Be Merry.

Decking the Halls.

I love this time of year.

I couldn't wait to pull out all of my decorations.

All the memories.

This year, I added a lot of new ornaments to my tree,

replacing many of my more sentimental ones.

It was tough.

They will sit in a box,

until we are a 2 tree house.

That day will come.

Here's a glimpse of our Christmas decor.

I am making a red polka dotted ruffle table runner.
But, it isn't completed yet (or really even started),
so you'll have to use your imagination.



Having a mantle is so much fun!!

 

Our elf "Buddy" has returned.

And, he has been a mischievous little guy this year.

Drawing horns on our family pictures,

swimming in marshmellow bathes,

and watching a "drive-in" movie with Barbie.

The girls have been so excited to see what he's been up to every morning.

I must take a few pictures of his nightly shannagins.



My tree!!
I am so happy with the way it turned out.
I wanted to remove the large amounts of PINK and LIME green in my tree.
I was just a little tired of it after 5 years.
So, here is my happy white, red and TEAL tree.

Oh Ansley.

I feel like I often get to write all the cute funny things Olivia says, because as Ansley gets older she doesn't say as many.
So, when Curtis came home from taking Ansley to school the other morning I was loving this cute story:
(Liv rode with them, and they were passing the the local nursing home.)
O: Ansley, look at those nice new apartments!
A: Those aren't apartments, that's a nursing home.
O: No they are apartments .
C: No, Olivia that's where the old people go to live.
A: Don't call them old people....
Call them... Over aged.
My cute girl, I am so happy she still has those sweet/funny moments.
They are mixed in with a lot of sass these days ;)

Catch up.

We have been really busy.
I like to be busy, and I totally do it to myself, but this was a bit much.
And, really I am not even sure what I was so busy with.
Why do I do that to myself!?
Here's life according to my cell phone.
More detailed update to come.
Soon.

For now: (in no particular order.)
Babies.
Letters to Santa.
Crafts. Crafts. And more crafts.
Snow coat love.
Lala loopsy love.

Halloween: Trick or Treat

I was so not in the Halloween spirit this year.
I was busy preparing for a craft show, and didn't really put as much effort into Halloween as I should have.
Oops.
My sister in law, Courtney, and I did take the kids to the trick or treat at the park.
And we did do a few houses before calling it quits pretty early...
But, there was still plenty of candy between the girlies.
And, they didn't complain :)
My camera battery was DEAD!??
I only got these pictures.
( They were Lalaloopsy dolls. The wigs were one size fits... Neither of my girls... And drove me crazy!!)

Lately.

Preparing for a Halloween party.
Found an awesome chair for my porch. Finally.
Mary Poppins.
Carmel. Apples.
Let the girlies paint my nails. Never again.
Lalaloopsy. Lots of them.
Cute girls. Cute hairbows.
Happy.
Cupcake success.
Lately. Life is good.

October

I love October.
I love fall.
I love the cooler temps.
I love the recipes I haven't wanted to make during the summer months.
I love the changing leaves.
I love boots. Scarfs. Cardigans. A lot.
I love pumpkin patches and corn mazes.
I love planning my kids costumes, and even mine and Curtis' this year.
My favorite thing of all though in October...
Halloween Decorations!!
Ah. October. I can finally feel ok about having my decorations up.
I *might* have done that in
September.
(And sorry for all the phone pictures lately. It is just so easy. Plus, I can then blog from my phone. I am blogging more. So maybe it isn't such a bad thing!?)

Mermaid Toesies

The girls' have been loving having their toes painted lately.
And they are both to the point where they sit still.
Which is awesome.
A few weeks ago I decided to get creative, and gave them green glitter toes.
However, Olivia really only likes nail polish of the pink variety, she really only likes anything pink...
So, to convince her that green would be ok (I had no other glitter color, and living where we do, no way to get others. See, I am making do.) I told her they were mermaid toes.
Which I later thought was really funny, since mermaids don't have toes.
Told you we were getting creative around here.

Life.

Just a quick little update on our life since our move.

It has been 7 weeks since we moved to this new little town.
We are settled in, we have been actually for 6.5 weeks.
Unpacking/decorating went very quickly,
for which I am grateful.
I hate living with boxes everywhere.
Living here has been an adjustment.
Not having "things" (shopping, restaurants...) near by has been different.
I have literally filled my car up once since we have lived here.
I am home. ALL. DAY. long.
It's a good thing I like my house.
I am learning to entertain myself and Livvy with out all the "stuff"
that normally filled my days.
There has been a lot of sewing.
Crafting.
Cooking.
Cleaning.
Thank goodness I have hobbies.
There are days that I am just plain bored too.
But, that is OK.
I am sure many people would love to be bored.
I miss SF still. It was home.
I loved having my family close by,
and many dear friends.
I miss that.
Somehow though, this is home too.
It doesn't feel like I am vacationing, or that I will wake up from this dream,
as previous moves have felt.
This is where we are supposed to be right now.
It has been nice to be close to Curtis' family.
The girls are loving having cousins to play with close by.
And, I am enjoying having my sister in laws.
We are making new friends, Curtis is getting reacquainted with old.
We are making a life for ourselves out here.
And it is just fine.
Most days ;)

The Plum Verbena

It's official.

