I’ve been knitting, and knitting, and knitting.

Posted on January 20th, 2013 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I know I’ve been knitting a little here and there for a while now. In the past few months I’ve really fallen in love though. I’ve gotten good enough that I don’t have to look at my hands constantly while knitting anymore, I’m comfortable knitting flat or in the round, I’ve even added a ton of new skills like  cables, short rows and even the provisional cast on. Sorry for all the pictures (I did mention I’ve been knitting lots right) I’ve been a busy girl. Clicking on the links after the photos you can read more about the patterns and yarns used.

Doesn’t this basket full of yarn make you want to knit?

It started back in October when I started knitting to make sure I had a jumpstart on the busy birthday/holiday season with this monster for Finn. Meet Maddox as you can see Finn loved his birthday monster.

Next up Lexi had requested a black cat ear hat. I was so excited to use my new stitch markers.

Isn’t Lexi so pretty with her ear flap cat hat?

When Lexi went up to Connecticut for the holidays my sister saw her hat and asked for me to make her one too. Rory modeled it for her.

I even made a striped version for my other sis (aka my little brother’s long time girlfriend Kristin) alas, I forgot to get a picture of it.

My very first cable project was a scarf for Lexi in hindsight I should have used a different yarn and my stitch markers much more because cabled rows are harder to count than I realized.

Then I started to panic. Aidan was leaving in Mid November to go to Baltimore for Thanksgiving and he had no hat and I only had 2 days so I had to use whatever yarn I could find at the local craft store at 8pm after a slight mishap with his first hat being accidentally felted in the washer. This slouchy hat was perfect and super quick to knit!

From October til about 10 days into December in between all projects I had a pair of these little mittens on needles.

A pregnant friend having a little boy needed a little baby shower gift. So onto the needles went this adorable little hat.

Isn’t it adorable? I still can’t get over just how small this newborn sized long tail hat is.

My mailbox had a happy, happy, joy, joy day when all this arrived one day.

And, I kept knitting mittens.

I started knitting Lexi a pair of gloves.

I finished one cat in the hat glove. Though currently I’ve also taken it back apart because the thumb was funny on it. Its a back burner project for now.

 I started Jack’s birthday present.

Loving monsters.

I love, love, love the super long arms on these monsters, and I can’t wait to get my hands on that colorway yarn again either.

I finally finished the mitten advent calendar garland.

I started a cable rimmed hat for my little brother in the same green yarn from his scarf I made him last Christmas.

Thankfully this cable hat it was also a pretty quick project and I will be making these for the whole family if we ever live where we need hats again.

Cast on Rory’s creeper. If you or your kids play the game minecraft you know what a creeper is. Rory loves/hates them and its the ONLY thing he wanted for Hannukkah/Christmas so it HAD to happen. Even if that means knitting til 2am on Christmas Eve to pull it off.

And, pull it off I did. Here is Rory dancing with his Creeper.

Finn requested a dinosaur vs. another monster so a dinosaur he would get. The yarn for this is even called dino-RAWR.

Spent some time playing with my Christmas gifts, my ball winder,

and, swift.

Took a quick dinosaur break to knit myself up a quick pair of slippers because we were having a cold front and my toes were cold.

Went back and finished Basil the Brontosaurus who loves to give Maddox rides.

Then my girlie was coming home after a month in Connecticut and I knit her a little soft kitty as part of her Christmas gift.

You get a bonus picture because I think Lexi looks so beautiful in this one.

I haven’t stopped knitting I’ve been knitting a pair of socks. Socks take a long time but they will get a separate post I’ve been documenting their progress via instagram quite a bit.

Do you knit? Whats on your needles right now?

I made a quilt…for Finn

Posted on June 25th, 2012 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

In theory I should have made Aidan’s quilt next but I just couldn’t wait to make Finn’s. Fabrics changed slightly since this photo was taken.

I squared up my already finished blocks and cut out enough to make Finn a lap quilt like I did for Rory. 

Whenever the camera comes out Finn is never far behind.

