Friday, December 30, 2011

Winter vacation

If you missed the post about our last vacation where hubby made up for missing Sweetest Day by taking over all my duties(minus the sewing) I just have to say, he did it again =)  I know I'm truly blessed to have such an amazing spouse, though sometimes I forget that, say when they attack you w/ morning breath bc, hey, they just wanna kiss or the many other bodily functions men are to in tuned with and feel the need to share.  I woke up the other day to not only see him filling out the meal calendar but making a grocery list!  Now hes made list before don't get me wrong, that usually consist of brats, buns, and beer the essentials.  This time, I looked like the slacker compared to his list.  Not only did he drag all 3 girls shopping, during their lunch time, but he came home and spent 2 hours chopping everything up.  I will admit I was very impressed. Until it hit me I would be expected to take over this task for the rest of the time.

Kemaily new website

I am excited to annouce we are working on getting our official website up and running as an online store front!! You will be able to order whatever you want whenever you want!  We still have a few kinks to work out but it won't be much longer.  I want to thank each and everyone of you for your support!  We wouldn't have made it as far as we have if it wasn't for amazing people such as yourself!  Our dream for the family business is quickly becoming a reality!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Christmas Card 2011

Christmas would not be complete without a screaming baby on Santa's lap.  We almost had the same exact expression from last year but this year it was daddy who did the drop off. 

2011

2010

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Kids and Baking

My husband has been telling me for months that people are requesting cookies. To all you working moms who can handle working 40 hours away from home and come home and be a domestic diva, I bow down to you.  I can barely keep up working from home running a business and all that entails,  homeschooling, house duties, errands, and kids!   So today since I no longer have an excuse the girls and I baked over 12 dozen cookies.  Nothing says let's kick off Christmas break and the end of Christmas orders like standing in a kitchen with 3 little helpers(2 helpers, 1 pint size tyrant) and baking, baking, baking, and baking some more!  The girls of course loved the dumping of the contents and and opening the bags of Hershey's kisses, while Kiley just snuck them by the fist fulls trying to destroy the evidence.  That didn't work out to well since she had chocolate drool all down her shirt and around her mouth.  After dinner I finished up making the cornflake wreaths and I made the mistake of leaving the gate open.  We learned that mistake when baby shrek entered the room. 

Friday, December 16, 2011

Terrible 2 fun

We thought today was going to be one of those great days since our little miss K, in her full on terrible 2's was in a good mood when she woke up.  We were sadly mistaken.  In less then an hour she has pulled books off the bookshelves and ripped pages intentionally, dug into the pantry and threw a can of tomatoes at her sisters foot, smacked her sister for not letting her scribble all over her schoolwork*gasp*.  Then proceed to grab her other school books and bite them, really?  It's like living with a puppy some days with all the messes you have the pleasure of cleaning up.  Even now as I write she has climbed up on the chair and is using me as a human jungle gym sliding down my back as a slide yelling 'weeeeeee'.......Once finished says 'sorry momma' and proceeds to do it again and again.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

It goes on and on my friend, remember that awful song?

Oh my goodness!  Our life has been crazy the last couple weeks, something that everyone can relate to I'm guessing.  Between Thanksgiving, the craft show, then our roof leaking, our brand NEW roof that is! Then it happened to be the room where I keep all my supplies for business/workout room, oh what a nightmare that was.  Now add in the last minute Christmas shopping, school, orders, supply shopping, and throw in a bit 'track down a contractor' game, errands, not being able to run while kids nap, while trying to find the supplies you do have that are now sitting in multiple piles in another room unorganized is enough to make you want to have a meltdown(that is if you haven't already).  We do not have good luck with contractors, that experience did not go well.  On the bright side 2008's layoffs paid off since my husband worked construction on the side =)   Now we can re-insulate/drywall the ceiling(I needed a good arm workout), finish Christmas shopping, Transfer everything BACK into place, wrap presents, school, deal with toddler meltdowns, finish orders, start/finish our annual bake a million cookies for the guys at work, aaaaaand them sit back and relax.  The only catch?  Hubbys sick.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Christmas Cookie Fun

Today was our annual frost a million sugar cookies day.  It is impossible to walk away hungry with all the temptation to lick off the frostings on ones fingers.  There might have been a few instances where we purposely frost fingers*looking around innocently*.  Now my wonderful girls are hopped up on sugar and running around like wild animals! 



Just woke up from nap and digging into all the sprinkles

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Is it done yet?!

