a little r & r...

Thursday night we headed up to Nebraska, taking advantage of the long Labor Day weekend, to visit some of Ryan's family. Many of them haven't seen Eden yet :)

Before we left I asked Jonah to name some things I needed to pack, to help make sure I hadn't forgotten anything.

He says "OH! I know. We need towels."

"No," I say, "Grandma will have towels we can use."

"Oh. Okay. How about our tennis shoes?"

"I have those packed."

"Oh," Jonah says. "Then we've got everything we need!"

Towels and tennis shoes, the necessities of a 5 year old :)


I'll answer emails when we return on Tuesday.

Hope you all have a fun and relaxing weekend!

midwest modern...

Here's a sneek peek of something to come soon...

front page news...

My first time on Etsy's front page...!

Thanks for Sharon Clancy Designs for picking my necklace in your treasury and to my friend Tammy for calling and letting me know!!! I almost missed it... :)

things that make you go hmmmm...

why oh why do I have Power Rangers hanging from my chandelier...?



I guess the boys are redecorating :)

quarterback...

Caleb, number 29, is playing quarterback this season. He's not excited, he prefers to TACKLE than to be the one that GETS TACKLED...



Making a block...



1st and 2nd graders are so cute to watch!



How cute is this?



he's makin' a run for it...



trash talk time... my mom's prettier than your mom...

drumroll please...

...and the winner of the camera strap cover from Shealynn is...



Rebecca, and she won it with her extra entries for blogging the giveaway!!!

Congrats!!! Please email me :)

Thanks to all that entered!

something for fall...

fall flower bracelet... made with beautiful swarovski crystals in plum, orange and green with small brown round beads, pearls and sterling silver. A handstamped sterling silver flower charm made with any name or initial. So perfect for fall!

Find it here!

little vintage pumpkins...

... hung on a sterling silver chain, cute for Mom or Daughter! Starting at .99! Find it HERE!

win a camera strap (these are the coolest!)

Recently I've become friends with Shealynn, a fellow mom, blogger, picture taking lover. She just started sewing again, and opened up an Etsy shop to share some of her latest creations... camera strap covers!!!

Shealynn is a photographer and takes many many photographs. She found that the standard camera strap really rubbed her neck raw, which made taking pictures painful most of the time! After a long photo shoot she decided she needed to do something about this! She wanted something stylish, but at the same time comfortable. That's where these wonderful strap covers came in!



This one is my favorite, I will have to have one...!

They are removable, AND washable! Shealynn picks the BEST fabrics for her covers! She's also happy to take on custom requests! Plus, if you want to change it up a bit, you can buy more than just one, and change them with your mood. They just slide right onto your camera strap.

*Strap cover fits most standard DSLR camera straps. If you're unsure if it will fit yours, just shoot her an email... shealynn@gmail.com*


Shealynn is giving away YOUR CHOICE of camera strap cover from her shop!!!

***How to enter...

1. go visit Shealynn's Etsy shop here (don't forget to "heart" her!), then come back and say which one is your favorite.

2. get a bonus entry for telling what fabric you would LIKE to see as a camera strap cover!

3. get 5 bonus entries for blogging about it! (Be sure and tell me you blogged it afterwards!)


Contest ends Friday night at 11:59 pm, the random number generator will pick out a number Saturday morning!!! Good luck!

more fun with faces...

Eden's turn!

serious...



having fun...



playing with my tongue...



oops... still figuring out how these things work...



happy girl...

happy to sad in 12.7 seconds...

happy girl...



now I'm serious...



thinking about getting upset...



oh yeah, I'm definately getting upset...



not so happy anymore...



...all in a matter of seconds.



pictures by Ryan :)

ostriches, camels and zebras, oh my!

Saturday we made a spur of the moment decision and headed down to Edmond (near OKC), stayed with my parents for the night, then got up sunday and drove on down to Arbuckle Wilderness. It's a wildlife refuge safari that you drive through in your own car and the animals (most of them are roaming around free) come to your car in hopes of being fed! These animals are NOT shy!

This Texas Longhorn was the first to greet us (and about broke our window when he turned his head, his horns were about 4-5 feet across!)...



We saw lots of these...



I sat behind Ryan (while he drove) with the side van door open and forgot about a cup of food I had set down by my foot. This guy distracted me on Jonah's side...



while this camel reached into the car and snagged my cup of feed!



this camel tried to come home with us...



Jonah was not thrilled about this...



hello from a buffalo...



This giraffe was slobbering and the wind blew it in Jonah's door right on his leg- he was NOT happy about this either...



this zebra made a silly face at us...



and some other silly animals we saw...



We also saw rhinos, tigers, wolves, llamas, ostriches, bearded pigs, cute little deer... and lots of other animals but I'm not sure what they're called :)

Yes, Tessa went with us. But after the camel tried to get in she huddled in the very back of the van under pillows and kept saying, "I don't like this zoo!"



fun memories...

smarty pants...

On the way home from his second day of K-5 (kindergarten) Jonah announces, "K-5 is so easy!"

"It is? Why is that?" I ask.

"Because. You know the vowels I learned in K-4 last year? A-E-I-O-U? They're the same ones I'm learning in K-5! So easy."

You know, as opposed to those other vowels... :)

a is for apple...

first day of school last year... Caleb-1st grade, Jonah- K4...



and today... Caleb- 2nd grade and Jonah- (K5) Kindergarten...



Caleb didn't want me to take his picture til I said it was for Great Grandma, so she could see him all the way from Nebraska. He said, "OK, for Great Grandma"...



They both said their favorite part of the day was recess...



On the way home Tessa and I had an interesting conversation...



We spotted a HUGE flock of geese and I said some of them were babies that had grown up.

She says, "Yep, the geese just pooped the baies out. Just like our baby. You just pooped her out."

Um, yeah, okay.

I had no idea this was how she thought Eden was born...!!!

And this is just sad- this is my foot up against Caleb's new shoe...



I think next year I will fit into his shoes- CRAZY!!!!

random-ness... (what we've been up to)

sisters cuddling...





getting notes from Jonah... he wrote this for me all by himself, it says "mommy edwards erin pretty love, jonah", he's so sweet! And not bad for a 5 year old...



filling orders... this was a custom piece ordered by a customer... love this idea! You could put "Mom", a name or any other word in the middle with your choice of words to describe her on the outside. It would also be pretty with a copper circle on the inside...



sleeping on mommy's shoulder (isn't she so chubby?)...



and on big bro's lap...



"aunt" Riley came to visit- Jonah has just realized that she's not really his aunt (we've been bff's since 3rd grade! and see each other about 2 times a year now)...



eating ice cream...



Ricky (the cat) disappeared for a few days, then returned with a broken hip! He is healing quickly, I'm amazed how fast...



and... the fabulous eBay design group IvyLane asked me to join them, and I am thrilled! I am super excited to get back into making jewels for little girls again! I've been busy bead shopping for some upcoming pieces...




Busy busy busy getting ready for school to start, it starts on Thursday! (woo-hooooooo!)