Uganda family

*****side note: if there is a different color word it is a link click on it!*****

Despite going to the same church and having a couple of meetings with the other missionaries going on the trip to Uganda, I didn't really know any of them. I didn't know their stories or lives, and they didn't know mine. At the airport I kissed my husband and my girls goodbye and walked on the plane with practically strangers. I was nervous, I had never done anything like this before and felt like a new girl going to a new school. Will they like me?

Well let me tell you if anything can make people grow closer it would be sending them to a country were there is no running water and toilets! Now I laugh at myself for being so nervous. These people are amazing people! Each one had something unique to offer to the kids at St. Jerome center. I grew to not only care about each one but LOVE them like a family. I call them my Uganda Family.
This past weekend I got up early to meet up with some of them and talk about our presentation. we are putting together a movie, speeches, a silent auction, snacks, and of course displays for all of my pictures. We want to focus on the future of Cove and how our church and others can help.
The presentation is on Monday, November 21 from 6:30-8:30 at St. Teresa's in Bright, IN
It was so wonderful seeing a couple of my Uganda family members on Saturday. we laughed and got a little teary eyed talking about our time with the children and the staff at Cove. I am so excited about it, we are going to have so much fun!!!
I am also looking forward to our next visit and adding on to our family. If anyone is interested in possibly joining us on our next trip to Uganda in 2013. or sponsoring a child this is the time to come and talk with us about it. you don't have to belong to the church or any church you just have to want to help!

I have my Eye on you!

About a month or so I was signed up to be room mom to the Julia's 1st grade class. I didn't really know what I was getting into but I'm excited to be able to decorate, plan parties and make treats. The Julia and I do quite a bit of arguing over silly things like clothes, playing outside too late, bed time, bath time, eating healthy foods, ect.. So it was nice to enjoy putting her Halloween party together and having fun.
She picked out this treat to make for your classmates : we first stuck a Popsicle stick into an Oreo. (this was actually trickier than it looks because the Oreo kept falling apart.)

next after washing our hands TONS of times :) we melted chocolate and spread it over the Oreo.

While the chocolate is still warm we placed a life saver in the middle

Her party starts at 1 o'clock!!! I'm a little nervous.

Happy Halloween!

last weekend in pictures

This past weekend was another busy weekend for pictures! This is seriously becoming my new favorite time of the year just because of all the pictures I get to take!!
First up we have my cousin and her little family! This baby boy is seriously the sweetest thing! He has this cute little voice. If he doesn't grow up to be an explorer I will be shocked! He LOVED walking around the woods.

Next up is an old friend from elementary school! Beth and her family have been threw some tough times in the last couple of years but have a great out look on life. We got some BIG family pictures taken with Beth's father and sister and her sisters family. Her dad was cracking me up all night! And let me tell you He is the definition of a Grandpa that is CRAZY about his Grand kids!!!


Then I ended my weekend with probably the most IN LOVE couple I have ever met. (besides me and my hubby :P) Being raised by a single mom I know they always worry that they won't find someone that would love her AND her kids. But Ashley has no worries in that department. Travis is crazy about her little boy. and you would probably think that she would feel so lucky to have him and she does but the look in Travis's eyes when he looks at her is proof that he feels 10x luckier to have both of them! I can not wait till their wedding!!!

does this picture not remind you of that brad paisley song where the little boy overhears his mom getting proposed and he prays that she says yes?! LOVE IT!


This coming weekend is another weekend full of pictures!!! yea!

from honeymoon to play boy

HA HA! I got your attention with that title huh? well let me tell you it's not what you think.
For our honeymoon we boarded a cruise to the Bahama's. on the cruise they had certain nights that were designated as "fancy nights" were if you wanted to eat dinner in the main dinning hall you had to be dressed up. I love dressing up and getting all pretty so i had planned to bring two dresses. I wore my really fancy dress the night before and on this night i planned on wearing a cute black mini dress. (The best part about being on our cruise was we could enjoy all the alcohol beverages and not worry about driving. so to say the least we were having a VERY good time!) i couldn't zip my dress up and asked my hubby to do it for me. well he pulled a little to hard and caught my skin and then ripped the zipper clear off the dress!!!! i was bleeding but we were both laughing so hard to even notice. i sent my wonderful new husband to the gift shop to buy me a dress. he didn't do a bad job it was a maroon color with sparkles.
We had so much fun on our honeymoon and I often think about those days when we were just so excited to call each other husband and wife. and even though there were over a thousand people on the boat and the islands I felt like we were the only ones.

Now on to the playboy:
I was searching for a dark maroon color fabric to make my dog a costume. It has only been two years since my wonderful trip with my husband but in those two years that dress I made him search for has been ripped and stretched. the sparkles have fell out and its been sitting in my closet. so I cut it up and sewed it back together. now my dog has a Halloween costume:

The Rapunzel

The Julia thought long and hard about what she wanted to be this Halloween. So when she finally decided to dress as Rapunzel I knew I had to make the best Rapunzel EVER! I found this idea to making a wig on my good friend Google. it was super easy but took a long looooong time!

first I got a NEW pair of panty hose. ($0.99 at the dollar store) had her try it on then tied the legs together in a Knot.next I cut the extra leg space off.
here is the long part! I measured out how long I wanted each piece of hair and sewed it to the panty hose. It takes so long because there is a lot of space to cover!
Originally I was going to use all yellow but quickly I found that my yellow was running out so we used white tan and orange. it wouldn't be a project made by me if it didn't have a little quirk in it. after three weeks of adding more and more hair I was tiered of looking at it! lol I put it on The Julia:


The only problem is now I added a new thing to argue about in the morning. She tries to sneak it on her head as she's walking out the house to school.
I'm glad she loves something I made. That makes all the sewing well worth it!


