Art Vs Craft

Saturday I had my first craft show.  It was so much fun!  I had been stressed because I had no idea what it would be like, if I would be totally amateur or just fine, how much to make, how to price my stuff.  Turns out everything was fine. 

I had a great time with an old friend, we just sat and chatted, saw more old friends, sold some stuff, drank coffee, ate popcorn.  It was a wonderful day!

Brendan brought the kids to visit and Ingrid thought she was going to stay the whole day.  She was very intent on "helping" which consisted of shoving an item in someone's face and saying "you gonna buy this?"  She knows how to do it!

So now it's back to the somewhat leisurely life of an etsy shop, where I list as I please, I make a few sales here and there, and I do it on my own schedule.  It's nice not to have a deadline hanging over me, I prefer a more laid back atmosphere!  But I will definitely do this again, maybe two or three shows a year if I can find good ones.  It was so fun!

Thankful

I'm thankful for these guys right here! 

Once upon a time I was a single gal that was often bored and wondering what I was going to do with my life.  Now I have a great husband, a sassy little girl, and the cuddliest baby boy.  I'm thankful that everyone's healthy (minus some snot) and that Brendan has a job and we don't have to move this winter.  I'm thankful that this December I won't be in the hospital on bedrest!  I'm thankful that I got into Art Vs Craft this year and I can hopefully sell a buncha junk and use the money to get my family nice presents for Christmas (something we haven't had money to do in a few years!) 

I'm thankful all year long, but today I'll take a break and tell the world.  I love my family.

The Italian Invasion

My friend Brandy and her family came to visit us Monday night.  They drove all the way from North Carolina and made it just in time for dinner.  The kids went wild.  Hers because they'd been in a car for hours on end, mine because, well, there were other kids here!

Brandy married an Italian named Fabio, and now they are the cutest little Italian family in the world!  L is 5, F is 3 ("just like me, Mama!" squealed Ingrid) and S is 1.5.  And they are adorable.

We pretty much just let the kids run wild while here.  Ingrid has a huge closet full of toys we stash away for a rainy day, so they were in the closet playing with forgotten toys.  And the cupcake set they brought.  I love Melissa and Doug toys, but beware of this set.  The markers get everywhere.  Ingrid had a green and blue mouth all night.

In the morning we went to Honeypie for breakfast.  Yum.  The great thing about this place is they are very kid friendly.  I knew two of the workers and know for a fact they have kids this age, so I didn't feel too horrible about the noise and the mess. 

After stuffing our faces with French toast, eggs, and fruit, we saw these amazing cupcakes.  Of course we HAD to get some.  Yum.  I think I might order some for Otis' birthday party.  Oh my god they were amazing!

Ingrid had so much fun playing with the kids, and I had a great time seeing a friend I haven't seen in forEVER.  Seriously, we were like 17 last time we saw each other.  Now we're planning a road trip to NC for spring break, if they aren't going to be in Italy then.  Hooray for reconnecting!  And hooray for cute kids speaking Italian (and then leaning over and explaining "that's Italian!")

Birthday Party!

This weekend we went to a birthday party for a little one year old named Milo.  His mom and I used to work together and we ended up having our sons (Milo and Otis, ha!) exactly a month apart.  Here's what they looked like together when we first moved here:

Remember, these guys are ONE MONTH apart! 

Here's what they look like now, I think Otis is doing a good job of catching up!

 We had a good time playing with toys, including a little ball pit.  Kids LOVE ball pits, what a great idea to have at a party! 

They had all kinds of fun things, like curvy straws.  Ingrid was in heaven!

Happy First Birthday, Milo! 

Paper Dolls and Baby Butts.

Once upon a time when I worked at Borders, I bought a book of paper dolls.  Ingrid found them and loves to play with them!  They are so amazing, a family from the 1950s.  The fashions are great.

 I also have a couple random shots of the Fat Man standing up.  He loves to stand up to everything!  Both Brendan and I were saying how he is way more mobile and has better balance than Ingrid did at this age.  He is exactly 11 months old today and I think he might be walking by his birthday!!  He takes the rolling office chair and walks behind it, it's suuper cute.

