Wordless Wednesday ~ Extreme Monkey in the Middle

While we were at Mimi’s house for Zach’s birthday, Andrew and Mimi began throwing a small ball in the house.  This is one of those you can do it at Mimi’s house, but you better not do it at home activities.   While they were playing the little boys decided to put on motorcycle helmets and try to catch the ball.  This turned into what I like to call Extreme Monkey in the Middle with the ball bouncing off the helmets. 

     

Oh, and it is not often that you find Caleb and Jackson playing nicely and quietly so this should be shared.

 

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 minutes for Mom!

Baseball Season ~ Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is so much fun!  Visit Oh Amanda for more Top Ten Tuesday Fun. 

At our house, Spring is not just a season that leads to Summer.  Spring is BASEBALL season.  With three sons, baseball season is exciting, frustrating, and a huge balancing act.  This year, Andrew and Jacob are playing so baseball season started in February and will last until June.  While baseball can be busier than Christmas at our house, we LOVE it!!  Caleb has spent so much time at the baseball field that it is almost home away from home for him.

Ten Reasons I LOVE Baseball Season:

1.  Trophies ~  The boys love it when they get a new trophy each year.  The trophy might be Jacob’s main goal in playing ball.

2.  Team T Shirts ~ Caleb is only 3, but he knows it is baseball time when we put on our baseball shirts!  Some mornings he will wake up and ask if it is a “bay-ball” shirt day.

3.  Outside ~ Nuff said!  What better reason to play outside than to watch brother play baseball.

4.  Dirt ~ In their hair, in an old cup, in a water bottle, make a mound, drive your little car in it.  Baseball dirt is almost like orange sand.  Most of the time after baseball, my boys are COVERED in dirt.  I use their dirt covering as a fun meter.  More dirt = More fun!

5.  Concessions ~ Nachos, Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Popcorn, Gatorade, all my available cash….

6.  Friendships ~ Baseball gives the boys the opportunity to make new friends as well as Josh and I the opportunity to get to know our neighbors.  We live in a small community and you can see most of our town at the ball field.

7.  Bags ~ Since I am a total bag lady, my first thought when Andrew played T Ball was what kind of bag should we get him.  Seriously though, I love that the boys learn the responsibility of keeping up with their bag and their stuff.

8.  Responsibility ~ Baseball teaches kids to be responsible for their own belongings and their actions.  Mom is not in the dugout with them to keep up with their glove, hat, and helmet.

9.  Balls ~ Need I say more?

10.  Patience ~ Baseball involves a good bit of waiting.  Waiting for the game to start, waiting for the ball to be hit to your part of the field, waiting for your turn to bat, waiting for coach to finish talking.  Baseball reinforces waiting nicely.

Well, this post got a bit more random than I expected, but we are a baseball family.  We love every minute of the boys playing ball and baseball is by far our favorite sport.

What sports do your kids play? 

Not Me! ~ Sunscreen, Cereal, and Brother’s Stuff

 Want to know what I have Not! been doing this week?  Hope you find it encouraging! Saturday was one of those days.  You know, the ones where you wake up and about an hour later wonder if it is naptime yet!  But I would NEVER feel that way.  My children are always a blessing and I am always thankful for them.  I would NEVER complain about their whiny ways.  Not me! I would NOT allow Caleb the opportunity to pour ALL the cereal out of the boxes onto the kitchen floor and I would NEVER make his big brother help clean up the baby’s mess.  Not me!So, Caleb had a good talking to and sat in time out until I felt better.  Well, the day goes on and then Caleb decides to play in big brother’s room.  While he was in there, he played guitar, pulled out ALL the art supplies, and became a tattoo artist.  So, it was back to time out for Caleb. While he was there, I walked by to see him rubbing something on his face.  He was rubbing sunscreen on his arms and face.  I took away the sunscreen and began to lecture my three year old about playing in his brother’s room.  While I was talking to him with my stern you-better-never-do-this-again-or-else voice, this is the face he shared with me.   This face went from this to a goofy smile complete with blinking eyes.  I did NOT begin to laugh.  Not me! Discipline is always a serious matter. Ha! Oh, and of course, I would NEVER share pictures of my kids with dirty faces online because they NEVER have dirty faces! Ha! Not me!So, what have you NOT done this week?

That’s it for my Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by <a href="http://www.mycharmingkids.net">MckMama</a>. You can head over to <a href="http://www.mycharmingkids.net">her blog</a> to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Sneak Peek Sunday

Welcome to our first ever Sneak Peek Sunday.  This week we have added some new skirts and shirts from Mimi as well as some new color combos of our best selling crochet flower hair clip and headband sets.

This brightly colored and absolutely adorable cat skirt is available in toddler and infant sizes and the length can be customized to your little one. 

Pillowcase dresses are here!  There are lots of fabrics to choose from or you can send Mimi an email with your favorite colors and she will send you pictures to choose from.  Vintage fabrics available as well.

Blue and Green is one of my personal favorite color combinations.  This week we have added a pair of crochet flower hairclips in turquoise blue and lime green. 

