Happy Blogiversary to me

Doesn't Liah look so cute in her new skirt suit?! I am so proud of it!


Yesterday was my one year anniversary of having my blog! (That's why the giveaway ended yesterday.) It has been so fun for me to get comments on my posts. It is the only thing that makes having a blog not impersonal. I appreciate every single comment that you take the time to leave. It really makes my day. I was so excited to get 45 comments on my giveaway post!!! Definitely a record for me.

Well I hate giveaways with 5 cazillion comments and one winner, so I decided to pick one winner for every 10 followers I have on my blog. With all of you that have followed or now follow my blog, that makes 3 winners.

I put the all the names (the appropriate amount of times) in Sean's hat, and Sean selected the three winners...

1. Christina! You were definitely destined to win my giveaway. Sean pulled both of your entries out!

2. Kate! I will be happy to make you a bag, but if you want to learn how, you could help me with it if you want!

3. Vanessa! Aren't you glad you figured out how to follow blogs?? That's the entry Sean pulled out! And so appropriate that you should win since you were the first one to leave me a comment on my blog a year ago when I started it!

Congratulations to the winners! And thank you to everyone who participated and for all the compliments on my projects! Winners email me and tell me what you want! jmeredith6830 at charter dot net. (or you can click on the contact me button at the top of my blog!)

100th post giveaway!!!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

what's that?! You haven't even thought about it at all??... okay fine. Well here it goes anyway...

I'm so excited!!!

What I have up for grabs as a thank you to one of my wonderful readers is one thing sewn by me. Anything of your choice.

Maybe you want a dress for your little girl:

Or an outfit for your little boy:

Or a shirt for your daughter:

Or a skirt suit for your daughter: (shhh! Don't tell Liah, but I made her this for her birthday this Thursday. It has a matching purse!)

Or yourself: (It's hard to tell what it looks like, but I made the skirt and jacket I am wearing. plus bonus fun fact: here's Amy 25-30lbs heavier...)

Or some cute little shorts for your daughter (there is also a pants variation):

Or a Halloween costume for your child:

Or a bag for you: (hard to tell what it looks like, but other varieties are here and here... I didn't actually make those two, but I was the teacher!)

Or a cute apron:

Or a skirt for yourself, or a shirt, or a nursing cover, or..... whatever! The list goes on and on! These are just a few examples of things I have made. I have a huge pattern collection and of course fabrics and sizes are negotiable.

So how do you enter this fabulous giveaway??

There are 3 ways: (just to clarify, for certain people like my favorite sister, you don't have to do all three, these are just ways to get additional entries)

1. Leave me a comment here telling me which thing you are hoping to win! (this does not commit you if you change your mind)

2. Follow my blog, and leave a separate comment saying that you are a follower.

3. Blog about my giveaway and leave me a separate comment.

The giveaway will close at 11:59pm on Sunday, September 27th!

Now comment!!!

p.s. Facebook friends, I'm going to be selfish and ask that you come leave me a comment here on my blog. Here's the link: http://amymommyof4.blogspot.com/

Half-Marathon

My half-marathon was today, and I made it across the finish line in 2:29:38! Considering that I became a runner a mere 3 months ago, that's not too bad. It turns out that 13.1 miles is a really long way to run.

I've been so excited about my race, but Thursday night, I started freaking out a little bit. I was irrationally certain that something would happen to prevent me from running my race and all my work and training this summer would have been for nothing. i.e. I was worried I would break my leg an hour before the race, etc. I told you, irrational. I am happy to report though that I did not, and I can now claim "running a half-marathon" on my list of things I've done in life.

It was awesome to see my family waiting for me at the finish line and hear them screaming and freaking out/cheering me on when they saw me coming.

How did I celebrate this accomplishment? I went home and took a well-deserved 3 hour nap. :)

p.s. I know I look terrible in this picture, but give me a break, I did just run 13.1 miles.

p.p.s. Oh here is something funny: the second I crossed the finish line, my girls came up to me and said, and I quote "Mommy, I'm sooo thirsty! Can you get me a drink?!?" Um... YOU'RE thirsty?!? And a few minutes later, Emily told me that I needed to work out. LOL (I was stretching, and I think that is what she meant, but it was still hilarious)

p.p.p.s. This is my 99th post! Stay tuned for my 100th post giveaway!!!