Yesterday was the craft show at Parcells Holiday Bazaar in Grosse Pointe Woods.  It started out busy and with us rushing around to get everything perfect and by lunch, slowed on down to a steady trickle.  Mind you I was sitting there like a puppy who had been cooped up in their cage to long.  I am not one for sitting still, I don't know if it's OCD and 3 wonderful children to clean up after or the fact I get bored sitting but I have to move!  Preferably run.  I'm the mom that runs through the house, back n forth, upstairs, down stairs, while telling the other kids no to do as I do*gasp*.  I can't even sew sitting!  Just the thought of parking myself in a chair makes my back cry and age 10 years.  Instead I prefer to stand at the counter and sew everything that way.  Thankfully I convinced my husband to do an entire wall of cabinets, who knew they would later become my sewing section of the house!  Now, begins the 'oh crap I forgot about that' part of the Holidays!  I secretly enjoy this part =)

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Clutter overload

I hate clutter, things out of place around the house, or dirt on the floor is the quickest way to send me to crazy town.  One would think with a toddler in the house who happens to be our 3rd that I would be use to it.  Nope!  I have to have clean floors and counters like some people need coffee.  I admit I'm jealous of those that can just relax for a day and not let it bother them.  Whereas I try and it just nags at me over and over 'clean me clean me clean me' until I give in.  I certainly do not enjoy fishing wrappers and cereal out of the heat vents on a weekly basis thanks to Kiley, cleaning the litter box, dragging all the children on errands, scrubbing bathrooms, or laundry. Not only do I have an issue with clutter, I have an obsession with organizing.  I think those 2 go hand in hand.  My husband made the mistake of taking me to Ikea for my birthday one year and that is a place a organizing obsessive person such as myself will go crazy and turn into a giddy little school girl.  On the bright side my husband has learned it's easy to plan birthdays and anniversarys, just take me Ikea!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Referral Contest

We are having a referral contest going on at our Facebook page!!  If we hit 3000 fans by midnight Friday you will have the chance to to enter and win a $25 gift certificate from Kemaily! 

It's coming!

It is that time of the year again!  You know it's coming, September hits and you think you still have plenty of time.  Except now it's not September, it's almost the middle of November!  Where does the time go?  I swear it was last week I was shopping for Halloween costumes sewing up their Halloween bags.  Now we are planning Thanksgiving which is right around the corner, then a craft show, then the big one.....Christmas.  I am not ready.  Though I did go on a mass shopping spree at Toys R Us this week and knock out most of the list for the girls.  On the bright side for the stores, I'm pretty sure I just covered some employee's salary for the week.  Now comes the dreaded part, what to buy my husband for Christmas.............

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Friendly Roaring Baby

In our house daddy is the celebrity.  So whenever we hear the back door rattle it doesn't matter where the kids are at or what is going on, it becomes a sies and desist and race as fast as one can to the hallway to hide.  While waiting*giggling* for daddy to open the door while they pop out like a jack in the box to say hi!  Kiley hasn't quite learned to just say hi, instead she likes to ROARRRRR as loud as she can over and over.  Not sure where it came from or started but now even mommy gets the cute lil roars. 


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

L-O-N-G Week

What a L-O-N-G week!  I keep mixing my days up thinking it's Thursday or Friday and it's only Wednesday.  Mind you I kept thinking it was the end of the week since Monday.  When your spouse works 6-7 days a week days begin to blur together I suppose.  We have a toddler in full force "terrible 2's", no one is enjoying these mood swings.  On a positive note she has learned the world please, which sounds like 'peas'. 

Monday, November 7, 2011

Fall Fun

After one of those days of running errands and children being stuck sitting in waiting rooms at Doctors offices the girls needed to run off a lot of energy.  What better way then to play in the crisp fallen leaves of fall!  To watch them run and jump into a full pile of leaves and giggle with delight is music to ones ears.  As you can see from our youngest she was the one to catch most of the leaves.  She giggled with delight the entire time while her sisters chased her.


Small Businesses: an Economy of Quality

When you buy from a small business you are reinvesting in the American economy. You are supporting the American entrepreneurs—and often their families—who make your wonderful custom items, along with fabric manufacturers, the U.S. Postal Service, etc.

Shopping at small businesses during the holidays makes a bigger impact in the American economy than supporting Wal-Mart and other large chain stores does. Shopping from huge companies supports the holiday homes, flashy cars, yacht, and luxurious lifestyles of the CEOs. Buying from a small business means you are helping an American mom put food on the table, to pay for gas, rent, school supplies, and all the costs that come with everyday life.

