Ode to Jill

My awesome sister-in-law Jill is studying abroad in Ireland this semester. She just started a blog, go check it out right now! Many of you know that Jill lived with us this past summer. We were not sure how it would go, having a roommate....but it was wonderful. Jill made the summer so much fun. She is the easiest person to live with. It didn't hurt that she was always helping me with dishes and the boys! She also babysat a ton. So I was basically spoiled rotten all summer. We were able to spend many fun evenings with Jill and her now fiance' Chris. I am so thankful for the time we had with them. With Jill gone this semester and who knows where they'll head after they get married, I know we'll never have that much time with them again. I really grew close to Jill and love having her as my sister. We miss you Aunt Jill!!! Pin It

Workin' Hard for the Money

Well, I am a business woman and I am EXHAUSTED. Some of you know that I have my own little business, 2 Blonde Boys. It has kind of evolved over the past year, but really exploded in the last month. A little over a year ago I started sewing small baby gifts for people...burp cloths, taggies, etc. Well, then in August, my friend Emily and I got the brilliant idea to have a booth in a craft fair. We had both talked for a while about wanting to have our own business. We thought doing a craft fair would jump start us and get us moving. By the way, Emily makes cards and name plaques and all kinds of cute things with vintage looking paper...her business is called ChocolateBlue. Well, the craft fair ended up being a lot of fun and a nice break from our normal stay-at-home mom life. Then we did another craft fair in the Spring and just did one over Labor Day weekend. Throughout this we have been building our businesses and making connections. I've done small orders for people here and there. Last Spring and over the summer I got really into making hair bows...which is odd considering I don't have a girl to put a hair bow on. :) I really enjoy designing all kinds of different hair bows. Well, my life has been CRAZY since the day we got back from vacation. The day we got back I started getting a ton of nap mat orders. The preschool my boys go to requires a nap mat. I covered Avery's mat and it kind of went from there. So I had 13 nap mats to make over the course of ONE week....many sleepless nights for Sara. Well one of the mother's that ordered a nap mat has a couple of Razorback Spirit stores. When I went by her store to drop off her napmat, I noticed she didn't have any hairbows. Completely out of character, I told her that I make Razorback hairbows if she'd ever be interested in selling them in her store. Well, this turned out to be a divine appointment. She was actually about to go to Canton to find a hairbow vendor and was looking for some "cutsie" stuff to put in her store. So I said, "I'm your girl!" I really had no idea what I was getting into. The next week I brought her some samples of my hair bows and burp cloths. She ordered 336 hair bows and 25 burp cloths....yep, you read that right....and to be done in 2 weeks!!!! So, I got in the car and about threw up. I was so ecstatic but also scared to death, wondering how I was going to get that done. Well, I got the order completed this morning at 3:45 a.m. The past two weeks I have spent EVERY free moment making hair bows. The laundry is completely piled up. I'm pretty sure we have several bills past due and I think I have an ulcer. Seriously. A side note, b/c of the ulcer, I'm not drinking caffeine which made last night's all-nighter VERY rough. I'm not complaining though, I am so very thankful for the work. In the meantime of working on this huge order, I had 2 other small orders. I have 2 craft fairs in October and an open house in November. Yep. Today I got a "doing business as" certificate from the county and then went to the bank to open my own business account w/ my business name. I feel so official! I am so thankful that God is opening these doors for me. This is something I've really wanted and I want to honor the Lord with it. I am staying home with these boys for a reason and I am not willing to neglect time with them or sit them in front of the t.v. so that I can work. So I am now praying that the Lord will show me ways to get it all done and be a better manager of my time.
So here are some pictures.....
This is one of the nap mats that I made.....
Here are some samples of the hair bows I make......

An example of a OSU burp cloth.......

The ever popular Razorback bow!

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Wild Ride on the Big Blue Tractor

Yesterday the boys & I went over to my Mom & David's for a little visit. Avery asked for a ride in the "big blue tractor." Grandpa David was happy to oblige.
Here we are, ready to go on our ride. Finley wasn't quite sure yet..... he decided to stand by Grammy & watch... As soon as we started going, Finley decided he wanted to ride too. . . .

Okay, now Finley's not so sure...and neither am I....you better believe I had a death grip on my boys!
Okay, back down to a reasonable height....notice Finley's look of terror.....


Here we are at the end of the ride back up the hill.....now they are feeling confident...notice Avery is practically laying down....I think he would have hung out if I'd have let him.

Thanks Grammy and Grandpa David...we had fun!!!

