Class Christmas Gifts

We got crafty this year and, with the help of those under-utilized Pinterest boards I've been amassing, made some little Christmas gifts for the kids to give their classmates. Actually, I made them. Ha. It always sounds like a great idea to have the kids "help," but it never works out as well as you'd hope. I let Laney "help" me make the play-doh for this gift last year and we ended up with some fingers that looked like this (she's still terrified of the stove!). I. felt. so. bad.

So, this year, I did it all during nap time and it went off without a hitch. Laney gave her friends gingerbread scented play-doh with a cookie cutter for playing. It was super cute! We also made a huge batch for us to play with over the holidays and the kids absolutely loved it.

Parker gave his friends "Reindeer Antlers" and Brooks gave his friends "Reindeer Noses." I seasoned some tiny pretzels for antlers and used whoppers and a cherry drop for the nose. They got such a kick out of them and were so excited to carry them into MDO. I hope they still like my little home-made gifts as much when I'm trying to make them for their 16-year-old friends! HA!

Style Crisis

OK that title, including the word "crisis," is a bit dramatic. Everything is quite fine over here. And maybe that's the problem.

Every time things get good and relatively easy, I start looking around my house and feeling unsatisfied. It's like my psyche knows to not even go there when there are real trials and tribulations that need my full attention. But when things are good, it goes there. Often.

I'm realizing that I'm quite random when it comes to home decor. And I'm OK with that. For now. I don't think I really know what I want our house to look like. When Marsh and I married, it was such a whirlwind. Graduating college, moving, getting pregnant right away, moving again, living with our parents for stents, living with Janson for stents (ha), starting a teaching job while being 6 months pregnant, leaving my teaching job to be a full-time mom to 3 kids under the age of 4...wow. Home decor took a back seat. Not even a back seat. It's more like it got thrown out the car all together. We basically just ran to Dillards or Bed Bath & Beyond in the spare seconds of our sanity and picked up a bunch of stuff to fill up our home as fast as possible. It's not bad stuff. It's just not me at all. So now I'm working on phasing it out (while also being on a tight budget).

The problem is, I'm not really confident I know what I want to replace these phased out items with. I want a house like Jones Design Company, but more color. Industrial undertones, but soft and frilly, too. Oh ya...and some mid century modern stuff. Ya confused yet? Because I sure am. I can't decide which of these styles I can seamlessly mix and which will just look wrong together. Sigh. #WhiteGirlProblems, right?

So I'm starting with something that I know I want to do. Paint these cabinets. These perfectly new and functional cabinets that have nothing wrong with them (cue Marshall's dirty look), but everything wrong with them.

They're so...builder's grade. And boring. I'm hoping that throwing some white on them will give the kitchen just the shockingly refreshing change I need. Can I even hope that they'll look as good as Jones Design Company's? I think I'll just stick with hoping that I don't totally botch them up. I'm nervous!

More details to come soon :)

Lions & Ladies

Well, as you've probably noticed, my blog just got a little make over! My friend that designs the prettiest things made the header for me. I'm in love. And there's even a little button that links to my new Etsy shop called Lions & Ladies. I think I mentioned before that I had started a little business. It's been so fun. I make bow ties for little boys (and even some for big boys men). I also keep swearing that I'm going to list some headbands for baby girls but haven't gotten around to it quite yet. I do make them, though.

Why Lions & Ladies? Well, I'll tell you why. It's just some Iron & Wine lyrics. When I started this blog over three years ago, I titled it "Love and Some Verses." In my very first post I explained that I chose that name partly because it was a song title from one of my favorite artists, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine). His music is folky, dramatic, nostalgic, full of beautiful lyrics and imagery, and kind of depressing. Everything I love! Ha.