Small businesses that hand-make their products also offer a higher quality than stores which mass-produce their items. Machines can rarely match the quality of a hand-made item with hours of effort, concentration, and care worked into it by the designer

Take a look at Kemaily’s satin headbands, for example. You can find similar products in the store, of course. But those aren’t built to last. Most commercial headbands are made from spools of satin, which leaves the edges vulnerable to fraying. Kemaily headbands are made with true satin off the bolt, and rolled to prevent fraying. This gives the headbands a cleaner, sturdier edge. Commercial headbands are usually glued together, as well. If the headbands get too hot, too cold, too wet, or handled too roughly, they begin falling apart. Every Kemaily headband is hand-stitched to ensure it stays together through adventurous playtimes.

Great care is taken to ensure each headband is made just right. Yes, this does mean that the headband costs a little more than the one in the giant chain store. But how ling will the chain store’s last before it starts fraying at the edges? Small business owners put much time and effort into ensuring that every individual customer is given quality work.

Small business owners also work hard to make certain each customer is satisfied. Call a corporations business and you might reach a customer service representative. More likely, you’ll be talking to a computer. Call a small business to express your concern, and you’ll probably be speaking with the owner.

Quality of service counts just as much as quality of product. Speaking as a small business owner, my first goal is that my customers are happy with Kemaily as a whole. I want them to be satisfied with the product. But I also want them to have a pleasant shopping experience. If someone calls me with a concern, I will do my best to put the situation right as soon as possible. Customers are my business’s top priority.

This holiday, as you consider your long list of gifts-to-buy, think about whom you want to support: America, or some overseas factory? Think about how long you want the gift to last, and the quality of the products you’re looking at. And then, please, buy from one of America’s small businesses.
For everyone that supports small businesses: THANK YOU! We appreciate you more than words can express. YOU matter to us!


Thank you to Abigail Roy for your amazing help =) 

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween!

Trick or treat, smell my feet, oh wait.....I got off course there for a minute.  My 3 beauties had a blast tonight trick-r-treating.  I thought for sure we would have a toddler meltdown since little miss is not a fan of talking to outsiders.  Needless to say after the first trunk-r-treat she started to get it down.  Then she was flying from the stroller before we even stopped to run up those steps!  It was like watching someone climb Mt.Everest watching her tackle all the steps and shove her way past all the lil kids.  All for a few pieces of candy.  Between the candy, jack-o-laterns, singing decorations, and leaves on the ground she was in Heaven.  Running and kicking through the leaves, who cares if mommy and daddy say to get off the lawns a 100x's.  There was no stopping her.  She held her own with her sisters and walked most of the way on her 2 tiny feet.  Now everyone is tucked away all cozy in bed exhausted from all the fun =)

One of 'those' weeks....

This has been one of 'those' weeks where you feel like your going to break!  All 3 girls have taken turns having some form of a cold and cough.  When the baby gets sick, everyone pays.  It doesn't help matters shes in this phase of hitting and scratching.  E & M have so many battle wounds from lil Miss this week alone.  It's funny how when you have kids you forget these awful stages. Then again I suppose if we remembered everything as if it was yesterday no one would procreate. It has also dawned on me December is right around the corner with a craft show, and......I'm no where near ready!  I will not lose it I will not lose it.....Miss Maia's birthday is next week and has informed me of her mile long list that she would like.  What she doesn't know is I purchased her birthday gift back in July =)  We have been horrible at following a school schedule this week so next week will be a fun catch up week.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Best Vacation Ever

SOOOO enjoying this wonderful break from usual life!  My gift for Sweetest day this year was a break from my 'job' ranging from scrubbing the toilets to cooking dinner!  I enjoyed it immensely. It worked out perfectly that my husband was taking a 4 day vacation. Of course when the idea was first mentioned I will admit I laughed thinking to myself 'yeah right'.  Shockingly I was proved wrong and loving every minute of it!  We are now on day 3 and I can't recall one thing I've had to clean, cook, or bath the kids!  Anyone that knows me know that is a big thing!  I'm the one that goes crazy if there dare be a spec of dirt on the floor or a stain on the childrens clothes, an item not in it's place, the baby rearranged my pantry.  Mind you it rarely happens that my house is anywhere near to what I would prefer, but when you have 3 children and a husband it's not always possible.  Except now HE's the one taking care of everything!  To know that I won't have to go downstairs and clean the kitchen after the dinner mess, bath the kids, do laundry, clean the house, divide up the chili he made into future meals is so.......peaceful. Did I mention he even bought me my favorite cake and the biggest bag of Halloween candy he could find?  Now thats true love =) 

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Personalization

We have done it!! We are now offering personalization on our minky burp cloths!! What a great gift to give or keep for yourself!!  We will be offering our personalization on taggys in the upcoming weeks too! 


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

We want cake!

