Peppermint addiction

I admit, we have a peppermint addiction in this house. Anything peppermint, and we probably have it. Ice cream- we search for at Christmas time and buy as many as will fit in the freezer, Andes mint cookies are a staple in the house, the new candy cane hershey kisses are AMAZING, peppermint bark, hershey's little mint minis, and of course candy canes.

So, it was no surprise when we discovered that Evie too has an affection for this flavor. Emery came home on her last day of preschool in Dec, and opened one she got a school. She of coursse shared with Evie- it was cute. So, when I saw this occurring- I snatched my camera. Ella comes home on her last day of school and also had gotten one from her teachers. She asked if she could have it after dinner, and I agreed.

While cleaning up dinner, I noticed that she was 'sharing' her candy cane with Evie, who was seated patiently helping Ella. Then Evie broke off a piece and it was like she had gone to heaven. She was so giddy with excitement over her own piece of candy cane. We let her have her fun before we finally took it away and had to stick her in the tub- and 'stick' is not an accidental word of choice! :)

New Hats!

Well, I haven't made it through all the Christmas pics, and pics of Casey. It's been a rough few days as many of you know. But- on the other hand, I've had lots of requests for pictures of my most recent hats. I've sold quite a few via this blog. If you know anyone who is interested, just have them e-mail me!! They are made with 100% organic cotton yarn, very soft to the touch!


I had a model for a few of these, she even knows how to say 'cheese'! Ha ha!! This first one sold before I got an updated pic with tassles on the bottom, but you get the idea! :)

Christmas pics, pics of Evie, and more to come later! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!

Lunch with Santa

Yesterday was a big day for the girls. They got to see Santa and sit on his lap and then we had lunch and made some Christmas crafts. This was a fundraiser for Emery's preschool, along with a golf tournament. Tad played in the tournament, so I got all 3 girls ready and to the luncheon on my own. I dressed them in their matching dresses I had just finished making on Friday, and Evie's new hat I made her the night before. Needless to say, they stole the show. I had numerous moms approach me to make their children hats or dresses, and I got some contacts for the store. Tad met some really nice guys golfing, including the head pro at 2 local golf courses!! It was a good day. Here are some pics of the girls with Santa! Isn't Ev a crack? Oh, they make me smile, I'm truly blessed!

Today I worked on making some aprons for teacher Christmas gifts, and took the big girls to see The Princess and the Frog. I loved it, but it was a little scary for Emery on the big screen. I think she'll like it on DVD, but it was a little intimidating for her. Ella liked it though! Loved all the jazz music and the feature of New Orleans! Great movie. Now they want to see Alvin and the Chipmunks that's coming out soon, thanks to the 30 minutes of previews before the movie started!

Hope you all had a good weekend! Hope to talk to you all soon!

Busy busy busy

Wow- this time of year just flies by doesn't it? I can't believe it's been a month since I posted. As I'm sure with your lives, ours have been quite busy. But- I won't bore you with the details. Here are some of the highlights though.

1. I finished my sewing 101 crazy and have gone a little beserk in that department. I'm making the girls their second set of matchy-ish dresses, and have made myself a few things too. Made some of my girlfriends keychains, and I have plans for a whole lot more of my crazy ideas.

2. Both Ella and Emery finished their swimming lessons in fabulous shape. Emery graduated from the 'toddler' classes onto the big kid classes and will resume in January. Ella graduated to level 3/4, but is most likely joining the swim team in January. She likes to race! :)

3. Evie's finally walking!! Did I mention that before? We got these shoes that squeak when she walks, and she has taken off. She's close to running now. And of course she can open every door in the house, including the one to the garage. She also can climb on the chair in front of the computer and wreak havoc. Evie can climb just about anything- it's amazing to watch.

4. We had a great Thanksgiving- I cooked a turkey. That's worth repeating- I COOKED A TURKEY!!! Ha ha! I made a whole meal, including a pie. The girls looked at me in a whole new light! ;) And we discovered that Evie likes to eat off of other's plates when she's not in her highchair instead of her own plate, and that she LOVES corn on the cob- pics below for proof!

Look at the lips on this one!!


5. Nana and Papa T came in town for Emery's 4th birthday. Good gracious where has the time gone? My baby is 4? This is crazy! She had a great time, although she did not enjoy the 4 yr old shots we had to get earlier this week. She had to get 5, plus her finger pricked, and a full workup. Yes, I'm a cruel mother- but we got it all over at once.

Don't you just love her hair ? Ha ha- courtesy of big sister Ella- school of hair design. Emery wouldn't let me touch it all day she kept saying, 'but Ella already did my hair'. Oh well, I tried. And yes, we went out in public like this, to her favorite restaurant Applebee's. Want to know why it's her favorite? Because it has steamed broccoli- yep that's right, this kiddo loves her broccoli!!

