Introducing Fidget

Introducing the newest member of our family... Fidget, a 10 week old male red and white border collie : ) We've had for just over a week now and have enjoyed every minute of it. Don't get me wrong, he is a lot of work. He has to be let out about twice a night to go the bathroom and he wants to chew on everything but that is to be expected. Here are just a few pictures of Fidget.

Fidget pretty much picked us out instead of us picking him out of the litter. As soon as we got there he walked straight up to Cris and sat with him.


Border Collies are a very active breed of dog and need a lot of exercise. They are also extremely smart. Look up border collie tricks on you tube and you will see how smart they are : )

I love his green eyes. I hope they stay green. We met the mother and she had gold eyes so who knows, Fidget's might change when he gets older.

He has a lot of personality. I can't wait to find out what kind of dog he grows into. Right now we are working on teaching him to "come", "sit", and "drop". After that maybe will be able to teach him some more complicated tricks. For now, we will work on the basics.

I'm In The Mood For Fall

I am super ready for Fall!!! So ready for fall that I went ahead and sewed Navie her fall dress. The best part about the dress is that she can wear it now while its still a little warm and wear it when it gets cold by adding leggings and wearing a long sleeve shirt and sweater. Here are a few pictures of the dress but most importantly, a few pictures of Navie : ).

Navie is getting so big!

This one is my favorite : )

I love the expression on her face. "Seriously Mom, how many pictures do we need to take?"

My little angel. I love her so much!!!

Happy Birthday Navie!!!

Navie has turned 3 years old and to celebrate, we had a Disney "Tangled" themed party. Here are the pictures from the party. I think everyone had a really nice time : )

The decorations were all based on the decorations in the movie.

This is the food table including floating paper lanterns like the movie
: )

Here is a picture of Navie's birthday cake. I had a lot of fun making it
: )

We has simple refreshments. Pineapple, grapes, crackers, cheese, and an ocean of blue jello with little boats to represent when Rapunzel and Finn Rider watched the paper lanterns in the movie.

Super yummy grape bunch!

Navie got a bunch of presents. Most of them were different board games and craft supplies
: ).

I was very proud of Navie because she blew out all her candles in one blow!

I think Navie liked her cake : )

ARRRRRR!!!

So for some fun, we decided to have a family treasure hunt. It was a really fun activity to do with Navie and it didn't take long at all or a lot of preparation. All we did was make a simple treasure map with different landmarks from outside.

Here is Captain Daddy explaining the treasure and what we were going to do.

Navie was having a blast!!! Here she is at Marooner's Rock : ) She loved holding onto the map.

We hid the treasure on the back deck.

I could tell she had a blast. It was a fun activity for all of us. Its these little impromptu activities that help to make fun memories : )

Our New Home

We are so excited!!! We are in the process of buying our first home. 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bath, basement, and garage. We got it for a great price and will be paying less then the rent we pay now. Closing date is set for August 23rd and I can't wait to move in. It is a small town house but I can live with that knowing that it is ours : ). We will have to finish off the basement so we can have more room but that will be fun for us to do. Cris is really excited about getting his hands on the basement. It will be a really nice TV room when he is all done. I will have more pictures to post when we actually move in : )

Lord, Give Me Strength

Things have been really stressful for me lately. We have been trying to get pregnant for the last 6 or 7 months without any success. Well, we were finally successful! However, I had miscarriage about 2 weeks ago. It has had a toll on me and I haven't been handling the stress very well. We have decided to take a little brake before trying again. I don't know how long the brake will be but for now I'm not going to even think about it.

So to help with the stress I have started going to yoga class at our church. We have classes twice a week and I really enjoy them. I have NO coordination or balance at all and I'm not flexible but its still fun and relaxing for me. I now have my own yoga mat and made a bag to carry it in. All the ladies at the yoga class loved the bag I made and are asking me when I'm going to make some to sell : ).

It's amazing how the Lord blesses us in our times of need. I'm grateful for my visiting teacher who felt the need to drop by the day after my miscarriage, I'm grateful for the primary president I work with who noticed I was stressed and invited me to yoga class, I'm grateful for my friends who have given my support, I'm grateful for my family who have stood by me, but most importantly I'm grateful for the strength the Lord has given me. Now I just need the physical strength for yoga : )

Bags, Bags, Bags

So I have been living bags for the last week. I have started my own company making bags and it has been lots of fun. There have definitely moments of stress but I have had a huge amount of support from family and friends. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!!!

