Ellie Gets The Boot .... From The Backpack!

It's officially Ellie's 2nd day out of the backpack! She has been home the last 2 days of school and snoozing away while Madison has been at school. If you know Madison , then you know that is odd seeing how Ellie has made the trip to school EVERYDAY of this child's life to school, playgroup, church or wherever since the day she was born!!!

Madison received Ellie as a gift from her Daddy the day she was born! You used to be able to pull her trunk and she played a lullaby, which was so awesome and then one day the trunk stopped working and I thought life as we knew it was over! We even had Miss Pam order another Ellie, but she is only Elie #2 and just would not do the trick!!

Anyhow, Madison proclaimed on her way out the door yesterday that she thought she could be brave and go to school without Ellie ... and that she did!!! She told me Ellie could stay home and be with me now because she was a big girl who can now read. (Great! Just what I wanted to
hear , my 6 year -old is a big girl who no longer needs a lovie! Break my heart into a other million pieces!) Daddy is very excited about this because he has feared for the last 3 years old "BIG" school Ellie would get damaged or lost so he is tickled! Me, well just another thing to get used to and thankfully I am over the "Back-To' School" blues so maybe having Ellie at home won't be so bad. Molly the "Black-Lab Cat" seems to think it is great because she has a snuggle bug to be with now!

Yellow Spiders?

I know spiders come in all shapes and sizes , but I have never seen a yellow one till this mornig. I was taking my time about coming inside after the run to the bus .. not wanting to start on my days work so I decided to hang out with Molly the "Black Lab Cat" and Toby the "Yellow Lion" from next door , but to make me feel better I decided to deadhead the rose bushes so that I would not feel so gulity about spending that time outside in the cool breeze.

In the mist of the deadheading .... I saw this yello0w spider on my favorite bush. (It was given to me by a student & their family as an end of the year gift when the child was 4 years old ... and he is now in about the 8th or 9th grade!! It's been the best bush I have ever planted as well!!) Anyhow, I raced inside for the camera because I had to share this amazing spider with everyone since we are fast approaching Halloween and all of it's spookiness!

Hold That Door!

Just wanted to share my new door stopI just made. It has found a new home at my front door to help clebrate the spooky season that is fast aproaching us all!

Simple enough for anyone to make even if you don't have an embroidery machine. All you need is some fabric, a brick, ribbon and a good ol' glue gun. Wrap fabric around brick, glue securely and tire up with ribbon .. viola' a cute & stylish door stop for anytime!

My Crafty Little Lady!

She made a little house outside of the "shop room" yesterday. It was so cute. She brought out all the babies and little animals she loves. Of course we could barley get in and out of the room or front door, but FUN was or magic word .. too bad we had to call it quits and go play soccer. Did I mention that the cat is asleep inside of the stroller? She was a good sport too!

OH MY!!!! The Days Are Going Fast!!!!

OK , actually you have 86 days till Christmas because I should have posted this yesterday!!!! So if you are like me ... this freaks me out .. A LOT!!!! I know we still have October, November & December to shop and prepare , but when you put it into days ... that is a little scary!!! Not to mention if you are a "MAKER" that is even more scary!!! So ladies, it's time to buckle down and start making or start shopping! LOL!! ;)

It's Around The Corner ... Christmas Pictures !!!

AHHH! I know we just started school and everything not too long ago and we have not even hit Halloween or Thanksgiving, but face it ... we are all thinking about Christmas and will we get that "perfect shot" for our cards this year. If you are like me you are SUPER picky about what picture you send out to your friends and family .. it has to be just right!!

(This is my card from last year. Madison is wearing an outfit I made especially for pictures. Picture taken by Carol Hedspeth at Conway Photo and Print Shop in Conway, NC)

I was surfing this morning at Kristi's Blog Everything Pink and saw this post she had about her Christmas Cards and another Blog that is running a special ... so I could not pass up passing the information along to all of you who might surf by my Blog.

Here is the scoop... from Jack and Jill Photography!

"Don't live in Utah? Or just don't need pictures taken? That's okay, you can still benefit from this offer. All you have to do is post on your blog and tell a little bit about what I am offering. Make sure you put a link to my blog in the post. Then leave me a comment telling me that you did it and I will get started on your Christmas card. I will be emailing the files to those who participate so you can have them printed anywhere you like. Email me the picture(s) you would like to use and you can choose a design from anywhere online. I will let you know if it is something I can recreate or not. You choose colors, font, etc."

