Hello 5!

Guess who turned 5 yesterday?

So we headed over to the Andelin Family Farm Pumpkin Patch

For a little pumpkin picking.

& we visited these guys

We might just have a cowgirl in the making.

The girls had a blast holding the new kitten

Even though it was freezing outside (Omri was wearing pants, they just kept bunching up) I think it's safe to say we all had a fun time. My little Zoe girl I love you more than all the stars in the sky. We are all so glad you came to our family to fill it with such laughter, compassion & love. Hope 5 is the best year yet!

I Spy.........

 I spy,

with my little eye, 

a monkey in a tree....... 

& there she is!

Custom Art for the Holidays

I'm thrilled to offer 5 Custom paintings just in time for the holidays. These paintings would make a great gift for any member of the family. It's on a first come first serve basis. From start of sketch to shipment of painting will take 2 weeks. I'll wrap your painting in beautiful Christmas wrapping paper before it heads to it's new home. The best part..........

I'm offering a $25 holiday discount!!! 

You can order yours from my

::shop::

today

Sleeping Beauty

Nothing better than taking a nap

wrapped in blankets 

& sunshine

Creative Mind Debacle

Aris' idea of making a bed

The above photo is kinda how my brain feels at the moment. All sorts of stuff going on, so many things I need to do. A million other things I'd like to do. And then there is the list of "things to finish" that has been haunting me for most of my adult life. Sometimes I wish I had the courage to just take a huge box and throw most all of what we have in our home in it. Set it by the curb and put a giant "Free stuff" sign on it. Not practical I know but I'd have a clean slate to work in. Moving eliminated a ton of junk but somehow things just seem to creep back in when you have 4 kids. Don't even get me started on all of my art & crafting crap that I have piled in my work space. It's revolting. I just have so many ideas and really in truly not enough time to do all that I'd like. Time management has never been my strong suit. Am I the only one who struggles with this? I feel like I am. Sometimes I find that I have so many things that I want to be doing that I can't even begin on anything because I can't figure out what I want to do more. It's ridiculous! I'm pretty sure there is some kind of syndrome or textbook explanation for what is wrong with me. However I'd like to refere to it as Creative Mind Debacle or CMD for short. There is no know cure as of yet, but I'm told sleep can help immensely in lessening the symptoms. It has also come to my attention that surrounding yourself with people you love & other artists can help to lessen feelings of anxiety. So if you are suffering from CMD, as I am, please don't be afraid to talk about it. Leave me a comment. I'd love to hear your problems & solutions. Remember you are not alone (I'm hoping I'm not the only one). Maybe we can battle this crazy creative disorder together.

Sophie

Best baby toy ever. Omri loves it.

Free. I purchased her with a gift card but you can buy her

here

Perfect Ending to A Less Than Perfect Day

Tonight my sweet little man, you woke up and didn't want to go back to bed. I changed you and fed you and you were ready to play. Mommy was so ready to relax after such a crazy day, but you had other plans. So I held you and walked you around the living room while I watched some silly program online. I snuggled you up & smelled you and kissed your sweet little cheeks a hundred times at least. You held your head up so well. Then as you started to run out of steam you rested your sweet little body against mine. All curled up like you once were inside my belly and drifted off to sleep. I held you for a long time. Listening to your sweet noises.

That's when it happened. You laughed. In your sleep. And I giggled because it was so cute. When I laughed you laughed again. This happened a few more times until your body went heavy in my arms. Oh how my heart felt full sharing that tender moment with my little boy. Just you and me giggling together late on a Friday night. Although you will not remember this night I will treasure this memory forever. I hope it's the first of many more laughter filled moments to come. Yes my sweet Oblio, it was a perfect ending to a less than perfect day.

Ever Had One of Those Days?

The culprit

I awoke this morning with a severe kink in my neck. This happens to me several times a year. I should have known it was coming on but didn't give a second thought to the lower back pain I started having late yesterday afternoon. It was the kind of pain that makes it hard for me to walk. When these "fits" come on my whole body feels bruised to the touch. Thankfully they only last for a week or two and then I feel better again. The first few days of pain I have a dull headache & everything is harder to do. I called my friend & asked her if I was still in pain on Monday if her husband could give me an adjustment. He is not only a chiropractor but a nutritionist and allergy specialist. She wondered why I would wait until Monday & told me to come in later that afternoon. I was so relieved. 

My morning just kept getting better (hint of sarcasm here) when Aris locked us all out of the house. That will be the last time I leave my keys in the house while going back to get the baby out of the car. Oh, & I'll be making a spare key to leave with my sweet next door neighbor who was kind enough to hold little Oblio while my other next door neighbor helped me break into my own house. Do you see that sweet little face up there in that picture? She's really a stinker in disguise. How did we finally get in? An unused dog door in our dinning room. It was the perfect size for one small Aris sized person to fit into. Only she started freaking out at the thought of going into such a small door. Me, being the wonderful mom that I am (insert snicker here) shoved her lightly through said door. Screaming and crying and all. I figured she locked us out so she could let us in. Poor thing stood inside for a good 3 minutes screaming for me before she could open the door. I'm pretty sure I should win a mother of the year award for this.

