X's & O's: Valentine Door Decor

Y'all know I love seasonal door decor, right? I'm not even sure how many wreaths I've made in the last year...it's kind of become an obsession. Of course, I couldn't leave one of my favorites, Valentine's Day, out! I came across this little cutie on Pinterest and decided I wanted to make it my own. Side-note--I get so annoyed when pinned pictures don't go to an actual website. #PinningProblems

Apparently I'm no good at step-by-step crafting pictures...too in the zone I suppose ;) 

Lucky for you, this one is pretty self explanatory. 

I purchased my X's & O's at Hob Lob for $1.25 each and picked up some Valentine ribbon for about the same price, so this baby was less than $10 since I had all of the other supplies.

I did 2 layers of acrylic paint on the letters then let them dry over night before hot gluing them all together. I also put some tape (fancy, huh?) in the center of the backside to give it a little extra security. To hang, I hot glued ribbon to each side of the back then tied it up on our door hanger! Very, very simple, and darn cute if I do say so myself!

Paint Colors: X's-Metalic Bright Red; O's-Baby Pink with a VERY light layer of Metallic Pure Gold over it.

Oh, I almost forgot, my football coaching hubby was sorely disappointed to find out the X's & O's were for a Valentine door instead of a Super Bowl door. Sorry babe, football already stakes its claim in our home from July-December ;)

I'm linking up with Katie & Stephanie for Saw It. Pinned It. Did It.!  Go check out all the great ideas!!
Also linking up with "The Dog Days {of Winter} Are Over" linky party! :)

major milestone & a meal

Yep, a major milestone was achieved in the G house yesterday: baby's 1st ponytail!

Jaqsy's hair has gotten so long, and it's always hanging in her face since she won't keep her clippies in, so I decided to pull it into a little pony! Surprisingly, she kept it in all day!

 She looks a little too old with her hair like this, but it made me giggle every time I looked at her. My little pebbles baby...so precious!!

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Switching gears here, but I had to share this delicious meal with y'all! We're pretty healthy eaters (most of the time) over here, but sometimes I find myself getting bored with the same ol', same ol'. I've been trying to get creative lately, and this one was a winner!

Honey Mustard Salmon:

Saute 2 salmon fillets in coconut oil over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes on each side. At the end of cooking, add 1 T each of honey & whole grain mustard. Combine and let it caramelize over the salmon.

Roasted Veggies:

Chop up carrots, sweet potatoes, & brussel sprouts & season with olive oil, salt & pepper. Spread out on a lined cookie sheet & roast for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

Coconut Rice:

Cook brown rice according to package directions, but sub coconut milk for water. For extra coconut flavor, add a couple teaspoons of coconut oil.

I think I could eat this every night! It was tasty!

play area plans

First of all, I just want to say "hi!" to my new followers! I'm thinking most of you came from Mateya's blog, and I'm so excited you found my little blog interesting enough to follow along! I'm glad you're here! :)

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I think anyone that has a child can attest to how quickly their stuff can take over your house. Even though our little bit is not even a year old, she's been given plenty of toys and trinkets in her little life, and I find myself corralling all of it every day! We don't have an extra room to dedicate to a play-room in our current house, but we do have a spacious corner in our living room that would work perfect for a "play area." She's a little young right now, but I'm envisioning a kid sized table with a place for creating, coloring, and imagination! Add in some storage on the side, and we've got the perfect place for all the toys to go!

 I was looking around on Pinterest (where else?) when I came across the PERFECT play table! It has a PB-Kids look without the price tag, and the plans look pretty simple. I'm hoping Jaqs & I can talk G-Pop & Daddy in to constructing this one for us ;)

How adorable are theses DIY pallet shelves? I think I could even pull this one off!

Here are a few other inspiration pictures I came across:

 source

I love, love bright colors, but I also need the area to flow with our living room, so as much as I love sunshine-y yellow, that probably won't be happening. I'll file that one away for a future playroom! I do love the pennant banners (obvs) and the frames for interchangeable art in the future. Such a great way to put your kids' masterpieces on display without them cluttering the fridge!

How do you keep the toys organized and put away in your home?

feeding favorites

We are in a transitional period in the feeding department around here. Jaqs has always been pretty enthusiastic about eating, but lately she has not been digging on the purees anymore. As I mentioned before, she would choke on almost any 'table' food I would give her, but now that she's finally mastered the puffs and yogurt melts, all she wants is REAL food!

I have to say, this makes things a whole lot easier for me...no more making baby food for this mama. Kind of sad! As simple as it is to give her what we're having, I do still have to plan ahead and make sure that I have something I can easily fix for her if we're having something spicy or not great for her.

So with all that said, here are some of our feeding favorites right now!

