6.9

Super Sweet Sixteen Luau Bash 4 Sis.

Photo Theme 4 Today:

Your view 2day

Photo:



Eating breakfast in his bath robe!

His daddy and I love being at home on the weekends so we can solely spend time together as a family.

Food 4 Thought:

Delicious Fruit Pizza!!

Love this recipe!

Fruit pizzas and even the veggie pizza with broccoli and bacon are a good alterative to veggie or fruit tray.

Things brought to mind:

• I often tell my fiance that he is fortunate in his line of work because he can complete certain tasks at hand rather than the chaos of a baby's, customers', and client's constant needs overlapping each other.

So sorry to be behind in my photo a day! my camera is m.i.a will continue asap.

6.8

Finally Friday!
Inspiration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fnjjnjCMLg&feature=relmfu
Love watching TwoPeasinABucket channel!
      
Photo theme of the day...

6 o' Clock

Photo:


...constantly reminding me why I love being a mom...

Typically Tyr ends up with in bed with me by 7 o'clock for his morning snack. I love snuggling against his soft hair while he falls asleep after nursing.

Food 4 Thought:

Smörgåstårta (Sandwich Layer Cake)

Can't wait to try it out for the summer! hopefully my sister's sweet sixteen luau bash!

Came to mind because we are going gorcery shopping at 6 :)

Things that come 2 mind:

• Most peacefully time in the morning and the most hectic in the evening.



Thought for the day

Posting on Response to Mama's Hearth: This is too cute. I'll have to make a list of my own for sake of originality! I think using this little list with a combination of my own can help me keep up with Tyr's Baby Book.

"Which is really his father's & I's memorabilia... SHhh !"

DrInk:

Photo:

I originally wanted to post one of Tyr's adorable nursing photos but this illustrates today

Tyr has been ill recently and we think he got the stomach buggie that his father had the past few days.

He hasn't wanted to eat much but we've definitely spent more time cuddling, sleeping and making sure he is well hydrated!!

Food 4 Thought:

           Water!
Whether you have city water, well water, bottled water, or if you purify your water with a special faucet or pitcher.
If you don't like the taste of water try these tips! Water is very important for you!
The type of water your little one is used to is also very important because they are more susceptible to belly aches while traveling: carry a jug of water from home.

• Squeeze in some citrus! Lemon, Lime or even Orange for just a ting of zest: the vitamin C is also a good immunity boost for allergy season. 
• Enjoy sugar or syrup enhancers in moderation: "like kool aid"
• I haven't tried Mio Water Enhancer because most energy drinks that have caffeine make my stomach ill.
• I do like Propel and Crystal Light mixes that you don't add extra sugar. However I often use more water than what it calls for.
• I have found if you have a distinctive water bottle, cup or even a unique mug; you enjoy what your drinking more because it feels like your endulging in a special treat!

Daddy's mug was an early father's day gift!

• Presentation really is everything...as well as how you perciption.

Things that come 2 Mind:

• Alice & Wonderland's "Drink Me"
• Sheetz- White Chocolate Hot Cocoa Foam Mustache

Comment Response

Kitchen Remarks

My fiance and I have hit rock bottom before we actually started making steady wages monthly. So we've learned quite a few secrets of household appliances and keeping our hope.

The microwave is secertly out to get you!!!
 Not only does it cause fats and grease to secrete out of foods like cheese and beans.
As well as destroying fragile nutritions in breastmilk.
{There are many who also believe that shaking breastmilk instead of swirling it also breaks down the nutrious properties.}
 One of the most important reasons they caution microwaving baby food is that it leaves hot spots in the food or milk.{if u have to zap food up quick for one reason or another PLEASE make sure you not only stir the food or milk and then test it on your wrist and make sure its as close to the same temperature of your skin as possible.}

I could defintely continue on about how microwaving food is unhealthy or just compromises how food can be yummy but:

The request was as follows

My question, or I guess blog request, isn't necessarily about the functionality of your kitchen. Since I know you are busy, I'm curious about how you go about using your kitchen. How do you keep yourself from getting burnt out? What do you cook? How do you keep your bill down? Things like that :) <3

The microwave burns electricity! If you do use a microwave unplug it after you use it! You'll be quite surprised...We also keep as many lights off as possible. We have not

I feel burnt out a good majority of the time but my family is dependent on me 24/7. My son who is 5 months old and my hardworking fiance. Our whole business operates through the hardwork and dedication of everyones effort. As I have said to a few we both can work up to 50 hours a week. So as much as I would love to play Suzy Homemaker it more like Suzy Hurry-Up-Your-Late.

