Owl Pillows

I can finally share these cuties! I came up with an owl pillow pattern and went to town making Christmas presents. I love how many options of color combos you can do with these!

I'm linking up with:

Kora - 3 years old

Dear Kora,

You turned 3 years old this month! Wow, it is so hard to believe you have officially passed up the toddler stage and have entered the preschool stage. You amaze me on a daily basis. We have definitely figured out that you have your Dad's amazing memory, it is hard to believe the things you can remember and do at such a young age. We read you a book just one time and the next time you look at that book there are certain phrases or sentances from the book that you remember perfectly.

You have a ton of sponk and personality. You make us laugh and bring us so much joy every day. We love to watch you with your baby brother Thomas. You call him 'bud' (which you picked up from Mommy) and it is so cute. You love to color, dance (you took your first Ballet class this year!), read, watch movies (you love all things Disney Princess), paint with water colors and play games.

Favorite Kora sayings:

Warm Coconut  (translation: Hot cocoa)
My feelings hurt (translation: Tummy Ache)

When I reflect back on the day that you arrived into our world I remember very vividly how you were called a 'miracle baby' by the doctor who delivered you. What we did not know when I was pregnant with you was that you had a condition in which your umbilical cord was not deeply rooted into the placenta. This can be extremely dangerous during the pregnancy and delivery as the cord could have become unattached to the placenta. As I held you, my miracle baby, tears streamed down my face and I thanked God for giving me the honor of being your Mom. I know God has big plans for your life.  A life that I am so thankful to be apart of. We love you beyond words miss Kora.

Keep making us laugh baby girl,

Mommy

Alligator Mobile

My friend Mandy had a baby in October and for her baby shower that we had back in August (I know, super late in posting this!) I made her a mobile to match the decor in the nursery. She picked out an adorable navy blue and lime green bedding that had little alligators on it. So, I ran with that theme. I used my silhouette machine to cut out the shapes in different cardstock paper that I had to match the colors. I then used an old wreathe ring that was made out of wire and wrapped it with coordinating ribbon. I used clear thread and put a clear bead at the end of each strand to weight it down and then went to town threading each shape on there. I thought it turned out pretty cute! I made a few others during that same time frame, more pictures to come!

Reading Nook

Over the last few months we have been transitioning Kora's room from being the nursery to being a  'big girl' room. Part of that transition was changing her bed, moving out the changing table and replacing it with her toys. But I had also been wanting to create a reading area....or as Kora calls it 'her fort'. I used pvc piping to build the frame for it and then sewed a cover for it. I also made a pillow that would fit the bottom of it so it would be nice and cozy. I love how it turned out!

Here is a shot of the frame. It was pvc piping that we used but I covered it with fabric to hide the white and unattractive piping. We made Kora's fort to be 3ft x 3ft.  

Tangled Party!

Kora turned three this past week so yesterday we celebrated with her friends and had a big Tangled Party! She is in love with the movie Tangled and it was a lot of fun to plan out the theme. This was Kora's first 'friends' birthday party so I really wanted to make it special. I have literally had this theme in my mind for over 6 months so I am quite releaved to now have it all put into action. Here are a few of the things that we did to make this day fun.

Cody made this awesome sign that we hung on the front door for the party! Didn't it turn out great?! I was so impressed. Him and I tag teamed making that long braid - I definitely needed assistance braiding something that long. But I loved how it turned out! I ended up with it being too long so we used part of it on the table where the girls sat for lunch and the craft.

 

For each of the girls I made them their own personal crayon roll (made with adorable Tangled fabric!!). I wanted to have a coloring activity when they arrived and had been trying to think of an organized way to have crayons out for the girls. Their own personal set worked out great! Plus, they are actually pretty easy to make. I spent about $6 on the fabric and $3 total for the princess crayons (I put 10 in each of the girls crayon rolls). Worked out to be less about $1 for each child, not too bad!

So, when the girls arrived they each had their own spot to sit at - each spot had their own personal goodie bags, crayon rolls, and their personalized color pages. For the color books I just printed up pages that I found online and then printed their own personal covers. I used the yarn that I had to bind the pages together. Total cost is whatever the little amount of paper costs! Less than $.20 each!

The food table. On the menu: apples (since Maximus in the movie loves apples!), jello cups with little orange 'boats' floating in them (made to look like the scene in the movie where Rapunzel and Flynn go out in the boat), veggies and grilled cheese sandwiches. I used my beloved silhouette SD machine to cut out that letters and flags for the Happy Birthday banner - loved how it turned out!

