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?

Holiday Preparations…part 1

Posted on November 18th, 2012 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I know its been quiet and I owe you quite a few posts as to what has been going on, however Rory LOVES the Holiday Season. He was literally still in his halloween costume asking me how quickly I could get down the halloween stuff so he could start decorating for Christmas. To that 6 year old boy Christmas is a season from Nov 1-about Feb 1 when he starts preparing for his March Birthday. To him Christmas includes the Festival of St Nick, St Lucy Day, Hanukkah and all 12 days of Christmas. He tells us all the time he will be an elf when he grows up. We’ve made a few things to get ready (I’ll blog about them soon I promise) tonight while watching our 3rd family movie of the day I designed our Holiday Card with Shutterfly because they have some AMAZING sales going on.

Here is what I made.

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Where do you get your Holiday Cards printed? 

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.

I made another Quilt.

Posted on March 24th, 2012 in 101 in 1001, blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

I’ll admit it I caught the big. The quilting bug. Honestly though I made a quilt for Lexi what kind of a mom would I be if I didn’t make quilts for the rest of the kids too. I started back in January cutting out pieces for the boys quilts. Then because his birthday was coming I decided to complete Rory’s quilt first. Now remember back to Christmas Stockings in the December Recap, you see there was some reason to my madness of the different stocking styles.

I was lucky on this one because I had a couple pieces still left over from to get started. I used THIS Moda Bake Shop  tutorial from Amanda Jean over at crazy mom quilts for the Cartwheel Quilt. Of course I forgot to take any more middle pictures of the construction (because I don’t think like a quilt blogger…yet), so you will have to just take a little jump with me to the layout pictures when I was pinning his mini quilt.

Look its Ginger approved.

I was so proud of myself for attempting to quilt the mini all on my own! My first big project and I attempt to freehand stipple. Ignore the bad lighting it was night time.

I was so excited when the package arrived from the wonderful Tarabu with the finished twin size quilt. I ran right outside grabbing my camera along the way and tossed that baby over my lawn furniture and got snapping!

I LOVE how the quilting really brings it alive! Unfortunately someone noticed me snapping pictures and got a sneak peek.

Don’t you worry I still put it away for his birthday. I love that he was just as excited to open it as he was getting that first glimpse!

Later that night he talked me into putting it in the playroom and letting him sleep there for the night. Its so big and fluffy it nearly fits a full size bed!

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.

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?

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on July 27th, 2011 in blog, family by jenni

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

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.

Squidfire's Art Mart wrap up.

Posted on May 11th, 2010 in Baltimore Craft, blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

HOLY WINDY BATMAN!!! I’m still sore from holding my tent down all day. I felt like i was positioned like a human version of monkey from the barrel holding onto the tent with one hand bagging, making change and assisting customers with the other. The highlights of my day were when nice customers would come in and make their partner or friend hold onto the tent so I could rest my arms. The people I encountered while holding on for dear life were great! I wish it hadn’t been so windy but at least it wasn’t cold as well.

I was looking forward to this show for quite some time to do some shopping of my own and had arranged some trades before hand and I’m so glad I did because with the wind there wasn’t really an opportunity to shop. There were so many vendors I wanted to check out with mother’s day being the next day and my birthday in only nine more days and I promise I’ve been a very good girl this year and am very deserving of little treasures.

Ever since I had gotten my book from Moonlight Bindery back as a holiday gift to myself I’ve wanted a second one. Well I couldn’t decide between my two choices so I got them both aren’t they beautiful!

Next up I wanted a wallet to go with the new purses I got off etsy a couple months ago. There I was one day killing time on twitter and along comes an etsy listing from See Katie Sew well I wanted one so a convo was made. I also treated myself to a little head band which I love! But the wallet was AWESOME for use at the Farmer’s market on sunday because I can use the key ring to hook it to the spot in my purse intended to hold keys so no worries about dropping it because its attached!

Last but not least I splurged on yet another little pouch (ask how my husband rolled his eyes at me when he saw) from fellow BEST member JennyJen42. I have no idea yet what purpose it will have but it is so cute I just needed it!

Ok there was one other purchase made but it wasn’t for me it was for a little girl’s upcoming 11th birthday however her pink loving little brother found it today as I was unpacking from the show and claimed it for himself. Meet Rory and Grace his newest friend from the celebrity in my children’s eyes Cutesy but not Cutesy

Enjoy!

How I spent Mother’s Day

Posted on May 11th, 2010 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

Woke up EXTREMELY sore from the windfest and tent holding the pervious say at Squidfire’s Art Mart, but still I wanted to go to the JFX Farmer’s Market. So even though it was only 8am I had a cup of coffee (ok I had 2) and started sending kids off to get dressed. It was cold yet bustling all those plants wanting to come home with me. Instead we got some greens, asparagus and strawberries because they were so yummy and ripe smelling.

Afterwards we headed to Lowes to finish getting rocks and dirt for the raised beds Steve and the kids had built me a few weeks earlier.

So a shopping cart and contractor’s cart later home we head. After a few hours of work where I over worked already sore muscles and this is what I ended up with. Potato bins to the left, the raised bed, and sweet potato and garlic to the right with some marigolds tossed in to hopefully protect everything.

Then on the patio table we never seem to use I have some herbs and my tea cup planter full of Red Clover and Dandelions.

My favorite part of the day was sitting with the kids and planting their seeds in their Sesame Street planters.

Jack planted Bert & Ernie Peppers, Lexi planted Oscar the Grouch Green Beans, Finn some Elmo Tomatoes and Rory the pink Abby Cadabby Pumpkins.

Steve even put some wire on the bottom of the compost bin and got that set up for me too. I’m so excited about our little garden in the city this year!

We even had our first harvest of greens for a salad to add to dinner.

How I spent Mother's Day

Posted on May 11th, 2010 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

Woke up EXTREMELY sore from the windfest and tent holding the pervious say at Squidfire’s Art Mart, but still I wanted to go to the JFX Farmer’s Market. So even though it was only 8am I had a cup of coffee (ok I had 2) and started sending kids off to get dressed. It was cold yet bustling all those plants wanting to come home with me. Instead we got some greens, asparagus and strawberries because they were so yummy and ripe smelling.

Afterwards we headed to Lowes to finish getting rocks and dirt for the raised beds Steve and the kids had built me a few weeks earlier.

So a shopping cart and contractor’s cart later home we head. After a few hours of work where I over worked already sore muscles and this is what I ended up with. Potato bins to the left, the raised bed, and sweet potato and garlic to the right with some marigolds tossed in to hopefully protect everything.

Then on the patio table we never seem to use I have some herbs and my tea cup planter full of Red Clover and Dandelions.

My favorite part of the day was sitting with the kids and planting their seeds in their Sesame Street planters.

Jack planted Bert & Ernie Peppers, Lexi planted Oscar the Grouch Green Beans, Finn some Elmo Tomatoes and Rory the pink Abby Cadabby Pumpkins.

Steve even put some wire on the bottom of the compost bin and got that set up for me too. I’m so excited about our little garden in the city this year!

We even had our first harvest of greens for a salad to add to dinner.