Monday, November 29, 2010

Reindeer Rootbeer / Beer


I made up these "Rootbeer Reindeer" for Molly's gymnastics teacher gift. I saw the idea over at Fingerprints on the Fridge and just had to make them. I think they are so super cute!

I made some to add to my brother Scott's gift too, but used Guinness instead.

Align Center
I just wrapped brown pipe cleaners around the tops of the bottles, and twisted smaller pieces around to make antlers. Then I hot glued on googly eyes and red pom poms on, easy peasey!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Peronalized Lap Tray

This weekend I have been crafting like crazy trying to get a lot of the Christmas gifts I am making done. Here is a tray I made for Molly. Last year my sister gave her one and she LOVED it, but after using it nonstop it broke.

So I bought this plain pink tray with my coupon at Hobby Lobby. Then I just used paint markers I borrowed from my mom to write her name and a few fun flowers. I think it turned out great, and the paint is totally washable and waterproof.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we truly have a lot to be thankful for. Amazing healthy!!! children, and a family, friends, and community that have shown us unbelievable love and support. Thanks!

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

For lunch we celebrated with Randal's side of the family, and had a wonderful time. Molly had a blast crafting with her cousin Heidi.

And Nora played so hard, she laid down ready to sleep in the middle of the living room floor!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Thanksgiving! We are heading out to dinner with my family, and I am so excited. I love Thanksgiving, and am so grateful we get to see our families today. And, I am looking forward to games, movies, corndogs and the Raspberry Stoli tradition. :)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Harry Potter Party!

Since the amazing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 movie just came out! I thought it would be a perfect time to show you the Harry Potter Halloween Costume party we had. I'll have to get a picture soon of the invites so you can see the fun wax stamp we used.

We made a common room with Gryfindor and Slytherin tables.

Decorated with fun signs used in the movies, We had a wall with Umbridge's Decrees on it too, but I didn't get a picture.

The Leaky Cauldron was a lot of fun. We even made Butter Beer(adult and kid version), Polyjuice Potion, and Pumpkin Juice. For food we had a lot of fun Hogwarts style snacks, including chocolate frogs!

Randal was Professor Quirell. For all you babywearing moms, yes... that is my Moby Wrap on his head. :)

Everyone who came had the best details to their costumes. They were truly amazing. Our friend who dressed up as Luna Lovegood had these great Quibbler's to hand out.

We all got sorted into one of the four houses, and that was the team you were on to complete your O.W.L.S (Harry Potter Trivia).

TEAM GRYFINDOR ( Arabella Figg, Trelawny, Luna Lovegood)

TEAM RAVENCLAW (Ron, Lavendar Brown, Professor McGonagall)

TEAM HUFFLEPUFF (Harry, Hermione, Professor McGonagall)

TEAM SLYTHERIN (Tonks, Tonks!)

Even Cedric Diggory came to the party, complete with his Hufflepuff scarf and Potter Stinks button.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Turkey Crafts!

We have been having a lot of fun doing Thanksgiving and fall games and crafts this week. I haven't been getting many pictures, but I did snap a few of the turkey crafts Molly made.

Molly loved gluing the paper rings onto the plate in this one! I saw this fun craft over at A Mommy's Adventures. We still have to add the yellow legs. :)

This craft was a blast. It doesn't look the prettiest, but was so fun to make. Molly colored a coffee filter with washable markers and then sprayed it with a water bottle. After it dried we folded it in half and made it into a turkey. Molly loved making this so much, she ended up making 8 of them! Now we have a whole turkey farm in our house. :) This craft idea came from Funny Days With Mommy and Maddie.

We've also been doing a ton of the fun activities, songs, papers, and games from Moo Moo's & Tutus great Thanksgiving Tiny Teach FREE Download. It is AWESOME!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Turkey T-Shirts!

Check out the fun Turkey T-Shirts I made for the girls to wear on Thanksgiving!

I loosely followed the tutorial from Nancy's Couture to make these fun shirts. But I used the turkey pattern from the Silhouette I won to make the stencil, and used a black fabric marker for the eyes.

I made the one on the left for Molly, and a matching little one for Nora on the right. I think they turned out super cute! I was going to have them model them for pictures, but with my girls the second they put them on stains will magically appear. :) So they have to wait until Thanksgiving!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Turkey Hair Clip!

I saw these adorable Ribbon Turkey Hair Clips at a craft fair and knew I had to make some for the girls for Thanksgiving. For this one, the ribbon is just hotglued to a alligator clip covered in brown ribbon. For Nora's I glued the turkey to a headband like I did HERE for the spider one. Her hair is still a little to short for an alligator clip to hold. I'll get a picture of hers tomorrow when she wakes up. :) And I'll show you the super cute turkey shirts I made!

(PS- Anyone know how to glue on gluey eyes without burning your fingers with hot glue a million times ;)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Quick Vinyl Decorations!

I finally decided to get brave, and try cutting some vinyl with the Silhouette I won. It was so easy, and now I am addicted. I've been walking around the house trying to figure out what else needs a bit of vinyl. :)

I cut some white vinyl saying, "Give Thanks," to add to this metal sign I had. I wanted something to hang on the new black post I made for Thanksgiving.

I also cut the phrase, "Find Joy in the Journey," to add to one of the pumpkins I had as a Halloween decoration, hoping to make it more of a fall decoration. And, I am loving that phrase right now, so it is perfect to have it out on the counter.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Still kicking over here...

Yup! I'm back, I had an unplanned week and a half, sort of break from both the internet and TV over here. I am starting to feel a little more on top of things, and am super excited to share some of the fun crafts and things we have been busy with over here! And... I've got to go watch Parenthood on hulu and get caught back up. :)

I won't go into to much detail, because I don't want to sound melodramatic, but I know a few of you have been worried about me and where I disappeared too. By the way, thank you for that, blogging has definitely given me some amazing friends, and I am so grateful for you!

I guess I just have a hard time dealing with things sometimes, and it just catches up to me. Since having Nora and then almost immediately having to go through Molly's brain surgery, I just feel like I am waiting for a chance to get caught up with life again, I haven't felt settled. I can't sleep and just worry, and wait for the day when things will be normal again. And then I feel super guilty, because things are great and I am truly grateful. There are so many other friends and people who are going through such hard things in there lives and didn't get the great news we got. But it is just hard dealing with everything, and trying to get over it. As weird as this might sound, the hardest part is watching to girls do something cute, or learn something new, or when Molly tells me she loves me, I know I couldn't live without them, and I worry all the time that something will happen again. But I am praying for peace.


Anyways, here is some of the craziness of the past week, sort of an update for those who are curious. We've had:

- A Harry Potter Halloween Party! (pics to come)
- Molly's Parent Teacher Conference! (doing SO great)
- Swimming Lessons for the girls! (Nora is loving it, and Molly jumps off the diving board!)
- MOPS (I help with the new MOPS group at our church)
- Emergency trip to the dentist when Molly fell into the toy box and jammed her teeth into her gums. (Ouch!)
- Our friend Lynette took our family pictures! (She is amazing!)
- Taxi service for Preschool and Gymnastics. :)
- Took a last minute day trip to Chicago with the girls to go to the FREE aquarium day!
- Finished reading all 6 Madelyn Alt Bewitching Mysteries, thanks for the recommendation Cassie.
- Went line dancing with one of my best friends! (yee-ha)
- Tried glass etching again with much better success!
- And much more...