Mama Thompson

Hugs and Kisses from my Lil D

2012-02-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

I got Lil D to do some finger painting for me.

This is a BIG thing for both of us.

For me...finger painting is messy...I don't like messes.

For D...finger painting is messy...he doesn't like to be messy.

Yep...he's like me:)

I cut out a vinyl saying on my cricut

and stuck it to a white 12X12 piece of cardstock.

and then I let him go to work.

It took him a minute...but he got into it.

And it turned out cute!

I'll have you know that as soon as he was done he went straight to the bathroom to wash up. I'm not sure he'll be asking to finger paint again any time soon...but for this project, it was a huge success.

Heart Runner

2012-02-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

I needed a little something for the side table/book shelf in my living room.

I found this great red table runner at Target but it was $20.

I wasn't willing to spend $20 for something that I didn't LOVE and I would probably not want anymore in a year or so....

....So....

I made a little red table runner myself.

I cut out a heart...

Then traced it on some red felt that I had from this project and this project.

I overlapped the heart tracing it 4 times.

Then cut it out...

and added a little decor.

Free...love free!

Putting pinterest to the test: footprint heart

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

I pinned this little project on pinterest,

and of course,

having cute little tiny feet in my house now meant I had to do it too!

(photos courtesy of Lil D)

I'm gonna have to do it again and stitch around it with the date like the other gal did.

I just love little baby feet:)

Crock Pot Sunday: Chicken Enchilada Soup

2012-01-31T13:55:00.003-07:00

This past Sunday I tried another recipe from skinnytaste.com. If you have not cooked from this site you must. Low calorie meals that are super delicious...seriously, no one will know that they are eating low cal. I have tried about 20 of her recipes and have loved them all.

This Chicken Enchilada Soup is another winner.

(photo courtesy of skinnytaste.com)

It takes about 10 minutes of prep and cooks for 4-6 hours on low. I actually used 2 tsp. of cumin and 1 tsp of salt from the start instead of adjusting at the end and it was super delicious. Also, you don't even need the shredded cheese if you are really looking for low calorie. 1 small dollop of fat free sour cream and some fresh cilantro and chives tops this off perfectly.

YUM!

Crock Pot Sunday: Corned Beef

2012-01-22T21:20:00.002-07:00

.Corned Beef with non traditional cabbage and creamy cauliflower puree.

I have made corned beef a few times. We really love it. My cousin has a corned beef sandwich recipe and then some corned beef egg rolls that you can make with your left over corned beef on her food blog. You should try them both...super yum!

This week for crock pot Sunday, I made my corned beef in the crock pot, but decided to leave my cabbage raw and made a cabbage salad. I made the horseradish cream for the beef and the creamy cauliflower puree from skinnytaste.com.

It was a super yummy meal...and actually pretty low cal.

Oh...and if you haven't made cauliflower puree, you should...it's good.

Cabbage salad/slaw

(I threw this together and made just the amount for my little family)

1/4 head of cabbage chopped

handful of baby carrots sliced thin

chives

1/8 cup apple cider vinegar

1/8 cup olive oil

2 tsp. sugar

salt and pepper

Toss cabbage, carrots and chives together.

Whisk vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper together and pour over salad.

Let sit for at least an hour.

Crock Pot Sunday: Pineapple pork tenderloin

2012-01-16T15:23:00.002-07:00

I found this recipe on "A Year of Slow Cooking".

It was ok.

I ended up getting it in the crock pot later then I wanted so I had to cook it on high...I hate doing that because it seems the meat dries out fast. The pork didn't seem to have soaked up the flavor like I thought it would. I ended up dumping the sauce from the crock pot into a pan and reducing it down and then pouring that over the top, which helped it a lot.

I have one whole tenderloin left over...

I think I will shred it and use it in tacos or something else.

Next time...I'll cook my pork tenderloin the way we love it...on the grill.

I am excited to try some of her other recipes for Crock Pot Sunday...

I just hope they turn out a little tastier.

Crock Pot Sunday: Meatballs

2012-01-08T17:51:00.004-07:00

This year our church starts at 1pm

and well, that means starving people at 4:10pm when we walk in the door.

Let's just say not even I have the patience to wait for dinner to be cooked.

So I have decided that I am going to use my crock pot each Sunday to prepare dinner...then we can be eating by 4:30...or so!

I decided this last night at the grocery store...so I did a quick search on my phone for crock pot recipes and this is the first one that popped up:

Easy Slow Cooker Meatballs

(I made a few changes...so this recipe is how I made them)

Ingredients:

1 pound (about) ground beef

1 pound (about) ground pork

1 1/4 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 medium onion, chopped

1 egg, beaten

salt and pepper

1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce

1 (16 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 (14 ounce) can tomato puree

In a bowl, mix the ground meats, bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, onion, egg, salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into 16 meatballs. In a slow cooker, mix the spaghetti sauce, crushed tomatoes and tomato puree. Place the meatballs into the sauce mix and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

I also made some rhodes rolls topped with sea salt and rosemary and some fresh green beans. The meatballs were really good. A note on the recipe...when you are mixing the meatballs together they are going to seem a bit dry and like you have too much of the bread crumbs...but trust me...they will be nice and moist when they are all done.

A bonus to this recipe...16 meatballs is way too many for my little family, so we will be having meatball subs later this week...so not only was dinner ready when we came home from church today...but it is providing a second meal later in the week.

My sister's family room wall collage

2012-01-06T14:52:00.002-07:00

While I was in Seattle, my sister decided to "employ" me to help her do a mini makeover of her family room. It's kind of been a funky room to figure out what to do with. There's a tv in the room, but no couch. There is a desk (a table we painted to make a desk) that never gets used...and my nephew's toys. She wanted the room to be more of a family room and a place that she and her 9 year-old son could hang out, watch movies, and just chill.

We ditched the table on the street corner with a free sign on it

(it was gone before 9am the next day).

She bought herself a couch.

And we put up a picture collage to make the room feel more warm and inviting.

All of the smaller frames were ones she had.

We bought the larger frames and then sprayed everything brown.

To mix things up...we covered the backing of one of the frames with that super cute fabric, put a blue "J" and a vinyl saying on the wall too.

I really love how it turned out.

I think we may even add a small shelf on the far right side under the picture of their hands.

Now she just needs to switch out some of the older pictures and add some to the empty frame.

As for the rest of the room...

we hid the toys behind the couch.

Left her book shelf where it was, but added a fabric covered frame thing with some clips attached to display some of my nephew's art (that kid LOVES to draw).

For a long narrow room that had way too much going on before, it now feels like a comfy cozy family room. Now we will just have to see how long before she wants to switch things up again!

It's been 5 years...

2012-01-05T10:55:00.003-07:00

I think it's been since the Christmas of 2006, that all 7 of us have been together.

So...a meeting like this deserves a photo op.

The 2 of us on the left live in Utah. The other 3 girls live in the Seattle area. The slouchy boy in the middle (seriously Steve...sit up:) lives in Atlanta and the youngest child over on the far right is in the Navy in sub school in Connecticut.

...my little family has had more pictures taken in the past 4 months then in the past 4 years...

But

no one was around to hold Lil C during those family shots, and finally there were lots of family members to help out so Mr. T and I finally have a current picture of us as well...and not one that we took ourselves! :)

I sure do love my family!

Back to reality...

2012-01-04T13:02:00.002-07:00

Well...my 2 weeks in Seattle with my family has come to an end.

Today I board a plane (with 2 kids on my own...eek) and head back to Utah.

I'm happy and sad at the same time.

I love it here in Seattle.

I love being with my mom and sisters.

I love the warmer weather (not much, but some).

I love seeing water wherever we drive.

And of the 14 days I have been here...only 5 have been filled with rain...

not bad!

But...I'm happy to be headed "home".

I'm happy that we get to be with Mr. T again.

I'm happy that I will be able to begin on some of the projects I have on my list.

So, off we go!

2011-12-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

.Merry Christmas.

homemade Christmas Gift #5 (2011)

2011-12-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

.ornaments.

I saw these cute ornaments on Pinterest and made them with my activity day girls.

They turned out cute.

I didn't have puff paint, so we used regular paint and gold glitter glue.

The girls had fun and that's what matters most.

I also decided to do handprint ornaments of the boys.

Well...trying to get a 3 month old to open his hand long enough to get a print on an ornament is a joke. Awake...asleep...happy...screaming, it just wasn't going to happen.

So a footprint had to work...on vellum...that I could slide inside.

Lil D did a handprint...but his big hand is hard to capture on camera...

You get the idea...grandparents will love them!

Homemade Christmas Gift #4 (2011)

2011-12-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

.Little Boy Flannel Scarf.

Using this tutorial...I made little D a scarf that he doesn't have to tie.

And while I was at it, I made one as a gift as well!

It's brilliant really.

Just put it on your neck...pull one side through the hole...and off you go!

Homemade Christmas Gift #3 (2011)

2011-12-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

.Initial necklace.

Yes, stamped metal is still going strong:)

I had one more silver disk from gifts a few years back,

so I added an initial and a crystal the color of her birthstone and added it to a chain.

.simple and sweet.

Homemade Christmas Gift #2 (2011)

2011-12-06T15:42:00.002-07:00

.Little girl aprons.

Instead of using coordinating fabric for the neck and ties,

I used ribbon and oversized ric rac.

Then added the same ric rac to embellish the bottom.

They were super easy to make...

and using leftover fabric from other projects

makes them super affordable.

Miniature anything is cute.

Miniature aprons...super cute.

Homemade Christmas Gift #1 (2011)

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Beadboard frames

We had some leftover beadboard from the nursery makeover.

I saw these cute beadboard frames at quilted bear and knew it was the perfect way to use it up.

Mr. T cut me a few different sizes.

The above long one holds 2 8X10s. We also cut one that holds 1 8X10 and one that holds 1 12X12. I painted them black using leftover paint from the guest bedroom furniture.

Mr. T also cut the plexi-glass. I had him cut it big enough to leave a 1/2inch border around the picture and small enough to leave a nice border of the beadboard.

He also drilled holes to run ribbon through to make it easy to hang.

I attached the plexi to the beadboard using acorn screws and bolts.

I absolutely LOVE them.

I kept a long one for myself...

The total cost for each frame was about $4.00

Beadboard: already had

Paint: already had

Nuts and bolts: $6.00 for 100 of each

(at a little shop called Nuts and bolts...at Lowes they would have been $1.00 for 4 nuts)

Plexiglass: $3.00 per frame.

(we bought a few large sheets because I was making so many which cut the cost on buying the precut little pieces.)

Ribbon: about $1.00 per frame

It's that time of year...

2011-11-30T21:43:00.002-07:00

I can't really believe that Christmas is here again!

The house is ready and gifts are almost done.

Over the next week or so I'm going to show you

all the homemade gifts I am making this year.

I'd love to see what you are doing,

so leave me a comment and/or a link so I can see what you got!

...Happy Thanksgiving...

