Little Miss' Room

For MissCrafty Pants Wednesday I thought I would share with you Little Miss' Room. Alot of  fun work went into her room, and alot of crafting! It is my most favorite room in the whole house, a sweet room for a sweet girl.

Here's the view from the  door. I didn't want to do pink, but I still wanted the room to be dainty and girly. I LOVE this color! 

Her crib set was made by Burps N Giggles. It is absolutely beautiful. I chose a shabby chic print, but then added a little sass with the polka dot sheets. The little kitchen set was a present from my mom this year, not quite finished yet. Mister and Little Miss LOVE it!

Here is her name sign. So cute and so easy. I bought the $1 wood plaques at Michaels and spray painted them white. I then bought really cute scrapbook paper and used a diecut machine to cut out the letters, which I then hot glued to the plaque. I attached ribbon to the back and thumbtacked them to the wall. I then took the backs off of some fancy scrapbooking brads and covered the ugly tacks!! Cute! 

The lighting is horrible but here is one up close...

This chair is my favorite. I found it at a antique store for $20. I saw it and Hubcap said I could pay whatever I wanted for it (Reasonably speaking) and I was shocked when I read the tag!!! The little bench Hubcap made for her before she was born. I love it because alot of love and hard work went into it to make it perfect for her.
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Here is the doll house I "remodeled" for her for Christmas. I found the dollhouse at the Goodwill for $14, what a steal. I bought a bunch of scrapbooking paper and modpodged my heart out! I LOVE the end result!

This clock is what we built the room around. My mom and I saw it at a store a week before I found out what I was having. We went crazy for it but we didn't buy it. As soon as I found out she was a girl I called my mom and she immediately went to the store and bought the last one, then surprised me with it that night! I love the "Be filled with joy" sign and it is so appropriate for Little Miss because when I think of her I think "joy". I found it here. And her name sign came from my friend who owns this shop. Her work is beautiful, we have many more pieces in our home, and I plan on asking for more for my birthday... 

This dresser is a "for free" on the side of the road piece. We picked it up, painted it and added some Anthropologie knobs.Its perfect! 

Over the dresser I strung a bunch of vintage Barbie clothes to make the cutest garland. I also bought those three little antique doll dresses. I took a sewing spindle and two dowels and painted them white. I made a T with the dowels and then using hot glue attached it to the spindle. Then I just added the dresses! 

Above her closet I hung these cutest, vintage alphabet cards. They completed the room perfectly I think! 

So there is a glance at my sweet girl's nursery.. 

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was so much fun! We spent Christmas Eve with the inlaws, Christmas morning just our fam and then we headed over to my mom and dads and spent the day. I was so excited for Christmas morning, Little Miss' first and Mister was old enough to get it. Well kind of, old enough to be excited about his presents at least.

Mister with his new Prowler from his Papa and Grandma. 

Trying on his new pajamas on Christmas Eve. 

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Now you know why I was so excited for them to wake up! 

Mister with his new Super Grover..his face is priceless! 

Coming out on her first Christmas morning...

Pinkalicious

My babies...

My loves...

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His castle from Papa Red and Gramsie

Little Miss Christmas

So there is our Christmas in a nutshell! Such a fun filled day! 

9 months

Little Miss turned 9 months on Christmas Eve! I cannot believe that I have a nine month old! Stop time, stop! It was fun to watch Little Miss and her first Christmas, she didnt really get into opening presents as much as I thought, she mainly wanted her brothers toys and the paper. She loved her Pinkalicious doll and a stuffed sheep toy my brother got her.
Little Miss at 9 months you:
-crawl
-have stood up a few times but not an every day occurance
-you talk, then talk, then talk some more.. you say mama, dada, hi dada, hi baby, kitty, baby and hi
-my favorite is when you wave at yourself and say "hi baby"
-you LOVE to play with your brother but sometimes he bewilders you.. :)
-started eating "puffs" and love them and you even tried a french fry
-have two sweetest little bottom teeth!
-love your sleep, you still take a morning nap, long afternoon nap and sleep through the night!
-love Elmo like your brother
-love your cousin, you guys are too cute with eachother... alot of trouble is what you guys are going to make!
My sweetest Little Miss you are a joy. I've said it once, I'll say it again, you my dear are Perfection topped with a bow, my sweetest little girl. I cannot imagine our lives without you! Happy 9 months Love...
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Miss Crafty Pants Monday: Nativity Handprint pictures

Merry Christmas Week Friends! I am so excited that Christmas is almost here and that I have NO work this week. Not that I work that much, but its still nice to not have to lesson plan for those two days and just PLAY,PLAY PLAY with my babies!
Last week and then this morning Mister and I made adorable Nativity Hand (and foot) Print pictures. I absolutely love them!

