Not Just a Box

As all parents know, this time of year we often see our little ones having more fun with the boxes their new toys came in, instead of their new toys. Right?

I had seen this idea to make a box more fun one day when i was cruising around pinterest....wasting time. There was a surprise waiting inside this big box for Delilah when she woke from her nap the other afternoon.

That's right, this is no ordinary box.....it is Not a Box(check out the book it is pretty cute)...it is a box of lights, a disco box!!!

She entered hesitantly, but once inside she was amazed by it all. She makes the cutest sounds of wonder and amazement!!!

You can see the joy all over her face.

I love how something this simple can entertain and captivate a little one for so long. Even my big kids(9 and 7) were quite taken with it!

Lets be honest i want to crawl in there for a little while and just enjoy the pretty lights and let all the busyness of Christmas go away for a bit.

Merry Christmas to you all. Thanks for being such wonderful blog friends. I hope you all have a great Christmas with your families, friends and loved ones.

Leslie

In the Throws of it All

Time seems to fly by so quickly in the time between the holidays. The days get past before i even know what has happened.

There has been plenty to blog about, i have just been remiss in taking the time.

There has been a big birthday to blog about. Our sweet little has turned 1. There will be more pictures of this to come, for all the aunties that might want to see.... How has a year flown so quickly?




There is a new money making craft project to blog about!!! I have never made money from my sewing before but i am committed and in the throws of it now. I made one of these for a little neighbors birthday and they were a hit. 10 have been ordered!!!



There have been other crafts(crochet and sewing)made around here to blog about too!

And of course there all the yummy treats to blog about and share this time of year. I can not make my blog friends a plate of this goodness, though i wish i could, but i can direct you to the links where you can find the recipes and make them for yourselves. Both of these are to die for....peppermint bark rice krispie treats from Our Best Bites and below is caramel popcorn from Making More with Less.

Who knew making your own was so easy and fast? We saw her post and had it made and we were eating it within half an hour.

Leslie

A Birthday Week

Chris had a birthday this week. I imagine i am not the only one that has trouble buying the right gift for the man in my life. He really likes to buy his own and feels that birthdays are just any other day so why should we make a fuss.

Well i feel that a fuss needs to be made even if it is a small one.

So we fussed and made him some homemade goodies that are his favorites. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach right? I had never made peanut brittle before, or any hard candy, so this was new. But it turned out great and he loves it. Can not beat that. I found the recipe here.

And this beauty was his birthday pie. He asked for banana cream, and that is what he got, and then some. I remembered seeing a recipe on the food network. I hunted around a little and found the Salted Caramel Banana Cream pie (something else i have never made before). It was amazing. Like, cry when you take the last bite amazing!!!

It was enjoyed to the last bite!!! Happy Birthday honey!

Gratuitous baby shot coming up!!!(napping in the highchair again)

Leslie

Stacks of Wonderful Things

We have undertaken a change to our schedule....

homeschool.

Summer is over and our real life routines begin again. These routines have been keeping me from sharing all these lovely stacks of things that have come my way lately.

It was my birthday not that long ago, and it was a very booky birthday indeed! I was surprised and thrilled to find all of these wonderful books wrapped on the table waiting for me to open them...pour over them and love them!!!

I am excited to make my next quilt project with my neighbor and new quilter from the book Simplify. I have already ordered a jelly roll of Ruby fabric. I can not wait!!!

Then there was this stack of utter and total yumminess. Hubby asked what cake i wanted for my birthday and i said i wanted a pan of rice krispie treats. Apparently that seemed to simple so he took that simple idea and went big with it....ending with a multi layered neapolitan rice krispie tower complete with its own set of calculations to make sure that it would fit in all the pans he had chosen. I love it when he nerds it up!!!

Oh the chocolate ones were my favorite!!! I think i might make another pan of those very soon.

