[Crafty Corner] Promotional Frame Revamp!

Have you ever gotten a promotional frame? Being that my husband works at a hotel there are times when random promotional stuff gets left behind and sometimes it makes it's way back to my house.

My husband really liked the digital feature on this frame and he sat it on the entertainment center and that's where it stayed.. I couldn't stand starting at some random logo anymore so what's a girl to do?? Washi Tape it up but of course!

What you need:
-frame
-washi tape
-cute photo

What you do:
-Pick which washi to use, I used colors that go with the beachy theme I have going on.
-Start taping away. I wanted a more random feel but you could certainly just use one tape for the entire frame.
-Pop in a cute picture. The one I grabbed is from last year. An oldie, but goodie!

and that is it! Easy peasy. Gotta love a quick project.

[Happy Birthday] Wreck it Ralph Party - Lil D turns 3!

We celebrated Lil D's 3rd birthday Wreck It Ralph style!

We had an evening party in the back yard where we borrowed a projector to have an outdoor movie. I created a cute ticket style invite to let guests know that we were planning on having a party and then an outdoor movie!

Wreck It Ralph party supplies are pretty scarce so I had to be creative to show the theme. I did this by taking inspiration from the three games in the movie. Fix It Felix Jr., Sugar Rush, and Hero's Duty.

For the Fix It Felix Jr., representation I bought a roll of brick looking paper and hung some up on the fence to use as a photo booth backdrop. I also bought a pair of large Ralph hands from the Disney store and I made a gold Felix hammer by spray painting one of the four toy hammers we already owned. The boys love both of these and play with them all the time.

I used more of the brick paper on the sweets table by wrapping it on plastic shoe containers to add height. For the Sugar Rush portion of the movie. I also made candy decorations out of plastic plates and cellophane and suckers out of balloons, pvc pipe, and cellophane for yard decor. *Did you know that you can use hot glue on a brick fence and as long as you're not gluing paper it pops right off!!

The sweets table was a lot of fun to put together. I planned on including the My Hero blue cookies but the frosting I bought was a total fail so I gave up on it. I did have blue cookies, also made chocolate dipped Oreo to represent the O-RE-O OREOOOO soldiers in the movie! I included a bunch of different kinds of candy and even a pie.. since that is what the nicelanders give Felix.  For the cupcakes I made cupcake toppers that were each unique. There are a lot of different characters so I simply googled the characters, printed, and cut the, out then added a toothpick It turned out super cute.

For the Hero's Duty representation (I bet you really gonna watch where you step in a game called Hero's duty!)  I created a game by placing toy bugs (aka cybugs) all around the backyard. I gave the kids a little container with the Hero's Duty logo on it and told them once they collected 5 bugs to see me for their prize Their prize, of course, was a toy medal! I picked them up at the dollar store but wanted more of an authentic look so I bought some blue ribbon and switched it out. To make the game more difficult for the older kids in attendance I told them that they couldn't use their hands. It made for some entertainment for sure. I really liked that it was a game that could be played whenever a new guest arrived. It didn't need a group of kids to all focus on the instructions at once and it wasn't super competitive so everyone got to win!

For the favors, I simply made goody bags using some fun red/white striped bags that Party City carries. They're really inexpensive which is a bonus. I, of course, had to add a personalize tag.  used the Sugar rush logo and added the blur: thanks for coming, here's a Sugar Rush to go! XO, Dallas.

Once everyone had eaten I laid down some fun chevron blankets that I had picked up cheap at goodwill ($5 each, can't beat that and I found them in the same trip....score!) and we sang happy birthday, ate cupcakes and lil D opened his presents. He got some fun stuff! Wreck It Ralph toys, but of course, some accessories for the Leap Pad 2 his grandparents got him!! A coupe of outfits, chalk, bubbles, water balloons, a fun pool.  He also got gift cards to Barnes and Noble and Toys R Us. He and I are gonna go on a date one of these nights and go shopping. The boy loves books so I think he'll really enjoy picking out his own. He did receive a Wreck It Ralph book that he loved. One of his favorite gifts!