"Angels we have heard on High"  This took one footprint and two cute handprints!

And then we have the sheep and wisemen. For the sheep I stamped his hand in black and then we covered it in cotton balls. He then painted green grass. The wise man we did three brown handprints and then three fingers in different colors. Then he just fingerprinted orange "heads". Its my favorite one!!

Here they are in a cute timeline in the hallway! So festive and fun! The little baby Jesus is a craft we made at church.

Here is my Little Miss all ready for church yesterday. Apparently she was thrilled about her outfit. She's cutting teeth and so not herself which is so sad. She was still so cute!

Here is my cute shepard in the play last night stealing from the wiseman. Poor guy didnt make it to the stage, he wasnt feeling well and "lost his lunch" on his dad. He had too much sugar and it made him sick... sad little guy. But his Papa Red came and Gramsie and he had fun with them in the nursery.

And two more Christmasy pictures before I go! Oh my sweet Little Miss! She is so beautiful!

And here is Mister with his bell after our North Pole Breakfast! He loves his bell!

Off to go make Rudolph and Clarise puppets with Mister so we can do a puppet show for Little Miss! I'll be back Wednesday with a Crockpot Pulled Pork Taco recipe to die for!

Why I love Teaching

Most days out of the week I stay at home with my babies and I'm a stay at home mom. But on the other days I leave my home and go teach 3rd/4th Grade. I am team teaching this year which is such a blessing. Honestly most  days those kids kick my tushie. I am exhausted when I come home, they are fun but so tiring!!!! And even though it makes my heart literally ache when I leave my babies those mornings, at least I am going to 25 energetic students who I love. Heres why:
1. Today  I was having one little girl help me proofread other students writing when she was done with hers. When it was time to go to recess she came up to me and in all seriousness asked," What are we going to do with those kids?"
2. They laugh at all my jokes and think my songs I come up with are funny.
3. They cannot wait to tell me all their stories that have happened over the weekend/ last couple days of school.
4. Yesterday one little guy seriously told me he was growing a mustache. Today when I asked him how it was going he replied, "slow".  FUNNIEST, THING, EVER!
5. We always listen to orchestra/classical music in class and when they come in I make them pirouette to their seats and they all do it willingly, even the boys. :)
6. They totally support my germ-a-phobic tendencies and even warn visitors, "Watch out, she might Lysol you."
7. One little guy on every single writing prompt we do writes, " Dont you think my writing is smooth Mrs. B?"
8. All their cute pictures and drawings. Today from my little English Language learner I got a picture that said "Mrs. B the star and most famous of the earth."  It is so hanging on my fridge tonight.
9. They always use their big fancy vocab words when they are speaking to impress me. " Mrs. B arent you so exasperated?" " Im just famished, arent you?"
10. Last week before school I sprinkled green glitter on their desks and told them it was Grinch dust and they believed me!
11. They would rather stay inside with me at recess then go out and play. I would rather them go play... :)
12. One little guy brought me Starbucks today, and then after giving it to me said, "Well doesnt that deserve a hug?" HAHAHA, YES SIR!
13. They think my babies are so cute. Smart class.
14. Two little guys told me that they are going to take over their dad's lawn business when they grow up. They said they would mow my lawn and take real good care of it for half price!!! What a steal!
15. All of the " Youre fun Mrs. B" and " I love you's"
One of my favorite quotes is, " This business of training little humans for life is a mind- bogging process." SO TRUE! So here's to my overwhelming yet rewarding job!! I love you too little ones.

Miss Crafty Pants Monday: Christmas Tree crafts.....

Happy Monday! I don't know about you but it is slow moving around these parts this morning...... I need to kick things into gear!! I have so much to do, but cannot find the motivation to do it. Bleck. So I thought I would blog while Mister watches Sesame Street and Miss naps. Maybe blogging will motivate me..or not.
We had a busy and fun weekend!

Mister got to go hiking with his Papa Red this weekend. He was SO EXCITED! Pretty much my dad hung the moon according to Mister, he is his most favorite person! So they had a blast!! Mister kept talking about hiking, big sticks, big rocks, french fries and Papa Red for the rest of the weekend. Ok, he still is! 

While my dad took Mister hiking we went out Christmas shopping with Little Miss. It was our first time going out with just her....it was fun. Hubcap said it was "refreshing" to not have a two year old with us. I thought it was weird, I feel naked when I don't have my kids with me.. weird but true. Here she is all dolled up to go shopping! Lord have mercy she is cute! 

