these are a few of my favorite things....

....my favorite ETSY things. Just in case you were wondering. And even if you weren't.....you should check these places out. Most of them I have purchased from, and the ones I have yet to purchase from-- let's just say it's only a matter of time. Because, see, I have to spread out my etsy purchases, to keep my husband's blood pressure in the healthy range. He's so dramatic when it comes to my etsy habit!

*Bear in mind, these lovely sellers are not aware I am typing this, and am sharing these shops simply as one person passing on some great finds. 

Faves from the baby category:

The Vintage Clothespin  ....I am in the process of ordering a diaper bag from this wonderfully talented mother of twins!! I scoured Etsy for days and days, and found this shop, and in my humble opinion, her style and quality is unmatched. Plus, I showed the link to another bag designer friend, and she agreed, and loved the Vintage Clothespin, too! So there you have it!

Polka Dot Kitty Co.   ....I have purchased a couple sets of embroidered, personalized bib/burp cloth/onesies from the shop, and everywhere we went, Jack and his accessories got rave reviews!

Love, September    ....I bought a sling for Jack from here, and he lived in it for the first couple months of his life-- especially when Jeremiah was deployed. She's got some great patterns!!

noodles & milk  .....Bought things for Jack from here, and again, I loved everything! And this seller was lovely to work with, which is another plus in my book!

4 Sweet Cheeks  ....I have a hooded towel in my etsy cart as I type this very post. Love this shop!!! I came across this gem by way of Mandy .....and boy am I glad she shared!!

Faves from the childrens category:

Briar Claire ....Just go check out the hats, and you'll see. Kaiti has a few and she looks adorable in them-- the headbands, too!!

My Personalized T-shirt ...Adorable AND affordable shirts for your children. My kids think their name shirts are the coolest!

Lil Miss Muffin .....Oh, just click on the link, and you'll see.

Bits n' Pieces, etc....The crayon wallets are both genius and stylish....and finally, something for the boys!!!

baby pop .... I have not purchased from them, but I hear through trusted friends that the woman behind this store is fabulous. Tyler has been asking me to make a magic cape for months, and if I end up not taking it on, this store offers me a plan B!

Groovy Gurlz .....The A-line dresses are too precious for words, as are the purses that are perfect for a little girl!!

Faves from the ME!!!/gifts category:

The Pig And The Peacock ....The body polish and body butters are DELICIOUS!!!!
Love of Jewelry.....The bracelets in this shop are beautifully done and unlike the majority of beaded jewelry. She mixes chunky with delicate and the result is lovely!

Jewelry by Abby .... Another beautiful jewelry store and this one has lovely gold pieces!!

Integrity Studio .....Beautiful photography and in a range of sizes. I love this one!

Amy Giacomelli.... She paints nature so beautifully, I get lost in her paintings.


....So.....that wraps up my current favorites! I'd just to love hear which etsy shops y'all count as favorites. Share with me-- don't keep the goodness to yourself!!

5 is big

Yesterday we celebrated Kaiti's 5th birthday with a Pinkalicious Picnic Party. The rain ended just in time for the kids to enjoy time at the playground outside. The grassy picnic lunch I had envisioned did not go as I planned because the ground was still rain-soaked. Muddy messes and pinkaliciousness do NOT go hand in hand. So we ate indoors, and had a lovely time.

one of the food areas

kaiti cakes

the birthday banner that Jack kept tearing down. he's good like that.

kaiti, emma, tyler, audrey, andrew, and jack and laurie in the background

playing with.......mulch?

getting ready to sing

her 1st jar of peanut butter for the day

her 2nd jar!!

painting the picnic baskets

there were definitely some budding artists in the bunch

a couple finished baskets

after painting the baskets, the kids visited the candy bar and filled their baskets with yummy scoops....jelly belly's, gummy peaches, watermelon slices, hershey's kisses, m&ms, pink gumballs, gummy coke bottles, mike & ikes, sweet tarts, pixie sticks, lollipops, and plenty more. sugar and pink....kaiti wouldn't have it any other way.

charles having a heart to heart with jack. maybe he was telling him not to steal marshmallows?

we had a candy bar at the party, and apparently jack fell in love with the marshmallows. later that day, jeremiah thought jack was quiet, and went to inspect.......to find this.

upon seeing his daddy, jack did what any marshmallow-lovin', stubborn child would do-- shove every last marshmallow in their mouth and attempt a 'you're not taking me alive' smile.