2011-11-23T22:18:00.001-07:00

...back to blue...

2011-11-20T11:07:00.003-07:00

A few Sundays ago Mr. T blessed Cooper.

It was such a wonderful day, with lots of friends and family around.

I pretty much duplicated the pink party and did blue.

(of course I forgot to take pictures until most of the food was consumed)

My mom made these adorable little booties for him.

My grandma used to make them and every year for Christmas we got to pick a new pair out of her "slipper chest". I had my heart set on her making me a pair of white ones for my wedding, but she passed away a few months before then. My mom surprised me, learned how to knit them and made me a pair. Still makes me tear up just thinking about it.

But that has nothing to do with Cooper...just makes me think of them and my Grandma every time I see a pair:)

My mom also made him a blanket.

Have a mentioned my mom is super talented and I love her so much!

I also love this little guy quite a lot as well!

Holiday Craft & Gift Boutique

2011-11-16T21:20:00.003-07:00

Come by our 2nd annual Holiday Craft and Gift Boutique.

If you are a Seattle/Tacoma resident stop by in the next 3 days for some fantastic holiday decor and gift items. You will not be disappointed!

A pink party in a house full of boys.

2011-11-03T20:50:00.003-06:00

A gal in my neighborhood is having a baby girl in a couple weeks.

My good friend Jamie and I threw her a baby shower.

It's a lot of fun to do a pink party especially since Jamie and I both have 2 boys.

I made my first ever pennant banner.

Easy and cute!

(do you love the yarn...it's pom pom yarn...my cousin had some...I needed some too)

Jamie had the grand idea to make cake balls...lots of them.

Not gonna lie...these took us forever...but we learned lots of things and "next time" it won't take as long. Oh...and they are DELICIOUS!

We also made marshmallows dipped in caramel and then white chocolate...

these are the best treats ever!

and little bottle sugar cookies.

I decided to do pink and silver.

Not tons of decor, but enough.

I even put some cute baby feet in a frame.

(gift table)

I also made some tissue pom poms for the first time.

So easy and so stinkin' cute!

Food:

cake balls: lemon, spice, chocolate and mint chocolate

caramel marshmallows

sugar cookies

pumpkin bars

fruit platter with a cream cheese dip

veggie platter with a greek dip

and a salad that Jamie makes and I LOVE...

poppy seed dressing and toffee bits...mmmm

It was a very fun night...thanks Jamie for all the help!

...and by the way...

I've been eating leftover cake balls and marshmallows all day!

Sunday Share #4....button leaf

2011-10-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

It's been a long time since I have done a Sunday Share.

I was called as Activity days leader a few months ago,

so hopefully I will have some fun things to share over the next

however many months I'll be doing this :)

After making this pillow, I swore I was done with buttons.

I lied...which isn't necessarily a good trait...oh well!

A friend of mine saw the skull pillow and told me that when she was activity days leader one of her lessons was teaching the girls how to sew on different types of buttons. She said they had a great time. We put the pillow and her idea together and came up with a fun way to learn to sew on buttons...after button...after button.

I found a leaf outline online (looked more like a heart after I drew it on the fabric)

and traced it on some muslin. Then I made the stem a glittery gold.

I did all of this the day before so it was dry and ready for the girls.

I had the girls bring an embroidery hoop so it was easier to sew.

Then using a few packs of fall colored buttons they began to sew.

I was dying at how much fun they were having.

Who knew...sewing buttons can be fun!

This is the end result:

It actually didn't take very long to do all the buttons.

And next time, I would just mix the colors up.

AND...find a pattern that looked less hearty!

But all in all...they had fun and learned a practical skill.

Button...Button...who's got the button?

2011-10-19T22:05:00.002-06:00

My super talented cousin Hannah made a really cute pillow over a year ago.

I kept telling her I wanted to make one just like it.

Then she made another cute one for Christmas.

Again...

Well, just add it to the list.

So.

I was determined to have a button pillow.

And button pillow I made.

Spooky Style!

(if you couldn't guess...I stitched those puppies onto an envelope pillow case)

Can I just say...I will NEVER sew that many buttons onto one thing again.

Brain Damage!

But spooky nonetheless!

I heart envelope pillow covers

2011-10-05T21:45:00.002-06:00

I know I have said it a lot...

but these are the easiest and best pillow covers ever!

I love pillows.

I hate storing pillows.

I hate stuffing pillows.

I hate putting in zippers.

I love that I can make pillow covers that solve all those problems...

I just took off the previous envelope pillow cover.

Used some extra white fabric I had on hand with some

"spooky fabric" (as little D calls it)

(yeah, I own an iron...I just don't like to use it).

And you have Halloween pillows.

(actually I made 2)

I'm thinking I might make a skeleton one with buttons...

similar to this.

Time to get spooky!

2011-09-22T20:58:00.003-06:00

I usually wait till October 1st to pull out the Halloween decor, but since I had a baby during my fall decorating time...I haven't had much decor up and so Halloween came out early.

Not a lot, just a few fun things here and there...but I do love it!

2 weeks

2011-09-16T15:44:00.001-06:00

If he isn't sleeping...he's doing this.

Most peaceful baby ever.

Boy do I love him!

Peaches...with my mom

2011-09-13T15:57:00.003-06:00

My mom is in town for a week to "help" with the new babe.

He sleeps...all day...

so we decided to use that time to can me some peaches.

My mom wanted to try the new (we think they are new) steamer canner things.

We had to go on quite the search to find one...and we did.

You set them in that base with just 8 cups of water and then cover them with the top and the steam seals them all up....

We ended up with 11 jars...which is perfect for my little family.

YUM!

I think next year I will have to have her come down again to do more peaches and maybe a few other things...I won't be having another baby...but canning seems like a perfectly good reason for a visit!

A whole lot of love.

2011-09-07T17:48:00.001-06:00

He's here.

2011-09-01T20:32:00.008-06:00

Cooper Wade

9-1-11

2:18 pm

8 lbs 9 oz

22 inches

August 29th:

I went to my doctor's appointment nearing 39 weeks. He asked how I was feeling. I told him I was feeling like I wanted to have my baby. He asked when...I said Thursday and he said that would be just fine. Really? That easy? Great.

August 31st:

I got a foot zone (reflexology) done by my neighbor. Wanted to help my body get moving before the induction to hopefully help it all move a little faster.

***

I was up all that night with contractions. Some were weak and some hurt like crazy. Some came 4 minutes from one another and some 7 to 12 minutes. By 4am I woke up Mr. T to time them (and to have someone up with me) by 5am I finally was able to fall asleep for 12 minutes at a time breathing through the contractions as they came. Through the night, I actually felt that little guy get in a better position. He went from laying across my body to fully up and down.

September 1st:

I woke up around 7:30. The contractions were still coming, but not as often. I got showered and Lil D ready for the day and waited for that call. It wasn't coming. I called at 8:30, to be told that they had a really busy night and there was still 1 person in front of me so it would probably be closer to 11am, if then. I told them about the contractions and they told me that I could come in and be checked and they could possibly "work something out". I was frustrated and Lil D was bouncing off the walls wondering when that baby was going to come. We sent him off to the neighbors and I tried to sleep.

***

At 10:15 I called my doctor's office. They basically told me the same thing...I could go in and get checked if I wanted to. Mr. T and I went for a walk and then he decided that he would just take me in. I couldn't do a whole other day of this and I figured if I had progressed at all since Monday (3 and 25%) they would admit me since I was scheduled for an induction anyway.

***

11am: We arrived at the hospital and they checked me in to the delivery room. I had progressed to a 4 and 90%.

12pm: potosin was started and the epidural was going. The contractions immediately started and were 2 minutes apart.

1pm: My doctor came and broke my water. Still a 4.

1:20ish: Mr. T left to get some lunch.

1:30ish: My nurse came in to set things up...I informed her I was filling lots of pressure.

1:40ish: She checked and I was fully dialated...quick call Mr. T back

1:50pm: Mr. T got back and I pushed through 2 contractions. Then I sat through a few more while we waited for my doctor to get downstairs.

2:10ish: I pushed through 4 contractions

2:18pm: Sweet little Cooper was laying on my belly.

I just laid there in amazement! I couldn't believe that it happened so fast.

I'm still in shock that I have a second child...we tried for 3 years...and he is finally here!

I love him!

His brother...LOVES him!

The Thompson family is a pretty happy family right now!

(and in case you are wondering who he looks like...he is a spitting image of Dallin...I'm talking identical...it's kinda crazy...guess he definitely belongs to us!)

My week alone.

2011-08-22T09:39:00.002-06:00

This past February, my dad called to tell me the dates for our family camping trip/reunion. August 14th.

Ummmm....dad...I guess it's time to let you know that I am pregnant and due Sept. 7th.

Pretty sure a 37 week pregnant lady won't be allowed on a plane.

Pretty sure a 37 week pregnant lady won't want to sleep in a tent.

Pretty sure a 37 week pregnant lady shouldn't be skiing (especially 800 miles from her doctor).

So, I sent the boys...and they had the best time ever.

This is Banks Lake...it's right by the Grand Coulee Dam in Eastern Washington.

I grew up going to this lake twice a summer every year.

I was SO sad that I couldn't go, but I am glad that Mr. T was willing to take Lil D to hang out with my family for a week.

It was pretty fantastic for Lil D.

He had all his cousins from my side there.

He LOVES his cousins.

This sweet little girl and her younger sister live in Atlanta.

We haven't seen her for about a year and a half...and had never met the baby.

Let's just say that they had a good time together.

and my nephew.

He lives in Seattle, so we get to see him a little more often...

but for Lil D, he could probably see him every day.

He idolizes this boy!

It makes me happy that time and miles don't keep these kids from knowing and loving one another. And the even better part...they will all be together at Christmas.

(including a 5th grandkid...wahoo).

So...while those 2 were enjoying the sun and water I spent my week resting and getting a few things done around the house. It was super fantastic to have no one to worry about but myself...I felt so rested. I did some scrapbooking, got my hospital bag packed, finished Lil D's school shopping, got a pedicure, got a hair cut and ate out with some friends without having to get a babysitter or worry about what the boys would eat....beautiful!

I am so glad they are home. I'm tired again.

BUT...we are down to 15 days...

here's hoping it will be sooner then that:)

Bountiful Harvest

2011-08-12T10:14:00.000-06:00

My good friend left on a family vacation for a week.

She left me in charge of her garden.

She and her husband both grew up in Idaho...on farms.

It doesn't matter how crappy our spring was...whatever they touch...

GROWS!

All those tomatoes.

All these cucumbers.

I get that much every other day.

Good thing they are my 2 favorite vegetables.

And good thing I have lots of neighbors who also love to receive fresh garden veggies.

This last batch...and the stuff I get Saturday I actually need and can use.

I am one of the activity day leaders in my ward

and this Saturday is our Mother/daughter activity.

We are having a little luncheon and then they are making bracelets.

So...here is how I am going to use the abundance of veggies.

Tomato/Basil Brushetta (recipe here) served on little crostinis.

