Catch Up!

Wow- I haven't posted on here since April. APRIL!!! So this will be a catch up post and I will try to be better about posting about John...and Matthew who will be here in three weeks from today!

John has...

...been to the Frisco Heritage Museum



...fed the ducks at the pond



...been to the zoo





...played in the pool with Bella while Mommy and Daddy were out of town


...played with Daddy by the lake


...started to brush his teeth


...gotten a new hair do


...been to Little Elm Beach


...helped with Matthew's new room


...celebrated Father's Day with Daddy


...started sleeping in a big boy bed


...celebrated 4th of July (with a parade, Kaboom Town, and going to Nana's)


...went to a waterpark


...went to a splash park


...and so much more!

John's latest antics:
-saying 'no' to EVERYTHING even if he really means yes
-LOVES Vienna Fingers cookies. He even taught himself how to break apart the cookie and eat the icing. :)
-buckling up Brown Bear in the baby car seat and rocking him
-starting to eat with a fork for at least half his meal
-loves bananas and finally starting to eat veggies again (corn, green beans, carrots)
-starting to talk a lot more...well trying to say words!
-runs everywhere
-wants us to read books to him 24/7
-likes to hear 'his songs' on the CD and do the movements with them
-doing awesome in swim lessons
-says 'one more' when he wants to do something again...and says it over and over and over again (doesn't quite understand the concept of 'one more'!)
-tries to jump, but his feet don't leave the ground...but he is so proud of himself!
-says 'bye' to everything such as his toys when we put them away, tv when we turn it off

He is so dang cute and precious! I can't wait to see how he is with Matthew soon!

Our Easter Weekend

Even though the weekend isn't over, it has been a great one so far.

Saturday was a wonderful day hanging out at the house, doing whatever we wanted, when we wanted. No plans, nowhere to be. Awesome. Haven't had one of those days in a long time so it was perfect. I even managed to stay awake during John's nap time and get stuff done for my craft show. (I posted about it at www.lilmoptop.blogspot.com)

So, what exactly did we do?

We tried to make Easter bread, but it didn't rise correctly. Well, I don't think it rose at all. We baked it anyways and it tasted pretty nasty. I couldn't even eat it, which says alot since I LOVE Easter bread! John was a great helper in the kitchen! (Yes, I was still in my pj's and my hair was all a mess. Another sign of a wonderful day!)









We cleaned out the garage! Well, I cleaned out my car whlie Brad cleaned out the garage. John just walked around and kept himself entertained. He did find the John Deere tractor and his boots and played with both. So cute! (Since our driveway backs into the alley, we put up some plastic fencing we had so that John couldn't run into the alley. It actually worked perfectly since John didn't try to knock down the fence and we could just roll it up when we went back inside! Who cares if it looks trashy in the meantime?)





Sunday was Easter so we cooked up a big breakfast which was super yummy. And yes, John is wearing Christmas pj's. Get over it.






Then we checked out what the Easter Bunny left John- ears and bubbles. Fun! Do you think John liked the ears?



The Easter Bunny also hid some eggs outside for John and as soon as he walked outside, he knew exactly what to do. He got almost all the eggs before he decided he would rather just dump out his basket and play with the eggs.





We topped off the morning with some bubble action. The bubbles John got were HUGE and so fun! However, I think bubbles work best when you don't put your whole face through the wand. Just my opinion though.




So, now John is taking a nap and I think I will take a short nap before getting ready to head to mom and dad's for John's FOURTH egg hunt and some yummy food!!

Free Postcards!

I just ordered 100 postcards for FREE! Well, I had to pay for shipping (which I did with paypal!!!) which was less than $7. So, 100 postcards for $7 isn't bad. I had read about this several weeks ago and saw it reposted today. I ordered birthday postcards so all I have to do is address them, add a little note, and put them in the mail. No excuses anymore for not sending birthday cards on time. So, to those of you in my family- get ready to recieve birthday postcards for the next 50 years or so until I run out! :)

A little bit of John

Well, there isn't much to share over here at the Brown household. Same ol' type of thing going on. And I didn't take many pictures over the past couple weeks, so I need to get back into taking a million pictures a month!

