Saturday Craft

Don't you just love when you get an idea in your head and then when it starts to unravel, it turns out way better than you could have ever imagined?

Well, that was my experience today.  I have been wanting to make my own Spring wreath for a while now and just have not had the time.  I had to make a quick run to CVS and since K was staying at home with daddy, I thought I'd run across the street to take a quick stroll through Hobby Lobby.  I had already decided I was going to try to incorporate an old bird's nest from last Spring that had survived on our back porch into the wreath, but I had not yet figured out how.  As I browsed through the Spring section, I stumbled upon these beautiful bird plates.  I HAD to have them.  First the Nest, then the plate, and...

Voila.....

Don't you just love when things come together so easily! I have the tendency to spend way too much time on things, but this craft was super easy to design and assemble.  

My wreath consists of: (all from Hobby Lobby or found around my house)

-Bird Plate

-Cardboard squares wrapped in Burlap for the "Welcome" Letters

-Scrapbooking Letters for "Welcome" & "The Johnstons"

-Basic Stick Wreath

-Flowers

-Brown Ribbon

-Hoe and Shovel (Matches the plate)

-Old Bird's Nest from my back porch wrapped in Burlap

*Everything was half off except the "welcome" letters. That's why I LOVE Hobby Lobby! 

I Love Creating and Crafting things and love coming up with new ideas and projects. Please share any fun ideas and projects you may be working on! 

Sweet as Honey

Happy Birthday to my Sweet, Sweet Mommy 

Surprise 50th B-day Party 2 years ago. I love her smile!

Today we celebrate the Sweetest Lady I know- My mom.  It's no wonder why her "grandma" name is Honey.  She actually decided on the name a day after Kate was born.  She had not found a name that she absolutely loved yet so she was still trying to find the "perfect grandmother name" when she ordered a gift basket for us from Shapiros.  She was talking with the owner about her predicament and she told her "you can borrow my "grandmother name" -HONEY!"

My Mom loved it! The owner told her that she loved when she picked her 3 yr old grandson up from school and all his friends yelled "Hey Honey!"  

Now, that's pretty dang cute, huh? 

So she introduced her new name to us by signing the card:  Love, Poppy, Honey, Uncle Patch, and Aunt K.  At first I was like "Honey?" But the more I thought about it, the more perfect I thought it was.  It's totally stuck and I LOVE it. 

 I love it so much because my mom is truly "Sweet as Honey."

There is nothing like my mother's love.  It hasn't been until I have gotten older that I realize the magnitude of this love.  

A love that forgave me when I did something really bad and was too prideful to even ask for forgiveness.  A love that continued to do for me and sacrifice for me when I didn't even appreciate it. A love that always greeted me with the kindest of words and affection when I had just acted like the biggest brat. And a love that never gave up on me because she knew one day I WOULD grow up :)

I think one of the best things in my life is the friendship I have with my mom now that I am older.  I could always talk to my mom about anything, but it wasn't until I was married that I really realized how much I cherished her as not only as my mom, but as my friend.

May 20, 2006

With the birth of my own daughter, I have become more thankful for my own mommy than ever.  She was there for me through every step of labor and after my sweet Kate entered the world.  Mommyhood is a HUGE adjustment and I could not imagine doing it without her advice, wisdom, encouragement, help, and love.

Proud Honey!- My mom looks hot and I look..tired haha

I pray that Kate and I will one day have the same kind of relationship my mom and I share.  One that is not perfect, but forgiving.  We have so much fun together and truly enjoy each other and just being together.   Kate loves her Honey and Honey definitely loves her Kate!  

Thank you Lord for my Momma and blessing me with a sweet woman of God to look up to and aspire to be like. 

Happy Birthday Mom

March Madness!!!

the cutest little wildcat i've ever seen :)

Yep, It's that time of year again.  The brackets are out and not only is my team the SEC Champions, but a number one seed.  FINALLY!  I L.O.V.E Kentucky Basketball, but it has been a rough couple of years for the Wildcats.  John Calipari has swooped in and revived this great program that has the most wins in NCAA Men's Basketball history!  Can't wait to cheer them on throughout the tournament- hopefully all the way to the championship game!