And of course after getting all those great gifts we had to send thank you cards. This year I chose to do so through a fun app called Postagram which I heard about from A Night Owl Blog. It's a really fun app and I found credits online so it was free for me to send.. this may be the way I send all future thank you notes from now on! So easy and personalized.

[Mother's Day] 2013

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day this year. I know I did!

My sweet son's woke me up bright and early.. Lil D who usually crawls into bed and cuddles in the morning decided to turn on the lights and pull off my covers at 7am to "eat, eat, eat" and Mr. Griffin greeted me with a messy diaper.. these kids I tell ya!

Once I got us all dressed and ready we headed over to my parents house where we spent the morning/day with the family. My dad and brother made us breakfast and we just all hung out. The boys watched movies, me and Jason set up an internet cafe in the kitchen, and my mom took a nap.

Lil D made me an adorable hand print flower card at school and every time I asked him about it he got a huge smile of pride on his face.. heart=melt! The week before I painted their hands and made a cute flower picture for their grandma's! Griffin was so cute he took it and handed it to his grandma himself.

That afternoon, I was to meet Dallas at home at 4pm. He arranged for my brother to watch the boys and for a cab to come pick us up. He took me out for sushi and drinks and didn't ant us to worry about driving... after dinner we walked over to get ice cream and finally to Starbucks for some delicious coffee! Some of my favorite things. He also gave me flowers and wrote a sweet message on the fridge. It was a great night and I felt spoiled which is exactly what he was trying to accomplish.

I am so blessed to have such an amazing mom and I appreciate her even more know that I know how much work is involved in raising children.. and I've only scratched the surface! My children are my world and the mean everything to me. I am so blessed to have them and their daddy in my life.

[Mr. Griffin] Big Boy Bed

My baby... is starting to become a little kid and no longer a baby :(

We put Griffin to sleep in a toddler bed in Lil D's room since Lil D got a new full size bed and I have to say Grif did excellent. My guy is a tosser and turner and a all over the bed type of guy so I was a bit nervous about this transition but being that the full size mattress is on the floor next to the toddler bed I felt it was an appropriate time to test things out. I do have to admit that he ended up on his brothers bed.. and the next night when we tried again they both wound up on the couch by morning..

We haven't fully transitioned him yet but I think he is going to do just fine... although he may fall out of the bed a couple of times :)

[On the the Road Again] Cottonwood Day Trip

We don't get many full days off together as a family. As it currently stands Dallas' days off fall during the week and I work a Monday-Friday job and now we have to factor in Lil D's school schedule too. So when the rare occasion arises we try to take full advantage of it. Sure it would be nice to spend the day cleaning the house or getting something done but we prefer to load up the kids and take a road trip.

I love these little days away with my family. We get to spend time in the car not distracted by computers (although I occasionally need to make myself set down my phone) but I feel like we're able to reconnect and and enjoy the most important thing in life, our family.

Dallas and Griffin will only be so little for so long and before we know it they're going to want to go off and do their own things or invite a friend to come along.. But there is a desire in my heart that they'll enjoy these day trips just as much as we do and as long as we can we will try to make these happen.

Earlier this year we took a drive to Payson but this time we decided to go to Cottonwood. We both had the Monday after my sister's wedding off so we decided a little bit of family bonding after the very busy previous few months was in order.

Dallas and I often go and look at the places we drive to as a possible location of where we'd like to one day move to. We have dreams of moving to a smaller city with more land and room for the boys to spend their childhood running and playing.

We got up and left the house around 10ish, did the standard Starbucks run and headed off... When we got to Black Canyon City we came to a complete stop. There was a bad accident where a truck pulling a trailer completely flipped over. We were stuck for almost two hours. Luckily, we thought to bring snacks since we weren't getting lunch anytime soon. We were only about 20-30 cars back from the accident so once we were allowed to pass we were ahead of all the traffic so we didn't want to stop until we got closer to our destination.