I am now making more bags than just diaper bags. I have finally figured out the measurement for a small and medium sized bag. I LOVE the larger bags but I think the smaller ones are so cute. The small bag that I make is perfect for scriptures (I'm planning on making one for myself to carry my scriptures in) and the medium bag is the perfect size for a purse.

Medium sized bag

With the new sizes, I hope I will get some more orders in soon. I have finished making the diaper bags for the florist/gift shop and now I can focus on making some bags to put on Etsy. Of course, I take custom orders at any time : ).

Chic Chick Bags

I'm going into business : ). I'm now selling handmade rag quilt diaper bags, wipe holders, hand bags, totes, nursing covers, and quilts. I have created another blog, "chicchickbags.blogspot.com" and an Etsy.com store to sell all the bags and extras I have made. Everyone should check it out. I have been contacted by a florist/gift shop and they want to sell some of my bags on consignment so I have been busy sewing bags for them. I haven't been able to put a lot on the Etsy store yet but I hope that in the next week or so I will have a bunch of stuff on it. I am having a lot of fun making these bags.

I think I have finally found me niche. As a stay at home, I have been looking for some kind of hobby to keep me busy. Dont' get me wrong, I'm very busy taking care of Navie (and I wouldn't want it any other way) but I need to do something for myself too. Chic Chick Bags is that thing for me. I love the bags because they are completely reversible and are custom made to each person! All I need to know is what colors you want and patterns (floral, geometric, polka dots, etc.) that you like and I will make a bag to fit your likes. So please check out the new blog and etsy store.

Spring!!!!

Tomorrow spring is officially here!!!! I'm so excited about having nice weather again. Yesterday we had unseasonably warm weather and it got up to 77*. It felt extremely good to get out of the house and play in the yard. Navie really enjoyed it too : ). So to usher in the nice weather, here are few pictures of Navie from yesterday. Yea for Spring!!!

PA Farm Show

I finally got back to the Farm Show!!! I haven't been to the farm show since before we got married so this was a real treat from me. What made it even more special was that we were able to take Navie. It was a great trip for all of us.
At first it was a little crazy because we had to park on offsite parking and get shuttled over. Normally that wouldn't be bad, but it was freezing out and waiting for a bus in the cold isn't that fun. We decided to get food first when we got over there and of course the food court was PACKED. The food made was great though. I loved getting the cheese cubes!!! I wish I could make them at home!

Navie did a fantastic job with all the animals. I was worried that she would be afraid of them since they are so big but she did great! She was great even when we looked at the cows. It was really good to show Navie the baby cow drinking from the mommy cow. We were able to teach her that milk comes from cows and she could really understand what we telling her.

There were a lot of teaches opportunities for us. We got to show her where milk comes from, how chickens are born, and where wool for clothes comes from.

Of course you can't go to the Farm Show and not check out the butter sculpture.

Navie liked looking at the pigs, that is until a huge pig like this one got loose and almost took out our entire family. Cris heard me yelp when the pig missed my legs by inches and quickly scooped Navie up just time. If he wouldn't have been so quick, that pig would have completely trampled Navie. Whatever they were trying to get the pig to do, it wasn't having it.

Traumatized Navie after the pig.

This silly chicken just makes me smile : )

So over all, you can say we had a great trip! Navie loved the animals (except the runaway pig), and we had plenty of teaching opportunities. I can't wait to go again next year!

How Time Flies

I don't know if its because of this time of year or what but I always seem to get nostalgic right about now. Of course we had a great Christmas and enjoyed everything that comes with it. I loved getting together with family. It was really nice this year because Steve and Holly were able to come for New Years. This was the first year that they were out here at New Years with Caprie and got go to Grandpa Schaeffer's house and meet all the other great grandkids. I was uploading the pictures from Christmas and couldn't believe how fast time has gone by. Here are the pictures taken of all the great grandkids over the last 3 years at Grandpa Schaeffer's. Not everyone was able to make it each year but its nice to get together with who ever can make it.

First year was Hunter, Adrienne, Navie, and Haily. (not pictured... Joey and Jacob)

Second year was Jacob, Hunter, Adrienne, Navie, and Haily. (not pictured...Joey, Caprie, and Kaddy)

Third year was Hunter, Joslyn, Caprie, Navie, Jaxon, and Adrienne. (not pictured... Joey, Jacob, Hailey, Liana, and Kaddy).

It's neat to see how much the kids have changed and all the new additions as our families grow. I hope that next year we can all get together. Its hard to get everyone since life takes everyone in different directions but one day will have to have ALL the great grandkids together : )