Baby Shower Gift: Painting

I have a few "go-to" baby shower gifts. Travel sized toiletries, burp cloths, and of course, diapers!

 My very first baby shower I  was ever invited to (of which I was in charge of buying the gift) was for Jake's childhood friend Susan. After receiving the invite, I called my mom lickety-split for advice. I didn't know what to get for a new mom! If I recall correctly, I ended up giving her washcloths and soap? But along with those useful gifts, I painted her an incredibly simple picture to decorate her nursery. Since then, I've tried to always include a homemade decorative item in my gift- whether it be a blanket, personalized letters, or a painting.

Now one of my best friends, Lindsay, is having her second baby- a little girl! Because she is hardly online I can share it early with you! This little one will eventually be sharing a room with her big brother, so Lindsay wanted something that wasn't TOO girly, but still had pink involved in it. I found a quilt pattern that I loved, tweaked the colors and design a bit to fit my needs and came up with this masterpiece!

I am in love with the blue and purple giraffe, I've named him Humphrey.

Thank Heaven For Little Girls!

Finally! Something creative that isn't a total Pinterest rip off! Or at least, I've yet to see this in MY Pinterest feed.

This is a gift for a baby shower this weekend, a momma of two adorable little boys is going to have her first girl soon! So, while I usually shy away from SUPER PINK because everyone should have some variety, I couldn't pass up this adorable pink fish bath set!

I cut a cute scrapbook paper down to size so that it stayed put when I rolled it into the jar. You don't need tape or glue if you plan on filling the jar up tight. Then I put all the bath supplies and washcloths in the mason jar, covered it with basket filler, the card,  and topped the lid off with a bow.

click to embiggen

The "card" is a jam label from Jamlabelizer.com. It was super easy to make and print (though the site has been overloaded and S-L-O-W due to it's huge rise in popularity.) the plan was to put it on top of the lid, but then Target went and had a clearance on their solid color party supplies.

click to embiggen

The fish just would not fit no matter how I arranged things, so she's swimming on the outside with a white ribbon holding on to her. I have since cut off the excess ribbon, as I cannot tie an even bow to save my life. The fish is enough "flair" anyway.

As this post is published I am at the baby shower, and hopefully the gift is well received! 

*Note to self: take photos when it's not 1am and pitch black outside. Yes, that is print paper and a board game in an attempt to make these look "better".  Project New Camera is underway though, so hopefully that means the end of cellphone photo quality!

Happy Birthday Chucky Sue!

Let's just move past the complete and utter disbelief that my little teeny weeny preemie is now a big strong TWO YEAR OLD, and go into a party recap shall we?

can't believe she's TWO!

sorry, that one slipped out.

The party was just a family affair, I'm not quite ready for friend parties yet- let me get used to doing all this for people who are stuck with me no matter what!! I apologize for the iphone photo quality, I had planned to use our point and shoot, but it died the morning of the party! We're looking into quickly solving that problem. (Remember you can click on any photo to make it bigger!)

The decorations were fairly simple- pink and purple balloons, rainbow colored pasta layered in glasses, and a pinkie pie on my chalkboard. I covered our table with butcher paper and had crayons out so the kids (and silly grown ups) could color on it.

I also made a crayon melted rainbow thingy. I had wanted one for her room for a while, so for about $5 I made this as a dual purpose decoration!

Coloring the pasta was a lot easier than I thought. A few tutorials on Pinterest had me worried about finding time to heat up the pasta to keep the color from bleeding. But after a few tries, I found that mixing the pasta with food coloring and a touch of vinegar then letting it dry completely before playing with it was just fine. Chucky Sue has played with the rice a few times since the party and unless she truly slobbers all over it, she comes out of it clean as she went in.

nice bright colors, forgot to put purple in before snapping the pic though!

