February 28, 2011

Project Life Week 1

I'm alittle behind (okay, maybe really behind) on posting about my project life weeks. The Project Life kit from Becky Higgins is incredible. It comes with everything you need to document a year or whatever you choose to use it for. I talked about it here too!
I am loving how this album allows me to document our everyday lives. Even looking back over the last two months is amazing. The little stories that make me smile, that I want to remember are here and I just love that.
My approach with this is simply to take photos that show our lives right now everyday. I place printing orders through Shutterfly every few weeks but it's working for me. I don't want to be stressed about the printing part, my focus is on the documenting part.This has really had an impact on how I see each day. I'm always looking for the little things that make our story unique. The things that I know will change over time as the twins grow. It's also helping me focus more on my "one little word" , LOVE.

Loving my life, my family, everyday. Being truly happy everyday. Focusing on this thought every morning when I wake. Counting my blessings.  Being content. It's working!

Week One:

I wanted the first page of the album to be full of family pictures. These were taken by Lindsay De Photography and even though they aren't from January they were close enough.

Week one January 2011


Whether you are working with the project life kit or just putting together a scrapbook, be inspired to document life, the everyday.
Thanks for visiting our story!

February 25, 2011

Favorite 5 Friday

Favorite 5 Fridays are here! 
These are a few of my favorites from the week!

1. Spending time with my love. 


2. Some women dream of shoes, I dream of amazing, organized entryways. lol

Entryway


3. Love this mini scrapbook. Must make one myself. 


4. Really want to try out this recipe from lesscake{morefrosting}. Yum!


5. This pretty yellow fabric is calling my name. So many fun things I could do with this!
Premier Prints Traditions Slub Printed Cotton Drapery Fabric in Corn Yellow $7.95 per yard

Thanks for visiting! Please feel free to comment your favorite things, I'd love to know what they are!

February 24, 2011

Happy Heart

If there's one thing I want to pass onto my little guys it's a love of books. There is so much to be learned just by picking up a good read, not just language skills and vocabulary but it can also translate into how you write. This is something I want for my boys. For them to love reading and writing both.
Looks like we are moving in the right direction here. Both are huge fans of books. They spend lots of time looking through each one, studying the pictures. Since they're only three, they still have to learn how to read the words but we're taking it one step at a time.


February 23, 2011

Hello....

Hello 3.

Hello big boys.

Hello whole new year.


Sunday, we celebrated B & F turning three! A party at the park, with gorgeous weather and wonderful friends. It was the perfect day!
The twins are BIG fans of running and climbing, so I know they enjoyed their day.

I've had a few projects going on around here lately (okay, so maybe it was more like a couple months) getting ready for the big day and thought I'd share them with you.

PROJECTS

Pendent banner: The banner was made by cutting triangles out of different fabrics that matched the party theme. Using a ruler, I measured the size I wanted on a scrap piece of printer paper, cut out my triangle and used this as my template for cutting the fabric. Then I hand stitched the top corners of each triangle to a long piece of twine. A simple X was all it took to keep the twine and fabric together. These can be made a long or as short as you want. As you can see, I made a mini one for the large yellow bucket as well.

For the "happy birthday" banner I cut my design for the pendents out of white card stock to use as my background. The letters were cut from my Making Memories SLICE machine, but you could use the CRICUT or any other device, even sticker letters if you wanted. The green stripes were cut from green card stock. Everything was attached with acid free glue, I like the Scotch brand the best. I folded the top of each pendent piece over a long piece of twine and taped the back, this kept everything secure.

Mini Chalkboard: A little chalkboard paint (picked mine up at WalMart) some black acrylic paint, a spare rectangle piece of wood and chalk is all it took to make this cute little sign. You can be as creative as you want with it. I wanted mine to be simple, putting the chalkboard paint only on the front side and covering the rest of the exposed wood with black paint. Just follow the directions on the bottle of chalkboard paint for drying times.

Favor bags: I used some natural muslin to sew little bags to hold the party favors. I wanted them to be personalized for each child. Alphabet stencils and acrylic paint were used on the bottom to spell out their names.


Fun little favors. My two absolutely love bubbles!
Just love how these turned out. I hand stitched each one. They were so worth the time.
These cupcakes were scrumptious. I cheated and used box cake mix but instead of adding the water like it says, I put in the same amount of sparkling white grape juice. The frosting is the same as the Strawberry Champagne frosting but without the strawberries.
No will power with these babies! Ha!
I'm so blessed to be "mama" to these little guys! Love you B & F!

February 17, 2011

On my mind

Our family has been through a lot of changes over the last 1.5 years. Major life changes. Like moving away from our families, my husband starting Law School, the twins turning two, getting the boys into a speech therapy program.
It's been 6 months now, that they have been in this program and I finally feel like I can share what's been on my mind through this process. It's been a long lonely road to get to this point and we aren't through yet but I can now see the sun shining again which makes all the difference in the world.


Several months after the boys turned two we went to their regular well-baby check up at the pediatrician's office. While going over the list of age appropriate developments, the Dr. asked if my husband and I were concerned about the boys speech development. I had been concerned for a little while that they weren't exactly where they needed to be but not overly so. Really, still being new to the whole "mommy" role I wasn't sure where they needed to be and what was normal to expect. The pediatrician suggested an organization that provides services for children who may have delays and offers speech therapy. We decided to go ahead with the process and get them started in this program.

