The Final Countdown...

The title is in reference to two things. Yes, one being the song itself. This summer I made (with Paula's assistance) two '80s CDs to listen to as we drove to the cabin. In a slip of judgement, I called Randy at work to see if there were any songs he wanted me to download. Yep, you guessed it, among other tunes: Prince, Morrissey and Young MC, my sweet husband requested Europe's "The Final Countdown".

The scary thing: it's Ashlynn and Ryder's favorite song! If you call my house, you will probably hear one of them singing the tune in the background and every time they ride in Randy's truck, it is their first request. Lord. Help. Me.


The other reference is to our festivals. They are biting at our heels and will be here too soon. Mom and I will surely be burning the midnight oil in the next week, sure hope we are making what people are looking for. Otherwise, I know a couple of people taking a fancy cooking class and they definitely need a couple or twenty aprons.

Happy Friday!!!!!!!!!

New blog up and running!

Check out our design blog! If you look closely at the pictures you can see the watermark of our logo, let us know what you think!!!

My latest fave......

Here is my latest design, and one of my personal faves so far. Thanks to Paula for encouraging me to reach a little further for some creativity in this one.


On another note, school is going well. Today we finished with the seventh day of creation and Ashlynn drew a picture of God in a recliner resting (she thought of that all by herself!). Their creation books are all finished so I will try to take some pics with the kids holding them.

You should see the mound laundry in my living room, all cleaned and folded, just hoping it will miraculously get put away.
Busy, busy, busy!!! :-)

Our new venture.....

Ok, so mom, Paula and I decided to take a leap and start our own business. We are starting small, like making the aprons and selling them at local festivals. We would love to eventually do more "pre"-production work (designing our own fabric, patterns, etc.), but that all takes time and getting your name out there.

Paula has designed a terrific logo for lizzie M. design, as it is named, and is our great "attention to detail" gal.

Mom, ofcourse, has all the talent and skills with lots of experience in the industry.

As, for me, I'm not sure what role I play yet except for lots of excitement and a passion to see something come from all of us working together.

Our number one goal is to do what Jesus would have us do with our time and talent that He has blessed us with. We want to glorify Him in all things and the cool part is-He's great with us having fun doing it!

P.S. I hope to have a separate blog for lizzie M. up and running in the next couple of weeks, it will be a place we can post our thoughts on design and any new ideas we have. Your input is always welcome!

Another apron!

I promise, info to follow!

New venture......

More info to come!


**Added to say: Ashlynn took the pics of me in the apron-not too bad!! ;-)

Volleyball

Last night we went to watch Randy play sand volleyball. The kids had a blast playing and Randy's team won!

School went well this morning, the first two weeks of the curriculum are all about Creation. The kids learned that God created darkness and light on the first day, then they colored the number one and glued it to construction paper that will eventually become their own little book.

They were both so anxious to start this morning, it was so cute!! They wanted to call me teacher instead of mommy and I told them it was up to them-but they can always call me mommy!!!

School Days

We start our first day tomorrow........I'll let you know how it goes and try to get some pics of the kids doing their school work.

It's been sooooo busy around here. I will try to update a little better this week, but right now it is 11pm, again, so I'm off to bed. :-)

Gage Man

Since we were on vacation, I didn't get a birthday post in for this little guy (who is now thirteen months old!!!). Where has the year gone?? He is walking, talking (all gibberish) and comprehending so much now. He can differentiate between toys, throw a ball (alarmingly well) and wrestle with daddy & Ryde.

He's still such a baby too. Without words, he can only use the sounds his little mouth makes to inform us of what he wants. Let me just say, he's pretty good at the "what's taking so long for the food, woman?" sound, as well as "this is not what I want, give me something else". He can make a sing-song sound very much like when I'm talking sweetly to him and now says "pa-pa".

Monday evening I drove Mimi and Papa home, so Gage got to take a road trip. He turned into Mr. Clingy, not wanting anyone else to hold him and if I was out of his sight for more than a second, he was screaming. This is the first baby I've had this dilemma with and I'm not sure what to do. Hopefully it is just a short lived stage! He was probably just spoiled having my attention all to himself for a few days :-).

Just the same, I love my little guy. He is so sweet and giggly, making our day brighter. Love you Gage Man!!!

P.S. The above birthday cake photo is self explanatory; the other picture was taken after he "snuck" into the bathroom at the cabin and emptied a container of powdered perfume-the picture doesn't show how messy he really was. At least he smelled fragrant, I guess....

Jumping to Obedience?!!?

Last night I told the kids it was time for bed and to give Auntie Paula hugs and kisses goodnight. Ashlynn jumped up right away and ran in the direction of Paula. What a great moment, I even proclaimed "Look, Ashlynn is jumping up in obedience!".

My bubble was quickly burst when she kept running to get something from the kitchen. Darn.

Ryder, apparently listening to me intently (riiight), stood up and started jumping in place. "Look at me momma, I'm jumpin' in 'bedience".

Now, do I try to explain what I really meant? If I could have stopped myself from laughing long enough, maybe. Ok, probably not. Thank God for kids and the funny things they do!

Been bugs in the house....

Not the creepy, crawly kind (though Randy would beg to differ). The fever making, body aching, bile vomiting kind. I know. To much information. Such is my life right now.

First it was Ryder, who fevered to 103 degrees and up, ending it with five hours of bile carefully aimed on every towel we could get into his hands. He was so meticulous about it, not a drop landed anywhere else but on that towel(s). After finally being able to maintain his fluid intake, it didn't take long for the recovery. My busy little guy is, well, busy again.

Gage was next. He managed just the fever and only to 101. Honestly, I'm not sure if it's just his molars moving around or the virus, but he is Crabby with a capital C and he is not a crabby guy. Reminding myself of that fact is important for my emotional stability, as the constant whining is trying my patience a bit. When nothing can soothe, it's got to be teeth.......right?

Randy fell victim number three Sunday. High fever, achyness, chills, you get the idea. Last night he fevered so much that he thought at least two-hundred spiders were crawling on his back (the sweat dripping off, I assume). Then he woke me to get him a towel because he felt like an NFL head coach that had just won the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, not the fame and glory part. The part where they dump the cooler of gatorade on him. In my extreme state of drowsiness, I handed him the towel and advised him to scoot away from his now soggy side of the bed; I was waaaay to tired to get up and strip the sheets.

Now it is 11pm, I am exhausted and I need to go to bed. But, it feels good to make light on the last few days around here. Hopefully, I passed the test.

Sooooo excited!!

I've been debating about what curriculum to use for Ashlynn (I know school is about to start!) and have finally decided on a great program. As much as I would like to pick and choose what we use, I know being organized this first year is vital for my sanity (and that of the kids).

During Ashlynn's dance lessons last spring I met a wonderful woman that homeschools her four children who introduced me to My Father's World; and today she invited me to her home to take a look at it. It is an awesome Bible based program that incorporates everything I am looking to teach Ashlynn this year (Ryder will be able to participate as well) that allows, even encourages, flexibility and creativity. My initial impression of looking at it online wasn't fabulous, so I was so glad to see and touch it in real life. It will be order this week!!

And one of the best things, aside from the cool ant farm, it will cost less than two months tuition did at Ashlynn's preschool, AMEN!!

Happy Birthday Reilly!!

A sweet Happy Birthday to cousin Reilly from Ashlynn, Ryder and Gage!

We hope your day is filled with good fun and special memories, we love you and miss you sweetie!!

Hugs and Kisses from Auntie Lizzie and Uncle Randy-we love you!!