Spring Scrimmage

DJ texted me around 8:00 this morning asking me to bring the girls to the football scrimmage today. I didn't plan on going, although I knew we should go, and I could tell he wanted us there, so we ate breakfast, got dressed, lathered up on sunscreen and headed out the door.MC was very happy this morning. She enjoyed sitting in the stroller and playing with some of her toys. Right now, her favorite toys are baby dolls. I think because they're "little people" like she is, but she just lights up at dolls and loves to chew on their hands and feet!

DJ took G on to the field for the first time. She was so excited to go down there, and she hung out with him for about 10 minutes before she decided it was too boring for her!
I also kept MC entertained with snacks! This girl loves to eat!

G had tons of fun roaming the bleachers. She climbed all the way to the top and back to the bottom. As we were getting dressed, I decided it would be a fun day letting her pick out her clothes. I told her we were going to football and asked her what she wanted to wear. She replied with, "My cheerleading outfit, because it's my favorite football clothes that I have." So, that's what she wore!She didn't want me to take her picture again, but I managed to sneak one in! She was eating her Ring Pop (yes, they still make them!) I think she looks so tall in this picture!
After watching the scrimmage, we went in to DJ's office while he finished his film work, and then we all went to lunch!

Such a fun Saturday!

By: Unknown On 20.07

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Shipping Changes

Honey Pie Accessories is making official shipping changes. Over the last three + years I have used recycled boxes for shipping, in order to save on shipping costs, but more importantly, to recycle and reuse.

Being "green" is something that i'm fairly passionate about and it's been a slow lifestyle change for our family and something that I have wanted to carry over into my business.

However, I received a package a few weeks ago, that appeared to be in a recycled envelope. I contacted the boutique owner for another concern, and she told me that she had used a brand new envelope.

Due to some circumstances of the package, I realized that should there be concerns of my customers, I want to be able to guarantee them that there package has not been previously opened.

Therefore, I am no longer using recycled shipping boxes or envelopes. Due to this change, my shipping costs will increase from $3.00 to $3.50 or $4.00 a package. Shipping will be noted on wall sales, auctions, etc.

The $3.50 price will be for smaller packages, $4.00 will be for larger orders.

I apologize for the price increase, but I feel that it is something that I need to change in order to guarantee that your items have not been tampered with throughout the shipping process.

Please contact me if you have any concerns.

By: Unknown On 19.58

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Tutu & My Girls

I was so thrilled to make another fabric tutu skirt last week! This one was hand delivered to a little ballerina in G's dance class! She loved it and instantly put it on!I'm currently offering a sale on fabric tutu's because I'd love to increase my showcase of them. If you're interested, head on over to my Facebook page and leave me a comment. They're $23.50 shipped, normally $28.50- so that's a savings of $5.00!

And, here are my girls Sunday after church:
They're both wearing dresses with bunnies. MC is wearing a dress that my mom bought for Gee's first Easter, but it was a 6 month size and short sleeve, and so it was too big and too cold for G to wear the dress. I'm glad that MC is tiny enough to wear it!

MC turned 10 months old this past weekend, and it just floors me. I feel like she is still my tiny baby, and I look at her and see how big she's gotten. She's growing up way too fast! I need to take her 10 month pictures this week and hopefully i'll get around to posting all of her milestones.

G had fun at church; she calls it "Rasberry", as we are visiting "Asbury", but i'm sure it's all the same in God's eyes!

By: Unknown On 07.12

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RVS & The Zoo

It rained every day last week, leaving us all stuck in the house. By Friday afternoon, we were ready to get out and do something fun! There was a RV and Boat show in town, so we decided to go. My husband would buy both of them if we were millionaires, but we aren't. So, we just had fun looking.

G would go in, and say that everything was "her size", and then say, "let's go see the neighbor's!" She had so much fun trying out the beds, pretending in the kitchen's, and climbing, then jumping off the steps.

We also ran into a Jesus loving clown.
He made G a huge pink flower! MC thought the clown was pretty neat too, and just stared and smiled at him.

Here's G on one of the beds,
On Saturday, we decided to go to the zoo. The weather was beautiful and I think there were people from miles away visiting the animals. It was so crowded!
G thought this water ball was pretty neat. Next, we went into the elephant exhibit.
I was pretty impressed that the zoo had 3 elephants. Where, I grew up, our zoo only had one!

