Birthday party eve

Haley finally got to ride that merry-go-round that's she's been asking about since her trip to the hospital last week. This is actually her second time in the past 3 days, it's her favorite thing to do and we can't deny the girl anything since she got out of the hospital. We're lucky she hasn't realized how much she can get away with yet.

My husband's parents are in town visiting for her birthday party tomorrow, so she's being even more spoiled by them. She deserves it, she's been such a brave girl this past week, even after going back to the doctor's office for a checkup to make sure all is well. And I'm happy to report that she is healthy! Music to my ears :)

So now, we're all geared up and ready to go for this little 3-year-old's birthday party tomorrow! And if you guessed that we're doing an "Up!" themed party, you're right! Our house is currently filled with bags of balloons and lots of rainbow colored everything. I have quite a few projects to share with you after the party is over, I went a little overboard with the DIY's for the party. Up! was just a fun theme to plan around, I couldn't help myself.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

It's party central over here

So, there's this little girl who is turning 3. THREE. I know that I've had a whole year to see this coming, but it still hit me out of nowhere. And she has been talking about her birthday for weeks now.  Haley gets really excited when other people have birthdays because she gets cake out of the deal (I get excited for the same reason), so when we told her that her third birthday is coming up, she hasn't stopped talking about cake. Specifically, strawberry cake. She still speaks in sentences with gibberish thrown in, so I mostly hear something like this:

"Haley's happy birthday, and dsjdagjkl strawberry cake and fjlkh dfkjakdjg present skj open and butterfly inside! Yay!"

I don't know when she decided that she absolutely HAD to have strawberry cake, but that's the one thing I knew had to be included in her party. The present with a butterfly inside? Not sure if I can swing that. I have no luck with pets in general, so putting one in a box as a present to my 3-year-old is probably out of the question.

I'm pretty excited about the theme actually. When I plan birthdays for the kids, I usually have to sit there and think really hard about what to make to go along with the theme. Haley started out wanting a Rapunzel party, but suddenly a couple months ago she had a change of heart.

And Instead of telling you exactly what theme I'm planning, I'm going to be mean and make you guess the theme based on what I have pinned on Pinterest :)

Cake Pom Toppers via Jen on Pinterest

Birthday Wreath via Jen on Pinterest

Sky Jello via Jen on Pinterest

Luggage Display via Jen on Pinterest

 So, any guesses? (that last one pretty much gave it away :) Her party is this Saturday, and we're so excited to celebrate!

Home!

Haley was released today! This morning, things weren't looking promising, but by noon her oxygen levels stabilized and they sent her home. Haley is still healing up, but our happy, energetic girl is back, and boy was she missed. We have to continue to give her some medicines and do breathing treatments with a mask for the next three days, but at least she's home and away from all the machines and doctors.

I am on cloud nine right now. My husband and I took off work all day today so we could spend some quality time with our girl. We cuddled, we colored, and then we cuddled some more. There was absolutely nothing else I would have rather done with my day.

Thank you to all of you who sent their thoughts and prayers our way, they are cherished. Now, I have to make up for all the lost time and finish planning Haley's birthday party this weekend! My only saving grace is that I started planning things out early, whew!

Quck update

Just a quick update on Haley. She's unfortunately still in the hospital, but we're hoping today is the day she will get to come home. The poor girl has so much fluid in her lungs that her oxygen levels aren't where they need to be, so the doctors and nurses are doing what they can to try to clear her lungs and help her to breathe better so she can come home. She has not been a fan of all of the X-rays and blood work, and neither are we. It's heartbreaking to see your little one so scared because she doesn't understand.

Haley is exhausted. If you've ever spent any time in the hospital, you know that it's not a very restful place. The nurses come in often to take blood, perform breathing treatments, and check her oxygen. I will be glad to get her home in her own bed soon.

Despite all the poking and prodding, we did manage to get a few smiles out of her yesterday. We got to unhook her from the machines and go for a walk in the halls and play with some toys and that cheered her up. And since it was her birthday yesterday, my husband went out and brought her back a cupcake and some Disney Princess nail polish and she got to have her nails painted, which is a treat we usually save for special occasions. It was nice to get a glimpse of the happy girl that we've missed over the past few days

I hope you'll excuse me while I am in and out over the next week or so while I tend to Haley and (hopefully today!) bring her home from the hospital. We have been planning her birthday party for this next weekend and with all of the events lately, I'm so glad we decided to plan it then rather than this past weekend. I'll be sharing some details from her party eventually once things calm down. I can't wait to bring her home and celebrate Haley turning 3 and being healthy again.

