Wordless Wednesday

Litte Miss big stuff :)

BOO!

Saturday is my daughter's 4th birthday.  We always do a small family party, this year was the first year my daughter asked for something specific, and I happily complied.  She asked for a halloween birthday :)  I found this cute ghost pops on pinterest, and did the same.
I bought tootsie roll pops, wrapped it in white fabric, tied a bow, then painted eyes and a mouth.  Super cute!  I plan on putting them in a clay pot that I've painted to look like a ghost. :) Pictures of that will be posted when it's all finished.  For now, here's the ghost pops, which will be the party favors, as well as cute table decor ;)

The supplies needed- I bought 1/2 yd of white fabric and cut it to size.

wrapping the pops

 Adding the face...

 All ready and good to go :) It was such an easy craft! 

4 years, really!?

I've had friends tell me that they don't understand my feelings, but when it comes to my daughter's birthday, it is ALWAYS bittersweet!  I can't believe it's been another year.  It seems like just yesterday that she turned 3, and now, on Saturday, she turns 4!  She is super excited.  I didn't think it would hit me hard this year, I was fine, up till last night.  I was looking through her baby pictures and held back tears... I am SO thankful for the 4 years we've been blessed with, and pray for MANY more years.
She is such a fun little girl.  Her favorite color is red, she loves animals, she loves birds, her favorite is peacock.  She LOVES to draw and paint, loves puzzles.  She still carries her blankie around and sleeps with it.  I love the little girl she's becoming, she's so fun!  She is a total daddy's girl.  Recently she's coming back to me though (when baby sister is willing to share) :)

It was so amazing to finally hold my little bundle of joy!

 My beautiful first born

 Here she is through the years-visiting the pumpkin patch.

Pumpkin seeds...

A few days ago hubby carved our pumpkin, it was the first time we've used a stencil and carving tools, so the pumpkin came out so pretty!  Usually we just do a typical Jack O lantern. lol  My oldest loves any flying animal, LOVES dragons, so that's what daddy chose. :)

My wonderful husband over estimates my skills.  He asked me to roast the pumpkin seeds, but he wanted them sweet.  So off I went to look for a recipe.  Last year I hated how I roasted them, so I was nervous.  But I aim to please, so I found a recipe at allrecipes.com and tried it.  It came out SO good!  From now on, I'll only make it this way :) I had everything at home and it was super easy.  All you need is sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar, margarine, and salt.  Here's the recipe.

Does it work?

SO we have our house on the market, our less than 1200 sqft, 3/1 has gotten small for our family of 4.  I dream of having 2 bathrooms! lol With that, hubby and I went on a cleaning frenzy the weeks preceding listing it.  I knew the entire house needed organizing and a good scrub down.  One of my biggest concern was the bathroom.  Our house was built in 1933.  The grout in the bathroom was so gross!  I had no idea how I'd clean it.. Then I saw something on a friend's pinterest page.  A simple "recipe" of bleach and baking soda.  Would it really work!?  The answer-

YES!
All you need is:
3/4 c baking soda
1/4 c bleach
an old toothbrush

Mix the baking soda and bleach together in the bowl until it forms sort of a thick paste. Then apply the paste to the dirty grout lines and scrub with your toothbrush.
Make sure to leave the paste sitting on the grout for 5-10 minutes before washing it off so the mixture can get in there and clean.
I scrubbed the grout and it's amazing how clean the the tiles look!  It looked almost new.  I mean, I was impressed!  If your grouts are looking less than desirable, give it a try ;)  
I got the instructions from practically functional. 

Wordless Wednesday

My new favorite hobby :)

making a Bow holder

My sister in law is having a baby girl, due in December.  This will be her 2nd one, so in this side of the family, there will be 4 granddaughters..There are no boys. lol  Nona and Poppy love the girls and follow the mantra "girls rule" :)

I made my first niece a bow holder and lots of bows, so of course this little girl needed her very own :)

I painted the "R" pink

The nursery is owls and birds.  So I wanted to stencil an owl on there, but then I remembered that I am married to a brilliant artist :)  So he painted a cute owl to match the room.

 Drying

The R is all done, I hot glued long strands of ribbon, dressed it a bit w/ the turquoise bows (the main color of the nursery is turquoise) and voila!  All done! 

 Auntie made some bows and there you have it.  All ready for my red headed niece to wear them ;)

pumpkin patch

Our trip to the pumpkin patch.  Both girls had a blast picking out their pumpkins.  Baby sis is starting to want to do everything big sis does, so when she saw big sis w/ a pumpkin, she got so sad and cried until daddy found her a little pumpkin like her sisters. :)

 The girls in their ghost outfits mommy made

 Our family! 

3 ladies

I've been slacking w/ picture taking of the girls, and especially w/ making sure I'm in the pictures.. :)  So a few nights ago I set up the timer and did a few portraits of the 3 of us...
I love this one :)  I can totally see their little personalities in how they are smiling. lol

Super dad!

