Bringing Home Ezra

Updated pics of my sponsor kiddos in Ethiopia

2012-01-22T08:39:00.000-06:00

Once a year Karen Wistrom (a fellow adoptive mom and sponsor coordinator for Children's Hopechest) organizes a trip to Ethiopia so sponsor families like us can go and visit the children they sponsor and see the progress their making on the schools and other projects. This year I planned to go but we had a happy surprise in that we were selected to be Libby's adoptive parents so my plans quickly changed once she came to live with us a couple months before I was set to leave for Ethiopia.
Karen's group brings small care packages to each child and they are photographed opening them and looking at their goodies since some sponsors can't be there to see their reactions for themselves. I can't believe how much my kiddos have grown. Frehiwot looks like a teenager already :)

This is Frehiwot, he attends Trees of Glory care center:

This is my little Meskerem, she attends Kind Hearts care center. I was lucky enough to meet her in person when I went to Ethiopia 2 years ago:

If you are interested in learning more about Children's Hopechest or becoming a sponsor yourself please click HERE to visit Karen's blog to learn how.

Football fanatic

2012-01-20T14:15:00.001-06:00

Every week Ezra seems to fixate on a movie, sport, or character, and wants to dress up in that way and watch movies about whichever subject he's fixated on. Last week was all about Harry Potter, this week it's football.

Going out for the catch:

He practices his kicking skills on some of Libby's toys:

The cutest little football player ever!

Some new photos...

2012-01-15T17:25:00.000-06:00

Today we went to the Fort Worth Stockshow and had some fun looking at all the cute animals.

This goat lived up to the hype that goats will eat anything:

One of Texas' own Longhorns:

Ezra loved the baby chickens, that is until he stuck his finger in the cage and got a little "pinch".

I think we have a photogenic goat here:

Here are a few more random pictures that I'm only just now posting...
Playing soldiers with Daddy.

Bubble fun:

I wonder what bubbles taste like?......

Lastly, here's quick photo of Libby's room in progress. I finally finished the gallery wall, and was able to take down her old ceiling fan and install this new chandelier. I also bought the bedding from Pottery Barn kids so. I will be doing a post to break down the entire room once it's done or close to done but there are still lots of elements that I'm adding as I get the funds to do so :)

A bit of this and a touch of that...

2012-01-13T13:21:00.000-06:00

So it's been forever since I've posted and I feel terrible about neglecting the blog so much lately so I finally made myself sit down to do a quick post. First of all did you guys see this dress that Michael made on Project Runway last night???
I mean seriously, he made this in a day with a $350.00 budget. He didn't win the challenge but I think it's one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time.

The other day I couldn't find Ezra anywhere, then the dogs actually gave him away... he was having a blast playing underneath Libby in the exersaucer.

Why afros and Christmas trees don't mix...

Ezra was crawling beneath our tree and popped up with a surprise in his hair.

For Christmas my grandmother sent me this beautiful huge pearl and diamond ring as an heirloom piece. This is the first piece of jewelry that has ever been passed down to me from anyone and I just adore it! I can't wait to pass it down to Libby one day.

My Libby is named after my grandmother Elizabeth, "Libby". A friend of hers brought back this pendant from Egypt with the name Libby in heiroglyphics for her years ago and she also passed this down to my Libby. It has VERY SPECIAL meaning with our Libby's history which I will be able to share with you guys once she's adopted. It was a perfect gift and I'm sure she will cherish it always.

A quick update:
My mom had her first chemo treatment last week but hasn't had any negative side effects yet and was actually able to go to New Orleans to see LSU play at the National Championship game. (insert heavy sigh and sad face here). She has 5 more treatments to go but hopefully she'll continue to be able to deal with them okay.
Libby cut her first tooth last week!!! How a tooth can be so darn cute is beyond me, but I have to look at it everyday. :) She's still teeny tiny and at 8 months old I am finally able to move her up out of her 3 month old clothes.
Yesterday Ezra and I went to tour a local private school near our house called All Saints. It's a really nice school with a beautiful campus. I was thoroughly impressed though the tuition is a bit shocking. Ezra will be 4 in June so he would be in the pre-K class so the teacher was telling me how they are working on their writing and showed me their journals with their letter tracings and free drawing, etc. I had to look away because I found myself getting teary eyed! The kids just looked so grown up and it was like real school and I just couldn't believe my baby boy will be writing his letters soon in his own notebook... it was such a small thing but I guess it just hasn't hit me that he's not a baby anymore.

Also I have been neglecting blogging so much b/c I have a new addiction... Pinterest! I used to find things I loved and post to them to the blog but now I can just pin them, so be sure to check out my pinterest page by clicking on the button in the side bar to come and see all the fun finds, great food, and beautiful decor!

Some freebies for the new year

2012-01-01T18:29:00.000-06:00

This morning I made some prints for Libby's gallery wall. I'm working on gathering funky and modern prints for her room and some that I saw that I liked on etsy I just decided to create my own versions. J'adore Francaise so they are in French.

I used Ribba frames from IKEA to create some cohesion. I'll post a photo of the completed wall once I get all the prints I ordered in.
Just click on any of the designs below to enlarge and then save to your computer. I changed the print size in photoshop before printing them just FYI.
This print I designed is an adoption based quote. It says, "Not flesh of our flesh or bone of our bone, but still divinely ours."

Here it is set in a 4X6 frame:

I saw something like this on etsy and decided to make my own version. Just click on the image below to save to your computer. It can be used for Valentine's Day cards or any number of projects.

Here it is framed out and ready to hang:

an up close look:

I hope you guys enjoy these little creations and have a blessed 2012!

my blog has been hacked!

2011-12-28T13:56:00.000-06:00

I just realized that someone has hacked into my blog and put 2 posts up. I didn't click on the info to know what the links were even directing people to but just beaware that I had nothing to do with those posts whatever they contained. I will be addressing this issue and hope to be able to post to the blog again soon and know that it's safe.

An easy and inexpensive way to display your Christmas cards...

2011-12-14T15:45:00.001-06:00

I bought an old rustic wooden frame at a garage sale a year ago for $15.00. I wanted to use it for the "general store" sign for Ezra's birthday party but that never came to fruition, so instead it's just been sitting in the garage eating away at Michael. The garage is HIS space and when too many of MY things start accumulating in there he gets antsy.
I usually just tape up the Christmas cards we get in the kitchen but this year I remembered the frame and had an idea:

I just used a staple gun (every woman should own a staple gun) and tacked down some polished hemp string to the back side of the frame at distances I estimated would be far enough apart to allow the average Christmas card to hand nicely.

I also bought some clothespins at Target and sprayed them with an adhesive spray inside a cardboard box so as not to make everything sticky and used some German glass glitter to add some bling to one side of the clothespins.

And here's the finished product with some of our cards hung up. Quick and easy but still cute and more then just a piece of scotch tape.

All grown up...

2011-12-14T15:23:00.000-06:00

Michael has been in Italy/Malta for the past few weeks on a short deployment which means I have been treading water trying to keep from drowning, while I wait for him to get back. Keeping up with the kiddos while working has been exhausting, frustrating, and lonely. I adore my kids and they make me happy everyday, but they also make me want to run and hide in my closet at times :)
Libby's teething and we've all been plagued by some stomach bug that just won't seem to go away. What has been the most exciting thing about this time though has been to see how much Ezra has stepped up into his big brother role and how amazing he is as my little helper. I am surprised daily at how little I expected of a 3 year old, and what they can actually do on their own.
I have been so blessed to have Ezra as a "helper" during this time and he impresses me everyday. We've kind of developed a routine during bathtimes and in the mornings to get both kids ready in a timely manner. Well the other day I'd given the kids a bath and I handed Ezra his towel to get dried off and usually I'll put Libby in her exersaucer and then go and dress Ezra, but by the time I was turning around to walk back into the bathroom he ran into the kitchen and he said, "Mama, mama LOOK!" And this is what greeted me:

Ezra had managed to put on his shirt and pants and even his socks and boots all by himself. well sort of...

His boots were on the wrong feet...

and his shirt was on backward AND inside out, but still I was just so proud of him.

If I ask him to get my Libby's diapers or bibs he knows where they are, he likes to hold her bottle for her to eat, he loves to hold her little face in both of his hands and say- "hey my pretty girl", he lavishes her with kisses and wants to be the first one to tell her "Good Morning", he knows to throw away something he's done with like his juice box or yogurt, he'll feed the dogs and let them go outside to potty, if he spills something he'll run to grab a towel to wipe it up, if he hears the baby crying he HAS to alert me right away - "Mama, MY baby is crying go check on her!", he knows to pick up his toys at the end of the day, and he loves to say his prayers at night. He's just the most awesome little human and I can't believe he's only been on the Earth for 3.5 years!

What I have learned from my mom's breast cancer...

