You Asked, I Answered. Part 2

It's clear that I've been slacking on blogging lately. I think twitter took over my love of blogging, whoops! So here are the rest of the questions and answers for y'all.

Emily asked: What made you start blogging, and how do you become so close with your blog friends? 


I started blogging to keep track of our family, to have a place to keep track of the girls growing up, to be able to build relationships with other women in the same area of life as us. It's so fun to have a place to keep all of our family happenings, to share all of our photos, and the things going on in our lives. Building relationships with fellow bloggers definitely takes work. Most of your corresponding is done through email, and sometimes texts and phone calls. I have made SO many wonderful friends through blogging. I also find that a lot of my favorite bloggers are on twitter as well, and we do a lot of our communicating there. 


Mateya asked: What did you used to do before you started your daycare? Mateya and Rebekah asked: Are you originally from KS, did you grow up where you live? When are we going to meet? Mateya and Melanie asked: Did you go to college? Where and what for? 


I was an administrative asst for the Dept of Labor before I started my daycare, not too exciting, but a great job, that sometimes I miss. I live in the same town that I was born and raised. We moved to California for my dads job for a few years when I was younger, but moved back to our home town. I didn't go to college. Right after high school, I had Macie, and started working. Mateya, I really do hope we get to meet sometime soon. We'll have to arrange some type of meet up :)


Rebekah asked: Is there another place you would rather live? What would be your dream vacation?


I love living around our family and friends, but eventually down the road (MAYBE) I would love to try living in another state. Maybe Florida? Who knows?! I think that we will probably live here for most of our 'working life,' but maybe when we retire, we'll move somewhere warmer. My dream vacation would be a family beach vacation, probably to Jamaica or Hawaii. Seeing the girls play on the beach, and just giggle with excitement is one of the best memories I have! 

You Asked, I Answered. Part 1

Thank you to all you ladies who asked me some fabulous questions. I finally have time to sit down and answer. Our weekend was non stop, I didn't get to sit down and relax at all until Sunday evening, phew!

Ok here are the questions, and answers...

Caroline asked: What is your favorite thing about your family?

My favorite thing about our family (just our family of 4 I'm assuming she meant) is that we're always laughing and being silly. I think laughter is good for the soul, and I definitely feel like we spend a majority of our time laughing. The girls are such a wonderful source of entertainment, and always keep us laughing (and sometimes crying).

Katie asked: What is your favorite bible verse and why? What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to social media? 

I have 2. The first one is: James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above... I love this verse in reference to the girls. 


My second favorite is: Ecc. 4:12 ... A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. I love this verse in reference to Gerrad and I, staying strong and forming a united front. 

My biggest pet peeve in social media? I don't know that I really have one? I think common courtesy applies, if someone communicates with you on facebook, twitter, blog, etc... it's polite to reply, and it's fun to build new relationships.

Meghan and Mateya asked: How did you meet your husband? What is the best thing about being a mom? What is the most challenging?

Gerrad and I met the summer after I was out of high school. A gf of mine begged and pleaded for me to go ride motorcycles with her, a guy friend of hers, and another guy (Gerrad), I agreed (this was in my more 'wild child' phase by the way, you couldn't pay me enough to get on a motorcycle now that I'm a mom). We spent the evening cruising around town until all hours of the morning, and the rest is history, 10 years ago this past summer, We have had our ups and downs, and relationships take work, but I am SO thankful he is the one for me!

The best thing about being a mom? There are SO many things, I'm not sure I can say just one. Discovering that love and heartache and laughter and tears have no limits and some days, I experience them all within a single moment. Watching them conquer something new, and seeing the pride on their faces, best reward EVER. The most challenging thing about being a mom? Sometimes not being able to heal their hurt, or fix things for them. I struggle with this the most, because I'm such a control freak, and want everything to always be copacetic. 


Aly asked: If you had to chose one store to shop at the rest of your life, where would it be? How did you decide on the girls names? Any special meanings? 


The shopping question is tough! I would probably say Target, because they pretty much have EVERYTHING. My frugal clothing voice in the back of my head says Old Navy (I'm SUCH a mom, goodness). 


