Monday, July 30, 2012

7 Months Old


Our sweet baby Jane is 7 months old today! Jane is so good natured and so happy and she really lends a bit of sanity when the other two kids are driving us nuts :P


Jane will let anyone hold her and has rarely ever met a stranger. She loves to laugh and thinks that her siblings are HILARIOUS.... sometimes :)


This month was Janie's first trip to Galena (and Norman) where she met all of her Daddy's relatives and got to celebrate her new baby BOY cousin who is due this December!


Jane loves to eat real food... no baby purees for her! When you are eating dinner she will watch you like a hawk and if you have something she wants, she'll grab your hand and force it into her mouth.


In just about a week, Janie has gone from barely being able to sit up on her own to being a sit-up rock star! We still have to spot her, but she rarely needs our help any more.


Another thing she is world class at is drooling....I love this action shot :)


We love her so much and are thankful for every ray of sunshine that she brings into our lives. Happy 7 months, Janie Bear!

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Monday, July 16, 2012

Happy Birthday Micah!

Micah 4 years ago....


Micah now...


That's right, Micah turns 4 TODAY! Maybe it's because we have had two girls since him, but I feel like he should have already been 4 by now... that's a lot of kids in not a lot of time :)


Micah as a four year old is still a really sweet guy. He loves his sisters and shows it by showering attention on Jane and fighting with Lizzie ;-) He is very bright and knows all of his letters and their sounds and can count up to 30ish... sometimes higher, sometimes lower. He has also started adding numbers... we'll throw equations at him and he is almost always right. He has several books memorized and can recite entire Dr. Seuss books from cover to cover.


Micah loves to sing all of the time and he actually has decent pitch! He likes to color and play with Play-doh. Above all he likes to play Angry Birds on the iPad :)


We love our little guy and can't wait to see what this next year brings for him!


And yes, my kids end up outside with no pants on frequently.... I never notice til we get back inside :P

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Thursday, July 12, 2012

Ribbon Flower Hair Clips


Man, how many of these have I churned out since I found out Lizzie was going to be a girl? Anyhoo, a friend of mine from college contacted me last week and she is on bedrest with her first, a little girl. She wanted a tutorial for the flower clips that Janie is wearing in all of her monthly pics. While I've made TONS, I've never written a tutorial. In fact, I have sort of side stepped tutorials in my time as a blogger for one main reason.... I'm a photo snob. Yup, it's true. With three tiny kids, my only time to craft is at night and that means flash photography.... the horror! Anyway, I decided to break my fast for the good of my very bored friend and her accessory deprived baby :)

Sooooo, step one.... Cut 7 strips each of two different ribbons. It is best if the one you use on the inside is thinner than the outer ribbon and it will be cut a little shorter than the ribbon you are using for the outer petals~


To be honest, this maroon ribbon (it is maroon, I swear... flash photography claims another victim) is wider than I like to use, but I was trying to match an A&M flower I had made previously for Lizzie and all I had was this wider version of the ribbon. To figure out how long to cut your ribbon, go ahead and fold it into a petal (think an awareness ribbon without the tails) and adjust the size until you get something you're happy with~


Fold the inner ribbon in the same way and fit it inside the larger ribbon to determine how long that ribbon needs to be cut~


Now take out your handy dandy glue gun and use a small dot of glue at the base of each petal to secure the ribbon to itself. Do you already have hot glue callouses on your fingers? If not, you may by the end of this step :) Seriously though, hot glue guns are the quickest way to develop impenetrable, feel no heat, mom hands... word.


Now, begin to assemble your outer flower by using a small dot of glue at the base of each petal to adhere them in a circle. You may need to lay them out ahead of time to get an idea for how much overlap to use... at this point I just do it on instinct.


Congratulations! How are those callouses working out for ya? Ok, now at this point, keep the same center and start adding the inner petals one by one...


Until your inner flower is also complete.... YAY!


Ok, it looks weird now, but the button will pull it all together. At this point I would look at every angle of the flower and figure out which petals you like best. It sounds nuts, and it probably is, but let your OCD flag fly! I find there is always a certain part that looks like the top to me, so I put it on top. Then when I add my button I line the holes in it up with my favorite view of the flower. Big dab of hot glue in the middle, add the button and you're almost done!


These are the best hair clips. Seriously, don't waste your time with others. Sally Beauty Supply... ok? Ok.


I always attach my flowers to clips and clip them onto headbands so that I can use them just as clips when baby becomes toddler, or preschooler, or 6 yr old... what have you. Now you just use hot glue to ribbon wrap the clip...


This will protect baby's head and I use grosgrain ribbon which adds some traction when it's in her hair.


Some glue on your clip, slap on your flower and you're done! I usually do one dot of glue in the center of the clip and glue down the back middle of the flower. Once that is set, I glue a few petals along the clip to keep the flower firmly in place. Make sure to glue it on the clip in such a way that it faces the direction you like when it's clipped to a headband later.


See, the thinner ribbon on the top one is WAY cuter. So, if you aren't in a hurry like me then try to match your ribbon width to the size of flower you are making. Here are some more I've done recently~


You can see the blue one above that only has one layer... that works great too, I just like the layered look. Jane loves her June flower!~

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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Micah's Birthday Party

No, I haven't missed a post... Micah's birthday party this year was way before his actual birthday :) To celebrate, we rented a Cinco pool with some friends of ours whose daughter turned 4 right before Micah and we had a grand old time. Micah was obsessed with his swim party from the second I told him about it. Here are the pool floaty cupcakes I made for Micah and Anna~


And of course his 4!


The favors were Swedish fish swimming in Jelly Bellies~


The pool was great! We had a regular big pool, a splash pad and a kiddie pool~


Janie LOVES the water... she's a total water bug~


Evan definitely enjoyed his ride down the frog's mouth~


Go Lizzie, go!


I don't think Lindy reads my blog, but if she does.. sorry! This picture just cracked me up~


Ella wanted to test the water temperature before she committed to getting in~


50 cent beach balls were never so popular...


Sweet baby girl...


The birthday kiddos!


Lizzie was thrilled when everyone started singing Happy Birthday to Anna and Micah~


She drowned her sorrows in watermelon...


Cheesy cheeser Mc. Cheese face~


I can't help but think of Zoolander here~


Sweet Asher~


Little miss Abby~


I'm surprised I got such a natural smile here~


We forgot to bring matches, but Micah will get to blow out his candle on his real birthday next week :) I forgot to mention, but thanks to Katie for reminding me, that we had severe thunderstorms the week of the party and the forecast on Friday had it storming right during the party which would have shut down the pool. We prayed about it hard core and the Lord blessed us so abundantly! Because of the storms coming, it was overcast which made it cooler and we didn't have to worry about the kids burning. BUT there was no thunder at all until we were packing up to go! On the ride home it started to rain and thunder and while we got all 2 hours of our private pool time, it closed right after we left right before normal opening hours. We felt so incredibly blessed and praised God for allowing the party to happen as planned!

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