2011-12-14T13:39:00.000-06:00

(This is a medical post and not a philosophical one just FYI)
Well as many of you know my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer about 4 months ago. It was found on a routine annual mammogram on the left side. Initially she was told that the lump appeared to be pretty small and that they could likely just do a lumpectomy with radiation. (as my sister said, "they made cancer sound like Christmas). Well as she went in for further testing, the MRI with a dye study revealed cancer in the right breast as well. Her previous mammogram and ultrasound were negative and not until they did the MRI did they find the abnormal tissue. I say this because she is living proof that you could be walking around with breast cancer right now and think you didn't have it b/c of the imaging techniques used. If you're over 50 I would request to have the MRI done if your insurance will cover it as it's the most specific/sensitive test they have.
The cancer in both breasts was the game changer and one of her oncologists (she's got THREE b/c they all specialize in different things) recommended a double masectomy. So about 3 weeks ago she had surgery to remove both breasts and the associated lymph nodes in each arm. The histopathology of the lymph nodes was clean so they then told her that she likely wouldn't need follow up chemotherapy or radiation but instead would just need to take some pill for the next 5 years and get scanned every 6 months. Just to be sure they recommended she do something called Onco-typing. Now after initially getting her hopes up of no chemo she just heard today that there's a 36% chance of recurrance in the lungs/brain/bones, w/o chemo because of the onco-typing results.
So yet another disappointment. This went from, oh you'll just have a lumpectomy with radiation to oops, well now you'll need a double masectomy but no chemo, to well.. actually we need to do chemo. I am posting about this because I'm furious. Since the first time my mom told me about her cancer I have been saying... how can they say this or that w/o the tests to back it up? I may be a veterinarian but we see mammary cancer ALL the time and we can't just run to an oncologist, we have to do everything - diagnose it, surgically remove it, then do chemo/radiation whatever is required. I feel that because there are so many subspecialties w/in specialties like oncology the fact that it took three months just for her to even have surgery is atrocious and the fact that they keep sugar coating everything and giving her only the best outcome has constantly set her up for disappointment and grief. She's grieving over the life she thought she'd be able to lead only to have it ripped away from her at different doctor's offices.
I'm sure she'll be fine and the surgery went well and she's healing nicely but I just know from my perspective as a doctor that all this back and forth and lack of communication b/w the doctors and rose tinted glasses... I know I couldn't get away with that as a veterinarian but it's acceptable in human medicine??
I keep telling her that you HAVE to advocate for yourself. I had a friend/client named Nancy (41 years old) who was diagnosed with breast cancer a little over a year ago. They did chemo then did a double masectomy with reconstruction. Everything went great but on her recheck they noticed that her blood work still was off so they sent her in for another scan. The initial scan didn't reveal anything abnormal so luckily they redid it but this time included her head in it. Well she had mets to her brain. They did another surgery but still only gave her a prognosis of 5 years to live. I just found out today that she passed away on Friday. I think they gave her a prognosis of 5 years about 5 months ago. I know medicine isn't exact and who could know what God's plan is.. but I DO know that it's easy to demand that a full scan be done just to be sure it's not metastasized to other places.
Sorry for the length of this post but I just really really really want to push for people to go and do the research for yourself, talk to people who have been through it and make sure you NEVER stop pushing for the best care and testing for yourself.

Adorable stop motion pregnancy video

2011-12-03T23:29:00.002-06:00

Soooooooo creative and sweet. I wish I would think of things like this.

Organizing pesky puzzles...

2011-12-03T21:40:00.000-06:00

Ezra is in a puzzle phase. He LOVES them, but I am so over the pieces everywhere and the boxes are falling apart. I think Santa will be bringing him several puzzles for Christmas and as you can see below they just get to be really bulky and space consuming:

So I decided to place them in freezer sized ziplock bags. I just cut off the image of the puzzle from the front of the box lid and taped it to the front of the ziplock.

There are 6 puzzles in this recyclable grocery bag and you can see how much room there is to spare and it's easy to store in the closet and Ezra can just take the bag out when he wants to make one of his puzzles.

Much better :)

My cool little dude with his puzzle bag.

Our handsome boy...

2011-11-27T14:11:00.000-06:00

Just click on the image to enlarge. I'm not sure why it won't show up larger.

Family fun...

2011-11-27T13:50:00.000-06:00

Ezra and his cousin Cooper. I swear we don't make him lift weights :)

Ezra's cousin Maddox training a new breed of hunting dog - the Pekingese :)

Before Michael left I wanted to do a family craft so we decided to make a gingerbread house:

A must try hair product

2011-11-27T12:57:00.000-06:00

I have the finest, straightest hair in the world. It has NEVER held curl for more then 3 hours much less ALL day until now. I told my hairdresser that I love the look of soft curls that you can achieve with a flat iron but that mine never stay very long. She then told me about this amazing product below:

It's RUSK Thermal flat iron spray. And here's what you do at home.
First spray your entire head. (this is to show how well it holds. I just held my head upside down and sprayed and this is how it looked when I stood up)

Second: you brush through your hair. It will feel soft and supple like theren't no product in it.

Lastly curl with your 1" flat iron and this is the end result. I watched several (like EIGHT) youtube videos on how to curl your hair with a flat iron and with some practice now I feel pretty confident.

I just wanted to share this info with you guys in the blog world for anyone who has hair like mine but wants to achieve this look. Enjoy!

Some photos and freebies!

2011-11-26T19:27:00.000-06:00

This weekend I wanted to try and get some family photos taken before Michael leaves for his latest deployment to order some Christmas cards. These are a few of the photos we got thanks to my sister and my mom's camera (I'm too cheap to buy a nice one). I'll post more later on hopefully with some more freebies if I can get some free time. Libby's sick and already puked on me twice today, poor girl.

Sadly I still can't post any photos of Libby but we got some really cute ones that I wish I could share with you guys :( . If you like what you see just click on the images below to enlarge then save to your computer and just slip your own photos below and erase any overhang in any photo editing software. The images are 500 pixels wide.

Trying to be fancy...

2011-11-20T09:37:00.000-06:00

My mom came home from the hospital yesterday after having a double masectomy and lymph node removal so I thought I'd be fancy and make the 2011 Southern Living winner of their "white cake" contest.
Here is a picture of what the cake is supposed to look like:

This is what my cake started off as. Basically it's a layer of gingerbread cake with a silky chocolate ganache, then you top it off with toffee chips and do that 3 times then the icing is a whipped cream with ginger infusion.

I followed all the directions to the letter but alas when I tried to put my second layer on it fell apart.

Did I mention that this cake takes NINE hours to make!!! Yea, I was furious that all my work ended in a hot mess. In the end I had to salvage it I just threw it in a large bowl poured the whipped cream topping on it, and made a "sort of" trifle. It still tasted delicous but I was totally bummed.

So the lesson learned is NEVER make this cake again, and I would warn anyone else who's considering making this marathon cake to reconsider and go with something a bit easier.

Guess who!?!

2011-11-18T17:57:00.000-06:00

Ezra came up to me in this morning looking like this and asked, "who am I Mama?"

hmmmmmm.......... I took in the apparent onesie head dress + the ball cap and was left with a blank expression.

ezra: "Mama, who am I?"

I wanted to say a homeless crack head, but I didn't think that would go over well, so still with no clue, I had him turn to the side:

None the wiser,I told him, "I give up buddy, who are you?"

drum roll please......

ezra: "LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD"

Yeah, I didn't see that one coming either.

Alice in Wonderland party printables

2011-11-18T17:42:00.000-06:00

I bought a vintage Alice in Wonderland golden book and cut out the images of the characters I liked then scanned them in and created these little party printables to use for Libby's first birthday party and wanted to share them with you. I'll likely be reworking them in other ways so there will probably be many more Alice in Wonderland themed printables coming your way but this is what I've got going at the moment. Just click on the images below to enlarge then save to your computer.

Here are some fun polaroid digital freebies

2011-11-18T17:33:00.000-06:00

I wanted to create some cute polaroid frames with this washi tape for my own blog posts but of course I had to share with you guys as well. Here's a cluster that you can add on top of any of your own digital scrapbooking papers and just slip your own photos beneath the frames.

Here are the frames seperated out individually:

This last one is just a quick page. Just click on the image to enlarge and then save to your computer:

More digital freebies that didn't go through yesterday.

2011-11-07T13:26:00.000-06:00

Not sure what happened yesterday but these few images didn't upload - sorry. Here are two more quick pages and this football element to use as you see fit :)

Just click on the images below to enlarge then save to your computer.

Lots of digital freebies!

2011-11-06T13:34:00.000-06:00

In an effort to lighten things up a bit this morning I created some digital freebies to share with you guys. The quick pages are are 3600 pixels so they are huge files but will print out nicely. And the elements have been shrunk down in pixel size some but still will be great to print out or to use as photo frames or your blog posts. Hope you enjoy.

Sex trafficking of boys in an unlikely place

2011-11-05T22:20:00.000-05:00

When I think of Afghanistan and sex trafficking I typically think only of the little girls that are married off to older men sometimes as young as 8 and 9 years of age. I never in a million years thought that such prudish men at the highest rank in the Afghan military and police force would each "own" a boy or boys to use as sex slaves.
As the video below shows they practice something called Bacha Bazi where a "master" find boys on the street or in poor provinces and basically buy the boys from their parents. They are then trained to sing and dance and of course provide "services" to the men who will be purchasing them. If a boy tries to escape he's killed. p.e.r.i.o.d. If he is difficult he's beaten into submission.

At bacha bazi parties the boys are dressed in women's clothing and then dance for a group of men who bid on them in the hopes of taking them home for the night for sex.
What I was shocked to find was that these are married men with children of their own and that so many of these men are men of wealth and power who seem to feel no shame/remorse for their actions. Ambitious men who are seeking to be up and comers feel like they HAVE to have a boy or else they will never be able to achieve the status of the higher ups so they also engage in the practice.

The video below is the best one I could find with a snipet of the film:

I wanted to share this with you guys b/c I know these human rights attrocities occur every day and I certainly don't want to stay ignorant to them. I HATE that there are children who have to endure this suffering and I HATE that there are adults who seem to have no problem perpetrating this kind of abuse, but if we don't know about it how can we stop it?!

Last day to vote for Children's Hopechest to get 50K

2011-11-04T08:20:00.000-05:00

Dear Ministry Partners,

This is the final day of voting at GIVING OF LIFE. The top 20 organizations have a shot at a $50,000 grant. We have just over 2500 votes, and we need your help to get that number over 3,000 by the end of the day.

Would you take a minute to click HERE to vote for Children's HopeChest?

Help keep HopeChest in the running for a $50,000 grant.

If we are awarded the grant, HopeChest will use it to fund our Russia Ministry Centers--one of our critical tools for ensuring that orphans in Russia find a safe and stable future.
Thank you for being a voice!

For the Fatherless,
Tom Davis
CEO

P.S. Please share this link on Facebook and Twitter and your blog. The more votes we get, the better our chances of staying in the running for the $50,000 grant. Thank you!

An update and some sad news...

2011-11-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

I just found out that Libby's foster mom from birth to 3 months of age passed away in her sleep unexpectedly. Vera Moore devoted her life to foster children and provided a loving home for over 100 children while they waited for their forever families. She's also the adoptive mother to a teenage girl who will be needing our prayers during this time. I am completely in shock but find comfort in knowing that she was a believer and certainly has earned her place in Heaven. Please keep Vera and her family in your prayers over the next few days.

