The Run Down

We are at it again....The Handmade Dress (the pattern business that is) is growing so fast that we are having quite a time keeping up with all of the stuff that goes along with it! I have slowly been pushed out of my sewing space in the loft because of gigantic printers, desks, boxes of paper, and packaged patterns. I handled that pretty well for a while. I think. Back in the summer we had to move a lot of the office stuff (a bigger desk, Pam-the paper folding machine, and the printer downstairs to my bedroom because, well, even the loft wasn't big enough anymore. Then a couple of weeks ago when we got that terrific news from the doctor I told my wonderful husband "Sorry hunny, I need a cradle, not a desk, by my bed soon. You're going to have to build yourself a room in the attic.You need a real office." And he agreed. Of course. So the Attic is under construction once again, and the president of the company will soon have his very own office right next to the sewing loft! And I will have my sewing loft BACK!!! YAY! Ben says that he hopes to have it ready sometime in the next couple of weeks!

We also started school a few weeks back and things are going really well. Tim is in the FIRST grade now! We are using Bob Jones, like we did with Molly, and he seems to like it just as much as she did. Molly has moved up to Switched on Schoolhouse (it starts in THIRD grade) and so far she is LOVING it. She says that she wants to do SOS from now on, so I think that's a good sign. Maddie is doing some pre-school work while I teach Tim every morning, and I think I may have an early bloomer on my hands! Thank goodness! I'm looking forward to spending next year with her, it looks like she will be a breeze.

 By the way, the doll you see in her arms up there is "Jake". She's been lugging that big ole thing everywhere since we told her about our newest addition. You may be seeing him again, so I thought that I should introduce him. :)

Another thing I wanted to tell you is that the next post you see here will be posted from the beach! Family vacation is coming up in a couple of days and I am so excited! Not only will we have the whole family there (my parents, his parents, and all of our siblings) but his brother Daniel, and his wife Cristina, along with our precious nephew Luke, will be meeting us there after their flight home from Romania!!!!! We haven't seen them in over SIX MONTHS because they have been in Romania visiting her family, and I am sooooo pumped about seeing them again this week!! I can't wait to kiss that baby's little face! He was just a few months old the last time we saw him! It will feel so good when they are home again and we get to see them all the time.

The next time you see us we will be in flip flops and sunglasses! :) And when we get back maybe it will start acting like fall around here -it isn't supposed to be in the 90's all week this week so things are looking up! I hope you have a great week friends! xo, Sam

Wedding Pictures

Well today's the day! We didn't forget. It was ten years ago today that "Ben and Sam" tied the knot! My Mom wanted a wedding, and I just wanted to get married, so I let her have it! The only part I picked out was my dress because I wanted to be comfortable. My Mama's best friend, (my other mama) Shell, made the dress I wanted. I don't remember much from that day because it flew by so fast, but I remember thinking that I was just going to bust I was so happy. I remember having a lot of fun, even taking pictures, and I remember that we kept whispering to each other during the pictures "This is real...We get to be together for the rest of our lives...We are getting married!" They played the Hallelujah chorus as we left the sanctuary.....that was the only thing that Ben asked for! Rascal! We were a couple of happy kids at  twenty years old, and I'm happy to say, I wouldn't change a thing....as Maddie would say "We love ashother".

PS. Did I mention that I was barefoot? Little hippie. Oh, and there are descriptions of every photo on Flickr if you like that sort of thing.

Fall Pictures!

 

Finally! My sister Rae and I took the kids to the park today and shot our fall pictures! I combined dress pictures with our family fall pictures. Pretty nice, huh? I've put together a slide show to show you, just hit the play symbol. The fabrics are all from Abigail and Elise, most of them from the "Fresh Cotton", "Fig Tree", and "Whimsy" lines. I just LOVED the way all of the dresses looked in these beautiful fabrics! Very fall, but not too dark and heavy for little girls, ya know? I hope you enjoy the pictures! xo, Sam

Ben and Sam

Monday, after an exhausting day at market, we were sitting at Cracker Barrel waiting on our food when all the employees start chanting one of those restaurant-birthday-tunes, I think "hmmm...We have a birthday coming up.....who's is it?....Oh, it's mine......No but there's something else.....What comes before my birthday?....Oh! Our anniversary!" I turn to look at Ben and say "Babe! Oh my goodness! It's almost our tenth anniversary!" He says "Oh yeah! It is! I totally forgot!" I reply (totally not offended because he usually remembers before me) "Me too!"

