chicken wire hair bow frame & the best hot pads ever

 So I wanted to hang something above Amelia's changing table and I needed a place to put her bows. So I thought of this. At first I just was going to put chicken wire in a frame but it needed something more so I took a piece of fabric and used adhesive spray to the back. The picture frame I found for a few bucks at the clearance isle at Hobby Lobby. Then I painted it tiffany blue then a wasabi color and scuffed it up so the blue would show through. I then antiqued it with my favorite glaze (American Traditions in Raw Umber). 

moving on

So I can be quirky and wait to purchase an item I need until I find "the perfect one." I have to love it! I will wait (years) and search (for the perfect item at the perfect price). I know that this item will be with me for the long haul and my home is too small to fill up with stuff I dont just love.

Lately, I have been checking items off my list. 

 And recently crossed off hot pads. I love the Home Goods (Marshalls) store and I found these for $7. 

which means I can retire these

 These look like something out of Edward Scissor hands kitchen...or mine. 

 

Cooking inspired me to add an aloe plant to my collection of greenery :)

 

and on a second note I noticed a trend with my husbands closet...

 more shirts are starting to pile up on the door (5) than inside. He had me cracking up when he placed the last one on the handle, I guess the top was full. I'm just glad they're not on the floor.

 

time with friends

Settle down folks its not what you think (we aren't finding out the sex so you'll just have to wait with us, its only 19 more week...ugh).

A couple months ago (I'm real up to date) Amelia and I had the pleasure of hanging out with Cal (Julie and Rob Smith's son) on Tues and Thurs. We had a blast! Amelia adores Cal! These two had a blast talking and playing together. Amelia was ready to care for his every need and made my job a lot easier. I tried to get some video or them "talking" and playing but failed, I'll post what I did get but it just doesn't compare. Amelia is tricky and has let it be known that she is not a performer. BTW "boom" you hear me asking her to give Cal "boom." Kyle taught her to give daps and she kept doing it to Cal and he would just squeal with delight. The first video is a little short due to Amelia placing the lens cap on. Again not a performer.

Here is Julie and A. She has just "twisted" her arm to read her a few of her favorite books.

Here is a more recent picture of Cal with our friend Sloan (her son, Jake was asleep in the next room). Amelia loves her friends! She often still talks about Cal, especially when she sees a toy or the chair he liked to play with. Abby and Luke came to visit and she called Luke, Cal for the first day or so. She's got it down now! She is still talking non-stop about Abby and occasionally Luke. She calls Abby on her phone and was really excited to find her in our wedding album.

This was the shirt Amelia wore when went to see Luke in the hospital!

I found Amelia enjoying her old chair that we had out for Luke. Watching her get out was awesome! I was dying laughing (which she did not like) and she kept saying "oh..oh..no, no, no....help." 

Luke and our house guest at the time Marcus.

"Marcus" was the first word Amelia said when ever she woke. Pretty sure he is her favorite! She would get nose to nose and just chat him up. He's clearly a great listener. He loves her as well, he was always right behind me when I went to get her out of her crib. He'd sit next to her changing table and they would be nose to nose for A to pet him while I changed her diaper.

She was so sad when he left. (She sat on the porch and pointed down the road and kept saying "Marcus." So she was thrilled when he and Jen returned a day later. Every girl wants a horse :)

We're gearing up to see Annie tomorrow, when Mike and Deb come to town!!

   

Amelia's new hat

So baby A got a new hat. What can I say she L-O-V-E'S accessories. 2 things Amelia does that is OTT (chaddy 307 language for over the top). 

1) sleep: girl sleeps 7pm-8:30am/ naps 10am-12 and 2-4. 2) how she loves to wear sunglasses, hats, bracelets and carry a purse which holds her cell phone and t.v. remote. She is hip like a rapper and wears glasses inside... more power to her and Kanye...

So when she found this hat at Janie and Jack I knew it was going to be part of our collection. She loves to show it off. 

 Here are few from Father's day where she insisted to wear this particular pair of sunglasses all day.

We cut up a bunch of Kyle's old ties and Amelia glued them to a tie cut out I made from a manilla envelope. It opened up and said "there is no tie, you're the best dad" super cheesy huh.