In other news we found out that my mom has breast cancer and will have to have a double masectomy early this month. Please keep her in your prayers for peace and healing.
Also this month is our court hearing where hopefully they will terminate parental rights for Libby. Our agency and Libby's attorney are trying to get all of the court paperwork in order so we pray that the judge will opt to terminate rights now as opposed to waiting 6 months.

Fun finds for the people on your Christmas list.

2011-10-30T19:42:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard of uncommon goods, stop reading and go there now... well maybe wait until you get to the end of this post, but either way do it quick. I love this shop and all the fun finds.

Here are some of my favorites from the latest catalogue:

I LOVE these heads. I think they would look amazing in a modern boy's room/nursery.

I bought these socks for Libby in the jewel tones seen here as well as the pastel version. I LOVE them! so cute and very durable with little to no fading from washing.

The veterinarian in me couldn't resist these super cool pet blue prints. For most dog and cat breeds including mutts! I think these would look tres chic in a man's office.

Personalized family pillows! What a great idea for a cool chair. I love that you can include your pets too.

This is on my personal wish list. I love soup and a sandwich but there aren't any good plates so you wind up having to carry the bowl then the plate, plus your drink. This tray solves that problem beautifully.

I think these faux cork candles are fantastic! we're not big wine drinkers but I think they would add so much ambiance to a wine and cheese party or just a grown up get together.

These whiskey stones are a great idea for the man in your life. I know love the idea of the soapstone keeping the scotch cold w/o watering it down.

Must see movie

2011-10-30T18:01:00.000-05:00

Apparently this movie came out in 2009 but I only heard of it recently thanks to Netflix and I finally watched it last night. The lead role is played by who I consider to be the most beautiful woman in the world, Ethiopian born model Liya Kebede.

Desert Flower is about the life of Somali born supermodel Waris Dirie. She was a victim of female genital mutilation at age 3 and was to be married at 10 or 11 to an old man in her village to become his 4th wife. Instead of succumbing to that fate she walked across the desert to Mogadishu to her grandmother's house. She then went to work as a maid for her aunt in London became homeless and then went on to become a supermodel who advocates against female circumsision.
Apparently some EIGHT THOUSAND little girls have the entirety of their genitalia cut off a DAY. Typically using rusty/dull razor blades the tissue is removed and then they are sewn up until they are married at which time their husband uses a knife to cut open the scar tissue to consumate the marriage. Many girls die from the proceedure either at the time of the surgery from blood loss or at child birth due to complications from the mutilation.
Sadly though I knew that FGM was in practice I had NO idea that it was still practiced in such numbers. I highly recommend everyone watch the film to find out ways you can help stop this practice.

Cowboys and Indians

2011-10-30T17:25:00.000-05:00

This year for Halloween Ezra wanted to dress up as John Wayne his favorite cowboy.

Luckily Michael obliged me and wore the indian head dress I found in the stockyards for $4.00!!

We decided to try Boo at the Zoo this year but Ezra totally freaked out b/c of the huge numbers of people there and the fact that there were some scary costumes. He refused to let me put him down for the first hour he was so scared. A clear indication that he still has lots of healing to do b/c of his sensory processing disorder. My arms quickly became tired so Daddy turned into the official pack mule carrying both kiddos.

Sadly I had to put a flower over Libby's face since we have to wait until she's adopted to show her off :(

What adoptive parents want YOU to know about adoption

2011-10-27T20:38:00.000-05:00

I read this post on a fellow America World family's blog and I just thought it was fantastic and I had to share it here. To read the post directly from the Wade's blog click HERE. Otherwise just read below. In my version I've included my own 2 cents in red.

The longer we wait for our referral, the less and less people seem to know what to say to us. So, inspired by this quote, I reached out to my friends in the adoptive community.

"The English language lacks the words to mourn an absence. For the loss of a parent, grandparent, spouse, child or friend, we have all manner of words and phrases, some helpful some not. Still we are conditioned to say something, even if it is only “I’m sorry for your loss.” But for an absence, for someone who was never there at all, we are wordless to capture that particular emptiness. For those who deeply want children and are denied them, those missing babies hover like silent ephemeral shadows over their lives. Who can describe the feel of a tiny hand that is never held?"
- Laura Bush

Seventeen waiting mothers (plus one extra) chimed in on what we Do and Don't want you to say to us about adoption. Here is an abbreviated and anonymous collection of our thoughts.

The Words That HURT Us:

"The worst is when people say " oh when you get your kid watch out you will probably get pregnant, then you will have your own.""

"...most people don't say anything at all- I'm sure it's because they
don't know what to say. But to me, that's one of the most painful ways to
respond. I want to talk about it. It is real to us and I want it to be real to
them too (especially to the people we are closest with). To not bring it up is
to both deny the pain of what we're going through and to deny the reality that there really will be a child for us at some point. Can you imagine someone going through a pregnancy with their friends and family never asking how they are doing or how the baby is doing?"

"...my very least favorite thing to hear goes something like this: "Well, why don't you just try to get pregnant" or "Are you sure you don't want to just have 'one of your own'" or "Are you going to try to get pregnant now?" "You should get checked out, it might be an easy fix". I could go on but I'm starting to make myself angry :) The problem doesn't lie in whether or not we can become pregnant. The problem lies in the assumption. The assumption that since it is a harder and longer journey to our Ethiopian
child, we would want to 'take the easy road and just get pregnant'. That a
biological child would be more desirable."

"I guess my advice would be to be mindful of an adoptive mom's
feelings at baby showers."

"...everyone wants to tell me about "someone they know" that got pregnant as soon as they adopted and then proceed to tell me how I shouldn't worry because "it's" going to happen for me, clearly meaning pregnancy."

"We have been waiting so long, that people have stopped asking me about it. And when I bring it up they say, "Well, I was going to ask but..." trailing off with a regretful look. To which I want to say, "But WHAT?!"

"I too, having dealt with infertility get the "don't worry, as soon as you adopt
you will get pregnant". To which I respond "I hope not! My kids are in
Ethiopia!""

"The average person doesn't see that pregnancy and adoption are so very similar. My friends asked me to co-host a baby shower, without thinking that it might be an emotional issue for me. My friends ask me to go see a new baby in the hospital, without understanding that it is a loaded environment. My daughter probably won't be born in a hospital. My daughter's mother could die without ever seeing a doctor. My daughter- the one who I will raise, and love, and take to college and shop for wedding dresses with- will be born without me. I'll never hold her as a newborn. I may never know what she looked like as a newborn. That is heartbreaking. I know that it is what we asked for and I will endure that loss for my daughter. But it is something I am walking around with on my heart every day. And I wish the rest of the world would respect that right now."

"We had a good friend who asked us after a garage sale adoption fundraiser (loudly between church services), "so did you make enough money to buy your next baby yet?" Yikes! Talk about the wrong comment to make!"

"My mother has asked a couple times about how I feel about how the process is going. When I get emotional about it, she gets worried and thinks this isn't a good idea and asks me again, "why don't you want to have your own kids? (don't even get me started on the whole "own kids" thing!). It is really beyond her that I would willingly put myself through all this pain. I think she thinks there is something wrong with me...some horrible fear of pregnancy or some deep psychological issue on why I don't want to get pregnant instead of feeling God calling us to this life."

"It drives me nuts when people say we should just give up and have our own child (which we can do, adoption is a choice for us). When people say this I really want to launch into the statistics of orphans, starving children, the aids pandemic, or some other truthful, but unhelpful conversation and then ask them if I should really just give up and try to conceive."

"During one [baby shower] I was sitting by a pregnant friend (not the one the shower was for) and person after person came up and said things to her such as, "You will have your baby here before you know it!" and things like that. And all of them knew I was adopting and I couldn't help but feel a little offended that no one said anything to me. I might not have a big belly but I'm still carrying around a child in my heart and longing for the day I get to see his or her face and have him or her with me in person."
As many of the other families wrote above, one of the things we hear ALL the time is that we will probably get pregnant right after we adopt, but it is said in a way like once we get through our adoptions, our REAL child will come. And though I'm sure it is in no way meant to come across that way, it really makes me angry b/c it's like saying my children are less special then a biological child would be, and I'm not really a REAL mom.
What frustrates me the most is that people automatically assume we are infertile and don't even ask us why we chose to adopt.
I would love to have to chance to talk with these people about adoption and share our testimony with them to share God's call in our lives and to let them know what an AMAZING blessing adoption has been for our family. I can not imagine growing our family in any other way.
Lastly, the other thing that makes me SUPER angry are other adoptive families who say dumb s--t. Calling Africa a country instead of a continent, not wanting to accept a referral because a baby looked "uptight" in it's photo, having only negative things to say about the child's birth country... International adoption is already under a lot of scrutiny, so we do NOT need uneducated, inappropriately prepared families trying to adopt these kids and putting this stuff out there basically just fueling the fire for groups who want to shut down international adoption already.

The Words That HELP Us:

"To me, the most helpful and loving thing that people can do is to acknowledge and validate the pain we are feeling, to cry with us, and to pray for us, especially as we are in this waiting process. We just want the people in our lives to say, "We love you guys and we are so sorry that you are experiencing this pain right now. We are praying for you." That to me is so much more helpful than the person who glibly responds that we need to trust God and it's all going to work out."

"I just like it when people ask me real and honest questions. Questions like,
"So what happens next?" or "Why does it work that way?" Honest, real questions mean a lot to me. It lets me know that they are concerned."

"I like being able to educate people and be an advocate. I love when people walk away saying "Wow, I never realized there was so much to it..."

"I love when people ask questions about adoption, especially when they really seem interested."

"I just want them to say something, ask anything. I ache sometimes to share and don't know how to bring it up. There is no new news about our adoption, but I love to talk about it. About how my heart longs for my Ethiopian Children, how there isn't a night that goes by that my heart cries out to our Father in Heaven for them. It is such a silent process for those of us in the wait, but I think it is a beautiful thing to share our passion for God's children. So I would tell anyone who wants to say something or ask a question. Do it. Speak up. We would love to share!"

