Divine Giveaway!!

Oh my! While chasing down what has to be the best give away ever...a spot at Oh Sweet Sadie's Academy... I found the fantastic photographer Becky Earl's website. Wowzers...just stop by for a minute or two and drool over the awesome photo slideshow that runs on her home page. The way she captures those beautiful eyes of those kids is just amazing!! And I love her use of contrast. Just fantastic! So stop on by there and check out her awesome work

Fabric Flowers Flourish

Oh how I love it when a great friend has a great idea! Jocelyn had seen these beauties around boutiques, blogs, and (insert catchy 'b' word here). Well, her great idea was that we should whip some up. My first attempt was better suited as a hat in the New York Easter Bonnet Parade... but after I restrained my natural instinct that bigger is better and saw Jocelyn's gorgeous creation, I came up with these:



Want to whip one or six up for yourself? You need some fat quarters. I got a package of 6 from JoAnns. And you'll need some other layers like burlap and tulle (about a quarter yard of each) along with some snazzy buttons. Simply fold your fat quarter in half, wrong sides together, down the length (so you have a long rectangle) and cut a strip. For the largest layer the strip only needs to be about 1 inch or so. With a needle and thread sew a running stitch down the length of the two layers of fabric near the bottom. No need to be fussy with stitch length or anything like that. Pull the thread so that you have a tight ruffle and attach the two edges together with a couple of stitches. Repeat with other fabrics, cutting each row smaller than the last. With the really tiny middle layer you won't need the whole length of the fat quarter. Just bunch it up as you go and stop when it is long enough to make a circle. Then cut a circle of burlap to size, depending on which layer you want it to be. Same goes for the tulle. Stack them all up. Put a couple of stitches in the middlish area to hold them together, find a cute button for the middle and sew it on and voila!

Now to decide their final destiny.

The Green Door

So it has been a long long while since I have blogged. Super sorry to all of you who like to hang on my every word, lol. Anyway, I'm super proud of my latest project and thought I would share it with the world. I refinished a reclaimed door. I'm guessing the door must be at least 50 years old judging by the awesome door knob and key hole that it sports. It was in a sad sad state with it's yellowing paint peeling like crazy. So I scraped away at it and painted it green to match the accent color of my bedroom and Jocelyn and I brought out all of the awesome dents and nail holes and other details with black glaze. Then I added a bunch of hooks and it is now my necklace holder. I love taking something old and making it useful again...and hope to be doing more projects like this soon.

Linked up with The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday Linky Party!

Jane's Sonic 5th Birthday Party

Jane wanted a Sonic the Hedgehog party for her 5th birthday. So the kids looked for choas emeralds in the playground.

And they proved they were athletic like Sonic in an awesome obstacle course where they ran, dove through tunnels, jumped like crazy, and of course Ran, Ran, Ran.

Here are the kids getting ready for a Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails teams relay race.

Here is Jane blowing out the candles on her Sonic cake featuring the rings he loves to collect and that give him extra power.

Jane and all of her guests had a great time at the party. She claims that next year she wants to have a Super Sonic party. We'll see how long this obsession lasts!

Jane's 3rd Annual Valentine's Party

Here are the party goers for Jane's 3rd Annual Valentine's Party. Pictured is Jane, Sidney, Madeline, Sophia, Reagan, and Lily. This year I wisely decided to keep the guests to 6 (including Jane) and the time to 1 hour. Everyone was in a good mood this year and everyone had a great time!
Funny face time. Reagan wins the prize for best funny faces; she has the greatest sense of humor!

This year the girls made greeting cards from kits I found last year. The girls loved playing with the stickers and the glitter glue. Later they decorated cupcakes. Fun times!
Here are the girls playing Hot Potato to take turns passing out their Valentines. They love playing the game and don't realize that it is an awesome way to enforce turn taking and crowd control.
One of the best parts of the party was unplanned. The girls loved playing with Jane's sunglasses. So cute in their festive dress!
Jane, Maddie, and Reagan lovin' it up!


Jane and Lily.

Teddy's Announcement

Family and friends should be receiving Teddy's birth announcement in the mail any day now. I think it turned out so cute thanks to the great photography of my brother in law Zachary and the software stylings of my fantastic husband. Isn't it great when those around you are aware of their great talents and put them to good use!

Welcome Baby Teddy Truman Cameron

After being induced on December 30, 2008, Ted Truman Cameron joined us in the world! My labor was extremely easy... only 8.5 hours start to finish and 10 pushes. Ted weighed 8 pounds 2 onces (a full 2 pounds lighter than his big sister) and was born at 3:27 pm and was 19.5" long.

I was crying with joy at the arrival of my little boy. I kept saying, "I can't believe it, I can't believe it!" Our journey to have Teddy was so extremely different than the journey to having Jane...it really threw me for a loop!

Little Teddy is soooo cute! Turns out he looks a lot like Jane did at birth, except for a lot trimmer! Even though Jane was 10 pounds 2 onces, we didn't think she was chubby until we compared her with Teddy. Their faces are very similar but Jane deffinitly has her mom's ears and Teddy deffinitly has his dad's.

Our nurse Cody was so nice during the whole induction including picture taking after. She held Teddy like this picture after picture trying to get one of Teddy with his eyes open. When he finally opened his eyes, he expressed his disapproval with the sweetest pout ever! So far he has been such an easy baby and so extrememly cute and sweet. Our family is so blessed to have him here!