Chicken Scratch

I am feeling sort of nostalgic and maybe a little homesick for Utah today. I know the seasons are starting to change there and it made me think of all the things changing there without me. Nieces and nephews getting bigger, little friends in theatrical production like Nutcracker, and my sweet little grandma. She is actually not changing so much right now, she is in a home with dementia, so the changes happened a few years ago. My dad's parents were a huge part of my growing up years. They lived a couple of miles away and we saw them all the time. My grandma was a fairly typical housewife of the 50's and 60's, one of my favorite time periods. She did a lot of the crafts that were popular then. Christmas tree skirts made of pieced felt, crochet, and a little handwork. I actually remember her having the proverbial glass grapes. Remember those? I sorta wish I had rescued them when her house was sold. Anyhow, when we did move her my mom found some of her handwork and knew I would appreciate it. Angry Chicken was talking about chicken scratch on some aprons the other day and it made me think of these.

My grandma made them, I never knew this sort of embroidery was called chicken scratch but I like the name. So I pulled them out the other day and tried them on. I instantly felt a bit more like June Cleaver! I even love that they have a few of my grandmother's stains on them. She really used these and it kind of felt like I had a bit of her here.

Isn't this pretty? There is a green one too, I love the details.

Three of my favorite things. Gingham, rick rack and embroidery!

So I may miss Utah, it will always be home, but at least I have my bits and pieces to keep it with me!

**Thanks for all the dolly love yesterday! I love having this blog to ask for advise on and you guys are always so nice! I am hoping to have some of those girls in the shop tomorrow.

Happy Feet!

I decided today that you know you are a blogger when you find yourself contorting your body so that you can take a picture of your own feet. It is not easy to do! But hey, I found really cute shoes today and my natural reaction is to show you all!
I found two pairs of cute shoes today at Walmart of all places. They probably won't last for years and years but that is okay because I tend to get tired of shoes after awhile.
I love these sort of Mary Jane shoes. I think they will be great with jeans this fall.

These were on clearance because they think summer is over, but not here. I will probably be able to wear these until at least Halloween.

I had to show you the new thing I tried with my dolls too. I have a hard time finding black wool felt around here so I decided to try corduroy. I appliqued all the edges so it won't fray and I think I like it. What do you think? I am hoping to have a batch of girls in the shop by the end of the week.

My Fairy Wand!

Look at my gorgeous Fairy Wand!
I joined Bella-Enchanted Fairy wand swap and my package came last week. If you are a swapper you know that occasionally you receive a package that is so over the top that you feel guilty! I mean there is no way what I sent my partner Sarah was anywhere near as amazing as what she sent me! Even the box it came in was adorable. This is the front, I think it is so pretty it is hard to tell the front from the back!

This is the back, just as pretty!
Plus she lives in the mid-west where there are all sorts of gorgeous old notions and ephemera, look what she sent! Soooo pretty! That is a hand-pieced quilted square there too! I don't know what I am going to make with it but it is going to be good!

And if all that wasn't enough she sent fun packages of Halloween paper, stickers, and little kits for my little chickens! Amazing huh!

Well, it may be for the best that I cannot find the picture I took of the wand I sent Sarah so you cannot judge for yourself. But I hope she likes it, and she should feel really good for making us all so happy. Thanks Sarah!

Sunday Update! Birthdays and Beaches!

It was a really fun week here. A couple of things Joshua learned to do:
After insisting "I paint!" he had his first attempt at water coloring. As you can see it had to be tasted although to be honest I sometimes do that myself by accident. He was pretty good too!

Josh learned to fly. "I flying!" We don't know why, but he had to wear this helmet for a whole afternoon. Guess he is a safety kid.
The party was a big success! As you can see from this action shot of Matthew the kids didn't mind that we had the homemade version of a slip and slide (I couldn't find one anywhere!)
How many kids can you fit in a wading pool?
Blowing out that Speed Racer cake.

And everyone loved catching goldfish in the pool. I am sure they were all dead by morning. Not sure how high I am on the mom's lists now...

