Last Day of Kindergarten

Today Griffin received his kindergarten graduation certificate! I can't believe my baby will be headed to first grade next school year.

Cousins & Brothers.

It was fun having Kevin and AJ over today! The boys played together and then they all decided to take a ride through the woods.

Meet Jasper ...

We did it ya'll ... we welcomed a new member to our family last night.


Meet {Jasper} .... or Winston, or Marley, or Oliver, or Milo, or Otis ... we haven't quite decided on the name yet ... but the minute I saw him I thought he looked like a Jasper.


Just look at how cute he is ... and he's making a certain 6-year-old very, very happy!


His Doggy Momma Emma decided she would no longer feed the puppies so they were ready a little early. We are learning as we go ... it's been 16 years since I've had a puppy.


I expected to be up all night with him but he settled right in with Griffin's blue Easter Bunny and didn't make a peep all night. Of course he woke me up bright and early at 5:30 but that's okay.

Jasper ... yeah ... I think Jasper fits him.

I {Heart} USA Paper Flower Embellishments.

The truth is ... I love everything about red, white and blue.

With summer here it seems we see more of these beautiful colors displayed together.


I created these pretty I ♥ USA paper flower embellishments with summer in mind.

They are listed right HERE in my Etsy Shop!

Earth Day.

A few weeks ago we were at Lowe's and they were celebrating Earth Day by sharing trees to plant.


When we got home Griffin asked Daddy if they could plant his tree.


Together they planted the sweet little sappling ...


Then Griffin took rocks to create a decorative circle around his tree.

This joins the other one he planted a couple of years ago when he was in the 3's at preschool.

Our front yard is going to be (more) alive with big tall trees in the next couple of years.

Love that!

Finally ... New Dinnerware!

When Mike and I lived in Florida we were going to build a log home.


When we went looking for dinnerware in Orlando we found this beautiful blackberry china that would work wonderfully in our log home.

Since we moved to Virginia we sold our gorgeous property (complete with a pond and alligator) and we never had a chance to build the log home.

We still loved the china but after enjoying it for 10 years or more we were down to only five plates. If we had more than five people over for dinner we either had to use our heavy Pfaltzgraff stoneware or paper plates.

The last couple of years we have been searching for a replacement.

We could not agree on anything until we saw these ...


They are squares like Mike wanted. And they are not "deep" as I wanted. Most of the plates out there today look like bowls to me.

They are beautiful!

I love serving dinner on our new dinnerware ... and the best part is I now have over a dozen of them!!

Kindergarten Career Day!

It was Career Day in Mrs. G's kindergarten class and Griffin chose to be ...


A train conductor just like on the Polar Express!

To create his costume we made a conductor hat and tie out of cardstock. He wore a white shirt and jeans. And his good friend Sam lent him the jacket.


We created "golden" tickets for him to share with the class and he took a hole punch to validate each of his classmate's tickets.

On the scheduled Career Day he was actually home sick from school. He had a sinus infection and missed two days. He was very sad to miss the actual day. But, his amazingly sweet teacher emailed me and asked could Griffin bring his Career Day outfit to school the following week.

I had one happy little boy on my hands as he left for school that day!

Her Name Is Lola ...

This sweet girl showed up at our house yesterday.


She was eating food from our scrap patch and then she came right up to our porch. I checked her collar and there's no number on it. Then she suddenly disappeared.

She was back this morning. You could tell she's either going to have babies or she already has. I tried to get her to lead me to them this morning. She walked around our neighborhood and I followed her all the while asking her to take me to her "home" or "babies". No luck.

She disappeared down to our woods. I thought maybe she went back to her babies. But no, in just a little while she showed up on my back deck. She jumped up on the deck and it's pretty high. I'm thinking she's for sure had the babies.

I led her inside my house to the front porch and put up a child's gate to keep her there. I put a quilt out for her to lay on and gave her water, a hotdog and some cheese.

