a panda & a dinosaur

halloween 2009.

a dinosaur in the making...

trying out the scare factor on baby sister.

taking a little sewing break for a bedtime story.

costume time!

at faulkner's ranch for daddy's work party.

corn cannon

gourmet s'mores

it was a happy halloween!

halloween felt flower

i didn't buy my kids any halloween clothes this year so i made my little doll an accessory this morning to add a little orange to her white & black for halloween.

a sweet little felt peony flower using this quick and easy tutorial. (special thanks to my sister for buying too much felt & blessing me with it!)
 

   

i attached it to a pin so i can swap it out between a hat, headband, or clothes. she likes it!

gender neutral baby shower: owl theme

my sweet sis-in-law is pregnant with baby unruh... coming late november! alli and i hosted a baby shower for april with an owl theme.

pictures of max and april in felt owl frames ($2 martha stewart kit at big lots)

along with the cake our brunch menu was fruit salad, mini muffins, sausage breakfast casserole, and little smokies wrapped in crescent roll

instead of a game we did custom iron-on onesies for the baby. this picture is a little blurry but it says "MAX + APRIL = me". we also had everyone add a little heart iron-on on the bum and write their name on the heart so that when mom and dad are dressing the baby in these cute things, they will know who created each one.(this one is from april's sister... soon to be aunt karen)

onesies and iron-on's can get expensive- especially since we were planning for about 25 shower guests. a couple of months before, i started collecting packages of onesies at joanns and michaels with my weekly 50% off coupons. i also used a coupon at michaels and bought package of iron-on transfer paper for $6. i searched  google images to find fun gender-neutral pictures to decorate the onesies. some, like the one here, are just text that i typed in a word document. i suggest using fun & unique fonts. i love collecting fonts and there are some great available online. my favorite fonts always come from dafont.com  i printed the images from my home printer onto the special paper and cut them out for shower guests to choose their favorite!

racecar party

we took a road trip to florida to help caden celebrate his THIRD birthday. it was tons of fun (minus the 16 hours in the car-- each way. just ask kate.)

the birthday boy:

 i made his shirt using fabric & wonder under. just iron your fabric to one side of the wonder under. cut out the shape. peel the backing off the other side. iron the shape to your shirt. stitch around the shape and you have a super cute, custom piece!

the details:

a racing pennant from ebay with some letters (all star font) printed off the computer, cut out and taped to the pennant for a birthday banner.

erin picked up some disney cars movie party blowers from walmart. she created her own "happy birthday caden" labels and stuck them over the cars decoration. we peeled high school musical stickers off cheer megaphones from the dollar tree for instant traffic cones.

 

decorate your own pinata bags-- stickers from oriental trading co

the eats:

my sister made this awesome race track cake. the race track and checkerboard pattern on the side are fondant. the grass is a delicious buttercream frosting tinted green and piped with a grass cake tip.

                  

stop light jell-o jigglers - chocolate car pretzel rods - street scene table scape

happy birthday sweet caden!

kate right now.

kate is 11 months old -- really 11 1/2 now-- just 2 more weeks and she is a 1 year old!

these are things i want to remember about kate right now:
- she is cruising around everything. she loves being on her feet and is almost ready to walk!
- she loves to eat! her feet start kicking when she gets in her high chair b/c she knows it is chow time! she eats left handed. she has never refused a food, though wasn't too crazy about spinach the one time she had it. usually she shovels food in faster than i can cut it up for her. she signs "more" but hasn't ever signed "all done" b/c she never is!
-she adores being outside. especially now that fall is here and there are leaves on the ground to play in. she never tries to eat them, but will hold and throw them.
-she loves looking at books and being read to.
-she loves music. especially country :) if she likes a song on the radio she will wave her hands up and down to the beat.

-she will climb up and down the stairs by herself.
-she says "momma", "bye" and waves. whenever i open the garage door she starts waving and saying "bye bye bye"
-she is very funny! we can tell she is going to be silly just like owen. almost every day she crawls around with a toy in each hand and one in her mouth.
-she l.o.v.e.s playing peekaboo. she played by herself at a friends house, taking a bucket on and off her head.
-she loves playing with big brother and adores his attention. he loves to hold her hands and help her practice walking.
-she has 4 teeth with 2 on the way. her 2 bottom teeth came in at 8 and 8 1/2 months. in the last couple of weeks she got 2 more teeth- lateral incisors- the teeth on either side of where her top front teeth will be. it looks like little fangs. just in time for halloween! we even carved our pumpkin with "kate teeth" this year:

paper lantern sports balls

when we moved owen to a big boy room last fall, i used a lot of ideas from rate my space to decorate his sports themed room. i came across a space with this great sports ball light fixture made from paper lanterns. i couldn't get my hands on the only one i could find, made by home interiors, so i made my own!

i ordered 4 lanterns to make the 4 sports balls-
large orange round: basketball
large brown oval: football
large white round: soccer ball
small white round: baseball


jay helped me pencil & tape the designs off w/masking tape, then i just took a paint pen to each one to turn them into sports balls! we hooked them up using a triple socket cord kit (the baseball does not have a light) and staggered the heights from the ceiling. the light is so fun & different & owen loves them as much as we do!

an overnight visit

Owen went for an overnight visit (all by himself!) to Grandpa Del & Gran's house. I was doing okay but then lost it- you'll see why! He's just so cute!

My mom and dad came to visit for Labor Day and graciously dropped Owen off at the farm on their way home. We met in Emporia the next day to exchange the precious cargo. :) Owen had a great time and has great memories from his visit with Grandpa Del & Gran!

Mom's Day Out

First Day of Mom's Day Out
Sept 5, 2009

Owen's "school" started this week. He goes one day a week from 9:30-2:30. This is the same Mom's Day Out that he went to last year, just a different class. His class gets to go to music, make a craft, play outside and nap on a cot. Last year he would say he wanted to go to school and be fine until we got to his room. This year he goes right in and starts playing- big improvement! He especially loves the play food and kitchen. His cousin (really a second cousin, once removed but we just keep it simple and call her "cousin" :)) Alicia is also in his class. They are great friends. Owen's teachers this year are Ms. Joan and Ms. Wink. We think he is going to have a great year!

Owen's teacher told him he could put on
his own name tag. He chose the inside of
his leg. Gotta love 3 year olds.




Just for fun, here is a picture of him on his first day last year. I peek in his classroom from last year and those kids look like babies!


First Day of Mom's Day Out
August 2008

nine months

Just for fun~
9 Months: Owen (March 2007) & Kate (August 2009)

Owen:             Kate:
22 lbs            20 lbs, 10 oz

30" long          27 3/4" long

17 3/4" head      17 1/4" head

1 tooth           2 teeth

sitting           crawling/climbing/pulling up

waves             flails arms when she's excited

had 1st haircut   getting curls behind her ears