Archive for June, 2011

I love a lil’ something something on my front door.

Who doesn’t?

Make these wreaths for the 4th of July in a jiff!

(Pictures are a little fuzzy because they are from my phone. I was too lazy to get couldn’t find the good camera so had to make due.)

You’ll Need (for two wreaths):

~2 – 12” wreath forms

~3/4 yard of red fabric

~1/2 yard of blue fabric (you may need more if you use bigger wreaths)

~1/8 yard of white fabric

~About 12” of red, white OR blue ribbon for hanging. (I did white)

~Hot glue gun

1. Rip your blue fabric (the long way) into 2 inch strips.

2. Use your hot glue gun to secure one end to the wreath. Then wrap fabric around the wreath slightly overlapping each layer. When a strip runs out hot glue the end and repeat the same thing with the new strip starting where you left off. Cover the whole wreath.

Tip: I bought the straw wreath forms because they were cheaper than the Styrofoam ones. Just leave the plastic wrapper on to prevent straw from getting everywhere!

(how much do you {heart} my rug??)

3. To make the flowers I found this easy-peazy tutorial in a google search over at My Sparkle. The only thing I would add is the more you twist the flatter your flower will be. Since I wanted some “meat” on the back for easier mounting on the wreath, I twisted less on every other turn or so. Gluing often kept the bigger flowers from falling apart. I did 7 small flowers with 1” strips (per the suggestion of the tutorial), and 7 big red flowers with 4” strips. Tear the strips on the long side of the fabric and stop when you like the size of the flower. You really can’t mess these things up because of their messy look but the more I did the better it got!

Tip: Leave a bit of extra fabric length to create leaf shapes for added fun-ness in the final wreath.

4. Arrange your flowers and secure with hot glue.

This part killed me! For some reason I thought a perfect arrangement would save the economy or something. After many tweets and days of different patterns sitting on the counter with double stick tape I ending up winging it, and this is what I came up with. I love that they are slightly different from each other!

5. Hot glue the ribbon to the back at the desired length for hanging.

6. Admire the awesomeness!!

Here is what one looks like on the door. Hot Hubby still needs to add another nail to our other door for the second one. It will get done by 4th of July…maybe. Right now it’s on my mantel and I’m OK with that.

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Cy update:

The nurse called today to tell me the Dr would call later with test results. He didn’t call. Which makes me think it’s bad news. Like he didn’t have time to for the long conversation of the horrible disease Cy may have. Or that that test results were super strange so he is having to research some crazy unknown thing. I know it’s totally unfounded but it’s the way moms think, right????

Can you believe 4th of July is only 6 days away?? Time to share some of the 4th of July things I’ve been a-brewin’ the past couple of weeks! I’ll start with a fun family activity!

We had SO MUCH fun BOOing at Halloween I thought I would put a 4th of July spin on the idea and here’s what I came up with…

Red, White & Blue on YOU!!

I bought loads of American Flag magnets (I got mine from www.flagsoncars.com) then we snuck around the neighborhood and parking lots and stuck them on cars with this little note:

I was just at the 99 cent store today and they had 3 American flags for 99 cents! That would be super fun to pass along… or maybe a 4th of July wreath or cupcakes with lil’ flags on top or red white and blue candy or… you get the idea.

Feel free to copy my note and modify it with what you are gifting. (I know I should have made the note non-specific to my giftie in an adorable poem… maybe next year!) Let’s make this a “thing” together!

Eli thought we should be disguised as bushes to “flag” people, so… (washable markers)

Cora Jane decided she wanted to be a kitty cat that hides in the bushes and she wanted her daddy to be a kitty too.

That girl has Hot Hubby wrapped around her little finger! (yes, the whole fam-damily got in on the face painting action!)

You should practice hiding in bushes every time a car goes by…

Be super sneaky and run a lot… (Eli’s face in this pic is priceless)

Tomorrow I’ll share a tutorial for this awesome wreath…

I’m doing a quick InstaFriday,over at Life Rearranged!

This has been an emotional week…

Hot Hubby’s dad passed away suddenly so we drove up north (San Francisco area) for the memorial. The memorial was great and the whole trip was an awesome chance to reconnect with some amazing family members! Cora Jane picked these wild flowers and we used them as the main arrangement for the beautiful outdoor service.

A road trip isn’t truly a Road Trip unless you got to In-N-Out Burger.

My order?

Hamburger – fried mustard – grilled onions – no spread – no ketchup/mustard instead – no pickles – yes lettuce & tomato

On the way home I did a Foursquare check-in at every pit stop, hoping to be mayor of something. I’m still not. Boo.

Since we were in the midst of a long 8 hour drive home on Father’s Day we celebrated on Monday. We did our traditional donut cake, had an awesome day at the beach (Salt Creek) then dinner at Miguel’s Cocina in Point Loma (can you say white sauce???). AND we got to spend the evening with with family I had never met. Fun fun fun!!