 

A Visit with Cody

Our wonderful dog Cody has been living with Brendan's parents for the past year and a half.  While I was pregnant and especially on bedrest, it was nice not to have a pacing old dog to have to deal with.  Then we moved and our new place did not allow dogs.  So, it's been awhile since we've had him.  But he had to go to the vet yesterday, so Brendan and Ingrid brought him and then brought him to our house to spend the weekend.  We're hoping that our landlord will see what a gentle giant we have and let us keep  him here. 

Otis loves Cody, which surprised me.  Our friends have two big labs and when they ran up to Otis, he cried.  But Cody comes in the room and Otis is all over him.  And of course Ingrid loves her original big brother.  And it was a lovely day out so we got to spend lots of time out in the backyard throwing a tennis ball. 































Can I just say that my wee little baby is really starting to look like a little boy?  His four top teeth are starting to show when he smiles and he just isn't that gummy little man anymore.  It is about a month until he turns one.  Where oh where did that year go??

Li'l Troublemaker

Otis is really getting into stuff now.  It's exhausting.  We just got our desktop computer fixed and put it back in the same place.  But lit up buttons are exciting and little sausage fingers just love to push them!!  Our power button used to not work, you had to fiddle with wires to get the computer to turn on or off.  I'm sort of wishing it were still like that, as Otis has turned off the computer twice today while I was in the midst of something...I got him a new baby doll at the thrift store yesterday, and I keep trying to get him interested in "Gus" instead.

He also found the recycling.  When Ingrid was this age we put all the tupperware things down under the sink so she had things she could explore.  I guess it's time we did that here, too.  Time to find a new place for our recycling!

Please excuse the boogers, but check out all these teeth!  It's so funny to see him smile now, he looks like such a little boy instead of a baby. 

It's amazing that he will be one in a matter of weeks!  I just started planning the party--gnomes and toadstools.  I found some cute invites on etsy, some cupcake toppers, party favors, and of course I will be making a felt bunting and birthday crown.  If time allows, big sister might even get a new dress with this fabric.  Exciting!

I like Friends

Sunday was super fun, all because of friends and family.  The Packers were playing, which is always a good reason to make food and invite people over.  I called my dad and he brought my sister in law and my niece over.  Our friends Jess and Ben brought Oscar over.  We made food and the kids ran around wild.  It was so fun!

Love those smiley, drooley boys!!

A Beautiful Sunny Afternoon.

The other day after picking up Ingrid from school, we stayed outside instead of going in and turning on the tv like we usually do.  It was gorgeous out!  Sunny and warm, and one of those days you know you have to take advantage of before it snows.  Thank god we did, it's been rainy and cold ever since.  We brought a blanket and snacks out and got some much needed fresh air.  We've all been sick for ages and ages...

And now here we sit inside again.  It's windy and cold and we have blocks strewn about, two stains soaking in the living room rug (forgot Otis can grab stuff off the coffee table now, dang it!)  I'm so needing a nap but Otis hasn't slept more than 20 minutes in about a week.  I'm trying to be patient with Ingrid as she jumps on the couch, runs back and forth from the kitchen to the living room, scaring the bejeezus out of the cats.  She has energy and I do not.  I just want to lay here on the couch and cut out felt circles.  Actually, really what I want to do is have someone, anyone, come over and take my kids out of the house for a few hours so I can curl up in my bed and just nap.  Any takers?  Anyone?  No?  Okay, then I guess it's time to go build block towers...

Halloween and a Dr. Checkup

Guess who weighs 21 pounds!!

We went to the doctor yesterday and Fat Man checked out completely fine.  He is right on target for everything he's supposed to be doing and has gained a ton of weight and grown crazy big.  Who was born six weeks early? 

Our Halloween was pretty fun, even though we had it early.  Saturday we got dressed up to go Trick or Treating and we had a blast!!  Ingrid was jumping up and down from excitement for the entire afternoon.  She does not need candy to be over excited! 

Two streets away from our house was insane.  Every house was completely decorated and there were about a million and half people there.  It was a madhouse, and it was so fun!  We came back to our house to find our candy bowl empty and decided to call it a night.  People were still knocking even though we closed our door and turned off our porch light and blew out the candles in our pumpkins.  Hello?  Take a hint!  We're out of candy!  Definitely going to buy two big bags next year!