tshirts

Hello folks! I’ve been waiting for the shop to be completely restocked before offering this 30% off coupon… and we are well-stocked and ready to go! With the 30% off code you can get super cute tees for less than $10 a piece! This would be a great time to stock up for Easter baskets or birthday parties. And as soon as some of the inventory is cleared out we’ll have room for summer designs!

I’m not sure where January went and in a matter of days I’ll probably wonder where February went too. It’s been unseasonably mild here, much like the rest of the country, which has freed us to spend a decent amount of time outside enjoying the sunshine. I believe the car was already dusted in yellow pollen by  mid-January! I’ve snapped a few pictures here and there, not nearly as many as I wish I had. The kids are growing so fast, changing every single day. The little Raiger has learned to read like a champ at the tender age of five, and her voice, as she goes from word to word, is the sweetest sound to her mother’s ears. I want to freeze the moments. Morgan loves to read too and teach. “School” commences in the family room every afternoon when they get home from school.

Her classroom is a well-stocked, and somewhat-organized, fun place to play and learn. She’s very thorough and we’re working with her on tenderness and patience with her pupils who are sometimes berated when they lose interest in her game.

The little man is an aspiring race car driver, matchbox car collector, and patience-tester extraordinaire. We also call him Murray as needed. He verbally protests to his new name, which is only used when necessary, because he knows all about Murray. You see Murray is The Boy Who Cried Over Everything. If you have a three-year-old son {or daughter} who may be in a stage where they cry over things like: having to get dressed, you opening their yogurt {instead of them}, picking out the wrong spoon, having to wear shoes, not getting a treat at the store, having to take a nap, not having hot dogs for every meal, shall I go on… then I recommend you introduce your child to Murray. You see Murray seems to cry over everything. Rover knows that Murray’s behavior is not becoming of a young man… that crying over things that aren’t cry-worthy is not good. Little did I know that the book would have such an impact on him. Today at the library when he started in it only took a simple and gentle reminder of who he was acting like to dry him up. In the end, Murray figures out when it’s ok to cry over things and when it’s not. Now, if Betsy Childs and Dan Olson would take Murray to church and help him figure out how sit quietly, and be respectful during “Children’s Moment” at the front of the church, I’d be delighted. If they need any ideas of things that  Murray might do to interrupt the congregation I’d be happy to fill them in with a few of Rover’s secrets.

Here are few pictures from a Friday afternoon about a month ago at our community pier near the end of our street.

And a couple weekends ago we ran over to spend a weekend with Erika, Chance, & Sloane in Rosemary Beach… it was an awesome weekend but I only snapped a handful of pictures!

This is “Murray” trying to figure out how to share with Sloane.

I believe she walked away empty-handed and he was the torpedo victor so we have progress yet to make!

In other news, Justin did WAY better this year for Valentine’s Day! If you weren’t around last year, I received a cheese & sausage basket all in the honor of LOVE from my husband. He has heard a small amount of grief over this for the past 12 months. This Valentine’s Day I was thankful to receive dark chocolate, Twizzlers and a card! His dad, probably in fear that cheese and sausage would be on the agenda again, sent the girls and me the most gorgeous arrangement! It has made me smile ear to ear for days.

We are still without cable television {almost a whole year!} and Justin and I have been helping boost the Redbox & Blockbuster Express earnings. We fear before long we will run out of options. Last weekend we rented Jane Eyre and both loved it, if you haven’t seen it you should. Finding a decent movie, that is entertaining without trash is becoming increasingly difficult. We’ve also enjoyed Contagion and Courageous, although Contagion may have been a little intense at times.

We transitioned straight out of Valentine’s Day into Mardi Gras. This is our first Mardi Gras experience and I’m certainly an amateur when it comes to all things Mardi Gras. Paige & JM both had to make floats for their class parades. Without my usual arsenal of crafting supplies we resorted to the toy box for Paige’s float… I introduce to you The Mystic Order of Majestic Mares, they’re obviously a wild bunch!

Alright… time to pack up for 4 days at the brown house! Our first trip “home” in over a month!