The quilt will match his stocking and is the same Bizzy Kid Pattern, you can buy it HERE. It has 2 block styles but because of my fabrics I had 3 so I had to not only rotate A & B blocks but A & B1 or B2.

So after cutting out 224 individual blocks and then sewing together another 128 together into sets I sewed my first block A to block B1 and then had to put everything away for a visit from my mom. 

After her super short visit I pulled everything back out and got to work though. This quilt gets assembled in columns vs rows and then alternating my B1 & B2 made my brain hurt a couple times. Shortly I had my first column done though.

I was determined to finish at least one of the quilt tops before the end of the night. Excuse the bad lighting it really was about 10 when I finished. The “better” looking one was actually taken with no lights on in the dining room at all and is the lap vs twin size version.

Its now all packed in a box awaiting its traveling companions to head up to see Tarabu and get quilted.

It happened in May

Posted on June 24th, 2012 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

Look now I’m on posts that are only a month behind. My goal is to get caught up on posts this week you know before July then give you an update at least once a week. Fun right?  One day Finn and I were at the grocery store and instead of a treat at the end he just wanted to ride this plane. He was so good he got to ride twice even!

Then my custom tag for my infinity necklace arrived from Erika. Isn’t it lovely. The inspiration was I remember when I was a little girl my grandmother had a necklace my grandfather had given her and it had a little tag on the back of it with his initial stamped into it. 

Rory lost his first tooth. 

I planned the menu for my birthday party. 

My birthday present to myself arrived. Some Ruby & Vintage Modern Charm Squares. I’m planning 3 in my head Bonnie & Camille quilts using Bliss, Vintage Modern & Ruby all together! 

Then I cooked all day! I totally forgot to take a picture of the chicken before I served everyone. I really need to make this more often it is always a family favorite. The roasted red peppers are hands down always my favorite part.

I couldn’t decide what kind of cupcakes I wanted to I made two. I also thought to pair one of my favorite color combos I’d make tiffany blue icing for the red velvet cupcakes. Then I made Vanilla icing with just a bit of cherry for the vanilla bean cupcakes.

I used my new ice shaving blender from my mom to make my favorite blue margaritas.

As a thank you for coming to my party and celebrating with me I made this strawberry vanilla bean jam I found over on pinterest. I actually need to make more I think the kids have eaten all I made. Guess I’ll grab more berries when I go to the store tomorrow.

I organized my quilting fabrics onto a couple of the shelves in the living room specifically so they would taunt me and I’d think to pull them out more and make some more awesome. I was also inspired after seeing this (scroll down to the sewing room)  post from Camille, in my mind I like to aspire to having  my home filled with lovely quilts like I imagine hers to be. So in the left cube I put all my Bonnie & Camille lovelies. I really can’t believe how far I’ve made them stretch so far with all the projects I’ve made so far.

In the right cube I put the “extra” fabrics from the boys Quilts. If you remember back in January I had cut out most of their quilts already though a few changes were made and adjustments to my math.

Having all those fabrics front and center and after the day at the zoo with my boring uncomfortable camera strap I was inspired to make my own and used this tutorial I found on pinterest of course. I used a little of my bliss and some orange from Jack’s upcoming quilt, and my straps hardware. I still have a great love for orange and aqua together.

While I was working on another project  Finn started painting. He LOVES muppets and he painted us a picture of Kermit.

 So a couple days later we ventured to the mall (gasp) and to Build a Bear Workshop and made him is very own Kermie! Even though the build a bear version has big giant sausage like arms & legs Finn doesn’t care and loves him. As an extra because  Finn had recently noticed that his people & pets have heart beats I gave Kermie a heart beat too.

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We went to the zoo… day two

Posted on June 20th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool by jenni

Rory and Finn had so much fun at the zoo it was all they talked about. Steve was coming up for the weekend from Key West and I mentioned that maybe the following day we could all go to the zoo. The kids LOVED that idea. I also decided to bring my telephoto lens instead of my standard lens on the second day. I’ll spare you the eleventy billion animal pictures (except a few I can’t resist) that I took.

I thought a picture with the peacock would be a nice tradition. Then we rented one of those pedal car things they have here. It really was a nice change from the day before when the boys & I walked the whole zoo.

