Almost Thirty

Tomorrow, I will turn 30 - at 7:47pm to be exact!  I cannot believe I'm going to be THIRTY!  It's crazy!  I don't feel like I should already be 30!  Where does the time go?

Birthday celebration at my grandparent's house last weekend.

I'm so thankful that I've lived to see another year!  I am blessed beyond measure and my life at almost 30 is completely different than I imagined at 20 or 25, but it is SO. MUCH. BETTER!  I've found the love of my life, we have a precious little boy, good jobs, a nice home and family that loves us! 

My staff even surprised me with a birthday cake today! 

Life is Good! 

Boys will be Boys

Saturday, we traveled to East Texas to visit my grandparents and have the first of my 30th birthday celebrations with my family.

It was a PERFECT Saturday for playing outside and Jack LOVED playing in Memaw and Grandad's big backyard!  There's just so much for little boys to get into out there!

Papa Jeff helped him climb his first tree!  Jack thought he was hot stuff standing up in the big oak tree.  My Grandad planted these trees right around the time I was born, so they are as old as me!  I can remember my cousins and me playing in them when we were little.

Grandad hired some men to trim the trees last week, so there was plenty of saw dust on the ground for Jack to play in!

Jack and Papa had a ball getting dirty right before we were going out to lunch.

Of course, Mom of the Year over here, didn't think to bring an extra set of clothes on our roadtrip, so Ran and I had to make a quick run to Old Navy for some clean clothes for our little rascal!

Who knew playing in saw dust would be so fun!

Jack found all kinds of little treasures to carry around, but this little piece of wood was his favorite and proved to be very useful when splishing and splashing in the bird bath.

Luckily the bird bath had just been refilled, so the water was kinda clean! 

Boys will be Boys!

Big Boy Jack

 Jack looks so big to me in these pictures! 

He's getting really good at climbing up in chairs...

I'll find him sitting in a chair at the kitchen table eating his snacks...

Or just being silly...

While he can climb up in the chairs, he's not so good at getting down!

Happy Thursday!

What I'm Lovin'

{one} 

I'm lovin' the AWESOME weather we're having right now.  Yesterday it got up to almost 80* and is supposed to remain in the mid-70's the rest of the week!  Bring on the grillin' foods!  So far this week we've had steaks, hamburgers and mesquite grilled pork loin.  YUMMY!  I LOVE this time of year!

{two}

I'm lovin' that it's almost time to go on a spring shopping spree for Jack!  Here are a few things I'll be adding to his wardrobe...

Gymboree

Polo

Old Navy

{three}

 I'm lovin' that I finally got around to making something with the fabrics I had stashed away - I made 10 different girlie burpcloths this weekend and am hoping to make a boy set soon! 

Girlie Burpie Set

Although, not a new set, I'm lovin' the added name on these cloths and my new font.

Cross Burpie Set

{four}

I'm lovin' that the days are getting longer and we can play outside for a while in the evenings.

{five}

And, last, but not least, I'm lovin' Ran for taking over the morning routine with Jack this week. I love when Randy gets him up, fixes breakfast and dresses Jack for school. It's so nice for Jack to be ready to go when I am!

What are you lovin' today?

 

Home Tour Tuesday - Jack's Jungle

 Welcome to Jack's Jungle!

My favorite part of Jack's room is the prints above his bed.  I saw them in the window of a little boutique in downtown Grapevine and just loved them.  At the time, I didn't know I was pregnant, but said if I ever had a little boy, I'd want those in his nursery... I found out I was pregnant the very next week!  The prints were one of the first things I purchased after finding out I was indeed having a little boy.  I still love them! 

Originally I was going to have Jack's bedding made, but could never decide on the fabrics I wanted.  My mom and I were out baby shopping one day and I came across this bedding called Animal Tracks by Cotton Tale.  It was just perfect!  My mom searched high and low for a red and white striped rug like in the picture and finally found one for me!  That rug adds such a pop to his room. 

I also love the red book shelves from Pottery Barn and the green walls.  We liked the color of Jack's walls so well, we even painted our master bath the same color!  HA!  My glider now sits in this corner and it's the perfect place for reading books and rocking Jack - too bad he doesn't really like to be rocked anymore!

Jack's dresser, which we use as a changing table.  This little set up has worked out well for us.  The basket holds all of our changing necessities - diapers, wipes, diaper rash creams, fingernail clippers and lotion.  We still use the changing pad, but I'm afraid Jack has almost outgrown it.  It is so much easier having him confined to the changing table when changing diapers or clothes because he can't run/crawl/squirm all over the place!  I dread the day he's really too big for it! 

My big boy eating an orange for the first time!  I'm not sure why it never crossed my mind to give him apples and oranges before (maybe because I don't like them?), but he LOVES them! 

Talking on the walkie-talkie in the golf cart!  He's so silly!  I wish I would have gotten a video of the whole walkie-talkie scene.  The golf cart was parked in the garage, so it would echo every time Jack talked into it.  The look on his face after he'd say something was hilarious! 

