July already?

Movie Stars

So, yeah, it's been a while! Ha. I'll be honest - the birchboxes I have received lately haven't really thrilled me.. Anxious to see what will be in this month's box. It may be a good time for an update and Brown happenings. 

My boys.

Shannon - He and a group of wonderful friends replaced our front door and it looks awesome. I'm so pleased with how much more privacy we have in the house and how amazing it looks. It may have taken us a while but this place is becoming ours. I love it. He takes pride in the exterior of our home and he has done a beautiful job. There are a lot of projects we want to tackle -- one at a time.

 New door - Old door.

New private front door installed!

Audrey - She has been attending a day camp this summer and she loves it! Every week they have gone on a field trip somewhere - a walk, a lake, a baseball game, a movie... tons of fun. If she could go everyday, even the weekends, she would be there. She finished TBall in June and had another great year! She is learning more about the game, and it's a great way to bond with her daddy (who also coached her team this year). She has lost 2 teeth since May and has more wiggly ones to come out. Growing up so fast! 

TBall!

 

Last day of Kindergarten

Character Counts Awards

First tooth lost!

Keeping busy

Landon - This kid is crazy. He's funny, ornery, a snuggle bug, sweet, smart... The way he has changed in the past few months is crazy to me. He is talking more, putting sentences together, and it's fun to see his brain work. He loves all things superhero. He loves to snuggle with almost anyone he knows. There are days I feel it's necessary for me to work so we have some extra money for food. He keeps us on our toes, and when it's too quiet it's usually a bad thing. 

Superhero Landon

My very own Chicken Little

And, me - I have been busy, but let me break it down for ya:

-Loosing weight is awful. Let's be honest. I've been trying to get to the gym 2-4 times per week. I have started to see a difference in my arms and legs... anxious to see some changes in my midsection. It's been good discipline for me (and Shannon! Who I can see a difference in his midsection. Blah) to make the time to go to the gym. I want to be a good example for my kiddos. 

-This year we finally have a garden. I'm so happy! We planted cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, cilantro, basil, cucumbers, zucchini, green peppers, banana peppers and jalapeno peppers. Most of our plants have done very well. It's been fun to see it grow from this tiny plants to having produce in our home. I love it! 

Garden Planted

Progress!

Basil

Banana Peppers

Zucchini and a tomato

-My yarn :) I love my yarn. I love being able to make something from a ball of yarn. Recently I have made quite a few wash cloths - gifts for Audrey's teacher and bus driver, as well as to fill a few orders. I also made a shawl for Audrey. Since it's been finished she's been wearing it. I love seeing her love something I made for her. I have also purchased some larger beautiful Knit Picks Needles. Gosh. I just love them. So beautiful. I have also turned slightly snobby about my yarn. I love to work with quality yarn. I have so many projects I'd like to work on, and I'll get to them.

Shawl for Audrey

Detail of stitches

Who wouldn't want to wash dishes with this!?

Pretty stitches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Washcloth Progress

March

If you live in the same general area March came in like a roaring lion.. Good grief, so done with winter, snow, ice. And so ready for my kindergarten student to have normal weeks of school. Most of March found us inside, cuddled under piles of blankets praying for warm weather to be outside playing. I have spent a lot of time knitting. Shocker. Is it weird to give a shout out to yourself? Whatever. It's my blog! And so is this one --> Brandie's Basket <-- check it out. It's a place where I can document my wip (work in progress) and also remind myself of patterns and what I have made.

Family is doing well. Ready to spend time outside, getting to know our neighbors :)

Onto the opinions, reviews -----

CHOCOLATE!! Seriously, do I need to say anything else? Of course I will ;) Dark chocolate with a hint of tart cherry and an almond crunch. Hello, yum. I may have done a little happy dance while eating it :) It's probably a good thing for my waist line it was a sample instead of an entire bar.

 Shampoo AND Conditioner First of all let me say that I am glad this came to me as a set. I hate, no loathe, it when my shampoo and conditioner aren't used evenly. What do I do with all the extra!? I'm curious to try a No-Poo shampoo, but this size is perfect for traveling and a good sample size.

