the best kind of weekends.

this weekend was the best kind of weekend :)

we had wanted to go camping. but 38 degree nights with 2 wee ones didn't sound fair to anyone.

so.... here are some pictures of what we did do!!

fall is here :)
have a great week!

true or false.

There is nothing else I should be doing besides blogging right now.

False.

I'm so bored I embroider all day long.

False.

Here are some things I've made in the little snipets of time I have laying around, in which I am able to stay awake.

True.

The BIG totes have been added to the store (as have blankets...)

Details and more pics are up on the LBE blog....

Happy Day to everyone!!

yes, michigan!

we went to the state up north yesterday to visit friends :)

dan and kelli.

got to see kelli's baby belly :) which is adorable.
we got to see dan's hair (that's how lilly said we would know it was dan... "the one with a lot of hair")

it was fun to get away for the day.


we make a QUICK stop to IKEA :)
litterally ran through the store.

cohen jumped.
lilly slid.

even watched a little football. (dan's team played a school who was having some VERY social homecoming festivities going on... all the jumpies, pumpkin decoration, food, face painting... )

a few videos :) (not from this weekend, but recent enough!!)

introducing...
the red squirrel, and the harmonica man.

Have a happy week everyone :)

13 years

dave always laughs at me for remembering days like this... but today is our 13 year dating anniversary.

13 years ago today, he 'asked me out'... over the phone.

im having trouble finding the exact picture that i wanted to share... the 1st picture we ever had taken, but there is a snip of it in this post from a while back... the 1st picture in the set. if you click the picture once you get there, it'll get larger for you to see a close up :)

little did we know that 13 years later... our 4 year old would be taking a picture of us before heading out to her pre-school curriculum night :) (with the little man in the corner)


happy 'anniversay' sweetie boy ;)

the news!

One happy excited Jen.
Click this image to see why :)

You can check this one out too...

:)

The hard work and waiting is always worth it.
Thanks to all of you who have already made this possible!!

Happy weekend :)

waiting....

im waiting for...

something new.
something BIG.
something happy.
something that ive been 'working my keester off' on.

im trying to be patient, but i use all the patience i have during the day :) ill share the excitement soon... hopefully in the next day or two!

in the meantime, enjoy some self portaits...


o happy day :)

i do scrap.

i scrapped with my friend erin today (YAY!!) and realized that i never shared the layouts from the last time i scrapped. which was also with erin, over a month ago im sure.

the age of the kids in the pics will tell you just how far behind i am in my scrapping :) i did get 6 more pages done today, and with any luck i'll post those within a month or so.

i do love scrapping!!

my style is very simple, but i am ok with that.

remember... MP is closing soon!!

I'm working working working on my new embroidery store! In all those little free moments that I have. Which means from about 8-10 at night, and/or in between any shows that I am watching from 8-10pm :)

MP giveaway!

One last giveaway over at Mandarin Pixie!

See The MP Blog for more details...

And here are some pics, since that it the reason you really read this blog :)

love to the Widgens.

By the Republic the Widgens stand.

Classic :)

wind storm

so wouldn't you know, the second i post about all of our lovely fruit, we have a horrible wind storm.

60-75 MPH winds for two hours straight.

which in turns knocks pretty much all the apples off the trees. can you see all of them out there on the ground??we were able to save a bunch of them!

we lost electricity at about 4:30 sunday afternoon.
just as i had put a chicken recipe in the oven. which dave then put on the grill to cook.

in the meantime we folded laundry by dave's headlight.


played rummy and war to candle and lantern light.

busted out my dinky mp3 player and hooked it up to my mini computer speakers.

we cooked everything on the grill...
including little italian subs, cookies, apple cobbler, pita chips, and california pizza kitchen pizzas.
some of that was for the 'grill what you got' cookout in our driveway with a few neighbors.


speaking of neighbors, one lost her tree to the storm :(

the kids were fine.

they go to bed before the sun is completely set, so we didn't have to worry about that. they did enjoy bathtime lit by lantern though :) they do wake up when the moon is still out, so the one morning was a bit different for us.

during the day... they got out a new special toy which kept them occupied for quite some time.

lilly even made a list of all the things she/we couldn't use without electricity :)

i actually quite enjoyed having a few days out of the ordinary :)

fruit.

we have fruit.
TONS of fruit.
growing in our very own backyard :)

we have 2 apple trees, and a pear tree...
and this year they have decided to grow wild & free.


the neighbor behind us has a peach tree.
we traded fruit a few weekends ago.

i made this peach cobbler.
(a recipe from the blog recipe cookbook i put together.)


it is THE BEST cobbler that i have EVER had.
let alone made. (thanks christy for sharing!!)

i will never (well never is a strong word, but i would say probably not ever) make a bisquick/jiffy cobbler again.

i think ive made about 5 so far... 2 peach, 1 pear (not my favorite in a cobbler), 2 apple. mmmm.

dave and cohen just went out to check the trees and check out this huge pear they brought in... now, yes, cohen is little, but that pear is the size of his head! and his head is in the 90th percential! (unlike his 5% weight and 50% height...)


Any of you who are local and would like to come by our 'apple and pear farm' let me know, and we will set up a time. For real! You can bring your bag/basket and get some yummy home grown, pesticide/chemical-free juicy fruit :)

I'd love for the fruit to go to happy homes rather than rot and collect a gigantic swarm of bees under the tree, or fuit flies in our house (which we had last week...)

Dave does want me to warn you that the apples aren't as pretty as the ones in the store... or the pears for that matter, but they do taste good and they are great for baking.

Have a great week!!

the kids

just a few pics of the kids i took last weekend.



and a reminder that i will be drawing for FREE stamps tomorrow morning! (as long as i am not curled up in bed.)

the bug that went from lilly, to cohen, to dave has now found me.
just in time for the weeknd.
boo.

starting school... (and a garage sale goody)

Lilly has been in preschool for a couple weeks already, so i suppose i better share some of those 1st day photos before christmas is here :)


Don't you love her shoes??
Saucony. Adorable.
$1.00 at a garage sale!!

Speaking of garage sales...
I haven't been so great with sharing all our good finds this summer. But here is a fun one...

Remember THESE?!?!

We found 3 sets... this one, another Holly Hobbie, and The Peanuts gang. 50 cents each :)

SO much fun!

lilly got a kick out of playing with something that mommy used to play with :)

Have a good one :)

MP giveaway

As most of you know, I have decided to close down Mandarin Pixie so that I can focus on embroidery. I am trying my darndest to find happy homes for the rest of my MP stamps.

Can you help me out??

I'm having a giveaway on The MP Blog.... check it out for more details!!