My baby boy's pics

Here's some pics of baby B at 9 months...It's taken me a month to get SOME of them edited!! Needless to say, it's been a little busy at our house!






I had to take some of Big Sis....


and Big Brother too!

Two out of three of these sweet kiddos are headed to Grandmom's house today to give mom and dad a little break. Whatever will I do with my time?? :)

Transformation

I transformed a couple thrifty finds recently into treasures! I found this picture frame at GW for $2.99. I originally bought it to use as a picture frame, but decided to make a message board for my daughter's room.


I just loved the detail...


I loved the black, but decided to spray paint it cream to match E's room.


Then I cut down a cork tile I had to fit the opening in the frame.


I wrapped the cork in the fabric. I just used painter's tape to hold in place.


Next, I fit the fabric covered cork in the back of the frame.



I also added a ribbon hanger.

I glued some buttons on some clear tacks to dress them up a bit!!



I also found this little wooden box for $1.00.




It was pretty hideous, but I took a cue from it's original condition and turned it into this:



I painted and distressed it and then used my mom's Cricut (LOVE this thing!!) to cut out the monogram and brackets in vinyl. I absolutely love how this turned out. There are so many uses for this little tote! Right now, it is sitting on my dryer and catching loose change and lonely socks. I'm sure it will find a more suitable place soon!

When I take someone else's trash and turn it into my treasure, it reminds me of how God takes all our "garbage"- our sins, burdens and hang-ups and uses them to transform us and make us more like him. I pray that I am always willing to be inconvenienced for His sake!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Go over to Rhoda's and Susan's to check out other's thrifty finds and makeovers!

Catalina Chicken

Okay, you’ll remember that I made a post the other day about my 10 month old B learning to climb the stairs. Well, yesterday morning, I was deep into paying bills and updating the check book register online. B was in the living room with K and E. He was playing in the floor while the older kids watched cartoons. I was on the phone with Kris, when I looked over at the spot where B had been and he was GONE! After calling out for him (did I think he was going to answer?) and looking all over the house, I found him UPSTAIRS in the bonus room. I couldn’t believe that he’d crawled all the way up the steps by himself and so quickly. So now, we have a chair turned over sideways in front of the stairs. What a morning!

Well, last night, I made one of my new favorite dishes: Catalina Chicken. My friend, Caree shared it with me and it has quickly become an easy go-to meal at our house! I thought I would share it with you today!

Ingredients you will need: boneless skinless chicken breast, catalina dressing, and cranberry sauce. Yeah, that's it!!

Cut up the chicken into cubes and brown for a few minutes on each side in EVOO.



I used about half a can of cranberry sauce and a little over half a bottle of catalina dressing for 2 1/2 chicken breasts.
Mix together cranberry sauce and dressing with a whisk.
Add chicken

Transfer into a baking dish and cook for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


We like it served over white rice!!


I'm telling you, it is some kind of good!! It's a sweet and sour taste.

Kris liked it!



And so did E!!


She asked for seconds and thirds! Hope you guys will try it sometime! We're off to Auburn this weekend. War Eagle!!

Stairs and Zzzzzs

Monday morning, this is what baby boy did when he woke up...




Yep, he can go all the way to the top, too. He giggles the whole way.

I have to find a gate! It's hard to find one that will work at the end of our stairs because one side is a wall and the other side only has a railing. Someone told me to try a pet gate.

Last night, I had a horrible headache. After running after B a billion times and trying to come up with makeshift gates to keep him in the living room....I finally put him in his jumper.

He kept saying "uh uh uh uh..." My sweet husband, who was cleaning the kitchen for me (I know, all you wives, be jealous!!) said, "Why is he making that noise?" I said, "because he probably wants out!"

Just a few minutes later, I looked over and saw this:


That precious boy lulled himself to sleep! I had to take some pictures of him. He stirred a little and then laid back like this:


It's so funny to me how when babies get really tired, they don't care where they are, they can sleep. Actually, that reminds me of his daddy a little bit. : )

Making a tutu!

Last week we went to get some family pics made for Father's Day. While we were waiting, we saw a little girl wearing the cutest tutu! My little girl just fell in love with it! I found myself doing what I always hated my mother doing...thinking "I can make that!" Well, I'd forgotten about that by the weekend since we just put our house up for sale. I've been running ragged all week from trying to get the house "in order." On Friday, for a little break, I decided to go over to GW and see what they had. Well, guess what I found? This:

Okay, so just the tule. I already had the ribbon, scissors and ruler. There were several yards here for only $2.99. When I saw it, I just scooped it up! What luck!

After picking my mom's brain on the best way to make one, I googled it and found this video.

E was so excited!!!


