Family Gift Swap - Baltimore, MD - November 2011

I can't believe I'm already thinking about Christmas gifts.  reason number one is that it's in the 60's out side and I didn't even wear a coat today.  Reason number two is, if it's almost Christmas than I have less than 3 months till we meet this sweet baby! Yay!

After doing the family Christmas crazy dance last year, my siblings and I chattered about potentially doing a name swap this year so that we could concentrate more on the season rather than the mad dash to be sure you'd gotten everyone a gift.  So a few weeks ago I reintroduced the idea and everyone was still game to give it a go, so I volunteered to organize.

First off, I found this website which made it super easy to randomly generate the swap.  It allows you to set exceptions so that you don't draw your spouse or the same person you drew last year.

Second, I wanted to find a cute way to let my family know who they'd drawn. Yes, e-mail is "easy" but a cute card in the mail is WAY more fun!!!

I got these great "I Am Thankful For" cards from this Jones Design Company post.  This isn't how she used the cards, but I thought they were perfect for what I'm calling "Swap Cards".

I found these colorful blank cards at Target and stuck the "thankfulness" cards to the blank cards 

This is the finished product. 

(NOTE: The lower "eat-drink-be merry" card was from this JDC Free Christmas goodies post and I used it to communicate the "swap" details.)

I sent them to each family member with instructions to include the card with a message when they gave their gift.  This may sound silly to some, but this year more than ever I'm really feeling the need to stay connected to my family as we aren't going to be able to return to Tennessee for Christmas and both of my younger siblings could very likely be deployed fighting for our country next Christmas.

It was my goal to make it as easy as possible for each of us to know how much we are loved and to know that each of us hold a VERY special place in our family.

I miss and love them like crazy!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage

A Ponytail FINALLY!!! - Baltimore, MD - November 2011

I was mentioning to the Hub last night while playing with the Monkey's hair that I really thought it might FINALLY be long enough for a ponytail. I don't quite remember what his response was, but I'm sure it was something like,  "okay?".

Anyway, this morning, at her first peep, I rushed into her room, scooped her up and said something like "guess what today is? It's your FIRST PONYTAIL DAY!!!"

I must say, by far, I was the most excited about this milestone... 

Is this not the cutest, tiniest, little ponytail you've ever seen!

(NOTE TO READER: Those cute barrettes came out just after I took the pictures, as they're small enough to end up in her mouth, which I'm SURE would be the first place they'd go.)

I've been asked by SEVERAL people how I keep her still long enough to fix her hair?

That would be... iPhone Bribery! =)  Just kidding!

The truth is for the most part she sits pretty still and "reads" books, but as I said in my pig tail post, this has been  a bit of a process and my suggestion to mama's of little girls is, "START EARLY"!!!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

A Thanksgiving Craft C/O JDC Monthly - Baltimore, MD - November 2011

I joined JDC Monthly's printables a couple of months ago and have really enjoyed the cute calendars and note cards.  Another fun part is that she does a really cute DIY craft each month.  The first month she made her own envelopes.  Mine didn't turn out nearly as cute as hers.  The corners were all wonky  and none of my lines were straight (probably because I can't make a straight line to save my life) but I'm sure I just need more practice.

Each month generally has a theme, and this month had a hint of Thanksgiving.  I LOVED how cute it turned out in her house, so I decided to give it  a whirl.

So, after last year's whirl wind of putting up and taking down Christmas decorations with an infant under foot and only really getting to enjoy them for a few weeks, i decided that this year I'd start decorating after Halloween.  By doing this, our home would look festive and beautiful all the way through the holiday season.  So I started with our fireplace.

Before craft: This garland came from Sams Club last year and the "PEACE" letters were an after Christmas bargain 5 years ago from HomeGoods

 Craft in progress: I printed and cut out the letters from heavy card stock, then glittered the fronts...

 and backs of each letter.

 I used spray glu and fine glitter.

(I started using a glue stick, but the glitter didn't stick very well at all.)

 After letting everything dry for about an hour I punched two holes in the top of each letter and  threaded some twine through the holes to connect the letters.

FIRST LESSEN LEARNED: I think I'll let the glitter dry a little more if I do this again, because there was a little more glitter lost than I would have liked when I threaded the twine through the holes.

SECOND LESSEN LEARNED: When possible, do all gluing and glittering OUTSIDE!!!  Even after vacuming 3 times there is still glitter in places that I didn't even know existed.

After all the glitter settled, I hung the letters from the hooks that will eventually hold our stockings

Definitely don't needs stockings before Thanksgiving! =)

I LOVE IT!!!

(And it is note worthy to say that the Hub actually said it looked really good and he REALLY liked it too! YAY!!!)

Another (LESS SPARKLY) Thanksgiving craft coming soon!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Candy... STAT!!! - Baltimore, MD - October 2011

Last year, for Halloween, even though we didn't go door to door trick-or-treting, I couldn't resist dressing our little monkey up for the occasion.  She had two costumes...

A Monkey...

 I LOVE the tail!

And a Frog!

 

I LOVE both costumes and she wore them both from when they swallowed her up, until she was literally about to pop out of them.  I can't wait for "Little Sticks" to be able to wear them.  Dressed up babies are too cute!

This year she was a doctor.

When I was little we always went to our church's carnival for Halloween so I've never actually done door to door trick-or-treating, so we were really excited that Daddy was able to join us for our first trick-or-treating adventure!

It was really funny how quickly she caught on to knocking, saying "thank you"...

And then checking her bag for goodies,

She was great at sharing!