Then tonight, we were getting ready for bed and I looked at my phone and noticed the date "Oh yeah, our anniversary is this week sometime. What day is it?" He replies "I don't know, I forgot again." I say "Me too, my phone reminded me!" Then he says with a laugh "Ten years and we can't remember our anniversary!"

Nope, we can't.....and that's just the way I like it. Not a day goes by that I don't feel special, we still laugh and play, and have a good time together...I still get excited when he comes through the door, and he never needs an excuse to treat me like a princess.....I love him and feel loved more every day. We don't have to wait on a special day to do any of that! Next month we plan to take a little side trip on our way home from Quilt Market in Texas. We're going to call it our tenth anniversary trip...but if we forget to call it that...it will be alright, because I'll still know that I'm his girl, and he will still be my Ben.

By the way..."Ben and Sam" was on the front of our wedding invitations! So many people have called me Sam all my life that we were afraid they wouldn't know who Samantha was! I'll try to get a picture of that up sometime this week.....if I remember :)

Fall Creative Needlework Market

One more belly picture can't hurt, huh? But you want to see the booth and the dresses! Okay, here we go!

Here are four of those sweet fall dresses that I was busy sewing last week. You will see more of these next week because I'm taking the girls out for a photo shoot. I'll tell you all about the fabrics in that post too.

With the fall dresses and all I decided to use some fall decorations too! I even burned a pumpkin spice candle. Oh I love fall......one day maybe it will feel like fall here....

Ben built this little pattern stand, out of small trees in our back yard, like two days before market! How cute is that? It went so well with the homespun feel of our booth. I was so happy with it, but Ben says he has a better plan for spring....which means I will have to change the booth up a bit. That should be fun but it's always a little nerve wracking trying to think up a new set-up. I'll think about that when it gets here.

And there you have it, that was the booth tour. I am so excited about the fall pictures next week! I made my little nieces, Lily and Iris, fall dresses too so this may be a cuteness overload! I plan to take them to an old cabin, along with a few pumpkins and fall leaves, I can't wait! We are supposed to have some "almost" fall weather next week too (like not in the 90's) so that will be exciting too. See you guys soon! xo, Sam

Ahhhhh...

So how about that announcement? Did I have you fooled? I was hoping that you would all be thinking that the big surprise was a work related project so that I wouldn't give it away! I had to post it Sunday night though because people from market were starting to talk and I didn't want anyone else to tell before I had my chance. :)

Thank you all so much for the sweet comments and emails! I read every single one at least twice! A lot of you asked how I have been feeling....well the first trimester was full of sick and tired, but pretending to feel great and in the weeks since the sick has worn off the tired has stuck around. I feel sort of like I'm on cough medicine all the time. I'm tired but happy! I'm not sure that it has completely become real for me yet but in the moments that it does feel real I get so excited!

Another big question was "What did the kids think?" Oh my! These kids were so funny! I still don't know how I managed to hide the bump here at home, but they totally didn't get it! Molly said "How long has this been going on?!" and when I said "Since June" she acted a little mad for a minute but then quickly changed her mind and said "Oh Mama! Now I'm glad you didn't tell us, cause now I don't have to wait so long!" They were so excited! Last Tuesday was when they found out. We came home from the doctors office and told them and then took them out to eat (a BIG treat around here) and then to the mall for them to buy something for the baby. For two or three days they would say things like "OH! That's why you were so tired" or "OH! That's why you wouldn't ride the roller coasters!" You know it really is surprising how unobservant kids are about some things! I mean I couldn't have hid a bag of chocolate for more than a day, but a baby, oh your good for a few months!

