Newest Photos to Share

Here are some new pics I just got...I LOVE them all!!!

Thank you Amanda for testing this twin cocoon and the awesome pics!!  www.amandagipsonphotography.com

Thank you Chrissie!!!  I love how you made the red/orange hat work on the newborn (it's a 6-month size!)  www.chrissiemariephotography.com

Thank you Mandy!!  I was so excited to see these green diaper covers!  www.mandysrokaphotography.com

Sarah...you've outdone the green hat...LOVE THEM ALL!!!!  www.sarahsweetman.com

Love this littles face...'just take the pic already Sophie'...SO CUTE!!  www.sophiecrewphotography.com

Another from the fab Chrissie...who just happens to live in my part of this world :)  http://www.chrissiemariephotography.com/

TOTALLY in love with this hat and cannot wait to get more of this bright pink in!  Thanks!!  www.watermelonphotoblog.com

Night all!  ~ t

Week 2 Special and the Winner is...

Scott and Jean Lucas!!!!  I'm sure your twins are going to look fabulous in whatever you decide to use your $50 bekima knits gift certificate on!!  Please contact me by Thursday, April 29th for your code...and if I don't hear from you by then a new winner will be chosen.  Winner was chosen at random by random.org.  I'm all about fairness :)

So, who wants to know what this weeks special is?  Anyone...?  Like you could talk back to me!?  Sometimes I feel like I'm having a real conversation, imagining what people would say, in response to what I  say, and yes, sometimes even laugh at the imaginary conversation.  I know, I'm a little whacky, and a little sleep deprived.  But I have to mention quick that EVERYONE is sleeping in their own beds tonight, except for myself.  I really don't want to catch the crap that the rest of the 4 had, so I'm staying clear of my husband and opting for the cozy couch tonight.

Ok, total loss of thought and on to the giveaway now.  Due to my lack of being able to work this past weekend, I was a little off the ball on getting a really good special for you...SO...you'll have to deal with another of my own, bekima knits DISCOUNT...I hope you guys don't mind.  ;)  There are really great, and I mean great, specials and giveaways to come with lots of great sellers and also some really good causes for some extremely deserving families.  I hope you all check back!

This week, all blog followers (you MUST be a follower!) get a 16% discount on ANYTHING in my store...even custom orders!  Discount runs through Friday, April 30th and you must enter code bkweek2 in the 'message to seller' box upon checkout AND as I said before you have to be a follower of my blog (you can find that button on the top right of this page).  Upon receipt of payment I will refund you (within 24hours) your discount back to your paypal account.  I'm giddy with excitement about this special and hoping you all love it too.  Why 16?  Cause I know you're all wondering where I came up with an extremely odd, yet even (math nerd in me), number for my special.  Well...it was actually the number of the winner of the giveaway that random.org generated for me...pretty spiffy huh?!

Ok, I obviously need some sleep.  G'Night all!!!

~ t

Quick sidenote...if you also have a shop or business and would like to be a part of one of my weeks, just send me a quick email at ktfriesen@embarqmail.com.

Campouts and Slumber Parties

Campouts and slumber parties bring out the kids in us and lets just face it, we all want to act like a kid every now and then...some more than normal. ;)  Hanging out with friends, jumping around on bedding laid down on the floor, and girl talk.  We all know about girl talk.  This is where memories are made and secrets are told; lasting a lifetime, some secrets never told to another soul.  How much fun, bringing back memories of my own girly slumber parties.  And now, as I sit between Miss Bella Bean and Little Kira Belle, I can't help but cherish, and hold tight to these new and fun memories of my little ones in their first slumber parties. 

Now, granted our circumstances are a 'little-out-of-the ordinary' for having our campouts (as Bella insists on calling them and says slumber parties are only for Grandma's house); we're still having a blast.  For those of you that missed the last post, all 3 of our girls (who are all under the age of 3 1/2) were sick, and I mean sick, on Friday evening/Saturday morning...and we're still recovering.  Listening to Bella whine and tell me her tummy still hurts and she needs more medicine, as I type, and wondering if she's *really* still sick or just pulling my leg because she's a three-and-a-half-year-old-that-knows-what-strings-to-pull kind of girl.  Who knows, but now she's counting and totally forgotten about her tummy ache. :) 

So here we lie, as one little is sleeping, the other trying to find her blankie, and myself sitting in between soaking up every drop of these precious moments with my girls; knowing full well that someday, probably sooner than I'm wanting, they won't want to have campouts and slumber parties with Mama anymore and choose their cooler friends over ME.  I know it's coming, but for as long as I can I'm going to push that thought aside and take in every second I have with my girls.  All 3 of them, because we never really know what tomorrow is going to bring.  So I say, take this time, this minute, today and in the present, to actually do what you say you're going to do and not live for tomorrow...live for today! 

Don't forget!!!  GIVEAWAY ends tonight at MIDNIGHT!!!  New weekly special coming tomorrow :)

~ t

UGH...

...that about sums up this evening.  I had great plans for a great post tonight and our oldest, just shy of 3-1/2 years old, 'decided' to get sick tonight.  'Decided' - like she had a say in getting sick or not.  Followed by her youngest sister a couple hours later; and not to be left out, the middle babe just an hour or so ago.  So needless to say, this night and weekend have brought different plans for us...so the great post will have to be on hold for better days and nights :)

Sorry if I don't check this for a while.  Have a great weekend everyone!!

