Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Ryder's nursery sneak peek.

Ryder is almost here and I put some of the finishing touches on his nursery this weekend. I made the pinwheels and put them on his wall with tacky clay and organized his room.

If you are interested in making these pinwheels they are super simple. I found a link here for the pinwheel tutorial online and bought the papers at Michael's for around $6.00. The whole project took about one hour. It added movement and fun colors to his little wall area above the crib.

I loved the result!

The below photo was my inspiration photo for the pinwheels. Love the wheels and the honeycomb design on the drawers.
Love these! 

Starting the project. I used a knife to make sure the folds were crisp. 



Flying pinwheels in orange, grey, and orange-polka dot



Ready for reading books with the girls and rocking Ryder to sleep.

Ryder's cute little cardigan from Aunt Becca on an Anthropologie hook. It was mistakenly marked $10,  instead of $30. 

My dad built this shelf and we used to have it in our room as kids.  

Love Pooh. 

The basket is from Target and was a gift from Mindy and Geoff. 

My mom got the changing sheet for us and I love it. It's orange-polka dot and from Etsy.

    Baby Wrap Sling Carrier-ORGANIC COTTON Baby Wrap/Sling Carrier-Spring Fling on Brown-DvD Included-Newborn to Toddler
    We got this baby wrap from Aunt Becca, Kelly and GG. Love. 

Memorial weekend!

41 weeks prego - never thought I would be pregnant over Memorial weekend. 


Fun mornings on the porch with daddy and a cup of coffee. Nice. 

Sophia and her little stuffed animals 

Our garden is planted! Tomatoes, peppers, carrots, watermelons, etc. 

Sophia makes me smile in this picture. She was so excited. We have strawberries and cucumbers behind Soph. 

Friday night Benny's with our friends the Coffeys and half of Vista :) . Reganomics were playing -- so fun!

Emory, Ava, Jackson and other kids dancing. 

Sweet dRebekah and Molly were jamming. :) 

Sophia and daddy. Sophia said she was a "little shy."

pizza and popcorn

Such a great night. 

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Pinwheels and pretzels

Ryder's nursery is coming together. I just need a couple more last minute touches to make it his.


I love the following ideas:
  • Take burlap and spray paint 1, 2, 3 on separate squares and then frame in white frames. My cousin Mindy makes these amazing woven baskets that are spray painted with these numbers, and I love the idea of the textured fabric. 
  • Maybe find cute rug. 
  • Finally get that fabric for my mom for Ryder's little blanket. 
  • Using orange or gray papers from Michael's, make these cute pinwheels from Tip Junkie. 
  • all crafts How To Make Pinwheels {9 darling ways}
    Use a inexpensive mirror and add some light to his room. 


    And while I am at it, maybe I will cook up a bunch of these drool-worthy pretzels with cheese from Two Peas & Their Pod. Amazing. 




Friday, May 25, 2012

Zoo day with Sista Rachel, Cadence and Caroline

Rachel and Sophia brushing a little goat. 
Little friends


Ava's one request - the petting zoo

Ava, Sophia and I 

Can I squeeze her? Really? Caroline, Rachel's twin, brushing a little goat. 

Ava and Sophia with their maps. They love to get zoo maps during our trip. 

Cadence and Ava picking out some brushes to groom the goats. 

Little Rachel, er Caroline, looking at a moose statue. 

Hugs!

My sister Rachel dislikes zoos. But she loves her kids, Cadence and Caroline. So she made a parenting sacrifice and joined us one day while they were here to go to the Cbus Zoo.

We had a great time and walked probably almost 3 miles (!) around the zoo. The girls loved the polar bears, bears and leaping monkeys. But they probably liked the dip and dots the best.

They also had a great time in the petting zoo (ugh:) ).

Wish Rachel and her little girls were here more often. We loved having them and Jessie here.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Grocery love

Grocery shopping 101
Here's a secret. I really love grocery shopping. I love making lists, shopping for fresh food and bringing home food. It kind've makes me really happy.

