I'm back...

...to blogging! I have been virtually absent from reading blogs and from updating my blog. One craft show and one trip to Iowa later, I have the time and material to blog. Woohoo!

Here are some photos from the Horseshoe Craft and Flea Market. It was such an all-around wonderful day---finally my hard work paid off for a show! I sold all but two pieces of furniture, and about half of the jewelry I made. So much more fun than not selling much of anything, as has been the case the first few shows I tried. This was definitely my crowd :)

Here is a close-up of one of my bracelets (sold :) with the "packaging" I made after the last show where everyone *everyone* thought my bracelets were bookmarks. Something had to be changed, so I cut up cereal boxes, cracker boxes, etc. and stamped each one with a wood grain pattern and the words "cuff bracelet" so no one would mistake them for bookmarks. Successful.


These two sewing stools caught everyone's eye and had so many near-purchasers, but finally someone committed and took them home. I was sort of hoping they wouldn't sell because I loved them so, but so did everyone else. I purchased one at a thrift store and weeks later found the other (identical) one on my neighbors curb for trash pickup! The first held all sorts of old wooden spools and old packages of needles and became my sewing stool. When the second appeared I had to make them a pair. I sanded them down and decided to leave them rough. Then I reupholstered the seats with some fantastic fabric and there you have it. I'm still a little sad these aren't in my house.




Here is one of the two tables I made for the Parade of Homes. The square top table sold almost immediately and then later on in the day a woman purchased this table along with my yellow chair.


This chair was also in the Parade of Homes and received a lot of attention this day. A couple bought it saying they didn't know where they would put it, but had to make a spot for it somewhere in their house.


Here are some of my cuffs displayed on the spinning display boxes I built. They are covered in a natural-looking/muslin-type fabric and each bracelet hangs on a copper nail. I was really happy with how these turned out. Screwed onto the bottom are lazy susans so each display spins all the way around smoothly.


Some of my cuffs and necklaces:


Magnets and hair clips:

Here is the whole booth. I wish now that I would have hung something between my display and the girl's to the right, but ohvell. It's difficult to see my sign hanging in the background, but I was happy with that part, too. In the bottom left corner of the picture is the round table I rescued from another neighbors trash pile a couple of years ago. It was one of my favorites and also found a new home--in Iowa, actually. The sister of the show's organizer was visiting and decided to take my table home to Iowa with her :)



HERE is the little miss doing our favorite "trick" where she shows you "how strong" she is. Hysterical. Sometimes she even shakes a little :)


Hanging out at our last Farmer's Market of the year with Fin and Amelie (and Amy :)


Gabe and Ellis and I took a long hike through Cherry Creek Park a few weeks ago. We took a picnic lunch and let Ellis run all over. It was a beautiful day. And the weather was great, too.




Happy 4 years of marriage to us!!! Back to the restaurant where we had our first date, our rehearsal dinner and every anniversary dinner since :)

Hiking a few weeks back

Updates

I know you're going to be disappointed (Mom) that this post doesn't include pictures, but Ellis is asleep upstairs and Declan---Ellis' little friend I watch every morning---is asleep a few feet away from me and I am NOT about to gamble on waking either of them up by finding the camera.

Sorry. Not happening.

I can give a small written update however.

Ellis:
Ellis can now identify most of her letters. She points them out when she sees them on signs and billboards when we're out, which leads me to always be looking around to find that, "Yes, there certainly is a 'W' right there. Impressive." A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, EYES, J, K, L, M...O...R, S, T...W, X... We're working on the rest.

Letters aren't the only things Ellis loves to identify---animals are another favorite. She notices them all, big or small. Giraffe (jaff), lion (winen), cat, zebra, puppy, snake, turtle, butterfly (I know that's an insect), fish, duck, goose (not sure where she learned the distinction), horse (hiss), frog (because this blog is not R rated, I cannot tell you how she pronounces that one), elephant, bear (berr), panda (panna), alligator, bird...The girl likes animals.

Brooke:
I've got a craft show coming up this Saturday that I'm really really excited for. Comeseeme, ifyoucan!
On Sunday Ellis and I are heading back to CR, IA to visit family for a week.

Gabe:
Gabe is happy that Michigan keeps winning.