Monday night we noticed a HUGE sore on Cy’s lip (I mentioned it a bit in the post below) our doctor decided to admit him to the hospital asap. They were worried the sores were indicators of something more. To say I was a basket case would be a grotesque understatement. We saw a lot of great doctors (including an infectious disease one) at CHOC in Mission. Three days and two nights later the first batch of blood tests are clear and the tummy sonogram is clear. YAY! Now we are waiting for another batch of blood tests to come back (clear!!) – we’ll know by later next week. (A more specific post coming soon.)

I took this belly picture on the way out the door after showering at our house. I think it might be the first belly shot I have taken this time around and I’m 27 weeks!! Poor 4th baby. Yay I’m starting the 3rd trimester. In case you are wondering our bathroom is fully decked out with all thing In-N-Out Burger. We are hard core!

Today was our first full day home and boy did I have A LOT to do – Eli’s Lids orders to fill, errands to run, past-due library books to return, furniture to spray paint and a crap load lot of laundry. Life as usual. Praise the LORD!!

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Stay tuned for the winner of June’s MOMday Morning, some great OC Summer activities AND those kick a&$ 4th of July crafts I have been dying to share!!

It’s about 1am and I just said goodnight to my youngest (and favorite-est) child on his first birthday. Then I got in my car and drove home. He had been admitted into CHOC hospital and my hubby is staying with him through the night (Preggos don’t sleep well, even in their warm cozy beds at home).

I took Cy into the doctor because he had a nickel sized sore on the inside of his lip (it was gross) and I wanted to get it checked out. He has had small sores come and go before – when he was sick or teething so I wasn’t too worried. He didn’t have a fever or lack of appetite and was acting just as sweet perfect as ever. After looking Cy over the doctor made me feel dumb because I hadn’t brought Cy in for his sores earlier.

Flash back to 2007ish when I brought Eli in 3 times for the sores in his mouth and the doctor made me feel dumb because he had no fever or lack of appetite and was acting normal.

All I’m saying ‘doctors of the world’ is don’t make moms feel like horrible parents. It’s super lame.

Anyway, today, on Cy’s 1st birthday, I’ll be meeting with the Infectious Disease Doctor. And if he/she makes me feel like a horrible mom I may just give them the ole’ one/two! OK, I probably won’t punch a doctor… but I will give a super dirty look and post embarrassing photos of them on twitter.

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We would covet your you prayers and well wishes. Every sweet comment on instagram (@elislids follow me so I can follow you, I’m addicted) and twitter have brought a smile to my heart. REALLY!

HUGE possibility the tests will come back saying something simple like he “needs more zinc in his diet.” But we did get the whole “we aren’t going to worry you with the what-ifs until after the test results” speech. Which causes a mom’s mind to wander to icky places.

I didn’t do InstaFriday,over at Life Rearranged, last week because (as you’ll remember me mentioning yesterday) pregnancy is sucking away my energy to blog.

When you don’t have energy to type, that’s pretty pathetic.

But I have energy today, so I’m going with it! AND with 2 weeks of updates to boot.

Had a rad craft night with my friend Kyla to watch our fave, NieNie on 20/20. I was there till like 1am chatting blogging, crafts, spiritual stuff… ya know the usual… and got like nothing done. I’m working on a birthday bunting that may be done in time for my 50th!

My mom saved everything from my childhood. EVERYTHING! Mostly it takes up usable space BUT sometimes we come across a gem. Like this sweet lil’ sailor dress I wore as a sweet lil’ girl. Love that my daughter can wear it.

My friend Julie gave me an Amish Friendship Bread starter. Or as my mom calls them, chain letters from house wives. I’m not blessed in the kitchen so I didn’t have all the ingredients and didn’t add things on the proper days but it still turned out YUMMY! I also found out (from a twitter friend) you can freeze the dough it if you want to wait on the baking for a bit.

We went to LA’s Garment District to find some patches for our new lil’ Trucker Lid. I hate going down there but we always end up having a lot of fun. If you are heading to LA you must try Philippe’s! It’s been there for over 100 years – a sawdust on the floor type place – and their French Dips are delish!

We went to the Farmer’s Market at the OC Great Park per the suggestion of my friend Kristin at the Meringue Bake Shop. I think it might be our new Sunday after church place. And Kristin’s cupcakes are a-mazing!! If you go, be sure to grab a Push Cake togo for a naptime indulgence the next day.

I’m working on some really fun 4th of July crafts! I’ll share next week.

Cy gets to do the nebulizer just like Eli did. Since he’s the perfect child he loves it. So sad but adorable at the same time.

I can’t get enough of this picture. This is one of Cora’s signature faces and I want to just smooch all over those cheeks when I see it!.We went to a WAHM lunch at the Renaissance Club Sport. That place is beautiful. And there is a waterfall on the parking structure that is a must for a warm day!

Hot Hubby would kill me if he knew I posted a picture of him doing P90X. So don’t tell him!

I was one visit away from being the foursquare mayor of Souplantation. But that jerk “Jason W.” must have gone again and I was jilted! Mark my words… I WILL BE MAYOR. fyi – My husband and children think I’ve become an official card carrying member of Crazy Town. Whatever.

Don’t forget to go here and enter to win $75 CASH and an Eli’s Lid at this month’s MOMday Morning!!! (brought to you by us, BYOG – Labor and Delivery Gowns & Blessed Nest – organic nursing pillows)