Almost Sitting Up!

I just love this little diaper baby!

I often wish I had a blog when Skylee was this age, so I could look back. It makes me so happy that I have one now and for myself, to document these little stages in life! I snapped these last night after Skylee went to bed and he was just chillin, happy just playing with his toys :) I don't quite trust him enough to not have the pillow behind him, but he's doing great!

Aww MAN!!!

I did this to myself yesterday while washing dishes...go figure. We had a glass that had a crack, and when I went to put the sponge in there to wash it, it busted and cut me pretty deep. It's my right hand and in a terrible place so I feel a little handicap right now. Maybe I'll get a cool scar from this, a mother-battle wound of sorts? :)

Enrichment Night:

"This Little Piggy..."

I pulled off our ward's Enrichment last night...lots of challenges come up last minute with these things, but everything seemed to turn out pretty well. Here is what we did (sorry no pics, I was a little busy!)

5 mini classes (turned out to be 4 since one teacher got sick the day of)

"...went to market"- class on smart money saving ideas (Relief Society room)

"...stayed home"- class on things you can easily make at home rather than spend money to buy (Primary room)

"...ate roast beef"- quick and easy recipe ideas/ food samples (Cultural hall section)

"...had none"- class on what to do when you have "none" as in when an emergency happens what to do: where to go... (this is the class that fell through, so we had no "had none" class, guess it still made sense!)

"...went wee wee wee all the way home"- a spiritual lesson on returning home to our Father in Heaven. (back "home" in Relief Society room)

*The sisters received a "market bag" in the first class and each class had a handout of tips, or reminders from what each class was on.
*We printed and cut out pig hoofs and taped them to the floor to show the path to follow to the next class.
*A dinner of pulled pork sandwiches was prepared and the sisters were asked to bring other side dishes.

We had great teachers, they were all so talented! I've seen similar ideas, and our evolved as we planned it, but I'm pleased with the result. Of course some of the classes were just how I imagined, and others were a little different, but I think that's just the nature of my calling. Got some good feedback again, and had a good turnout (maybe my piggy pops worked?)

Piggy Pops!

I made these little beauties today to bring to church as a reminder for our Enrichment Night this next Saturday. Hopefully they work! If you don't know what cake pops are, they are like cake lollipops, there is cake in the middle of those little pigs. I used the Starbursts for the ears (thanks Michelle for the suggestion, total life saver!) and pink m&m's for the snout, colored pink dipping chocolate and strawberry cake on the inside :) Our theme is "This Little Piggy" as in "This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy stayed home..." Next week I'll share how it went and other details! Wish me luck!

P.S. To check out the real master and creator of cake pops click here Bakerella has a million variations of these things, not pigs yet though!

First Refinishing Project Reveal:

Before:

After:

It wasn't awful to start, but I was going to go crazy with another dark piece of furniture in my house! I originally wanted to replace the hardware, but that alone cost more than I wanted to spend on this project, so I decided to spray paint the existing hardware. It turns out that it was a good decision, it's the same style as my bedding. We got this dresser for FREE from a friend that was moving and couldn't take it with them, so their loss, our gain :) I also figured "why not take a risk with the color", it's like a really light mint green, also to match the bedding in our room. I'm happy with the way my first refinishing project turned out. Yay me :)

I'm blushing...

Since I started doing little craft projects about a month ago (give or take) and posted them here on my blog...I've gotten a couple comments on the posts from real crafters! Like the ones that are super good at this stuff!

"What a cute quiet book! I've been wanting to make one forever, but have been too lazy... I love your's, it's adorable!" From Sew Much Ado- Love, love, LOVE her blog! Check it out here

"That diaper cake turned out to be great. Love the flowers." From Natalie at the Diaper Cake Mall

It's actually a little embarrassing, I just thought my friends and family were looking, not these super talented ladies that I don't even know. I have to admit I'm flattered :)

Believe me, all the little things I do are seriously so easy, I'm no pro! But if you ever see something that I do do, and want to know how to do it yourself, let me know!

