Developments and Such

Hoo!  I can't put my finger on the reason, but I am just having a really hard time keeping up with everything since coming back from vacation.  I was so productive (maybe because I HAD to be) while I was working on my nautical flag banners and now I can barely find a minute to work on some custom banner orders and other sewing. 

We've been a little busy with Arden's dance recital, the long weekend with one day devoted to helping a friend build a play set and then Arden's preschool graduation last night but I don't think those things should be keeping me from sewing to this extent.  I guess if I'm going to lay blame, perhaps it's Netflix - Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones!

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I (fingers crossed) think I've finally gotten myself into a regular running regimen.  I don't think I've discussed it here, but I've had trouble getting back into the swing because I've been undergoing treatment for Morton's Neuroma and I still have some residual bone pain in my pelvis.  The bone pain is slowly getting better as I lose weight and with passage of time.  For the Morton's Neuroma I've received three injections of cortisone which didn't resolve it (it had worked like a charm in the past), and am now on my second injection of an alcohol solution which seems to be doing the trick.  The only remaining treatment if the alcohol doesn't work is surgery. 

Aside from improving medical issues, I literally accosted a girl in the hallway at work after I had seen her running and thought we would be a good match for pace.  As she was making her way towards the locker room, it went something like this (names changed to protect the innocent):

Jann "Hey, do you want to run with me sometime?"

Carli (looking caught off guard) "Uh, sure."

Jann "I saw you running and I want to get back into a regular routine, will you run with me?"

Carli "Okay."

Jann "I know I sound like a stalker, but really I'm not."

Carli "Sure, when do you want to go?"

So "Carli" gets brownie points for not running away shrieking, or maybe that was only because we were at work, and we've made our inaugural run and it was really nice and fun.  She had just run a half marathon the weekend before and then was in a car crash and was bruised from that.  She has two boys who are several years older than my girls.  Hopefully as she recovers from the race and I get faster with practice we'll continue to be well matched for pace.

Okay, so if you've made it this far, another fun thing is that I'm now a member of the Clever Girls Collective!

What does this mean for you?  It should bring some product reviews and awesome giveaways.  We all like giveaways, right?  The advertisers they work with look like they'll be a really nice fit for what A Jennuine Life is all about.

And lastly, I found the dates that my nautical flag banners will be promoted on One Kings Lane.  They will be part of an event titled "Day of New England" and will be live June 7 - 9.  Don't worry, I'll be giving you more reminders as the big day gets closer.  In the meantime, why not sign up for One Kings Lane, they've got some uh-maze-ing stuff (you know, besides my awesome banners)!

Hadley Marie: Seven Months

Bring on the warmer weather and some more chunky baby skin!  Hadley's got the chubby baby thing down cold.  I don't have a weight for seven months since it was just an immunization visit for the pediatrician.  She takes her shots like a champ - only crying for a moment and then going right back to her happy-go-lucky self.  Love this baby! 

She's sitting up on her own and still working on crawling.  She can move in just about any direction she wants by rolling, spinning, or scooching - - except forward.  When she tries to go forward she just sort of teeters on her tummy and kicks her legs.  If it wasn't so frustrating for her it would be hilarious.

Both my girls have crazy thick and long eyelashes - most definitely not from my side.  Don't you just love a sleeping baby?

We've added Cheerios and some small soft foods into her repertoir.  She thoroughly enjoys picking them up and getting them into her mouth, but she's not at all sure she wants it there once it's in.

I did a six month photo shoot, even setting up a little natural light studio in Arden's room.  The backdrop is pink fabric that I used as a tablecloth for Arden's third birthday, and I piled up a few mattresses and some fuzzy blankets for Hadley to sit on.  Pink polka dots might be a little busy for a backdrop, hmmm?

Chubby baby fingers!

She was a little over the photo shoot at this point, so as proof that she does cry on occasion I threw this one in.

Shots on the quilt are getting a little more challenging.  Hadley finds playing with her feet or rolling over to be much more interesting than holding still and looking at me.

We went for our first family wagon ride and Hadley did great.  She sits so erect that she did fine, but it was a pretty chilly April day so she was all bundled up.  Arden was so pleased to be on a ride with her sister.

And finally the seven month collage - Yay!  PicMonkey added collage functionality so I was able to put one together at long last for this month.  I tried my darndest to use Photoshop Elements, but that just wasn't happening, so then I had a passable collage crafted in Picasa, but it wouldn't let me add the text so when I went to take that collage into PicMonkey I saw the collage feature.  They've got some nice shape stickers that Picnik didn't have, so I'm warming up to it a bit.

I Pinned It! 5.25.12

Sorry I haven't been keeping on top of I Pinned It! Fridays lately - or did you even notice?  I should be back to regular programming since I'm done with my big order of Nautical Flag Banners for One Kings Lane.  Oh, and I for sure will be letting y'all know when the event my flags are part of is going on so you can go buy lots check them out!

Eugenia Kim Hollis straw hat via Fashion of Glee

This was one I hunted down after falling in love with the little hat Quinn was wearing on an episode of Glee.  Love it and I think I could DIY this!

At Second Street

This Vintage Inspired Tea Party is so stinkin' cute I'm gonna die!  I have this pinned onto my future party ideas board because I am SO going to do this in a few years!  The girls even got to craft their own little fascinator hats!

Joyful Homemakeing

I picked up a lemon cake mix with these light and chewy lemon cookies - yum!

