visitors from georgia!

my cousin jordan was in town for business. we got to have him over for dinner and i really enjoyed the visit. lil H wasn't really sure what to think about him though. he pretty much hid behind me for the first 30 minutes or so. i tried all sorts of trick to get him to come out of his shell.

I've decided that lil H is also sort of like a puppy dog. He like snacks and is greedy with his snack and he likes to play in the toilet. (no, i don't let him, but if i forget to close the bathroom door it is the first place that he ventures to)anyways, i gave jordan a snack for Henry, thinking he would warm up to idea of a snack (sort of like a puppy), instead he just decided that he had no need for the snack, at least until i had it in my hands.

by the end of the night he was showing off and running around screaming. then jordan became his best friend and had a tickle fight with him.

BUBBLE BATH!!!

i only thought lil H liked bath time. then i added bubbles! he screamed and splashed. i think the photos demonstrate his excitement!

i can't help it...

i am addicted! i just can't help it. i want to sit all day long and make things. I want to sew baby shoes, i'm itching to piece together another quilt (it's been three years!), and i'm addicted to photoshop.

Luckily i've been able to release all of this pent up energy into worthwhile projects. I'm slowly making some waves on the baby shoe production. I sold $100 worth last week.

My quilt itch is sortof being mended. I'm using most of my days off to help Jeane finish her quilt. Last summer, while pregnant i started a little group. (mostly to invite those who needed extra space, like myself, to sew) Jeane's quilt has just been sitting there. It's been on my mind, mostly because she needed a buddy and at the time i couldn't do it. So, now, i have HER quilt at my house and am working on it for her. Don't worry, i didn't steal it!!! Promise! She is AMAZING. She is one of those ladies who has many many years of experience and advice to share. Her adventures are great fun to listen to and i've enjoyed getting to know her. The more i got to know her, the more i realized that physically she wasn't really in the position to finish this quilt by herself. I am now doing the quilt for her so that she too can enjoy the pleasures of a handmade quilt (because it is so yummy!).

I'm getting plans in order for lil H's birthday. it's a month away, and i would be lying if i said that i just started thinking about what i wanted to do. I want it to be simple and fun and because he sortof just sits there and stares at kids he's not too familiar with i figured the fewer little faces the better. Plus, i think that even though the 'FIRST BIRTHDAY' is a big deal, it's more of a deal to the crazy mom who wants everything to be perfect. yes i understand that I have the potential to be that crazy mom. however i'm not going to be. there will be cupcakes and few decorations (because those are my favorite part to make!) and of course the TANK. I've decided that I don't want to make the cupcakes... I can do it and that knowledge is enough. My postage stamp kitchen just can't take the beating of baking and decorating. Atleast i can't take the beating of the space i have to create in there... so i'm going to purchase simple cupcakes and then maybe decorate them... i dunno, we will see how i feel about a week out from the date.

I've been working on some ideas for business cards. I'm convinced i need a letterpress kit or an emosser. They look essential for all great crafting needs. But before i can make the cards i need to work on a name... So i am working on that at the moment. and i know that i can make them, especially since i have so few that are going out at a time.

summer time:

so it is summer time, and has been for a while now. even though it is most definetly hot outside this has been my favorite season with lil H. because he is walking everywhere and exploring everything it seems more magical than previous summers. he loves being outside so we spend lots of time at the pool, sprinkler parks, regular parks and play in the breezway daily. he can be the crankiest kid, but once i open that door he runs straight for it and screams with delight while running up and down the corridor at our apartments.

When he visits grandpa and mimi's he gets to help water in the garden and harvest the vegetable... not sure how much of what he helps with actually makes it inside to be eaten, but he does help.

other than adventures with the tank, we have been readily getting things in order to hopefully (fingers crossed) move back up north at the end of the year. I've been working on baby shoes, and have been selling them. there seems to be a market out there. i'm working on business cards, and looking into registering a company name and everything. i'm pretty excited.

oh, and my sketchbook is looking pretty cool. It's been fun to fill it up with what has been floating around in my mind!

editing in photoshop

playing with photoshop. pretty neat how with the help of a program you can make some pretty cool changes to an image.


before:
after:

no i didn't forget...

so many thoughts to share today. it has been forever, it seems, since i've been on here and posted ANTHING. to those of you who are avid followers, thank you and i'm sorry for keeping you hanging. not to worry though, i have plenty to share to keep you all up to date.

first: (and foremost) lil H is walking! yes. one day he stood up in the middle of the floor and took a few steps and five days later he had it figured out. He prefers to walk over anything else. we did purchase him a pair of shoes, which are beyond cute.