P.S. I also made the dress but It's way to beyond not perfect for me to share how i did that. lol but it will work for trick-or-treating

my day off

Like I said Friday was my day off so I woke up took Julia to school then went straight back to bed. and the best part was Miss Belle stayed quietly sleeping in her bed till 10:30!!! I was so happy that I decided to reward her with a donut from the bakery! Then we headed out to visit my amazing Grandma. She is kicking butt in her fight against cancer. She took us out to lunch and spent some time with miss Belle. Then before we knew it The Julia was on her way home from school. I made a yummy dinner and took the girls out to a Halloween party. details on The Julia's Rapunzel costume later on in the week. stay tuned :P
Miss Belle couldn't throw that far but she got a prize anyway. after going threw the haunted house. (kid friendly lol) then taking a crazy hay ride we were ready to go home. (Well really Miss Belle was. she's a home body) I wasn't ready to put them to bed just yet so i decided to make dessert.




we didn't have any marshmallows so we used animal crackers and Miss Belle was happy with the unlimited supply. we then derided to make a tent in the living room and fell asleep. So to say the lest my day off was a busy one but i had so much fun hanging out with some of my favorite girls in the world

makes me smile :)

I was going threw some old pictures looking for a certain one for a project (i will show you that later) then i found these two. They are my top two favorite pictures of my girls.
they love each other. They are the best of friends even though one cant talk yet. My sweet girls.


Hope you have a great weekend! I am taking tomorrow off! I have no babies to babysit and since my husband has been working different hours this momma cant seem to fall asleep!!!! i plan on taking the Julia to school then coming home and sleeping!!!! then spending a perfect Friday with my baby and my amazing grandma!plus i have to rest for this coming weekend, (TONS of photo sessions booked!!) I promise a really long post on Monday! :)

cow Belle

For Halloween I decided to make the girls costumes! I always wanted to do that. First up was miss Belle's She wanted to be a cow bell..... OK I wanted her to be a cow bell :) I have to admit this before we get started that i copied this idea from my aunt Julie she dressed her daughter in a very similar costume about ummm 14 years ago.
We got a white sweater since Halloween is usually pretty cold here in Ohio. some fabric markers baby bottle nipples and a hat.
I drew cow spots on the sweater.
Then sewed on the baby bottle nipples to act as the cow utters :P
Then i cut out pieces of felt and added them to the hat for ears and horns
Miss Belle make a perfect Cow Belle!
I think i can get away with dressing her up by playing with her name for a few more years
tinker BELLE
southern BELLE
liberty BELLE
dinner BELLE
taco BELLE
Christmas BELLE
and so on and so on she might hate me when she's older but she will get over it right?

Caramel apple disaster!

Caramel Apples are always an amazing treat in the fall! one of my favorites! The Julia said she never had them before!! I was like WHAT!? first she had never seen the lion king and now this!?! what have I been doing the past 6 years? So we invited her friend over and made Caramel apples together.I didn't get the right kind of Caramel. because I am a sucker for things on sale for $0.99 so i bought the caramel ice cream topping thinking it would be the same, well its not! They weren't as thick.
Julia said what if we freeze it? I thought why not. so we wrapped them and i derided to make them pretty and put a tag on with some ribbon. Then into the freezer they went.
The freezer didn't really do anything either the caramel was still runny so we said o-well and ate them anyway. the only problem was when you freeze granny smith apples they become EXTRA SOUR!!!!!!!!!!!

Kayla's gift

I would love to introduce my cousin Kayla. or who the Julia likes to call the girl with the golden hair! :) (wouldn't that be an awesome nickname to have) Miss Kayla is a great person and shes crazy about her cousin Belle.Well honestly any baby she's around she has to play with them, hold them, feed them. She is going to be the perfect babysitter, possibly teacher and someday far from now a great mom!
Miss Kayla was over my house one day before my trip to Africa and we were talking about the kids I would meet there. She said she wanted to help me make something to give to a little girl. now come on isn't she awesome!! such a big heart and beautiful person.
we decided to make dolls out of scrapes of fabric i had sitting around. she worked on the sewing machine, drew the faces on, added hair and little touches to make each one unique.
I couldn't wait to get these pictures back to her. to show her. I was to proud of my cousin for putting another person before herself and taking time out of her day to create something i know this little girl will treasure!


I hope someday (if her mom says yes) Kayla will get to visit Africa with me and meet all the little babies! But then again I'm not so sure she would come home after playing, holding, and feeding the little ones.

Picture madness!

October is picture madness month!! i love it!!!!! I got to do three sessions this past weekend and every weekend from here on out is full of appointment! this make me smile! yes it means we are getting closer to our Disney world trip but also it means i get to try new picture ideas and have fun doing what i love to do!







more to come...............