Novica Giveaway!

Hi friends...
Long time no chat!
A mini update... I had a baby :)
I had a little girl in September.
We named her Elise Hope.

  Photo taken by my sweet friend Tammi

I guess the best way to return to the blogging world is with a giveaway,
okay back to business :)

Earlier this year I had a giveaway for the site Novica.
Novica is a great site for artisans around the world.
They have a lot of fun stuff to choose from.
I am bad at making decisions :)

Novica has a new feature...
their Gift Finder
making it easier to find gifts for your loved ones.

Here are some fun items in the section "Gifts Under $25"

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I love bright colors...

I purchased this fun handbag for myself :)

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So here are the deets...

To enter the giveaway
leave a comment telling me what you would purchase
if you won the giveaway!

You can only enter once
and I will pick a winner on
Friday December 7th.
I will pick one winner and the lucky duck will get a $40 credit to the site.

Major Cake Sale!

Okay so life really does go by in a blink of an eye.
Cliche I know!
I am virtually 32 weeks pregnant with only 39 days to go,
but who's counting?!
This pregnancy has been my easiest, but at the same time the hardest.
Chalk it up to me being 32 and having 3 ankle biters to take care of!

We have been trying our hardest to get ready for baby #4.
She has yet to be named and that wee bit of info is starting to freak me out!
Is it just me or is this like the hardest task?
It is FOREVER!
Other things we have been doing to get ready is
paint,
organize,
purge,
nap &
eat...
Honestly, the last two on that list have been the priorities on the list :)
So we are getting down to the wire here and I have a basement full of... ahem... crap.
and it's stressing me out

This is where the major sale comes into play.
Last year before I got pregnant I made a ton of cakes.
Then I got pregnant and well the rest is history!
So now I just really want to get rid of all my stock!
I don't have anything in my Etsy shop... that is going to be closed indefinitely.
I am linking you to my album on FB...

Okay now go shop your heart out ;)
Pretty please?

Hopefully the next time I update you it will be with pictures of
a beautiful baby girl :)

it's been awhile!

Lindsay over at Pen and Paints blessed me with a beautiful print! You should really check out her shop if you haven't already! She is super rad and I am inspired by her art!!!

Baby girl is growing quite steadily and getting stronger every day. I am officially 24 weeks! This is how far along I was when I had little Alaina. 1 pound 11 ounces... despite the awfulness of having a preemie it's kind of neat to know what she looks like all tucked in there. But let's stay put baby!!!

Here is what is keeping my hands busy during my down time. Which is usually when all the kiddos are sleeping or on the weekend. I decided to make it for the baby, but may change my mind and give it to the girls for their baby dolls. Because I am learning how to make this tomorrow!

About 2 weeks ago my littlest sister got married! Oh man does that make me feel old! It was a sweet and simple ceremony. It was a perfect day for a cute couple! This picture was taken at the end of the night, but I love it... we all look so content, besides Levi. He was in explorer mode and was only content running back and forth :)

Look mom NO hands!
Addie had a blast driving Levi around the yard last weekend!
Although, he would look at me every once in awhile and his face would say,
"mom this chick should not be driving!" :)

Our last day of school is Wednesday.
How do I prep myself for the farewell Kindergarten party?
Every time I think about it I start to tear up...
I do NOT want to cry at her party...
but mix all the emotions of having your babies grow up and a hormonal 6 month pregnant lady,
yep, I for see the ugly cry coming on!

Oh and remember the birds that laid cute blue eggs in our grill?!

Well they grew up and have "flown the coop" so to speak.
But the hubby checked it out the other day and there were 3 new eggs in the grill.
Seriously, this has got to stop!
I want my deck back and not covered in bird poop, plus it's summer, I would like to grill my food!
And while I like little sweet birdies, these birds are not all that sweet.
They like to destroy things and are more of a nuisance than anything.
So yesterday was the day... the nest got dismantled!
We may have a re-enactment of, "The Birds" on our hands.
Wish us luck :)

Okay, Happy Monday.

InstaFriday

I seriously can't believe how fast my days are going lately!
About every other day I think, I need to write that down or blog that and
then BAM it's the next week already!
How is this happening?
Here is my week in Instagram photos.




Alaina turned 8 last week. Again with the whole time thing. Where is it going?
We celebrated with having some girls over and we made beaded bracelets or necklaces.
It was fun!



Here is the birthday girl... she didn't want to participate in the next activity.
She just wanted to boss everyone around. oi vey!



