Halloween Treats

This is a SPOILER ALERT if you are participating in Sarah's Halloween Swap!

Please look away if you like surprises!  I, on the other hand, like to get a look see at what is to come :)

I have been cranking out these little cuties and will be dropping them off on Wednesday afternoon!  I am now off to snoop to see if anyone else that is participationg has given a sneak peek!

Shrooms

Wow!  Who knew a dollhouse renovation could be so overwhelming?  We decided to do a quick spruce up to the window boxes after painting the shutters.  The interior has just too many decisions to be made!  Gina and I stripped the wallpaper and sanded any rough spots.  We are now trying to decide which room to start on first.  This has turned into quite the undertaking.  I LOVE every memory being made, but sheesh who would have thought there would be so many decisions to be made?  Oh and did I mention dollhouse stuff is addicting AND expensive!

The Great Dollhouse Renovation

When sweet little Adler was born my Mom and Step Dad bought Gina a dollhouse.  One they could put together and build memories while I was getting used to the newest addition to our family. 

It was such a sweet thing for Gina and her grandparents to do together.  She spent many hours while Mommy and baby Adler were napping just playing in her dollhouse.  What a great big sister!

Fast forward to present day and this once grand dollhouse has fallen in need of repair.  When our family fell apart and then rebuilt Gina's precious dollhouse got placed in the garage (she lost her playroom to make room for our growing family).  It didn't fair well in the temperature changes and bikes and boxes stacked around it did not help either.  This weekend we decided it was time.  Time for the dollhouse to move back into the big house.  We are starting renovations and researching ways to make improvements.  We will be needing advice and great furniture building blogs.  We are just hobbyists, but the world of miniature is quite captivating!

 Gina is excited to work on this with me and the help of her step sister, Chloe.  The repairs to the exterior have begun as well as minor exterior paint changes.  We have decided the Dollhouse will reside in the dining room and it will be decorated with the seasons.  This is a much needed distraction for me right now as Adler is preparing to start kindergarten and I am NOT ready for that ;)

So sweet blogging friends, if you have any ideas or suggestions please point us in the right direction!  Our excitement is growing and we are very ready to dig in to this new adventure!  All four of my youngest fall asleep watching HGTV each night and truly love a good reno project!

My Little Mermaid

This girl right here is pretty darn AWESOME!!!  She has found her JOY!  Swim team has been a great experience for Miss Gina Beana!  She started last year and has flourished!

We went to Destin this summer and she became a real life mermaid!  Check out this super cool video!

Blog love and Brady Bunch

Here's the story, of a Lovely Lady...

Seriously when you decide to remarry at this stage in life it is inevitable that you will marry someone with kids of their own.  I had my two and he had FOUR!!!  So we lovingly call our family "our Bunch".  When we were thinking of wedding invitations what better than one that was Brady inspired.  Not being super photo savvy I called upon a blogging friend, Sasha at http://www.saucysprinkles.com/ .  I had a neighbor snap us all in front of a blue screen and the very generous Sasha sent this back to me!   I am so very thankful for her generosity!  I am also very thankful for the sweet connections I have made in the blogging world.  When my life tumbled apart and then slowly back together I reached out to a few of these remarkable women and a few even reached out to me when I went "missing"!  Thank you all for the love and support!  I plan to get back at crafting and creating and I am also thinking about sharing the trials and tribulations of blending families.  This is a REAL LIFE blog...  not just a highlight reel :) 

Crafty Little Chicks

This is Gina (the curly red head)!!!  Can you believe it?  She will be 11 this year!  The other cutie is my step daughter, Chloe.  They are 3 weeks a part in age and really are sweet companions.  They decided to start a little business together before Easter. 

 They came up with the idea to make wreaths with chicks to represent the families of the wreath owners.

We advertised on facebook and the girls had quite a little thriving industry!  I loved their teamwork and love of creating.  They chose the supplies at the craft store and went to work.  I did help with the bows, but everything else was all them!

This is now :)

So I am just going to start with today! I so want to get back to blogging. I miss my blogging "friends". Life seems to finally be settling into what is now the NORM. I am such a different person than when I started this blog. I have grown leaps and bounds. I feel divorce really does that to a person. I have so many divorce and remarried stories to share and I will get to them but for now this is me! I am someone I never wanted to be, someone I never thought I would be. I am truly a BETTER me, a happier me. I went from a stay at home mom with two beautiful kiddos, to a single mom, to a remarried step mom. I now have 6 kids total!!! Life has gotten crazy and I will share all the details that I can legally share... I may need to seek advice on that one because people this is a book worthy tale :) For now though I will leave you a pic of what life looks like for me now. I have many stories and crafting adventures to share. Talk to you all very soon!

My Big D and I don't mean Dallas story!

Oh my friends :(  This past year has been a terrible time for me and my family.  Kerry and I should have been celebrating so many wonderful things and instead we ventured into the scary, strange world of DIVORCE!
We started off 2011 excited about our family vacation to Disney, then Kerry got promoted to a road officer at his department.  We were finally on a good path financially and I thought emotionally.  Shortly after Kerry's swearing in at the department all HELL broke loose.  We should have been excited planning a 15 year wedding anniversary, instead Kerry uttered the words I.NEVER.THOUGHT.I.WOULD.HEAR.   "i want a divorce"!!!
He didn't actually lead off with that it was more of, "I am not happy".  Well friends, I honestly was not happy either :(  I wanted more!  I wanted someone to joke with, someone to entertain with, someone to be happy with.  I would read other peoples blogs and be so jealous of the relationships they seemed to have with their spouses.  My friends in real life seem to be happy as well.  I mean I truly know that there are ups and downs in every relationship, but it seemed like all joy had slowly drained from my marriage.  It leaked out over the years.  Looking back I am not sure we ever had a true deep love for one another. 
Well the words, "i am not happy" led us to what I thought was couples counseling (turns out it was all for Kerry and he had no intentions of making us work he just wanted happiness for him).  He told me in May (right before Mother's Day) that he wanted to call it quits and he was done... I wrote this post intially sometime in 2012, I could never finish it or bring myself to post it... until now.

Life has really given me some lemons!

Well my friends my life has taken a few rough turns and twists.  I want to get back to blogging and coonnecting with all of you and will soon.  I am working on the best way to share my story from the past year.  I want to share without the bitterness and anger that sometimes enters in.  I know that my story may just help someone else going through the same things.  Be warned it will not be a rainbow and butterflies, my life is just so happy, kind of tale.