Ready to Ship Dish Towels

The following dish towels are ready to ship for $10. You can add a monogram for an additional $2. These are excellent teacher gifts or just to spruce up your own kitchen during the Christmas season.

Christmas Designs

I've had a very blessed Thanksgiving week and am ready to get back to work on Christmas orders. Here are some recent Christmas designs I shipped out.

I'm taking orders until Friday, December 6 and then I'll close until after the New Year. If you've already emailed me, I'm working on your order and will ship in the next 2 weeks at the latest. I've had a lot of requests for the knit infinity scarves, especially in a chevron pattern. I'm looking for fabric this week so if you'd like one, please let me know ASAP. Also, remember to follow me on Instagram (thechocolatezebra) for more frequent updates and new items.

Christmas Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak at a few of the items I made for the Holiday Trunk Show last week. I'll be posting them here this week, so keep checking back. Several are ready to ship, so the first person to pay their invoice gets the item.

Update in Photos

BUSY!! That's the word I would use to describe our life right now. While I love to see the individual talents and abilities being honed and shaped by all the activities my children are involved in, it's wearing this mom out! We spend a lot of time in our car, and I'm constantly checking my email for reminders and schedule confirmation. You'll see in the following photos why I'm so tired.

 

Tatum and Gentry both played soccer this season, and Tatum followed in her two older sister's goalie footsteps. She's a natural. We were especially thankful that her knee didn't give her any problems after last year's medical drama.

 Gentry defended her team's goal like a champ this season and has the scars on her knees to prove it.

Another successful season with the Pink Streak!

My best friend from high school occasionally finds old photos of us and texts them to me. This one of me and my dad is one of my favorites, circa 1992.

On one particularly cold night at the soccer fields I brought hot chocolate. Tatum stayed engaged for exactly as long as it took to drink her HC...

 and then she checked out.

One of the highlights of our year so far was Ava deciding to be baptized. Tye and I have prayed for this day her whole life, and it was so special to have all of our family be present to witness her putting on Christ in baptism. This photo made me a little teary. Tye is no stranger to public speaking and rarely gets nervous, but he wanted to make sure he said everything he planned to for this special occasion. He kept checking his notes just before they went into the water together. Sweet Ava was a nervous wreck!

I love this special photo showing the many people who love Ava and our family, celebrating her decision with us and praying blessings over her.

This was Halloween 2013. Gone are the days of the sweet princesses and honorable literary characters. They all chose to be nerds. *sigh*

Gentry had asked for a long time for a school spirit sweatshirt. It took me too long to get it done, but this is her zebra glitter "HAWKS" sweatshirt.

 Ava was chosen to "sweep the tee" after kick-off at the TCU game several weeks ago. I had no idea  this was a thing, but it was fascinating (and a little death-defying) to be on the field and see the action up close.

 Big sister airing up little sister's soccer ball before practice.

 It's official. Braces are in this girl's future and she couldn't be more thrilled.

Random blurry photo my phone took by accident, but you'll notice the debris at my feet. Embroidery applique is not for the neat freak.

 Another unusual photo angle of me, this time captured by my oldest trying to be artistic.

Tye and Ava before we took her to a special dinner on her 13th birthday. She is definitely her father's child, down to the chin and razor-sharp wit.

Ava has really blossomed in 7th grade. She made the basketball team, the school play and 1st chair French horn. I've never been prouder or more exhausted. This photo was taken at District band auditions. She begged me to stay when she couldn't find any of her friends, and then couldn't shake me off fast enough when her best friend arrived. Love you too, Ava.

 This is something that doesn't happen often so I had to document it.

Tatum asked for rain boots for her birthday, and luckily enough, it poured all day long on her special day. She woke up, put on her new boots and splashed in puddles for hours.

This one is just for fun. This poodle must be near-sighted because every time Tatum cleans her room, the glasses go back on.

Instagram

Are you an Instagram user? If so, please follow me (thechocolatezebra) for more frequent product posts and some new items that you won't see here on the blog. I'll be posting Christmas items every day and will have a drawing next week for a giveaway!

Stadium Blankets

This is a new item I'm excited to debut. These stadium blankets are great gift ideas for coaches, teachers and grandparents. They're made of a thick sweatshirt material and are perfect for monogramming a team name, applique or last name.

This black one is my own. It's been my best friend through a long soccer season cheering for the Wildcats. It stayed in the back of my car and I pulled it out on those chilly nights when fall finally arrived. Ava borrowed it at a recent football game and modeled it for me thoroughly.

Color choices are red, hot pink, navy blue and black. $25 includes monogramming.

Monogrammed Infinity Scarves

One of the events we celebrated recently was Ava's 13th birthday. I'm still wondering exactly how that's possible, but it seems we now actually have a teenager living at our house. She opted to have a paint-your-own-pottery party at a local store, and since I was off the hook for cleaning my house and planning a big affair, I gladly agreed. My only job was to provide the party favors and we chose some striped knit infinity scarves for her friends. Everyone loves a fun scarf, so I added a classic 3-initial monogram, put them in brown gable boxes tied with curly ribbon, and I was done with my party responsibility! The girls were thrilled with their personalized scarves, and after a brief tutorial in wearing it so that the monogram showed correctly, they all had theirs on.

Ava didn't get a "favor box" at the party so she doesn't have her infinity scarf on for the photo but she has one too. They all immediately conspired to wear them to school the following day. As a cool-mom-wannabe, this made me very happy. Also, Ava has managed to find some of the sweetest, funniest, most delightful girls as her friends, and I'm especially pleased about that since 7th grade can be fraught with girl drama. None of that with these mature young ladies.