Wonder, Week 6

It's Week 6 in the I Heart Faces Competition. The topic is "Wonder". This is a picture of my boys under the low Fig tree in our backyard. The leaves had just started to fall and the sun sparkled through on them. It was their first time doing this, and it definitely made them "Wonder."

Craft It Forward...

I am finally gonna mail my craft it forward items, and here is what these lucky ladies will be receiving. By the way, my comments got all jumbled somehow and I had 4 winners. The more the merrier is what I say!

The Hat Chick is gonna get this tassel in reds and golds. I think it is right up her alley:

Amanda at Imperfectly Beautiful is gonna get this little blue and brown bird tassel. It will just look adorable with that dark paneling she has going on.

Patti at Peanut Butter and Honey is gonna get this little pillow. What do you think of the yoyo's?

And last but not least, Mandi of Misses Canadian Pie is gonna get this little tote bag. I'm sure she can store some of that scrapbook stuff she has in it.

This was so much fun and I hope everyone enjoys their stuff. I HATE going to the post office, so while I am getting this stuff out within the 30 days it was promised, I should have mailed it last week. I hope you all enjoy your little goodies!

WOW!!

Brace yourselves people, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen and it has. My boys are starting to play together, without me forcing them, and they're having fun! Oh be still my heart! Look at these pictures Lon took of them. Walker is reading a dinosaur book to Connor and telling him all about them.

They are actually enjoying one another's company!The miracles never cease. This is one small step for mankind, but a huge leap for my sanity. YEAH!

Valentines Day Treats...

Happy Valentines Day! I just wanted to do a quick post this morning about the treats the boys are giving our family here in SC. They were extremely budget friendly and sort of a spur of the moment idea, but they turned out pretty cute.

Walker bought sprinkles for cupcakes a month ago. They were at Target and had 5 different bottles with all different red and pink hearts. I promised him he could make the cupcakes, but could not figure out how to easily package 2 per person. Last night when I went to the store I found these little disposable miniature bread tins. The size was perfect, but they were blue so we had to put a little Valentine paper and tie a bow. Easy peasy and cheap to boot! Now that is my kind of gift.

Here are the boys at 7:00 this morning putting the sprinkles on. Walker is using 2 bottles at one time and shaking as hard as he can. Connor on the other hand is enjoying his strawberry toast and pondering why his sprinkles won't come out. It must be the fact that the top of his sprinkle container is caked in frosting because he thinks he has to press the jar into the icing.

Here they are from the back. They are standing in their learning tower. My parents got us this a couple of years ago and it has been worth every cent. It's height is adjustable and it is solid wood. It is so much handier to use when we are cooking or they are helping wash the dishes because it has rails and keeps them much more steady than a stool or chair.


Back to the subject at hand, here is Walkie in his jammies showing off his cupcakes.
And Con-man finishing up his strawberry toast, and pondering whether he wants to dip it in that icing on the cupcake.

Here they are all wrapped and ready to go.

We made Papa a Key Lime pie, because he is more a of pie kind of guy. I did what Screaming Meme suggested and bought the Key Lime Pie cheesecake filling in the cream cheese section that comes in a tub. I put it in a mini graham cracker pie crust and topped with whipping cream. Put a couple limes on for garnish and he will never know it wasn't homemade. Atleast that is the goal.

We are gonna go deliver our cupcakes and have dinner with Nana and Jerry. We hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day!

Mandi Method, Phase 2...

I have made it through month one of the Mandi Method, and now I am on to Month 2. I feel really good about the new eating habits I have formed through Weight Watchers and I will continue to post on Wednesdays about my progress in that area, however phase 2 of the Mandi Method is exercise.

For the next 4 weeks, I will be focusing on establishing and putting into place a good exercise regimine for myself. As you know I stay home with the boys during the day, but a good friend has said she would come walk or bike with me on her lunch break somedays. The biking is good because I can pull the boys behind me in their little cab, but walking will be more difficult because Walker is way past being pushed in a stroller. I may be making laps around my yard. I'm sure the neighbors will find that hilarious. I think my best option is gonna be to walk before Lon leaves for work in the mornings, but figuring out what is gonna work best is the whole goal for this month.

I plan to exercise a minimum of 4 days a week. I also want to find a good strength training program I can do from home. I know Mandi at Misses Canadian Pie does Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred workout and likes it. Any other suggestions?

Window "Mistreatments"...

It's official. I am now a member of the Nester's Mistreatment club, and here are the results:
I had these red panels hanging in my dining/living room, and I wanted to add something to them, so I bought this fabric at Hobby Lobby last week.
I originally was looking for toile, but could not find one with the golds, browns, reds, and greens that I needed. I liked this one a lot and it was 30% off. I have to admit I did this in true Nester fashion because I did not take any measurements before I went. I just guess-timated, and it worked out fine. I needed about an inch more of the fringe on each end, but you can't tell it with them hanging up.

The fabric and fringe cost me right at $40 and the panels were something I purchased a long time ago at Wal-Mart or Target. I spent about an hour doing these yesterdayand love the results. In hindsight I would love a print on the top too, but I went with what I already had and it was much more affordable that way.

Valentines...

I just mailed out the boys' Valentines to family and friends, and they were so easy and inexpensive to do that I thought I would share them with you. First off, I want to give credit where credit is due. I got the idea for these here, and hers are cuter than mine, but I whipped these things out in about 10 mins. so I was pretty dog gone pleased with myself.

• I started by taking 2 pictures that I liked of the boys' faces and loading them into Photobucket. From there I put a kiss sticker on the cheeks.



• Next I saved the new pictures with the kisses to my computer and uploaded them to Walgreen's.



• I googled the word "dinosaur" under the image tab, and saved a couple I liked to my computer. I made them black and white, and uploaded them to Walgreen's as well.



• Then I went into the Walgreen's site and made a 4x6 collage of the boys pictures and the dinosaurs with the message, "Valentine, you are Dino-mite!"

Easy Peasy and cheap too! Now this would have been even cheaper if I had thought far enough in advance to do this on the Wal-mart site and order them for 9 cents each, but I wanted them quick so I was willing to pay the extra 20 cents per picture for 1 hour developing. There is a coupon for 25% off of collage prints right now, but you have to enter it in at check out time, and it is good until Valentine's Day.