etsy love

So my sister Niki is visiting from Texas (yay!) and we spent a little bit of time on the computer last night looking at fun etsy stuff. I love etsy! Serious eye candy, right? So I thought it would be fun to share our favorite shops. Here are a few of mine:


Miss Ruby Sue (to die for)



Lou and Lee



Luh Loo (my sis gave Kherington the cutest headband from this shop....love!)



Sweet Surprises



Elsiecake



Okay, so now it's your turn! Please share your FAVE etsy shops in the comments section below. Christmas is just around the corner, people...wouldn't it be nice to be done shopping early? I can't wait to see the shops that you all love. Oh, and if you have your own etsy shop, then share them as well!



Thanks (in advance), and let's get the eye candy started!



T:)

ready for anything!

Payton's very first day of kindergarten was on Wednesday, and as you can see by her pictures, she was ready for anything! I don't think it has ever been so easy to get her dressed and out the door...she was just so excited and ready to go!







I got to stay with her on her first day and I have to say, I am quite pleased with her school, classroom and teacher. I wasn't as anxious as I was when she started playschool last year...even though I'll always prefer for her to just be at home with me, seeing her so happy and excited just made me happy for her, too. There's always a bitter-sweetness to days like this...these simple little milestones that maybe don't seem like that big of a deal, but they so are. I am so proud of my little Payton. Who she is and who she is becoming. I've been a little emotional this week I have to admit, but not in a bad way. I really am ready for her to be where she is at today, but I just miss my baby sometimes. It is crazy how quickly life changes. I remember when it was just Payton and me at home during the days...we had nothing to do but play and sleep together, nowhere to be, no schedule to follow. And now all of the sudden there are two other little girls in the mix, kindergarten, playschool, naptimes, ballet classes and just life in general to keep us busy. It may not seem like it, but I truly am trying to keep our life as simple as I can. If it were my way, we wouldn't do anything...but that sure wouldn't fly with my kids! (wink) Gray and I have talked alot lately about the fact that we are truly at a point in our lives where our kids just have to come first. I am realizing that more and more as they get a little bit older and braver everyday...we are trying our best to put them first, to be happy for them and just to love them no matter what.



As parents, we had to fill out a little questionnaire about our kids on their first day, and one of the questions that was asked was "What do you as a family value?". I was kinda surprised that there was such a deep question on a little kindergarten form and almost found it impossible to answer in the two lines of space that were given, but thinking about it now, we truly just value eachother. At the end of the day, I don't care what kinds of grades my kids get throughout the years, what awards they do or don't win, what activities or sports or other things they are invlolved in...what matters to me is that we as a family just love and support eachother no matter what. Growing up, my sisters were my very best friends (they still are) and that is my wish for my girls. That when their friends are being mean or when they've had a bad day, they can always come home to their sisters and be loved and accepted.



Looking at these pictures of Payton I just can't help but wonder what this year holds for her. I know that she has amazing potential and I'm just proud of my big girl today.



Now it's time to wipe my eyes and get ready to do this all over again with Gabby next week. Wish me luck.



:)

all i wanted was one...

All I wanted was one good family picture. You know, the kind that you imagine in your head where everyone is looking at the camera, everyone is smiling, everyone is just sooooo happy to be taking pictures! Haha! Payton has her first day of school tomorrow and she needs to bring a family picture with her, so I thought, perfect...now I have an excuse for Graham as to why we need to do a little photoshoot! Well, of course, pretty much everyone was miserable, but we did manage to get a couple cute ones. Thanks mom for being our photographer and attempting to get some shots of us!



I'll be back soon to report on how the first day of school went!



:)

i put a pot on my head...

...to get this shot, so I figured I'd just keep on going.









And since they were happy, I decided to take a few more.








And then just a few more, still....








It isn't always easy taking pictures of my kids, trust me. Today was one of those days that it took me putting pots and pans on top of my head to get them happy. But it was worth it.



:)

KK

Kherington's name around here has become "KK". Everyone needs a nickname, and this is the one that has stuck with her! Baby girl is now about 5 and a half months old. Since I was so bad at taking pictures while we were away, I figured I'd better take a few this morning after she had her bath. She was so smiley and cute...I can't handle the sweetness!










She's laying on the floor next to me right now, rolling from her tummy to her back, and then back onto her tummy. And babbling away like crazy! I love how she talks and blows bubbles...she is so much fun. I always tell Graham how much I loooove having a baby. She's pretty easy to love!



Oh, and another nickname that seems to have stuck with her is "little bug". I have no idea where that one came from, but we use it all the time, too!




xo Tal

home.

Man. Where to begin? Yes, I've been a bad blogger. But we were away this past week for one more trip to Montana before the summer is over. I had a crazy week before we left and then we were gone and I was (almost) totally unplugged the whole time we were away...NO INTERNET for a week! What??? I have to admit, it was an adjustment...I am so used to checking my email and all of my favorite blogs whenever I want. So to not have access to that was kinda hard for me! Ridiculous, I know...but I'm used to this lovely little thing called the world wide web.



