Pain in the rEAR

I have had a stupid ear infection all weekend. Just finished up some antibiotics. I am 35 and so far this year I have had at least 10 ear infections. When I was a child they were painful, as an adult they are still painful but more of a pain in the rear to deal with. It totally messes me up. Well enough complaining, at least my girls are healthy and that my friends is all that really matters anyway. They ROCK!

Check us out

Check us out here...Too cool!

Sneak Peak...

These little *yummies* are going in the shop soon.

~ a Fabric Covered Coaster Album for that special furry friend in your life. (our Corgi Molly inspired this little gem)

~some number tags

~some cute butterfly tags

I have other Coaster Albums in the works, babies, tweens etc. I machine embroidered the front cover , lots of possibilities here and my head is popping with ideas. Stay tuned...

Exciting

I am featured on this blog today, Handcrafted: the cure for the common wedding. I am so excited. he-he

Amelia Island Florida

This is my absolute most favorite place to vacation, hands down. If I could move there I would, no kidding. It is just a nice laid back family vacation spot. We all *love* it there. It is a bit of a drive but so worth it. This year some dear friends of ours got to go with us, which made it even more fun. This was Mallory's first trip to the beach and the girl LOVED it. She ate some sand found some shells, tried to crawl in the ocean. The child has ZERO fear. Her big sister is a bit more cautious so this *no fear* thing is an adventure for David and I. So fun. I have an *all about Amelia Island* post in the works, favorite spots to eat, shop, hang out when not at the beach of course. There are so many wonderful people there, so nice too. All of the little shops downtown are just precious. We stayed downtown this time not at the beach, we always ended up downtown at night anyway walking around, eating dinner etc. This way if the baby got tired one of us could take her back to the room. So nice.

Shop Stuff

A couple of new items in the shop and more to come.

Mini Album

This is one of the kits I have listed in my etsy shop (with a few of my own embellishments) but generally the same.

ISP Issues

OK, so Comcast has been up and down in the neighborhood since last Thursday. It went down for good Saturday afternoon. Well I can deal with no cable TV but dang man, I need my Internet. We are back up for the moment, hopefully it will last this time.

On the bright side of all that I got to play with my new embroidery machine and get some scrapping done, and that my friends is a good thing. OK, we have some screaming gotta go for
now.

She is ONE!

I think the pictures speak for themselves.

*Lulu you better take your hand off my cake*. What a look.

High Steppin'

Mallory got her first pair of shoes today, she practically talked the poor sales ladies ear off while she was getting sized and trying on her new shoes. Not sure what all she is saying, but man can she talk.

So *cute*!

We are back...

We are back from vacation and hopefully I can begin to enjoy my new life as a SAHM (actually staying home, haha). We have been so busy since I quit work, but that's OK, at least I didn't have to figure out how to do all that and work too. I even managed to get an extra mini-vacation in that probably would not have happened had I still been working. We celebrated Father's Day and Mallory's FIRST Birthday yesterday. Wow, she is One Year old already. I am so blessed to have my girls, they make me so very *happy*. I have taken so many pictures in the last few weeks that I don't even know where to begin getting them scrapped and in albums. A bit overwhelming. Anyhoo...more later. Off to start dinner, a Rachael Ray recipe I found on vacation, I will let you know how it turns out.

Picture Post

Just a few from the trip...

I'm Back...

At least for a few days. We had an opportunity for a mini vacation so we took it of course. Now I have just three days to get ready and do it all over again, this time for the real vacation. I have tons of photos to post later today, but now I hear the girls waking up so I am headed back downstairs.
Later!

Creating Stuff

I have a few new things in the shop.

Lindsey and I have been busy making more stuff this morning. She is really into felt right now, so we will see what she comes up with.

I took a lot of pictures yesterday, here are a few of my favorite subjects....



She grew tired of me taking pictures of her.

Mally in her new swing having a blast.

Happy Memorial Day

Please remember all the soldiers who have fought and continue to fight for us. This one has a special place in my heart....My Baby Brother. Love him so much, and soooo very proud of him!

Randomness

Today is the last day of school, *so ready* as is Lindsey. I am ready to just enjoy the summer. We have a couple of vacations planned as usual and really looking forward to those. This week has been busy with end of school year happenings, today is Lindsey's award ceremony, then she is finished. I am ready to relax just a bit from the whole routine.

OK, so anyhoo here are a few random pics of the girls and my niece from our trip to my Dad's farm a couple of weekends ago...

Lindsey is a farm girl at heart, she loves being there.

Our little *stinker*

My niece, Ashlee another little *stinker*.

These are ready for the shop

I think I might jazz up the handle a bit on a couple of these before listing.

Day *3* of Un-Employment

So Friday was my last day at work. It was a little sad leaving, I was a bit *misty* all day, but as soon as I got in my car a drove away to pick up my girls from school I felt such relief and contentment. It is on the top 5 list of best feelings I have had. So today is my third day home. I had some appointments lined up for Monday, things that I have been putting off for lack of time, doctor etc. Yesterday I worked around the house got a lot done around here. Today is Lindsey's end of year party at school, they are going bowling. I will attend that, should be fun for the children. I am just taking one day at a time here and enjoying every minute of it. School will be out for Summer on Friday and the girls will pretty much be stuck with me at that point. I think they are excited, of course Mallory has no clue what is going on but Lindsey is really excited.

I have been working on some new things for the shop and hope to have them listed soon. I also have monogramming orders and some custom tag orders that I have been working on. Things are good!

I have also started doing The Grocery Game. My friend Marci has a ton of info on her blog about this and other money saving tips. You should really check it out. I started The Grocery Game about three weeks ago and I will agree with Marci, it is addicting. The amount of money I have saved is mind boggling. I will post a link list soon of the places I am getting coupons and some good deals as well. My friend Jessica also started The Grocery Game about the time I did, we are having fun sharing bargains etc.

OK, off to get everyone ready for work and school.

Quick post...

Just a few pics for the family!


Fun Dip teeth....nice.


Damn they're *cute*!

The News...

OK, remember me talking about this and this. Well after much planning and praying and just deciding to do it, I have decided to quit my job and stay at home with the girls. The decision really was not a hard one to make, it was just a matter of adjusting some things to make it work and of course getting David comfortable with the idea of giving up the extra income. It seemed as though every corner I turned God was there giving me signs that I needed to do this. I have pretty much worked my entire adult life, started working in high school and worked while attending college. I have been with the same company for the last 13 years, I met David during that time. I have met a lot of great people along the way and some not so great (I think they are long gone, but anyway). It seems after I had Mallory something struck in me and I realized my place was at home, I kind of ignored it for a bit thinking it was hormones etc. but the feeling never left. I went back to work and continued with the tasks assigned, although my heart truly was not in it anymore. I think when I really knew it was time was back in March, during Lindsey's spring break I took the week off to spend with her and Mallory, she made the comment to me towards the end of the week when I was getting dinner ready that I didn't seem so stressed out to get everything done and that I seemed much happier being at home. I nearly broke into tears, that is not how I want my girls to remember me, *the stressed out crazy woman trying to get everything done*. Gosh I just *love her so much*, she always has a way of pointing out the obvious, I love that about her. So my last day is May 16. WOW, I am nervous and excited all at the same time. Kind of bitter sweet.

I do plan to work from home, I have my etsy shop up and running {still needs some tweaking when time permits...in a few weeks :) }, I have monogramming orders coming in and other fun stuff in the works. Things are looking great. I am excited to start this new chapter in our lives. Wish me luck!

Some exciting news

I have some exciting (exciting for me anyway) news to share... stay tuned.