DIY String Art Christmas Gift

For our extended family Christmas we always do a gift exchange for the adults.  This years theme was "home-made/craft".  So I hopped on Pinterest and found a few ideas for Dan and I!

I had been seeing the string art all over the place and thought that it might be fun to try one of those...

 I went with a Minnesota Vikings one because this gift was from my husband....he loves it!

I printed off the Vikings logo on an 11x17 sheet and cut my board to 11x17 as well.  I had some leftover purple paint from when we painted our bathroom purple (then painted it a less obnoxious color!) My husband had a load of regular nails that we used and I bought some white string at Walmart.  So overall, pretty cheap project!

I painted the board and let it dry a day or two, then we taped the logo down and my husband did all the nailing! If you are doing this - make sure to take pictures before you pull the paper up.  It was seriously a life saver!  Then I did two layers of a string outline. I was originally going to do the crazy string for all the letters but they were too close and you wouldn't be able to see what it said to outline it was!

I think it turned out great! Dan actually stole this back in our gift exchange so it is ours (and now we don't have to make another one!)

Our other gift was Yard Dice which were pretty awesome! I forgot to take pictures of those but my Sister-in-law got those so maybe in the future you will see them!

Merry Christmas!

My silly girl wanted to say Merry Christmas! She is excited that she finally gets to open some of those gifts that were put up too high for her to reach!

Can't wait to see how much different she will be compared to last Christmas - it just keeps getting better the older she gets!

Piggy Tails!

My little girls hair fits in piggy tails! So adorable...

But with the longer hair comes this... Crazy morning hair! Seriously, no matter what it looks like a rats nest!

Playing in the Snow!

It was finally warm enough yesterday to take Olivia out in the snow (30 degrees - still cold!). 

She was a little apprehensive at first but when daddy got down and showed her how to play she really started getting into it - she even tasted it!

Let's Play Catch Dad!

This little girl was full of energy after dinner yesterday....

She decided she wanted to play catch with daddy in the kitchen and was just squealing and clapping every time she threw the ball - so funny!

I love watching her play and discover things.  Watching a child grow and develop is simply amazing!

12 Days Until Christmas!

There are only a few more days until Christmas - December really went by so darn fast this year!

I am happy to say that I have all my Christmas presents bought AND wrapped - holy cow...seriously it took my about 2 weeks to get everything wrapped!

Currently all the presents are up on tables, ledges and couches so the little girl of the house doesn't decide to open them all (because I am NOT re-wrapping presents!).  Don't get me wrong, the first couple presents are really fun to wrap...everything after that hurts my back, takes forever, and has me wishing someone else would do it.  Christmas spirit right?!

Now to get my Christmas Cards printed and sent out... took pictures last weekend with Olivia, here are a few that aren't going on the Christmas Card!

This weekend we have our big family Christmas with all of Dan's extended family - so that will be fun.  Hopefully Olivia will be less clingy around the family she doesn't see that often... we will see!

Santa Baby...

This last weekend we went to Olivia's Daycare Christmas Party - and guess who showed up? SANTA!!

Olivia was less then impressed...

Maybe next year she will be less horrified!

The one where Olivia talks!

The girl has been saying more and more and we have been understanding more and more! It is so darn exciting!  I love hearing her little voice.

She has been saying OWL for some time now - I just finally got it on video.  She also started saying Tickle-Tickle-Tickle a week or two ago and I got that on video as well!

Holiday Gift Swap Awesomeness

While perusing Instagram today I came across this... the Goody Goody Gift Swap!

The Goody Goody Giftswap is a holiday giftswap for creatives – big & little – all around the world. In a world where we’re often glued to our electronics, it’s nice to connect to give & receive physical homemade, thoughtful or inspiring objects.

I can get on board that! I signed up and can't wait to see who I get. I love holiday gift swaps with strangers.  There is just something about finding a new friend and figuring out the perfect gift....

Check it out! goodygoodygiftswap.com

Inspiration for the day...

I saw this circulating on Facebook today and I took a minute to watch it.

Much needed inspiration today!

Weekend Fun!

This last weekend Olivia got to play the piano for the first time and LOVED it!

She loved playing with Grandma and she was pretty darn good too.... we may have to get a piano and do lessons in the future!