The girls names? There was definitely no exact science to it. Macie's name we kind of decided on my default. Gerrad wanted to name her Maddy, and I wanted to name her Chloe, and somewhere along the way, we decided on Macie. I had remembered a Spanish teacher in high school named her daughter that, and I loved it. Now it's super popular, and everyone has the name. Hind sight is always 20-20 ;). Addaline's name I had heard in reference to some elderly woman quite a while back. I knew it was an old name, and not very popular at all. I suggested it to Gerrad, and we quickly agreed. We had a boys name picked out super fast, and we ended up deciding on Addaline's name fairly fast as well. Although Addaline's name almost changed a few weeks before her birth... Everyone kept asking if we were going to call her Addie, and Gerrad and a few others even started to refer to her as Addie. I LOST it, and decided I wanted to change her name to Campbell. I love the name Addie, don't get me wrong, but I absolutely adored the name Addaline, and did NOT want it shortened. Plus I was 9 months pregnant, and super hormonal. I'm SUCH a baby name spaz, and already have names picked out if we ever decide to take the plunge again. And no, I'm not sharing them here. If you really want to know, just ask :) 


This just turned into the longest post ever... SO I'll answer the rest of them in another post later this week. I promise if you didn't see your name, I didn't leave you out. I'll get to you :) Thanks again ladies! It's always fun to share little pieces about yourself that people may not already know. 

A Little Q&A...

Who doesn't love a little question and answer session? I thought it would be fun to do a post where you all can ask me anything you want, and I'll answer your questions over the next few days in a blog post. So ask away, nothing is off limits! Family, motherhood, crafting, etc...Can't wait to see what you ladies come up with :)

Family Photos

A few weekends ago, we did the same thing we did last year... loaded up the kiddos, and our group of friends, and we all headed out to take each others family photos for Christmas cards. It was pretty entertaining, having 5 families all taking pics. I think I'm going to retake a few of ours, because I'm not really loving my hair/myself in the pics. Selfish? Maybe! We did get a few cute pics of the girls, and one family photo that I absolutely LOVE! 

 This is my absolute favorite photo of the girls! I need to print/frame it asap!

This is my favorite family photo out of all the ones we took.

 Side note: Gerrad always has something to say about people who take photos on railroad tracks (because he works for the railroad), and then low and behold, where do we take a family photo. HA!

It was fun to be with all of our friends taking photos, and seeing how much all the families have changed and grown over the last year. Can't wait to design our Christmas card, yes I'm already ready. I like to plan ahead :)

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

I blogged about this 2 years ago...to share our story, and to get it off my chest. So many women have been there, and sometimes it helps to just let it out. I think about it from time to time, and thank God daily for the 2 special blessings in my life. 

Fall Swap Revealment

First of all, I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you wonderful ladies who participated in our fall swap. It wouldn't have been the success it was, if not for you all. There were only a few snags in this swap, and we definitely apologize for having to push the link up back a week.

I was paired up with the lovely, Aly, who happens to be one of the first real blogger friends I made. I just adore her, and her sassy personality. She sent the most amazing gifts, and was SO generous. She even sent some fun Halloween socks for the girls, which they adore. Thank you, Aly for all the great gifts. I LOVED them all :)

 Look at all these goods! The scarf, I've been dying for that scarf for a while, just haven't bought it for myself. Aly is a mind reader, beat that ;) And that zebra pumpkin yard stake, L.O.V.E. Seriously!

 This pumpkin, it now has a new home outside my front door! The Halloween socks for the girls are just adorable too! 

 This turkey candle holder is super cute too, it will be on our kitchen table asap.

The scarf... perfect mustard color. Yes, I'm obsessed! 


Thanks again Aly for all the amazing gifts, you're the best! 

Scarf Necklace WINNER!!

Sorry for the late posting of the winner, I've been trying to keep a sick toddler down and resting. She is on the mend, thankfully. Momma is worn out and hasn't left the house for 2.5 days.


Anyway... The lucky winner is #23- Rebekah!!! Rebekah, email me your address and I'll get a teal scarf necklace out to you in the mail asap :) 

Date Night with my Girl!

A while back, I found out Miranda Lambert was coming to concert here, and really wanted to go, but didn't end up following through and purchasing tickets. Yesterday, I kept seeing people talking about going to the concert on facebook, and I immediately regretted my decision in not buying Macie and I tickets to go. So, cue the whining to Gerrad, and my friend Jamie, via text message... and then a phone call from G that he found a steal of a deal on tickets in the town he was working in, on craigslist. He got 2 tickets, $60 seats a piece, for $50, WHOO HOO! When Gerrad got home from work, he casually handed the tickets to Macie and then we waited for her reaction. She was super excited to go, and was such a trooper, even though we were at the concert 2 1/2 hours after her bedtime. 

We had a dinner date with G and Addaline, and then headed for the concert. I left my camera at home because I was certain they would search my bag and wouldn't let me bring it in. That's what I get for assuming, no one searched my bag, and all Macie and I got was crappy cell phone pics from our night, boo :(

 My girl and I waiting for Miranda to come on. 

 Macie was super excited.

 Miranda rocking the house.

 Miranda's new group, Pistol Annies was there as well, LOVE them!

