I'm In

The store opens this Friday! I'm so excited. I'v had a lot of positive feedback!

Here is my booth. We built the table out of old wood pallets and a futon frame someone was throwing away. Awesome! I love how it turned out! I also added shutters to the sides of it!

So, here's the top half. I've got 12 more dresses to fit in there! We'll see if they'll fit.

the flower clips hanging on the shutters.

and, the bottom half. I have more things to add, but this is what it is so far.

Here are my tags! Aren't they cute?

My sign will be up Wednesday and then with a few last minute changes, I will be ready! I'm anxious and excited to see how I do. It's been a busy month and I'm ready for it to pay off. I'll keep you all updated!

Halloween

We had a great Hallow-weekend! Friday night we went downtown to trick or treat all the local businesses. That was crazy busy! But still fun. Afterwards we went out to dinner with our good friends, the Nelsons. When we got home, Ryan hid Grey's candy bag from me. Grrr! I searched all over....I would randomly see him eating a butterfinger or some other treat. Not fair! No worries though, I finally found it.

Saturday we skipped out on the Halloween party in Abq and just stayed home and watched scary movies and did our own thing. That always seem to be more fun anyways!

Halloween night we went trick or treating to some of our friends here in Los Alamos and then headed to White Rock to trick or treat with the Nelsons. It was so fun going door to door. Grey just loved it! She said "trick or treat" so cute. She asked if we could go again today!

We got WAY to much candy. It should last us through this week....HA!!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween too!

Enjoy....

Our night started out like this. She was a little tired, but her mood changed once we started to get candy!

Her friend Brian, the policeman

She loved bein a Giraffe. We asked her what Giraffe's say...she said....RAAARR!

Stopping to graze....haha!

and do giraffe things.

New family picture? I think so!

The Grey Owl

So, incase you haven't already heard, I'm opening up my very own booth at the new store here in Los Alamos. "The Crop Around the Corner" will be opening it's doors the first week of November. I am so excited to be a part of this, much needed, craft store up here. I will be selling a few dresses, mostly skirts, home decor crafts and seasonal crafts. I will also be trying something new and making flower clips to sell, along with crochet hats. That sounds like a lot of work, huh?! I hope I know what I'm doing and what I'm getting myself into. I will have a great support system, Ryan! And he will be right there to help me through this! (I've already made sure he knows that.)

My booth name is "the Grey Owl." Cute, eh? I think so. My inspiration for all my little girly stuff has always been Grey and my recent obsession is owls, so I couldn't have picked a better name.

I will try to keep this blog updated, I'm already behind on that. I can't promise anything though. I've got my work cut out for me this month. I've already told Grey she will be watching a lot of movies this month! I'm very excited for this new adventure. So, wish me luck!

It's about to get crazy up in here!

Trust me...this isn't all of it!

Here I go!

School

Grey is obsessed with school!

We recently started an at home preschool group with some other moms and their kids in the community. It has been really fun. We meet twice a week, Wednesdays for the school lesson and Friday's for the review and field trip. For the letter "A" we went on a tour to the Los Alamos Airport. So cool! For the letter "B" we went to the Bakery. That was really fun and yummy! It has been really good for Grey to have the interaction with adults and kids and, of course, learning her ABC's.

Now, all she wants to do is play school. It's really fun though. I like being the teacher. Grey's favorite games now are "learning games." I can't complain about that.

Grey is very upset that she can't ride the school bus. She asks everyday when it is coming and she tells my goodbye. I asked her what she would do if I really put her on the bus and it drove away. She thought for a moment and then said, "you can come with me!"

We had a funny conversation one day:

Mommy, get your backpack on. The school bus is coming

Me: Well, I don't have a backpack.

Do you have a purse?

Yes.

Get it! Daddy, get your backpack!

Ryan: I don't have a backpack either.

Do you have a purse?

Ryan: No.

.........(Grey's thinking).........

Well, what do you have?.......come on mom, lets go on the school bus.

Too bad for Ryan, he didn't get to go on the school bus, because he didn't have a bag. :(

I'm so glad Grey has a while before she actually rides away on the school bus. What a sad and exciting day that will be though. For now, we will just pretend.

I'm Back

Hi all!

So, it's been a while since my last post.

Oops!

