a little blog help please?

So I've seen lots of bloggers out there with Blogspot blogs that have figured out the html and how to change it and make it look pretty- can someone please show me how???

I'd be totally willing to make you some jewels for your time!

PLEASE?!

more randomness...

Sometimes to help the kids wind down at night we have them read books in their beds for 15 minutes or so before we come in and read their final bedtime story. This is how we found Tessa when it was time for her final story- she was TIRED after spending the day with gma and gpa!

Oh, and her pajamas? We put her in regular pj's every night, and right before she falls asleep she sneaks to her drawers and puts on a skirt and a tank top. She wants to wear a skirt ALL of the time, even to bed! This is so funny to me because as a child I HATED wearing skirts. I have to fight her to get her to wear jeans. Her reasoning? "Princesses don't wear JEANS, they wear skirts."

I am amazed at this- Ricky the kitten has been riding all over the house with Jonah in this car! He has done this 2 days in a row and seems totally content just hanging out on Jonah's lap as Jonah pedals them up around the entire downstairs:


I got a new smaller font for my Endless Love Mom Name necklaces, these would be great for Christmas... hubbies, are you reading? I'm loving the handcrafted circles, they are getting better and are fun to make!

new...gifts for Girl Friends!!!

These are all fun pretty gifts perfect for your special girl friends in your life, whether that's your best friend, your Mom, Sister, Daughter- there's something here for everyone!

To find them just click HERE!

baby baby

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving... we did! We ate, took turns sleeping in, had fun with family, played games with friends, watched movies, put up lights, the kids' Christmas tree, shopped...we had a fun family weekend.

Today was my first doctor's appointment, I got the TOTAL yearly checkup :P ,but then they made up for it by doing an ultrasound so I got to see the little "peanut" and heard the heartbeat (which was 171 beats per minute, isn't that supposed to tell something about the sex?) So here's what the baby looks like now:



My official due date is June 28th. I am measuring at a good 10 weeks and I am already sort of "bloated" looking :P

I got to bring one of the ultrasound pics home and each kid said the same thing when I showed it to to them: "I don't see it." lol

Tessa wants to name the baby Samson or Sarah.

Jonah wants to name the baby Isaac or Dora.

Caleb wants Isaiah or Beth.

(these are today's names and will be different tomorrow, except for Tessa, she's been stuck on her names for a week or so!)

MY favorite names...I have too many to list them all but a couple of them are Anna, Maggie, Noah (is that too close to JONAH do you think?) and Benjamin.

I'm really hoping that in a few weeks, when the first trimester is over, then I will regain my ENERGY and won't be so tired. I will be taking a break from jewelry for most of December so I can be with my family and RELAX!!! I've been blessed with very understanding customers, but I feel extremely bad when I can't keep up with orders the way I would like to, and also a bit stressed! I'm looking forward to the Holiday break :D

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

basketball time

Ryan loves basketball and won season tickets at a golf tournament.

Getting to meet Eli the Eagle (Eagle EYE is what Tessa calls him):



Tessa's favorite part, eating Dip 'n Dots ice cream:

Dancing the YMCA with Eli:

maybe I should clean more...

Today I started cleaning and getting ready to host Thanksgiving in just a few days. Caleb walks in the kitchen, sees me cleaning and asks:

"Who's coming over?"

me: "What? No one, can't I clean without someone coming over?"

Caleb: "You usually only clean when someone's coming over."

That is so NOT true... :D

lil tidbits

Jonah had a Thanksgiving program where he dressed up as a Pilgrim. Each child was asked what they were thankful for and Jonah answered "my baby sister". I told Tessa "awe, he's thankful for you!" "Yep!" was Tessa's reply. Later Jonah tells me he meant the baby in my tummy... at least he's down to me having just ONE baby, he's been saying babieS ever since we found out!


Caleb's football team won the championship:


Celebrating with their trophy: (Caleb's on the right)

Football just finished and basketball practice has already started!!! (Caleb's on the left)


Having fun while Daddy rakes the leaves:

some random kindness

Today I received a fun package in the mail from Gina of Unpink!!! She was so sweet and sent me my first baby gift, a Mom's calendar book to help me stay organized. She also included an encouraging letter, thank you Gina for thinking of me!!! I love it!

bath time...

for the cats!

Jonah helped dry them:


I haven't been forgiven yet, but they'll come around...eventually.

I'm so tired...