I walked by Brad's nightstand the other day and started cracking up. He had quite the arsenol of pacifiers in case John wakes up at night. The most annoying thing is going to his room to give him his pacifier and it is lost somewhere in the dark. So Brad stockpiles them on his nightstand which cracks me up! What a sweet (and smart) Daddy!



John also got his new custom earplugs a couple weeks ago. Since he got tubes in his ears, he can't get water in them. So, we got some molded ones from the ENT to make our lives easier. I picked blue and white swirl and as soon as the words 'blue and white swirl' left my mouth, I panicked and was worried his earplugs wouldn't match his swimsuit in the summer. I mean, how can I possibly know what color his bathing suit would be when it was only February?! And are there any greater atrocities in life than a bathing suit that doesn't match the earplugs? Brad said 'oh, he is going to be one of those kids in the pool. We made fun of those kids'. great.





Tonight we changed John into his pj's in the living room and had to try to document his cute belly. But, he is quite the squirmy kid and hard to photograph. He did seem to jump at the chance at sitting in my lap when he was naked and I was just hoping he didn't feel the urge to pee at the same moment. He is just so cute though!





In other news, I started a new blog for crafts and selling my baby stuff. Please check it out! It isn't perfect at all, but I wanted to get it going before the craft show in May!!

the big reveal!

I know you have been waiting so patiently, dear readers, for the big craft surprise! Well, you will have to wait no longer! Here's the scoopity scoop...

I decided to make multi-purpose PLACE MATS!! (WOW!! nerd alert!) I am having the family over for Valentine's Day and decided to make place mats as part of the table decoration since my tables tend to look quite bare at celebrations. So, I also thought I could make them more useful by backing them with a different holiday themed material so I can use them twice a year instead of once a year. So, I figured I might be doing Halloween for a little while since Thanksgiving is so close to John's birthday and Christmas is quickly taken up my mom and Al. So, my creative little brain headed off to JoAnn's and found some cute Valetine's Day and Halloween (60% off too!) fabric.

Part of my Christmas present to Brad was a date-a-week jar where I put in slips of paper with things we can do together. I was getting super annoyed with us sitting on the couch watching tv and not doing anything. So now, every Sunday we pull out a slip and we have a planned activity for that week! Most of them are things we can do at home for free, or things that are super cheap...and I love it! Maybe I made that present more for me than for him. But, I digress. Luckily for me, last week was 'do a crafty project together'! So, Brad helped me cut, de-pin, and flip inside-out the place mats while I took care of the actual sewing part. He was doing this while watching some war movie, so he wasn't totally girly that night!




And after million hours (making 15 of these bad boys was not really fun! After one, I was kind of regretting this little project!), this is how they turned out...







Not too shabby. They certainly aren't fancy, but will bring a little color to our Valentine's pizza dinner! They were VERY easy to make, just tedious and slightly boring.

The big news now is that I applied to have a craft booth at a craft fair in Keller with one of my friends. Hopefully we get accepted because I am excited to get it all organized and see how it turns out!

And because mom will be upset if she doesn't see a pic of John, here is one from last night when we came home from the mall. He had worn himself out playing in the play area and running around like a crazy man and fell asleep in the car. I carried him inside and he was still sleeping as we tried to change his diaper! That is one tired little boy! Wish us luck as he gets tubes put in his ears tomorrow! I bet he will be talking in no time now. :)

Keepin' Up with the Crafts!

Well, due to some sick people in the family, (why is it that Brad never gets sick with us?!?!), I didn't keep up with my workouts last week. Hopefully this week is better! But I DID make another craft today, so that has to help balance out my resolutions. Right? RIGHT?!?!?