The worst birthday present

Tomorrow is Haley's 3rd birthday, and she will be spending it in the hospital.

Earlier in the week, Haley came down with a bug that was a combination fever and cough. Her fever finally broke after 2 days of being miserable, but the cough just hung on and became worse. My normally energetic, happy girl turned lethargic, weepy and somber, and it was so saddening to watch. After keeping her hydrated and giving her what meds we could, we decided last night to make a doctor's appointment for her this morning and promised her if she was brave through her checkup, we would take her to ride the merry-go-round (her favorite thing.)

At 8:45am, we sat in the doctor's office waiting our turn, expecting to hear that it was just a bug that was going around. They went through the normal barrage of tests, and Haley was uncharacteristically good through all of it, even with the finger prick and the nose and throat swabs. Strep, negative. Flu, negative. Oxygen level, low. Too low. Due to her cough and low oxygen, the doctor decided that she probably had pneumonia, but they wouldn't be able to tell without a chest x-ray. They tried several breathing treatments to help her levels, but they each failed to bring her level up to where it needed to be. After 2 1/2 exhausting hours at the pediatrician, they made the decision to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital because she needed to be put on oxygen immediately.

After doing a chest X-ray, she came back negative for pneumonia, but since all of her symptoms point to pneumonia, that's what she's being treated for. While pneumonia is certainly treatable, the feeling of helplessness that you feel when you know that your child is sick and there's nothing you can do to heal her is horrible. As a parent you always want to make it better but this time, mommy's kiss can't heal the boo boo. Poor Haley kept crying and asking to be "all done" but instead of  taking her on a trip to ride the merry-go-round and get a cookie, she was taken to a hospital and hooked her up to some machines to stay overnight in a bed that isn't hers. She will most likely have to stay there all day tomorrow as well, but we're praying otherwise.

My husband is staying with Haley at the hospital tonight since she's a Daddy's girl and also because Connor needs to sleep in his own bed. I've done what I can to distract myself but all I see are the boxes of unopened birthday presents and the pile of birthday cards on the table without a happy, healthy girl to open them tomorrow. We're praying and believing that she'll heal up quickly so she can be home for her birthday tomorrow and if you're the praying kind, we would appreciate your prayers as well.

Spring Flowers Shirt

Spring has come early this year it seems! I'm not complaining. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons. There's something so refreshing about walking outside with the smell of rain in the air and budding flowers everywhere. In fact, we haven't gotten ANY snow yet in my part of Tennessee. My husband, who comes from PA, is not happy about this fact - but I'm pretty darn thrilled with the mild weather. It means more play time outside for the kids, and more outdoor running for me :)

I made this shirt for my daughter as a way to welcome in the pretty spring flowers. The flowers are made using organza and seed beads then hand-sewed to the shirt, so no sewing machine needed - yay! You can find lots of pretty colors of organza at your local fabric store too, so the color combinations are endless.

Supplies:

• Shirt
• 1/4 yard organza
• Fray Check (to keep the edges of your organza from fraying)
• Seed beads
• Needle and thread

Step 1: Make your organza flowers.

First, start by folding a square of organza in half and cutting a little petal shape out (don't cut the fold!)

When you open your petal, it should look like this. Repeat this process to get 6-8 petals per flower. Apply your Fray Check to the edges of your petals and let them dry according to the bottle's instructions.

After all of your petals are cut out, stack them on top of each other (keeping them folded) and fan them out into a flower shape.

Pinch your flower in half and, with your threaded needle, sew through the bottom of your flower. Unfold your flower and pinch it in a different direction and repeat the same process 2 more times. Knot your thread and clip.

You should now have a flower that looks like this! Repeat this process for however many flowers you want. I suggest making at least 3.

Step 2: Stitch your flowers to your shirt.

Now to attach your flower to your shirt. Hand sew your flowers to your shirt with your needle and thread by sewing through the middle of your flower with coordinating thread. On your third stitch, before threading your needle back down through your shirt, add 3 seed beads for the center.

And there you have it, a pretty new spring top!