I have to admit, when I started rooting for the Wildcats it was in the midst of a couple of really good seasons- including 2 almost back to back NCAA championships, so you could say "I jumped on the bandwagon." BUT, it was that same Christmas (when I was in 6th grade) that my brother bought me a UK hat and it was over from there- I knew I would be a lifelong fan.  I had always rooted for the same team my brother pulled for, but now I had my own team and I was proud.

So, for over the past 13 years, my brother has lavished me with some kind of Kentucky themed gift for Christmas.  Ranging from PJ pants to Coffee Mugs and from Jog Suits (Yes, I have a jog suit hahaha) to Tickets to a game (My Favorite!)  I have not watched a game in THE Rupp Arena yet, but I do dream of the day when I can sit amongst the best fans in the nation, decked out from head to toe in my Kentucky Blue.

AND today is my Awesome Brother's Birthday....

Happy Birthday Patrick, Aka Uncle Patch!

-Patch was what I called him when I was little :)

We sure are proud of you! We all look forward to the day that you move back to Chattanooga (hopefully sooner than later!)

 His Law School Grad. May 2008

Uncle Patch & Kate

God has truly blessed me with such an amazing family and especially big brother!

Happy Birthday Patrick!

We Love You!

Where has my brain gone?

It still has not sunk in all the way that Steven and I have our own child! Even after Two Months, we still look at each other and say, "can you believe we have a baby?!"  We are definitely still trying to adjust to this new chapter of life, but then I wonder, do you really ever get totally adjusted.  I'm pretty sure parenting is a continuous adventure and no two days are alike, at least at our house.

We loved our visit with Uncle Patch and spent plenty of time together over the few days he was here.  Kate LOVED him and he was so good with her (he even changed a diaper).  Here's a pic of them hanging out together.  My mom and sister normally fight over whose turn it is to hold Kate, but no chance of either of them holding her when Uncle Patch is around :)

Kate's been sleeping so well and we feel really blessed.  She's been sleeping from 11:30-7:30/8 for about 2 weeks straight, but she decided Monday AND Tuesday night that she didn't want to go to bed 'til about 4/5 AM! That makes for a loooooong night!  (Good news- she went to slept Wednesday & Thursday night at 11:30 and slept 'til 7:30 so we're praying we're now back on schedule!)

I've also recently discovered that my brain is gone.  I now know why people say your brain is never quite the same when you become a mommy.  There have been a couple of incidents where I've either totally forgot something or I've had a huge "mommy blunder".  

For instance, 2 weeks after K was born I had to go in for a 2 week checkup for myself.  After we got out of the car Steven says, "I'm gonna take Kate on in, grab the diaper bag and lock the car.  I'm laying the keys on the trunk." Fast Forward to when we're done with the appointment and we're getting on the elevator.  Steven: "Will you go ahead and get the keys out." Me: "I don't have the keys." Steven: "Yes you do, I laid them on the trunk and told you to lock the car." Me: "I locked the car from the inside...oops."  Then we kinda freaked for a mere second, but our car wasn't far from the entrance so we could see that it was still there...whew.  And there were our keys SITTING ON OUR TRUNK in plain sight.  Thank you good people of East Ridge for not stealing our car as we pretty much said "here's the keys go ahead and take it!"

And of course there are the moments when I just simply forget about something and usually wish I would have remembered.  I've forgotten about water boiling on the stove (YIKES).  I've even turned on the wrong stove eye and because my Kettle was sitting on that eye (with no water in it) I burned it up.  The burning smell caught my attention before any real harm was done.  Maybe I should stay away from the stove! My biggest forgetful moment that bummed me out the most: I ordered K the cutest hat from Etsy for her pics with Kristine and totally forgot about it.  I opened up K's armoire a couple of days after our photo shoot and found it- Awesome! I was so bummed out, but was sooooo pleased with all our pics and there's so many to choose from so no big deal. :) I'm really working on flexibility and patience these days- you now the kind that you have to have when everything doesn't go just as you initially planned :) 

And not to leave out how I've been forgetting to eat.  Not smart I know, but I've been remembering well after lunch time "I haven't eaten anything today" Or It will be well into the day and I'll think "All I've had to eat today are carrot sticks and french fries" real nutritious for myself and especially my child! I know, I've got to get better about this!  I'm still adjusting.  

