Trick or Treat!

My blog is 1 year old!! Crazy. Anywho, today is Halloween!!! Both girls knew early on what they wanted to be: Ally a Lion and Audrey a bat. Matt was getting Ally's costume on this afternoon and I heard her start to cry. I walked into the room and said "Ally, what's wrong??" And she held out her hands, sobbing, and said "LOOK AT ME! I look RIDICLEUS!!!" (ridiculous)

It was one of those moments where I felt like my heart was being wrung out like a wet rag! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It took about 20 minutes for me to convince her that face paint would complete the look and she would look as scary as Audrey.

Audrey snarled at people when they said 'look! It's Batman!'. She would mumble "I'm just a BAT!"

Our neighbor Sam (Mario)

neighborhood kids

Anakin the Super Dog

Audrey reading to Ally

Remember me?

It's a stormy, rainy day which means it's perfect for updating my blog! I can't believe it's been almost a year since we moved. I change out my day planner every July and it was weird to go through my old calendar, remembering our last couple of months in Portland. :( I have also been going through my iPhoto library and pulled a few pics to post here. My dad and nieces and nephew visited in June and took lots of pics of the house and the girls:



Sunroom:



me sneaking in facebook time:


Family room:


The girls LOVED getting to know their cousins!:


back yard:


I found this desk at a garage sale. Ally loves it :)


Audrey playing guitar hero:



another back yard pic:

New new blog

I have a new business: SkinDeep Naturals
I have a new blog: SkinDeepNaturals.blogspot.com
I had my first big order 2 days ago: 20 lip balms
I have one person interested in a wholesale account with me: a retail store in Canada
My shop isn't very impressive but it's coming along! I am working on a logo, that should be up in a few days: SkinDeep.etsy.com

Slow down...

One of my facebook friends posted a blog from Mary Beth Chapman (Steven Curtis Chapman's wife) today. The Chapman's tragically lost a daughter last year. Mary Beth posted this blog this past Christmas:

"As I anticipate Christmas 2008, I have many thoughts flying through my heart and head. The last several days, my mind has not been able to stop thinking about Mary, the mother of Jesus. Pregnant and scared, knowing that the baby she was carrying eventually would pay the ultimate price of His life. How would I have lived differently if I knew that my time with Maria was going to be this short? Regretfully, I would have lived much differently. I would have purposely hugged and kissed more. I would have tried to memorize and lock away in my heart certain smells and smiles. I would have colored more and worked less. I would have laughed more and fussed less. Bedtime wouldn’t have become a chore to check off the list of things to get done. Instead it would have been more of an opportunity to listen about the day and offer whatever words were needed. The swimming pool wouldn’t have been too cold to swim in. The flowers in the garden would have all been picked, and definitely more ice cream would have been consumed!"

I almost stopped reading the note initially, because I wasn't in the mood to feel sad. But, thankfully I kept reading and was able to embrace this day differently. Although bedtime was still a "chore", all that preceded was a delight. We had lunch together, had a nice outing to the bank, played puppy (I even let Ally lick my cheek a couple of times), split a donut 3 ways at Starbucks (I took the smallest piece), played at a toy store for an hour, and read a nice advent story together. Today was a good day!

Tomorrow I will try harder!

Audrey's earrings

Audrey decided she was ready to get her ears pierced :)

I don't know what to feel about the fact that she asks me to take a picture of her earrings and sell them.  She's so used to me selling things online :)

Audrey is very proud of her earrings. And I'm so proud of her. It's hard to believe how quickly my little girl is growing up..

Audrey trying hard not to cry after the piercing:

The girls on the carousel at the mall in Grandville:

Bear

My best analogy for life lately is that I feel like a bear in hibernation. We go to church once or twice a week, I walk Audrey to the school bus, make a couple of trips to the gym and the grocery store, and that's it. Full hibernation mode. It's just too stinkin' cold to go outside and play. I tried to get the girls out in the snow the other day for some snow romping and Audrey (not in these words) expressed how confining snow pants, boots, a snow coat and mittens are and that playing in the snow wasn't much fun. I can see her point.

Being a hermit at heart, I don't mind being a shut in. I have felt gloomy at times, but that's normal for me. Can't blame that on the weather :) All in all, life is good and we are enjoying watching lots of movies on our new HDTV.

I have been working away in my kitchen like a mad scientist coming up with new potions for my latest etsy shop (skindeep.etsy.com). I'm having fun with that and have had 2 sales so far!

One of my favorite parts of our week are waiting for Audrey to walk home from the bus stop. She has mastered the art of whistling ... I can always hear her coming before I can see her. My little girl, walking and whistling a happy tune. It doesn't get much better than that. She loves school and is always excited to go (and practically hyperventilates if she thinks she's going to be late for the bus). She comes home happy and loves to tell me about her day and get started on her homework.