15 and 16 months

Now that baby is getting to be a big girl we thought we would make it a day on Saturday and attend the Easter Egg Hunt.
Mommy manned the camera and baby and daddy were off, for some reason these moms were viscious and just when we would get to a small cluster of eggs someone (fat old mean women, i mean.... uhh yeah) would either take them out of babies basket or snatch them before we could get any. Needless to say we got 3 eggs.

Grammy got to pet her first real bunny.
And baby got to feed a goat

Then she practiced crossing her legs like daddy
But her new favorite thing is crawling in mommy and daddy's bed and watching Little Bear and Olivia.

And giggling of course!

All is new again.

{photo credit}

Well Spring Has surely Sprung around our house... Baby and i made Easter eggs yesterday, noticed she dropped hers, "uhh oh!"

I brought out all my fave spring trimmings, including making some new curtains for the kitchen, much more lively than the tan and blue ones!

Found this GORG. Liberty of London tie at Target for the hubs.

Bought this cute bunny kit to put in my moss basket for a fun decoration.

Pulled out baby's easter basket so she can be ready for our egg hunts we have coming up!!

Painted a painting for the kitchen to match my new curtains!!

Brought out the yella' belles {as momma would say} for the entry table.

Decided this ugly light at some point needed to go.....

Ran an errand to the newly remodeled Pottery Barn Outlet, {just 5 min from the house} and Found this GORG Sconce, just what my stairs landing needs, something pretty to liven it up, now just need to find a little shade for the light!! {You cant see the price too well but this 99.00 sconce was on clearance for 9.97. YES PLEASE!!

Then i pulled out some old lilly fabric {skirts and pants that don't fit anymore} and i bought these ADOREABLE patterns and got to cutting out. {Still trying to find the time to construct these cute outfits but i promise... The are coming, Its actually 5 outfits total, i will get there!!

I had this gold pic frame and decided to grab my Heirloom White spray paint and slap a coat on, it really ties the new bedding in our room in, {dont you love you can see the hubs and baby in the bed watching tv, hehe}

Pics of the bedroom are still to come, waiting on a few finishing touches before i reveal.

Homes, Flashback

First we lived in my parents friends barn(apt connected to the barn)

yes thats me and my preggo self.
We had no furniture so the Stovall's graciously allowed us to use what was in the house.

Yes little did we know after placing this table here that rats had chewed a hole in the wall and definately infested amongst us. and of course a few of babies things thrown in..

Outdoor Part 2

New Spring Arrangement for the Front door.
Dad and Casey hanging shutters on the front of the house
Somewhat filled in/cleaned up pond/deck area. (we ran out of dirt, sunlight, and time) we knew it would rain this week so we filled in what we could and figured next weekend we would return for more dirt.
Cleaned up the side of the house. HUGE undertaking. This was almost 8 inches deep of pine needles
luke begging to come out of the guest house

And of course the quintessential beagle howl, note the paw raise... we think HE may have female tendancies. just sayin'.....

TADA

I know it has been a while since i blogged about my closet. We went unconventional for valentine's day and he installed a closet organizer for me!!! WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO....

Any of you that know my fashionista past know of my desire for organization and ease of access of clothing.

{You all will be proud to know i am still sorting through my closet and discovering the inner me, I am so over the LABELS life that i thought about being ultra extreme and cutting all the tags out of my clothes... dont know may still do it. I will never stop loving the designers i have always loved but i WILL find ways to buy these items, (or look-alikes) on sale, again, the lord is working on my heart and continuing to reveal to me how unimportant things of this world are.}

So i am sure you can all imagine how excited i am to hear the hubs yell from upstairs..."Honey, come see your new, large, and improved walk in closet" I shreeked and ran up the stairs to see my newest smallest DIY......

no.. my closet isnt like Eva's, and probably will never be filled with all the luxe things hers is... but the important thing is its mine!!! and its me, and ITS ORGANIZED. no more sharing the closet downstairs with baby!!

So without further adeau.......
We cant forget the shoe corner. .....

Outdoor Deconstruction

As most of you know last May Casey and I bought a foreclosure. It has been an exciting/daunting task to take on these projects we originally said, "this will be so easy to redo." Well like many of you have said before tasks you thing are easy end up being much more time consuming.

