Winter at the Lake

...and this is why Mom said she wouldn't be up there for any month that had an "R" in it!

Amazing and Awful!

Ever wondered if something can truly be both amazing and awful at the same time?!?
Well, here's proof that it can...

shamelessly stolen from Kevin's wall but if it doesn't make you crack a big smile and say "oh my gosh" all at the same time, something is wrong with you!

A PVE Swap

I love reading blogs! I love the inspiration you can get from other people and their craftiness. (you will certainly see this in our new house, I'm dying to do it.) Well last year I was reading the blog of Kim at SmallWords who painted our monogram canvases and she had posted a beautiful picture of her house as drawn by PVE:

and to say that I loved it was an understatement! I was immediately inspired but knew that I could never do an actual drawing that much justice, after all, there's a reason shes a professional artist. Well after dad passed away I knew that I wanted to have an extra special reminder of him and our beloved Heritage Point lake house wherever I was. So I contacted Ms. Patricia van Essche and she was sweet enough to offer a swap for me. I sent her the Platters& Splatters website for her to look around and she replied "a simple serving piece in fall colors" in exchange for a custom home illustration. I was OVER THE MOON with excitement! So in exchange for this (whose pattern/design I love):

We got this permanent reminder of Dad and the Heritage Point lake house!

Double Your Fun

The King Family sPlatters...

A good friend of Geoff's asked me to paint a family plate for his Grandparents as a Chirstmas present but as our bad luck would have it, the plate cracked in shipping. They were able to give them a picture of the plate on Christmas day but I was super bummed. After a little delay we finally have gotten the second version ready for them to give the next time they are all together!

I Haven't Even Heard You Cry

call it pregnancy hormones but I just heard this new country song and bawled my eyes out...
its called "I Haven't Even Heard You Cry" by Aaron Lines (who sings "You Can't Hide Beautiful")
Heres a YouTube video of them making the music video for the song...

Well I don't drive through the night these days
It's just not a chance I'm willing to take
And I don't spend my money foolishly
Cause there's important things that you're gonna need
You already got a hold on me
And I haven't even heard you cry

I haven't even looked into your eyes
I haven't held you one time but you've changed my life
And I don't even know your name
But I know I'll never be the same
Oh I can't wait to show you you can fly
And I haven't even heard you cry

You might look like your mom, you might look like me
I don't really care as long as you're healthy
And I'll make mistakes there's no doubt
But loves one thing you won't live without
Cause you own a place in my heart now
And I haven't even heard you cry

I haven't even looked into your eyes
I haven't held you one time but you've changed my life
And I don't even know your name
But I know I'll never be the same
Oh I can't wait to show you you can fly
And I haven't even heard you cry

Well I don't even know your name
But I know I'll never be the same
Oh I can't wait to show you you can fly
I'm thinking about first steps and bike rides
And I haven't even heard you cry

A Funny Favorite

I just thought you all should know that Grant has a favorite commerical
(well, he has a favorite commercial on big people TV, he has lots of favorites on NickJr and Disney)
are you ready for this...
his favorite commercial is
MagicJack!
He freakin' loves it!
no joke as soon as he hears the voice he'll stop playing and run to the TV, bounce up and down and say "MagicJack Magic Jack". I don't know about you all but here it comes on and then another commercial will play and then the MagicJack one plays again so he knows this an will stay through the second showing and then turn to me and ask "where'd MagicJack go?"
thats it.
you can resume your day now...
but I bet you'll laugh the next time you see MagicJack!

Jonah, EB and an Auction!

So here's the deal. We are blessed. BEYOND BLESSED. We have a happy healthy son and another baby who by all signs is healthy and happy on the way. I like so many other people have been drawn over the past couple years to the out pouring of blogger support for those people who are not so lucky. I am touched by NieNie's courage, laugh at Harper's funny faces and big bows and held my breath for days when Stellan was in the hospital.

JONAH: Almost a year ago a facebook friend from high school introduced me the the William's and their son Jonah in particular. He was born with a rare disorder called EB and his mom has blogged through the highs and lows.

EB: Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a rare genetic disease characterized by the presence of extremely fragile skin and recurrent blister formation, resulting from minor mechanical friction or trauma. They call is "butterfly syndrome" because the skin is as fragile as butterfly wings

An AUCTION: To celebrate Jonah's first birthday (a huge milestone for any baby but especially for this one) friends put together an auction to raise awareness and money for DebRA, an organization trying to find a cure. SO... Feb 23rd-27th you can go to this site and bid on fun things and help out all at the same time!

...Look closely come auction time, you might just see a personalized plate from Platters&Splatters on the auction block...

A Picture Riddle...

What's black and white and eats your rear-view mirror?!?

Spilling the Bean!

So before you get mad at me for the lack of posts in 2010 know that there has been a reason:
We're expecting and it was SO DARN HARD not to tell!
We found out before Christmas and decided to keep is secret til we reached the mostly clear milestone of the first trimester! I have felt surprisingly good, nothing like the first 3 months with the monster so all is well in my book. From all that we know it'll be a scheduled c-section in the 3rd week of August!

We went in for a heartbeat/ultrasound last week and got the laugh of our lives courtesy of Grant! First the doctor was holding the Doppler wand against my belly and Grant heard all of the swooshing and bumping and said "{gasp} ITS A DINOSAUR!" then we moved into the ultrasound room and Geoff was holding him up so he could see the screen. The tech got the image of the bean up and Geoff said "oh my gosh, there it is" and Grant squealed "the DINOSAUR" so we corrected him "no, the baby" to which Grant responded "baby dinosaur; baby dinosaur in mommy's belly!" Needless to say we're pretty certain that Grant is in for some disappointment when he realizes he has to settle for a baby brother or baby sister but it was a good laugh!

New Craftings: Going Back to the Basics

Basic colored starter packs or birthday/baby shower gifts:

New Craftings: St Jude Style

Trying my hand at St Jude colors and different types of bows; Korkers, Layered Boutique, and Twisted Clippies