When I think about my life, it kinda plays like a movie in my head. And Iron & Wine songs make up the soundtrack. For example, if I was even 5 minutes early to a day in high school, you could find me sitting in my car listening to Such Great Heights from the Garden State album. During my first spell of homesickness in college, Sodom, South Georgia played non-stop on my iPod (which is weird because I'm not even from Georgia haha). When Marshall and I got back together for the final time, I was obsessing over The Trapeze Swinger. I listened to Love Vigilantes on repeat during those first few weeks of Laney's life when I was fighting the baby blues and learning what motherhood felt like. Peng! 33 is Laney's favorite song. It calmed her as a baby and is the song in the slideshow of her first year. Call Your Boys was the anthem of the summer right after Parker & Brooks joined us in this world. And Kingdom of the Animals is currently what L, P, B and I listen to in the car during our daily drives.

So, whenever I need to give something a name, it just makes sense to me to use these songs. No deep meaning or anything. And no real lions. Just songs that I love.

Sew Excited

One of the things I got for Christmas was a new SEWING MACHINE! I'm thrilled. My old one just flat out died. I think.

Y'all, this thing is crazy. It's not super expensive, but makes me feel like my old machine was from another century. Look at all this stuff, though:

Don't they know I'm too busy and lazy for all these instruction manuals? And this is even after I threw all the Spanish ones away. Great. I'll just spend all my free time (time in between cleaning hot dog juice off the floor and wiping hinies) over the next year reading these suckers and I'll be ready to start sewing come 2014.

Seriously, though, this thing better be able to sew my projects by itself while I'm sleeping.

But I'm not the only one who made out like a bandit this Christmas. Laney, Parker & Brooks got cars, trucks, lawn mowers, Lilly Pulitzer dresses, shoes, shopping carts, Dream Lites, microphones, and much much more. They also got to spend the holidays with 2 families that are down right crazy about them and would do anything in the world to see them happy. We are so BLESSED. It kinda makes me want to cry.

Giant Jenga

Hi! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! I'm in the process of sorting through millions hundreds of pictures to find the ones I want to post and remember most. But I wanted to stop in now to show you this little hand-made gift of ours that turned out awesome.

We made my father-in-law a Giant Jenga set. And by "we" made it, I really mean I had the great idea and Marsh did most of the work. Sorry, honey. But, seriously, it was pretty easy and works great! It is the perfect gift for that man in your family that doesn't need anything, doesn't want anything, and doesn't need another tie (or is a Cowboy like mine and doesn't wear ties at all).

Here's how we did it:

1. CUT YOUR BLOCKS. First, I bought three of the longest 2 X 4's available at our Home Depot. Then, I had a guy there cut them into 10.5 inch segments. They were long enough to get 18 blocks out of each of the three original pieces, which made for 54 blocks in all. He was SO NICE and didn't even charge for the cutting. I think the lumber only ended up costing $27 in all! Here's what they looked like when I brought them home from the store and stacked them up in the garage:

2. SAND YOUR BLOCKS. Here's where Marshall was really hating me at first. He sat there with our orbital sander between his knees for hours sanding each of the 54 blocks. Janson, Laney and I kept him company, though, and took some pictures, of course. He finally got in a rhythm and got it done quicker than we originally thought it would take. He lightly sanded each of the 6 faces of the block and then heavily sanded the edges and corners. You want to be able to run your hand over the block without getting splinters. I had read online that we would need to sand them first with 80 grit paper AND THEN with 220 grit to make them even smoother. But we only had time to do them once with the 80 grit paper and it was fine. Plus, they will get smoother as the game is played over and over.

And that's it! After that, we just put them in a large Rubbermaid bin and stuck a tacky little sticky bow on top of it. I think Papa D (my father-in-law) was kind of confused when we first gave it to him, but when all the kids went to sleep and we were able to go outside and play it, he LOVED it. Check out how there's only one block left on the bottom row in this game we played. Hold your breath!

Put on your ears, It's time for CHEERS!

We had Laney's birthday party this Saturday at the kid's area of the Grace Museum. It was Mickey & Minnie themed (we watch a lot of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse around here) and turned out so great! Since big girl is growing up and actually has friends to invite to a party, it's no longer an adult occassion. I'll admit, it was a little weird that I didn't invite all my friends from out of town. Things are a-changing.