 Coola BB Cream! Stoked! I was so excited to try this out, but I was quite disappointed :( I may need to use it as a layered product, and use it for the sunscreen, but the coverage was awful. That put me in a search for a BB cream for the summer. I think I found my new favorite! Benefit's Big Easy! This cream adjusts to the skin tone, and also has a powdery finish. I wore this to work (in a fast paced environment and I tend to glisten by the end of my shift) and I was NOT oily. Sold. Love it.

 Hand Cream Blech. Too floral for me. I prefer a more subtle scent to my lotions. 

Coffee Night Cream(?!?!!) Coffee beans in an night cream?! Yes, please! First, when I see "night cream" I think a very heavy, thick cream. This was not! It is light, has a fresh orange-like scent and was amazing. Totally recommend!

Holy cow. Been busy!

So, I just realized it's been almost a month since my last blog. Needless to say, things have been busy! My part time barista job is going well! I enjoy being able to get out of the house for a little bit, make money for our family... Plus, it also gives me, and my kiddos, a break from one another. I love them, but we certainly do appreciate each other when we are apart. I'm feeling much more comfortable completing the tasks at hand which is good! Still learning, and slow, but I think I'm doing well...?? Hopefully!

House --- We've had some interest, nothing uber serious, yet... I feel like we are in a hurry up and wait phase of selling. There is an interested family that is also selling their home, so we will see. We have seen quite a few homes in our new area that we can cross off our list of potential future homes. But, as of right now, it's okay. We don't have any time restrictions to force us into a place. We have had quite a bit of interest in the past month.. We are just waiting for an offer to begin seriously looking for our next place.

My blessings

Kiddos. Oh dear. They are ridiculous :) Audrey has a date for Kindergarten registration (seriously, when did THAT happen?!) and I know she will do amazing. If she is able to focus on the task at hand. She's doing very well in preschool and she loves it. This girl loves her toys. And she loves to line things up and have elaborate stories.  However, she doesn't always clean up as she should. So, every item I have picked up goes into a bin and she can earn as many back in a day as she wants through picking a task, helping out around the house, being kind, or because she's just been a good kid for that moment.

Did I mention she turned 5!?

Her task - clean under the couch. She took it up a notch and vacuumed almost 2 rooms.

Landon. OMG. This boy. He's a hoot. And, if he could, I think he would be able to eat his sister under the table. He is learning and using signs! It's been amazing watching and hearing his vocabulary grow. He can sign please, more, thank you... He loves 'ba' <-- banana and will eat an entire one to himself. He has no interest in walking, but he can crawl in a hurry to get what he wants!

Bath Time!

Digging in the girly toys

Did this yesterday. I am sore today! LOVE IT!

The other thing I have picked up, again, is working out. Jeans I bought a few months ago are tight, and I hate it. I hate feeling limited in my clothes that I am comfortable wearing. I want to wear the trendy, cute items. So, I have joined Planet Fitness and I am also trying to be more aware of what I am eating, what I give my kiddos to eat, and how much water I drink. I follow other moms who have lost crazy amounts of weight and realize there is NO REASON why I can't do it too. That being said, my first goal is to loose 25 pounds by June 1. I want to be at least 50 pounds lighter by the time another baby comes into our lives. A dear friend has started a support group on facebook and it's been so encouraging to hear how others are DOING IT. Making a change, eating well, seeing differences in their bodies. I really do need to take some dreaded before photos, and measurements, so I can see where I was and how far I have come. (Note to self. Add that to the To Do list!)

Black sparkly headband

In all this chaos, I still make time for yarn. Love my yarn time. A chance for me to relax and unwind.. I seem to be on a bit of an animal streak -- snake scarf, monkey hat, frog hat.. I just realized that! HA!! But, I've also made headbands, fingerless mittens, and working on a blanket for Landon. And, yes, that blanket may end up being huge because IT'S THAT SOFT AND I WANT IT! We'll see. It may happen. 

Snake scarf

Monkey hat.

Gloves I almost kept for myself! :)

Gray headband with flower pin

Babblings.

Anyone else ever start a blog then wonder WHY am I writing about this? Who really cares? Or how many bunny trails can one person seriously go down???? 

