'Tis the Season...

...to take pictures! Every year when we go down to Birmingham, we do family photos. None of the ones of Mike, Autumn, and me turned out well but we got some cute ones of other people. For example, here are Mama Lainey, Papa D, and Tyler looking nice. And, I think this could be Autumn's first documented cheesy "photo smile." Ha!


I love this one of the kids with Brad and Lindsay. I like how Brad is holding onto the car Autumn is on like she's about to take off. She probably was!


All the Colleys! I love having a big family now. I think I've mentioned before that most of my dad's family doesn't really bother with us--with the notable exception of our very awesome Uncle Rex--and most of my mom's is in the Philippines. So, for so long it was just me and my immediate family plus our friends who are like family (you know who you are!). I love that Autumn gets to have lots of aunts, uncles, and (eventually) cousins.


This would be a great photo of the siblings if it weren't for the fact that Mike and I are sitting and leaning oddly.


Since our photos didn't turn out, Mike, Autumn, and I went to Mike's parents' place Sunday to have some potential Christmas card pictures taken. A few of them turned out great. This could be one of my all time favorite shots of Mike and Autumn:


We don't seem to pose very well so I asked Papa D to take some pictures of us swinging Autumn. :D They weren't Christmas card worthy but these are so cute!


By the way, let's all take a moment to go "awwwww" over Autumn's outfit. Teehee. It's so cute! Guess who got it for her? You only get one guess!


I think we'll end on this one. I like it for some reason--we're all looking up at Mama Lainey. And, it kinda tickles me because I look really, really filipina here. Hahaha.


By the way, if you have never gotten a Christmas card from us and would like to, let me know! I love getting cards as well as sending them so I'd love to get one from you! :D You can email me your address at sharaze at gmail dot com.

Thanksgiving Highlights

I'm a little strapped for time (you can see it's midnight, haha) so I'm going to keep this a little short. Thanksgiving will probably come in two posts! I should have done this earlier but it's just been craziness. I'm trying to get a couple Christmas things in the shop before the weekend...here's one thing (more coming tomorrow). I wasn't going to put any of this here but I took a picture I like!


Actually, from now on, most of my etsy updates are going to be on my new blog, sewandscribble.com. It's still under construction but it is functional and I'll probably update about once a week. I'd love it if you'd add me to your reader! If you have a craft blog or business, let me know and maybe we can network a little. Also, if you look in the sidebar of this blog, you can see a widget I've added that will update automatically.

Anyway, to Autumn! And Thanksgiving! This holiday was disconcerting to me because it really highlighted that Autumn is, in fact, a Big Girl. She sat at the Big Girl Table with her second cousins (cousins once removed? how does all that work??) Avery and Gia:


She helped Aunt Lindsay make a dessert.


Totally loved on and played with her cousin Tyler with no prompting.


And absolutely made friends with another second cousin (we're going with that for ease) Brooke.


Autumn romped around and snuggled with all the little ladies with almost no shyness. Occasionally, she even went to a totally different part of the yard than mama and papa!


This picture is out of order but goes with the making friends theme...but Autumn even made friends with some ::gasp:: male relatives! Hahahaha. She's normally a little afraid of tall people, especially if they are guys, so this moment was somewhat epic.


That's it for tonight! More to come, I am sure.

This is it!

My new shop is live!! Take a peek, if you would!




I've got a couple more sets to list and next week I'm going to release some family/calling cards which will be added into some of the sets. Also, we're working on new artwork, like letters! It'll likely be after the New Year before anything sewn shows up in the shop. It took a lot longer than I would have liked to edit the art and actually build the shop.

Definitely let me know what you think!

Also, if I don't get on here before Thanksgiving, I hope you all have a great holiday!

Here are a few things I am thankful for:

Dances


Naps


Friends


Knowing how to fall


Kisses


Giggles


And, really, a whole lot more! :) It's a good life. And I am thankful to you for being a part of it!

