Angels

Today the kids (and their mama) worked on their fine motor skills!  We had a great time cutting out Christmas Angels! 

Today's Project

Despite having 10 book fairs this fall I still have several books in my inventory. This weeks project is sorting, labeling and storing til I do my next event in February. I get tired just looking at all these books!! Thanks goodness for Mickey Mouse on Netflix. :). 

NC Mountain State Fair

 My mom flew in to be Grandma-Extraordinaire for 10 days while I had a booth at the Mountain State Fair.  Here are a few of the highlights!

Three beds... all on the floor.

Where I spent the better part of 10 days...

A little break to go see the fair! 

The tree that wandered the fair, he was awesome!

We will miss you Nini!!!

Sourwood Festival

 Last weekend I had a booth at the Sourwood Festival in Black Mountain.  Other than rain the first night (thank you Stewart M for wrapping up my books so well!!!!!), the weather was great!  The kids had fun visiting me... they even got to pick out a toy each... Naomi picked a doll and Ben chose an Fly Trap plant, much to his daddy's delight. :)

Blogging Silence...

THIS is why I have not blogged for 2 weeks.... 106+ hours of my life were spent in this booth at the Mountain State Fair. It was worth it... but I am tired now! :)

And here are a few pictures from when I did get a away for a little bit!

And let me just say that I am one AMAZING husband. All 106 hours I was in that booth my children were with Andrew. He took them camping for two days (yes, alone), took them to the mall, to the Biltmore, to the botanical gardens, to Grandma's house, Sam's Club and More! And I even came home to clean toilets at the end of the week! That man deserves an award!!!!

Cyber Monday!

It is CYBER MONDAY!

If you need a book or two for Christmas,
birthdays or just for you...

check out the deals HERE!

Family, Books & Cancer

These three words pretty much sum up my life in the last few weeks.

1. Family - my brother Ryan & his wife Meredith bought a house a few weeks ago, but before they can move in they need to fix a few things etc, so they have been living with us. Ben is in heaven. What better than two extra adults to race cars, read, play Go Fish and just generally entertain him? It has been fun to have other adults to talk to in the evenings and it seems more "worth it" to fix meals for more than just Andrew and myself (and a two year old who has to be coaxes to eat anything... even cookies!)

2. Books - my book business has been going crazy, it always does this time of year. So I have spent countless hours organizing books, doing book fairs, arranging childcare, doing home shows etc. 2 More weeks and 6 more events and it should slow down!!

3. Cancer - a nasty word. My first "close to home" experience was last year, when my brother Micah was diagnosed with Lymphoma. And about 2 weeks ago my mother-in-law Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer. It has been a roller coaster but God is good and He is walking all of us through it. Thankfully, it looks like it is stage one, we will know more once she has the lump removed, hopefully within a few weeks. My father-in-law Eric has started a blog so you can see it HERE.

And that's about it for now.

Call Me Amazing

How do you fit THIS:

• 3 Tables
• 4 Book Racks
• 8 boxes of books
• 1 dolly
  
• 6 tableclothes
• 2 bags of literature
• 1 lunch bag
• 1 diaper bag
• 1 carseat (with infant)
• 1 stroller
• 1 fan
• 1 money box
  
• and yourself

INTO THIS:


LIKE THIS:






I had a 10x12 booth at the County fair last week and I had to fit in all into my car. It took some figuring out, but we got it all to fit!

Usborne Black Friday Sale!!

CHECK IT OUT!!

Fun in Tulsa

Ok, fine! I can't get the pictures to move, so you are going to have to see them in this random and haphazard way. :) Ben and I went to Tulsa, OK for the Usborne National Convention a couple weeks ago. I used a frequent flyer ticket, so an added perk was that we were able to spend a few days with two of my college suite-mates and their kiddos. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Kerri and her three kiddos (I will get a few next weekend when they come to visit!) but I did snap a few of Emi, Brian & Jane's sweet little girl. Ben and I stayed with Jane & Brian and they were wonderful hosts! Anyway... here are some pictures from the trip...
This is the front room of the Home Office. I don't think it was what I was expecting, the building was not flashy or anything... basically just a big warehouse... but they are debt free... so I will take that any day or over big and flashy!
This is the "pick line" where they put our books in the boxes to be shipped. Pretty sweet.
And the warehouse. :)
Here is Ben sitting in the President of Usborne's chair. :) As you can see... many people left Randall notes on his desk. :)
This is my director, Deb Casey. I won a contest and got a book signed by Stephen Cartwright... the man who illustrated many of Usborne's books (Find the duck :).
We had a Hawaiian themed lunch. :) Usborne always has a trip incentive going... and the current one is... can you guess.... a 7 day Hawaiian cruise. :)
Uncle Nate... I could not have made it through without him. Nate was Great and Amazing and is now in the running for favorite Uncle. :) As a very small Thank You Nate & I went to see the new Harry Potter movie! Fun fun! Too bad Nate hasn't read the 7th book. :-P
Jane, Kerri & I (and our 5 children) went to the Oklahoma Aquarium... Benjamin LOVED IT! He couldn't get enough of the "phish, phish!"
Can you spot Nemo?? Ben sure could!And finally a picture of Ben & Emi. They were so sweet together. Are they not the cutest?