Smiley Little Sister - LOVE IT!

This is one of the best pictures I have gotten of Little Sister smiling - just love it!

Mommy Celebrates 38!

Yes - Brother decided it would be fun to put all 38 candles on Mommy's birthday cake.
Boy, did it let off some heat! I had a wonderful birthday and am so blessed to be where I am today.
It is amazing what the last 38 years has brought me. I am so thankful for what I have!

Valentine - Balance Board

This is Brother's balance board that Daddy and Mommy made Brother for Valentine's Day. So easy to make - just cut a piece of board and dowel and Mommy decorated them with black and white duct tape. Yep - that's it....and he loves it. He has also been using it as a scale and I am sure he will figure out soon that he can launch things with it...kind of surprised he hasn't tried it yet.

Valentines - Felt Sugar Cookies

This was Sister's gift for Valentine's Day from Mommy. I found this great idea awhile ago, but unfortunately, the original post was no longer available to the public, so I decided to recreate as best I could and make my own tutorial to share with anyone who is interested. Sister loves her set and is often offering cookies to us and putting the pan "in the oven" to bake the cookies. This was a great addition to her felt food stash.

 TUTORIAL:

Items Needed:
Cream colored felt
Tan colored felt
Pink felt
Embroidery thread to match felt colors
Heart-shaped cookie cutters
Fabric pencil
Needle
Scissors

I located an old cookie sheet that I no longer use (I am all about recycling) and cute out two layers of cream colored felt a little smaller than the size of the cookie sheet (this is the dough). I then cut out the cookie dough with cookie cutters I had on hand so I just used the outside edge instead of the beveled edge. Again, this should be done in two layers.

I then traced and cut out two layers for each "baked" cookie from the tan felt.

I did not get a picture of the pink being cut out, but just follow the same step as above with
a smaller cookie cutter for the pink frosting to be stitched on top of the "baked" cookies.

The next step was pinning all my pieces together so I could hand stitch around the edges to give a nice finished edge. I also put polyfill in the "baked" cookies to give them a more realistic look.

So, this is the finished set. Sister already had a rolling pin so I didn't worry about picking up a new one (again, love to recycle and use what we already have on hand).

A Real Snow - Finally

After a long day of work on Saturday, Daddy decided it was time to play in the snow on Sunday with Brother and Sister.  The goal was to build a snowman the size of Daddy, but it was decided the size of Brother made more sense.

Of course, it just wouldn't be much fun without a snowball fight in the midst of the building...

Putting on the finishing touches...

Ta da - Mr. Snowman

Going Grocery Shopping

Big sister loves to pretend to be going somewhere. Here she has her bag, cup of coffee, and baby in the grocery cart. I love her imagination. She is often busy playing kitchen or playing with her various toddler activities during brother's school time. She occasional wants to join us, but most often just does a great job keeping herself busy.

Loving Her Daddy

4-Wheeling

Big Sister absolutely loves riding on her brother's 4-wheeler. The weather recently has been so nice that we have had lots of days outside with just hoodies.

More Completed Projects

I knitted this scarf on my round loom and then added a button hole and button for a different look. I found the orginal button idea here.

This is the menu board I just completed. I am very hopeful this will keep me more organized when it comes to meal planning and just general housekeeping. I found the original idea here, but made a ton of modifications to make it function the way I wanted it to.

This is the actual meal planner. Love how the ingredients are on the back side of the meal names to make the grocery list making so much easier. I made sure to include cards that noted Leftovers, Eating Out, and blank ones too so I could add new meals as I try new recipes. I have Sunday through Saturday on the left and then an "other" clip below for items such as homemade granola, yogurt, bread, etc.

This is a quick area to write down items we are needing at the store. This then gets transferred to my master grocery list. I am forever forgetting to add things to my list in my binder, so this is a way to make sure the milk and bread get picked up when needed.

The bottom section is for my daily schedule - I can switch it each day so we know what are day will look like and also what areas I need to concentrate on for cleaning. This section also includes our Family Fun Cards for the month.

Some January Pics

This really shows how big little sister is getting. Big sister loves to hold her and talk with her.

Brother is so good at caring for his sisters!

They love their Daddy!!!

Cuddling with brother...so sweet. Although brother wasn't really in the cuddling mood.

Gotta love the shoes and the stance!