Monday, December 31, 2012

New Years


2012 is over. That seems so hard to believe, this past year as come and gone leaving so many memories behind. I'd have to say this was one of the most eventful years of my life, it contained a lot of good and a lot of not so good. I'm excited for 2013, though also a little scared. The wonderful thing about life is that it goes on. This past year may not have been the best but I can't wait to start this new year with y'all! What are some of y'alls new year resolutions? Mine are;
  • Get in shape
    • I'm skinny, I can say that but I am no where in shape. Having a toddler and working with children everyday is exhausting! And it would help so much to be in shape, also who doesn't want a toned body? And also yoga is a blast!
  • Get (and stay) organized
    • I love organization, just getting it started is the hard part!
  • Keep up with at home preschool
    • I had started preschool with Melody and it was a blast! Sadly we got busy and just took a never ending break but I'm excited to get it started again!
  • Keep up with my blog, become a better blogger
    • Pretty self explanatory here... It's a nice "mommy time" thing and I would like to get "better" with keeping up with it and with the quality.
  • Become a better photographer
    • I absolutely love photography but school kind of ruined it for me so I'm hoping to get back into it and get my ideas into an image.
  • Have good time management
    • THIS! Without time management I won't be able to get anything done! I will gladly take tips, also if you use a management binder please share how you set it up!
  • Be more crafty
  • Learn how to knit
  • Be the person I want to be

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas!!

Christmas day is here at last! Melody woke up excited and not too early! I went to get her from her crib, said Merry Christmas and told her that Santa came. Her first question was "Did Santa eat my cookie??" Baby girl was excited to see if he ate her cookie or not, she didn't even care about the presents. She just ran into the kitchen and reached up to grab the plate off the table to see. Since Santa has to eat a lot of cookies he gets a little full, so he just ate the feet off of the gingerbread man and she thought it was the most hilarious thing! She had to go wake up Grandma and Grandpa and show them her feetless gingerbread man, she was so excited though. She then had to eat her own Gingerbread man.

Present opening was a challange, Lovebug got quite a bit of gifts and sitting there unwrapping them all was pure torture! She got through three presents before deciding she was done and just wanted to play with what she had already opened, one of which was a Cinderella night dress. She had to put that on right away and wore it the whole day! Pretty sure she had a wonderful day, even though it took her a fe hours to finally get everything opened, and this mama is worn out!










Mommy also got lots of fun things; such as awesome mustache earrings!

Santa Cookies

Nothing better than making cookies for Santa!







Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Oh my Zambia

It's been a pretty long time since I've talked about my soon to be trip to Zambia. Roughly 19% of children under the age of 18 are orphans due to AIDS, life as an orphan is not easy. Orphans are considered a burden to most people in Zambia, most families make about $1 a day so no one likes having an extra mouth to feed. These children are regularly beaten, raped, and abused. No child anywhere deserves what these children go through.

Their hearts become hard, they become angry, and the cycle of abuse just continues on. They have to be shown that there is hope, that they are loved, that even though their earthly family are terrible there is a God that loves them and has a wonderful future planned out for them. While it is sadly impossible to keep all of them fed and safe we can at least show them hope. And show them that God is bigger than the evils that surround them.

That is what I want to do this summer. Sadly the trip is kind of expensive, plane tickets are not cheap. So I would just like to ask for a small donation just $5 or $10, anything helps. If you don't want to donate if you could just say a small prayer for the children, me, or anyone else that is called to go to these children.

For more information on the organization I'm going with click here.

Monday, December 17, 2012

No words

I've been trying to avoid hearing about or talking about the shooting. It just breaks my heart so much and I can not even begin to imagine what life must be like for those families, or even that community. There's just no words. Also Melody will start school in about 3 years. She'll be in elementary school. And I don't want to think that that could happen to her. We're not called to live in fear.