But we had a great turn-out and it was a blast to see Laney interact with all her friends! She. had. so. much. fun. This party has been a long time coming for her. Since her birthday is so close to Halloween, we always run into the question of when to have her party. I didn't get my act together to plan it for the weekend before Halloween, so we did it the weekend after. So, she's been looking forward to this party for seriously like 3 weeks, now, which to a 3-year-old seems like a thousand years!

It's so hard for little ones to understand this birthday party stuff, especially when it's a party for somebody else. Before each party we attend, I have a nightmare of Laney bursting into tears when she can't blow out the candles and uncontrollably ripping open all of some other kid's presents while I stand in the corner dying of embarrassment. So, I always ask her the same questions when we're in the car on the way there: Whose party is this? {She answers} Who are we going to sing happy birthday to? {She answers} Who gets to open all the presents? {She answers}

On the way to her party that day, though, she got so excited and said, "Mommy! Today I'm gonna blow out the candles and I'm gonna open all the presents and everybody is gonna sing happy birthday to ME!" So precious!

We had tons of decorations and balloons and, of course, homemade Mickey & Minnie ears for everybody! {A big thanks to Grandmama for taking some long shifts with that glue gun.}

 Also, I've always wanted to make a birthday cake, so against my better judgement, I stayed up until 2 AM making one. I'm so glad I finally did it, but can't say I'll be opening a bakery anytime soon.

Just like anything that involves 3-year-olds, it was chaos. Wonderful, wonderful chaos. I'll miss this chaos dearly when it passes. (Check out the dad in the back wearing Mickey ears. Yesss.)

 And THE best friend, MyLeigh, got to come play! We don't see her much anymore because she goes to Laney's old school. So, anytime they see each other, they're attached at the hip!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LANEY LOU! I'm so so proud of you for how you've handled all that's been thrown at you in your 3 short years of life. You're the most wonderful daughter, the most loving big sister, and the smartest little girl in the world! YOU ARE LOVED MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!

Handmade Halloween

I love Halloween. Cute costumes, trick-or-treating, and the overall beginning of "the holidays." Every other time of year, I end up talking myself out of gimmicky outfits and costume pictures of the kids. For Halloween, though, we go all out! I feel like it's such a fun part of being little.

This year, my crew is going as Sesame Street characters. I decided on this because of a special request from a special little girl to be Abby Cadabby. For now, at least, I can default the boys to whatever matches Laney's costume. I'm doing this while I can, because I know before too long they'll insist on being a cheerleader, a ninja turtle, and a zombie. Or some other similar combination that doesn't coordinate at all. And I guess I'll have to let them. Sigh.

But back to now. I'm so excited about this little Halloween trio! And since I have this new love for crochet, I decided to make some Elmo and Cookie Monster hats using this pattern. They were way cheap to make. {It shouldn't be hard for you to guess which little chunky monkey is going to be Cookie Monster!} I planned on making the Abby Cadabby one, too, but chickened out last minute and ordered it from the lady who sells the patterns. It looked too difficult for my beginner skills. After seeing it in real life, though, I should have gone for it. Oh, and I also made a tutu for the Abby costume. It's the first tutu I've ever made, but it was SO EASY and fun to make.

I'm completely anticipating that the kids will not cooperate or sit still for a picture once they're all dressed up, so I'm just going to show you the hats beforehand. On some footballs. Because they can't run away.

SIDE NOTE:

Our church asked us to seriously consider whether or not our families should participate in this holiday considering its roots in the occult (in a flyer, not like personally contacted our specific family haha). And I completely understand where the church leadership is coming from on this. I absolutely believe in satan and demons and spiritual warfare. I can really see both sides of this issue. It's certainly something I'll think about and pray about as our kids get older!

Olliblocks

I haven't been doing much crafting lately (just waiting for that craft urge to strike again). I did make some animal Olliblocks the other day, though, and Laney loves them. You just match and stack the faces of the blocks to make little animals and people. I never thought she would go so crazy over something so small. I really only made them because I saw them on Pinterest and thought they would be fun for me to make, but when I gave them to her, she freaked. She now spends a lot of the day hiding them from her brothers (who aren't even trying to get them...ha).