ANYWAYS...we really had a good time while we were away. I worked my butt off before we left to get the house all clean so I could come home to a clean house...I love that! So by the time we left, I was tired and ready for a vacation. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins and grandma's and grandpa's and aunt's and uncle's...it was awesome. (Graham's family were there, too, and their cabin, so we had 2 families to play with!) And Payton and Gabby are just at such a fun age for this kind of thing. They can just play all day and don't need constant attention and supervision (except by the lake!), so it was quite stress-free. And yes, I went to Target. Many times. Always the highlight for me! Haha! Actually, it was hillairious...every time we went to Target my sister and I were like, "Okay who are we going to see here this time?"...and we always ran into someone we knew. Lots of people we know vacation there, so it was funny to keep running into people!



The best part of the trip, though, was just being with my little family. It's not that often that Graham takes a full week off work, so it was just sooooo nice to be together. With no interruptions and nothing else to do but sit in the sun and hang out and go to Target. (haha) Gray and I just had so much fun with our girls...it sometimes hits us how fleeting these moments are with our kids...how one day they'll be teenagers all of the sudden...so we tried to make the best of it. And if you can believe it, I hardly took any photos. I was too busy relaxin'...and I'm telling myself that's okay. I always love the nights at the cabin, too...my sister and I had some pretty good laughs. For some reason "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" was our theme-song for the week...we broke out in song all the time and it was hillairous. Well, we thought so, anyways. My 12 year old niece...not so much. Haha!



I can't believe how quickly this summer has flown by. I am dreading school starting... I've just loved hanging out and never really needing to be anywhere, but mostly because Payton's starting kindergarten. I just don't think I'm ready for her to grow up! I'm sure I'll bawl on her first day of school...I just want her to stay home with me! But...she is ready. And soooo excited. So I guess I'll have to let her go! And Gabby is starting playschool, too. What the heck? Why do my babies think they're aloud to grow up? And speaking of babies, Kherington continues to win our "easiest baby" award. Besides being WIDE AWAKE in the middle of the night a few times while we were away, she is just so easy. She's such a happy little thing and her sisters still ooohh and aaahhh over her constantly. It is so much fun having her. She's just a constant source of happiness for us...love her so much.




And last but not least, I just wanted to share these pictures of Payton and her best little friend Ava. I am so sad 'cause Ava and her family are moving away...it will be a big loss for us! Payton and Ava have been friends for their whole little lives and are just so sweet and fun together and they just get along soooo well. I can't believe she's moving! Today was their last day to play together, so I took a few pictures of them, and they decorated "friendship boxes" and made friendship bracelets and drew eachother pictures...I bawled when she left our house this evening. Payton's still a little clueless to the situation, but she'll realize over the next few weeks when Ava isn't around anymore...aaahhh!











Aren't they sweet? It just hit me after reading through this post all of the changes that are happening with us right now. Change is good, right? And yes, I'm blabbing...but I feel like I've been totally out of it lately and just wanted to share. Okay...now it's time for bed. Goodnight!



Tal:)

oh, my!

I am having so much fun with these Washi Tape Frames from Kitschy Digitals. So cute, right?








The littlest things make me so happy.



:)



Tal

what have we been up to?

...lots and lots of stuff, but at the same time, nothing much at all. This summer we've been:



swimming and picnicking outside
sleeping in
waking up early (thanks to that early morning sunshine!)
dressing up
playing with cousins
having quiet, lazy days at home
playing at the park
doing lots and lots of coloring, drawing and painting
enjoying having no schedule
riding bikes
and spending lots of time together.



This summer has been fun. So laid-back. Usually by the middle of August I start getting excited for fall, but not this year. We still have one more week down at the lake in Montana, and I just wish we could do the "no schedule" thing forever! That's what's hard about kids growing up...at some point you just have to accept the fact that they don't get to stay home with you all day just playing and hanging out. Boo hoo!



Anyways, I just wanted to pop in. Hope everyone else is having a fun summer, too...only a few weeks left! Make the most of these summer days!



Tal:)

why am i blogging?

It's 11:30pm. And I've felt the sudden urge to blog. Never mind that I still need to have a shower, clean the kitchen, and prepare my lesson for church tomorrow. Oy. I just wanted to share a couple recent layouts. I've been working on "filling in" some spaces in Payton's album. So the layout above is totally recent, and the layout below is from her first ballet class when she was still two years old. AAAaaahhh! It makes my heart absolutely ache to look at these pictures of her. So little and young and chubby and sweet. I remember this day perfectly...my first daughter taking her first ballet class. It was such an important part of our little history...I can't believe I had never scrapbooked it!







I kept things simple for this layout by going hybrid...I used the House of 3 collage templates and then the damask brushes to embellish the photos. I love hybrid scrapbooking!

Okay, I totally gotta get to bed. Night!



T:)