valentine's day!

we had such fun celebrating valentine's day!  i remember always loving this day when i was younger.  all of the excitement of the valentine mailboxes and goodies.  

we spent the week before valentine's day doing crafts, making our mailboxes and making all sorts of fun heart-shaped food and treats.

i kept with my same valentines that i have been making since ethan was in his 3-year old preschool class.  one of ethan's classmates has all 3 saved and up in her room.  her mom, a good friend of mine, took a picture of them and i love seeing the progression.  i figure i'll keep them up as long as my kids will let me.  ;)

a birthday party for the princess.

yes, this is a lot late.  her party was two months ago.  two long months in which i haven't even looked at my blog.  but i'm trying to organize my life and get back into blogging.  i had so much fun planning mollie's party and putting it together.  i was inspired by a dress i saw while browsing mini boden's spring line.  purple + bumblebees.  i knew i wanted to do a honey bee theme.  between etsy and pinterest i found all of the inspiration i needed.

the beehive cake that wouldn't have happened without my sister and my dad.

i had so much fun doing this party and mollie was the perfect party girl.  she knew that this day was all about celebrating her...well, she pretty much thinks that every day is about celebrating her, but this time there were other people there to acknowledge it :)

the details.  the details are my favorite part of any birthday party.  i think that the details make a huge difference.  i'm 85% certain that they make a huge difference to me and maybe like 2 other people.  everyone else, to include the child that the birthday party is actually for, doesn't notice.  but i can't get the details out of my head.  

thank you gifts: local honey from a beekeeper.

favors: sugar cookies from a good friend.

keepsake birthday plate.  from aedriel originals.  

that beautiful picture of mollie in the background was by shannon ho photography.

honey tasting station.  and in the background, smitten kitchen's salted brown butter rice krispie treats = heaven.

etsy has become my go-to place to purchase all of the fun, crafty items that i can't get here in town.  i love putting everything together.  sometimes things i buy don't work out like i think and i have to scrounge at hobby lobby to find what i need, but for the most part it all works out.  i have learned to start buying stuff at least 3-4 months out, otherwise you're caught the week before the party paying for express shipping ;)  some of my favorite vendors for this party were:  


aedriel's originals - she did custom artwork for a keepsake plate and cake stand.  can't say enough about how wonderful she was to work with.


the papered nest - all sorts of fun paper and party decor supplies.  i especially love her stamped wooden treat spoons.


bahana splits boutique - great paper items and baker's twine.

more cuteness for baby girl!

a few more creations for baby girl...

the reversible bib was made from a pattern from romeo & mae - love her stuff! and the perfect little pillowcase dress was made using a pattern from owly baby. making stuff for baby girl has given me the excuse to buy more and more fabric and i have been LOVING everything from amy butler, especially her midwest modern collection - that is what the fabric for the dress is. it is so simple, modern and comes in lots of great colors!

i have lots more in the works, including these absolutely adorable ruffle bloomers, but somehow building a house has gotten in the way of my sewing time. i forgot how involved building is, especially when it is your own home. it is much easier to build for someone else! but the house is moving along very well...look for an update later this week - LOTS of progress has been made!

new pants

thanks to a link from cindy for the site rookiemoms, i made these super cute pants for miles out of some extra fabric i had around the house. i love how they turned out! they are soft and comfy and perfect for lounging around. i have enough to make ethan a pair too. the tutorial calls for a t-shirt, but i am not ready to raid lance's drawer, he might not be as happy with the pants as i would be. i do have to work a bit on my pattern, they need to just be a bit more roomy around the belly and bottom area of my chunky guy.

my model - how cute is he?!?

picture frame craft

i attemp crafts here and there with ethan, but most of them don't turn out exactly how i'd like, but this one was lots of fun and turned out so cute! i found the idea for it on babycenter and picked up some stickers yesterday. i used extra card stock and cardboard from some cereal boxes for the frames. ethan is really into the alphabet right now so i thought it would be fun for him to do letter stickers. he loved seeing all the letters and picking out some of his favorites to put on the frame. of course, he tired of putting stickers on the frame and thought it would be more fun to decorate his little brother!

i worked along with him and made a cute little frame for miles. we picked out pictures together (he loved the one of him and his dad on the tractor!) and i finished off the frames and put two magnets on the back of each while the boys were down for naps. easy and not very expensive...i think they'd make cute little holiday photo cards too!



*excuse the thomas undies, we are in the midst of potty training and being without clothes is the easiest thing right now :)

craft for the day

thanks to cindy for posting this great craft a few weeks ago. it was finally something that kept ethan's attention! it also fit in with our february theme of the letter "R" and red since we used red yarn and made a rope of cheerios. ethan did start by putting the cheerios on the yarn, but before he long he started to sample the craft materials and then decided that that was more fun than anything else!