The house was silent tonight as the kiddos had a long day which led to quick sleep and hubby had a meeting so I curled up with a book and a hot cup of tea. It was much needed after this week of two trips to the doctors office with sick kiddos and an early pick up for an injury at school (all is well, just a large knot to show for the fall)! Is it really only Tuesday?

We continue to finish up Sister’s room and add little touches of happy things. We knew that when she had her own room that we wanted a way to display her art work. She is very sincere when she tells us a million times a day that she would like to be an artist when she grows up. She loves to tell us about her art work over and over as they all have a story and they all bring her great joy! We finally got around to draping ribbon on one side of her room to hang her artwork from this weekend. It was such a sweet thing to see her excitement as she dug through the art box to pick out the pictures that she would like to display. When all was hung she just kept looking at it and smiling. Such a simple thing that brought so much joy! I love that she has her own space where everything just seems to have her name all over it.
Another touch she added this weekend was flowers. We had a warm snap about a week ago so it forced all of our Daffodils up early and then of course we had a light dusting of snow yesterday. Sister was very excited to pick a few flowers and place them in her room. She was giddy and kept showing them to Brad and I both about a million times. I think that her husband could be in trouble with this love of flowers although she would like to be a flower gardener as well when she grows up!
Sorry, I could not pick just one flower picture!

She is teaching me a lot about embracing beauty and enjoying it, whatever it may be, even dirt!

Here is a little tree update. . .

We are really excited about the addition of the acorns and part of the Blue Jay. The Blue Jay just needs to be finished up and then a rabbit added at the foot of the tree! We are all still really happy and excited about this project!!!

We got to celebrate my SIL pregnancy this weekend. It was fun having a Valentines Day Baby Shower! It was a sweet time and I am so thankful that she made the long drive so we could celebrate with her. It was also fun to have an excuse to make some extra Valentines Day goodies as well!

Here is the spread

and then you of course need to see a close up of the brownies and cupcakes!!!

I had a lot of fun making baby gifts as well. It was a tough decision of what to make with so many cute things out there but I did finally decide on the Amy Butler Little Stitches Kimono PJ’s

and this new little one has a daddy that loves fishing and hunting so while mommy had snuggly pj’s for her little one daddy got a hunting outfit for his little boy!

I was really excited about the hat. I actually stumbled across a tutorial which I resized to fit a baby. I am really happy with the way that it turned out (the picture does not do it justice).

Last but not least I finished out the gift with a little blanket (can you believe that fabric is from Joanns) and burp cloths (one for mom and one for dad).

It was a really sweet morning and a fun time of celebration!

Sister is headed to a birthday party tomorrow and I really struggled over the gift. . .should I go store bought or should I make something. After much indecisiveness I ended up making a version of the gratitude wrap using the tutorial from Soule Mama as well as Adrienne’s modifications as well as adding some of my own in there as well. What a collaboration! I am excited about the way this little wrap turned out! I did leave the edges on the pockets rough and just serged around them giving it more of a masculine, rough and tough feel. I also shortened and used velcro for the fastener (it just seemed easier for some reason). I hand stamped the stationary and then added the little goodies. Sister seems excited to give the gift so I hope that the birthday boy enjoys it!

Sister got to celebrate Valentines Day with her friends at school yesterday! She was a happy camper as there is nothing like happy little letters from all your friends and tons of sugar all in the same hour! We are still coming down off the sugar high! Here is a little peak at Sisters finished V-day box which I had promised!

Wishing you lots of happy little letters and a perfect amount of sugar!!!

So many food post around here lately. . .I promise that it is just a season as I don’t usually cook this much but what better time than the week of Valentines Day to discover some new recipes! I finally made some of these this morning. Many people have posted about them and I must say that they really do live up to all the hype! Very tasty! I must admit that I was lazy though and I did use my scoop again which led to flat bottoms of which I did not dip into the chocolate but they are still just as tasty they just look a little unfinished. I am okay with that! These made for some fun little gifts for friends! Now run out to the grocery store and get the ingredients! I promise that you will not be disappointed although you will get a little messy but you can totally lick your fingers (when you are finished of course)! Happy Valentines Weekend to you!!!

I love sugar cookies but rarely make them as there is just something about all the rolling and cutting that I cannot handle. It is fun for a little bit but then everyone just starts wanting the cookies. Maybe I am just not patience enough for sugar cookies I am not sure! Sister signed up to take plain sugar cookies to school tomorrow thus my search began for a low maintenance sugar cookie. I found this recipe on trusty ole’ allrecipes.com. We made them today and they are incredibly tasty and so low maintenance!!! I actually did not even roll them into balls as the recipe suggest I just scooped them with my handy scoop and skipped rolling them in sugar as the kiddos will be frosting them at school tomorrow. Hubby even liked the cookies and he is a tough cookie critic!

After a long week of snow and cold temps we hit the 60′s this weekend (what a treat). The snow was great but I forgot just how wonderful the 60′s are! These are a few pictures that I took today from just outside our door. I am looking forward to Spring. . .in a few months!

Sister received preschool homework for the weekend of making a Valentines Day box to house all her little Valentines in. I understand why this is homework as it takes a large chunk of time. We worked for about and hour and a half today and she still wants to add a lot more. I think that she has a lot of her mama in her! It was really fun to work on it with her but yet so hard not to have my hands all in it! I love watching her thought process and just her all in attitude of creating the most incredible Valentines Day Box known to mankind! The picture was taken at about an hour into the project so it has come a bit farther. She still wants to add some ribbon and some other goodies so I will have to update if and when we ever finish the best Valentines Day Box ever!!!