"I would rather have someone say something like, "I have no idea what that must have been like and how you must be feeling, but I love you and am here for you.""

"I guess I WOULD like people to acknowledge that this is hard road, a note of encouragement (not trite, easy answers), or a hug with a genuine, "let's go to lunch and you can share your struggles with me"...and then actually follow up and listen without getting that glazed look on their faces! I guess I want some support from people, even if it is a quick note to say they were thinking about us with genuine concern."

"...we have friends here in Flagstaff who brought their 9 month old son home from Ethiopia in August. This is their 2nd ET adoption as well and we have become good friends. I was at her baby shower once Makeo was home. I was overjoyed to go to the shower and celebrate with them, but for the next week, I was a mess. Irritable, moody, and quick tempered. I didn't realize what the problem was until she sent me a note. She sent me a thank you note for my shower gift, but also wrote, "I appreciate so much that you attended our shower. I KNOW how hard it must have been for you to be there knowing how much you ache to have your little one in your arms. Your friendship is so valuable to us! We are praying for you and for your referral. Thank you!" I couldn't stop crying tears of relief when I got that note. It was probably the most thoughtful note I had ever received concerning the adoption process and I felt validated that this is indeed difficult."

"The very best way one person has reacted is every.single.time she sees me she gets really excited and asks if we've heard anything yet. I always have to say no but she reassures me it WILL happen."

"Our small group also prays for us to get our referral every week. Even when I feel defeated and shrug my shoulders saying they can pray if they feel like it. They pray with such sincerity and urgency that I always end up in tears."

"I want people to acknowledge that we're adopting and even though it has taken longer then we hoped, that it will happen and that they are happy for us."
What helped me most during our first adoption was just having a support group of other adoptive parents who could actually relate to our situation. We didn't know any other families who'd adopted so I really felt isolated a lot of the time and couldn't really connect with any other mothers because our experiences were different. I had a friend who got pregnant and had her baby and got pregnant for baby number 2 all in the time it took for us to complete one adoption so having someone to call that knew exactly what that felt like was a blessing. Also just reading blogs of other adoptive families and seeing their photos and videos of them with their children reaffirmed to me that there was a child at the end of the journey.
How We Feel About The Children We Are Waiting For:

"As a Momma who has been blessed with 2 children of my womb and 2 of my heart (one of those whom I will finally meet in 3 weeks), let those who tell you such things know from my own testimony ... that ALL my children are MY children, MY OWN ... loved the same and as much as the next. Nothing different in the way I love and adore them, except the way in which the Lord brought them into our family. All of them call me Mommy and all of them are MINE ALL MINE (Well ...of course HIS first and foremost)."

"And to the lady that said "you wouldn't understand unless you have had your own" I would say, "and you can't understand the love of adoption unless YOU have experienced it". As hard as this extreme slow down in Ethiopia has been, I am still so grateful that God has called us to adoption. I am amazed every day at the miraculous way God grows a love in my heart for a child on the other side of the world. It is a beautiful, beautiful thing."

"Those people who say that it is different to have your "own," they don't
understand the tremendous blessings and gifts of being called to this journey. They may never know. So I always try to say something like, "Well this has been different, but it has been every bit as exciting, emotional, and wonderful as being pregnant. I'm so THANKFUL that I have gotten to experience this.""
Since we did matched adoption, we aren't really waiting for a child just waiting for rights to be terminated but as far as my kiddos go, with every fiber of my being I can't imagine them being anyone else's children. They were meant to be mine and they are my flesh and blood. I feel divinely connected to my children and can't even find words to express how I feel. I have no biological children to know the difference if there is one, but I know that for ME adoption seems as natural as waking up in the morning and brushing my teeth, it has been a no brainer. I've known I was meant to adopt since I was a child and the children God has placed into our lives are spectacular.

A lunch date with Ezra to the Stockyards

2011-10-27T15:16:00.008-05:00

Today the weather was cloudy and cold but Ezra and I needed to venture out to the Fort Worth stockyards to pick up some items for his cowboy Halloween costume.

We decided to stop and eat at H3 Ranch a great steakhouse along the main stretch of the stockyards.

Ezra enjoyed coloring the kid's menu while we waited.

Then we HAD to make a stop at a new cupcake shop off of Main Street near H3 called La Bella.

Their menu of cupcakes is a page long but they only offer a few specialty items a day and the menu alternates. Luckily today they had MAPLE BACON cupcakes! They blew my mind! I couldn't believe how delicious the bacon was with the sweet buttercream. This is a must stop shop. I encourage everyone to visit and try their sweet deliciousness.

The meaning of the 12 Days of Christmas printable garland

2011-10-27T15:01:00.005-05:00

I recently attended a Christmas sale with lots of crafts, clothes, etc. and I saw a garland with the idea of writing the meaning behind each of the 12 days of Christmas. I thought it was a great idea but wasn't about to splurge on the $28.00 garland when I could make my own. So here's what I came up with:

I wanted to share the files with you guys so you could just print out your own version and display it during the holidays.

These files are quite large so you could technically cut and paste each one on a seperate page to print them larger. I grouped them together b/c I knew I wanted them smaller (3.5 X 5) so I used photoshop and selected 8X10 for each page of 4 which rendered 3.5 X 5 size images to cut out. Hope that makes sense. I just wanted them to be larger so you guys could shrink them to whatever size you would like.

I saved this original file as a different size then the others by accident, so I couldn't put it in a group of 4, so you'll have to print this single one out seperately. I just clicked print and changed the size to 3.5 X 5 and voila!

A few digital freebies for you!

2011-10-09T08:29:00.004-05:00

Here are 3 little printable freebies. Two are photo frames and the other can be used for invites or note cards or even to label food items for a party table. Just click on the images below to enlarge then save to you computer.

Update on the kiddos

2011-10-06T14:56:00.002-05:00

Ezra's FAVORITE song is "You are the best thing" by Ray Lamontagne. Ezra actually just calls it "best thing" as in, "Mom want the best thing, want the best thing mom" over and over and over and over and over. The second we get into the car he starts his request.
Click on the video below to hear it if you haven't already"

He also LOVES Adele. One of his favorites is "Rumor Has It". When he sings her songs he uses his "lady voice" it's soooooo darn cute!

Libby obviously hasn't expressed her musical preferences just yet. She does however have no problem letting me know when she's had enough floor play time and wants to be held which is pretty much constantly :)
Libby is quick with a smile and has the most amazing little coos and squeals. Ezra is crazy about his little sister and is already very protective of her. When her hair pieces fall off he's quick to try and put them back on. The name Ezra means "helper" and he has proven to be the epitome of that as he's been a huge help to me with Michael being gone.
Dressing a girl is a dream though my wallet is sad. I have never needed to know how to sew as badly as I do now with all the dress ideas I have in my head.
I love that we have a boy and a girl and I'm so thankful that Ezra has adjusted so well. Libby continues to grow everyday and she's such a blessing to our family.

Fun Fall printable freebie!

2011-10-06T13:30:00.006-05:00

I love this time of year love to start decorating the house for the upcoming holiday season. Since Michael is on a short deployment I've been working more and also coming home to be a single mom so I have had to do my decorating in snips of time here and there. I finally got a wreath and most of my fireplace done and here is the end result:

(sorry for the images being so blurry, my little cheapo Wal-Mart camera is not cutting it)

I used metallic spray paint in gold, copper, and a satin black, to paint some pumpkins and made a garland for the mantle and then made some digital bunting penants which I printed out and then hung it with polished hemp.

I created a few extra penants to place on either end and also created a blank .png file so that you can add your own text and create a unique garland if you like. I wanted my penants to be large but you can simply reduce the print size of the images to add more penants to the garland.

Here are the digital files I used. Just click on the images to enlarge then save to your computer and alter the size however you wish.

Is it Super Man or Richard Simmons?

2011-10-06T13:19:00.003-05:00

The other day I was in the kitchen and when I turned around this is what greeted me:

Ezra usually dresses up everyday as something. Typically he's either Spiderman or a cowboy, this time I wasn't sure so I asked him, "Hey Mister, who are you today?" he replied, "I'm Superman!" hmmmm.. does Superman also "sweat to the "oldies"?

Karate meets soccer

2011-09-22T12:48:00.007-05:00

Today I was playing outside with Ezra and we were trying to work on his soccer skills. He always wants to throw the ball instead of kicking it, soooo... I told him that he needs to karate kick the ball. This is the result of my instruction...

Fun fall digital freebies

2011-09-19T09:56:00.009-05:00

I have been dying to have some time to do some digital designs lately. With the new baby it's pretty much impossible to sit still for 5 minutes let alone a few hours. This morning I got a little respite since Libby took an early morning nap and I created some digital goodies for you guys. I hope you like them! Some of the pages I made from scratch and others I had the background already and I just added some elements.
Just click on the images below to enlarge then save to your computer and add photos and text to your heart's content.

How you can make a difference in the life of someone with HIV/AIDS

2011-09-15T08:48:00.004-05:00

Some of you may remember that a few years ago Michael, Ezra and myself participated in the North TX AIDS Outreach Centers Annual AIDS walk. It's one of the many fundraisers that they do to ensure that they can provide to relief to those affected by HIV/AIDS in our area. This year the AOC will be participating in "A Day of Giving". Basically you donate a certain amount over 12 hours and a percentage of that amount will be matched by corporate sponsors. Click HERE to learn more.

Christian Siriano love

2011-09-12T10:32:00.003-05:00

So I'm an uber fan of Project Runway and I fell in love with Christian Siriano when he appeared on the show. I just had to share some of my favorite pieces from his Spring 2012 collection with you guys.

What I made today

2011-09-11T13:51:00.006-05:00

I bought this lamp from IKEA b/c I fell in love with the shape and I planned to paint the base a bright red or green. Then I saw this cake on pinterest and was inspired by it to decorate the lamp shade instead. If I decide I hate it later on all I have to do is peel off the sticky letters and paint the base as per my original plan!

