The Easter Bowtique

Happy Birthday Timmy & Toby!!!

Another big day of birthdays in our family. My cousin Tim is 26 today. Our mothers are identical twins, so we're more like brother and sister than cousins, and for many years we acted like it! I feel so blessed to have him in my life. He's always been such a great friend and I love him more than he could ever know. I can't believe he's 26...that makes me feel REALLY old. Happy Birthday Tim...we love you!

My best friend Rachael's son Toby turns 3 today. I love this picture of Toby all snuggled up in his Uncle Jay's arms. Good luck getting Toby to snuggle with you these days...he's a busy-body; always thinking of what he can get into next. We love you Toby...Happy 3rd Birthday Buddy!!!

Happy Birthday Babi & Noah!!!

Today marks the birthday of two very special people in our lives. First, Jay's mom, Patty, is turning 29 again! We love her so much and wish we lived closer so we could spend more time together. She's visiting next week for Easter, so we'll be celebrating her birthday then, but I thought we'd wish her a happy birthday across the miles!!!
The kids loved doing this "photo shoot" for her this morning. She's a Babi (the Polish term for grandma), 100% Polish and proud to admit it!!!

This is my girlfriend Kelly's little sweetheart Noah. He's 3 today and loves keeping his mommy and daddy on their toes. I adore this newborn picture of him...wasn't he the most beautiful baby?! Happy 3rd Birthday Noah...we miss you and can't wait to see you in June!!!

Gifts for the Birthday Boys

We had two birthday parties to go to yesterday, which gave me a chance to be crafty and fun with their presents: Toby (my sweet nephew by love, not blood) loves to draw...mostly on things he's not supposed to (sometimes I think he and Gabriel may be blood related), so I bought him this adorable Crayola bathtub art caddy. It's filled with bath tints, paints, and crayons. I also gave him a terry wash mitt that I appliqued with his initial to clean up his tub time art work.
All wrapped up and looking cutesy! Happy 3rd Birthday Toby...We Love You!!!

For our friend David's gift, I decided to make a bucket filled with bean bags (10 to be exact). The bean bags weren't hard to sew (come on, it's a square filled with beans), but they were a little time consuming to turn inside out and fill with the beans. Maybe I would have been a little more patient if I wasn't starting this project at 10 o'clock the night before the party.

I also made him some activity cards to give him some ideas of how to use his bean bags. I printed them on mailing labels and then attached the mailing labels to cardstock and cut them out with zig-zag scissors. I made the cards double-sided, punched a hole in the corners and tied them together with ribbon.

The bean bags in fun, funky patterns and colors.

The finished project...I love the way it turned out and will certainly make them again for gifts. Happy 5th Birthday David!!!

I made these generic "fill-in" gift labels a few months back and love having something quick on hand to use when wrapping.

Looking forward to the next birthday party and another opportunity to get creative!!!

Bows for the Birthday Girl

I made these bows last night as a birthday surprise for the little girl having the cheerleading party. Her mother ordered her a black cheerleader uniform with her name on the front in pink. Aren't these cheerleader buttons adorable?! I knew these bows would be the perfect finishing touch to her birthday ensemble...she was so excited when I gave them to her today.

Happy Birthday Kennedi!!!

Rainy Day Sleepover

It was a gloomy, dreary, rainy day here yesterday, so we decided to have a daytime slumber party with our pal Ethan. The kids were comfy in their jammies all snuggled in their sleeping bags. Unfortunately for me, no one slept, but we did have a good time watching Toy Story 2 and munching on popcorn (on the stove w/ lots of butter...yum!!!) and Swedish fish. If you belong to the Nashville zoo, I highly recommend purchasing one of their buckets of popcorn ($3.95 minus member discount) and a couple of kiddie drinks...it makes the best little popcorn set! We love the enamelware one that Jay's mom bought us, but Gabriel does a little better right now with plastic, if you catch my drift. After the movie, we had pizza (a sleepover staple) and the boys took a little nap. What a fun way to spend the day!

Terrific Tip Tuesday

MORNING MENU

In our house we have a "you get what you get" mentality for most meals, except for weekday breakfasts. On those mornings, I give the kids a choice, usually simple items like waffles, toast, or cereal. This can be a difficult decision for toddlers and preschoolers who have just gotten out of bed and are still a little "out of sorts" (i.e. cranky, tired, and hungry as a bear.) I got a great tip from a fellow mother (of 4, bless her!) on how she's made mornings easier at her house. She takes an "order" the night before at the dinner table, asking each child what he or she would like for breakfast the next morning. The choices are simple ones, mostly hot or cold cereals, and the kids have all of dinner to think about it and make their decision. Their choices are then put up on a chalkboard (a notepad or dry erase would work as well) and she can have their breakfasts ready and on the table in no time in the morning...no complaints, right?! She says complaints have been minimal, since she reminds them that they made the choice. I just like the idea of less discussion with cranky little ones in the morning!

