feeling the love

Sophie made my bed and added a huge heart shaped out of ribbon on it too


Sometimes a Mama's heart could almost explode with love...

quick trip to the beach

Today was a long day so a quick trip to the beach close to us was in order. We hadn't been there when the mud flats were showing before. Hannah and Sophie found all sorts of treasures and Aliss kicked off her shoes and ran with Dog. We are dog-sitting Dog while his owner Nick has the veins in his neck cleaned out. Thankfully Nick did well and is on the mend now.

the long way home

You know the (i think) Fleetwood Mac song long way home? Well, that's what happened last week. My Mom got us a membership at Costco just in time before the kittys ran out of the lamb and rice food I feed them.
My mom is personally responsible for the bulging tummys of 11 cats that I feed daily. I know, I have a soft spot for strays.


Since Costco is an hour away we decided we would all go and use the gift card that my Mom (I know, I know, she is great and you cannot have her...well, unless you are my sibling reading this or her husband, but I digress) gave us for this fancy shmancy movie theatre.

We had a blast in the comfort of the theatre and headed over to Costco which is truly amazing and would be even more amazing if I had more money! Which may be a bad thing because my house would be filled with totally useless things. So bully for me I couldn't buy one of everything.
So we got the kitty chow and other necessities in bulk like toilet paper and half & half for my coffee. You know, things a girl cannot live without and decided to head home a way I took before. Or did I?
We ended up taking a way home that was the long way home. It made a triangle from the regular way and lucky for us had a cut off to get us back on track. I guess God knew how much we needed an adventure to liven up our lives and give us one more crazy memory of laughs and dorky songs to sing on a rainy night cruising around Southwest Washington searching for home!

P.S. the kitties are so very happy.

P.S.S. the uptown bag is heading to Australia tomorrow (forgive me if I already said that but I am so excited!) and a gadget pouch is heading out to Ohio!
Yay! business is picking up. Thank you!

xo

seed + soil

We finally got our seed in the ground, and right in our backyard. many families are joining forces and have made a community garden and I think that is wonderful but I know myself well enough to know that if I can't get out there in my pajamas in the early morning to weed and water or to just sit in the dusk and stare at what is to come in our plot of land then I just won't do it.
Too much time and preparation when it is outside the place we call home.

We have two rabbits and the kids made sure to get some of the bunnies gold (rabbit poo) to spread in their gardens. The kids remember the experiment I did last summer with two planters and one had rabbit poo and one didn't. Guess which one flourished? :o)

We left a patch of grass for little picnics right next to the corner where Hannah and Sophie will have a green bean teepee. We are so excited!

Have a great weekend

Hamilton

My mom gave me birthday money back in the beginning of April. I was supposed to get either a percolator for coffee or a new toaster oven. I can honestly say I was going for the percolator but after searching and searching and daily seeing the sad excuse for a toaster oven we used slowly falling apart. Sensibility won out. Introducing Hamilton. The kids named it....don't be too impressed with their creativity yet. Hamilton is the brand name. :o)



Shiny black and chrome wins out every time over tired old white and falling apart.
nice.
I have also been busy replacing my bag that I have carried for at least 6 months and have been told by Tessa repeatedly that it is time to replace it.

You know, so much extra time to make myself a bag. :o)

Well, I did it and I am so happy. I liked it so much that I made one with a different suede color for my shop. I plan on making a few more with different suede and fabrics and the same design for my shop too.

I also copied the satchel/messenger style bag that I designed to carry all of my college books too. This one is for my shop. It's super duper cute.
That's the shop update for this week.
Thanks for looking!

P.S. I have a bag heading out to Australia in a few days. How exciting! :o)

quiet children

Sometimes when children are quiet they really aren't being naughty...

Hannah was quiet for a very long time in her room last week and it turns out that she was having a birthday party for Mr. Bear...and documenting it with Tessa's camera.

You can come along if you would like.

The family tradition of breakfast in bed for your birthday extends to Mr. Bear as well.

What nice gifts you have Mr. Bear. Your hat looks very savvy on you.

How very sweet of you to give Hannah a "bear kiss."

First S'Mores 2009

We have a very simple fire-pit in the backyard that we started last fall and just remade this spring. A few weekends ago we did a clean up in the back yard and got the pit all ready for this year's roastings. Boy, I haven't heard the end of "when are we going to make s'mores mom?" since then either.

This past Friday we did just that: roasted smores, had friends over for a sleepover and everything.
It had been a long week so I told the kids to get the sticks and we would get to it. I have to say that it was just what I needed: to sit mesmerized by the flames and hear my kids and their friends have a blast right in our back yard.

Simplicity at it's finest...

Sunny treasury

More pink blossoms love--
2 treasuries this past week!

Thank you Abbasgirl and puddintoes's for including my sunny yellow zip purse in your treasuries!

Forecast Sunny and Soft!



Yellow charms the heart


I am so excited to finally have new bags and zip purses over in my shop and to be getting such good feedback on them.

thank you!

still going strong

These girls around here and their friend Leslie are hard core. Hard core I say. Just when I think the last wallet or purse has been made out comes more. Just as it should be.

Such a proud Mama am I.

Aliss has been embellishing her hoodies and also Leslie's and Zack's as well.
I made up some Zip purses this week, they are over at my shop. There is quite a difference in each of the styles of fabrics and trims I used. The showroom fabrics that were given to me are very unique. Just when I think I have run out of options out comes another....guess I am just like my girls huh?

community + family

My Human Services Club at the college had a fundraiser potluck on Friday night for us and our friends to come eat and buy raffle tickets. We are raising money to benefit the local Teen Shelter.
I say it once again, I am glad that being a part of the degree that I am earning has me in the path of lots of great community agencies so my family can be a part of helping.There was so much great food there. We brought a big pan of chicken enchilada's...they were quickly gobbled up. yay!I also made a book bag for the raffle to help raise money. I used fabrics from the furniture showroom.

I have been sewing every spare minute I have lately. I'm so glad the ideas are flowing again. There was quite a dry spell for awhile with other responsibilities of life crowding them out. Welcome back sewing! I should have a shop update within the next couple of days.Look at this huge pancake Sophie made on the griddle the other morning.
What a girl :o)

Mama's Day

I have really enjoyed visiting other blogs and reading about their feelings of Mother's Day, talking with Mother's I know and just being a mom on Mother's Day.
Being brought breakfast in bed, flowers picked by little hands and placed with care into vases, given a necklace strung with only me in mind and gift certificates for things that really need to be done around here.
While washing up some dishes on Mother's Day I found myself feeling a bit snippy with my kids (sorry Tes) because I was doing dishes on Mother's Day. Well, that's what being Mom is all about right?
Taking care of our babies.