because i love to craft.

ok, so at the risk of sounding really cheesy, i'm going to try out a new series? segment? i 'm really not sure what to call it, but awhile ago my bff suggested i do something like this & so i'm taking her advice. she and i had a craft weekend a couple of months ago & naturally, as i'm sure is true for the vast majority of the crafting world, our projects were pinterest-inspired.  she thought since i have this wonderful little blog here that i should feature some of the projects that i complete {since lately projects are on my almost daily to-do list}.  maybe it will provide some "pinspiration" {yeah, i really did just say that} for you to complete that project that's been taking up space on your "DIY/craft/someday i'll get to it board".  

so here's where the cheesy part comes in: i came up with a name for this little venture. are you ready for this? 

it's kind of like a stamp of approval.

i'd love to show you something "pintastic" than land here.
oh my! have you seen these? hilarious!!

i have a few projects waiting in the wings, but since valentine's day is closing in on us, i thought i would kick off this post with a valentine's day project. 

i feel like these days you can make just about anything with a toilet paper roll, and with the amount of toilet paper we use in this house, i thought a project that would allow me to put some of those rolls to use might be good! 

i saw this project here and here. 

here's my version.

 if you know me, you know that i strongly, strongly dislike the color pink.

you might be thinking it must make picking things out for valentine's day really hard,

 however, i'm really good at it by now!

i'm really digging the red/robin's egg combo, so that's what i chose for this year.

 now, i'll be honest, i didn't read any tutorials before doing this, just looked at the pics.

{i totally missed the part where michelle suggests taping the tube and think this would have been a really good idea!}

i had some blank cards already that i had gotten at a.c. moore several years ago.
of course, cardstock would totally work too.

i didn't have a plan for my stamping, i just went with it.

 i personally liked that the hearts were imperfect. 

after the blue dried, i added some red. 

here's another design.

and another.

i'll be working on a few more, and maybe, maybe i'll let eli do one too. we'll see. the last time we tried painting, he just wanted to touch the wet paint & i had to force him to put the paintbrush on the paper.

*sigh*

someday we will paint together. 

anyway, i'd love to check out your "pintastic" projects.

what are you working on?

can i please freeze time?

sometimes i really wish that God had given us the ability to freeze time for just a minute or two to be able to imbed into our memories certain moments that we just don't want to ever forget.  i know, there are these wonderful contraptions called cameras that do just that.  but you know what i mean, right? sometimes a picture 5 years just doesn't do that moment justice.

it kind of reminds me of the movie "georgetown". did you ever see it? {if not, check it out, good movie!} where kirsten dunst's character is always taking her mental pictures? she holds her hands up as if she's holding a camera and "clicks".

anyway.....

as a new{ish} mom, i'm finding myself wishing for this ability more & more.  there are so many times i want to just stop & freeze eli.  i am just amazed day in and day out at this little boy. it is so much more amazing than i ever could have imagined to watch your child grow & develop. to experience life in new & exciting ways, all through the eyes of a child.  i mean, i find myself getting excited at the sight of a firetruck when i'm all alone because i know this is something that eli would find super exciting!  #momofaboy right??? 

the other day was a day i would've liked to freeze time, and it wasn't for any special reason. it was just one of those times. so i did the next best thing & captured some moments with the camera.

so thankful to be this boy's mama.

high five for friday

hey! it's friday! 

that means it's time to link up with lauren over at from my grey desk who is saluting friday with her

high five for friday link up. we are taking a look at our five favorite things this week.

check it out!

1. date night ~ friends, i'll be honest, i seriously cannot remember the last time we went out on a date. i mean, that's not saying much because you know i can't remember what i ate for dinner 4 days ago, but it was WAY OVERDUE!!!!! we had some gift cards so we had dinner at the OG and of course, had to have dessert at sweet frog. of course!  we also went to target. yep, we are classy people.  when we were dating, we used to play this game where we would buy each other little gifts at random times at whatever store we happened to be in.  so we played last night & one of my gifts was that very special rose :) mister thought he was playing it smart because it's "reusable".  hmmm...will that really work?

2. devotions ~ i started a new reading plan with she reads truth this week. i can't tell you enough how much i enjoy this!
3.  dance party ~ here are 2 little facts about me: i love music & i love dancing. when i was younger & would dream about my future life, i would always dream about the dance parties that my kids & i would have! as a kid, on saturday nights, i remember listening to my dad's records & dancing.  lots of CCR, fleetwood mac & rolling stones.  i cherish those memories & i so want my kids to have the same kind of memories.  the other day we had an impromptu dance party that seriously made my cup overflow.  michael franti's "the sound of sunshine" came on & i just started dancing around. eli came over & i grabbed his hand & he started jumping & dancing.  we were both laughing & having the most joyous, carefree moment.  i WILL NOT forget this moment!
4. packages ~ i was crafting like crazy this week & made a couple gifts to send to eli's future wife.
5. breakfast ~ next to ice cream, breakfast is my favorite. we eat breakfast for dinner probably once a week & for years my mom & i have met for breakfast a couple times a month. this week we (my parents, eli & i) hit up the hershey pantry. if you know my dad, you know that driving an hour to get a meal is no big deal. usually it's some restaurant he's read about in a magazine. omgoodness, so much food & so good!

