Ben and I had a couple quiet evenings alone (with Glow too) and the big girls slept at Grammie’s and Grumpy’s. It was nice. We watched the baby sister in her first official dance performance and just like I suspected I balled my eyes out at her first piece on stage. I am so proud. She’s the best and I am not even exaggerating. She had lots of solos to prove it. The rest of the evening will be spent having dinner with my family and watching the Spurs game. GO, SPURS, GO!!! We are so excited about that over here. 

This week’s learned and links… 

Glow is cranky when she doesn’t get her regularly scheduled naps.

Soul has a new found love for crushed ice.

Thankful for grandparents and their babysitting abilities. 

I am nervous about the foam fest next weekend! 8ft and 12ft walls to climb… OH MY!!! 

Really liking this table. Not the price.

This vintage toy high chair in my friend’s shop is way cute! Get it. Someone. 

And this friend, wife of Sexytay (a witty dude that you understand better as you get to know him), has an amazing blog that has me instantly hooked. Seriously. You will be hooked too. This pizza. These pictures. She also has good, smart things to say, but she hails from Cal, so I am not surprised. And she is an architect, so she just has an eye. Melody Earlbaum is so good. 

Don’t forget this and this giveaway and to check out this blog. 

This week we got dance classes, True’s open house, and a bunch of regular life things thrown in with house renovating stuff. I already can’t wait until Friday!!! Do you have any new blogs you are really loving?

Hello Homako! If you follow this blog, then you probably know that in most of my style posts, I am wearing this necklace. It’s my fave and it goes with everything. I loved it so much that I even got this and this one and those are just as gorgeous. Though the wood one is still my fave. It is just so unexpected to have a gold wooden jewel. Yoko the mastermind behind Homako makes the most beautiful pieces. Her attention to detail is so amazing and everything is just so one of a kind. I loved her necklace so much that  I had to gift one to my BFF and Danni. I am sure if you perused through the shop, you’ll be clamoring for one of her creations too! 

I am happy to giveaway one wood jewel necklace from Homako to one of you! If you can’t wait to try to win, use coupon code SHOKA10 to get 10% off your order. Here are some things you can do to enter the giveaway:

1. Like Homako on facebook and tell me you did so by leaving a comment.

Meet Crystal Lewis. This sponsor comes with a bit of a story. See one night as I was reading through my instagram comments (@rubyellenbratcher), I noticed one name that stood out to me. Crystal Lewis. I thought that was interesting considering that growing up I have always loved famed christian artist Crystal Lewis. I thought it was a funny coincidence. I did more snooping to find out about this commenter and lo and behold it was the real Crystal Lewis. In the local church I grew up in, her songs were probably the most often sung as a special number and every girl wanted to sing like her. Once I realized that it was the Crystal Lewis who left the comment, then I went to her blog and saw that I was one of the blogs she read, I pretty much peed in my pants. I still remember being in the nosebleed section of Angel’s stadium and watching her sing. Mind you it was 12:30 in the morning when I made this discovery and Ben was asleep, so I called my parents’ house to tell them of my news. I knew they’d be awake. They’re party animals. They were just as pee in your pants excited about it as I was. What did I do after that?! Well you betcha I twittered her and emailed her some crazed fan email! Seriously. I love Crystal Lewis!

Crystal Lewis is an amazing singer and godly woman. I love her blog for its encouragement and honesty and how she constantly points me to Christ. She is also a homeschooling mama of two (well, only one now), raise two godly children (this one sings too), and she obviously has much more wisdom than me, so I definitely look up to her. In this time of a gazillion and bazillion blogs about a gazillion and bazillion things, I am happy to have hers as one that has a good mix of life, love, and encouragement. Take a gander through the Crystal Lewis blog and I am sure you will agree…

Anyone else grow up listening to Crystal Lewis?

I love Darlybird. I have been a long time fan of the shop and so I am so glad to have them here on Cakies. I have ordered several of their rings, play things, and crafting items and love all of it. There is a just a nice mix of goods for home, for kids, for play, and for wearing. We have the cuckoo clock from there, but ours is black and we got it a few years ago, but they still have pink and silver. So cute! My current favorite items are the lanterns, this geo necklace, and this fringe one. No doubt you can find a few things from Darlybird to add to your wishlist! 

One of you  will get lucky and win a $50 gift certificate to Darlybird! Not only that, but 3 others can win an earring grab bag! Also, if you just can’t wait, Cakies readers get 15% off using the coupon code cakies. Great, right?! Here are some things you can do to enter:

1. Tell me what you must have from Darlybird.

We’ve been reading a lot of comics over here lately and their current favorite is Moomin, so this little project is inspired by that. Make these big, make these small. Make one or make five. They’re perfect for a little bed decoration or for some photo booth action, but I am not so sure they would be so comfy to lay on. I don’t want my head lying on vinyl. These will be perfect for leaving sweet messages for your sweetheart or little sweethearts. Heck, mad messages too! Whatever gets the point across. One thing’s for sure though, there sure are lots of fun to be had with these pillows! 

Can repin the project (or past projects) from here. My speech bubble would say… “I’m so glad it’s Friday!!!” How about you?

p.s. you can find vinyl in the upholstery/home decor fabric section of your fabric store and pick the softest one. 

eight months.

By golly, she’s cute! I’m biased of course. I am her mother. She sounds like she says, “Mama” but I doubt it. She is finally getting rice cereal. I know. Don’t judge. She’s my last one and I didn’t want her poop to change. She has the softest skin and we like to do skin to skin. Then the other girls want to get in on it and you have all of us girls cuddling Glow skin to skin. It’s sweet, really. Nine months is right around the corner…