Of course it would not be a Tangled party without a tower cake! So I used cupcakes to create the tower and then an ice cream cone covered in frosting to creat the roof of the tower. I put silk flowers on each of the cupcakes around the bottom. I think the silk flowers were my biggest expense, good thing they are

 re-useable! I also had found these adorable tulip looking cupcake wrappers that wilton makes, so fun!

I had it in my mind that I wanted to make a unique favor for them. So, I used stuff I already had to make these adorable scrabble tile necklaces for each of the girls. I purchased the images from a shop on Etsy for about $2 and the necklace chains as well for about $5 from a supplier on Etsy - so for $7 I was able to make 10 necklaces and then also made 10 extra charms so each girl got an extra charm! I used these as prizes for our 'Pass Rapunzel' game we played. 

One of the games we played was pin the fry pan on Flynn Rider. I had seen this idea from another blog so I went with it! So fun! I used an overhead projector to help me trace the Wanted poster that is featured in the movie. It was really easy and turned out great! Then I printed fry pans here for each of the girls. We printed their names on them, blind folded them and the person that got it closest to his nose got a prize!

As each girl arrived we took their picture with our good ol' iphone. We then used the Tangled app to insert Pascal onto each of the girls shoulders and the Tangled logo. The girls decorated a foam frame and we printed those pictures up to put in the frame for them. The images weren't the best quality, but it still turned out pretty cute. 



Kora was pretty happy with it all! She wore her Rapunzel dress and soaked up every moment of being the center of attention :)  Happy Birthday Miss Kora. We love you!

Thomas is 5 months!

Dear Thomas,

You are 5 months old, wow! Time since you have joined our family has gone so quickly. You had a very busy month! You decided you like to roll over. You don't always make it all the way but you are sure figuring it out quickly! You also took your first plane ride this month! You did great on the plane. You came with Mommy down to Sacramento to see Mandy and Nick and meet their new little boy Ben. You guys are destined to be best friends!

About a week ago we started you on rice cereal. You aren't a big fan of it yet. You seem to not know what to do with the stuff once it is in your mouth. I'm sure you will figure that one out quickly though.

We also celebrated your first Thanksgiving and did a trip to Zoo Lights. You loved looking at all the lights as we walked around. It was a bit cold but you were nice and bundled up!

You continue to be a happy boy, you love to watch your sister, you love to be talked to, you love your carseat and you laugh when we kiss your neck.

Love you my sweet baby boy!

Mommy

Halloween and Thomas turns 4 Months Old

Thomas turned 4 months old on October 29th. We went to his 4 month doctors appointment on Halloween so he was all decked out in his Tiger costume. It was so cute! This post is really late but I atleast wanted to get a picture up. He weighed in that day at 16 lbs 15 oz, yikes! He is in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. He is my growin' boy!

Kora dressed up like Tinkerbell and she made the perfect one! She was adorable in her green dress that I made for her. I made little pom poms out of yarn to attach to a pair of green shoes she already had. Turned out great! She was very excited to be Tinkerbell!

Boo!

I just had to share this very simple project I did this Fall. I had my niece Jasmin over one day and we went to town making these adorable mason jar jack-o-lanterns. I can't wait to light them in our window on Halloween!

What you need:

Glass jars
orange tissue paper
mod podge
black construction paper
paint brush

First, cut 1 inch strips of orange tissue paper the length that will cover from the top of the jar to the just under the bottom. Then dilute the mod podge - 1 part water to 3 parts mod podge. Brush the mixture onto the jar and place the strips of tissue paper over it. Cover the entire jar this way. Then cut out your jack-o-laterns face with the black construction paper and attach to jar. Last you will want to brush a coat of the mod podge mixture over the entire jar. Let dry over night, then put a lit tea light in it and enjoy!

Thomas James - 3 months old

Thomas,

You are a delight. You are precious. You are funny. You are happy. You are my world.

You have really started to develop a personality in the last month. You laugh and smile at things - especially at your older sister, she can make you smile really big. You are very ticklish, I discovered this by accident one night when drying your armpits after a bath. I was shocked when the little belly laugh sound filled the room. I laughed out loud with you. Now you still laugh a lot when I am getting you dressed - I think your 'spot' is your neck and upper back.

You have eyes for people. You like to have someone to look at and get sad when you are left without a familiar face or someone to talk to.