Stop by our Etsy shop next week for some new hairclip and headband sets, beanie and interchangeable flower clips, skirts, and pillowcase dresses.  Here's some of what you have to look forward to.

Hope ya'll have a great week and stop by tomorrow to hear about the fun that Caleb and I had yesterday.  Here's a hint - cereal, brooms, markers, sunscreen, and smiling faces....

Birthdays are a Finer thing {and a GIVEAWAY!}

So this past weekend we celebrated Caleb's 3rd birthday!  Hard to believe that my sweet baby is 3.  Well, he is still the baby and until about a month ago he was CONVINCED his name was Baby, but that is a different story for a different time...

This year we decided to try something different and have a location party.  We called the local petting zoo and set up the party.  It was AMAZING!  They had animals for the kids to pet and feed.  The kids were able to get really close to the animals and they LOVED it!  They even rode on ponys.

The Backyard Barnyard Petting Zoo is located in Danville, Alabama and is a great party location as well as outing.  If you are in the North Alabama area, you should check out their site for more information and directions - Backyard Barnyard Petting Zoo.

While we were there, one of Caleb's friends got the sweetest llama kisses ever!  This llama, Freckles, is HILARIOUS!

Birthdays are a great time for friends and family to get together and enjoy each other.  Family time is TRULY a Finer Thing.  Be sure to stop by Amy's Finer Things this week for more Finer Things Friday.

We had so much fun at Caleb's birthday and Mimi's Birthday is coming up next week so how about a BIRTHDAY giveaway? 

We thought you might like that! 

Are you ready to party? 

Do you have a party shirt on?  No? 

Well, it's your lucky day!  One lucky blog reader will win a custom monogrammed Birthday Shirt.  Check out all the shirt options in our Etsy Shop.

To enter, simply leave a comment telling us about your favorite birthday party.

For extra entries (one entry each):

• 
  
  
  Check out all the birthday shirts in our Etsy shop and tell us which is your favorite.
• 
  
  
  Follow us on Twitter or let us know that you already do - @mimisbabiesetsy
• 
  
  
  Tweet about the giveaway and include @mimisbabiesetsy
• 
  
  
  Like us on our Facebook Page or let us know that you already do and share our page with your friends using the Suggest to friends link.

Remember to leave one comment for each entry.

Giveaway will end at midnight on Mimi's Birthday - April 30, 2010.  Winner will be drawn via Random.org and notified via email.  Winner has 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Charissa

Plumbing Issues ~ Friday Fails

So, Myra at My Blessed Life has challenged us to share our weekly fails and imperfections....  Ok, maybe not so much imperfections, but she is definately helping us to keep it real!

Before I tell you about my FAIL, let me share some info about my house.  My house is an older home that has been added on to about 547 times.  Let me tell you that I LOVE my house.  It is a small house, but it is just the right size for us. 

We have lived here for about 7 years.  During that time, the kitchen sink had days when it would not drain well.  Some days it was the best kitchen sink in the world.  Other days, not so much.  Well, this problem went on for days, months, years, until it stopped draining completely!

Being the handy supermom that I am, I proceed to pour different things down the drain.  Bleach solves a multitude of problems right?  Um, NO!  Still not draining.  Oh, I heard that salt followed by boiling water would work.  Um, NO!

So, I told my husband about the problem.  Being the fantastic man that he is, he called the plumber.  So the plumber came out and got to work.  After taking apart the plumbing under the sink while the little boys watched and gave a play by play of every move he took, he found the problem.

The sink would not drain because there were 4 plastic straws that went down the drain and got stuck!  Turns out that sometimes the kids would put their drinks with straws in the sink and the opening was just big enough for them to go down.

Plumbing bill - $115.
FAIL!!!

To read more Friday Fails and to link up your own, visit My Blessed Life.

And I hear that to be a good blogger, you should have a picture on every post so how about some pictures of my cute boys taken by Marsha Barton Photography? 

Did you see their tie shirts and shorts?  Mimi made those.  Aren't they fantastic?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Charissa

"Stop Pretend Eating Your Brother"

Never in my life did I think I would need to put these words together...  It all started innocently enough.  We were all in the car and Jacob started to pretend eat Caleb.  Caleb had a MELTDOWN.   So, then the words came out - "Stop pretend eating your brother."

"But Mommy, I will spit him out." said Jacob.  Ok, that makes it better.  If you are going to pretend eat your brother, you should spit him back out.  "Caleb, is it ok if Jacob spits you out?"  Yes.  So, I hear pretend chomping and spitting for a bit. 

Then Jacob starts crying. I asked "What's wrong?"  Through his tears, Jacob said "Caleb is pretend eating me and not spitting me out."   So then came the words that I NEVER thought I would have to say - "If you are going to pretend eat your brother, you HAVE to spit him out."

So, down the road we went.  Each of the little boys pretend eating his brother, but spitting after each bite. 

Share your favorite I can't believe I said moment.  I would love to hear your stories.