They were super easy, quick, and cheap to make. And they have to be educational in some way, right? You just print them, cut them, and paste them. I'm planning on buying the other two files and making some girl and boy ones for Laney to give her class for Christmas. I hope they love them as much as Bug does!

Crazy for Crochet

I don't do change well. I never have. And we're about to be shifting into a different kind of schedule starting next week. Laney is starting her new preschool on Tuesday and the boys are starting Mother's Day Out at our church the next week. Then, Laney is starting ballet the next week (I. Am. So. Excited). I know these changes seem pretty little and silly to be nervouse about, but I am. My "babies" are all so little still and throwing a new thing at them just kind of rocks their worlds. I worry about dropping them off at these new places for the first time and I worry that they will feel scared and feel like I'm abandoning them. I KNOW that by the second week of this new schedule, they'll all be totally fine and loving life, but I'm still just anxious about it all. I guess it's just part of mama-hood.

I've always been a busy bee and need something to be "doing" at all times, especially when I'm nervous about something. I guess I just need something to take my mind off the uneasiness. This time around, I decided to try to learn to crochet, and can I just tell you, I'm going crochet cRaZy. I can't stop. I don't know very many stitches yet, but have been spending a lot of time watching 80-year-old ladies on YouTube and I think I'm getting the general hang of it. The thing that amazes me the most is that these old ladies can not only work computers, but know how to post videos to YouTube! Go girls! I'm certain I have already technologically peaked and am on a steady decline at age 25. And who am I kidding? I probably couldn't figure out how to post on YouTube NOW. So, go Grannies go!

At first, I just worked on a bunch of little scrap pieces practicing different crochet stitches (like single, double, and half double). I finally finished my actual first "project" two days ago! And it didn't take very long at all! Perfect project for this fickle crafter.

It's a cowl. Which is funny because I seriously always thought shirts had "cow" necks until I read the word in this pattern and had a little epiphany that they're called COWL neck shirts. Mind. Blown. I mean, it makes sense, now. Nothing about it looks like a cow. I really am the dumbest smart person ever. Ha.

Casserole Carrier

I've been getting that craft itch again, lately. I do this often. I won't do a single crafty thing for months on end, then all of a sudden, BAM. Hobby Lobby every day. Glue guns plugged in everywhere. Sewing machine living on the kitchen table. I think this most recent craft spree was brought on by watch Tori Spelling's new show Craft Wars.

Marshall loves it. Ha. Hahaha.

He's been really great about letting me go craft crazy 24/7, though. I think he's just learned that if he can weather the storm of scrapbook paper and ribbons for a few days, I'll get sick of it and then he'll be able to eat dinner, once again, on a table that Michael's craft store didn't just throw up all over. He really is a trooper.

I digress. The point of all this is...I want to be good at sewing so badly. I've never had a formal sewing lesson. I didn't even take home-ec in high school. The few solid skills I do know I managed to pick up from my mom and I've just been able teach myself the rest by trial and error. And by "the rest," I mean just enough to get me through a sewing project. My seams aren't ever straight and I usually have to curse my machine a few thousand times before finishing my work, but I'm getting there. Each time I have fewer fights with my bobbin.

My most recent project was a casserole dish carrier. I originally saw the idea on TAYLORMADE. But she used the tutorial from 2 Little Hooligans. With a few tweaks from Homemade by Jill. So I just shamelessly copied all of the those crafty ladies and came up with this! I'm so happy with how it turned out! I mean, for me, any sewing project that doesn't end up in the garbage is a success. I got the fabric from Hobby Lobby and plan to make a pillow or something out of the left overs. We'll see if that ever actually happens. As for this casserole carrier, I think it might be my Christmas present to my MIL. It looks like something she would like. Plus, there are some killer casseroles she makes that can be carried around in that thing!

Brand New Names on Tiny Clothes

Here are the twins' names!

Parker Allen Morris & Brooks Patrick Morris

We've been debating over these names since we found out we were pregnant again. And the epic war dispute has finally been settled! We really liked both of these names all along, but there was another one in the mix there for a while that was making us question our decision. I would decide on two of the three names, then Marsh would like the other one, then vice-a-versa....you get the idea. Once the first names were settled, though, the middle names were pretty easy to pick. We were set on using Allen because it is Marshall's middle name and also his great-grandfather's middle name. We then thought it would be random if we didn't give Brooks a family name as well, so we chose Patrick. It's my Granddad's name and it also just sounds really good with Brooks.