We cook together and we eat as well as possible considering the circumstances. I intend to work out a more scheduled meal plan like our son's so that its just as easy as pulling it out of the fridge for that week (when we are home and not traveling across the states)

I will certaintly follow through with these points through the blog now knowing theres and interest. But I don't want to drag on ;)

 

Made with Love.

I am so thankful to have inherited some of my mother's crafting skills.

Some how she is always able to pull of some of the most bizarre costumes and concepts gracefully. I am always a complete mess covered head to toe in atleast paint, thread and hot glue!

We custom make 99% of our garb for events.
I have recently discovered the energy a mother finds when she is still up past midnight the day before an event or project is due. Somewhere there is a special amount of time you obtain from doing sometime for your children; and yes with all your heart it gets done.

Faire season is approaching quickly as always! Hopefully this year it won't sneak up on us too bad...
I'm sure there will be many interesting and innovative ways that I will have to share with you on how to travel on the road and camp outdoors all summer long with a little one!

Crafting!

I love scrapbooking and paper crafting! I really prefer dedicating my time on functional projects like the chalkboard window for gorcery lists, or the father's day gifts I have been working on.
But its fun to craft with pictures because for me it preserves memories!

This was a thank you card that I sent out to
Grandaddy & Nana Jode for sending us a bumbo seat!

Hopefully i can figure out how to take better pictures to keep from casting glares...


I love getting inspiration from some different youtube videos; I am by no means a pro but I have improved quite a bit from when we first decided we wanted to scrapbook Tyr's baby book.
{ I almost forgot here are two scrapbooking channels I love: http://www.youtube.com/user/TwoPeasInABucket?feature=watch
http://www.youtube.com/user/swissgirl90?ob=0 }

Beginning of book when I was just getting a hang of
capturing our favorite photographs

Unfornuately I don't have much time to dedicate to crafts but I try to get as much done as quickly as possible because I don't have room to leave stamps and scraps about...

A much more recent page from our gloucester trip

Recently I became inspired again to get photos together to show our families.

This is one of the first pages I started back up on in two months...

Hopefully I can keep up the determination to continue so I can also practice figuring out layouts and color concepts

Wish me luck!

Kitchen!

We thought we were going to move out the
table but now we actually eat at it
every chance we get! And yes we are using
a short durable coffee table as a bench (which I am
making a cushion for)
Its nice having a clean place reserved to
sit down for lunch break...

I'm pretty happy with our current kitchen layout! When it came down to it all the tips and advice I found helped but it mainly inspired us to figure out what would work best for us.

There is really no specific home for the
highchair, but because its a table top
seat its easy to move around in a small
apartment.

The white furniture piece (which we salvaged and refinished) was actually where the grey shelves are now
but with just moving furniture around the house we
found better uses for them.

The frame that is supposed to resemble a little cottage window is a little chalkboard that my fiance and I designed. Underneath there is a shallow shelf for smaller spices so theres more room on the larger spice rack for storing baby food because the different store bought and homemade purees fit so perfectly.

A simple overview of what works for us <3

Some little tips that made things easier for us:
~ Trash Can beside the sink counterspace; another really useful place at our old place was beside the oven.
~ Catch all basket on the grey shelves: for papers that we are working on or other things that may clutter the kitchen table
~ We love having our A/C in the kitchen; the kicthen is considered the hearth/heart of the home for us the center. It keeps the kitchen the coolest room so it helps perserve foods you typically don't refridgerate but can sour in heat: bananas, chocolate, and other produce. And we have found that funny enough our fridge has kept cooler as well.
~ Shelf in corner. We have fun china and silver we haven't had the chance to use so we love displaying our pretties on tops of shelves or above the cabinetry. When our son is older to toddle into things and climb on furniture we were most defintely have to change our layout a bit ;) Having a thin piece in the corner is also convienent because it doesn't get cluttered and we are less likely to bump into them.
~ Baskets, jars, and boxes: Anything you can use to reduce clutter in the cabinets, counter space, shelves (or even the fridgerator) can often be found in things you can repurpose. We reuse ALL of our baby food jars and even the thin boxes we buy them in. The boxes are perfect for his little feeding and bottle accessories. We organize everything from jewerly to screws and bolts with jars from canned goods, and we love the useful totes and wire baskets you can find at the dollar tree!