When laundering your shirt, lay it flat to dry so your flowers aren't crushed and deformed by the dryer. While they're wet, press the flowers open with your fingers some to help keep their shape.

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First haircut

**Make sure you go HERE to enter my giveaway for The Sharp Crochet Hook! The contest ends tomorrow at midnight**

Well, we finally did it. We took Haley to get her hair cut for the first time! For almost 3 years, we've let her hair grow....and grow and grow. She has such beautiful long curls, but it had finally gotten to the point where her hair had a mind of its own and needed a trim.

I took her to Sweet and Sassy Salon, a salon and spa geared specifically to little girls. The facility itself is the ultimate in girly-ness - everything is pink and sparkly. They do haircuts and styles, spa services, and even parties! While we were, there a princess birthday party going on that Haley was absolutely captivated by (hence the zoned out look below.) The little girls were dressed in princess dresses and tiaras and were dancing around the place. I'm anticipating a future princess party for this girl.

Since she had never even had a trim before, Haley was skeptical when the stylist put her in a chair, draped a blanket around her so she couldn't move, and broke out a pair of scissors. Each time we visit the doctor's office, Haley screams and cries, so I was preparing for the worst.

This was the first cut when her little baby ringlets were chopped off :(

Thankfully, she did surprisingly well. Maybe it was the little television that each station is equipped with or the fact that there was glitter everywhere. Whatever the case, she was all smiles by the end. After cutting her hair, they also sprayed it with glitter (are you sensing a theme?) and then she had the option of having it sprayed with her choice of several scents. We chose strawberry :)

After that, she got her nails done too which is a special treat for her since we don't usually let her get them painted. She was very clear that she wanted her nails painted orange which is news to me. Usually everything has to be pink pink pink.

On top of her strawberry-scented glitter hair cut and orange nails, she also got a tattoo on her hand, her choice of sucker, AND 2 glittery flower tattoos on her cheek, all included in the haircut. Why don't they offer this to adults??

She was such a goober after we got done. She kept asking to go home so she could show daddy her pretty nails and hair. In fact, I couldn't get her to stand still for a good picture, so this is what you get.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Banned

If you follow my Facebook page, you know that I banned all computer games and crafting last Saturday so that we could have some quality family time together. My husband said he felt like he was grounded, but for me, it was really nice to unplug and spend time together for the whole day.

And also, I liked not having to battle for attention with Pat's Star Wars The Old Republic game.  

(I took a bunch of pictures with my iPhone throughout the day, so they're a little grainy :)

We rented Kung Fu Panda 2 and watched it with the kids. Connor was obviously thrilled. He fell asleep almost immediately.

This little girl loved having us to herself though. We went through 2 bags of popcorn before she lost interest and Pat and I were left to finish the movie by ourselves.

For dinner, we broke out our fondue pot and made beer cheese fondue using this recipe. We both love the Melting Pot, but we don't love the price so making the fondue ourselves was a LOT cheaper - and a lot more fun! Our fondue pot was a wedding gift, and it hasn't seen a lot of action in the past 3 1/2 years, so it was good to get some use out of it for once.

I justify eating all that cheese with the fact that we're dipping veggies and fruit into it. And bread - you can't forget that.

In case you're wondering, the recipe was really good! It tasted almost exactly like the Melting Pot's version (and according to the source, it was actually shared on television by representatives of the Melting Pot so it's supposedly the real deal.) It was so good, in fact, that we made it again this past week.

While the Melting Pot generally uses a cheap beer in their cheese fondue, we found using the right kind of beer makes a world of difference. Newcastle is my personal favorite. And as an added bonus, you get to drink the rest of what you don't use :)

So that was our computer and craft-free weekend. Nothing huge and exciting, but enjoyable nonetheless. If I didn't think Pat would hide my fabric stash somewhere, I might consider doing another ban this weekend :)

A walk outside

Today was..well, not what I expected. We went to church, dropped the kids off, then 30 minutes into the service, we got a call that our house alarm went off. We grabbed the kids and rushed home after being assured that the cops were on their way. When we got home do you know what we found?

Nothing. A balloon that we bought the kids had moved when the AC came on and set the motion sensor off. I'm sure we were the least exciting call the cops had gotten all day.

We did enjoy some time outside though. It was one of those overcast, perfect-for-picture-taking kind of days. So Connor and I took a trip outside while Haley was napping.

