Valentine's Day Recap

So we went to Austin for the weekend for Kyle and Kristi's wedding. Matt was the best man. Side note: for those at our wedding, Kyle was Matt's best man. I'd like to show you a picture of the lovely bride and groom but my camera didn't cooperate! Dang nab it! Here is a picture of the 3 of us. Isn't the gazebo and roses wonderful? It was an outdoor wedding and this was center stage. It was very beautiful.

Earlier that week we were in Dallas. Here's a couple more pictures.

Syd spent one afternoon in a crepe myrtle tree. Matt would be proud!

Apologies for the 2 Week Hiatus

Wow! Two weeks, huh?! Where does the time go? I swear. Anyway, Syd and I were traveling for a week during that time. We went to Dallas and Austin for some quick visits and a wedding. I'll have more pictures later. For now, I will leave you with a picture of Sydney and Karalyn. Literally, two peas in a pod. I can't even tell how much fun they had together!

Hi.

I really don't have much to say today. I guess I'd thought I just drop by to say "Hi" and share a few new pics. Not a lot going on over here. I have so many craft projects going on, my head is a spinning! I've been trying to get everything done, I haven't even been napping! Now that's serious stuff! haha. : )

Here's one project I crossed off my list. Yes, I do have a list. Lauren - you understand right?! : ) My list has about 20 projects on it (I've done 3) and it's always growing. It just feels so good to cross an accomplishment off and it's motivation to keep going. It's funny how my head works. I also have a daily list that I write down the night before of what I want to accomplish the next day. Now look at me - I just wrote "I really don't have much to say today" and now I'm rambling on about my quirks! haha. Okay, back to my project. I made Sydney a painting & cooking apron so hopefully I will have less stains to remove in the wash. Look at the silly smile.

I received a ruffler foot for my sewing machine for Christmas and I just had to use it! For the non-sewers, it automatically makes the pleats while you sew. This apron is from a pattern, but I'm too lazy to get up and find out what company and number it is! I'm sure all of you are dying to know anyway! (insert eyeroll) haha.

And now for the moment, we've all been waiting for:

My new batch of cupcakes! Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes - they are perfectly pink just in time for Valentine's Day! I do tend to bake a lot of cupcakes. I guess there could be worse things...

Random Thoughts Countdown

There's been a lot of things I've meant to blog about lately. I figured it would be easy to make one big random blog post to showcase them all!

8. When I went back to my Dad's for Christmas, I picked up all my dollhouses for Sydney. One is a smaller plastic Sylvanian Family house and the other is an unfinished wood house. I am so excited to finish it for Sydney. She plays with the plastic one everyday! That makes me happy. I use to play with the Sylvanian Families (now Calico Critters) all the time. I bought Syd this cat family (and babies) which she loves. I have been watching Ebay and Craigslist for more. Of course I have some families from when I use to play with them but I just can't let her play with them yet - they still have emotional value to me! haha. Crazy, I know. I really want to get her the squirrel family. I'll have to post more on the dollhouses with pictures!

7. We went to The Fresh Market today. It's alot like Central Market (for those of you in Texas) but smaller. They have a lot of gourmet foods. That means you buy 5 items for $50! haha. They were super friendly. An employee came up to Sydney and asked if she wanted a cookie - of course she said yes! She took Syd by the hand and went up to the bakery counter and gave her a cookie! That made our day. Then, I saw these gigantic cupcakes for $1.50 each! What a deal. We brought home 3 - no surprise there. The cake was good but the frosting was your typical grocery store frosting. Needless to say, I ate almost all of my cupcake and feel a little ill with all that sugar! I'll nap it off in just a minute. : )

6. This is one of my favorite new projects. I bought a vintage felt magazine awhile back and they had these felt bird cards in it. I re-thought the idea and made Syd some wall art. It's a great way to use up fabric scraps.

5. I've gotten back to my felt foods. I had (and still kinda have) a huge burn-out of making felt food since I had made so much for Nov & Dec. I did some new designs and have more I need to take pictures of so I can list them. I made brownies, petit fours, a small cake - that's just a few.

4. I can't for the Superbowl tomorrow! But the Steelers and the Cardinals?! Sheesh. I'm going to be routing for the Cardinals but have a feeling the Steelers are going to win.

3. Have you seen Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel? They also have the complete series on DVD. It's absolutely amazing and so fascinating! I'm glued to it whenever it's on. They have the most incredible videos of the most incredible creatures. I don't know how you can't believe in the Creator watching it. Just how everything is so complex and intricately woven together. Amazing, completely amazing! I think I might have to invest in the DVD series, I like it that much! : )

2. More Wall Art: Here's a frame that I made for above our fireplace. I saw it on Martha Stewart Crafts. Here's the link to the directions. Once you enlarge it to the size you would like, it's super easy and cheap. This frame is an 12"x16" frame with an approx 8"x10" opening. I like it because you can make it any color or size you would like.

1. I read the Twilight Series. I thoroughly enjoyed them and devoured each book in about a day. I remember hearing about all the crazed people screaming and passing out for the movie premiere. It always made me wonder what was so great about the books. Now I know, and as much as I liked them I would still never wait screaming for any premiere. I did make Matt take me to the movie though. It was okay - the book much better. So then it got me thinking, are there any movies that are better than the book? If you can think of any please comment, I've been scouring my brain and I just can't think of any.

