2011 January

Harper’s 1st Birthday Party – Part One!

January 31, 2011 3 Comments

Harper had her first Birthday Party last weekend and it was perfect! I want to share with you every little detail, so her first Birthday Party will be posted in “parts.”

Let’s start with a little decor!

I love the way this topiary looks in front of my blue shutters (I think I’ll leave this up through Valentine’s day!)!

Plates and napkins!

Harper’s birthday banner in our kitchen!

The smash cake!

Love the pinks and greens!

Ohhh! The cupcakes were sooo good!

Here is a shot of the dining room table!

More cupcakes!

And just because they were THAT good… Another picture of the… cupcakes!

Can’t wait to share Part Two with you!

Filed Under: baby, Birthday Party, The Girl

A Birthday Party!

January 29, 2011 1 Comment

Yesterday I spent my day decorating the house (for the second time) and baking Harper her Smash Cake. Why, you may ask?! Because her First Birthday Party is TODAY!

Yep, the actual cake batter is Light PINK!

Straight out of the oven…yummmm!

Pink and Green icing!

The cake… NAKED!

All done!

I can not wait to see Harper eat her first cake!

Today I am going to sit back and soak up every moment. I promised myself I will not freak out about every little detail. I want to enjoy Harper’s first birthday party because this may be the last “first birthday” we get to celebrate in our family! Well, at least for a good while – that’s our plan for now but we all know that God is the one who REALLY has “the plan” for our lives! Harper is the PERFECT example of that! She was God’s surprise to us and we are so thankful for our sweet little girl! I will be sure to document every aspect of Harper’s First Birthday Party to share with you! It’s gonna be a great one!

I just love a great party!

Filed Under: Birthday Party, The Girl

Hair Bow How To!

January 28, 2011 2 Comments

Let me just say that I know there are 5 million different ways to make bows. This is just the way I like to make some of mine:

Take your ribbon and wrap it around itself (maybe fold it.. not too sure what to call this..) four times. I made mine a little bigger than 2 inches total. I usually eyeball the length of the ribbon. Next time I make a bow, I’ll actually measure and update this post! Just play with different sizes and remember you can always cut off excess ribbon!

Take a needle and thread and hand stitch through all layers.

Like this:

Then pull the loops of the bow to “fluff” it! You can play with this to get the look you want!

Then pull really tight and your bow will begin to take shape (do NOT break the thread though!):

Wrap the thread around the center of the bow (over where you stitched):

Then tie it off with a knot:

Cut the excess thread (almost there!):

Next take a separate piece of ribbon and fold into thirds:

Then tie it in a knot:

Take you hot glue gun and put a dab of glue on the front, center of the bow:

And slap that knot right on top (starting to look super cutie!)!

Put some hot glue on the back of the bow to glue the ends of the “knot ribbon” down:

Waaahooo! A super cute bow that only cost a few cents! AND you still have a bunch of ribbon left over too!

At this point, I would usually hot glue the bow onto a small alligator clip to put in Harper’s hair, but this particular bow was hot glued onto a shirt for Harper! (Just in case you are wondering, I have washed this shirt many times and the bow still looks just a awesome as the day I made it!)

Filed Under: Applique, Sewing, The Girl, Tutorial

A little Tour!

January 27, 2011 23 Comments

Remember before Christmas when I did this post?!

Here is a little ”tour” of Harper’s kitchen!

I love these knobs! The red pops on the light blue!

We got this faucet from my father in law who is a plumber. It is a real faucet that was used on a little bar sink! It is perfect for Harper’s kitchen and quite in style too if I may say so myself! The faucet moves from side to side and the hot/cold water handles work too!

Oh, and these ruffles! Need I say more?!

We put Harper’s kitchen in our kitchen! She will play with it for hours!

Oh yea, I distressed the inside shelves pink! So much fun!

Harper has a bunch of “kitchen” items to play with just like mine!

Want to see the how we made this?!

Check back next week!

Filed Under: Revamping, The Girl

Bigger than ME Hair bow!

January 26, 2011 4 Comments

When I heard “It’s going to be a girl!” during my ultrasound when I was pregnant with Harper, the first image that popped into my head was a big BOW! A little girl can never have too many bows! One of the first things I made for Harper’s nursery was this bow holder (Yes, it filled up VERY fast and making her another one is on my list!):

Lately I have been making Harper a ton of hair bows (not that she didn’t have enough already…)! I love making them and it gives me a great excuse to buy pretty much every cutie patootie roll of ribbon that Hobby Lobby carries. Of course in the South, bigger is better! So I like to make big bows! Here are just a few that I whipped up:

I just LOVE making them. Not too sure why. Maybe it’s the smell of the hot glue gun (weird, I know, but I love the way it smells…). Or because my life is so insanely busy these days and I can complete this project in a few minutes. Or maybe it’s because every time Harper wears a bow made by me, she looks so stinkin’ cute! See?!

One of my favorites is what I named the “Bigger Than Me Hair bow” and it really is huge and very dramatic, but I LOVE it! She wore this one for Christmas (And Yes, I will be making her more in many different colors!):

I think I’ll share how to make a super cute hair bow for the little girl in your life!

…But that’s another day! Off to take Cliff to school!

Happy Wednesday!

Filed Under: The Girl

Holy Guacamole!

January 24, 2011 2 Comments

I love, love LOVE avocados!

I like to eat avocado on pretty much anything. One of my favorite dips of all time is guacamole.

Here is how I make it:

I pretty much measure to taste and guess how much of each ingredient I want! So feel free to add as much or as little of anything. It’ll be fabulous anyway you make it!