Saturday we took off for another little adventure (no, we still aren't getting any work done on the weekends-just fun!). We went to Santa Cruz. Sort of a mini-Jersey Shore beach. I just liked the look and sound of the boardwalk in the background. Luckily the kids were so exhausted from jumping in the surf we got off without having to ride anything.

That is Brittany and Matthew practicing their version of body surfing. You hold hands and let the waves cover you. Sweet and a little scary!

Joshua spent most of the day talking to his cars and sandcastles. I wish I knew what story he was telling them!

The sandcastle that Brittany managed to save from her little brother.

Another good week! Hope yours was too!

We're Havin' a Party!

Not blogging much today. I have been busy getting ready for the much anticipated water birthday party.
Made a bunch of these

Baked this and got it looking good

Went and got these guys. Do you think they look scared? I think I hear a Finding Nemo sort of conversation going on in there!

Wish me luck, now all I need is a shower and some kids!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

This is one of my all time favorite pictures I have ever had taken of my kids! I love that little Matthew curled up like a little bug! Today that boy is so big!


Today is my Matthew's six year old birthday! I can't believe that this beautiful, although hairless and slightly scrawny baby(6lbs 4 oz, my smallest baby) has become such a wonderful, smart, funny lovable boy!

Here he is this morning in his birthday crown. Notice how it had to have just the right tilt. I can' t believe how grown up he seems now. He has this great little man walk he does now, I guess they teach that in first grade, and sometimes he sort of lowers his voice really deep. I can't imagine what it will sound like when he is a teenager. But happily he is still a snuggler and my boy, he lets me give him hugs and kisses. Okay, he lets me give him hugs but wipes off the kisses.

You are such a great kid Matthew and we are so glad you are in our family! Happy Birthday!

The birds have landed!

A flock of little red birds have landed in the Shop. I thought I would try some just as little pendants. I will probably add a couple with chains later.

There are bluebirds too.

Help!

Tomorrow is Matthew's birthday. His party for his friends is on Friday after school. He wants to have a "swim" party. We don't have a real pool. Wading pool, yes but I don't think 8 kids are going to have much fun splashing around in that very long. So I am hoping somebody out there has some good water games. Anything to do with water balloons besides the normal toss? Any game involving water. Do you think the mothers would think I am crazier than they already do if I let them fish like let my kids here? Come on guys, somebody has got to save me!

Okay, so I feel like my posts last week were not my best ever. Want to know the reasons? Well here are three.
First, I somehow let myself sign up for several swaps that all were due about the same time. The good news is that means I should have some awesome mail soon. These are the tags I made for Speckled Egg's birthday tag book swap. There are 21 of these little babies, this is their fronts and backs. She will collect them all and then turn them into little books for us. Neat huh? There were a couple other cute swaps I did but of course I forgot to take pictures of them.



Then I decided to start a few new large dolls. Sorry about the awful picture, they are lined up on my washing machine waiting for me to come work on them before the kidlets get home. I guess the fuzzy picture will help preserve the mystery of what they will look like when they are done.

This book. Okay, I am not sure I liked how into the whole vampire thing I found myself. I am not a vampire-book kind of girl.But there I was, reading till all hours. Finally finished it last night. I have to say it was very satisfying. But like my friend Circe compares it, these books really are like cookie dough. Sort of a guilty pleasure. I would promise to be back in full force now that I finished but Circe also informed me that you can go to this site an read more Twilight goodness. Apparently Ms. Meyers' manuscript in which she was telling the story from Edward's point of view ended up all over the Internet before it was ready to publish. Awful, horrible, stinky people who did that! But the lovely lady decided that instead of making her fans choose between honesty and losing out on the book she would put it on her own site. So now I either have to sit at my computer and read or suck it up and print off the whole thing. Either way I am sure to get sucked in again! (hehe- a little vampire humor!)

Sunday Update, The Great Balloon Adventure!

Would you like to come on a magical adventure with us? Lucky you, you can come on our adventure without getting up at 5:15 in the morning like we did. I'm not sure, that just might be considered child abuse. But it is all worth it when you get to see this:

That is right! Hot air Baaaallloooooooons!
So find a spot right up front where you can see all the action as the great beauties start to come to life! (Yes, Mr. Joshua looked like this most of the morning-really not sure about this!)

