Thinking out loud

Aaron's mom is coming down in a couple weeks to help me assemble Sydney's bedding so I figured I should probably get some idea together of how I'd like to arrange the fabrics. I'm just the slightest bit obsessive compulsive so typically things like this take me days or weeks to decide. I decided to sit down and make a little layout of sorts to fill in with my fabrics and see it that might help speed things along. To my surprise, IT DID!! I think I've made up my mind already! Of course my choice means buying MORE fabric and not using 2 yards of fabric I've already bought but they'll be lots of other uses for that.

So, on side one, we'll have the floral all the way down.

For side two, I went with option 2. I'll have to make another run to Joann's for the polka dot fabric but I really like the look of the big polka dots more than the tiny ones.

This was another option that I liked but not as much as the one above. Since I'm using the solid pink for the bumpers, I've decided to use the swirls for the ties and hopefully I can get started on those today or tomorrow.

I would would love to say the designing part is done but I still have the crib skirt to figure out and then I need to figure out if I want to make crib sheets, use white or figure out something else.

After looking over what I've got with Aaron, we came up with one other possibility for side two..

Obviously, if we go with option 3, the ties will be polka dot for side one as well.

Make a Difference Monday

And boy let me tell you, this one involves different on SO many levels!

My baby girl has been asking to cut & donate her beautiful, long hair for several months now. Last night I just decided to go ahead and do it today and be done with it. Her hair really needed the cut and it IS just hair but I will admit that tears welled up as it was cut. Aaron loves his girls to have long hair so it was especially tough for him to let us go through with it but I've reminded him (as I've reminded myself) that it WILL grow back.

Hannah has had one trim and one cut (couple inches) in her lifetime and that's it. She wasn't thrilled about sitting there to get it done but I've caught her admiring her hair and running her fingers through it several times since we got home. In fact, she JUST walked in as I was typing and said, "Mama, I really like my hair." I also think it's sweet that she was very concerned about HOW they were going to make her hair into a wig. Apparently she was under the impression that they'd do it right there in the salon. haha

Making progress

The kids and I did a little shopping yesterday (by little I mean we headed out at 12:30 and didn't get home until almost 8! oops) and picked out Miss Sydney/Gracie's coming home outfit and the fabric for her bedding. Aaron will hopefully get the crib finished up soon and then we'll start getting her room put together. I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head and can't wait to see how it turns out! I have set a goal for us to be done in 10 weeks, well closer to 9 now. That puts us having everything ready and set up by the beginning of June so that I can make whatever finishing touches and try to enjoy the last few weeks before our little girl arrives.

Crib bedding fabrics (I also have some solid hot pink we'll use for accents)

Syd's coming home outfit! (I think it's cute and kinda funny that both my dad and Aaron have been calling her "Syd")

St. Patty's Day

Last night we watched a Veggie Tales short about St. Patrick and his work as a missionary in Ireland. Then we started off the morning with a Shamrock/Holy Trinity craft and an attempt by mommy to explain the Trinity. I was very pleased that the video and the craft opened up quite the dialogue at breakfast this morning. The kids found it quite silly that people prayed to twigs (one of the Veggie Tales illustrations) and asked lots of questions about how we can talk to God, how He can talk to us, etc. I'm excited to begin discussing Easter with them now.

For breakfast, we made green pancakes and the kids had green milk to drink. Since I didn't have a shamrock cookie cutter, I did my best to arrange the pancakes in a shamrock-like shape. I wasn't all that proud of how they turned out but the kids really enjoyed their green breakfast. We somehow forgot to unload the freezer bag after our trip to Target yesterday so my frozen veggies began thawing and need to be cooked ASAP. Works out perfectly as I had grabbed bags of brussel sprouts (Han and I LOVE them) and sugar snap peas (a family fav) so we'll have a green lunch too! Later this afternoon we're going to make rainbow cupcakes too!

March 17th is also the day our beloved Belle (the dog) was born so we've done a little celebrating with her this morning too.

Here are a few pictures from our morning....

Make a Difference Monday

Aidan reminded me at breakfast that today was "Monday to make a difference" and we decided to draw Daddy pictures to show him how much we appreciate him. Hannah shared that she's thankful that Daddy takes her to Red Robin & McDonalds (can you tell it's lunch time?) and Aidan shared that he's thankful that Daddy goes to work to make money and that he plays with him.

Spring Photos

The kids and I did a quick little shoot downtown in their Easter garb. They're getting a lot better about cooperating with their snap happy mama and posed themselves in 95% of these!

Homemade Edible Arrangement

Today was our 4th anniversary!! The traditional gifts for 4th anniversary are fruits/flowers so I thought it'd be a nice treat to order Aaron a edible arrangement and have it delivered. Then I found out how much they cost. lol Long story short, I figured I could manage a decent enough arrangement on my own so off the kids and I went to H-E-B to gather supplies! Here's a little picture walk thru of our creation.

What you'll need:

"Helpers" (optional)

Sliced Pineapple (thank you kind HEB employee who did this for me!)

Freshly rinsed strawberries

Grapes fresh out of the bath



Cantelope (preferably a ripe one...oops)


Then you just add fruit randomly to skewers.



SEE, even 4 year olds can do it!!

We used a flower cookie cutter to cut flowers out of pineapple slices and little balls (cut in half) of cantelope for the flower center or "pollen" as Aidan called it. Place the skewers in floral foam and cover with lettuce or any other leafy green.


The finished product!

*It's beneficial if you just go ahead and buy a cute container at the store instead of getting home to realize you don't have much more than a ziplock storage container to use as a base.

She Sews! Saturday

Projects from this week:

Get out & vote!

Today is the day of the Texas primaries so I took the kiddos along with me to vote. Before we left, I searched the net for pretend voter cards for the kids and FINALLY found some. They were with us when we voted in the past presidential primary & election but didn't remember it much so I thought feeling like they were a part of the process would be fun for them. I was so thrilled that the ladies at the polling place made a huge fuss over them, having them sign their cards, stamping them and then giving each kiddo a sample ballot to fill in while I did mine. Hannah and Aidan had a lot of fun and while they may not understand the process very well yet, I'm thankful for the opportunity to take them along and teach them the importance of voting at a young age.

Here they are ready to walk out the door

By the way, the skirt Hannah is wearing is yet ANOTHER one I've made for her. She was eager to help/watch me make it this morning so that she could wear it today. When we got home she requested I make her another one. haha

Make a Difference Monday

Monday is trash pickup day in our neighborhood so the kids decided they would pull the trash cans and recycle bins up to a few of our neighbors houses for them. They did 5 houses before it started raining pretty hard and needed/wanted very little help from me. Aidan even rolled a couple trash carts up to the houses all on his own! I'm so proud of them and their willingness to serve others!