Fall is Here......

Pumpkin Patch

Nevins Apple Farm

Tyler and Alivia (saying she's bigger)

Geran and I took the kids to Nevin's Apple Farm this past Wednesday. We got Tyler out of school early and made a day of it. Kids definatly make you realize how old you are:) There is nothing better to me than hearing a child having fun. They played until their hearts were content!!!

A very tired Aunt Chrissy and Uncle Geran:)

Alivia had said for the past week that she wanted to ride the hay ride, but after getting there and realizing that the hay ride wasn't running, she decided that she wanted to pick apples. Who knew picking apples was so much work, or that so many apples would fit in one bag. I swear they have the stretchable glad bags:)

Aunt Chrissy and her Angels.

Weather glitch!! I guess I would have known had I watched the weather that is was going to be too hot for pants and long sleeves. I had made Alivia a candy corn outfit and really wanted her to wear it to the apple farm, so bless her heart she was so hot. We had to shed the top I had made and just wear the undershirt after a while. She kept saying "I'm wetting" meaning that she was sweating. "G" and his Alivia and Tyler

I look at Geran with Tyler and Alivia and I am amazed. He has really become accustom to having them around all the time. When they aren't around it's like somethings missing. We had a great time spending time all together Wednesday. We don't get to do that as often as I would like:) The kids with their pumkins.

We didn't actually by the pumpkins. They just had to pick one out to have their picture made with. My sister and Daniel are taking them back on Saturday to get pumpkins, so they didn't need two. It's hard enough to carve two.

Alivia catching some shade in her candy corn outfit

Ever since Alivia was little I have tickeled her feet with my mouth and told her I was eatting her corn. So she loves her candy corn outfit. After we got dressed and were on our way to get Tyler from school, she said do you want to eat my corn. I have corn everywhere:)

Geran helping Tyler pick and apple.

This is what I mean when I say picking apples is hard work. There had been schools at the apple farm all morning, so the only apples left were at the top of the trees. With that being said, Geran's back was killing him by the time we left from picking them up to get every apple. That was all him too, since I can't pick Tyler up that high at all and I was doing good to breathe seeing as we had to walk forever to get to the apples:) It was worth it though. They were both so excited!!

Alivia and her "G"

Tyler was always really close to me. He loved Geran, but never wanted that much to do with him when he was smaller. Alivia however, loves her "G". I am pretty sure that her "G" loves her too:) She is a mess. Everytime she sees him she act like she hasn't seen him in forever. When he gets up in the morning it makes her day. It's sweet!!

All and all we had a great time. We were there for about 4 1/2 hours with 2 hours of that being picking apples. Part of that is my fault as I agreed to let them each have their own apple bag. Those little bags hold a lot of apples:)

Thanks for stopping by to check on us!!!

Much Love

~Chrissy~

Halloween DSL Style..............

Trick-O-Treating Here We Come

This Monday had pictures made for my Halloween Costumes and my fall and winter wardrobes!! I am so excited about the new pictures.

Alivia the "Witch"
Kyleigh the "Angel"

Alivia the "Ladybug"
Emily the "Bumblebee"

Emily is the newest little model I have. Her mom Michelle actually did my photos. Michelle ordered a Birthday outfit from me in August and since then she and I have become pretty good friends. After a playdate for Emily and Alivia at Niven's Apple Farm, I discovered that Michelle was a great photographer and Emily was a beautiful little model. I love her curls and big blue eyes:)

I am so excited at how my shop has done so far. I have officaly reached 23 sales online. That doesn't seem like a lot, but that isn't counting all the sales that don't run through my website. Thanks to all of you for helping spread the word!!!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by to check on us. We hope all of you are doing great!!! Talk to you all soon.

Much love,

~Chrissy~

Where does the time go ?!?

Alivia's 3rd Birthday

At Pump It Up

Alivia in her Birthday outfit

Where in the world does three years go? On August 24th, Aunt Chrissy's little princess turned 3. It seems like only yesterday she was born, now she's no longer a baby. She's a little girl, or as she would say she's bigger now with her little hands in the air:) It's amazing how they go from being this totally dependent people to being little individuals. She has her own personality and ways of doing things. She amazes me everyday. Every morning we have our snuggling time. We lay on the couch all snuggled up and watch cartoons (Dora being the show of choice). I cherish every morning, as I know the day will come when she will think she is too big to snuggle.

Both of Aunt Chrissy's Angels watching the safety video.

When it came time for her to choose where she wanted to have her party, she was real sure that Pump It Up was where it had to be. Her big brother had his party there and now she was bigger:) As I think about that statement, I am reminded of my own childhood. We spend our whole childhood wanting to be bigger. Wishing the time away....If only we understood what that meant. With age comes responsibility and the end of innocence. While I want with all my heart I want for her to stay little, I know that isn't possible and I want for her all the happiness in the world. Princess Alivia and Her Cake

Alivia was quit sure when it came time to pick out a cake that she needed a castle (of course Aunt Chrissy agreed what would be more fitting for a princess:). So Aunt Chrissy got the task of making the castle. So Alivia and I went to Michaels and I let her pick out the colors. She said that because Cinderella's dress was blue so was her castle. So I made her a blue castle (made sense to me:).

Below are pictures of the castle cake I made......

Alivia loved that Cinderella was at the door.

From Above

So in the end, Alivia had a birthday fit for a princess complete with a castle. She had a wonderful birthday complete with more toys than any one child should get. Of course she got the baby that Swims that "G" (Geran) promised off of a commercial. I like to never found that baby. It is the neatest thing though. It starts swimming as soon as it touches the water. So needless to say, bath time is Alivia's new favorite time of the day.

