Patriotic Day

Ella has been attending preschool at the Presbyterian Church in Peachtree City, and she absolutely LOVES it. We also love the peace and quiet it affords us in the morning when she is gone (and not fighting with Maiya)!!Here is a photo of Ella's classroom:

The students at her school prepared for "Patriotic Day" by learning a number of Patriotic Songs (Yankee Doodle, Grand Old Flag, etc). They first marched out and around the building, doing a "parade" for the parents who were attending. It just so happens that Ella's class was first, and Ella was the "line leader" for the day. Thus, Ella led the parade!

Ella didn't seem to remember many words (although she seemed to remember quite a few at home), but she enjoyed trying to sing along and doing the simple hand motions the music teacher taught them.

Maiya also enjoyed watching the production. It was so cute that something as simple as this little Patriotic Day production can bring small children so much joy! Ella just took so much pride in performing this quick show...and she beaming all day!

And the winner is....

62% of you voted BOY

25% of you voted GIRL

12% of you voted TWINS

And the majority rules! A boy, it is!!

And we have the ultrasound photo to prove it...but I will spare you looking at a fetus' private parts...trust me...it's a BOY!!

We had a pretty strong feeling it was a boy, in which case I was eager to know this time, so that I could sort through the girls' baby clothes, and pull out our few gender-neutral items that we own. Now we have plenty of preparation time to figure out those details!

And then comes the next question....what the heck do you do with a BOY?!!

BOY or GIRL?

We've always been patient with our previous pregnancies...waiting to find out the baby's gender during that moment of utter confusion/excitement when the baby arrives into the world!

This time...we decided we wanted to know...and we found out yesterday! But before I tell you...you must GUESS!! Take the (above) poll now, so I can spill the beans!!

My Life...

My sister, Lea, just posted a blog about a wonderfully productive day that she had lately. I have to admit that I was jealous!

Ella was home from preschool all last week (What? Schools have a WINTER break?!), which meant more trouble for us at home. We also got 2 very exciting deliveries from Mexico, which meant we had to get work on photo editing for our wholesale product line and catalog that we're *hoping* to release by the end of this month. The time seems to be sloooowly moving along, and yet, suddenly...each day is GONE!a

It's shameful how much work goes into each and every item. I wish I had the money to pay a professional product photographer...but alas...

at least Photoshop lets me turn this:

Into this:

Now, only 80 items to go...

Girly Girls...

This past weekend we visited a consignment store in North Atlanta, to consign some of our jewelry and purses that we have with us! Lucky for us, the girls stayed entertained in the dress-up bin while we were handling the business transaction!

Near the end of our visit, Ella & Maiya began to play dress-up with the fantastic shoes that the store had for sale. They certainly don't see THESE at our house!

Ella definitely handled these heels better than I could have!

Snow in Georgia!

Well, our hopes of experiencing a "warmer" Southern winter have been dashed to pieces.

Ella exclaimed, "But it NEVER snows in Atlanta. Except for 2 times!" Hmm...and we happened to catch them both!

The girls were SOOOO excited to get outside, and play in the snow!
It seems that despite our best efforts, they are not the snow-birds that their parents are!

Ella says, "Mommy...is snow healthy?" "Ummm...sure...as long as it's not yellow!"

Lucky for the girls, their Aunt & Uncle (Lara & Greg) aren't afraid of the cold, and they joined them outside and built a few snowmen with the girls!

Well, at least for kids, that is!

Death of a Craftshow

We had high hopes of exhibiting products at Craft Shows this winter in the Atlanta area, but have had little luck finding fitting shows. Finally, a high school craft show popped up, with a fee of only $30. We thought, "What do we have to lose?"

As it turned out, we were barely able to break even on the $30 investment (plus gas and lunch), and it was pathethic. All of the others potential shows are half a day's drive away (which means you have to invest in a hotel AND keep the kids with us at the shows all day...BAD NEWS!), have MUCH larger entry fees (try $200-$300), and the expense just doesn't seem worth it to us. I think we're just DONE having overhead expenses.

Meanwhile...these purses are on our website (at major discounts), and on ebay (sold 2 yesterday)! Hopefully we can clear this collection down...luckily, it was a consignment arrangement we worked out with the company that I worked for at the Americasmart last month.