Image via
http://fiskarscraft.typepad.com/

This is the cutest idea for birth announcements! Maybe our next baby will be a spring baby and I can make these! Anyone have any cute ideas for summer-y birth announcements?

Random Stuff...

Posting might be a little light for awhile because we have been having some problems with Brian's laptop getting the 'blue screen of death'. We think it might be fixed now, but were not quite sure.

I had a doctor's appointment Friday. I had to do the blood sugar test thing, it made Kenley go crazy! I told them that I wished they would have given that to me before my ultrasound! Brian is home sick today. He has had a fever and is sicker than I have ever seen him. He missed church yesterday and I have never seen him miss church for being sick. I had to go back into the doctor today to give more blood..... Grrrr... I guess that they took the wrong tests on Friday. I have had to give blood at every appointment..... And I do not do well with giving blood. Passing out or throwing up are highly likely, but thankfully neither of those happened today.

I made some Paci Clips this weekend! There are lots of Pregnant ladies at our church right now, and they make a great little addition to the baby shower gift. I took a blue one and that striped one to a shower on Saturday. I combined the tutorials that are here and here. Here is the pictures of a few mine:
Saturday I picked up all the stuff from my painting party!! I love it all but just look at how perfect the monogram turned out next to the fabric!!

26 weeks! (yesterday)

So yesterday I hit 26 weeks! 13 more days and I will be in the third trimester! That is incredibly crazy to me. Kenley is active as ever! I have been having a lot of pain in my right ribs lately. I have a doctors appointment later today so I will ask the doc about it then. I really need to get to work on Kenley's nursery too!

Painting Party!

Monday was my going away/painting party at work! It was really fun but also really bittersweet because I love all of these people who I work with so it was sad that it was the last time I will be with them all together. Warning there are lots of pictures in this post. :) Sorry that so many of them are me. :)


Wont these letters look awesome with the fabric that I picked out? Stacey and Joan worked on these

Here is Steph working on my butterdish. Taylor worked on the top half but I didn't get a picture of her in action.

I painted this hippo bank.

Stacey and Me
Taylor and Me

Steph and Me..... Steph, I was so glad that you came. I have really missed you.... We must hang out soon!!!

Mike, Joan and Me......... I really love them, they are great.

Joan and Me

Produce Bags!

I made these great produce bags with the turquoise mesh fabric that I bought on Friday. I have been wanting some reusable produce bags for awhile now since I already use reusable bags for the groceries so it seems like such a waste to still use the plastic ones for my produce. I followed this tutorial, it was simple but I underestimated how hard it was to pin and hold mesh in place. My sewing on these is not very pretty but I think that they turned out great anyways and they will definitely get the job done!

The keys are found!

:) They were in the coat closet on top of all of our board games. How they got there I really have no idea, but I am so thankful that we found them!

Busy Weekend!

Wow, It has been a busy weekend for us! Friday I went to Greenville with my friends Christy and Maryn. We had a great time fabric and clothes shopping as well as scouting out some baby items! I got some ribbon for a baby project, turquoise mesh fabric, a cute bird print flannel for burp cloths, and some grayish linen. Here they are:

We stopped at Victoria's Secret and I fell in love with this super cute bag that came with lotions and perfume and stuff, but it was 30 dollars and I would never use the lotions and stuff. So I bought that gray linen to try to re-create this look. I have never embroidered anything before so it should be quite the task. Here is what I want my finished project to look like:

When I got home from Greenville, Kenley's new (to us) diapers were waiting for me!! I am super excited! They are all in really great condition, I cant wait to use them! While we were shopping Maryn mentioned that her community was having a garage sale. Great timing for them since they move in June. (I don't want to think about that, it makes me sad) Brian and I brought over two Rubbermaid's that we had just been collecting garage sale junk in. We made $35 dollars and more importantly we only came home with 1 Rubbermaid that was half full! We had a great time hanging out with them and some of their friends from church.

On the way home from the garage sale we stopped by the place where Brian's car was getting its new tires mounted and balanced. I waited in the car and so he left his keys in the ignition so I could have AC since it was hot yesterday. They told him that they couldn't do the other stuff he wanted done to his car so we took it home. I just hopped into the drivers seat and used his set of keys to get home. Now Brian's keys are totally lost. I have no idea where I put them. I really thought that I set them on the couch with my purse and all that stuff when I came in but they are no where to be found.

Later that night I went to Christy's Pampered Chef party. It was really fun! The lady made these Mini Cinnamon Rolls that were so good. Good enough that I really thought about buying the $6 cinnamon sprinkle that she made them with. I eventually decided to get something else since Brian doesn't even like cinnamon. But man, they were good. I ate 3. Don't tell. :)

Here is a picture of Maryn, Christy, and I after her party.

Today we were going to go to the beach, because it has been so nice. I don't think we are going to though because Brian is doing special music for tonight so he is practicing that... And we still have to find those keys....

Hope everyone else had great weekends too!

25 Weeks!

Well I am 25 weeks today and let me tell you "baby brain" is totally kicking in. The other day at the bank I totally forgot my account number. I gave the teller like 3 different attempts at my account and they were all wrong. I used to work there so they all know me too. It was embarrassing. It is also bad when people ask me how far along I am, yesterday I couldn't remember. I had to check the blog to see what my last belly picture post said. lol

Today was also my last day of work! It is bittersweet since I love the owners Mike and Joan, but I am also super excited to begin my new job soon as a stay at home mom!!!

This picture is really more so that I can remember what I looked like from the front too.

Ack!!

Updated 4/16- I fixed the photo in the below picture. I dont really know how. But if you are having the problem I had to rotate my photo 360* in the my pictures folder and then it worked. Weird.