Okay, I think that does it. I typed all this up real fast so hopefully there isn't too many typos. I really want to go take a nap - that was my motivation. The faster I get done, the more sleep I can get! : ) Have a good weekend and let me know about movies that are better than books. And - thanks for reading all about my ramblings. I appreciate it.

Guilty

On everyone else's blog I see snow days, freezing snow, and ice. Then, I feel guilty about living in Florida! We've had 2 really great days of weather - mild temperatures and sun. We've definitely become Floridans and are happy if we live the rest of our lives in Florida. The weather is definitely one reason to stay. Although, we will see what the government has to say about that! : )

Here we are at the "park" (our backyard). Yes, in our pjs. We've got some sort of yucky germ again. Thankfully, I believe the Zicam is working.

Pie Birds

My sister-in-law, Jen, just sent me this pie bird. I had never heard or seen one before. You put it in your pies and it lets the steam out (through it's beak) so your filling doesn't overflow. What a clever idea! I think they are quite cute. I love my little blue bird. You can purchase some here. And look at this most adorable cardinal! Hmmm...I see a collection starting. : )

Matt is definitely the pie eater in the family as you know I'm much more a cake (...cookie, brownie, and chocolate) eater. Matt's had a very long week at work so I decided to be a good wife and surprise him with a pie when he gets home from work. Good thing he can't read the blog at work so this post won't ruin the surprise.

Here's some pictures of the process. You just stick him right in the middle of your purchased pie crust! : )

Fill 'er up!

Then put the top pie crust on with the little beak sticking out!

Just don't call PETA on me. I did feel pretty bad putting the little bird into the hot oven!

Viola! So it may not be the prettiest pie ever but the bird definitely makes up for it!

I just love it! Thanks Jen.

Busy Bee

This makes me laugh. She's always so busy and loves to play with stuff animals - as you can see she has a wide variety. Her new thing is to take all the animals to the dining room and play with them in there. Even though, I think I've taken a similar picture before.

Once I brought out the camera, she had to be in the line up.

Our Weekend

We've been busy lately - I guess that why the lack of posts in 10 days! This weekend our great friends Ron & Crystal came to visit. We had a good time of eating, wii-ing, shopping, and just hanging out. Here we are on the beach:

Ta-dah! : )

Sydney really likes to sing into the microphone from Rock Band. She doesn't know "Roxanne" like her cousin, Ryan, but she does rock "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" really well. haha.

Crystal and I made some red velvet cupcakes (Sprinkles mix) with some new heart sprinkles on top. I guess we are getting ready for Valentine's Day that is just around the corner.

Hope everyone had a great weekend too.

Our Blond-Headed Snow White

These pictures are irresistibly cute! Here's her finished penguin from Build-A-Bear and her own Snow White dress. She had to have the red bow in her hair too. She very observant. Good thing she hasn't observed that Snow White has dark hair. : )

Christmas Vacation Part 5 - Savannah

Okay, so I lied about being done with our Christmas vacation. Just one more part.

At the moment, I'm watching the Colts & Chargers playing in overtime and I just can't take it! The playoffs is a love/hate relationship. I love the great games but I hate the anxiety it causes me! So I'm trying to distract myself... : )

On our way home from NC went spent the night in Savannah, GA. What a beautiful town. I totally thought of you, Chris. What I would have done to call you to find out all the good places to go! We did eat at a fantastic Thai restaurant for dinner. Anyway, here's just a few pictures of our short time there. I definitely want to go back.

Christmas Vacation Part 4 - Random Pictures

Again, our order of what we did: 1. Eat! My brother and I making my grandma's oh-so-delicious peanut squares.

2. Rock Band! Notice Matt's rockin' face! : )

3. Board Games! This is just one game we played throughout the whole trip. The girls caught on to Go Fish very quickly but needed just a little assistance.

Grandpa taking them down to the lake to feed the ducks.

Roxy the protector.

Me and Herman (the new cat). And I'm carefully keeping my distance as I am allergic to long haired animals. Nah, I actually did real well with the help of hand washing (after I held him) and Zyrtec.

Roxy and Dixie are 2 peas in a pod - mellow and laid back.

Nothin' like a good picture of yourself with antlers on!

Alright, all done with the Christmas pics. Hope everyone has a good one.

Christmas Vacation Part 3 - Opening Presents

Today is a few pictures of Christmas morning. Sydney was all about it. She was good at giving and receiving. : )

Sydney really likes to use the video camera.

Hmmm...I wonder what Matt got?!

Christmas Vacation Part 2 - Sydney's Christmas Pic

You know, I've been doing the "part" number thing and I don't even know how many parts there are going to be! : ) I feel like our pastor. He starts a series and never knows how many sermons there are going to be until he's finished. Ah well, I guess it makes it more fun that way. We can spread Christmas out even longer too. Anyway, here are my favorite pictures I took of Sydney in her Christmas outfit.

She's so sweet, isn't she?! : )