We also went backwards from the way we went the day before so the giraffes happened very early on. I just loved the interaction between the mama giraffe and her baby. The kids fed them too but I wasn’t up on the platform this time because there was also a classroom up there.

The Okapi was trotting in circles too which Finn loved.

Another new tradition with the post lunch kids in front of the pot o’ gold.

I was so excited when this butterfly landed right in front of where I was standing.

I was really admiring the lions when that butterfly had happened past. This guy saw me and gave up quite a few poses for me. Thank you sir.

Of course we made sure to be over near the chimps and the gorillas for feeding time. The boys had even more questions today and even answered a few of their own. This is JJ and his daughter Alice getting ready to have some snacks.

We ended the day once again with some dippin dots and home we went. I being tired forgot to get a dippin dots picture today sorry. I was too busy capturing images of the flamingos/

So what is your favorite thing to do at the zoo?

We went to the Zoo

Posted on June 20th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Yes this is another post that happened back in April. It was so much fun. Lexi, Aidan & Jack went with Tia Diana with her to work at the Discovery Channel. So left with just Rory & Finn we headed to the Zoo! My Mom had gotten us an annual pass as part of our family holiday gift and we had yet to use it. Had I realized before hand just how big the zoo here in Miami is things may have been different but we had an amazing day. 

The boys wanted me to take their picture before we even went in the gate with the peacock. The really loved all the little animal statues through the park and made it a point to pose with every single one and because I think they are totally adorable I took pictures. To be kind I’ll just post a gallery at the bottom and add just my favorite experience from the day.

After we had lunch I couldn’t resist taking a picture of Rory & Finn in front of the pot o’ gold.

We wandered around a while and happened upon the chimpanzee feeding time. He answered all sorts of questions from the boys and made a friend for life in Rory when they went in one of the caves and I didn’t have time to warn Rory it would be loud and he just reached out his hand and let Rory hold it. This is Rory’s hair and Finn’s hand next to JJ the gorilla’s foot through the glass.

The LOVE LOVE LOVED watching the gorillas get fed. Even more Rory really loved JJ and learning about him. Both of the boys even asked questions and I love that the zookeeper spoke to them and answered their questions without speaking down or dumbing down the answers. 

Finn was so excited to see the Okapi. I did have to stop him from trying to climb the fence he wanted to touch one so badly. I love that Rory was just as excited for Finn.

Then we fed some Giraffes, ok the boys fed the giraffes. Then Finn got licked by a giraffe which if you are 3 was the most hysterical thing that could ever happen.

We ended the day with some dippin dots for the boys and a cold water for me. It was pretty awesome it was the first time they had ever had them and it totally won me mom of the year in their eyes!

Stay tuned for our next adventure.

March Recap

Posted on May 30th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I know I know I said I’d never write one of these again but life with 5 kids is honestly a whirlwind and I feel lately like I’m constantly struggling to keep up with everything.

After Rory’s party things just kept flying by. Some pretty cool things happened though. I got a bike! Yup thats right I got a bike the kids and I were riding daily through our neighborhood, taking nightly walks and somehow I lost a bunch of weight, which is what inspired the bike purchase. Isn’t she cute? I have to admit this is the first time i’ve ridden a bike in close to 20 years.

Then one day Finn and I did something awesome together. We pulled out the herbs and he designed his tea blend, just like his siblings did. He was so proud and he loves to get out the teapot and put the herbs & honey in all by himself and have a cuppa or three because he likes to do everything in threes these days. It will be in the shop soon I just need to think of a name and get it listed. Do you have any ideas?

I also got my craft on a little at my husband’s request. You see he was going through the Coast Guard CCTI program and he needed a fancy charge book and always on a budget I said why don’t we make you one out of your old uniforms. In my head this was an easy task UNTIL he added on all sorts of requests like lets make it so you button it closed, and do you think it can have pockets on the inside and some other things I don’t even remember now that I’m pretty sure I vetoed.

