chef's hat and apron

for my little sweetie i made a christmas apron and chef's hat. what do you think?
i think its the cutest thing ever.

christmas candy...

my friend kristin and i made candy. the green shapes are the molded candies that you put in the plastic tray. and the red and green (that you can barely see) are hard candies. it was pretty fun and not too hard so i think ill be trying it again someday.

i'm also...

i'm also really thankful that God gave me the abilities to be creative and create things.

thanx God for giving me the talent to:
sew
embroider
knit
crochet
glue things together
draw (decently enough)

and also to enjoy His creations all around me.

i'm thankful...

i'm most thankful for:

God's promises and that they ALWAYS come true
a strong marraige with a wonderful husband
a healthy, fun-loving, silly daughter
a mom who lives close by and would do anything for me and most importantly prays for me
a dad who also prays for me and helps out whenever he can
2 brothers who enjoy my humor
friends who pray for me

my job - i couldn't work for a better place or work a better schedule.

turkey barrettes

i made some turkey barrettes for audrey to wear for thanksgiving.
i think they are pretty cute.

guess what i did monday night...

i made turkey finger puppets for thanksgiving. what do you think?

sorry i dont know why everything is underlined.

collection ...

i really love to make stuff. and making stuff for my daughter, thats just the best.

so here is a collection of the things ive made for audrey that have not been put on my blog yet.

picture 1 - sleep sack with appliqued heart


picture 2 - bunny hat

picture 3 - pouch sling (my daughter loves it, right!?!)
picture 4 - sunhat
picture 5 - easter dresspicture 6 - ok, i actually made this for a friend's little boy but i think its adorable.


picture 7 - cupcake dress and hat for 1st birthdaypicture 8 - purple kitty pillow/rug
picture 9 - lady bug costumepicture 10 - bear hat (she also has matching mittens but she wouldnt let me get a picture)

picture 11 - easter dresspicture 12 - matching pillowcase dresses for my daughter and her friend

bear hats...

i made some hats.

funny quote

heres a funny quote from a book im reading:
"how many people in the united states believed that they had been abducted by aliens? it was a depressingly large number. and the aliens always gave them back! perhaps they were abducting the wrong sort."

word up!

for this halloween i decided to make my daughter "wordgirl". wordgirl is a pbs kids show that we sometimes catch and its kind of cute. so i made audrey's costume and i also made her curious george a costume since wordgirl has a sidekick, captain huggie face.
im not bias or anything but my daughter is the cutest. dont you think?!

crafting...

so i think i want to change this into a crafting blog.
i dont really write my true feelings on here becuz of the people who might be out there reading this.

so yeah...

i have been trying to think of things that we buy and throw away after one use. you might be thinking "how green of her to want to help the environment?" but really its just cheaper if you dont have to buy napkins every few months. and why not use cloth napkins. so i made some cloth napkins the other day. heres a picture of them. they will match the curtains that i will someday make. heres a picture of the fabric i will use for the curtains.

what do you think?

i also made reusable baby wipes. i made them out of yellow flannel and they have worked great. let me know if you want the recipe. so now im saving the planet and saving money.

pumpkin patches...

i think i want to grow a pumpkin patch. i just love to see all the orange spheres out in a field, it looks so fall-sy.

hard...

why does life have to be so hard???

why cant it all be fun and pleasant?

if these things all happened consistently one after the other it would be great:

pumpkin patches and little girls in pigtails and overalls

hugs from those you love most

cardtable forts to read and play in

cold days and warm hoodies

mint hot chocolate

phone calls with friends you wish lived closer

my mom offering to help clean my house

and things from the past that i miss every once and awhile:

playing poker and gambling with smartees

playing scribble and all the giggles that follow

staying up way too late and just talking

not having to be the responsible adult

getting so grown up...

my little girl is getting so grown up.

she can sing and dance, likes to crawl on everything, likes to paint at work, takes good care of all of her "babies" and helps us feed our kitties.

what a pumpkin?!

losing a loved one...

if you havent heard yet, my mother in law died on october 1.

it has been some of the longest weeks my family has ever lived through. but we are going to make it. thanx to all that prayed for us and are still praying. God has been faithful to help us and comfort us.

lynn was a very special woman. a great wife and mom and granny.

i wish audrey could have known her. but im planning on making a book about her that audrey can read and learn about her special granny when she gets older. im glad that i have some really good pictures of lynn and audrey. im sure that audrey will treasure those when she gets older.

the best husband ever...

yes, another post of one of these. thats what happens when you are not sure about what to write about the longest and most horrible weeks ever.