I had this bag of sticky letters in my crafting closet just waiting to be used for something:
I used a red sharpie to color each letter:Once they were completely dry I stuck them on to the shade in a haphazard way. I would have liked to have used smaller letters but this is what I had on hand and didn't feel like dragging 2 sick kiddos to the store so I went with it:

This is what it looks like lit up: I still plan on painting the walls and I need some bedding and wall art, but this is what I've got going on thus far. Now you can see what the headboard I made looks like with stuff in front of it.

Very cool site to get a free monogram

2011-09-09T21:28:00.002-05:00

I found a really cool site where you can just enter your names and marriage date as well as chose the colors you want to make your monogram and presto! Just save and use as you wish. I didn't want to input our date so instead I found a font similar to the one used and tweaked it a bit and just added our last name.

Click HERE to make your own monogram.

Free printable onesie baby shower invitations and add-ons

2011-09-09T16:10:00.007-05:00

Libby look a long nap today (thank the Lord) so I was able to do some crafting. I created these little printable baby shower invitations. There are 3 options - boy, girl and of course one for little LSU Tigers!
Just click on the images below to enlarge then save to your computer. All of the files are saved pre-sized so all you have to do is add text and click print.

Here's a sample:

(save the image below to your computer)

Fresh out of the printer (sorry my camera is crap):

To add a 3-D effect I added some mini clothespins (buy them HERE) and some pink and white baking twine:

I'd used a scallop punch to cut the little tea pots out to create a fun garland or you can just add text to make place cards or for gift bags. The options are endless:

For this larger teapot I used a large circle punch to create another option for adding a 3-D effect to the cards or they can be used to label goodies on a treat table or to label different types of tea:

Here's another option for creating a 3-D effect with the large circular cut out:

Here are the other files that you can edit to your heart's content!

Another sneak peek at Miss Libby

2011-09-09T15:52:00.004-05:00

Little feet:

Little hands:

Sweet kisses:

A little mention...

2011-09-07T12:25:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let you guys know that Jessica from Two Shades of Pink mentioned the blog on her blog today and featured some of my school freebies. click HERE to check it out. I LOVE her blog and I'm sure you'll be happy you did :)

How to build a custom fabric covered headboard

2011-09-05T16:32:00.008-05:00

I recently luckily came across a wonderful blog called "Design Sponge" and there was a video posted on how to create your own custom fabric headboard.
This is her finished product:

The headboard she created was perfect for what I was envisioning for Libby's room.
Though the tutorial was GREAT for how to apply the foam/fabric, etc., it didn't say anything about actually constructing the board itself. I decided that I wasn't going to spend the extra $ for a contractor to do something I could do myself. That's not to say that it's perfect but I had fun doing it and learned a lot along the way.

So here's how to go from this:

To this:

You'll need a circular saw, jig saw, handsaw (maybe), utility knife (box knife), MDF board, high density foam, quilt batting, and flat joint plates.

And don't forget to wear your safety googles:

Notice the glisten of sweat on my skin. I'm doing this working in our garage in 108 degree heat!

I based the shape of my headboard on the template found HERE and just adjusted the measurements as needed to fit the dimensions I wanted.

Once I got everything calculated I used a sharpie to draw the outline onto the MDF board:

Because my headboard was going to be super tall I needed to use 2 boards of MDF (~2 inches thick) so I had to use metal joints to fuse the seam b/w the 2 boards. I screwed in 4 plates on each side of the headboard in opposing spaces to make sure that it wouldn't bend at the middle:

After I cut out the shape of the board and screwed in the plates I then followed the tutorial found on the site mentioned above to apply the fabrication to the board. I ordered 2 inch thick high density foam online that was 52 inches wide and 108 inches long. I had to use 2 rolls to cover the board. Total cost for the foam was around $50.00. The fabric I had on hand. I bought it for $6.49 a year ago at a fabric store on sale! The quilt batting is $7.00/bag and I used 2 bags. The MDF board is around $27.00/board and I used 2 boards. The metal plates are $2.25 each bag and I bought 2 bags.

Because the MDF is very easy to break you have to be VERY careful when you're moving the headboard. I found this out AFTER I broke off both legs. Luckily I had already applied the fabric and batting so they were just dangling there. I just quickly cut some pieces of wood and screwed them into the MDF to give the legs support.

The headboard isn't meant to stand on it's own. You hang it with a long metal hanger thingy that you will see on the tutorial on Design Sponge. It worked out great and I measured it so that it looks as though the headboard is free standing.

I'll post more photos of the finished product once I get Libby's room looking the way I envision it in my head.

Bathing beauties

2011-09-04T21:32:00.004-05:00

My sister and her family came in town to meet Libby and while they were here my nephew Maddox, and Ezra took a bubble bath together. They are just too cute for words!

Our first time seeing Libby!

2011-09-04T16:12:00.003-05:00

I can't post any photos of Libby for at least 6 months but in the mean time I wanted to at least post some photos from our first time seeing Libby.
Her foster mom loaded her up with a suitcase FULL of clothes and toys and even sent along some goodies for Ezra. She also gave her this beautiful little dainty gold cross. So super sweet.

Just click on the image below to enlarge to see the pictures better:

We have her!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-03T09:01:00.002-05:00

We got Libby yesterday afternoon! She's lovely! I wish wish wish I could post photos but we have to wait until parental rights are terminated which will probably take 6 months but I'll try and crop some photos to at least give you a peek. My sister took LOTS of photos yesterday so once I get them from her I'll be posting them here.
She's very happy and smiley and has some amazing dimples :) Ezra isn't too keen on sharing his mom and dad but he's coming around.

And the winner is...

2011-09-03T08:39:00.002-05:00

The winner of a free Scentsy burner and 2 scents is:

The winner has been contacted via e-mail. Thanks for reading you guys.

Super cute new blog design

2011-08-28T08:16:00.002-05:00

Tawny and her family are adopting a child from DRC and she wanted a new blog to journal about their new journey. Click on the button below to see her new look.

Great daily deal for mommy calling cards

2011-08-28T08:09:00.002-05:00

Last month I joined an online resource kind of like Group-On or The Foundary, or Eziba... basically it's a site that e-mails daily sales but the sales are on handmade goods that you'd find on etsy sites. Honestly I've never been inclined to buy anything until today.
The site is called Very Jane and today's item are these too cute for words calling cards. 20 customized cards for $10.00.

Happy shopping!

Complete blog FREEBIE!

2011-08-27T18:45:00.008-05:00

So I recently designed a blog that I actually was crazy about but the "client" failed to submit payment for the work done, so after over a month of trying to collect funds I've decided to off the elements from the blog to you guys for FREE! I hate for the elements to go to waste. Just click on any of the images below to enlarge them and then save to your computer as .png files (that's how they are here so just don't change the file type) then you can just add text to customize for your own blog.

What it looks like all together:

Click HERE to be redirected to Shabby Blogs to get the back ground code.

Blog header:

(this header is 950 pixels wide, honestly I can't remember what I had to resize it to to fit within the borders of this background so you may have to shrink it up some)

Blog Button:

Blog Signature/post divider:

Another option for a signature/post divider:

Blog side bar titles:

If you use this design please let me know so I can go and check out your new look.

Scentsy Giveaway!

2011-08-26T18:39:00.004-05:00

A while back a good friend of mine who's also a Scentsy Consultant donated a warmer for the giveaway I was having for Children's Hopechest - BUT I didn't get it in time to include in the raffle.
Well I've had this burner with the intention of hosting a giveaway for a while and I'm FINALLY getting around to it.
If you aren't familiar with Scentsy let me just say... WOW.. I LOVE them! I am not an aeromatherapy type gal, I don't burn candles or anything like that. I never thought I'd have a drawer brimming over with scents but I'm totally addicted. I have 2 large burners and 2 votive plug-ins in each bathroom.
I actually get giddy when new scents come out especially around the Fall and Christmas! So of course I'm thrilled to share the love of Scentsy with you guys as well.
This giveaway features 2 scents, "lots of love", and "radiance"

as well as this "Moroccan" burner:

To enter to win just leave a comment below about what your favorite Scentsy scent is or what scent you're drawn to most as well as your e-mail address. For an extra chance to win you can also become a follower of the blog. Just mention that you're a new follower in your comment as well as your e-mail address.

Invitation freebie printable

2011-08-26T18:33:00.004-05:00

I recently made this invitation for a friends of mine for a bridal shower. Her wedding has a rustic theme with sunflowers, vintage prints, raw wood, etc. The template was downloaded from Staples web site if you're interested in adding your own text and having them printed.

Just click on the image to enlarge and save to your computer then add text!

Here's an update on the baby...

2011-08-25T09:51:00.003-05:00

So the plan right now is to have the baby's CPS worker from Houston bring her to our home NEXT Friday. We will keep her through the weekend and if all goes well we'll sign the paperwork on MONDAY! I can hardly believe it! We still have to wait 6 months to adopt her to establish abandonment but after that she's ours!!!

Last night we were talking to Ezra about babies and asking him some questions like:

Me: Ezra, what color will be baby be?
E: Green.
Me: hmmmm... okay, well what will the baby look like?
E: Round.

I plan to get him a book or two today about adding a baby to the family since I know it will not be a transition he will take gracefully. Any suggestions?

MUST READ POST

2011-08-21T17:54:00.003-05:00

A few months ago I hosted a giveaway on the blog to benefit Children's Hopechest in Ethiopia and once of the donors was Jen Hatmaker. Jen is an author of several books and she's also an adoptive mother. Her family's struggle with the Ethiopian court system to adopt a 7 year old boy is known to many in the adoption community, but I myself hadn't read the full story until today. You HAVE to read Jen's latest post as it's both hilarious and heart wrenching at the same time.

Beniam Hatmaker

It really speaks to me about God's love for His children and the continuous struggle to live a Christian life and follow His commands even when we think it's impossible, unreasonable, or that we won't last another day.
Their adoption story is one of redemption, mercy, and grace and luckily there's a happy ending. :)

Back to school digital freebies!

2011-08-21T16:48:00.004-05:00

So since I know our public schools are starting back up tomorrow I decided to make some school themed freebies for ya. Just click on the images below to enlarge then save to your computer and add your own photos in any editing software. If you guys don't know how to do that just let me know and I'll create a tutorial to show you how.

