The Vintage Pearl is having a giveaway! I've had my eye on some of their goodies for a while but am waiting for the little miss before I put in my official wishlist with the hubby.  ;) 

Check it out here:  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=184601506

#2

Baby girl is getting bigger and bigger and while I'm not at the end of this pregnancy, I did want to get our picts done before I felt awkwardly huge. So, my sister came over and took some photos for us. Then, I did my favorite part: the editing. I think they turned out cute... What about you?

-kt

The Little Mister is 2!!!

I'm still a little in shock that I have a 2 year old. It's unreal. But, he is so much fun and we enjoy every single day with him. As I type, the hubby and the little mister are playing together while the Packer game is on. They are so much fun to watch!

Last night, we celebrated the life of the little mister by having friends and family over.  Here are some of my favorite moments:

His face was precious when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

He and Daddy blew out his candle.

He doesn't like cake so his candle was in a cookie. He LOVES those cookies!

He's starting to understand presents... Christmas should be fun!

He was too busy with all his new toys to take a photo with mom and dad.

To see the tutorial on how I did my hair, go to my cousin Kate's blog here: http://www.thesmallthingsblog.com/2011/11/braided-bun.html

See? He only wants to play!

Papa Eddy and Nana

The treat table.

Even our chalkboard celebrated his birthday!

It was really such a great night. The LM has been going back and forth between all of this new toys today and we already watched his new copy of Toy Story. He is just such a sweet blessing to our lives. We took some extra time to pray for an extra special blessing for everyone who was able to make it out to celebrate him with us. We appreciate you all.

-kt

tree skirt

So, I'm totally addicted to Pinterest. Who isn't?! I've made a few things from there but this is my FAVORITE so far. You can find the original tutorial here:  Tree Skirt tutorial.  The only things I did differently are I bought a $5 tree skirt from Fleet Farm to use as the base and instead of hot gluing (I ALWAYS burn myself), I used my grandma's old sewing machine to sew it. Saved a ton of time and money (glue sticks are expensive!).

Here's my finished product!

Hope you like it! Now my tree is officially done!
-kt

Burlap Wreath Tutorial

So, mom and I had a craft day last time I was down by them. We decided to make burlap wreaths for our doors. We hopped online and found a BUNCH of different tutorials and adapted them to what we wanted to do... so, here's our version!

We started with styrofoam rings from Hobby Lobby (found in the little kid craft section... much cheaper than buying the wreath forms by the actual wreaths). Ours are about 11 1/2 inches in diameter from the outer edges. We ended up needing about 1 1/2 yards per wreath so make sure if you buy a bigger form, you get more burlap!

I'm going to be showing you how my mom made her's simply because with all the picture taking and indecisiveness on my part, I didn't finish... yet. And, she's a rock star and got her's done.

We started by cutting a long, thin (about 3 1/2 inches) strip of the burlap to wrap around the form so that if any of it showed after the wreath was done, it wouldn't be glaringly white.

Be sure to put it on an angle so you can wrap it around. Give it a dab of hot glue once you get all the way around to secure the end of the burlap.

 It should look something like this!

 My mom then cut squares out of her burlap that were about 4 in x 4 in... maybe a little bigger. Try a few sizes to see what you like before you cut them all.

 She then folded the squares in half and in half again. What we forgot to take a picture of is at this point she cut around the edges to round them.

 Then, she scrunched the folded square until she liked how it looked.

 Once she liked the look, she cut off the bottom so that she'd have a flat spot to glue to the form.

With a lot of hot glue sticks, several cups of tea, a good movie, and some trial and error, we got it all glued together!  She added a few flowers from the color burlap that I was using to give it a little something extra. You can find a tutorial for flowers like that here:  http://mysparkle.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-rolled-flowers.html

Sadie liked it too!

I'll be posting mine once I get it done... it's a little different from my mom's. It's more like loops instead of the ends sticking out. You'll see!

-kt

****UPDATE****

I finally got mine finished! Here are some quick picts to show you how I did mine and how it turned out. What do you think?