And yes, ALL the boys have been in time out at the same time!  But this was not for pretend eating brothers. 

~Charissa

Sneak Peek ~ New Headband and Hairclip Sets

Some of these will be coming to the shop soon. Any faves?

Gone Wild

If you have been following our blog long, you know that we have ALL boys in our family! So, thank goodness we have some great friends with little girls we can "borrow" for photo shoots! One of these girls is Miss Itty Bitty. Her Mom has a great blog for freebies and discounts at Bargain Bombshell Blog. {For this week, there is a special giveaway, you might like!}

Want a Zebra Headband Set for your sweet one?  They are available in our Etsy shop here.

Our 200th Sale!!

Can you believe it? We Can't!! When we started in August we thought it would be exciting to have a little shop, maybe have new people find our shop and occasionally sell something. How exciting!! You may remember our first blog post if you've been with us all along. You can find it here http://mimisbabiesgifts.blogspot.com/2009/09/labor-dayalready.html

Wow, that seems like a really long time ago! Not that we're old pros or anything, we still slip and let time slip by without either of us posting anything -sorry- :(
But, we have learned a few things, (one of us needs to learn a lot more), posted a few things, shared a lot of our lives and met a lot of other amazing women out there in the blogosphere. We have also sold a lot of things in our shop which makes us very happy!

So in honor of our 200th sale we had a little surprise giveaway. Charissa tweeted about it, but we didn't do a lot to advertise. Our 200th sale came this morning when I sold this little outfit

to Ava's Mom, Jennifer Parsons in North Carolina!! Woo Hoo!!!! Congratulations Jennifer, you're the proud recipient of a $10.00 gift certificate to Mimis Babies Etsy store! I hope you will enjoy using it! And by the way, thanks for our 200th sale! You made our day! Stay tuned, more to come!

Ultimate Blog Party

So, the Ultimate Blog Party is happening and we are excited to participate.  I can't wait to check out the other blogers and Mompreneurs out there! 

If you are new to our blog, welcome and hello from Mimi's Babies.  Since we are in the South, we have to hug your neck and ask "How are ya'll?"  Hope you enjoy getting to know us.  Please leave a comment letting us know you were here.

Mimi's Babies is a family business with Mimi, Charissa, and Amy.  Mimi is my AWESOME mother in law.  She has four grandsons (three from me and one from Amy) and LOVES sewing and has a slight obsession with fabric.  Although, I can't really blame her for loving fabric so much.  She makes some of the CUTEST things ever!

Here is a bio she wrote:

I'm Mimi, a Christian wife, mother, daughter, grandmother and lover of all things fabric. I've been married to my husband for 35 years, have three grown children--two boys and a girl. My oldest son Josh is married to Charissa and they have three of my four grandsons. Middle son Joey and his beautiful wife Starr have been married for 6 years and ride motorcycles with us (time for a ride!) Daughter Amy is married to Zach and they are the proud parents of my youngest grandson. I am blessed beyond measure!

Amy is my AMAZING sister in law.  She has recently joined us at Mimi's Babies making silk flower hairclips.  Have you seen the HUGE pink and white peony in our shop?  No?  You should totally check it out!  Amy is married to Zach and Jackson is her cute 18 month old. 

I am Charissa, Christian, Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister, and Lover of all things YARN! I have been married to my husband (MiMi's oldest son, Josh) for almost 8 1/2 years. Wow, time goes by fast. We have three of the most amazing children ever! Andrew is an 8 year old genius (or so I think). Jacob is a 5 year charmer. MiMi calls him Prince Charming! Caleb is a 3 year old organizer. He loves to put things in and take things out. But if you ask him, he'll just say he's Baby.  You can usually find me at the ball field watching one of the boys play baseball.

Visit our shop to find that perfect gift for your little one or next baby shower at http://www.mimisbabies.etsy.com/. Join the conversation and get to know us better on Twitter – @mimisbabiesetsy. Join our Facebook fan page to be the first to know about new products, specials, and surprise giveaways at www.facebook.com/mimisbabies.
 
Mimi and I both blog and we love to share new things we have made and pictures of the boys!
 
For the prizes, we would love to win - ANYTHING!  We are just excited to participate.

Thanks for stopping by and ya'll have a great day!
 
~Charissa

Ladybug Birthday

At Mimi's Babies, we LOVE custom orders. When a customer asked if I could make a ladybug hairclip set for her daughter's upcoming birthday, I couldn't resist! Here's the set I made her. Hop she has a great special day!

Want your own custom hairclip set? Just send us an email - mimisbabies {!at} charter.net.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Charissa

Easter 2010 Part 2

Amy and family

Boys enjoying Easter egg hunt

Jacob and Caleb

Yep, Mimi made the tie shirt and shorts - want one? Visit our Etsy Shop!

Easter 2010

We had a great Easter and enjoyed all our family time. Hope you enjoy some pictures of our family and Mimi's sweet babies.

All the babies!

Caleb and Jackson

Charissa and family

Andrew, Caleb, and Jacob