Christmas stuff

Christmas was great at our house. We enjoyed family, food, and lots of present opening. I can honestly say that Christmas gets better every year. Having children filled with excitement makes all the hustle and bustle of the season worth while. I must say that every year just gets better and having kids seems to be the icing on the cake. This year was no exception. We set out cookies for Santa, wrote him a letter, put out food for the reindeer, decorated to the T, and anything else you can think of we did it. We did our Birthday cake for Jesus and it was so much fun. We really just had an overall amazing Christmas. The candlelight service at church was priceless too. Singing the Christmas carols while surrounded with beautiful lights and atmosphere was lovely. I couldn't have asked for a better time of year.


Maddie after making the birthday cake for Jesus. She decorated it all by herself and I must say we had some icing with our sprinkles.

Mollie was a little overwhelmed by all the gift giving but she held her own and really liked her Santa from Great Grandma.



Maddie posing in her pink boots from Santa.

Me and Maddie all dressed up before the Candlelight service at Church.

Mollie and her Christmas grin.

Open for business!

It is official...kind of...

I am starting a little business. I very hesitant but so many people have asked me about my stuff and wanted things I have decided to give it a try. I don't know if it will work or even be worth my while but if I can do it I am going to. Here is my business blog site I still have some more pictures to post but I just haven't had that much time.

www.sweetpeadesignsbyjenn.blogspot.com

I also had business cards made. I really am not business minded but I just want to give it a whirl.

More and More domestic everyday

I have dived into another venture. I have begun sewing. I did some sewing on the overalls I posted a few weeks ago but that was very minor sewing. I decided to make this dress for my Maddie. It was a lot of fun and for my first major sewing venture I think it turned out pretty good especially since I did not even have a pattern to follow. I just used my idea in my head and sketched it out. The best part about the whole dress is that Maddie loves it. She digs it out of the dirty clothes and asks to wear it almost everyday. It was definitely made with lots of love even if I am not the world's greatest seamstress.


This is another bow organizer I did for a friend the other day. They are getting better and better every time I make another one. This one is my favorite by far. I was skeptical of orange but it definitely turned out well and makes you smile with all its bright colors.

4 Months old...well now she is actually almost 5 months

We had some new pictures taken of the girls over Thanksgiving holidays and I am finally getting them uploaded to the computer. I know I am such a slacker but I just can't help it. Mollie is four months old now and doing so good. I took her to the doctor yesterday because she has been having a cough and I just wanted to make sure everything was fine...which it was (thank goodness). They weighed her and she is 15 lbs and 8 oz. I cannot believe how big she is getting. She is such a doll and Maddie is still an amazing big sister. She is always willing to help and so protective of miss Mollie. We are just loving our family every day.

A little of this and a little of that

So we have been busy lately with holiday stuff and hanging out with friends and family. Even though there is the hustle and bustle of Christmas time we have really had some fun around the house. There has been parties, get togethers, programs, and so much going on. It does make me thankful for all that we have during this time. It has been really important to me to stress to Maddie what Christmas is all about. Now that she is old enough to really get into Christmas and enjoy the magical time of year I want her to not lose sight of its real meaning. I have already heard her say things where she combines the heavenly reason and the worldly meaning. So we are going to have a birthday party on Christmas day for Jesus. We are going to make a birthday cake for him and read the story. I know Santa is tons of fun but all of that fun is only possible because of Jesus. If you have other ideas that would be fun pass them this way.

My sweet pea, Mollie. She has such beautiful blue eyes and you gotta love those chubby checks!

Maddie has really taken to skating lately and she is doing pretty good...at least in the house. We haven't ventured outside yet though.


Our gingerbread house that we all made together. It was lots of fun especially eating the candy.

My big girl sporting her Christmas clothes.

Artsy Fartsy

I have been so artsy fartsy lately. You saw the bow organizers, I have been making bows too and now I tried out something else. What do you think?

Family

I love my family. They make me so happy. Even after a hard day I still can't help but smile when I think about them.

Trip to the Beach

A beautiful day at Pensacola Beach. The sky and sea just ran together. Picture perfect!

A few weeks ago we got to go to Pensacola, Florida for a wedding. We have always told the girls about the beach but had never taken them. We were excited to get the opportunity. Even though it was only in the 70's we still went for a short time so they could experience it. We collected shells built a sand castle and Maddie even ventured into the water...it was freezing. Pensacola is really pretty and one day I would like to go back when we could really swim and enjoy it. Maddie was lit up the whole time and loved every minute of the experience. It was priceless and lots of fun.

Check out this pose when I asked Maddie to take a picture. She came up with all by herself. I was ready to fall on the sand laughing. It was too cute.
It is hard work to dig in the sand...don't you know?

Running through the freezing cold water.

This is how Mollie spent her trip to the beach. Yes those are p.j.'s because it really was chilly. She fell asleep about 5 min. after we got there.