 

I added hot glue to the x and glued it to form "bubbles".

 

The "T" and the flowers are removable so I can use it for other seasons/holidays!

 

-kt

The Little Mister

Hi all.

Just thought I'd give you a little help for the Little Mister's birthday and Christmas.

He's in size 2T pretty much across the board (I still have him wearing 24 month clothes but 2T is great). He could use some plain long-sleeved shirts and some sweaters, but other than that, he's doing ok with clothes.

He loves Winnie-the-Pooh. So, I'd love for him to have the movie Cowboy Pooh and/or the new Winnie-the-Pooh movie that just came out. We have most of the classics on VHS, but not on DVD. It would be nice to have them on DVD. There are some other movies we'd like for him including Cars, Tarzan, Tangled, Aladdin, and Toy Story.

He's really into Thomas the train, too. I know that the sets are pretty expensive so don't feel the need to go crazy unless you find a really good deal  :)

Here's a weird one, but we could use some pack & play sheets. I lost the only one we had.  :(  I really like the ones that are sewn to be the size of the pack & play vs the ones with elastic. The elastic ones make the pack & play bottom bunch up instead of laying flat.

And, he could use some slippers. Size 6 or 7. (He really likes Elmo)  :)

I'll edit this post as I come up with more ideas!

Love you all!
-kt

no joke

I just had to share this.

I don't know about you but no matter how often I wash them, my dish cloths and towels always eventually get that funk. You know what I'm talking about. That weird stays-on-your-hands-after-you've-set-it-down funk.

I hate it!

BUT, I've found the solution.

This is tested and tried and true. No Joke. I've waited a WHILE to post this because I was a skeptic. But, now... I'm a believer!

photo courtesy of target

These are made by Clorox and when you follow their washing instructions, they don't stink! AND, they are surprisingly cheap (in price). I LOVE mine. They come in green or tan (for now) and you can pick them up at Target. (Don't you love Target?!)

Just thought I'd share this happy tip. Now, go get some and get rid of the dish cloth funk!

-kt

iheartfaces - PINK

Oh man. I knew the second I saw this week's challenge that I had to enter this photo. This little sweetie is one of the cutest little girls I know and she LOVES to be girly!

Head on over to www.iheartfaces.com to see more entries in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness.

Weekend at the Lake

So, not this past weekend, but the one before, we had a family weekend at my aunt and uncles lake house. You could not have picked a better, more beautiful location for a fall getaway. The family had a lot to celebrate. This month, Grandpa turned 80, Kris turned 30, Khloe turned 5 and my parents celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary! We have lots to be thankful for.

So, there are some pictures. Family, you can see the full-size ones and more on my Shutterfly site in the October album.

-kt

Apple Picking Fun!

This weekend was the perfect weekend to go apple picking. My sister's boyfriend was here visiting her and we decided to spend the morning on Saturday at Apple Valley Orchards in De Pere. The weather was crisp and the sun was shining. It wasn't too busy (til right before we left). It was perfect.

The Little Mister REALLY enjoyed himself.

We started out by taking the tram to the orchards.

We spent some time back in the orchards picking (and throwing... oops) apples.

Then, we played a little football... with an apple.

Hut, hut...

Hike!

Between my sister and me, we got some cute photos of the Little Mister out there...

Elbow pads!!!

When we were all done picking apples and playing in the orchard, we headed back on the tram to get other goodies like pumpkins, and to let Jake play on the train!

He, of course, did NOT want to get off.

We bought some pumpkins, weighed our apples, and took a few more picts before getting the little one home for his nap... because man, was he tired.

Anyway, we really enjoyed the day and definitely recommend Apple Valley.
Oh, and because I've been asked this already... my sweater is from TJ Maxx (courtesy of my awesome mother-in-law - thanks!) and my boots are from Target. Love them!

Now, I'm going to get back to watching the Packers beat the Broncos.  ;)
Have a great rest of your Sunday!

-kt