A major thing that happened here which had been pretty awesome in most aspects is BRACES! Thats right BOTH Lexi & I went to the orthodontist and got braces. Its something I’ve always wanted to do and almost did once before as an adult and figured we could do it together. If I had known just how much is was going to hurt though let me tell you I would have probably skipped it, the bonus is I’m losing more weight because of it because well it hurts to snack/eat to I’m eating more smoothies and juicing and skipping that late night tv snacking.

To finish out the month Finn was looking through Jack & Rory’s old Main Lesson Books from when we were using Oak Meadow and he wanted an A gate picture too. What kind of mom would I be if I didn’t then read him the Story of Peter Rabbit and draw with him an A gate picture. Then for fun I posed all three boys together with their pictures so you can see how the different gates of our backyards have influenced my drawing. Please ignore the marker all over Finn he was fighting Zombies according to him.

February Recap

Posted on March 15th, 2012 in Baltimore Craft, blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Woo Hoo this is the last monthly recap post tomorrow I’ll have just a regular concise post for you aren’t you excited? 

Early in the month I decided to restock our freezer with pancakes. What started as a couple batches of pancakes turned into making 125 pancakes 3 at a time in a pan on the stove I know crazy right? I started with plain, then was asked if I’d make apple, then banana nut, then I went crazy and also made cranberry orange, lemon blueberry and a savory tomato, basil & mozzarella that we had for dinner.

Jack received this new friend also named Jack from the amazing danamarie you can check out her work in both her greenstarstudio and mightMIGHT shops.

We went on a shopping trip to get some new clothes and Rory said he needed these sunglasses.

We played in the rain and painted.

Lexi got a guitar after so many months waiting. Remember this?

After the insanity of making all those pancakes on a pan I splurged and bought a griddle and waffle iron so we tested them out with  strawberries and fresh whipped cream and dinner outside under the moon on the patio.

   We had some great family time all together again with the kids really enjoying the pool.

Rory and Finn helped me plant a teeny garden late in the season for Miami but hey better late than never right?

Rory and I went shopping and started gathering supplies for his Rainbow Spectacular Birthday party.

We also got an Xbox and I have really enjoyed watching the kids play Just Dance! By the smiles on their faces I think they like it too!

January Recap

Posted on March 14th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I didn’t take a ton of pictures in January so you are saved from a post with eleventh billion pictures in it again. 

Lexi got a kindle and this was how we found her (and often still do) for hours on end.

Then I spent a bazillion hours on the couch watching the 1st season of Game of Thrones and part of Homeland and talking with my Dad who was still visiting while I knit Jack up this new friend from this pattern.

Then even though it seemed like we had just gotten healthy again we were all sick again. BOOOO.

We became obsessed with brussel sprouts. Our favorite way to prepare them a little butter & oil some sautéed garlic and bacon bits. We are currently going though about 6-10 lbs of sprouts per week because we love them so much.

Then I cut fabric for quilts for the boys! I was so excited Finn’s is so fun! Jack’s is so orange. Rory picked out most of the fabrics for his by himself I was so proud. Aidan’s is blue blue blue. Its actually quite hard to find blue quilters cottons not in florals who knew?

I brought the kids to the dentist. It was Finn’s 1st time he did really great! Rory and Aidan were paired and Rory was able to ask the hygienist 84,000 questions during Aidan’s cleaning before it was his turn. I’m pretty proud I brought all five kids to the dentist and we walked out with ZERO kids with cavities! I also walked out with appointments for Lexi and I to see the in house orthodontist the following month.

To wrap up the month our mugs arrived from the wonderful Brenna (a different one) each kid got their own mug so they would leave mine alone! Rory also added this beautiful tea pot to his collection he named her Cassie.

December Recap

Posted on March 13th, 2012 in blog, family, Handmade MIami, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

For as busy as November was December was even busier! I hope you enjoy pictures! 

December started with a revamp of all the body butter packaging.

Then came my last show of the year with the West Elm + Etsy event. I had a blast stepping outside my box display wise and using props from the store.

Then because Rory had gotten his cast off he was ready to start riding his bike. Finn couldn’t be out done so was happy to play on Jack’s scooter.