I have been a lazy-bum today after such a busy week with market and all, but I plan to get on the ball tomorrow and post all of those market pictures I promised. Now I need to get up, straighten up my house, and get these kids fed and dressed for church. It looks like we will be having chicken noodle soup with goldfish crackers tonight! Gotta love quick dinner nights! xo, Sam

My Top Secret Summer Project REVEALED!

I have started this post about a hundred times in my head over the last few months, but I never could quite decide just how it should go. I knew that before I posted pictures and tales from market I would have to explain one really important detail in my booth.....it was my BIG summer project. It took a whole lot of time, energy, prayer, and patience, which is why blog posting may have seemed a little scarce at times. So here it is......

......the smallest Caffee safe and sound in the second trimester! The last week has been so filled with joy as we finally shared the news with our children and family! We are SO happy! Another big surprise came when we talked to our social worker and found out that this little angel will NOT affect our adoption AT ALL! Praise God! I think I worried over our Bulgarian babies as much as I did this little one over the last few months. Oh friends, God is so good! This Mama has one full, happy, busting-at-the-seams heart today! I'll tell you all about market later (Monday is the last day), but right now I just want to sit back and enjoy this moment......

Good News - Bad News

So the good news is that we are DONE! We have over 1,400 patterns packed and ready (I have to say here that Ben and Anna ROCK), and all of my sewing is finally done! YAY! The bad news is that there is no way I will be able to show you all of this stuff until we get back :( and I really think you are going to like it too! Oh, well. It is what it is.

I miss you guys! I thought of all of you, my online sewing buddies, as I sewed these samples up. The samples reminded me of back to school time and freshly sharpened pencils, which made me think of homeschooling and how I need to tell you all about our new set up this year. Oh I have so much to say! Including a little post after market explaining what my top-secret summer project was!!! I wish I could blab it all now but I have to wait until after market for that one....Meet me back here Tuesday and I promise to make up for all of the silence! In fact I may never be silent again after I spill the beans on this one! Can't wait to see you Tuesday! xo, Sam

Long Weekends

Ben and I have enjoyed a weekend alone while the kids have been camping with my Mom and Dad, and I just miss'em so bad I can't stand it! I even woke up early thinking about how bad I just wanted to kiss their little faces and smell their dirty little heads! EARLY people, like 5am early...you know there is something wrong if mama is out of bed doing laundry before eight o'clock! But you see I have this plan! The kids will be at church this morning and Ben just left for the firehouse, so I'm cleaning up, packing my bags, going to go to church to kiss my kids until they are sick of me, and then follow them back down to camp and crash the party! I've shared their little kisses and smells all I'm willing. Nana and Papa will just have to keep me too :) Then I guess I will have to come back home Monday evening with them and be in a flurry of sewing and preparing for market....but I'll not think of that now. Nope. I'll just think about how sweet those dirty little kisses are gunna be!

I'll see you guys next week! I hope your long weekend is wonderful! Oh and be ready, there is going to be a little surprise popping up here soon....xo, Sam

The Proverbs 31 Woman Diorama

In our Wednesday night Keepers At Home Class we are trying to help the girls memorize Proverbs 31, so we have a lot of projects lined up to help with that. One of the projects (my favorite) was the making of a Proverbs 31 themed diorama!! Oh my goodness Molly and I had so much fun building this little "doll house"!

In ours we used only things that we already had here at home (that was one of the rules) and tried to include as many aspects of the Proverbs 31 woman as we could. In class last night the girls got to look at each other's dioramas and guess the verses that they used in each detail. We had a really good time seeing every one's creativity and the girls really are coming right along with remembering what they have learned.

I thought of describing every detail for you, but then I didn't want to take any of the fun out of it. Even I had a good time guessing about the other's dioramas! So have a look around our little house and see if it reminds you of anything! Oh, and if you don't already have a Keepers at Home class for your girls to attend, start one! You will not regret it!

I'll be back soon with lots of sewing! I haven't started on my market sewing yet. Bad girl. But I've decided to get my house good and clean today so that I can start on that tomorrow as soon as the kids leave for Paw Paw Day. Ben is taking them tomorrow so I will have the day to myself! Just me and Grace (Livingston Hill audio of course) sewing away in the loft....*heaven*  xo, Sam