Happy Handmade Birthday

In efforts to practice and learn how to sew or other crafts, I am making handmade gifts for my girlfriends for their birthdays!  So far I have 2 down and they turned out really cute.

For my be-fri, Susan, I made a laptop sleeve using this tutorial.  It was pretty easy actually once I got going and I love how it turned out.  I used some of Amy Butler's new fabric which probably would make anything cute!  What do you think?  My mom gave it a good once over and besides my shoddy use of sticky velcro, she said my lines were really good!

For my friend Kelly I made a wooden sign for her that says:
"Home is where your story begins" and then their names and wedding date.  I really liked it, I hope she did too!

Now onto the March birthdays!  I better get busy!

The Gramster

Took an unexpected visit up to the big D this weekend to visit my Grammy.  She fell on Christmas and broke her shoulder and just hasn't quite bounced back this time.  She is 96 years old and a totally amazing and awesome, strong and independent woman.  She seems to have taken a turn for the worse this week and I wanted to make sure I saw her.  It was really hard to see her this way (she is basically just sleeping these days) but I was thankful for the time to sit and stroke her hands and back and tell her how much I love her.  Growing old can be really hard sometimes and  it seems almost cruel to have her be this way.  She does look peaceful and I think even smiled a few times.  I like to think she is just tired from her very long and full life and maybe ready to see her husband that she lost so long ago...but that surely doesn't make it any easier for those of us that love her here.  She has been the matriarch of our family for so long and I don't even like to think of life without her around.  I just pray for her comfort and peace right now but I surely would like her to wake up again too...

Grammy is really the only grandparent I have had for most of my life.  Her husband (my mom's dad) died when she was a teenager.  My dad's mom (my muzzy)died of cancer when I was really young and my dad's dad (my popsie) passed I think when I was in junior high? So for a long time it has just been the gramster!  Anyway, I remember growing up in my prayers I would always say (I pray my grammy lives to see me get married....have my first child, etc) and I am beyond grateful that she has been around for these big moments in my life.  Zachary actually came with us to visit her today (matt stayed back with Mark) and he was so sweet.  He patted grammy, told her he loved her and gave us all some much needed laughs at times too with his funny and innocent comments and questions.

from my wedding

 Pregnant with Zach

 Surprising me at my shower

 4 Generations

 Grammy's 96th Birthday

Love you grammy and I hope you feel better soon!

Beautiful Boy!

Arrrr....the pirate party!

I didnt get the camera out near enough....too busy visiting and bouncing I guess!  I forgot to take pics of a lot of the decorations too but oh well.  For the favors, I bought beach pails for the kids and with my silhouette, put each of the kids name on them.  Perfect for the summer trip to the beach!  Inside it had a pirate hat that I made, along with some candy, tattoos, mustache and stickers! :)  All and all, it was a really fun party and the Z Man had a great time which matters for than anything else....I cannot believe my baby is THREE!

Little Red Wellies

Matt's mom saved these little red boots all these years...they were Matt's when he was a little toddler living in England!  Mark loved them and Zach thought it was great too since he got a pair of red rain boots at Christmas too! They wore their rain boots almost all day.  Now I think it is time for some COWBOY boots!  Yeehaw!

Don't mind mark and his tongue, it's his new thing! ;-)

The Mac is Dead

I had all kinds of pictures uploaded finally to show from the weekend's Pirate Birthday party and a couple of my recent projects.....but my computer is DEAD.  I do not know what is going on, but I cannot get it to charge and last night, even with being plugged in, it is totally off.  I have GOT to get the apple store ASAP and see what is going !  I am trying not to freak yet, but hopefully it is just a bunk battery or something and we will be back in business.....

Anyway, we did have a great and very busy weeked with the birthday festivities!  We had a pirate themed pirate complete with treasure, pirate hats, and of course a bouncy and the kiddos had a BLAST and we were all thouroughly worn out afterwards.  We decided to try the morning party out instead of the late afternoon and it worked out nicely.  Everyone was gone by 3ish and the entire family crashed out for a nap until after 5!  WOOHOO!  Z got some cool new goodies and we just had such a nice time hanging out with friends and family!

I am totally digging our weather right now.  We literally spent all day saturday/sunday/monday playing in the back yard and it was glorious!  I am so ready for spring! 

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mark on the other hand didn't quite get my posing of him and such! ;=)

The boys and I had a good day at home making valentine's for his friends at school tomorrow and a couple other loved ones.  We also had an early morning doc appointment for our 3 year check up.  It was all going well until the shot came out....followed by the finger prick.  I really like my doctor's office but I felt like I was getting more of the nasty look then the poor you look.  Oh well.....  Zach's lungs are definitely healthy!  He is weighing in about 32lbs (50-75%) and 41inches (95%).  

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day, too.  We will be celebrating with baked ziti and some chocolate covered strawberries.  Night night!

He's 3!

When did it happen???  My baby is a little boy.  Today at 4:14pm it will be 3 years since I became a mommy and welcomed my spirited little Zachary into this world.  I love this kid.  I see so much of myself and of Matt in his personality.  He is full of energy and vigor, loves fiercely, has a stubborn streak that I have NO idea where it comes from (haha, im sure both matt and I's parents have no question where it comes form), and just simply has a joy for life.  Don't get me wrong, he can be a stinker like all 3 year olds....but that's just part of being 3 sometimes.  I LOVE that he still wants to snuggle with me and is great at giving hugs and kisses.  I LOVE that he will go hug his brother and exclaim "I love you markey".  And even though at times I just want him to leave Mark alone, I do love that he wants to be with his brother and play.  I hope that continues for a long long time.  Right now they are sitting at a table and coloring together and Zach is helping Markey pick out colors....those are the times I love!