I made a baby blanket today for one of John's friends who is turning one. Her monster-themed party is Saturday and I found really cute monster fabric when reading through the million blogs on my reader. So I immediately headed over to JoAnn's and bought some supplies. Even though I have made a blanket before, I am considering this a 'new' craft since I haven't used ric rac before, much less HUGE ric rac! I combined some ideas I saw online and the tag blankets I made to make a cute monster blanket for Miss Meadow! It isn't quite as big as I would have liked, but it is a good size for Meadow to use as a comfy blanket when she is relaxing or watching tv. Well, I guess good parents don't let their one year-olds watch tv...hmmm...


So, without keeping you on the edge of your seats any longer, here is my THIRD new craft for the year 2010!!!








Even though I posted this before, I PROMISE I am making some cute a Valentine's double-duty craft. That may be not for another week or so, but I am hoping that turns out cute! Keeping my fingers crossed....

Thank You Cards...made from stuff around the house!

Lately I have been 'going green' when it comes to cards. 'Going green' is also code for 'too lazy (and cheap) to go to the store so I need to make something from what I already have at home'. For whatever reason, it saves me money and I finally use the stuff that has been piling up in my closet and dining room! Bonus!!

I needed Christmas thank-you cards and I kept forgetting to buy them when I was out. So I figured I would just make them. A couple years ago I bought Christmas party invitations that I saw on sale super cheap thinking the I would need them for a cheerleading party the following year. Well, they ended up in the attic and I never used them. I found them this year when I was packing up the Christmas decorations and put them in my crafting area, thinking I could surely find a way to use them one day. That day has arrived!!!!


I started with this...



...and since the design at the bottom of the card was cute, I just typed up thank you notes on coordinating cardstock, glued it together, and I ended up with...



...THANK YOU CARDS!! (ummm...hi blogger, why are you rotating my pictures randomly? My sincerest apologies to my loyal readers!!) I stopped just short of adding ribbons and glitter. But only because I forgot to factor in the ribbon idea when I printed out the notes and I didn't have glitter within arms reach (remember, I said I was lazy!).

I am hoping that I can make Miss Meadow's birthday present on Monday since I have the day off from work. We will see if I am actually motivated to follow through with that during John's nap! So, stay tuned...

Resolutions Check-up

Well, we are 9 days into the new year and I am still on track with my resolutions. I worked out twice last week...CHECK. We are keeping up with the budget...CHECK. Making new crafts...CHECK CHECK! Here are the projects I worked on this week:

Bella's cupcake outfit: I saw a cupcake outfit online and it was super cute! So my first new craft of the year was to make it for Bella's first birthday. My friend came over one night and we had a little sewing party. She made the CUTEST Valentine's Day shirt for her daughter, and I made the skirt for Bella's outfit. It turned out a little shirt (or ALOT short), and maybe not as full as I would have liked, but still it is really cute. A couple days later, when school was cancelled for possible ice (HORRIBLE decision!) I made the cupcake applique while John was taking a nap. The whole project took about 2 hours, not including shopping time.







Burp Cloths : I have a baby shower to go to in a couple weeks, so I decide I would give handmade presents. Part of their presents will be custom burp cloths. (I can say 'custom' right?!?! Sounds fancier!) I used some of my scrap material for the fronts and backed it with chenile. This was also a really great way to use some of my scrap material...and it gives me a perfect excuse to buy more material soon! Too bad I have used my 'craft' budget money for the next two months. :) The girl version ended up being a little fancier than the boy version. I didn't have big enough pink pieces so I had to extend them with coordinating material. It turned out cute and I really hope my friends like them! I like that they aren't the boring white cloths and they are a little smaller than the ones I have, so they will fit nicely in a diaper bag. Plus, babies prefer to spit up on something pretty...it is a proven fact. This project took about 2 or 2.5 hours which isn't bad considering I made 6 burp cloths.









My next project will be Valentine's Day placemats for the pizza lunch we are having. They will be double-duty placements, so be sure to check back to see how they turn out!