Ellie Abigail 7 months

I'm a few days late posting this.  Time slipped away from us!
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Ellie Abigail,
Seven whole months have gone by and you are quite the little missy!  We love you so much!  You are such a big talker, a big smiler and you do know how to cry! You are getting to be such a little big girl.  You are so curious about what is going on around you.  We are convinced you will be much happier when you are mobile and can follow your sister around.  You are a blessing to us and we love having you around!

At 7 months you:

• are wearing size 6-9 months clothes.
• might wear a size 2 shoe but you haven't had many "real" shoes on this summer!
• wear most of your cloth diapers on the large setting!

• are eating 2 meals a day, breakfast and dinner.  Breakfast is usually a fruit or yogurt and cereal.  Dinner is cereal and a veggie.
• have eaten lots of different foods including acorn squash, butternut squash, banana yogurt, pears, peas, sweet potato, black beans and peaches.  We can't wait to introduce you to more food. 
• still love to babble a ton!  And you always have those little hands moving.
• have really discovered the dogs and love it when they come close to you.  I caught you trying to eat Bella's tail today.  I don't think you thought it tasted too good.

• are sitting up like a champ.  And your arms seem to have grown exponentially because you can really reach far!
• have tried drinking with a sippy cup.  You need a little more practice.  You do love water from a straw from mommy or daddy.
• are usually in bed by 7:30 PM and up at 6:30 AM.  We let you talk and play in your crib until around 7 AM.  Mommy would really like it if you slept in a little later!
• sleep with your lovie and paci at night and naps.
• Take at least 2 naps but usually 3 a day.
• can push yourself backward when on your tummy and turn yourself around. Especially if there is something around you want.
• went to your first swim party!  Your friend Chloe turned 4.  You really weren't so fond on the pool.  It's a little different than your bath!

• have already gone to your first VBS at church! Everyone loved you. But with those dimples, it's hard to resist!
• Got to meet a new friend Addison Leigh.  She lives in Texas but I think you will be great long distance friends!  She can teach you a lot!
• have two of your bottom front teeth.  Nothing else seems to be on the horizon right now.
• love playing  with your big sister.  She has such a great time entertaining you!

Big girl, there is so much to come!  We love you sweet girl!

And because we can't end the post without a picture of sisters here it is.  Have I even mentioned how hard it is to get a 7 month old and a 4 year old to smile at the same time? Especially when the 7 month old is over taking pictures. This is as good as it gets sometimes

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Junk Hippy- My first show

I've told you before that I sew.  And lately I've been sewing and people are actually buying my stuff!  It's kind of crazy.  And since I love to sew and I love to sell my stuff, I thought I would participate in my first vendor show of sorts called Junk Hippy.  Junk Hippy is a unique show- the first of its kind.  It was only hand made, vintage, antique, "junk" stuff.  I signed up in April I believe and started building my inventory!

Oh, and I came up with a boutique name, Paisley Apple Boutique.  I made a facebook page, got an awesome logo from a good friend, JDM Designs, ordered some business supplies from my BFF Vistaprint and got to work.  Much to my surprise I had a little bit of trouble keeping up with orders from friends AND making stuff for the show! 

But finally the show came.  This is what I started with.

This my friends is a 10x10 booth with nothing in it but some tape marking off my spot! My dear sweet friend Melissa ( Pink Acorn Desings) came over to the house one day and gave me a TON of ideas of how to set up my booth.

I wanted my booth to be inviting, cute and most of all someplace you wanted to shop.  I wanted it to feel like you were shopping at my house.  A way cuter version of my house. 

I had burp cloths, bibs, ruffled totes...

fabric trash bags, hooded towels...

paci clips, custom pillowcases...

and a few apparel items.  Would you believe I didn't sell those amazingly cute patriotic onesies?  I did sell both those dinosaur onesies though.
I don't know what craft fair gods I pleased but I felt like I had a great placement! I had a corner booth that was right by the concession, restrooms and was apparetly the coolest place in the building.  Triple score!

I made changes to my booth throughout the day to try to move some of my product. I texted my friend Lindsay VERY last minute for an idea to hang my paci clips and she sent me an idea in less than 5 minutes (see above picture).  Isn't that a cute way to display paci clips?!  Don't you want to buy 5 of them?

I asked my friend Kathy who does monogramming to join me for this show and be available for monogramming.

When I worked in corporate America she was one of my rock star employees.  When I found out she did monogramming, well, I basically had my paycheck deposited into her account.  She is awesome. And having her at the show was awesome! No one else did monogramming and people were lining up to get their stuff personalized!  She was an A+ trooper!

My BFF for so many years I won't even bother to count them so graciously offered to assist me.  Boy did I put her to work!

What I love about Tabby is that she totally talked up my stuff.  Not just "oh yeah, that's really cool" but really talked it up.  Talked about her experiences with my products, how the customer could use it for themselves, and just gushed about everything I had.  It was so awesome to hear her talking about my stuff and I am SO glad she was there.  She has the ability to read my mind so I didn't have to tell her anything to do.  She took over.  Thank you SO much Tabby!

We were so busy at the show that Kathy's daughter Aleisha had to stay and help as well.  She helped her mom with the monogramming but it was fun to have her in the booth.

Ronnie brought up the girls to see their mama.  Avery caught wind there was face painting and she had to have it.

Is she not the cutest rainbow ever?!

And I can't leave out Ronnie's cousin, Brooke (The Maude Pod) who had her own booth.  Brooke is like the sister I never had but always wanted. I  heart her.  We get each other and it was fun to have her right around the corner.  We shared many texts about how we weren't ready and ideas we had.  Brooke even let me borrow her bakers rack.  From her kitchen.  It's still in my garage (hi Brooke, you can come get it anytime!). 

This was set up day. We were hot, sweaty and exhausted after after setting up!

So, all in all, my first show was a huge success and the Junk Hippy Roadshow was a huge success! I met a ton of awesome customers and can't wait to make more stuff to sell!  I've already been scoping out fabric (as if I need more) and trying to think of new items as well as finishing up some custom orders.

It was a great time and I can't wait to do it again!  Who is with me?! 

You can't always get what you want

And in this case, all I wanted was a picture of the girls in their swimsuits. I don't think I need to say anything more. Just review the pictures below.

We start out not too bad.

Is Avery mad at someone?

These next pictures I label "What is she doing?"

We're close with this one.

But not quite there.

Avery is getting tired of this picture taking.

I think this is the best one.

And then I enter the picture. It doesn't get much better. Ronnie always gets me when I am wearing the rattiest clothes. In this case a t-shirt from college. At least I'm looking at the camera!

If I could take Avery and I from that middle picture and insert Ellie from the last I think we'd finally have a good picture. Just goes to show that getting a picture of a 4 year old and a 6 month old both smiling and looking at the camera is a miracle indeed!

Braids!

I have some catching up to do including Ellie's 7 month post (7 months already?!) but I had to share what we did with Avery tonight.

She has been wanting to put her hair in lots of braids and make it wavy in the morning so we finally got around to it this evening.

She told me she wanted "five braids" but we were able to do way more than five!

She had such a great time getting her hair braided. Avery told me not to forget she had bangs. Don't worry sweetness, I won't forget!

Love these brown eyes!

She's such a silly girl!

Can't wait to see how it looks in the morning!