6. Now we are prepping for our first Christmas in the south. Our elf on the shelf- Scout- came and the girls are totally enthralled with him. He's been great for the attitudes, sharing, and general overall behaviour at our house! LOVE HIM!!

7. I made a baby hat for a friend, and now it has exploded. This friend owns a retail store in town and has asked me to make hats to sell at her store. I gave her 5 a week ago, and one sold within 24 hours of them putting it out, and a custom order for another one. I have 8 more hats to give her today. Here they are! If you want one or know of anyone that wants one, let me know!!

Hope all is well where you are!!

Albert

Well, since Ella had a friend over, it was now Emery's turn. This is Albert, her 'brother' from school as she says! He's so stinkin cute. He has this adorable little southern voice, and is SUPER sweet!! His parents are awesome too!!

Albert came home with us today, and was so busy playing I could barely get him to eat lunch, and then he was super sad to go home. They played so well together, this might become a regular play date! He was kind enough to let me take a few pics of him.

Then we have Ms. Ev- and her many faces!! I was practicing with my flash and caught these! Thought you might enjoy!!

Hope you all are having a great week!!

Sisters&Friends?

Can I be so blessed? Of course they have their moments, for the most part all 3 girls are friends. They enjoy playing with one another, they look out for one another, and they miss each other while at school. One of my favorite times of day is when we pick up Ella from Kindergarten. She gets in the car and I get to ask maybe one question about her day before Emery pipes in. They ask each other how school was, what they did during the day, what they learned that was new, etc. It is so darn cute to listen to their conversation. And to see Ella give Ev a big kiss and say 'I missed you today!'. It's so sweet. I can only hope that it lasts through their teen years :-)

One of their other favorite things to do is get in Evie's crib with her. Ev takes a nap every day after we get home from picking up Ella. Good for me because I get time with the oldest two, but bad for them because they love playing with her. So, when Evie does wake up, they are the first in there to talk to her and play with her until I get her out. Sometimes they crawl in her crib with her and play for about 20 minutes before they are ready to get out. It's so stinkin cute! I tried to sneak in and take pics of it, but they saw me and the camera and began posing!

Hope you are all having a great week!! Love ya!!

Halloween pics a few days late!

I've been under the weather lately. One day I think I'm getting better, then I feel awful for the next two- UGH!! Darn sinus infections!! Anyway, thankfully Halloween day was a good day! We got lots done!! Emery had swimming lessons, I finished their tutus, we carved pumpkins, baked pumpkins seeds, made chocolate covered peanuts and pretzels, and prepared for the big event! The girls were excited and had been for DAYS!! And we were invited to a neighbors big Halloween bash, so trick-or-treating and a party! BONUS!! Thankfully I had made a pumpkin cake with maple frosting the day before in a brief period of feeling good, so we took that to the party.


Our neighbors warned us how big of a deal Halloween was in our neighborhood, but we couldn't envision it. We live in a nice community, kind of secluded from others, and apparently those who don't have a good trick or treating area come to ours. They come on trucks, trailers, ATV's, and golf carts. There is security and off-duty police officers EVERYWHERE!! We started to go through our double cul-de-sac around 6:30 after we took some pics and it was dark. Needless to say, we hadn't even gotten through one of the cul-de-sacs, and at least 50 kids showed up in a matter of minutes! It was crazy! Many people just sit outside because they don't get to close their doors there are so many people!


It wasn't bad though. Everyone was respectful, curteous, and kind, there were no problems. The only complaint we heard was that this year people were asked not to drive ATV's and golf carts after dark, they were requested to walk. They were very diligent about it, between security and police officers, people were off of them pretty quickly. That made some people mad, and some happy- go figure. We didn't care- we were walking anyway.


Then we went to a Halloween party, and totally enjoyed watching all the costumes, young and old alike! The kids had a blast playing with their friends, even Evie! We didn't last long though, and were home by 9 to put tired, worn out kids to bed.


Here are a couple pics of the butterflies and fairy before we headed out! A special thanks to Uncle Curt, Aunt Glenda, Kyle and Laura for the butterfly wings and antenna's, and to Auntie Lee for the Tinkerbell costume!! Tinkerbell is missing her wings! She didn't like them, and they didn't fit very well in the stroller, so it ended up being ok. Note her shoes! We just got those the day before. They squeak each time she takes a step, she LOVES it!! And it has encouraged her to walk more, still holding on to others, but much more than before. She had so much fun at the party walking around everything and hearing them squeak! Party-goers enjoyed it too!! We'll see how long I can handle those!