Sneaking Up On Sister

Every night when Sydney is in the shower, Savannah loves to sneak up on her and pull back the shower curtain. She is always very pleased with herself for finding her sister!

Wordless Wednesday

Snow!

A few weeks ago we had a little bit of snow. Not very much, but enough to go outside and play for a few minutes. It was so cold! It was actually Savannah's first snow. She wasn't so sure about walking in it at first but quickly got over it.

A Cheerful Heart

This is who Sydney thinks she is these days:


She loves those Oregon cheerleaders! She is fascinated by them and loves to watch them at all the games.

In a few weeks we're going to rock her world. In a good way.


In a few weeks, Sydney gets to go to a cheer camp put on by the actual Oregon cheerleaders. Then she gets to cheer at a basketball game.


Let that sink in for a minute.


Imagine that you are give years old and you get to go hang out all day with your favorite group of people ever. To say she is excited would be the biggest understatement of the world. I can't wait to see her cheering her little heart out with the Duck cheerleaders!

Having Two Children

What have I learned since having a second child?





It's nearly impossible to get them to both sit still, look at the camera, and smile at the same time. Also, most pictures will look like the oldest has the youngest in a headlock.

Random Pic

This is a random picture, I know.

Sweet Savannah with that big smile! Do you see that silver napkin ring on her highchair tray there? The little stinker steals them all the time out of the drawer, she loves them! She tries to carry as many as she can at once and she takes them and lovingly plays with them. Good thing we're not too fancy here with cloth napkins or anything, because I don't think she'd be too happy if I took them away from her to actually use them!

Vintage Pic

Look at this picture of Sydney. She was about 19 months old here.

Look how little she was! It seems like a different lifetime ago that she was the baby of the family instead of the sassy, independent, funny little girl that she is now. I love those cheeks, and those teeth! I forgot how how her teeth used to have that little gap in them, just like Savannah's teeth have now. Both of my girls have the same cheeks and the same smile. They are growing up too fast. I love them more each day. Sometimes love hurts a little bit, you know?

January Sucks, Part 2

Hello, readers! I hope you enjoyed my little rant yesterday. And now I'm back with some more! I'm sort of kidding, but OMG I'm ready for this month to be done! I wanted to share with you all a recent scare I had. I mentioned how the girls have been so sick. A few nights ago Sydney was coughing so hard in the middle of the night and I dragged myself up to go help her. As I was stumbling into her room, I had this itch under my armpit and I reached up to scratch...and I felt a lump. Right there, a lump. And I immediately panicked. Panicked to the max. A LUMP. I am still young, I have two little children, and I immediately thought of all the worst extremes. It was not a good night.
The next morning I called the doctor and they got me right in for a check. I was hoping they would say, "Oh no, it's nothing." But they didn't say that. They had me go right down to get an ultrasound. I am sitting in this waiting room, surrounded by pamphlets and posters about breast cancer and I was trying really hard not to freak out. I just wanted to go home and hug my babies. They got me right in and they were so nice. In the midst of everything I was really proud to be a nurse because those nurses were amazing. So they did my ultrasound...and it was nothing. Probably just a swollen lymph node from me being sick. I was so relieved I just cried right there! I prayed and thanked God and was just so happy. And then I went home and hugged my babies!
And that was just Monday! Today, as you're reading this, I am having oral surgery. Certainly not as big of a deal as a scary lump, but still, it's a hassel and a pain. I am really not looking forward to it but my jaw has been in lots of pain lately so I am hoping that it will be gone after the surgery. I am just looking forward to coming home after the surgery and snuggling with my girls and resting. Hopefully after this the month will slow down and get better. And seriously, where are those girl scout cookies?

(By the way, did you hear that the new Girl Scout cookie is called Savannah Smiles? That makes me smile.)

January Sucks

Ok, I know what I said a few posts ago about the positive points of January. I take it back. January is out for me! We have been in the grip of illness the last few weeks. It started with Savannah, then me, and now Sydney. Awful, horrible, icky respiratory congestion with a constant, hacking cough, a pouring nose, and fever and chills. These were followed by a week of exhaustion and a residual cough. It.Has.Been.Awful. Savannah is now better and I am mostly better, but poor Sydney is in the throws of it. But today was a beautiful, clear, cold day. And we had to get out. We only managed about a five minute walk before I was tired and Sydney was hacking so hard I was sure people were going to come out of their houses to see what was going on. It was so cold I really had to bundle the girls up well and once I saw them, I had to laugh. We were a motley bunch!



Hopefully we'll all be on the mend soon. I daily thank God for my girls and the strength He gives me. I don't know what I would do without them. Even with all the sickness we still have fun! But, it's been a rough month and I'm ready for February. And those damn girl scout cookies better come soon because they're what's getting me through!

Memory Boards

My friend Alisa is getting ready to welcome her third child next month. After two boys, she is having a girl and I couldn't be happier for her! She chose the same nursery that Savannah has, the Pottery Barn Kids Penelope collection. I love the cute little birds in the set and Alisa and I have shared quite a few laughs over the name of the set, Penelope. Penelope is the name of one of our favorite characters on SNL, played by Kristin Wigg. Anyhoo, Alisa's shower was this last weekend and I really wanted to make something special to give to her in addition to the obligatory cute baby girl dress, which I think is required of every guest at baby girl shower. I got to thinking about the bedding set that I bought when I was expecting Savannah. It had a crib skirt, sheet, and bumper. Did you know that it isn't considered safe to use bumpers anymore? We actually use a mesh, breathable bumper for Savannah, so she is safe in her crib. So what do you do with an unused adorable bumper? You cut it up and make something out of it, of course! I made this memory board, and one for Savannah's room, out of Savannah's old bumper. I call it a bumper board.

