DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN? SERIOUSLY?

Yesterday I make a post about how my kids need to be bribed to sit next to each other to take a picture. Literally given candy to sit still long enough for me to snap a frame. After Easter is all said and done, pictures are given out to the grandparents, these pictures fall into my lap.





Here they are - heads touching, smiles flashing, both completely in frame. He isn't petting her or pointing at her. They are just there. Co-exisiting.

I have a feeling this summer there will be a lot more pictures like this. Them together. I can't wait!

THE ART OF TAKING EASTER PICTURES.

Our Easter pictures this year were quite a challenge since Daycen refuses to sit next to his sister for longer than two seconds. Whenever I set him on the couch the sound of loud shrieks echoed through the house.



He just wanted nothing to do with taking pictures this close to baby sister. Except for when we introduced candy to the mix. I offered him a piece if he'd let me take a picture.



Piece after piece. Snap after snap.



They didn't turn out perfect, but they are both in frame! That's good enough for me!

THE BIG FIVE! {has it really been that long?}

Can you believe it?! Sweet Aripsemae is officially FIVE months old. Where in the heck is all this time going? I can't believe how fast babies grow, it seriously seems like yesterday we brought baby sister home.



She is developing quite a personality of her own lately, which brings a little spice to our everyday life. My first was so mellow, & easy going. Ripsi on the other hand is a spitfire, A little firecracker. I'm looking forward to the day she can crawl, however, dreading it all the same.



It's been a wonderful five months, we sure can't wait to experience the next. ♥

EASTER 2011

The morning of Easter hadn't turned out as planned, as Daycen climbed down the steps I announced that the Easter bunny had come! He noticed the bunny prints across the floor and instantly began crying. He hates the Easter Bunny at the mall. So, the thought of him being in our house while he was sleeping must have frightened him. However, once we led him over to the baskets full of goodies his mood changed drastically. The Easter bunny isn't ALL that bad, right?



Our day was filled with sweets, lots of sunshine & consistent bouts of love! There was lots of rushing from one place to another, we were slightly late here & there but it turned out alright. All & all it was a very good holiday for our little family.


It was a very good FIRST Easter for baby Sister.

HAPPY EASTER 2011

GUESS WHO WAS HERE?



I hope everyone has a fabulous Easter with the ones that they love! God bless. ♥

WE EAT A LOT OF EGGS AROUND EASTER.

When you can get a carton of large eggs for .78 cents it is a good day at the grocery store. All winter long it seemed as if we were paying upwards of a 1.50 per carton, & now with the season of dying Easter eggs upon us the stores finally decided to give us a break on the cost of eggs! We've literally been eating them non-stop for the past three weeks. There is about three dozen chilling in our fridge currently - some raw & some boiled. All waiting for the moment we bring them out & crack them open.



Daycen has gotten a bit bored with the same old thing each & every morning. It's either; boiled, scrambled, or fried with a broken yolk. We've even shaped them to give a different appearance. However, he was still unimpressed after day fourteen.

So what does a typical kid do when he is bored with eating?!



Play with it, of course!

Even though eggs is the last thing he'd want to be eating, he was still hungry. Lunch time seems like eternity away - so, playing & eating seemed like a good idea. At least he could pretend it wasn't a by-now half cold chunk of egg.



To be honest, car driving eggs are much tastier than regular ones!



Have a great Good Friday everyone! And for your information, we had a bowl of cereal this morning since we both were fed up with the idea of eggs!

EMBRACING THE IDEA THAT SPRING MAY BE HERE!

Hey Y'all, the weather is looking nice over here!

It seems that all the snow from the other night has rapidly melted & our backyard looks as cozy as it was a few days prior. (Now, if we could just get the dead grass to turn a vibrant green & get our Peony's planted I'd be a happy camper!) Spring is a weird season, it seems to mixed up with winter, rain all the time, or be absolutely perfect. Today would be classified as one of those perfect days...



Oh, so very perfect even in the shade. It's nice to be able to enjoy a back yard for a change. Since last year we were living in a small three bedroom apartment on the corner of Scott street that had absolutely no yard - well, except for the slap of grass out from that the neighbor below us littered with dog droppings.



Not being in that little apartment also means not having our landlord's maintence crew come & do all of our yard work. Good thing I've got Daycen, he loves to mow the lawn! (Speaking of which, we need to invest in a real lawn mower right about now...) I just wish he'd do the whole thing instead of just around the edges & across the middle in the same spot!

THE HUNT IS ON...

Sunday was Daycen's very first Easter egg hunt. It happened to be extremely cold & windy that the small plastic eggs were rolling across the parking lot to the corners. So, the kids just needed to go over to the curb & begin collecting. There was also bags of Teddy Grahams & Smarties scattered through the empty lot.



Unlike most of the other kids who were giddy over the candies inside the plastic eggs, my son was thrilled with the idea that there was bags of Teddy Grahams all over the place. He ran from one bag to the next; picking up an egg here & there.



I've never seen so many large smiles & red noses as I did with all the kids that showed up to the event. It was awfully nice of my husband's work to put so much time & money into the egg hunt. I know we had a great time, and I hope the other families there were just as happy with the turn out as we were.

All I know, is seeing a happy face like this made my Sunday afternoon.



I hope everyone is enjoying their pre-Easter festivities, even if there is still snow lingering in your part of town. (Thank you, Wisconsin weather for delivering us a handful last night. We'd really enjoy it if you'd stop & let Spring join us for longer than a week.)

SMITTEN HEART { our Ripsi sure can model! }

Lately, we've been creating! A lot to be exact. My kitchen is literally covered with fabric, flowers, elastic, beads, etc. You name it. It's engulfed our living space. On one end of the kitchen table is the sewing machine, the other is the serger. We eat in between them. My husband is less than thrilled. Yes, he is happy that creating gets me out of his hair (what little he does have!) but he isn't so fond of sharing meal time with floral fabric.