1. Who is your man? jake m rizy
2. How long have you been together? over 8 years if you count the dating
3. How long dated? 1 year, but we were engaged in 3 months
4. How old is your man? 32
5. Who eats more? me, right now. jake is trying to watch his figure and he is doing great.
6. Who said "I love you" first? jake
7. Who is taller? jake
8. Who sings better? audrey
9. Who is smarter? jake, i thought he was too smart for me before we started dating.
10. Whose temper is worse? me, i fly off the handle way too easily
11. Who does the laundry? i do, but jake helps out sometimes
12. Who takes out the garbage? jake does, thats also the day he has to do poop scoop
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? depends on how you look at the bed
14. Who pays the bills? jake likes to now that they are on the computer
15. Who is better with the computer? jake, he is a tech trainer at school, and i am horrible with computers
16. Who mows the lawn? jake
17. Who cooks dinner? depends
18. Who drives when you are together? jake does, he likes to be in control
19. Who pays when you go out? depends on who has the cash
20. Who is most stubborn? we both are pretty stubborn
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? i hope me, becuz i have been wrong alot lately
22. Whose parents do you see the most? mine, i work in the same building
23. Who kissed who first? jake kissed me first
24. Who asked who out? jake asked me, but i had to throw lots of hints
25. Who proposed? jake
26. Who is more sensitive? depends on the day
27. Who has more friends? not sure on that one
28. Who has more siblings? we both have the same number
29. Who wears the pants in the family? we both wear pants, thats a silly question

have you ever...

i'd rather do this right now then blog about whats been going on with my family.
so here you go...

1. Started your own blog (youre reading it, arent ya?!)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (no, but i have been to disneyworld)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (kind of)
15. Adopted a child (i have a compassion kid, that counts)
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (i wish i still could)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (i take alot of sick days when im not ill, thats what happens when your kid is sick)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (wallis family mafia was kind of a business, we had contracts and everything)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (and we even got seasick)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (and now audrey plays with my "my little ponies")
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (i think i broke my toe earlier this year)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one (just last week)
94. Had a baby (a beautiful baby)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone (before my cell phone i had a cb radio my parents made me take in the car)
99. Been stung by a bee

potty training or learning??

should it be called potty training or learning?
awhile back (i think in june) audrey started going in the potty at childcare. i think the whole social aspect of it appealed to her there since they have 3 potties in the kids bathroom. i wasnt really prepared for her to start this process since i havent really done any research on how to potty train my child. but i went to target and bought a little potty seat for home.
well, we do not have 3 potties and 2 extra toddlers at home so audrey wasnt really interested in doing anything at home. she would occasionally tell me that she needed to potty but nothing happened.
in the past week audrey has started waking up with a dry diaper in the morning. so i put her on the potty after getting her up and she goes. YEAH!! she is not very consistent yet but at least we are starting the process. and i get to save a few diapers in the long run.

my eyes have been opened...

i have discovered the world of craft blogs and forums. i am not living up to my creative potential, i need to have 24 hours a day to create and craft. that would be the life.
the crafting blogs i have found are INCREDIBLE! and what some moms do to keep their children entertained and even to educate them astounds me.
here are some of the things that have inspired me to be more creative, especially as a mom:
makeandtakes.com - i want to make the color book for audrey
belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow - i love the fall leaf mobile (too bad leaves dont change into brilliant colors in texas)
kiddley.com - i really like the no sew tutu idea, that way your kid could help you
fortytworoads.blogspot - the cardboard doll furniture is awesome, i have to make some for audrey
kiddio.com - not only does she have good ideas but every friday she posts links to other crafting blogs she got inspiration from
thriftydomestica.blogspot - awesome tshirt baby sling (i might have to make one of these, maybe one for audrey for her babies)
juliekintaiwan.wordpress.com - she has some fun ideas, i might make audrey the sushi toys
artfulparent.wordpress.com - there is an interview about kids and the stages and development of drawing i found really interesting, and she did an awesome tree mural for her daughter's room
blueyonder.typepad.com - does anyone else remember tanangrams as a kid?
alldressedinblue.blogspot - shadow puppets, yarn cup, washer dial (genius), finger knitting
jojoebi.blogspot - car parking game
bitterbettyindustries.blogspot - gourd doll house (so cute)
babytoolkit.blogspot - some cute toddler ideas
flipflopsandapplesauce.blogspot - i need a toilet paper roll cuff
make-baby-stuff.com - lots of fun stuff to make
littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot - lots of fun stuff to make
notimeforflashcards.com - awesome educational crafts to do with your child, this mom is GREAT
lets-explore.typepad.com/weblog/ - i love the muffin tin snack ideas, and the stationery
amazingtrips.blogspot - read the camping story, i was laughing so hard
mayamade.blogspot - awesome table and chairs
myotherroom.blogspot - cardboard doll house (if you were wondering, yes audrey will have tons of dollhouses or various materials and shapes)
uklassinus.blogspot - fabric dollhouse
orangeflowerpatterns.blogspot - fabric basket