Since he had the walking thing mastered barefoot he wasn't a fan of the shoes right off. in the shoe store he decided that they weren't as cool as mom thought they were. i put them on his feet and stood him up. I guess assuming he would just take off and do his usual scream of satisfaction. NOPE! he took one look at the shoes, scowled, blew raspberries at his feet then dropped to crawling. needless to say, like with anything else he is learning, it only took a couple days for him to figure them out. now that he's walking, i'm running. and he's into EVERYTHING.

second: wow. I'm so excited about this the most... maybe... it might be a close tie... i have a couple of blogs that i LOVE to follow, one of which posted an add for the 'sketchbook 2011 project'. it's awesome. it is a tour of sketchbooks that you get to participate in if you so wish.

i couldn't resist. i had to purchase a sketchbook, a theme and now a couple of sketching pencils. my sketchbook just came in the mail yesterday and i am so stoked. i have an artistic itch that i can finally get out, and then it will be touring the US. the 'art house co-op' is pretty cool. you should go check it out, i highly recommend it:

http://arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject picking a theme was hard, so i selected one that didn't seem like i would be too restrictive on myself. i'm good at setting way to many boundaries and being too safe. i'm using this as an exercise to let my self loose. HELLO WORLD! MY NAME IS STEPHANIE. I HAVE A PENCIL AND I'M RELEASING IT ON PAPER! very excited and i will keep progress updates on here.

third: I sold another pair of baby shoes. those things are way too cute. i love making them. there is something so therapeutic about stitching and knowing it is going to go on a babies foot. oh baby feet, how you are so perfect and tiny and...*sigh* i love you. haha, especially lil H's super chubby square baby feet (that are near to impossible to shop for) i've pretty much cleaned out my supply. i'm going to have to get started on some more. any requests? (note: I need a few weeks, i'm still working full time too)

fourth: Mr.A came home from Africa with all these gorgeous prints and canvases. (keep in mind he came home from Africa 3 years ago) right after we got married i framed one of them for his birthday. the guys that did it for me charged way too much, so i've been procrastinating taking care of the other ones. mostly because i just couldn't justify spending that much money on stretching one print and without a frame. Turns out that my parents have cool tools, and the art store that i pretty much kept in business while in school had more cool supplies and i was able to stretch them myself, with a little help of course. they turned out beautiful. now we have all this color in our apartment and i'm in love with it. we got rid of the make-shift media shelving once lil H started crawling and pulling up on things. somehow cinder blocks and plywood just aren't baby friendly. plus, i was getting concerned for the welfare of Mr.A's TV. Tiny hands and wide screen Tv's aren't a great combo, and tiny hands like to push game console buttons as well (they have lights that blink, ooooh). so we invested in something much taller and deeper than little hands could reach to. i'm not sure how long it will last, but i'm hoping at least until he understands why i'm telling him not to touch instead of taking his hand back and trying another time. (have i mentioned before that he is into EVERYTHING?!)

i'm a mom who wears a cape!

because i'm SUPER MOM! but seriously, now that I'm back at work I've really developed a crazy respect for mom's that wear both hats.

Going back to work was one of the harder decisions that Andrew and I have had to make since we have been married. And I am so glad that it is working out in our favor. Working has been good for my soul. I, too easily, got lost somehow while being at home all day by myself. Going back has helped me snap back. I am so happy. I love my job and I love being at home when I am with the baby. Who seems to be growing faster than I can keep up with.

It's been a while since i've updated this thing so to keep you all up to speed. We (me and Henry) drove to Utah with my parents to help move my sister down after graduating. It was Henry's first road trip and i was a little worried. But he is a super traveler and loved it. You know he loves something when he starts yelling and giggling. both of which were actively present during the drive up. I cannot lie, the 18 hour trip up was more enjoyable than the 18 hour trip back. It always seems to take longer to get back home than to get away.

The drew started a new job. We are both very excited. It will be nice to see where this one takes us. I really admire him and all that he does for our little family. He works full time and goes to school full time, he's a full time dad and husband and always remembers where we fall in the priority lineup.

with both of us working and juggling the baby it's like learning a whole new routine. new routines are nice, but the first few weeks are always in need of a serious learning curve. dinners are messed up, bedtimes are a little crazy, and the apartment, well, my somewhat tidy routine turned into an 'ahhh, my day is done. i'm going to bed, i don't care what the living room looks like' routine. we have slowly begun to transition into a more steady routine in the past couple days. dinners are getting done in time, thanks to a crock pot and the laundry is getting folded and put away. Henry has become quite fond of the grandparents and grandpa cline is his new buddy. he gets very excited when he gets to hang out with him for the day. (i think it's because grandpa fed him ice cream)

i've started a new project. I'm going to finish this old chair that i have had sitting around for a couple of years. i bought it back in 2005 at a thrift store, knowing that it needed to be sanded, re-finished and i would need to make new pillow forms for it. It sat on the back burner for a long time, a very long time. when i got pregnant i quickly decided again, that 'the chair' would be my new focus and i would finish it before i had that baby. well, now that Henry is 8 months old and my chair still isn't done, it once again got put on the back burner. It will be done this time. I have had to mend it a little bit, and my wood filler has quickly become my new best friend. i will show before and after photos when i get it done.