Princess Emolyn

What precious little fingers! So dainty, soft and fragile. So grateful to be home with her Mommy & Daddy!


I sat and held Emolyn for two hours on Saturday, watching her every expression.
Randy and I created Babyland when the kids were born. It's a place where babies go while they are sleeping. We would talk for our kids and they would tell us all about their adventures in Babyland. While watching Emolyn's various expressions, we were pretty convinced she was chasing either puppies or bunny rabbits. And at one point she smiled SO big (huge dimples and all!) that we knew it was then that she was being crowned the new Princess of Babyland. We couldn't be more proud! But from what I hear, she is quite the little drama queen in Babyland! That's my Grandbaby!



Randy was quite the proud Pop-pop holding his little Emy, swaddled in the yellow blanky that he was swaddled in 54 years ago. All three (below) were swaddled in the very same yellow blanket. Oh my, Grammy's getting a little teary-eyed here.
In case you're wondering, Pop-pop is what the kids want him to be called... and he really likes it too. In fact, Miranda started calling him that a few years ago and now the grandkids will... mmm, Grammy & Pop-pop... pretty cute.

bits of this & that

I love Fridays. Fridays are my day off.
So today I plan to jot down random thoughts. A little bit of this and that. Back and forth from my keyboard to my laundry, dishes, cleaning and groceries.

The day started out with a nice surprise. My son Shawn, Emolyn's Daddy, is back to blogging again. He sent me a comment on my last post to let me know. Really, he is the funniest person I know. Check him out here.

First off, I gotta be honest with you. I miss putzing. Meaning... I miss "engaging in inconsequential or unproductive activities". Ya, I miss doing unproductive activities! Ever since I went back to work last summer, I don't do those mindless activities that I so loved doing.
Such as...
- digging through drawers and closets
- digging in the dirt
- uncovering hidden treasures in my garage
- flipping through magazines (I still have tons of magazines in their plastic bags! Shame on me!)
- rearranging my Pyrex collection
- reading old journals
- color-coding cans of 'oops' paint (I'm just being funny... well, sorta)
- checking the expiration dates on canned goods (ya, had to throw out a huge garbage bag full)
- weeding out, purging, down-sizing, etc. (never ending)

Oooh, another sweet surprise. Emolyn's Mommy just called to give me the latest on our little Miss Emolyn. Oh, we sure love that little girl! I can't wait to see her tomorrow. We're bringing them dinner. And taking lots of pics.

Gotta head out to get groceries. Maybe do a little 'drive-by thrifting'. See, if something doesn't catch my eye as I drive by, then I just drive by. Here's an exception to the rule. If alot of things at a yard sale are still in boxes, I will for sure stop. Why? you ask. Because most people don't take the time to go through boxes. And my favorite finds are always buried in boxes. You have to read this post... one of my favorite thrift stories that I blogged about, back when I first started blogging. About bowls. My lovely McCoy bowls.

Hey, I'll be back if I uncovered a treasure I couldn't live without.

Emolyn's First Easter

Here she is! Our little lamb. Emolyn Kate on Easter morning. Isn't she a doll! And guess what? She's coming home tomorrow and her Mommy & Daddy can hardly wait! We are all so thrilled and grateful that she is so healthy and ready to come home! (oh and she is only 3 lbs. 9 ounces! Yikes!)
Take a look at her designer Easter dress! Yup, special thanks to Lynette for sewing Emolyn the sweetest little preemie dress ever! Wouldn't it be so cool to have it preserved in a shadow box along with other sweet mementoes from her first month of life. Mmm...
And now, I just have to thank you all for praying for little Emolyn Kate. I am humbled by your love and concern. Thank you so very much!

weekend highlights

Saturday night we went to Peter Piper Pizza for Tyler's 19th birthday celebration. What a fun place! We played lots of games, ate lots of pizza and snapped lots of pics! Randy and I had more fun watching our kids gettin all wild and crazy like little kids. They never had birthday parties at places like this when they were growing up, so I believe they were making up for lost time!

Miranda and Nicole competing in a friendly game of Skee Ball.


Shawn cheering on Zac and Tyler!








Tyler hit several Jack Pots in a row so needless to say, gathering up all his tickets became quite the group effort.






Tyler holding his coveted prize with his best friend Zac. Tyler and Zac have been best friends since birth! We love him and his dear family like family!

Earlier in the day I hosted a Pampered Chef party, with my daughter Miranda as the consultant. She was awesome! She made these delicious baked won ton cups with yummy yogart & cool whip mixed together, with fruit and a dusting of powdered sugar on top.
After the pizza party we came back to the house to devour these beauties and watch the SUNS beat the Rockets! GO SUNS!