Then I had the kids paint some wood cut out birds as decorations for our tree as I didn’t think glass ornaments and hard tile floors would get along well. The kids decorated the tree and we were lucky to have Steve home to hang some lights on the outside. Even if the weather was 70+ it was beginning to feel a bit festive.

Lexi with all her culinary skills made us some fab chicken stir fry one night for dinner.

After the ornament painting the boys were on a painting kick.

As a special request I made some just plain scented bath salts.

My poor mail carrier this is what she saw on a pretty regular basis through November and December.

We decorated some gingerbread houses.

Jack turned 8! Can you believe it EIGHT!!! Pirate themed and an ice-cream cake!! All he wanted for weeks before was a cat so we searched for days on craigslist and scored this sweet little girl he aptly named Mason.

Then it was the first night of Chanukah  and Steve said the blessings for us over the phone and we had amazing sweet potato latkes which I forgot to get a picture of.

Then I decided to take on the insane task of making everyone in the family stockings. Not just any stockings stockings that would match their quilts to come in the future. So now just a week before Christmas while still packing and filling orders I had to nail down color schemes and actual quilt patterns for at least 5 people. Lexi’s actually used leftover pieces and an embroidery square from her quilt. Jack’s was actually easy I knew he wanted an orange zig zag.  Rory would want pink, Aidan blue, and Finn green, but to find patterns to match their personalities was hard.  In the end I think they came to great.

 My crafting actually inspired Aidan to get his craft on too!

On Christmas Eve we were invited over to a friends home to celebrate Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) the food was AMAZING!!! There was mojito pork, rice, beans, fried plantains,  Tres Leches Cake and great friends! We had so much fun and like we belonged! THANK YOU Frances, Julie & Families!!

Then we hurried home to unwrap our traditional Christmas pajamas and climb into bed! If you look closely Aidan & Steve have matching pants.

Then we woke up and opened up some fun presents. That apron Lexi is holding up and the bedside organizer Steve is holding up those were made by Aidan back when he got his craft on. That tshirt I got Steve was really an joke because at EVERY show I do I get asked at least once if when I make soap if it is like the scene in Fight Club.

Then one day I finally followed my kids out with my camera to catch some shots of them all riding their new bikes they got earlier in the month for St Nicholas Day.

We wound up both the month & year with a visit from my Dad and a little New Year’s Eve swimming.

Recap of November

Posted on March 12th, 2012 in blog, family, Handmade MIami, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Remember when I was posting how thankful I was for my kids at the beginning of November because I got really sick. Yeah well STAYED really sick for about 3 weeks. During that time some of my children got sick thankfully not as bad off as I did. I got really behind on orders in Novemember too and I’m very sorry for that, things that should have gone out in a couple days were taking upwards of a week because I just couldn’t be upright that long and I grossly underestimated the time it would take.

We were also really excited to welcome my husband home for a while.

Ok so thats where I left off with this post I started you know 4 months ago.  So here is how we will play this now a picture tour. Be prepared this will be very picture heavy!

We Start with a little haircut by Rory notice how you can actually see scalp in places. Oh boys!

I was starting to feel better (or so I thought) just in time for the craft carnival  so off I went. I am soooooooo grateful to Brenna & Lexi who held down the fort and brought all unsold items safely home when I had to leave early because I didn’t feel good. I really couldn’t have made it through without you guys LOVE YOU!!!!

I left my iPad with the girls to use the square if they needed to a while later I found this little gem of a picture Brenna left me with (thanks kiddo).

In between much napping and trying to get orders packed I also started working on this little knitted Okapi for Finn’s 3rd birthday.

One night Lexi made us some AMAZING rice & beans and we got Aidan to try an olive.

We also Made some Charleston She-Crab Soup! YUM!!!

The Holiday Limited Edition Soaps came out in their Fancy new packaging!

After what seemed like forever to Rory his cast FINALLY came off.

Finn turned 3! Can you believe it THREE! We started with a birthday boy breakfast made by Aidan & Lexi. Later in the day we had some crafts and presents and cupcakes! Three SERIOUSLY!?!?!

