Grandpa's Present

I know that I am a little behind on posting what our family did for my husbands dad for Father's Day but never late than never huh? This was by far one of my favorite presents to do for someone and a little frustrating as well. We started out with three light plate covers and I had my husband cut out the middle.

   Next was another trip to Hobby Lobby to pick out the scrapbook paper we used to cover the switches and some mod podge. 

 We cut the paper a little bigger than the light switch covers so that way we made sure the edges were covered. It made it look better especially on the inside of the frame where the plastic was a little ridged from being cut. 

  

Our team of mod podgers!

The covered frames.

Even though mod podge is non-toxic we only let the older boys use it and the younger two just used water on scraps of the paper, they had no clue they were doing anything different and had just as much fun.

The picture sizes turned out to be more challenging than I thought they would be. I recommend taking the picture zoomed out as much as you can to give you space on your signs. Since we were running a little behind on the present and half of our subjects were on vacation we couldn't have another photo shoot. After printing more than I wanted too I finally settled on wallet sized pictures and just put cream paper behind them to fill up the space and match the rest of the colors. I also used just some off white ribbon to tie the frames together (turn the switch covers on the sides and use the holes where the screws would be and you have instant holes that all line up).  And here is the final product!!! I can't wait to use this project again with something else.

 I also used some thin cardboard to keep the pictures in place and fatten it up some so they weren't sliding everywhere and finished up the rest of the scrapbook paper for the backing so everything is completely covered. Grandpa was very happy with his present :) Happy Monday!

If I Only Knew...

Yesterday was my birthday and for some reason I spent some of the day thinking about what all I have learned in my life. While I don't consider myself wise in anyway I have definitely learned way more than I thought and I wouldn't want to either go back and change anything or to learn what I have any earlier. But here is the advice I would have given myself back then.

15 years ago (man that seems like such a long time ago!)

• You don't have to be the life of the party all the time, sit back and relax some, people watching is much more fun and trying to be loud and funny all the time just seems very immature.
• The guy you are dating now will not be the man you marry so who cares what he does, let him be and don't try to change him.
• Make more girl friends, you will need them through out your whole life and you have a lot more in common with them now than you think.
• Enjoy your body, don't mistreat it by not eating, it will never look like this again, in fact it might even look better the older you get.
• Quit fighting with your parents so much, they aren't going to change, just try to accept them for the way they are.

10 years ago (I was 21!)

• Don't be scared to try new things, just go for it, you are having the time of your life.
• Seriously, guys suck right now, quit worrying about them.
• It's ok to be sad, no one knows where their life is going, just go with it.
• SAVE YOUR MONEY!!! Quit spending it on all those clothes, you won't own them 2 years from now.

5 years ago

• You are about to be married by the end of the year, enjoy your life, seriously leave the boys alone.
• Read your bible more.
• Quit fighting with your mom.
• Relax.

I always wanted to live my life with no regrets, I'm doing good so far. Knowing how I was back them I never would have listened to this advice anyway but you never know. I also know I have a lot more learning to do, at least I have a great husband to be by my side and help me along the way. And I have great girl friends who give great advice as well. Enjoy!

Father's Day Present #2

So I would like to apologize for the late post. My family is going through a lot right now and dealing with the whole subject was too draining for me (I'm debating if I want to go into to this subject later). So if you could say a quick prayer for us we would gladly appreciate it. Ok on to the happy stuff. I love when I get to make presents for my husband, I love the surprise, trying to be creative, trying to out do myself...its all so much fun for me. I found the idea on Tip Junkie (best website ever for creative ideas). I also love taking pictures of my family and getting fun frames to put them in. On our first trip to Hobby Lobby I found these letters in white and decided to spray paint them (I think the color is avocado). 

Here are my models getting ready for the shoot.

Asher trying to show off the D.

I love this face!!! I used this picture.

Such a sweet face.

Soren not wanting to hold the letter right, but I loved this picture and used it after a little photo shop.

Too high Soren.

Grumpy Soren

Soren walking off set :)

Not what I had in mind when I said put it on your stomach.

Soren not wanting to help hold the A.

Still fighting over it.

They aren't fighting so I used this one.