Bitty Bird Bow Party Favors

Here's my latest hair bow adventure: 12 favors (2 korker bows each) for a 3 year-old's cheerleading birthday party. The guest of honor will be wearing a pink, white, and black cheerleading costume. How cute!
Thought these little korker piggies looked a bit like pom-pom's. Hope the girls love them!

Outside Fun

The weather here was gorgeous, so the kids headed outside as much as possible today. They were out on the back deck before they even ate breakfast with their new playdoh set from the sneaky leprechaun. I'm actually embarrassed to tell you all this, as I like to think of myself as being up on the holidays and stuff, but I forgot to set up the kids "leprechaun" treat on Monday night. I had such an exhausting Monday that it totally slipped my mind, so last night at about 11:30 p.m. I found myself cutting out green paper shamrocks (to make a trail) and wrapping their gift in gaudy gold paper. I woke up this morning to Jenna whispering "Mom, the leopard came." Poor girl can't say leprechaun to save her life! Anyway, the playdoh set was a huge hit! What a goofball!
Wish she really knew how to pull weeds!
His ankles resemble mine after a day of too many salty snacks!
Is he the cutest fat thing you've ever seen or what?!

Terrific Tip Tuesday

I'm adding a new weekly post to the blog: Terrific Tip Tuesday's. It'll feature great tips to make life a little easier with little ones. If you have any good suggestions, email me and I'll post your tip. This should be fun! This Week's Tip

Gabriel is going through the whole "I do it" stage, so last week I had a great idea for a used up bottle of sprinkles (or jimmies for those of you from Philly). I put a few spoonfuls of parmesan cheese in the container and let him go at it on his spaghetti and pizza. He's thinks it's great, the mess is minimal, and even if he doesn't eat it, it keeps him sitting at the table a few extra minutes. Well worth it!!!

Top of the Evenin' to You!

We headed to the zoo today since the kids have off for spring break and the weather was just too nice to stay in. I can't believe how many people remembered to wear green for the holiday. It was so cute seeing all the little kids in St. Patty's gear or green clothing. We spent a couple of hours visiting a few animals, riding the carousel (okay, I didn't ride, my friend Marian took them on), and snacking on our packed lunches (show-off Marian packed Ethan an all green lunch, while all I had to brag about were some chocolate-covered strawberries). I loved that I could take Joel's socks off today. Baby piggies are so cute!

Hope you enjoyed a Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Should Have Been Cleaning

Jay had to work tonight, so I decided to catch up on some orders and let the housecleaning slide until tomorrow. I'll be kicking myself tomorrow, I'm sure. At least I had fun!My new passion thanks to my friend Mary Kay...D ring belts!!! The hairbow and belt are for her daughter Hailey and the button elastic is for her older daughte Katie.
More stuff for Mary Kay's girls...Katie wanted a headband to go with their new pillowcase dresses. And I couldn't resist making some covered-button bobby pins with the extra satin ribbon. So sweet!

More belts and bows...

and belts and bows!!!

Time for bed...zzzzz, zzzzz, zzzzz.

Feelin' a Wee Bit Irish

The kids have Spring Break next week, so they celebrated St. Patrick's Day today at school. The whole family was sporting green. Gabriel made this hysterical hat as his craft today and was very happy to wear it for the picture...

he even shared it with the dog!

We gave our school friends and teachers little bags of coins (Rolos) and we took an "Irish" lunch of shamrock-shaped cheese sandwiches, green pears, green twizzlers, and green sprinkled sugar cookies...

that we baked yesterday with our friend Ethan. Here's his little package that he took home with him. There's not much Irish in us, but you'd never know it!!!

Joel's Big Day of First's

Monday was Joel's 4 month appointment and a big day of 1st's:
-first baby of ours to weigh 19 pounds at a 4 month exam (yes, you read that correctly, 19 lbs!)...he's also 2 inches longer than the other two were at this age
-first time to have pink eye (both he and Gabriel got it from me)
-first ear infection
-first antibiotic
-first cereal feeding
Where did 4 months go???

Waiting on a Casting Call for Chorus Line...

(Seriously, this kid cracks me up everyday!)

Week In Review

I've been a little under the weather since last Sunday, so I'll try to catch you up on what we've been up to... Papa and Mimi visited from Ohio. What a nice visit in between Jay's two week Florida vacation (oops, did I just write that, I meant to say business trip...ha, ha!). I definitely needed some adult conversation at that point. The kids got lots of great goodies, including a kit for Jenna on how to be a princess (see above). Gabriel was so excited about his Thomas Morgan Mine that he skipped breakfast on Sunday morning just to play with it! Thanks Mimi and Papa for such a great time...we miss you already!

On Wednesday, we headed to a great park to play for a little while in the gorgeous sunshine. Joel just chilled out in his stroller while Jenna and Gabriel got out some much needed energy. What a fun afternoon with my little sweethearts!!!