Quiet Book Project

So a couple of months ago I decided that wee man DESPERATELY needed something to keep him occupied and centralized at church. Why do you ask? This kid...Is a BALL full of energy! At home it's no problem because he pretty much rules the house and does what he pleases, but when you try to make this energetic 15 month old stay in one place he doesn't agree much. SO. With that I started panning over pages and pages on Pinterest trying to find things to inspire the pages for a quiet book. And with the help of my awesome hubby I even have a few links you can check out to give credit to those I actually stole their ideas directly from. So without further a due, here's Robby's quiet book. :-)

The inside and the outside. I used button holes and 2" rings to put the pages on.

If you're interested...I followed this ladies tutorial on how to make my cover. I wouldn't really say one thing was difficult in particular in making the cover. She gives good instructions and I really liked how it turned out. The button holes were the hardest part to make because I don't have that setting on my sewing machine, so I had to make them up on my own. Also, I believe her rings show on the outside, but if you want them hidden like mine you simply only rip through one layer of fabric. I'm sure having it go through more than one layer gives more stability, but I liked having the rings hidden. And while we're talking about the cover, mine was made out of flannel. Most of the tutorials I checked out they said they made theirs out of flannel as well. 

Snap to close the book.

All done! Now for a peak inside...The pages! :-)

Little house page.

And there's us behind the window!

Nothing behind the door, but it still opens!

Cute little robot page. The yellow one has a shoe lace to lace and un-lace, and the blue one has buttons and his tummy spins.

I read that every quiet book has to have a zipper page, so here is ours.

Shapes page.

I stitched the shapes behind to help with matching and have velcro on each shape.

Nice little bead counting page.

Cute little veggies just hanging out in the garden!

The little potato and carrot have little pockets in the ground.

And the tomato and corn have velcro.

Apples and a basket to put them in.

Apples have snaps.

Now this...Is prolly my 2 pride and joy pages. Just because I spent SO much time working on them and they're SO cute! Now with most of my pages I was inspired from someone else's pages and then did my own thing. But with these I pretty much took everything from this talented ladies blog. I LOVE these pages! She has templates and directions for all the little characters too!

Jungle pages!

Page 1

The monkey and lion have velcro.

And...all the little animals are stuffed. I think you can kinda tell from this picture.

Page 2

Little hippo has a nice pocket in the pond to cool off in.

And the little snake hides in the grass.

Isn't he cute!?

Under the sea! The jellyfish/octopus (You be the judge) has velcro on the back.

Fish bowl.

Velcro on the back of the fishies.

3..2..1..Blast off!

The ship moves up and down the yarn.

Well that's all folks! Everything you see on the pages was mainly created with felt. I LOVED that because the felt was so cheap! I think I spent $8 on about 20 pages of felt, plus it doesn't frey and it's very durable. It took many nights of needle pokes and patience but it was SO much fun to do and I definitely feel accomplished for making it. If you'd like to see where some of my other ideas streamed from you can check out my Pinterest here Can't wait to make one for each of my kids! 

LOVE Day

So...I think it's safe to say I LOVE every holiday. I equally get giddy and excited and go all out anytime a big holiday comes around; even if it was made for the sheer profit of money. Holidays like Valentine's Day are especially fun because I get to get my creative juices flowing and try to come up with something fun to share with my husband on that day. It's kind of hard to shop or give gifts on Valentine's Day I think for men...I mean...I'm tickled pink with a simple bouquet of flowers and some chocolate. But I'm almost 100% positive my husband wouldn't appreciate such gifts. As such I went to my trusty Pinterest (which I am still absolutely addicted to) and started browsing ideas of what to do. I went with...the "man bouquet".

Packed with all the yummy goodness my husband loves. It rocked.

Yep...that's how we do.

Now...Let's just face it...Valentine's Day IS a woman's holiday...And as such my husband went above and beyond to try and make it special for me. He's awesome.

I woke up to this...He's too sweet!

Heart shaped doughnuts...How cute are these!?

So...Originally I was suppose to go get a mani and pedi done...My sweet husband had been keeping the appointment a secret for over a week! But sadly I have no sense of direction and I have the WORST luck with finding new places. As such, I drove around 30 minutes trying to find this place. FAIL. So after coming home defeated we did the next best thing. We went to the Mall.

Love my Valentine...He's so handsome!

After a fun day of shopping and browsing stores (my favorite past time!) I was allowed to pick what I wanted for our Valentine's Day dinner. We never go out for V'Day because A) It's always crowded and we like a quiet atmosphere and B) We have a wee one that I'm just too attached to still to let go with a babysitter. So after little man went to bed we had Chicken Samareno. It. Is. Amazing. And my husband makes the BEST chicken Samareno. It's alot of work and he sighs every time I request it. But he makes it for me...Because he loves me that much he says. :-)

YES.

Speaking of my wee man...It was his 2ND Valentine's Day! Can you believe he's been around for 2!? I can't...So here's a little flashback from last here compared to this year.

Look how big he's gotten! Goodness!

Here's a few pictures to highlight wee man's Valentine's Day.

My little Valentine.

