Beautiful!

That's what it was outside today! When the kids woke up from their nap outside we went. They have luckily gotten over their fear of grass. That makes it a little more pleasant out there. We do need outside toys though. Not enough out there to keep us out of trouble. I spent my time raking leaves and other dead things from my flower garden, and raking up a winter's worth of dog poo. That is always such a fun job, so much more with three helpers!

And talk about helpers! When they hear me open the doors to the laundry, they come running! They love to "help" pull the clothes out of the dryer. Rylan was showing off again the other day...


We needed to get outside for sure. Inside was getting a little dull. Yesterday I assumed they were playing nice in their room. I finally decided it was way too quiet in there. I knew I was in trouble when I spied a couple of diapers in the doorway.


Sure enough we got ALL the diapers out! They did help me pick them up though.


Lastly I just finished this guy. I new design for this spring. I'll be adding him and a lot of other things to ebay tonight!

Secrets, Soup & Silliness

Hmmm, black paint? What am I up to? Black doesn't go with Spring Time!


What in the world? Here is just a small part of what I'm working on. But it's a secret...


I have to say I am in LOVE with crock pot meals. I can throw stuff together early on in the day and forget about supper until supper time. Broccoli Cheese soup anyone?


And onto silliness. Rylan has found his little escape. He is the only one who can crawl up on my old wood bench, so when he wants to get away from his bullying brother Brett he crawls up here.


Brett says, Hey how'd you do that?

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone has a wonderful & safe "Green" day today!

We're getting so big! The kiddos are becoming a little more independent and they can play together so nice. Can being the key word! We're learning how to share, not that we always want to. I'm really looking forward warmer weather so we can get outside! I'm hoping to have a garden this year too. Anything to help with the grocery bills. These kids are already eating me out of house and home! If I make a hamburger helper meal it feeds them twice, with none for mom. If I make a pizza, I get none as well! The photo below is Brett showing you how much he LOVES pizza. It's number one!

Brileigh loves playing with balls. Her favorite activity is to throw them through the baby gate into the kitchen. Of course once they hit the hard wood floor the cat takes off with them, and that's a lot of fun to watch too! You can see Brileigh's "fang" in this picture. Her other tooth is finally coming in. Thank goodness for that, she looks like a hillbilly with that big ole front tooth!


Another fun activity for everyone is looking at books. We participated in a book exchange and got a lot of great new books. They do destroy a fair share of them, but they also take time to look at them nicely too.


Lastly I got a couple of new things done this week. I've been working on a new "chocolate" bunny and here he is! I'll be adding this guy to ebay and my website soon.
And even though Spring just started, I've already got fall ideas running through my head. I couldn't resist not making this guy after I sketched him out!

Quick Post

We've had another fun week in the Hall house. Influenza this time! Where in the world do we catch this stuff?? High fevers, chills and no sleep. No fear though, we've made it through. I even managed to get a couple of things done. These Easter items are scheduled to start on ebay Sunday night.

I designed these bunnies last week, and I think they are just the cutest. I'm listing them with a basket full of hand stitched eggs.




I also designed this Easter punch needle that I mounted on a penny rug.

Keep in mind these items wont be available for viewing on ebay until Sunday night!
Check out my listings!

That's all for now, it's time to go to bed and get some sleep!

Spring Cleaning

We've had a few really nice days lately. 70° in February in Nebraska is awesome! It's really gotten me in the mood for nice weather. I've even been scouting online for the perfect kiddy pool for this summer. We got our shades out to get ready!




On to the spring cleaning, I'm in the mood to purge. I've listed A LOT of items on ebay at killer prices. I'm ready to make room for new things! Here are just a couple of the things I've got listed:

These handmade decorative towels make great gifts!


Check out this listing, I put together a bunch of fruit with an awesome old colander. I've also got another old colander filled with veggies listed.


Here are some yummy looking cinnabuns listed in an old enamel bowl.


And here are some things that will be listed later today. These two lots are ornaments for your pencil trees!


I've got a few prints listed along with some electric candle stick lights. I'll be listing even more things as I get time!

1st Haircuts

Today was a monumental day. The boys got their first haircuts. They did surprisingly well. I didn't have to restrain them very much. They were interested in what was going on, and they both had a case of the itchies when hair tickled their noses. They look so grown up now and very handsome. I failed to get a picture of Brileigh. When the boys were done, she was a little jealous and had to sit in the chair and get spun around a couple times to feel like she wasn't left out.