I snapped this off early this morning around 7:30 when Paige was proudly donning her new “hand painted” Santa t-shirt. We are in the full swing of Christmas over here, and our colored lights are haphazardly draped all around our house. The background slightly resembles “Christmas in a dorm room”, with a touch of homemade paper chains to boot.

It has been chilly here but we’ve still managed to work in some crafts & a little outside play time. JM is completely in love with this table. Even the cold won’t keep me away from it. The only explanation I have is that has rippled glass and makes everything on it extra loud. He was so enthralled he wouldn’t even look at me.

Paige came home last week with a palm tree reindeer. We loved it so much we decided to make a handful more. If you live in a climate like ours they’re super easy to make. These brown “reindeer heads” are from the spent palm tree fronds…once you doctor them up they look like reindeer!

Despite what I consider bitter cold temperatures, we ventured out to the beach this weekend at sunset.

We’ve seen lots of new feathered friends in the bay– mostly loons and ducks. They seem to have moved in for the winter. I took this shot of the moon last night while the sun was setting. It’s been fun to watch the sun and moon take on a new perspective as the days have grown shorter. This is looking to the east from our deck. The moon clearly up just as the sun as gone down.

And this is looking to the southwest.

We headed a few miles north this weekend to pick up some pecans. There is thankfully no shortage of pecans in Baldwin County! They didn’t have any shelled, so we settled for cracked, and my very gracious husband shelled 6 pounds of pecans this weekend. All of which will likely be made into Maple Cinnamon Pecans.

I will share the recipe in the next post. It happens to be one of three that I shared with Mobile Bay Magazine for their December issue. I also had the pleasure of sharing some Honey Bee Tees information with the folks at Business Alabama for their December issue.

Let’s see… so there we are. I’m kinda thankful that I only see myself in the magazine when I check-out at Walmart & the occasional bookstore run in. I turn a little red in the face every time. Justin has been a champion through all of this. His office took the cover picture, scanned it and printed it out on a plotter and hung it in the lobby of his office– resulting in a nearly life-size poster of the cover to welcome him and anyone else entering the building. As you may gather, he has received a small amount of grief over this. I just stay home with the kids and let him have the attention. He thankfully can take it like a champ.

The folks at Mobile Bay Magazine came out in October to shoot. They were the most wonderful group of people and we had a blast.

This is the editor, Lawren Largue {with baby #2}, Stephen Potts {in blue who had to brave the water}, and Ellis Metz. Mallory Boykin was here too… she was busy with the assorted wardrobe pieces she brought with her.

This is Matthew Wood, he was the freelance photographer for the story. He is also a musician and a super nice guy!!

The kids were only a little confused about staging Christmas in October with wrapped empty boxes, etc.

They made out with plenty of Candy Cane Crunch cookies to compensate for the fake presents…

The 14 foot Starcraft made an appearance… looking better than she ever will, sporting a garland of greenery and garland of shells!

And here are a few shots inside the magazine…

They have posted the article online and will feature a “12 days of Christmas” on their website! I’m hoping to get my act together and put those 12 links on the sidebar so that you can find them there too! And if you live the Mobile area,  this is an excellent publication and would make a fantastic Christmas present. As would Business Alabama.  Justin has subscribed to Business Alabama for over a year, and we both enjoy the issues. A good gift for that hard-to-shop-for-businessman {or woman}. Kathy Hagood wrote an “Under the Executive Tree” feature in their December issue, and I was thrilled that Honey Bee Tees made the list!

And, speaking of Honey Bee Tees… I’ve been slow to inform you that we are stocked with Christmas! Several new designs are in the shop and everything is ready to ship. Let us know if your order is a gift {in message section at checkout} and we’ll be happy to mark out the price on the packing slip & include a note for the happy recipient from you! Also, if you don’t follow us on Facebook, please do, I am more timely there with shop updates!

New designs include: Art Supplies, Duck Hunt,  Christmas Ride {also for adults & in raglan}, Oh Christmas Tree* {& in short sleeves too}, and there is a Train Ride raglan now too! Sweatshirts are in too and both the Bird Dog &  Float Plane are perfect for these chilly months!

*Rover wears his Oh Christmas Tree tee all winter long… we think it works for Christmas and beyond!