Beauty in Bloom

The fairytale sisters

On Sunday evening we attended our church's yearly Trunk-n-Treat. My sweet mother worked feverishly to finish the Snow White and Rapunzel costumes. Not only did she finish them, she rocked them! They are so beautiful!

          (Olivia's costume was purchased from Pottery Barn Kids)

A little confession: I was suppose to sew these myself with her HELP.

OOOOOPS.

Maybe next year. I will have to start in July.

Don't you just love this hair?

Beautiful details.

I didn't get a chance to take better pics of Faith in her Snow White costume. I will do that the next time she puts it on. That night was crazy because we also decorated a trunk, so I was busy trying to prepare it. I totally threw this together last minute. I had fun though.

Now I am off to watch the finale of Project Runway(Go Joshua!) and Game 6 of the World Series! GO CARDS!

Birthday love

Today is this sweet man's 32nd birthday.....and he is working.

I miss him terribly.

 To celebrate I am going to share 32 reasons why I love this guy.

1. Those lashes. To. die. for. Our girls all have them thanks to him.

2. He works so hard for us and never complains. Ever.

3. I love that when I ask him for help, this man never hesitates. Right down to planting my flowers cause I am skeered of bugs!

4. He loves Jesus. Bob is the reason that I gave my life to Christ.

5. He goes with the flow. Exhibit A(pic above)-He is wearing a teal shirt in our family photos. It was the closest I could get to him wearing pink. 

6. He is so playful. Never too serious. I have come to love my daily tooshie grabs/spanks.

7.  That above statement will mortify him. Ha!

8. He is very smart. Very. If I want to know anything I just ask Bob.

9. He knows my moods and puts up with them.

10. And he loves my anyway.

11. Not only does he love my anyway, He adores me and tell me so. Everyday.

12. He is very handy. The girls know that if something is broken. Daddy can always fix it.

13. He is the best Daddy to our babies. He is patient, loving and very involved in their lives.

14. He makes our bed. Too sweet.

15. Bob does his own laundry and doesn't complain.

16. In fact, he is not that husband that points out all my faults. There are many days I fall short as a wife and God bless him, he loves me anyway.

17. He lets me have the remote. I love that he tolerates my shows, especially when I am watching the Real housewives!

18. When we buy I new car, I am the one who always gets to drive it. Even before kids. He wants only the best for me. He will drive a crappy, tiny teenage girl car so his family is happy. Someday baby, you will have the truck you want and deserve! Promise.

19. I love that when people tease him about having 3 girls, Bob gets defensive because he LOVES having 3 girls!

20. He cleans our bathroom...almost always....and does better than me!

21. I love that our girls all look like him.

22. He is so strong. Freakishly strong.

23. He is a manly man. You will never see him crossing his legs or texting LOL in a sentence. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :)

24. He is generous with his time..always willing to help out a friend, even though his time is limited with his family.

25. Bob is always happy. On those rare days when he is not, my world is not right.

26. He is always learning. He craves knowledge and I LOVE that about him!

27. He loves that I blog. In fact, he is my number one supporter...in everything I do.

28. Without his support, I would have NEVER made it through college.

29. He inspires me to be better. Always telling me how great he thinks I am.

30. In this house filled with girls....he is our protector and takes great pride in that. LOVES his girls. Fiercely.

31. Can't forget this one...he takes great pride in his yard too. If he had more time and money, it would look like a magazine cover. Maybe someday baby. I just appreciate that you do the yardwork and don't make me do it!

32. He chose me to live this live with him. I am the luckiest girl.

I really could sit here all day cause he is that great. I will never know why I deserve this man, but I thank God everyday for him. I stopped asking God why long ago because I didn't want to keep reminding Him that I was not worthy.

I LOVE YOU BOBBY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

I can't wait to celebrate with you when you get home!

a little reality.

Hello. I am Jen. Aka, a creative girl who likes to make things. BUT, did you also know that I am a terrible housekeeper. I mean it's not that I don't know how to clean....I just don't like to. Also, I am a tv junkie, so that and crafts seem to be the reasons why my house is never tidy.

Need I say more?

I have had several people ask me how I have time to create things. Well, here is how.

Here is what I should be doing....

My kitchen sink seems to always look like this. Always. I make efforts to keep it clean, but I never seem to get there.

My kitchen table...aka...the dumping ground. Kids toys, mail, things that just don't have a place get dumped there. Right now, it still has party supplies from Saturday and some presents too. I hate it. Most nights we just scoot everything to one corner just so we can eat. Oh, and don't get me started on things hanging on the backs of chairs!! UGH!

Today, I am not creating anything. No, today is a tv kinda day. While Liv naps and Annie plays with her new birthday toys, I am doing this......

Watching the Biggest Loser while on Facebook...You can't see this but I am rockin the snuggie cause girlfriend is freezing today!

Looking at the new AG catalog...

Some of you who know me well already knew this about me. To me, it's all about choices.

Some days I choose to clean.

Most days, I don't.

That doesn't mean that my house is a disgusting pigsty.

It just means that if you stop by unannounced.....I will be mortified.

I hope this makes you feel better about yourself! HA! Please tell me I am not alone my other creative friends :)

 

 

(Sorry if this embarasses you babe...after all, that is your bead board that you left in the kitchen)

The big 5.

Dear Annabel,

Oh how I love you. Let's count the ways, shall we? Here are my top 5 things I love most about my sweet beebs, B, beebers, Annie B, skeebee, skeebalicious, chooch. (Fyi, those are just a few of your nicknames) I am not sure why there are so many, but you answer to all of them.

