Celebrating 28 and getting old.

 I'm getting old!!!  Had a good birthday and celebrated with my three favorite boys.  We opened presents before heading up to McCall for the rest of the week.  I had Dallas and Wes help me open them.
New 12x24 cricket mats!  I'm excited to be able to cut something long.  Any ideas???  I'm so glad that I'm back in the creating mode.  It's been a while.

 A Kindle!!!!  Toby sure spoiled me this year.  I'm pretty excited.  My Mom has one and it took me a while to decide if I liked it or not.  The idea of not having a real book in my hand was a toss up.  But then I read a book on my Mom's and feel in love.  Thanks babe!  You surprised me and I'm excited to figure out how to use it. 

Dallas was told to hold up his card.  Too bad we didn't notice it was the wrong one!!! :)

We had a fun day celebrating and it continued on in McCall with chocolate cupcakes and the most AMAZING filet mignon ever grilled by Toby.  Yum.

Thanks for the phone calls, txts, cards and e-mails.  It's fun to know I am loved!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(28 of those)

Tam-

Happy Birthday!  I really hope you have a great day today.  Thanks for being so good to me and the boys.  You sure make us HAPPY :)  We love you so much.  Hope McCall will be fun and relaxing for you.  Kick back and relax you deserve it.  I hope you enjoy the few birthday presents you receive from the boys.  We thought for a long time what you should get and we think we picked out a few good things. We love you so very much.  Thanks for all you do.

Love,

Toby, Dallas, Wes, and the little bambino in the belly  :)

Felt Rosette Balls

I've been loving coming up with copying crafts lately!!  The latest one I finished was the Felt Rosette Balls from Craftily Ever After.  She has a tutorial on how to make them.  I'm not a huge fan of flowerish things, but I really liked this one.  Here are my ideas for where to put them. 

I finished the first ball and just put it on my mantel.  I need to get a photo for this frame and some candles for the candle holders!

Ball up close.  It was so easy to make.  And kind of fun too.  Toby could not figure out what the heck I was doing until it was all done.  But he usually doesn't care!  I force him to look at the crap/craft that I'm making and give me feedback.  He's getting pretty good and saying nice things.  :) :)

Here's the second ball.  I need to go find some cute candle stick holders so I can put them together.  This was a fun craft.  I just might make one in white or pink!

Today

My visiting teacher came over today and we had a good chat about kids and how quickly the time goes by and fast they grow up.  After she left, I did some more laundry and then just sat down to play with Dallas until Wes woke up from his nap.  It was so fun to be one on one with him.  We did some coloring and ate some cookies that Velma brought and just had fun talking about Cars (Lightening, Doc, ect....)  He is such a smart and sweet little boy.  I enjoyed spending some good quality time with him. 

Then, Wes woke up and we just hung out on the couch looking at the cars driving by.  I needed to charge my camera battery so it wasn't working as quickly as I wanted too---but I did manage to grab a few shots of our day so far.  Here we are, just chillin'.

Wes just got a hair cut.  I think I chopped his bangs too short, but if I make him look like a little missionary, it looks cute.

 Looking away, but he still is a cutie!!

 Um........Dallas needs a HAIRCUT!!!  I REFUSE to cut his hair since last time was such a disaster.  We're headed to Great Clips today since they are having a sale for $6.  Can't beat that. 

Brotherly Love

 "Look Mom!!!  CARS!!!!!!"

 Trying to get one of me and Wes. 

 Didn't do so well.  Guess I'll have to teach Dallas how to take a photo.  Like the cut on Wes' face?  Compliments of his older brother.

I asked him to give me a kiss and he did!!!  Love my little loves.

Lovin' the Subway Art

This blog has some cute tutorials and I LOVE her subway art. 

She created a super cute one for Christmas and now she has created one for Valentine's Day!!! 

Go check out Craftily Ever After to see her cute crafts.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

 So yesterday's Heart Breaker shirt got me all excited to try another one.  And since my sister-in-law Elizabeth just had twins, I thought she could use some cute shirts!!  I only had white onsie tee's on hand and since I'm watching Ryker this week, there was no way I wanted to go out and shop for red shirts with all three boys.  This is what I came up with.

Love it! I love my Cricket machine but I think I love the program Sure Cuts A Lot even more.  It allows me to cut what ever I want without needing a cartridge.  I found Dr. Suess' font for free on line and then found a photo of the "things" as well.  Downloaded them and got to work.  I think they turned out pretty dang cute.

Welcome little Luke and Max!  Now you two just need to get a bit bigger so you can wear these cute shirts.

What else can I make?!?  Anyone need cute tee's?????

Crafting among the Mayhem

 Learning to use my Cricket more and I LOVE IT!!!  Today I made freezer stencil Valentine's Day shirts.  There are tutorials all over the blog world so I just followed them and tada-cute little shirts for my boys to wear.

Dallas' shirt

 Now this is what I get for doing something I wanted to do during the day time........Wesley was sleeping and the D man and Ryker boy DESTROYED the boys room.  They pulled out EVERY TOY and tore apart Dallas' bed and were going crazy.

 Guess this is my fault for not playing with them every.single.hour.of.the.day.  I am the entertainer in the house!

I went to check on them because it was quiet and I found them both tangled up in the toy shelf.  They were climbing all over it and somehow both got stuck. I should've taken a photo but I was a bit distracted when I saw the mess they made. 