My son, he finds the mauve fabric & rulers a perfect race track for his cars. Aripsemae is loving everything - it's like Christmas all over for her. It's headbands & bibs one after another - she can't indulge in squash fast enough to soil all them! She's also been a real sport about modeling for me.



We are showcased on Etsy today. So, please take some time to go over there & look at our beautiful products as well as everyone else's. As a thank you for being my loyal readers, I'm offering a 15% off coupon now through April 25th at 11pm cst. Just use the code EASTER11 to receive this discount. More items will be added over the weekend, so please keep checking back & I'll combine shipping for multiple items purchased. I just can't seem to catch up on taking pictures & getting them up! Perhaps it's because my model has had enough for one day ...

HIS FIRST FROSTY { ever. }

We hardly ever go OUT to eat anywhere. Yeah, from time to time we'll hit the drive-thru for a quick snack but to actual take both children inside to eat. Unheard of. However, this past week, Grandma was up for the challenge.



We headed into Wendy's, the second the menu came into view Daycen let out a wail. "SANDWICH!" "FRENCH FRIES!"

"ICE CREAM?"

Our order was small, but it included one of those 99 cent vanilla frosty's. The thick creamy treat was enough to put a large grin across Daycen's face. He ran around the dining area, squealing with joy until he climbed on the padded chair, awaiting his food to be delivered to the table. He nibbled on his hamburger, & sampled a few of the new sea salt french fries.

"ALL DONE!" He threw the ketchup to the floor (thank you grandma for cleaning it up!)



Onto the satisfying treat.


I'm pretty sure if Wendy's gave out rewards for the most annoying customer of the day, we would have gotten it. We were only in the resturant for less than a half hour and had food littered on the floor, neighboring customers glaring at us because of the loud wails coming from our table, & ice cream dripped on the table tops. Yet, it was a great time. I just don't think we'll be doing this adventure that often - taking the food to go is probably the best idea.

SPENDING THE LATE HOURS WITH MY NIGHT OWL

After having my daughter I learned a lot about late night slumber parties, & being literally connected at the hip to someone. I feel like a little girl again myself - hanging out to all hours of the night, talking about fashion & ideas of what the future holds.

Most nights, we find ourselves cuddled together on the armchair in me & my husband's bedroom just talking about everything that went on that day. The silly things Daycen did, what we saw & heard on our adventures out of the house, ideas of cute outfits for the next day or how much we loved the ones worn previously. I talk up a storm, & she listens; cooing me on as I ramble.



We get along quite wonderfully.

They always say your little girl will be a daddy's girl, I think in my case, I lucked out. She absolutely adores me as much as I do her.



And as much as I love staying up and enjoying girl time with her - I'm excited when her little eyes flutter shut. She tends to stay up well past midnight, her eyes normally wide & bright. By the time she settles down; my body is over-tired, sore & refusing to relax. So, I spend most nights, still cuddled in that chair after she's been sent to bed.



Thankfully for my brother's girlfriend, Lindsay, I'm stocked up on a great book series to get me through the long minutes before my eyes finally feel heavy again. I'd love for my sweet baby girl to call it a night earlier, Does anyone have any fantastic night rituals that put a four-month-old to bed quickly? I sure could use some fresh ideas!

CREATIVE ESCAPE {spring 2011}

This weekend I attended an event that is a crafters dream; up to 12 full hours of non-stop crafting with various ladies that share the same passion for creating. There was a handful of scrapbookers, & a few sewers that attended this event. It was small, but for the first gathering there was plenty of people to keep the conversations flowing. We expressed ourselves in design as well as in words - shared stories & memories & hopes for what the future held.

I focused mainly on creating a few beautiful feeding time essentials for Miss Aripsemae, who was thrilled to test them out with her rice cereal the next morning!



The ladies that attended were extremely sweet & helpful. If you forgot something (which, I promise you, I forget every staple I needed - like a pen & scissors! Hey! At least I remembered the sewing machine, right?!) there were willing to allow you to use their items. Each person had plenty of room to create, & as far as I know everyone enjoyed their time there whether it was all day or just a couple hours.

Another event will be held late summer as well as in the fall! I hope to see you there! Be sure to request a table near mine!

Check out a few of the beautiful items created:

STORYBOOK FLORAL ruffled des... smittenheart $12.50

Two yellow flowers embellish... smittenheart $6.50

ARF DOG ruffled designer bab... smittenheart $12.50

Purple Havana Flower Headban... smittenheart $7.50

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

OUR FIRST TRIP TO THE PARK. {spring 2011}

We finally took the double stroller out as a family! I think my husband was quite impressed with my purchase since it fit nicely in the trunk (with room to spare!), was easy to control & simple to use. We headed to our local park for a children's festival that was WAY too crowded that we came to agreement that it would be much funner to just play on the park equipment for a little while instead.

The kids enjoyed to be outside, even though the air was brisk. My husband on the other hand, wasn't so fond of it. He kept making comments about it being cold outside. (He wasn't the one in a skirt though! I barely had any goosebumps!)



By the playground equipment there was this little fellow! The critters in our park sure are friendly since I was able to get pretty close & personal with this guy. Too bad he wouldn't let me pick him up & take him home! I sure would have loved having this little guy keeping us company & helping us eat our peanuts! Maybe next time we can convince him to come home with us.



As soon as Daycen was let out of the stroller, he ran to the play equipment & climbed the steps. He was down the slid in seconds. His voice echoing through the trees with excitement. He repeated this action over & over & over again.

and OVER AGAIN.

Of course, until baby sister had just about enough of sitting in her now soiled pants & made us head back to the car.



We'll be going back real soon. I promise.