Bow Tie

We just returned from a lovely wedding this last weekend. Our friends Lauren and Stephen got married and boy was their wedding just beautiful. What a treat to be a part of it. Honestly.

Jesse, Jude and I got to spend the weekend away in Des Moines. How wonderful it was to be away! We loved it.

Thank you Lauren and family for hosting such a fabulous party! It was so fun to celebrate with all of you!

Lauren is one of Jude's favorites. So, I wanted to make sure he was extra handsome to celebrate with her at her wedding. (Okay, really, any excuse would have worked.)

We started with the bow tie made from Delia Creates Mister Bow Tie tutorial. Then I picked up the dress shirt on sale at Kohls. I thought the color combination was just perfect.

And, finally, I added the newsboy cap. I couldn't help myself.

Just look at that handsome little thing. He got many many compliments.

Birthday Bash!

Yesterday we celebrated Jude's 1st Birthday! I had so much fun both preparing and partying! We went with the "banner" theme since I'm kind of a sucker for them. Emily helped me pair the red and the aqua/teal together and I love it! We designed the invitations by sending them back and forth over email. We decided to put aqua/white stripes on the back of the card which was so cute. But, when I printed them I was in such a frazzled state of mind that I forgot to print the design on the back. Stupid.

A couple of weeks ago I made the fabric banner to hang in my dining room. Looks adorable. I would probably keep it up there for a good month if I didn't have to figure out a way to rationalize it to Jesse.

We set up two tables - this one inside and another outside - since our house is too small to fit all of Jude's admirers. Most of the party happened outside. I decorated the other table too, but didn't get a picture of it in the midst of the celebratory chaos.

I saw this tutorial for party hats and just had to do it. I only made enough for Jude, myself and the other kids who were attending. They're somewhat time consuming but totally worth it in my opinion. Although, let's be honest, my opinion is pretty skewed.

I printed stripes onto cardstock and used that for my hats. The pom-poms are made from red tissue paper. I used elastic thread rather than ribbon for the tie.

Rather than fussing over a large cake (which usually don't turn out for me) I settled for cupcakes instead. I made little flags for them and they fit my theme nicely. Easy. I used a frosting tip to decorate the tops. I much preferred to frost them that way and I think it looks better in the end. Who knew I would like using these frosting tip thingys so much?

In my head I thought it would be fun to break out the bean bag toss game and maybe put together a championship bracket. I never got around to the bracket (maybe I'll use a similar idea for something else in the future), but I did make some bean bags to match the party theme, and they did get used a little.

I used this idea for the numbers. I thought the idea was intriguing and maybe we'll get some use out of them in the future.

I love this little picture of the birthday boy. Such a happy little thing.

He ate his cupcake in good form. Used his classic pincer grasp for the first 3/4 then had a couple of good fist-full shove-ins near the end. Atta kid.

He received many toys and I believe our toy options have now doubled. My favorite was the red wagon he got from his grandparents and aunts & uncles. We dumped out all the parts and began assembling it on the spot. We had four former/current John Deere employees in attendance, so you might as well take advantage of the engineering expertise, right? It almost got the best of them, but they did it!

Course, as we were all centered in on the wagon Jude crawled out of the circle to find a plate that one of his cousins left behind. He went straight for the cupcake and had round two! Funny boy! Got himself all frosted up and required a change.

After he was all cleaned up again we took him for a spin in the new wheels.

I think he likes it!

Brides To Be

At the end of April I helped host a bridal shower for two lovely ladies. I got to mentor one of the girls over the last year and a half. She is exceptional. She helped to watch Jude in his first six months when I went back to work, and did it for free! What a gift. Seriously.

I couldn't be happier for both of them. They are walking into beautiful and lasting marriages that are worth celebrating! I love that.

My friend, Angela, and I made gifts for the brides-to-be. It was a kitchen shower, so aprons were a no-brainer.

Ang found the tutorial online and I can't seem to find it again. We altered the size of it quite a bit, but what we loved about it were the box pleats at the bottom and the extra long tie that puts the bow in front.


Cute, right? We paired the aprons with some recipes and a few utensils that they registered for.

They loved them! And, they look great on them too!

One Year Old

Two days ago our little munchkin turned one. We celebrated at home just the three of us.  Next weekend we'll have the big party with our family and friends.

I got balloons for him earlier in the day.  I love how fascinating those are for children!  He stared at them and played with them all the way home.  We opened cards during dinner and then we brought out the cake.

I love that face for some reason.  He is so entranced by that candle.

Then, we started to sing and he threw a little mini fit.  This picture makes me laugh a lot.  Isn't it just classic?