Kaiti had a wonderful birthday party. She had a great time with her girlfriends-- and boy friends, too. She made out with an incredible stash.....2 frogs ('live ones!!), a jewelry box kit, a design-your-own bag, princess pieces, a lovely dress, a fluffy pillow, melissa & doug dress up dolls, zhu zhu pets galore, makeup, sparkly lip gloss, art stuff, an adorable tea set, jewelry, books, gift cards, new sparkly shoes, beautiful knit caps,  a couple tinkerbell dolls, a gumball machine and of course, 2 jars of peanut butter!!! Wow!!! Thanks to all who came and helped make Kaiti's day so special..... and thanks so much to the ladies who helped me scramble to get all ready in time!! We've got some pretty amazing friends, if I do say so myself!! 

Happy Birthday baby girl!!!! You are the loveliest thing I ever did see!!!

our week in pictures

those are lasagna noodles. they didn't quite make it into the pan.

admiring the full moon. it was breathtaking.

my picture taking did not do it justice

the clouds just made the light more ethereal...I did not make this black & white

my handsome husband celebrated his 34 birthday

story with daddy before bedtime

me and my jack...in black and white the contrast between our eyes and hair is even deeper

NOT ME!! MONDAY

A short and sweet Not Me! Monday post, just like me. Stop laughing. Okay, short, definitely. The sweet depends on my blood sugar level at the time.

It was absolutely NOT ME who let my son waddle around with a dirty, stinky diaper, hoping he would walk within sniffing distance of his daddy quickly, so daddy would grab him up and change him. I would NOT do that….especially since my husband had changed the last 2 dirty diapers, and I know that if we were taking turns, it was most certainly mine.

Speaking of my husband, I did NOT get a teenie bit possessive at his birthday dinner at Longhorn’s Steakhouse, when I noticed a young, pretty blonde checking him out. And it was certainly NOT me who locked my eyes on said blonde, and gave her a sweet but emphatically stern look, telling her to avert her eyes immediately. And it was NOT my husband who kept chowing down on his steak and sipping his sweet tea, none the wiser about the little eye-exchange that had just taken place, until I told him. Nothing gets between my man and his meat J

Because I am such an early-riser, morning type of gal, it was NOT ME who slept a little late on a school day. And my sweet son Tyler, while letting me sleep, did not decide to make his own lunch, only to find we were out of lunchables AND Ziploc bags. Upset that he had no baggies to put his sandwich in (instead of disturbing my extra 5 min of sleep), he decided to just throw the sandwich away—which also happened to be our last slices of bread. Upon learning all of this, I most certainly DID NOT scoop the sandwich from the trash, telling him it had not touched anything really icky, and he had to eat it since we had nothing else. As he started getting really upset, I said his only other option was to buy lunch from the cafeteria, to which he cried, (actual tears, folks) and said ‘Please don’t make me eat the school food, mommy, please don’t make me eat it, it’s really baaaaddddd!!!’ 

Feeling really bad, I did NOT say, ‘Honey it is the sandwich you made, that was only in the trash can for a second, or the cafeteria lunch, which can’t be that awful.’ (Don’t worry—I felt terrible and ran into Publix to grab him his favorite lunchable, and took into his classroom—where he had the most tear-jerking look of gratitude I’ve ever seen.)

Finally, it was NOT ME who loudly blurted out, ‘Oh my gosh, it smells like crap over here,’ as we were driving over the river. Tyler giggled from the backseat, but Kaiti was having none of it, and said, ‘Um, Mommy, you just said a bad word.’ I said ‘Yes, honey, that was a bad word.’ Kaiti replied, ‘You shouldn’t say bad words, Mommy, you should say something else.’ I always own up to my mistakes, so it sure WASN’T ME who said, ‘Right honey, I should have said something else, but I said that word for emphasis, because it sure smells something awful, and no other word would do.’