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!

Angelman Syndrome

Please take the time to watch this wonderful video. The song is so true. No one ever plans for their family not to be "perfect". We all plan our lives based on "perfect". The "it will never happen to me" mentality. My sweet nephew Carter was born with Angelman Syndrome. My sister, his mom, is my BEST friend in the whole world. We live 4 minutes from each other. We wanted to raise our kids as siblings, not just cousins, yeah we are that close and crazy! Our lives are still close and TIGHTLY entwined. Her son Carter is turning 5 this month and our lives are FAR from the "perfect" lives we always had planned. Life is HARD! I encourage you to familiarize yourself with this syndrome. Awareness is half the battle in receiving proper funding for a cure. We are walking as a family this Saturday to support our Carter Bug. Feel free to click on the link on my sidebar. It is not just to donate, but is a great site for help and information. If you would like to join us to walk this weekend we would LOVE it!

The Crabs

Here are the Crabs! The inspirations behind the shirts! Really they are happy kiddos most of the time! I thought a photo of them actually wearing the shirts would be nicer than them just laying on the drive way :)

Oh Yes, Oh Yes, It's Springtime!

We picked flowers the other day at my Dad's house! It is always fun to spend some time with Grandpa Pat. He planted over 3000 bulbs a few years ago!!! My house smelled wonderfully!

The dust on the mantle is just an added bonus! Life is about experiences not cleaning, right?

After picking flowers we spent the afternoon at the Botanical Gardens! I LOVE springtime!

It is a Sad Day.

We had to put our beloved cat, Moofasa, to sleep today. He was such an important member of our family. Such a LOVER. He would talk your ear off, even when you wanted to sleep. He let you know when things around the house just weren't right. He was my design consultant when I was sewing, he had to touch each and every fabric. Most importantly he cared for each and every member of the family. When you were having a bad day he caressed you. When the babies cried he came to see what was taking me so long to get to them. He greeted every guest with a warm welcome.

It was a difficult decision today. He was always a LARGE cat, nearly 20 pounds. Today he barely weighed 7! His kidneys had failed and were very small. Even with treatment he may have made it 2 weeks to possibly 2 months. I couldn't let our gentle man suffer any longer. My husband had him at the vet. Gina and I said our tearful goodbyes to Moofasa over the phone. She cried so hard telling him goodbye. My husband, who rarely shows tearful emotions, broke down. He held Moofasa and asked the vet for a brush to brush him one last time. I could tell when Kerry got home he had cried during the 20 minute drive home. We are heartbroken. I am done with having pets for a while.

Goodbye Moofasa, you will forever be in our hearts. Thank you for being so good to us.

Final Birthday Celebration

Finally Gina's celebrations are over! She wanted to have a My Little Pony Tea Party. We invited a few of her friends for an intimate little party. There was cupcake decorating, pin the tail on the pony, Pinata bashing, and a candy bar for favors! Playing in Oma's garden was an after party bonus for all the Princes and Princesses!

My sweet sister helping set up the Candy Bar for the party :)

Gina's 6th Birthday!

Yesterday was my sweet little girl's sixth Birthday! I made her this sweet kitty using a Melly & Me pattern! I adore the way it came out.I woke her with a small powdered donut and candle and sang Happy Birthday to her. We shared a few sweet moments before her brother woke.

I decided to give her the kitty before school, her just from mom gift :)

My, all too grown up, baby ready to face her Birthday at school with her new friends!

Crazy Birthday Season

We have officially entered Birthday Season in our family. It started with my cousin, then lovely sister, next my little cousin, then Gina, and finally Me! And really there are more to follow this month too, but we will stop with me for now LOL! I already shared the quilt I made for my Sister. I just LOVE it to pieces :)For my little cousin, Ian, I made a Birthday shirt with the number 12! He LOVED it!

(I am not to sure about this goofy face he is making ;) ).

I am working on some special Melly & Me projects for Gina now. Her Birthday is tomorrow! She is going to be the big 6!!! I can not believe it! Time flies for sure. My birthday is 2 days after hers. Lots of celebrating ahead! I thought I would practice making a Rainbow Cake. It was super easy and so completely yummy! I made the cake according to the box directions, not the diet version (though I could definitely go on a diet LOL)!Here are all of the colors mixed up! Then poured into our star cake pans!And how else would you top a Rainbow cake, but with Rainbow chip icing!!! YUM YUM!

I thought the cake would not be as bright, because my batter looked lighter, but it was soooo bright and deep vivid colors. Everyone LOVED it :)

Meet our New Family and their New Digs.

Gina loves "Arts and Crafts" (as she calls it). Kerry has not been working for the past month at his primary job, so we decided to take advantage of him. He gets to play with Adler while G and I do projects. Before Christmas I had bought some wooden peg people to maybe make for gifts. Well time completely got away from me and this was a project I put off. Good thing, because Gina loved painting these.

She had big plans for these people. I am second from left :) For the house we used an unfinished wood CD holder from Michael's (I had this for a Christmas gift too, yet another project that didn't get done).Gina's own bedroom is a very muted version of her dollhouse room. Purple with blue polka dots. She painted the walls, I added the dots. The downstairs she insisted be blue with red roses. It is lovely. Again she painted the walls, then she painted the red blobs for the roses and I outlined them in pink.She chose the color for the outside of the house too. Although I swayed her decision of painting the window panes green. And here we are! Adler, Gina, Mom, and Dad :) I love them! She did a fantastic job, don't you think?