We've just had a busy/fun summer and I've tried numerous times to upload some photos and it's not working. Ugh. So I just thought I'd let you all know that I am still here and we are doing fine.

Keep watching for those pictures!

We are so glad that fall is in the air. As much as I love Summer, Fall is, by far, my favorite season. I especially love all the decorating and crafts that come along with this beautiful season. I'm trying to hold out until the end of September to get out my fall decor. We'll see if that works.

So in recent news:

we got the ok to paint our house. We started painting the next day!

That's how anxious we were.

(or maybe it was just me.)

I love the color we chose and it makes such a huge difference to have some color on the walls. I think for our first time, we did a pretty good job. Now I just need to figure out how not to hurt my back. I could barely move the next morning.

Yikes!

Not good.

Ugh. I'm getting old.

Not really, but I felt old the other day when my new friends in the ward came over and we were all asking each other's ages.

I was the oldest.

Nice!....

Thats ok.

I'll be the big sister of the group.

They were so surprised at how old I was.

I didn't know if that was good or bad.......?

Does it mean they think I'm immature, or do I look young?

hmmmm

Oh well.

So Grey is potty trained!

She asked me where the train was....LOL!

I thought that was cute.

It was the rewards that finally worked for her.

She got a princess purse out of it and many other things.

But, it worked.

Now she likes to tell us what her poop looks like.

Too much information?

Sorry, but she does.

I hope that doesn't last long.

I'd like to be able to eat bananas again...

We got a kitten.

Calico

Female

We haven't named her yet

Grey can't decide between cocoa, cracker, and zoe

What would you choose?

We love Los Alamos!

We are comfortable here for now.

Come visit us and see our cute town!

I hope you are all doing well. I will post pictures as soon as my computer allows me too. Happy Fall!

Something I'd like to share

~Job 1:21 'the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'


As most of you know, I was 12 weeks pregnant just last week. I was just about in the "safe zone" as far as miscarriages go, but that did not end up being the case for me. I lost my precious 12 week, unborn baby.


It all started Friday, June 4th. The day we moved to Los Alamos. Coincidence? I don't know. We don't have any answers as to why this happened, except that this baby was just not meant to be here with us, in this life. Not an easy thing to comprehend. June 5th, I saw my tiny baby on the ultrasound screen, with a beating heart. A strong beating heart. I felt relieved, but at the same time I still felt sadness. Somehow I knew, in my heart, what was going to happen with this baby. I had 4 days to prepare myself for the news. A long, painful, emotional 4 days. June 9th...no heartbeat. Sadness fell upon me again. And it fell on Ryan as well. All the emotions hit me one by one. Anger, jealousy, sadness, asking "why me," or what if I did this instead of that. It's something that is so hard to understand, but I know that someday I will.


As I sat there last week dealing with my emotions and all the pain as well, (there was quite a bit of physical pain) I was hit pretty hard with one realization....I have one beautiful baby right in front of me. One little miracle named Grey..... That I was ignoring, because I was dwelling on something I couldn't have. I know it will take time for me to deal with this loss, but I will NOT let it get in the way of me being a great mother to Grey. She is here now and she needs me.


We will have more babies. We can't wait for the day when we do. It will just be a longer road for us. That's ok.


I am so grateful for my family and friends that kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We are so blessed to have so many people that love us. We love you all!

Projects Galore!

We have a lot of projects going on in our garage right now. I Love It!! We (I) decided we better finish things up while we still have a nice garage to work in.

First things first, Grey's new bed. Here it is before...

After.... We painted it antique white. I can't wait to set it up.

Okay, I need some inspiration from you all. What should I do with this shutter? It's so cute, but I just can't decide what to use it for. Also the HUGE cork board I found at a thrift store and the small window. I just don't know what to use them for. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I've also finished my other yellow chair and I'm working on refinishing an old coffee table I found at goodwill for $5. I just love buying old stuff and doing what I want to it.

After a long week of all of this, tomorrow we are headed to Phoenix for a weekend vacation! I'm so excited to see Jamia and her family and Erin and her family! Fun times ahead!

I hope you all enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!

Happy Day!

I think I can survive the summer now.

Gotta love craigslist!

News!