When we got home and dumped out the candy she was very cautious about if it all was hers, as I don't think she's ever even seen that much candy all in one place.

Daddy inspected all her candy and after going back and forth between Reese's Pieces and a candy bar, she finally decided that her first Halloween candy treat would be a Hershey's Cookies & Cream mini. 

Our little girl has good taste!  What a fun time!  Who knows what she'll be next year...

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Pig Tails - Baltimore, MD. - October 2011

We've been a wandering family for the last couple of months, so the next few posts I'm going to work my way through our late summer and early fall travels, but for now, Here's a quick post of something that makes me smile every time I see them.

About the middle of August her hair was finally long enough to do something with.  I was so excited! 

 I LOVE her pig tails!

Even though she isn't always happy about the process ...

 (Her tears have gotten significantly less since this first tearful event.  SOMETIMES there's no crying at all!)

 There is much dancing after they're up!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

A Blog Wworth Sharing - Baltimore, MD - October 2011

A friend of ours linked me to this blog, 3 Kids, a Mini-Van, & a Mortgage, about 9 months ago.  Reading this mother's unedited account of her family's walk through their daughter Lucy's battle with a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer, Medulloblastoma, has become a regular part of my week.

I don't know her, but every time I reconnect with their story I find myself in uncontrolled tears.  Her writing is eloquent, heartfelt, and straight from her soul.  it isn't odd to find the time stamps on her posts at 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning.  Her ability to capture their experience, not only in words, but also in pictures is breathtaking.  I'm sure she has become immune to these images of 

smooth hairless heads,

the healing power of sleep,

little ones asleep in red Radial flyer wagons,

and the masks, tubes and wires,

...but I still get knots in my throat knowing the underlying cause of each of these things that have become so routine in her world.   Her blog is followed by just under 1500 followers and she posts several times a week. Their story has touched so many people.

There is nothing I can do for their sweet family except pray and share her blog and their story in hopes that you will, regardless of your faith, find a moment to fall to your knees and pray for them and thank God for your healthy children knowing that each day with them is a gift.

This is her post from February 24 2011 (the first post doccumenting Lucy's illness):

"Life can change. In the blink of an eye. It happens. You are never prepared for it. And when it does you just try to survive. And that's what we are doing right now. Surviing. I am going to use this blog to update Lucy's status and track her recovery so that one day she can look back at what she went through and know how much her mommy loves her. Tomorrow morning at 7:00am the staff at LeBonheur Children's Hospital will come get my baby girl for the biggest event of her life. 4-6 hours of a grueling surgical procedure to remove 3 brain tumors and 1 tumor from her back. Every time I allow myself to think about it I want to vomit. It doesn't seem real. Last night when I went to sleep I prayed that when I woke up this would all be a bad dream. Funny thing is, I never slept. So I feel as if I have been in a walking nightmare for 2 days. Tomorrow is going to be hard for us all. I don't think any of us are really prepared for the rollercoaster we are about to ride. I just don't understand why it had to be Lucy. I could understand why God would want to put this disease on me. I have had 33 years to live a sinful life. I DESERVE to suffer. But not Lucy. She's only 5. But that's not how God works. I know that. There's a reason for all of this. I will NEVER understand it, but that's not my job. My job is to remain faithful and trust that God will heal my sweet girl. Medulloblastoma is no match for my Father. I will praise Him in this storm while I cling to the hope that He will extend his hand of mercy and grace to Lucy in the days, weeks and months to come."

Her honesty, faith, and strength have made me a stronger believer, and a better wife and mother.  Thank you Kate!

Till Next Time,

Bon Voyage!

I Crave Movies - Baltimore, MD - October 2011

So although I absolutly crave different sorts of foods while I'm pregnant, what I crave most of all is MOVIES!!!  While pregnant with The Monkey I think I watched Julie and Julia at least 40 times and Juno... Well that number is pretty obscene and probably realistically falls somewhere in the 60's.  I know it sounds bad, but don't forget I was on Bedrest for 7 weeks.

This time around I find myself drawn to older movies that hold some sort of scentimental significance.  Old baseball movies like Field of Dreams,  For the Love of the Game, The Sandlot, Rookie of the Year, and Eight Men Out.  They aren't all fantastic movies, but they remind me of my dad and watching them on Sunday afternoon was one of our favorite pass times.

I also have had a hankering for The Sound of Music.  Little known fact, my older sister and I can sing EVERY song in this movie pretty much by heart.

In my DVD player, as we speek is one of my all time favorites which I believe I'll watch again tonight (4 time) before I send it back to NetFlix, is the 1994 version of Little Women that has be in tears within the first 5 minutes. I just can't stop myself!

I still make a regular go at Juno, but my copy of Julie and Julia is missing in action (maybe it ran away with my Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred that the Hub says I conveniently lost).  Thank goodness I've been able to get my Meryl Streep fix from weekly submersion into The Devil Wears Prada while folding towels durring the Monkey's nap.  The only problem is that watching it has got me  wishing for more Anne Hathaway, which could go a great many dirrections... SIGH!!!

My one complaint is Instant Queue. Although NetFlix has been a big help durring all of my late night needs for the silver screen, the amount of material on "Instant Queue" is pretty disapointing.  Of the movies I've listed, only 2 are available instantly.  The others I've had to wait a couple of days for.  I have been able to get my Friday Night Lights fix instantly as all five seasons are now at my fingertips via Instant Queue, so this is a big plus, but still, I want more!

Pregnant or not, what movies to you crave?

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!