Earrings and Emma

I am uploading some new pictures onto my webpage and thought I would also share them here. I like going to people’s blogs and just look at pretty things sometimes. Not very deep or life changing, but nice and makes me smile. (isn’t that better than medicine anyways?!)

It’s so easy for me to compare my pieces to others…and that always makes me feel discouraged. I just realized though, I like classy simple pieces. Sure, I’ll make a funky item once in a while, but people (including myself) wear pieces/sets that go with many outfits. Simple lines and classic looks…never run out of style. I think that my jewelry fits that. So, I am now a little more comfortable in my own skin as an artist. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow. 😉

Pink Sharpness

Whimsicaly Blue

Baltic Beauties

Classy Coral

So Emma went to th doctor yesterday and she is up to the 5%! (better than the 2% a couple weeks ago) that means that out of 100 children her age she would be the 5th from the shortest. I am happy to see her gain weight and grow. I am also having a fun time with some new clothes I bought for her. Here is a picture taken Thursday in front of our church. Can you say adorable?!

Emma in her cute out fit

Onion Rings

I have noticed a trend in my making and baking…it all seems to be unhealthy. Unfortunately this post isn’t any better. Instead of being super sweet it’s super greasy. But it was really tasty! Yes, as you can tell from the title of this post, I made onion rings for dinner last night. (link is a similar recipe. I didn’t follow any but fooled around in the kitchen and made my own kinda) I was really nervous because I was making them with red onions. Would they turn out and taste as good as yellow onions? Yes! They didn’t look like a bloomin onion or anything, but they were great! And super fast and always a favorite with me. One red onion made about 15 onion rings. I apologize for the pictures- not my best or favorite. I am still learning how to take pictures at night and use all the different options my camera has. It doesn’t help that I’m not a fan of the flash either. Hope you can make them- kids would enjoy helping you.

Yesterday Emma and I went to the park to enjoy the falling leaves and cooler weather. It was nice to get out of the house and not have to drive anywhere. Below are also some photos of our time there. Enjoy!

You have to have it with ketchup of course!

A close up...yikes....still figuring out the lighting situation in my kitchen

She's so darn cute!

Emma and I- she has striking blue eyes

And lastly my favorite. I love black and whites

Emma and Dora

Yesterday was of course, full and busy. There always seems to be a day where we aren’t resting…hmmm. Not OK. Anyhoo, while Trav was at church early because of vocal rehearsals (he’s on worship team) Emma and I went to a birthday party. Emma was adorable but was overwhelmed. After a while she wanted me to pick her up and she pointed to the door saying ‘Car, Car..’ Awww my little introvert- I love her. Here are some pictures of the party.

So adorable

Emma and her dora hat- she has no idea who dora is, but she's cute non the less.

Her sippy was her familiar object she really clung onto the whole time. I think we were there 1 1/2 hrs total

Fast forward to today. Today is Monday. Monday is Alexis’ day. I do not make anything extra special (ie. chocolate cakes, granola, cookies, trail mix, etc) I do not make plans with friends. I lounge and do whatever I want. One day a week is enough for me. 🙂 I did make crepes for breakfast and enjoyed them. We’ve had a nice relaxing day…and I think the next relaxing day might be…next Monday. *sigh. I think blogging helps me during the hard days and helps me have a positive attitude with our crazy schedule. I am always thinking about what good pictures I could take to blog about. Right now, I’m obsessed with canning…oh and a friend and I are making berry jam Wednesday. I really hope it turns out OK.

Another subject…kinda…Travis LOVES apple pie (it’s OK to me, I prefer cherry) so I am wanting to make and can apple pie filling. Just buy a box of apples and that makes about 8 huge pints of filling! That’s 8 PIES! So in January, all I’ll need to do is make a crust, pour and bake. That is my kind of baking. Enjoy your Monday.

Today

Knobb Hill in the Fall

Today is overcast and rain is off and on. Even though we haven’t ventured outside yet, and we will, we’ve had a fun time indoors. A few things stand out.