I called animal control and they came out. He said she's for sure had the puppies and he would do what I wanted. I couldn't let him take her knowing she has babies somewhere around. So, for right now she's still here.

My neighbor said she saw her near our shed. We think that's where the babies are. When her husband gets home from work they will come over and he's going to see if he can find them. I'm too afraid of snakes to look back there. Another neighbor shared some dog food and treats for her.

Anyway ... I'm calling her Lola.

And right now Lola is lazing on my front porch napping in the shade and she can come and go just as she wishes.

Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday we had a fun celebration at our house ...


The Easter Bunny was very generous and hopped in and brought some fun outside play toys and candy to Griffin. Thank you E.B. for remembering him!


Our friends Carol, Hannah, Zach, Sara and Sam came over to spend the day with us. Carol made this amazing Easter Bunny cake. Not only was it adorable ... it was delicious too!


The kids played on the Slip & Slide ... they had SO much fun!


And then they hunted for Easter Eggs all the way down to the creek ...


Sara collected quite a few Easter Eggs and she's showing them off to her pretty Momma Carol


Mike took them all for a quick ride back to the house from the creek


And then ... it was dodge the waterhose time!


Of course when you mix the Slip & Slide, waterhose and dirt together ... it creates a little mud!


It's true ya'll ... a little dirt never hurt! Sam, Sara, Hannah, Zach and Griffin


This little muddy face sums up the entire day ... it was joyful, easy and fun!

We look forward to our third Easter with you all!

Special Delivery To England ...

I'm super excited ... I shipped my first order to England.

It's making me feel all *fancy*.

I've shipped an order to Australia once and many times to Canada but this is my first international order to England!


My customer's little boy is celebrating his first birthday and the theme is "Baby Mickey". She asked me to make Trouser Mickey Tags for the front of the treat bags. The little "Thank You" scallops will be incorporated elsewhere.

I love selling on Etsy!

Not only is it waaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than Ebay I feel it allows a stronger connection with my customers.

Stop by my Etsy Shop today to see what I have available ...

Here's my link:

www.missymadeit.com

Happy Weekend ...

He Made Me A Mommy.

This little guy here ...


He's the reason I'm a Mommy and I love him so very much.

This picture was taken on Easter Sunday. The kids played on the Slip & Slide and then in the mud.

He's been sick the past week. First with a sinus infection. He missed two days of school. Then over the weekend he woke us up screaming with an ear ache. We took him to the pediatrician on Sunday (Mother' Day). Thank goodness for weekend hours. He has a very bad ear infection. He was already on antibiotics for the sinus infection. But somehow he managed to get an ear infection as well. The doctor said that was very unusual. She also said it's one of the worst ear infections she's seen. So, they changed his antibiotic and gave him a 2nd allergy medication to take daily.

He's home again today. Resting, watching his favorite movie Milo & Otis and eating popsicles.

Fingers crossed he will heal and feel well enough to go to school Tuesday.

Virginia Regional Festival Of Flight ~ 2011

This past weekend we enjoyed a fun family weekend at the
Virginia Regional Festival of Flight Fly-In

It was a beautiful weekend, the perfect weather for this fun event!


Griffin enjoyed looking at all of the airplanes


And or course sitting in this military helicopter was a highlight!


Mike is the aircraft parking committee chair so he was pretty busy during the event, but of course he took time to away from his responsibilities to be with us


Griffin LOVED playing with these darling handmade airplane cycles


The children's tent is always a favorite visit as well ... look at this cute windsock he made


Griffin LOVES to visit Jenny in the tower


He helps her look out for incoming airplanes


The Spirit of Freedom a restored military aircraft actually used in the Berline Airlift was there. It's a flying museum and Griffin enjoyed visiting it.

We had such a good time ... we are looking forward to next year's event!

School Pictures ~ Spring 2011

Griffin brought his spring school pictures home from school today.


Doesn't he look so grown up?

Where is the time going? Just yesterday he was an infant and he needed me for everything. Now? He's Mr. Independant and can do most things on his own.

