A paper flower bouquet for your valentine

My MOPS group had a craft week a few Monday's ago and we were shown how to make these sweet flowers. I thought I would share the cuteness with you all. They are a little time consuming but super cute when you have a whole bouquet together. I made a dozen and a half for our little girls room and put them in a white IKEA vase. I love a flower that will last longer than a week. I am the worst green thumb known to man. I can't keep anything alive whether inside or out that needs any kind of maintenance. I either over water or under water so these flowers are right up my alley :) Besides cute decor, they are the perfect little valentine for kids to handout to their classmates. Just add a little tag on the stem with a sweet note.

MATERIALS: 

Any size square paper (double sided with print preferably unless you want white -I used both). I ranged in sizes from 5"x5" to a 12"x12" depending on the size of flower you are going for (large yellow flower was a 12"x12" paper)

Paper for a leaf (any color you would like...creativity is all yours!)

Green floral wire (comes in a pack of 18 I believe at Michael's for under $2). Cut them to desirable length. 

Hot glue gun

STEPS:

1. Start to round your paper

2. Round each edge (somewhat like a circle but perfection is NOT needed)

3. Start cutting into a swirl

4. Cut the swirl all the way to the center

1. Whichever color you want on the outside of the flower have faced out (see below - color is out so the color will be the outside of the flower with white being on the inside). Start to roll as tight as possible following the swirl.

2. Roll all the way to the middle

3. Let it all loose and it will shape into a flower

4. Take the bottom of the flower (very inside of swirl) and add hot glue and press to the bottom of the flower. It will glue all the layers together.

1. Bend floral wire like a 7 or an L.
2. Put a dot of glue on the bottom of flower and press wire till dry
3. Add on leaf over wire
4. Let dry upside down for a minute or two

 To make a leaf:
1. Cut a shape of a leaf
2. Add dimension by folding the bottom together
3. Add glue to folds to keep leaf dimensional
4. Add to flower

...and voila! A whole bouquet of unique flowers that are quite sturdy! As long as my boys don't get their hands on these, they should be lasting us quite awhile!

Happy Crafting, friends!


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A sip and see tea for Penelope Kate

We have quite the baby boom at Life church right now. In a few months there will have been 10 babies born within a year of each other and 9 out of ten are girls. Lots of pink, ruffles and lace...lovin' it! Kristy Jenkins hosted a wonderful sip and see tea for Briita and Penelope. It was beautiful. Thanks for opening up your home and having great vision for a sweet baby shower Kristy! Penelope is absolutely beautiful and made me even more ready to meet my little lady. Here are some pictures of yesterdays tea:

Congratulations Jesse & Briita on one sweet baby girl and to big brothers Abram and Rodderick! Love you guys!

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A scrap banner for the little lady...

There are some serious projects goin' on round here! :) We are just 9 weeks (plus a few days) out from meeting our precious little bundle of love! This pregnancy has flown by but I'll be honest in saying it's getting much harder both physically and mentally. Hard to carry my boys or let them sit on my disappearing lap, tough to find the energy to clean house and play and my biggest challenge is keeping my mind engaged and strong. I need to remind myself daily that the longer she stays put the healthier and more ready she will be and that this process is a beautiful and miraculous one to go through. I do believe in the three G's of pregnancy: Growing to Glowing to Groaning. I don't want to groan but I've gotten good at it lately. I need to knock it off. :) 

Her sweet little room is coming along nicely. Everything is done but some wall art and bedding. I love having it all ready for her and it gets me ridiculously excited to meet her when I go and glance in there every evening. I still can't quite wrap my mind around a little girl that we will get to call our own! CANNOT WAIT. I made her a scrap banner to go above her crib. I made one awhile back for a baby shower I hosted here and I had no idea how easy they were (and I was going to add quick but that's not totally true). The longer and thicker the banner the longer it will take. This one took me a few hours, but truly an easy project. I had some leftover scraps that I incorporated and then bought 5 different prints in half a yard each. Just fold the half yard over and cut 2ish inch strips at the crease.

...Sterling took this picture of me tying on the scraps to a thin rope. Good job "S" man! Really that's all you do. Just tie the scraps in a knot and then hang. Simple enough!