This is one of my most favorite things and I am making tons and tons in the hope I have lot of leftovers:) Oh...and I don't have to buy anything because I have 2 huge beautiful basil plants in my garden.

Cucumber Salad (recipe here)

I haven't decided if I am going to use basil, so it goes with the brushetta, or dill because dill and cucumber is Yummy!

And for the "main course": Roasted chicken and bow tie pasta (recipe here)

I haven't tried it...but it sounds/looks delicious...and with those ingredients, you can't really go wrong.

36 weeks!

2011-08-11T16:53:00.002-06:00

Lil D is getting to be quite the photographer.

Wish you could hear him, "Zoom in a little, now out...little more in...perfect"!

Down to weekly appointments with the doctor.

Heartburn all day long.

And SOOOOO tired!

But...it's been a very easy pregnancy (just like Lil D) so I really can't complain.

However...I'm ready for this little guy to make his appearance....

He just has to wait until Mr. T and Lil D go to my family reunion next week for 5 days...let's just say I'm just going to lay really still for 5 days (yeah, that will be hard)...and then as soon as their plane lands next Thursday, I'm gonna start walking....

All Day Long!

I don't really have much left to do...which is a huge relief...just lots of time to relax and hang out with Lil D...of course, he just wants the baby here too....maybe he'll go walking with me:)

baby item #3...nursing cover

2011-08-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

I'm not gonna lie...I am pretty sneaky when it comes to breast feeding in public with no one the wiser. Yep, totally fed Dallin, when he was 9 months old, while standing in line to ride on Pirates of the Caribbean...even my family didn't realize...tee hee!

This time I figured I could at least make something to cover myself up...incase I'm not as good this go round :) Besides, I have been loving this fabric for a few months, but had no reason to buy it...how 'bout a nursing cover...perfect reason.

I used this tutorial from Sew Much Ado.

Her tutorial was super easy to follow...and even though I say my sewing skills are not that fantastic...I feel like it looks like I bought it from a store...I'm giving Abby all the credit for keeping the tutorial simple...so thanks!

I love it!

baby item #2...car seat cover

2011-08-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

I decided this little one (32 days and counting) needed one of those infant car seat covers. Since he is coming at the start of fall and will be a little one through the winter, as much as I can alleviate "strangers" hands on him in public the better. Shopping for fabric was hard for me. I didn't want anything "babyish" and all the fabrics I found in "boy colors" were still "girly prints"...frustrating. I finally decided on a gray/blue/pale yellow print. Bonus, it matches my diaper bag...

To make the cover, I used this tutorial from Sutton Grace.

It was so simple.

(yep, stripes on the inside)

(oh, and I didn't even realize that it has some of the same colors as the car seat...that's what you get for packing the car seat away for 3 years and forgetting what it looks like.)

After making the cover, I even took apart the cart seat, washed the seat fabric and wiped down the seat...check another task off the list.

baby item #1...pacifier clip

2011-08-02T20:05:00.002-06:00

Since the nursery is done...it's time to make a few baby items...non baby room related.

Today I whipped up a couple pacifier clips. Seriously...so easy and so fast.

I used this tutorial from Our Seven Dwarfs...but made it even easier for myself.

I cut each ribbon 9" long.

I burnt each end with a lighter to keep the ribbon from fraying.

I put the ribbon through the suspender clip and hot glued it down.

Then I hot glued one side of the velcro to the end of the ribbon...put a pacifier in to make sure it fit, and hot glued the other side of the velcro in the correct place.

Attach pacifier and it's ready for baby's mouth.

One project down...a few more to go...and 5 weeks left! :)

Farmer's Market finds

2011-08-01T08:33:00.004-06:00

When my sisters came to town a week or so ago, we hit the Salt Lake City Farmer's market.

I love this market...there are so many amazing crafters...and yummy food.

We spent lots and lots of time looking at all the beautiful jewelry...

and of course we picked up a few pieces along the way.

Our favorite booth was this amazing jewelry designer, Cynthia Wainscott.

Her little company is called Exotic Peru and she can be found on Etsy.

She also does in-home shows.

I bought this gorgeous necklace from her...

She even changed the clasp for me so I can wear the necklace at different lengths.

She is so sweet and super talented.

We also spent a long time looking at the amazing glass jewelry of Sarinda Jones of Reflective Art Studio. My two older sisters bought necklaces from her as well. I fell in love with her table sculptures...she had one in greens and blues that was amazing. If you are going to be in Utah in the next few months, you must go see her stuff in person.

There was one more booth that we all were loving, Wildflowers by Heather. These necklaces caught our attention immediately...

But she also has tons and tons of beautiful glass beads for necklaces and bracelets. Another must check out...

It was such a fun day...and I'm thinking I may have to sneak back down there to pick up a few more things...and maybe find some new favorites!

Do you have a farmer's market you love to shop at?

Turning 34

2011-07-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my birthday...it was a great day.

I have no issues with birthdays...I have no problem having another year pass by and getting another year older. Of course, birthdays are even better when I have my Lil D and Mr. T to spend it with.

I woke up in the morning and was promptly handed my b-day present.

I've been hinting to Mr. T about this charm bracelet...and he came through.

I LOVE the charms he picked out...and the little guy from Lil D...pure love!

Then these flowers were delivered...

from my wonderful mom and step-father...how nice is that...love from Seattle:)

I spent the day with this little one...

and Mr. T...

It was a peaceful day...just hanging out and enjoying my family.

Birthdays are great!

The baby nursery

2011-07-25T07:41:00.004-06:00

It's all finished.

Mostly.

Just need to have this baby arrive so we can name him...

then I can add 2 more final touches.

With all the house makeovers we have done in the past year and a half, this is the only room that has never been touched. It stayed yellow from the day we moved in nearly 6 years ago, until we got pregnant a second time and needed another nursery.

When discussing how we would decorate the nursery, Lil D gave me strict instructions that the room needed to be green (his favorite color) and have elephants in it (no idea why he picked that animal)...but...green is good...it's every where in my house, why not here too?!

My nursery theme:

Green and brown with a little blue and some elephants...how's that?!

I've said for a long time that if we ever had another baby and I got to decorate another nursery, I was going to do bead board...so hurray for getting pregnant, so I could have bead board in a bedroom. I also LOVE stripes, so I decided that bead board and green stripes were the way to go. I painted the stripes, and then Mr. T and I installed the bead board, new baseboards and the cap board....and boy do I LOVE it!

I made the valance, window seat, and pillows...bringing in some brown and lots of texture.

I found the elephant family on an etsy shop One Decal Gal. I had her custom make me a family of 4 and we added a pink bow to mama elephant's ear. She was so great to work with and I LOVE my little Elephant family.

The dresser, crib and rocker are all from Lil D's nursery.

I didn't want to buy another nursery bedding set like I did with Lil D, so I found a brown bumper and brown skirt and then I bought a green, blue and brown polkadot sheet (along with a solid brown sheet) for the bedding. I saved a TON of money buying the individual items on sale or with coupons...AND...I don't have the quilted blanket all those sets come with to sit around collecting dust. I'm sorry...but those quilts are not cuddly and are of no use to me. Instead, I found the super cute polka dot (soft and cuddly) blanket with the elephant on it at Burlington for $12.

Lil D found the mobile at Walmart and "we have to buy this for the baby because he needs this and it plays music and has an elephant on it"...ok...

You can read about my nursery wall art here.

After Mr. T tore out the old (crappy) closet organizer and installed a new one, I took out the closet doors and added these brown curtains (from Target). Bi-fold doors kill an already tiny room...now I can actually put the rocker closer to the wall and closet and not knock into anything.

The only new furniture in the room is the book shelf (also from Target) and the bins.

The toys are from Lil D's baby toy stash and I love that I had these safari animals to decorate the shelf with. The bins hold a few more toys and books.

The lamp is also from Lil D's nursery, but I bought a new rectangular shade at Target for $7...and I don't know about you, but I HAVE to have a clock in every room, so I spent a whopping $3 on this little white one.

It is crazy to me to see how different this room looks from where we began to now.

I'm not gonna lie, I do just go in there and sit sometimes.

We put in a lot of manual labor...and every hour was worth it.

I just can't wait for this little guy to arrive in 6 1/2 weeks :)

I'm linking to:

Motivate Me Monday

Transformation Thursday

Feature Yourself Friday

DIY project parade

Ready for baby...

2011-07-22T08:00:00.001-06:00

September 2005

We moved into our home...this room was this color yellow.

We stuck our guest room furniture in there and called it good.

March 2009

The guest room was moved to the basement and this room became the

"baby stuff storage room"

(in the hopes another baby would someday join our little family)

Then we did a whole lot of work...which gets us to...

July 2011

I still have 7 weeks left...but this tired body is HAPPY that this room is done.

I'll post more pictures soon...with a few details about some things.

By the way...I'm IN LOVE with this room:)

Nursery wall art

2011-07-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

I love the stripes in the nursery...but it has left me with 2 big walls of stripes that need to be broken up and filled with some fun art/pictures.

Project #1:

animal alphabet collage

I had everything for this project except some white paper for the backing, so I spent $1 on a roll of white wrapping paper and spray glued it to the backing of the frame...that's it!

Then I took some chip board letters leftover from this project and laid them out on the wrapping paper.

Then I cut out safari animals using my cricut and zooballo cartridge...just their silhouette...and put them next to their appropriate letter.

I spray painted the letters and frame brown and then glued everything on the paper...

and put it all together.

Project #2:

Pregnancy pictures shadow box.

I bought a shadow box at Joanns for 1/2 price and spray painted it brown. Then I put self adhesive corkboard on the back of the frame and covered it in white fabric.

Using the button straight pins, I put together a collage of pregnancy pictures and ultrasound pictures.

After little baby boy's baby blessing, I will change out this shadow box with his blessing outfit, like I did with Lil D.

Project #3:

Shanty 2 Chic's clip frames.

I saw these frames at Shanty 2 Chic and I knew they were the perfect way to round out my wall of art/pictures. I bought 3 frames at Walmart for $3 a piece and spray painted them brown. I spray glued the leftover fabric from the nursery pillows to the glass and then hot glued the spray painted clips to each frame.

I decided to put pics of Lil D helping with the nursery makeover in the frames for now...sooner then later, we can put little baby boy's face in those frames.

After lots of spray paint, glue and nails...

Here it is...my nursery wall o' art and pictures.

The blank space will be filled with little baby boy's initial once he is here and has a name. And the other blank frame will hold his monthly pictures. I think it will be fun to watch it fill up each month.

I LOVE how it turned out.

button straight pins

2011-07-19T15:00:00.000-06:00

While working on one of my projects for my nursery wall art, I saw some super cute straight pins that had buttons as the heads. Bingo...just what I needed...

to make:

I took some straight pins and green buttons I already had,

and hot glued them together.

Cute!

Mini cherry pies...take 1

2011-07-18T08:16:00.000-06:00

I decided to try making some mini cherry pies with my leftover homemade cherry pie filling.

