Free as Can Be!

Shutterfly is doing an amazing promotion this year... 50 FREE Christmas cards for blogging about it and I can't wait to get started! I personally LOVE Shutterfly and have used them for several things in the past... Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, etc... They have very unique photo gifts and I just love them!

There are several designs to choose from and they are all so cute I don't know how we will ever be able to decide on one! This one is one of my absolute favorites... very simple yet so cute!!

We don't ever give holiday parties but I thought these invitations were so cute if you were going to throw a Christmas party... especially this one!

And as Maddox's first birthday grows closer, I have already been thinking about invitations for his party and Shutterfly has the cutest birthday invitations! I can't wait to design one to help make his first birthday special! I am considering this one in particular!

Be sure to check out Shutterfly's great products!! :)

Thanksgiving in Brentwood

This year, Daniel, Maddox, Chloe and I traveled to Brentwood to have Thanksgiving with Daniel's family. It had been 3 years since we were there for Thanksgiving so it was great to be there with everyone!

We got there Tuesday night and Maddox did great on the way! He literally slept the whole time except when we stopped to eat dinner and feed him... much better than he has done the last 2 times we have traveled with him. When we got there we visited with everyone before heading to bed. Daniel's brother and sister-in-law had to leave the next morning to go to her family's house, but it was so good to see them while we could!

Wednesday morning some lifelong friends of Daniel's family came over for a visit. Maddox got to play a little bit with Ainsley and it was so fun to watch them interact with each other! They both have grown so much since their last visit! Wednesday night we drove to downtown Nashville to meet up with some friends that used to live in Auburn. They have a son that is 1 month younger than Maddox. Both of the babies kept us very busy and very entertained at dinner. We had the best time catching up and hanging our for a little while.

Thursday was a day full of family and food! Thanksgiving dinner was so yummy and the fellowship was great, too! Maddox got to meet a lot of his extended family and he did great for most of the time! I am so glad that we were able to be there this Thanksgiving and we look forward to seeing everyone again after Christmas! Enjoy the pictures...

The Best Years of My Life

2 years ago today, I married my best friend and the best father I could have ever dreamed of having. I feel so blessed to have Daniel in my life and I look forward to many, many, many more years of happiness! It was the most perfect (unbearably cold) day follwed by the most amazing honeymoon. We have had a blast these last 2 years and it's only the beginning. I love you, babe!!

Here Comes Santa Claus

One of my relatives is a Santa Claus in Atlanta, and every year he comes up to my grandparents house and lets all of the great-grandkids sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. It is a very fun tradition, seeing how excited they get when Santa walks up while they are all playing outside. We were not sure what Maddox would think about Santa, but he kinda liked him! Next year may be a different story though! We had a very fun day visiting with family and hanging out together! It was a great way to kick off the holiday season...

Etsy Site

So... thanks to our wonderful friends, Gorham and Jamie, the Etsy site is now up and running! I went down to their house this afternoon and Gorham helped me put the finishing touches on a couple of things so the site would look more "official". Thank you so much, guys, for helping me out today! I could not have done it without you!!

I only have 4 items listed so far, but I am going to add to it over the next several days and maybe, just maybe, I can make a sale soon! We shall see... click on the link below and check it out!

BabyVogue

I Think It's Time...

...to lower the crib! 3 times now when I have gone in to get Maddox from a nap, this is how I find him. He has gotten really good at going from his tummy to a sitting position, so I'm afraid if we don't go ahead and lower the crib, things could get dangerous!

Also lately, Maddox has been trying so hard to crawl! He gets so close, but has not quite gotten the hang of it yet. It is so fun to watch him try...

I hope everyone has had a happy Tuesday!! We sure have!

Some of My Tricks

I wanted to do a post dedicated to all of the things that Maddox is doing lately. I am not good about keeping up with this and I know there will come a day when I won't remember exactly what he was doing at 7 1/2 months old. So, for those of you interested, here goes...

-He weighs at least 20 pounds... a big boy! We have not had an official weight check though since 6 months where he was 18lb. 9oz.

-Wearing 12 month clothes (still SOME 9 month) and size 4 diapers.

-Knows the difference in familiar people and "strangers"... he gets his feelings hurt pretty badly if a stranger looks at him too long or catches him off guard!

-Naps are still anybody's guess... taking 2-3 a day that range from 30 minutes to 2 hours. You never know!

-Sleeps really well at night. We put him down at 8:00 and he'll sleep until about 6:30 or 7:00. Glorious!!

-Loves taking stroller rides. If we walk by his stroller in the house, he'll pull towards it and sometimes cry if we don't take him for a ride.

-Is completely intrigued with his Praise Baby DVD. If nothing else works, this will do the trick! Definitely gonna need more to add to the collection soon.

-Knows the sound the door makes when Daniel comes in in the afternoons... he will almost break his neck to see him... very very sweet!!

-Is becoming more of a snuggle baby, which I love!

-Not crawling yet, but can still somehow get just about anywhere. I never actually see him moving, but somehow it happens.

-Gets so excited when he sees a cell phone, remote, or computer that I think he might hyperventilate.

-Still spits up a lot, but it has definitely gotten better.

Lastly, here are a few recent pictures of the little guy...

Etsy Adventures

So I decided to take the plunge and start an Etsy store. I hope that this was a good decision... I guess I will know soon enough. I figured I have nothing to lose because it only costs .20 to list an item. I am trying to figure out how everything works, how to make a banner, etc... There are a lot of things I don't know, but I guess I will learn. I have been thinking so much lately about how to sell my things. I definitely can't afford to have my own store, nor would I want to spend all of my time there. Craft shows are great, but let's face it, it took me 6 months to make everything for syrup sopping. Last Saturday a girl from a local children's boutique came by my booth and asked if I would be interested in sewing for them, which sounds great, but I am undecided about this, too. I don't want to limit myself to only being able to sell to people who go in this one store. I love selling to friends, and I still want to be able to do that. An online store seems like a good choice. A friend of mine designed a logo for me and I am going to try and use it for my Etsy banner. Maybe I will get all of this figured out soon. In the meantime, I am having a blast learning to sew new things.

I went to a local sewing shop today and looked into a Janome 350e monogram machine. Man, how I would love to have one of these. They are a bit pricey, but would do everything I am interested in a machine doing. I think it would be so much fun to be able to monogram things for friends, our kids, and even incorporate it into a business. Probably not going to happen anytime soon, but a girl can dream, right?? :)

Once the etsy site is up and running, I will post a link to it! Have a great weekend! :)

Weekend Highlights

Last weekend, Lolli and G came into town for a weekend full of fun! Daniel and I had to be out at our booth at 5:30 Saturday morning to get everything set up and boy was it COLD! The sopping went on until 4:00, although most of the traffic came through early that morning. It was a long day, but a very fun day and I am so glad that we participated this year! We sold a lot of things and made some really good contacts so we will see what happens with that.

Getting an EARLY start...

Also last weekend our church share group had it's annual Halloween party. I did not get any pictures while we were there because we had to head out early to make it to Trunk or Treat at my parent's church. This was Maddox's 2nd Trunk or Treat (our church had ours earlier in the week), so he has gotten used to this whole lion thing. He racked up lots of candy for his daddy to enjoy!

The cutest lion and mouse I've ever seen!

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween! We sure did!