Book shelves

Bee needed a space for all of his books so we bought some ikea spice racks and turned them into shelves. They are going to be perfect. I love them especially because the front of the books will be displayed so Bee can pick the book he wants.

Can't wait to get them up onto the wall in his room! That is once we put his room back together again......

Height Chart

Jason made me the most wonderful present ever! I am so excited and can't wait to use it.

He printed off a measuring tape and modge podged it onto seven feet of canvas. He is the link on how to make your own.

I can either attach a dowel or grommets on the top and hang it onto the wall. 

We are not planning on staying in our current home so this way I can take these precious measurements wherever we go.

Christmas 2013

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Bee couldn't decide what was going on. He just watched Santa for a couple minutes, what an observer.

The LDS church puts on a live nativity annually, it is a wonderful way to celebrate the birth of Christ. I have attended most of my life and am glad that I can carry on this tradition with my own family.

That is the biggest sheep I have ever seen!

Christmas Eve/Morning Celebrations

I hope you were able to spend quality time with your family and loved ones. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

12 months

Is it true? Do I really have a one year old? Time sure does fly. 

Bee is absolutely wonderful. We have been blest with an amazing son. He is learning so quickly and we are so proud of him.

He is quite a helper already. He likes to put things in boxes so he often picks up his toys. I have to help him when there is a ton out but if its only 5 toys he will do it himself. I often find things, that were left out, in his bins or boxes around the house. 

The other day I told him his pyjamas needed to go in the laundry basket. He stood up and walked down the hall. He didn't quite make it to the laundry. He threw them downstairs but its a start. At least he was headed in the right direction. He also loves to load the laundry machine by himself!! He does not like any help which is fine by me. I hope that this sticks and that he will want to help around the house. Cross your fingers for me!

Bee has 5 teeth now. 1 more should be coming through in the next week. 

He loves FOOD!! His current favourites are frozen yogurt dots, mandarin oranges and puffed wheat. He stuffs his face right full.

He doesn't use a lot if words but he knows what lots of them mean. He is really good at listening and responding. Especially when I ask him if he wants me to read him a story. He will run off and get a handful of his favourite books.

He is so talented that he only uses one hand to hold his bottle. 

He also got his first haircut

Ice Cream Sundae Box

Who doesn't love ice cream? This is a fabulous gift. Seriously, I would love to receive this present. I should have made one for me too!

I purchased my favorite toppings, put them into little bags and displayed them in a big ole box. Waffle cups, a must! Sprinkles in star shapes and a scoop that fits sprinkles in the handle. After some chocolate or carmel sauce do you really need anything else? I think not. 

Want to get a bit more fancy? You could make some adorable bag toppers with printables or just some scrapbook paper. 

I am impressed with my wrapping job on this box.... It opens without ripping the paper so it will stay pretty. Let's be honest here when I girl breaks out a lot of ice cream she needs to look at something pretty or she's having a party and it's instant fancy. Best of both worlds!!!

Year of Dates

I wasn't sure what to make Jason this year. He is tricky.

Eventually, and quite last minute, I decided to make him 12 pre-planned dates. 

I got a lot of my ideas from the Dating Divas. Love them! Tons of ideas to help with dating ideas. I will add the links for the dates ideas that I used. Some of the ideas came from our own traditions, values, location and goals. 

January - Ice, Ice Baby

February - Couple Q & A

March - Get In My Belly

April - Outta the Park

May - Wild About You

June - The Newlywed Game

July - Timeless Love

August - Star Light, Star Bright

October - Aaargh, Matey

November - Baby, It's Cold Outside

December - Holiday Bucket List

If this goes well I might do this every year for us. We normally just go with the usual dinner and a movie but we need to spice things up every now and then.

Mario glasses

I hand painted some glasses into pirañas from the video game Mario.

The first layer you paint will be the one seen from inside the glass so try and make it nice and smooth. I first painted the red then added the white outline and spots. Green completes the stem.

Once you are satisfied with the painting let it dry over night and bake the glasses. Put the glasses on a cookie tray in a cold oven. Turn on the oven to 350* and set the timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes turn off the oven and let the glasses bake for 10 minutes.

Whala, beautiful glasses.

Hand wash and you won't have to worry about the paint fading. 