Hello everyone! It's been a while. Yes, I know, but I finally have some news to share. Most of you already know this, I'm pregnant! Yay, Finally! After 6 months of waiting, I'm finally pregnant and couldn't be happier. My due date is Dec. 20th. I would say I can't wait, but, in all reality, I can and I have too. I am very excited for this baby, but I'm also glad I have about 7 months to prepare for another child. I started out feeling very sick and now I feel great! As long as I eat every 2-3 hrs, I'm good. That's a lot, I know, but I have an excuse. I need to start taking belly pics because I already have a little pouch. I love it!!

In other news, we are moving. Okay, I know you hear this from us A LOT, but this time, it's just a short move and it's for the better. We found a cute little place up in Los Alamos, closer to Ryan's work and it will save us some money. I'm very excited about this move. Everything about it will be good for us. And....I can actually decorate in this place. If you know me, you know I love to decorate and in our current place I haven't been able to put one hole in the wall and it's killin me. So, ya, I'm excited! I will definitely post pics!

Everyone is doin great here! Ryan is busy with work. He finally had a Friday off. I love when he gets 3 day weekends. He loves taking his bike out. That's his little getaway.

I am still babysitting twice a week, sometimes more. I have decided to take a break with all my sewing projects. I have to do that every once in a while so I can't ever get sick of it.

Grey is growing up so fast. The other day she had her hair in pigtails and she had her backpack on, she looked like she was headed off to school. I'm glad I still have a couple years with her before that day comes. She loves to dance and she is very good at it. Last weekend we went to a bbq and then we played rockband with our friends and as we were all playing, Grey was up in front dancing away. It was sooo cute. She was not afraid to show her moves in front of all those people. Her new saying is "hey guys." It's the cutest thing ever! I'm sure she got it from me. I say that all the time. She thinks it's so funny to call daddy a princess. She has the cutest giggle! She is dying to go to the beach. We'll have to go sometime this summer.

It will be fun to see how Grey reacts to the new baby. I know she's gonna love him/her.

I hope you are all having a great spring/summer. We are so glad for the warm weather here in New Mexico. It really lifts our spirits to see the green trees and feel the warmth of the sun. We often spend our afternoons on the back porch eating popsicles and making puddles to splash in. Grey loves to splash! Okay, so do I...

Get into gear!

I have been so lazy ALL week! I have finished 2 and started 1 book this week, completely let potty training go out the window, we had like 4 "eat whatever you want" nights, I have worn a pony tail every day, the house is a disaster, the bathrooms need cleaned..........the list just goes on.

I know I'm probably being hard on myself, but I usually like to keep everything under control. But, for some reason this past week I have just let it all go.

So, starting tomorrow, the house is getting cleaned, including the bathrooms, laundry will get done, Grey will have no accidents, (I don't understand why it has taken me so long to potty train! ugh) and I will start being productive again. I can't say I will put my books down, because that seems to be my escape lately. I will probably still wear a pony tail......my hair needs cut and colored real bad, but I don't know where to go and with a wedding coming up, I can't have my hair a disaster! I need to just pick a place and go and cross my fingers.

On the brighter side of things, Ryan bought me a hammock! I love love love it!!!

I like to sit in it at an angle, otherwise I feel like I'm in a cocoon.

It holds all 3 of us too!

I doubt that will help with my much needed motivation this week, but I can give myself 30 minutes.....or more.

I have also been drinking more water! I do feel a lot better choosing water, but now that I think of it,

isn't water supposed to give you more energy?

And here I am saying I had a lazy week?

Just sayin...

Sigh....So, tune in to see how my progress will be this week. I just really needed to vent to all of you listening, I'm sure we all have days/weeks like this one, but for some reason I was really feeling bad for my laziness. So,

Monday Morning, watch out!!

A little of Grey

It's been a while since I've let ya'll know what Grey is up too. She is a busy little 2 year old and quite the chatterbox for Ryan and I. She says some of the funniest things. I'm gonna have to start writing them all down.

We are trying to teach her how to use the words "you" and "me." She always just says her name, which is great, but we just thought she should know these words as well. So today I was showing her pictures of when she was a baby. I would say, "Grey, this is you." She'd say, "Ya! You!" haha "No, you say that's me." Grey- "Oh it's Mommy?" sigh......I think I'm confusing her.

Grey is our spokesperson in the house. Whatever we do....or say...she's right there to announce it. Yikes!

She loves to give hugs! But she does not call them hugs, she calls them "oooooohhhhhh." (the sound you make when giving a hug or when you see something cute is the best way to describe it.) So stinkin sweet!!