This cake. Oh. This. Cake. Jake has been hearing about this cake since AUGUST. That's when I first joined Pinterest and saw my first rainbow cake. (There are so many of them on there now!) I spent about 5 hours over two days making this dang thing and I was very pleased with the results. It was my first time using anything but buttercream to decorate a cake. I rolled the fondant a little too thin because you can see the blue and purple layers through the white- but I covered it up with all the other decorations. Coloring the white fondant was easier than I expected. The internet experts had warned me that adding liquid to the fondant would just make it a horrible sticky mess. I was able to color them just fine by adding a little powdered sugar and kneading the dough a lot.

The pony toys are from Wal-Mart, they were perfect for my pony obsessed little girl. I didn't fancy having to make my own pony out of modeling chocolate. I just used a little frosting to hold down each statue (yeah we bought a lot- we gave them out as favors and They happen to be my favorite MLP toys.)

Rainbow Dash chilling with Rarity and Gardenia Glow

Then came in the inside of the cake- that's what took the longest, baking two layers at a time took a lot longer than just baking two 9 inch cakes. The cake was delicious, it didn't dry out even though it was baked two days ahead of time. The fondant was nasty to eat, but I put a lot of icing between the layers and on the dirty ice layer so it wouldn't be all play dough tasting.

with a side of rainbow sherbet!

All in all, we had a great time! Chucky Sue absolutely loves her cousins. She even shared her toys pretty well with Dorita (seen here trying to climb up the popular slide.) We played apples to apples, pin the tail on the pony and just chatted. The food was nothing spectacular, just a buffet of Chucky Sue's favorite foods- hot dogs, gold fish, chips, pickles, apple juice and cheese! I got what I wanted out the party- Chucky Sue's face lighting up at everyone who came, playing with her new toys and eating a giant piece of cake!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Such a Grown Up Thing to do!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and for the first time, Jake and I are hosting a family event. My mother  and sisters-in-law always host our weekly sunday dinners and family birthday parties. I'm even cooking the main part of dinner- everyone else is bringing sides or desserts. (Chicken Pot Pie, for those of you wondering)

It's ridiculous how much it's making me feel "grown up". It's like I have a list in my head of things you have to do to become an adult. Or maybe it's more like Bingo- and I've finally got my five across! (Turning 18 is the free space right?)

I've decorated the house, cleaned everything, and prepared billions of dozens of cookies. Jake's family acts out the nativity each year- and I made silly felt costumes for the angel, Mary, the wise(wo)man and a shepherd.

I hope you all are having a great holiday season! I have two-three more holiday posts lined up then back to regular scheduled randomness!

Photos by Tara

One of my friends, Tara, from the local student ward offered to take photos of Chucky-Sue a long time ago, and we finally took her up on it.

Chucky-Sue was a little grumpy, but Tara managed to get some great smiles out of her. We walked around her local park and let her run wild.

she hates the feeling of grass on her feet, just like her mama!

She makes such silly faces now

Her daddy does the same thing with his tongue when he is concentrating real hard.

I love my little monkey.

So to all my local friends, I highly recommend Photography By Tara. You should check out her facebook page too, it has some great shots of the horses she works with and some cute wedding sets too.

Thank you Tara!!

Camping!

Thanks to the wonderful free public wifi at our local library, here are the long awaited photos. I kinda wish they were better quality due to the huge build up I've been giving them...

This is Chucky-Sue highly enjoying our tent. She quickly learned that the entire thing makes that fun crinkly noise that her little book does. We couldn't put her down without her trying to scrunch and munch on the tent floor. She probably was the most comfortable in our tent, sleeping in her normal napping spot- the bouncy chair. She slept GREAT, and didn't wake up even with the older kids having fun with night-time tag  and glo-sticks.

However, she did wake VERY early. Early enough for me to watch the entire sunrise which, while pretty, is so not worth being tired the rest of the day. (Notice my oh-so-happy face for being up before Mr. Sun.)

and just a cute shot of Niece cause she's pretty and had just got new bangs :)

Ding Dong Ditch- Mystery!

The Clues:

 At approximately 7:35pm tonight, my door was knocked. 