Daddy and Grandpa were out hunting, that's why there is a hunting book on the bench next to her!

One of these things....

is not like the other!

Little girl is starting to play with her dolls more.  So darn cute!

And as soon as she cuts those last two molars we are going to work on getting rid of that Pacifier! Any tips are welcome!

The time when...

I realized Olivia is no longer a baby!

Yesterday we were playing and reading some books.  She saw a cough drop wrapper on the floor in the kitchen.  She wandered over, picked up the wrapper, went straight to the garbage can (which has a foot pedal opener), opened it with her little foot and threw the wrapper away!

What.the.crap!

First of all, she has never opened the garbage before especially with her foot.  And how did she know that it was garbage? Totally blew my mind last night!

Seriously - I pleaded with her this morning telling her to stay a baby forever.... 

 Reading by herself...

Already taking money out of Daddy's wallet!

Sick Girl...

My baby girl has had quite the week....

It started out last week about this time with a trip to Urgent Care - Ear Infection. 

We have her on a ten day antibiotic so all is well until...she gets a fever that will not go away for 3 days! She was cutting her second molar so that may have been the culprit.  Seriously though! Poor girl!

Then she went to bed on Monday night and did some weird coughing.  Tuesday morning it sounded much worse so we took her back to Urgent Care (which we just called not-so-urgent care as it took an hour and a half to get in).  Turns out baby girl has Croup. 

We now have her on a steroid medicine that she has to take for three days.  Today she seems much better so hopefully she is on the mend!

I can't stand when she is sick - it makes my heart hurt.

13, 14 & 15 Month Update!

I can't believe my little girl (girl - not baby!) is 15 months old!

I feel like we just had her birthday party.  It's amazing how many things have changed in the last three months.
* She has way more hair - Pigtails, yes please!
* She has 9 teeth! Top 4, Bottom 4 & one of her first molars on the top - with the other three really close to popping through.
* She has her own preferences and likes.  Especially when we are reading books.  She wants to pick out which ones she wants you to read.  Even if that means reading 'If You Give A Dog a Doughnut' 17 times.
* She has gotten into a GREAT sleeping routine.  We read and drink our milk, then rock for a few minutes to calm down, then I lay her in her crib awake and leave the room.  Here is the kicker - she goes to sleep all by herself! I thought I would miss rocking her to sleep - and I do, but I do love the extra time.
* She loves playing Ring Around the Rosey and always falls down way before she is supposed to.
* We have her in swimming lessons again and she is just a little fish - LOVES the water!
* She runs everywhere... which is adorable because her little legs go all over the place so she falls over a lot.
* She loves animals! She used to be afraid of dogs but lately she can't get enough of them.  She still loves birds and cats and enjoys going to see the animals and fish at Cabella's.
* She is a great eater.  Some of her favorite foods are: cottage cheese, tomatoes, FRUIT, mac & cheese, chili, crepes, pancakes, pasta - pretty much everything except veggies.  She really only likes peas, not a whole lot else.  She loves dipping things, her hamburger in ketchup and her pancakes in syrup.
* She can say a few words now - her vocabulary is growing by the week! Some words she can say are: owl, hot, hi, mama, dada, and apple.  I am sure there are more that we just don't understand yet!

She is just a joy, so happy all the time.  She has the best facial expressions and her laugh is so contagious.  She is truly a blessing.  Love that little girl!

Wordless Wednesday!

I know baby girl... it was hard for me to wake up this morning too!

First Words!

My little baby girl - who is no longer a baby said her first word (besides mama and dada) this weekend!

And the word was..... drum roll please...... OWL. 

We have a big book of words with pictures and one of the pictures is an owl.  She consistently kept saying owl when we asked her what it was!

She also kind of says Apple - sounds more like app but we are getting there!

 

My Little Strawberry Girl!

Last year my baby girl was a banana...

This year we decided to stick with the fruit theme.  Olivia was a Strawberry! Great night!

 

Pumpkin Carving!

This year was Olivia's first hands-on experience with pumpkin carving!

Last year she was just a couple months old so she just got to watch.  This year she got down and dirty and helped clean the pumpkin out!

 Daddy is pulling the insides out and Olivia is putting them back in!

 She kept sticking her hands in the eyes and mouth of the jack-o-lantern!

 My favorites!

I love Fall and the Halloween season!