Happy Holidays!

I designed a card to send out, but never got a chance to print and mail them. So here it is. Hope every one had a Merry Christmas! I'll try to send out Valentine's Day cards to makeup for it.

Ava is.....

WALKING! Of course she's been walking with furniture and her toys for months now. I knew it would be soon. I think she could have done it quite some time ago, she just didn't have the confidence yet. But she finally took off on her own Tuesday night. What a good Christmas present! She will be 15 months tomorrow.

Movie Time!

Last weekend Sophie and I went to see Bolt. It was a 3D movie, so they gave us glasses to wear. This wasn't Sophie's first movie (maybe her 3rd or 4th), but it's been awhile since she's been to one. This time went much better than the rest. I think it's the first time we watched the whole thing. AND she sat through the whole thing! She looked so cute wearing her 3D glasses. The glasses are pretty big, almost too big for adults so they looked really big on her. But she looked so cute in them! About 20 minutes into the movie Sophie says "I want that dog! She (referring to the girl in the movie) can have my dog." Poor Minnie, I promise we won't trade you in. LOL.


At the movie. Not the best picture. I keep telling her a natural smile is much better than a fake one, but she doesn't quite understand how to do it yet. :)

















Sophie being silly after the movie.

Sophie Says....

I wanted to write down some of the funny things Sophie says. Because I know I will most likely not remember them later. And they are just too cute and funny to not remember.

This one happened last Spring, but is still one of my favorites. Sophie recognizes landmarks now, so she knows where different stores and houses are. Everytime we turn on our street she says "Here's our neighborhood". Just preping the story a little. So one day the little girl, Emily, that lives behind us was in our backyard (with her mom) playing with Sophie and Sophie's sidewalk chalk. It was time to go in and make dinner and Emily wanted to take the chalk home. I said she could take a piece. Of course Sophie didn't like that Emily was taking a piece of her chalk. As Emily and her mom turned around to go home, Sophie says "Go home, this is my neighborhood!".

__________________________________________________________________________________

The other day Jeremy was getting ready to go for a run. As he's about to walk out the door, Sophie says "Look for cars!". Isn't it sweet how she watches out for her dad!

__________________________________________________________________________________

Ava is going through a phase of screaming, and of course it's a really high pitched, annoying scream. Sophie likes to copy to her, and I'm always telling them not to scream inside, to use quiet voices. Normally I give Sophie time outs when she doesn't listen, and she gets confused as to why Ava keeps screaming and doesn't get a time out. So I explained to ther that Ava is too little for time outs and that when she gets a little bigger she will have them too.

Sophie says, "And I will keep putting her up there, and putting her up there, and tell her time starts over".

Yes, sometimes Sophie likes to get down from her time out chair and we have to put her back and start the time over. So that's where it came from. Too funny!

_________________________________________________________________________________

This one just happened this morning.

Sophie: I just washed my face.
Mom: How did you wash it?
Sophie: I got toilet paper wet.
Mom: Where did you get the water?
Sophie: From the toilet.

Oh, yes. This was a proud moment. I did of course explain to her that we never use toilet water, it's very very dirty. We only use water from the sink. Still funny though. Grandma Sally - I'm sure you are freaking out reading this one. And no, I cannot bleach Sophie's mouth. Love you! :)

__________________________________________________________________________________

And here are Sassy Sophie's new lines for when she is upset about not getting her way.

"Don't talk to me" (with arms crossed)

"I don't like you" (with hands on hips) Then I say, "Well I LOOOOVE you". Sophie says, "No, I don't love you". And we go back and forth. It eventually makes her laugh.

"Get out, I don't want you in here" (sitting on the floor in her room)

And when Sophie is pouty (sp?) I say, "Don't smile it will crack your face." It always makes her smile! That is the line my mom used on me when I was little.


She seems too young to be this sassy already!

I know there are more things I'm not thinking of. I will post more when I think of them. I just don't want to forget these precious moments.

A few cute pics...

Sisterly Love

Sophie putting a barrett in Ava's hair.

A few updates

We usually take the girls to mall's play area a few times a month. Now that it's cold outside I'm sure I'll take them more often. Sophie and Ava both love to play there.

I remember when I first had Ava I thought having two kids was a piece of cake, busier but that's okay. I like busy. Then Ava got mobile and everything changed. Now I spend a good portion of my day pulling them off each other. Ava not quite old enough to "play" with Sophie, but wanting to be by her all the time. Sophie not wanting Ava by her. I hear it's normal, but it gets very frustrating....sigh. BUT, they were actually playing together a little bit yesterday. Sophie was putting her play blood pressure cuff on Ava, and Ava was holding her arm out laughing. It was so cute! I look forward to more of these moments and less fighting.

