Etsy shout out!

Hey! I got a nice shout out from a fellow Etsy-an, Margaret of meshkadesign on her blog---so I'd like to return the kindness. Check out her blog and her shop, she's got so many beautiful clutches and earrings. Thanks again Margaret!

Our yard & my helper.

I keep forgetting to post pictures from my wonderful Mother's Day. Gabe and I worked in the yard for the entire Mother's Day weekend, which was a lot of fun. Gabe built me the raised planters I've wanted since I moved here. So now our tiny, unkempt yard is our tiny, charming yard with flowers and fruits and veggie plants. Last week Ellis helped me water. We were both pretty soaked in the end, but it was fun :)

Here is our yard now...(pay no attention to the grass---that's our next yard project to tackle)

Those are our blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, tomato, banana pepper, bell pepper plants, and cilantro:

Here is our yard in process over M's Day weekend:

And back to Ellis watering (her arm, in this case)---sorry things are so out of order:

It's you against me, Hose. I plan to win.

And apparently Ellis can NOW climb up onto and subsequently over the back of the sofa. See what happens when you neglect your toddler in order to update your blog?

Talkin'

More words: ball, gentle, teeth, cheese, berry, Nay-Nay (Janae), up (more like up-bee), no-way.

And she refuses to give kisses anymore. If you try, she says no and pushes your face away. Little turkey.

Sorry it's been so long!

The school year is winding down---Gabe is done teaching and I have two weeks left (and a day). Here are some of the latest and greatest pictures of Ellis. She is so much fun to have around. She's walking more than she's crawling now and gets lighter on her feet everyday.

Common words in Ellis' ever-growing vernacular include: go, no, shoe, knee, cheeks (always said multiple times in a row while pointing to someone's cheeks), Mama, Did-ee (Daddy), go-way (not sure she's knows what it means, but she says it a lot :), and Day (Daly). She understands many more words, which makes communicating with a toddler so much easier.

Ellis has two top teeth and two bottom teeth, and is growing another on the top and another on the bottom.

(For those of you keeping track, Ellis is 15.5 months old)

Easter #1 and Easter #2

Same baby, same basket, same bunny...

pixels have been fixeled.

I got my photos fixed in the etsy shop (thanks to Gabe) so check it out again. Still some things to do. I need to figure out how to add a banner to the top of my shop, and some other stuff here and there. I'm not sure if you have to sign up (which is no big deal, by the way :) in order to mark that you "I heart" my shop, but if you have a minute, I'd appreciate it!

etsyyyyyyyy!

Whew. I'm not going to take the time right now to update you on all the goings on around here for the last few weeks, but I will later. Really quick: I finally started an etsy shop (which I've been wanting to do for a couple of years). My etsy shop can be found at THIS address, and it's called Bring About Art. Check it out and mark that you love it :) Pay no attention to some of the poor-quality photos...I'll get around to fixing that soon. Speaking of that...if YOU have any brilliantly creative (or just more so than what I've got) ideas for displaying my bracelets in my photos, please do share!

You can also see Bring About in Aspen this month at the Aspen Eco Fest where I'll be showing (and hopefully selling) some of my furniture. If not, well, then you can't really put a value on good experience can you??

Promise to add some pictures of the peanut soon!

RAAAh! Mister, you need to LOOK OUT.

I saw a guy on a bike get hit by a guy in a car today. (!) He's okay. I just had to proclaim it somewhere, 'cause I've never seen anyone get hit by a car before.

A better, visual update

Today was a beautiful day---I'm referring both to the weather and the company. Our little fam went to the park today:

Ellis decided sliding backwards down the slide on her tum was the most fun:

Lots of walking practice (other than a couple of independent steps here and there, Ellis is still working on the walking thing):

She LO-OO-Oves the swings:

But sometimes the swinging can make a girl feel a little loopy:

This is the poor sleepy, sick girl from last week :( She slept on my lap for TWO hours...which maybe explains my lackluster expression, even though I loved her cuddliness:

Zoo trip with Amanda and Jude (after 7 months we FINALLY got it together and met sweet little (and by little I mean, five pounds bigger than Ellis and 5 months younger :) Jude:

When you're running a fever, the fewer clothes the better. Ellis wanted to take the diaper off too, but that's where I drew the line:

This was Valentine's Day. Ellis made this sweet Valentine for you all, but her mama was sick and too tired to find the camera cord in order to post it. Surry.

Meager update

Have you ever had someone annoying stick around for four weeks straight, and then their even more offensive friend decides to join in on the unwelcome visit? I have. I'm experiencing it as we speak. Maybe you've met Sinus Infection and her good friend Pneumonia. Ellis and I have been invaded. Because of these unwelcome intruders, I've neglected this blog (as well as my laundry, floors, carpets, bathrooms, kitchen surfaces...you get me?) Four weeks ago I lost my voice, and then over the course of the next few days all available space inside my head was filled with mucus. Last weekend Ellis starting running some pretty high fevers. Two doctors visits, one chest x-ray, three vials of blood drawn, and her fair share of baby tylenol later we are now treating her for PNEUMONIA. Yes, the same pneumonia your mother warns you about catching when you go outside without a coat. Ellis is tired a little more often but otherwise seems to be feeling fine again and her fevers have stopped, thank goodness. I feel a bit better, but am thrilled to see the light at the end of this snot-filled tunnel. It's about four days away.

I'll try to put up some new pictures soon. When my house is cleaner. And my nose is not so red and runny.

Oh--and I decided to enter an art/craft fair that runs the 25th-27th of this month. I am scrambling to produce enough furniture and fabric bracelets to not embarrass myself. I may be in over my head, but only by a little.

11 bracelets made. 89 to go. (that's my goal, anyway)

2 pieces of furniture partially sanded. 3 more to go...plus finishing the first two...plus drawing...plus sealing...pray for me.