Here is Brett's before picture. His hair wasn't so long in the front but it was long in back and over his ears.


And the finished product. What a smiley baby!


Here is Rylan's before picture. His hair was starting to get in his eyes!


He wasn't sure about losing his curls in back...


By the time he was finished, he wanted OUT of the chair and wasn't in the posing mood.


All in all it was a good day!

Easter?

So Valentines is just about here, so naturally the next thing to think about is Easter. It is late this year, which is a good thing for retail. When Easter is in March it seems to sneak up on people. April Easters give shoppers time to buy! I however am having a hard time coming up with new Easter designs! I added 4 or 5 new Valentine designs to my shop this year easily. But Easter is not coming so readily. Help! What do you think of when you decorate for Easter? Here are some of my designs currently on my website and for sale on ebay. I've got a few others at: http://theoldesaltboxstore.com/easter.html







Here is one new thing I've been working on. I drew up this punch needle patter the other day. I don't know what I'm going to do with it once it's done though. I guess I've kind of got "crafters block". Maybe once it's done something will come to me.

Lots Of Pics!

Wow, I am really tired, so bear with me if this post is a little off...
The kiddos wore me out today. They had an hour long bath tonight, so hopefully they sleep like babies all night long! They weather has gotten a little better here in Nebraska, abnormal temperatures for Feb. but I'm not complaining! We can't really play outside though, the snow is melting into mush. So what to do? Wal-Mart run! In the past every trip to the big store I've pulled out the stroller and loaded it with kids. I then make my way through the store pushing the stroller with one hand and pulling a cart behind me. As the kids get heavier, that gets a little more challenging. The corners are the hardest. Then of course there is the stopping every two steps to say, "Yes they are Triplets, Yes I have my hands full, blah, blah, blah..." Anyway, the other day when I was in there I realized they had kid carts, DUH! This last time I parked by a cart coral, loaded the kids in a cart and went in looking for a kid cart. Now, this is how we do Wal-Mart from now on! (Well except one is supposed to be in the seat in the cart, but Brett was done with shopping and wanted to take his frustrations out by beating the toilet paper bag!)


Today the kids were playing together so nice and I had my camera out at the right time. Brett and Brileigh were playing with the stroller and doll. These pictures I kid you not are in actual sequence.

Brileigh was taking baby for a walk:

Oh I think baby is hungry, here is her bottle:


Brett feeds the baby so nice!


Uh oh, I think the bottle is empty!


Better check!


And what was Rylan up to while the B's were playing house? Walking of course! We've got to have the tongue out though to keep us centered.


Watcha doing down there?


And lastly, today brought a first for us. Our first boo boo that needed a band aid. I didn't see the actual fall, but I think it had something to do with using our rocking chair as a step ladder... We are so proud of our battle wounds. (Under his chin!)

Cheap? Yes I am...

So it wasn't that many years ago I started crafting for money. I worked in a little craft store and I started painting signs to sell. I think it was in 2002. In 2003 I started doing craft shows and just about everything I made was wood. I got a wild hair and decided I wanted to start sewing. It was around Christmas time so my mom bought me my first sewing machine for Christmas. It was a $100 New Home sewing machine. A nice simple machine that did everything I needed it to do. Sew. Gradually I stopped working in wood and when I opened my store, the sewing machine got moved there. It moved back home with me when I closed my retail shop years later. That cheap little sewing machine made a lot of things. Years after I got it, it started slowing down until one day it stopped. I took it in to get it cleaned and it worked like new. In November it started slowing down again. It was 7 years old and I had only had it cleaned once, so it was probably due! I took it in, but this time it didn't seem to work as fast as I remembered it had. I didn't think too much about it until the other day when it really slowed down again. Sadly I came to the realization that it's day might have finally came.

I was in Walmart yesterday and I broke down and bought another sewing machine. This time a little more was spent, $150. I got a Brother this time, it has a lot of good reviews online so I hope I made a good choice. I haven't had time to do more than take it out of the box, but it makes my other one look soo small! I can't wait to start playing with it, hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to escape to my craft room and learn how to tread the thing!