I'm sure theres more things I could elaborate on but those are the ones that came to mind!
Let me know if your curious on other things I discovered about a busy working families kitchen ;)

Making up for lost time...

Thank you for the recent emails and even a text yesterday! Yes, I have been rather busy...

First Things First...

Pump Accessory Looks like this guy

which my mom picked out because
we've always called our little one
our turtle because thats how he
looked in utero

Sits on top like this

Mother's Day Gifts that were too fun! Bath & Body Works has a aromatherapy set that I have always adored; My mother got me Stress Relief- Eucalyptus Spearmint : body wash with Energy Lemon Zest: shampoo. Nothing more rejuvenating than lovely pampering products <3 Also from bath and body works I got Hand Sanitizer with the bloody cutest topper for the pump!!! 

I love keeping hand sanitizer around any convienent location that I may need it; kitchen, changing table, bathroom, desk, & especially the diaper bag!
I'm not a clean freak but its for my little man's best interest to keep yucky germs to the minium!
Daddy took good care of me with chocolates and watched the little guy long enough for me to take a bubble bath and eat little cheese bites. yummy!

Nana got me a giant necklace with tons of charms all over it! Absolutely adorable; I always love the mismatch look of random charms... I'm a bit of a magpie bird; love 'em shinies!

With the birthday wishes I was able to go clearance shopping for little scrapbooking trinkets which I can't wait to show off what I've used them for.

I am so thankfully to have shared my birthday with mother's day. I thanked my mom for all she's done for me especially now that I now what she went through working full time when I was an infant. I am so fornuate to be able to take my loved one to work with me!

Gramommy with Tyr at STG promo

Create and Clean

The previous weekend was nothing short of perfect!

 My birthday and my first Mother's day as a mommy on Sunday.

For each lady with children or expecting I designed little memorabilia scrapbooking favors inspired by the unique personalities of their children!
 Pictures to follow!

I am constantly inspired by independent new mommy's I see at the gorcery store with twins with bulky strollers and full shopping carts. Also by expectant mothers who stay at home and move    I hardly get to work in the morning with everything I need for the day; let alone get the house picked up after a busy work day.

I have been finishing up the kitchen reorganization!

Next post I'll have pictures of some of my gifts and why I love them! As well as the apartment project progress :)

Step 1: Conquering the Counterplace

The only counterspace.

Determing my "zones":

Counter space is for preparing and cooking food....

  So don't clutter it! In our apartment there is no space to waste.

For instance consider what you actually use everyday.

 We don't make coffee every morning, We also unplug the microwave after using it; they have been proven to absorb energy while sitting idle.

Most foods can be refridgerated and if nothing else its a better way to keep the kitchen table and counters cleared.

We all love a little candy dish on the coffee table but theres no need for a 9x13 sheet with brownines taking up room; especially if you don't want the temptation to eat them all!!!

All the medicines can be moved into a more consealed place but keeping them in the kitchen helps me remember to take them with breakfast.

Sink Tip:

We get to hand wash all our dishes...whoppee (sarcastically)

Try using a shelf  with slots or one of those wire racks to keep smaller things like utensils or bottle accesories from falling beneath the plates.

It also saves time that you don't have to organize the dishes before you wash them.

Apartment Project Part 1: Overview

Yesterday was an exciting day!!!

  I was fairly productive ( since Tyr was not fussy ). Then I found organizing tipes and sites for suggestion in my fairly cluttered and teeny space!

Tyr's tragically adorable face when I told to clean his room.

After many youtube videos about space efficent apartments; I will be starting my first little documentary of my space and how to make it work for the four of us!

Last night I worked on the kitchen for a bit or atleast as much as I could. Even took a scary video of what the apartment looks like.

This is my first home edited video so forgive me, its just a rough draft the chaos!

Next Food Record!

Tyr and I decided we needed a switch up from just veggies or fruits, 2 oz, twice a day.

Found http://www.gerber.com/supportedsitter/default.aspx and used the Menu Planner.

We puree' all of Tyr's food ourselves therefore we had to figure out the conversion of the gerber tubs they recommend verus the baby bullet 2 oz servings we use.