Over the years of purchasing food, I have found things that work for our family. I know certain families use different systems, including shopping in bulk, online, or using coupons. So whatever works for you is great -- go with it.

Here are some tips I have found work.

Also, we have four people in our family. The girls usually smash through our fruit and cereal.

1. Shop the perimeter of the store or shop in a square. Try to go down the middle aisles after you have your veggies, fruit, bread, dairy and meat. Usually, these are the filler things that make your bill go sky-high.



2. Always shop with a plan.
If I am somewhat organized I like to try to write a list and include the prices with the item. This is easy because I use the same store so I usually know the prices beforehand. The link included also lists some healthy budget items like bananas. I love their ideas.

Green salad. I like to make different "color" salads. Try grouping the ingredients on each side.  You can do red, green or yellow salads. I used kale, garbanzo beans, hard-boiled egg, and feta. 

Equal parts canola oil, olive oil, little mustard, salt, pepper, honey, lime juice and process in food processor.

3. Get to know nutrition and what foods are good for you. As I tried to lose baby weight after Sophia, I tried lots of different food systems. I would try low-fat, granola bars, pre-packaged meals, etc. I never really started to make progress until I changed things with our shopping.

1. Learn how to make things you would normally buy from scratch.
  • Learn the culinary basics of soups, cooking grains (oatmeal, rice, polenta), meat, pizza and pizza dough, smoothies, and make them yourself. 
  • This saves money. Your no longer purchasing pizza boxes, taco seasoning, or countless other seasonings packets. And it's a lot less sodium. I do purchase pizza sauce if it has a few ingredients. 
  • Grow your own herbs during summer! This can easily save you around $7-10 per week. 
2. Understand how your body processes food and try to keep eating every 2-3 hours.
How do you feel when you eat lots of sugar or something that has a ton of sodium?
  • Always pack a snack. You are more likely to go through a drive-through unless you pack a snack.  I do nuts, pretzels, trail mix, hard-boiled eggs with mustard, smoothies, etc. 
3. Utilize non-meat sources of protein. 
  • We buy a cow each year that is grass-fed in bulk so it's nice to just pick up chicken or some sort of other protein. But really, meat is expensive. It's been fun to try other sorts of protein. Here are some we really like.
  • Beans - use in salad, dips for veggies, chili, etc
  • Quinoa - use in salads, as a side, cold-salad, etc
  • Yogurt or cheese 
  • Nut butters - in sandwiches, apple slices,  etc. 
4. Buy the good stuff. But buy the store brand if it makes sense.
I love shopping at Whole Foods. But, it can be pricey if you don't shop wisely. I try to stick with either foods I know or the 365 brand. And, I rarely buy cookies, etc there. Buy the best chocolate bar - it may be pricier, but it will taste so much better and last you longer. I try to go for a 60 percent bar.
  • Evoo - 6.00 for huge bottle 
  • Less pricey organic celery, carrots, (with stalks on), bananas. 
  • Really cheap ($1.29) organic peas that taste like they are from your garden. 
  • Dececco pasta - so good. 
5. Use what's in season. It tastes fresher and will be more nutritious. 
Rhubarb crunch
6. If your on a really strict budget or want to make sure you spend only so much money, take only cash in store. Whew. This is a hard one, but it's nice to do so that you only spend your budgeted amount. 

Happy shopping!
Any tips you love to use? 



Easter photos..

 This isn't an Easter photo, I just love Sophie's outfit and her little pose. We were killing time waiting for Ava in preschool and took this photo. She LOVES to shop and dress up.
Easter cuties. Aunt Rita hosted easter this year and all of the kids had an easter egg hunt. 

Daddy, Ava and Sophia before church. 



Cuties. These little half-pints (Little House on the Prairie) wore their same dresses from last year. I loved them. 

This year the girls got zoobles, candy, and some nail polish. They loved searching for their baskets outside before church. 


Cutie pie Garrett. 

Charlotte and her egg score. 

I always do the numbers on the wrong hand -:) 34 weeks preggers. 



Ethan dashing for some eggs. It was an intense hunt. 

Sammy, our little cousin

Getting a momma squeeze.