Hung and all done! 

I'll be back with some more projects soon!

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back to school...wooohoooo!

...and the wooohooo is from Sterling. I love my littles here at home with me. I would be lying if I didn't give a little wooohooo for the structure and routine school has provided for us (and 3 hrs of alone time) but I never want to send my kids off with the attitude of getting rid of them for the day. We took a parenting class this last year from an amazing family and one of my favorite lines that I took away from it was "I had you to be with you." That is what I want my kids to know and remember. Christmas break was great. We had a lot of good play days in p.j's. and adventures at Charlie Safari, Fantasy Lights and night time drives to look at all the lit up homes. After two weeks off, Sterling was excited to go back to school and I'm happy about that. He loves his teachers, loves his friends and loves doing something out of the ordinary. He was so happy about going back on Monday that he washed his face (even used soap), combed his hair (for a good 10 minutes), named his classmates and put on a button down shirt to look "fancy." It melted my heart. He even wanted his picture taken. He is really growing up. I've loved hearing about his days back to school and having some good conversations that have lead to some great learning moments. I love this boy!

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A Happy New Year to YOU!

The boys were asleep by 9 and we were asleep by 10:30...but have no fear - we woke up at midnight from all the fireworks in our area going off so we rang in the new year with a quick "happy new year to you and goodnight." Party poopers I know. Nothing sounds better than sleep these days (well besides food) to both Justin and I. We are excited for this coming year for some obvious reasons (ahem...one little lady that will make her debut in just 10 weeks) but some simple ones as well. We have faithfully stuck to our cash only system for 9 days now (pat on the back), we plan on paying cash for a 7 seater vehicle and a friend and I are going to go on a Bible reading plan together for the accountability. I'm pretty excited. Hope you all had a great first week of 2013! Cheers to a fresh start!

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The finished entryway!

There you have it! Dingy useless closets turned bench seat, shoe storage and a place to hang your coats. Last week I hosted my MOPS leadership retreat and to have all the women place their belongings in this nook was awesome vs. on the floor in the entryway or delivering them to a bedroom like before. We loved how it turned out! The paint color is the same as our daughters nursery that we are working on (love using leftover paint) called Benjamin Moore - Stonington Gray. The baskets are from Marshalls and the lumber, wainscoting and hooks are from Lowe's. We had our family picture blown up at Costco and I used a hand me down frame. The pillows are all ones I made with my mom except the blue and white chevron one (Marshalls). Pretty inexpensive project!

We need to put a little piece of trim at the edge of the bench. Not sure if we will use wood or a strip of tile. We want to re-tile the entryway so we will decide then.

Here you can see our attic crawl space entrance where the drop down ladder comes out. To finish out the project, I will add four 8x10's of the kids (gotta wait till baby girl is born!) to go on each side of our family picture and then on the side walls.

You would think I am all projected out around here but I am still going strong. I have a few ideas floating in my head that include the laundry room and a guest bedroom downstairs. I'm sure you will be seeing more from me sooner than later! :)

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Entry Way DIY

Justin and I started this project in the spring. I was bathing the boys one evening and grabbed a pad of paper and started drawing/designing this space (little to his knowledge). I whipped up a drawing and gave it to him. He was on board. These two little closets only collected junk, had gross mis-matched carpet and never got a paint job. I envisioned an open space. A space to make the entry way feel bigger when you walked in the front door and one that would have some better purpose. Over a few months here are the steps we tackled to get the space we desired:

Stage 1: Demo

Stage 2: Drop down ladder installation

Stage 3: Electrical work

Stage 4: Bench installation

Stage 5: Bead board / wainscoting installation

Stage 6: Trim work & Paint

The first 3 steps were all done in the Spring and then we took our time with the design work and just finished up last month. Tomorrow I will be back with the finished space!

Here are the closet spaces that we wanted gone (kind of wish I took a picture of them filled up but I think I saved myself some embarrassment):

Boone ready for demo...

After cleaning up the space it became a little hangout nook for the boys. A perfect spot for breakfast smoothies :)

It also became a sweet spot to put bedding and watch a movie on the portable DVD player...