G and I even went on a camel ride!
We looked at giraffes and zebra's. It was so nice to have DJ home with us all week, and thanks to the rain, he couldn't sneak off to play golf!
MC did great! She just looked at everything. She loved riding in the stroller, but would get kind of fussy if we stopped. She stayed awake the entire time, which made for a cranky baby that evening!
Our zoo also had a neat Rainforest exhibit. Lots of trees hanging overhead, fish, & birds.
I was so glad that we were finally able to get out and have some family fun over spring break! Sad to see that it's over, and back to work & school we go!

By: Unknown On 06.02

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Re-finding the motivation

It's been two Monday's since I posted a "mommy fashion" mostly because I don't feel so fashionable at the moment.

I feel so much better about myself when I go to the gym, and in the last two and a half weeks, I've maybe been once. I noticed this weekend that it really puts the damper on the way I feel. But, I've also struggled with mommy-guilt over going to the gym. I could pick up MC earlier from daycare, and spend some quality time with her. Or, I could pick up G and we could play. Or, I could clean my house. It's just something that I've really struggled over and I think it's something that every mother struggles with. I honestly, don't know how my mom raised my brother and I. I can imagine that she felt guilty all the time. But, she did a fabulous job, and I know because we turned out ok, that my girls will too.

I announced last week, that i'm cutting the girls down to daycare/preschool 3 days a week. Which, is really going to cut down on my available time to go to the gym. But, I have to. I have to go and work out and feel good about myself.

I was looking over pictures this past weekend, and I came across these two pictures. G was 18 months old, and I was going to the gym a lot. At least 3 days a week, and doing cardio and strength training, and here's the sad thing. I told myself I was fat.

Another thing that I need to stop. Telling myself i'm fat. What kind of example am I setting for my two daughters. I want to work out, not only to loose the baby weight from MC, but to feel good about myself and to feel confident in the way I look. And, I just don't right now.
Sad thing is that I didn't feel confident about the way I looked then either. I saw this picture of myself this weekend. G and I rode a camel at the zoo, and as soon as I saw this picture, I wasn't happy with the way I looked. In my eyes, I look fat.

I started a "weight loss" journey in November, that's when I re-joined the gym, and promised I'd blog about it. Well, this is maybe my 4th post, and as you can tell, i'm not doing so hot!

So, I took the girls to daycare today. I only have 2 more weeks where I can take them 5 days a week. And, I went to the gym. I spent an hour there. I walked/ran 1 mile on the treadmill, lifted weights, did a few crunches, and lifted some more weights. And, I feel great!

I'm so glad that I went today. I'm so glad that the girls are at daycare and I hit the gym. I'm now home jamming to Sirius radio and cleaning my house. I have plans tonight to walk with a friend. I am determined that this week is going to be a good week. I plan to not eat the homemade chocolate chip cookies that I hid in my pantry. I can't loose the motivation again.

I hope that you haven't lost the motivation, and if you have, I hope you'll find it again. For your sanity, for your health, and for your confidence. Because there's nothing more fashionable than a confident woman!

By: Unknown On 08.48

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Changes

Do you like changes?

I'm so excited about the upcoming changes to our family! It seems as if our life is always changing, and i'm a person that embraces change. I love differences, I love learning new things and exploring new adventures.

And, we're about to have a new big change to our family!

No, we aren't moving, and we aren't having another baby.

This is a change that I have wanted for as long as I can remember, it's something that I have literally prayed for.

I'm officially going to work part-time!

Now, granted, I really have been working part time since we moved to Oklahoma, but I had at least been working a few hours every day, meaning, we have been paying for full-time daycare.

Over the last few weeks, I have cut down to 3-4 days a week, but starting this next week, i'm cutting out day number 4!

G has two more weeks of full-time preschool, and then, she'll move to 3 days. This will cut our daycare budget down by $200.00 a month!

MC's sitter does not take part-time, so we will continue to pay her full time rate, and keep her home on the days that I don't work (which, I already do).

In August, G's preschool is expanding, and MC will finally have a spot there! By putting MC and G at the same preschool, but keeping them both at 3 days a week, we will eventually save $400.00 a month!

I'm nervous about the change, because we still own our house in Indiana, and cutting down childcare, cuts down my hours available to work, which can also cut down a cushion to make that house payment should anything happen. But, we're ready to face this challenge head on, and just put our faith in God that our needs will be provided for.

DJ and I agreed that G is at a critical learning point, and her class next year is very advanced. So, it's a risk pulling her out and her falling behind her peers. So, we will continue to have learning time on the days that we are home together. And, i'll be able to continue my Teaching Tot's posts as I develop lesson plans for her and MC.

