to be out there as well and not depend on the other neighbor moms to feel responsible for her. Now all of a sudden Gabe's vocabulary is all "walk,wagon,walk,wagon,swing,weeeeeeeeeeee???????" ("wee" is slide in his language) and we ended up skipping nap today and spending all afternoon outside playing w/ buddies.



So needless to say I haven't gotten much done around here. I do have a few things to list but I've been messing around trying to get just the right pictures but the sun seems to be almost TOO bright to get good ones (aw too bad huh).


Our magnolia trees have been so pretty all week and now all of a sudden the flowers are shedding like crazy and it feel like you're being rained on by petals when you stand underneath-it's really pretty and the kids were loving running around trying to catch them today so they'd have "7 days of good luck" lol. ok...



I took some pics of Chloe climbing the tree last night so I'll post one so you can see how pretty it is...

Studs

What'd you think this post was about? lol

Here's a new pair of stud earrings I made a couple days ago. I have a black and white pair I made for myself about 6 months ago or so and they're very comfortable...I know some people just simply don't wear dangley earrings so I thought why not offer something on posts that is still fun and funky?
I'll be listing these tomorrow. :)

Busy day...

I did get 2 small things whipped up this afternoon so hopefully tomorrow will be a nice sunny day to get some good pictures and get them listed...

I ended up being chosen for a critique by Tim Adams on Etsy and am getting alot of great feedback on my shop by other sellers as well. It's pretty exciting! Here's the link to his blog- http://critiquesandreviews.blogspot.com/

I also received a note from a super nice lady named Cassandra Russell who made me a free avatar after she saw me on his critiques page! Here's a link to her blog-
http://www.cassandrarussell.typepad.com/ Thanks again Cassandra!

Cool!

The Joy of Homemaking blog is featuring etsy sellers who are expecting &/or sell baby items. Mine happens to be the first one. Boy I didn't give her much info like others did huh? I think it's really cool to be on someone else's blog either way though! :)

Me? Sew?

OK I never claimed I could sew. The most I'd tackled is 2 crib skirts and a bumper pad-so my experience is pretty.....well-thin. I can, however, thread the sewing machine-only because I remember that from 7th grade home ec class.



So I got this bug to fix Chloe's jeans-she just got them for xmas but the knees were blowing out already. That fabric I fell in love w/ and showed a few posts back my cousin supplied me with since she had a little left and I went to work yesterday w/ heat bond and my sewing machine...do you know that to fit a pair of jeans up to the knee then go in a circle is impossible? At least it is for me-I have no idea how people do this stuff-lol. Let's just say after a much elevated BP, 3 broken needles and bloody fingers-it's finished-and lots had to be finished by hand...There is no way I'd show a close up-let's just put it that way...lol. But overall they're kinda cute and Chloe likes them-which is what counts-right? I've got to add a pic w/ Gabe in it to even things out- :)

Chloe's necklace

Just wanted to share a picture of Chloe's necklace I made w/ the letter beads. She's had quite a few compliments on it. Still trying to figure out how to list the beads &/or necklaces or bracelets on etsy but since it would depend on how many letters it makes it difficult to price it.....So-we'll see. I'll get it figured out...

Fun with letters...

So my friend Kim shared a website with me last year where this family took pictures of "letters" and spelled out words and framed them up-I thought it was so cute! We both talked about how it would make us start looking at things differently. When we were in Florida over xmas break since my camera was always on me it made it easy to spot and take some great letter pictures-and Chloe is VERY talented in finding them when I couldn't...(there are some GREAT E's at Cinderella's castle at Disney-lol)

So when Trav was asked to be the godfather for our neighbor's baby (baptism was today) we didn't really want to do the $ in a card thing or yet another rosary-and I got the lightbulb over the head moment-looked-had the letters needed, tweaked them, had the printed up and found a frame and wah-lah! I think it turned out really cool and they seemed to really like it as well. (whew!) Here's a shot of it....

Pins!

I've been messing around w/ this whole blog set up/ html stuff-I am so clueless it's not even funny. I have been trying to figure out how to place pictures in diff spots in my post instead of then all being up top-it's been explained to me-yet whenever I do it somehow everything gets deleted! I'm trying this one more time...LOL.

So a few weeks back I was experimenting w/ cabs and wanting to make something BIGGER and ended up w/ these heart pins...I think they turned out cute. I have 2 listed on etsy so far. One more to go. Today I sat and went thru Chloe's American Girl book since it has some really cool color combos and cute little doodles in it and I tried something else-which i wasn't fond of-probably since I had bout 25 minutes til I had to get her from school so I felt rushed...I may try it again...been whipping out some more letter beads to possibly list as well. I finished Chloe's name necklace and it turned out so cute. I will try to take a picture of her wearing it this weekend and post it...