But, he'll always be my baby. =)

I'm Still Blogging ...

Hi ya'll ...

I *am* still blogging ... I have lots of pictures and stories to share. I haven't had time to look through my pictures to do that lately.

I will be back to blogging soon!

In the meantime, why don't you join my Missy Made It! community on Facebbook?



It is a bit easier to share pictures and such there ... plus I share my newest paper piecings, discounts and freebies too!

Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/missymadeit

Finding His Name In Flowers.

We visited Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens for our first day of spring break yesterday.


In the Conservatory they currently have an "Alphabet Garden".

We decided to locate all the letters in Griffin's name.

It was great fun looking all over the Conservatory for all of the letters.

Click on the picture for a closer look. =)

Always Listen To Daddy.

The other day Griffin wanted to take his buggy for a spin down the road ... We've done this on a number of occassions ... but this time Daddy mentioned we might want to make sure the battery was good and charged up. Griffin and I both said, it will be okay it's a short drive. mmmmmmmmm..... Suddenly on our way home his buggy just stopped. The battery was dead as a door nail. It was Daddy to the rescue! Good thing we had Daddy available for "road side service". The moral of this story? It's always good to listen to Daddy ... and keep the buggy battery charged up!

My Summer Porch.

Hey ya'll ... welcome to my summer porch.

I've always wanted a pretty, plant filled porch for the summer. That dream is now a reality and I'm beside myself with joy. I'm actually doing a little
♫♪♫ {happy dance} ♫♪♫

Those that know me in real life know I do NOT have a green thumb. I try. I really do. This year I'm going to give it my all and keep up with our flowers and plants. I want it to thrive so we can enjoy it all summer.


This is our sweet little house. I've always wanted four ferns to hang from the porch ... and I finally go them!

Don't they look pretty?

See all those azaleas and pansies planted in the front? Well my sweet husband planted the azaleas last summer and the pansies just a couple of weeks ago. This weekend we bought 2 dozen bags of mulch from our handy dandy home improvement store and we mulched them up!

Pretty, right?


Here's a closer look at my pretty, pretty ferns. =)


Why don't you take a stroll up the steps with me and I'll share a few of my favorite things? So many of the things on my summer porch mean alot to me and they have little stories behind them.

Gosh, I wish you were really here because I'd turn on the southern hospitality and offer you a nice tall glass of iced pink lemonade.

First thing I want to point out is the sweet family name sign you see on the right of my door. That was a wedding gift from my dear friend Robin. It's a handpainted sign with our last name and date of 1995. So sweet.


See the flag hanging on the front of the house? That's actually made from a piece of old barn tin. I love, love, love it! I found it while antiquing with my sister Joy in North Carolina.

The two Coca-Cola benches we found while traveling in Vermont. Mike was on a business trip there and I joined him. I went shopping and found these lovely benches. I never dreamed I could get them because we had flown there of course. The plant manager of the plant Mike was working for told Mike to get them and he would ship them to Florida for us. That was wonderful! They sat in the garage in Florida for years and we never put them together until we moved here to Virginia.

And finally ... the fern in the pickle barrel. That fern was repotted from a broken pot. The pickle barrel is one of my first antique finds when we moved here to VA. I love a good yard sale especially when I can find something as wonderful as this old pickle barrel.


Our latest find is this cute little wicker bicycle planter. I found that at a yard sale the other weekend for only $3. I repotted a fall mum plant that I thought had died. It was in the "plant graveyard" however it sproutted some green and it is doing wonderfully right now!!


And finally ... my chair plant holder. I love this little chair. It's sat vacant on my porch for a couple of years now. I love the way it's a little bit grungy and banged up. I love it's original green paint is peeling. It gives it character. And now, it's a plant holder. I planted a hostas and some ivy pulled from my yard to fill the pot. I think it's pretty cute.

I am just thrilled with my summer porch ... I {L♥♥♥VE} it!