They tasted delicious.

I used one of those refrigerated pie crusts. Cut out rounds with a cookie cutter and placed them into a muffin tin. Filled each cup with 2 heaping tablespoons. Then I cut out extra strips of crust for the top. I baked them at 350* for about 35 minutes. They really did taste so yummy...especially with a little vanilla bean ice cream.

Here's what I am going to change for next time:

-The pie crust rounds need to be much bigger so they actually come up over the top of the muffin tin. I was just being too lazy to find something bigger to cut out when I could just use my cookie cutter.

-I'm going to roll the pie crust thinner. One, so I can make more mini pies (I think the one crust, not rolled thinner, made 8...it could at least make 12) and two, so it will cook quicker. The crust wasn't cooking and the longer I cooked it the more the filling bubbled out.

-I'm going to make my lattice top pieces a little prettier:) If the cup comes out of the tin, I could pinch the lattice pieces on better and I think they would look better...not that looks make a difference THAT much...just put it in your mouth!

I'm thinking little apple pies would be good too...oh little pies with anything would be good!

I'm pregnant...I'm eating dessert:)

For the love of rosemary.

2011-07-17T08:37:00.000-06:00

When Mr. T and I were in Las Vegas last month, we ate at Craftsteak...so YUM!

Like many restaurants, they brought out some bread after we ordered.

There were 6 rolls in a little cast iron dish and they were delicious...buttery and salty and we ate them up quick.

I'm not really a baker...I use Rhodes rolls for lots of things and I figured that they would taste good buttered up and cooked/served in a cast iron dish. So I found some mini cast iron dishes at Sur La Table and set out to make some yummy rolls.

As I previously professed my love for rosemary...I mean, you can take me to Macaroni Grill any day just to eat their rosemary bread...I thought these rolls would be even better with rosemary added to their buttery salty goodness. Then I remembered reading awhile back that the Pioneer Woman had made these exact things...so I searched it down and found her "recipe".

Then I made some myself...

Okay, I've made them twice...in a week:)

I've eaten more then my share.

I don't care...I'll make them again...and eat them all:)

****

Since my cast iron pan is so little, I actually cut the rhodes rolls in half...so 3 rolls makes 6...it makes me feel a little bit better thinking that I can eat 2 and it's really only the calories for 1:)

Just go with me!

Oh...and make them...you will LOVE them!

More pillows

2011-07-16T08:19:00.000-06:00

After making the pillows for the baby room, Lil D decided that he needed a few more pillows for his window seat...with dinosaurs of course.

I still had 2 more pillow case covers from Ikea, so we went on a hunt for the perfect fabric. Lil D informed me that we would be making a brachiasaurus, which is blue and a "platicus", which is green (I'm not sure which dino that actually is, but Dino Dan says it's one:)

We went to a few fabric stores and I struggled to find blue and green fabric that I liked, would work for a dinosaur and didn't look really "babyish". I bought two quarter fats, and then kept putting off making them, because I didn't love the fabric. Then the other day, Lil D and I were walking through Walmart and lo and behold...the perfect dino fabric...

who would have thought...Walmart:)

I used my zooballo cricut cartridge and some heat n bond to make iron ons...

and just ironed on the dinos.

I think they turned out simple, but super cute. Lil D loves them, which is really all that matters...and I love that if he changes his love of dinosaurs to something else, I can just pull them off and use the pillow covers for something else.

And as long as I was doing pillows today...why not finally take the cloth napkins I bought at Target over a year ago and make that yellow pillow I have been wanting.

I do love a simple envelope pillow cover!

I think I am finally pillowed out!

On to finishing the picture wall for the nursery...it's turning out so cute!

A bowl full of cherries

2011-07-15T08:15:00.000-06:00

I bought some cherries at the farmer's market last weekend and decided that I needed to do something more with them then shove them in my mouth every time I walk by. Although there is nothing wrong with that, it's just a pain to have to stand and wait till I can spit the seed out...wah wah wah:)

Anyway, I decided to make some cherry turnovers.

Lil D was super excited to use the cherry pitter...super excited.

Who knew it could be so fun?!

He made it through half the bowl, which is pretty good...but Backyardigans came on and well, they are WAY better then cherry pitting!

I found this recipe to make my own cherry filling. Let me tell you, worth the effort...SO much better then any canned version. I may have to buy even more cherries and make up some to freeze...YUM!

I used this recipe for the actual turnover.

(there's turned out way prettier...

but looks don't make things less delicious, right?!)

Oh yes, I added some ice cream with a little chocolate sauce and whip cream...

why not...this pregnant belly ain't counting any calories.

I still have half a batch of the cherry filling left and another pie crust...

I'm thinking mini cherry pies....mmmmmm!

Yes, I'm still cooking.

2011-07-14T08:35:00.000-06:00

I haven't been real good about planning out a menu each week.

I hate when I go to the store multiple times a week...but my "plan aheadness" has been lacking so what can you do?!

Last week I made some salsa and some delicious rosemary rolls (I'll share those later) and had all sorts of random produce leftovers...so I did a little searching to find some recipes to use it all up and boy am I glad I did.

I first found this summer corn salad on foodnetwork.com.

What actually drew me to it was the use of the remainder of my produce from my salsa...but it is a MUST make.

Only thing I did different...I used frozen corn instead of on the cob.

Here's my thing. I have done the whole roasting the corn on the cob and then cutting it off...yeah, it's good...but a ton of effort AND the frozen corn from Costco is delicious so why not use it. I "heat it up" in a large pan. Gives it a bit more of a roasted taste. Just spray your pan and heat the corn on medium high till hot....add a little salt and pepper and done.

Add remaining ingredients...stir...and serve warm.

I absolutely LOVED this...LOVED.

I think it will be good cold...maybe mixed with some lettuce and a light vinegarette for lunch tomorrow. If you love corn...and cilantro...You need to make it!

I also had some rosemary to use up. So a little searching led me to this grilled rosemary chicken breast recipe.

I really liked these a lot. But I LOVE me some rosemary. Mr. T was not a huge fan. He said they had a strange after taste...so let me warn you...if you don't LOVE rosemary, you won't love these. I thought they were great...did I say that? When it comes to cooking with chicken breasts, I always use tenderloins, they are smaller portions, so I don't eat as much AND they cook very fast, which I like. I'm wondering if the flavor was stronger because the pieces are small and thin...just a thought. If I make them again I may use half the rosemary and see if Mr. T likes them better.

So there you go.

2 yummy dishes perfect for summer

and a perfect way for me to clean out the produce drawer before I head back to the store...

again:)

32 weeks!

2011-07-13T08:13:00.003-06:00

(photos courtesy of Lil D...he's getting to be quite the photographer)

I am typically the first person that wants summer to last FOREVER...LOVE the heat and sunshine and hate when it leaves. I have been wishing this summer away so that this baby could just be here, but I realized yesterday that I don't want to do that anymore. I want to enjoy every moment of the beautiful weather AND every moment of these last 8 weeks when it is just me and Lil D. By the time this baby arrives, Lil D will be 4 1/2...thats 4 1/2 years of me and him doing what we want when we want...it is going to be a HUGE adjustment for both us. Don't get me wrong, we are both so super excited, but I better not hurry by the days where he can have my undivided attention...'cause soon enough another little boy will be heavily occupying my time. So here's to the rest of the summer and lazy days with my Lil D.

Some 4th of July goodness.

2011-07-03T17:50:00.003-06:00

I have been wanting to make white chocolate covered popcorn for a long while...I found a great recipe that needed to be tried...and I figured I could make it 4th of July-y and make up a few neighbor treats.

I changed the recipe a bit, to fit our family and what we like, and to keep it as white with red and blue as possible.

2 bags buttered popcorn

1 bag white chocolate covered pretzels

1 bag white chips

1/2 bag mini marshmallows

1 1/2 cups m&ms

(I bought some 4th of July colors when we were in Vegas last week)

Pop the popcorn and separate any duds.

Smash the pretzels up a bit.

Melt the white chips and pour over the popcorn and mix well.

Add in remaining ingredients and mix some more.

Dump onto 2 cookie sheets and let it cool completely.

I had these little metal tins from a BBQ (Target $1 bins) and lined them with plastic wrap and then filled them up with the yummy popcorn mix.

They are SO good!

and really...you can make this any time of year:)

********************************

I really like making Lil D shirts...give me an excuse...and I'll make one.

I got this t-shirt at Walmart for $2.50 and decided it would be perfect for a 4th of July shirt.

I used some more of my freezer paper (I really think this stuff will last till he's 18).

I traced a star cookie cutter and painted it on.

Then I taped off 1 inch stripes for the white.

and then 1 inch stripes for the red.

Of course Lil D loves to help.

and we have a patriotic shirt to wear to the parade.

Hope you all have a happy 4th of July!

The window seat is ready to be sat on.

2011-06-29T07:00:00.000-06:00

With the pillows made and the seat cushion done and the valance hung...

Lil D was ready to put some more things in the baby room.

One more corner of the room complete.

All that is left is some decor on the walls.

Can't wait to post pictures of it all done...or maybe I just can't wait for it to be all done!

A little chocolate for the baby room.

2011-06-28T07:00:00.000-06:00

I wanted to make a simple valance for the baby room.

I found this brown corduroy at Joanns at 50% off and thought it would be not just a great color but I really liked the texture.

I had some extra fabric, so I made an envelope pillow cover and added a little elephant to the corner.

I cut the elephant out with my cricut using the Zooballoo cartridge.

(I use ultra heat n bond to adhere the fabric)

Then I recovered the previous bench seat cushion with this great soft brown fabric that I also got at 50% off. It really is so soft and heavy and I love it.

Getting closer to being done...and loving everything in this room.

Pillows for the baby room.

2011-06-27T07:00:00.000-06:00

I know that my nursery theme is elephants (as chosen by Lil D)...

but I wanted to make some ABC 123 pillows that will carry over when this little guy grows out of his nursery.

The pillow covers are from Ikea. An awesome trick my cousin taught me. Buy the Ikea pillow covers for very cheap, and then add anything that you want to them.

That is my kind of sewing.

As I do with most of my projects like this, I adhered the fabric to ultra heat n bond then cut out the letters with my cricut. These letters are from the Mickey Mouse cartridge. Then I iron them on and stitch around the outsides to secure them.

Only a few more projects and this baby room will be ready for a baby.

A baby room makeover...in the making

2011-06-25T15:32:00.002-06:00

The walls were painted.

The beadboard installed.

along with new baseboards and a cap on the beadboard and some carpet.

Time to decorate!

Shabby Apple Winner...

2011-06-24T08:04:00.003-06:00

Thanks to everyone who entered!

The winner of this cute little Shabby Apple dress

(using random.org)

is #6

The Watson's...

who said:

such a cute dress! liked them on facebook.

Congratulations!

Maternity clothing ramblings and a dress revamp

2011-06-23T07:00:00.001-06:00

I try not to complain about anything pregnancy related...

because I am just so grateful that I am pregnant.

