Fun was had by all!

We have had some visitors the last few weeks.  I so love visitors and it seems FL is a bit more appealing than CO was...especially when the snow is falling up North!

Visit #1: A couple weeks back our great friends from CA came with their 2 girly girls! 

Swimming in the "warm" pool!  S was a good sport.

At the Siesta Key Beach...known for it's amazing white sand.  It was a bit chilly this day but that never slows the kiddos or dampens the fun!

Requisite sand castle building! 

This is sweetie pie #1! 

...and sweetie pie #2!  I loved getting to hang with these little girls.  I miss little girls...my girls are getting so big!

The wind was surprisingly wimpy at the beach so S's kite didn't work this day but we took it to the park a couple other times and LOVED it.  The kiddos all handled it great and I got a turn...so cool.  We definitely need one of these 

All the boys and girls!

C and S have been buds since elementary school and when we all get together it's just hanging out with family.  We are lucky to have many friends that we consider just a part of our family.

Thanks S, M, M and S for making the trek our way...we loved it! 



I am so thankful for our friends and family and we can't wait to see who else will come visit us.  I know of a few visitors already...yea!!!

Crazy Rain!

A lot of you are having some amazingly awful winter weather.  I know it's no fun but it will be spring again soon, I promise.

We had some crazy rain the other day...the rain just amazes me down here in FL.  I am not used to this kind of rain.  CO didn't have rain like this.  In CO, it was either sunny and warm or snowing! 

Take a look!

Not a great picture but does show the river in the front yard.

Near the pool...the pool is so full now. 

I think we got 3 inches in less than an hour.  Crazy.

I hope you are staying warm and safe wherever you may be! 

I moved...

...my sewing room that is!  A lot of you know we live in a much bigger house now and space is abundant.  One of the things I was psyched to have in this new house was a room all to myself for sewing, computer, writing, etc.  My own space, my hideaway!!!  Our home in Colorado was one C and I bought in 1993...we were 23 yrs. old and we thought the house was amazing.  It had a huge backyard, a 2-car garage for C, a large master bedroom and 3 other bedrooms that we used for misc. other things.  We didn't have kiddos until K arrived in January 1999 so there was lots of space.

Over the years those 3 extra rooms were used for many different things.  Sewing/craft rooms, C's hobby room, computer room, eventually kiddo rooms and then the office for our company.

We grew out of that house years ago but always seemed to make it work.  The living room started as the hangout for parties, throwing darts and watching movies.  Then became all things baby...swing, bassinet, toys galore and then held the sewing area where I started A.Lovely.

It was a well-used, well-loved house!

We moved to Florida in 2010 to be near C's family and our new house is much bigger.  So much bigger that we are sometimes at a loss for where to put things, ironic huh?  The funny thing is the kiddos, C and I are not used to it.  We grew used to being close together and always knowing what everyone was doing at any time.  This is the reason why my sewing room has moved...I couldn't get comfortable being across the whole house and never got anything done except when kiddos were at school.  So, the dining room is now mine and I am thrilled!

Have a look!

Still organizing but looking at this pic makes me happy...kiddos were happy too! 

What can be better than fabric, a sewing machine and a hot cup of coffee?

I love the window!

Notice the kiddos have a table in there too...we like to be together!

So we are slowly getting settled in, making this house work for us.  I am thrilled we all like to be together...they may make me feel crazy at times but I guess I would rather them want to hang with me than the alternative!! 
I am thrilled with where we are in life right now and look forward to making this my best life!
Might as well right?!

Thanksgiving 2010

The Table!  The kiddos were the first to fill their plates and were trying to wait patiently for the rest of the group to join. 

Aunt Liz and Rich...We are thrilled to have them back in Florida with us!

 

After dinner fun!  Throwing the football around in the empty lot between our house and the neighbors.  It belongs to the neighbors but they have graciously allowed us to use it.

It was a great day to be outside.  The weather was beautiful...perfect for some toss.

We all got into the fun...I still got it!

The gang!  After this, it was dessert time! 

I am so very THANKFUL!

The differences...

Just today the differences between where we live now and where we used to live are vast...
Colorado-40 degrees, Florida- 75 degrees
Colorado- freeze warning, Florida- sweat warning (aka-high humidity)
Colorado-bags and bags of raked leaves by the curb, Florida-nothing (yet if you have seen the large oak that looms over our house in some of the pics I have put on the blog, you know our time is coming...I hear it's December-January though)
Colorado-gardens are long gone, Florida-gardens just getting started
Colorado-no mangoes, Florida-mangoes in droves and oranges are just around the corner
BUT...
Colorado-my family and the best friends my kiddos and I could ever ask for, FL.......

Eldora!

The Fam at Siesta Key Beach!  That is not snow but it is the whitest, most powdery sand that you can imagine.

