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?

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?

She is growing up

Posted on June 6th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I can hardly believe as I sit here and type this that my little girl is now a teenager. It seems like it was just yesterday that she was scurrying off in the store to hid under clothing racks, or climbing into my bed during the night. For a few weeks I’ve been planning a Hunger Games inspired surprise party for her, no easy task to do when she is my helper and home 24/7 but it was slowly happening. Unfortunately some plans fell through and she wasn’t going to have a sleepover where I could transform everything so I had to rethink my plan. That is when I had a brilliant idea. So this morning when my late sleeper girlie was awake before I was I sat her down at the table and gave her some very simply wrapped gifts. If you are a fan of the movies at all the twine used on the package was a mix of black, red & orange.

The first of the three gifts to be opened was the invitation that was sent to everyone else already. I had seen a few invitations on both pinterest and etsy however I only needed 1 to be printed and I was on a budget for this party so I designed my own.

Now my girl is in love with all things Hunger Games. I have never seen her this excited about something before she reads and rereads the books has seen the movie twice so far and references people and things in the book as much as she can work them into conversation. Add to that her love of vintage clothing and light blue being her signature color as she told me proudly when she was three and I knew I had to find her a “reaping day” dress. I lucked out on etsy of course.

Last but not least was the gift I’ve been teasing her about. She has been asking for weeks about her birthday and her gifts asking what she was getting if she was getting a mocking jay. I’ve been smiling and saying yes and that it was a real live mocking jay and hidden in my desk drawer.

Happy Thirteenth Birthday Girlie! May all your wishes come true!

Lexi being the amazing kid she is said I should use her birthday and have a sale. So use code CATNIP for 13% off and every order places until her birthday will receive FREE either a Pretty in Pink lip balm (originally created as party favors for her 10th birthday) or a small bag of Pretty in Pink Tea (made with my girl in the same year). Please let me know which you would prefer or it will be Lexi’s choice!

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.

Rory’s Rainbow Spectacular

Posted on March 16th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

The planning for this party seemed to start forever ago! I asked Rory what kind of birthday he wanted this year and he excitedly told me a rainbow and unicorn party. I think easy enough and plan on a few decorations and to make the same strawberry cupcakes (note: I alter the recipe to have 1c pamela’s gf pancake & baking flour & 1/2c pamela’s gf bread flour) I made him last year because they were delicious. Then one day I start thinking about the decorations I saw on Facebook a while back of OhMeaghan’s Rainbow + Rollerskate party and dropped her an email which led to her rainbow pinterest board  and me following the links that really excited me and repining and adding to to make my own rainbow party pinterest board.

It started with a trip to the fabric store to get some fabric to make a little bunting. On the way home we stopped at michael’s craft just to peek and came home with the amazing rainbow ribbon and the flowers I later used as a center piece on one of the tables. On the way home from this trip we were talking about food for the party and he said “I hope you have enough cake stands for this.” cake stands really?!?!? who is this child so a discussion about the type of cake stands he wanted happened.

We continued to collect items and narrowed down the menu and ideas. This is when things get really interesting if you know me and know about all of my food “rules”. There have been no, none , zero zilch food dyes allowed in our home to the best of my abilities since 2003. We eat very naturally, organic as often as possible, few preservatives, even fewer “processed” foods, very little soy, at times gluten & dairy free and for three ish years now corn free after realizing many of Rory’s behavior and sensory problems were from him detoxing off high fructose corn syrup. I’ve been known to call it nightmarish because for me it is. I’ve been limiting, over bearing and controlling of what food comes in our home and more preachy than sharing and partnering with my children, This was blatantly pointed out to me not very long ago by Sandra Dodd I had mixed feelings about it but I listened, and thought why not?

The Invitations were ordered. Actually I fell in love with the whole set from the TomKat Studio that I ordered the entire rainbow party pack!

Preparing for the big day involved a ton of butter and baking and excitement by me for rocking a red velvet cupcake.