Feet scrambling down the stairs

Someone yelling "RUN!"

A pink bag stuffed to the brim with goodies.

The only logical conclusion my dear readers?

Ding.

Dong.

Ditch.

This is one prank I don't mind being on the receiving end of!

My Day with N!

Nephew is extremely adorable, end of discussion! :)

Today he came over and we:

- made melted crayon stain glass monsters and presents for mom and dad

- played at my small rundown apartment playground (I was thiiiiiiis close to getting him down the fireman's pole, but he got scared.)

- walked to the convience store and bought a sprite.

- played with all 11 dogs on the 3 block trip to the store

- Some college girls flirted with Nephew, the handsome devil!

- Used our nerf guns to attack my stuffed animals and windows.

- Cooked hamburgers for lunch

- watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

- played soccer 

- played Wii baseball and bowling (Got through two frames and it was pronounced too hard. =D )

-played Nephew's version of Catch-phrase, which is trying to guess a word he made up (often Kiki-Halloweenie)

-Played Simon Says

-had some popcorn and watched two minutes of Shrek 2

- Fast forwarded to th funny cat parts of Shrek 2

- Danced to the Shrek music

- Painted dinosaurs while We're Back: a Dinosaur Movie played in the background

- Avoided all potty accidents

- Ate gummy lifesavers

- Talked about how Tracy needs to clean her house better so she doesn't lose her keys every five seconds.

It was a very fun day, I wish I had gotten some pictures of the Nerf Massacre, poor Taz and Kitty... :)

Twenty First Birthday!

I'm three days early, but I had planned a fabulous This Is Your Life birthday post, and me not having a computer is not going to stop me!

So there are a few years in a person's life that mark important changes, I've tried to find photos of all of them, let's see:

Being Born:
thank GOODNESS I do not have a photo of the actual birthing, but here's the earliest photo I could find of myself- I'll have to make copies of the other ones my mom has at her place.




First Birthday:
The love affair with chocolate cake begins!



Siblings:
For an eldest child, gaining a sibling is a big event! My sister Mae joined our family shortly after my 3rd Birthday.



Baptism:
in our church, Children aren't baptized till they are 8 years old (check out lds.org for more info!) I was baptized with my good friend Nikki who is just a few days younger than me.





Being sealed:
I was lucky enough to get to go to the Toronto Temple and be sealed to my family, sadly I don't remember much, the nursery and taking photos outside in the gardens.



Sweet 16:
Instead of a huge party, I spent my 16th birthday in France! I actually missed about 6 hours of it, due to the time difference, but it was worth it! I spent two weeks in France with my school's french club- It was amazing, we saw all the sights in Paris, Nancy, Strasbourg and northern France. I would post all the incredible pictures, but I haven't had time to scan them in.

Graduation:
After 1 elementary school, 2 middle schools and a high school that was too tiny for a football team, in 2006 I graduated! I remember the pointless several hour long practices we had for walking. (thankfully I had Colleen to get me through it, not to mention the 4 years prior =D ) It was only 3 years ago, but it seems like a whole other life.




Marriage:
I'll be the first to admit that a "normal" 21 year old probably wouldn't have marriage on their list of accomplishments :) I was incredibly lucky to find Jake as quickly as I did (though it felt like forever to GET him, he was stubborn!)




Now I'm (almost) 21, and I am proud of what I've done and become for these past 21 years. I may not always act like it, but I've had a pretty good life! I've always been surrounded by people who love me and want what's best for me. I've forged fantastic lifelong friendships and have learned so much from everyone in my life. So here's to You, thanks for making my life wonderful!