I am so happy with how it turned out! I absolutely love it and I think it was a great way to recycle the bumper and it perfectly matches both nurseries. I have enough material left over to make one more, so let me know if you're interested.
The hostess of the shower was super crafty and made this board for Alisa, too.



I am IN LOVE with this board! I am going to try to copy it and hang one in the playroom. I can't even tell you how much I love this. And it is especially fitting for Alisa because she has prayed for a daughter for years.

Melissa made an adorable name banner for baby Madelyn, too. I think this will be so cute above a closet or above the crib.

I have had grand intentions of making a name banner for Savannah's room, but it hasn't happened yet. Once I saw this, I asked Melissa to make one for Savannah for her next birthday. I love having crafty friends!
Congratulations on Madelyn Kate, Alisa!

Valentine's Day Treasury

I have always thought of January as a very dreary month. The after-Christmas doldrums have really set in, you know? But I kind of like January now. It's a nice, quiet month with no big birthdays, parties, or events. It's also the month Chris proposed to me! Girl Scout cookies go on sale in January. There is something so nice, so fresh about a new year and new start. This year I am really getting into decorating for the holidays and for the first time I am going to set up a few decorations around the house to celebrate Valentines Day. Remember a few months back how I did a "treasury" of different pictures to celebrate my love of pumpkins? Well, aren't you lucky, I decided to make another treasury to showcase some fun Valentine's Day products. Woo hoo.
(For some reason blogger won't let me paste in the links to where I found these items, so I'll write them out and you can easily search for them by name).

First up I'm going to feature one of my bestie's products from 5M Creations.

This is an invite for a Valentine's Day party, but there are lots of other items in this line. That little heart at the top is being made into a centerpiece which will be on my kitchen table when I'm done spray painting a pink flower pot red. Love it!

Melissa found this next picture on Pinterest, which for the life of me I still can not figure out. It's not so much an item and just a really cute picture of how one house is decorated for the day o' love. Someday...this will be my kitchen.

Isn't that pretty? I love the dishes up on the wall. Such a lovely kitchen. I'm still working on making my decorations, so I'll post a picture of my kitchen when I'm done. For now, this is all I have up so far:

You know I'm obsessed with owls. I found this little cutie at Joann's. I love Joann's. I could spend hours there. Wait...I could spend hours there? I do spend hours there. I just wander around and look at everything until my children start screaming and demanding to be fed. Darn children, with your needs.
I found these plates at Target:

I bought two plates for a total of just over $3.50 and with a taper holder, some hot glue, and a small burn on my finger I got this:

I love that it's red so it works fro Valentine's Day, but it doesn't have hearts so it could also work for a summery party or even Christmas. This year it will hold Valentine's Day cookies.
Here is another Pinterest find of Melissa's:

I'm sure I could make this, but I won't. At least not this year, but maybe I'll try it next year. This year I'm making a really cute heart shaped wreath. I'll post pics when I'm done.

I am in love with these little cuties:

These are the adorable little cards that Sydney will be handing out at her school Valentine's Day party. I just need to find some cute little suckers and she'll tie these babies on there and voila, a really cute and original valentine. I got these from a store on Etsy called Delightfully Noted. You can also see her blog in the list of blogs I follow to the right. I love these and am so excited for Sydney to get these in the mail!

I love this idea:

If I can find some little mailboxes I am totally stealing this idea. I think it would be so cute to set these up and leave little Valentine's cards for my family in them to get to open up on Valentine's Day. So cute! AAHH, I love it! I think this was another Pinterest find. Thanks, Melissa!


I hope you enjoyed my little love treasury. I am busy crafting away making some decorations, so I'll take some pictures once everything is made.

Favorite Sweater

When Sydney was a baby she had a little sweater that I loved. I was so sad when she outgrew it. She wore it just after her first birthday, when it was still winter. Since Savannah is so much shorter than Sydney ever was, it is just now fitting her and I am so glad it gets to be used again! I have really enjoyed pulling out some of Sydney's old baby clothes and getting to see them again.



Here is Sydney in the same sweater as a baby.

I can't believe she didn't have any hair! I mean, I certainly remember that, but it is so funny to look at pictures of the two girls and see just how different they are! Their face shapes are very similar, but their coloring is so different and Savannah has so much more hair. Love it!

'Nuff Said

I found this on another blog and it fits. Our house has been invaded by a really gross respiratory infection and I'm gross and Savannah is even more gross. Praying that it passes quickly.

Ponies

Savannah's hair is just long enough now to get into two ponies. I love it, she looks so grown up with her hair in ponies! It's long enough to get in the ponies, but not long enough to stay put for very long! I did manage to snap these pics before they fell out.




I love this one! She wants to be like her big sister so badly! They just stand and play at that kitchen set for the longest time. I heart my babies so much!

Ornament Garland

Remember when I posted some pictures a while back of some ornament garlands? Melissa and I had one down the center of the table at the girls' birthday party, and I had one on my mantle above my new stockings. I know this is late but I wanted to post a picture of one my mom made for her work Christmas party.

Isn't that pretty? I love the bold, bright colors. Good job, mom!