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Birthday = Yummy Food

I wanted to post of picture of my sweet boys, Avery and Finley on their first day of Kid's Day Out (preschool). They are loving it. As we drove into the parking lot, they both started screaming "Kid's Day Out!" Then Finley told everyone he passed, "dish (this) is my school." So sweet. What is also sweet, is having 5 hours to myself. :)

On Friday I turned 29! Wow, one last year in my twenties. I decided this is the last age I am turning. From here on out, I am 29. AJ took the day off work and spoiled me rotten. I didn't have to lift a finger. :) He made choc. chip waffles for breakfast. Which is quite a feat for a man who DOES NOT cook. In fact, one year he tried to make me breakfast for mother's day and gave me food poisoning . . . but that's neither here nor there.... So back to my birthday...AJ gave me a new bottle of my favorite perfume and scheduled a manicure for me that day as well. He pretty much handled the boys all day so that I could relax and have fun. I received so many sweet gifts from family & friends. Thanks, you know who you are! :)

That night we went out on a date to Noodles (thanks Jill) and for dessert & coffee at Common Grounds. I love going out with just my sweet husband.

The next night we celebrated my birthday again with my family at Friday's. All in all, I ate GOOD for my birthday!!

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White Sand Paradise

So, I want to share some highlights from our vacation.

I was really nervous about the 14 hour road trip with the two boys. It was a little bit hard to look forward to vacation b/c I was just dreading the drive. But it really wasn't that bad at all. The boys did really great. I tell you, we were praising Jesus the whole time!! We left at 6 a.m. which helped. We got the kids out of bed in their pj's and just plopped them in the car. So they were still a little groggy and calm. Nice. We were able to drive for a few hours before stopping for breakfast at Waffle House. Nothin' like a greasy southern breakfast. We let the boys watch a movie and that passed the time until we stopped for lunch in LA at a place called Old Dutch Bakery. It was so yummy and I think owned by Mennonite. We were planning on driving half way on sat. and the rest on sun. The trip was going so well, that we just thought we'd drive as far as we could. By about 5 p.m, the boys (and me) were done and ready to get out of the car. We were in the middle of nowhere so we pushed through and stopped in Mobile, AL at 6p.m. We were all getting cranky and ready to be out (after 12 hours) so we pretty much stopped at the first hotel we could find. In my exhausted state, it looked like a pretty nice hotel at first glance, older but nice. Well it ended up being pretty skeezy. It did have a huge bathtub that the boys took a bubble bath in so that was nice. It ended up being a pretty rough night w/the boys not sleeping well, but we made it through. The next day we took our time getting around and eating, etc. We got on the road to Destin around 10am. Thankfully Finley passed out asleep. We only had 2 hours left to go and it was a really pretty drive. It was fun watching Avery see the ocean out the window for the first time. When we got into Destin we ate a place called Destin Diner. It was so yummy! Then we took the boys for their first walk on the beach. They LOVED it and got completely soaked. We finally checked into our hotel around 3:30. We stayed at the Edgewater Beach Condos. Our room was so beautiful. AJ booked everything himself and he did GOOD. The room had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining, laundry, & balcony overlooking the beach. It had 2 big pools, a kiddie pool & hot tub. It was just so stinkin' beautiful. It was perfect for us. I loved standing on the balcony watching the waves rolling in. That first night we ate at Joe's Crab shack. I had Maui Mahi which was so fresh and yummy. We tried to eat as much seafood as possible while we were there. The next night we ate at Fudpuckers. It was really neat. They had live alligators that the boys got to feed. They give you a big, long stick with a long string hanging on the end w/ the food. Here are a couple of pictures we took there:

The boys loved building sandcastles with AJ on the beach. We also collected lots of beautiful seashells. The first 2 days the water was really calm and perfect for swimming in. The next two were pretty rough and would knock you down immediately. Avery didn't seem to mind though. He's such a fish, he never got tired of swimming. I think he would have been happy to never leave. It was always refreshing to go swim in the swimming pool after sucking down so much salt water.
This was one of Finley's favorite activities on the beach. He liked to keep a bucket of water close by so that he could rinse his hands when he wanted.
We took one afternoon to shop at the Destin outlet malls & go to the Bass Pro shop. One evening we ate at The Crab Trap. It's right on the beach. The whole back wall is open windows so you can hear and watch the waves as you eat.

I love this picture. I think I'm going to blow it up and hang it on their bathroom wall.

Our little family. :)

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