As always thanks for checking on us.

Much love,

~Chrissy~

Hardwork paid off................

My Clothing Line

Dance tutus (with matching Hairbow and bow on front)
Three of my Little Models (Joanna, Alivia, & Blair)

Blair ( Flower Power)
Brayden ( Lilly Pad)
My Girls in Overalls (Kyleigh, Joanna, Alivia & Blair)
My Girls again in Little Fan Outfits (available for the team of your choice)
Kyleigh ( Flower Garden)


Kyleigh & Alivia (Flip Flops)
Blair (Dottie Stripe)
Joanna (Pink Watermelon)
Kyleigh & Alivia (Strawberry Chocolate)
~~Lots more on my website~~

I guess I should start at the beginning. When I got sick about 2 1/2 years ago, I started making clothing for Alivia (my neice). I soon decided that I loved designing and making clothes. I have since come to the conclusion that God used the worse time of my life to allow me to find my true passion. I soon started making clothing for other teachers' children that worked with my sister and to take to festivals around the state. I have since then made enough clothing to have an entire wardrobe of clothing. For the past 6 months, I have been setting up my website. I can now say that I have finished. Not only to I have a website, I also have a blog entitled DSL kids that I feature pictures of the children who are wearing my clothing. It has been an adventure, but I am so excited. I am in the process of having pictures made for my winter wardrobe and my Halloween costumes. So stay tuned for future additions.

My website is http://www.dottiestripelayne.etsy.com/

My DSL kids blog http://dottiestripelayne.blogspot.com/

Check them out and let me know what you think. Derrick if you are reading this I would love to have a picture of Ella in her outfit for my blog. You can e-mail it to me at either gcconway1022@yahoo.com or dottiestripelayne@yahoo.com Thanks for keeping up with us!!!

Much love,

~Chrissy~

Childer's Family Vacation

Geran & Alivia on the beach

Alivia love her "G". With Daniel being gone for the past 18 months, Alivia is quiet sure that Geran is her dad. That has proven to be hard on Geran, as he is quiet fond of her as well. It has been hard for him to relinquish the "dad" roll back over.

Amber, Daniel, Alivia, Tyler, Chrissy, & Geran

My mom and dad came down later than we did. My mom had been on a mission trip to Brazil and didn't get home until after we had already left, so my dad waited on her.

Alivia, Me, & Geran
Alivia would live with us if her mom would let her. She spends the night with me at least 3 or 4 nights a week most of the time. Even then, you would think my sister was killing her when she comes to pick her up. My summer days seem very long without her being there everyday while my sister works. She is definitely an Aunt Chrissy's little girl!! Aunt Chrissy & her little princess (she loves pigtails)

Tyler Boogie Boarding

Alivia Dancing on the Beach

Watching Tyler and Alivia on the beach amaze me. Kids are amazing. Tyler was so brave, he would fall down and get right back up until he taught himself how to Boogie Board. Alivia loves to dance. She would get on the beach in her little bathing suit and dance everyday. Every time she would make her little trip down to the water. She would stop near everyone that had a radio or some sort of music playing and dance her little heart out. I watched her and a part of me envied her. The ability to dance like no one was watching her. To do what made her happy regardless of what everyone else thought. Oh to be a kid again.

We had a great time at the beach. For the first time since we have been married Geran and I both were able to spent the whole week with everyone. It was nice. Can't wait until next year.

Anniversary

Geran and I have been married 6 years June, 29, 2008. This picture is from the Grille 225 in downtown Charleston, where we had a lovely Anniversary dinner before meeting my parents and sister at Ocean Lakes the next day. It was an amazing dinner!!! I would highly recommend this resturant to anyone looking for a romantic get away:)

As I sit here and think of fact that we have been married for 6 years, it is hard for me to believe. I can still remember when we first got married. I was so nervous, I thought I was going to die. I remember telling his mom that I couldn't do this. I think I was more worried about walking down the asile in front of everyone than I was about getting married in general:) It wasn't Brent (Geran's roommate from college) came in with a card Geran had gotten me that I realized I was the luckiest person in the world.

I am not going to sit here and say that it has always been easy. It definately hasn't always been easy. My grandma was so right when she said you only think you know someone until you live with them. The getting used to being with each other all the time. Not being able to "go home" and cool off when you don't exactly see eye to eye with each other. Learning that you have to value each other's oppions over the oppions of your parents (this was the hardest thing for me being a daddy's girl). The first time something went wrong with my car I remember calling Geran. I really listened to what he had to say, but then doubting that he knew as much as my dad, I called him just to make sure he agreed with what Geran had said:) Of course, as time went on there were many other difficult times that we had to learn to work through. There have been times when it would have been easier to walk away, but I am so glad that we both decided to stick it out. They say that the first five years of marriage are the hardest. Geran and I have definatly had our share of trials, with the last two years being the hardest. With me becoming very sick unexpectedly two years ago, our marriage has definatly had to go through things that most people don't have to go through until later in life if they face them at all (that's another entry). With that being said, I can definatly say that this past year has been the best by far. We have definatly learned to value the time we have with each other and that noone no matter how young is promised tomorrow. You have live each day as if it were your last, and make sure that the other person knows, even if you aren't with them tomorrow, that you loved them more than they will ever know.

I am very proud to call him my husband, my partner, and my best friend. There have definatly some good, some bad, and some indifferent years, but I wouldn't trade one second of one day. The past 6 years have definatly been 6 of the best years of my life. I LOVE YOU, GERAN!!!!