Grey LOVES daddy!! She cheers for him when he does things, she chants his name, she runs to the door when he comes home and jabbers to him outside the bathroom door. She just loves everything about daddy. (ya, I'm a little jealous) So the other day Ryan was longboarding and and Grey was riding her bike (they were inside) and Ryan was bein silly and pretending he was gonna fall and waving his arms around......so what does Grey do?.....She raises her arms and her handle bars turn and she hits the floor. It was one of those "you had to be there" moments, but it was pretty funny. Just today she tried doin no hands again and she biffed it again. Oh dear!

We have started giving "time outs" to Grey when she is naughty. She has to sit in her chair and wait a certain amount of time. We usually put a little clock next to her so we can tell her when her time's up. So, the other day she was acting up and before we even mentioned time out, she went and got the clock and put it next to her chair. I think she knew what was coming. hahaha. Doesn't really work when they start getting smart with you.

When Ryan is home Grey sits on the floor on her blanket and says "pull me." Reminds me of my childhood days. :)

Grey is always making sure we are all Happy. She will ask me randomly throughout the day, "mommy, are you happy?" then she asks if daddy is and so on. lol

She loves her "tails" a.k.a pig tails.

She is so polite and says excuse me all the time and says "bless you" when anyone sneezes.

She calls hiccups, "hee-hups" or sometimes just "hups"

She has the cutest little voice and I love the way she talks!

The other day she wanted her name to be "cocoa"

We are at the "watch this" stage

Ask Grey what she wants to eat and I guarantee she will say cheese, sometimes she thinks about it for a bit longer, but still replies, cheese!

Grey's cute vocabulary

geek = drink

ups = wipes

dups = diaper

outsass = outside (that one is my favorite)

toot = cute

watch = tv

beep = burp

did a do = what did it do?

achee dachee dachee dachee = she says this same thing when she is pretending to read fast

Obviously there is much more, but those are just a few of our favorites.

Oh wow, I could go on and on. I just can't get over how quickly Grey has grown up. She is the light of our lives and we couldn't be happier! I will definitely keep adding to the list of cute things she says. Stay tuned!

Old to New

Remember those old chairs I said I would work my magic on? Well, here they are! One of them, atleast.....

What do ya think?

No, I didn't make these cushions. I wish! I think they fit perfectly with the yellow chair.

The warm weather today helped with my motivation to finish them up. I painted outside in the sun. It was so nice. I hope you enjoyed looking!

Feels Good

So today while Grey was playing in her BINS of toys, I decided I would organize them back in to their original groups. I've been meaning to do this for a while now and I just kept putting it off. But once I started, it wasn't as bad as I thought. So, now all the coins, farm animals, puzzle pieces, cookie shapes, blocks, doll clothes (including socks and shoes, why do they make socks for little dolls? ugh) and the ponies are all back in there place......for now anyways. In a few days I'm sure they will be messed up again, but right now I feel so good about my productivity today! Awwwwww.

Grey's Easter Outfit

Okay, so this year for Easter I decided to make Grey's dress since that's what I do lately. I bought the purple leggins at Naartjie and then made the top to match. I absolutely love it! And....I didn't follow a pattern! Yep, this is my very own creation. It's a little rough in parts, but only I would be able to see that. (well, i actually cut out the bodice from a pattern cause I couldn't seem to get the right size on my own. but, I'm still taking full credit.)

the full outfit

I shirred the sleeves and the center of the back.

I was planning on shirring the whole width of the sleeve, but as I was goin along, I thought it would be cute to only go 3/4 of the way and then the sleeves would have a little "flare." What do ya think?

I made this little "thing" (not sure what to call it yet) for the center of the bodice. It's pretty much just a jumble of fabric. What are your opinions on it?

Here is my cutie! She just pulled her "tails" out, but she still looks so adorable. I'm trying to put together two little bows to put in her hair. So far....not so good.

Let me know what you think of my creation. Thanks for looking!

More Sewing

Halter Dresses.
I made these for a girl back home that has 2 little girls. I think they will look so cute in these matching dresses!




I've had these scraps of fabric in a sack for quite a while. I decided to use them up and make something fun. I didn't use a pattern, I just sewed up a bunch of pieces into a long strip and put a band of fabric along the bottom.