We are enjoying Florida a lot but we miss you all back home so much and know that you are all invited for a visit!  We would love it!!!

Day to Day...

Things are good.  Life is moving along.  K is enjoying school and has a school dance next week.  Z and L love their school. 

I have been working on organizing my/our office and my craft space...love it.  I could do without the pink walls but I will put that on the "projects for another time" list

I think I am getting my mojo back...haven't done too much with my hands lately except unpacking so a bit of hand sewing was in order yesterday.

Here are some of my unfinished projects that I think I will tackle before any new ones...

This will be a wall hanging for Ms. K's room!

Lili's wall hanging!

Not sure what these will be...probably small wall hangings or incorporated into pillows to sell

Not sure when I made this but when I was unpacking craft boxes, found it.  LOVE IT and I did a darn good job with it too!!!

It feels good to feel settled enough to get back to the things I really enjoy.  My hands like being busy and I love having my inspiration back in one, organized place. 

"Lemonade for sale"

It was a dream realized...I never imagined that I had deprived my kiddos all these years.  In Colorado, our house set on a great, quiet street.  Never much traffic...I love it...I thought we all did until the kids came running in and announced that now that we live in FL they can finally have their own lemonade stand.  Our new street is much busier, not bad, just busier.  I shrugged like I do when they have a "crazy" idea (I was unpacking and I think I was also watching a KSU football game too) but got my butt up and made them some lemonade...they did the rest. 

And they had a great time!!

Here is K setting up...Z is in the back waiting to flag down customers!

The booth and a bunch of smiles!  We saved the signs for another day!

Customers!!!  They were very well received.

I really should totally get the excitement...where I grew up in CA, we lived on 5 acres.  My friend who lived next store and I would beg our parents to do a lemonade stand and they would have to explain that there was only 1 house down the road past ours that would be our potential customer.  We outsmarted them though...one Saturday, we pulled all our Dads' beer out of the fridges.  After they got done cutting firewood or whatever was on the list for that day, they had to buy their beer from us!  HA!!!  That's what you get for putting a house at the end of the street!

Back to the kids...
In the end they made a total of $12!!!  Split 4 ways...they made their weeks allowance in just a couple hours.  I have already anticipated that this will happen again soon so I have the frozen lemonade in the freezer...I am ready kiddos!!!  GREAT JOB!!!

This doesn't happen in Colorado!

Oh it rains in Colorado but nothing like this...this is crazy rain.  It's comes down in sheets, literally.  Once second it is raining so peacefully and then you see the sheet coming towards you and WHAMMO, it's a torrential downpour.  It's like someone just turns the faucet on and then off again.  It's really amazing.  The streets become flowing streams in a matter of minutes. 
The kiddos think its the best thing and love to run out and get drenched.  I am sure the neighbors are wondering what the heck but hopefully we put a smile on thier faces too. 

On this day, we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the truck to pick our MASSIVE pile of debris that had accumulated during our yard cleanup.  It was slowly drizzling and the kids thought the guy with the truck and the massive claw was pretty entertaining...

 then this happened...

and this...that is not hail just very large raindrops.  The poor cleanup guy just didn't stand a chance!

Not one to like being left out, Zander soon joined in on the fun (easy entertaining 101!).

I forgot to mention, this was about 8 in the morning...it was already so humid and hot, the kids loved the chance to cool off.
Like I said, it's amazing and from what Carolyn, my MIL says, it's not even rainy season.  Yicks.  I guess our new winter gear will be raincoats, rainboats and umbrellas!! 

FL creatures!

We have seen lots of creatures while we have been in Florida.  Some are not so cool (giant cockroaches...ewwww!) but most of them are pretty amazing. 

In Myaaka State Park...

Yes, I know we see deer in CO but this is our first FL deer guys and was right at the entrance to the park..welcome!

 

These spiders were everywhere...really.  You can't tell how big but this guy was big.  Probably 4 inches from tips of legs. 

Friendly, evasive, and cute! 

This guys was my favorite.  He was so big and so patient with us.  He just hung out and let us watch him for the longest time.  I took lots of pics.

When the kiddos felt I had enough pics they really wanted to see him fly...so I let them run towards him.  He knew what was coming and off he went. 

He didn't like it...he squaked real loud as he went away but it was amazing to see this big bird just go...so easily.  Loved it!  He didn't go too far though.

Just far enough!  So beautiful.

Another big guy! 

We didn't get to see these but I bet they are pretty amazing when they finally do make their grand entrance. 

More later!

It FINALLY quit raining!!!

We were able to spend the entire day outside...it's been raining like nothing I have seen.  CRAZINESS!

We hit the beach once again!

 Everyone's favorite new boogie board!

Zander loves the water!

 Sandy toes!  Sand...the hardest part about the beach especially when you are driving your Mother-in-Laws beauty of a car!!!  We managed with just a bit of sand coming home with us.