...#3 is calling!

tanya

Sunny Days Bring Lots of Joy

Sunny days brings with it lots of joy in this house.  Being trapped in the house for about 4 months out of the year, we're soaking up every drop of sunshine and warm weather that this early summer-like April is bringing.  Which makes me relish in the fact that such joy comes to two little toddlers and one 'I'll-follow-my-big-sisters-wherever-they-go' baby, with a trip out the back door, down the steps and onto the patio and backyard lawn.

We're also loving this new sandbox that Daddy built in just a few hours on Saturday afternoon.  Only slightly hinted by this Mama...but no pressure Daddy, no pressure at all...

Thanks to my uncle, who happens to be a farmer with several rock piles - this project was FREE

Add a slide to the sandbox and here is pure joy, Kira's face shows it all.  Joy is what this trip around the sun is all about.  Somedays, like any Mama, you wonder where the heck did I end up...and then you see your kids, enjoying the simplest things in life and it brings you back down to earth, to soak it all up.  Sand, who would've thought that this earthly material could bring out so much joy, creativity, fun and not to mention hours and hours of entertainment to the littlest of littles.

I've been brought back down to earth in these past couple of years, and all I want to do, everyday, is to enjoy every single moment that I have on this trip around the sun.  Children are the ultimate joy-givers and I love them all to end of the earth and back again.  The littles of this earth and those that have flown to heaven, bring out the best in us and bring us back to the simple things in life.  Joy...pure joy...

Looking for a crafty spring project for your little ones?  Try these pinecone bird feeders...basically free again!  If you can't tell, I'm all about free, cheap and saving money, because lets face it, the cheaper it is...the more fun it can bring.  I will recommend though that you have some help with this one; I was a leaning a little towards the Mama-about-to-pull-her-hair-out at the end of this craft with two eager toddlers and a very quick-grab 10-month old in a walker that she can CRUISE in!

The girls, Bella and Kira, collected these pine cones on their nature walk last week...slather them in peanut butter, roll them in bird seed, attach a string, hang and watch the birds come in!

Joy, it's what the heart needs.  And this was what I found on the tree facing into our new sandbox...our perfect little heart formed right into our tree...

Enjoy!

Week 1...GIVEAWAY

So, as promised, bekima knits (and myself of course) is going to be doing a weekly (YES WEEKLY) special for something, anything, that this little mind of mine can come up with.  Quick sidenote...if you also have a shop or business and would like to be a part of one of my weeks, just send me a quick email at ktfriesen@embarqmail.com.

This weeks special is a giveaway, from non other than yours truly and bekima knits!  The winner will receive a $50 Gift Certificate to spend as they wish at our store, which can be seen here.  Here's what you can do to enter; 1) You must go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/bekimaknits and comment back here on what your favorite item is in our shop; and for additional entries you can 2) Blog about our blog and this giveaway on your blog and/or social networking site; 3) Become a Follower of our blog 4) Send your friends here, and when they comment, make sure they mention who referred them to the giveaway/blog.  The first entry is mandatory for the giveaway and you can get additional entries for completing and commenting back here that you did each one.  This weekly special will end at Midnight (Central Standard Time) on Sunday, April 25th.

Here are a some of my favorites...

...and there are more, new, goodies to come from bekima knits this week!!

Real Life

Blogging...this is something new to me but I've been inspired lately by another, quite spectacular blogger (in my mind).  See her blog at http://www.kellehampton.com/ ...and something in you will just come to life.  Thank you Kelle for inspiring me to be better and to share our life as we're just trying to keep it real.

keep it real, came to me as I was driving our little Bella to dance one day.  I was being 'nudged' to do something and share what I have while on this Earth and I believe we're all here for a reason, and we, our little family of 5, are just trying to keep it real.

I hope that this blog becomes something more, a sharing point for not only family but also maybe some people that are just led here, unsuspectantly, just as I was to Kelle's blog.  I seriously just stumbled upon a link, on someones Facebook page one day back in February and I've been hooked to her and her family since.  There's something comforting to hear that there are others that don't have a clean house, don't care if there are a pile of dishes in the sink, love to just drop the duties to have fun with your girls in the backyard; someone that wants to keep life as real and as simple as possible and enjoy the chaos and suck every drop out of every day.

We're only here for a short time, why not live it up and love until you think you can't love anymore...and then you find more room in your heart for more lovin. 

I also want to do this, not only as an outlet to the world as a stay at home (yet working) mama, but to share what I've been so blessed to be a 'part' of with people I have never even met.  It's amazing what technology can do and who it can bring together.  As many of you know, I have my own business, bekima knits, and in my short six months of business I've felt a part of so many peoples lives and I really feel like I can call them friends.  Although we've never met, I still want to be a part of their lives and I hope through this blog and bekima knits I can bring great things for people that just need to be lifted up. 

...and maybe that's why I've been put on this Earth...who knows, I'm still learning and God is slowly and steadily revealing my path and I pray that I can be a part of yours.

~  Tanya