Getting by with a little help…

This pregnancy has been really hard on me and recently our doctor has suggested that I try to take it easy as much as possible. He didn’t come out and say “You’re on bed rest,” but he did encourage me to look for ways to slow down and give my body a break.

 

This is easier said than done with two little ones running around. It’s really hard for me to ask for help. I feel terrible sending B & G off to someone else while I just lay around. I also feel guilty that I’m not spending that much time with them, because I know that their worlds are going to be ROCKED over the next few months.

 

Despite all of my insecurities and weaknesses, I am learning that sometimes you just have to get the help you need.  Luckily, I have some awesome ladies in my life who are more than happy to step up to the plate. My friend Lindsey watched Grace for me this weekend (she has a little girl Gracie’s age) and they went to the park. She took this picture and emailed it to me. There’s not much that Grace loves more than swinging! I wish I could be the one outside playing with her and enjoying the awesome weather, but it’s SOOO comforting to know that we have friends who will love on her and show her a good time. I’m even more grateful that Lindsey was thoughtful enough to capture her joy on film so I could share in it, too!

 

Girly Girls

I hosted a girls night for the YL girls. My friend & co-worker sells Mary Kay so she offered to do make-overs for us. We also got our craft on and ate yummy dessert.

Here are my fantabulous chicas… ready to get made over.

 

 

First they washed their faces and posed for a before pic. Two observations:

#1 Before pic apparently = sad pic, and

#2 No one shared this truth nugget with Lauren.

 

 

Jenna walked them through some make-up techniques. Gracie really wanted to participate and the girls were happy to oblige. They spoil her rotten. :)

 

 

While the girls were pampering themselves, I was taking this out of the oven! It baked up sooo pretty!

 

 

The icing didn’t go on quite as pretty, but it was still DEELICIOUS!

 

 

I love my beautiful girls. They are even prettier on the inside. :)

 

 

For craft time we made felt flower hair clips. The girls are hysterical crafters. They ask me to plan things like this and then they freak out the whole time because “I CAN’T do it!” and “Mine is not turning out right!” and “Someone sew mine for me… I don’t sew!” So I think 2 or 3 of us actually made flowers while the other girls supervised. They’re so crazy, but I couldn’t love them more!

 

I heart Craig's List... and dressers

Sometime last summer, on a whim, I decided to browse Craig's List for some dressers to refinish and use around the house. I hit the jackpot when I found one seller who was having a moving sale and getting rid of three wooden dressers for $20 each. I checked with Brian and then made arrangements to drive out to their house and get them. I'm so glad Brian came with me, because these people could have been on the show "Hoarders: Buried Alive!" Their house was so gross. I'm pretty sure that they could have killed me, chopped me up, and hidden my body parts in one of their many dressers and no one would have ever found me. But I digress...

I forgot to take before pictures of all three dressers, but this is the last one that I finished. They all looked very similar. These people really enjoyed the "stenciled vines over white-washed wood" look. I wish I had taken a picture before I took the hardware off... it was pretty awesome. No offense to anyone who enjoys white washing, stencils, and gaudy gold plated hardware, but these babies were in serious need of some TLC.

I wanted a place to put some baskets in this one, so we tossed two of the drawers that were in bad shape, and Brian built me some shelves. He's so handy.

Here is the dresser above, all finished. Confession: I don't really like it. The two toned look that I envisioned did not quite materialize like I hoped and it reminds me of something that belongs in the 80's. It's going to get re-painted at some point in the very near future, but most likely post-baby. I love the baskets that Brian picked out for me to put in it, and it has lots of great storage. Right now it's empty, but I'm sure it won't stay that way for long.

This one I finished second. I really like the chocolate brown color (which I happily nailed on the first try). The red knobs are from Hobby Lobby (when home decor stuff was 50% off). They look like chubby flowers and they are fabulous!