Things about Zachary these days:
*Anything sports related.  The other day he told me "Sports make me happy".  Well kid, i think you got lucky and are in the perfect family for that!  He is pretty good I think too and I am excited to maybe have him start playing soccer soon!
*He loves all cars, trucks, trains, motorcycles...basically any mode of transport.
*He is very into little people and figurines.  Playmobil sets have been good for that.
*Could stay outside and play forever....this cold weather has been tough on us!
*Has a great memory...don't make any promises you can't keep cause he WILL call you out on it.
*Is very particular about his stuff and the way things are done, kinda like dad ;-)

I took the day off and have enjoying just chilling with my boys today.  Think we will do lunch and then go to B&N to claim our FREE birthday cupcake!

Happy Birthday, Z Man!  

February 11, 2008

 1st Birthday Party

 2nd Birthday Party

So thankful God picked us to be his family.  Beyond grateful to be Z's Mommy.  And so very excited to continue to watch Zachary grow into the wonderful boy and man I know he will be!

The coffee cozy

lessons in sewing

Tonight I attempted my 2nd project....a coffee cozy.  I managed to break a needle, sew my fastener inside my fabric requiring me to rip out my stitches and re-sew it, and have my ribbon facing the wrong way.  BUT.....I did it, and flaws and all....it ended up pretty cute.   I used some really cute Riley Blake fabrics which totally adds to its cuteness. I just may have to stop at Starbucks on the way to work tomorrow to put it into action.  I used this tutorial from allfreesewing which linked back to this original tutorial.  The whole hair elastic thing was what bent my needle so I just used some ribbon instead. Be smart unlike me and if you decide to use ribbon, pick some that is double sided!

A couple things I have learned so far:

*Sewing takes some patience....something I am not always good at having.
*Ironing really does make things look better despite the fact that I HATE ironing...it is worth it and a necessary step.
*Use your manual.  Sounds silly, right?  Without my mom here though, I had to figure out how to thread the machine and change a needle on my own!

I got a little frustrated, but I did it!  And now tomorrow I can show off my new cozy while drinking my tall skinny vanilla latte!

Milk, it does a body good!

WHAT????

 It's time to start getting rid of my BOTTLE??

 Don't even THINK about it, mom!!

Surely he won't head off to college with it...right?? :)

My first sew

After having the sewing machine for over a month...I finally busted it out of the box and have it set up in my room.

I saved some old sweaters from one of my recent closet purges and decided to give Brassy Apple's sweater pillow tutorial a try! Hers look WAY better than mine, but hey, I have now sewn something on the sewing machine.  I added the sash which I think looks pretty cute.  Its basically a big long tube.  Who knew sewing a straight line could be "sew" hard!

 She does look cute though over on the chair in the corner if I do say so myself.  Notice the little conversation blocks over on the table?

 I whipped those up a couple weeks ago. Easy peasy painting and then cut out some vinyl on my silhouette.  woohoo!  (Please pay no attention to the very dusty table...)

I have about 100 blogs and links saved up of projects I want to tackle....and a pile of fabric I have bought for them...but now to find the time and the courage to really try them.  Is it weird but I am scared to even cut the fabric???  Perhaps Ill try the valances for the game room this weekend.  The boys won't care if they end up un-even! :)

GLEE!!!!! And toilet troubles....

Man I just love this show.  Don't get me wrong, some of the story lines are a bit much but I HEART the singing SO much!  Rachel just finished singing Katy Perry's Firework song and I looked at Matt and said, "doesn't that just make you wish you could sing???"  Man, she totally belted it out and it was great!

My new favs HAVE to be anything by the Dalton Academy Warblers.  I {giant puffy heart} love them!
The flash mob at The Gap tonight was awesome, even though I didn't know the song they sang.  It totally solidifies the fact that being in a flash mob in my lifetime will have to go on my bucket list.  I think I first fell in love when they sang this.  And then of course this and this!  Next week Glee is covering some Beiber songs.....I can't wait!

In other fun news...something is up with our plumbing!  It started around Christmas when it got really cold, we noticed that the water heater/master toilet started this surging/clicking kind of noise....It stopped when it got warmer, so we thought it was okay.  Well last week it got cold again and the clicking/surging got worse and not really stopping.  Anyhoo......tonight when taking out the trash, hubs noticed there was water ALL over the garage floor around where our water softener is.  Lovely.  Only cure?  Turn the water off for the whole house.  Fun.  So, we turned it back on to hand wash the dishes and brush our teeth and wash our faces and then off again it goes.  Should be interesting tomorrow with Maria and the boys here.  Already called and set up a plumber for tomorrow.  Oh joy.  What a fun way to spend Matt's bonus but I guess I am VERY thankful to have that extra cash to cover emergencies like these (but sure would have rather bought a new fridge or something else on the list!)  Fingers crossed it nothing TOO drastic!

We shall see!

Zoo tickets-anyone need a couple??

Anyone need a couple of free passes to the Houston Zoo?  When I was cleaning house I found some that came with our yearly membership that we obviously don't need because we have a membership!  They expire at the end of February so only a couple weeks left to use them.  The zoo is open every day though so if someone could use them, post a comment or email and I will put them in the mail to you tomorrow!

This is what happens when mommy is working and the boys find lipstick....

I was in the office today and Matt was home with the boys thanks to the great non-existent snow storm that never was.....

Apparently hubs had gone to the bathroom and came out and heards LOTS of giggling.....and when up to find this!

Well, at least they had a good time. The carpet and a couple pillows didn't fare as well. Daddy popped them in the tub

for a good scrub but they BOTH look like they have weird rashes or birthmarks. I guess red lipstick stains your skin.

Any tips on how to get it out of the carpet??