Lots of Random Space I cant get rid of sorry :)

The photos turned out so cute I thought and I found the frames again at Hobby Lobby, they had the cheapest prices. 

Now on to my husband :) He truely is a great and amazing father. He has the patience which I don't, he is so wise beyond his years, and he absolutely loves having his boys around. And my boys are totally in love with the daddy they have. From the minute he comes home they are all wrestling and giggling and playing in ways they won't play with me. He loves God so much and is teaching our boys to do the same. He treats me with more respect than anyone in my life ever has, he has never tried to change me and does not judge me. He even accepts all of my flaws (which are many believe me), and loves me no matter how bad I look (except when my eyebrows need waxing and then he is honest ha). I love that my boys have the best example to learn from when it comes to how to treat a lady. Never once has he raised his voice at me or even seemed mad at me in front of them. And it doesn't hurt he is so HOT!!!! I love you Steveo, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being the father of my babies :)

Father's Day Present #1

I made my husband swear he would not look at my blog until after Father’s Day, that way if there were any last minute ideas you guys needed you could check out what we did. And yes there are two different presents for him I didn't think I would remember to do one of these next year so he is getting one from the boys and one from me. The boys made him the cutest (with some help from mommy) frame with their hand prints in it. I got the idea from this blog and decided to make it my way. So off to my new favorite place Hobby Lobby and we got a plain wooden frame which I stained from Steve's leftover stash.

We then found an old handkerchief and some scrap fabric and traced the boys hands and some of their arms. I also left enough room for our other children (maybe two more ha?) to be able to add their hands to it. I used the fabric heat and bond and here it is!



We put it in the frame,

I painted a little saying (I am a horrible painter and there are much better ways to make this look good) that says "Daddy, no matter how big we get we will always reach for you!" 

End product :)

I hope you guys enjoyed this we had lots of fun making it.

The Worst Neighbor Award Goes To.....

ME!!!!!! I swear I somehow know how to attract the worst neighbors. It all started in a small condo in Colorado (she really was the worse but thats another story because most of you wouldn't believe it anyway), and has now followed me to my sweet little home here. At first our next door neighbor was perfect, a little old man who never got out of bed, but then he died and they sold the house. Then the scum of our town landlady bought the house and could care less who lives in it. First set of neighbors were so quite, but they had two pitbulls, one who would always get off of his chain and run around our yard. They swear he was nice but with two kids who yell and scream a lot I was not taking my chances. And she was always coming over asking for a ride because she missed the bus. Not my cup of tea after the 6th ride at 7 am because her grandma was always about to die and she needed to get to her moms. I finally quit answering the door and turned my music up really loud so I couldn't hear her knocking (a perk to not having a door bell). 

The second set of neighbors were the worse. Always having tons of people over at the wrong time, the place looked like a junk yard, and they decided to curse loudly whenever the kids were outside. I could care less what type of language people use, God knows I have used most of it myself, but seriously when kids are around? They also used our driveway all the time which annoyed me considering their driveway went past the back of their house. Their weirdness included finding a dead deer on the side of the road and bringing it home to eat, letting their dogs breed in the front yard everyday, opening all the doors to their minivan and blasting the music so loud while a battery charger stayed hooked up to make it possible, and letting some friends sleep in a tent in their front yard for about 2 weeks. Finally about 3 weeks ago their power got turned off so everyone stopped coming around and this past sunday they moved out!!!! The Heavens were singing when I got home. So our new neighbors (the homeless ones who live in a tent in front of our little creek in front of our house) decided to go through all the trash they left in the ditch to take "home" with them. 

Today when I got back home they were going through all the stuff the previous people had left in the basement and asked if I wanted a cute floating bassinet. So after paying $10 I put it on my porch so I could clean it and left to go to a small group. On my way home I call the hubbs to chat to find out the old neighbors came back to get their stuff to find it had all be taken by the homeless people (which are somehow related to them),  and they wanted their bassinet back. Grrrr, so I am out of $10. 

Hopefully no one else moves into that house until we move out. I just want normal neighbors. At least at the new place our one set of neighbors are super nice and normal, now we just need the other house to be sold to fun people because they are totally becoming my new best friends with that great pool in the back yard. How are your neighbors?

