Craft Show

My craft show on Saturday went pretty well. It was fun to sit there surrounded by my friends, and I even did a few trades with other vendors. Now that the show is done I can concentrate on the mountain of other projects...such as making the Christmas pajamas for the kiddos (neices as well as my daughter), Chris' pajamas that I started before we moved and haven't touched since, curtains for the house, a beadspread for the guest room, a quilt for Hadley's toddler bed that she doesn't sleep in, and so on. Here are a few pictures of things that I had for sale. Some of the items that didn't sell I will put on etsy. And as far as I knnow- the next craft show is in May!

Home Improvements

This house is in great condition, but we have been making it 'ours.' We have done a lot of painting and still have a lot more to do. Chris and his friend installed a chair rail along the living room, and we are going to do one in Hadley's room as well. Recently I have been painting Hadley's room and Chris has been doing touch-ups downstairs. My sewing room/guest room is finished now. It is yellow, my favorite color. I wanted it to feel bright and sunny, cheerful and happy for sewing. Right now we sleep in there, but once we get our bed set we will sleep in our room. Then that room will be for guests when they come. SO come and visit! You will have a place to stay!I do plan on making a quilt for the bed, and some matching pillows, but that will be after the business of the Holidays wears off.

Our New House!!!

We are homeowners! We closed almost two weeks ago, but didn't officially move in until Saturday. Our house is in a large development with 2 elementary schools and its own junior high, too. It is a bit far to the west side, and most of the area right around is undeveloped. We have to drive out a few miles for the grocery store, which is an adjustment, because in our apartment I often walked to it with the jogging stroller. One nice thing, though, is that there are many parks here, and we are two houses away from one. There are nice jogging trails around the development, and all the houses are cleanly landscaped. Our house is a two story house, with 3 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms. It has a long living room (27 feet!) when you first walk into the house. Below is the living room as seen when one first walks in.Below is the hall in the downstairs. It kind of goes in a circle and off to the side is the l bathroom.That conncects to the kitchen,, which has an island that provides some nice storage. The stairs are right there, in between the kitchen and living room. You go upstairs and on the right there is a nice loft area where I have a chest of Hadley's toys and a computer desk. (Below is the loft).Below is the master as seen when one first walks in. The bathroom is on the right and then a closet to the right after walking out of the bathroom.The master is almost directly at the top of the stairs with the nursery to the left. This will be a baby's room when we get a baby. I'm thinking of the future with this house. Down the hall there are two rooms, one which is Hadleys and the other which is the guest room/sewing room. Chris, with the help of a good friend and his wife, too, came to the house after work and painted all last week. Chris put up a chair rail in the living room, and we chose two colors. It looks really good. Right now we don't have much furniture, but we should get some over Thanksgiving. Then we will post the after pictures. But for now here are the before ones that we took just after the closing.
The backyard is a good size. The walls are a bit short, but we can add to them. It is all just dirt and sand right now, but in the spring we will put in a garden and eventually a swingset and get a dog. Right now Hadley is content running around in the dirt and pushing her cart and stroller back there.

Halloween!

Halloween was pretty fun for us. Hadley was dressed as a cute little cow and Chris and I were the farmers. She did better than I thought she would with the hood over her head, but she did have many times where she still yanked it off. But that is why I got a costume that you could tell what it is without the hood.

We pretty much celebrated Halloween on Friday. As a side note, we closed on our house Friday- pictures are coming! Chris' work had a little Halloween trick or treat Friday. Hadley had a lot of fun running from office to office getting candy. She tried to take handfulls, of course. She looks so cute running in her costume because her tail wagged as did her whole bum because the bottom was all padded on the hips to make her look plump. It was so cute. And we asked her, "What does a cow say?" And of course she moo-ed at us.

After that we met up with friends to go with them to their church's trunk or treat and dinner. Hadley had fun running around the parking lot in her costume with candy in her fists. She ate a sucker and thought she was pretty lucky for getting to do that. And she had a ton of fun just shrieking and running around the church with the other kids. I know she really enjoyed herself.

Saturday there were no Halloween celebrations as we spent the day at the house cleaning and painting. Our friends were a huge help with that, and both Chris and I have been busy everyday, back at the house getting some more done!

Sunday after church and Hadley's nap our friends joined us again and we spent the later part of the day at the house. We had some candy for the trick or treaters that came by, but the house pretty much consumed us for the weekend. So far it is looking great. Our appliances arrive on Thursday, and I looked at some furniture today and will go again tomorrow to look more and compare. Chris and I need a bedroom set as we are sick of having no dressers and storing our clothes on shelves that I think are meant for bathroom towels, but hey, it works! And a sofa, dining table, end tables, desk and such will come later. But now that the headache of house hunting is done I am having more fun and enjoying this!

Botanical Gardens and A Chase

A few weeks ago Hadley and I went to the Botanical Gardens with some friends and my mom's group. Odd, but the Botanical Gardens have a little zoo area with animals and small orchards. We spent most of the time in that part this time, and Hadley had so much fun. To prove it, she was covered in mud and dirt by the end. There were chickens running around free and Hadley and her friends had a lot of fun chasing them. It was time to go home when Hadley tried to get in the pen with this giant cow and threw a huge fit when I prevented it. Oh, and when she was chasing the chickens she kept going over by these wooden boxes which turned out to be bee hives. And when I tried to keep her away she only became more persistent. I finally swooped her out, and neither one of us got stung, thankfully. This and the cow pen incident were led to a melt down. I am getting used to those daily, though.

Why does my girl always have this same look in most of her pictures? No, it's not just the sun.

They chased the chicken under this old wagon.

The Pumpkin Patch!

Today Hadley and I went to the Wagner Farms Pumpkin Patch. Hadley found a pumpkin (Ok, I found it. All she wanted to do was pick up these dinky half-rotted ones) which we will carve tonight. We took a very bouncy hay ride and saw the animals. Hadley got to pet a goat that was sticking its head out of the pen. She even tried to give it a kiss. And I discovered a little gem. The city this farm was in is Corrales, New Mexico. I totally love it and want to live there! It is about the same distance to get there from where we live now as our new place where we are moving will be. There is just this one-lane road that takes you to Corrales, but it was really pretty, with lots of farms and acerage. Cute little markets and shops, lots of feed stores, but not that far from 'town,' I think I may want to check that place out in the future. For now I will be excited to live close to there! Wish I had discovered it sooner!

As for the move, it looks like we will close on Friday. I will then take some pictures of the place and post them.

Just Because...

My little girl and I have so much fun together (most of the time). We went to the zoo with some friends last week, and for the most part Hadley just had fun running all over the place. She didn't want to sit in her stroller and she has no fear of running out of my sight. Good thing it wasn't a crowded day and I could easily catch up to her. She did have fun making some animal noises. She has gotten really good at certain ones...cows, goats, ducks, dogs, and cats. The mountain lion exhibit was pretty creative. The lions walk right overhead and they were out and active the morning we went!

And of course each week we go to the park numerous times during the week. Hadley has learned to climb up the stairs on the little slide and go down it without any help! She gets off the slide and starts again. I discovered this when I was talking to someone and Hadley decided she didn't have the time to wait for me to assist her.

A few other things we have been up to lately...getting aquainted a bit with the potty. She goes a few times everyday in it, but I don't think she is really 'getting it' yet. We have also been working on a house, and the inspection is this week. It was slightly delayed, but we will post pictures once we have gotten the inspection report back. I am sure it will have no serious issues. This one is newer than the last one we went for.