Getting My Craft On

I think I mentioned a few posts back how crafting is lifeblood to me. I constantly have ideas swirling around in my head and many rooms in this home I want to tweak. I keep having to remind myself one room at a time or better yet project.

These are a few of my latest projects. Mother's Day gifts for the grandmas. I asked Lo make a picture of her favorite memory of each grandma and then we traced it onto tea towels.

       

Then I made the grandmas and myself {of course!} silhouette pendants. I was so proud of these and I love mine. 

I found 3 pendants at Hobby Lobby on clearance. Let me just say I spent 30 minutes in the jewelry aisle scouring high and low looking for the perfect pendant. All the while my kids are bouncing around and telling me how bored and hungry they are. {Happy Mother's Day!} Then after all was said and done and I finally found pendants, I walked by the end cap and there lo and behold was every pendant they had! MY LIFE! At that point I decided to not second guess myself and get the heck out of HL!  They were black. Which was nice, but if you know me you know my love affair of spray paint.

I painted the Gmas pendants gold (use krylon gold--it's the only lovely one and I am slightly addicted to that color!) And I painted mine lime green.

I asked my hubby what color I should paint mine---I was think a Hot color.

Chad responds with "Well, I don't come in a color."

Guys it took me 5 minutes to get his joke. 5 minutes!

After I painted them I printed off their silhouette photo. 

This proved to be the trickiest part. I used photoshop elements to size down their photo. Added some scrapbook paper and mod podged it all together. 

Then add a chain which apparently is only found at JoAnns.

The end.

My final project this week was my instagram wall. 

I have all these cute random photos of my kids that I want to see outside my phone.

I found a tutorial on pintrest on sizing them down to 4x4 in PSE and printing at Walgreens as 4x6s. 

Of course I had to add some flair to a few of the photos.

The frame is from a broken full length mirror. Spray painted in my favorite krylon gold. Add string by hot gluing it and burning your fingers at least 3 times even though I have special silcone hot glue tools. ;) Add photos and viola. And instagram wall! LOVE!

Basement one step closer to awesomeness. 

Now if I could only get motivated to catch up on my scrapbooking.

Mother's Day

5 years and 3 months ago I became a mother.



A mother. A world forever changed.



I think about how I love my kids with the fiercest kind of love.

Being a mom is the hardest, most fantastic, challenging, rewarding, over-whelming, powerful thing I have ever done.

I think about my mom and all she has done for us.
Protecting me from some ginormous {I am just sure} toddler eating bug when I was 4ish.
Staying up late to talk.
Taking long walks on the river to McDonalds for an ice-cream.
Being the "fall guy" when I didn't have the courage to say "no" to my friends.
Being my biggest cheerleader in life.
Listening to me shout at her how she "screwed up" as a mom and still loving me anyway.
Sacrificing her desires to fulfill ours.
Loving my kids with the fiercest kind of love.
And teaching me how to be mom.



As mom we get to see and experience the highs and lows of life in such an intense and beautiful way. I feel beyond bless to be a mom to two beautiful, crazy kids. They make me a better person.

And thank-you to my wonderful mother in law for loving me as the daughter she never had and always being there for me and my kids whenever we call.



Happy Mother's Day.
It's our day off so take a load off and enjoy.

{my favorite mother's day picture}

Mother's Day

Ah, mother's day what a wonderful day to celebrate the ones who give us life. And what better way to celebrate than a day NOT seeing my children. :) HA! For us young moms everyday is mother's day, I was ready for a day off. And that is exactly what I got! I loved it.
The kids loved it. Being with gammy and papa is the best, especially when gammy takes you shopping and gives you your first real mani/pedi.

I spent the day having actual conversations with my husband without constant interruptions, scrapbooking and re-watching the Gilmore Girls seasons. Awesome. However, I thought their theme song summed up the way I feel about my kids and how my mom feels about her girls.

Loving you the way I do
I only wanna be with you
And I will go
To the ends of the earth,
Cause darling, to me that's what you're worth

{coffeeshop sunkissed}

Chorus
Where you lead
I will follow
Anywhere that you tell me to
If you need, if you need me to be with you
I will follow
Where you lead

{coffeeshop sunskissed}

If you're out on the road
Feelin' lonely and so cold
All you have to do is call my name
And I'll be there
On the next train

{coffeeshop golden afternoon at 60%}

~~Where You Lead I Will Follow by Carole King & Louise Goffin

Then we invited all the moms over on Sunday for a BBQ. It was a perfect weekend. Especially after another not so great week. Hey you can't get everything right in motherhood...

Micah broke his arm last Wednesday...we feel pretty awesome, well at least I do. Here's to a better week?!

Mother's and Father's Day

I am so behind. I never even blogged about mother's day and now father's day has come and gone.