First: Emma has learned how to open all the drawers. Oh man…I was really hoping she wouldn’t care about that.*sigh. But of course she loves taking ALL the things out and then walk away like it will clean itself up. (my way of thinking too hehe)

Look what I can do mom!

Secondly, we have our local produce delivered to us (go here to see their amazing site) and in our latest produce box were mini kiwi. I have never seen/heard of them but here they are and of course Emma LOVES them. They have no fur or skinning needed. Just pop those little men in your mouth for a sweet tangy kiwi taste. I was amazed really. God is so creative.

eSee the kiwi seeds?

They're about the size of your thumb.

Teeni Kiwi

Lastly, I had a friend come over and she and I worked on a song I’m going to sign. I am SO excited about this because it’s 1 1/2 yrs in the making. I know God will do awesome things and move people’s hearts. It is a bit challenging though. Not just in signing (it’s way hard) but as a viewer, it’s not a nice cutsie song. It will challenge you for sure. She said that she will put it on u-tube so I’ll link to it whenever that is.  I apologize for the handwriting, I was in a hurry and didn’t think anyone else would be reading it.

Song being translated-what a slow process

~ What did you do today? Oh, and be sure to check out my blog on Saturday…I’ll be posting something really cool. No, not a giveaway, but soon I promise.

Teddy Bear Parade

This morning Emma and I went to our cute historic downtown Gresham, OR to see the Teddy Bear Parade that happens every September. It’s cute and mainly aimed for children, but I had just as much fun as she did. I petted the dogs, waved at the man in the embarrassing cute bear costume and even had popcorn. (although it seemed too early to eat popcorn…but it was free and people take whatever’s free huh)

On arriving at my car I saw a tow truck get the car next to me and I thought, ‘Oh man. Their car must not be working. That’s too bad’ Really that was my first thought. The driver then gets out of the car and says, ‘You’re lucky you’re here lady your car almost got towed’ !!!!!!! I was shocked. This is how I’m repaid for the nice, caring, thoughtful thoughts?! Oh man I was pissed driving home. And no, there wasn’t a sign saying anything. I was in front of a business, like everyone else, and they were closed. Oh man, I am was so angry. But I’m over it now. *sigh He was just so rude, mean and  overall disagreeable.

The overall time at the parade was nice though. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Eating animal crackers before the parade started. (*oma, it's the crackers you got her. thanks!)

Nothing special about the people, I just liked the yellow.

My beautiful flowers- everywhere we went I got compliments on them.

These flowers were only $7 and are HUGE. The picture doesn’t do them justice. I bought them at the farmers market. I NEVER do that and since we arrived 1 1/2 hrs early to the parade (yeah it was boring after a while) we looked through the market and picked up a few items.

Emma with her teddy friends watching the parade

cowgirl emma

today was nice, but i’m feeling lazy and so i’m not going to worry about capitalizing my letters. it’s easier that way.

~this morning emma and i were playing in her room and i decided to introduce her to her cowgirl hat. it was actually travis’ when he was a kid (awww) and now she gets to play around in it. doesn’t she look cute…*sigh.  i thought i would just make it a horse themed day- thus the whole outfit. she’s just so cute you want to squeeze her and never let go.

total model cutie cowgirl all wrapped into on little package

Cowgirl Emma

her horse tights

Bowling

I’m feeling better, but I’m typing this one handed because I have a sick sleeping little girl in my left arm. Poor thing. This isn’t obviously going to be long because I would rather snuggle with Emma than type to you. No offense.