My day did get better though. The adjustment helped tremendously & I am hoping that by Monday I'll be feeling back to normal. He also gave me some vitamin D to help in the healing of my hand. I'm guessing the fact that I'm nursing isn't helping my hand heal any faster. I'm so grateful for his kindness.

Tomorrow brings a day filled with pumpkin patch face painting, zucchini bread baking, painting, & photo taking. I'm hoping to get in some good snuggle time with my best girls & little guy too. What are your plans for this weekend?

Outfit Project

Have I ever mentioned my penchant for children's clothing? I love buying fun and inexpensive clothes for my little ones to wear. I love it so much that I often go months without buying anything for myself to wear. The fact that I'm 40 pounds overweight right now probably doesn't help matters much. I love waking up in the mornings and figuring out what they will wear. I adore bargain shopping for all of their fun outfits. It thrills me to no end to find a quality made garment to dress my little monkeys in at a equally fabulous price. I find that I stick to certain brands. Not because I'm snotty. Because I know what will wash & wear well. There have been times when I have skimped on quality only to find that something fell apart after a few wears. Money is too tight to throw it away on items that won't last. So after a bit of thinking I've decided to feature outfits from my girls' closets. I'm sure Omri's wardrobe will work it's way in here from time to time. My hope is that I can share my love of shopping, thrifting, & fashion by spotlighting these outfits. Dressing your kids in cute clothes doesn't have to cost a fortune. 

Shorts by

Crewcuts

free from clothing drive

Shirt by

Mor Mor Rita

Yard sale for $1

Peter Piper

Peter Piper

Picked a peck

of pickled peppers

where's the peck of pickled peppers

Peter Piper picked?

Oh there they are!

Our garden, or should I say the garden Dean has worked so hard on this summer has produced a number of tasty tidbits for us to eat. I've made loaf after loaf of zucchini & squash bread. We didn't grow even half as much as last year. Last year our squash & zucchini plants almost overtook our whole garden. We didn't want to make the same mistake again. One plant of each yielded quite a bit of yummy goodness but my hope is next year we will grow two of each. Can you believe all the different peppers he grew? Most are sweet and have the most delightfully mild flavor. Only one plant ended up producing mildly hot peppers. Some of the peppers are smaller but a few of them are huge! Even bigger than the one Aris is holding.

Green eggplant

Purple eggplant

He also included 3 different eggplant varieties. Let me tell you, there is nothing yummier than fresh Eggplant Parmesan. Dean made it the other night & even picky eater Aris ate two helpings.

Mini watermelon

I'm hoping next year we can grow more watermelons. These were so tasty and the perfect size. Not to small & not so huge that half the melon goes to waste. He also planted some lettuce & tomatoes. The tomatoes did terribly this year. I hear we aren't the only ones who struggled with them. I'm so grateful Dean has such a green thumb. He loves learning about the whole growing process. Considering we got such a late start this year in putting our garden in I'm amazed we grew as much as we did. Growing our own food never ceases to amaze me. There is something special about adding freshly grown veggies to a recipe or salad that your husband has taken the time to grow. 

Dean's plans for this fall are to make some compost bins for our two compost piles. He also has gathered enough glass doors and windows through the remodels he has worked on to make a nice sized greenhouse. That way we can grow fresh veggies all year long. Yard cleanup & winterizing the garden is next on his list of things to do. The chilly nights and mornings are here to stay and the first snow will be here before we know it.

Did any of you grow a garden this year? What was your favorite thing that you grew?

Blessing Day

10-10-10

Today my little Omri you were given a name and a blessing. It was the sweetest & most humbling one & I will remember it always & carry it in my heart. Just as I do my other little ones. You were so good & quiet. I was told you looked up and gave a little smile while the blessing was taking place. I'd like to think it was because you felt a little bit of Heaven on earth right at that moment. So glad that you came into my life. So grateful you chose our family. Thank goodness we didn't wait another week. I don't think I would have been able to fit you into that sweet little outfit that my brother wore 32 years ago. I love you my little man. I love you more than all the stars in the sky. And that's a lot.

New Pillows

I have wanted some pillows for our living room for quite some time now but I haven't been able to find exactly what I want in the budget that I have. Don't get me wrong, I find lovely pillows all the time. Like pillows from Anthropologie, or something from this lovely shop. I just can't afford them. 

You can imagine my surprise when I found these at a thrift store for $1.50 each! The picture doesn't do them justice. They are the prettiest golden color. They are 100% silk and dry clean only. I normally would never buy anything like that but for $3 I didn't mind. I figure I'll take them in ever few months for a nice cleaning.

The only bummer was not having the fills for these beautiful pillow covers. I looked around for a good two weeks and everything I found was at least $10 or more. So I got out my trusty sewing machine and made my own pillow fills out of muslin that I had on hand and stuffed them with polyfill.

I love the pop of texture they add to the room.

A perfect background for the other pillows I will add in the near future.

::I'm linking up to::

Sew Can Do


&

Blue Cricket Design