that should keep you busy. :)

still in a fog...

i hate being sick, especially now that i am a mom.
i had a cold or allergies or a sinus infection this weekend with a fever. i felt so bad on sunday i decided to take a zyrtec (or the generic equivalent of it). that stuff always puts me in a fog.
jake was great through it all, taking care of audrey and even getting her out of the house some. and audrey was good too. she kept wanting to kiss me since i was sick, how sweet, but not something she should be doing to someone who is sick. audrey even slept in for me yesterday since we stayed home from work. so i was able to get some extra sleep. thank you God.
and now im back at work today and still alittle foggy. hopefully i wont screw anything up or just pass out at my desk from being exhausted.

audrey's birthday part 1

audrey's birthday party with my family went very well. the doggie cupcakes were somewhat of a challenge to create but they still turned out cute (well not the sea monster ones). and audrey loved them (as you can see in the pictures below).

here are some good pictures of the dress, shorts and matching bows i made for audrey's party.

audrey got some fun gifts.

does anyone else remember how fun big wheels are?

audrey's 2nd birthday party will be with jake's family once his mom is doing better. please pray that God would heal her body. so stay tuned for stories of that party.

making stuff...

have you ever had the desire to make stuff and try to sell it?
i have, too many times for me to remember. even when i was younger i had this thought. and my neighbor friend amy and i made posters about how boys were dumb and tried to sell them around the neighborhood. i think we made about $2 each. thats not too bad when you are in the 4th grade.
right now i'm wondering if i should make hats and mittens. oh, they would be so cute. but would people buy them? and do i want to try to deal with selling things. etsy would probably be a good place to start. i did some research and found out no one is really selling what im thinking of selling, at least not as cute as mine would be.
theres also the hassle of trying to figure out what you should charge for your item. how much is my time worth?
so yeah, thats what i'm pondering at the moment.

my little girl is almost 2

plans for audrey's birthday are coming about very nicely. i have her birthday dress all done and i think it is the cutest thing. i really want to make some bows for her hair to match it but i cant find those stupid barrette clips, joanns does not seem to carry them. i will take some pictures and post them on the big day (days really, since she will have 2 family parties, what a lucky girl!).
and i found the recipe and instructions on how to make doggy face cupcakes (it was from a previous family circle). i just have to decide what kind of doggy i will make. probably a golden retriever or some sort of lab.
i just need to do the invitations, even though its just family parties, i still want to do cute invitations.
oh, by the way. we are doing a doggy theme party for audrey. if you know audrey at all you know that she loves doggies. and she likes to crawl around the house barking. what a silly girl!!

teething...

audrey has been snotty, very drooly, and cranky lately. and she wants to put everything in her mouth. im suspecting that the 2 year molars are on their way. but maybe its something else, who knows.
a couple of my friends tease me that i think every little kid symptom is teething. but when kids are at this age it could be teething.
so i spent yesterday at home with audrey instead of going to work. we went to the park by our house and we danced and chased each other around the house. doesnt sound like a sick kid, right?! but audrey tends to still want to be active even when she feels alittle out of it.

i think one of the hardest decisions to make is whether to make your kid go to work (thats what we call audrey's childcare since its at my office, no we do not have her in a sweatshop. :) i pray every time that God will show me what to do. and He definitely did yesterday. right as i was wiping audrey's nose before we left she threw up alittle. so that was my answer.

back to real life...