If I can ask one thing of my readers and family, it would be for your prayers. To just pray that G can embrace these changes and that our pocketbook can as well. I know that while we are saving money, it also makes me nervous, because I just can't pick up extra days should something happen. I'll have no one to watch the girls. But, i'm so excited about spending my days with G and MC, especially as this will be G's last year before starting kindergarten (which, still doesn't seem possible).

By: Unknown On 19.22

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Auction & Announcement!

I'm hosting an auction on my Facebook page this week. This is the first time that I've done this, and I would love your support!

Everything has low starting bids, and increments are in $.50 or $.75.

You can bid on $10, $20, or this
gift certificate!!!

Or, you can bid on this:

Or this:
The auction ends Friday, so please help spread the word & bid yourself.

Also, I'm thinking of starting a bow maker group on Facebook. I know many of my own customers have ventured off and starting making hair bows for their own daughters, and some have gone on to open their own businesses. I would love to share what I've learned over the last three and a half years making hair bows. If you're interested in joining this group, then post on my Facebook page, leave a comment, or shoot me an email (elainewelte@gmail.com)

I'm going to be looking for an assistant admin for this page, so if you have been in the hair bow business, please let me know!

By: Unknown On 05.30

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Up-Cycled Easter Wreath

This is what my Easter wreath from the past few years has looked like: I knew as soon as I pulled it out of storage, that I was going to have to re-make the entire wreath. It was faded and falling apart.
I pulled all of the flowers, eggs, and ribbon off of the grapevine wreath. Thankfully, I hadn't hot glued much, but used wire to wrap everything in place.

Once everything was removed, I gathered items from my unused Easter decorations and other things I had around.
I used wire to wrap the pink netting in place. This was left over from the girls Christmas tree, and thankfully, I had just enough.
Then, I hot glued these glittered eggs that I had. When grouping things together, try to place them in odd numbers, such as groups of 3 for a more visually pleasing effect.

After, I glued on the eggs, I knew that the wreath needed something more, but I wasn't exactly sure if a bow would work, because I didn't have enough tulle, and I didn't have enough ribbon. It just didn't look finished.

So, I found a bucket in my Easter decorations and tied it on with wire. I added a little bit of Easter grass on the inside, and placed 3 eggs inside the bucket.
Here's the finished wreath!

Cost $0.00

By: Unknown On 06.00

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St. Patty's Weekend

I really did try to narrow down these photos, but we had such a fabulous weekend, it was so hard! We sent the girls to daycare on Friday, and I worked a half day. DJ was off, as the start of his Spring Break. I was suppose to have a dentist appointment that afternoon, but I cancelled it, because I wasn't feeling well. I came home and slept 3 hours and had DJ go get the girls. I then slept another hour while they were eating dinner! Thankfully, I felt better Saturday morning for our St. Patrick's day fun!We made a trap to catch a leprechaun. G made a 4-leaf clover to 'trick' him and we put a pot of 'gold' (popcorn) to help lure him to the trap!

Then, we went outside and enjoyed the sunshine while DJ used his new smoker to smoke brisket!
We took MC outside, because she had been feeling better (although, she now has another cold.)
I think she was happy to enjoy some sunshine and get some natural Vitamin D.
G just played and played. The neighbor behind our house came over, and she played with their 20 month old, and then she explored our wide open back yards. She said she was "queen of the mountain."
And, she played with Bailey.
The girls flew around in the air.

G ran over and had to have her turn.

Then, we got out her trike, while MC took a nap. She rode it about two houses down, decided she was done, and drug it back to the house.

When she's riding and she feels like she's done, she always expects that one of us will take it back for her, but I always tell her that she wanted it, so she has to take care of her toys and put them back where they belong.

Then, we went inside to check on our leprechaun trap.
She was really excited, but then I think G became really scared to think there would be a real leprechaun in there.
But, we didn't catch him! He left goodies for the girls instead. G got a green slinky, a princess cup and "gold" candy (caramel hershey kisses). We let her open one, and it was so cute, because she kissed it before she ate it. She told us that you had to kiss it, since it was called a hershey kiss.
MC received a cup and green puffs.

We had our neighbors over to eat, and MC was screaming during dinner, so I didn't get any pictures. But, we had fruit salad, mac-n-cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, and brisket.

I typically don't like brisket, but it was mouth watering. G even asked for seconds!
After dinner was cleaned up, I put MC to bed and we went outside to start a fire in the fire pit and make smores!
DJ helped G roast her marshmallows.
And of course the neighbor kids joined in with us!
G loved her smores and after we each had one, we ate burnt marshmallows!

On Sunday, we got up and went to church. We almost didn't go, because MC was running a slight fever and was fussing. I decided that we would take her with us into the service since she didn't feel good, especially because the last time we visited that church, she cried the entire time she was in the nursery! MC loves her momma for sure!