You are growing like a weed. I am not sure what you weigh these days but I am sure you have surpassed doubling in size from the time you were born.  I had to pull out clothes that are 6 months in size already, yikes!

You love to watch your mobile in your crib and get really sad when it stops 'singing' to you.

You kick your feet like crazy. This creates a bit of a mess at bath time these days. Those feet sure do make that water splash out of your baby bath.

You found your voice! And it can be loud. But it is adorable. Your little squeels fill our home and I love it.

You were dedicated to the Lord on September 25th. It was a special day. Pastor Thomas spoke great words over your life, annointed your little feet, hands and ears with oil, and prayed over your life. Your daddy and I look forward to teaching you about the Lord that we believe and trust in. There are big things ahead in your life!

Thank you for being such a swet little man in my life.

I love you buddy,

Mommy

Trick - O - Treat!

So I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of Halloween. It just has never been one that I look forward to or want to really get into. I don't like scary costumes and spooky things and the way the world portrays the holiday is just evil. But, there are aspects of the holiday that I enjoy - like carving pumpkins, corn mazes and pumpkin patches, the kick off of Fall, and picking out cute outfits for my kiddos to wear.

The other thing I admit is that I play BUNCO....and I love it, a lot. Us girls get together once a month, laugh a lot and have a great time! This month was my turn to host and I got a little carried away....but doing a halloween themed treat station was just way too much fun!

I used a black and orange color scheme - very classic Halloween colors. I gave it a retro feel using the polkadots thourghout and striped paper straws (which I love by the way - the paper straws come in a variety of colors and just add this little touch of fun to every beverage). 

Chocolate cake balls dipped in orange flavored melts - SO good.

Mini Cheesecakes - I used the no-bake cheese cake mix you can buy at the grocery store. It is a very easy recipe to whip up and is so fun in the mini version! Plus, who doesn't love a personal sized cheese cake in a polkadot cup!?!

A close up view of my paper straws. I made straw flags to go on each one. Such an easy extra touch to make drinks so festive!

I also had candy kabobs. I used skewers to put different Halloween candy on. I just love the way they added a little fun decor to the spread of treats.

Mini Caramel Apples! Um, yumm!! i used a melon baller to make the Granny Smith apples mini sized. I then dipped them in melted butterscotch chips. They turned out so good! A great thing to experiment with too! Maybe next time I will try them with peanut butter coating. 



Thanks for checking it out! Happy Fall!!

Grandpa Albaugh

On Friday August 26th, 2011 my Grandpa Albaugh went to be with the Lord. It still remains difficult to think that he is really gone from this earth. So badly I just want to be able to give him one more hug and to sit and have a nice chat with him. He had one of the world’s sweetest smiles and sense of humor. He loved God and his family more than anything in this world and was truly a walking example of God’s grace.

The night that he passed away I sat and through teary eyes I read through a memory book that was compiled 3 years ago as a gift for Grandpa at Christmas time. It was full of notes from each of my cousins and also photos of years past. Reminded me of how blessed I am. As I read each page I loved hearing all the things each of my cousins wrote about Grandpa and Grandma. We all have so many fond memories of our childhood with them as well as moving into our adult lives. They had a way of making each of us feel special. They impacted all of our lives and I know we are all so incredibly sad to not have them here with us. The days following his passing he became famous on Facebook. I loved reading all of people’s posts about him. So many incredible words spoken about him – you definitely felt the impact he had on everyone’s lives that knew him.

I know that Grandpa is now walking Heaven’s golden streets (probably holding Grandma’s hand) but it is still so difficult to think that I will never again see him walk into church, hug my kiddos, laugh, smile, worship the Lord, read his Bible, and fall asleep in his chair. He is going to be missed so terribly. I know in a few weeks when we have Thomas dedicated to the Lord I will for sure miss looking out into the congregation at church and seeing him there. But I know he will be smiling from above.

The day that Grandpa passed I was talking to Kora (2 ½ years old) about him. When I mentioned Great Grandpa she told me that he was sick and needed medicine, a nap, and some food and he would be all better. You have to love the innocence of a child. If only it was true though… but instead we had to receive the notice that on Friday night at 9:40pm Grandpa took his final breaths.

Love you Grandpa, thank you for all the incredible memories you left us with. I will always shake plastic Easter eggs expecting money in them, miss getting the random gifts that the grab-bag provided at Christmas, miss your amazing grilled cheese sandwiches and popcorn, and think of you whenever I eat ice cream (his absolute favorite thing and also his last meal on earth)…. but most of all I will never forget your smile.