coming back from vacation (or "CA-TION" as audrey calls it) can be so hard.
i did not want to come home and have to do laundry and dishes and fixing and preparing meals. its so nice to just be ignorant of those sorts of things while you are on vacation. and its nice not to have to be on such a time schedule.
and i really miss my daily naps i got on vacation.

trip #2 to virginia beach

flying with a toddler can be interesting. but all in all i would have to say that audrey did great. we had some pretty turbulent flights and it didnt even seem to faze audrey. what a trooper. maybe she will be a pilot some day. just as long as she can have her pacifier, which the sucking helps with air pressure changes. :)

and im so glad that i read that you can take their carseat to the gate, ask if the plane is full, and if its not your lap child can have a seat. if the plane is full they will check the carseat for you (like they do strollers) and you get it back right when you exit the plane. audrey was able to have her own seat for 5 of the 6 flights we made.

of course the only time she had to sit in my lap was the longest flight, 3 hours. but we all lived through it. i even made audrey some pipe cleaner glasses.

we had a great time with jake's grandparents. they loved audrey, of course, who couldn't. and she really took to them too, which was what i had been praying for. here are some pictures of her with them.

one of the best parts about going was the food. jake's grandparent's still have a garden and they grow tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers and zuchinni. they also have a blueberry bush, pear and peach trees. heres a picture of audrey devouring the tomatoes. she loved them. it made me wish that we had a garden. maybe i will try to grow something this fall, we'll see.

trip #1 to oklahoma

here are some pictures of my trip to guthrie for our girl's weekend. i had a great time catching up with my best friend from junior high. and audrey and her daughter, maliyah, ended up doing pretty well together. here they are sitting in maliyah's toy bin.

my friend amy is a massage therapist and knows how to do baby massage. audrey loved it, she didn't want to move from amy's lap even after she was done.

here are our girls in the matching pillowcase dresses i made for them.

well there you go. i know most people dont care about details but they like seeing pictures, so there you go.

cutest outfits ever...

there is a lady on etsy.com that makes the cutest little girl outfits that look like disney princess outfits. but they are short sets and some dresses.
go to www.etsy.com and then type "tinkerella" in the search box.
soooooo cute.

i may have to try and make audrey some. i wish i had a week free to sew.

reading books...

i am reading some great books. they are from a series called "the no. 1 ladies dectective agency". its about a woman in botswana, africa who runs her own detective agency and the fun adventures that each case puts her in.
i found that the first book is kind of hard to follow and get into at first but by the end i was hooked.
one of the things i really like about these books is that the author puts alot of African culture into the story. he has lived in botswana so i trust that the references are correct.
one of the things that really struck me about their culture is how they see that people who have enough money for their families (example: if you have enough money to buy food, clothes and pay for your house) should have servants. if you dont have servants you are seen as selfish because if you dont employ "your maid" then she is jobless and its your fault that she does not have money to buy food for her family. i thought that was really interesting to think about it that way.
if you like to read then you should try this series. its at the arlington public libraries so you dont even have to buy it.
if you dont like to read then you should be reading. its good for you.

our air conditioner and vacations

to all of you who have commented and have been praying for our air conditioner, thank you.
it seems to be running well. and hopefully will continue to do so for a long time.

why does it take forever for vacation time to come. i am so excited. audrey, mom and i will be leaving for oklahoma to see my friend, her baby and her mom in just one week. i can hardly stand it. i wish we were leaving today. :)
next week at work it will be hard to concentrate. whenever i get on the internet i go and look at the website for the cottage we are renting in oklahoma. its going to be sooooo fun.

air conditioner part 2

when i got home yesterday the house had gotten up to 88 degrees and poor jake was all sweaty from the heat. our ac repairman came at 2 and by then our house was into the 90's. i stupidly decided that i would still work out yesterday, eventhough jake advised against it. i had to stop early, it was just too hot. i dont know how those people who do yoga in 98 degree rooms do it. i would die, or kill people.
anywayz, our repairman searched and searched for the problem. he even sent his assistant into the attic, poor guy. at first he thought that our freon was completely gone and he couldnt find the leak anywhere. he was afraid that maybe we had someone stealing our freon to get high. then he finally found our freon, it was being shoved into the wrong spot by a valve. so he fixed that and hopefully it will all be fixed.
please pray that our ac is fixed. if this does not solve the problem we have to get a new outside unit. yuck, and ours isnt even that old.
the one good thing about our ac repairman is that he didnt charge us for anything. yeah!!

