Reflections of love and a nice surprise!

This little guy is our Samuel. He came to live with us straight from the hospital. Samuel has such a beautiful story, we named him Samuel and the adoptive parents were given his information and they asked what we were calling him, when she was told that we were calling him Samuel she cried, that was the name they had chosen for thier new son. She said it was if it were a confirmation from God that this was really happening and they soon would bring their son home. They chose the name Samuel because they had prayed for a child for a long time, She would always refer to the story of Hannah and said that if God were to bless her with a child, if that child were to be a boy, she would name him Samuel.

This is Samuel with his mommy on the day they came to pick him up from our home. I still can't get over the way they gazed at each other, it brings tears to my eyes still to this day!

This is Gabbie with "her" Samuel. She was ( is) nuts about him!! He lives far away now, but he's forever in our hearts and memories!

This was one of the very first photos I took of him after bringing him home. I can't even tell you how wonderfully sweet our time with him was. ( yes, I'm crying again.. dang it!!)

We will love him for the rest of our days!! Samuels parents surprised us by writing an article about their adoption experience and did a write up on our family for an adoption newletter, We got it right around Christmas. It was my favorite gift! To know that someone see's our hearts and knows that we loved their child with all our hearts was such a blessing to our family. They got it, they really got it. It's hard to convey how much we love these kids.. we get alot of " well you should be used to it by now ( the goodbyes)" or " You don't have them long enough to get too attached" Huh? WHAT? I'm attached when I get the call, sight unseen. The thought of them disapearing out of our lives forever is a scary one. Thank you, Thank you for knowing how much we loved your precious little Samuel and now we have been given the gift of your friendship to boot! We love you!!

Gabbie's 8th birthday party!

Gabbie had a Princess/Spa/Slumber party, I don't know what on earth made me have that big of a party, normally they say when you invite 20 people, 10 will come.. nope.. everyone came, which was great, but have YOU ever had that many little girls spend the night at your house?Well, actually only 12 of them stayed the night. Gabbie had a blast and I have to admit, I had fun too, but by the next morning, I was in need of a spa treatment myself! :) The party started at 6:00 P.M. and lasted until 11:30 A.M. ( yea..)

I got my pictures a little backwards here, but when the girls first arrived, we had a Princess tea party followed by a royal spa treatment which consisted of facials, manicures and pedicures. That actually took A LONG TIME!!! in between apointments, my wonderful husband played games with the girls ( I even went in to find him in a tiara dancing like a ballerina) hey.. whatever works I say..

After the Spa treatments Gabbie opened her gifts and those that were not staying overnight were picked up. Terry ordered Pizzas for dinner and we played freeze dance, charades and hot potatoe. After the games we made popcorn and watched movies until every one passed out. I know Gabbie will remember this party for a long, long time,( as will I) As tired as I was the next day, it was so worth it.. Oh.. let me mention that two of my closest friends ( who's children were at the party) called me from our favorite restaurant to taunt me.. NICE..( I hope you reading this KIM and CRYSTAL!) :)

This little dance/song.. or whatever you want to call it, cracked me up.. it's called Little Sally Walking.. the things they pick up at school... and then teach to my friends 3 and 4 year olds ( gotcha back KIM and CRYSTAL!)

They have to stand in a circle and sing this little chant

one little girl gets on the inside of the circle and starts walking around and they sing

"Little Sally walking, walking down the street

she didn't know what to do so she stopped in front of me

( they have to stop in front of someone)

they put their hands on their hips and and say

Hey girl do your thing, do your thing now switch

( they have to do some sort of little dance and switch with the girl in front of them and it starts all over again.. lets just say it can get VERY old, VERY fast!!

The little buggers FINALLY fell asleep around midnight! This only some of them.. they were everywhere!!!

Twelve of the girls spent the night!( I know... call me crazy!)

Gabbie getting her eye treatment




Opening presents




a quick snapshot of 13 of the SEVENTEEN kids we had at the party.
( ask me if I learned my lesson?? the answer is YES!) That is the last time I will attempt manicure, pediures and facials on that many kids.. and then feed them sugar and let them spend the night!!

Some of the goodies, we had chocolate covered strawberries, mints, ants on a log, donut holes and strawberry lemonade for the royal appetizers. YUM!!

Cupcakes

Spa table

Picture of the party table, I just realized I took this before I had the food on it.. it was much prettier with all the food! :)

So yea.. I'm thinking McDonalds next year!!

Oh.. and does anyone else's husband get called out to an urgent business meeting at 10:30 P.M.? just curious.

Bakerella

Gabbie is a Domestic Diva in the making!!

My Parents got Gabbie lots of baking products for her birthday, she loves to be in the kitchen with me baking and cooking! Included in the gift was this snazzy Apron and chef hat, it has an oven mit too. She wore the entire ensemble to the grocery store to pick out her ingredients. She did this all by herself.

After cracking a couple of eggs on the counter and floor, she got the hang of it!


and now for some oil..