Monkeybooks and beginnings

I love to read. Love it. The last two years I've worked on a goal--read 100 books in one year. Last year I made it at 101. This year I'm not going to make it to 100 but I'm not doing badly. I've done a terrible job of keeping track of the books but I'm somewhere in the mid-60's right now. I've hit a bit of a rut because I've read everything on my to-read list that is in the library. So, if you have a favorite book, recommend it to me in the comments! I'll read just about anything except horror and romances (unless they are extraordinarily good and then I might consider it).


One of my big hopes is that Autumn and any other kids we have are also readers. So far, Autumn's on track to enjoy books. It's pretty cool to see her looking through her books on her own, reading to us, or just sitting and reading with Mike or with me.


I think one thing that really helps is that Mike is a reader, too. He's one of the only people I know who reads nearly as much as I do, and as quickly. We both have stories of reading instead of paying attention in class. :P I guess it could be worse--we could have been causing trouble, right??


I guess it's appropriate that we met in a bookstore. Someone in one of the comments, maybe on our anniversary, mentioned wanting to hear that story. It's actually much better in person. :D On paper it's a little boring...my sister and I were Christmas shopping December 2000. It was the first day that the mall was open for holiday hours. My sister is in this pic from Lindsay's wedding:


We went into Lemstone Books which is closed now. Things were pretty dead and I was looking at cd's when this guy came by and asked me if I needed help. I told him what I was looking for and he kind of grinned and pointed right in front of me (this is actually an ongoing thing in our life...I'm not terribly observant, lol). For whatever reason, we ended up talking--I know, I know, Mike talking...to a stranger, no less. But I've noticed Mike has a public persona that he uses when he's working and he's actually quite personable and helpful. I thought he was cute and as my sister and I left (I decided to wait on the cd), I thought "wow, I wish I had met him at like church or school."


We shopped for the rest of the evening and I didn't find anything better than the gift I'd first seen at Lemstone. I specifically told Valerie that I hoped the sales guy wasn't going to be there because he might think I was trying to flirt with him. Hahaha. Well. He was there. And he was just as nice as before. And we ended up talking again for a while. It turned out that he worked on computers during the day (he still works at the same company) and was just helping a friend out for the holidays. It's crazy how little decisions can take life in strange directions!


As my sister and I were leaving, seriously, we were waay out the door and heading for the exit, Mike came running out (by then we'd had the name conversation) and asked me for my number. Awkwardly. And apologetically. :) I'm pretty sure he'd never asked a girl for her number. And, really, I'd never given mine out because I tend to assume everyone is a serial killer for the first few weeks, lol. But he was so cute! So I gave him my number. And three (3!) days later, he called me...and the rest is history!


And, while I'm posting all these old pictures, have one of Miss Autumn...just a couple of weeks after she was born!


Mike, feel free to add or edit! :P

Ug, so behind

We are still here! It's been a super crazy week. I'm still working on getting my new etsy shop and blog going. I have the url set up (sewandscribble.com) but haven't made the banners or started posting on the blog. I'm pretty much done editing all the art so from here on out it's just a matter of getting everything all set up. We've also had some weird stuff come up this week...I'll write more about it later. :P In the meantime, here's my logo! Haha, I'm really proud of myself over this...and I try not to think about how long it took me to come up with and then draw.


I have some cute photos to share but first I've got a funny story. My friend Cathy teaches at Autumn's Mother's Day Out. She does music with Autumn's class on Thursdays so they get to visit together which is way cool. So, anyway, Thursday I saw Cathy on my way in to pick up Autumn and we got to chat in the hall. Apparently, they were in class yesterday singing and clapping and all of a sudden, Autumn stood up and walked up to Cathy. And handed her a booger. Yes. Ahhhh, my little delicate flower.

On to cuter things. Like Samuel!


He's Cathy's little guy who, at five months, is nearly as tall as Autumn. Hahaha! I'm sorry, Autumn. It was really sweet to see Autumn and Samuel interact. Samuel liked Autumn...and me! I feel like I'm terrible with babies so it was soooo cool to see him smiling and wiggling in my direction. And Autumn was so gentle and patted him and brought him his toys when they fell. I like the way Samuel is looking at Autumn here.