I began cutting the strips and she was making a very neat pile of them.


Her big brother even helped, too!

She ended up going to bed before I was done with it. But, the next morning it was waiting on her!




Since this was a thrifty find, I'm linking up to Rhoda's party! Go over and check other people's thrifty finds this weekend!

More thrifty finds...

It's Monday, so Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is having her Thrifty Treasures party!

I hardly ever get to go to yard sales. I love finding a treasure, but let's face it, I like to sleep! I don't like to get up at the crack of dawn when I can sleep later since Hubby is home! I was invited to a church craft and garage sale, so I decided to go...at 10 am. My friend and I walked through the craft booths and were about to leave when a lady asked if we had been around back to the garage sale. Why no, we hadn't!

Here's what I found...

a roll of toile wrapping paper for $.25


an aqua vase for $.50


not sure what this is, but it is made out of wooden rulers. I thought it could hold something and just was one of those things that intrigued me and it was only $.25, so I bought it!

my favorite find...a beautiful globe for $5. Love this!!


I'm also including a pic of my thrifty find from the beach...a piece of wood that I picked up out of a trash pile that was actually on the beach.

I can't decide what I want to paint on it. I was thinking of painting "Dolberry Est. 2000." I 've seen some signs done like that that are cute. Or maybe a verse...I guess I need to decide where I'll hang it first and maybe that will give me some inspiration. Any ideas??

Since I'm visiting Rhoda's party, I just had to include this pic of a lamp redo that I showed you in this post. I learned that spray painting a fabric lampshade isn't a great idea because you the paint bleeds. At Rhoda's burlap party, I saw her burlap covered lampshades and that gave me an idea!! I cut the silk off the spraypainted shade I had and covered it with chocolate burlap I bought from Hobby Lobby. Okay, wait a minute....did I just say that I cut off silk...and replaced it with burlap? Yeah, I did. I think it looks just great!



I LOVE how you can see the texture of the burlap when the light is on. I think it may need a little trim around the top and bottom, so I'll keep an eye out for that, but for now...it works! Thanks for the great idea, Rhoda!

Visit Rhoda's site for more thrifty finds!

Time to breath

Last Friday, our vacation began. We dropped off the older two kids in AL at their grandparents' house and made our way south. We stopped in Auburn (War Eagle) for the weekend, where the Kris preached at church where he'd been youth minister at almost 10 years ago. What a sweet time it was so see old faces.


On Sunday afternoon, Kris, the baby and I left to meet the older kids and grandparents at the beach. We were able to stop off in Montgomery and see some old friends with an awesome story!! Last time we saw them ( about 8 years ago), they were divorced with two kids. They found us on Facebook a few months ago and they are remarried with 3 kids and one on the way. God has totally redeemed their marriage and their family! Every time I think about them, I am filled with awe at the power of our God and humility that so many times, I don't have faith that He CAN and WILL do things like this.

So...we made it to the beach just in time to eat at Doc's. Unpacked and of course headed to the pool before bed.

Our condo- Phoenix on the Bay

We spent the next two days at the pool.

The kids (especially the younger ones) really got worn out.

B fell asleep at the pool several days.

E fell asleep sitting straight up one night waiting to leave for dinner.

I think it was the third day we were there, K wanted us to take him on a Dolphin cruise. It was so much fun! Not sure what happened with these next few pics. For some reason, they are incredibly light. I'm sure any professional photographers out there wouldn't like them, but I think they have kind of a neat effect.

I found an old plank on this beach where the boat was docked that I brought home with me. It is grey and weathered. One end of it is straight from a saw cut, but the other end is jagged. I just love it. am going to paint something on it. Not sure what yet. But it was a treasure that will remind us of our trip.

The America II.

In the cabin awaiting departure of the "cruise."

The only pic of me taken on vacation. Can't believe I am even including it because it is so awful!

They even let K drive the boat!


We did see dolphins! About 25 of them, actually! It was incredible!

K and his granddad caught about 30 hermit crabs and 2 other crabs (blue crab, maybe??) like this one.

I desperately wanted to get some pics of B on the beach. Since he just turned 9 months, I thought it would be great to get some of him. Well, the only day we actually went to the beach, it rained. It was raining the whole time we were there, which was only about 15 minutes. I managed to get a few. Not exactly the expressions or clothing I was looking for, but cute still!

K had fun running free.

I know I included this pic of E in my last post, but I just have to again because I LOVE it!

Here's a few more random pics...

B smiling behind his paci.

K excited about eating, I mean catching rolls, at Lamberts.

And, I just love this pic of B trying to get to his big brother.

So, we had a great time...relaxing, eating and just taking time out of crazy life to just breath!