Playing catch up...

I feel like I've been a day late and a dollar short for a while now, but especially for the last few months.  I have just spent some time reorganizing my files and uploading pictures from my camera and then organizing those.  So, I should be posting more in the coming days of what life has been like around here, some new projects I'm working on, and projects I've finished along with a few dashes of inspiration.

So, in an effort to get started with all this, I'm going to start with the beginning of this years birthday season.  My son turned 8 this year and wanted to be baptized as much as we wanted him to be, too.  Here's a picture of him all dressed in white...

And for his birthday this year we all got terribly sick!  It was awful!  But somehow, I managed to make him a cake.  It wasn't as fantastic as I'm sure he had imagined, but I think it turned out okay.  What do you think?

The transformer face was done in royal icing.  I think he turned out okay for my first attempt at royal frosting images.  I should have probably done him a full week ahead.  I gave him two days to dry and he was still pretty pliable.  If you'd like some more information on how I created this image, click here.  Marian does amazing work and I would love to create sweets as wonderful as she does!

I hope your days are as inspired as mine have been!

That's intrinsting...

Ashton has this quirk. He likes to ask me questions, but then frequently will answer them before I get the chance to do it. Today, I was in the kitchen and feeling kinda sluggish when he started pummeling me with all kinds of questions. He asked me about what I was making and my mouth opened and all that came out was a mumbled grunt. He then answered his own question using his classic, "you mean..." and then he says, "Mom, I just took the words out of your lips!" (BTW: intrinsting is how he pronounces interesting) I love that boy! He can always brighten my day which I totally needed.

Jenna is 4 years older than Shiloh. So, I had completely gotten out of the habit of living with a toddler and I think Shiloh knows it! Today, she climbed on the dinning table, where Ashton was painting glow-in-the-dark fangs on his latest sock creature. She grabbed the little fella and stuffs him face first in her mouth, freshly painted fangs and all. She spit him out and threw him down and bawls and spits and coughs and chokes. I run. I get her cleaned up and give her some love and send her on her way. I turn my attention to the sock creature. While I perform surgery to repair the fangs....SHILOH runs into the living room and standing on tip toes, reaches up and gets the acrylic paint that I had just poured out to paint my latest art piece. Grabs the brush dips it in the cobalt blue paint and begins painting the front of the fireplace! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!?

I'm glad Randall came home a few minutes ago. I need some sort of distraction...some adult conversation.

Tee Shirt Refashion

I've finished all the shirts that I got from the put-n-take for Shiloh. But, my daughter has turned into an elusive nudist and I could only photograph 1 of the dresses on her. She's at that stage when she fully believes that running naked is the only way to go. I can't say that I blame her, if I could I'd be doing the same thing... The other day she pooped in her diaper and took it off sat on the floor and started playing in it and Randall caught her just before she got to lick it off her hands. AUGHHH! Any who, here she is in her new purple dress.
I'm totally digging the flower. It completely makes is sing for me! It's hard to get a non blurry picture of this child! I think I need to fiddle with the settings on my camera. I thought the picture of Ash and Shi was so cute I couldn't resist taking like fifty! Shiloh hero-worships Ashton (Ahhh in Shiloh speak) and Jenna (Ya-ya in Shiloh speak).

Springs

We took the kids to Ponce De Leon Springs yesterday. It was really fun. We meet some friends there and spent the afternoon, rain storm and all at the springs. Toward the end of the day, some of the kids there had found some crayfish and Ashton was beyond excited to tell me all about it. He said, "Mom, they have Crawtatters! They have Crawtatters! There's three big ones and a bunch of little ones! You need to see them! I'll even hold Shiloh so you can go see them! You've just got to see these crawtatters!" It made me laugh so hard! And it made me remember that when Ashton was about 1.5 years old, Randall was eating Craw-Tatters (they are spicy potatoe chips). Not thinking, he just handed one to Ash and he shoved it in his mouth and screamed for the longest time about it. I love my family.....

It’s like a honeymoon only they call it dating…

Okay, so Randall and I have made it a goal of ours to make sure to spend extra time with the kids. Once Shiloh came into our lives, we quickly realized it was necessary to help them adjust to our growing family. So, once or twice a month, we have a day that is a daddy daughter day and mother son day. Yesterday was that day. We used to treat the kids to Sonic or McDonald’s but, let face it. It can get expensive and it’s totally unhealthy. SO, today Ashton and I planned to have a pick nick at the park and Randall and Jenna planned to go bike riding. I packed a lunch for us and we headed in town to the “big park by the church“. Well, poop, it started raining. We decided to park in the parking lot and eat our pick nick in the car. It’s always a barrel of fun to listen to Ashton talk about whatever comes to mind. Today was really fun!

Okay, we’re eating and he says, ‘Mom, I know what usually happens when boys and girls go on pick nicks.’ ‘Oh, yeah?’ I say. ‘Yeah. Usually they sit and the boy says, I love you. Then the girl says, I love you, too. And then as the sun sets, they kiss. It’s like they are on their honeymoon, only they call it dating. Dating is just the same as a honeymoon, but a date is short and the honeymoon lasts a long time.’

It’s so cute and innocent and funny to listen to what he thinks about love. By the way, he calls our outings our date night.