when i put audrey down for a nap in her room i pointed the fan right at her so she would be ok. but when she woke up she was a little sweatball. even the tips of her pigtails were sweaty. but she slept good, 3 1/2 hours.
i hope this is the end of our air conditioning saga.

air conditioners

i wish we could live without air conditioners. ours seems to have something go wrong with it at least once a year if not more.
this year our ac repair guy has been out twice to our house and today will be his third time. theres nothing like waking up in the middle of the nite and hearing your ac running like mad and your temp not going down. and then waking up again later and its still running. i finally just shut it off and made jake pray with me. i was so frustrated. and you know how easy it is to go back to sleep when you're frustrated. ugh!!
so heres hoping and praying that it is fixed today. if not i may have to try and fix it myself and that would involve a baseball bat.

i hate it when...

i hate it when ... you are making dinner and you miss a step and you ruin the whole thing. thats what happened last nite to me. i was trying to make my grandma's recipe of cheese soup that is really good and i missed the step where you cook the veggies completely before adding the cheese and thickening up the soup. the veggies were still crunchy and the soup was really liquidy. im hoping it can be saved, because i hate wasting food.

month menus...

i have really been trying this year to make healthy, nutritious and easy meals for my family. it was actually one of my resolutions. so far i have only done about 2 months worth but i would say that it makes things alot easier. with the menu i can make my grocery list before hand and make sure things are defrosted, instead of not being able to make anything because the chicken is as hard as a rock in the freezer at 4 pm.
if you're curious how i do this just let me know. i could show you how.

sick, again

so i was sick again on tuesday and wednesday. yuck. its this stupid sinus infection that keeps recurring. i had it monthly in january - may and then again this month. i have been trying to get my immunities up but its just not kicking it. i should probably talk to my doctor about it next time i see him.
the good thing about being sick; i got to sleep in yesterday.

fourth of july festivities

well for the fourth of july we did do alot. we made it out to the parade on friday morning and found a great spot to watch under a tree. audrey loved the horsies and wanted more horsies, she kept on saying "horsies, please!" its so fun to go to a parade with a little kid, their excitement is very contagious.
then after audrey's nap we went to the in-laws for swimming and hot dogs. audrey did pretty good in the big pool. she was in her floaty thing awhile and we held her. i tried to get her to lay on her back some. she looked so cute with her little wet pigtails.
on saturday my family came over and we had dinner together and then went and saw the fireworks at the highlands. we ended up parking in an insurance office parking lot alittle down the street, but i think we had a better view than the people at the highlands. the fireworks only lasted about 10 minutes but there were some good ones.
it was a good fourth.

mistaken identities

so i was just talking with my friend and i realized that i had the wrong spoon family on my blog list. oops. so whoever you are spoonman, sorry.
its fixed now.

our plans for the fourth...

i kind of want to do alot with audrey this year for the fourth of july. she is old enough to enjoy fireworks and call them pretty. she is old enough to enjoy a parade.
so it looks like we will try and go to the arlington parade tomorrow morning. then have hamburgers and hot dogs at the in-laws house and probably swim.
and we will try and see some fireworks at some point too.
i found audrey this adorable patriotic tank top too. i will take pictures and post them if i can figure out how to on this.
well thats about it. im tired today because we had dinner with some friends last night and had alot of fun but stayed out way too late. i hope audrey is doing ok at "work", thats what i call her childcare. :)

vacations...

so i have been busy planning some vacations and i cant wait.
1st vacation: to guthrie, oklahoma with my mom and daughter to see my best friend from junior high, her daughter and her mom. we will be staying in a little b and b cottage and just catching up. this will be our second year to do this (not in a cottage last year but it was still very fun).
the cottage has a kitchen so we can cook our own meals and we can let the little girls just play in the house. i think it will be much easier than hotel rooms.
2nd vacation: to virginia beach to see jake's grandparents. this is the first time for us to fly with audrey so im alittle nervous. and we have to change planes. but im sure shell do fine, she always does. and i will have LOTS of new, fun, quiet toys to play with on the plane.
jakes grandparents will love getting to see audrey again. they got to see her last year and couldnt stop talking about what a great baby she was. wait until they get to see her running around and talking.
thats all for my first post.