4 months, going on 4 years...

We have had such a busy few weeks!  I went back to school 2 days a week and it has really put a hitch in our giddy up.  I lost most of my spare time to Intermediate Accounting Principals and Global Economics for the next 16 weeks.  I have been so bad with pictures this week.  I took the camera out of the diaper bag and guess what...no pictures for the most part, but since I haven't posted in 2.5 weeks I have plenty of "older" pictures to share, but it is getting late and I have to get up way too early.  So, for tonight, we will just say "Peace Ya'll!" I'll be back tomorrow with more to share since I don't have school on Tuesday nights...see you then! ~Cassie

Life in General...

We have had a very exciting week.  Abby Grace has started sitting up straight with little or no help and she can now  blow with her lips togther to make a new noise.  On the down side, she has started fighting sleep, so no more snuggles before bed, I just take her in there and lay her down.  It is much easier for everyone this way.

Check out her new hair-do.  I prayed that her hair would be more manageable than mine, but her new mohawk type look is making me think we may be facing a long road as far as learning how to stye her hair.  I had to wet it 5!!! times to get it to lay down one day last week.

This is how AG will look when you see her most all the time now days.  Fingers in her mouth, bunny at her side.  I have given her several stuffed animals over the past few weeks, but bunny seems to have won.  She has been showing him some major lovin's for  three days now and he has the slober dried fur to prove it.
I guess I should apologize for the quality of my pictures.  AG hates the flash and that makes it very hard to take a decent picture inside the house, but I think you can get the idea most of the time.

This kid loves her some daddy these days.  Check out that stare last Sunday before church.  Also, note Matt's super healthy breakfast...homemade wheat bread with peanut butter and bananas.  My friend Abby has taught me how to make my own bread and it is delish!  I don't know if everyone knows, but AG has some pretty heavy food allergies: dairy, soy, strawberries, tomatoes, and one other thing that I haven't figured out yet, but since I am breast feeding I have stopped eating all these things.  It makes for some really interstesing shopping trips trying to find something I can eat, and I pretty much can't eat out at all.  Most every restaurant cooks with vegetable, aka soybean, oil.  I have been thinking about adding some little hints about how to make this lifestyle easier if anyone out there is interested. (If I figured out how to do key words in my blog someone who needed it might actually find it huh?)  Well, here is the first hint.  Call ahead.  If you know where you are going to be eating call ahead and let  them know  your dietary restrictions.  Most places are more than happy to help you out.  Also, a lot of deli meats (especially Hormel) have dairy in them...read every label!

Whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread.  No dairy, no soy.  Yummy!!! We ate a whole loaf in one afternoon it was so good, whoops!  I also learned a little something about canning this week and ended up with 14 jars of pickled okra.  We havent' tried it yet, but it looks delish!

I posted on FB that I would share about my gallery wall, well here goes...
I started by researching and realized that I liked a little more structure than some of the fancy pants designers out there who just hang everything haphazard and call it cool.  So, I needed a plan.
1. I collected all of the black frames from around the house that I wanted to use and purchased a few more at the family $$ for around $3-5.  They are a great deal and I bet you can't pick them out from the pictures here!

2. I needed to layout my design so I brought home a couple of outdated desktop calendars from work.  I traced each picture frame and then measured how far from the top the actual hanger was.  I marked this and then found the center so that I could just pound away once I got my design layed out.

3.  I layed my design out on the floor and included these wooden shelves that I have had for a while.  I love small bottles and this like a great way to include them.  (See that collage frame in the background?  I hate those things, I never can figure out what to put in them.  I got that one at a white elephant and I guess that is where I will use it next.  Merry Christmas!)
4.  I used regular old scotch tape to put my design up on the wall and then I hung the shelves to make sure that it actually worked.  I tried this once before and just started hanging things and ended up with a lot of holes to patch.

5.  Since I had already measured out where the hangers were on the backs of my frames all I had to do was make sure my templates were on the wall where I wanted and get to work.  I love the finished product and our living room doesn't echo anymore :)

Content?  I didn't worry about it.  I used pictures I like to see and remind me of those I love.   Aren't my little bottles cute?  I love them so much, and I think they add character!

I am sure we will have another busy week.  I will be sure to take plenty of pictures :) I am getting a new chair from Jessamie at http://www.birdandbranchredesign.com/ this week and am sooo excited!

~Cassie