 Then I made some make your own Elderberry Syrup (I promise I will get better pictures and actually get them in the shops soon) kits.

 I took the picture for our holiday card which I might never have actually gotten printed OOPS.

Finn made his 1st pecan pie for Thanksgiving.

Rory moved on to pumpkin pie this year.

Jack moved on to apple pie.

Rory welcomed Lucy the cat into all of our lives.

November also saw us saying farewell to Brenna who moved back to CT. We miss you kid.

Hey Remember Me?

Posted on March 11th, 2012 in blog, family, Handmade MIami, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Hi I’m Jenni remember me? I know just as I got into a good routine of blogging I all up and disappeared. I’ve been here I’ve just been extremely busy with the kids and life and making stuff and crafting. I’m going to do my best this week now that I have a moment in time to breathe to catch you up on all sorts of awesome but in the meantime I just wanted to drop in to give you a heads up that I’m still here.

A little glimpse of what I’ll be sharing this week

November saw birthdays,

new friends,

more new labels,

and lots of baking.

 December brought us another birthday,

holiday presents,

so many packages (thank you),

and lots of crafting.

January brought some fabric selections,

a soap making class,

and lots of cutting and planning for my second quilt.

February was all about making my second quilt and planning for March!
March brought Rory’s Rainbow Spectacular!

And all along a little of this has been happening.

So you see we have a ton of stuff to cover and I have yet to decide the order in which we go! I’m really really excited to share the birthday party with you but there are things that happened back in November that lead up to the birthday just know that somehow though multiple posts and an insane amount of pictures we will discuss all of the above and even more over at least the next week?

Have you ever gotten off track of something and wanted to get back on the horse? How did you go about it? What have you been up to all these months?

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on September 7th, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Moments around our house on this rainy afternoon.

Packaging Revamp…Soap Bars

Posted on September 2nd, 2011 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

Well last we spoke I had a few ideas I was pondering. I bit the bullet and headed over to Etsy to hire someone to do the job after I realized it was beyond my skill to get it the way I wanted. After a couple hours of looking and getting sidetracked the way I often do when looking at Etsy I decided upon Meredith of Jack & Molly. I couldn’t be happier. She dealt with my non technical thing-a-ma-bob speech and walked me through how I needed to explain what I was trying to explain. I’m pretty sure she face palmed a few times at my sketches and wacky ideas. In the end though I’m so excited to unveil my new soap packaging!!! I’ve even taken her advice and started putting a clear coat on ALL my labels to help protect them.

So they have a piece of fabric, some decorative tissue tape (which may be changed later for a ribbon or eliminated when print fabric is used) and the new fancy label with a decorative swirl that will be changed depending on the bar of soap being wrapped!

While I was out there taking the pictures of the new labels this cuteness occurred that I thought I would also share with you as a special treat!

 Finn posing after yelling “take picture me” .

Rory riding his bike not to be outdone on the cuteness factor.

So what do you think of the new packaging?

{this moment}

Posted on July 29th, 2011 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

via : SouleMama

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Not quite a baby anymore.

Posted on July 7th, 2011 in blog, family by jenni

Yes I know it’s 3:30 am. Yes I know that makes this a little crazy, but, I didn’t want this moment to get lost in life.

There my baby. It’s his status being the last born. Its what I still often think of him of even though he is now older than his brothers were when their next youngest sibling came along. Fill loves to hug & he’s at that age at about 2.5 where he hugs with his whole body you can feel it & it’s wonderful. Just a minute ago I was the recipient of such a hug.

Me: that was a great hug. Who gives the best hugs?
Finn: me, lud (love) you mom.
Me: *laughing* yes you Finn. Your not a baby any more are you?
Finn: no me big boy now. Pie baby. He princess danceur.

What’s really running through my head is WHAT? ME? Not tinn (his mis pronunciation of Finn most often not just tinn but tinn-tinn) not third person but first person me. It continues.