The day before the big party was Rory’s actual birthday. He started the say off with a mini birthday cake breakfast out on the patio. Rode his bike like Pee Wee Herman in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure his current favorite movie. We finished off the afternoon painting a a rainbow sign for the big day.

Then I put the kids to bed and the frosting started. Who knew frosting a 6 layer cake would be as both easy and difficult as it was. Each layer brought new excitement and fear. In the end it was slightly crooked but I am not a professional baker or cake decorator just a mom of a 6 year old rainbow and unicorn loving boy so this was good enough for me. By the time I finished frosting the cake and the 3 dozen cupcakes Steve was finished making the sandwich skewers so it was off to bed with us as well.

The big day was upon us. I put Rory’s rainbow sign by the front door and hung the Welcome sign and some rainbows from my TomKat Studio Rainbow printables.

I hung one of the buntings and the TomKat birthday banner on the wall behind where I set up the food table. I loved seeing the excitement on Rory’s face when I pulled out the rainbow unicorn table cover which was actually a little too narrow for my 8 foot table.

 I had standard fruit and veggie platters only I arranged them in rainbows as I had seen on pinterest.

I made a quickie tortellini chicken pasta salad and the sandwich sticks I fell in love with.

There were the red velvet cupcakes and strawberry cupcakes both gluten free.

This rainbow cake was all about me being outside my comfort zone first it was SIX layers, called for a TON of food coloring something I haven’t cooked with before this week since 2003 when I eliminated them from our diets at least from home, and I used fondant for the very first time that included corn syrup and yet even more dye for the decorations.  I pulled out my x-acto knife and freehand cut out the letters for Rory’s name ever thankful while doing so that he has a short name.

COOKIES! We had some kid decorated lemon sugar cookies (I used lots of lemon zest instead of orange), cinnamon sugar butter cookies, and RAINBOW shortbread style cookies!

To drink I made our family standard fruit punch (equal parts cranberry pomegranate juice and sierra mist you know because its corn syrup free and a splash of pineapple juice) and pink lemonade I don’t know why the color was so dark on mine but it tasted AMAZING! I supplied ice with a scoop in a rainbowish striped bucket and my favorite thing was the colorful striped paper straws. I put out mason jars in both pints and half pints to drink out of and its a good thing I have a lot of both.

The rainbow bunting and the pom pom & yarn garland were both hung on the back fence for a splash of rainbow color.

The balloons tied to rainbow yarn were brought out with extra pink for my pink loving boy!

With the arrival of our first guests (thank you Julie, Diana & Frances) we were able to get a picture of our rainbow dressed family I even got to have our unicorn leader sit on my lap! I really wish Finn wasn’t holding that balloon and you could really see his green shirt though.

We ate some food & opened some gifts.

Then it was time to sing happy birthday and blow out the candles. If you look closely or even not too closely you will see how butter creme, fondant and hot Miami weather may not be the best of friends as the polka dots were sliding a little bit. I also didn’t realize until about now that I forgot to put the little mini felt cake bunting on the skewers that were more structural than decorative.

I cut the cake and sadly realized the cake slices were too big for the adorable rainbow unicorn plates I had purchased for the party so we just used some boring non matching paper plates I had.

These amazing brilliant colors were totally worth the insane amount of food coloring needed to get them to see the smiles on not only my rainbow boy’s face but the faces of every other person child and adult alike.

At the end of the day the party goers were able to grab a gift bag filled with temporary tattoos & a stained glass mini coloring book (either unicorn or dragon themed), a unicorn swirled lollipop, a pack of crayons, a rainbow crayon & colored pencil and a sandwich size ziploc bag to fill with candy from the candy bar. I had filled jars with skittles, m&m’s, sunkist fruit chews, and little mike & ikes.

What surprised and saddened me the most at the end of the day was the little girl who didn’t fill her bag with candy but filled it with the leftover fruit from the fruit platter. I don’t know if it was dietary or if fruit was that big of a treat to her and I didn’t ask mostly because I didn’t want to embarrass her either way but I will now make sure when she is over to bring out some fruit.

