bows, leggins and ruffles!

OK so I love my little boy, and soon I will post on him, but today I'm posting on Princess Alexis.

We (me and three 2 year olds) took Lexi's 8 month pictures this past Thursday. I really need to get someone to record what's going on during a shoot to really understand what goes into getting babies to look at the camera and to get it accomplished with the toddlers........

So I have this bow fetish, like for example....I made this picture holder for jaxon when he was born that is about 36 inches by 24 inches and we put lots of pictures on it, some of his family, friends and him. So naturally when Lexi was born I made her one too (same size). Well, it has 0 pictures on it but it does have about 30 bows and almost as many head bands. Like this one......

um yes we are still growing into this bad boy, but it IS much better then when she was a new born:-) This hat reminds me of black lady hats. I think it's WONDERFUL. Pretty sure Lexi does too.

 OK well maybe not but she doesn't have a say yet. So I know some people think it's not good to put all these bows in your little girls hair and all that, well until she cares I don't care what other people think and I think they are great! It's like the big bangs in the 80's it was great then, maybe not now, but then you were AWESOME if you had big bangs. Big Bows are AWESOME too!

ok maybe this one fits her head a little better.

I love the zebra too. I am pretty much having a blast with all the hot pink, bows and zebra. when they are combined I get all happy and silly.....I'm really not kidding about this, I have been known to pick up the adorable decorated child and asked her daddy (who know how to answer) and asked isn't she SO CUTE!

I know what you are thinking, "that's a lot of waisted money", well yes, it could be. Since bows are at least $5 each and head bands are sometimes about the same. Well let me tell you about this really AMAZING website: http://www.alwaysunderpay.com/flowers.html I get my boys for 50 cents each and the head bands for I think the same. They also have pettiskirts for under $10! Yes, They are pretty cool too:-) So go visit them for bows.
You do have to hot glue the alligator clip to the back but don't worry, they sell those too.

I also have these wonderful zebra ruffle butt bloomers I made.

just cute 3 strips of elastic the length of the bloomers and sew on 2x as much ribbon then elastic by stretching the elastic to it's fullest. then sew the 3 strips onto the bloomers. It took like maybe 20 min. start to finish and I had 5 kids in my house.

Ok so my other little accessory that makes me weak in the knees is, leggings! I LOVE a chunky monkey leg in some leggings!

SO SO SO easy. Buy tube socks from Target for $2 or dollar tree for $1 (go figure) and cute the foot out then hem it. Your done! This is seriously like a 2 min. project, it takes longer to get the machine out then to do it. Here is a picture of them hem.......

So my little princes is always getting dressed up and I'm pretty sure someday I will get this look more often when I want to play dress up,

but until then I will enjoy it!

 and as a side note I wanted to share a few pictures that are really good examples of using wide aperture for my photography friends. When you use wide aperture the background is blurry and the foreground is clear. This hands picture actually has a stroller about 2 feet behind her but you can't see it because my aperture was maxed out.

So there you go, my Princess and all her bows, leggings and ruffles! Let me know if you have tried these crafts or know any other websites I should know about! Here are the rest of the pics from the photo shoot, the brick wall and tulips are from a house across the street from us....I literally ran across shot the pics and ran back, but not before the owner noticed :-) She was cool about it after she saw how cute Lexi was in her big bow!

Kale...don't hate it!!!

Dirty juice, green shake, power shake, cancer killer, veggie drink.....All names for the most AMAZING drink in the world! It's got everything in it folks!

Now I know what you are thinking, you mentioned kale, I hate it already! I want you to know I'm not a "foodie" I don't only eat healthy for you things and say things taste good even when it tastes worse then cardboard. I like food. My favorite restaurant is Amigos (yes I know you just cringed). So although we try to keep to whole foods and such at home we are far from great at it. Believe me when I tell you this drink is WONDERFUL!

Let me tell you about it...

It's got kale and spinach (pretty much anything green is alive and great for your body)

 1/4 a lemon (this in my opinion is key ingredient to the goodness) and some carrots. Leave the rind on the lemon because it's got great stuff too!

 a slice of pineapple for sweetener (although I think it's good without too) some whole fax seed, a chunk of ginger, maybe some garlic.

 A whole apple seeds and all

Some juice of choice, frozen blueberries (you can use grapes, strawberries or raspberries if you rather)
a hand full of ice to chill it and turn the baby on!

oh wait I forgot something! You need a vitamix. Yes, this is a wonderful word in our home, use it at least one time a day if not more. This baby has 2 horse power and shreds anything in it's path. so this is why you can leave all the seeds, rind and other not so tasty things and you won't notice. All the goodness just blends right down to a smooth wonderful texture that taste oh so good!

Now this one is purple and not green because the blueberries. but if you didn't use them and used grapes or something you would have a very vibrant green drink.