I love watching my man play with his girls.  He's super cute!  They just love their daddy.  I'm so thankful for him.  He comes home from work ready to play with the girls, he always gives them their baths and is just overall awesome! The girls are just head over heels in love w/ daddy.  He's just the best!!!! 

Leaf imprints

Last week we did a leaf imprint project.  As you've read in previous posts here, we homeschool (preK) and in addition to the curriculum, I have to come up w/ arts & crafts b/c that is my daughter's favorite part! lol  

She loved getting to pick out leaves in our yard

 We only got 5 different ones.. Maneuvering in our yard is difficult, there are giant spider webs everywhere and I have a fear of spiders. lol

 hard at work

 All Done!!! 

15 pounds

I HATE dieting!!!
After having my 1st daughter (I gained 30 lbs), I lost weight pretty quick, BUT I had about 12-15 lingering pounds.. I tried slim fast and weight watchers, but I love food too much... Then I stopped b/c we started trying to get pregnant, got pregnant and more weight.  I only gained about 20 lbs this time, lost weight even quicker, and then plateaued at the same weight I was before baby #2, the weight I couldn't get rid of, those last stinky 15 pounds!  I tend to go up and down 5 lbs, so now it's b/t 15-20 lbs, it depends on the week. hahaha Even though I haven't lost these last 15 lbs, and my old size 4's don't fit (thanks to my booty) I didn't think I looked very differently, UNTIL I saw a picture of me PRE kids. lol

SO I decided to do something about it, my goal is to lose 15 pounds and get back to my pre kids weight!

Both these pictures were taken in winter of 2007 about 3 months before I got pregnant the first time.

My plan to lose weight?  Well I DESPISE diets.  I LOVE food; sodas, chocolate, chips, CARBS!!! lol SO on Oct 3rd I gave up drinking anything but water and 1-2 cups of coffee a day.  I REFUSE to give up coffee. lol  I've also been eating yogurt for breakfast and cereal for lunch.  Then whatever I want for dinner.  I need to figure out different meals w/ little to zero carbs.  Hubby also wants to lose 15 pounds, so this week I'm on a mission to cook us some cheap but healthy meals.  So far, since Oct 3rd I've lost about 4 pounds.  I will add some working out to the mix.  I really want to lose this weight and hope that I can keep this up.  Looking at my "skinny" pictures often is a great motivator!!! :)

These are the only recent pix I have of me.  I have GOT to get rid of the pouch I have and the big booty.  Any suggestions? lol 

I would like to get some shots of me weekly to show progress.. I'll start tomorrow :)

sweet

these sweet sisters have stolen my heart! :)

Fall

I love decorating the house, especially when it comes to seasonal stuff.  I've slowly increased the amount of seasonal stuff I buy each year, usually I end up buying a lot more Christmas and fall stuff then anything else.  Fall is my favorite!
Pinterest has also helped me with my decorating this year :)
I focused the majority of fall decorating onto the mantel this year.  There are 2 pinterest inspired projects on there.

This is my pinterest inspired project.  I got all the supplies from $1 tree, I had feathers and ribbon at home and added my own special touch. :) 

 Here's my mantel.  On the left I have 2 vases with different colored beans and lentils, pinterest inspired.    In the middle is a little sign I bought 50% off at Joann's that says Autumn.  I also have 2 wicker pumpkins on either side of it.  The pinecones are real, a garland made by my sweet mil.  She made one for her mantel, and had leftover pinecones and suggested I do it b/c it'd be pretty on my white fireplace. She was right :)

I absolutely LOVE my mantel right now :)

Moms in pictures

Have you guys read this article about the mom that stays in the picture?  It was very convicting.  You see, I HATE being in pictures.  I always feel like I take horrible pictures for one reason or another.  I LOVE taking pictures, so there are HUNDREDS of pictures of my 2 beauties, there are probably hundreds of pictures and videos of daddy with the girls.  But very few pics of mommy and I don't think there are any videos.  SO my goal is to work on getting in front of the camera more often ;)  When my girls are older, I want them to be able to see whatI was like. :)

I took this cell phone picture the day we took our cat to the vet.  I think it's comical, the baby wouldn't stop crying and my oldest was just silly. lol

BOO!

I have really started to enjoy sewing lately.  This week I've spent every night (and some days) sewing.  I LOVE it!  Monday and Tuesday night I spent making both girls ruffle pants.  My first time making that pattern.  I learned a lot from it.  Then Wed-Fri I spent making their ghosts shirt.  I followed a tutorial for the shirt and then added my own pizzazz and sizes.  I had to figure out the ruffles which took a while, but all in all I'm pretty proud of my sewing skills. lol
Can't wait for the girls to wear them!

Matching sister outfits 

 Ghost shirt close up! 

Baby shower

I went to a baby shower this weekend for a friend who is having her first girl.  So I made her some cuties. :)