I've thought about these families though, especially in this Christmas season. They probably already have a few presents wrapped under the tree, which might stay there a little while longer. Their lives have completely stopped while the rest of the world keeps moving on. And that's the sad thing. Life goes on. Of course everyone's going to remember this event years from now but it's just going to be something that had happened, everyone's going to continue on with their lives. While, for these families it will be almost impossible. How do you continue to live when your life is gone?

All I can do is send prayers their way and hope they feel the comforting hand of God. And that they know one day their families will be whole again.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Reading Plan

So my goal for a little while to read the bible daily, I could definitely use some more Jesus in life. Not saying my faith is dwindling but it's just kind of there, not doing much. I've tried doing reading plans on the Bible app but some days I just forget and then I get so behind that I get a little frustrated and stop caring. I would love to try again though!

Are there any reading plans that have worked well for you or is there a certain way you motivate yourself?

Monday, December 3, 2012

Moosing around

We found this lovely little moose at Michaels for just a dollar! It came with black and silver permanent markers, but really what fun is that? So of course we had to bust out the glitter, makers, stickers, and paint. I hope you all know that Melody LOVES to paint. She wont even touch crayons anymore and rarely glances at markers, paint is where its at.

This lovely little moose kept her occupied for 20 minutes and he's just the cutest thing!





Sunday, December 2, 2012

A new tradition

Friday I went shopping for our Elf on a shelf! Of course I had forgotten about it until the day before December... And since this year the girl came out I just had to get it for Mel. And thus our elf adventure began.

We went to our nearby Target to get her and low and behold they only had four elves, all boys. So we ventured off to the next target and of course they had none. We went home and took a nap and went back to the first target, doesn't hurt to ask. They were supposed to have gotten some of the girls but weren't able to find them. The other target was supposed to have 41 elves total (according to the scanner) and one of those should be a girl, right? So off we went to the second target, we get there and ask and of course they really are sold out. The scanner was "wrong" and they had no elves at all. Getting rather tired of driving around we decided to make a quick stop to Barnes & Noble and what was sitting at the front of the store? Elves! With a girl sitting right on top.

It is safe to say Melody has been loving her. We're not good with the no touching, she always has to pick her up as soon as she finds her but always puts her right back. I can't wait to keep this tradition going!

Where are your elf's favorite hiding places? Ours was last seen in the toy kitchen.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Surprise!


So I don't remember if I told y'all or not but I have recently gotten a boyfriend! His name is Ryan and he is super sweet and nice, I think I'm a pretty lucky gal. And one of the best parts? He doesn't care that I have a child! Uh yay! Oh and he actually likes me, that is rather nice too. Sadly he lives 2 and a half hours away but we make it work. 



Let's make ornaments!

So I'm about a year or two too late on this... But while putting ornaments on the try with Melody we found the hand and foot molds for an ornament! So of course we had to stop and do it! Her hand fit perfectly in the tin but sadly her foot was too big so I'm hoping the mold will hold on it's own.

She definitely had a blast with it!





Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanksgiving!

How was everyones Thanksgiving?
I'm grateful for;

  • Melody
  • A house to live in
  • Caring parents
  • Food
  • Books
  • My (new) boyfriend =]
  • Sunsets
  • The serenity of nature
  • A God that loves
  • Every breathe a take
  • Determination and courage
What are you grateful for?

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Gratitude Jar

Well I meant to make this the first day of November and well that didn't happen... But better late than never! It was quick and fun and Melody enjoyed helping pick out the paper and ribbon!

We just used a mason jar, scrapbook paper, ribbon, mod podge, and scissors! All I did was trace the lid of the mason jar on the scrapbook paper, cut it out, mod podge it to the lid, and tied a ribbon around the jar! You could probably make it a little nicer... But I think its cute =]




Sunday, November 11, 2012

How to Twitter?

I want to be "in" with social media. I enjoy Tumblr and have even made a YouTube video and I was doing decent at keeping up a blog. There is just something about Twitter that has me stumped though. How does it work? What do you even tweet?

This is what I have figured out so far:

  • Daily happenings
  • Quotes
  • Giveaways
  • Participating in trends
  • Replying to others
  • Love of people or items
  • Pictures
  • And mostly just tweet whatever you want! 
It still seems a bit intimidating to me but we'll give it another try!!

