Knotted Fabric Organic Treated Wood Teething Rings

I saw these on Etsy not too long ago and just fell in love with the idea, and decided to make some of my own.

Pregnancy brings out my inner "Craftinista" (heck yeah I just made up that word, believe it) and let me just say that my brain has been OVERFLOWING with crafty ideas lately. I'm talking pages and pages of sketches and doodles that to any other person would probably look incomprehensible.  Baby stuff specifically, which should come as no surprise since I'm all preggers and whatnot.

NESTING MODE COMMENCING!!

As you have probably noticed I just got back in the game of blogging a little here an there after a significant hiatus, so let me get to sharing what the blog has been missing out on and that is just about EVERYTHING I have been doing, including making these teething rings.

At the time of this post these are all available in my Etsy shop, along with more information about each, So go and check them out!

I have a lot more ideas in the works for our baby and for my etsy shop, so stay tuned for that!  Do you have any suggestions for me when embarking on this?  What do you wish you had? What do you love most?  What items for baby are the most meaningful when handmade?

Leave me a comment and let me know!  Help me keep my creative juices flowing!

Preggy Poo Update and Other Whatnots

Hello....

Is anyone still out there??

Wowzers, it has been a spell (as my grandmother would say) since I have been 'round here.  I hardly recognize the place.  sheesh.

So much has been going on, and I don't even know where to BEGIN explaining my prolonged absence.  All I hope is that y'all haven't broken up with me and my blog for leaving you hanging for so long.

(I like to believe in my own little world that y'all have been waiting around, checking your blog loving feeds and pouting pitifully wondering where I had wandered off to, however, I'm pretty sure most of you are more confused because you don't remember me anymore.  it's fine.... I understand)

Anywho.  Last I blogged I was telling y'all about being all pregnant and whatnot.  Well, things are going pretty great!  I'm feeling much better and that's a good thing and a bad thing.

GOOD: because I'm not feeling sick anymore, and I can actually eat!
BAD: because I can eat again... and it's hard to stop...

I had this issue with both of my other pregnancies, all will-power (when it comes to food) goes straight out the window, and that my friends is a dangerous dangerous game...

We found out we are having a girl, as you can see in my Gender Reveal post here.
And yes, we have a first name picked out, but not a middle name yet, so we are playing our cards close to the chest until we figure that out... sorry for the suspense.

Here's a little collage of where I am in pictures:

I always regret not having many pictures of me during my first two pregnancies, and so I am trying to resist the urge to hide from the camera and take one every week.  So if you follow me on instagram, you'll see a new pic of this ever-growing bump each Sunday morning.

I'm trying really hard to keep exercising and control my food intake as well.  Yep.  That's right.  I'm going to condition this baby to love exercise!

In fact we took this little baby for a run on her SECOND 5K in utero this weekend (no pics from that unfortunately).

The first 5K she tagged along for was the Color Run in Atlanta in April:

Baby's first 5K!

Anywho, That's about all for now.

I've got A LOT of catching up to do on here, for instance we painted and redecorated Bunny's room, and painted the living room and office, and we are working on some pretty cool big projects, not to mention all the ideas I've got for crafting and just wow, so many things.  

Stay tuned for all that madness....

Open Call for Testers for My Newest Creation

What Time is it?!

ADVENTURE TIME!

If you creep my instagram then you may know that I started and also finished (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!) a new crochet project this past week, despite having been swamped with schoolwork from my least favorite class I have taken these last almost two years, but that's for another post altogether, ugh...

Watching The Big Bang Theory really got me in the Geeky Mood to make Finn

Anywho, I don't know if you remember from my Halloween costume post last year, but we are big dorky fans of Adventure Time here at our house, and we thusly dressed the kids as Finn and Jake.

"Adventure in Ooo"  Adventure Time Halloween Costumes for Kids

Well I decided after considering it for quite some time that I was going to dive in and make my own Finn the Human.  Adventure Size.

Finn is taller thn Grace! and she's a tall 3 year-old!