Me: I stinky. I need to shower tomorrow. (I unpacked somewhere around 15+ boxes today, did 6 loads of laundry, made bath salts, elderberry syrup & cleaned the kitchen today I worked hard & was too tired before bed honestly.)
Finn: yes stinky ewww gross mom. Me stinky also. Tinn shower you morrow mom? Lud you. Me sleep night night.

And he cozied back down to go back to sleep. He grows up too fast.

His shirt says it all: that’s how I roll. How true. I just wish it could slow down some.

We’ve moved! and why I’m so far behind in shipping

Posted on June 23rd, 2011 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

Rory, Jack, Finn, Aidan & Lexi

Remember a couple months ago when I said there were changes coming? WOW I wish I had known really how much my life was going to change in mid may.  I had literally just sat in the tub for my weekly soak. The time I hide myself away in the tub to soak when I get the chance is absolutely sacred to me its something that makes me feel so good mentally & physically. Steve knocked on the bathroom door, it had been a hectic day I told him to go away. He opened the door instead and came in the look on his face was frightening. I thought something had happened to my gram and my mom called him to break the news for me. What he said instead was even more shocking. “Tara died.” WHAT? My anxiety level not only hit the roof in about 30 seconds but soared up on past it. You see Tara was his ex-wife, the mother of his oldest child.

This all happened literally eight days before the movers were showing up at our house to pack everything and move us to Miami. So in the course of eight days I finished making 65 more pounds of soap for Artscape, rearranged our already cramped too small Baltimore rowhome to store the contents of a seventh person and said person, dealt with emotionally supporting my husband through the loss of his ex-wife and the custody disagreement that followed, researched grief support and books for the 11 year old boy that would now be living with us and panicked.

My entire timetable at this point was thrown out a window. Who knew that just adding one extra child to the mix when we already had four would throw everything upside down. Most days Aidan is in good spirits. The way our household works is however completely different from what he was used to so there are some bumps everyday. He is encouraged by his own health and wellness due to some of the changes.

We will get through though its all been so much slower than I had anticipated and I’m so very sorry for the excessive delays at this point on shipping things. Its been three weeks now since we arrived in our new home and yesterday my husband left leaving me alone for the next 45 days alone with 5 children. We are adjusting. The pool helps.

101 in 1001 UPDATE

Posted on January 19th, 2011 in 101 in 1001, blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Ok this is yet another thing that had great plans and got pushed aside in the craziness of what 2010 was! Lets see where I’m at I actually completed a few more things than I expected but probably need to rethink a few as well!

1. Ask for advice and take it
2. Have a Yes! day. 0/6
3. Gratitude blog weekly 10 times 0/10
4. Identify 100 things that make me happy 0/100
5. Identify 25 things I like about myself 0/25
6. Go to a coffee shop & enjoy time ALONE! 0/6
7. Blog 15 times per month 0/32
8. Blog a kid or photo post 50 times 0/50

Get Green

Last garden harvest

• 1. Lexi 2/32
  2. Jack 2/32
  3. Rory 2/32
  4. Finn 2/32

1. Trundle bed for Lexi’s room (she wants a full size bed instead)
   B. She also asked for a new dresser like ours

• 1. Bed
  2. Dressers 2/2

Photo of the Day

Posted on February 15th, 2010 in 101 in 1001, family, homeschool by jenni

Frantically getting ready!

Posted on November 18th, 2009 in family, Lana Bella by jenni

Its a busy week at the Lana Bella HQ aka my house! Our youngest assistant is about to have a birthday turning ONE on Friday! Happy Birthday Finn!! Its been a great year!

We are also getting ready for our very first craft show. The elves they are busy cutting, wrapping, simmering, & decanting. Take glimpse behind the scenes images taken by 5yo Jack.

Get in the Holiday mood by attending Sophia’s 6th Annual Holiday Fair Saturday, November 21, 2009 Noon to 5 pm

Memorial Episcopal Church 1407 Bolton Street Baltimore, MD 410-669-0220

Begin your day by having a light lunch and beverage, then you can shop ’til you drop for Christmas gifts made by our very talented crafters, and before you leave purchase a home made dessert for your Thanksgiving feast!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS AND BRING A FRIEND!!