Friday, October 16, 2009

Alice in Wonderland

















The pictures are pretty self explanatory. I am sooo happy to have two kids now that I can decorate to my heart's desire. I made Lydia's costume this year and it was the very first time I had even sat down to a sewing machine, so I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.














This image below is rather frightening. Can you tell who the actor is? I am planning a Mad Hatter birthday party for Emma (sure it's still 5 months away, but never too soon to prepare)and have been combing the internet finding ideas and what have you and I stumbled across this picture. As it turns out I guess "they" are making a new Alice in Wonderland. Check out the trailer for it from the link I have below this photo. It looks awesome/disturbing. It will probably have the same effect on kids as Labrynth and Return to Oz had on me.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Recent Projects


I went to my Aunt Lee's last weekend and it was soooo nice to get things done. Lee and Jessica watched the girls while I finished multiple items on my craft list. Lydia's Cheshire costume, headbands, and this Halloween Banner that I am just tickled with. It's simple, cheap, and festive.



My friend Carrie gave me this idea for a potion shelf. I've had so much fun making it and Emma thinks all the potions are real. I used bottles we had around the house and items we had in our cupboards. Some of the potions are moon dust, bottled swamp fog, bat skeletons, and Emma's favorite is dead man's toes. Something fun and cheap, my two favorite combinations.





























BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES....
This was the play area before....

This is the play area now. I bought the doll house/book shelf on KSL for $15 and then made that SUPER cheap photo arrangement for less than $20. My mom was getting rid of those white decorations and I gladly took them off her hands.


When Kylee and Brody moved they didn't want to take this desk with them, so I gladly took it off their hands. Then I just bought cute scrap paper and had a piece of glass custom fit and voila! Perfect table for a little girl.




This was the family room before. I was so sick of looking at that keyboard/piano. I eventually want to take lessons and have the girls take lessons, but this just isn't the time. So my friend is borrowing it for a few years. I also needed something above that candle holder but never knew what, it was always rather empty.











AFTER..... My aunt Lee took that darling photo of Lydia so I recreated the same photo of Emma to match it. I LOVE how it turned out. Ryan thinks Emma looks like Little Foot, but I just love it of both the girls. Again, it cost me less than $10.


I'm not CRAZY about this new arrangement but it's something different which buys me some more time in this house. A fresh rearrangement goes a long way with me.















This was the BEFORE photo. I never loved that window there and I hated the color. I ended up painting it green and putting it in the nursery and now I love it there and love it green.








This is the AFTER. Much better.






























Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Day to Day

Wow! I can't believe how very busy I've been. I'm TRYING to be better with taking pictures of day to day activities, and not just photo shoots, but it's a work in progress. So I'm sitting here and it's 1 am and I have NO idea where the time has gone. Usually Ryan and I try to be in bed by 11, but up until he got his new job we used to stay up every night until 1 or 2! Those days are gone, except for tonight :) So here is a recap. The photos are not edited and there's kind of a lot of them :)























First thing's first...Ryan's new job, a lot of people keep asking me about it. I know he will not be pumped I put this picture on here, but too bad, he doesn't read this blog anyway. So it's going good. He leaves the house around 6 am every day and doesn't get home until 6 or 7, so long days for him. He does have a work truck which is nice and the company has been very good to set him up for success. It's nice to see him busy and although he's stressed it's a good stress because we know in these hard times that it's better to be overworked than have no work...we've been there. So Ryan is good, he's busy with being Scout Master and work and still trying to be a family man. Right now he's back east for some more training, but this time he's only gone for one week. I just can't imagine the burden of providing for a family and I'm so glad that's not my responsibility. Not that Ryan ever reads this, but just in case he does I just want to say thank you for all your hard work.

Moving on. Ryan's parents came down for Lydia's baby blessing and I had a wonderful time visiting with them. Ryan was busy so he didn't see as much of them as I did but I really enjoyed them. I fall into a rare percentage where I LOVE my in-laws. The night before they left the three of us stayed up until 1:30 having a great emotional conversation about life. That will be something I'll always remember. Thank you for coming to see us Margo and Clay!

Next on the list is the fun little accessory that my friend's sister makes. She has a website and these beanies are just too cute and very reasonably priced. Check them out at
http://bbeanies.blogspot.com/
My friend Carrie took these pictures of the kids in their beanies. She is mega talented and quite reasonably priced herself. So check her photo blog out too while you're at it. Her name is Carrie and her business is called Carried Away. Can you stand how cute that is? I love it.















This picture is of little sister just looking cute. She is kind of a "sensitive" baby. The crying is getting better and even still I just love every minute with her...well, honestly, the minutes when she's not crying.
This picture of me and Emma was on Emma's first and last day of my attempting to do pre-school with her. God did not give me the gift to "teach" or I should say the patience to teach. So that was short lived and we'll just enjoy a simple coloring time and leave the alphabet to the professionals.

Below is a picture of Emma waiting outside for Annie to come and pick her up for an adventure. My mom has been so good to help me out by taking Emma every now and then. I adore Emma, but I never realized how much work a 3 year old is until I had a 3 month old who is immobile and can't talk.








These peaches are my most exciting recent creation. I saw them on The Big Red Kitchen's blog and went out one day and copied them. They're super easy, just a little bit time consuming, but seriously the yummiest cupcake ever!








Lydia finally got her shots (a month late) and was pretty good considering how not good she felt. I just thought this was a sweet picture of Ryan comforting her, especially since he hardly ever gets to see her.




Wee Witches Weekend was last weekend at Gardner Village. Carrie and I took the girls and left the babies with their dads. It was so fun to get out and do something just for Emma. She is so helpful and so obedient and good natured that I really enjoyed giving her a whole afternoon of magical fun.































Sometimes I look at this little girl and think "Man, she's got it good!"
























When I see pictures like this one above of Emma I just think to myself "Good for me, I'm a good mom, kids are supposed to be kids."
But for those of you who know me, I mostly prefer Emma to be more like the picture below. I let her get sparkly eyes done by a witch and I'm not ashamed to say it, but Emma Loo Hoo is one darling girl.






































Gardner Village is one of my favorite places. For those of you who are crazy and have never been to witches night out you HAVE to go this year, it's a must. Also, Wee Witches has just found a place at the top of my list of favorite things and I can't wait to take Emma again next year.



I just had to add these photos of the Candy Store at Gardner Village. It reminds me of something that would be at Hogsmead. This store rivals that of Bruce's Candy Kitchen, except nothing will ever compete with the location of Cannon Beach, so for now this candy shop will rank number 2.

All right, that's all for now. I should have another post again soon and hopefully this time I can keep them more frequent than once a month :)