tid bits, ta-da's, and ta-ta's

ok, so lots going on....

-first of all, THANK you so much for the well wishes for Andrew.

He still hasn't passed the stone, at least he hasn't found it. We're hoping that it just dissolved.

Unfortunately, we were not able to go to Indianapolis for our weekend get away.

When we returned home from the hospital , Friday morning, he was able to sleep. He was pretty doped up on meds, and wasn't complaining, so I basically just continued planning and packing as scheduled. The kids both napped earlier than usual, so we could head out of town by around 3 pm. I actually didn't have Andrew do much in preparation, and I was prepared to drive(even though I was really hoping to dig into my new scrap magazine =)......

anyway.. the car was packed... we stopped for gas and munchies.. and then headed to the interstate, when the check engine light came on in my car. Lovely. I thought it had been driving a bit weird, but Andrew was convinced it was just due to the fact that I ran into a curb the night before. yep.and I wasn't the one on meds.. lol-

so he got out and drove it a bit... but really wasn't wanting to take it out of town. We couldn't go get his car from the hospital garage either, b/c lately his car has been in and out of the shop, and Andrew wasn't sure it was ready for a road trip quite yet. Lovely.

We tried stopping in at a mechanic, but they didn't have the right system to check a Jetta's controls. So we went back home, all the way I was fuming in side, more disappointed , and Brigham kept asking when we were going to Indianapolis. I hated to let my kids down. And who was I kidding, I was really looking forward to some time away.. to make messes and not have to clean them up, and just relax with no schedules to follow.

As we got home, Andrew proceeded to tell me that he really was still in pain, and that the car thing was just GOd sending us a sign that we shouldn't go. I really feel badly for not putting the needs of my husband first. I just didn't realize what he was going thru, was really that bad. So needless to say, the rest of our evening contained some shouting and a whole lot of tears! The kids and I went to bed around 8pm, we were all so exhausted.

We got up the next morning to drop the jetta off at the dealer, and then we went to IHOP for a special breakfast. and later a trip to Target.

I think that smoothed things over with Brigham.. and of course Tatum had no clue! Target definitely smoothed things over for me =)

Good news is that my car only need a new vacuum hose so it was only $50.00. phew!

Andrew 's stomach pain ceased, but he has had lower back (kidney?) pain for the last couple days now. He is still taking meds, so he basically slept thru church on Sunday!! lol..we were sitting in the second row, too, so afterwards, he apologized to the pastor, for sleeping during his message!!

-our church celebrated its 2nd anniversary, with a big Mexican Fiesta... it was really good.. and I paid big time for it all afternoon with heart burn.

- I have finished a long and detailed task for my philanthropic organization, PEO. I was asked last spring to be chairman of the program committee, and I said yes, without fully knowing what my responsibilities would be. Since last fall, I have been busy, trying to find hosts, and hostesses for each meeting(twice a month) and then a program for each meeting. Basically the last two weeks have been spent finalizing the program to be put into our booklets, and also getting changes in membership to update our books..so yeah... I am glad that is over. I was just asked to be on the committee as well for our guest tea in June, but I think it should be fairly easy..

-been playing with my camera on my boy for a change.. love his expression here.

just wait , I got some uber cute props for Tatum to be my guinea pig with... hoping to get to that this week...

-last week at MOPS, we had a pampering day. ahhhhhh. it was so wonderful.

got my makeup done

(you can kinda see the pink streaks better, with the way my hair is done here.)

got a manicure. that lasted all of 3 days!! maybe this is why I stopped getting my nails done after I had Brigham. ( for 12 years before that, I was an every two week kinda girl for getting my nails done)

and the TA-DA is..................................

my photography business! yep. this is what I was going to reveal months ago.. but kept wanting to work on things some more, before the big reveal.. so anyway... the above is a glimpse of my business cards . and you can check out my site :

ELLE MI - PHOTOGRAPHY

I have been up and running since about September. I have had lots of success so far, and am having a blast with it. Its amazing that my hobby, and love for being creative, as brought us income so quickly! It totally has been a God thing, because, we had been talking about me going back to work at some point, but this business has been able to help with financing the 'extras'.

I can't believe how much fun I am having doing it too. I love to meet new people, and especially new little people =).

I'm going to set up a link on my blog to my site, so check back often, for fun stuff. I am getting ready to launch a spring special soon.


and the Ta-Ta's ........

actually have a double meaning.

last week, while in my room, changing my clothes, Tatum was keeping a close watch on me(as she often does). As I took off my shirt, she pointed at my chest area and exclaimed with a huge grin... " ta-ta's"!!!.

so that had us laughing for awhile.

until just a few days ago, and Brigham started trying to get her to say her name.

She is really becoming verbal now and knows about 20 words, and is easily repeating what we say.

So proud big brother, keeps asking her "Tatum, what's your name?" over and over until finally.. she exclaims with a big ol' grin.....

"ta- ta"!!!!!.

and she hasn't wavered from this either. we even were on skype with gma and gpa Holland over the weekend and they were asking her what her name was, to which she proudly screamed out

"Ta-Ta"!!!!