Grandma Mary Montella

We have known for some time this day would come but it doesn't make it any easier. Today we lost Ben's grandmother on his mother's side. Mary was one of the sweetest women I believe I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I still vividly remember our Thanksgiving trip to Las Vegas in 2006 for her 90th birthday. I was a little nervous to meet so many of Ben's family all at one time. As soon as we walked into Aunt Marlene's home, Mary lovingly welcomed me with a hug and a wonderful conversation. I loved her immediately. Ben has many wonderful and fond memories of his grandmother. He had the pleasure of visiting her often while on his mission in Vegas. He and his companion would go over to her house probably once a week or so for dinner because Mary wasn't a member and they taught her the discussions. We love her, and even though we will miss her in this life, we look forward to being with her again one day!

1 year wellness check up

Alli went to the pediatrician this morning. Our little girl had not grown much from 6 to 9 months so I was looking forward to a big jump in stats this visit. Here are her stats:

9 mos: 12 mos:
25 3/4 in 29 1/4 in - 55th percentile
17 lbs 6oz 19 lbs 5oz - 20th percentile (she's so skinny compared to other babies)
18 in (head circumference) - 70th percentile (Alli has a big brain!! woo hoo)

Dr. McCollum is very pleased with how well Alli is growing. He says she is perfect. We expect her to walk very soon. She is holding on to all kinds of things in the house and walking around while holding on. Soon, she'll let go....and then trouble! We got the go ahead to switch Alli to whole milk. Sounds like we could've already done it and the doc would've been ok with it but either way she will start on milk now. We gave her some this afternoon when we got home and she doesn't appear to have any problem with the transition other than not liking it cold right out of the fridge. Her only word remains to be puppy. One day she'll say momma and daddy. Oh well.

Thank you again to everyone for her birthday gifts. She absolutely LOVES her new toys. Her clothes are adorable; mom, she loves the dog; Marilyn, she loved the rhyming song book and her quiet books for church; Ash and Don, she is getting so good at putting all the shapes in her shape ball; Shannon, she likes to watch the seahorse light up and play music.

Why we have hanging pots showcasing DEAD plants!

I'm going to go ahead and just state the obvious....I love colorful plants...but I'm terrible at remembering to water the hanging plants. I have no idea why. So our poor hanging plants have suffered this year. I finally remembered to water them a few weeks ago. They were so dry that the water was just pouring over the side because it didn't have time to soak in. So I brought the plant down to be able to watch the water go in and realized that a bird had built a nest in the left planter closest to the front door. So I took the next out and watered my plants.

Then a day or two later I was leaving the house and I must've spooked the bird because she went flying out of the planter. I took the planter down off the hook and sure enough she had rebuilt her nest, but now she had 3 little eggs in the planter. One was already a cast off because it wasn't even down in the nest. But there were two that momma was patiently sitting on trying to get them to hatch. So I knew at this point it was either let my plants die or remove the nest again and possibly kill the baby birds by disturbing the nest. I wasn't about to kill birds....so death to my plants. So I did not water my plants any more and a few days later the eggs hatched and you could hear the baby birds chirping for food. Then over the next few days you would see momma and another bird (I assume daddy), alternating feeding the babies. It was kind of fun to watch the process. I'm surprised at how quick those babies grew. It was only a matter of a few days to a week. Then today I go outside with Alli and see that one of the babies is sitting up on top of the soil and out of the dug out nested area. I thought, well the babies are starting to get stronger and braver. So I put Alli down safely inside the house and decided to get pictures.

Here is baby bird in the midst of my dead plant

close up of baby bird. Kind of ugly...the feathers haven't fully developed.

I don't think he/she cared that I was that close and taking pictures

Then I caught a glimpse of another bird in the grass to the right of my porch. I thought it might have been momma looking for food. But the bird was just sitting there and not pecking into the dirt for worms....So I went around in the grass to get a better look and it's the second baby bird. I guess he/she had already gotten daring and flew out/fell out of the nest. This one cared a little more about me wanting a picture and tried to fly away. His/her wings still aren't strong enough yet and he/she could only fly a few feet away.

He/She saying get away...or feed me...haha who knows bird talk??I guess the other bird in the nest still might have been wondering where bro/sis went...or he/she could've cared less. Alli and I went to run errands later today and when we came home I found this to my surprise.

