Thanksgiving Week

My week started out with a lovely visit from the Dube' family. I have no words to describe how much I love them. They are my family. Their home was my home. When I think back to my college days and how I felt loved and taken care of, they have a lot to do with that.

I can't believe I'm posting this but here is a pic of my little Luke when I first started watching him

and here he is now all grown up...a big 9 year old.

Wednesday we loaded the car up and headed to Mainsfield.

 This is what Arabelle does anytime we play praise and worship in the car. *melt my heart*

We got in late that night but not too late for Arabelle and cousin Addie to have some fun before bed.

Thanksgiving morning

Listening to Pawpaw tell her about the birds or the crazy kids playing outside.

Nonnie happy to not be in her kitchen preparing the feast.

Arabelle's first real Thanksgiving meal.

The whole family

Friday morning I set out early to spend the whole day with my sweet friend Rachel.

and give her these cute shoes ;)

Saturday we spent the day helping Pawpaw on the farm. I would show you pictures of Arabelle feeding the chickens but she ate the bread she was given to feed the chicks.

Want to know what were thankful for?

Images are from my dear friend at Veronica Paige Photography 

A Handmade Christmas Night #1

Last night we kicked off our craft for Christmas series and we began with coffee filter wreaths and all the above with old book pages. We all suffered multiple hot glue burns but had a ball together.

Let me just make one thing clear....this is NOT a one hour project, like I had read on other blogs. I ain't hatin'...I'm just sayin.'

This last wreath is the one I made for Arabelle's room using coffee filters I soaked in food coloring and then placed them on the oven racks at 190 degrees to dry.

Christmas in Little Miss Fashion

I have been dying to get Arabelle's pink Christmas tree decorated since the day I bought it (hunted all over BCS after Christmas last year for it). But I made a promise to myself that this year I would do a clean sweep before filling our house up with Christmas decor. I love Christmas stuff everywhere but as soon as January 1st rolls around I can't wait to put it all up and have a clean, clutter free house again.

This year I challenged myself to choose one small clutter zone to tackle per day, be it the silverware drawer or the video cabinet AND one large clutter zone per week like a closet and another closet....I'm not even going to list basement and garage because those are two areas I'm avoiding but will have to face by the end of this week.

So....all that being said I wouldn't allow myself to put Arabelle's tree up until I not only cleaned out her closet but her room as well. Let me just tell you....it was such motivation to get it done and such a reward once it was finished. I didn't feel like I was adding more "stuff" to her room.

Monday morning rolled around and my task had been complete for a few days so I put some Christmas music on Pandora, we baked Cranberry Orange muffins in our Pj's and decorated her room for Christmas. I had so much fun sharing in this experience with her. She loved all of the "balls" we put on her tree but she especially loved her frog. Each year we have purchased a Christmas ornament for her starting with the Christmas she was in my tummy, when she has a family of her own, my hope is that she will enjoy hanging all of her ornaments from her childhood.  I'm trying to reflect the stage of life she is in through the ornament and I knew nothing would fit her better this year than a big green frog. She loves to ribbit like a frog every time she looks at her tree. I'll try to post a video of it.

                                                   Clean Closet

                                                  Clean Shelves

                                                  Yummy Muffins

                                                      Helper

                                                   Vintage Balls

                                                       Ribbit

FYI- I used fresh cranberry's for the muffins rather than dried. I did not soak them in orange juice, just chopped them up. This has been my most successful batch of this kind.
FYI- Most of the vintage ornaments came from thrift stores and yard sales throughout the year. But, if you want them now do an ebay or etsy search and your sure to find them.

Kinda a lot...Kinda nothing

Last week we went to the Doctor and got to see our sweet baby. We were able to find out what we are having BUT we really want to share the news in person with our family at Thanksgiving before we announce it to all.

Thank you everybody for being so excited for us and I know you understand the reason for the wait.

I will say we got to see the sweet baby's foot and saw the hands behind the head just relaxing in there.

I'm starting to feel movement pretty often and LOVE it.

Now that I know what will great us in April I have been brainstorming and searching for nursery ideas. I have a few things in mind but I just haven't made up my mind yet. Another thing I need help deciding is if I should put the baby in Arabelle's nursery and make a  new big girl room for her in the guest room so she can be a part of the process and take naps in her big girl bed before transitioning to full on no crib once baby gets here OR Should I leave Arabelle in her room, her domain? Please give me your thoughts on this.

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On a different note...over the past few days we have spent a lot of time around this thing

 It started with Arabelle....went to Momma....then went to Dadda. Now Arabelle is back to herself.......Dadda is back to his pizza and hot fries self....and Momma.....still eating soup and crackers. What's up with that?

I really can't complain, I feel 100 times better than I did at the start of the weekend.

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And now I'm getting all excited about Christmas.

Christmas Music
Christmas Smells
Christmas Decorations
Christmas Eating

I'm gearing up to get all crafty with some friends. We're going to do a series of Handmade Christmas projects in the evenings after the babes go to bed. I kinda can't wait. Everybody is welcome so if you want information on this let me know.

The first night will involve lots of hot glue guns, glue, glitter, old book pages, and coffee filters. Here's a little peak at some of the ideas I have in mind.

4 month update for Baby 2

Baby 2 seems to be doing great growing in my belly.
I  just entered the second trimester and have been feeling great.
I no longer feel like I HAVE to take a nap to make it through the day.
I haven't had any food aversions, I just prefer not to eat Chicken.
I love all things fruity, tart and peppermint.
My  new love just might be the Blue Bell Snickerdoodle ice cream I bought last night.
I kinda think I'm starting to feel the baby move around a bit but I'm not certain.
I did feel the baby in my belly the other night when I rolled over to sleep on my stomach and felt the lump of the baby in my way. I guess I better savor these last few nights of sleeping on my stomach.

Arabelle loves to talk to my tummy and lights up with a big smile on her face when she gets to wave at my belly button and give the baby a kiss (sugars).

I'm excited about my 17.5 week appointment on Monday, even though I won't get to see the baby I can't wait to hear that miraculous heartbeat.

Here's a growth shot at 16 weeks/4 months.

My Halloween-ish post

I've got to be honest I've never been a fan of Halloween. Not just the celebration of darkness bit but as a kid my costumes were ALWAYS homemade and not the creative and cute homemade but the "well, what do we have here???" homemade. So I never really got into it.

This past weekend my heart has been softened to this strange little holiday we celebrate. Matt and I dressed up for a murder mystery party and had a ball. On Sunday we dressed our little miss up and took her trick or treating and we seriously had the most fun we have had in a long time.
We loved that she enjoyed wearing her ski suite of a costume.
We loved that she understood the drill after getting to collect treats at the first house.
We loved how thankful she was for each treat.
She loved walking to houses and knocking on the door.
She LOVED that everybody adored her. I'm not gonna lie, her parents liked that part as well.

One of our sweet friends gave her a bag of goldfish early into the night and so after she got a treat from somebody we would give her some goldfish. Matt made the point that Arabelle was under the impression that she just collected 5 pounds of goldfish and she couldn't have been happier.
All in all we had SO SO SO MUCH FUN!!!

So, I'll start with the ugly.
I was given the character of a Bounty Hunter for our Murder Mystery Party and Matt was given the character of Wyatt Earp.
Because I kinda dig this guy....I went with it.

While pulling together this costume my favorite part just might have been when I went to check out at the thrift store and the lady at the register told me what a beautiful shirt that was.



Now to the cuteness.....here's my Elephant, Mouse, Ant Eater of a little girl.

Then there was the Pumpkin Patch