We first stopped and grabbed some pizza and wings and then we headed to a park (our day trip ritual). The park we came across had the standard playground area as well as a volleyball court and baseball field nothing to make it special until you walk past all of that and discover a hiking trail. We took it a ways but the boys' cheeks were getting flushed so we needed to go back and get them some water. We didn't spend a long time in Cottonwood but we did spend some quality time playing and enjoying our time.

Here are some photos of the fun we had. Can't wait for our next adventure!

[Happy Birthday] Lil D turns 3!

I am now the proud owner of an adorable THREE year old! I can't believe I've been a mommy for that long it seems like just yesterday that we started this journey and at the same time I feel like he's always been in my life. It's so strange how time works like that.

I wish there was a way to transport yourself back to a memory to breathe it all in again to re-appreciate the moment. If there were I think the early baby days would be some of my favorite days to travel to. I know for most the thought of waking every couple hours would send them running to the hills but not I. Granted it's not the most fun thing in the world but there is just something about feeding and cuddling a tiny baby. I loved having a newborn I suppose part of the love is that I had two fantastically easy newborns. Dallas slept thorough the night at 8 weeks, he didn't mind going out to eat or shopping with mommy.. he just slept through or cooed and hung out. Sometimes I think the sleepless nights with newborn cuddles sounds like a vacation from the very busy toddler stage.

Before I get into how we celebrated Lil D's birthday lets first ohh and ahhh over how adorable of a baby he was:

Photo Credit Left and bottom right: Flecky Fotography. Top and middle right: AB Family Photo

And because we al love a good comparison.. here's my boy eating cake at all three of his birthday parties!

A few days before Lil D turned 3 I took him on a little mommy and Dallas date :) We went to the mall to pick up a shirt I needed for Griffin's Wreck it Ralph costume but while we were at the mall we ventured over to the Disney store where I let him explore and come home with a couple of gift sets, Tangled, and Finding Nemo. My boys love their action figures. While we were there he also got a birthday crown and button which he wore!! Once we made our purchases we headed back down the mall and stopped off at Mrs. Fields where I got him an M&M cookie which he really enjoyed. It was really nice getting a little bonding time with my oldest and I plan on trying to do more one on one outings with the boys.

Since the week leading up to Lil D's birthday was a little crazy for me trying to get everything together for the party and the house clean, etc. I wanted to get away from the house and focus on him that morning.So I got the boys dressed and we headed to Dunkin' Donuts for birthday donuts. Being that it was a Saturday morning the place was busy and the boys were kind of running around the store while I was in line :/ Lil D went and sat at a table with a man and two boys around 12 years old. They thought it was really funny that he sat with them, he even opened their donut box (to find it empty). Then he got down from there and went and sat at another table with another family. (and you know Griffin followed and did exactly what his brother did too) I finally reeled them in and we ate donuts and then headed home. I love seeing their differences shine thorough.. check out the way they eat their donuts, too cute.

Once we got home it was right back to party prep and we had a bunch of friends and family over to celebrate my boy.

I am so blessed to get to be this kid's mommy. Although he is all boy, (climbing, jumping, running, and throwing being some of his favorite things) and even though he is stubborn and hard headed (thanks to his daddy, I'm sure) this kid has the sweetest heart. He often likes to curl up on my lap or shoulder and loves to sleep in mommy and daddy's bed to cuddle all night. When he holds my hand, he melts my heart. I am his mommy and he is my little boy forever in my heart.

[D&G] These Two Cheeseheads

Dallas picked Lil D up from his second day of school and not long after getting home, he, of course, stripped down to his underwear.. what's with little kids not liking to wear clothes? Anyhow, daddy captured this fantastic photo with two of the biggest cheesiest smiles ever.. I am IN.LOVE.WITH.THIS.PHOTO!!!! His caption for the photos is "How Dallas likes to relax after a hard day at school!"