For this week we made a "Meal Plan"

We based this off the Supported Sitter Menu. Tyr turned 4 months old on Thursday. He has much more content and takes several naps throughout the day! The only change we need to make thus far is that he does not eat "Dinner" that early. Of course we can't assume that he will always eat at 9:00 on the dot like this morning once I got to work he napped until 10.

Tip : Gramommy's pressure cooker seems to cook the best for making the fruits or veggies nice and soft to put in the baby bullet.

Debut at Courtland Reniassance Faire!

Other than his road trip to see his daddy's family in Gloucester, this was his first camping trip!!!

Admittedly it was quite a bit intimidating!

You always think you know what to expect but theres always the unexpected!
It's too easy to get overwhelmed with all the diapers, wipes, food, bottles, blankets, bibs, blankets, washcloths, burp cloths, etc...
And when your going green with cloth diapers, reusable wipes, and pureeing all your own baby food it is too easy to take the easy road and just pay the difference for convienence.

Always striking a precious pose!

It has been worth all the effort! We still have a lot to figure out to make things easy at faires, but we are defintely looking forward to the adventure!

This is Grammommy in her campout! She has this new beautiful hand crafted bed from Woodgrain Innovation. At this particular event she and Grandpapa were merchants where they typically re-enact Nobility.

Our friend Kaylei crocheted this adorable knight helm for Tyr!! He's lounging in his Pack-n-play that we disguised with deer hides that his father cured and his favorite blankets.

Daddy and Tyr defending the homefront!!!

These two are the best for making a musty, yucky,cold morning comedic!

We made an incredibly long.... list of things we either forgot or defintely need for next time!

 Can't wait to see how our summer season goes! <3

Yum yum

Tyr takes a jab at learning the art of pureeing!

Tyr really appreciates me constantly involving him in what I'm working on because he doesn't feel left out.

When working as efficency as possible with a restless baby its easier for me to collect everything before starting on the food.

I am a strong adovocate in breastfeeding your little one for 6 months. I am also a full time working mommy who never has two free hands. If you have to use formula with food to ensure that your little one is well nurished there is nothing to be ashamed of.
I registered with Similac, Enfamil, Gerber and a few other baby product companies to recieve free promotional products. I also recieved some promotional products when I came home from the hospital.

ALWAYS take full advantage of promotional products and the goodie bags you can recieve for registering at your OBGYN or at a hospital you may choose.

I am not positive what offers you can recieve with midwives or other birthing coaches....

Too Excited to get off the ground with my Baby Bullet!

So far I have made all of Tyr's meals with it. I also recieved another storage set as a baby debut gift and couldn't be happier!

When Tyr first started on baby food he ate one container (2 fl. oz) right before bed time (around 9 or 10)

However only a week later when he was so hungry during the day that he was particularly attached to my breast we began giving him a serving around 3p.m.

At first we were apprehensive but when Mother instinct kicks you must go with the flow!

Tyr is now 14 weeks old. He is axp. 14.5 lbs and probably 25 inches now.

He eats up to 4 oz of food mid noon and before bed.

He eats one kind of either fruit or vegetable a week so we can watch his eating habits and preferences.

 

Week One was pear.

We boiled the pear and pureed it.

Then we made an 8oz serving of milk mixed with oatmeal to ease in the taste of the pear.

Made little adjustments such as adding a bit more milk or more oatmeal to change the consistency.

Week Two was avacado.

Again boiled the avacado but we decided to add rice for veggies and oatmeal for fruits. (Generally)

Week Three was sweet potato.

We did not add much rice since sweet potato is already a thick puree'

Week Four has been apples.

Apples take a bit longer to boil down to make smooth.

He loves them!

They are a diaretic so when he has experienced most foods we intend to have apples a few times a week.

The only time we noticed he had a preference to fruits was when we tried to feed him some leftover sweet potatos week four.

"infants typically prefer fruits because they are sweet like the mother's milk."

We picked up mangos, plums, and two different kinds of apples because he seems to like them so much.

Meal time is sometimes stressful but take a moment to relax and you'll realize how much more fulfilling the experience is when he or she is full, happy, and dowsy! (Little down time for mommy since they don't sleep as long during the day.)

Media Debut

Fast forward to Saturday the 31st.

34th Annual Eggstravaganza

The three of us snagged a photograph with the
Easter bunny next to the bouncy castle in Augusta's County Recreation Center in Fishersville.  