This was her favorite part! ( isn't it all of ours? )

Finished cakes! fresh from the oven.

Cupcake anyone?

Voila!!

She was quite proud of herself!

"They look AMAZING" she said..

Tasting the goods

Yummy!!

I'm so proud of her!! She is so happy to have her own set of cookware ( Thanks mom and daddy!!) I see some holiday baking in our very near future!! :) Now if I could only stop being so wimpy and teach her how to sew..sigh.. I'm so afraid she's gonna get those cute little fingers caught. :(

The elusive Logan and some sewing projects..

Well, at long last, here is a picture of Logan. This is from a few months ago, but it's the most recent I have ( hence the name), I have to sneak up on him. He's quite the cutie don't you agree? ( I know I'm his mom and all.. but seriously, he's cute!)

So you know how I've been MIA lately on my blog? This is what I've been up to. I have to find a balance..( is that possible? I see people do it.. update their blogs every day and still have lots of crafty goodness to show) I'll try to be better...really I will.

I got these pictures a little backwards, this is the back.

Front

I love the Anna wrap dresses. You can get the pattern from Jona as well as some other great patterns and fabric. plus, you've never met anyone nicer, seriously. ( is nicer a word?)

and some aprons for cooking up some Christmas yummies!! :) I'm taking several of these to a local boutique here.

And last but not least the tutu twirl, This has been my most popular seller.

So there you have it, one of the reasons for my long absence. Anyone else sewing up some Christmas goodies?

Nothing like a best friend!!

This is Gabbie and her friend Sayla, they have been the best of friends from around the age of 2 years old. These girls crack me up!! Watching them together always brings back memories of my childhood friend. I'm sure one day they will cherish these pictures, or at least I hope so!!

And of course I couldn't leave without posting a couple pictures of Hope!! This was Gabbie's dress and moses basket that I saved and I couldn't resist taking pictures of her in it. She is such a little dream.. I just love her so much!!!

I would love to get some pictures of the elusive Logan, but y'know, he's 15 now, and getting his picture taken is not one his favorite things to do. Soon though, soon!! ;)

I have been doing some sewing, lots of Christmas aprons and a few dress sets for a local boutique. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! What are you working on for Christmas??

Oh my Heck.. Someone PINCH me...

Seriously.. pinch me.. not hard, just to make sure I'm awake ( just DO it) you may recall me bragging on my beautiful girls in this post. well.. do you remember what ELSE that post was about??? a um.... STROLLER maybe, that I desperately wanted to win? Well guess what?

I WON!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't she a BEAUTE? I can hardly believe it. I have been coming back to the computer all day just to make sure there wasn't a mistake!! Thank you to Trisha and all the wonderful girls at MOMDOT and of course MUTSY for the chance to win this amazing, amazing stroller!! you can check out NiniandLoli if you are interested in one of these gems for yourself! WHOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!

Gabbie and Hope ( Fall Festival Fun)

Saturday we went to our towns annual Fall Frolic and the kids had so much fun!! Gabbie, Hope and I went to another smaller one at a local church and then Terry and Logan met up with us at the big festival. It was fun, there were booths set up for games, they had a costume contest and trick or treating and then at the end of it, they had a 25 foot high movie screen where they played Scooby Doo. Families brought blankets and picnic baskets and everyone sat around and watched the movie. Hope started getting sleepy and cranky, so we left about 30 minutes into the movie. But all in all.. it was a great time!

Gabbie and Hope are crazy about each other

If it were up to Gabbie, she would stay forever!!

Seriously, is she cute or what?

One more, this wasn't at the festival, but I love this picture!!

In the kitchen with Gabbie

Gabbie and I have been having fun in the kitchen making fall goodies! I found a recipe in the family fun magazine ( September issue) for mini caramel apples and Gabbie loved making them. ( she got a bit carried away and decided to dunk some marshmellows too, the kid is crazy about marshmellows) I wondered why the recipe called for butterscotch or peanut butter chips rather than actual caramel, well... do yourself a favor.. follow the recipe, we had a big caramelly mess on our hands when we attempted to do it our way. The caramel refuses to stick to the white of the apple no matter how much you dry it. but if your just dying to have caramel, I did find this twist to the recipe at little birdie secrets. The picture below is our second batch with the butterscotch chips.

After we finished with the caramel apples, we decided to make some cinnamon/applesauce dough ornaments to add to our christmas packages. If you have never tried this before, I would encourage you to try it, Gabbie had a blast and my house smelled like a slice of heaven all day.

Here is the recipe.. give it a try, you'll be glad you did!

1 Cup Applesauce
1 Cup Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Cup Elmers Glue

Mix all the ingredients together.

roll out and cut out with cookie cutters

let air dry for several days.

Here is one of her finished little gingerbread men. we will make him into an ornament and tie him to her teachers christmas gift.

( one down, lots to go..)

What are you and your little ones working on?