1 Avocado, chopped

1 Tomato, chopped

1 Garlic Clove, crushed

1/4 Onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt (secret ingredient!)

1/4 Jalapeno Pepper

1/2 Lime, squeeze juice

Mix together and serve with Pita Chips (I have a super yummie recipe I’ll share another day!), veggie crisps, vegetables, Tortilla Chips, Slap a tablespoon on a burger, or a turkey sandwich, or maybe put a dab on a spinach salad!

Or just eat it with a spoon (Yes, I did this the other night… Yuuuummmm!)! Anyway you eat it, it’ll be great!

Oh yea! And someone once told me that if you put the pit in the Guacamole, then it will not brown as fast!

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Cooking, Random, Recipe

Post Op Week 9!

January 23, 2011 2 Comments

Because of the little bug Cliff and Harper had, Cliff did not have any PT this week. So Ross and I decided that Cliff will walk pretty much EVERYWHERE he wants to go in our house! He is getting stronger and faster everyday! It is amazing to watch him walk. I still get teary eyed every time!

On Wednesday, Cliff walked into his classroom for the first day back at Pre-School since his surgery! It was one of the best moments of my life and he was so excited to show all of his friends how he can walk just like them! All of the children were so sweet. Even they seemed amazed by Cliff’s progress:

Cliff was so excited to show his friends his “new legs!”

This is a moment I will never forget! Now he doesn’t have to crawl on the floor all the time!

Go Cliff! I know all of these pictures are pretty much the same, but I am so proud of him I can’t stand it!

Don’t you love Harper over there by herself in the left corner?… Poor Harper!

Off he went into his classroom! He is such a big boy!

We are over the moon proud of Cliff and all he has accomplished! I can’t wait to see what he will be doing in eight more weeks! It is hard to believe that just two months ago, Cliff couldn’t even take one small step in his walker by himself and now he is WALKING all alone in his walker! Thank you all for your prayers and sweet messages! Please continue to pray that Cliff gains strength and endurance! God is so unbelievably wonderful to us! We are so thankful to Him!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Uncategorized

Harper’s Big Day…

January 21, 2011 3 Comments

at the Little Gym!

On Wednesday, I took Harper to the Little Gym for her first class! She is in the “birds” class. I took Cliff when he was a baby and we loved it so much, but we had to stop going once we got the diagnosis of CP so that we could focus on his therapies. And to be quite honest, it became very difficult for me to watch Cliff not have the ability to participate in most of the class once the babies became toddlers. So I am thrilled to take Harper and let her shine in the spot light for a little while! Let me tell you, she LOVED it! Every minute she was either doing a “trick” to get attention or she was clapping for herself! She was so happy and thrilled with herself. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to spend a little one on one time with her.

Here Harper is with her instructor Ms. Emily! She was Cliff’s instructor too! We love her!

Then we worked on jumping! Harper was so proud of herself! (I wish this picture was not blurry!)

…Then out came the balls! Harper was so excited!…

…and then it happened… the moment I dreaded the most… she licked the ball… Ewwww! The other mothers probably thought I was a loon when I yelled “No ‘Mam! Yucky…Haaarrrper!” and then ran over there and took the ball away… but seriously, that totally grossed me out.. I know, OCD…

Then out came to bubbles! All of the babies were so excited and enamored! They were all so cute! I love this age!

Overall Harper had a wonderful first Little Gym class! I can’t wait until next Wednesday!

Filed Under: Random, The Girl

The Order Has Been Placed!

January 20, 2011 Leave a Comment

I finally ordered the vinyl and heat transfer vinyl for my Silhouette! I literally stayed up all night last night dreaming of all of the projects I am going to do as soon as the UPS man drops the box off at my house!

I am most excited about the Frosted Glass Premium Vinyl!

I love this idea:

or maybe, I’ll do something like this:

If I had a Goldfish, I would totally do this:

Ahhh! The possibilities are ENDLESS!

Filed Under: Decorating, Silhouette

Post-Op Week 8

January 19, 2011 5 Comments

I’m a little late with this post so please excuse me!

Cliff,
For the past couple of years, your daddy and I dreamed of this day. The day when you would walk without us holding you up. The day when you could be independent and not need us to carry you everywhere you want to go. In eight short weeks, this dream we had for you became a reality.

The other day you said “Mom will you get my walker, I need to walk to my room so I can take a nap!” After picking myself off of the floor, I helped you get into your walker and you walked down our hallway to your room. Although you don’t know it now, this was one of the biggest moments of your life. This was the moment when you figured out that you can be independent.

Sometimes you get tired and your knees buckle. But that doesn’t stop you…

You push yourself up and continue on to where you want to go! Your strength and perseverance is amazing to us. You inspire us. We have learned more life lessons from you, our three year old, then we ever knew before we were blessed with you. You opened our eyes. You are so determined.

You can now “feel” your feet. And now you are learning how to use them.

Have I mentioned that you are beautiful? From the inside out. You are so sweet and kind (…most of the time!). You have a huge heart. You pureness and innocence shines. You are a child of God. Every meal before we can even sit down at the table you yell “x-cuse me… we gotta say the blessing!” And every night you say your prayers before bedtime, which make me tear up every time. You love to pray for others and we love seeing your relationship with our Lord strengthen everyday. It amazes me how someone so young can love and I mean REALLY love our Savior so much. You are so brilliant.

Your face beams with pride when you walk by yourself. I have never seen anyone more thrilled with themselves and you deserve to be just that! You want to be able to walk and run around with your friends outside and I know that you will be able to do that very soon! We are so incredibly proud of you.