Easter was wonderful as always. My husband and Miranda sang at all three services and I worked in the nursery and helped back stage with the baptisms. We were so exhausted the rest of the day.
But then, we watched "Enchanted". Let me tell you, THE. BEST. MOVIE. Seriously, I loved it sooo much... so romantic, so magical, so brilliantly done... the way they honor and highlight all my favorite Disney animated movies in this movie. Oh my gosh, I was a mess! Ok, you remember how you felt watching that ballroom scene in "Beauty and the Beast" (I cried and cried)... well, the ballroom scene in "Enchanted"... I sobbed!
Made me want to watch all those Disney movies again... like this week... and then watch "Enchanted" again. Like seriously.

the lovely Lady Banks Rose

She's back!
The lovely Miss Lady Banks Rose is back in all her glory! She's a beauty all right.
Love this time of year... the sweet scent of orange blossoms, the colorful wildflowers, everything is in bloom.
Tyler and I got up at 5:30 this morning and went hiking at South Mountain to catch the sunrise. What a sight! It was quite dark as we hiked up the mountain but then we sat and watched the city wake up and come to life. The air was so clear, the flowers so fresh and I was so energized as I took in all the beauty surrounding me. I felt restored, renewed in my spirit, rejoicing, remembering all that Christ did for me.
Happy Easter and have a beautiful weekend!

shabby chic kennel

These images are from my friend Shannon's home. I love her darling shabby chic cottage. It is so girly cute, I can hardly stand it!

Check out her backyard. So charming and cozy. Love the Foxgloves reflecting off the gazing ball.



Shannon is our awesome Children's Pastor at our church. She had her leadership team over for a backyard dinner Saturday night, to honor us and our commitment to love and serve the little ones each week. What a lovely evening with some of my favorite people.
Check out this chandelier that she spray-painted a pale pink, then added pearlized berries and new shades... sheer shabby elegance!

The Arizona Republic even featured her clever idea of taking the bottom cupboards of a built-in entertainment cabinet... replacing the solid doors with lattice doors so that her two puppy dogs have a safe place when they need to be kenneled. Hello! How much are we diggin that! And waaay cuter than those big ole kennels that are so ugly that we relegate them to the laundry room. This way the dogs are always a part of the action.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

My baby turned 19 yesterday! Love this sweet boy. I gotta tell you, Tyler is probably the kindest young man I know. Really and truly. I love his tender heart. He is kind and thoughtful and sensitive. He is such a gentleman. Oh the girl that tries to break his heart...


We had such a fun day as a family. Although as you know, we were not a complete family yet... we were missing our sweet Emolyn like crazy. I get all teary-eyed just thinking about all our future birthday gatherings, when she will be with us! She is 3 lbs. 8 oz. now and once she gets the hang of nursing and bottle feedings, she's out of there! And this Grammy could not be more thrilled!
Anyway, Tyler and his big brother Shawn sang and played guitars together all afternoon. And man oh man, they sound sooo stinkin good together! What a treat to be serenaded by such talent while fixing dinner. You're lookin at one proud Mama here!
We spent hours around the table laughing and crying... affirming each other... sharing our hearts, our stories... as families do. And Randy & I could not be more grateful.

IKEA hacker

Do you live near an IKEA? Then you'll want to check out one of the coolest blogs out there- IKEA Hacker. It really feeds my need to repurpose, to think outside the box, to create something fresh and new with products I find in the 'as is' department at IKEA.
Love 'as is'! I can be out of the van, peruse through 'as is' and back in the van in 5 minutes. That is unless I find something I just gotta have. I maybe get around to going through the rest of IKEA once a year. I mean, here's the deal, why pay full price when you can wait for it to get to 'as is' AND it's already put together!

Ok, so what this blog site does is post pics of what others are doing with IKEA products and with just a little imagination. Check it out here.
I live just a short (dangerous!) mile from IKEA and love checking out the 'as is' department and then seeing what I can do with the various products I find for just a fraction of the cost. Randy likes that last part!
The above pic of my craft room has several 'as is' products from IKEA. The wired drawers are so handy for storing all my fabric. But what I did was have Randy attach the heavy IKEA magnetic strip to hold all my various scissors and seam rippers and other handy tools that I can just grab on demand.
So I'm thinking I might send this pic off to the hacker site, but thought I'd share it with you first.

date on Mill Ave.

I can't tell you how long it's been since I had a date with my favorite guy in all the world. Waay too long. So Randy & I had a "lunch date" the other day with plans for the two of us to head to Mill Ave. It's Spring Break in the East Valley, so most of the ASU crowd would be gone. That works for me. Parking is always so terrible.
I had to snap a pic of these blooming Century plants lined up along Mill Ave. They are so fascinating. Did you know that "Century Plants bloom only once in their life, the blooming spike is so large and grows so fast that it saps all the resources of the plant, which then dies, leaving a tall wooden seed stalk. The plant is called the "century plant" because of this "once a century" bloom (actually the plant lives an average of 25 years)." I have seen that very thing happen next door. So sad when the plant shrivels up and dies after such a spectacle of beauty!


First stop, Urban Outfitters. I love, love, love this place! The upstairs is so retro, funky cool. Huge splashes of color. Crazy, fun art. Every kind of texture & design imaginable. Look at these pics! I couldn't stop myself, so I didn't. Just kept on shooting. And no one seemed to mind.