Guess next time I'll wait till bedtime to do anymore fun crafts.  Opps.  :)

I was just helping!

 This face.....is trouble.  Good thing it is well loved. 

 Trying to help feed his little brother.  Love the help Dallas.  Really, I love cleaning yogurt off my baby(his clothes, his hair, his face, his ears.....) and the high chair, and the floor and the table and YOU!

Wes sure thought it was yummy. 

WHY do my kids ALWAYS look like rags?!?!?  I do their hair, I dress them nice but it all seems to go down hill after naps and playtime.  I can't keep them looking sharp to save my life!

****And both boys need haircuts.  Anyone want to come over and cut it for me?!?!?!!?

****You like the cut on Wes' face???  Another help from the D Man.  This third kid has no chance of survival with these two. 

Boys DESTROY things

 Exhibit Destruction A:

"No Dallas, swinging on the bathroom towel holder is NOT A GOOD IDEA"

Exhibit Destruction B:

Playing with doors can LEAD TO HOLES!!!  Thank you Wes and Dallas.

And my children are only 2 1/2 and 1.  And the third boy will be here in May.  What have I gotten myself into!?!??!!?

Rug Rat Fans

 We had Ryker for the day on Saturday and although his family isn't fans of the Steelers--he couldn't be in our house without cheering them on.  Perfect to have on Hines Ward's jersey right?!?!?!
Is it just me or does it look like Dallas is choking Wes?  We'll just call it brotherly love.

 Cute one of Ryker and Wes.  Not sure what Dallas was looking at.

 Being Saturday and we had no place to go (but stay and clean up our hurricane of a house) we look like RUG RATS!  I did the boys hair, but it's nuts after their naps.  And who needs to wear makeup or do their hair?  Not me!

One of us doesn't belong.....It was fun to have a little blonde running around my house.  Don't think I'll ever have one of my own!  And I can't imagine what life will be like for Elizabeth.  Or even how my Mother-in-Law Becky survived having TWO sets of twins (all boys) back to back!!!!  Having two 2 year olds for the day was tough!  They sure can wreck havoc in 2 seconds!  Glad I love those boys.  I might not be saying that after this week.  I'll have Ryker everyday while Mom and twin babes are at the hospital and while Michelle is also BACK in the hospital and Dad goes to work. 

Does there even need to be words for this post?!?!!?

:)

Conversation Heart Frame

Like Conversation Hearts?!?

I'm stealing this cute craft from Creative Departure.  I thought it was adorable!!!  I went to the Dollar Store and grabbed a 5x7 frame and a bag of Candy Conversation Hearts.  This project was only $2 and I had the spray paint at home.  Didn't take me long and I just followed her instructions.  Totally love it and thinking about making a bigger one too.

Cute!!!  Love how it turned out. 

Super easy to make.  I used tacky glue instead of hot glue.  I let it dry over night. 

Now I need another craft idea-anyone have cute stuff they're making and want to share!?!?!?

I Love

him.

All crazy 2 1/2 year old with every hair pulling thing that he does.  (like wake up at 4am and NOT go back to sleep)

He still is one of my most favorite people in the world and I am so lucky to be his Mom.

I love you Dallas.

Day 12-Spice Cabinets

Today's challenge is to clean out the Spice Cabinets. 

Before

 Mine weren't too bad, but they did need to be cleaned.

After

 Top shelf holds baking goods like brown sugar, powder sugar, chocolate and a bunch of choc/butterscotch/baking chips.  The ones that are open are in my freezer.

Second shelf holds large refill items, stuff I don't use often and frosting.

 The third shelf holds my cooking books (which I got rid of some-but kept my Kraft Foods mags---they have some of the best recipes!), and some baking supplies.
Bottom shelf holds my spices (which I got rid of a bunch due to being waaaaay old), salt and pepper and a few other items.  I need to go get another lazy susan for this shelf.

 All Clean!



Next I cleaned out the shelf above my stove and microwave.  This holds extras and things I use when I cook. 

 It just needed to be wiped down and re-organized.  I can't put in a lazy susan due to the hood vent, so I just lined things up nicely.

Easy!  Now I can get to my oils, sprays, vinegar and what not.  The extras are in the back.

Now for trying to get one of the earlier challenges done.  Anyone else doing this challenge?!? 

XOXO blocks

 I LOVE Valentine's Day.  Always have.  I'm not even the mushy type--I just love this holiday.  Maybe because of all the pinks and reds or yummy chocolates or who knows what.  Or, maybe it's because I just like to decorate for all the holidays. 

I have been in the mood to create craft crap.  Guess I'm starting to feel better and more like myself (the past few months have been rough).  So-here are my XOXO blocks.  I had my grandpa cut me a bunch of 2x2 blocks for various projects and I decided to use them for this.  I painted them red and pink and then mod podged cute paper on them.  Then I pulled out my Cricket (which I LOVE) and used my SCAL program to find a font that I liked and cut it out in black vinyl and tada!  A cute little block set that was super easy and made with stuff I already had. Yea! 

I ended up making three!  One for me and my Mom and then one for my Sister-in-law, Elizabeth.  Her anniversary is on Feb 14th so I figured she would like a set.  Plus, she's been so busy with the new twins in the NICU and then two sick babes at home that I figured she won't be doing anything crafty for a while.  Hope they like them!