Sew Darling

sometime last year I met (well not officially met but social media met) Ashley Whetman on instagram

she makes the precious cloth dolls and I just knew that at some point I would be purchasing one.

this little darling was the first one that I ordered.

she was a gift.

I told Ashley that I wanted something pink and the braid and the hair and eye color. this is the picture that she sent me when she was all done. I thought she was perfect. it was difficult to part with her but I did.

 

I have a sweet friend that is pregnant with her child. she has two girls and baby #3 is a girl as well. I knew that I wanted to get her one of Ashley's dolls. this time I looked in her shop and she had these precious Darling little. they are the perfect first doll for a new baby girl. I purchased her pink one because my friend is crazy about pink. also her girls have light hair and blue eyes, here's to hoping that baby #3 does as well. I just love the darling little Ashley. oh! and there are small jingle bells inside for a sweet jingle sound. 

 

tiny feet

 

 

ribbons for baby to feel

 

thank you so much Ashley for your beautiful dolls. Check out Ashley's Etsy shop here

she is so very talented and makes such cute dolls

 

my sister was just telling me that she thought that she was going to have to buy her youngest son a doll for him to push around in the grocery cart and because he loves babies so much

I think that I may have to get Ashley to make one like this for my nephew for Christmas

Tie Dye

i put in this post, a sneak peak of something that we did while we were camping.

well here it is

we got to do a tie dye shirt.

my mother in law, crazy loves her, some tie dye.

her birthday was the week after our trip so we made a special tie dye shirt for her

the kids picked the colors (I got to pick one too) and we decided on a heart.

one of the ladies got the shirt all folded and rubber banded how it needed to be for the heart.

 

here are the kids with the shirt......ready to be dunked

 

little girl, helping me with her color

 

golden boy helping out with his color

 

after the shirt was dipped in the colors it had to sit in a vinegar and water bath for about 5min

 

the rubber bands are removed

 

and one of the ladies had the kids clothes their eyes while she unwrapped it......

 

here is their reaction to the shirt. i just love it.

next time we go they will be making a shirt for them to wear.

it came out so well and we gave it to her this weekend and she loved it.

#mugswap14

This year was my first ever mug swap with a cuppa kim.

I was super excited to participate. once my person was assigned I went searching for the perfect things to send her.

her instagram was private (I understood, mine is as well) and it took me a while to locate her on pinterest. in fact by the time that I did find her I had already got most of the items for her box.

she did have a blog that was very helpful. check her out here.

I found the mug first. I just couldn't pass it up. it was just too great with the spoon attached and such a cute little spot for it to sit. she likes nail polish, Swedish fish, diet coke (i enclosed a dollar for her purchase, i wasn't about to send a coke, talk about a mess) i knitted a scarf for her (my daughter helped me pick out the yarn, and enclosed a Katie Daisy notebooks, some Tazo passion tea and some Starbucks instant coffee packets, along with two fallish recipes that we love in our house and a note. 

 it was so much fun shipping for and packaging up this to send to Liz for my very first mug swap.

 about a week after i send Liz her package this little beauty was in my mailbox.

 enclosed was a cute apple mug, a crocheted dish cloth, soap, lotion bar, and apple spice packets. I am saving the packets for when it gets cooler here. they looks and smell amazing and i am tempted to tear them open sooner but i have a feeling they will be worth the wait. it was such a sweet surprise from a homeschooled teenager who participated in mug swap this year and just seemed as sweet a can be. Thank you Stephanie for blessing me with this lovely package.

excited for #mugswap15

Thank you Kim. What fun time this was.

Back to School Teacher Gifts

I must give credit, where credit is due. I saw this cute little tag on my instagram feed and had to investigate. I clicked on her site and there is was. this cute little printable to pair with your favorite candle for you childs teacher. you can find the link to this printable at Skip to my Lou blog here. there is also another option with the same saying on them.

my printer is currently out of colored ink so I just wrote the cute little saying on come card stock. we have three teachers this year. one for my son and my daughter has two preschool teachers. it was fun picking out the candle and the scents with my girl and then bringing them home to tie up.

Thank you Skip to my Lou for such a wonderful idea and the cute printable. I wish my printer was working and I could have printed them.

Artwork display x2

when I made my kids art work wall almost two years ago I never dreamed that I would be making another one. especially never thought it would be as a gift. if you click over here to the post where I wrote about how I decided to make the wall after seeing all of these awesome walls and wanting something in our house for the kids art work.

after my sister had her first born and when he started mothers morning out she was getting all of this super cute art work that was being sent home and wanted an art wall as well. last year for Christmas I think she was a bit disappointed that none of the packages contained a couple of sticks in them. this year for her birthday I was sure to give her what she wanted.

the idea is simple really but she knew that she would never take the time to go and gather sticks and spray paint them. besides gifts like this are fun to get. (at least I would think so)

her husband thought we were insane. sticks as a birthday present. (I also bought the café hangers (from walmart) and the mini curtain rings (from old time pottery))

 

here is an upclose shot of her artwork wall.

I asked her to take one back a little bit so you can see more of the wall. she hung it over my nephews super awesome kitchen set.

So.....

.....I have this pretty amazing kid.
on the blog I call him golden boy and that he is.
he is my oldest.
a boy.
did I mention he is pretty amazing.

our small group went through the study The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. it goes through the five ways people give and receive love. after figuring out mine (which I am not sure changed much in the 12 years we have been married) I was eager to figure out what my kids were.

the love languages are: quality time, acts of service, gift giving, physical touch and words of encouragement. thinking through them and observing my son I leaned over to my hubby one day and said, "I think his number one love language is physical touch." he agreed. the kids loves hugs. sometimes a hug is all he needs to get him over a rough spell. in fact one day during the school year I was sitting down doing homework with him and he was having a melt down about something that had to do with the school work and my daughter happened to walk into the room and simply said, "mommy, just hug him." I scooped him up and wrapped my arms around him and hugged him and things got a bit better. the kid will be in the back of the van and say "mommy will you hold my hand" or sometimes he just says "I want some loving hugs."