But let's be real here...maternity clothes are a RIP OFF!

The last (and first) time I was pregnant, I bought myself a nice little maternity wardrobe.

You would hope that you would be able to reuse those clothes in future pregnancies.

Nope. Not me.

Pregnancy #1 I was working full time therefore I bought lots of trousers and dress shirts.

Pregnancy #2 I'm a stay at home mom with no need for trousers or dress shirts.

Pregnancy #1 I was big pregnant right through winter.

Pregnancy #2 I am big pregnant right through summer.

Pregnancy #1 I started my pregnancy at 170 pounds.

Pregnancy #2 I started my pregnancy at 145 pounds.

Let's just say that not a single clothing item has been able to be recycled.

Awesome right?:)

I have 2 main issues with maternity clothing...the length and the price.

Attention maternity clothing designers:

I don't like my fat pregnant thighs shown to the world

AND

I don't like paying more for clothing I can only wear for 3 months then clothes I wear the rest of my life.

So I've done my best to wear regular clothes for as long as possible. Here are the non-maternity clothes I am loving:

-Downeast clothing has great shirts...I have their cap sleeve t's in about every color and they still fit...love that.

-Athleta is one of my new fav clothing lines. I have 2 of their dresses and could wear them up to a month ago...they are super comfortable and cute. I also bought a skirt that I am currently wearing and will be able to wear the whole pregnancy...and then when I am back to my normal size it will still fit. I'd wear it every day if people wouldn't notice. The beauty of athleta is (not just their super cute clothes) that I can buy talls...which means no fat thighs hanging out.

-Maxi dresses...from anywhere...they love non pregnant and pregnant bellys!

I have had to break down and buy some maternity items. I found these shorts and LOVE them. I have bought a few things from Motherhood Maternity...a pair of capris and a dress. And I have found a few things at Old Navy. I have been able to find some great deals...but the length issues remains.

Which brings me to my dress revamp.

I am NOT a seamstress...

but I can sew well enough to make pillows and add fabric to a dress:)

I bought this dress from Old Navy (online) for $15. When it arrived it was just a bit too short for my liking. I just want my thighs covered...c'mon is that too much for my 7 month body to ask for?

So I found some fabric at Joanns that I thought would not only help me lengthen the dress but add a little something to it. I cut the fabric into 6 inch strips, folded it in half and stitched it to the bottom of the dress.

I think it turned out just fine.

Yes, it's a jersey dress and that bottom fabric is not...oh well...it's only 3 months.

I'm just glad that I have another dress to get me through this hot summer and my thighs can be cool without having to bare themselves to the world:)

Don't forget...today is the last day to enter the Shabby Apple dress giveaway!

For the love of dinosaurs

2011-06-22T08:35:00.001-06:00

Lil D is only 4 and his room has just undergone it's 3rd makeover...

I think we are done (for now:)

His nursery was painted light blue on top and chocolate brown on the bottom and we added a chair rail at the height of the window. I made the blue and brown valance. My mom made the large cushion for the window seat. His bedding was monkey themed, so we had monkeys around the room.

When Lil D turned 2 we moved him into a big boy bed. We bought the headboard off of craig's list for about $20. The dresser we already had. You can see their makeovers here.

I took down the monkey stuff and we added some cars. The main colors of his nursery were blue and brown...so we added some lime green and orange. I found the bedding at Target.

2 years later...and it was time for another update. Mostly I needed to get rid of the shelving on the walls. Mr. Active was bound to knock them off at some point. So I removed everything from the walls, patched the holes and gave the blue a new coat of paint.

Then we added dinosaurs...'cause Dino Dan has brainwashed my child...and taught him A LOT!

The main changes are just in the decor...details are listed below.

Details:

-The first change was removing the closet doors and hanging curtains (from Target), which allowed more space at the end of his bed where we added change #2...a bookshelf...(also from Target). Then bins are from Home Depot.

-I bought the magnet board at The Wood Connection and hung it with green grosgrain ribbon. I bought some little toy dinos at Joanns and glued magnets to them so he could hang "his stuff" as he requested.

-I cut out the vinyl dinosaurs using this cricut cartridge. Lil D HAD to pick out the colors and which dinosaurs we would cut out...he had a lot of opinions about this part. Lucky for me the colors he chose are the colors of his room:)

-The dinosaur pics I took at Utah's Hogle zoo...they are part of their "Zoorassic" summer exhibit. Lil D HATED them in person, but LOVES the pictures of them. They are 12X12 (printed at Costco) and mounted to white foam board. I wanted to just see the pics and I wanted to mount them without putting holes in my walls so I used some reusable sticky mounting squares.

-The picture wall. I bought the white frames from a thrift store (they weren't white) and painted them white. I bought the shadow box frame at Joanns (which holds his blessing outfit, including the slippers made by my mom) and I bought the other frame from Roberts Arts and Crafts. It is actually for school pics from 1st grade on up...but I used it for the monthly pics I took of Lil D his first year of life. The letters for his name I made shortly after he was born (from The Wood Connection) and I mounted them using the 3M velcro strips.

Other items that were made previously, but we are still using:

-ABC bookends

-White bench and alphabet pillows

***his room got new baseboards and carpet like the rest of the house. I also bought a black out cellular shade from Lowes...it works great!

We are loving the new look and all those silly dinosaurs!

Don't forget to enter to win a free dress from Shabby Apple!

I'm linkin to Someday Crafts Whatever Goes Wednesday.

Family Picture Wall

2011-06-21T10:00:00.001-06:00

The family room makeover was actually completed last summer....it just took me almost a year to get the family pictures hung. Sad it took so long...but very happy with the result!

Want one of these fabulous family trees?

You can have your very own, made by the super talented Jennifer Juniper...go check out her etsy shop...she has some fantastic things!

The temple picture and board I purchased at the Wood Connection.

I painted the board white then glazed it. Then mod podged the picture to the board and added some texture cream to the picture to make it look "canvasy".

I'd like to finally call this room done...but since I keep moving the things around on the bookshelves we will just call it "complete for today".

Don't forget to enter to win a free dress from Shabby Apple!

Win a Shabby Apple dress

2011-06-20T07:45:00.001-06:00

This Giveaway is now CLOSED!

I'm very excited to be hosting another giveaway from Shabby Apple. I just adore their women's dresses...with so many styles and colors.

The Pina Colada dress comes in this cute print and 3 other colors...lovin' it for summer!

And now that summer is in full swing and it's time to put on that swim suit...

you really must check out their adorable suits.

And since I am currently pregnant, I have spent a bit of time adoring their maternity dresses...too cute!

Along with lots of great clothing items, Shabby Apple has really great accessories including fantastic earrings and fabulous shoes.

Go take a few minutes and have a look around...I'm sure you'll find lots of things to love!

Now on with the giveaway.

Shabby Apple let me pick out a dress to be given away...

and I couldn't help but love this little blue number:

Azure Coast.

What a flattering dress for all of us!

I just love the great large bow and the blue is a great color for any season.

And let's be honest, who can't use great pockets.

Want this dress to be yours?

It's super simple.

Head over to facebook and "like" Shabby Apple, then leave me a comment letting me know you did.

That's it!

(Only one entry per person)

(you must leave a contact email in your comment)

(winner must have a US address)

(No exchanges will be made for the winner of this dress)

AND...if you find another item you can't live without, Shabby Apple is offering 10% off for followers of Mama Thompson. Just enter the code "mamathompson10off"

(code valid for the next 30 days)

Giveaway will close on Thursday, June 23rd at midnight (mst).

Winner will be announced on Friday!

Good Luck!

A stair makeover

2011-06-09T08:36:00.000-06:00

This is my staircase...was my staircase...till about a week ago.

The previous owner thought it would be a good idea to carpet the wall.

(luckily only the walls on the upstairs stairs not the basement stairs)

Not really sure why it took me 5 1/2 years to tear it off?!

After patching a zillion staple holes and some dings and a really good paint job..try 3 coats...

we tore out that nasty carpet and had some much better stuff put in.

(NOT on the walls)

Yeah "new" not wall carpeted staircase.

Mini master bedroom update

2011-06-08T12:10:00.005-06:00

I have been fine with my bedroom since we made it over a few years ago (see here),

but I have been wanting crown molding for a while...

(went up great...with a little hitch...well, more than a little...)

We got new carpet in the bedrooms/hall/landing and basement.

And we put new baseboards throughout the whole house...

(no "hitches" here...just lots of flinching...you can call us a bit "nail" gun shy!)

Three changes took us from this:

To this:

Loving it!

done...and waiting...

2011-06-03T11:55:00.002-06:00

ALL of the baseboards are in...holes patched...tops caulked.

Happy...is how I describe that!

Lil D even got in on the action.

Yesterday I spent the day painting the beadboard.

So last night Mr. T notched the cap boards so I can sand and paint them.

I'm hopeful that the baby room is "done" this weekend...and by done I mean all the moldings are in and touched up.

So what am I waiting for?

Carpet.

It was supposed to be installed this week.

It's Friday...so I guess that isn't happening:)

They say Monday...here's hoping since my mom arrives next Saturday.

It's kind of crazy...that in less then a week we could possibly be done with our house remodel. It all started here...it's taken a long time...but I am proud of all we have done.

Our Memorial weekend.

2011-05-30T22:37:00.002-06:00

I'm sorry, I have no pictures to share...yet...

I would have liked to have been outside enjoying the sun and warm...oh wait...there was no sun and warm here....just 50s and rainy...craziness! But good, because it kept us moving forward on the house projects...here's what we did:

-Beadboard is up in the baby room. It's been patched, caulked and has one coat of paint on it.

-Baseboards are up in Lil D's room and closet, the baby room and closet, the play room and half of the master. Only the rest of our room, the guest room and a small hallway to go.

-I have patched and caulked all of installed baseboards.

--I'm really, really tired. :) Getting up and down installing baseboards can really wear a person out...but I will be SO glad when we are done!

**Here's hoping that the carpet guy can install the new carpet at the end of the week...and then maybe my house can get put back together before my mom comes to town in less then 2 weeks!

What's left to do (aside from the baseboards):

-the cap on the beadboard

-patching and caulking the crown in the master bedroom

-lots of touch ups on the baseboards after the carpet is installed...I'm gonna beg him to be really nice to my new boards with their beautiful paint job that I worked so hard on:)

-Finish the update in Lil D's room

-Put the baby room together with the decor I've been gathering (can't wait to show pics of a few things I've found:)

-Put the play room together...maybe even add some decor if I have the energy!

--Maybe take a trip to the pool if we can get above 70* one of these days!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

In case you are wondering...

