Tuesday, August 30, 2011

My How 3 Years Can Fly By!

It seems like just yesterday we brought our little bundle of joy home...
So fresh and new to the world!
And today our big girl turns three!
Sporting her John Deere hat daddy bought her for her birthday.
She goes back and forth between being a big girl and being a baby- I think the one baking in my belly may have something to do with the latter attitude :) I will still give anything to have her cuddle up on my lap. I know my time is limited. Soon she really will be a big girl, headed for school and more independence. So I'll continue to cherish all the little moments with her. Especially since the day is coming when she won't be the 'only' anymore.

Sweet girl, you bring sunshine to my day! When you giggle you light up a room. Your daddy and I are truly blessed to have you in our lives. We pray that God continues to give us guidance and wisdom as we watch you grow. You are such a sweetheart, always showing kindness and compassion to those around you- I pray these traits stay with you as you always. We love you peanut!

We were able to have a birthday celebration for Emmabuns on Sunday with our close fam. There was plenty of celebrating going on with lots of cake and presents too.
Grandma Jen made a whale full of fruit to go along with our beach theme.

Emma had an octopus hot dog for her dinner :)
The piece de resistance- her sandcastle cake. I had hoped to do a tutorial on this later, but this frazzled mommy ran out of time and never got any other pics of the cake!
With three sets of grandparents and an adoring aunt, there was sure to be some spoiling going on. Emma was thrilled with all her gifts, especially her doll house and big girl bike. Both have already endured hours of entertainment since the big party.

Putting her babies to bed before she goes to sleep.
Cruising on her new bike with baby alonmg for the ride.
Today I had to work, but the celebration continues. Emma loves her 'broders' :) I let her pick what we did today and her request was to play at Deanna's Playhouse and then head to 'Donalds for lunch.
Three peas in a pod ready to go play.

Emma spent lots of time dressing up today, but she always had a doll in tow.

The crew enjoying lunch before more play time in the play land.

After a quick nap we had cupcakes with the boys before heading home for an eveing of fun. We picked up a hot-n-ready pizza and took it to the park where Emma was able eat, feed the ducks and play with daddy before he headed back to work.
They can hardly wait to dig in.
Too distracted by the other kids playing to eat!


Ready to race daddy down the slide.
 We hope you had a wonderful birthday princess, we love you to pieces!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

My Little Wedding Crasher

Surprise, surprise I'm behind again :) Last weekend was a whirlwind of wedding festivities and it has taken us a few days to recover.

Friday evening we had rehearsal followed by dinner at the Trestle. Emma didn't get a nap so she was a little full of it. Overall, rehearsal went smoothly though. Our little darling was thrilled to walk down the aisle and throw petals for aunt Jessica. I must say this surprised me a bit- I was fearful she wouldn't want to have anything to do with it. The only problem was that during the 'ceremony' she was a little busy body. She ran from her seat to daddy, then to me, back to grandma. I was a little concerned this was a sign of things to come...

Saturday morning I headed over to the church bright and early to get my hair done while Emma played with Grandma Jen. I had hoped she'd sleep in with the busy day prior, but she was wide awake at 7:00! They joined us at the church at 11:00 so Emma could get her hair done too. She did a great job sitting still for Katie, although Nemo may have had something to do with that. Once she was done it was hard to keep her from ruining her hair. We started pics at 1:00 and Emma wanted nothing to do with them. I'm afraid I may have been a bit tense for pics trying to keep Emma reined in while keeping a big grin on my face.
Hanging with aunt Jessica while she gets her hair done.
All my toddler needed was a little tiara!
One of the few smiles I didn't have to fight her for.
After two hours and very little cooperation, I took her to the nursery and rocked her. She was able to catch a quick 15 minute nap before the wedding began. Not sure if it helped or not, but she was starting to be a terror! She did a great job coming down the aisle and standing by mommy. Sadly, that's where it ended. After sitting by grandma for approximately 2 minutes, she was back standing by me. Then she ran to daddy. From daddy she went and sat by Ross' parents. Mind you they had their own 2 grand kids with them to keep quiet. At one point Emma was trying to climb over the pew.
All of the girls.
Emma and Marissa were ready to cut a rug before the wedding even started.
The hubby and I
The clincher was when her and Marissa started arguing about which groomsman was their daddy. During the closing prayer. Very loudly. Emma actually got up and stood by Jason yelling, "No, that's my daddy!" So frustrating when their is nothing you can do! Thankfully, most people were extremely understanding, including my sister-in-law. She was glad for some comic relief due to nerves being in front of everyone. I'm sure someday I'll be ready to laugh about it too. Good thing she is so darn cute!
Burning off some energy in the nursery after the wedding.
Emma spent a little time at the reception. She had dinner and even busted a few moves on the dance floor before I had my mom come pick her up. It was a long day for a little one, but she had a blast. I wish I had more pictures to share, but standing in the wedding and keeping track of two year old leaves little time for snapping pics. I'll be sure to share a pic of the newlyweds as soon as I get my hands on some. I also can't wait to share their wedding gift I made for them- another post, another day.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Baby Girl Gifts Galore!