Medieval Fantasies Company had the opportunity to promote out first upcoming festival at Natural Chimney's Park. http://medievalfantasiesco.com/StoneTowerGlenn.htm

The Daily News Leader captured these two photo's while we  were passing out promotional flyers

This was our little encampment for the event where we had staff of 7 including a gentle dragon who passed out dragon eggs. 
We went out to Shoney's afterwards which was nice because we were able to reserve an entire party room. Shoney's is not my favorite restaurant but the fact that we were able to eat out and were able to enjoy our meal because the little ones weren't causing havoc made the day spectacular! 

 

We are very fortunate that we get to enjoy these fun little outings while being on the clock. And that our company strives to encourage family entertainment!

12 weeks!

Our little man is growing on up, eating rice cereal at bed time now!

I was able to pump enough breast-milk to make him the cereal. 

We were rather fortunate that my sister got us the Baby Bullet back in December. For this instance we just used the little cup to shake the mixture vigorously but we can't wait to puree and milled meals.

He took to the spoon like a champ! At first we discussed putting it in his bottle because the cereal was so thin but he did a fantastic job.

With the first spoon we tried it was easiest to feed him with the side of the spoon because it had the traditional shape. As you can see I also held him because it seemed the easiest to see how he ate with the spoon and it wasn't too back aching to be closer to his level.

After he gobbled his 4oz of milk with a tablespoon of rice cereal he snoozZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZed for the entire night.

HUGE relief! Although I have read that infants don't eat cereals until 4 months.

But most of the mothers and family I've talked to have suggested to follow your instincts when the baby won't sleep through the night. 

We have been getting peaceful nights of sleep from 11pm to 7am.

SATurday 24th.

Saturday is typically our family outting day especially due to our business. 

This Saturday was particularly rainy. 16 year old sister had a beauty pageant at her high school for Ms. BGHS.   

Closed up shop to watch the 6 year old sister for my mom to take a mother daughter day.

After countless efforts at dress shops she had the best luck at department stores and thrift shops, which is where I typically start first.  

With all the costuming we do with different events we have had to achieve the art of re-purposing and tailoring. 

 But even the littlest changes such as the color of ribbons,  size of buttons, switching out the zipper, or changing the length of the sleeves or hem can alter the entire appearance of the ensemble. 

 Here is an example of one dress that my mother continued to alter by adding the fur trim, inserting a new front panel and bracers on the sleeves, and then making an under skirt and hemming an over skirt. 

Then finally adding pearls for embellishments and a part-let for modesty. 

Just like many late nights of last minute projects:

We did spend a restful day together while bonding over plans for the future summer season for furniture, props and garb.

Love is Paitent

Sunday is our day to have a mommy and daddy day.

Which does not mean we drop the little one off but since I am either running the shop or we are working on Saturdays,Sundays are a day to ourselves to relax.

 We watched cartoons as well as one of my finance's favorites Charlie Brown.

Happiness is a warm blanket, Charlie Brown.

The directors (Andrew Beall & Frank Molieri) took many original cartoon strips to fabricate the film.

The movie was fairly entertaining and insightful to us although it is arguable that the movie encouraged Linus to carry around his childhood blanket.  The constant struggle to take away the blanket with no avail as well as Linus's final speech about the blanket being his happiness and sanity; reconfirmed for me that its okay for children or anyone for that matter to take comfort in any form of a "security blanket".
as long as it is not hazardous to anyone's health of course 

I have yet to experience this with my little one so I can't talk from much more experience rather than with my younger siblings and cousins their infatuations wore off as they found more distracting and interesting activities. 

The day was rather romantic as we lounged in bed all day and later in the evening gave our son a rather sudsy bubble bath with Johnson's Lavender Wash.

He loves taking a bath in his:

  The First Year's Infant To Toddler Tub with Sling

We love the little plug that allows us to drain it so we can rinse him with a little squirt bottle rather than having to lift him out of the sling. Originally we wanted a shower hose for him but this simple tub is perfect because its compact and easy to store and drain.

We were worried the attachments like hoses or jets would leak because we have such a small apartment right now everything has to be carefully stored to prevent extreme clutter.

Apologies for the brief intermission!

We've had quite the adventures these past days...

For new foods, new products,media debut, trip to the e.r. and the quest to regain the hearth!

I'll be posting the catch up days following this post starting with Saturday the 24th. 

