Things That Make You Happy

What makes you happy? REALLY, REALLY happy?

Here's a few things that are on my list...

~ My family

~ Traveling (This is us in Venice)

~ Christmas Cards...well, Christmas in general, really!

~ Spending time w/ friends...preferably while traveling at Christmastime!

This picture is of Wendy & I at the Christmas Market in Hamburg, Germany :)

Also:

Sundays ~ Church, Fellowship, & Lunch @ Cafe' on Main :)

Hot Chocolate on a cold day

A book that I just can't put down

A good lap dog

Swimming

Getting a card from an old friend

Anything crafty

Watching the birds in my backyard every morning

What about you? I'd love to hear about all the little things that make you smile :)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Elli's 6 Month Portraits

SLI ~ Book Club!!

Since my ordered copy of "So Long Insecurity" never came in, I decided to take measures into my own hands...I broke down and went to Books-a-Million. I don't know if I've just been spoiled by Barnes and Noble or what, but I'll do just about anything to keep from having to visit Books-a-Million! It's so disorganized & chaotic in there, it drives me crazy (yes, I admit I'm a little OCD about that kind of thing...I take my books seriously! Ha!). Anyway, I now have the book and I'm ready to dive in :)

So, for those of you who are on board (I'm thinking there's 2!), I thought we could read the first 2 chapters this week and discuss next Monday (29th). Sound good? I have to admit, I've thumbed through a few of the chapters b/c I just couldn't help myself. I'm a serial "end of the book" reader. It's terrible, I know. I totally spoil it for myself! But since this isn't really that kind of book, I think I'm good :)

Happy Reading!!

Busy Bee

We've had another busy week, and by the time Monday rolls around again I'm always amazed at how quickly the time is flying by! My dad came out to visit us last Thursday, and we had a great time just getting to spend some quality time with him. Elli sure does love her Papa!! He and Chris got to test out Chris's new golf clubs (for the first time since Christmas!), we had my birthday dinner at Jacks (yes, that's the 2nd time we've been there in 10 days!), and we just spent a whole lot of time vegging out on the couch, catching up. It was awesome. We're so thankful that our parents take the time to come out here to visit us as often as they can. Living far away can be difficult sometimes, and we feel so blessed to have families who are so understanding and supportive of our on-the-go lifestyle.

Here is some of what we've been up to lately...

She's trying to crawl. She wants to soooo badly, but she's not quite there yet.
Elli's Easter Basket!! Thanks, Adriane, for the heads up about where to get it :)
Elli is teething and pretty much makes this face ALL the time. My dad felt a little left out, so he thought he'd make the same one :) Ha!
Trying out her new sippy cup w/ water. Not quite a pro yet, but she's making progress!

Our new bath seat! Yay! I'm so happy w/ it, it makes bath time SO much easier!

This is one of Elli's favorite toys. I think she just discovered that she can see herself in the mirror, and she absolutely LOVES it! You should see her flap...it looks like she's fixing to take off with excitement!

Success!!

Our first attempt at homemade baby food was peas...

this was Elli's reaction.

(Please excuse the runny nose, we're teething at the moment!!)

She wasn't a fan, obviously!

So then we tried sweet potato's...mommy's favorite!!

Just puree' the cooked potato's in the blender,

**Yes, that's a food processor in the above pic, but it didn't work so we moved to the blender...I'm ever-so-adaptable :)**

and you'll end up w/ some yummy goodness :)

Chris fed her one night...

and my dad fed her another...SUCCESS!!

I store the extra food in ice cube trays,

and I just get two per day out to thaw for dinner :)

So simple, so good, and so healthy for my sweet baby girl.

Next up: Zucchini!!

I gotta admit, I'm not all that confident that we'll get another happy reaction!!

Wordless Wednesday ~ My 2 Favorite People

I Can Actually Sew!

After quite the hiatus from my trusty Singer, Gayle gave me the confidence to try it out once again. I think the reason that I stopped 5 months ago was because the dress I was trying to make was taking forever! Well, that and the fact that I have a baby who takes up roughly 98% of my day :) I just needed a little refresher, some encouragement, and an inspiring project.

I've always loved pillowcase dresses, but every time I go to buy one I can never justify spending $30 for one. I always tell myself "you can MAKE that, why buy it?"...but, we all know how quickly I was on that one! So anyway, I thought a pillowcase dress would be fitting for my first "clothes project" for Elli. Plus, they're SUPER easy to make, especially if you have a cute pillowcase...which I did not. Ha!

So, here is my newest creation. It's not perfect by any means, but I think it turned out really well for my first try. I love the fabric, it's so girly and cute...and I think that Elli looks just precious in it. I can see her wearing it a lot this summer!

I didn't even pin it!! I hate pinning!

Not the most accurate of measurements, but oh well!

The finished product!

And I had to make a matching bow, of course!!

I wanted to get a good pic of Elli standing up in it to show how long it is. The great thing about these dresses is that little girls can wear them forever!! When they grow a little taller, they can put leggings under it, and when it gets super short they could even wear it as a cute summer shirt!