How to create a faux distressed look for $4.99!

2011-08-21T15:48:00.007-05:00

Click on the image to enlarge:

Hey guys, well I'm here to show you how you can create a faux distressed look on any moulding for only $4.99.
This morning I was browsing the web before church and I ran across a blog that had an image of a distressed framed mirror and I thought the look would be perfect for one of the mirrors I just framed out using the steps seen HERE from a previous post.
The mirror is almost 9 feet long and Lowes didn't carry wood moulding of the width that I needed to frame it out so we had to buy primed moulding which meant I couldn't stain it the dark color I wanted... bummer... so instead we just painted it the same color as the rest of the trim in the house.
Since we completed the project I just look at it an it's a total snooze! I hate that it's so plain, SO when I saw the distressed mirror this morning I thought - That's it! that's how I'll spice it up.
So after church we went over to heaven (AKA Michael's craft supply store) and I purchased this little container of Distress Ink in "frayed burlap".

To apply the ink, all you do is press the ink pad to the top of the moulding, then with EVEN pressure and in ONE stroke go down the moulding in sections to apply the ink.

(if you start and stop or adjust the pressure it will show breaks in the line and look messy).

The finished look up close:

I love how even after 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint the ink still picks up the grain of the wood.

The best part about this product is that it wipes right off if you mess up. I think I must have wiped off my first 20 or so attempts until I found out what pressure worked best for the look I was going for. Total time for this project was about 10 minutes for a 9X4 frame. So easy, so cheap, and no sanding required!

My plan for Libby Caroline's new room

2011-08-19T17:21:00.004-05:00

I fell in love with some fabric almost a year ago and knew that if I ever got a girl that I'd want to use the color scheme and print to decorate her room so I just went ahead and bought it right then. Now that we've been blessed with Libby I want to be proactive in planning the decor for her room. Here's what I've got so far:

Click on the image to enlarge:

I'd also like to rip out the carpet in her room and instead put in some wood/laminate flooring. Something like the images below:

I've pinned pretty much every element in this collage on my pinterest page if you're interested in finding out where these things can be found. I also found most of the items on a fabulous nursery decorating web site HERE.

The boy LOVES hats!

2011-08-19T15:28:00.006-05:00

How do you keep your kid from wipping their nose on their shirt or on you?? Tie a bandana around their neck instead. Unless said child is Ezra, then it becomes a du-rag (spelling?) Poor little nose :(

A living/breathing Mr. Potato Head:

Geaux Tigers!!!
This is actually a stuffed animal's cowboy hat but Ezra wears it ALL the time:

My fedora is ruined. Ezra has claimed it as his own and the wire rim is finished. It went from fedora to safari hat.

New badge design and a freebie

2011-08-19T08:15:00.001-05:00

I wanted to create a new blog badge for my adopt africa site and I decided to include it as a blank freebie for you guys as well. This one is 500 pixels wide so it will need to be resized to fit into your side bar once you're done editing it.

This could get out of hand...

2011-08-18T22:59:00.003-05:00

Aren't these head pieces just delicious! You can find the links to the etsy stores on my pinterest page.

Another announcement

2011-08-18T22:18:00.002-05:00

So aside from our really big news I also wanted to let you guys know that I am now an official designer for The Cutest Blog on the Block. You can see my new bio on their web page HERE.
I won't be taking custom orders from their site just yet b/c it sounds like we may have our baby girl w/in the next 2-3 weeks which means I'll be super busy getting the house ready, etc. Once I start taking orders I'll let you guys know. Also I'll still be doing custom work for Adopt Africa Designs as well to continue my sponsorship of the kiddos in Ethiopia.

We have an announcement...

2011-08-18T15:53:00.002-05:00

I am very happy to say that after 2 failed selection hearings that our family has been chosen for a 3 month old baby girl! I honestly have been hesitant to say anything and didn't even announce that we were selected for the hearing mainly b/c it's such a let down to not get picked. So though I'm super excited for our family I also can totally empathize with the 2 families who weren't selected b/c we've been in their shoes.
This baby's adoption is a bit different as it's considered a "low-legal risk" vs. matched adoption and there will be more legal hoops to jump through so even though I am saying that we were selected the adoption will take 6-8 months to finalize AND first we have to meet her and make sure that we mesh and ensure that we will be the best parents for her.

I covet your prayers and ask that you would pray that God's will be done and no matter what.

Digital "Left Overs"...

2011-08-18T09:55:00.003-05:00

I was going through my files deleting out old stuff today and before I delete some of these I wanted to offer them to you guys. These are either parts of designs I've done and not used or just didn't finish. Edit and use them however you like. Just click on the image to enlarge then save to your computer.

This is sized to be a blog header:
This one had lots of different applications:

This one is meant to be a blog header as well, but you could make it into a badge for your side bar.
Here's a little post divider/border for ya:

Rocket ship digi freebie

2011-08-14T20:50:00.003-05:00

Here's a little quick page freebie for ya. Just click on the image to enlarge then save to your computer and add your own photos and text in any photo editing software.

Here is the version without the added word art:

With word art:

Here's the word art by itself:

How to even up your date header and post title in blogger

2011-08-13T10:53:00.003-05:00

One of the things I change most often when doing blog design is evening up the date header with the post title. As seen in the image below you can see that there appears to be a tab on the post title but the date header is left justified. Here's how you can easily even them up.

Simple click on "edit HTML" from your design page, then scroll through all of the HTML code until see the section for "posts" (it will be right after "widgets" but before "footer". Once you're in that section of code then look for the portion of code seen in the image below.

Once you find this code simply change the number in the highlighted portion from
-15px to 0px. BEFORE saving click "preview" to make sure that you like what you see. If so, then simply click "save template" and you're done!

How to decrease the space between your post titles and your date header

2011-08-13T10:37:00.003-05:00

So I'm constantly bothered by designing blogs and the date header and the post title have a huge space between them. Well I just learned how to decrease that space and wanted to share a tutorial with you guys.
The first thing you want to do is click on "template designer" it should bring you to a page that looks like this:

Then click on the "advanced" bar in the far left hand corner of the screen as seen below. Then scroll down the entire list to where it says "Add CSS":

Post this code into the CSS box, then go to the end of the code and press the space bar to see it take affect.

h3.post-title {
margin-top: -25px !important;
}

If the space is still to large for your liking simply change the -25px to a larger negative number e.g (-30) or contrarily if the space is too narrow simply make it a smaller number e.g (-10). If you like what you see simply click on "apply to blog" and then "back to blogger" to see your new post look.

New blog design and a freebie

2011-08-13T10:32:00.003-05:00

Brandi contacted me a while back about designing a blog for her. She wanted something more modern and girly but when she sent me the photos she wanted to use in the header there was one of her boys inside a tractor tire and I just was really inspired by that, so I decided to go in a different direction. Luckily it paid off and now she's got a super cute 'rough and tumble' sort of blog design.

Click on the button below to see what I came up with:

I wanted to share the tire themed side bar titles with you guys. They are 210 pixels wide but could be used for any number things. Enjoy!

My birthday cake

2011-08-12T09:32:00.005-05:00

Each year for my birthday Michael bakes me a cake and sometimes even attempts to decorate it. This year he make me Paula Deen's Caramel Cake - delicious! Here's how that went:

In Michael's defense the icing sets really quickly. First he tried icing it with a spatula:

After he grew frustrated with that method he just moved onto spackeling it on with his fingers:

And here's the finished product:

The cake may have looked rough but the taste was amazing! Topped off with a scoop of Blue Bell vanilla icecream and it was pure heaven. Thanks babe!

Today's digital freebie

2011-08-11T14:53:00.002-05:00

Today's freebie is all about boys. I like the idea of lots of treasures crammed into their little pockets so I made this little "pocket-o-goodies" for you to use in your own digital scrapbooking or blogging. Enjoy! Just click on the image to enlarge then save it to your computer.

New blog design and some freebies!

2011-08-10T22:44:00.002-05:00

Jennifer won a free custom blog design in an online raffle to support adoption. Click on the button below to see her new blog:

Here are a few freebies from her design and you guys can edit with text and make your own in your digital scrapbooking or as fun bloggy bling!

Just click on the images below to enlarge and then save to your computer.
Post signature/divider. (500 pixels wide)

Blog button/badge freebie:

Side bar title dividers. (200 pixels wide)

Calling all those handy with a needle and thread...

2011-08-10T13:50:00.002-05:00

Okay so I'm signing up to take a sewing class in the Fall BUT I have to bring my own sewing machine along. I have never sewn, sat next to a sewing maching, or even touched one so I have NO idea what to buy. I need your help and suggestions for what would be good for a beginner but be versatile for all fabric types and projects. Please leave me a comment or e-mail me with your suggestions.

Also I have 2 great giveaways coming up so keep checking back for more on that.

Wanted to share...

2011-08-10T13:40:00.003-05:00

Today's most interesting pet award goes to:

*FLOWER*

can you tell what Flower is?

how about now?

That's right, Flower is a baby skunk that was descented today. S T I N K Y!

So yesterday Ezra came up to me and said "Bye Mom". When I looked at him to see what he was talking about, this is what I was greeted with.

Apparently where ever he was planning on going was clothing optional but shoes mandatory.

How to organize your wrapping paper from a closet shelf

2011-08-07T10:28:00.004-05:00

This is the third in my series of "how-to's". Today we'll be learning how to hang wrapping paper from your closet shelves.
My entire guest bedroom closet is devoted to crafting (at least until we get another kiddo). I love organization and hate that I have to go into the attic to pull out my wrapping paper rubbermaid everytime I have to wrap a present. So...... this is what I came up with to remedy that problem after seeing something similar on Pinterest.

What you'll need:
- polished hemp string/yarn
- hook hanger screws
- an electric drill
- an ink pen with top

First I premeasured where I wanted my hook hangers to go then I used an electric drill to get the holes started and screwed the hooks in the rest of the way by hand. To get the hemp string down through the spool I just hooked the string through a pen cap to give it some weight and dropped it through. I know this may seem like common sense to most but after trying to thread the curly string through with no luck I thought I'd share that little learning experience with you guys.