G did great in her class, and MC did very well in the service. I was so thankful that this church actually allows kids under 5 in their service. We have actually visited two churches here, that do not allow or prefer kids under 5 in the sanctuary, and I just think that's a shame.
It was warm, so we broke out one of her spring dresses, and i'm glad she was able to still wear it, since it's a 6 month size.
G wore a dress that I purchased at Rhea Lana's consignment sale for a steal. It's a cute navy dress, and it was too long, so I know it'll last her through early fall as well!

After church, we went to eat at Red Robin's.

G played outside some more and met our new neighbor across the street (they're only 2 months apart!) while MC and I took a nap!

It was such a wonderful weekend, and I was so glad that it wasn't going to end, because DJ's off for spring break all week and I'm off most of the week as well!

By: Unknown On 18.08

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Easter decorations

I have been itching to get my Easter decorations out and was so glad to find some time this weekend to decorate!On the buffet in our kitchen, I placed my Easter cake stand, pewter deviled egg platter, an Easter candle hurricane, and my bunny salt & pepper shakes.
I also made a "spring" banner using lime green paper, and purple bunnies- I distressed the bunnies.
On the shelf above, I placed another deviled egg platter with a decorative pot of grass.
In the hallway, I added some spring flowers to a white pitcher and added two wooden bunnies.
I kept my butcher block table fun, and made a center piece in the hurricane of plastic eggs, and a cream candle. I also added a fun bunny figurine and pink bunny bucket.

I also placed our Resurrection eggs there, so I wouldn't forget for us to use them to teach G the meaning of Easter!

By: Unknown On 08.06

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G goes to Gee's

My mom and I were on the phone Thursday morning and she mentioned she was off for the next 8 days! I jokingly told her that she was more than welcome to take G for the weekend. She told me that she'd think about it and would call me later that day and let me know. She had to run it by grandpa, because this weekend was my parents 18 year anniversary!

I was excited when they agreed and G was too! We decided to both drive halfway and I'd hand her off to them on Friday, and then we would do the same thing on Sunday.

We were able to leave early enough to meet and eat lunch at Cracker Barrel.
My parents had my niece with them, and she's gotten so big! I haven't seen her in a few weeks, and I think she grew a foot! She's only 6 weeks older than MC, but she just looked so big, and my mom said, she weighs 22 lbs! MC is still at 16 lbs!

Both babies had fun eating their lunch and talking to each other! And, G had to get in on the action too!
MC and A had fun gabbing to each other, and I'm beginning to see more of my brother in Miss A.
G was so excited that she was going to get to go to Gee's house for the weekend. I think they hung out at their house Friday night, since they were all in the car for four hours, but on Saturday, my mom and G went to my grandma's house.

They ate lunch their, and my grandma tried to give G a Coke Zero. (G is 4 years old and has had 1 sip of pepsi one time, and we do not give her coke, sprite, or any other carbonated beverage. For the record, my grandmother thinks we're silly for that.) My mother tried to tell my grandma, that G would be just fine with milk or water, but my grandmother insisted. They agreed, to give G the choice, and I'm so proud to report that G chose milk and told my grandma that coke is gross! It just made me laugh so hard to hear that!

After lunch my mom and G went to Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart, where they bought a Barbie movie. Then, they roasted hot dogs and made smores in the chimnea for dinner Saturday night!

My parents took G to church Sunday morning, where she reported that she learned about being kind to others. And, then they took off to meet us half way again.
My mom also took advantage of getting in some snuggles with MC while we were eating on Friday, and we even enjoyed dessert at Cracker Barrel again on Sunday! I think we ended up staying and chatting for over an hour and it was just so good to hear about the weekend!

My parents headed to Mt. Magazine for the evening to celebrate their 18 year anniversary!

Since G was gone for the weekend, DJ, MC and I went out to eat at Las Cabos Friday night. I was honestly too tired to enjoy dinner, because MC would not let me put her down once we got home!

Saturday morning MC and I met the coaches wives for breakfast at Mimi's Cafe and said good-bye to two of the ladies on our staff. Then, MC and I headed to watch football practice with my friend and her little boy. It was so good to catch up with her and we both agreed we needed to do it more often!

DJ and I ran a few errands with MC that afternoon and went out for a late lunch. We came home and he worked in the yard while I cleaned the house and did laundry.

We finished cleaning Sunday morning and then drove to pick up G!

The weekend went by entirely too fast and i'm looking forward to spring break next week!

By: Unknown On 07.49

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