I was so excited to have the names picked out that I went ahead and made them some little name onesies! They were really easy to make, so I want to show you how I did them. I used the same freezer paper technique that I did last year when I made Marshall's Father's Day t-shirt. I'm definitely not the first to use this method (I'm always copying projects), so you can probably search for other examples online, too. Here are the steps:

1. I started out with some white, cotton onesies. Are these not the smallest things you've ever seen?! And they aren't even "preemie-sized." After my 8-plus-pound Laney, these boys are sure to seem so tiny to me! Anyways, I washed and dried them (in Dreft) before I started.

2. Gather all the other materials you need. They include freezer paper, scissors, fabric paint, paintbrush, cardboard, an iron, and a craft razor & cutting mat. On these onesies, I actually used screen printing ink ($4 / bottle) but the first time I did this I just used fabric paint and it worked fine.

3. Trace your chosen letters or image onto the non-shiny side of the freezer paper. Use the razor and mat to carefully cut out the images. Make sure to keep the centers of the letters to iron on as well. If you don't do this, you won't have holes in your letters like P, A and E. (This step is where I used my Silhouette machine instead of tracing and cutting. It was so nice because it cuts so fast and perfectly!)

4. Place the freezer paper shiny-side-down on your clothing and iron it on! Don't forget to iron on the centers of the letters, too. My centers were so tiny that I used some tweezers to help place them.

5. Cut a piece of cardboard that you can place between the layers of the shirt/onesie so that when you paint it doesn't bleed through to the back.

6. Finally, paint several coats of fabric paint over the freezer paper and onto the shirt. Let it dry completely before pulling off the freezer paper. Then you're finished!

Happy Heart Day

Happy Valentine's Day.

I know a lot of people boycott Valentine's Day because it's a "Hallmark" holiday, but if it's an excuse to dedicate a whole day to saying "I love you" to those people in my life that just don't hear it from me enough and to teach Laney about the importance of love, I'll take it. Little kid Valentine's days are the absolute sweetest thing ever. It's breathtaking to experience the innocent and honest love that only a child can portray. I look forward to the next ten to twelve years full of precious, child-like V-days! (Then we'll arm and prepare ourselves for the junior high / high school V-days that may carry a few more tears with them. Ha.)

We started off the day getting Miss Bug ready for her party at school. I got a little carried away with the planning and outfit picking. Honestly, I kind of went into guilty mom mode because I don't even remember if Laney had a Christmas party at school, which means I definitely didn't make anything to take to it or dress her up cute for it. At that time, I was doing good to scrape my morning-sick bottom off the bathroom floor and make it to work on time. So, I guess I tried to make Valentine's day extra special to make up for my lack-luster holiday season. Here was the first outfit we put on this morning:

....but it ended up being too big, so we changed into this:

I had made some Valentine bags this past weekend for Laney to give her friends as school. It was my first project using my new Silhouette cutting machine! I cut all the paper using the machine, then I glued all the pieces on the fronts of the bags. I ended up filling the bags with random stuff like heart-shaped bubbles and stickers since there's not much candy this crowd of one-year-olds is allowed to have. I also made all the girls in the class little flower ribbon clips for spring using some of the massive amounts of felt I have left over from making the felt playhouse and clipped them onto their gift bags:

And lastly I'll leave you with some random pictures of Laney. I feel like I haven't done a great job of taking pictures of her lately with everything going on (again with the bad mom guilt!). I assure you, though, that she is quite the center of our world just as she has always been. I just can't believe she's getting so old already. She's just growing up. It's really happening. She looks like a little girl in these pictures!

Playing with neighbor, Noah:

"Helping" unload groceries:

We're also so excited because our big appointment with the maternal medicine specialist is TOMORROW!! I'll be posting tomorrow to let you all know for sure if Laney is expecting little sisters or brothers. :)