Well, here we are! In Colorado! We’ve now been in our new house for just over a month. And wow, it feels much longer!

I really wish I had blogged during this whole process, because it has been totally surreal. The weeks before leaving Virginia was filled with “last times” doing this, and “last time” doing that. I do want to write a little bit about it, and plus I have photos. Always good to post photos!

Jocelyn had her ballet/jazz dance recital the week before our departure.

Since James’ company was relocating us, it was very nice to have packers come in and totally pack us up. What would have taken us weeks was done in 2 days. Amazing! We were packed up Thursday June 23 and part of Friday, and then everything was loaded onto the moving truck. We left that evening and headed for Indiana, to visit with my brother’s family. The kids had a blast.

cousins: ages 2-16, all playing legos. only missing 1 cousin who was out of town

trampolines – always fun

Last fall we drove to Utah and tried going w/out any sort of portable DVD player(s). We had the kind with 2 screens that strapped onto the back of the front seats’ headrests and there was always some todo about who got to pick what and Jocelyn would always get bored 15 minutes into her choice and Ethan would be stuck with it and so we just did away with it. We played movies over the car speakers (just from our phones/ipods) and it worked out fine, though this trip we didn’t even do that. There was a lot of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Nintendo DS playing, and the trip really did go well with minimal arguments.

We spent Sunday with my brother’s family, and then hit the road Monday and had dinner with James’ sister in St. Louis. Tuesday we were on the road when our VA house closed (didn’t have to be there, the relocation company handled it all, yay!) and we squealed with delight somewhere in Kansas when our realtor called and told us all went smoothly. Wednesday we arrived in Colorado and Thursday we closed on our new house. Then we had a long 4th of July holiday weekend of spending the days in our empty house or at the hotel pool, while we waited for our household goods to arrive. The moving truck arrived Tuesday, July 5th and there was much rejoicing at having all our stuff, albeit hidden away in boxes!

I have been adjusting to staying home with the kids, and I think we’ve settled into a nice groove — just in time for school to start! Only a week left, and then school begins. I will soon know the feeling of bliss every other stay at home mom feels when the little whiners darlings go off to school!

My Etsy shop and my own website are back up and taking orders — and lots of new things are cooking just waiting to get photographed and posted. Now if I could only find my macro lens…

-Amy

Things have been a whirlwind lately, what with our home going under contract, arranging movers, locking down interest rates, last minute travel to Denver for house shopping, etc etc ETC!! Things are *ca-ray-zee*!!

One thing is sure — My shop will be closed about 3 weeks, from Friday, June 17 to Monday, July 11th (this may change depending on how many boxes get unpacked once we arrive!)

All that in mind, I think now is a great time to have a jewelry sale! All finished jewelry 20% off, from now until I close Friday 6/17:

http://www.rainestudios.net

Recently I received an email from a friend and customer pointing out that what looks like my Shenandoah earrings have been published in the latest Step By Step Wire magazine. The earrings project in the magazine is called “Lace Skirts” by Lauren Anderson, who goes by The Chainmaille Lady on artfire and Etsy.

pg 23 in Step by Step Wire magazine

raine studios’ Shenandoah Earrings

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As we will be moving this summer, and I don’t have the best track record for updating my banner monthly, I’m making this my summer 2011 banner.

View all archived banners here.

In honor of Ethan’s birthday this month…

To see all the banners for crazymokes.com, click here.

Our house is now on the market (YAAAAAAAAAY!) which means that now at the drop of a hat, we must scurry around cleaning up and then vacate the premises so strangers can tromp through (not a booo, because the more strangers tromping through, the more likely it is someone will want to BUY!)

So we’ve spent a good bit of time in the car, out doing things, away from the house this weekend.

Cute the FIRST:

I was working in my studio, which is (now) in a smaller room off the big room in our basement. The big room has tall Ikea furniture holding many bins which hold toys. I could hear Jocelyn as she hummed and sang away as she pulled toys out – a Barbie head whose hair she could brush, some Strawberry Shortcake dolls and assorted furniture, a variety of very small stuffed animals. She hummed and played and then skipped off upstairs without cleaning up, so when I emerged from the studio and saw the toys on the floor, I called her down, saying, “Jocelyn, come clean up your toys!”
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I just love this girl and her creations SO MUCH.

Mermaid + Merboy. Perhaps a prince! He does have a crown.
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This is a repost from April 12, 2006. Holy crap I’ve had this website a long time. Enjoy.

It all started when someone left out a few baby carrots. I’m not going to point any finger (ETHAN!!!), but what’s done is done.

It started out benignly enough.
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These pictures are pretty old now, but better late than never!

We had my brother and his family come visit us a few weeks ago. The weekend after they came, we were having the entire house interior painted, so the house was either scary “you’ve been robbed!” clean, or a mass of migraine inducing “a twister came through here!” messy (the basement).

We boxed up a lot of stuff, and had a lot of boxes around which the kids LOVED. Ethan, Jocelyn, cousin Kade & Eric built a massive box fort which sadly, I didn’t get a picture of. But I did get pictures of Elizabeth, the adorable almost 2 year old!
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