2011-05-21T23:12:00.004-06:00

Mr. T's finger is healing well...it's still a bit sore, but no infections and he hasn't even taken one of the pain killers they gave him a prescription for (I won't go into how easily they give away pain killers in the ER...makes me mad). Anyway...his finger is healed enough that he finished putting up the crown molding tonight...it looks great, now I just get the joy of patching and caulking. I will say that we both jerked a bit every time the nail gun went off...a little PTSD I think:)

In other house news...I got most of the baseboards pulled up to be prepared for the new baseboards going in that I spent all day Friday painting. I painted over my rectangle in my living room (it just wasn't working with the new table, etc...I'll be needing some suggestions on that wall here soon). I also put together a photo wall in Lil D's room that I am loving. I have a few more things to update in his room before I want to post pictures...but I am very excited with how it is all coming together.

Coming up...we bought the beadboard for the baby room today and I'm hopeful it gets put in Monday/Tuesday evening. Once I get the rest of the baseboards up, we will put in the new ones...and then I am hopeful that we will get the new carpet installed in about 2 weeks.

I am feeling really good about where we are at with the upstairs mini remodel. You know when you start a project and the list seems so long and daunting? Well...it's nice to just jump in and get things done...the list gets shorter and you don't feel so overwhelmed anymore...I'm getting there...

and because he cracks me up...

...and a trip to the ER...

2011-05-18T07:33:00.003-06:00

(careful, picture may cause queasiness)

Mr. T came home a bit early to get a head start on putting up the crown molding in our room.

It was a frustrating evening with corners not matching...and pieces having to be recut. By 9:30 the frustration was high (luckily, just towards the crown and not each other:)...He was working on this small piece that connects the bedroom with the bathroom...

It, of course, was not matching perfectly either, so he was getting even more frustrated...then it kept slipping as he tried to match it as best he could. He finally got it ready, lifted his nail gun, set the nail gun, shot the nail gun, dropped the nail gun as the piece came down too, and jumped off the stool. He just stood there holding his hand looking at me. At first I thought the gun did something that just scared him, or nicked him...till he showed me this...

Then he immediately stated, "I have to go to the ER". With Lil D long asleep, I called my wonderful friend who sent her husband over to take him. While we waited the few minutes for him to get there (seriously, I've never had someone appear at my house so quick)...Mr. T was determined to take a picture...I just kept telling him to quit looking at it...and then...

The shock started setting in...the pain was all of a sudden being felt...his whole body was sweating and clammy and I really thought he was going to pass out. I didn't even know what to do for him but make sure he stayed sitting down....and he kept asking me if I would clean up while he was gone...no honey, they are your tools, you need to put them away when you get back because you got them out....silly man...really?!:)

They were at the hospital for about 2 1/2 hours. They had to x-ray his finger before they could pull it out to make sure it wasn't through the bone...it wasn't. Then they had to wait for the doctor to come pull it out (makes me queasy just thinking about that)...they numbed his finger really good, so he said he didn't feel it. Then he got a tetanus shot and some pain meds and was sent on his way.

Mr. T and I have done A LOT of home improvement/DIY projects over the years, especially this past year. He is a VERY cautious worker...we have NEVER had even the simplest injury. He is even more careful when it comes to the nail gun/saws/etc. The only thing I can figure is that trying to hold that little piece in place (with his right hand) and using the gun (with his left hand)...the gun slipped and shot straight down, through the crown and into his finger.

Ouch...really....just ouch!

Update: Mr. T just sent this to me from his iphone from the ER last night...and then there is the copy of the x-ray. These are really more for my journaling needs...but in case you wanted to be even more grossed out...

(THIS PICTURE IS WORSE!)

and that's that....

Progress report...

2011-05-16T20:53:00.005-06:00

24 weeks tomorrow

(but who's counting?)

It's been a very busy couple of days...

The yard is planted and ready for spring to really come...let's be honest...we missed spring...c'mon summer:) I planted 3 flower beds and my garden (after spreading soil pep with a neighbor family...they totally saved me:)...grow little tomatoes grow!

Mr. T installed the closet organizer in the baby room. Then he changed out the light in our bathroom...which included lots of patching and making of new holes since we had to install the new light higher up. Then I painted everything up so he could hang the new light...bye-bye light bar. And then he installed new black-out levelor (cellular) shades in Lil D's room and the baby room...they are fantastic!

I am currently overhauling Lil D's room, so it doesn't have to be messed with again for a few years. There are some things that (I'm embarrassed to admit) have not been "finished" since we originally did his nursery 4 1/2 years ago...but as of today, it is all completed and then some.

-removed shelves

-patched holes

-repainted top of room

-caulked the chair rail

-repainted the chair rail

-patched and painted around the window to be ready for new blind, which was then installed.

-removed closet doors and replaced them with curtains.

It's kind of fun...because his room is back to a clean slate. All that is left is to decorate...but he can't decide between dinosaurs, motorcycles, animals, or construction things. I told him he had to pick one...I'm leaning towards dinosaurs...we will see.

Here's hoping I have pictures to post in the next few weeks...

What's still on the to do list:

-beadboard in the baby room....then decor

-new baseboards throughout the upstairs and basement...with carpet to follow

-crown molding in the master bedroom, which is painted and I'm hopeful will be up by the end of the week.

**Minor things right:) Good thing I love to do home projects!

Yikes...Stripes!

2011-05-12T09:43:00.000-06:00

The nursery transformation has begun.

From a yellow room (it was this color when we moved in nearly 6 years ago)...

to a lovely primer white (the bottom half is getting beadboard)

to apple green.

after lots of measuring (I did 9 inch stripes)

and marking and taping (plus a trip to Lowes since I ran out of tape).

then some of the base green paint over the tape to seal it down.

(I know I used frog tape...but I don't fully trust it...so I use the technique I learned from Karla and I NEVER have to touch up.)

We have our stripes!

I LOVE them. The color is perfect for a boy...more apple then sage. I just can't wait to get the beadboard, baseboards, etc done because I already have my decor ideas ready to go.

Yes, I know I still have a few months to go, but I did Lil D's room in the last month or so and it was HARD with that big huge belly. This time I'm starting earlier, with a smaller belly and more energy. Plus, decorating a room with a 4 year-old wanting to help all along the way makes the work take 10 times as long:) But I'm glad he is having his input heard, hoping that makes this whole transition much easier.

A productive week...

2011-05-01T22:31:00.003-06:00

We all know that no project is as easy as walk in a room and paint it...nope...wouldn't that be nice though? So this week I decided to get a crackin' on the baby room...it is the only room in this house that has never been touched...never...after almost 6 years...it was in sad shape...

SO...this week Mr. T and I (and Lil D) patched a trillion holes, painted the ceiling, changed the overhead light, primed the walls, tore out the very bad closet organizer, and started patching it and getting it ready to paint. Outside the baby room I finally got Lil D's bathroom completely finished...the baseboards have been sitting unpatched and caulked for months...no more. We also changed out the light in Lil D's room and put new outside lights on the house.

I pulled some wall colors for the baby room and priced out the bead board for the bottom half of the walls. I also ordered new blinds for Lil D and the baby's room...we have slowly been replacing all the old crappy blinds in our house with Levolor cellular shades...I LOVE them! We get the cordless ones and they are fantastic. Anyway, I was ecstatic to find them on sale again, so I placed my order and splurged a teeny bit and bought the room darkening ones...I am so excited about that!

The baby room decor ideas are slowly coming together...Lil D has had a lot of opinions about it...so I am going with them so this whole transition of having mom to himself for 4 years to sharing her with a needy little thing will be a little easier...he is VERY excited about a baby....but I swear I can't leave his side lately...I hope that wears off soon:)

This week's to do list:

-finish prepping the closet for paint

-prime and paint the closet

-paint the moldings around the outside of the closet

-and while I'm painting moldings...repaint the chair rail in Lil D's room and the rest of the crown molding for my bedroom.

-finalize color for baby room and maybe paint.

On a side note...we woke up to this lovely site on Saturday morning. Lil D can't wait for summer and to hit the pool...but he was pretty excited that he got to shovel the driveway one more time...

Hoping you all had a productive week too!

What I've really been working on...

2011-04-21T19:36:00.003-06:00

yep...

only took 3 years and more clomid then I wish to take again...

but we finally got here and Lil D will no longer have to fly his life solo!

Partially why my big 'ol "to do" list still remains "to do"...and now we can add nursery to that list. Like many others, the first trimester was miserable and left me laying around pretty much all day...but I have been feeling great the last couple weeks and am starting to work on some things...feels good to be productive.

I'm at 20 weeks...due Sept. 7th...oh

and we will be doing another boy room:)

I'm so excited for Lil D to have a little brother...he really wanted a sister...but I think he'll be pleased when it's all said and done. I'm grateful that all those cute clothes that got worn once will be able to be worn at least one more time:)

If anyone has any ideas for a boy nursery...link 'em my way...I'm a bit stumped on this one!

sister Easter basket exchange

2011-04-20T09:36:00.002-06:00

Last year my mom thought it would be fun to exchange "Easter baskets" among the sisters. There are 5 of us, plus my mom and 1 wonderful sister-in-law. It was a lot of fun...so this year we kept the tradition going.

This year I drew one of my younger sisters.

This is what I did...(our budget is $15...just a small amount to do something fun...it's even more fun to see what all you can do for $15)

She had seen a picture of these cute little guys from the Wood Connection and told my mom she loved them...so I painted up a set for her.

Then I found these great glass shapes at a scrapbook store (for 75 cents a piece) and knew they would be perfect...I really wanted to make one with her initial on it...and when I found this S pattern in my scrapbook paper stack I was thrilled...and I just love the colors in the paisley...she can wear it with so many things.

I just modge podged the paper to the back, then added the the bails with diamond glaze. I only bought 1 chain to keep my cost on budget, but she can easily switch the 2 pendants.

All packaged up and ready to go.

My total cost for all I bought was just under $15. I didn't have to buy any paint, paper or supplies to make the stuff which was great. I hope she loves it all.

My mom has me this year and I can't wait to see what she came up with...she is crazy creative and crafty, so I am very excited!

What we've been doing.

2011-04-16T21:52:00.002-06:00

I wish every day could be filled with craft projects and home projects...but they can't...and to be honest, aside from a few Easter decorations, I've been pretty unmotivated in the craft and home area...the intermittent snow and cold weather is leaving me feeling like staying on the couch with Lil D curled under a blanket watching whatever Nick Jr. has to offer:)

Luckily, we have had a few breaks here and there and spring has shown it's face...so on those days we head outside as quick as we can...and this little guy couldn't be happier!

"going on safari"

"a soccer ball game"

"Easter egg hunt"

watering the yard.

April is a funny month. I expect that it should be warm...but it's not...and I guess I wouldn't mind so much if the projects I wanted to work on could be done indoors.

But...such is life in Utah...there will be plenty of warm, sunny (consistent) days very soon and then I can paint and craft and room redo to my hearts content. Until then, Lil D and I will play lots of games, watch some tv and hop outside if the sun shines and the temps get above 50*.

It's trying so hard to be spring...

2011-04-13T14:02:00.003-06:00

So I am giving it a bit of help.