DIY coming soon!

Dear Friends
I am super busy this week coming up with DIY projects for father's day. I'm sorry that they will be posted after father's day but my husband reads this and I can't have him finding out what he is getting...its hard enough for me to keep a secret from him as it is (good thing I don't have to keep the sex of the baby from him he would have known an hour later). But if you are anything like me most of my gifts are late anyway so you could still whip up most of this stuff in a day :) And yes there are multiple presents because I have my dad and father-in-law to give stuff to as well.

Good luck!!! There will also be more projects up here once I start on the nursery and my new house, I can't wait!!!!!!

Burp Cloths

I don't know if my grandmother is trying to channel herself in me or what but here lately all I want to do is be crafy. Instead of buying anything as presents I just want to make something myself. My list of things to make is extremely long and my new craft corner is bursting at the seams with projects that are just calling my name.

My latest craft that I got to have so much fun making was some burp cloths for a good friend Ginny. Now Ginny was a hard person for me to shop for. She is having a little girl (swoon) but she absolutely hates ruffles and the color pink (I KNOW GASP!!!) so my choices were a little limited. After stumbling on some fun crafty blogs I found the perfect things to make for her. So off to the store I went.


I started out with some plain white tri-fold burp clothes, chose 3 different fabric squares and some cute thread to sew them with. I also had to find some fabric adhesive to get the letters to stick to the burp cloths. Well friends, its important that you read the fine print on your fabric adhesive because I got the kind that was not supposed to be used with a sewing machine. Well I am the type of person who will not go back to a store for the correct stuff and try and haul two fun little boys to shop with me. I was determined to stick with what I had...bad choice, the adhesive was too gummy and jammed up my sewing machine. Crap! With two weeks left I knew that it was crunch time so on to plan B. I then had to figure out how to make these by hand and on to the cross-stitch thread and yay I am back on track. Well hand sewing wasn't so bad except I am a perfectionist and it was taking almost 2 hours per letter leaving me with enough time to make just two, but here they are :) Not too bad for a first attempt all by myself project I think.

Confession Time

I apologize for not writing as much as I have wanted to lately. Now that it is so nice outside all my boys want to do is play out there, and not that I mind much except for I am not getting any smaller and the uncomfortableness is totally starting to set it. As much as I love being pregnant I have not really gotten to enjoy this as much as I did with Soren. I know I am totally being silly over whether or not I am having a boy or a girl (I'm pretty sure its a boy), my weight, and how my body looks in general right now. People are already making comments about how large I am and how I am totally not making it until the end of October. I really don't understand how anyone thinks its ok to make that kind of comment to a pregnant lady who has some raging hormones and expect them to not bite their heads off. So far I have been nice but this weather has made me super cranky and I do not know how much longer I will last. Each night as I am rubbing coconut oil over this expanding belly I have a little pity party for myself. And it seems like no matter how little I eat without starving myself or this new life the pounds just keep on piling on, and when I ask the Dr about it he brushes me off. Either he likes his women big...or I have nothing else, but I am pretty sure I shouldn't weigh as much as I do. And I know that the weight will come off and I just have to work a little extra hard to make that happen, but I just think of how depressed I get with everything saggy until they give me the ok to exercise again. And even then I am one of those lucky rare women who hardly lose weight while breastfeeding, yay for me. 


So this Debbie Downer has been pretty hard on herself I know. I totally want to hide from the public eye until I have my figure back as well as avoid all pictures at any cost. I am also trying to put my life into perspective here as I have stumbled across a new blog that has me totally obsessed. My search first started with me trying to find a fun DIY project to do for my parents anniversary. Instead I found a blog about a courageous women who survived a plane crash and had to fight her way back. If you are interested in reading her story you can click on Stephanie Nielson: Plane crash survivor, but if you just want to learn about a young mom who loves her children more than anything, and despite it all still has so much sparkle in her eyes check out her blog. I almost feel like I know this woman and her family, and I so want to be just like her in many ways. She has inspired me to have more fun with my kids, decorate my house a little better, and I am totally stealing the way she dresses (once I have this little kicker in me). So I hope you guys check out her story, you will fall in love the way I did.