Date Night

Date nights around here only happen like twice a year, so it's pretty exciting! We hadn't planned on going out but a good friend offered to take the kids for us! It was a last minute thing, but we had a great time. We went to dinner at Applebees (exciting right! It's about all this little town has to offer) and got our dessert "to-go". We took it to the Saint Mary's waterfront where we went for a walk and sat in the swings looking out into the bay and ate our dessert. It's amazing that we live together and still don't really get a chance to talk about things other than kids, job, and callings.
Funny little story...At dinner I ordered a strawberry lemonade, Ryan usually steals mine and I constantly need refills. So the waitress brought me another one, I take a drink and realize it's not the strawberry lemonade I had ordered. After I told our waitress,she came back and asks if I was 21...you guessed it, it was "Southern Punch" as they call it, an alcoholic beverage...tasted like cough syrup. We thought it was pretty funny, Ryan joked that I should have drank the whole thing and said I was under age just to scare them.
Thank you Leisel and Randy for taking our little punks for a while! It's amazing the things I learned about my own husband. We need more date nights!

Another Diaper Cake

I had another baby shower to attend today. Wil and Mindy Andrew are expecting their first baby, a little girl in December. I had planned on making a diaper cake for her a while ago when I made the last one, so I bought a ton of diapers! Here is how this one turned out:
This is the only picture I got, after I had already arrived at the shower. This one is a little different from the first. I anchored the cake with a cylinder and put other little gifts inside, so they're hidden away instead of being in the cake. I made this one in an hour, I only had that much time, just glad it came together!

Remembering September 11th

Recently, we've switch Skylee's preschool days to Tuesday/Friday, and this week it just so happen to fall on September 11th. Leisel, another mother in the group had a great idea for the kids to make a card, and cookies and take it to our local fire station to thank the men and women in our area for all they do. They were nice enough to let the kids get in the fire engine and ring the bell and gave them their very own firefighters hat!
September 11, 2001 was a day we will all remember, I will never forget where I was and the days following that tragic event in our nations history. May we all remember those service men/women who put their lives in harms way, those who lost their lives and loved ones.

Last Beach Day 2009

Ryan took this week off from work, he worked a lot on school, but took some time to go to the beach on Wednesday. We had a great time. Both Skylee and Parker were so content to be outside. Skylee had fun collecting assorted beach treasures like shells, driftwood, sticks, and whatever else she could find. She also had fun chasing the birds! We built sand castles, had a picnic, and jumped the waves.

Visting Teaching Idea for September

Visiting Teaching can be one of those things that we know we're supposed to do every month, and somehow it slips our mind and all we can do, if anything, is send a card. It's been a goal of mine to be more involved, and get mine done early in the month. My companion and I, and the two active sisters that we visit have set up that on the second Tuesday of every month between 11:00 and 12:00 we visit. That way it's already on the calendar and there's no missing it :) Since General Conference is in a few weeks, before our next visit, I put together a "Conference Kit". Things like paper, pens, highlighters, candy, juice, popcorn, and tissues (for those talks that really get you). Conference doesn't start until 12:00 here on the east coast, so the usual breakfast things would be cute if that applies to you. The point is...go do you Visiting Teaching this month! When you do yours, it reminds and encourages the sisters that you teach to do theirs too! I think I'll start posting what I'm doing to help you remember too :)

I was thinking today...

Sometimes when you look at blogs of your friends, and they post about all the great things they're doing with their spouse or kids...doesn't it make it seem like everything in their life is PEACHY? I catch myself wondering what could be improved in their lives, when everything looks perfect? I can't help but compare my life to the life I see on the screen. Posts about how great/cute/sweet their kids are, fun activities, vacations, wonderful perfect husbands... the list could go on and on. I realized that I'm totally guilty! I'm sure there have been people that come on to my blog and thought that everything is totally PERFECT. I've got things pretty darn good here, but I'm human. I have my bad days, days when I am impatient, irritated, and things I do that I wish I could take back. I just don't blog about them. Blogging for me is somewhat of a journaling experience, so I like to put all our comings and goings here, for the record. I totally understand why most don't blog about their ugly days, or an argument with a spouse....those things are private, and you probably don't want to sound like your complaining or want pity!
For the record, don't try and compare your life to mine, the life you see on this blog. I am so blessed, but we are not perfect...obviously :)

The Fab 5

I'm continuing this from another friends blog: I was one of her fab 5, and now you can be one of mine :) Here's the deal...

The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something specially made by me for you! Of course, there are some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make - its from me, so you should like it!

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It will be done sometime this year.

4. You will have no clue what it will be. It could be ANYTHING from a story, to an article, to something baked, sewn, or painted!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

6. I will send it anywhere! It doesn't matter where you live! SO if you're one of the 5, e-mail me your address at britstar26@hotmail.com so you will get it!