Sunday night we went bowling with our small group and it was much more fun than I thought it would be. Everyone is so encouraging. Enjoy the pictures 🙂

Bowling Balls

Daddy and Emma

Blurry but cute

My cheesy HUGE smile

I don’t get sick

I don’t get sick. Not really ever. I think I’m the person who spreads colds, flues, etc. I don’t mean to, but it’s just how it is. Travis was complaining about feeling like he was getting a cold. And I actually got a little excited. I thought of the chicken noodle soup I could make and how I could fuss around him. Crazy I know, who gets excited about that?! Sorry Trav. Well, last night as I was driving home from a birthday party I noticed that my throat was feeling scratchy and sore. Weird. But I never get sick so it won’t come to me. Well all through the night I tossed and turned. My throat now really is scratchy my nose is running and all stuffed up and I now have problems saying our last name normally. (Mielonen- because of the ‘M’s’ and the ‘N’s’) My eyes are also watering which makes me think that it could be seasonal? But here is the important questions…Who takes care of the mom when she gets sick?!  Who will make me homemade chicken noodle soup? Who will bring me snacks, medicine, hot tea, lap tops and books in bed?

So I am up, on the day we can sleep in, sitting on the couch blogging- 7 am people! I dragged my sorry sick self out of bed cause I couldn’t sleep anymore. Horrible. Not only can I not sleep anymore, but my nose is starting to get red from the horrible little Kleenex squares. Who knows…all that matters is that Trav gave this to me. It’s his fault. Heck it has to be someone’s fault right? All I have to say is this better not be given to Emma…* PLEASE God!

Cute dog

Watermarking

I’ve been wanting to watermark my photos for sometime now. And just recently I was reading a friends blog (very cute) and because of a story she linked, it pushed me into actually doing it. Sometimes fear…cautiousness is a good motivator. So here is what my new photos will look like. Nothing too different but I was trying to try a couple different kinds of pictures to make sure it didn’t look too dorky. Enjoy 🙂

Family Shot

Jelly Doghnut

I make Jewelry

My Bathing Beauty

Emma's Fun Personality

Morning Adventures with Alexis

What you are about to read is the actual turn of events as they happened:

Waking up at 6:30am is brutal. I know I can’t complain, but jeesh! I have a lot of respect for Trav and everyone else who wakes up before 7:30am. Unfortunately we woke up at 6:30am and rushed to get dressed, eat breakfast (most important meal of the day people!) and leave the house by 7am. Oh, did I mention it was ALL 3 of us? Yeah, we rock. Anyways, we drove downtown, dropped Trav off at work and I ventured onward to the zoo with visions of Cheetahs in my mind. We arrived at 7:55am and it didn’t open till 8am, so perfect timing!….but wait a minute…no body’s here…hmmm. My friend and I were the ONLY people there. That’s strange. At that moment we looked up at the reader and saw in bright red letters, “OPEN 9-6pm”  Oh holy crap. Good thing we hurried to get here on time or woke up at the butt crack of dawn. Of course we have our daughters all strapped in their strollers and both of us look at each other and busted up laughing. What else could you do right?!

So we decided to go on a little morning adventure. We took the MAX (light rail for the Portland metro) into downtown Portland. It was SO beautiful! The sun was shining, the girls were content with being strapped into their strollers and we had no idea where we were going. It was GREAT fun for me! We didn’t EXACTLY buy tickets but looked like mindless mommies and anyways, if the transit police stopped us we would just sound apologetic and ask for forgiveness. 🙂 Horrible I know. Anyhoo, we stopped at a random stop and strolled until we found a random, and quite fancy, donut shop. All I have to say is, ‘Yum, yum, yum!’ Emma, of course wanted nothing to do with my delish raspberry filled donut and wanted to just walk around. It was so relaxing and cool. Of course I took pictures!  Food is a favorite of mine to photograph. When we were finished we jumped on the train (took a new one on the way back and boy are they nice!), talked about scary spider stories and arrived at the zoo to find about 200 mommies and their whinny toddlers waiting to enter the zoo! Yeah. Crap. Did we get in? You’ll just have to wait and see. 🙂 I’ll post part 2 tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures!

Hmmm, suspisious...

Everyone needs someone to snuggle up to and drink milk with

New hours as of Labor Day

Subways give horrible light

So pretty- and only $.90

Beautiful huh

We are such posers, hehe

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