I finally put out my spring decor last week...and I have added a few things to it over the past few days. The "spring", tall flowers and 2 little bunnies I have had for quite a few years. This year I added the little bunny and egg trio. All the wood items were purchased at the Wood Connection and then painted at home (with lots of help from Lil D).

I just love this little guy.

I think he is too cute.

And I'm not sure what I love more...

the eggs, or just the cute paper on the eggs.

And another cute bunny...

for the kitchen shelf.

Now if mother nature would cooperate and give us a break from the rain and snow...it might really feel like spring around here.

What I learned about making a construction cake

2011-04-03T22:58:00.002-06:00

#1. A 4 year-old is fully capable of mixing his own cake.

(He will also tell you that you only need eggs, milk and flour to make a cake and insist on writing "eggs" on your shopping list, then carry said shopping list around the store to insure you get all the items on the list, even though he can't read the list and keeps asking what is on it and if you got it yet.)

#2. The original size cricut will not cut a 4 out big enough for your cake, so don't waste your time getting it out when you will have to make a 4 stencil on your own anyway.

#3. A 4 year-old can crunch up the vanilla wafers "dirt" in the food processor, but an anal mom will only allow him to put those wafer crumbs on the cake for about 2.2 seconds...then it's just mom's turn.

#4. Coloring vanilla frosting takes a lot of black food coloring...chocolate frosting would have been easier, and I would have liked it more:)

#5. You should frost around the top perimeter of the cake BEFORE putting the crumbs (dirt) on because frosting doesn't stick to crumbs very well...and may cause cursing and re-frosting and adding more black to the sides to cover up some yellow frosting that may have fallen right of the top and right down on to the sides where it doesn't belong.

#6. If you just start adding the stripes on the side for your "caution tape" without really paying attention, they will not be evenly spaced or at the same slant.

#7. Little "construction truck" candles make any cake cuter....and adding piles of "dirt" can improve a cake even more.

#8. Adding other decor around your cake takes away from any flaws you see.

#9. When using "dirt" on top of the cake...remember that those candles have to be blown out which means blowing will occur...and blowing causes "dirt" to go all over the table and floor.

and finally...the #10 thing I learned about making a construction cake...

Kids don't care what the cake looks like...

only that they can put it in their mouths!

Okay...so the final picture actually looks like a decent cake...must be it's good side:)

A 4 year-old construction party

2011-04-02T18:18:00.003-06:00

Today was Lil D's party.

He had a VERY strong opinion about what his party should be like. In the past I have done whatever I want...but not this year. After much discussion, he decided on trucks...specifically construction trucks....

We headed to the party store and he picked out all sorts of construction truck decor which worked out great. He also informed me at the party store that we needed a pinata. I told him no...to which he stated, "mom...every party needs a pinata". I don't know what parties he's going to...but we aren't buying a pinata.

I found a great cake online with a construction truck theme (on one of those best cake sites) and Lil D loved it, so I tried to duplicate it...I did my best:)

I'll post details in another post, I learned a few things...I think I will share them.

All the party supplies I got at Zurchers. One thing I know, kids do not appreciate decor, especially 3, 4 and 5 year-olds...so I would rather spend a few bucks then my time on making my own. Just my opinion.

We went through all of Lil D's toys and found lots of construction cars/trucks. We also brought out the tool bench and his tools to add to the construction theme.

Home Depot was kind enough to give me free aprons for the kids...awesome!

For one of our activities, I found this fake wood styrofoam stuff. So I decided to have the kids make a tool box. Mr. T cut out all the pieces ahead of time. We decided that once the kids were ready to build we would actually hot glue the tool box together and then have them hammer the nails into the already constructed tool box. I'm so glad we did. Those nails are not easy to hammer in and I think we would have had some frustrated little ones if they were trying to hammer separate pieces. I also found little fake tools at a local party store and so they had a little treasure hunt to find tools for their tool boxes. I added a mini tape measure and some handy manny fruit snacks to their tool boxes to go home.

They turned out super cute!

Then we played what Dallin says are "party games"..."duck duck goose", which had to be said "duck duck truck" by orders of the birthday boy...and pin the stop sign on the construction site...which all the kids cheated on and every one of them got it right on...silly.

It was a really fun party...I think all the kids had a good time. It was fun to have Lil D be such a big participator in the planning, buying and even helping make the cake.

We'll see what he comes up with next year!

My "Lil" D turns 4 tomorrow...maybe:)

2011-03-29T20:27:00.002-06:00

For the past few months Lil D has informed me that he doesn't want to turn 4. He was so excited to turn 3...he loved everything 3...and I think he is having a hard time giving that up. I finally gave up trying to convince him that 4 was cool and told him he could stay 3.

This was today's conversation:

D: Is tomorrow really my birthday?

Me: yep...but it's not your birthday party...just your birthday.

D: When's my party?

Me: On Saturday.

D: That's a long way.

Me: No, it's only a few days.

D: Why is tomorrow my birthday?

Me: because it was the day you were born.

D: Why do I have to turn 4?

Me: You don't have to, you can stay 3 if you want to.

D: Mom....it's my birthday, that means that I have to turn 4.

(to true little man, to true)

For his birthday, I made him a little t-shirt.

(Thank you cricut, freezer paper and Walmart's $4 t-shirts.)

And a birthday "sign" for the front room table.

(He actually helped me paint all the blocks green....he really loves to "help")

(block and vinyl set purchased at The Wood Connection)

After he went to bed tonight, I put together the birthday table.

(please ignore my outdated family picture...yes, lil D is 10 months in that pic)

(and please ignore my off centered rectangle thing...since we rearranged the room, it no longer works and I haven't taken the time to change it...I'll explain later)

I am really excited for Lil D's party this Saturday. For the first time, he had a VERY strong opinion about what we needed to have at the party. It was pretty funny to take him to the party store to pick things out. He chose a "construction" theme and I have found some cool things to do and give the kids. I also found an awesome cake that I will be attempting to replicate. One of the cutest things about his upcoming party was that he wanted to write his friend's names on the invitations and when we delivered them, he had to go up to the door all by himself....love him! You can see him writing his invites here....he's pretty impressive.

I'll post pics of the party festivities this weekend!

M.I.A. in Mexico

2011-03-20T20:09:00.005-06:00

We are finally back on land...although it still feels like we are rockin' on the boat...and we had a great time! 7 days of kid free/care free time...such a blast!

We left from LA on the Sapphire Princess and headed south to the Mexican Riviera.

Our first stop was Puerto Vallarta.

We did lots of shopping and then found this delicious restaurant (recommended by a local) called PiPi's (pronounced peepees...go ahead giggle, it's funny). There was an awesome mariachi band and a guy that came table side and made fresh guacamole while you watched, oh....we had him come back a second time. And the food....YUM! I might actually crave it....too bad it's a few thousand miles away...

We were supposed to stop at Mazatlan for our second port, but due to lots of crime, etc...we skipped it and hit Cabo for 2 days.

Day 1 we did more shopping....I just love it!

and then we spent some time on the beach.

Day 2, we took a boat out to to Chileno Bay to do some snorkeling.

We stopped by "El Arco de Cabo San Lucas"

and then stopped a few times to check out some whales....

AWESOME!

Throughout our trip, we saw a total of 5 whales (at different times), 3 sea lions, and a huge group of dolphins. I'll tell you what....these animals love to show off. The best were the last 2 whales we saw....I'm pretty sure it was a momma and her baby. Momma would put her fin out and slap the water and then baby would immediately follow. It was just an amazing site!

Our days on the ship were filled with enjoying the sun, eating, playing cards, eating, going to some shows (some better then others) and eating.

and enjoying sights like this...

It was a really great time!

Some honesty about cruising. This was my first cruise. I didn't have any expectations so I was very happy overall with everything. I will say this....the staff on the ship is amazing....amazing. Mr. T speaks Tagalog...and 50% of the 1000 member crew is Philippino....so Mr. T was making friends left and right. We had a few lengthy conversations with one guy named Manojj...he was so great...and we found out a lot about the crew on the ship. Aside from the fact that they work 12-14 hour days....

The service staff are on the ship for 10 months, and then they get to go home for 2. Pretty much all of them have families back home. That means that they only get to see their kids 2 months out of the year. Most of these guys have been working on cruise ships for years....and I'm talking 10+ years. Manojj has been working the cruise ships for 10 years...he has a 19 year old daughter and a 12 year old son. It made me so sad to think that his son has not had his dad in his life for more then 2 months a year since he was 2....just so sad. Since Mr. T lived in the Philippines for 2 years, he kinda got it. Any way these guys can make better money to provide for their family, they do it. However, the money they make is in the tips. They only get paid $50 a month...yes, a month...the rest of their income is tips. So can I just push that if you cruise, tip the service staff, and I don't mean in the automatically charged daily tip...I mean, personally seek out the service staff that served you and give them a generous tip. Along with Manojj was our room steward Teody. He was so awesome too...I mean, we barely left our room for 20 minutes and he would go in and make sure everything was perfect, down to the fancy folding of the towels...and he knew our names the first day....I loved walking out every morning and hearing him say, "good morning Miss Teri", "have a nice day Miss Teri"....he was just fabulous.

I know this is wordy....but I was just amazed at the life these people choose to live to provide for their families....the sacrifices they make....all in the hopes to make more money to give their families a better life.

I'm really glad that we were able to go on this cruise, not just for the break from my life and to see some new places, but for the people I got to meet. I was just impressed.

Making up for being gone.

2011-03-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Mr. T and I are going on vacation together for a whole week. We are not taking Lil D with us. My wonderful Mom is coming into town to take care of him (how great is she?).

I'm a little worried about how he is going to do...we have been having a little separation anxiety lately, even at nearly 4 years of age.

So....I thought that maybe I could brighten each day by leaving a gift for him.

I got some simple little things...a book, coloring book, sticker book, dry erase book, etc.

Then I put together a little bucket for him for St. Patty's day.

(with a cool green shirt to wear to school)

Can I tell you how frustrating it is to find St. Patrick's day stickers. I have looked at so many stores and nothing....lots of Easter stickers though. I found a little pack of these puffy sticker things at Joanns as I was walking out...oh well, they work.

Best part of all of this....I did everything in green...oh no, not because it's St. Patty's day (well sort of) but because Lil D LOVES green.

Hope you all have a great St. Patrick's day too!

A wonderful weekend in honor of Grandpa

2011-03-07T13:14:00.003-07:00

This past weekend, I got to fly home to Seattle for a really quick trip.

My Grandfather passed away about a week ago. He was 91 and lived a long wonderful life.

He was such an amazing man and left an amazing legacy.

This was the house that my dad and his 5 siblings grew up in.

So many memories from this house.

This is my beautiful Grandmother (and brother)

who stood by my Grandpa's side for 67 years.

These are 3 of my 4 sisters, with my Grandma, Dad and nephew.

It really was such an amazing day.

Remembering the wonderful man that my Grandpa was.

I am grateful that I had him in my life for 33 years....I feel pretty lucky for that!

Shabby Apple Giveaway....Winner!