Sophie put on her snowpants for the first time yesterday to play outside in the snow, even though it's mostly melted now. She loves to eat snow. Right before coming inside she found a clean spot of snow in the center of the yard and made a snowball. Then she brought the snowball in and put it in a bowl so she could eat it. Silly girl!

Ava loves to climb in, under, on or through anything she can. I see her fun personality showing through more everyday. She's still not walking, but that's okay. Sophie started walking around 14 months and Ava is just a few days shy of 14 months. So I imagine it will be soon. Ava does walk around with her stroller and shopping cart. She just hasn't taken off by herself yet. Soon enough, I know. :)

My best friend Danielle (since the 9th grade) is having her first baby. It's a boy! I (along with her sister) hosted her baby shower at my house a few weeks ago. It went great. The nursery will have a puppy dog theme, so that is the theme we used for the shower. Here are a few pics of Danielle and the cute cakes. Melissa - your cakes taste better! I miss having you here already!

Had a Bootastic Halloween!

Halloween was fun for all of us. The next morning Sophie asked if we could "do it again". Here are some pics of us and our two pumpkins.

My New Office

Well, we got moved into my new office this weekend. Everything but the printer and cutter. Those are being moved Monday morning. So I'll be working out of there starting tomorrow. A big thanks to our parents for helping us move things, and watching the girls so we could be back and forth with no worries. All the pictures are before any cleaning, organizing or painting have been done, and before we moved any of our stuff in. Most of the clutter you see is stuff the owners had not yet removed. I will post more pics once I get the painting done. Hopefully in a few days!


This is the outside of the building. The whole thing is mine. About 2000 sq ft. Just needs a fresh coat of paint.




This will be my office.




Another shot of my office.




This will be the printing room.




Another shot of the printing room.




This is what I call the "showroom". I will eventually have invitations, note cards, etc that people can come in and buy. Along with a couple computers so they can browse my full catalog online and place orders through my website.




Another shot of the showroom.




The hallway leading into the big room. There is both a men and a women's bathroom.




This is what we call the "big room". Where I will do all my cutting, packing and shipping.




Another view of the big room. There is also a fridge, sink and counter area in this room.

A note for my hubby

I just wanted to tell Jeremy (and everyone!) how much I appreciate him. As everyone knows, we moved back to Muskegon three years ago and I had our first baby, prompting me to quit my job. I didn't want to commute to Grand Rapids for work, and I couldn't stand the thought of having a newborn (at least my newborn) in daycare. So I stayed home to be a full-time mom. As much as I loved it, I hated not working and being home all the time, prompting me to start my online business. Although he was a little sceptical at first, Jeremy has been very supportive since the beginning. Certainly neither of us imagined we would be where we are today. Without him, it would have taken me longer to get to this point. And because the girls will remain in school only three days a week, I will have to be at the office 2-3 nights a week to keep up with orders. So, thank you, baby...for being such a good dad and husband, and for always supporting me and my business. I know it will continue to grow and our family will benefit from it. I love you!

One more update....

I was a little behind with my posts, so I split everything up into four separate posts. Anyway, for those of you who don't know....my business is getting a home of its own, finally! Woo hoo! I am so excited to "go" to work again. I've already started buying dress clothes and just can't wait. I have a lot of plans and great ideas to get local sales, and plan to start advertising more online too. I will be on West Sherman, in the building right next to Frosty Oasis. The place is quite large, 2000 square feet. There are two offices and a good size room when you walk in. I plan on having some blank stock and note cards available if customers want to buy those. I would eventually like to have a couple computers there as well, where customers can browse our online catalog and place orders. There is also a break room, two bathrooms, and a HUGE conference room that I will use to do all my printing and packing. We get the keys to it this week. We'll spend the next 2-3 weeks getting things hooked up and our equipment & stuff moved in. I should be working out of there beginning November 3rd or 4th. If you are in the area stop by and say hello! AND, my new website is almost ready to go live. I'll post something when it does, and I'll try to post a few pics of the building as well. Wish me luck!!!!

First Dance Class

Sophie started her first dance class on Saturday. It's the parent-and-me 2 in 1 class. We do gymnastics for 30 minutes and ballet for 30 minutes. It's pretty low key and she seems to like it so far. Not the greatest pics. I'll get more next Saturday and post them.

Ava's 1st Birthday!

I can't believe my little girl is a year old already! She had a really fun birthday. And, I admit, I put Ava's birthday dress and hat on her days AFTER the party for pictures. Come on - I know you've done it, or at lease thought of doing it! Of course I forgot to put the hat on her at her birthday party. And for some reason, none of the pictures I had of her were very good. But she second time was a charm. I got some SUPER CUTE pics. So enjoy!



Cousin Makayla