T is for turkey and Thanksgiving

Maddie dressed up as a pilgrim for her Thanksgiving program at school. She sang great. We were so proud of her.

All the kids at her school for their program.

So much to be thankful for. I have such a beautiful family and I am so lucky to have them. They bring me such happiness. Even after the most trying and hardest days when I lay my head down at night I can't help but smile for the sweet joys my girls bring me. Trey is the most generous and sensitive guy ever. He is so helpful and thoughtful. Never met a guy that is like Trey and full of caring and love. I love him so much!

Thank you Lord for your love and for loving me first. Thank you for the experiences and opportunities you place in our lives. Thank you for holding my hand through everything, your shoulder to lean on and for your son who died for me.

Finally a BOY!

As if we didn't have enough going on and things to do in our life we went ahead and took on some more. So I must introduce the newest addition to our family. HIS name is Gus. Can you believe it we finally have a boy. Trey was getting lost in all the estrogen in the house between myself, Maddie, Mollie, and Sugar so we gave his a little testosterone boost. Oh did I mention Gus is a dog. He is a Golden Retriever. I know he looks a little funny right now but his previous owners had him shaved but I am sure it will all grow back soon enough. He is 5 years old and house broken, fairly well trained, and loves Maddie. We will see how all this goes...hopefully great!

Prospect

I have made a few bow organizers lately for my girls and some other little girls and they have turned out pretty cute...at least I think so. I was thinking about selling them online or on consignment at a local boutique. What do you think? I was thinking I could coordinate them according to the room they would be going in. They are also personalized. These are a few of them. Tell me your thoughts and be honest please.

Twins

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At Mistletoe and Magic last week I found matching outfits for the girls. Their size gap has made it very hard to find them matching clothes. I know that as they both get older they will want no part of looking like each other so I wanted to take the opportunity to match them while I still can. It has proven very difficult. Having stumbled across some cute stuff I jumped at the chance to buy them. I probably spent way to much but oh well they looked cute.

Mistletoe & Magic

Mistletoe and Magic is put on by the Junior League here in Tyler. They invite stores from all over to come and set up booths and sell their products. It is kind of the "trendy" people from the area but it is lots of fun. We like to look but lots of the stuff is way out of our price range. This year Maddie's dance company was asked to provide some entertainment so the kids learned two dances to preform. My opinion was that they stole the show but you know I am bias.

Mollie's ride for the night!


Maddie picked this pose and strutted her stuff!

Key Largo, Montigo, Baby why don't we go...

Trey recently got to go on a deep sea fishing trip in the Keys of Florida. It was a great experience and supposedly he had a wonderful time. I was at home with the girls which is wonderful in itself but being realistic I was a little jealous of the opportunity to go to the Keys. Oh well...maybe next year!

Here is Trey hard at work reeling in a big one! He said you had to fight the fish to get them into the boat for 30 min at least some where longer. He also said that he is done freshwater fishing because nothing compares to this.


This is one of two barracudas that Trey caught. This is actually the smaller of the two. Check out the teeth on the end of that thing. The guy holding it was the guide cause Trey really didn't want to have too much to do with this fish being that it was slicing right through the other fish they were catching when they were trying to reel them in. The would work hard to get a fish in the boat and then they would get it out of the water to only find half of it because the barracudas had eaten the other half.





This is an Amberjack. Trey was really proud of this fish!


Trey's Dad caught a SHARK! Can you believe that! I was skeptical until I saw this picture. It is huge and then he is even holding it. They said it was easily over 100lbs. I don't think you could have even gotten me close to this thing because I am deathly afraid of sharks, but way to go Pops.


Check out the jaws of that thing. This is why I only go about knee deep in the ocean. Love the beach, scared to death of the water!

All words no pics

I have lots to tell and post about but somehow or another I managed to lose my cord that uploads the pictures from my camera. So now I have to go buy another one. In the meantime here is a list of what is to come:

• Trey went fishing in the Keys and caught some awesome fish.

• We went to Pensacola for a wedding and have some funny stories to share along with some great pictures.
• Maddie danced at the Tyler Miseltoe and Magic event
• Maybe some other random stuff too.
• A new craft venture that I am looking into and need some opinions on
  

With the holidays approaching I know things are going to get busy. Hopefully everyone out there in blog world is doing well. Stay tuned!

Fall Fun

A big crew showed up at our church's fall festival. It was great.



Jake, Rosalie, Blaise, Isaac, Mollie, Trey, and Maddie


Mollie was a flower and the entire she was wondering what in the world we did to her. She was such a good sport about the whole costume thing.


Maddie was a beautiful bride. She wore my vail and headpiece from our wedding. It almost made me cry. Do you get it? Maddie was the bride and Mollie was the flowers...hahaha!


Us girls at Maddie's pumpkin play day at school.