What a free digital file for your Christmas Cards?? Jump on this.
Here is her email address (jackandjillphotography@gmail.com)
and I would email her asap before she gets bombarded!
This is a great steal of a Christmas deal.
There is no excuse this year for not sending Christmas cards!!!

It's Gonna Be a Pink Christmas!!!!

To find out more about turning Christmas in all sorts of shades of pink head over to Kristi's Blogspot Pink Christmas!! You might have missed the sign up for it this year, but you can follow along and mark your calendar for next year like I did!!!

Meet Pepsi

Pepsi in Marinda's flowerbed!!

Last weekend we met Pepsi . The new addition to the Lane family. Miss Emma won a contest this summer and they ended up with this sass little man. He is a minature horse that now lives in their yard ... does and goes where he pleases until he is requested to to pull the kiddos in the cart. He was named Pepsi because of his dark color and the children said his mane looked like the fizz when the Pepsi is poured!!!

Here is Miss Emma & Miss Maddie with Pepsi and little Peanut is down there in the left corner. Peanut is a little jealous of Pepsi, but they are great friends as long as everyone is getting their fair share of attention!!

Movin' Up!!

Ok, so I am a little late with this post .... last Sunday the 1st Graders at our church had their "offical" movin' up day and were presented with their own new bibles. Madison is a total ham, but she got up front and tried to hide behind her friend Helen. I got tickled. The 3 little girlies looked so cute! I can hardly believe they are all in real school now and reading!!! Seems like yesterday we were chasing them around all day long at home and now they are independent little ladies who can read us a story now.

*Notice from an earlier post Madison is wearing MY sundress that I wore as a child. She did accessorize for church and had a sheer white shawl draped around her when she went up for the presentations!! Wish I had had the camera then , but that might have been a little much to pull out in the middle the church service.

Time to Get Spooky!

I know it's still only September, but Halloween is right around the corner and all the stores are starting to put out all the spooky goodies already. I have to admit I snatched up a few items for all the kiddos last night .. it's never too early to start planning.

Last year I made these super cute pumpkins for myself and Maddie's school. I just love them! Spooky BUT cute!

Watch for the spooky items to start popping up in my shops .... Mary Martha & Co. and also at Little Bits of Me. I will have notecards, notepads, stickers and more. So stop by for some sweet treats!!!

Photo Fun .. Thanks Megan!!!

My sweet friend Megan at Brassy Apple shared this great site the other day about photo fun .. and it really is!!! You can up load your pictures and play manipulation with them and make some really cool pictures even cooler ... like the one above of Madison on the billboards. So checkout Photo Funia and make one of your pictures even cooler than it already is!

THEY ARE HERE!!!!!

The fairies have finally moved in this morning! How exciting!!! I wonder if they will be as cute as
Penelope Jane and eyelash high?

Maddie will be so excited when she finally gets home tonight and sees that they have finally taken root here. She has checked everyday to see if they had gotten here .. and now they are!

Let the magical fairy tales begin!

- smooches!

PS ... Check out Penelope Jane A Fairy's Tale
by Rosanne Cash ... such a cute tale of a fairy who lives in a little girl's dresser drawer!!

Confusion? Possibly!

Have I ever confused anybody? .... YES ... and I don't doubt it!!! So let me clear it up.
A few people have asked me "WHO" this Mary Martha person is ... it's me!
Mary Elizabeth ... but I thought you were Little Bits of Me? "Why , yes
I am ... I am one in the same!"

I started out a few years back as Little Bits of Me and I still have my regular website up and running .... www.litttlebitsofme.com and locally you probably know me as that.

Then ETSY opened up and I started there as Mary Martha .... aka a nickname my hubby's aunt gave me. She said I was a little Martha Stewart .. always into crafts and starting a new project .... hence the birth of Mary Martha.... www.marymartha.etsy.com

Should I roll my 2 crazy sites up into one? Probably, but what fun would that be? Both are established sites and what better way to add a little more craziness to my already mixed up and going all directions at once life than to get to be 2 different people! (snicker)

So right here at the Mary Martha & Co. Blog site .... you can get information about about both places & my crazy life!!