A City Life For Me

I used one of my Pinterest inspirations to make a hair-bow holder for Elaine .  I used a 25 cent frame from the thrift store.  I gave it a facelift with some white spray paint.  Later I gave it a second facelift after Nolan disturbed it while the paint was drying.   When the frame was dry we glued strips of ribbon down the backside.  The bows will clip onto the ribbons.  I think I should have spaced my ribbons further apart, but it still works well.  And besides…Elaine has a lot of hair bows! This is how it looks sans hair bows. Voila!  See…I told you she had a lot of bows! Elaine definitely likes choosing which hair bow to wear each day…even more than she liked it before!  We even had to hang the bow holder out of reach to keep it in tact!

It’s just a little deal, but every time I see my new wreath I smile.  I wasn’t sure at first…but it’s definitely growing on me.  My friend Sarah posted a tutorial on ribbon flowers .  So easy, but nice, pretty, and springy.  I thought they would be great on my 25 cent thrift store wreath.  Elaine helped me select the ribbon and buttons, and we put it together, together!

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Ever since we had this picture taken… …I’ve known that Nolan takes after my side of the family.  I guess since he looks so much like my dad, that makes him a Godby more than a Paul.  But then I started looking through some of my baby pictures and I realized that he looks like me too! I don’t think of myself as the chubby-cheeked little baby I see in Nolan, but there’s the proof…I guess I was at one time! Don’t cry, Mom.  Just enjoy reminiscing!

Always in action! His shirt says “squirmy” – so appropriate! For pictures of Elaine, click here .  All pictures used by permission.

My friend Debbie is getting ready to start a photography website & business.  She came and took some pictures of the kids, both for me and for her portfolio!  Check out these black and white shots!  All pictures are copyrighted, and used by permission. For pictures of Nolan, click here .

Today I am thankful for Ben’s job.  He has actually been working since the end of January.  I have been holding off from writing this post and making it public because I wanted to be sure things were going to work out.  We were blessed with a short unemployment period – just about a month.  There were several months at the end of 2011 that were sketchy, but God provided our needs. Ben is working for another pastor in the area who is a full-time contractor in addition to pastoring a church.  Ben is working as a sub-contractor, so things are a little different.  There is no paid vacation or benefits, but we didn’t have those at the other job, so nothing has changed.  We are making slightly less than before, but God is continuing to provide what we lack. While Ben has some general skills and knowledge, he is definitely learning a lot in this job.  Previously, Ben worked mostly with wood and furniture repairs.  Now he is learning to lay tile,...

I’ve been wanting to fill some empty flower pots for a while.  Over the weekend, we picked out a couple of new plants, and added new soil to some that were dying {read I almost killed them because I didn’t water them over the winter }.  I definitely don’t have my mom’s green thumb!  We successfully potted the new plants anyway, and Elaine and Nolan enjoyed helping me.  Elaine did NOT like getting her hands in the dirt.  Nolan DID like eating the dirt.  There you have it.  A true girl, and a true boy!  Click the pictures below to enlarge!

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On Wednesday we availed ourselves of the warm weather and made a visit to the Prospect Park Zoo with our friends.  The kids and I took the train to the Klaus’ house, and then we all walked through the park to the zoo.  It was nearly 2 miles one way!  We had a great time in the sunshine, watching the sea lion show, exploring the barn (and the girls even got brave enough to feed the goats!), and pretending to be prairie dogs.  {click the scrapbook pages below to enlarge}

Today I am thankful for uninterrupted sleep.  Within the last 2-3 weeks, Nolan has been making a consistent habit of sleeping through the night.  And not just through the night, but well into the morning!  My kids have been awaking around 9 a.m., which has been wonderful for this mommy!  Since Ben is working later at night, our dinner time and bed times have all been pushed back as well.  I guess the schedule is finally catching up with my littles, and they want to sleep later in the morning as well.  Elaine started sleeping through the night at 2 months of age, so I was a little dismayed when Nolan would only do it occasionally.  He would have a couple nights of sleeping through, but most of the time he wanted to eat around 2 a.m.  It wasn’t a big deal, but I definitely enjoy sleeping straight through much better! 

   

We used these pretty little jars on the guest tables at our baby shower over the weekend .  They were really easy to make, but I thought they added a lot!  For a couple of weeks, I saved baby food jars from Nolan.  I removed the labels, but there is always some of the gummy junk left where the label was glued.  I wanted to cover it, but I wanted the light from the candle to show through. I made a strip of paper lace using cardstock and my Martha Stewart edging punch.  I tried using typing paper, but it was too thick for my punch.  I thought it would take forever to punch both sides of the strips for all of those jars (I made 21), but it really went fast!  I adhered the paper lace with double sided scrapbooking adhesive.  But…the cardstock was heavy enough that the ends kept coming undone.  So I added a dab of hot glue to secure the end.  Next time I think I will try sticky strip. I made the seam of the lace fall where the stickin...