I threw them (gently placed them) in a gift bag with some sparkling apple cider. Done!

Enjoy!

Grandpa's Raceway

I was trying to think of something to make for the Grandpa's that they would actually enjoy. I found this shirt raceway on Pinterest. Every boy loves cars. Grandpa's love back rubs. Right? Perfect idea.

I liked the idea that I found here but it just wasn't exactly what I was looking for. 

I ended up sketching my own raceway. 

Once I had the basic idea then I drew it onto poster board. First I cut the board to the size that would fit inside the shirt. I then traced the pattern with permanent marker so that I could see it through the shirt. 

Slide the poster board in between the layers of the shirt then trace with fabric paint. I used fabric markers. 

Once you have the track on your shirt you can spruce it up. I went with a raceway theme but you could also try a residential theme. Add a school, stop signs, fire station, houses, parks, etc. 

It was a fun project. I hope that the Grandpa's love it and get lots of back rubs. 

We even found a Delorian car to compliment our gift

Bleach shirts

Jason made bleach shirts for some of the brothers. You could do any pattern you would like. We went we with a twist on the classic ying yang. We printed out the image on paper then cut it out with fancy crafters blade (similar to an exacto knife). Place the image where you want it then spray over top with a 1/2 bleach 1/2 water mix. Taaa daaa! Shirt complete. Throw it through the laundry, separate so the bleach doesn't get on any of your other clothes.

Lock Board

We are striving to have educational toys in our home. Not just toys where you push and button and the toy dances. Toys that allow Bee to use his mind and develop skills. 

We painted it to match Bee's Home Depot tool kit. We bought a bunch of latches and various interesting things. Bee can do some of them but not quite then all yet which is perfect. He can grow into it as time goes by.

We left a space on top to add a title later on. We are also going to put some doors or the front so Bee can practice opening and closing.

Add whatever you like just make sure you have a deep enough board so nails and screws don't poke out the back. 

Shadow Boxes

The ladies all got shadow boxes filled with Christmas decor. Super easy project. Christmas paper, decor of choice and sayings on vinyl, painted on or stickers. That's it, that's all.

Here is the link where my inspiration came from.

I really love how perfectly the snowflakes fit with the gingerbread house. 

Homemade Christmas

This year my family decided to have a homemade Christmas!!! How fun!

In all seriousness it is a lot of fun but also a lot more work. Thankfully Pinterest exists to help me pick projects. 

I am so excited to share all of my recent projects but they have to wait until after Christmas. I have to keep things a surprise. There is only a week until Christmas so at least you don't have to wait long. 

Here is a list of our projects. 

Grandpa Raceway

Shadow Boxes

Bleach Shirts

Ice Cream Sundae Kit

Lock Board

Height Chart

Book Cases

Mario Glasses

Year of Dates

* I updated this post with the links to all of our Christmas projects! Hope you find some that you love. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Bee's Closet Makeover

Something most people don't know about me is that I HATE dressers. I'm not entirely sure why but we are not friends. I think it may have something to do with the fact that dressers collect all the things that don't necessarily have a home. Drives me crazy!

Our solution was to customize our closets to fit our needs. I am so excited to get rid of our dressers. 

Bee's closet is first up since his room was previously "finished."

Birthday Partaaaay

Happy Birthday Bee!

Here is our birthday celebration! We had a lot of family come over even though it was -40 outside..... Brrr. Alberta won coldest place in the world on Saturday. Eek!

Jason's mom always hangs a special picture of the birthday boy/girl so we decided to keep this tradition up with Bee's newborn picture.

Birthday balloon fun

Birthday cake. Jason decorated most of them, he did such a great job. I did the number 1. It was tricky because the sprinkles didn't want to stick to the icing but I managed to figure it out.

Oh my! That's a lot of cake. Where shall I start?

I don't know what we did or how we did it but he is quite a polite little boy. I expected cake to be everywhere and the cake to be destroyed from him picking at it. Oh no, not our little guy. He ate his cake very calmly and stayed in one area. We had half a cake practically untouched. 

This is my favorite. He loved seeing himself in the mirror. He just giggled at himself. I think I will frame it!

Look at all the new toys he got! He was sure spoiled and had a blast discovering everything after the party ended. Thanks everyone for the thoughtful gifts!