Next stop, lunch at "My Big Fat Greek Restaurant". Such festive, fun food. Ate outside on the patio. So relaxing watching people walk by. I had a yummy Gyros wrapped in a fresh Pita. Perfecto.

Then, I saw that one of the coolest stores on Mill is going out of business, after 35 years- "Those Were the Days" bookstore. So sad. If you are in driving range, you gotta go. Now. Such a cool place FILLED with rare, old books and vintage signs & posters galore! AND everything is 40% off right now!
Didn't buy a thing but came home with fun photos and full stomachs. Next time we plan to walk over to Tempe Town Lake, walk across the bridge and check out all the development going on. Before it's too hot!

Longaberger

Yesterday I stopped at an Estate Sale. Ok, for one thing, it's Sunday. I don't bother saling on Sundays. Everything is usually all picked over anyway. But an Estate Sale that has been going on for quite a few days... come on, what could possibly be left? Umm, well... like the mother lode of Longaberger loveliness!! Seriously, I hit the jack pot!

As I was getting out of my van, the lady yells that everything is half-off the sticker price. I immediately eye the four Longaberger baskets and proceed to knock over a couple kids that are in my way. (just kidding!) I make my way over to quickly glance at the prices. Let me just say, I would have paid the sticker prices. So I start to freak out... discreetly, mind you. I don't want to act like I am excited or anything.
So I end up getting ALL four baskets for... $15.00!!! You heard me right! FIFTEEN DOLLARS!
I happen to own two other Longaberger baskets. One I paid a quarter for, the other full price. So I think I can safely say that I have a little collection going on here. Mmm, pretty sweet!


For all you Longaberger buffs... the Generation basket is from 1998... the other three are from '92, '91 & '94. Again, pretty dang sweet!
More Longaberger info here and here.

a pink iPod

Emolyn is going to be cute as a bug in this outfit!





And what do you suppose Daddy's buy their newborn daughters these days? Umm, well, a PINK iPod of course! Especially if your Daddy is a Mac Genius! Shawn can hardly wait to fill it with sweet, soothing, sleepy tunes.


Take a look at this darling scalloped tissue paper from this darling shop called Janie and Jack. Check em out here for a location near you.

One of the nurses that cares for Emolyn in the NICU made this scrap page for Shawn & Nicole. She even had Emolyn's feet and hand prints made as a surprise. I'm telling you, the nurses are sooo wonderful!
AND we got some pretty awesome news last night!!
Emolyn Kate is 3 lbs!! Ya baby!

Georg Schmider German dishes

A couple of months ago I came across three plates duct taped together at my little thrift store. They were stunning. Hand painted. Made in Western Germany. Each of the plates (dessert, salad, dinner plate size) had a hole in the middle. So I knew that it was once a 3-tier set. Better yet, half-off day. Only $1.50 for the set. Ok, so I would have paid $3.00. Notice that each of the plates have hand-painted orange dots on each of them and they are all different. Love that!

So I was on the hunt for another 3-tier set to repurpose for my German find. The first one I thrifted (for 2 dollars) did not work, the screws were too big for the holes in my plates. I finally found one where the screws fit my set. Yeah!
My dish set is a Georg Schmider. Love his work! Take a look at some his creations, my fav being this unusual set of dishes. Click here.
Could anyone tell me more about my set? I would love to know how old it is... what the price tag means... how much is it worth...
Thanks so much for any info you can pass along to me!

daddy & daughter

Our precious Granddaughter is doing sooo well! Emolyn is gaining an ounce a day which is exactly what the Dr. ordered! Yeah! AND this afternoon she drank 3 cc. of milk from a bottle in 45 seconds!! Her very first bottle! Who knew she could do it! At the rate she is going, she'll be going home in no time! (she has to be 4 lbs.)
You guys, as her Grammy, I am loving this little girl so much that my heart is bursting as I write this! Do you remember thinking after your first baby was born, "how could I possibly love another this much!" And then you realize quickly after baby #2, that it's not like each of our kids get a portion or a percentage of our total love. They get ALL our love! Each of our kids get our total, complete and unconditional love! And now baby Emy gets that very same love from her Mommy & Daddy, her grandparents, her great-grandparents, her Aunts & Uncles, her cousins and oodles of others that adore her. Yes, she is one loved little lamb!

a windy march

The first of my many Hollyhock blooms opened up today. Spring is here! Love this time of year. I am now looking forward to seeing what pops open every day.
Don't know if you know this about Phoenix but it's rarely ever windy. Which is fine with me. I don't like wind. But I do like seeing my backyard windmill going crazy in the wind. When Randy and I found this house 14 years ago, I went wild over the windmill cuz it reminded me of the hard-working windmill back home on the farm while growing up. And Randy was thrilled that the house came with a woodstove cuz he loves burning anything. Those special touches definitely made our house the home we were looking for.