This was SO. MUCH. FUN! I had such a blast designing this and writing the pattern and even though I will probably change just a couple things I am so proud of the job I did on this!  (Yes, I am indeed tooting my own horn)

The kids had so much fun playing with Finn.
Tristan started drassing him up in costumes and
Grace was wrestling him.

We took Finn to visit "Bandad" and they chilled out in the recliner together

Now the question I have for you is, who would be interested in this pattern for an oversized super awesome Finn? I'm considering having a couple people test the pattern and then maybe putting it on Ravelry, what do y'all think?

Who would like to be a tester?  

Wise Words Wednesday #3

I took this picture myself out in the front yard, you may remember the post

A Little Girl and her Giant Dog

It was one of my favorite photography posts because it was unplanned and turned out amazing anyway.

Sometimes all it takes is just stepping outside with your camera and no plan at all to capture something truly beautiful.

Ok, stepping out of my deep hipster hole.

If you like it please feel free to let me know in the comments below and you are more than welcome to share it, just hover over for the "Pin it" button.

Thanks Y'all

Wise Words Wednesday #2

I took this picture myself.  

These are my son, Tristan's hands holding a dirt clod.

you may recognize this picture from the visit to the park we took earlier this year where the boys were skipping these clods on the lake, 

If not you can check out all the pics here.

I wanted to emphasize the hands and how they were covered in dust, and so I chose this verse from Ecclesiastes.

If you like it then let me know in the comments section below and 

Feel free to share this, just hover over for pin it button

Thanks Y'all!

G2D2 -- DOES NOT COMPUTE! Kids Robot Costume

During the School year Tristan (my eight year-old) goes to Choir after school every Wednesday at the local Methodist church

I love it.  He learns awesome stuff and he gets to sing and dance and be creative.

Well every year at the end of each semester of school they have a big performance

And this spring was the first time Tristan ever had more that 1 line and we were so excited

A Walk in the Park... or Rather a Run and a Picnic

This past Saturday we went to Hamburg State Park in Warthen, GA to just spend the day and have a picnic.
We had such a good time, as usual.
You may remember we made a similar trip in September, if not here's the post  and you can see the pictures and how much has changed in the last 6 or so months.

This was an awesome day:

This is for my dad, who insisted I find a better pic of him to put on the blog.

Team Schmow Zow! Tough Mudder here we come!

Most of you who read often or follow me on Instagram

know that my husband and I are participating in the Georgia Tough Mudder 2013 

and I just received this email the other day:

wow... this just got real...

Upcycled Thrift Store Desk

Tristan, our 8 year old, has been needing a desk for a good while

So, I have been keeping my eyes peeled (what a gross figure of speech, btw!)

for a cool one in the thriftosphere.

 (yep, just coined that... you're welcome)

Handmade Granny Square Blankets for My Babes

Some of you frequent readers 

(are there any of those??)  

may remember me saying I was going to make Granny Square blankets for my kids for Christmas

Well, I got them done 

(and NOT at the last minute, believe it or not!) 

They both came together quite nicely and I am so proud of my work!

So I wanted to share!

*******

 I love these colors all together.

I decided on them based on her bedding color scheme as seen here:

Cute-Looking Chaos - Photographing the Kids and Dog

Let me just say that I am the WORST holiday procrastinator ever....

I CONSISTENTLY:

-wait until the morning of Valentine's day to get Tristan's valentines

-wait until the Saturday before Easter to get the stuff for Easter baskets

-wait until a few days before Halloween to get costumes

-And wait until like the 20th of December to think to send out Christmas cards.

It never fails!

Time just gets away from me so quickly.

So this year I decided I was going to take a stand against....

well..... myself. 

I had the idea to take the kids out to a cotton field and take some nice Christmasy looking photos because the cotton looks like snow when you look out across it.

I thought I could shop them a little and make our own Christmas cards 

Well, I got the pics taken, I guess we will see how the rest goes....

*****

Bunny couldn't stop playing with the cotton. 