I love the way it turned out. It's so cute on Grey! (or as I told Julie, it's a cute really skirt. I can't talk today)


I'm thinking I'll get a white t-shirt and put some of those fabric flowers on it. But, I have to learn to make them first!

Pig Tails

We can finally get little tiny pig tails in! Yay!! I couldn't get a good front shot of her, so they are hard to see, but she looked so cute. She had a little more "spunk" that day. I think it was the tails!






Such an exciting day for us!!! Silly, I know.....but true.

Little Girls are SOOO much FUN!

What is she looking at?


Her little painted toes! I love doing girly things with Grey. It's so fun!! Just thought I'd share her cute lil toes with you!!

Miniature Bowling

Last weekend we went to a place called ITZ. It's like Chuckie Cheese, but better. So we ate pizza and then headed off to play in the arcade. It was a lot of fun. Grey rode the bumper cars with us, and then she rode on a little train with me, which I have to say was a lot faster than I was expecting. She played lots of games, as we all did. We had a blast. They also have a "little" bowling alley for kids to play. It was the cutest thing. Everything was miniature. She loved it. This video is of her on her second game. I wish I would have videoed her first game where she was more excited. Oh well, this one is funny. Enjoy!!

Dresses, Dresses and more Dresses!

I have been so busy sewing this past week, it's crazy. But, I love it!! Here are some that I made and a couple of these I made 2 of. Can you tell I have a thing for the yellow and green?!


All of these dresses were made for other people, but if they happen to be Grey's size, I let her twirl around in them for a bit. She loves it!


This one was a 6-12 month. It was so little and so cute.




This one is also a 6-12 month. I love making the itty bitty ones! This one is also the halter dress, so the straps on top will go around the little ones neck and then tie in the back. I made one of these in Grey's size too. It was just too cute to make just one!



This one I made for Elly for her birthday. I thought it would make a cute Easter dress. I made another one of these as well. (not for Grey though)

I have a few more spring dresses on the way. I just can't get enough of little dresses lately! Hope you enjoyed looking!

Sleeping and Eating

On our drive home from Albuquerque this weekend Grey had fallen asleep eating her cereal snack, a little while later I could hear her eating again so I turned to see if she was awake. She was not awake, but she had started eating her cereal again. We thought it was pretty funny and ended up getting it on video. Enjoy!!

$$$$$$

Do you ever find money in your couch? We do! This is Grey's most recent obsession. Money!! She can't stand to leave it in her piggy bank, she hauls it all over the house transferring it from purse to purse. Now she's begun to hide it everywhere. All I have to say is.....finders keepers!!

A LITTLE Hike?

Our house is in the perfect spot. We live right on the edge of a canyon, it's just beautiful! Well, we've always wondered what was down in the canyon, so today we ventured out, tennis shoes and all, to explore our surroundings.

I just thought of this as I started to write, but we went out our front door when we left......? Why? Who knows...Anyway so we had to climb over the wire fence to start out, that was a little difficult, but we made it. The hike started out being very mellow. A little hill here and there.

Stopping for a pic

Grey loved being outside.

Then we ran into a little problem, or should I say Grey did. Notice the small stick bush thing. Instead of walking around it Grey chose to go over it and got stuck on it. Silly girl. Making situations harder than need be.

So after this picture the hike got much harder. We (Ryan) decided to take the path less followed. Lets just say there wasn't really much of a path. We had to make our own. We went through tree branches, tall grass that felt like branches, mud, loads of mud. We all fell at least once. I got wacked in the face with a branch. Grey slipped on the only piece of ice out there.

But we had a blast! It was so fun being able to get outside and feel the fresh air.

See what I mean?

Mommy? Do I have too?

Poor Grey got a stick stuck in her hat.

We finally made it to the bottom and it was really cool. I guess there's a river that runs through there, but obviously, it was empty.

Yay! We made it!

Cheese

Wow! You're up so high!

I saw some great views on our little hike.

But I like this one the best!

After we played around in dirt for a while, we decided to start our trek back home. We found a much nicer path to take on our way back. Grey started cheering when she could see our house. She was ready to be home.

Yay! Our house. We are going the right way!

Isn't this the coolest picture! This was on our way back home. I just thought it looked so cool.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about our hike today. If you ever come visit us, we'll take you out there too! Come on...I know you wanna!