Then the hubs installed a drop down ladder. This is our only entry to our attic (which still has a few items in it from previous owners...yikes). Justin always has ankle biters helpers to pass him tools.

And after installation of the ladder he did a little bit of electrical work. This always takes longer than anticipated. I'm just glad he knows how to do it! Do my kids ever have clothes on? 

Then Justin designed a bench, bought some lumber and went to work. He is so quick!

I originally planned on buying a pad and covering it for this bench but once it was installed and painted it looked like a sweet park bench seat. Justin designed it that way (vs plywood on the top) so I kept with the idea. I love collaborating our ideas!

And I failed to get pictures of the painting process and wainscoting installation. I'm sure you don't mind. I will be back tomorrow with the finished space!!

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2012 flashback

I've been looking through my Picasa albums and reminiscing on 2012. A lot can happen in a year. It's amazing how easily I can forget all the events and life changes that took place over a 12 month period. I am truly thankful for pictures to look back at as they remind me of all the blessings the Lord bestowed upon our little family. Here are some of my 2012 favorites. 

Left to Right Row 1:

Spending every other day at the beach with my boys

Monday nights with our Life Group and experiencing true gospel community

Going to Boston/Connecticut/New York with my family

Sterling starting up another year of preschool and making strides in his verbal skills

Left to Right Row 2:

Watching Boone become a toddler but being reminded that he was still my baby sleeping bottoms up

Going to "Uncle" Eli's wedding and seeing him marry his wonderful bride Emily

An Officer family reunion in Seneca

My ten year HS reunion with my man

Left to Right Row 3:

A girls trip to cannon beach with some of my favorite ladies

Letting the boys share a bedroom and giving it a makeover just for them

Announcing Officer baby #3!

Finding out we are welcoming a baby girl into this family in March

What a blessed year we had. And there is so much that happened beyond these pictures. Celebrating my moms birthday and going to the Broadway Wicked, projects completed, family members having new babies, day trips, out of town visitors, other weddings we attended, baby showers galore and the every day life of lounging in jammies all day with my boys playing with toys are just to name a few. I haven't mapped out goals for 2013 and I know deep down we will be experiencing some sleepless nights with a newborn many of the months of this year. Those days often feels like survival mode. So for now my 2013 mission is my current every day battle which is losing my selfish desires so I can love my family the way Christ would. Simply not losing my patience and being grateful for my little crew here is where I'm at. Cheers to a great 2013!

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28 weeks!

28 weeks down with just 11 to go. This pregnancy is flying by. I am convinced it's because I have two little rascals to chase/discipline/play with the majority of the day. I had a 3 hr apt this morning doing the routine glucose test. Did you know they changed it? Beware! You go in for a blood draw (on an empty stomach), drink the glucose drink, sit for an hr, get your blood drawn again, sit for an hr and then do a third blood draw. Say what?! If any of you know me, you know I am a complete weenie when it comes to needles. I wasn't a big fan but I appreciate how thorough my midwife clinic is. They ultimately want to take care of us prego's and make sure all is well with mom and baby. I was able to finish a book (I only had 3 chapters left) that I started a long time ago last year. Can I say that I've already finished a book for 2013? I got through my apt and unashamedly stuffed my face afterwards with a burger, fries and coffee. Thanks mom and dad for watching my little men. They sure love being at their Mimi and Poppi's house!

I actually really dislike taking pregnancy pictures. They are awkward. Can you read my awkwardness? I do it only for documenting. I love seeing old pictures of my mom pregnant with us kiddos so I assume my kids will think it's neat. Anywho. Here is the belly. Getting nice and big. She is really starting to grow and become extremely active in there. I can feel little elbows and knees and I love it. We now have a tentative c-section date, her heartbeat is strong and I am measuring on track. All is well and I feel very blessed that my body can be a cozy home to another baby. 

Look at this wild man's hair! He kind of needs a haircut but has been telling me he wants it longer (I think to avoid the haircut). He is sure sweet and loves to take pictures with his mama! 

I hope you all had a fun and safe New Years Eve! We were in bed by 10 but woke up at midnight because of explosives going off. Gosh we are getting old. Or maybe we are still incredibly young but in a really tiring stage of life?! I think I'll go with the latter.

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