I couldn't forget little man...He got a little somethin' somethin' too.

Filled with tiny animal crackers just for him!

All in all it was another successful and enjoyable Valentine's Day. I sure do LOVE my Valentine's!

Today's the Day

Today's the day I met the love of my life. Today's the day my life changed forever. 5 years ago of course...But I don't think I'll ever forget my husband's birthday is the day I met him and changed my life forever. So many times I contemplate where I'd be or what my life would be life if I hadn't met him. If I hadn't taken that job at Food Service I would have never stumbled upon the greatest thing in my life. Love. It may be my husband's birthday, but January 14th has a huge significance for me. Not only is it the day he came into this world, but it's the day he changed my world as well. What a special day for everyone I guess!

Birthday's just aren't the same for adults, but I always try to make my hubby feel special and celebrate HIS day as best we can. I knew we would only have a few short precious hours with him on his birthday since he sleeps half the day and works, but we celebrated none-the-less.

Opening his cards, Bebe certainly enjoyed Daddy's cards as well!

What you got there for me Daddy?

FSU Shirt from Kristen, Lance,and Liam

Flaunting some of his spoils.

He loved the card Nan and Grandpa sent for Daddy! It had a smiling polar bear on it.

I asked Robby if there was anything he'd like me to make on his birthday to eat and at first he didn't care, but then one of his favorites came to mind.

Yummy Southwest Cheesy Wraps recipe I found on Pinterest

 If you're interested in trying this recipe here it is:

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken (or other leftover meat, like shredded pork or beef)
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)
1/2 red or green pepper, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups shredded cheese (I use a combination of Monterey jack and sharp cheddar)
Sour cream (optional)
6 burrito-sized flour tortillas

DIRECTIONS:
Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients except for cheese and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges, then arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla. (Optional: I like to dollop little bits of sour cream over the cheese before arranging chicken and rice mixture down the center – it makes the wraps delightfully creamy.) Roll stuffed tortillas, leaving edges open and slightly flatten the wraps with the palm of your hand. Spray seam-side of the wrap lightly with cooking spray.
Heat a large non-stick skillet (or griddle) over medium heat for 1 minute. Arrange wraps, seam-side down, in pan or griddle and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side. Cooking them seam-side down first helps seal the long edge so they don’t fall apart. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining wraps. Serve warm.

When I asked Robby what type of cake he'd like for his birthday he said he'd like peach cobbler. So warm peach cobbler and ice cream it was! One of his favorites!

I'm so thankful for my awesome hubby and sure hope he had a great birthday! It was sure great to celebrate another birthday with him!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas...

Well...At least in our apartment it is! Not so much outside...Did I mention I lived in Rexburg, Idaho for 6 YEARS? That's a lot of years of adapting to winter being COLD and there being snow on the ground during Christmas time. Let's just say I got a little use to a white Christmas...And I'm having trouble finding that loving feeling for a warm Christmas. We've still been in the 80's here, and though I should be counting my blessings, I'm not. I told my husband just yesterday, "How can I appreciate those first days of warmth and Spring if it never goes away!?" I'm a cold type of gal...I like my sweaters and my comfy sweat pants and snuggling under blankets, and right now...I'm still cranking my AC on...

It's real hard to feel Christmasy when you go from this to this...

Oh...And did I mention that I'm one of those cool people with an app that can splice and put pictures together and all that jazz? Ya...I'm pretty legit now. Oh, and how cute are we!? That was like our first married Christmas...Ahhh so young and cute!

So Christmas has been a little harder to get into the spirit of this year...But that doesn't mean our apartment isn't adorned with festivities from wall to wall. Here are a few of my favorites...

I love the lights, I love this old "Joy" sign my mother-in-law gave us, and I love nativities. Especially this wooden one. And notice my crafty snazzy abilities again will you.

You won't find any snowflakes here in AZ, but we did put a few up.

And Robby likes them. He'll stand there for minutes on end touching and just looking up at them.

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the tree! Specially at night when the lights are on. I could just turn all the lights off and sit with the glow of the tree. Love it.

Robby even helped decorate! It was so funny to watch him...Most of his ornaments he just threw, but a few landed on the tree limbs.

When you ask Robby, "Is that the Christmas tree?" He makes this nervous sounding laugh and smiles. I'm not sure if he's scared of it or likes it alot. He won't even go near the thing! Which I guess works to our advantage! He's such a hoot.

Another thing I love are these stockings I made! I'm just so proud of them and they're super cute hanging in our apartment.

My intention was to fill this and put it on the table so it'd look pretty and festive. But you can see what happened just a few short days later...Hubby *cough* Hubby *cough*

I'm not even going to both filling this little guy! Someone would be in a sugar coma before it was empty! But he sure is cute!

Another cute yet sketchy member of the Christmas decor is this cute little Santa. Robby still won't touch him, and he's on the floor in free range of bebe.

When asked if a certain little man was excited and ready for Christmas this is the response I got...

Ahhh ya he's excited! Bring on Christmas and all it's festivities mommy!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! (I get it says that "Happy Holiday" garbage...But I still think it's a pretty little sign)