Amelia gave Kyle a Dallas Mavericks Championship T Shirt...Cause did ya hear we might have won The Finals, we might be the best in World!!! and some CD's he's been wanting...which might have included one that mommy has been wanting (the Head and the Heart) but no need to get picky. I heard them during SXSW and have been oogling them ever since.

Mom of the Year

So I'm in the stage of pregnancy that makes sleeping a little difficult. Once I fall asleep (you know after the Braxton Hicks and cramping subside) I wake up around 3 or 4 to go to the bathroom and then sometimes never fall asleep. Hard to when something is constantly kicking or something else is constantly snoring (and I wear ear plugs, which is key to this story). So the other night was such a night. 

I finally fall asleep around 6 when I decide to relocate rooms because continuously rolling my husband over on his side (this helps the snoring) has become so frustrating that I begin to envision rolling him off the bed. So dramatically enough to wake him I thrust off the covers, take my pillow and march (a few heavy exhales here and there) into the spare bedroom. 

The next thing I hear is "MAAAAAAMMMMMAAAAAAA" I wake up and realize Amelia is up. I walk out the room and see Kyle is not in his bed and proceed to go into Amelia's room. I'm greeted with a big smile and a "hi." She starts "Jumping" which would look like bouncing to anyone else, but she calls it jumping. She comes by it honestly, my dad says its hereditary since I apparently dont jump high. So we walk out, look at the clock and its 10:30 AM!!!!!!!!!! Yep, pretty sure they give awards for stuff like that, great parenting. 

Thank goodness she can entertained herself.

This morning we woke up a little earlier. She read her books and insisted to have mine too. I had to take a picture. If you are looking for a good devotional book I highly suggest this one, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. I'm on the bandwagon and I L-O-V-E it!!! Amelia must think its great too cause she tried to give it to my friend Julie as she was leaving several times today. And Amelia loves The ABC Bible Verse Book we read it multiple times a day. I wish I could say because she loves reading scripture but it probably has to do more with the fact that there is a dog or cat on every page.

SMART APPS, SNAPPS

 I have to tell THE WORLD about http://www.snapps4kids.com 

This is a website that some with it moms put together to highlight apps that have been made for kids with special needs. Some of the families are some of my formers from The Rise School of Houston and you have to see what they've done. The special needs community is like no other community. They realize its hard and so when one finds something that works, they are quick to share and help others. Being involved in a close knit network like The Rise School taught me more to "share" than Kindergarten could ever take credit for. Its a beautiful community.The day one of our moms had an ah-ha moment and loaded up her ipod touch with pictures. Her non-verbal daughter now had an effective way to communicate that was easy to use and did not make her stand out in a crowd. We marveled at her genius and a few months later she found apps to replace big, bulky communication output devices. This caught on like wildfire and as apple products developed so did our kids. The ipad is about 1/12 the cost and size of the devices that were available to our kids. Now this is a common thing and great apps are everywhere. SO now some of these same moms have created SNAPPS 4 KIDS and it can be used as learning tools for all kids. It is the smartest and most necessary thing I've seen in a while for families with kids who have disabilities. I am encouraged by these moms drive to make things better for the masses. I am better for having known these families.

Love For 817

I am watching the Mavs game right now (all by my lonesome, Kyle is away at a retreat). This means that I dont have him commentating (or sometimes yelling) next to me. He has the uncanny ability to say exactly what the announcers to about 3 seconds before they do, he wonders if he missed his calling. This is about the only time you ever see my calm and collected husband come undone. Needless to say these last few close calls have made for some tense moments in our household. We're very excited for the MAVS and feel that this is "our" year. I include us because clearly they wouldn't have gotten this far without us :) 

So 817 is the area code of my hometown. You can tell I am clearly still attached because I have not lived there in over 10 years but still retain the area code. Cant give up my roots. I have been slightly nostalgic lately baking some of my favorite childhood goodies from some of my favorite 817 bakers. 

