Life Lesssons

The evidence: half eaten box of chocolates.

The Suspect: a cute innocent looking 2 year old (if you look close enough you can see the smudge of chocolate around her mouth.)

The Conclusion: Dont leave a box of chocolates out in the open unless you want a half eaten box of chocolates.

We are off to celebrate the holidays, lots of crafting to show after the new year, I swear, I promise, girl scouts honor *smile*

Merry Christmas everyone and have some eggnog for me!

Oh to be 2

I love my daughter. I would do anything for her. She is my life. But boy oh boy is she making the two & half year old stage interesting. As one of the comments put it best yesterday I was having a Super Nanny type of day.

Leila has always been strong willed but she has been a pretty strong roller coaster lately. She is really happy for a few days just a normal goof ball that has me laughing non-stop. And then there are days like yesterday where she screams for no reason, throws toys, and hits me when I don’t respond to her tantrum the way she would like. Days like those are lots of timeouts, a few tears from us both, and pure exhaustion. I think a lot of it has to do with the language barrier, most days I can tell what she is asking for but more and more as her vocabulary tries to expand I still haven’t figured out all of her pronunciations for everything which leads to a frustrated baby and momma.

And this morning we woke up like last night never happen. I got my kiss good bye before work and a happy little girl that I hope is still in that mood when I get home this afternoon.

(These pictures were taken in September. She knew what she was doing wrong yet was angry at me for taking pictures for evidence. It’s like she knows I will use this against her when she gets older!)

How Many?

Timeouts can I give one toddler in one night. Nevermind dont even tell me, all I will say is this is going to be a long night.

My Nest

Samantha asked a few days ago what everyone's nest looks like out there. Well being 8 months pregnant now I have no doubt set up a nest per say. We just recently rearranged our living room and because of that I have now find my perfect perch while I start to slow down and wait for baby boy to arrive.


The couches now sit corner to corner so Leila likes to sit on the other couch next to me unless she of course is cuddling with me.

Baby boy's blanket is still in the works, it sat pretty much motionless for awhile as I was busy with prepping for my last craft show. Now? It has my full attention and I hope to have it done right before he arrives.
Decaffeinated chai or hot cocoa are never far away I promise.

Do you have a nest? Show it off!

What do you do?

When the wind is blowing so hard the windows are rattling, when your husband is snoring the loudest you can remember, your unborn baby boy wants to make sure you know he is enjoying his stay inside your uterus, and it is 4am and sleep is no longer an option? You finish the homemade marshmallows you had started earlier that day of course!


I used this recipe. (note this will pull up a PDF file) For never making any kind of candy or anything like it I am pretty happy with the results. I dont really like them by themselves but in hot cocoa , they are oh so good.


Here's hoping you are having a good early morning and getting plenty of Zzzzzs!

Help save small businesses

I am sure this will make its way around the blogsphere soon but it is really important to keep talking about it and speak with your congressman and senators.

Basically a new law has been passed and is to go into effect soon that will hurt the small business owners who make and produce toys and potential clothes to children. I am horrible with words lately so read about it all here.

For obvious reasons this is near and dear to my heart, just as the handmade movement is really starting to become mainstream it may grind to a hault for many people.

So please follow the above link and follow the links to speak up and do something, that is what I am doing today!

If you love handmade take a stand!

Since the finishing of the craft show life in general has slowed down at least a little bit. Which I have no issue with lately. We still have a lot to do before Baby Boy makes his big arrival.

I finally started putting up the tree this week, started because well I realized I had no hooks and those ornaments I have been able to put up Leila has already put on and taken off at least three times in the last two days. She is absolutely mesmerized by the tree and now pulls chairs up to it just to stare at it.

(Notice in the background, Ken has rearrange my NOEL stocking holders daily to spell out different words)

In hopes of slowing down Mother Nature is also in the mix and gave me a snow day on Tuesday where it was a lazy nap day, lots of snuggles, and giggles. A perfect snow day in my books.

This weekend is time to work on Christmas gifts. Luckily I am done with the shopping part (which I am happy to say were bought all at small businesses or by handmade artists) now it is just up to me to finish some handmade gifts. All which shouldn’t take long as long as I just buckle down and do them.

So how is everyone out there? Christmas shopping almost done? Still in the holiday spirit?

Calm

The craftacular went great. I couldnt have asked for a better show and a chance to finally feel like my sewing/crafting is appreciated and worth people spending their hard earned money on.

It was a long day but thanks to my friend Rose I got all of the bathroom breaks I needed! I also got to meet some great new artists and reconnect with some great ones I have met along already through this journey.

I found this great post about why you should handmade. Still on the fence? Here is the push you may need.

Normal posting to begin again. Hopefully I will have decent photos to share I dont think I have ever missed the sun as I do now when I cant take a picture after 3 pm everyday!

Photo stole from Naomi the mastermind behind Craftacular.

Three Years Ago Today

I married my perfect match. Its fitting that it is forecasted to snow today since we had an unplanned big snow fall on our big day. Love you baby!