Like most kids, Autumn is a big imitator. If I'm sweeping, she gets out her broom. If I'm reading, she wants to read, too. If Mike is vacuuming, she gets out her vacuum. If he is raking leaves or playing games, she wants her rake or her baby computer. Case in point:


I personally like her hair grabbing technique. Note that Cathy is not utilizing it, much to Samuel's relief. Samuel's like, "so...I'm eating. Not sure what all this camera business is about," hahaha.


Actually, last week was a good week for friends and family. Not only did I get to have tea and scones with Cathy and Samuel and Autumn but earlier that week, we also got to celebrate Boppa's birthday! He is 84 years young!


I was playing with the settings on my camera at dinner so most of my pics didn't come out well. I did get a few funny photos of Autumn and the moon. Which she is kind of obsessed with. I blame Goodnight Moon for that. "Ohhhh, look look!! Moon! See? Moon!"


Here she's blowing at the moon. I'm not sure where she picked this up but she will blow a poof of air at random times. Like, at Molly. She'll just be sitting there and Autumn will stand a couple of feet away, yell "MONNY!" and go POOF to blow a puff of air at her. Molly just kind of looks at Autumn quizzically and moves on.


Rubber face bebeh. For no other reason except it tickles me. :P


That's all for now!

Memories and a Leftover Candy Recipe

I meant to get a post going sooner than this but I have been just beyond busy. But it's for a good reason! A friend of mine and I are starting an Etsy shop, hopefully in the next 10 days. At first, we're really only going to sell paper products like labels and note cards but later we'll be adding some fun stuff like art and sewn items. I will have more details later on all that sometime soon! :D But, I will tell you that our name will be Sew and Scribble!

Anyway, I have been trying to figure out ways to get Autumn involved in cooking dinner. Some of you might know that I love to cook. I love to give parties. And the first memories I have of cooking are helping my mom and my paternal grandmother in the kitchen.


My mom would let me roll biscuit dough and my grandma would even let me create my own muffin recipes. She lay out the ingredients and let me go to town with very little guidance. Haha, only a grandma, right? But, I really think of her when I think of how much I love to cook. I'm not sure if any of my muffins were edible but she encouraged me with her enthusiasm, willingness to go along with a weird kid, and her very tough stomach (probably). And, later, my mom let me cook "fancy" meals. To this day, she and her best friend talk about the amazing mother's day meal I made them when I was 12. Again, I'm not sure if it really was amazing, but it was a 3 course epic project for someone not much taller than the stove!


Anyway, I came across this recipe for Candy Corn Bark and thought it looked pretty cool. I was also able to really let Autumn in on the creation of this dessert so that it wasn't just me giving her flour, water, and salt to mix for an hour.


The site I linked has a nice recipe and better pics but here's what we did. I put 14 oreos in a plastic bag and let Autumn break them up. She was having so much fun that I think we made them a little too small for this recipe. So if you do it, make sure the chunks of cookie are pretty decently sized. You can see the intensity in Autumn's face here, haha.


We already had pretzel rods so I guessed at how many would make 1 1/2 cup pretzel pieces. Same thing, don't let them get too small. By the way, I'm impressed with Autumn's left handed mallet work here! She's actually kind of right handed. :P I know it's silly but I was kind of hoping she'd be a lefty. Maybe she's got a touch of both in her!


Here are the oreos, pretzels, and 3/4 cup candy corn spread on a baking sheet. You can use wax paper but I have a silpat mat that I used. Also, spread it in a pretty thin layer. I was concerned when I was spreading the bits but thin layer is the way to go.


I melted a pound of almond bark. I actually added a touch more because I got nervous when I saw how it spread out. Didn't think I had enough but the amount the recipe calls for would have been plenty. Autumn stirred for me.