1. You are always happy and sweet natured.

2. You are always full of energy.

3. You are a girly girl but also love to hang with Daddy and try new things.

4. You are a collector of many things. Everything from twisty ties found in the produce department to Polly Pockets. You treasure it all. Some people may think future hoarder....I find it endearing.

5. You think I am the best mommy and you tell me DAILY.

Happy 5th Birthday to my sweet, funny, happy little ballerina!

Your sisters adore you.

Mommy and Daddy adore you.

Love,

Momma

 

Celebrating Annie

I am so excited to share pictures of Annie's 5th birthday party. I have seen lots of rainbow themed parties in blogland so I thought I would give it a go and create something special and fun for my sweet girl. While I was out surfing Pinterest and the www, I came across a site called One Charming Party. They have lots of SUPER cute party templates. I modeled our party after the Art Gallery Party. So the theme wasn't entirely rainbows, but also an art theme. The girls completed a few projects after arriving, then at the end, I displayed their artwork in an Art Gallery. It was so fun!

Warning: Picture overload.

The cake before the icing:

After the icing:

These are the aprons I made for each party guest. I thought they would be a better party favor than a bag full of candy/trinkets. Plus, they served a purpose.

(ruffled rainbow ribbon, a rainbow button, and a stamped initial with fabric paint)

We made birds!

Daddy was in charge of face painting...what else? Rainbows!

The Art Gallery.

Happy girls!

I had so much fun planning this little party. I love details. I love happy 5 year olds. I love my girls. That is why I do this. I think everyone had fun. Thanks to the mommas who stayed and helped!

**********************

Here is a sneak peek of our little photo session we had last night with the wonderful Chantel from Breathtaking Photography. I took this pic of Chantel shooting my girls.

Serious love.

 

 Linkin up:

 

 

 

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Invitations {rainbow theme}

It's 11pm on Thursday night as I type this. I have a list about a mile long to complete before Annie's birthday party Saturday. Instead, I am on my computer. I love to torture myself.

Whatever.

I had to share the invites I made for her rainbow/art gallery party. Here is what I came up with. Simple. Cute.

I just sewed some rainbow ribbon to the front, and then stamped 'party' with some stamps I picked up at Michaels in the dollar bin.

I created the inside of the invitation in Microsoft Word using different fonts, sizes and colors. Then I printed it on cardstock and taped it inside. The white folded cards came in a pack of 25 for 4.99 and also had envelopes included.

I will now resume checking things off the list.

Somehow, someway....it will all get done.

I do this to myself.

So why do I complain? Don't answer that Mom. :)

Partying at:

 

Confessions on apple pickin'

Every year, like most families in this country, we head to one of our local farms to pick some apples. We actually went two weekends ago, but I am just getting around to posting about it. You know...cause if it's not on the blog it didn't happen. Ha!

Confession: This yearly tradition always stresses me out. It's a mystery to me why I feel this way. I was a total crab that whole morning before we left. For some reason, I just wanted to stay home. Does this happen to anyone else? It's like I put stress on myself to make these memories with my kids and then take photos so I can prove we did things with them when they were little.

I think it's a sickness.

Called perfectionism perhaps? Wikipedia definition states:

Perfectionism, in psychology, is a belief that perfection can and should be attained. In its pathological form, perfectionism is a belief that work or output that is anything less than perfect is unacceptable. At such levels, this is considered an unhealthy belief, and psychologists typically refer to such individuals as maladaptive perfectionists.

Did you read the part about it being unhealty? Great.

I started out grumpy because I couldn't find anything cute for the girls to wear. How dumb is that? It just spiraled from there. As I type this I realize how pathetic this seems.

We drove to Eckert's in silence. It was a long ride. Once we arrived I thankfully started to break out of whatever it was that was making me a major hag.

Can I just say that my husband deserves a medal for dealing with me and my moods.

Daily.

Actually, my girls do too. The pictures show them having a great time. I guess I accomplished the goal after all.

 

Olivia loved this ride at first.

She doesn't look so sure in this one. 
 
 
 
 

Liv looked so tiny running around that big orchard. She kept wanting to eat the apples on the ground.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The girls favorite part about the whole experience, besides those money sucking rides, are eating the apples straight off the tree. They are so delicious and fresh! Love that!

Next year, I will be organized so I don't taint our memories with my crabbiness. I promise Bobby.

**********************

Yesterday, I was sad to read about the passing of Steve Jobs. I don't have anything brilliant to add about the kind of man he was, but I did read something pretty wonderful about the legacy he left behind.

If you want to read it, go here. I am new to Rachel's blog. She writes beautifully and has a heart for God. Thanks for sharing those wise words Rachel!

Have a great day everyone! One of my best friends is coming over to help me organize my craft room. That sentence make me nervous just typing it. It's gonna be a big job!

Staying hopeful,

Jen

Happy Birthday Mom!

Ok, for the life of me I can not find a suitable picture of you to upload on your birthday post! Either you always refuse to have your picture taken or your eyes are closed!! I know you are aware of this problem since it's like a running joke within our family that you take bad photos.

I love you anyway.

You have my older two girls this morning. They love spending the night with their Grandma Kim. You let them get away with everything and you serve them breakfast on miniature tea sets.

 
(Faith & Annie at Grandma Kim's House, Oct 1, 2011)

I love you Mom.

Thank you for being so supportive. Thank you for being a wonderful Grandma to my girls. They are so lucky.

Here are some things I love about you:

You are so talented....I get my creativity from YOU.

You have a huge heart.

We are alot alike...both impulsive in good and bad ways. (you know what I mean)

You are so stylish.

You love me...even when I take out my frustrations on you.

You call me 5-6 times a day....sometimes just to have someone keep you company on your drive to work, sometimes to tell me about your latest deal. I know I say it bothers me, but it really doesn't.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Mom!

We all love you so much!