Do you have a Twitter? What do you tweet about? Tweet me @ibelayni

Friday, October 12, 2012

Stitches

So last Sunday Melody fell and bit off a chunk of her lip... My poor baby girl. There was blood EVERYWHERE well just on me and her. We went to the ER, she was a little trooper. But they had to strap her to a board and put in three stitches. It broke my mommy heart. She got the stitches out today though and we're hoping there won't be any scarring!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Labor Day mailbox

For Labor Day we decided to make a mailbox! We used it to and talked about mailmen and how they deliver our mail =]
For our mailbox we used the bottom half of one of my Birchbox's some markers, Hello Kitty stickers, and glitter glue (her favorite).






Lovebug also chose to rock a rocker look today. And you see her shoes? Glitter pink leopard Hello Kitty shoes, she absolutely loves them to death. It's too bad they don't go with much though. Like she cares anyways.




We then of course had to finish off the day with a popsicle! They are a favorite treat, until of course the last little bit falls off the stick onto the ground. Then we have a full blown fit. With lots of crying and anger and it's just not good.



Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Piggy bank time

Back to Michaels to pick out a craft for Melody! This time she picked this lovely little piggy bank set. Which included; piggy bank, glitter glue, paint, and stickers. All of which was absolutely wonderful. I was in love with this project and so was lovebug.

Just love that concentration. Oh and see her nails? Those are her "princess nails" in "princess pink".


She did it all on her own. ADORABLE. I just love love it. So what if she has three piggy banks now. They're all different sizes so it works. Hey maybe she can even sell a few to help mommy fundraise ;)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Adult tank to toddler tank

I took Mel to Goodwill where she picked out this lovely little tank top. Now it was a woman's large, much too big for me so I decided she could have it and I'd just cut it a bit to make it into a tank for her. Now I have never made an article of clothing so it was definitely a new experience. I took one of her tank tops we already had and just traced around it onto the large one to create the pattern. Simple enough.

After cutting out both sides I just sewed them together! Pretty much easy peasy! But then of course I had to hem it. And my goodness that is something I need to work on. I manages though. I cut a little strip for around the neck and just folded the edges of the sleeves in. Eh it worked.


Lovebug DID NOT want her picture taken though. So she varied between sitting down with a book and yelling at me. I managed to get a few almost decent shots of her in it at the mall though.






Monday, August 20, 2012

A craft for Melody

It's no fair that mommy gets to have all the crafting fun so I took Melody to Michaels and let her pick out what craft she wanted to do. And what did my little princess pick? A glittery tiara, some jewels, flower stickers, and a heart shaped box. I let her go a little over board since everything she picked was on sale, you go girl!

Lovebug just loved sticking everything on her little box, we decided it will be used to house all of her crafting items. That way we don't have to worry about losing them!



Sunday, August 19, 2012

Melody's Step Stool

Melody has recently reached the age where she can "brush her own teeth" with real toothpaste and then spit in the sink. Granted I don't think she's ever actually spit toothpaste in the sink, just water. But hey it's a start. She's also too big to be sitting right next to the sink and lovebug likes to stand. Which means step stool time!

I still had some leftover paint from when we painted her nursery and thought it would be perfect to paint a stool with. So I just snagged this little wooden one from Hobby Lobby for about $4 (yay for coupons).


 Put my lovely light purple coat on, waited for it to dry and then attempted at customizing. Now if you know me I'm not much of a painter. I can do coats and solid colors, the simple stuff. But when it comes to actually trying to do designs and things. Well it just doesn't typically work out for me. Maybe next time I should try to outline in pencil first...



But hey I was still proud of it.

























Now all it needed was a melody!

And let me tell you, lovebug loves being able to be a big girl and stand up there and reach the sink all by herself. She even rinses off her toothbrush and fills her water cup all by herself. I can't believe my little lovebug is getting so big already. Where did all the time go?