It was a busy day because in addition to my own 5 kids there were about 15 added kids from the neighborhood at any given time (they just all started dropping in and at one point I panicked that we wouldn’t have enough food) in addition to 8 or so adults. I just love that I am STILL hearing from my own kids and party attendees how awesome the party was. Totally makes all the broken food rules totally worth it and not such a big deal at all in the grand scheme of things. When asked what he liked the most about his party he said everything he only wished that Brenna was there for it too because he really misses her.

I’ll update later on with links for all the recipes and inspiration posts and suppliers but for now I’m  going to have a cup of tea and watch my kids play in the pool because this post took much longer to write than I had anticipated.

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.

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?

30 days of thanks… day 3

Posted on November 3rd, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Today I am so thankful for the beautiful weather we have been having here in Miami. So that my children have been able to go play at the park in the afternoons to run some of their crazies out! I am grateful for UNschooling in showing me it is possible for 4-5 children aged 2-12 to go to the park and play together like friends and not just siblings.

Here is to my crazy ones!

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.

Sneaking in.

Posted on April 20th, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I bet you thought I forgot. I didn’t Just wanted to let you know about something fabulous. I have lots of things I want to share. Today was a whirlwind. I packed 37 orders today. THIRTY SEVEN! I think I relisted all the sold items in the shop. I prepped another 84,000 orders for packing tomorrow. I planned. While I was doing all that my husband took my wonderful children to the Zoo. I wished I had been able to go.

All four kids

So there you have it with about 90 minutes to spare I continue my blogging run!

Oh and if you happen to venture to the kids blog yes I know I need to get on that again but y’all have kept my really busy, but to the point if you email the kids don’t be surprised if you get an email back from them. They are in charge of their own correspondence.

What I’m working on- A Quilt

Posted on April 11th, 2011 in 101 in 1001, blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

What I’m working on now is a little different than you might expect. About a year or so ago Lexi asked if we could make a quilt together. At the time I thought it was a little beyond what we had time for but she really wanted to make something so we made her a cute little wristlet.

I was really impressed with her attention to the project. She has even made a bunch more as gifts and wants to open her own etsy shop as a project for school next year.

Well this year she asked for a bedroom update, you know because at 11.5 she’s not a “kid” anymore. So away went the day bed she has slept in since she started climbing out of her crib at 18 months and in came the bed she picked from ikea in a “grown up” full size. So I started looking at bedding and then thought this was the perfect opportunity to make a quilt. We started with some embroidered squares that I fell in love with when seeing them on etsy one day. Aren’t these dresses delightful?

Lexi embroidering a dress

If you want to score these and the other 3 little designs stop on over to the a little sweetness etsy shop.

I can’t wait to share how the quilt progresses with you!

Changes in Latitude

Posted on March 27th, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

It was an ordinary Friday in mid February I was planning for what would be our last summer in Baltimore. Trips to the zoo, the aquarium, renewing our membership to the Science Center. Planning our garden, my craft show schedule, day dreaming. The phone rang it was my husband he told me he sent me an email and go check it and got off the phone. I assumed it was one of his weird jokes that he thinks is hysterical but I wouldn’t (we have very differing ideas on what is humorous) or some bit of news from military.com. I was wrong. It was an email from his detailer (the guy in the military who assigns the jobs) telling us that because Steve was making Chief (E7) he (we) would be being relocated THIS year, and to rank the following jobs (places) in order 1-4 of where to go.

WHAT?!?!? Are you kidding me just a week or so ago we had been told that we were going to be here in Baltimore til spring 2012. The four choices were NOT even on my radar of places to go matter of fact 3 of them were on our list of places to avoid prior to this email.

We ranked our choices freaked out about them all. Waited. Stressed. Then one morning I woke up crying. I texted Steve that I had a nightmare he was going to Key West (meaning he was going to be attached to a ship again). He said he hadn’t heard a thing yet. A couple hours later he texted and said I was right that he was setting assigned Key West.