My dear friend Kylie was blessed with a sweet baby girl, Savanna Lee, a few weeks ago. As soon as I found out it was a girl, I quickly got to work. What little sweetie doesn't need a few hair bows and a ruffle butt onesie?

The hair bows came together quite quickly since I've become a little experienced in this area :) I decided to make an owl clip and an owl bow holder as well since miss Savanna's room is done up in owls. Let me tell you, it is a.dor.a.ble!
The owl took me a little longer than the rest since this was the first one I put together, but I think it turned out cute. I simply cut some felt out, glued it together and then outlined with some contrast stitching to add a bit of pink.

You many recall the tie onesie I made for a friend's little boy back in May. That one was a little less intimidating for me than the ruffle butt onesise, but with the help of several fellow bloggers' tutorials I decided to give it a try.

Here are a few links I used for inspiration:
http://greetingsfromtheasylum.blogspot.com/2011/06/lets-get-ready-to-rumba.html
http://jessajill.blogspot.com/2011/05/baby-gift-ruffle-bum-onesie.html

I started by ripping strips of fabric in 1.5" increments. I planned to make 3 ruffles and also put a flower on the front of the onesie. I ripped them because I like the frayed edges, but you could easily finish them off if you wanted a neater edge. I then washed the strips of fabric and the onesie before I started sewing.

Once they are all fresh and clean I ruffled the strips. I did it by hand, which is fairly easy, but takes a little more time. It could be done with a sewing machine as well. Just run a stitch down the center of a strip of fabric and then pull on the thread when you are done and you'll have a cute little ruffle.


This is where I hit my first road block... The strips of fabric I ripped weren't long enough to run all the way across the bum and still be ruffly. So I improvised and used two strips of fabric together. Once they are sewed on you can't even tell.

When the ruffles were complete, I pinned them down and then sewed them on. I folded the edges over on each end to give it a nice clean look on the sides. I ended up going with only two ruffles- three looked like a lot for the 0-3 month tush!

I had one piece left that was already ruffled so I used that to make my flower. I wound that strip around into a circle and fluffed it up a bit to make a flower that I sewed onto the front.

I love how it all turned out! When you wash it, the ruffles may fray a bit, but all you need to do is snip off the loose strings. I found these cute little sandles that we just had to buy to put with it :)

Happy crafting!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Has it Really Been 5 Years???

5 years ago today, I married my best friend.
5 years ago today, I said "I do" to the love of my life
5 years ago today, my life changed forever.
And I wouldn't change it for the world! What a crazy, awesome, wonderful ride it's been. I look forward to many, many more with you :) Love you baby!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

More Time to Waste than Money...

Ahhh, there is too much cool stuff out there in cyber world! Many hours are spent staring at the computer screen, looking for new ideas. I am now a proud member of pintrest as well as bloglovin. What are these wonderful resources you may ask?

Pintrest is like a virtual cork board- you find things that you like on-line and then you 'pin' them to your personal board. It's a great way for me to keep track of all the crafty things I long to try :) Now the problem is finding time to do them all!

Bloglovin is an awesome way to keep track off all the blogs out there I follow. There are close friends and family that are posted right on my page, but believe me there are many more I check out on a regular basis! Now you can follow along too:

Follow'>http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/2796844/klein-korner?claim=9whsh56spfg">Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Another Successful Trip!

Once again I am caught up on the ten loads of destruction laundry left behind from our most recent camping trip. It was a little longer than our usual trips and full of friends, food, fellowship and fun! I love to watch all the kids interact together- they have a blast. The mommies tend to enjoy themselves too :)

Each day consisted of:

Going for walks around the campground, raiding the office for candy and racing up and down the hill near our sights on anything with wheels each morning.

Before lunch we would typically make a quick trip to the pool and let the kiddos splash around. Time was divided between the big pool and the kiddie pool. Emma loved swimming in both of them.

After a lunch break I would often try to get Emma to take a "rest" (aka nap). Sometimes it worked and other times she would make it through an entire Disney movie and be ready to head back out and play with her 'fweinds'.

Emma would ride her bike and make trips to one of the parks until it was time to make dinner. She'd hang out with me in the camper and color or play with her toys while I got everything ready.

Once we were done eating she would be back on her bike or head to the pool with daddy. She finally figured out how to pedal her tricycle and even tried her hand at a big girl bike with training wheels. We may need to find one for her upcoming birthday or Christmas- she did great once she figured out you can't pedal backwards!

We also spent plenty of time around the campfire at night, roasting marshmallows, relaxing and enjoying life together. It was a great way to end each day!


Overall it was an awesome respite and much needed getaway. The month of August us filling up very quickly for us and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down until September. We had a great time with a wonderful group of people and look forward to it again next year!