Eddie Bauer High Chair/ Kiddopotamus Tinydiner Placemat/ Summer Infant Bibbity/Yogurt Snacks Mixed Berry / Baby Dipper Feeding Set/Playtex Baby First Lil' Gripper / Johnson Johnson Baby Hand Face Wipes/ Happy Baby Sweet Potato Puffs

• Silicone bibs with the little crumb catcher are one of the best inventions! As much as I love the A&A bibs, cloth just gets too nasty.
• We have this high chair, and it's great! You can remove the tray with one hand (a must!), and you can remove the top portion of the tray for easy cleaning. It is a little straight up & down for a younger baby, but I just used the bouncer for feeding before she was ready for that.
• Puffs & Yogis are still favorites. I call the Yogis her dessert after each meal ;) It's awesome that they can be used as distractions when out and about too! Ha!
• J obviously cannot use utensils on her own, but this little dipper fork is my fav! It's the perfect size and shape.
• J&J hand and face wipes are a must for eating out when you don't have easy access to a sink or wash rag.
• I've raved about these Playtex trainer cups for awhile, and we still love them. All we use!
• Along with the silicone bibs, this place-mat is awesome for restaurants! You can easily roll up baby's mess when she's done, and of course, it keeps her food off the nasty restaurant tables.

Some of the foods we've been using the most for this 'transitional' period are steamed veggies, soft fruits like blueberries, bananas & cuties, avocados, boiled/scrambled eggs, grated cheese, and one of J's favorites is still YoBaby yogurt!

What are some of your little one's favorites?

We haven't tried any meats/beans yet, but I am hoping to be able to expand Jaqs' menu very soon!

{almost} perfect day

This was one of those days I envisioned when I thought about being a SAHM when I was pregnant. Of course, I {kind of} knew that every day wouldn't go smoothly or be completely enjoyable, but I also knew there would be days like this where everything is HAPPY!

Jaqs started the day off right by sleeping in until 10 a.m. (after going to bed at 7:30 the night before), so she was HAPPY, HAPPY when she woke up! I had the chance to get some things done before she was up like get ready, do my quiet time, & drink coffee (very important!).

Since J is normally morning-napping when Rob has his off period, we don't get to go see him at work very often, but we did today! It worked out perfectly because it would be their only chance to see each other since he had a meet that night.

My friend Cassi & her sister happened to be working out when we went to school to visit, so once we were all done there, Jaqs and I got to have a spontaneous lunch and park date with them, too! It was 75 & sunny...PERFECT park day!

 We had so much fun enjoying the day with our besties! Jaqs is pretty enamored with Tate, so swinging next to him was BIG fun for her! ;) She crashed as soon as I strapped her in her car-seat. Sweet baby girl. Playing is hard work!

After J's nap, we got out for our run and ended up back at the park by our house...just swinging! Anything that is fun for her is fun for me. There is nothing better than listening to her giggle and seeing her smile. I'm incredibly thankful for the gift that she is! She makes the most simple days the best ones of my life.

I love you to the moon and back, pea! 

So grateful I get to spend these days with my girl.

Friday Randoms

With the new year, I've been working on cleaning out and organizing, so computer time has fallen by the way-side a bit which means my blogging has been spotty. Sorry about that!

So since I'm kind of all over the place, how about a little bullet-style post? :)

-A family friend of mine is finishing up medical school, and he had an interview for residency in town last weekend. He and his wife have a precious angel girl that we'd yet to meet, so everyone came along! I was so happy to finally have our girls together! They're pretty darn cute, aren't they? Here's to hoping we have the opportunity to share many play-dates in the future!!

-My pea has been mommy's little shadow lately. She's always crawling around under-foot or climbing up on to my lap. It's the sweetest thing in the whole world!! Thankfully she doesn't seem to have much separation anxiety when I leave if she's distracted by something else, but I'm sure our time is coming for that...

love her in her little jacket!

make-up helper

-Speaking of make-up, do y'all use e.l.f. products? I saw this eye shadow palette on another blog, and for $5 I had to give it a try! I got it in Natural, and I'm loving it! Their HD powder is another new favorite. It really does smooth out skin tone and texture!

-As I've mentioned before, Jaqs will NOT keep a bow in, but somehow I got one on her yesterday! It only lasted about 5 minutes, but OH MY GOSH...cuteness! I'll keep trying, I guess. Maybe some day she'll wear them?

-I made roasted brussel sprouts for the first time ever this week, and surprisingly, Rob and I both loved them. So much so that we're having them with tonight's dinner, too!

-I've switched my commenting (?) over to Disqus in hopes of reducing spam. I've been getting a TON lately, and it's driving me nuts! I hope this will help??

-Our friends are having their gender reveal party this weekend, and I'm so excited to see what our newest coaching kid is going to be!! Little linebacker or tiny cheerleader? :)

-I ordered Jaqs' FIRST birthday outfit yesterday. Cue tears. HOW?!?!

That's all I've got for now. I hope y'all have a wonderful 3-day weekend!

chalkboard banner

Just like the next blogger, I have a thing for chalkboard paint. I mean, what's not to love about being able to customize your wall and/or decor to each holiday or celebration? Nothing! When I saw this bunting on Pinterest via Etsy, I knew I wanted to recreate something similar for a fraction of the $18 price tag.

On my {weekly} trip to Hobby Lobby I found the perfect thing to make this little craft EASY peasy: a pre-made bunting made of chipboard. I couldn't find it on their website, but it was in the party section, and there were several shapes to choose from for about $3 for a 9-piece package.