GUILTY! :) 

I feel the want to write, but our lives have been so eh recently. Short version --- BOTH of our vehicles were out of commission with the need for new water pumps.. Shannon's had a few other things that needed done (timing belt, inspection, oil change, some light thingy... I know a lot about cars!) While I have been stranded at home for two days, since he needed my vehicle, I began to think about getting a horse and buggy for a back up. Ya know, JUST IN CASE. Ha. Totally not going to happen... maybe it was a thought from cabin fever! Pro - I could wear my sweats and not feel guilty about it, I was also able to work on some of the craft items I need to finish, and I got SOME cleaning done.

Love these two!

So, while I'm here, let's do an update on the fam.

Shannon's car is fixed! HA!! This year's Christmas to each other is knowing we put money into our vehicles, we are driving safe vehicles, and general maintenance is done. He recently had a very positive review from his job and we are so thankful for the blessings that have come from his position. 

My men at Thanksgiving

I love this photo :) Audrey at the Greencastle Parade

 Audrey is loving preschool. Still. Phew. Now that it's Christmas time, our elf, Jumpin' Jack, has made his return. Every morning she looks for him. It's been cute to see her reaction when he does something crazy (like cut some of my yarn and swing from the fan. Crazy elf!)

Handsome boy @ Parade

Landon is on the go. All.The.Time. Love him, but I really liked him not being mobile. He went from army crawling, to hands and knees crawling in a weekend. He crawls like a bull dog. It makes me laugh. I love him :) He has 6 teeth, loves to eat almost anything that's put in front of him. Right now, his favorites are little crunchies, yogurt drops, noodles, cuties (clementines)... Really anything he can pick up and put in his mouth. Which means I need to vacuum more. Blah. (Did I mention he is almost a year old!? Where in the world has the past year gone?????!!!!!)

First Thanksgiving!

And the author, me. :) I have been busy making stuff and I love it! I love being able to create, use my imagination, and use talents. But, my favorite is seeing the recipients reaction. I love the smile of - wow! this is amazing! (gloating a little! some pride is good, right?!) But my favorite is seeing photos on facebook of people wearing items I have made. Man. I love that! I'm so thankful folks WANT me to make things.. that keeps me busy. I am anxious and excited to finish off my list so I can get started on new concepts and put my new knitting needles to use!

In case I forget to mention in the next 11 days ---  

Merry Christmas to you and yours from us! :) 

What have I been up to....??

I am so excited to tell you JUST that! Ha. About a month ago I started taking a knitting class in town. I have been wanting to learn how to knit, and YouTube just wasn't helping me at all. I have learned so much in the past month! My first project was a washcloth and I couldn't tell you how many times I ripped it apart and started over. So it has a big hole in it, but I didn't want to start over when I had less than 10 rows to go (whole thing was 60ish). Anyway, it's done, we use it, and I feel more confident about basic knitting stitches. 

Second project was, and still is, a pair of pedicure socks. One is done and the other will be started within the next week or so. 

Within the past month I have also toyed with the idea of making craft items to sell. Starting with some basics - hats, scarves, flowers.. My latest find and fun thing to make are fingerless gloves/mittens. Kinda love them!

In my bag of tricks I have accumulated quite the collection of items -- above mentioned, and add to that fingerless gloves, knitted headbands (LOVE these!), and I'm about to make a prototype coffee sleeve. I'm not sure what may be added, or where this will take me/us, but I love being able to create things. 

OMG I forgot - add to that some basic beading. If you or someone you know has a teething infant I TOTALLY recommend an amber teething necklace. If you have chronic pain (I broke both my wrists in elementary school, 3rd and 4th grade, do a lot of needle crafts - see above - and I have a lot of pain in my wrists in the winter months... Even with adding more crafts, my wrists don't feel as bad as they normally "should". I have been wearing amber bracelets on each for about 2 months.) I also recommend Amber. There are so many healing properties in a number stones. Have an ailment? Let me know and we can talk. 

Wanna see things on a regular basis from me? Become a fan of my facebook page here --- Brandie's Basket. Catchy name, huh? I like it :) 

Have a great day folks!