The Plum Verbena is on Facebook.

We are just testing the waters,

and still trying to figure a few things out,

but we are posting projects.

We will be doing a local craft show in October.

And ready to ship items will be available just in time for Christmas!!

So, go check us out of Facebook.

Like our page.

And don't foget to enter the giveaway that is going on right now.

You may just win something!!

Haley and Clay Visit.

We love visitors! Especially since moving away from my family.
Having Haley and Clay come for the weekend was so fun.
We gave them the tour of our new town.
It was short :)
Friday night Haley and I worked on a little Halloween craft. Pretty excited to decorate. Come on Oct.1st!
Saturday we took them up to Flaming Gorge. Clay loved it. But, we didn't see a moose. Like he had hoped.
Livvy snoozed in the car.
Saturday night Haley and I made cute wreaths for our door. No pictures yet.
And, Curtis worked on his talk for church.
It was a successful trip.
Thanks for the coming to see us.

Olivia Kate: Things I don't want to forget

This girl cracks me up.
All day long.
Now that Ansley is in school,
She is my little sidekick.
We do everything together.
She loves to push the button on the blender when I make our green smoothies.
She always wants me to ”do” her hair.This requires a round brush, and the flat iron. He he.
She wants ”eegurt” first thing every morning. It is ”liscious and yummy.”
Yesterday, she held up her fruit roll-up and asked me, ”Does this have sugar in it? How bout caffeine?”
This girl is too cute.
I love spending my days with her.
But, we do miss our Ansley while she's at school.

New House: New Pillows

I have been wanting new pillow for quite awhile now.

It seems I can never find the perfect fabric.

Well, it finally happened,

I found fabric with EVERY color I wanted.

Thanks to pinterest.

I ordered the same fabric,

but I did do the pillow a little differently :)

(And her photography looks way better!!)

The chevron stripes look crooked.

But, I promise they are not.

I stalked Hawthorne Threads until Sandi Henderson's new line Secret Garden was available.

I knew it was the perfect fabric.

And, I ordered it,

Sight unseen.

Luckily it worked.

The best part about these new pillows....

ZIPPERS!!!!

That's right.

I conquered my fear,

and each pillow has an invisible zipper.

And, you know,

the zipper part wasn't bad. At all.

The kitchen chair update with be next.

They are almost done :)

Olivia Kate: Funny Girl

Lately Olivia has been making us laugh. A lot. She is at that very entertaining stage, where every other thing she says has us cracking up. I wanted to write a few thing down to remember.

Ansley, ”Mom, we need to decide what to eat for lunch. We need food.”
Livvy, ”We don't need food, we ate food last night.”

Me, ”You will be going to time-out if you keep crying.
Livvy, ”But, we don't have any stairs!?”
(she always sat on the stairs for time-outs at our old house.)

When trying to get her into her,own.bed at night, and not in ours... As she is climbing up into our bed,
”Livvy, this is not your bed. You need to go get into your bed.”
Livvy, ”no, it's fine.”
We finally get her to her room, and 5 minutes later she is back in our room. We ask her what is wrong with her bed/room.
”It's fine, except Mom isn't in there.”

As we were watching Say Yes to thr Dress one night, Livvy says, ”I wish I could go to Haley Clays wedding day again.” She its obsessed with the day they got ”murried”. Everytime we put on her flowrer girl shoes she starts talking about it. So cute.

She also says ”sure” to everything. any question you ask her, the answer, ”sure”. It is so funny. Strangers laugh and comment whenever they hear this.

Today she cut my hair. This isn't funny, I know, but, when I realized it and screamed (you would too!) She gets right in my face and says, ” Don't scream at me.” She cut my hair, and I was the one suddenly feeling bad. and for the record, she cut a very small section, and it blends. Thank goodness. And rather mine than hers, I have a lot more :)

We love our cute, funny girl.

Ansley: 1st Grader

It's true.

Ansley is in 1st grade.

Really not quite sure how or when she got so old!?

We are at a new school this year.

Obviously :)

And, there is bus.

Last year, there was no bus.

I drove her.

Every day.

I tried to drive her today,

but she wasn't having it.

She insisted on riding the bus with all her new little friends.

She also insisted on going to the bus stop. Alone.

And she did.

For about 5 minutes.

Until I remembered that I am the Mom, and I wasn't missing this moment.

I joined her there,

much to her dismay.

She was SO embarrassed.

Poor girl.

Mother's are so humiliating.

But, I am glad I saw my baby girl get on the bus :)

As a 1st grader!!

Snazzy new backpack.

We love sparkles.

" Do I have to hold this sign!?"



Heading to the bus stop.
Check out this look.
This is the look that says, "Mooom!?"
I know that one well.
I am so in trouble in a few years.
A few years too soon I fear....

New House: Olivia's Room

Livvy's room is pretty much the same as before.

With the exception of BIG GIRL beds!!!

That's right, no more crib.

These were my great grandmother's beds.

I love them,

12 cans of spray paint later....

Olivia's handmade doll bought at the SLC Farmer's Market.

LOVE them, and all the detail.

Big girl beds.

Everyone asks about the bookcase. Ikea. Baskets, Land of Nod.

"O" for Olivia.