life updates

Day Shift
I am working day shift at the hospital now. 7am-7pm. I've been on this more regular schedule since May. I enjoy having a more normal schedule, but day shift is definitely busier! I didn't realize how much extra time I sometimes had on nightshift that I used for doing various things...paying bills, blogging, answering House of Shep emails, etc. When that time was gone, I really missed it!

House of Shep
Wow, where do I even start?! The shop became much much busier around August last year.  I did about 400+ total orders in 2012. 300+ of those orders were between August and December! It has been such a blessing making pretty things for people! I love to think how a hobby turned in to a side job. The extra income helps, but it's not taking the place of any other "real" jobs right now.

Church
Chris and I are still hosting our young married small group two nights a month. We are also co-leading/hosting the college group every Thursday. We love having people in our home and using what God has blessed us with to bless others. There's not much better than having 26 college students in our small living room all worshiping together. Such a great thing. Chris is also working part time at the church doing some AV stuff, editing, etc and I'm starting back in helping with the children's ministry a few Sundays a month.

Small Business Owners
We bought a small business over the summer last year and what a ride it has been! The opportunity came for us to purchase the newspaper that Chris had worked for off and on over the past 4 years. We have learned a LOT and still have even more to learn about being business owners. Chris is his own boss, which has its benefits, but writing your own checks (or not..) is not one of them! Ha. I was even named "Business Manager." Still figuring out what that means!

Scout
Happy to report things are the same in Scout's world. No ear infections in about a year. He is such a goof ball. His latest thing is (when we aren't looking) pulling the towel down off of the towel bar and rolling around on it! I get annoyed when I find the towel on the ground, but I can't help but laugh because he looks so goofy doing it!

Blogging
I love reading back over our adventures that have been written on this blog. I'm sad to look back over the last year and have almost nothing recorded for the majority of the year. I am unapologetic about blogging infrequently, because ultimately this blog is for us. BUT, I want to make a goal to blog more, so that I can look back later and read about our lives now.

both of us watching Passion live via Chris' iPad last week

we were visiting my family the first week in January and Chris was loving on Brooklynn

one of my favorites we made for a Christmas order!

our weekend in pictures

My sweet sister and brother-in-law came in this weekend and it was a nice relaxing time together!

When I was working on some projects, Scout kept getting up on the couch and sticking his head between the wood. He never does that..so I thought maybe it was because I had the blinds up on the door and he wanted to see into the backyard. Made me laugh! :)

I made this Chicken N Dumplings recipe after hearing Megan say it was delicious.

She did not lie! It was DELICIOUS!! And EASY!! 

For real. Try it this week. You won't be sorry!

I spent some time working on some HOS orders and gifts and a new listing.

Last night we played Nertz. I looove Nertz. Sometimes I win, but last night I did NOT. 

We had a lot of fun though!!

Tonight I've been busy busy working on stuff for Katy's baby shower this weekend.

(here's a sneak peak)

I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of PEOPLE this weekend! 

We also started a big project in our master bathroom. I'll be back later this week with some pictures of that.

I'm linking up with Jenni! 

santa's little helper

I'm baaaack! For today at least!

This month has been bu.sy. for House of Shep!

It's definitely a blessing, but I also wasn't really expecting it, so it's been difficult for me to balance working full time, being a wife and all the orders that have come in.

Thankfully, my husband is wonderful.

He has been working as hard (or harder!) as I have to get these orders out. 

This is where we started in late November. 

My cousin ordered 50 canvases for teachers at her work, all "Joy" themed.

And all of these are from other people that have placed special orders this month.

I'm hoping to get some of these posted on Etsy sometime next month. :)

Happy Tuesday yall! :)

Christmas craziness

Christmas went by in a blur. I worked up until the night of the 23rd, so I slept half of Christmas Eve.

This was our year to have Christmas with the Shepperds. Chris' parents came in and stayed a few days at our house. Christmas morning we woke up at 5AM (now that I work nights it is haaaard to wake up, ESPECIALLY before the sun has) and drove to Jenn and Paul's house in South Houston so we could wake the boys up and have Christmas with them.

This was one of our gifts for Kaden. It's a crayon roll up. I remember having a Precious Moments coloring book/crayon holder when I was little that I would take to church or pretty much any other place I was expected to be quiet.

I loved it, so I tried to find something similar for Kaden. This is what I finally decided on. And it was my FIRST Etsy purchase! She didn't sell them with monogram, so I got that done separately.

Here is Kaden opening his Buzz Lightyear.

He was pretty excited :)

Now he's trying to figure out if he just broke it when he pulled Buzz Lightyear's face shield off. And Kai seems to be helping.

His new bike!

Early that afternoon, we drove to the Woodlands to have Christmas with my parents. They were at my mom's family this year, so we got to see both families!

My beautiful youngest sister, Becca.

My beautiful middle sister, Katy and her boyfriend, Cody.

How stinkin cute is she??? This is my cousin's daughter. This is Leona. Or maybe Sophia. They're twins. And obviously I can't tell them apart very well. Every time you would tell her to smile, she would pose perfectly. SOO cute.

And I THINK this is the other twin. Or maybe the same one...heck, I can't tell.

Chris was throwing her up and catching her and she LOOVED it!

our second Christmas as married people. awwwwwww. :D

reading her a book. she wasn't that interested.

my goofy wonderful family!

That's all the catching up I have for now. Chris and I are going to Colorado with some people from Tyler tomorrow until next Thursday. After that I vow to post about the Pilot, Colorado, and my new awesome amazing exciting Christmas present I got. I KNOW you can't wait.

But you must.

christmas home tour

Christmas is my favorite time of year!!!

Here's a tour of our home as it's decorated for Christmas.

The other wreath I made. Should have gone with a bigger size, but now I'll know for next time. and I looove the Welcome vinyl I got off of LeenTheGraphicsQueen's etsy store.

close up of Welcome vinyl

little table in our front entry. (thanks to grandma for the cute table!) including a picture frame with no picture. maybe i'll get a picture in there next Christmas. ;)

our Christmas tree. can't we leave it up AAALL year???

I tried to get creative with my gift wrapping this year. I love tulle!

the twine and the brown wrapping paper surprisingly matches really well!

a couple new ornaments on our tree this year

This one came from the Belgium House's Christmas Village they put on this year

This one came from my mom, but she got it from Hallmark. It's called Hide-N-Seek Pickles and it talks! Have you heard of the Christmas pickle ornament tradition? If not, you should read about it. Maybe you can start a new tradition with your family!

bookshelf in kitchen with singing snowman

countdown that I blogged about before

Another Hallmark specialty that my mom got me. Me telling you about it isn't good enough for this one. Go ahead and watch the video I posted below.

I'm hoping to add to our Christmas decorations after Christmas with a few clearance items. But I'm glad we had a whole house to put these in this year.