This guy is busy perfecting his walking. He actually has it down really well, as long as he's not wearing shoes that is.

Shoes on his little chunky feet make him one angry dude. The minute we put them on him, he kicks and whines pitifully until they come off again. It's not comfortable for him, shoes just make his little life more difficult. It made me think of how our relationship with God can be sometimes. When something hard comes along, we kick and scream instead of doing what we should do - just come to Him.

And He picks us up and sets us on our feet again.

That's not to say we won't have other spills later. But He's always there, watching over us like any caring parent does. Ready to wipe away the tears and pick us up again. Because ultimately, we have to go through the hard stuff to make us stronger.

Even though it may be hard to understand at the time, one day we'll look back on all that hard stuff and say, "If I hadn't tried and tripped a little, I wouldn't have learned how to walk."

So thank you God for shoes. And for helping us up when we fall.

And then this happened.

So while we were in Pittsburgh for the holidays, Connor learned a new trick.

Yep, Connor learned how to walk! He had been taking a few steps here and there before the holidays, but he decided he was over the whole crawling thing and just took off during our 10 day vacation. And now, he is into EVERYTHING.

Want to know how to babyproof a house? Let a one-year-old loose and hide anything that they find interesting.

We went to my sister-in-law's house for New Year's, and Connor was thrilled. It was like we had just taken the kid to Disney World. We spent most of the time hiding stone coasters and antique cameras, blowing out candles, and attempting to keep him from leaping off of the stairs (which had no banister) and onto the cat.

I feel like his sole purpose is to break everything. I mean, just look at this face. It's a look that says "I am Connor, Destroyer of All Things."

Needless to say, we are re-babyproofing.

Oh and while we were there, he also decided to get 2 more teeth. I need this kid to stop growing!

Mitten Pocket Shirt

I have a thing for appliqued shirts (if that wasn't abundantly obvious.) Probably because of the instant gratification they give me. I get a cute shirt in half the time without having to make the actual shirt itself, and that leaves me more time for really important things, think like eating bowls of Oh's cereal while catching up on my DVR'd episodes of Chopped (there's just something so intriguing about watching four people frantically attempt to make an appetizer out of stuff like candy canes, lamb chops, and pancake mix.)

I get inspiration from so many different things that I have to keep a running list in my phone. For this project, my inspiration was a mitten. Originally, I had a vision of making a cute ruffled dress for my daughter with striped mitten pockets. The dress became a shirt, then the stripes became hearts but hey, at least my mitten pockets remained unchanged.

Wanna make one too?


Supplies:

• Shirt
• Scraps of knit fabric
• Ric-rac
• 2 buttons
• Sewing machine and basic sewing supplies
• Free mitten template for download HERE

Step 1: Make your mittens.

First, print and cut out my mitten template. Using a disappearing ink marker, trace the template onto your knit fabric. Flip your template and trace a second mitten. Cut out.

Next, fold the bottom of your mitten up 1/4 inch and press. Fold up another 1/4 inch and press. Using a zig-zag stitch and coordinating thread, stitch straight across.

Step 2: Attach your mittens.

Now you need to enclose the raw edges of your mittens. We'll do this with a gathering stitch. Set your stitch width and length to their highest settings and stitch 1/4 inch around the perimeter of your mitten, making sure not to backstitch at the beginning or end. Leave the tails long for gathering.

Tie the tails at one end of your mitten in a knot. At the other end, pull gently on one of your threads and push the fabric away from the thread to form gathers. You'll have to work to distribute the gathers evenly around the mittens, especially around the thumbs. You want to gather just enough to keep the raw edges of your mittens underneath so that they're not exposed when you sew your pockets on.

Place your mitten pockets on the top of your shirt and make sure they're lined up exactly where you want them. Now pin pin pin.

Make sure you're happy with the placement because there's no going back once you stitch everything in place!

Once you have your mittens pinned where you want them, use your coordinating thread to stitch your mitten pocket in place using a 1/4 inch seam allowance (don't sew the top closed :) Add some ric-rac for the string (stitch down with coordinating thread) and a couple buttons for decoration.

Here's a close-up of the pocket detail.

The pockets are a great place for kids to hide their treasures.

The pockets are also really great for blogging mommies to hide the bribes for photo sessions (smile if you want chocolate!)

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