A couple months ago my wonderful children were doing what they weren't suppose to*GASP* playing on the stairs!  Needless to say they managed to knock out a post on the railing going upstairs that was just put in.  Of course we don't know who did it, what happened, and no one is going to fess up.  Tonight daddy decided to sneak downstairs while doing school work and get himself some coffeecake but wasn't going to share with the baby since he had to 'work on school'.  I say that loosely because I'm pretty sure he's just up there playing with his IPOD or searching the Internet for running gear or drooling over computer parts.  Well lil miss not one to let ANYTHING stand in her way macgyvered her way through the hole and then proceeded to run up the stairs which is when I heard the pitter patter of feet above me.  I'm pretty sure she was following the smell of cake at this point.  She made it, got her cake, and ate it while smiling the entire time. 

Miss K Pillowcase & Crib Sheet

I decided to put my skills to more productive use when it comes to our family.  I have been looking for flannel sheets for the babys crib when it hit me, make em! duh!  It was a bit more interesting since flannel is more stretchy then the cotton, but I made it.  After a trip to Joanns with serger in tow that is.  Apparently the user manual wasn't user friendly enough for me. Now my youngest has her first ever pillowcase with minky rosette trim(that was another story) and matching sheet to go with her bed.  Now I need to learn how to do sheets for twin beds and I'll be all set!

As you can see I was a bit off on centering the name, but I'm sure she'll survive ;)

Monday, September 26, 2011

My latest love.......

Since learning how to work with minky material I have been fascinated w/ the it's softness and coming up with new and wonderful ways I could possibly use this material.  I'm already planning on new bedding for the girls, ourselves, pillows for the couches, blankets, and stroller blankets from this wonderfully soft material.   Somehow they managed to come up with an even softer minky, minky swirl!  I didn't know that was possible! I call it minky rosette since it swirls to form mini roses =)   I have been making up burp cloths, loveys, taggys, and blankets in this print and still can't get enough.  Here is one of the creations I made, the photo doesn't do it justice. 


Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Crib Sheets

I have been asked numerous times if I could make crib sheets and I always said no, but now w/ the help of some great online tutorials and friends we have done it!  I love being able to create new things, it's such a high to buy material and transform it into a masterpiece all by your own two hands!


Monday, September 12, 2011

Feather Hair Extension Clips

We have been so busy over here!!  Everyday we are running around like crazy working on orders, school work, cleaning, errands, take photos, edit, finding time to create new and wonderful things.  Our latest and greatest item is Feather Hair Extension clips!  Say goodbye to paying $20 for a clip and being stuck w/ the same color everyday til you take it out.  Now you can change your clip as often as your mood! Can it get any better?! We have so many colors and styles coming it's crazy!! 

Friday, September 9, 2011

Santa Rocks!

Is it bed time yet?  Todays fun adventure was grocery shopping, in a down pour, w/ 3 little kids.  I wasn't really paying attention to what my child was wearing to the store.  I seen they had appropiate clothing for the weather and we just ran out the door.  Pink floral sweatshirt, turquoise boots, orange floral shorts, and the best for last..............
Santa Rocks shirt in September =) 

As soon as we get home from grocery shopping I get out, jump over the big puddle praying Kiley doesn't see it(yeah right), drag her out of her seat and set her down since we are all carrying in grocerys.  We make it 6 feet away, 1/2 way to the house now and your about to have let out that sigh of relief when you senses send you a warning message, and then it happens.  She sees the water and you know you've lost and nothing good could possibly come out of it.  Kiley pivots around like some basketball star doing a last minute fakeout and runs and jumps in the big puddle, score!  As we were leaving for soccer she decided to up her game and sit and splash =) Besides it was only the first game of the season and we were running late, what better way to make an impression then a muddy toddler =)

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Our New Family Business

For over a year I’ve had friends and family telling me I should sell the baby blankets I make and how much they love them.  Last September(2010) I finally started doing just that!  I have officially started a website called “Kemaily”, it is a combination of all of our girls names.  Now we have a Facebook page and it has been a huge success!  The girls and I LOVE it! Going to pick out all the cute fabrics for blankets, burpies, or hair accessories is so much fun.  The possibilities are endless!!  When I first started I only had blankets, now I am up to minky burpies, minky blankets, taggies, lovies, crochet headbands, kufi hats, hair accessories, & many more ideas in the works!  We recently had an order for a cell phone case cover, kindle cover, boys tie, & more!  I love the unexpected, to be able to create anything from just a few yards of material. 

Monday, August 29, 2011

We did it!

We closed on the house we were looking at in 2009! Also found out we were expecting girl #3, surprise!! So now the ratio in our house is 4 girls:1 boy, well, 2 if you count the cat. We are also homeschooling our 2 oldest now and I started a business(apparently I didn't think I was busy enough). Our life has been so crazy busy, but I love it(most days). You never know what is going to happen or what the baby will get into to from one moment to the next.