To tie the loops onto each end of the string I used a technique that I learned a LONG time ago at 4-H camp. I just tied them in the same way that you would start a friendship bracelet but instead of taking the knot the entire way up, I left my finger in the way, which left a great loop to place onto the hooks making changing out the paper rolls very easy.

I hung my spools of wrapping paper at different lengths so that I could visualize them easier. The finished product:

I love that the rolls are tiered b/c I can simply pull down the appropriate length, cut it straight from the closet, and that's that! No clean up!

I thought I'd give you guys a peek into my craft/scrapbooking closet - YIKES! I know where everything is and I guess that's all that matters right :) As you can see there's lots of room to hang another level of paper and that's on my agenda for today.

How to create organized ribbon bins

2011-08-06T15:42:00.007-05:00

Michael got tired of my old plastic recycling bin taking up space in HIS garage so I was presented with an ultimatum, either it goes in the trash or I find something to do with it.

I have a little ribbon addiction. I mean I have ribbon stashed everywhere, under beds, in closets, in the attic, etc. So I thought that what I needed was some way to organize my ribbon where it's easily accessible and visible, soooooo.... here's what I came up with.

What you'll need:
- wooden dowels
- either a plastic tub or plastic storage drawers
- dremmel
- table/jig saw

This is what the side of the bed in my guest bedroom looked like before:

My storage bin had different sized drawers so I knew that I wanted to use the top 2 drawers for my smaller sized ribbon and the bottom for all of my tulle. I opted to use the larger dowels in the bottom simply b/c the hole through a tulle spoole is quite large.

I knew that I wanted to run my dowels through the sides of the bins with a little overhang but with large enough holes that I could remove and add ribbon spools with ease, so first I measured each dowel to the length across the top of the drawers.

Each side had a small indentation so I knew that the little extra bit of dowel poking out of the sides wouldn't get caught in the bins.

I placed the dowels in the bin to gauge placement and used a marker to note the area that I needed to dremmel through on each side of the drawer.

After using a saw to cut the dowels, I used a dremmel to cut holes into the sides of the drawer large enough to slide the dowels through easily (I didn't have a proper dremmel bit for this, so my holes look pretty wonky)
Side view:

Top view:

All done! Organization makes me happy :)

I still have some ribbon in the attic and one tupperware container in my craft closet but overall it made a great improvement.

*Next up on my how-to series - How to organize your wrapping paper from a closet shelf*

How to glue wood moulding to a mirror to create a faux frame

2011-08-06T14:29:00.008-05:00

So this is the first in a series of "how-to's" that I've been working on around the house.
Our bathrooms have HUGE mirrors but weren't framed out and I have been wanting to get them framed for that polished look. After getting an estimate for a carpenter to do it Michael and I decided we'd just do it ourselves. I searched high and low online for a proper tutorial on how to attach moulding to a mirror and was VERY disappointed in what I could find. We couldn't remove the mirror, there was no room to nail the frame into the wall around the mirror b/c it abuted the counter top tile, so we needed to simply glue the wood onto the mirror itself. Finding out what glue to use was a whole other issue. So here's a break down of what we did with some tips along the way.

So here's what you'll need:
- Liquid Nails - Mirrors (regular liquid nails is NOT the same thing)
- caulking gun
- wood or foam moulding
- table saw
- paint/stain of your choice
- sand paper

The first step is to measure the length of your mirror and then cut a piece of molding straight cross at that length:

Then using our table saw, Michael turned the setting to a 45 degree angle and made 2 cuts into each board accordingly.

Any "soft" wood needs to be preconditioned before staining. Believe me... I tried it without pre-conditioning it and I could definitly tell the difference. If you're not sure if you have a "soft wood" simply try to press your fingernail into the wood and if there's an indention left then you need to condition it. It only takes minutes and is well worth it.

After the top side of your moulding has dried you HAVE to paint the underside of the moulding at least along the side that will be seen in the mirror. See the photo below:

The stain/paint needs several days to dry or you're at risk of the glue (liquid nails) not adhering properly. Also before you apply the glue to the back of any painted/stained portion of the wood you'll need to sand it lightly, then wipe it clean.

When applying glue to the wood that will potentially be seen in the mirror take care to apply the glue on the side away from the reflective edge so as not to see the glue in the mirror or get spill over.

You need to glue the bottom portion of the frame to the mirror first. I'd recommend placing the glue onto the mouding in a zig zag pattern and let it sit for about 8 minutes or so before applying it to the mirror to let it get sticky. We held our bottom portion onto the mirror for 20 minutes and it still wanted to come right off, so we set it up against the mirror with buckets full of water.

After about 2 hours or so it had stuck to the mirror really nicely and we were able to put the sides on. The sides stuck really easily since we now had a base. We just used duck tape to attach the wood to the mirror by attaching a piece to the back side of the mirror and pulling it tightly across the moulding covered with papertowel to protect the stained portion.

Once the sides had set for about an hour we went ahead and attached the top and the inner decorative moulding strips. We left everything taped up for 24 hours to ensure there wouldn't be any slipping.

Before:

After:

Close up of the finished frame:

*Next up on the how-to series: How to create an organized bin for fabric ribbon*

What we've been up to...

2011-08-04T19:45:00.003-05:00

WORKING...A LOT!!!

BAKING... not as much as I'd like.

DIY home renovation projects.... check back soon for some great tutorials.

Delicious cupcakes and a bit of good news...

2011-08-04T19:03:00.001-05:00

I'll start with the bit of good news. Today I was contacted by someone from CBOTB (the cutest blog on the block)to ask me if I'd be interested in designing for their site! WOW... seriously! They want to bring me on as one of their custom blog designers. I did have lots of questions for them since designing is just a hobby for me but if I can make it into something more then I'd be thrilled. I'll keep you guys posted on any developments.

Now for the really good stuff...
I usually bring cupcakes to work at least once a week and last week one of the receptionists requested coconut cupcakes. As I'm not a super huge fan of coconut I was very pleasantly surprised by these beauties:

I think the secret to this recipe is this:

This coconut cream tastes like sweetened condensed milk with a hint of coconut. YUM!

Here's how to make them:
-Ingredients-
1 box of white cake mix
2/3 cup water
1 can of coconut cream (divided)
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
3 cups powdered sugar
2 sticks softened butter
1 bag of shredded sweetened coconut flakes
1tsp. vanilla extract

For the cake:
Prehead oven to 325. Then in a large bowl mix together the cake mix, water, 2/3 cup of coconut cream, oil, and eggs. Line your cupcake pan then fill about 1/2 way. (this dough is very syrupy and will rise quite a bit while baking but then sink down after it comes out of the oven. I mention this b/c everyone of my cupcakes overflowed, so if in doubt, under fill the cups). Bake for 20-24 minutes or until the cupcakes are golden brown.

For the icing:
Cream the butter, vanilla, and add the remainder of the can of coconut cream. Then add in the powdered sugar. While you're waiting for the cupcakes to cool, toast about 1/2 the bag of coconut flakes in the oven. Once you've iced your cupcakes just sprinkle with the coconut and enjoy!

New blog design and some freebies!

2011-08-04T18:06:00.002-05:00

Hey guys. Well my work schedule has recently changed so I feel like I've been living at the clinic. I was finally able to work on a blog design today and wanted to share it with you guys. Katrina is new to blogging and wanted to focus on her life as a nanny to 2 fab kiddos. I still have some things to add/change on the blog but I figured since I have a few minutes I need to at least get a post in.

Click on the image below to be redirected to Katrina's new blog:

I also created a few little digital elements for her blog that I wanted to share with you guys.

(just click on the images below to enlarge and then save to your computer)

Today's digital freebie

2011-07-26T13:58:00.002-05:00

I have all of these fun digital trim elements so I decided to just bunch them together to create this little quick page. Just click on the image to enlarge then save to your computer.

The masked man...

2011-07-26T12:13:00.005-05:00

So Ezra does NOT want to take off his Spiderman costume. At first he wouldn't wear the mask b/c the eye holes didn't line up but I guess he figured out a way to make it work for him:

He's got radioactive blood...

2011-07-25T09:51:00.002-05:00

Bad guys beware! There's a new spiderman on the prowl.

Let the crime fighting begin!

Even super heroes need to wear their seat beats. :)

Thanks to Sayce for sending Ezra this great costume. He won't take it off!

Treat box printable and tutorial

2011-07-24T20:15:00.011-05:00

Here's a great, easy, and fun template and tutorial for you guys. Today I went to my mom's house and she'd brought back some pralines from Louisiana. Of course the pralines were delicious but what I fell in love with was actually the packaging (I'm a total sucker for cute packaging. I probably would buy dog poop if it was wrapped up cute enough).

I decided to take home a box and take it apart to create my own template to use for goodie boxes for parties and holidays. I LOVE making pralines. I did a post on how I make mine HERE if you want to check it out. So I thought that it would be super cute to be able to wrap them up individually.

So here's what I came up with:
Just click on the images below to enlarge and then save to your computer. (Don't change the file types, leave as .png images)

(seen on my box as the polkadot sections)

(seen on my box as the pink lace design with text) To use these templates, just save them to your computer. Then in some type of photo editing software (I used photoshop) you simply create a "clipping mask" using what ever paper or image you want over the shapes I've provided as they're sized nearly perfectly to the original template. Below is a screen shot of what I did:

click on the images below to enlarge:

First I opened up the templates in individual files and then created clipping masks with some digi scrapbooking paper. I then added text and embellishments. Once I liked what I created I simply clicked on "merge visible" to mesh the layers.

I then opened up the blank box template file and just dragged my merged template layers onto the blank template. I did have to enlarge some things slightly to try and cover up the dashed lines so that wouldn't be seen in the end product.

Here are some images of my finished product. I added some baking twine and a little metal tag I had left over from my sister's baby shower to give an example of what you can add to the boxes.

I hope you guys find this useful! I know that I can't wait to find a reason to use this template to create some fun and unique treats!