This means the kids and I are moving to MIAMI.

Miami?!? Yes. Key West is WAY out of our price range to live in a house that will be big enough for our four kids (since then we have also invited my oldest daughter to move with us after she graduates high school in June) and my growing business. Also I just think if faced with an evacuation I’d prefer to already be back on the mainland vs out on the islands. There is just more for the kids and I to do in Miami than Key West honestly. This has its downsides as well though, we won’t see Steve as much when he is home. In South Carolina for the most part when the boat was in port he was home every night. We won’t have that in Florida. With 3+ hours we will have to see him on the weekends when they are home and really make the most of it.

House hunting is bittersweet. I find great possible homes, homes to continue to nourish our family, homes that will never truly  be Steve’s home. On the flip side Brenna (my oldest daughter) is most likely coming to live with us. This makes me soooo very excited as well as the other kids too!

For Lana Bella this also means that other than the few shows I’ll be doing before the move there will probably be a hiatus due to deployment schedules. The irony of this is this winter while I was on my break (mostly due to burn out and illness) I was pondering do I go with another year of whirlwind shows and business growth or do I slow down to spend more quality time with my family? In a way I’ll be doing both. I won’t be doing shows, instead I’ll be focusing with online sales and trying to get my products in some shops and working the wholesale thing.

There has been a variety of emotions through this, still is because I’m still house hunting, still trying to help my daughter Brenna decide what/where she is living and doing for school next year, and trying to figure out homeschool laws in Florida and find some support groups.

So at sometime around the beginning of June my family and I will be saying good bye to Baltimore a year earlier than expected and setting out for a new adventure in the Miami area.

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

Pink Boy Princesses

Posted on January 12th, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

The whole boys loving pink is getting quite a bit of publicity these days. I’m on the fence about it all. Having a pink loving ballet dancing boy princess I understand it. However I also am not doing it because I relate to a celebrity or want my 15 minutes or want to exploit my son in anyway. I am here to help him pave the way, to help others who are in a situation now pave the way, to CHANGE things so maybe he won’t have to suffer quite so much. I do this as nothing more than Rory’s mother. I do this for love.

This was recently brought to the surface again from a place I least expected it. A mother was asking for help because her boy like mine likes pink, princesses and playing with the girls. When she asked him why he simply said because boys don’t fight. Then she said “My husband and I are very strict on this issue and most of the time try to not to allow him to do girlish things hoping that this might change his attitude.can we do anything to prevent it. we are really worried that this might affect his future sexual identity. please help.”

WHOA! WHAT?!?!

I drafted my reply :”This deeply offends me  on many many levels. What is wrong with him liking pink? Will it hurt anyone if for a year or 6 months or 5 years he likes pink or barbie or princesses? Will it make him less of a man down the road to be caring and considerate kind empathetic in ways that many women complain that they wish their husbands, boyfriends partners were? Gender roles disgust me. If it were your little girl doing things that boys do like become educated, vote, work outside the home, become a teacher, doctor lawyer president would you still care? As recently at the 1950′s pink has historically been am masculine color and blue a calmer color reserved for girls.

I see my 4.5 yo boys love for pink no different than his 7 yo brothers need to wear orange for 2 straight years and honestly Rory is less intense and dramatic about it. He is my softer gentler boy. He takes ballet. He loves it it makes him happy so happy the teacher has said he truly brightens the class including the girl who used to push and shove in the class who doesn’t anymore. He was a “boy fairy princess” for Halloween I admire his creativity.

What right do I have to ever make him feel his beliefs are wrong? What kind of a parent would I be to make him feel any less than accepted for who he is! He wants to grow up and be a ballerina and a mommy so he can wear babies in slings and have snuggle time and read stories in nests. I can’t wait! And so what if in 20 years hens the “mommy” I’ll be there to love and support him. He doesn’t put gender roles on mommy & daddy other than mommy is comfort mommy takes care of us. Daddy can be abrupt and stern.