The second baby made it out of the nest and was chillin on my rocking chair. Again, this bird could care less that Alli and I were 4 feet from it and making noise. I went inside and put Alli down for the night. When I came back out to water, both babies are now no where to be found. They have spread their wings to fly. :) I thought they were cute and just wanted to share.

Not much going on

There isn't a whole lot going on at the Smith house lately. Ben is working a ton of hours...like always, bless him! Today he started a 72hr straight run of shifts, off thursday and then works friday...ugh. Alli has her 1 year check up on thursday morning. I can't wait to see how big she is. Maybe dr will tell us its good to put her on whole milk now. I'm tired of messing with formula.

Now that we've had Alli's party, I'm trying to finish up her 1st year scrap book. Here are the most recent pages.



I guess the only other thing going on is that Ben is trying to get through his last three classes as quick as possible. He is so close to getting his associates. He has set a goal and wants nothing more than to achieve it. Hopefully in a month or so he'll be done!!

Pool Party

I had a feeling Alli's party might start out like this...

Alli doesn't nap well away from home since she and I tend to be home around nap times. So having her party away from home when she still needs naps every 2 hours...well you do the math. Anyway, once daddy or I held her, she was much happier.

She wasn't excited about her cake. This probably had more to do with her mood than the cake. Normally, I think she would have dug right in. Oh well.

Here she is much happier.

Her thinking face...

ooh bows...

oh what is it...what is it...can I eat it?

ahhh the pool. She loves the water.

She's going to be a natural!

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it. Alli loved having you all there!

Alli's One

Welp....Alli turned one today. So many mixed emotions with seeing her turn one. We didn't do a whole lot today to celebrate...actually we did nothing other than sing her happy birthday. When she is older we will start a birthday tradition, but right now since she isn't old enough to even know what's going on....we didn't do anything. Saturday we will celebrate more with all the family. So she will get to do the traditional cake and gifts....Happy birthday baby girl!! Don't grow up too quick on us.

New Ribbon Sculptures

Hey check it out...New ribbon sculptures!!
Turtle
Angel Fish
3D Daisy

I've got more coming...I found some cute cute ideas!

Spice rack transformation

Here is the original spice rack. Now time for paint.
I pre-drilled holes for my dowel rods that were going to hold the ribbon spools.
Now some black spray paint
Add the dowel rods...
Now all I needed to do was add my ribbon. Easier said than done...the dowel rods were a tight fit, especially with the paint on them. This rack perfectly fit all my ribbons. Isn't it great??!!

Little Bitz Of Love Update

Well I finally had my first purchase on my etsy store. I have been so busy with other things that I haven't updated it much lately. I decided to run a weekend sale on a few items and one of them sold. So now I've also spruced up my store blog since blogger has added a few new features. Check it out!! Now I have a link that shows all my ribbons, possible bow options, bandana dress options, and earrings. I'm very happy with the changes. Spread the love and get me some business! :) Any suggestions for other things I should add. I'm already looking into making totes. Check out this tutorial.

Busy Busy

Ok so I'm a little excited... ;) Things have been very busy but that is good. I've been crafting like crazy. I just get in moods...what can I say. I made a few more bandana dresses. I put them on etsy.com and hopefully they will sell. They are cute. I made some more bows too. I went to goodwill today and got a couple things for some projects I want to do. I bought a cute place-mat that I'm going to turn into a scripture tote and I bought a wooden spice rack that I'm going to make a ribbon holder...I will show before and afters...don't worry. :)

Alli's birthday is coming up....sigh...can't believe it's been a year already. We are going to have a very simple party. I didn't see the need in doing some extravagant for a child so young. So it will just be a family party. When she's older and has her own friends, then we'll do something more.

Our yard sale a few weekends ago was fairly successful. We made enough to be able to fix my wedding ring. I had been without it for a month because my prong tips needed to be fixed so I didn't loose my diamonds. We thought all of my tips were bad but turned out it was only the center. So yay! We are also saving up to do some projects around the house. We want to put wainscoting in the kitchen/dining area to help set the room apart in such an open space. We are going to finish painting the house. We also want to do some framing around the bathroom mirrors See Here. If we get real froggy, then we're also going to tile the drywall area above each shower to help protect the wall from over-spray. So I can't wait to get all this done but...i'm being realistic that it won't be quick.