And, just as quickly as the fit came on it was over.  Appeased by frosting, I guess.  I made a carrot cake that I got from the wholesome foods website.  It was so stinkin healthy that it just wasn't very good.  Jude ate it fine, but Jesse and I could only do a bite or two.  Tasted like a bran muffin with frosting on it.  Sometimes I try too hard and this was a perfect example.  At least we got a good laugh out of it!

This is the face of the Jude that we know and love.  It's like he always has a thousand things he would communicate if only he could talk!  He's been that way from the beginning.

And, just as we predicted, he meticulously picked at his cake - using the pincer grasp for every single bite.  He does this with all of his meals.  He eats a lot, but very very slowly.

Last but not least we opened the gift that Nana and Papa sent. 

He was immediately engaged in it.  Isn't that train so cute?

All in all, we had a very happy birthday.  Preparations have started for next weekend, and I'm looking forward to showing you what I've been up to.  Happy Birthday to Jude!

Kitchen Floor!

As you know, we are selling our house! We're hoping to make the big move across town this summer. We have our eye on a big yellow house and we're crossing our fingers that it will all work out. Only time will tell.

My wonderful Mom came out to visit in the middle of April. It was such a lovely trip. I was very happy to have her here. As usual, though, we put her to work. How come we can't seem to avoid doing that? Is it because there is not much else to do around here except read magazines and go for a walk? (Which sounds lovely actually)

Thankfully she is always up for a project - no matter how big or small. So, we tackled the kitchen floor.

This is what it has looked like for the last five years.


Ick. No one should have a white kitchen floor. Especially if it's the main entrance to the house and you own a dog. This floor looked dirty all the time. Eventually, I just had to stop caring or I would have made myself crazy obsessing over it.

So, we decided on the sticky, vinyl flooring system to solve our problem. And, after about 10 hours of hard work it now looks like this.


Isn't that fabulous? The project came together quite well. Miraculously it was one of those DIY projects that didn't get the best of us. The most time consuming part was cutting the edges of the exterior pieces. Thankfully we had knee pads and my Mom's company. Both were much needed and appreciated.

The house is officially on the market. And, now we just need a buyer.

Newsboy Hat

I love Easter. It's one of my favorite holidays - a week to remember the gift of grace our God has given us and to celebrate the hope that springs from that gift. It's fabulous.

I love to dress up on Easter and this year I got to dress up my little one too, and boy did I have fun. I was giddy about it at least three weeks before.

Isn't he precious?
The sweater vest was a garage sale score. I love it when that happens. The pants I made out of an old pair of corduroys that Jesse wore a hole through. And, the hat just seemed like the perfect addition.

I made it from this pattern.

Yes, this photo is from our actual egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's. Jude clearly didn't get the point but loved it nonetheless.

I loved the hat so much that I actually made two. One is corduroy/blue. The other is khaki/orange.



We have several weddings to attend this summer so I'm looking forward to the frequent use of each. I'll be sure to post pictures of my dapper boy. I won't be able to help myself, I'm afraid.

Feeding the Baby

A few months ago when Jude began eating solid foods I started making my own baby food at home. I was inspired originally when my sister-in-law gave me the book, Super Baby Food. I hadn't thought much about it until then, but once I started reading I loved the idea of the variety of baby food options and that making baby food at home is relatively inexpensive.

At six months we started Jude with oatmeal, apples and pears, which he still loves very much. Little by little we kept adding new things. Now there is such a list that it would bore you to death to read it all. I've been surprised with how easy it is to prepare and store these foods at home.

The other day we made a large batches of food that included pears, peaches, white potatoes, sweet potatoes and pineapple. The pineapple is pictured here. I frequently use the Super Baby Food book to look up how I should prepare the foods. The author provides really great detail on just about any food you can think of.

I should say, however, that I don't follow all of the instructions in the book. In fact there is so much detail and instruction that it's completely overwhelming. I don't even recommend the book as a whole at all.

A simpler (and free) guide I've found is www.wholesomebabyfood.com. They have a wonderful variety of lists appropriate for different ages and instructions on preparing foods. It's fabulous.

Once I steamed the pineapple I put it in my Cuisinart until chunky (since we're pretty well passed the smooth puree stage).

Then, I place it in ice cube trays to freeze. Once frozen I store it in freezer bags. And, when it comes to meal time, I warm up the right amount for each meal. Easy peasy.

One cube equals one ounce, and approximately three cubes equals one jar of baby food.

And, for those of you who need an updated picture of my little punkin, here he is. 10 months old now.

I captured that little grin on the same day I captured this little moment. It was a good day.