Tristan and Gracie's Dragon Party

So the day finally arrived for Tristan and Gracie's 8th and 3rd birthdays respectively.

I can hardly believe they are getting so big!

(See how I made these cakes here)

We rented a HUGE 20 ft inflatable double slide

We were able to get some good playing done on it before all the kids arrived

Fearsome Dragon Cakes

Ya'll may remember me saying in my Tristan's jar cupcakes post that we were planning a party for the kids' birthdays on Saturday the 17th. 

We decided a while back we were gonna make this a dragon themed party because that's something they are both really into.  

I searched the world of pinterest and found a really awesome tutorial to make a dragon cake!

I altered it just a tad to make it fit my cake plate and I think they turned out fantastic!

so, here we go.... a SERIOUS undertaking...

Sick Babies

There are few things more terrible than having to deal with a stomach bug.

Whether it's yourself or your kids, it's just plain terrible.

I personally would rather die than have the stomach flu.

just yuck.

Well last week Gracie had a stomach bug.  

And we didn't know it until it happened all over my husband....

Elliott insisted we make a public shame photo of her, lol

{I love these kinds of photos.  You can't help but laugh.}

Adventures in Ooo

I know most of you 

{if you're anything like me}

are totally done with Halloween even though it just happened.

So, bear with me, I'll keep it short!

I made the costumes for my kids this year.  

The prices on the ones we wanted were jacked WAY up for some reason by the time we got around to shopping for them, so i made the decision to make them myself!

This was a pretty big undertaking considering i am also balancing schoolwork and this blog and  trying to maintain the house.

I think they turned out great!  

Visiting with Honey

My Grandmother is better than any other.

And I'm sorry...but that's just the truth.

She is super fantastic!  

I have never met someone so strong and faithful in my life, and I probably won't ever again.

I have always felt really close to my grandmother, 

She's is one of those people you just want to be near and listen to intently. 

and thusly she has tons of friends that consider her their family.  

A few years ago she was diagnosed with colon cancer, 

But somehow, just like every other illness she has been through no matter her age she has pulled through it beautifully.  A Miracle from God to say the least.

Crib Bedding Score

I found this AWESOME crib bedding set at our Local thrift store, 

It's made by MiGi which is a partner with  Bananafish

They have the freaking cutest baby bedding

And it can be crazy pricey too!  

So, when I saw this COMPLETE bedding set at our thrift store for only $30

I had to get it.

(and no, I'm not expecting; but if i was I would probably keep it!)

There's a quilt, a knitted blanket, a bed skirt, a bumper, a diaper stacker, 2 fitted sheets, a changing table cover, and a mobile that winds up, spins and plays music!

Stocking Up

There are few things I love more than stocking up on clothes for my kids 

before they need them!

When I was pregnant with Grace I hit the thrift stores like a fiend 

picking up anything and everything insanely adorable that I could find

I am just now running out of clothes for her! 

(she's about to turn 3 but wears 4T most of the time)

So I'm thrifting hard again lately

Here are some recent finds that came no where close to breaking my bank: 

Halloween Bunting

Let me just say, 

I Love Halloween. 

It is awesome.  It is however a little more fun when you are a kid, 

But then you have your own kids and the fun starts all over again!

Picking out costumes for them and taking mountains of pictures.

here is one of my little boogers from last year @ our church's "trunk or treat":

Things I Learned Yesterday

Yesterday I kept Tristan out of school by request of my Dad and his wife, Linda.

(and before I hear anything about it being irresponsible to keep him out when he's not sick, 

let me say that some of my fondest memories are of my mom keeping me out for a "mental health day"

and it never did me any harm.  

in moderation i believe this is a good practice.)

Anywho.

We went to spend the day having a picnic at Hamburg State Park

I had never been there before and it's a really nice park.

Seeing as it was a tuesday the place was completely quiet and empty.

Which was ideal.  

Because Maggie-Moo got to run around free!!

I learned that she was supposed to be on a 6 ft leash in the park

But what the park doesn't know doesn't hurt them.