Sew Much Ado

You probably saw this great tutorial as well, but I had to pin it because that makes a really sharp and seemingly quick receiving blanket.  Put that on your go-to handmade gift list!

Singing With the Birds

You've seen this before, but I wanted to let you know I did make this for Mother's Day and it turned out delish!  It needs a little less time in the oven than the recipe calls for, but it was easy-peasy and tasty too!

Arden's First Dance Recital

Arden's first dance recital was last weekend.  It was a half hour ballet and gymnastics class and they participate right along with all the other dancers in the annual recital.  Arden's class' routine was to a song called "You Know What". 

Here she is ready to go on stage for the first performance!  We weren't allowed to take pictures or videos on stage and I had forgotten my camera for the dress rehearsal, so you'll just have to imagine the adorableness that was seven three-year-olds on stage and more or less dancing and tumbling.

We had a little picnic before the second performance.  I don't regularly get Happy Meals or chocolate milk for her, but it made her happy and worked well that day.

After we got home, I did a little photo shoot to capture the prima ballerina in all her glory.  I think I took about 150 pictures, of which at least 110 were of the top of her head because she kept looking down the whole time.

Luckily a plane flew overhead and then at last I could see her eyes.

What's left of her "half up, half down and curly" hairdo.  I used tons of hairspray and a hotter iron than I really wanted and the curls were still hafhearted after the drive to the theatre.

 We'll be signed up for classes again next year!

Florida as a Family of Four

If you've noticed my posting lately has consisted mostly of Blog-A-Pal-Loosa giveways you might have guessed that we've been on vacation.  This was our first trip as a family of four to visit my parents in Florida.  I'm happy to say that Arden and Hadley are quite qualified to serve as Air Travel Embassadors as they were professional travelers and we received many compliments at the end of flights.  Arden is a veteran traveler having been to Florida multiple times as well as Oregon, Missouri, and Idaho.

So here are some outtakes from our trip.  These are all straight out of the camera as I am still debating which editing software to use.  I have PhotoShop Elements but I find it time consuming and I can't figure out collages on it and Pic Monkey only allows you to upload one picture at a time so that's out for picture-heavy posts.  Any suggestions?

Hadley ventured into the world of Cheerios, putting her new tooth (singular) to good use.  My parents found this cute little walker dubbed the "Hunny Cart" at a rummage sale.

Grandpa playing magnetic dress-up dolls with Arden.  I bought these specifically for the trip and they were a pretty big hit.

My parents also rented a little trike for the visit which was intended to be used outside but there was a hatch of noseums that found Arden irresistable so it was used more indoors than out.  Arden took great delight in making a "train" with Hadley in the Hunny Cart.

The trike did get used outside several times, but with a liberal dose of bug spray first.  Arden reacts really strongly to bug bites and gets big welts with pustules from mosquito and noseum bites; poor girl.

Snoozing with Daddy in the big bed.

Hadley REALLY liked this little maraca toy, but...

Promptly whacked herself in the head with it, which she didn't enjoy so much.

Bath time in the sink.  I tried first to give her one in the garden bathtub but wet soapy babies are slippery and she nearly face planted into the water a couple of times so we went back to the sink.

What?  I can rock this look!

Grandma and Arden reading before bedtime.

This isn't a great photo since I had to use the flash, but I loved Arden trying to give her little sister a ride on the back of her trike.  You can also see the shirt rescue I made in action.  Hadley is wearing the headband I made since Arden doesn't always want to cooperate with hair accessories.

Mango smoothie!!  Arden would methodically spoon up a couple of glasses of these most days.

We celebrated Mother's day while we were there and Arden colored pictures for both Grandmas and for me.

Hadley took a few days to warm up to Grandpa, but once she discovered his furry arms and legs she was enthralled.

Splashy sisters at the spray park.  This swimsuit, though adorable, is now retired as I had to stuff Hadley into it!



Dave and I shared a giant Corona with dinner.

I bought these water color pages, but Arden had a hard time with the concept of getting the palette part wet and then painting the picture.

We went to the local zoo - a really fun outing but sort of crazy because there was a giant busload of school age kids there at the same time.

Arden thought this was HILARIOUS to cover Daddy's eyes with his hat while he was carrying her on his shoulders.  I was directing him where to walk and he could sort of see with one eye.

More fun with Cheerios.  She enjoyed picking them up and putting them into her mouth but wasn't sure what to do then.  I think she looks like a bunny...

A little unsure of going into the water at the beach.

She eventually warmed up to the idea and then I could float her on her back and she would close her eyes and look so peaceful.

Grandpa and Arden having fun in the Gulf.

Making "mango smoothies" in the sand with Grandma.  Quite the imagination.

Hadley really enjoyed this mix of purple carrot, blueberry and pear.

Putting Hadley's hand print on the wall of the local post office.  Now Grandma can see reminders of her granddaughters almost every day.  That's Hadley's hand print just next to her right ear, and Arden's foot print at five weeks from three years ago and Arden's hand print from last year to the right of that.

Daddy and Grandpa went fishing and then took us all out for a short boat ride around the island.

Happy girl!

My paternal Grandma lives nearby so we stopped in for a surprise visit.  Hadley was super excited about this little bunny Great-Grandma had, and Arden put on a rare singing and dancing performance across the living room.

I got these window markers for the trip because my parents have six patio doors across the screened in porch that make a perfect canvas for drawing.  They worked really well on the windows, and we also found by necessity that the marks come right off dishwashers and cabinets!