Autumn helped pour the chocolate from the cup onto the mixture but I had to spread it a bit. I've never made a bark so this was a new experience for me.


Sprinkle 1/4 cup candy corn and some brown sprinkles on top (and orange but I didn't have any), pop it in the fridge to harden annnnd voila! Or, as Autumn would say, tada!

Candy Corn Cookie Bark

14 whole Oreos, broken up.

1 1/2 C pretzels, broken into pieces.

1 lb. white chocolate, almond bark or melts found in the bulk food section

1 C candy corn

brown and orange colored sprinkles

Cover a large cookie sheet with wax paper. Spread broken cookes, pretzels and about 3/4 C of the candy corn onto the waxed paper. Place white chocolate in a container and microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir and then microwave for another 30 seconds until melted and smooth. White chocolate melts faster and burns easier than chocolate.

Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookie mixture, spreading with spatula if needed to coat evenly. Sprinkle remaining candy corn and colored sprinkles over the chocolate while it is still wet. Do not let it harden. Place cookie tray into refrigerator until set and firm. Remove and gently break bark into small pieces. Store in air tight container.

And, to end, have some Autumn in boots and a hello kitty tutu feeding her baby doll a bottle while holding her by the hair. :D

A Halloween Fairy Tale

It was a dark and stormy night.

Well. Not really. It was a bright and sunny day. The first bright and sunny day in some time. But the sunniness of this afternoon belied the darkness that is inherently Halloween.

Well. Not really that either.

The truth was...this was a halloween of light and smiles and joy. It started with a little girl who, through the magic of eyeshadow and glitter and wings and a pretty dress, was transformed into a little fairy.


The little fairy was a patient fairy. She knew fun things were to come but the big people had lots of things to say before she could get started. And so she waited.


And waited.


And waited.


And then finally, the little fairy got to embark on her Super Awesome Halloween Travels.


She played games.


And showed off her spoils.


And played more games!


And showed off her spoils.


And then the little fairy visited the Very Big Hospital. She walked across a big walkway and went up a really fast elevator! It was so exciting! While she was at the Very Big Hospital, the little fairy shared her m&m's and a candy bar with two new friends she met in the hall. And, she got to visit with her Very Favorite Nurse!


After visiting her Very Favorite Nurse, the little fairy walked back up the big walkway and then rode all the way to see her Honorary Fairy Family.


And she showed off her spoils.


The little fairy and her Honorary Aunt sat together while the little fairy learned the names of all her yummy candies!


The played for a very long time and it was fun.


The little fairy took off again, this time to snuggle with a Very Silly Mama.


Who was dressed like an aikido instructor--which wasn't really much of a costume at all since she wore it to class that morning! Silly Mama!


And her Very Silly Lula who was dressed as a hair stylist. That wasn't much of a costume either! Silly Lula!


So the little fairy went on a search for something a little less silly. She knocked on a door and said, "trick or treat!" Well. Not exactly. She patted a door and said, "tweet!"


And she got one!


And guess whose door it was! The little fairy decided to show off her spoils...to a very appreciative and perhaps envious audience.


The little fairy had one more stop before dinner and night-night time.


She rang a doorbell...and was greeted by the melodious sounds of lots of little doggies greeting her. The little fairy was surprised by their enthusiasm. And so was the Official Costumer of the Fairy Family.


Now, at this house, there was dancing.


And friends


And doggies


And best of all...babies!


The little fairy loved babies and took her chance to give the baby lots of kisses.


One more good-bye, a yummy fairy dinner, and a ride home later, the little fairy shed her wings for the night. She washed off her glitter and said, "night-night, Wings! See you tomorrow. Muah!"



A very special thank you to everyone who had us over: Penny, Stephan and Maddie and DeeDee, The Yopps. Also thank you to Lula and Mama Lainey and Papa D for a super fun night. And, a special hello to all the Ridgeway ladies for all your kind words about our little blog!! To all our readers: you have no idea how much it means to us that you take time out of your busy schedules to read about our silly adventures. :)