I'm sure there are plenty of other "mommy moments" that I've probably forgotten about :) but these are a couple that I remember.  I haven't forgotten K anywhere yet or walked out the door without her so I guess I'm doing pretty good.  And with her sleeping 8 hours I can't blame it on sleep deprivation.  I guess it's just simply becoming a mommy that's made me lose my brain...hehe no not really, just become a little more "scattered brain." And my husband will tell you I needed no help with that :) But I wouldn't trade it for anything.  And like I mentioned above I'm working on my flexibility and patience because this new mommy needs all I can get!  

Here's some recent pics...I may be bias, but I think she's quite a cutie :) 

Had to get a pic in her cute hate. LOVE those cheeks! 

She really doesn't like her car seat.  So thankful for that paci (made the clip myself)

And of course watching the intense Bachelor Finale with Honey

(They are both nervously chewing on their nails hehehe)

Introducing our first official family photos!

 We have found our "family photographer"! We fell in love with Kristine Neeley's work the second we discovered her photography.  It's no wonder why we would travel all the way to Nashville for her to do our maternity session and we were so grateful that she would come to Cleveland to meet and photograph our sweet little girl.  Well, we got a sneak peek at some of the pics today and we LOVE them!  The thing that we love most about Kristine is that her pictures are natural.  There's no posing or "staging".  She came to our home and we honestly just hung out.  Check out her blog and our pics and please leave a comment (we get a little something extra if we get so many comments) 

                                                http://kristineneeley.blogspot.com/

Do what you Love, Love what you Do

This week I returned to my little ballerina girls.  I feel so incredibly blessed that I can still be a stay at home mommy and teach dance.  I just have to leave my sweet girl for a few hours three afternoons a week.  Two days I just drop her off with Daddy and he heads home with her and the other day my sweet friend Abbey keeps her.  It was so good to be back and I loved all the little screams of "Ms. Hailey!" that greeted me.  When I told my Monday 7-8 yr old class to settle down and listen and that I knew they were excited to be at dance one of them exclaimed "No, we're excited that you're back!" How sweet?!? I love working with kids- especially the little ones.  Here are a few reasons why I LOVE my job.

-"Ms. Hailey, that bump on your belly is gone"

-"Ms. Hailey, My sister (who is ten) can babysit"

-"I need a tennis shoe (tissue), my nose is running"

-And the highlight of my day: one of my 3 yr olds had a car crash into her house last week and she was telling me all about the big hole that her house had had.  And than she precedes to tell me about the lady who crashed into their house: "And the lady that crashed into our house got out and said, 'What the Hell I did?'" I looked at Liz and said did she just say Hell? and then we laughed really hard. It was at the beginning of class so one of the other moms heard her and apparently mentioned it  to her mom cause she came in and apologized and said "that's what the lady really said, didn't realize she was going to share the story so literally" hehehe 

Here's a pic from nearly 2 years ago! WOW- how time flies!  

Me and Ms. Liz -who I could not do without! 

As crazy and stressful as it gets sometimes we LOVE our job and get much joy and laughter out of it!

After the day is done, I get to return to this sweet girl and cherish the time I have with her because I know she'll be running around in tights and a tutu one day. 

Oh, and have I mentioned K's sleeping like 7-8 hours a night (For over a week now!) Seriously, I think she loves sleep as much as her momma and I am soooo thankful! She's a happy baby for sure!

Uncle Patch is also coming in town tonight! Wahoo...Can't wait for him to meet Kate! He has been so excited.  I hate that he lives so far away.  He's making quite the career for himself out in Phoenix as a Prosecutor, but we're all praying he'll work back in Chattanooga one day soon! He's not only my big brother, but he's been my lifelong best friend! He let me tag along and be "one of the boys" (I grew up with 6 boys in the neighborhood and not a single girl!) and he played the protective older brother when all his friends would give him a hard time about his cute little sister :) We laugh a lot when we're together and I so look forward to just the time I'll spend at my parents house this weekend with my mom, dad, Patrick, lil' sis Kendra, Kate and Steven! My idea of a PERFECT weekend. 

We share a special TN/UK rivalry! We've made several trips to Knoxville to watch both Basketball & Football games together.  Normally the Basketball games end up in my favor :) Ok, football has NEVER worked out in my favor hehe