2011-03-07T08:03:00.005-07:00

Thanks to everyone who entered the Shabby Apple giveaway this weekend!

I wish I could give a dress to everyone. But there can only be one winner...

And the winner of the North Shore dress is...

Congratulations Jamie!

(Check your email for info on how to get your new dress.)

And don't forget that you can still get 10% off your purchase by using the code "mamathompson10off"

Shabby Apple Giveaway!

2011-03-04T06:30:00.001-07:00

****This Giveaway is now closed****

I am so excited to be doing a giveaway for Shabby Apple. I just adore their women's dresses. They have such a huge selection of colors and styles. They even have great maternity dresses. (which I had to mention because I swear every other blog I'm on has a pregnant gal:)

If you haven't been over to check them out...you really must.

And if dresses aren't your thing...take a look at their super cute accessories or aprons.

And now for the super exciting part....a giveaway.

I got to pick out a dress for one of my wonderful readers to win.

I decided to try and get the spring mood going (since it's gonna snow here this weekend) and I found this adorable blue dress with 2 fantastic flowers on it.

The North Shore dress

Not only do I love the color, but I love how comfortable it looks, but at the same time, I know that some cute heels could totally dress it up!

I am giving each reader 2 chances to win.

1-Be or become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment saying as much.

2-"Like" Shabby Apple on facebook, and leave me a comment saying you did.

(each entry must be made in a separate comment)

This giveaway will be open until Sunday, March 6th at Midnight (MST).

The winner will be announced Monday morning.

(**Winner must have a US address)

BUT HEY....that's not all!

If you don't win, or if you have found another dress that you can't live without....

Shabby Apple is giving 10% off to all Mama Thompson readers.

Just put "mamathompson10off" in the coupon code.

Alright already....enter the giveaway and win yourself a new dress just in time for spring!

Photo Pendant

2011-03-03T10:22:00.002-07:00

I bought some square pendants at hobby lobby awhile back. They were half off so I think I got 2 for like $1 or $2. I decided to make myself a little photo pendant with Lil D's face....'cause c'mon, he's so stinkin' cute.

Here are my supplies:

Diamond glaze (this stuff lasts forever)

a wallet size photo of Lil D, so his whole head will fit in the pendant

silver pendant

I cut the photo down to fit in the pendant. I think it's about 1" X 1".

Then I filled it with the diamond glaze.

and let it dry overnight.

Then I simply slid it on a silver chain I have and away I go!

These little pendants are so great. They come in a few shapes, and are really inexpensive. You can put just about anything in them...photos, flowers, words, a special date...

Love it!

Be sure to stop by tomorrow....

I am having a fantastic giveaway that you won't want to miss....

just think DRESSES!

A day late.

2011-02-15T18:58:00.001-07:00

But that's what happens when you go to preschool on Tuesday and Thursday so the "wear red to school/v-day party" is held the day after Valentine's Day.

I found this super cute robot template at Lil Blue Boo.

I added the heart so it said V-day a bit.

Cut it out on my freezer paper...ironed it down...

and set Lil D to work.

I think it turned out great...

and for the boy who is always pretending to be a robot...

perfect!

All you need is...

2011-02-14T13:04:00.001-07:00

Hope you have a great day of love filled fun with your friends and family!

A day of free "LOVE" projects.

2011-01-31T18:04:00.006-07:00

I have been in a January slump...it's been cold, snowy and blech!

Today it was time to be done with all of that and try to actually accomplish something.

So despite the fact that it was snowing this morning, Lil D and I made some new Valentine's decor without leaving the house or spending a dime...love it!

First we took on a Martha Stewart project.

we sharpened crayons over wax paper and then ironed it to melt...cut out some hearts and decorated our front window. I tried to do all pink and red, but Lil D requested green and blue for him and dad...so I guess a little "boy" doesn't hurt on V-day either.

If I were to do this project again...I would predraw my hearts on the wax paper and just get the shavings in the hearts, I feel like I wasted a lot of shavings by covering the whole sheet. Also, the first page we ironed between some towels (the crayon bled) and it creased the wax paper. The next few sheets I ironed between some tracing paper (I had) and it left the hearts smooth and flat. Also, I like the hearts straight on the window, not hung, but once up Lil D wouldn't let me change anything.

********

Next, I took some leftover red felt and pink fleece and cut out lots of hearts.

I hot glued them to some pink ribbon (a heart on each side) and attached it to my mantel.

and lastly, Lil D helped me cut out a vinyl heart and "be mine" to put on a red plate I bought a few months back.

Our Valentine's decor is about done.

I'll post all the pictures soon!

All jewelry half price....T's ETC

2011-01-20T10:37:00.005-07:00

I'm clearing out my inventory in my Etsy shop

T's ETC

I'm feeling the need to start fresh and try some new things...

...so...

It's time to clean it all out!

I have marked everything down 50%

and

all shipping is just $2.00

The glamour cuff was $40.00

now:

just $20.00

still too much...

get the mini glamour cuff for

$12.50

All of my necklaces are only $15.00

(it's a steal)

And the changeable dangle necklace is too good a deal to pass up.

dangles range in price from $5.00 to $6.00

and the chain is only $2.50

go check it out and get yourself something fun!

A big weight loss..Low Calorie Recipes...and a new blog...

2011-01-07T22:57:00.011-07:00

This is Mr. T and my engagement picture: August 2002

And at our wedding day: March 2003

I think I weighed around 140-145 at that time.

That first year of marriage wasn't so good where the scale was concerned.

One year anniversary: March 2004

weight: (I'm guessing) 170

(ugh...so sad)

Then we took this picture at a family get together this past spring.

double UGH!

(ignore the grumpy 3 year-old)

After 7 years of thinking I was okay with being 30 pounds heavier then I was on my wedding day...it was time to actually change things...for good!

This past October, Mr. T got on board with the weight loss idea and joined a site called Loseit.com. It's awesome. You put in your current weight...goal weight...and how much you want to lose a week and the site tells you how many calories you can eat each day. Then you put in everything you eat and it counts the calories. They have a HUGE database of food items, and even restaurants...or if you need...you can add your own food items and how many calories are in each item. It was very simple to use...

From our start date in October till Christmas, Mr. T went from 200 pounds to 170 pounds. I had lost 10 pounds over the summer and from October till Christmas I lost an additional 15 pounds, putting my total weight loss for the year at 25 pounds.

I know that weight loss can be challenging and difficult...but for the first time in the 7 years I had been overweight...it was simple...simple! And let me put it out there that I never felt unsatisfied or hungry...I ate what my body needed and no more.

Maybe it was because I was finally at the point where I was actually ready to make some changes, but I couldn't believe how quickly the weight came off. I learned a LOT of things that maybe I should have learned long ago...but it's never too late right? :)

One of the biggest things that changed was how I cooked. I took all the recipes we love and made simple changes to lower their calories...it was much simpler then I thought and SO much fun! We have eaten a lot of delicious meals! So why should I keep them to myself.

NEW BLOG!

I decided to start a blog where I can post all the low cal recipes we have used and new ones we are trying. Each recipe lists the ingredients, directions, calorie counts and even the info you need to figure out the points if you are on Weight Watchers points plus.

I would love for you to check out lowcalmeals.blogspot.com and try out some of the recipes and let me know what you think.

Oh....and or course a before and after pic, because I am so proud of us!

Yeah for 2010 and finally getting us back down to the weights we met and fell in love at!

She does it again.

2011-01-03T21:01:00.003-07:00

In June my very crafty cousin made this cute pillow.

Then she went and did this...

I totally need one of these too!

What's coming in 2011

2010-12-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

With a new year just a few short days away, I've decided it's time to figure out what the projects will be for the new year. If you hung out with me last year you saw an almost complete overhaul of my house.

The year was aptly named Thompson Remodel 2010.

I started in the basement...overhauling the guest bedroom and creating a craft closet. Then I turned the "big room" into a "play room"...well, I started...but got stopped and moved up to the main living area of our home.

That's when we started making the crack "go big or go home" when we tore out all the flooring...painted from the ceiling to the floor (including the door frames, doors and all new baseboards), redid the living room, tore out the kitchen and then put it all back together again...adding some batten board along the way. Once we finished ALL of that...we decided to move upstairs and redo Lil D's bathroom (it was in semi-sad shape). Oh, and why not redo our bathroom floor too. (I just realized I never posted pics of this redo)

Good night what were we thinking? Well...aside from some minor finishing touches...we completed all we wanted to in 2010. But of course, we aren't totally done....yet.

Want to hear the plans for 2011? I like to share so I can stay accountable...I'll tell you what...helped me SO MUCH last year...hoping the same will happen this year.

Project #1: Finally finish Lil D's playroom.

When we left the playroom (in March 2010) it looked like this....

The tv was given away (to a needy little brother), the file cabinet is now in the storage room and the floor...it's covered in toys.

The plan:

get some good storage for all Lil D's toys.

Add some wall art

put up some vinyl...words/numbers/etc

window treatment

build a desk on the short wall next to the treadmill (for Mr. T)

and maybe some other fun things.

I'm rather excited about it!

Project #2: New carpet

Ok...so this is totally not being done by us...but our carpet (what is left of it) is nasty and so needs to be traded up. Here's hoping we can decide on something...and here's hoping we don't kill ourselves moving furniture to recarpet.

Project #3: Crown molding in the master bedroom.

We've have it...I've painted half of it...then it got too cold...it'll get done...right?!

Project #4: The backyard

See that big rectangle O dirt...it's pointless...because of the great wall of china next to it, it doesn't get enough sun to be a good garden (hence my little garden on the other side of the yard)...and it's just well...a weed farm. There was a random tree in it that we finally pulled out...it just bugs me and has no purpose. So we are covering it up with some concrete. Then we will build a new shed on the back side of it up against the fence. A shed that doesn't move when the winds blow hard and one where the doors actually close together. Mr. T has big dreams.

I'd like to also mention the deck that needs to be finished...but I won't:)

And if I haven't killed myself...I'd like to update Lil D's room a bit...

but that just may be wishful thinking:)

What are your plans for 2011?

Christmas in review 2010

2010-12-26T20:09:00.004-07:00

Just after Santa came.

Christmas Morning.

A VERY excited Lil D....that Santa actually came and ate his cookies and chocolate milk!

Our breakfast table.

We had this breakfast strudel and sticky buns.

(I used egg beaters and turkey bacon and it was De.Lish)

And our dinner table.

This table runner was one of my gifts from my mom...it is beautiful!

For dinner we had this pork tenderloin, cinnamon sweet potatoes, "spring" salad (with Karla's sugared pecans) and roasted corn.

All Yum!

My favorite moments of the day:

Lil D enjoying the one gift he wanted the most...

"a blue ambulance with doors on the back that open and close"

seriously could have been his only gift and he would have been the happiest boy.

and reading with him with his new leapster tag.

It was such a wonderful weekend!

Of course, the weekend is now over

...SO...

Tomorrow...we shop!

I'm linkin to Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T16:06:00.001-07:00