Cake, bats, and alot of heart.....

So this past Friday night was my Daddy's birthday. The boys had to light the candles....at least 3 times.....and then even blew his candles out! But Daddy didn't care, he even told them to do it. My boys love them some Papa....even though Nani spelled his name wrong on the cake and Big C called her out for it! Papa just aggravates them to no end...but they love him dearly. Big C still crawls up in his lap to have his back scratched every afternoon after school....and Little C loves to harass and irritate him....just cause he can. I'm so glad my little boys have a buddy in their Papa....cause God knows he loves them too!

And these 2 little beauties.....these are Big C's and his BFF JD's new baseball bats for this year! Me and his mom ordered them together and got a pretty good deal on them....now if they'll just knock it outta the park they will be soooo worth the money! Ok....it doesn't have to go out of the park.....they can just knock it way out in the outfield! ;-)

Ok...so now I'm thinking I can sew! I got my sewing machine working....even had to get the instructions out. And let me tell you that I H-A-T-E instructions! But....turns out I had the bobbin thing in wrong....go figure.Anyway, I was in need of a shirt to wear on Valentine's day...so I sucked it up and read the directions for the machine and got my sewing groove on! One of my staff is a sewing godess! She has thousands of dollars invested in all of her equipment....so I took a few notes from her....and cranked my $100 machine up....got some fabric out of the scrap bin at Hobby Lobby and got creative! (Notice the wine in the background....it fuels creativity...in case you didn't know.)

Thanks goodness for the internet and free images.....just printed up some different hearts and got to cutting.

And played around with some different ways to lay them out.....while of course getting some input from my friend Sewing Godess via multiple text messages and sending pics.

And of course I didn't have any of that iron on stuff the you secure the fabric on with so I used glue....yep....plain old glue to hold it in place.....don't judge....it worked fine and washes out. But while I was waiting on the glue to dry I finished up the necklaces I made for the boys teachers for Valentine's Day....aren't they just too cute?! They loved them! And the boys took them to them on Monday so that they would get to wear them for 2 days. They were so excited to take their teachers something special.

And after sewing those layers down and adding a cute little coordinating bow I successfully made my 1st applique tshirt....yay me!!! Not too bad for a first timer!! I proudly wore it with my own wire wrapped necklace on V day.

Now aren't these just the best?! I went to a family painting party Sunday at my husband's cousins house and this is the snack I took.

Notice all the extra rice krispy treats I had left over? Can you guess where that went?! haha....no leftovers what so ever. (me and Little C finished those off!)

As if just heart shapes weren't cute enough....I blinged them out with drizzled DARK chocolate and sprinkles.

Swwwweeeeeeeet!!

And don't forget Mr. Loud....he's still loving his 14 days of Valentine's. And ya know what.....so am I!

And finished these individual treat bags for the boys V Day parties at school at 10:30pm....and finished up there individual V Day cards the morning of at 7:15am...cause that's how we roll......last minute finishers. But we got er done!

Keepin him guessing

Sometimes it's good to keep them guessing. Day 6.....Mr. Loud is officially dazed and confused by the niceness I have been showing. Pretty sure he is secretly checking bank accounts and considering putting a tail on me to see what I'm up to with all these little gifts. 

Thank goodness he's all buttered up by these gifts because my sweet little friend who loves me and pretty much only me most days decided she wanted to play at 6:30am the other day ago...unfortunately for Mr. Loud he was trying to sleep...but Coco wanted to play and 'accidently' scratched him trying to wake him up....ok she downright attacked him...but she was only trying to play! Thankfully she hid out under the bed until he cooled down....and later on that day jumped right back in his lap for some attention!

Day 6....he was fixing supper and I told him I had some reading to do and to just bring my plate to me in bed....that got a little bit of a dirty look....but when he brought it I had this little gift hiding under the covers. That one even earned me a refill on my Dr. Pepper 10! 

Day 7....ya know these are really kinda cheesy....and no way do I keep a straight face with these.....because I am no where near one of those sappy sweet girls when it comes to my husband....gotta keep him guessing most day!

Day 9....this one he loved...of course he laughed at the note attached while I was saying "amazing....just amazing"! haha! I read the other day where the word "amazing" was the most over used word of 2011 and they wanted it removed from the English language. I agree....it's pretty amazing how everyone over uses that word.