We have furniture to sew still, so more to come.

My Baby is ONE!

Adler turned one today! The time has seriously flown by!We had a Moose A. Moose and Zee D. Bird birthday party for him yesterday. It was so much fun! Noggin.com had tons of great printables and ideas on their website. (This pic is terrible! I forgot to get pictures of this stuff until after the party.) These are some goodies bags. I printed the images noggin provided on sticker paper and used them to seal the bags. I also used a Moose sticker for a sparkly centerpiece on the cupcake tray (all of the cupcakes were gone when I remembered to take this picture).
I printed out a Moose on fabric and appliqued it to his onesie, along with a green polka dotted #1. It turned out so cute! I can't believe I don't have a better pic of it.

Here is the special Birthday Cake! I made a Moose cake and Zee cupcake! I was overwhelmed at first by this, but it really wasn't hard at all. Noggin had great step by step directions. I really can't believe he is one already. Time goes by so fast when you're having fun I guess :)

Happy Halloween!

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween! We enjoyed our trip to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday. They only had a few left. It was a beautiful day though. The Pumpkin Patch is always a great time.

Tonight we gathered with family and friends in my sister's neighborhood for a hayride and trick-or-treating! There are always chili dogs and Rockband too! I have so many pics I want to share. I need to put a better one on of Gina's costume. She was a Skully princess. I made her crown, cape, skirt, and scepter! Everyone loved it!

Twelve Years Ago Today!

My husband and I were married twelve years ago today! We were so young. I just turned 22 and Kerry turned 22 a month after we were married (yes I am older and wiser LOL). It was a beautiful day 12 years ago, and the weather proved to be just as lovely here today. We spent the afternoon at the park. I think we look even happier 12 years later, don't you?

Sucker.

Adler's first sucker! It's love.

* He was having a rather destructive day. Notice the shredded Ottobre magazine in the background :( *

Vent on Life.

Life has been a little crazy around here. The economy is taking a huge bite out of our lives. My husband just got a second job. He thinks I should stay home with the kids. We discussed this prior to having kids. I would stop working and take care of them, but we never thought that would mean he would have to get another job! I am very proud of him for stepping up and allowing me the joy of being with the kids all day. I am also very thankful to have a husband that sees the value in parents raising their children. However, I sometimes worry if it is enough. I may have to go back to work. Times are hard. We live in new construction and currently our air conditioner is broken! Our old house was over 40 years old and the air conditioner never went out on us! It is storming outside right now and I am waiting for the service center to open to see how quickly they can fix the air. The storm is supposed to bring in cooler air, so that is a plus. I don't mean to be so negative, because all in all we are truly blessed! I have two healthy children (and was told I wouldn't have any), I have a husband that loves me and values me, and I have a great extended family. Times always get better, it's just weathering the storm. God has been good and I have faith things will turn around for us soon. Thanks for the vent this morning :)

My Sweet Girl turns 5!!!

I can't believe it! My Gina Beana turns 5 tomorrow! Where has the time gone? We had a party for her on Saturday. It was at 9 in the morning! What was I thinking? It was a blast! It was a smaller party, because it was so early on a Saturday.
We had it at Jump 4 Fun! One of those big bounce house places. The kids all had a blast, and the parents were grateful to have the rest of their Saturday to do whatever they wanted.
She had her core group of friends that she really wanted to come in attendance, so all was great! Her BFF, as they like to say, is the adorable little girl on her left. Gina had a great day! It was so wonderful to watch her play with all of her friends. I feel truly blessed to have such an amazing little girl!
*Oh adorable # 5 shirt made by me :) Gina picked the crazy rainbow fabric out years ago. I always wondered what I would do with it. I really like the way it turned out and so did she!

Adler is mobile

Of course he had to bring his bunny with him :) Oh and when his sister came down and saw pictures were being taken she just had to jump in!

It was another Great Fourth!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Fourth as much as we did! We started with the traditional Parade. Our town still has a small town feel, but is growing to a large town quickly. We stood in the same spot we have for the past three years. It was a beautiful day. The weather could not have been nicer.
We went home, had lunch, and let Adler get his nap. Then Gina and I headed over to the party! We lived with my sister while our house was being built, three years ago, and we were adopted by her court as neighbors. They have included us in everything ever since. It is great! Our neighbors aren't in the same phase of life as we are (most are retired) so Gina has a blast with all of the kids here.
Adler enjoyed his first ever BOMB POP!
Then a tuckered out little boy and his Daddy headed home, before the fireworks! Adler loves a routine!
He is pretty fond of his Daddy too! *Oh I made Gina's dress for her to wear 2 years ago, she wore it then, and it still fits! Yeah!

Mother's Day Gifts :)

I had to wait to post this until after Mother's Day. These are the gifts I made for the special Mother's in my life.

For my wonderful sister, who is not my mother but acts like it (LOL), I made this adorable bag. It is a slightly modified version of Amy Karol's pleated bag. I took a picture of her boys and put them on one side. The denim on the bag is from a pair of my capris I didn't care for. I used the pocket on the other side of the bag.
I also made this cute fabric flower pin. Finally a no cash wallet from Amy Karol's book. I filled the purse with her favorite juice and cookies.
For my Mom, my sister and I put together a pedicure basket. A ped egg, nail polish, nail stickers, and cuticle salve. I made her a fabric flower brooch. The bottom box is full of our home movies. My sister took all of the Vhs movies and transferred them to dvd. It was a good mother's day.