I'm telling you my kids beg for these! I've even been known to say "if you eat all your lunch you can have some" so not just my "crazy" healthy kid like these. All of them think they are the best. (side note, mommy got scissor happy with poor Jaoxn's head...)

What else does this amazing machine do you ask? Well! It makes soup, hummus, salsa, scrambled eggs, shakes, margaritas, snow cones, ICE CREAM.....all under 30 seconds for most of it. Soups have to heat up so they take a tad longer. Maybe 3 min.

So there you go You Tube Vitamix and see what comes up! And come on over for a dirty juice! I would LOVE to make you a believer too!

Happy Easter

During Easter we line our children up to see the Easter bunny, go on egg hunts, and dress in our Sunday best. In all of this, we sometimes forget to celebrate the real meaning of Easter: The fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose from dead on that first Easter morning.

Easter should be about celebrating with our King who rose victorious over SIN and DEATH! How humbled I am that Jesus would die a retched retched death for my sins. If God had not given up his Son for my sins I would be bound for hell and not an eternity in heaven, where there are streets of gold and I get to serve my Savior every moment!

What a great reason to celebrate Easter!

I pray that when the time comes to share with Jaxon and Alexis what Christ has done for them I will do so with clarity and love. What a joy that would be to watch my children grow in their knowledge and love for Jesus.

So I Pray your Easter Session is filled with rejoycing with Your Savior. And if you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior, I pray your heart would be tender toward the Holy Spirit and you too would feel the joy, peace and love the can only be from Him.

Here are also a few images of the kids dress ready for Easter Sunday:-)

Hardest week of my life

Ever have a "Dear Diary" kind of moment where you just have lots that needs to be said but you really don't want to talk to anyone so you want to write in your diary? Well that's me today. So don't mind me as I ramble a little bit.........

This week sucked, it started last Saturday when my grandma died pretty suddenly. She was in the hospital for Pneumonia and had complications. So I cried lots (obviously) then I got an eye infection because of too much crying and the Dr. told me (at 9:30pm Monday) not to cry too much at the funeral tomorrow because you will damage your cornea....mmmmm....this sounds do able right? So on top of not being able to see my baby girl is wheezing and Jaxon is coughing. I keep telling myself, it's just a cold, they will get better. Ok so we get through the funeral without too many tears, mainly because my children where demanding most of my attention. I did manage to catch the pastor call my grandma "Jan PutNAM" (it's Janice Putman).

At this point my house is in very sad shape because we have done a lot of drop off and leave. Laundry hasn't been done in 2 weeks, dishes are in the sink from Saturday still.....So Wednesday roles around and with the downing of the sun so does a fever of 103 for yours truly. YEAH! I have daycare here because I couldn't close yet again, poor parents, I might stress them out....oh yeah, and my eyes are still blood shot and feel like sand paper. Welcome kid number one (coughing) kid number two (runny nose coughing) and kid number 3 (fever). and don't forget my two are not much better shape. We sit on the couch and snuggle all day, go to eye Dr. at 5 in hopes for some eye relief. He tells me my fever could be because I now have a virus in my eyes as well as a bacterial infection. OH GOODY!

is this week over yet?.....not quiet it's got to get worse be fore better right?

So Thursday, 7am, low fever but not bad, sore throat and runny nose, but I'm really worried about Lexi, she acts like she can't breath. 9 am, fever of 102 and can feel my throat close shut every time I swallow. Look inside my mouth and find little white puss pockets covering everything. WONDERFUL! Well time to call the Dr. I guess, since we are already going in Lexi can get looked at too. 1:30pm can't see much out of left eye, can't turn my neck to the left and it even hurts to breath because the air has to pass through my mouth since my nose is plugged. Oh, and Lexi sounds like she is whistling every time she breaths. Get to the Dr. yep I have strep, a cold and an eye infection not to mention all the symptoms of influenza but that came back negative. OH DARN. and Lexi has RSV. WHOOHOO!

Can this week get any better?

So after filling 7 prescriptions at the pharmacy I come home and act like a zombie for the rest of the day. I have NEVER been in this much pain. oh and the house is starting to smell at this point because it still is not cleaned.

Gave Lexi her breathing treatments (that's fun all in it's self) and got to bed. I can't even yawn because my tonsils touch and my gage reflux kicks in.

now it's Friday, ahhhhhhh, do you hear that? that's me breathing. the calm at the end of the storm. Or is that the calm before the storm? Oh I hope not! I can breath better, Lexi is not wheezing and my laundry and dishes are slowly getting done (it's the little things that make me happy). Still have to touchier Lexi with breathing treatments but they are helping. I can see the light at the end of this nasty awefull week! Thank the Lord!

You know what is interesting though? I never felt overwhelmed. I never felt like breaking down and screaming at God. I know he is my comforter and only gives me what I can handle, who knows maybe I had to get that sick in order to get poor Lexi to the Dr.'s office. I will never know His plan, but I do know I'm thankful I am a part of that plan.

Laura Story - Blessings