Saturday is intended to be Family Outting days :)
Monday is wash day, Tuesday Tyr's Day and Wednesday the day for reflections.

Fun Times with Uncle Tony in Richmond :)

Happy Creating Day

Fridays will be my crafting days!

We are experimenting with cloth because although it was orginally our first choice we started with

Huggies Pure & Natural Diapers

because we were able to find over 300 diapers for 40 dollars at a flea market! We loved the soft texture and snug fit ! I was able to get some 20 cloth diapers on loan from my high school art teacher.  Right now we are using Fuzzi Bunz. The only downside we've experienced is that his adorable fluffy butt doesn't fit into 0-3 size pants that he did the day before.

Also styling adorable Spiderman socks.

So..

The machine kept eating the shorts
so Grammommy came to the rescuse

we've decided to construct diaper covers since its getting hot enough for him to wear little shorts. We have some over sized hand-me-down sweats that we are going to re-purpose. Comfort is key for us so we didn't alter the snug, soft, elastic waistband. I have particularly fallen for the Carter's baby brand pants because the elastic doesn't pinch his belly.

We had 3-6 month size brown sweats that were incredibly long for him. We cut off about 3 in. and also rolled them up to about knee length for him. The rolled hem is about 1 1/2 in. wide, secured by a zigzag stitch along the top.

 Typically baby boy clothes don't have much variety or pizzazz like the little creative tutu's for girls. My little man loves to make a statement so his Gramommy and I fashioned some little front pockets and a fox embellishment for the tush. My fiance, Austin, and I love crafting so we always have miscellaneous trinkets and scraps around.

The raw edges were zig-zaged on the sewing maching and then applied to the garment by hand stitching embroidery thread. 

Granted I did not finish the applying the embellishments until this morning because I got started so late but so far so good. Thankfully is spring outside today because if he would have on long pants his bottom half would look terribly disproportional towards his torso. 

You could insert elastic into the leg bands but I personally don't like that they typically leave red rings.

I'm thinking he may need suspenders to go with these

; )

I also need to get started on his garb for this upcoming faire season. I will be portraying a will-o-of-the-wisp and Tyr may be my little gnome.

Calendar

I like to keep lists to keeps me stay focused ;) My finance and I have delved into Norse history to better represent a viking inspired encampment at medieval festivals. so I intend to follow the north symbolism of the days of the week. 

Thursday; Thor's day in old Norse or thunder's day in old English. 

Thor looks after the farmers and black smiths, so I believe today is a good day to focus heavily on the business and tying up loose ends in paperwork.

Top Three Things I Love about our Shoppe:
1. Customization.

   

Medieval Fantasies Company and Woodgrain Innovations are extremely flexible with prototypes, styles, colors, sizes, and shapes. 

2. Privately Owned

My immediate family including : my fiance, my son, my two younger sisters, my mother and step'father, as well as my maternal grandparents and uncles have a personal invested passion for what we are creating and strive to provide. We are able to work in an environment where the schedule is flexible enough to allow dentist appointments, family vacations, and operating a store front as well as a traveling renaissance caravan.

  

We do have to thank paypal and yahoo business for making our online store easy to navigate and purchase.

We praise the new paypal application of printing and processing the mailing label online! It makes the post office run more manageable and convienent for our customers because they receive delivery confirmation instantly and package insurance.

3. Location

Shenandoah Valley is an awe inspiring horizon to wake up to in the little town of Churchville. The little town is perfect for our storefront because we live so close by that I am able to take Tyr with me and avoid the bustle of a highly populated city and get to walk to work.The quiet community is also lovely for networking and support with other locally owned and operated businesses. 

One of many Favorite Moments:

My mother and I stayed up most nights this past December painting and shipping out presents for children with personalized daggers with prefixes like sir, Majesty, knight, dragon slayer and heraldric shields. We take a lot of pride in accolades such as:

Wow. I received my shipment, and the items (personalized shield and crown) are beautiful! My son will be absolutely delighted. 

This is his big special gift this year for Christmas, and I am so happy about it. Thank you! Athens, GA 

I was delighted this previous holiday season when one mother had asked tentatively about a customization possibility and she was overwhelming relieved that she could make her son's dreams come true this Christmas.

Its those moments that make me proud of what we can do even when we give into desperate requests to expedite ship customized gifts that means staying up 

until 3 a.m. 9 months pregnant to paint little heraldic lions.