Here is the other activity we did... Marshmallow towers.
They were fun. I got the idea from my friend Crystal.



We found these in our grill... I guess we won't be grilling anything for awhile!
Can't wait until they hatch!



Here is my little guy playing with little people!
He was so content playing by himself! He was quiet for over an hour!



Addie wanted to dress like me :) I love it!


I decided to try crocheting. After I saw the most beautiful hexagon blanket...
I just had to start one! Here is the pattern.
I had a sweet friend come over and help me get started.



This is my first ever hexagon completed... She was a rad teacher! Very patient with me!


Here I am on my way to THE doctor's appointment/ultrasound! Boy or girl?!



We were so thankful for a great report of a healthy baby! It is so amazing to see your
baby on that monitor!
This coming September it's gonna be another girl! :)


Here is me being brave and trying the hexagon all by myself.
This small circle took me 2 whole hours... my hands were killing me after that!


I do a lot of waiting for kids...
I decided to treat myself with a Starbucks and practice my crocheting skills!


Do you like Wendy's frosty's? I do, but never buy them.
Here is a little trick my mom taught me a long time ago.
Use your vanilla ice cream and sprinkle Hershey's baking cocoa on top.
Hand mix it and voila you have a soft served creation. So good!



Baby birds still haven't hatched yet!






I'm joining Jeannett over at Life Rearranged for InstaFriday.

Happy happy birthday!

Today is Miss Alaina's birthday!
She is eight years old! EIGHT.
How can I be old enough to have an 8 year old?
Every year I find myself counting on my fingers
and saying, "yep, she really is that old!"
I was reminiscing on the blog this morning of all my older posts.
She has changed so much!
It is crazy what a year does to our little kiddos!
Wondering, how did I not see this coming?!
She is EIGHT people!

So the birthday girl LOVES her chocolate.
She is definitely my daughter :)
If it has vanilla on it, forget about it... she turns up her nose and won't even try it.
So I made her very favorite cookies... double chocolate chip! YUM....

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe slightly adapted from a Hershey's recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F.
    
2. Beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in chocolates. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or just until set. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. But we all know they are best right out of the oven :)  Makes about 3-1/2 dozen cookies.

Lunch with the birthday girl :) She was so excited she could hardly contain herself!

I still can't get over how tiny she was! 27 ounces when she was born and losing about 4 of those ounces after one week! Crazy!!!

oops...

I had the best intentions of picking a winner last night.
When my best friend called me up and we had an impromptu dinner with her and her family...
then I completely forgot about the giveaway til about midnight when I was already tucked into bed.
There are only a few things that can drag a pregnant woman out of bed
and the internet is not one of them!

So without further ado...
The winner of the $75 is

#9
Megan says...
I just found your site from meg's craft weekend

love the giveaway. thanks for sharing this site with us.

love the balloon necklace....or maybe a fun handbag to carry for summer....

Yay Megan!

Novica... A $75 Giveaway!!!

This giveaway is now closed!

Are you ready for a giveaway?

Have you ever heard of Novica?
It is a site dedicated to handcrafted goods made by artisans from around the globe.
Now you might be thinking... don't you mean Etsy?
Nope... I meant Novica ;)

The handcrafted items you will find on this site are authentic to the regions they come from.
It's like you are walking down a cobblestone street shopping in
Central America, Mexico, Brasil or even Bali...
only you are sitting on the couch in your pajamas.
Oh wait that might just be me!

Each artisan has a story and they share it.
Where they are from and why they do what they love.
It is kind of nice to see the faces with the stories.

It took me awhile to pick out what I wanted.
There are so many unique things.
However, in the end it came down to practical.
I can be so predictable sometimes.
This is what I picked out and I am so glad I did.

I am usually a medium, but they only had a small.
I got it anyways.
It fits great.
It is a stretchy jersey material and so soft.
I love that it's white and can go with anything.
Plus I can add a flower pin to jazz it up if I want too.

Here are a few other things from the site that caught my eye...

How cute are these gloves?

or
What about this shawl/scarf?
I LOVE the colors...

This is only a few things offered on the site.
They have purses, jewelry, wallets, items for your home and even the man in your life!

Now comes the fun part... the chance to win $75 towards anything on the Novica site.

How to enter...

Visit their site and come back and tell me one thing you might like to purchase.
You have to leave the comment in the comment section.

To keep things simple you can only enter one time.

This giveaway will go until this coming Saturday, March 31, 2012.
I will announce the winner at 5pm Eastern time.