I had plenty of chalkboard paint at home, so I painted a couple layers on both sides, then strung some thing Valentine ribbon through the pre-punched holes when it was dry.

I am so happy with the way this turned out, and I'm excited to be able to customize it for whatever holiday or birthday we're celebrating any given month!

I'm linking up with AP for Hey, that's Pin-tastic! Go check out all the great projects!

28!

My handsome hubby and baby-daddy is 28 today!

It's hard to believe that we've been celebrating a decade's worth of birthdays together now, but I can honestly say that you're just getting better with age, babe. Just when I think I couldn't love you any more, you do or say something that makes me admire you even more than I already did. You are my constant, my rock...you never doubt me, and you have a way of making me believe in myself when I don't really feel like I should.

You are the hardest working man I know, and I'm so grateful to you for giving me a life I love by providing me the opportunity to stay home with our girl. You also happen to be THE BEST dad I could ever want for my baby. I knew you would be great, but Jaqs is so lucky to have such an involved, hands-on daddy, and I know the two of you will have the most special relationship; I'm excited to see it evolve!

Basically, YOU ROCK. Thank you for giving us your best, always. I'm incredibly blessed to be able to "do life" with you. The Lord richly blessed me when he gave me you.

Happy birthday, my love!! XOXO

9 months!

I can't believe you've officially been 'out' as long as you were 'in,' baby girl! You have learned a ton this month, and you continue to light up our world. What did we ever have to talk about you, angel? I don't even know! We're so very in love with you.


I didn't realize how dark/shadowy these pictures were when I was taking them since
I had all of 30 seconds of attention span to get them done in ;) Whoops. Sorry about that!

as soon as a bow goes in...

this happens.

just as precious without!

my smiley baby!

busy body, no time for pictures!

ruffles & leopard <3

At NINE months old:

• Your sleep schedule is essentially the same, but you have been WAY off this month with your night sleep due to your first ear infection, teething, and now a cold. It has been rough, and I'm ready to get back on track with that! Please make it easy on us?

new way of sleeping

• Thankfully, with the exception of a few days, your napping is still the same.
• You are becoming less interested in bottles by the day. The only one you drain, no problem, is at bedtime. The rest you dilly-dally around with and sometimes finish or sometimes don't. You, my little lady, will NOT miss bottles! ;)
• You are eating 3 meals of solids (which you LOVE) now! We still mostly do purees because you choke 3 out of 5 times on finger foods. You're just not quite ready. Hopefully we can make some headway with that soon!
• You have your 2 bottom teeth and you're cutting your top 2 incisors! 

• You are a full-time crawler now, and you don't have time to sit and play with toys or roll around on the floor anymore! You are on the go constantly...busy, busy, busy! You can now smoothly transition from crawling to sitting as well.
• You have also started pulling up and climbing on EVERYTHING, stable or not. I can't take an eye off of you or your bonking your head on something! You started pulling up within the week of crawling.
• Due to this newfound busy-ness, we've started giving you some play time in your pack & play which you are doing great with! You're so content to play with toys there. Good girl, Pea!

• You like to be standing, but the balance isn't quite there yet. We're all predicting you're going to take some tumbles to get this one figured out!
• The safest place for you to be is your walker, which you adore! You run all over the place and maneuver it around every corner like a pro.

• You have learned to wave and clap! Both are ADORABLE! You've also added a few other tricks to your bag like sticking your tongue out and rolling your lips.

just another of your funny tricks...you keep us laughing!

• You are still our little chatterbox, and this month you added 'mama' and the occasion 'dada' to the mix! YAY JAQSY PEA! I'll pretend you know what you're saying.
• We put you back in the infant tub for baths, and it was the best thing we could have done. No more fighting your rolling and everything else! You're back to LOVING baths...you stay in until the water goes cold and even then, you aren't necessarily ready to get out!

baths for the win!

• I've all but given up on the idea of you ever wearing bows. (See above, ha!) You'll keep the clip-in ones on for about 45 seconds, but a headband? Absolutely NOT! Thank goodness you have a gorgeous head of hair :)
• Speaking of that, your hair has really grown lately! It's gotten quite a bit longer in the back and it continues to lighten up!
• You've still got those beautiful, sparkly blue eyes, too!
• You had your FIRST CHRISTMAS! Ah, so much fun. You made it so special for us, and I know it will just get better and better every year!

• You have got to be the least cuddly baby on the PLANET. After your bedtime bottle, you'll lay your little head down for about 30 seconds...MAYBE a minute if we're lucky, and that's it. You will not be rocked or swayed to sleep, that's for sure! When you were sick, we got ONE day of cuddles, so we'll take it! The only positive of the sickies!

• You still weigh about 19 pounds; I haven't gotten a good measurement on you lately, but judging by your pants, I think you've grown some! You don't go back to the pedi until one year (WHAT?!) so I guess I won't know for sure for awhile.
• You wear 9-12 month clothes & size 3 in shoes.
• Still in size 3 diapers during the day & size 4 at night.

Jaqsy girl, you are our angel. You are the sweetest blessing imaginable, and I'm so thankful for all that you bring to our lives. Life is GOOD!