I have no picture but sausage, cream cheese and rotel=amazing game time snack! We've been eating ours with tortilla chips but Kim Lawler (one of Amelia's fairy Godmother's...and mine) serves hers with green chilies, chedder cheese in a bread bowl, I am lazy and mouths around me might suffer. :) 

My favorite cookies are Meltaways. They are goodness from Lis Buchwald's kitchen. Although I'm sure Paula Deen dreams about them considering they are the equivalent of baking a stick of butter and frosting it with cream cheese icing. Lis is one of my mom's dearest friends and might be the kindest person I know. I love my time with her because like her cookies she is just so sweet. I've been taking her cookie and adding different things, i.e. lemon zest. I want to try a raspberry jam and around Christmas maybe I'll get crazy with some spices...who knows how far I will take this 

Mix 2 sticks of softened salted butter (yep, this is not low fat), 1 C of flour, 3/4 Corn Starch, and 1/3 Powdered Sugar (mix till it all comes together like cookie dough, so a few minutes).

bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes

Frosting 

mix: 4 oz of Cream Cheese, 1/3 powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp of vanilla

let frosting set.

Mom thanks for texting me the recipe (that's right, she texts...email still a little tricky for her but texting she has down!)

Side note: Single Moms are super hero's. Every now and then Kyle will leave for 48 hrs or so and I'm always exhausted when he returns. I realize the key for a single mom is a great support team (which I have thankfully, Court is taking A while I work), planning ahead and the ability to function well on 6hrs of sleep. 

I however doubt my ability to function on less than 8 which means I'll have to read about the end of the game tomorrow. goodnight

I have vaca pics to post in the near future, get ready to meet Santa Fe.

 

Oh Deer

I recently told someone that it is never boring being a Bender. 

And in that vein I'll give a quick update:

So Kyle totaled his car last Wednesday when a "deer hit him" on 360, he was going 60 and this beast of a deer walked away. SO we are down to one car and then yesterday my car died but Kyle was able to fix things with a new battery.

last weekend we went to the zoo with The Bourlon's and Amelia couldn't have seemed less impressed. Although she roared like a lion all the way home and snorted (kinda like a pig) the way Julie Anna taught her. She did like the train ride and getting to play with Jo.

kisses

Amelia in general is very shy and reserved in nature. It takes her a bit to get comfortable to cut loose the way she does at home. We think she's a riot, she is constantly making us laugh with the random things she does. Her new favorite things are to sing "oh-oh-oh" Beyonce style and she even does her hand and wrist the same. She doesn't perform for the camera so this is the best clip I could get, not her best but you get the idea

She also loves running around on our bed and doing somersaults.  She is growing up so fast and doing so many "big" girl things! She eats with utensils (I'm not saying its a clean effort by any means but she refuses to be fed most times). She understands everything and is talking so much! She is very serious about her hygiene (teeth brushes, bathing etc...) she loves it! As well as cleaning, she cleans up after herself after mealtimes (which takes some time after her messy eating).

She's been taking swim lessons sporadically and getting good at kicking, splashing her arms and blowing bubbles.  We went swimming at a friends house last week and she showed off her skills. Pretty sure she'd sink to the bottom if he let go but we're getting there. 

 She cant decide if she wants to drop her morning nap. If she doesn't go down she's beside herself from 10:30-lunch. Also she doesn't sleep near as good later in the afternoon and be toast by 6:00, although she revs up again when dad gets home (its the changing of the guards) and is a little delirious by bedtime. She wont then wake up till 9:00-9:15 the next morning.

So I used to (still do) rip magazine pages out of things that I love and file them accordingly in a notebook (something my mom does, the difference is she has volumes and then hundreds (not exaggerating) of magazines that she has yet to "go through." Although I love my binder of "one days" I have discovered the on-line version in Pinterest

I am loving it, once I figured it out (Poor Lindsey and I were trying to figure it out one day, I even enlisted my tech savvy cousin, Johnny, who is Lindsey's husband, Johnny pretty much created the internet (not really but I'm sure he could have if he wasn't 4 at the time or something close, he speaks 1's and 0's, ha it could be a pun...he speaks in code...:0 I'm laughing out loud to myself thinking this is a whole conversation that should have stayed in my head).