This dresser lives in the hall between the kids' rooms. I originally thought I was going to keep linens in it, but with another baby on the way and closet and dresser space running a bit short, I'm thinking it might be best used for #3's clothes. :)
This one was the first one I finished, and it's still my favorite. We took the top drawer out and Brian (aka Bob the builder) used some plywood and a small piece of moulding to turn it into a little shelf. It took two tries to get the green right, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I'm also in love with the cream version of the flowery Hobby Lobby knobs.

Here she is at home in our entry way. She currently holds sewing supplies, scrapbook pages that I'm working on, mailing/packing supplies, and misc gifts/surprises that I can pull out to reward the kids or before a last minute birthday party.

So, for about $100 total (when you figure in paint and new hardware), I have three pieces of furniture custom finished to compliment our decor and hide our stuff. I love the idea of repurposed dressers all over the house and not just in the bedrooms.

Channeling her inner Gus....

I guess the fact that we named her Augusta, after my paternal grandmother, is not lost on Gracie. Background info: Maw Maw Gus might possibly have been the cleanest woman on the planet. She cleaned everything. All the time. With Clorox. She mopped the cement... outside... with Clorox. She mopped the carpet with Clorox. If you stood still long enough, she'd clean you with Clorox. Grace does not have any loving feelings toward Clorox just yet. However, little sister does like to help keep things tidy. She likes to wipe down her little table, sort and rotate laundry, throw away the trash, and take off and put away her shoes when she walks in the house (which she does with more consistency and accuracy than her almost 5 year old brother). She also cries on the nights when we skip baths. Maw Maw would be so proud.

Lately her favorite chore is cleaning up her dishes. I was in another room when I heard her scraping her little chair across the kitchen floor. I wanted to get the camera out just in case she was up to something goofy, and by the time I did, she was almost to her final destination. Almost. My word, it was quite the process just to get that little bowl in the sink. I love how she stopped to fix the rug after she messed it up (another classic Gus move). I love how she pronounced that she was doing it because she was "All Done". I love how her lazy brother ran into the shot in the middle and put his bowl on the island, because it would have been too much of a trek for him to walk the extra 3 1/2 feet to the sink. (Then, for an added bonus, he announced that he tooted.) Mainly, I just love that they are both mine and that I spend so much of my day giggling at their little personalities.

Grace says Grace

At Ben & Grace's Mother's Day Out, the kiddos say a little blessing before their snack time. "ABC... 123... thank you, God, for feeding me. Amen."

Ben's had it down pat forever, but here is Gracie getting up to speed:

Crafty Christmas

I had so much fun making a bunch of our Christmas gifts this year. It all started with the Sew Mama Sew blog and a link for making "baby legs".

So, for Grace and Addison I turned some of these (knee socks from Target):

Into these:

Couldn't stop there, so dresses with matching bows were next.

One for Gracie:

One for Addison:

The matching bows:

And one for Gracie's baby doll:

I also made some Christmas Countdown blocks for Ben. These are not them, because I forgot to take a picture and they are already packed away, but this is the picture of the tutorial from the Little Birdie Secrets blog. My paper was different... more Christmas-y... but you get the idea.
What to do for the ladies that were over 2 years old?

Tote bags!

From left to right, we have Dee, Holly, Mom, and Jess.

Diane's was already in the mail for her December 11th birthday. :)

And what good are fun gifts without fun gift tags... so I made these to match the cute wrapping paper I picked up at Hobby Lobby (50% off - woo to the hoo!).

It was a fun season of creating and giving some hand-made items.

I hope everyone enjoyed receiving them as much as I enjoyed making them!

And as an added bonus, seeing me hard at work using a borrowed sewing machine inspired Brian to get me one of my own! Merry Christmas to me! Thanks, Babe!

"First I drew the head and eyes and mouth."

This is definitely my favorite Ben moment from the past few months, if not ever. It is a miracle that I could stop laughing long enough to get the camera and make him explain it to me again. My words can't do this justice... the video will speak for itself.

Also, it is important for me to mention that this is a drawing of a man. A male zoo keeper, to be exact. He later added a turtle. The turtle (thankfully) did not have nipples.