BBB Expansion

 I am getting ready to expand my Brown Baby Bird business. I looked at a craft mall yesterday in San Antonio. I haven't decided yet if I could afford to have two locations are just one, but I will probably move into Homestead Handcrafts the first of July. Having that in mind, I ordered a second shipment of Aurora stuffed animals. So my checking account took a pretty good hit, with two orders. I was regretting not ordering "Finn Fox" in my first order and then I discovered a line called "Sweeties" that I didn't know they had. I got three bears and an elephant. I also got a wolf and some more fawns. I am set for at least another year now, on stuffed animals- lol 😬 I started advertising that I do clothing alterations last week. That is my income source to cover extra expenditures 😉 I got one customer right away. He needed a suit jacket altered, for his wedding that is today. I have three other ladies that contacted me. One is coming to see me next week. Basically I need to ramp up my inventory and figure out how to stock a new rental space. Looks like I will spend the month of June working on that and printing new labels and tags. I am always excited to work on new merchandise. (I already have several older sets cut out and ready to sew, those will go together quick) I have been wanting to order cute little BBB tags to sew on the blankets. I went ahead and ordered those last week. I had to have someone from Wunder Label help me design those. Those will be super cute. (I have a pic of the design- real pic later.) I had my first online order customer this month. A friend from Katy ordered two sets, for a family member that is expecting twin boys. I put those together and shipped to Utah. Here are my newest super soft "stuffies" 😉 And the two sets that I shipped and my label design. 

Anniversary "45"

Wow... can it be that Ron and I have been married for 45 years- lol. 💗😉

After "staying home" for a year, selling one house, and moving... I decided that we should take a little trip to celebrate our anniversary. Nothing big. We decided to spend a couple of days at Corpus Christi/Port Aransas.  We booked a motel about a month ago. We drove down there last Sunday afternoon and came back on Wednesday afternoon. We checked into the motel and then drove through Port A... stopping at WhataBurger to get food for dinner. On Monday, we went to the Texas State Aquarium and then to Snoopy's Pier for lunch. Late, Monday afternoon, I went shopping at some of the little stores in Port A. Ron got his book and went and sat by the pool at the motel. For dinner Monday evening, we got Subway sandwiches and went to one of the beaches. Ron enjoyed feeding Doritos to the gulls. We sat out in our folding chairs... in the wind. 😏

On Tuesday we went and rented a "beach cart" for a couple of hours and drove along the beach. Then we went back to the motel and took showers and cleaned up, then went to Tortuga's for early dinner. I did a little more shopping and Ron took his book, out by the pool again 😎

Wednesday morning was grey and rainy! We checked out of the motel about 10 am. It was storming really hard driving through Corpus Christi. I could only see about 3 white lines on the road ahead of me. Each large vehicle that went past me, splashed so much water on the car that I couldn't see at all. We had to drive in hard rain for the first couple of hours. I stopped at a gas station about half way and Ron had to stand in 2 inches of water to put gas in the car. 

Gracie was super glad when we got home. This is the first time that we have been gone and left her at home for more than a short time. She has been sleeping in the bed again- lol 😏😸

It is pretty amazing how quickly we can spend money for just a couple of days- haha. And it wasn't much of a trip, but it was something different than just sitting a home. The motel that we stayed in was painted crazy colors. Bright turquoise exterior and bright yellow and turquoise interior. I guess those bright colors are typical "ocean front" colors. I got a few cute pics. I am terrible at "selfies". 😬 There were gulls and water everywhere... we could tell that it had been raining there, lots of extra puddles and ponds. 

A Post from Ashley

 Here is a fb post that I copied and pasted from Ashley. Great thoughts here. She mentions the journals that I just sent to each of our kids.

Ashley Journal Post

Last night I had a dream that I bore my testimony at church. And it was so good everyone got up and left before I was done.   Its been on my heart so I’ll share here and you can get up and leave if you want or keep scrolling.  

Lately I’ve been reading old journals my mom kept about us kids. In it she would often write about how I was the happiest kid ever. Always so happy. I’ve pondered about that... what makes me so happy? One word came to mind: resilience. I haven’t had a perfect life. I’ve had my share of trials. But when I do, I feel the hurt. I feel the pain. I let it be. And then I let it go. I forgive easily. I let God take it from me. Our savior Jesus Christ lives! He lives to carry us. To carry our burdens and we carry His. We lift Him by lifting His children. 

I feel the same way about my children. I know there are angels on earth who love them and lift them up. When I see them hurt or sad, I am sad with them. I cry with and for them. And sometimes there is only so much I can do. But I know He sends angels to wrap their arms around them. 

My family is my whole world and I know we are His whole world. His promise is real that He will comfort and send His spirit to be with us if we but remember Him and keep His commandments. If we just open the scriptures, His words are enough. They are pure and true enrichment and nourishment and not empty promises that the world offers us. 

....

So glad my mom kept a journal about each of us kids. She had written sporadically here and there but found them all and compiled them into an album. Color coded it for each child and gave it to us as a gift for my parent’s 45th anniversary and 38th temple anniversary. Who gives their kids a gift for their wedding anniversary?? Yep, my mom  

What’s your favorite way to keep a journal for your kids? One idea my mom shared with me is to have an email account for each one and write to them. Then one day you give them the password and they have all the emails. Would love to hear your ideas?

Mothers Day Card

 Here is a cute little "Mothers Day" card and pics (from Audrey) ... for Audrey. I think Noah was the one who filled out the poem for her. 

Mike and Carrie Moved

 Mike and Carrie moved back to California in December. They were renting a house and looking for something to purchase. The housing market is still going CRAZY 😂😉 To make a long story short...last week they moved into a new house! Mike said he was glad to have everything in one place. And he was  super excited about a junk truck coming on Monday to haul away boxes, paper, and furniture that they don't want. It looks like it will be a great place for them and their boys to be, for several years. 

What Did I Do?

Sometimes, the men wonder what we stay-at-home-women do all day. That is especially true of the moms with young children. I don't have the "young children" excuse... but I often wonder, like now... what did I do for the past two weeks?? 😂 I still didn't get my kitchen and bathroom cabinets painted yet- lol. I finished up my "journals for the kids". I got three of those in the mail last week. Hailey and Jaden were at our house last weekend and helped me stuff those. I thought about getting them printed into books online...but I had some 8x8 albums that needed to be used for something.... so I printed 6 copies and stuffed pages. I finished a few new taggie sets for the store. I had a special order from a lady (Baby Fawn print) and decided to cut up all of that particular fabric. It made four blankets... three sets and one "Just a Taggie". I also made a "Baby Bee" set for a lady at church. I started looking for a new vendor space, somewhere in San Antonio. I have a summer project to build a website or a Facebook market place and get my Brown Baby Bird inventory up. I ordered new Aurora animals and I might do a second order there soon.  Ron helped me hang a shelf in the eating area of the kitchen. These projects are difficult for him. He wasn't happy when he saw that it was from IKEA, with no written instructions... only pictures 😒😣 Once he recovered from that attitude, we did it. It is actually designed very well. Space for some more cute stuff- lol.