On to our crafts for the week. We made Christmas trees this week in various forms. First we painted:

I had Mister paint green all over a piece of paper. When it dried I cut out a tree shape and he got to decorate. Here's what we came up with: 

Cute right?!?! Super easy craft, but I love the results. So did Mister. We also made these trees:

We just glued pom poms to pinecones, but they are so cute! They look really cute next to the kiddos Little People Nativity scene! 

Here we are after we decorated our tree! Little Miss did not make it, she was too tired! Please disregard my makeup free, pink eyed face. Or the fact that Mister looks terrified of it! Hee hee, at least Hubcap looks good! 

I will leave you with a picture from our latest family picture session with our favorite photographer Miss Samantha Prather! She is amazing! I love my little family!

Current Favorites and Muffin Madness

Good morning friends! We've had a busy morning already over here and it's not even 10:00! Oh the things you can do when your child loves to wake up bright and early! Now Oodles is down for her morning nap and Mister is watching his episode of Sesame Street so I thought I would share with you some things I am loving.

                                             

1.I am loving that this little girl learned to clap. She now claps almost all day, but at the most appropriate times. Daddy's home, she claps, Mister helped, she claps, Mommy spilled paint, she claps, seriously this girl is smart! She also has her fake little laugh down pat, so now any time any one opens their mouth to speak she busts up laughing. And claps of course. 

2. Yes, I am loving apples, oranges and cinnamon. If you peel the orange and cut the apple up into rounds, put them on a cookie sheet and sprinkle them with cinnamon, put it in your oven at 250 it makes your house smell   AMAZING! It last a long time too, you can use the same pan five or six times before they get a little too crispy! Try it, you'll love it!

3. Twisted Peppermint lotion from Bath and Body Works. I got this last year as a present from one of my kindergartners. Yummy! I like to put it on the babies when they are done with their baths. It makes them smell sweet and Christmasy.... 

4. Our first Fancy Nancy book! I have been dying to get Little Miss a Fancy Nancy book and I finally broke down and bought her one last night. I always get Mister a new Christmas book each year so last night at the store he got to choose one, and I chose this one for Little Miss. This book is so cute!! Can't wait to buy Little Miss some more! 

5. Little Miss's stocking. I bought a plain white stocking at WalMart and then added some doodads and voila! Its so cute, and she loves it. She clapped when I was done....

6. And lastly I am loving these muffins! Cappachino Chip and Lemon Berry Cream to be exact. Here are the recipes.

Cappachino Chip
These muffins will change your life...(or your pant size) Seriously these are so good! I found the recipe : here. Yum, yum and more yum.

And now for the Lemon Berry Cream Muffins. These are kind of summery, but last night they had a sale on raspberries so I had to make them. These are the muffins I have made for my doctor and their assistant right before I have had my babies.  I want to offer them something yummy so that they are super nice to me while giving birth, or the second time chopping me open, but I also dont want them to think I just sit around and eat baked goods all day, henceforth that is why I am HUGE! So I make them these "healthy" muffins. Healthy because they have two healthy ingredients, lemon and berries.... So far it has worked, they have been very nice about chopping me open and have not made one comment about me being huge...

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries or blueberries (if frozen do not thaw out)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup of lemon yogurt (I use two of the 6 oz Yoplait yogurts)
1-2 tsp of grated lemon zest
1/2 vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl combine the first six ingredients. Carefully fold in the berries.
In another bowl combine the next five ingredients.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry.
Fill greased muffin tins about 2/3rds full.
If you are not making the streusal topping now you can Bake for 18-22 minutes at 400. (My oven tends to run hot, so I bake mine for 15 minutes and they are perfect)
Let sit for five minutes before removing!

Streusel Topping:
Today I did not make a streusel topping because I'm going to freeze these but usually I do. To do this you combine:
3 tblsps flour
3 tblsps quick cooking oats
1 tbsp white sugar
1tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Cut in 2 tblsp of cold butter until crumbly. Sprinke over muffins before baking. Follow the instructions above for the baking/cooling.

So there you have it! I hope you enjoy!
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It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas.....

Merry Christmas Season Friends! It's beginning to look alot like Christmas around here! Here is my sweet Little Miss in a festive little outfit I picked for her last year on Christmas Eve on the clearance rack! I have waited a whole year for her to wear it!!! It made me so happy for her to wear it to church yesterday! 

And here is my Little Mister who isnt so little any more. Here he is sleeping in his big boy bed for the first time! He has done great, super easy transition. When Hubcap was taking his crib apart Little Mister kept telling me, "Daddy's breaking my bed! I'ts ok, I'll fix it! " :) Cute kid.

Here Mister is decorating his and Little Miss' tree. We are going later in the week to get a bigger real tree, but I thought it would be fun to decorate this little tree with the fun kid ornaments in their little corner of the living room. Mister did a great job, but he did want to play with all the tractor ornaments, instead of hanging them!!