Physical touch.....for sure number one for my golden boy. figuring out what is the next one can be more difficult. the kid is a culmination of all of the them it seems. he loves getting gifts as well as giving them, he thrives on words of encouragement, sitting down and reading to him, playing legos, putting together puzzles(all good things to him, quality time). so I my head I thought "well, at least I know what is the last thing on his list of love languages. Acts of service."

just yesterday he proved that theory wrong. I was out in the kitchen doing something and here he comes into the kitchen carrying the laundry basket from our room. I asked him what he was doing with it and he said that he was bringing it to the laundry room to help out because he saw that I was doing some laundry. I gave him a big hug and told him how much I appreciated it but that I was not planning on doing our laundry any time soon. he brought it back to our room but let me know that he picked up the pile of laundry that was in the hallway bathroom and put it in the laundry room for me. (this was much appreciated because it was beginning to pile up and I was needing to get to the laundry room) big hugs again and praise for how thoughtful he was to think of that. by this time I am getting my daughter out of her room from her failed attempt at a nap and make my way into the hallway and by our bedroom when I notice golden boy on our bed and he is making it (no I do not make my bed every morning.....deep down I wish that I did but I just don't)  I couldn't help myself. I walked into the room with great big smile on my face and gave him the biggest hug and the told him how much I love him and how wonderful of a boy he was. he just wanted to do something nice for us and bless us and just be loving.

how in the world do I even rank these love languages with this kid. he is all encompassing when it comes to them. I am just awed and overwhelmed and blessed at the kid God has blessed me with in this little boy. my prayer is that I can daily see the good in this amazing boy that God has given me and how wonderfully I am blessed to have him in my life.

She is Four

this is who I remember meeting four years ago.  she is now all sass and spunk. not the tiny baby that I held in my arms.  but my arms.....she still fits. she fits differently now but there is still this perfect place for her in them.  She has made life extremely exciting.

 we never know what she will say and do. She loves big and is our prayer warrior. she is feisty and head strong.

she is crazy in love with the movie frozen. I mean look at that face. she loved the cake topper more than the cake I think

 she is a joy and a delight.

right as we were sitting down to sing happy birthday and eat cake our neighbor knocked on our door. she had a bear that she made for the birthday girl.  I couldn't believe that she remembered. then I found out that golden boy told her that his little sisters birthday was coming up so she was sweet and made her a special bear. 

 time seems to be flying. slow down little one......lets soak up this time. I love you more than you love me.

My Men

 I am one pretty lucky girl. I have two pretty awesome men that live right here in my very house. My husband and father of my children, who is my compete opposite in almost every way, except the ways that are important and I am grateful for that. he is wonderful dad and loves our kids fiercely. and my sweet little man (golden boy). he isn't a dad but I pray that one day he will be. I occasionally pray for his future wife. that wile she may be his complete opposite that she is the same where it matters. that she is a God fearing lady who loves family and embraces our family and molds well into a life with him and us as in laws.

  aside from the two that live in my house there are three others in my life that are a huge blessing and love like no other. my dad......he loves big, the supports strong, he provided and provides like no other. he only wanted girls when it was time to have children (no snot nose little boys, he said.) but he ended up with three grandsons that are, I am pretty sure, quite precious to him. they call him "Bear" then there is my grandfather......he is strong but can be gentle, he and my grandmother have been married for 60 year, (that says a lot) he loves like you can't imagine, even though sometimes he can be rough around the edges. he loves Jesus and has shown me that the verse "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" is possible. and finally my father in law.......he was half of who raised my husband, he made him into the man he is today (which sometimes can be frustrating, but ultimately I am grateful for) he can fix just about anything. he has a big heart and an even bigger sweet tooth than me. he loves adventure but equally loves to curl up at home and rest (we are alike that way) he loves my family and I love him for it. my kids call him "Papa"

this is the card that golden boy made for his daddy for fathers day. we found the idea on pinterest of course. here is the link to the site.

 this one I found a clip art for and printed for my daughter to give him. we added this recipe for homemade bbq sauce
once the crafting starts my son usually can't stop. he wanted to make another minion card for his daddy. he asked me to draw a purple minion and then he colored it in and added words to it.

bear has a lake house. we visit often. my son made the foot and my daughter the hand. it is just prefect. got the idea from pinerest! where else? here is the pin.

papa has a goat farm so we made this card for him for fathers day. the tractor is golden boys foot and the goat is little girls hand. I found quite a few pins for the tractor and goat. here are some of the links
tractor
tractor and cow
tractor
sheep

we added a cute little disc photo album to his bbq sauce and I took a picture of the kids that I found here and made it our desktop wall paper and email it to him so that he could make it his desk top wall paper at work.

Teacher Appreciation 2014

 well it is teacher appreciation week and pinterest is  overflowing with ideas for those teachers in your life. after the abundance of strawberries that we picked this past weekend I knew that on Monday my little guy would be bringing some to his teacher. I searched pinterest for a way to make a box to put them in. I had about four of those cute blue berry boxes at one point but I am down to only one left and I can't manage to part with it. I had a just emptied wheat thins box so that was what I was going to use. i came across this cute little box and decided to follow the tutorial to make it for the berries.

what you need: cardboard box

paper towel

strawberries

staple

tag

hole punch

bakers twine

i came across this pin on pinterest for the tag. i just now opened the link and saw that the tag in the picture is a free download. it's cute too.
here is another link to some cute things you can so with those empty cereal boxes