fashion according to Eden Marie: headbands!

Headbands are a favorite at our house.  Little Miss has hair that is making it's way in, slowly but surely, light brown with a few curls.  So headbands have been a really fun accessory for us:

So according to Eden Marie, headbands are pretty AWESOME!

We are going to put them on her as long as she lets us, because we know that there will come a time where she might not be interested.

I see these pictures and I can't believe how much my baby has grown!  My goodness, she is such a little girl...

the bewitching hours

I have had this talk with MANY of my friends with little kids and we all have this thing called the "bewitching hours": it comes around 4p, the kids start going stir crazy and needing activities while you are trying to work on dinner and wrap up the day before dad gets home.  Kit usually gets home between 530p and 615p so those couple of hours waiting for Kit can be tricky.  Ryder still loves getting a big stack of books and camping out on our bed while we watch for Kit to get home.  Eden on the other hand is in constant "go" mode and I have to keep pulling out different activities for her.

Here are some photos of one of our "bewitching hours" of waiting for Kit to get home:

(This spanned about 30 minutes...)  

Singing each of these books three times each, with hand motions:

first puzzle:

second puzzle:

Legos:

And then Kit walks in the door:

 There will be a day when I miss how simple and precious these moments are...

I am so thankful that, even in the craziness and busyness of it all, I get to be there for it♥.

creating: felt bow garland

I saw this garland on the Anthropologie website:

I loved the colors and that it looked so soft and kid friendly, but I think it was going for $38, and I thought it would be fun to try to duplicate it myself.

I have a stash of felt sheets in my craft bin. When they are on sale, I get them for 5 sheets for a dollar, so I will stock up for future projects.

I cut each sheet into strips, tied twine up in the kitchen so it would be away from little "helpers" and also so it would be easy to tie the felt to, and just started putting the felt on the twine in the color scheme that I liked the best:

I got the twine at  the dollar store in a pack of three so this garland came to less than $3.  I was thinking that it would be fun to have as a party garland, but I think we might use it on our christmas tree this year too!  It ended up being exactly 20 feet. I don't think it lasted in our house for more than couple of hours before Eden discovered it and I decided to snap a few photos:

I can't wait to use the garland this holiday season and for other family celebrations!

the light at the end of the tunnel...

The kids have been sick.  It has been hard, feeling like we need to get out of the house, but not able to connect with our friends for fear of spreading whatever we have, not wanting to be too far from bathrooms because of Ryder's stomach bug, and not wanting to actually get dressed because PJS are so comfy when you you aren't feeling good.  I wipe noses, constantly disinfect, try to plan meals around two kids that aren't that interested in eating anything that their doctor recommended (things off the BRAT diet, no dairy or lactose...)  It feels like because the kids have been under the weather, they have been pushing boundaries even more and I have been trying to navigate this whole thing of giving grace because they aren't feeling that great, and trying to keep some normalcy at the same time with our regular boundaries and house rules.  My fuse dwindles so quickly and I feel myself praying/begging for patience, wisdom, and self-control with my parenting every single second of the day...  I have felt His presence and am so thankful to know that He is in this with me...

Sunday was not fun.  It's the third one we've missed because one or both of the kids are sick.  We haven't been able to got to church since I can't drop the kids off in their classes and that has been SO HARD!  I love our church family and getting to connect with our close friends, Ryder loves going to his class and being with all of his friends.  I think/hope that we are on the mend and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it can't come fast enough!  Thank you for all of your prayers and texts to check in with us.  We are hoping to be back in the saddle again really soon!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a way happier note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
We love you so much and wish that we could be with you to celebrate your birthday.

We love that you are our papa!

love,

Ryder and Eden Marie♥

tackling weekend projects

This weekend we decided to do a couple of things that we had been putting off for awhile:

1. washing the cars

2. trimming our neighbors tree that was over grown into our yard.

The first was very quick and no danger was involved:

The second, well, I can't say the same:

Here is the tree in our back yard before:

Here is Kit in the tree, one foot on the 10 foot ladder, one foot on the tree, and a chainsaw in one hand, while trying to avoid the telephone lines that ran through the branches.

 There was a lot of trimming he did:

It feels really good to check that project off the list:

(At least until we have to do it again...)

date night

This last wednesday, we had a date night.  A much needed, long over due date night.  It was amazing...

 The food was so good!

We talked and laughed and enjoyed each other's company.  

He is my best friend...

 Then we walked around our downtown, continuing our conversations, not really wanting our date night to end... 

But then we realized that what we had waiting for us at home was pretty darn spectacular: a life that we truly love living, together...

creating: frame turned serving tray

I recently picked this frame up at our local thrift store.

 I stripped the hardware off, sanded it, and spray painted it.

I used a piece of my sheet metal that I had left over from my magnet boards and cut it to the size of the frame opening.   I picked up the handles from target.  They came in a pack of six for $9 and I had a gift card.  They were perfect for the project.

Then I had kit help me with making sure that I drilled the holes correctly/evenly.

We had a few hiccups because the thickness and width of the frame was not even all the way around, but we finally figured it out:

 We pulled out all of our thanksgiving themed kids books and we are ready to cuddle up and read together!

I have been having fun changing it up over the last week. 

 (It currently looks like this after the kids decided to use the pumpkin as a ball for an indoor baseball game...)

I can't wait to change it throughout the holiday season!