If you are careful you can even tromp between them with your dad!

You can even get so close you can feel the heat from the gorgeous fire bringing the balloon to life!

Or you can stick with your tough mom to protect you from the fire-breathing type noises coming from those big beauties.



They slowly start to lift their lovely heads...

Suddenly a bunch of them are bobbing around waiting for lift off!

Oh, my goodness! Watch out for balloons that look like crazy monsters named Gizmo!

Hey, look! He is friends with Hopper T. Frog!



Explanation: Every year since Brittany was a baby our family has gone up into the mountains of Utah on Labor Day weekend and basked in the magic that the hot air balloon festival there creates. It was one of our traditions I missed the most. This year William found one in our new part of the world. Although we were all a bit cranky the rest of the day it was wonderful fun. It really is magical. What to come with us next year?

I am the luckiest girl!

I have the best friends! My childhood friend Tif sent me the greatest surprise today! She is known for two things, especially with my kids. Sending us beautiful loveboxes, and packaging them in irresistible packaging. To my kids this means there will be little surprises and sweet treats in addition to a wonderful lovebox. I usually share the treats so they will agree to a hands-off policy where my loveboxes are concerned.



This is the package we received today! Isn't it darling? Tif know how much I love Halloween and she is kicking things off in great style!




I love the package so much I usually try to put off opening it as long as I can (as long as my kids will let me!) This is this year's Halloween box! I love it! I had to borrow Tif''s picture because I just can't open it yet! Thanks so much Tif! We love it all!



These are the other Halloween boxes Tif has given me. Aren't they amazing? If you are wishing you could start your own collection she has lots to choose from in her shop!

Silent Auction for Nie

Update: My dear sweet friend Jenn is the winning bid! Thank you everybody! This was an amazing experience! I think most people wandering around blog land the last few weeks have heard about the awful accident Stephanie, the author of the NieNieDialogues and her husband Chrisitan were in resulting in a really long stay and recovery in the burn unit. If you haven't you can read about it here.

Okay, so here is my offering for what is being declared by Design Mom Nie day. This is how it works. I am auctioning a set of my nesting dolls, in colors I think Nie would approve of, and one of my bluebird necklaces. Here are the rules.

1. Bidding will start at $10 . If you would like to bid you leave a comment committing an amount. It is sort of like ebay, you can come back and keep bidding should you so desire.

2.The auction will close Friday night at 10 p.m. Whoever bids the highest will win, I will contact them and then they will click on the donate to Nie button on the left over there. Let me know if you need any help. Forward me a copy of the receipt and your address and I will package these cuties up as pretty as I possibly can and off they will go to their new homes!

This is so exciting to be part of such a wonderful effort to help an incredible family who is handling a great challenge with amazing grace. Oh, and be sure and visit Design mom if you haven't already to check out all the great auctions. I know I am going to!

If you have any questions email or leave me a comment, I will do my best to help!

Even if you don't bid today, maybe say an extra little prayer for this precious family. We hope they are all back together really soon!

I love my mailman!

I do really love my mailman, he brings me the nicest treats! Of course it is my lovely friends who are really responsible but he gets the fun of delivering!
I won this gorgeous necklace a little while back from Lori . Isn't it pretty? Some of my favorite things, jewelry, pink sparklies and vintage prints! Thanks so much Lori I love it!

Not only is my childhood friend Circe good at sharing the potato chips that used to be in my school lunch (old story from the fourth grade), but she is great at sharing books! She finished this and wanted to share it and I won the giveaway she hosted to give it away. I have started it now and it seems appropriate to send you to read the classic post she did about another book by the same author here. One of my all-time favorite blog posts ever! Luckily Josh still naps and the other two are in school so hopefully that will help curtail the neglect at our house.

Thanks girls, you are the best!

Back to School!

It was a happy, happy morning! Kids popped out of bed excited to go! That is what happens when you had good teachers last year. Everybody put on their new clothes (would you believe that is the one non-golf type shirt I bought Matthew in a moment of weakness? of course that is what he had to wear) and new backpacks, even Josh.
Happiness is discovering your best friend is in your class!

Matthew's too!

And I only went back and forth between classes for about five minutes checking on them...