But, our conversation doesn’t end there. He told me all the memories he had of playing on all the equipment with different people. He has so many memories and it takes him quite a while to tell me all of them and then he says, “And that’s my life so far. Well, ya know when I was four.”

Ashton is a talker and he’s always got a story for every occasion. It makes life so fun to see these beautiful babies growing up and learning so many things. I feel so blessed!

Smile!

Shiloh has a new thing that she does. Whenever you say smile, she does this:










She's super cute about it. And I think it's totally funny that she does it on command! She also loves to laugh when anyone else does, too! She's a source of a lot of laughter and happiness in our home...

I finished the invitations for New Beginnings. I mentioned before that we are holding ours on Valentines with the theme Fearless Heart. I'm super excited about and I took a picture of the invites. The photo I created in Photoshop and then I pasted it on scrapbook paper. On the back I added the info for the night. Here's what it looks like:


The word art over the silhouette says, "Fearless Heart: Be Strong and of a Good Courage"

I just love it and I'm going to frame mine and put it on my fridge so I can see it everyday.

Ash is Super!

I just finished a project with one of our new products! I super excited about it! It's our new swatch book. I'll be keeping this bad boy in my purse to show off whenever I can. And yes, I'm one of "those" mothers... Look!

Around the dinner table:

Jenna: Mom, could you pass me some cheese pizza?

Mom: Yeah...

Jenna: Oh! Yeah, give it to the big boss!
Ashton: -beat boxing in the background-

Jenna: give it to the big boss! give it to the big boss

Mom and Dad: -tearful laughter-

I'm thinking that we should start video taping our dinner conversations. They are truly one of a kind!

If you want to feel good...

...see your hairdresser. On Friday I went in to get a new do. The girl next to Mandy (my hairdresser) kept looking at my hair and saying it looks so silky. And Mandy said, "Yep, her hair has always been that way and it feels that way, too." Then the other girl feels my hair and says, "OOhhh! That does feel silky!" Huh. I didn't know that! Really, I just have always thought of my hair as less than fabulous because it's terribly fine and difficult to style for me. So, for years I sat around thinking of my hair as ho hum and blah and I really should have been thinking of it as silk.



This is my hair before.













This is my hair now! I love it! I think Randall was so shocked when he first saw it that all he could say was, "Well, at least you didn't go as short as I thought you were." I had teased him that I was going to cut it as short as Alissa Milano's shortest do. (About 1") He was appalled that I would even think of it. Most people are so attatched to their hair that the idea of having it short makes them sick, but to me, it's just hair. It won't change your character if you cut of a few locks. So, what do you think?

Words: Take 2

"Mama,"

"Yes, Jenna,"

"I love you! You're as beautiful as a summer blossom!"

That's just what I needed to hear today. I think it's amazing how kids just seem to know just what to say to keep you going when you need it the most. After an evening of contractions that were five minutes apart, but not strong enough to keep labor progressing, I was sent home from the hospital to labor at home. I'm feeling worn out now. I continued to have contractions for awhile after I got home and some this morning, but they had stopped by this afternoon. Now they've started again, but there slow. So all this to say, I love my children. They have brought me so much joy, especially at moments when I thought I couldn't take even one more step forward. I know that I'll have even more with another little one here to share our hearts, home and love. (Shiloh, any time you're ready, we want you to come out and see us.)

Babbling

At dinner:

Jenna: "Mom, I love shrimp! What's it made out of?"

Me: "Shrimp"

Jenna: "Shrimp is made out of Shrimp?!?!?!"

Me: "Yes, honey. Shrimp is a kind of animal you find in the water."

Jenna: "EEEEWWWW! That's gross! And we're eating it?" and she shovels another bite in her mouth. "Is shrimp, lobster?"

Me: "No."

Jenna: "Oh, good. I like shrimp."

Ashton and Jenna are fascinated by the falling shows: Dirty Jobs, Will Work for Food, Survivor Man, Man vs. Wild, Food Detectives. Needless to say, there is always something interesting to hear and say in our little three ring circus each day.

What the…?

It seems kids will pick up things from anywhere and at any time. Jenna's new thing is saying, "What the…?" to everything. Sometimes it's almost comical and others it's wearing. Ashton and Jenna have both been stuck on a certain Chipmunk song that I've never even heard. Apparently, their uncle Chris has a tape that he listens to and they heard it and love it. So now it's all Randall and I can do to not go insane when we hear, "Hey, Alvin do you want a banana? All I want is a Japanese banana…." I'm sure that the lyrics are coming out somewhat altered from the original as only a 6 and 3 year old can.

To totally change the subject, have you seen Madagascar 2? Well, Jenna earned enough money by saving from birthdays and Christmas to buy it the other day. Needless to say, the kids were eager to do almost any chore for a solid week in order to earn enough tokens to watch that movie several times…REPEATEDLY. There is this one part in the movie where Gloria, the hippo, is dancing with her potential mate, Moto-Moto. She asks him what it is that he likes about her (typical female curiosity) and he says, "Girl, you so plumpy." I've had that stuck in my head just as bad as the kids and their chipmunk song. And now, that I'm in that final inning stretch before the birth of Shiloh, I'm feeling quite clumsy and voluminous. So, every time that Randall tells me that I look hot or pretty or beautiful, it's all I can do not to say, "Girl, you so plumpy."

Words have power…