Link it up...
I decided to link this post to Amanda's Show Me the Progress Linky Party. So as you enjoy seeing me, My husband, and my sweet daddy take down these ugly things tell me.. do you think we are headed in the right direction?? Any suggestions as to what we should do with our now empty space. All we knew is we wanted these two items gone.

1. because the mosquitos in the summer are insane out the frame
2. we wanted our daughter to have some more backyard place space
3. we wanted a place to put a table a chairs next to our grill so we can begin entertaining more.
4. So.... what do you think???? Have we gotten in over our heads??
   

The Backyard

We finally began the daunting task of taking out the koi pond, deconstructing the very tiny deck, and enclosing our screened in porch. Between last weekend and this weekend there isnt a bone, or muscle, rather that doesnt ache. I am learning the beauty of documenting my projects so i can bask in the after as i reflect on the before.
Casey really hates having his picture taken but was a real trooper through all of this.

mmm isnt this mildewed porch just gorg??? 

I am soooo glad to see this go.

Do I keep this fountain and repaint to reuse on the soon to be enclosed screened in porch??

Daddy, using the good ole crowe bar and hammer.

please note that we had to barricade the end of this deck because the nincompoop that built it didnt make stairs rather left it open. what does this spell for a beagle born to hunt???

TROUBLE!!! he kept getting stuck chasing all the neighbors cats who love to run around and taunt him. i am still devising a plan to keep them out... any suggestions?? cat nip.. bee bee gun?? Arsenic?? jk..

see this little buddy?? he is beginning to wonder if we are taking away his freedom.. or giving him more.... sooo confused.

did i mention that baby was soooo worried about daddy and poppy doing so much work. this over the top facial expression says it all.

pond filled with junk.... dont worry it was cleaned up.

This is the little pile from the last weekend in february.... Still need to edit the pictures from this past weekend. 

And thank you for sticking it out through this insanely long post.

Newest DIY Project

Hey guys, a small project for my new bedroom, go on over here to Preppie Peonie 

(my applique/my digital portfolio site to check it out)

Here is a sneak peek at the final result.

Old Wives tales

Okay so i have been debating on this post for a long time now...

My dad is OBSESSED with the 1 trillion uses for Vinegar. Then today at work several of the ladies were talking about all that onions can do....

Here are a few things you may not know.

1. if your child is teething put an egg in a brown bag (place over their bed or near their bed) when they are done teething the egg will be completely empty. {i personally didnt know about this one till today, but seeing as we are still cutting our 1 yr. molars i think i will give it a try}

2. If you are sick fill a teaspoon with locally polinated Honey.

3. when planting roses plant a metal coffee can with it. The can will begin to oxidize and release zinc into the soil making the blooms much richer in color and the soil much healthier.

4. pour coffee grinds on ferms and they will grow like crazy.

5. old tagline: red in the morning sailors warning, red at night sailors delight. (my pawpaw was a merchant marine so he would always say that one.)

6. if you have eggs that are about to go bad plant them with some new plants and the raw eggs will fertilize the soil

7.if you have slugs pour a can of beer in a shallow round pan and the slugs will all migrate to it and explode, {preventing you from having to put salt everywhere}

8. and my absolute most favorite is..... if you have really really really dry skin, crisco!!! its all natural and your body wont have reactions to any chemicals found in lotions.

Luke the wonder dog.

Okay so flash forward from puppy days to last summer.

Casey and i had just settled into our new/current home. We let luke out into his very own HUGE backyard to run and play. upon moving in we dismantled the current fence (see this previous post) and put up chicken wire till we had the money to put in a good privacy fence. (coming to my home april 2010. (stay tuned for that)

so... usually we hear our beagle barking/howling at something. this time we didnt, so we both went outside to find him and just about the time i start to panic i hear his jingle. not ahead or behind me but below me... you see we live next to a drainage ditch and luke had discoverd a way to figure out what it was.

i started to panic and think if he went to the covered portion he would have an aweful encounter with a sewer rat and since we couldnt afford his shots i started to panic. everything rushed to my mind, rabies, tetnus... ahhhhh

so casey jumps the half fence in the front of our house and begins his scale down the side of the drainage ditch to retrieve my puppy.

PROBLEM:..... once casey is down there he looks at lukes paws, THEY ARE BLEEDING!!! he fell down the 45 degree angle concrete ditch and couldnt get back up due to the steep incline. So i run to the back yard, get some extension cords, the leash and the tree trimmer.