it has started snowing here & i'm in need of a hot drink. definitely hot chocolate.
but before i do that, i'm leaving you with this because you'll definitely want to do yourself the favor & have a listen. if this doesn't make you want to dance, well, then there's just something wrong with you & you'll want to get that checked out. soon.

hope you'll stop in again soon.
stay warm & have a great weekend!!

insta{week}

have you ever had a case of the mondays?
monday morning comes & you just want to snuggle back under the covers & drift back into that crazy dream you were just having & maybe just skip right to tuesday?
your friend texts you to go to the gym and you just pretend you never saw it?
you definitely stay in your pjs or sweats all day?

so, i'm not the only one?

ok, well this week i had a serious case of the mondays. 

SERIOUS.CASE.

it lasted until thursday. 

nothing got done, i ate so many things i shouldn't have & overall, i felt like a giant ball of blah. 

don't you just hate when that happens??

with my case of the mondays gone i managed to get some stuff done & we ended up having a pretty good week!
check it out!

 1. in serious need of a kick in the pants

2. a catnap in the car

3. a catnap on my leg

4. another CM workshop with my love

5. saturday morning snuggles

6. snuggles resulting in a mid-morning snooze

 1. i just can't handle the cuteness

2. new storage for the blocks

3. good sunday morning

4. birthday celebration for my parents

we also celebrated our nephew's birthday this weekend & eli had a blast! 

even though i already featured this picture on friday, i just loved this moment so much that it had to be the pic of the week.

here's to a better, more productive week!

high five for friday {link up}

This morning I was checking out my blogroll as I do most mornings & read Holly's post for today and was inspired to join in the linky fun.
Picking favorites is really hard for me, so I'm really happy to have 5 choices! 

 welcome to my edition of 

1. Family time ~ It seems that some of the best family time we've been having lately is spent on the kitchen floor {which if you've seen our kitchen floor, you'd probably totally judge me}. We play a lot of ball with Eli in the kitchen & now he requests that we sit on the floor by either taking our hands & tugging on them or by slapping the floor.  It's become a "thing" for us & I really like it dog hair, crumbs & all.
2. Truck book ~ Of course, Eli will always be in my list of favorites, but this week it's been his enthusiasm over trucks. His vocabulary at this point consists of 2 words: ball & truck. "Truck" sounds more like "buck", but there is a distinction from ball. {yeah, makes this momma's heart so happy that "mama" is not on that list} But to see his little face light up at the sight or sound of a truck melts my heart every time. So, when I saw this truck book, I just had to buy it. We now read it about 12 times a day.
3. Headbands ~ I've been crafting a lot lately & these have been one of my projects. I'm really considering selling them.  What do you think? Would you wear one? Buy one for a friend? A daughter? A sister?
4. Redecorating ~ I am slowly, s l o w l y trying to get our living room complete. As soon as I took down the Christmas stuff, I got out these owl friends to be my inspiration to get a move on.  This week I've been doing some planning {even if it is only in my head} & I'm ready to start completing projects to hang on the walls.
5. Alias ~ Now, this may seem quite random & really quite outdated, but this has been a favorite lately! Since we cancelled our cable almost a year ago, we find old series that we can watch together.  Recently the ones we've chosen have been so short & it really stinks when you get so into a show & then BAM! It's over. Thankfully, Alias has about 5 seasons.  On a side note, since starting Alias, I have literally had a spy dream every night that we have watched it.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

you need to try this.

If you like dessert, then this post is just for you.
I found a sweet little gem in this single serve chocolate chip cookie the other night on Pinterest.
I didn't bother going through the process because Sophie does a pretty job of showing you! 
Sometimes almost everyday I want to eat dessert.
I don't because I like to be able to button my pants, but oh how I wish I was one of those people who could eat dessert whenever they wanted!
Last week though, I wanted dessert & I indulged myself with this little treat.
I mean, it's perfect.
It takes a few minutes to throw together, a minute in the microwave & VOILA!
Dessert is served!
 I wrote to my BFF & told her she needed to make this.

'Yes', I wrote, 'NEED'.
And I think you need to too. 

{I think it would be really good with a scoop of ice cream on top, just sayin'}

insta{week}

So remember when I said I was feeling better & ready to tackle it all?

Yeah, I probably didn't say exactly that, but I really did think I was better. 

I was wrong.

This week I developed a sinus infection.