Valentine Treat Bags

A few days ago my mom emailed me a recipe for Valentine Chocolate Bark that she saw on Bake at 350.  If you've never visited Bridget's blog, you should definitely check her out!  She is one talented baker/cookie decorator.   Not only are her cookies ADORABLE, but they are DELICIOUS too!  She made the cutest cookies for my baby shower and precious cookies for my BFF when her husband returned from Afghanistan.  Thanks Bridget for sharing your love of baking and decorating with the rest of us!  Your tutorials make it so easy! 

On to my Valentine Treat Bags.  My original plan for Jack's Valentine's this year was homemade heart shaped sidewalk chalk, but work, Etsy, crazy weather and everyday life the past few weeks have left me with little time to actually make the chalk.  So, when that didn't happen, I was thinking about what I would do instead, that's when I received this great idea from my mom! 

Ingredients

3 cups white chocolate chips

1 tbsp butter

3 cups Rice Krispies

2 cups milk chocolate chips

Rainbow Sprinkles

Conversation Hearts

Melt white chocolate and butter in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted - about 90 seconds.

Combine white chocolate and Rice Krispies, press out on parchment paper until about 1/2 inch thick.

Melt milk chocolate in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted - about 60 seconds.

Pour over top of Rice Krispie mixture, spread to cover Rice Krispies.

Sprinkle with candy sprinkles and conversation hearts.

Once chocolate hardens cut out with heart shaped cookie cutter.

I then put one heart in a cellophane bag and stapled a treat bag tag on each bag which I ordered from The Pretty Paperie.  Click HERE for step by step pictures and directions for making the bark.

I think the bags turned out so cute and it was so easy to do.  It only took about 30 minutes to make the bark, then about an hour or so for the chocolate to harden and about 30 minutes to package.  Quick and easy is definitely my kind of project!  HA!  Click HERE for last year's Valentine's treat.

I even had a little extra time last night to make Jack a Valentine shirt to wear for his party at school today.  Unfortunately, he wasn't excited to pose for the camera this morning.  O'well!  He's still a cutie! 

Cupcakes I made for work. 

Toppers from The Pretty Paperie.

JACK UPDATE

He has officially entered the phase of taking off his socks and shoes as soon as he gets in the car!  This was on the way to school this morning.  I didn't even get out of our neighborhood before he had them off!  He is a BIG helper these days too!  At home, I take his shoes and socks off in the living room and now he picks them up and takes them to his room and puts them away.  Not always in the "right" place, but close enough!

And, in other Jack news - he has pooped on the potty TWICE this week!! WoooHOOOOO! I'm hoping we're about ready to start potty training! I think I may test the waters this weekend and see how it goes.
 Wish us luck! 

       

Getting Organized in 2011 (Part Two)

Getting Organized - Part One

We host a Super Bowl Party at our house every year, so I spent most of Saturday getting ready for the party... but not the fun cooking and baking kind of getting ready!  You see, we converted our dining room into my sewing room and it's the first thing people see when they walk in our front door.  Eventually we'll build a wall with French doors, so at least my little creative nook can be closed off when we're having guests, but for now it's wide open for all to see!  So, I spent Saturday cleaning and organizing my creative space, so at least it gives the appearance of organized chaos!  HA!

BEFORE

As you can see from the pictures, my room was a MESS!  Shirts, fabric, ribbon, thread and stuff EVERYWHERE!  I do A LOT of sewing and I don't always make it a point to clean, fold, and organize as I go, so I had my work cut out for me when I finally decided to make sense of my disaster!

   AFTER

I started my cleaning/organizing by clearing off my tables and putting everything where it belonged.  I used tupperware containers for fabric scraps that could be used for appliques, extra bobbins and my applique patterns.  I kept the threads out that I use most frequently and stored the rest.  Now I have ample room for cutting, putting shirts on hoops, etc.

A few weeks ago, I was asking Ran for ideas to keep my ribbon organized and he found a metal rod for me to put it all on.  The rods were actually from a closet extender we didn't use anymore and they work perfectly since I can hang them from my shelves.  I simply tape the end of the ribbon after each use to keep it all nice and neat.  I took everything off my shelves so I could start from scratch getting organized.  I folded all my shirts/onesies and arranged by size.  I also organized all of my fabrics by either style or collection.  Now, I can easily look at the shelves and see what I have without having to dig through everything.  I found so many cute fabrics that I had completely forgotten about!  HA!  Once I cleaned everything up, I even had enough room left on a shelf to create a little space for packaging all of my items that are ready to ship!  I am loving my newly organized space - it's so much quicker and easier to create when everything is in order!  I'm going to work hard to keep my sewing room organized because this little project took me almost 5 hours! HA!  I'll be sure to post more pictures once we finally put up the wall.  I have some fun ideas of what I would like the finished sewing room to look like.  Think bright and cheery fun colors!

And, just because I can't leave my little Jack out of a post - here are some funny pictures of him from last week.  I love the one where he's trying to drink outta the water hose!  It's not hooked up, but I can just imagine him running through the sprinklers and sneaking a drink from the hose this summer! 

Come on Summer... We're ready!