Who really cares about me other than my children I suppose. Although, if you ask Lo most days I can go "pound sand" as my dad likes to say. It hurts my feelings but isn't that what being a mom/parent is all about taking one for the team and loving your kids in spite of themselves. Really has been eye opening for me about all the times {which I am sure was hardly ever ;)} that I hurt my mom's {and dad's} feelings. Man being a parent is so humbling.


Both Mother's and Father's Day Chad and I hosted a BBQ for the respective guests of honor. Oddly enough they each happened in two different houses.

For Mother's Day Chad got me this necklace with my babies names on it. I absolutely love it. I told him after I had Micah that I wanted one, because this was it; no more babies, so we wouldn't have to worry about adding more names later.


He also got my the Xbox Kinect so I could dance dance dance. Sadly due to the move I haven't got a chance to get my dance on too much. :(

Here is Chad on Father's day with his 'two babies' as Lo loves to say. I am so blessed to have Chad as a my baby daddy. He is so good with them. Lo absolutely loves him and I know in time Micah will idolize him just as much. He plays all sorts of silly games with Lo and is really patient with all her melodramatics she brings to the table some days. He lovingly puts her to bed each night and bounces Micah whenever I need a break. Happy Father's day to my bestest friend and one great daddy! We love you so much!

In My Daughter's Eyes

On Mother's Day Sunday our special music was "In My Daughter's Eyes." Pretty sure I cried through the entire thing, along with my mom! (who am I kidding, I am crying now just writing this). Having a daughter has changed my world and I am so blessed God choose her for us, and she was definitely worth the wait. This song sums up everything I feel about being a mommy.

In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I wanna be
In my daughter's eyes


In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal
Darkness turns to light and the
world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me gives me
strength when I am weak
I find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes


And when she wraps her hand
around my finger
Oh it puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about


It's hangin' on when your heart
has had enough
It's giving more when you feel like giving up
I've seen the light
It's in my daughter's eyes


In my daughter's eyes I can see the future
A reflection of who I am and what will be
Though she'll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone I hope you see how happy
she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes

~as sung by Martina McBride

My Mother's Day Gift

This was my Mother's Day Gift! No amount of money spent could ever equal this!!! I can't believe that my husband did this...sometimes he really surprises me with what he comes up with! Plus I also got a 2 hour nap, while he took care of Lo!

The first song is Carrie Underwood's "All American Girl." I played this song to Chad the day I got pregnant because I just KNEW she was a girl! Lo probably heard the song a zillion times in utero (especially once I KNEW for sure she was a GIRL!)

Enjoy!




Thank you Chad and Lo for the greatest Mother's Day Ever!

A Mother's Day Baby Dedication

This weekend was amazing! It was my very first real Mother's Day...I have sort of celebrated under the radar for a couple of years now, b/c I considered myself a mother to my fur babies Tuck and Toby, this year I could come out into the open and be a REAL Mother!
It is such an amazing feeling being a mom, there is nothing like it, and you can't begin to understand such love less and until you become a mother! I believe being a parent gives us a glimpse into the kind of love God feels and shows us every day! You would do absolutely anything for you child(ren) even when they don't deserve it! This Mother's Day really had me realizing how much I have taken my own mother and (father--but it isn't father's day) for granted! They both have done more for me than I ever deserved. They continue to love me unconditionally even when there were probably moments in my life I didn't deserve that either. So thank you Mom (and Dad!) I love you both very much!

This Mother's Day was made very special because Chad and I dedicated our daughter to the Lord Saturday night at church. It is such an important gesture to show you are committed to raising your child up in the Lord and allowing family, friends and fellow church members to come alongside you and help you follow through with your commitment. I know this doesn't guarantee her salvation but it is a step in the right direction. It is our prayer that she will grow up and accept Jesus into her heart and follow hard after HIM! It is also our prayer that we as parents set the ultimate example for her, she is a gift from God not to be taken lightly. She was chosen by God for us to raise and to one day return her to Him! I love my baby girl and I thank God every hour practically that He chose her for me!

Here are some pictures of her baby dedication! She was so good! No crying...I was a little worried she would scream up there, but I gave that worry over to God, because this was about HIM and not US! Prayer answered.

However before we left I was taking a few pictures with my sweet princess in her darling little dress, when all of a sudden I hear and explosion in her diaper! I rush to the changing table to quickly change her before it gets all over her beautiful dress, BUT instead (thankfully???!!!) it was all over me! Not a drop on her outfit! Can you believe it?!?! Of course it was quite the task to get her changed and continue to keep her dress clean, but we managed it! Got to love it!


Notice the different outfit I am in! :)


The Baby Dedication at New Spring Church aka Messiah Baptist



HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU MOMMIES OUT THERE! (especially those of you celebrating your first one...there are so many of us!)