Today's digi freebie

2011-07-20T19:41:00.001-05:00

Here's a simple little summer time frame freebie. Just click to enlarge and save to your computer.

Why I ADORE my best friend...

2011-07-20T19:05:00.005-05:00

My best friend, Meena, recently went to New Orleans for her daughter's violin camp. She e-mailed me about places she should go and I told her she HAD to go to Sucre'. I'd been wanting to go there myself forever to sample some of the delicious looking French pastries and artisan chocolates. Well... today I got home from work and found this package waiting for me on my counter:

She'd sent me a sampler of their famous macarons!

Is she amazing or what!?!

My personal faves were the strawberry and the pecan - yum!

A full day...

2011-07-19T20:02:00.009-05:00

First of all I have to post this photo to brag on my hubby a bit. After a LONG day at work (a few days ago) he had this delicious drink waiting for me when I got home:

Today we decided to venture out to the Grapevine Mills Mall to check out the mini-Legoland and aquarium as well as Rainforest Cafe.

Our first stop was the aquarium which was much nicer then I expected though it was FULL of crazy kids from day camps in the area. Next time I'd wait to go on a school day during the Fall when less busy.
Isn't Ezra super cute wearing his "pack pack" :)

Now off to Legoland. Ezra was too young to ride the rides but I had a blast looking that the city scapes they created. Here's DFW airport:
The boy can sure pose:

These city scapes were amazing. They lit up and had moving parts. Being a Lego freak myself I LOVED it!
One of Ezra's heroes - Buzz Lightyear.
Texas Rangers ball park:

Dallas Cowboys stadium:

We were super hungry after all of the excitement so we headed to the Rainforest Cafe. Overpriced with kind of yucky food and LONG waits but it is a neat experience.
Animatronic crocodile:
Here's Ezra trying his best to intimidate the croc:

Mom and dad were bored waiting forever for a table so we had some fun of our own:
Michael doing his "I'm trying to be patient and let me wife have some fun even though I want to leave" pose. (thanks for sticking through with it babe)

New blog design

2011-07-19T19:39:00.003-05:00

I'm really loving the way Meeca's blog turned out. Click on the button below to be redirected to her site to see what we came up with for her new blog!

New design and cupcakes!!!

2011-07-15T14:37:00.003-05:00

In celebration of the final Harry Potter movie I plan to make these BUTTERBEER cupcakes:

Don't they look amazing! If you bake them let me know how they turn out. I also recently designed this logo for a fellow adoptive mom who's starting a baking buisness:

Some new blog designs and a tutorial on how to add a personalized signature to your blog posts...

2011-07-13T22:47:00.006-05:00

Here are some new blog designs I've done recently.

Lindsey had already picked out a background she loved so we used that to build the rest of the blog. That and her Seussical title for the blog lead me in a fun and funky direction. I think it turned out super cute and fun. Just click on the button below to be redirected to her blog:

Stina and Jay are soon to be adoptive parents. Stina had also already picked out a background she found and wanted to go with that look so I just edited the image and added some fun elements. Click on the button below to see their new blog:

Both of these ladies were super easy to work for and I had a great time collaborating!

Aside from the new blog designs I also wanted to do a quick tutorial
on how to add a signature/post divider to your posts.

The first thing that you'll need is an image. Whether you want just your name or a dotted line or a scrapbooking element you'll need to save that image to some sort of photobucket, flicker, shutterfly, etc. account. You'll need the "direct link" from that image to plug into the code below. It will look like this:

(you see the links and codes to the right of the image... you'll need to copy the entire url for the code listed under "direct link")

Once you have that url you plug it into this HTML code: (DON'T LEAVE OUR ANY . OR , OR " AT ALL, EVEN THE ONES IN THE PARENTHESES)

.post-footer-line-1{background:url("PASTE YOUR URL HERE");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding: 120px 0px 0px 0px;
margin-bottom: 3.5em;
font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Tahoma, Arial;
}

Now that you have your code just copy it then go to your blogs "design" tab and click on "edit HTML". You'll see that it gives you a LONG list of gobbeldy gook in the left side of the page with a little bar to scroll through. You'll want to scrool about half way through the code in most cases and look for this:

/* Footer
----------------------------------------------- */

Each section of your blog will be broken down in this way. You'll see seperators just like labeling each section of your blog ie. Posts, Headers, Widgets in the place where you see "Footer" above. The "Footer" section comes directly after the "Post" section. You want to paste your code right above what I've pasted above. It should be the last line of code in the post section right above the footer section.

***IMPORTANT***
Before you click save or anything like that, PREVIEW your changes. It will open up your blog in another window so you can see if you like the signature or if it's too big/too small. If you like what you see then click "save changes".

This is really the easiest way that I've found to add a signature to your blog and even though the idea of messing with HTML scared me to death when I first started blogging it's really very easy and when you do it once you'll feel like a pro!

If you want to either increase or decrease the space b/w the signature and the "comments" section change the "padding: 120px" in the code I've provided. A smaller number ex. 80px, means it will be closer and a larger number ex. 150px will spread it apart.
Don't change any other numbers except for the 120.

If you have any questions about this tutorial at all just shoot me an e-mail or comment and I'll try to help you out.

What we've been up to...

2011-07-12T16:31:00.010-05:00

Throwing rocks:

Swimming:

Eating Ice cream:

Exploring new places:

Playing dress up:

Doing laundry - Ezra style:

I'm very excited to share this printable with you!

2011-07-10T11:35:00.007-05:00

Last night I had an idea for a party invite after seeing these amazing model hot air balloons. I decided to make an invite as well as some coordinating labels. Click on the images below to enlarge.

Just click on the images below to enlarge then save to your computer. They are already sized properly so just add your text and click print!
Here are the actual invites:
The hot air balloons can be attached with cute colorful baker's twine as pictured above.
Here's a sample that I created to show what they look like with text: (I used multiple fonts but the one in the clouds and the name is called Hanna Vanilla and can be downloaded HERE)

What I made today...

2011-07-10T11:07:00.006-05:00

I LOVE sugar cookies and decided to try my hand at decorating. I'm in love with The Adventures of Sweet Sugarbelle blog so yesterday I decided I'd go for it. I now feel like a pro at rolling and cutting cookie shapes thanks to her tutorials which can be found HERE.

First I used her recipe for sugar cookies and cut them into cupcake shapes. While they were baking I made some royal icing and divided up alloquats for what I'd need it for (ex. each different color in both flood and piping consistencies). To store the icing I wrapped the bowls in cling wrap and topped with a plate to hold in the moisture. I then used her 20 second royal icing to flood the top portion of the cupcake and added sprinkles while it was wet. I then flooded the bottom portion to create the cup.

The next step was to pipe the outline of the cup. My piping incing was too thick and kept breaking. Consistency is something she talks alot about on her blog and now I know why. I then piped swirly thingies onto the top to create more dimension. Lastly I added a "cherry" as an afterthought. I wish I could have piped that first or just used a red M&M but I didn't plan that far ahead. Lastly I packaged them in individual baggies and created a little bunting to add a little something to the platter.

This is Michael's drill weekend so I sent them with him to work. Hopefully the guys will like them.

Some new bloggy bling free for you!

2011-07-09T10:58:00.003-05:00

Last night I had an idea for some side bar freebies so this morning I created these and wanted to share them with you guys! I hope you like them. There's a tutorial I made on how to resize them if needed and how to add them to your own blog HERE.

Ezra's first bike and a freebie!

2011-07-05T17:09:00.005-05:00

We went to Wal-Mart today to get some random things and when we walked past the bike section Ezra wanted to see them, so after we put him on one and realized that he was tall enough to reach the pedals we let him pick on out. Luckily for us I suppose he picked out the cheapest bike there. We liked the Jeep bike but he wanted "the red one", so here is his new bike:

Ezra's got so much hair that we had to get him the +5 year old size helmet:

Ezra is crazy about his helmet and has taken to wearing it around the house. You never know when a rogue hot dog may start an uprising I suppose! :)

I made this little scrapbooking quick page to commemorate the day. Just click on the image to enlarge.

and here's one for you to save to your computer and edit as you wish:

Today's digital freebie

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Just click on the images below to enlarge then save to your computer and add photos and any other digital scrapbooking elements and text that you wish!

I used the page to showcase some photos I took of Ezra this morning using my bracelet to make some kind of bizarre "smooshed face mask".

Too cool to pass up

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So this morning and this afternoon I've been useless. I did clean up the house a bit and did Fourth of July stuff with the family but then I was back to the computer to peruse Pinterst. I fell in love with this idea and didn't want to just "re-pin" it. I had to share it on the blog as well. This way you guys who don't have kids yet or like us can still start this since Ezra's so young won't miss out on this great photo collage idea. Sorry the image is so small. Hopefully if you click on it it will enlarge quite a bit.

And for those interested, you can view my pinterest page HERE.

Today's digital freebies

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These little popsicles are great for embellishing your digital scrapbooking or as printables for party decor and labels!

Here's a little quick page that you can just click on to enlarge then save to your computer and just slip your own photos under the .png image.

What he wore yesterday...

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Yesterday before church Ezra came into our room in the get-up below. He was wearing his Mr. Potato Head's fireman hat and had a toy electric drill which was his "fire gun".

Fourth of July freebie

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Just click on the image below to enlarge and then save it to your computer. You can then just add your own photo and text and presto!

Observations...

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OVERACHIEVERS: (photo taken in downtown Weatherford)

OVER-ADVERTISING: (photo taken at the gas pump by my house)

OVER-WHELMING: (photo taken of our bedroom carpet after Ezra tried to "paint" it with my nail polish)

A note on potty training...

Tonight at dinner Ezra said he needed a diaper change. Michael then took the opportunity to remind him about using the potty. Here's Michael and Ezra's conversation:

M: Where does your poo poo go?
E: You're supposed to poo poo in the potty.
M: Where does your tee tee go?
E: You're supposed to tee tee in the potty.

silence... then a contemplative look on Ezra's face.

E: Where do farts go?
M: You can fart anywhere.
E: You're supposed to fart in Mommy and Daddy's bed.