The catch? The catch is you have to repost this on your own blog and offer this to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FABULOUS homemade gift by ME!!!!

Oh! And be sure to post a picture of what you won when you get it!

Sleeping Handsome

^Taken today at his nap time

A few days late here, but Baby P is officially 5 months old. Where did that time go, seriously? I can't believe it! These days he is a major mama's boy and loves, loves, LOVES his bottles more than ever. So much so, that he refuses to eat any solid foods...So frustrating! He is able to roll from his back to his tummy, but does it because he can, not because he wants to. He doesn't enjoy being on his tummy, so he gets kinda angry at times :) One of these days he'll learn to roll back the other way. He continues to smile at just about everything and everyone, he's a happy little guy, and he makes all of us so happy! He is 18lbs, and is just about grown out of all 3-6 month clothes, he's a big boy. If you can't tell from the pictures, just try carrying him around all day :)I know this next month will most likely bring sitting up, and eating solids *fingers crossed* and more hand-eye coordination. Lots to look forward to, not just this month, but for the rest of his life. I love my Baby P!

a finished work in progress;

So, I got a really good head start on Skylee's quiet book a couple weeks ago, and made little progress in the weeks in between then and now. This week I decided I needed to finish it, at least enough for her to use it. I'll add pages when time permits, and even some of the pages in it now aren't completely finished...BUT a two or three year old doesn't care right? It took a lot of work, and I'm pleased with how it came out on my slim budget. I got creative with things I already had, used lots and lots of FELT and HOT GLUE!!! Took a lot of time, I hope it last a long time :) It didn't turn out like I had imagined it would, but it's good enough! I only added the oven/cupcake pages since I first posted about it, and the cover, but here's the "finished-enough" product:

^Oven/cupcake page: not finished

^Empty page for a reminder I need to finish :)

^The End

3 Years in the Coast Guard!

Ryan has been in the United States Coast Guard for 3 years now. He enlisted while I was pregnant with Skylee and we were both working and trying to go to school at night. I knew it would be a great blessing, and it has taken us on an adventure that seems to be never ending.

He entered basic training in August 2006 and completed his 8 weeks in October. After bootcamp graduation in 2006, we were stationed in Coos Bay, Oregon. We had a lot of "firsts" there: Christmas, New Years, Anniversary, and Baby! It was a real small fishing town, and it seemed to always rain. Ryan's schedule was difficult for me to adjust to, he was always gone, leaving me with a little baby.We figured we would be there for 4 years, but only stayed for 7 months when he enrolled to a training school in Petaluma, CA. We were happy to leave, and excited to be a little closer to family in CA. Petaluma was great, I still daydream about being there. We were only there for 6 months, but in that short time we made great friends and loved the area (near SF bay). Ryan worked hard in school there becoming an ET (Electronics Technician) mainly dealing with radar and radios for the boats and stations. Since "A School" (training school) we have been stationed at the Navy Submarine Base in Kings Bay, Georgia. We've been here for over a year and a half now, and have been in two residences.This place is interesting! The east coast has been an adjustment, hot AND humid, storms like Armageddon, bugs bigger than my face, and being SO far away from any family has been really tough. It has taken us a while to settle in here, but we're used to it now. We have good friends and neighbors and we both enjoy what we do. This station is VERY unique in the C.G. since we're on a Navy submarine base. It keeps him really busy, and many times away for days at a time. I still haven't adjusted to that part, don't know if I ever will? Most things here are highly confidential, so the schedule changes constantly and it can be really frustrating at times. He always has great stories to tell from work. Ryan is also able to complete his degree online while working and the military pays for every cent, it's great...no student loans! He works so hard and is so disciplined!

His plan has always been to complete his years in the military and work for a federal agency ie: FBI, DEA, CIA, Secret Service...you get it. Things are still looking that way, and he's making great progress to accomplish those goals once we're out of the CG. Until then, we're not sure what other adventures the CG will bring, but we are truly blessed to be where we are now! I'm able to stay at home with Skylee and Parker, we don't have to worry about job stability, health insurance, or where our next meal is coming from. I love the Coast Guard! It is the smallest branch of the military, but it does SO much more than most people know about. As of January of 2010, we'll have 2 years left, and we still don't know if we'll be here, or if they'll move us somewhere else, guess we'll just have to wait and find out!