{now is where i realize how stupid i looked and wish someone had been filming us so we could submit for america's funniest home videos}

i harness the extension cord around a tree, (not enough leverage, baby tree) then around my waste. casey ties a knot around the extension cord on the other end and attaches to his leash and he helps me guide luke up the hill. once over i rush him inside and put bandages on his paws.

then the real problem.... me getting caseys 200 lb body back up this steep incline. i had to slowly painfully help heave and howe him back up the ditch to safety. we were both laughing hysterically as our child and dog onlooked from the front door of our house.

oh the things we do for our pets. what about you??

Steph... care to blog about good ole judd and his adventures. they sure do make for funny stories later on huh??

Where to Begin

I have to go back to Luke's "puppy" days to tell these stories. First best story was right after Casey and I got Luke {casey and i were still dating at the time} Casey had Luke at his apartment and he had taken him out to use the restroom. While out "exploring" as we like to call it. Luke smelt a new and very exciting smell, it was the scent of big fat ugly CAT. He found this creature to be of similar characteristics, being four legged, and living with humans and all.... well. he decided he would like to formally introduce himself to such cat. This cat did not in anyway find this introduction welcoming so it began. Dog chases cat, but not just anywhere. He chased him right to the gutters, and down into the underground sewage world they went.

[Casey called me as this chase had commenced and convinced me i needed to get over to his apartment immediately, so off i went. You would have thought my child's leg had been sawed off, but no, all of this craziness, panic, and mayhem for a tiny 12 week old through and through hound who was on the feline trail.]

As I arrived Casey is in the streets of his apartment complex frantically trying to find our new puppy, we can hear water spashing, a cat hissing, and this little howl that is indefinately our pup. Finally after the cat had enough he emerged right from the gutter he went down in to and soon after followed a very disgusting puppy, full of life, and knowing he had found his calling.
You see, we purchased him from a hunter in a small town outside of Tuscaloosa, the only reason he was being sold is because the man had bred his pup for more hunting dogs, the others were to go to good homes. Jake and Stephanie bought Beau, i mean lucy {they weren't too experienced in deciphering animal genitalia, therefore they thought this girl was a boy, until steph's dad sat the record straight and he, must be renamed a she.}

HAHA silly story within itself. Needless to say brother and sister will forever stay in contact, oh and did i mention Jakes's brother Cody has one of their brothers, his name is Hank and he is a mess too.

So it began, or adventurous love affair with Luke, stay tuned more to come.

Luke Turner Rodden

This is Luke. He is the heartbeat of our family. There is not a day that goes by that he is not providing us with some sort of entertainment.

I have forever debated blogging about him. We have stories upon stories of adventures he has taken us on, but yesterday when i talked to yet another friend who ADORED The Pioneer Woman; I decided it was time for me to check her out.

Well as soon as the page loads, a post to talk about your dogs comes up... How could i ever resist. So throughout the next several days i will be showcasing pictures of our luke and the adventures he takes us on.

Preppie Peonie

For those of you I have met through Mrs. Pearls and Grace's McLinky party also check out The Preppie Peonie.

This is my applique site.. This is my new hobby. A little bit about me....

My love.... DESIRE... GOD GIVEN TALENT is sewing. I could sit down at my sewing machine, turn the sucker on, change the settings and just go.... I literally have sat at a machine for almost 12 hrs straight in college working on various projects. On preppie peonie you can be directed to my wordpress site where i started my portfolio. (hence started) my current two blogs are for me to showcase the work i actually have done on my own without a class room.

My grandmother was a wedding dressmaker. My mom a french hand sewing master. And me... i dabble in a little of everything. (but i am scared silly of making a wedding dress)

I learned how to sew at 9. I taught myself to smock at 13. And began learning Adobe Illustrator, and Auto-CAD in college. The most exciting thing about sewing to me is pattern making. I want to be able to buy some muslin drape my form then create my own pattern, my own look, my very own specialized just for me dress. What do i need for this outlandish task???

A DRESS FORM

I am currently in the market for a professional WOLFE dress form. These suckers can set you back as much as $400 bones. I am about to start scavaging all thrift stores and flea markets come spring and hope someone has one of these fabulous gems tucked away somewhere just waiting for me..

For now i will just dream and one day soon begin to sketch again. Right now those dreams are being lived vicariously through one of my college school mates, Anthony. He is on the current season of Project Runway.