And now, I'm going to try to sneak a snack without waking up the babies.

Dusk

Ellis is growing teeth and I'm having mine extracted.

Ellis talking on the "phome." Her typical one-sided conversations go as follows: "HeWOooooe...Yesh...Yeah..."Reading:



Ay yay yay. I had three wisdom teeth extracted yesterday and ended up with one giant half a face today. I feel like Will Smith in Hitch when he has the allergic reaction. Left side: just a little puffy. Right side: big and bulbous from my eye to nearly my collar bone. I'll spare you the photos. Gabe has been taking great care of Ellis and me. Thanks for telling me my freak swollen half-face is cute. You're the best. :)

Fun with glasses...

18 months!

This photo update is in exact reverse order, starting with last night:

Ellis discovered she is a huge fan of mustard. Huge.

Here she is on her 18 month birthday, doing one of her new favorite things. Running away from me.








Lately she has been all about bringing us books to read to her. She sits and listens very well and turns the pages when it's time.




We had the pleasure of playing with Keri and Amanda and each of their little guys, Nico and Jude (and new little girl, Lucia). Nico took a dip in the kiddie pool and the following diaper resulted...

Jude!

Ellis noticing the full diaper:


A couple of those awkward hold-the-camera-yourself-with-one-hand-while-holding-toddler-in-other-hand pictures:




For a few days in July Ellis sported the Mrs. Brady hair-do:



Now that she can name and locate her elbows, Ellis enjoys folding her arms from time to time. It's pretty cute:




So the 18 month check up went well. Mostly. Ellis seemed to think the doctor's plan was to cause her serious harm and therefore reacted accordingly. Her height measures in the 4th percentile, weight (19lbs.) in the first, head circ. in the 20th. When the nurse -and Gabe and I- were holding Ellis down for her shots she managed to wiggle enough that one of the shots came out before it was complete. The nurse had to leave the room and find out what to do because she said this had never happened to her before. So apparently Ellis still deserves the label her NICU nurses gave her of "tiny, but mighty" :) At the last shot (the re-do to complete the one that she wiggled out of) Ellis quickly began shaking her arms and saying, "All DONE. ALL DONE!" It caused all of us to do that chuckle while frowning you do when something is sad, but also pretty cute. So she survived.

Ellis has managed to pack around 50 words into her budding vernacular. Words she says and understands what she's saying. She constantly says something that makes Gabe or me say to the other, "She just said ________! Did you know she knew that??" Some of her favorites are avocado (aho-caho), thank you (dit-doo), Ellis (Eh-Wis), elbow (eh-bow), fingers (fing-now), cheese, cereal (che-rail), eat (ite), open (oben), no/no way... Often when she can't repeat a word, it comes out sounding an awful lot like "Buttcheese." No joke. Over and over.

She has started to make-believe which is so fun. Just about anything (including her own empty hand) can be a cell phone, which she paces back and forth with talking into. "Heh-WO!...Yeah...Yess...Jiberish...Buh-bye!" She also hands us invisible snacks that we are expected to chew up and say yum to. Her new favorite game is to tell us "Nie-Nie" (which I'm pretty sure we never taught her?) at which point we close our eyes and play the narcoleptic, snoring until she touches our face and says, hello!

Basically, she's a whole lot of fun. :)

$$$ MOMS! Read this $$$

Look to the right ----------------------------->

If you are someone who buys diapers click on this link over on the right that says "Discounted Diapers"----if you want to buy diapers at a discounted price, that is. We use the 7th Generation brand (they have all sorts) and I saved almost $30 on 8 packs of diapers (over what I would normally pay at the grocery store). No joke. Plus, they'll be delivered free of charge (because my order was over $49.99) to me on Friday. If you order AGAIN, use the code FIVEBABY to get $5 off (you can't use both codes for one order though).

So here's the breakdown:

Click on my link to the right, use the "Ellis" code and receive 15% off (and bonus, I get a $10 credit for my next purchase---which you can sign up to do, too)

If you come back later and place another order, enter the code FIVEBABY to get $5 off (not sure when this expires)

Refer your own friends and get $10 credits up to $100

Easy peasy.

Update...sort of...just some pictures for now...