 Now no way could Mr. Loud be the only one getting special little treats. I bought myself a new toy too! A BIGKick Sizzix! OMG! This thing is sooo stinkin cool!

Just stack the trays together with the die cuts between them and turn the knob.

 It rolls right through it and abracadabra....

You end up with cutouts! 

I made this little St. Patrick's Day wreath out of plumbers wrap covered in felt and the little flowers I cut out tonight. Wendy if you are reading I might make you one since that's your birthday! 

And in case y'all didn't realize it....tomorrow is FRIDAY.....so happy early weekend peeps!

The asthma monster rises again...

     

     So the asthma monster reared its ugly head this past weekend. We heard the slight cough Thursday. Then knew something was up on Friday when big C came home from school and didn't feel well...and had the little throat clearing going on. Then sure enough woke up Saturday morning barking. Needless to say we got the nebulizer fired up and Zopenex loaded. And as a little ‘Momma hopes you feel better’ gesture I made him a sweet little treat….chocolate dipped marshmellows….dipped in red & pink sugars just because I love that boy. 

Thankfully that's all we've had to do this weekend....and we kept him inside and let him just rest and relax. And of course this morning before school he did a treatment, just to loosen him up a little. The cough is now loose, but his nose is runny...hopefully we're past the flare up. 

     But ya know I have never complained about his asthma. Mainly because we can control it. Not that that is easy at times, we have had times that we have done as many as 5 breathing treatments back to back to break an attack, the whole time almost in tears and scared with the pediatrician on the phone just listening and talking us through it and offering support until we could get in to see her 1st thing the following morning. We've sat on the toilet holding him while the shower makes enough steam that WE can't breathe....we've walked outside in the cold night air to try to break it (yes this has helped before!)....we've used the nasal bulb syringe and made him blow his nose over and over again just in case it's post nasal drip triggering it....we've slathered down in Vics.....we've tried it all.....and we've said prayers while trying them all. But....we did it and we always made it until the following morning....free of ER visits and stayed in the comfort of our own beds and usually rocking big C in the recliner so that he can breathe easier. And yes...even though he's 9 we still do it if that helps. Thank goodness me and Mr. Loud are both nurses, God knew we would need that knowledge to take care of big C. We've only had 1 hospital admission, and that was because the oral steroids just weren't cutting it and he was maxed out on the oral dose...so we spent 24 hours inpatient for IV steroids. But that wasn't all bad! He was 1 month short of being 4 years old and still had his bink (pacifier!) that we just couldn't take from him. But...he just couldn't breathe with that bink in his mouth and he chose breathing over that bink! So we told him that he shouldn't use it because he needed to breath out of his mouth...and so thanks to that asthma exacerbation he gave up the binky....and tear-free too might I add! Turns out even to a 4 year old breathing is more important than his binky was! You see...there is always a brighter side to a bad situation. Mr. Loud and I have always been thankful that big C's illness is only asthma. There are so many parents facing such terrible chronic and debilitating illness that they can't control and must spend countless days and nights in hospitals and watch their child suffer with no end in sight. For this we have always been thankful that God has always helped us take care of him, and wake up better the following morning. My hope is that big C grows out of his asthma, but if not then we’ll continue to keep inhalers in all vehicles, purses, backpacks, baseball bags,  grandparent’s house, and schools. We’ll take the nebulizer and a new box of Xopenex on every car trip and airplane that we go on. We’ll continue to rock in that rocking chair until we can no longer fit in it, and when that happens we’ll just get a bigger chair….and I’ll recite our favorite line from our favorite book……I’ll love you for forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be…..because as long as I’m living I’ll always be thankful that God made him just like he is! Now go love your babies…even the big ones….and thank God for making them just like they are.

Weekends are for crafting....who woulda thought it?!