Someone please tell me why blogger is flipping my pictures. It is so annoying and I dont know how to correct it.

Diapers!

Yay for cloth diapers! I scored these 8 diapers locally for a little over $3 a piece! 2 of them are Fuzzi Bunz too! And the magenta ones (they look red in the picture for some reason) are so tiny and adorable, I broke my no pink rule on all these. :) But for the great deal I think it was worth it. And I also made a big score of 24 Kissaluvs and 6 covers for $6 a piece on diaperswappers.com! I am so excited. I think the 30 from diaperswappers will be here by friday too! Yay for diaper deals!

Also.... We know what Amy and John are having!!!! Be sure to check out her blog tonight because she is going to post the pictures from the big ultrasound!!

I love this bathroom...

It is gorgeous. We plan to try to replicate this look in our master bath. Minus the subway tile though since our other bathroom already has wainscotting. My favorite part is that awesome tile that looks like wood! I love the wall color. I think we might use that in Kenley's room too.

I finished it!

Finally! I bought this in December to paint for Brian and I finally got around to finishing it. It was really detailed, I think that is why I procrastinated for so long because I just wanted it to be perfect. It has a few imperfections, but I really am happy with how it turned out.

It looks great in our office. Now we just need to get the rest of Brian's "I Love Me" wall up and then I need to reupholster that wing back chair I bought last year on my birthday :). Then our Marine Corps office will really look good.

See those bookcases... They were $1 each at Habitat for Humanity. Score! We kind of ruined them by sanding them before we painted, but its okay because they were only $2. More pictures of the office to come when I get all of my sewing stuff off of the desk. (It might be awhile :)

We took the doggies for a walk today. My goal is to try to take them on walks more. Tyson marked "his" territory 7 times, After that he was running on empty but still proceeded to lift his leg on three more things along our path. Crazy dog. At least it wasn't me this time. :)

He really did pee on me once. Sometimes when I take them on walks I will pick up trash and recycling that is along the road. So one day I bent over to pick up a pop can and that darn dog lifted his leg on me. LOL.

Happy Easter!

Luke 24

1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
2And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing;
5and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead?
6"He is not here, but He has risen Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,
7saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."
8And they remembered His words,
9and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
10Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles.
11But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.
12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

Bedroom Makeover

Well kind of more like just a new bedroom paint color but it really does make it feel more like a put together room. We still need a duvet cover (I'm going to make it), Mirrors for behind the lamps, a new window covering, and some photos for above our bed. The paint color is Witch Hazel by Behr but we had them custom color match it at Lowes because Lowes is closer. I really love the color though.

I am fighting a nasty cold right now, so these photos were all taken before I took over our bed today watching hours of NCIS on the laptop and drinking tea.

Here are the before pictures. It was so boring before. In some of the pictures you can see our paint swatches, we choose the lighter swatch.

And here is the after!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

Sorry Kimbe, You are left out of all these pictures :( These were all I could find on Brian's computer!

24 Weeks!!

(Please excuse the bella band, that is what happens when you wash all of your maternity pants in the same load and then forget to move that load to the dryer. :)

I am 24 weeks today! Yay! I was reading up on how she is developing and it says that she should weight just barely over a pound this week...... Yeah she was already a pound at my ultrasound.... Hmmm I think she is going to be a big baby. :) Just like her Daddy. Also exciting this week in her development is that she can hear now. So now she can hear when Brian talks to her. All he really says is "Hi Baby, this is Daddy", but at least now she can actually hear him!

In other exciting news... The nursery fabric came in today and I LOVE IT!!!! It is even better in person! I am so excited to get started working on it all!

Mexican Lasagna & 2 Recipe Links

( I have no idea what is going on with my computer right now but it keeps flipping my pictures... WEIRD.. Sorry I'll try to fix it later.)

I have two recipe links for you today. The first one is for Baked French Toast. I made this today for my teen girls for breakfast. It is really good. Especially if you have a sweet tooth!

The second is for Easter cookies that you can make with your kids to help them to understand the Resurrection and the real meaning of Easter. I cant wait until Kenley is old enough that I can make these with her.

I have been meaning to post this recipe for awhile now but just kept forgetting to take pictures of it. I found the original recipe via The Pioneer Woman. I changed it up a bit to make it simpler and use what I had on hand. This is really good, I have made it twice now and Brian and his parents both loved it!

Ingredients:

1 cup of Rice

3/4 cup Chicken Broth

1 cup of Water

1 can Corn (drained and rinsed)

1 can Chili Ready Tomatoes

1 can Enchilada Sauce

1 jar Salsa

1 can Pinto Beans (drained and rinsed)

Tortillas

Cheddar Cheese and Pepper Jack Cheese or Mexican Cheese Blend (About 4 cups)

1 lb ground beef

Taco seasoning

Bring Chicken Broth and Water to a boil. Add rice. Cover, turn to low and let sit for 20 minutes. While rice is cooking puree the can of chili ready tomatoes. Once Rice is finished cooking, stir in pureed tomatoes and the can of pinto beans. Cook beef, drain fat, add taco seasoning and water as needed. Puree the jar of salsa. Pour just over half of the pureed salsa into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Place a layer of tortillas over that. Then cover the tortillas with half of the rice mixture. Cover with cheese then add another layer of tortillas. Cover those tortillas with the enchilada sauce then the ground beef, then cover the beef with the can of corn. Next layer your remaining rice mixture over the top of that. Then add another layer of tortillas. Next add the remaining salsa and then cover that with the remaining cheese. Bake in a 375* oven for 30-40 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and golden. Serve with sour cream.