And talk about pain! It felt like my head was being crushed in a vice, and the only way to relieve the pain was to counter the pressure with more pressure.

Problem is, it's not really conducive to getting a whole lot done when you're walking around with your palms squeezing your face in. 

So I broke down & went to the doctor. 

I think I am on the mend now. 

{fingers crossed, prayers said}

Good news is Eli is definitely better & Mike is still healthy!

And now....

1. Goodbye, Christmas. Sad to be putting all this away, but ready to redecorate!

2. Eli's new crockpot recipe.

3. New earrings from hubby. You can find them here.

4. Downward dog baby style.

5. Single serving cookie in a cup. Will be posting a recipe this week!

6. Sweetness is my baby's foot always touching me while we eat.

7. Sweetness is also baby butt cracks.

8.  A "kind of" date with the hubs to a Children's Ministry workshop.

9.  Finally getting around to reading this & excited about what God will teach me through it.

Saturday night was one of those nights when we just had to get out of the house.

You know those times?

When kiddo wakes up early from a nap, eats dinner in 5 minutes & we still have 3 hours until bedtime. 

Those times.

So I took my little man on a date. He insisted we go to Sweet Frog. 

He can be very convincing.

So we get our yogurt, get up to the register to pay & omgoodness, my wallet is not in my purse!

I realized in that moment that I left my wallet sit on the counter at Hallmark where we had just been to buy some cards.

Ugh! 

Thankfully they had turned it into the mall office & all was safe. 

And we could go back to enjoy our yogurt date. 

Of the many, many things I love about this boy, one is that he loves music & dancing. 

We often have music on, just playing as the soundtrack to our everyday.

And many times, we just dance. 

And it's one of my favorite things. 

To end this post, I'll leave you with this thought.

Isn't it the truth?

Here's how not to start out a New Year.

I definitely had different plans for my first post of 2013, but it just didn't happen the way I thought.
I started a post a few days ago & have yet to finish it. 
I wanted to be reflective & introspective & look to the new year with hope for growth & expectations of challenges.
However, it's really hard to do all those things when your head is filled with gunk.
and by gunk I mean snot & lots of it.

Yep, like so many others, I rang in the New Year with a cup of tea & a box of Kleenex.

Way to be original, right?
As Eli was starting to feel better, I began feeling worse.
Perfect timing.
 Thankfully, the worst of my sickness only lasted about 2 days & my energy returned rather quickly.
I feel like this was one of those "epitome of being a mom" moments.
When you get sick at the same time as your baby.
And big props to my hubs who was there to help out & WHO DIDN'T GET SICK.
Folks, this is a true miracle!
My husband who just has to look at someone who is sick & gets sick, did not get sick.
We prayed & prayed & prayed he wouldn't.
And thank you, Jesus, he didn't!

 Just in case you were wondering, I finished off this entire box of Kleenex all by myself.
In 3 days.
A lot of snot!

 Finally after a whole week of being stuck in the house, we had the opportunity to get dressed & get out.

Even if it was only to go 4 blocks around the corner to my mom & dad's, it still felt good to get out.

Can I just tell you that my dad is one of the funniest people I know?
He just has this way about him that is totally unintentionally funny.
He mispronounces words all the time.
He is going deaf.
And he just marches to the beat of his own drum.
 Here is his bowl of choice for dinner.
An ice cream bucket.
When I commented on his "fine china" he replied,
"As long as it tastes good, who cares?"
True enough.

Being cooped up in the house for a week with a 16 month old causes some craziness to set in.
Playing with cars for a week straight in the house causes some craziness to set in.

We headed out to the library to get a change of scenery, which turned out to only make me slightly irritated.
Need people be reminded that the library is not a daycare center nor a place in which they can chat on Facebook while their children run rampant through the aisles?
That day, they certainly needed the reminder.

We also went to work with Daddy over the weekend.
I believe Daddy's high hopes of enjoying a basketball game with his little buddy will be put on hold for a few years, as you see here that running the halls was much more entertaining.
{But to see him running around & laughing & enjoying himself, nonetheless, was a very welcome sight!}

We ended our weekend celebrating the 1st birthday of our niece.
Eli got a hold of theses balloons & gave us reason #57 he doesn't need toys.
He was having so much fun batting them around, they got tangled all around him & he just couldn't get enough of them. 
We brought one of these balloons home & it has become part of our daily activities. 
{yeah, I now what some of you are thinking, but one of them is pink. no, it did not make me happy.}

So now that my head is FINALLY starting to clear up, I will revisit my New Year's post & share my thoughts on beginning a new year.
Though, I'm not gonna lie, it could take me a few more days.
I'm still processing my thoughts on this new year.
I've been doing this new study with She Reads Truth that has really been helping me with the whole thought process.
I'm really excited about it.

So until then, hope you find yourselves healthy & excited about what this new year has to offer you!