I liked the show

This was the comic today, I found it particularly relevant to my life.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

For my first official activity in my new calling, I (and by I, I mean Christine)took the girls to the Radford Library to see the Tree Lighting. We drank hot chocolate and ate cookies while we listened to a bell choir play pretty songs (It's really kind of cool to see it performed, the players use their bodies and the table to change the tone of the bells.) They then let the little kids play bells with them by holding up color coded cards that matched the bells. Our girls were a little reluctant to take a bell, but a few songs in they were ringing with the best of them. After the songs we went outside to listen to a band play carols and sing along as the tree got ready to be turned on. It was a quick short to the point activity that was very fun! The girls loved the band's exaggeration on The 12 days of Christmas (most. boring. carol. EVER.) The video is of the lighting, but it's sideways, as we were rather close to the tree and it was hard to see the entire thing, and as always it's very difficult to get a non-fuzzy photo of christmas lights.

It was a great way to start the christmas season. I've been humming carols for almost a month now, but I've stopped from decorating christmas for Michael's sake (Fazoli's pumps in Christmas Musack starting in November) but I won't be able to hold back for long ;) So, for the first time this season, and I hope it isn't the last- Merry Christmas!

Thanks

I wanted to give a quick thanks to everyone, I can't even begin to say how much your kind words and thoughts meant to me and Jake. It is amazing to see how many people were willing to do so much for us. We're really truly blessed. I will try to get out and personally thank everyone, but I didn't want to forget anyone either. Thank you!

And yet another update, I'm doing fine, the nurses continued to be amazing throughout the night and this morning and I'm healing up a quickly as the doctor hoped I would. I have been put on a bit of a bed rest, so I don't think I'll be at church tomorrow, but I should be fine for my vacation, as long as I sit/lay down for most of it.

The hospital also has bi-yearly (one around Christmas, and another in spring.) memorial services for the babies there, and once I get information about it I'll post it on here.

Thank you again, I feel very lucky even in this not-so-fun time.

List of Life

Here's what I have been up to since my last post!

1. Baby Shower for one very dear friend, Sarah! She was adorable, the food was good (that buffalo chicken cheese dip thing? YUM) and there was much oohing-ahhing going on.

2. Watching Nephew and Niece attempt to get their photos professionally taken. Nephew did way better than I thought he would, Niece wasn't into it at all. I now have a photo to take up to Yankee-Land and show off their cute-ness!

3. Getting Free Food cause Nephew declared we were eating at Fazolis after the photos. :)

4. Spending time with Chloe and the new enrichment committee at our first meeting! Also conning my way to get assigned the fun art projects.

5. Seeing Jake for about two hours everyday, if that. He's a busy boy! He is finishing up his first research paper, and it's just about killed him.

6. Hoping to convince Jake that I NEED to see High School Musical 3 because I am a 12 year old girl at heart and want to see Sharpay!

7. Planning our vacation to New England I get to the go to the Christmas Dove and BabysRus with Nonny and visit cousins who I have been away from long enough to actually start to miss!

8. Slowly getting more baby things, Jake's co-worker Deb has already sent me a few onesies and matching socks- mom had given me a patriots binky already :)

9. Chose Boy and Girl names for baby,  I would love suggestions on boy middle names.

10. Creating a list with 10 things on it, cause 10 is a good list number.

Edit: PS Chloe- do you have a blog yet miss? I'd love the address for it!

Happy Fourth of July!

This is a week or so late because I packed up my camera cord in the mess of boxes, tape and odds & ends. We did have some fun Fourth Celebrations! The day started off with a DELICIOUS pancake breakfast at church. I normally do not like pancakes, but these were fluffy and light and melt-in-your-mouth fantastic!

Then we had a wild Three-Legged Race!





Our local Missionaries won by a hair, Jake and his partner where right on their tail!



While the younger participants decided it was faster if they untied themselves.


Then we had this water cup/head race thing. You were to pour a glass of water from the top of your head into the cup behind you, the line with the most water at the end of the race would win. We soon discovered that it's much more entertaining just to pour water on each other. :)






(I love Nephew in this picture!)

Then they raised the stakes, we had to pour water from a cup on our head, to a cup on our partner's head!



Jake and I had to spend some time at The Faz during the lunch rush, then we got home in time to watch the Bisset Park fireworks with our family. It was a great LARGE show.