Ryan's out of town (gets home tonight, thank goodness!) and Tessa woke up last night burning up and complaining her stomach hurt. So she and I were up most of the night. *YAWN* Pregnancy has really knocked me down and out with being TIRED (just ask our friends James and Jessica, they came over Saturday night and I actually fell asleep while we were chatting, so sorry guys!). So today after hardly any sleep last night I'm EXTRA TIRED.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to keep a pregnant woman awake at night I would SO appreciate it! That's when I usually get alot of orders done and I need that time back! I don't get near as much done with the kids home all day and I'm getting BEHIND! Ugh. I hate being behind.

After some medicine and some TLC, Tessa was in the mood to jump:

predicting baby's gender?

Our friends Aaron & Jennifer came over with their 4 kids last night for dinner and cards...we played Hearts and the girls WON. No, Hearts isn't a team game but the girls came in 1st and 2nd and the boys came in 3rd and 4th, so technically the girls WON. And yes, we do keep track of these things ;)

So after cards Jennifer and I started playing around with the Chinese Calendar baby sex predictors we found online and we shocked how accurate they were! I'm not one to typically believe in these things but we wondered "how can it be accidently correct so many times"? We tried this one which was right 6 out of our 7 kids and then we tried another one that I can't find the site for now (Jennifer can you find it?) but it was just as accurate.

Try it out and let me know if it's right or wrong for you!

What's REALLY interesting is that BOTH of the predictors we used last night said I'm having a BOY!!! hmmm...

and the winners are...

Yes, that's right, WINNERS, more than one!

I was so excited how many of you left me comments and were a part of the newsletter that I decided since this is baby number 4 then there should be 4 winners...makes sense, right?

I wrote everyone that commented down, newsletter subscribers twice, and drew out 4 random names and they are:


Don't you just love how "official" my torn up pieces of paper and messy handwriting are???

Congrats to the 4 of you, email me so we can get started on your custom pieces!!!

just had to share

I bought my first "baby thing" today! ***(If you haven't heard THE NEWS, scroll down to the next post!!!)*** My friend Kristen was having a garage sale (she has twins Tessa's age!) and was selling all of her baby stuff and I just LOVE this cradle I found there:


I love this picture Ryan took a few nights ago! He got all 3 kids (and one cat!) to sleep in Jonah's bed, aren't they cute! Caleb's head is at the bottom...

Love this picture of Tessa, maybe one of my all time favorites of her:














Secrets or kisses...I'm not sure!?

BIG NEWS...let's CELEBRATE!!!

Yep, it's positive, baby #4 is on the way!!! He/she should be here in June :)

The kids are soooo excited! We took them out to eat to tell them and then spent the entire dinner listening to them think up names (Tessa's favorite is Dora). We went shopping and they each picked out something for the baby, Caleb picked out the blanket, Jonah the toy giraffe and Tessa the other little toy:

Caleb announced it to his entire class AND his entire football team already! Jonah just "can't wait", when I picked him up from school yesturday the FIRST words out of his mouth were "when's the baby gonna be here?"

Ryan and I are thrilled, we've been talking about it for awhile and it was getting to be NOW or NOT AT ALL as Tessa just turned 3 and we didn't want to space further than 4 years.

I'm so excited yet a bit...anxious maybe? 4 seems like way more than 3!!! I feel like we're DOUBLING or something!

We gave away or sold all of our baby things after Tessa, there was a period after she was born that I knew we were DONE.

Oops!

So now we'll be gradually stocking up on all of the cute little baby stuff again. You mean I HAVE to shop for baby stuff again? DARN!



So I'm TOTALLY in the mood to CELEBRATE and give something away!!! Just post here and you can win...anything! I will make you your own custom piece- something for Mom, Daughter, whichever you want! Even a Christmas Ornament or a Mom's bracelet- seriously WHATEVER!!! Just post by FRIDAY, I'll randomly pick a name on SATURDAY!

Oh, and sign up for my newsletter and you get TWO chances to win!!! If you are already on my newsletter just put newsletter in your post so I can be sure and put your name in TWICE!!! Sign up HERE.

playing with her presents

Remember when Tessa asked for a "kitty, bunny, princess" birthday party? And then she picked out Hello Kitty plates and decorations? Well when I told Aunt Jen she got an idea and whipped up this outfit for Tessa (which Tessa LOVES!) :


Want one? Jennifer listed in on eBay here!

Jennifer also gave Tessa a set of "beauty goodies" like pretend makeup, nail polish, etc., and it also included this hairdryer that makes noise when it's turned on. Tessa has been blowdrying EVERYONE'S hair, including our cats!!!!


Thank you Lord for patient cats...

zzzzzzz.....

She was so tired she didn't even make it up the stairs!