and to my surprise...

I came upstairs (from my newly organized studio...i'll share pics eventually) to find jackson putting up the Halloween decorations.
go hubby!

no boys allowed...

found this on the girls' bedroom door the other day...

{daddy wasn't allowed in, but we had a rockin time!}

oh my darling...

little 6 year old...

today, we met my mom and sister for lunch at sake...
jaden and i were talking about how daddy would be jealous and i jokingly said we should not tell him...
she looked at me and said, "yeah, cause he'd be pissed!"

oh, dear...

i told ya...

that i'd post.
i did...and it's a looong one!

hurricane ike made his way past ohio, and we were without power from sunday (early) afternoon until today around 3...
{i'll show you pics of that in a minute}


now, to catch up on my summer:

*jackson's mom got us tickets to the dayton dragon's family day.
we took the girls, as well as two of my cousins...

ashlyn didn't quite get the sack race,

so jackson had to "help"

ashlyn didn't quite get the fact that you're supposed to catch the water balloon...this one burst in front of her and she burst into hysterics because she got wet...but, the dragon's player on the right made her day when he gave her a brand new water balloon to keep

my cousin, angela, sliding into 3rd base...

*monkey woke up one morning reincarnated as a pirate looking for treasure...

*we were supposed to go camping, but it didn't work out...{we were a little busy with label orders}

so, we took the girls to the aquarium instead...i know these aren't the best pics, but i think they're cool!

jaden absolutely loved the "fish tank place"

*monkey turned three...

*jaden started her year as a 1st grader...

*jackson's grandma flew in from florida...it was great to see her, especially since she had never seen ashlyn in person...

*this is monkey's new do...jackson's mom calls it her "pixie"...

*and this is what ike left us...lots and lots of kindling.

we dealt with 60-70 mile-an-hour winds for half a day, lost power for a little over 24 hours, and had to toss out most of our food...

when i think about what people in texas had to deal with, it really puts the whole situation in a new perspective...

**and, finally, i leave you with some etsy sneak peeks...

so today...

when jaden got home from school, she had a little chat with her daddy...
it went something like this:


daddy - "hi dude, how was school?"

jaden - {sticks her tongue out at jackson and runs past him to go find a snack}

daddy {after jaden comes back...with ICE CREAM} - "dude, who said you could have ice cream?"

jaden - {no response...due to the heaping spoonfulls she's cramming into her mouth}

daddy - "dude, i don't remember saying you could have ice cream. i said who told you you could have ice cream?"

jaden - "my conscience!"




***umm, yeah, she's only 6! we're so screwed when she turns 13!***

are you sitting down...

well, my little monkey decided she needed a more casual, easy-to-maintain hairdo...

so, when i thought she was in bed sleeping, she was "styling" her hair



with her sisters scissors....



ugh!





anyway, i know i owe you like 5 posts, so lots to come this weekend...
*fun new etsy stuff
*my new favorite etsy banner designer (she's fantastic!)
*and tons of pics...including monkey's new do

my secret's out...

i was thrilled to have the honor of creating a custom piece for the SEPTEMBER KIT at Bad Girl's...




see the little velvet birdie? that's mine! i had so much fun making them!

and, since they're exclusive, you can ONLY get them here in the amazing September kit...

happy birthday...

to my favorite 3 year-old monkey!





love you babe!