Waaay too long...butters&beans kids has been busy!

Holiday holiday holiday! Merry Christmas all, and I'm so sorry for not updating on a regular basis - I think about it often, but then get a little ADD and get distracted by something that typically takes priority. It's been a busy holiday for us, but I'm going to give you the scoop - I'm going to stay recent since so much time has passed.

Store - We have taken on SEVERAL new designers! Some national, some local, but all amazing! Pictures speak louder than words, so here are some of my favs:

From new designer Gitchee

Backpack by Home Grown Sewn

Leggings by Twisted Trees

Holiday dress by Viola Mae

Baby shoes by Tweed Baby

A hair found in my Wheat Thins

Aviator hat by Marigold Baby

Leggings by The Farmer and The Belle

Home: Jaxie (AKA Butters) is T-W-O! Can you believe it?

"Don't sing Happy Birthday to me!"

I'll stop there. If I went any further, this could be a novel, and that could be a long day for both of us. :) I'll try to be better about updates.

Just thankful.

Well folks, it's been awhile AGAIN. I could give you a gazillion excuses but I won't because some would be good, and some would be bad. Instead, I'm going to sum up the last few weeks real quick-like.
The store: B-u-s-y. Any of you that have worked in retail know how dynamic this field is, and I'm still doing most of the work by myself. Now, this isn't to downplay the help of Windy, my sidekick/therapist/Auntie/sales assistant and Carol, my very part-time personal assistant - they are both amazingly helpful. However, the major stuff like purchasing, budgeting, scheduling, visual, maintenance (think plungers - yes, plungers), inventory, sales and not to mention working the store close to 60 hours/week....all of those things still need to be done by me. And that 60 hours doesn't include the HOURS of research and what-not that I do at home until the wee hours...if I want to get real about it, I probably work 100+ hours per week, and that's no exaggeration. Yikes. Doing the math on those hours just gave me (more than) a little agita and made me realize it's time for some more delegation. (Sidenote - Agita is one of my favorite words, but most Minnesotans don't know it. You can find the definition here.)
The line: Market was awesome in every way. We picked up some accounts, learned a TON and made some great contacts. Going into more detail on this could take up paragraphs, so I'll leave it at that. I know that's a little anti-climactic, but we'll all be ok. This, however, is what our booth looked like!

This is Colin and I at Ceasars - I know it's SUPER blurry, but it is literally the only picture we took while we were there:

I'm wearing Custo and 6" sparkle stilettos, and he's wearing jeans and a Yankees hat. Gotta love it!

Personal: We. Are. Finally. Moving. Yay! The kids will finally be in their own rooms (and own bathrooms!) and we will be on a much quieter street so playing and riding bikes won't be quite so complicated and limited only to the backyard.
Jax (aka butters) is absolutely hilarious and is quite adamant that he knows how to talk. He CAN shake his head yes and no finally, which any Mom knows is a huge help to figuring out their little toddler-brains, but we're pretty limited on the vocab right now. His favorite words are "no" and "mine" - imagine that. He has about 20 or so other words that are clear, and the rest is just gibberish. I have to say, I'm a huge fan of gibberish. When a toddler just jabber-jabber-jabbers and looks you right in the eyes like you know exactly what they're talking about? Not too many things cuter than that. Definitely enough to give you the warm fuzzies.
Logan started school again, but at his age they just kind of get right back into the swing of things. His case manager says he's doing well, and I even got a cute little note back last week saying he had a great day. He initially didn't take well to the idea of moving as he has to switch schools, but he's coming around quickly. I think the idea of barricading his brother out of his room is unfortunately what is most appealing...but whatever works I guess.

I titled this post "just thankful" for a reason. With work and the kids it's easy for me to get so busy that I forget to slow down and appreciate everything I have. I think sometimes we all need a reminder to take a minute, look around and thank God for everything we have. I am not a highly religious person, but I am spiritual, and I read something yesterday that reminded me that the most important thing today is not how much I sell at the store, or what store picks up my line, or what kind of car I drive, or how big my house is. It's the people around me that matter - those are the only things that aren't replaceable. So today, I am thankful for my beautiful, precocious children, and all the other people in my life that are amazing in some way or another. Click here to read what I read, but I'll warn you, there will be tears. If you read further into her blog though, you'll see that she really is a remarkable woman with a huge amount of courage that has taken the worst scenario possible and tried to help others...major kudos to her.

Why no posts, you ask?

Because I've been busy. Seriously, no lie, crazy, terribly, non-stop busy. And, I'm working SO much at this point, that I just can't bring work home (even blogging) with me anymore or I'd be working around the clock. I've officially moved my entire "creative" work station to the store. I had a work counter installed, just like the one I have at home, but now the one at home is bare and a little lonely looking (weird). All of the tulle, and fabric, and scissors, and ribbon, and sparkles, and flowers, and even my sewing machine.....at the store now. So, now I can work on my tutus and sewing projects in between customers and a bazillion other things during my 12 hour stints at the store. Sweet, I say. Having all of that stuff out of the house kind of took a major load off - I don't feel as stressed when I'm at home. I don't always feel like there is a "project beckoning".
I've worked at least five open to closes since the store opened, and haven't had a day off in 10 days. I'm up late doing laundry now because I have tomorrow off completely - no store at all - and I want to spend it with the kids, not doing laundry. I'd rather stay up until 4am doing laundry and only get a few hours of sleep than have to do it tomorrow. To just be honest, I miss my kids. Being that I used to be home full-time, this has been a major switch for all of us. I want to concentrate on them tomorrow, not the mountain of laundry in the basement.
Well, here's the DL on the store. It's been good. We've surpassed our expectations by quite a bit. I placed more orders earlier in the week, so among other things we will have an entire new stock of aden+anais by Wednesday. This time I also ordered some of the towel sets which I think are absolutely adorable. We are also getting in some really cute toddler boy outfits by an Etsy designer - pants with matching long sleeve t's in sizes 2T-4T. And...the birthday hats will be in soon. If you want one of these, I'd pop in quick because I only ordered a few - a few with the number 1 and a few with the number 2. I'm SO excited to get these - they are beyond-words cute. We have more knit hats coming in by two different designers, and more rocker t's. There are a few other possible orders I'm wavering on, and a few more that will be ordered closer to September and October, but I think everyone will be happy with what's coming this week for now. Hopefully these shipments will last longer than a week. :)
So, obviously there is no more stay-at-home-Mama in the house. Jaxie had his first day at daycare a week and a half ago and is...well, not quite adjusted yet. His teacher is amazing - very motherly and loving with the kids which is great. Every time I walk in the room she always has them cuddled around her reading books or doing some sort of art project that they need a LOT of help with. She's very patient. Anywho, he's fine in the car on the way there, fine walking through the main door, fine down the hallway, but the second I put my hand on that doorknob to his classroom the wailing starts. And I'm talking full tears, screaming at the top of his lungs, clinging to me with his legs, and pleading "Mommy" (the worst). However, I did wait outside the door on Friday and noticed that pretty much as soon as I left he stopped, so that made me feel a little better. I don't think he's napping well because he always looks exhausted when I pick him up. And of course, the first thing he does when he gets home is run to the fridge, yank on it and say "ba-ba"? And....I give him one. Oh yes I do. Guilt works wonders.