Right from the start I had a bad experience with the boy's "case" worker. She didn't seem to have intelligent answers to my questions and for polite reasons we'll just say she was rude. I immediately called the pediatrician with these concerns to which she responded that unfortunately the "case" workers aren't always the nicest from this organization but the speech therapists are nothing like this. She said she has referred patients to them many times and more often than not they tell her that the therapists are wonderful. She herself has used this group to get her son therapy. So, I stuck with it.
There were hearing tests, 3 hour long evaluations and lots of criticism from these "professionals". I heard so many labels and comments about my boys that I'd never heard in reference with them that it was difficult to process and discard the useless information being presented. There was a week were I cried just about everyday simply from the overload of information, most of which was irrelevant to our situation.
We received results back from a few of the tests saying that they needed further evaluations for autism. If you've ever met B & F you would know they don't have autism. The worry of such possibilities, even if they were from someone who hadn't spent more that an hour with the twins, can be tormenting. I was terrified to search the Internet for more information because of my already overloaded mind trying to filter the information already present. After weeks, more meetings and a couple chats with the pediatrician, it was decided that there must have been a mistake in the evaluation for no further testing for autism was needed. I felt some relief.
We finally made it to the part where we met the speech therapist who would be working with the boys. The boys took to her being at the house quickly and we start moving along. After months of therapy, with plenty of progress and regression we have come to the end of Part 1. Tomorrow is their last day working with this therapist and they will move into a different program with the school system.
This has been some kind of year. Many tears, worried hearts, more tears and one step at a time we made it to this point. Although the boys still need some help learning how to communicate using words and phases, we've come a long way. They both sign "please" now, they're saying more words than they did before, and overall are making progress.
As a parent, I've learned so much from this experience. As hard as it has been, I genuinely think it was worth it in the end. Do I think everything was necessary to learn these lessons, no, but then again we never know. We can only take what we can from the situation, learn from it, grow, adapt, change. It's a process.

After several meetings/evaluations with the school system I can tell you Part 2 is already very different from Part 1. It's still a little frightening to hear my kids referred to as being "special needs" but really that's what they need. They need extra encouragement to do things that usually come naturally. There's nothing wrong with this, they are still smart, sweet, wonderful boys. We will make it through this part with flying colors. Eventually they are going to carry on conversations with me. People joke that once they start talking I'm going to want them to stop, but my heart has been longing for this for too long to ever want them to be quiet.

February 12, 2011

Strawberry (Mock) Champagne Cupcakes

I have been on the hunt for yummy cake recipes the past few weeks. The twin's birthday is coming up and I'm planning to bake their cakes. Cupcakes are "in" right now so I thought I'd start my search there when I came across this recipe somewhere (sorry, can't remember where). Although I won't be making these for the boy's party (these are definitely "mommy" cupcakes) I did want to try the recipe. Major success! I brought them to a scrapbook MNI tonight, they were a big hit. I even received a text from the hubs (who was home with the boys) saying and I quote, "Those cupcakes were pimpin' ". Lol A man needs sweet sugary strawberry goodness too, so I left him a couple before taking the rest.

Since champagne isn't in my budget I opted to use Welches sparkling white grape juice in place of the real stuff. It did the trick.........perfection! These are the kind of little cakes that are so simple to put together but also get the "wow" factor. The "I've always wanted something like this to come from my kitchen" thoughts! lol At least that was my thought after taking a bite of one. Enjoy, bake and be merry!



Strawberry (Mock) Champagne Cupcakes

Cake:
1 box strawberry cake mix, I used Pillsbury
1 1/4 c. champagne or sparking white grape juice
1/3 c. vegetable oil
3 egg whites

In a large bowl mix together all cake ingredients with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Divide batter into lined muffin pan filling each about 2/3 full. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 17 to 22 minutes. Cool cakes on a wire rack. Before frosting, let cool for about 30 minutes.

Champagne Frosting
1/2 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. champagne or sparking white grape juice
1 tsp. vanilla
3 to 4 drops of red food coloring
Sugar crystals
Optional: chopped strawberries

Mix with an electric mixer the butter, powdered sugar, champagne or juice, and vanilla. Add food coloring and mix until combined. Stir in chopped strawberries if desired.
Now, I used a large round decorator's tip to pipe the frosting on but you can most certainly use a knife.
Sprinkle with sugar crystals.
These don't have to be refrigerated but I found that after I frosted them they needed to firm up a little so I stuck them in there for a little chill time.

Make these for your next party and they're sure to be a hit. Happy Baking!


Linked up with the following:

                                                              
 
 

Tatertots and Jello

February 5, 2011

Valentine Chair Backpacks

The chair backpacks from PBkids have always been a favorite of mine. When I found out they didn't sell them anymore I was so disappointed, they were just too cute. So, I felt I had to come up with my own version of them.

 The ones I made are bigger than the ones shown from PB but I think I like having that extra room for the Valentine's Day goodies. The pattern I put together is quite simple really. There's the outside bag, the lining, straps with buttons, and the appliqued word and heart. I didn't take pictures for a tutorial but I will give you the measurements that I used to make this bag. Hopefully the pictures of the finished product with help give you a visual. Just remember to have fun & be creative with it!


I started with red flannel for the outside of the bag. Cut 3 pieces 13" x 11" (for the front, back, & top of flap); 2 pieces 13" x 4" for the sides; 1 piece 11" x 4" for the bottom.

I cut out the same sizes & quantity for the lining from red & white polka dot cotton material and a stabilizer. The latter will give the bag some form.  

For the straps, cut 2 pieces 18" x 2 1/4"

I used a 1/2" seam allowance while putting the bag together and a 1/4" seam allowance for the outer stitches that are more for decorative purposes.

The letters for the word MAIL were cut from white felt , the heart was cut from a scrap of fabric and both were sewn on using the applique stitch on my sewing machine.

Buttons on the bottom of the bag with holes for said buttons on the ends of the straps makes it easy to attach to the back of chairs.



Can't wait to hang these on the back of my little boy's chairs for heart day!
What projects do you have going on for Valentine's Day?