Addison's birthday

Yes, yes, another birthday post. Figured I should get them done before it is Liah's birthday next week!

Addy's birthday was the 19th of July, but I did a little party for him on *gasp* the 17th! because my favorite sister begged me. She came and visited, but left the day before Add's birthday, so she convinced me to do his party early. It was hard for my Monk-ish mind to allow it, but I did it all the same. No invitations or piñatas (or guests) for this party, really just so thrown together, but it worked and it was cute all the same.

My babies always get their very own cute little cake to destroy on their first birthday. If you can't tell, it is supposed to be a sailboat. Original, I know.

...and all of my babies did not hesitate to destroy said very own cake. Except Addy. He is a surprisingly clean baby that very patiently waited for me to fork-feed him his cake.

We tried telling him to touch it... we actually put his fingers in it...

...phsyically lifted the cake for him to take a bite, which sort of worked...

...still wasn't really going for it....

...but since it was his party, after all, we let him have it his way.

Wall-E shoes from Aunt Lorie!

A coloring car from Gramma MacGregor. Addy loves taking the little characters out and putting them back in.

Happy birthday sweet little Adds! I love you!!!

Emily

Emily, age 5

This is a post I started a couple months ago that I was planning to post for Emily's birthday. On July 11. As you see, time has gotten away from me, but better late than never.

The best word I can think of to describe Emily is "spunky." This girl just cracks me up. You may remember the "grandma" post from December. Well she is full of these little gems. Here are a few of my favorites:

• "I just can't stop thinking about Ad! He's so cuuute!" (she will just randomly spout this off)

  
  
• "Liah always treats me like dirt. And she treats me like a shovel."

  
  
• "Mommy, what did I saaay??" (One time she said "Mommy, everytime I give you a kiss, you give me a kiss." So then randomly she would give me a kiss and if I didn't kiss her right away, she would say this.)

  
  
• Today we were feeding lunch to Addison, and we always call him a little piggy because he eats so much, and Emily started singing "He's a piggy" to the tune of "He's a tramp" from Lady and the Tramp.

I love this girl. LOVE her. She can definitely be opposite ends of the spectrum from one second to the next, but how she keeps life interesting!

Here are some pictures from her birthday party. She was very specific about who she wanted at her party (all THREE people) and what she wanted to do. I was happy to oblige.

Liah and Emily even made the invitations for Emily's party. It was pretty funny actually. Emily took a piece of paper off of her notepad and colored some rainbow stripes on it, and wanted to go give it to her friends. She was disappointed when I informed her that the invitation probably ought to have some words on it to let them know what, when, where, etc. "But I don't know how to write!" Liah stepped in and offered to help, and together they made invitations. They tried to have the party start at 9pm, but oddly enough I wouldn't go for it. So they eventually came up with the time 11:15am, and I allowed that. Funny girls.

She wanted 2 piñatas. Instead of saying no, and because I am cheap, all I did was staple together some pieces of cardstock and put snack bags of m&ms in them that I got couponing. Either way, she was delighted.

She also wanted to have lunch and watch a movie, so we made mini pizzas and everyone got to make their own. They watched the movie while each person made their pizza.

She wanted a cake in the shape of a heart. There was half a cake left over from my birthday party the night before, so I cut out a heart shape of cake and stuck it on a plate. She was thrilled with that as well.

The other activity she had planned was to "play in her room." This was by far the easiest party I have ever done.

Books from Aunt Lorie. Each page is a puzzle!

Princess castle sculpting set from Gramma Mac.

"HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!!!" pajamas from Gramma MacGregor. She was just a little excited... and by little I mean a lot.

Seriously, this girl wanted an 8 pack of olives from Costco for her birthday. She was talking to Grampa later on the phone and she goes "I got OLIVES!!! 8 cans!!!"

Froggy purse from Liah

A fabulous make up job.

Happy Birthday little Emily! I love you!!!