What are all those cute numbered envelopes hanging in the background you might wonder? Well that my friends is the super cute advent calendar that my sister in law and I made last night! It is too cute for words! Here they are up close:

And here is the whole thing! It is so festive and cute, it might be my most favorite Christmas decoration! 

In each little envelope is an activity to do for the day leading up to Christmas. This idea is all over Pinterest so my sister in law and I combined some ideas to make up our own. 

Here are the activities I put in our little envelopes. Obviously not everyone's would be the same, these are fitted for a toddler, but some are for everyone. You could make it work for your family/season of life!  I think its a great way to enjoy the Christmas season. 

 1. Read about the birth of Jesus.

2. Eat a candy cane.

3. Go to Christmas Parade.

4. Get a Christmas tree.

5. Make Christmas tree footprints.

6. Donate food.

7. Read a Christmas book.

8. Make chalk angels.

9. Go to fun Christmas party!

10. North Pole Breakfast.

11. Go look at Christmas Lights.

12. Make a Christmas book.

13. Decorate felt Christmas tree.

14. Go see Santa.

15. Drink hot chocolate.

16. Watch a Christmas movie as a family.

17. Go see Gramsie and Papa Red.

18. Be a Shepard in the Christmas Play.

19. Make Christmas Cookies.

20. Take Goodie Baskets to neighbors.

21. Rudolph Lunch.

22. Make the house smell like Christmas 

23. Listen to Christmas Music-Dance Party!

24. Hang up Paper Snowflakes

25. Rejoice, Rejoice for our King is born! 

Doesn't our Christmas season look fun? What I did was go through my calendar and look at what we already had planned. Some of the events worked for a "advent" event for the day. Then I just plugged in other activities that would work for that day, smaller things on the days I work, etc. I am so excited because I think if we open the envelope right before we do the activity, Mister will really get it! I am also excited about our North Pole breakfast I'm planning for him, fun! 

Next week I have some really fun Christmas crafts to share with you, but until then Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a very FUN Christmas season! 

8 months!

Oh Oodles! You turned 8 months on Thanksgiving Day, how festive! You are your mother's child! I cannot believe that in 4 months you will be one years old! I know I tell you this every month, but time really is flying!!

At months you:

-wave hi

-say mama and dada

-still have no teeth

-still do not crawl!!!! You have made a few small crawls, but for the most part you roll, stretch, scoot to get where you want to go. And you can go pretty far.

-Eat baby food two times a day now, fruit at lunch, veggie at dinner. 

-Love to sing and LOVE to talk. Your poor brother gets an earful!

-Have the funniest fake laugh! Your brother taught you and so now we will look at you and you do this hilarious fake laugh.

- suck your top lip in and look like a bull dog. A very beautiful bull dog.

-love jewelry

-You can now go from lying on your back/tummy to sitting up on your own, which is nice for mama! 

-have wild and curly hair..you have this one little ringlet on the side of your head that I could seriously eat with a spoon it is so adorable! 

Little Miss you are just too cute! Seriously every time I look at you I can't believe how gosh darn cute you really are!! You make everyone around you happy and I love that about you! You are my sweetest baby girl and I don't know how I could love you more!

Mama

Miss Crafty Pants Monday: Thanksgiving Book

Good Morning! Mister decided to wake up bright and early this morning so we are enjoying Sesame Street on the couch. Oh how I love Sesame Street.
Last week Mister and I made a Thanksgiving Book using his handprint. It turned out really cute so I am excited to share it.

Here is the cover. I cut up a diaper box into the shape I wanted and then covered it in paper. This made the book a little more sturdy. Dont you love our little Thanksgiving tree? I made these little turkey handprints when Mister was three months old, they make me happy. The tree was a tree that my mom had at her baby shower and we used all growing up. Then when I was pregnant with Mister it was at my baby shower and now we use it!



And here are the pages. Oh my stars, arent they so cute! I probably look at this book once a day, just because his little handprint is so cute. I eventually wrote under or next to each little Picture as well; The Mayflower, Pilgrim, Indian or if you would like to be politically corect Native American  and finally turkey. Mister is proud because he can read his book!
Heres what I did:
Mayflower: painted whole hand brown, added sails 
Pilgrim: only painted four fingers black and his palm peach, then drew on his bill of his hat and face
Native American: only painted four fingers in "feather" colors, palm a light brown and then drew on face and headband
Turkey: painted all five fingers
So there you have it! So cute!!
And speaking of cute, I will leave you with some pictures of my cute fall babies. Love my lovelies!
Happy Fall Y'All!