Future sex identity? Sounds to me more like some homophobic fear talking. Would it really be the end of the world if he is gay and happy? Or Would you prefer that he feel unaccepted and shut out in his own home by the people in the world who are supposed to love him the most during adolescence when things are confusing enough and rather than disappoint you or other fears kills himself instead?”

Rory in pink Opening his "the only boy in ballet class" book

Should I have left it like that maybe not but I really wanted to make a point. I offended her. I think I probably meant to. I meant her to get mad to fight for her child to put on her mama bear big girl panties and protect her child to love him to fight for him. She is from Dubai she is using culture as an “excuse” for her behavior. I understand that homosexuality is not always accepted in other places and then I thought is it REALLY accepted here in the good ole US of A? BUT, BUT, BUT before we even get that far lets remember that we are also discussing a little boy here he is FOUR! FOUR! They don’t do things at this point to be gay or straight. They just do things to not hurt, to not feel challenged, or ridiculed.  I sent off a second response. A response that in all honesty I cried while drafting. A response that has since moved me to tears reading it to a few friends over the phone. Friends that I know will be right there by my side loving my children and fighting for them as I will be for theres. Friends I thanks my lucky stars on a daily basis for having. Friends who urged me to share with you.

“This entire thing has been bothering me since I saw it. I was up pacing at midnight and couldn’t sleep til about 2 am and was up again at 4 still bothered by it. My heart breaks for children who are not accepted for whatever the reason by their family. Be it a father who is unaccepting of his daughter’s dyslexia. A mother who doesn’t understand how food is interfering with her children’s behavior. A sibling who torments his brother for liking to cook.

Lazy Sunday

Posted on January 9th, 2011 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

Wow it’s been crazy here since our return from the
holidays. Seems we aren’t the only one starting 2011 with a stomach
thing though. It’s our 1st Sunday all feeling well and our last
before we are back to the grind. We spent it getting a new puppy so
welcome home Pippi the puggle beagle puppy!

Family Life

Posted on August 28th, 2010 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

She has been home for a week now and as much as I’d like to say we have done amazing things and are ahead of schedule I can’t. Due to project reorganize the entire house (which honestly is STILL going on nearly a month later) she has been having a hard time finding and/or putting things away. But she is HOME! I missed that girl. Lexi changed so much over the 6 weeks she was gone, I swear she grew 4 inches and really started blossoming from that little girl I sent away into a wonderful young lady.

Counting Down…

Posted on August 16th, 2010 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Its been a long long summer here at our home made to feel even longer by having Lexi my 11 year old daughter gone for most of it. I didn’t realize/took for granted how much her young girl hands helped both our family and the business to run smoother. It is often Lexi who pulls the products for your orders in a timely fashion because its not as easy to do with a 6, 4 and 1 1/2 year old as one might think. She also helps keep inventory of products so I don’t accidentally run out on something popular or make something only I like. Don’t worry I’m not running a sweat shop it was something we agreed to as part of homeschooling this past year and she gets paid in both craft and money.

The good news is she will be home August 23! I’m so excited so much has changed in our home while she has been gone I’ve been on an organizing, decluttering frenzy. I really can’t wait for her to get home to start school again. There is so much I have planned for this fall sewing, baking, crafting, painting, photography and we will be continuing with the theme of prairie life as well.

In order to spend more time with my family though after the whirlwind spring season I’ll be taking on a lighter load of a fall schedule show wise though because I really missed them. To offset this I’ll be offering more discounts in my Etsy shop.

HOMECOMING SALE 8/16 through 12:01 am EST 8/23 10% off all orders AND buy more save more BUY 5 get one FREE feel free to mix and match you will just get your lowest priced item free don’t forget to tell me HOMECOMING in the note to seller box on Etsy for the discounts I will refund discounts & free items though paypal.

Hey what are you still doing here SHOP NOW!