This is how close we were to the stage. Not too shabby for last minute tickets huh?! Thanks again G for getting us the tickets. Such a fun night!

P.S. If you're looking for the Fall's Favorite Finds linkup, come back NEXT Friday to link up your post. We had a few people who didn't get their packages on time, so we wanted to give everyone the chance to receive their package, and have time to blog their goodies!

P.P.S. Don't forget to enter my scarf necklace giveaway. I will close the giveaway Sunday evening, and announce the winner Monday morning!

DIY Scarf Necklace Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!

How many of you have seen the scarf necklaces floating around pinterest? I for one, have been obsessing over them for a few weeks. When I saw Michael's had tshirts on sale this week, I decided it was time to bite the bullet (they're 2/$5.00 until Saturday at close). I bought 2 tshirts, and ran home to attempt my first one. In hind sight, 2 tshirts makes it a lot fuller looking, so my first one is a little bit different. First one down, I decided that I should make a hot pink one for Addaline to wear for family photos, since I was struggling with what she was going to wear on her top half... enter another trip to Michael's for more shirts. Made the hot pink one last night, and decided this morning that I wanted to make my teal one as well. It's a sickness folks. 

After I posted a pic on twitter last night... I got a reply from you lovely ladies that you all love them. So was born the idea of the tutorial and giveaway. I *may* have even gotten a few threatening tweets about rigging the giveaway, but I won't mention any names (Chelsea, Mateya, Lindsey and Holly, cough cough) :) 

On to the tutorial... Be patient with me, since I'm not a professional, and might have missed a step. If you are confused by any of these steps, visit THIS tutorial as well if you need. I used part of this for making mine. 

*Start with 2 size LARGE tshirts, any color will do. 

*Cut off the bottom hem of shirt (save hem for wrapping later), then cut (until you reach the armpits) into 1 to 1 1/2 inch strips. You don't have to measure, just guess, and cut. 

*When you're done cutting, you should have a nice pile of tshirt strips, like so.

*Next... pull strips as far as they will stretch... like this (I just put them over my thumbs, and pulled until I couldn't pull anymore). 

*There is no exact science to it, just stretch them until you can't pull anymore, and they don't all have to be the same length, just as close as you can. 

*The braids: Take as many strands as you want for the braids. Today I used 9 strands for one braid, and 6 for the other. Last night I made a wider braid, and used 12 strands. Gather the strands together, and cut one end, so now you'll have LONG strands (double the length of your loops basically since you're cutting them). Divide by how many strands you have, if you grabbed 9 strands, you'll use 3 for each part of the braid. I hope this makes sense. Tie off one end with thread. I imagine you could even use floss if you don't have any thread. You just need it to keep the braid together, like so...

*Braid all the way down until you get to the end, and tie off again with more thread, just like the top. If you don't want any braids in your scarf, then you can skip these steps. Make as many braids as you want! I made 2 for each of mine I believe. 

*Next step- gather up all your loops like this (just set the braids off to the side for now)

*Bring both sides together. Feel free to twist them as you're bringing them together, or just simply bring them together if you don't want a twist look. Use your hem line (just cut it so it's not a loop anymore, but now a long strand) to tie a knot so the 2 ends are tied together. Like this

No they're not 2 separate circles like it looks in this pic, I have the necklace wrapped around my knee while tying this, and while tying the braids on as well. 

*Tying in the braids: Simply measure how long you want the braids to be, I make one longer and one a little shorter. Lay their ends over the knot that you created when you tied the 2 ends together. 

Then wrap the rest of your hem strand around the braids and necklace loops, creating a wrap for the back of the neck basically. You may have to trim the braids if they're too long, simply cut the ends off once you've got the wrap stabilized, and continue covering ends with hem wrap. The finished product will look like the above photo. 

And there you have it ladies. I probably missed something, and some of this might not make sense to you now, but it will when you start making it. I linked to another tutorial if you need extra help, if any of my directions are not clear enough. 

Here is the finished tshirt scarf necklace, being modeled by moi, sans makeup and clean hair...

Now for the giveaway part.... Who wants to win one of these? Since I haven't done any fun giveaways in a while, and because I love you gals, I'm going to give one of these away. All you have to do is....Leave one comment for each: 

1} Be a follower of my blog, pretty easy right?!

2} Tell me what a few of your favorite colors are? So I can attempt to make your scarf necklace in said color (pending Michaels has the color). Colors I can remember off the top of my head that they have are: red, blue, black, white, orange, green (lime), yellow, brown, hot pink.  

Pretty easy ladies!!! I'll close the giveaway Sunday evening at 6pm. GOOD LUCK :)