Last of all the stacks is this set(stack, only if you look at it just right) of domino rocks we made. Avery, Chris and I collected up lots of flat black rocks from the beach at our cottage in Maine and made them our own rock dominos!!! Fun right....do you think anyone has played this yet? Nope, but they were a fun idea and fun to make. Just used a paint sharpie and did some dots and lines. Couldn't have been easier. Maybe we will use them for school or something. Or they could be just another bag of rocks for us to move around with! :o)

She is no stack...unless you want to call her a little squishy stack of lovin!!!...but she is pretty cute!!! I was feeding her lunch and before long it all got to be too much and she just zoned out and then passed out sitting there. Like a good blog mom, i was sure to take this picture before i rescued her and got her settled into be for a real nap somewhere more comfortable than the highchair.

Leslie

Nursery in Progress

I know that i had 9 months of pregnancy and now 9 months of baby should be plenty of time to get her nursery worked out and finished, but it seems to never happen like that for me. it has been a work in progress....still is really. But some of her pictures and things finally got hung, and i love them!!!!



I bet you have seen this idea stumbling around blogland or pinterest or somewhere like that. I knew it was for us as soon as i saw it. I already had a whole bag of vintage hoops my mom had given me and several scraps and pieces of vintage fabric. Adding in a D for her name to personalize it.



This side of the room was finished off with some adorable little prints i bought ages ago on etsy. We have a little bit of an owl theme going on. Oh, look at that little face peeking over the bumper. She already knows that if the camera is out she should do something cute and smile.

Leslie

Delilah Update

It has been a little while since i had pictures up of the baby...or it seems that way to me. As all you mommy's know, a lot can change in a little bit of time

...shaking hands with a real Maine lobster...

...sitting up like a big girl....still a little tipsy at times but she is getting the hang of it...

...plain old cuteness!!!...

...her first time in the playground swing...

...stuck under the coffee table, and like a good mom i went and got my camera before the necessary rescue!...

....tooling around with Daddy on vacation!...

Leslie

Wordless Wednesday, the Sleep Series

Leslie

Life is Full

Life is full of the end of the school year activities!!!

the kids have finished up their first year of gymnastics. They both did so well. I was really impressed with all that they learned.

They are both so proud of the medals and certificates they earned.

Life is full of lots of baby loving!

Our wee baby Delilah is full of giggles and laughs lately. She often just chuckles under her breath at us when we walk in our out of a room. I can hardly believe that she is already almost 6 months old.

She had a lovely time out on the playground the other night with Daddy and the big kids.

I know i go on and on all the time about how cute she is but check out these knees!!! Aren't they awesome!?!

Life is full of quilt and craft plans!!! Always more than i have time for.

Seems like there are an around us awful lot of babies being born, and i really would love to give each one of them a little quilt to say welcome to the world. So it is time to start a new project.

Life is full of homeschool!!

School is almost finished for the year. We had our last group homeschool activity. I have to say that i am just as ready as the kids are to have a little summer vacation. Because of this there has been a lot more playing going on than school. We will finish, but in the meantime Avery has been doing a lot of monkeying around to blow off steam!

What has your life been full of lately?

Leslie

Bathing Beauty

"Check me out!!!"

"What ?! I am not supposed to be standing? Who says?"

"But sitting is not as much fun!!"

My little ball of chub!!! She had such fun standing in the tub. I was holding her sweet little chin out of the water and the next thing i knew she was rising out of the water, stiff as a board! And would not sit back down. Could not get her to bend for the life of me. So we just finished up with her standing. Guess she has ideas of her own already!

Leslie

Easter Revisited

My kids could not look less thrilled about sitting to have their pictures taken....

...but they matched and that was the thrill for me! Chris and i matched them too. Chris in a matching plaid with Mitch and i had a soft yellow sweater on.

In their defense, i think the sun was in their faces. :o)

Then we came in to get a few shots of my tiny marshmallow girl!!! She was all fluff and frills for Easter. Click on one of the other pics to get a close up of that bonnet.

Or maybe she looked like a Easter egg...either way we wanted to eat her up she was so cute!!!

Leslie