I sooo remember when my whole week used to revolve around what I was going to get into on the weekend! Now....my whole week revolves around just getting through the week in one piece so I can rest and relax on the weekend. 20 years ago who woulda thought it? (Now why is Ice Ice Baby playing in my head?!) But this past week I've been working on a things to do list for this weekend. At the top of the list was reading and cleaning and laundry. I cleaned house Friday evening, laundry NEVER ends, and I just wasn't into reading. So I decided I just had to go to Michael's last night at 7:30pm.....just because I had this wild hair that I needed a Sizzix BigKick or BigShot or whatever they had right then. I NEED some help cutting circles and flower shapes out of felt and fabric...thanks to all of the wreath ideas that Pinterest keeps putting in my head!(Please don't say Cricut..those intimidate me...for now anyway) So while there I found some cute Martha Steward stencil sets with words for kitchen items....of course she would come up with these....i'm sure she was looking around one of her 27 kitchens thinking "ya know Ms. Martha (don't ya just know that's what she calls herself?!!) I bet we could really spruce up those old $2000 canisters sets with some painted letters'!! And then right there in her kitchen I bet that domestic goddess heifer hollered out orders to one of her 16 personal assistants to get to work! Well......I don't have a personal assistant but needless to say my canisters could use some help...since mine has pieces of tape with lettering on them! Don't judge.....it was fairly creative at the time. ;-) And that was just a couple of my purchases from Michael's on Saturday night. 

Oh!! But wait....before coming home from Michael's I stopped by Target to pick up a few goodies for my 14 days of Valentine's for Mr. Loud. Thanks Pinterest for the idea! He got these today....he asked who I was and what I have done with is wife. I like to keep him guessing...it keeps him wondering what I'm up to. (Oh and by the way....I started out strong on Day 1....forgot Day 2-4 so I got some catching up to do....again...don't judge...he's still surprised and wondering what I've done wrong!

So back to the canisters.......I had these visions that this whole stencil idea would go sooo smoothly.....WRONG! Notice the stencil below...that says SUGAR....well when I pulled it off it only said SU and a 1/2 of a G. Cue the cussin....cause yes it started. 

So after I scratched the paint off with my fingernail and replaced the stencil and added more paint I decided to add a little pretty to my splenda container. It worked....and the cussin died down.

Until I took the next one off and 1/2 of the R came with it....so I tried to replace the R of the stencil....which was an epic fail. So I cussed a little more while talking with my BFF, who suggested scratching it off and starting all over again. Oh heck no! I got a little paint brush and free handed that puppy!

 But the SUGAR did get redone....and this time I removed the stencil almost immediately after the 2nd quick layer of pain....and it stuck....thankfully.....cause I was running out of cuss words. (ok so no I wasn't...)

 The COFFEE and splenda containers were perfect! I choose this brick red color because that's close to the colors of my kitchen and dining room walls...and I didn't want a bright red.

 And of course my ADHD kicked in (yes I have diagnosed myself....I have a problem with waiting on paint to dry and doing nothing but watching it....and I sure wasn't going to do anything else productive.) But check out the cute little wire wrapped heart I made! The center red stone came off of my 40th birthday cake and the 2 little blue stones around it represent my 2 little boys. I hear you saying  AWWWW right now. I'll be wearing this until Valentine's Day....it makes me smile. 

 And here is the finished version...I only had to redo 3 of them. The set didn't have a BAKING SODA or BAKING POWDER so my little green and yellow containers are without words. Ms. Martha must not leave hers out on her counter....she must not be a big baker. Oh yeah....probably gets one of her 16 assistants to fetch it for her when she needs it. 

 They all turned out really cute. I did them all a little different. The flour may be my favorite. 

 And look what I made last night....a wire wrapped nest...complete with 2 little blue pearl 'eggs'. This makes me smile too. Can you tell I love my boys and anything that reminds me of them is a good thing?!

 Can you tell what these are? This was another purchase from Michael's...this is silver clay....with their fingerprints that I am going to bake in the oven then hang on a ribbon necklace. SWEET!

 Pure sweetness on a plate right there! 

 Oh...and these really really made me cuss! All over Pinterest is the suggestion of using these plumbing wraps for wreath forms. Ok...good idea...but they won't stay together....they pull free from DUCK TAPE....what in the world?!?! So I tried tying them with ribbon....adhesive....you name it they still pulled apart. If you have any ideas to help a sista out they would be much appreciated....or else I'm gonna throw those other 5 out the door!

Tomorrow I plan on getting my new cutter out of the box. After I go back to Michael's with another 40% coupon so I can buy a die for it! I plan on going every day this week....there are 5 dies that I want and I have 5 40% coupons already printed up! I'll keep ya posted....ya'll have a good Monday. Oh and by the way....was loooooovin me some Eli tonight. If Drew couldn't be there I sure was glad Eli was!