Baby's 1st Christmas

I don't know if it's because I'm a mom now, or because we are finally settling into our home, but I am LOVING crafts!  Pinterest has about a million DIY projects that are on my 'to do one day very soon' list.  I saw this on Pinterest a few months ago and have been wanting to make this with Baby M ever since. It wasn't too difficult as long as he was kept busy with a cookie :)

All you need is an Embossing Ink Pad, Embossing Glitter, Heat {I used a heat gun...40% off at Michael's!}, Glass Ornaments.  I also found letter stickers in the 'make-your-own-ornaments- aisle at Michael's.

Stocking Holders DIY

This is the very first Christmas that we are spending in our home.  I didn't even decorate the last three years, because we were in the middle of moving or in the middle of remodeling our house.  Well this year is different.  :)  We bought our first Christmas tree together and decorated it last night when Baby M was asleep.  We also have a fireplace in our living room so I am attempting to make our Christmas stockings this year.  They aren't done yet, but I'm hoping to post a picture by the end of the week. In the mean time, I've been searching for cute stocking holders to put on our mantel.  I didn't find any I really liked and the ones that were just OK were at least $10 each! I have other things I'd rather spend $40 on right on.  So today I made our stocking holders! And it only cost me $15 for all four of them! 

 Weighted Stocking Holders from Walmart $6 each

 Ornaments from Michael's 60% off!

 5 minutes and a little fancy craftsmanship with a hot glue gun...

....and VOILA! Done! That's one more thing I can check off my TO DO list.  {ignore the bare wall above the fireplace, we haven't gotten any Christmas cards yet, so it's only our own up there right now}

For the Troops Part 2

Christmas candy, chocolate, protien bars, beef jerkey & trail mix and burned copies of recent movies on DVD's.

Travel sized Bibles with a handwritten note in each and every one of them.

A handwritten letter to each soldier from Wiley's class.

Acts of LOVE

Stockings stuffed and ready for shipping!! Hoping these will bring a smile to the soldiers this Christmas.

Our next shipment will be a little something for Valentine's Day. 

Ahha Moment...

I was going through Photography blogs
trying to soak up as much info as possible
When I came across something that made me cry...
(I cant for the life of me find the blog again boo on me...)
The title was "I AM BEAUTIFUL"
She said that most likely you are the main picture taker in your family
(totally me)
and you always tell people that you don't want your picture taken
because you feel fat/ugly/in your PJs at 2 pm
(SOOOOO me my coined phrase "I am the one behind the camera not in front of it...")
Then she asked when your kids are looking back at photos of their life
WHERE ARE YOU??
and I cried
Why? I'm in MAYBE 50 pictures with babygirl
because I feel fat/ugly/in my pjs
Is she going to be sad that she cant see what I looked like?
She isn't going to think I'm fat, or I'm ugly or even care that I'm in my pj's at 2pm
I am going to be sad that I didn't take pictures of "us girls"
When we are cuddling on the couch... all day... in our Pjs watching Gnomeo and Juilet
I havent gotten a picture of our wild hair in the mornings
(because our hair gets CRAZY when we sleep)
I haven't taken our picture when we are having our daily dance party
I look at babygirl and I see that shes SO BIG
and soon she's not going to want me in the pictures...
I need to fix this...
I am going to change my attitude about ME
I AM BEAUTIFUL
and I need to remember that and step IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA

Be ready friends and family for me to hand my camera over
and ask for a picture with you and I :)

Cake Pops for Dummies

Everyone loves cake pops!  They recently made their debut last year and now they are popping up in Starbucks, birthday parties, baby showers....basically everywhere.  But honestly, who has the time to bake a cake just to make cake pops? I don't.  Well I could probably squeeze it in, but there are a million other things I'd rather do than clean up a kitchen after baking a cake.  So here is a Cake Pops for Dummies tutorial. Super easy, super affordable and SUPER DELICIOUS!!

What you need:

*cookie sticks

*donut holes

*mini baking cups

*sprinkles

*chocolate or candy melts

*a teaspoon of Crisco

 Melt the chocolate/candy melts {30 seconds at a time in the microwave}.  Add a teaspoon of Crisco when it's melted and stir well.  Take a cookie stick and poke a hole in the donut.  Dip the stick in the chocolate then put it in the donut.  Put the donuts in the fridge for 5-10 minutes so that the chocolate can harden, this will ensure that the stick will stay in the donut.

 Reheat the chocolate.  Dip each donut in the chocolate, shake the stick a little so the excess chocolate drips off the donut.

 Sprinkle the sprinkles on the donuts!

 Place in a baking cup.

All done!  Don't put these in the fridge, I've heard it will cause the chocolate and sprinkles to bleed into each other. 

EAT UP!!!

Finding my style - headband

Recently I have been trying to figure out what I like

I never really had a style per say 

and I am slowly figuring out what I like

It's actually a lot harder that you would think 

Anyways... 

I love headbands 

but I am to chicken to wear them.

Stupid right?

Well, I have been trying to branch out more 

and I bought 2 headbands from {JustLovelyThings}

 they are BEAUTIFUL

and I actually wore it tonight and felt 

Beautiful as well :) 

{Headband - {Justlovelythings}

{Bracelet - Six Designs}

So my friends... What have you done outside of your comfort zone?

When to have #2?

Mr. N and I have been talking about #2
you see we said all along that we would start trying around Babygirls 2nd birthday...
Well thats next month HA
SO its like NOW
I'm ready... Kinda upset that I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted to.
but I don't know if Baby girl is...
She's pretty good at sharing things...
her cousins K1-K6 are around a lot
and she does great with them.
(one major reason is they are amazing with her)
but when she's in a bigger group she tends to go hang out by herself
which is pretty common for an only child right?
But shes not so good at sharing me.
I went to drop off some pictures to a client
and I was playing with their incredibly adorable lil boy
Baby girl was a little unsure and wanted me to pick her up
I told her no and continued playing with him
She was fine but it got me thinking.
What is she going to be like with a baby
Shes a little mommy for sure
whenever she sees or hears a baby she wants to go see
We ask her if she wants a baby but shes just a little to young to understand what we mean.
So I guess friends when do you think is a good time? what are your kids ages?
and in a PERFECT world what would be the age difference of your kiddos?

Oh look how little she was!!!
I think my uterus just started aching LOL