The Childrens Place Model Search

I've entered this adorable photo of Parker (taken by his Papa) into The Childrens Place Model Search.  Please click here to vote for him!  For some reason I didn't enter his name when I was submitting his photo, so to find his picture enter his ID, which is 8930.  Voting ends Oct. 31 and the grand prize is a photo shoot for The Childrens Place along with a $500 gift card to The Childrens Place.  Thanks for your help and votes!!!

Toddler Tales

For those of you who semi-regularly read my blog, you may have noticed that I'm no longer doing my monthly posts about Parker.  I figured blogging every single month for the first two years of his life was a pretty good achievement!  But, I want to blog a few things that he's doing so that when I want to reminisce about his life as a two year old, I'll have a few milestones written down.  Because basically once you become a mommy your brain turns to mush.  I'm not kidding.

So...here are some pretty neat things that Parker (who is 2 years and almost 5 months old) is doing:

1.  He is dressing himself. Sometimes when he is finished I'll have to tell him his shirt or his shorts are on backwards, but for the most part he wants to dress himself! 
2.  He can count to ten!  I don't really get to take credit for this and have day care to thank.  He won't count on command, he basically has to want to count, or if I nonchalantly start counting he may chime in.  He will often skip the number four, but I'm not going to nag him about it.  Yet.
3.  He can feed the dog.  To be honest, I have to monitor this, because if it were up to Parker, Shady would have a dog bowl that would be filled to the brim each meal.  I'm sure Shady wouldn't complain though!
4.  He can open the fridge.  Lucky for me, he only usually does it when he knows I'm about to make him a glass of juice.  I think it's about time I move the wine bottles to the upper shelves...note to self!
5.  He can drink from a cup!  Granted, I still give him sippy cups 99% of the time just because I don't want to have to constantly clean spills.
6.  He also knows how to fill up his cup (or his toys) with water from the refrigerator.  Luckily, that does have a lock option!
7.  He knows how to wash his own hands!  He loves climbing up onto the bathroom counter to turn the faucet on.  He doesn't use soap if I let him wash by his self, and he can't reach the bathroom light, or the bathroom hand towel, but we are making baby steps in the right direction!
8.  He tries to read to himself.  I have often caught him in the act of flipping through a book that I had recently read to him and he will flip the pages and say things that pertain to the page.  His most often quoted book is "no monkeys jumping on the bed!".  He loves being read too!
9.  This has nothing to do with developmental growth, but he finally loves wearing hats!  And bandannas, too!
10.  I recently purchased flash cards and he loves telling me what objects are on the cards.
11.  His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds!

He normally turns his hat around and wears it backwards.

Parker's favorite things are:  going to the beach, boat rides, whistles, running, being read too, Caillou, the movie Cars, fruit, balls, Frisbee's, playing with other kids, sunglasses (although if you ask him where his sunglasses are he will tell you that they are in the lake.  Which is true.), playing "wakeboard" (this is where he pretends he is wakeboarding...his daddy couldn't have been more proud!), and suckers!

This was captured the first time I over-heard him reading to his self.

Hard at play.

He loves sitting next to his daddy on the boat.

 

 

Gettin' Crafty

Aside from making jewelry, I'm not the typical crafty type of gal.  And, I haven't even had the chance to make some fun jewelry in a long time.  However, a month (or two or three) ago, I had someone contact me via my etsy store and asked if I could make several of these particular little gems for her upcoming wedding.

I was ecstatic!  A valid excuse to dig all of my jewelry making supplies out from their hiding spot, plus my first custom order! 

All together, I made three adult and two child sized bracelets.   My picture's not the greatest, but trust me, they were pretty cute!

Way back in February I made this cute beach arrangement!  I'm slowly trying to give my home a beachy feel, and this work of art makes its home on top of my refrigerator.  The "real" sand actually comes from the beach near my house!  A big thanks goes out to my mom, because as she witnessed me at Walls (one of my fave stores!) with my internal struggle as to whether or not I should splurge and spend $25 on the vase, she finally said she'd buy it for me!  (Yes, I am a tight wad)  I'm so glad she did!

Now, for some more current projects!

A few weeks ago we went to a beautiful wedding and this is the item I made for the bride and groom.

I have been obsessed with family name signs for a long time now, and still don't even have one of my own.  However, I've ordered several off of etsy for various wedding presents, but I saw a great tip on pinterest about how to paint letters onto wood.  I figured I'd test it out, and this was the result.  Not super great (I wish the letters were a little bigger), but it worked!  And, I saw the bride recently and she told me it was hanging up above their door, which means it didn't end up as firewood, which is great!

The piece de resistance is the satin minky blanket I made for my sister-in-law.  I followed the instructions that I again found on pinterest.  Now, let me just say, that although I know how to sew, I do not particularly like to sew.  And, I don't do it often enough, so when I do try to whip out an awesome creation attempt to make something, it always seems like I have to re-teach myself a tip or two.  Thankfully I still have the owners manual of my sewing machine along with the required sewing book I had to make in college.  Several days and a few glasses of wine later, I wound up with this.

To find the instructions on how to make your own blanket click here.

Granted, I'm afraid it may not last through more than two trips to the washing machine, and if one were to look at the corners carefully one would see that the ruffles are tacked inside (that's what I get for thinking I would "make it easier" on myself....note to self: next time just make one continuous stitch).  Oh well.  I'd say she was happy when she opened her gift at her baby shower and I hope the softness of the fabric makes my sweet new niece happy!

 

May your life be sewn with Love.
 

Yesterday I ordered the last supply I need to begin a venture on a new craft.  I'd tell you what it is, but it will also be a birthday present, so I better wait to post a pic or two later next month.  Tune in!