W O R D L E S S W e d n e s d a y

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

I designed this year's holiday card myself using the text/editing/create tools on Picnik.com and the postcard printing services of cards direct, and of course the willingness, sweetness and energy of my son to take a slew of photos so that I could find one that worked. I actually envisioned my little screaming silent night idea last year sometime, when I got another pic of my son with his mouth wide open (he likes to do this). But, that image was a bit old & I was trying to figure out what to do for this year's card, so I stuck a hat on him, stuck him on his bike on the porch and started snapping shots & to my surprise, he made another perfect little open mouth hollerin' face that turned out just right for my idea.

He has this thing with opening his mouth after eating something, to show us that it's all gone. And also he just likes to do these surprised happy go lucky type faces in general, he's not really yelling or horribly loud in general, but he has a good set of screamin' lungs on him when he needs them (like in a mall that he doesn't want to leave as I'm draggin' him out or carrying him underneath my arm through Macy's times twice). Anyway, I did the postcard thing this year, A. because I like the look of them & B. because you save a few pennies on postage when you're sending out 75 plus cards each season (a third or more of those are family btw)

Here's what I had printed for the backside of these:

If you believe, as children do, the Magic of the Holidays will be with you!

A little statement I found on some other card site, but I don't remember where.

And then a few words of my own too:

Wising you and yours a blessed Christmas and

PEACE, COMFORT & JOY in the New Year!

And voila, there you have it, our holiday postcards 2010!

Rainbow Brighten up your Kitchen

"I like my apple pie sweet & my whiskey neat, and I always wear an apron while I bake!"Sew, I finished up my very first full kitchen apron and took some snazzy pics of my great friend MamaZshanna (she's a hottie mchotterson kind of stay at home mom designer artisan extraordinaire) modeling it for me. It was a really fun project, partly because I didn't exactly follow a pattern, but did use the tutorial and guide for a sewing made fun, retro apron I found here and partly because once I started, my momentum was flying & I was so anxious to get it done, that it went pretty fast. Twas' my first time ever experimenting with bias tape & I must say, it went smoother than I expected. Trick is to go ridiculously slow as you attach the bias tape, it's kind of a tedious step, but the end result is a smashingingly, clean, crisply trimmed & professional looking apron! For the fabulous main fabric, I used a piece of the clean/reusable section from a vintage 1980's Rainbow Brite bed sheet (that had paint splattered across parts of it), that I had scored on a thrifting adventure a couple years ago and had been saving specifically for a unique sewing project. I'm just thrilled with how this apron turned out & proud for challenging myself to sew this style apron for my first ever apron! Oh yah, and it's reversible. I used some delightfully bright shades of green new fabric to coordinate with the vintage fabric. I just adore incorporating materials that already exist & upcycling them into the things I create! It makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside. This apron made by me, is available for purchase here in my shop.

W O R D L E S S W e d n e s d a y

W O R D L E S S W e d n e s d a y

Boon Potty Bench Giveaway @ My Organized Chaos!

Who wouldn't love to win a sleek, functional & hip designed little potty chair for their tot in training?

You have until November 4th, 2010 to get your entries in for your chance to win a Potty Bench from Boon at My Organized Chaos!

Just a wee stroll downtown

Took Freedom to a groovy coffee shop, Common Grounds (where the service is fab and the baristas all have great hair) in downtown Denver, to visit with a couple of our special lady friends and two little Freedom friends. All was well, until Freedom saw that his lil friend had arrived outside parked on the other side of the busy, downtown morning rush, street. He was jumping all around, getting super excited and saying, "hooray", because he wanted to greet them immediately. So, I decided we'd walk outside to the sidewalk and just make sure they didn't need any help.

Well, Freedom pulled his super independent, stubborn, crazy two-year old attitude and at one moment started to bolt off the curb and into the corner of the street. I had to, in an instant, grab him, and pull him back with force, just as a big suv was approaching that corner. He could have been hit, no doubt. I felt shaky and scared, that's for sure, but I feel grateful that there were guardian angels looking out for my boy & giving me the alertness and momentum to grab him. Having your child leap into oncoming traffic is a frightening experience. Ahhhh, another freaky motherhood moment, thankfully that one is over, unfortunately, I know there will be more freaky things to come. Bracing myself. Here's a couple snapshots I took of the lil car tire chaser while we were hanging out on this sunny day downtown. Please, dear son, let's stay cute & on the sidewalk!

Ready for Back to School

From Goodyblog.com, Keep Your Kid Close, a post with ideas on simple & sweet ways to be reminded of your darling while they're at school. Also, check out these great daycare, preschool & back to school must-have items at Inchbug. Their Bumpy Name Orbit personalized reusable labels will help keep your kid's germs in one place, on their own cup! We heart our inchbug nametags!

Co-Sleeping with Children

Just wanted to share a photo glimpse into what co-sleeping with Freedom looks like in our bed. He actually sleeps 85% of the time in his own bed, but sometimes comes into mommy's bed in the middle of the night. However, this particular example is from a night when daddy was out of town and mommy allowed Freedom to sleep with her. It's nice to encourage attachment with your toddler, but when that involves feet to the face, being pushed almost off your own bed, and upside down sleeping by your beloved, I gotta say, co-sleeping can be a pain. Yep, uh huh. You too can try co-sleeping with your toddler's feet on the pillow. Ha!

First Moppets Craft

We are starting our second year/season of the MOPS & Moppets group at our church. MOPS is Mothers' of Preschoolers, and Moppets is what they call the nursery school that the kiddos attend while their moms are in fellowship and meeting. It is basically a community, support and friendship group that meets in local churches and is a religious based meeting that enables mommies to get out and meet other moms a few times a month, have breakfast, take a break, participate in activities, do crafts and hear speakers. We did it last year and enjoyed it, with mommy getting to spend time with other moms and hear fun guest speakers and Freedom having the opportunity to experience nursery class and socializing with other kids his age, we greatly enjoyed it. Today was the first meeting of this semester. Freedom's Moppets class did a little art craft and drew around their hands, but another mommy accidentally took Freedom's drawing home instead of her own child's. So, when we got home, we basically redid what they had done, just a little nursery craft treat to hang on the wall.

Christmas in September

Our lil water baby's first time at the local reservoir

Free's first time on a jet ski ride with mommy

Ready to take her for a spin on the water

Freedo meets Sea Doo the PWC

Daddy has gone bananas and treated himself & us to a banana colored jet ski. Must be Christmas in September, because he also bought Mama B a brand new serger sewing machine, so I can get to making my kids clothes a whole lot faster. Ordered the Brother 1034D machine from Amazon, yipee! Freedom got to test out the jet ski (as a passenger with mommy of course), or "water bike", "boat bike", "Freeum's boat" as he refers to it, this weekend, and loved it! Actually, when I took him out for his second ride, the rocking of the jet ski on the water started luling him to sleep. Pretty crazy, because it was a windy day and the water was super choppy. He must be a lil fishy at heart, because he's already been on boats a few times now, in his babyhood and seems very comfortable, calm and downright excited to be in, on and around the water. Yes folks, my 2.5 yr old has a jet ski. Lord help me! But, in all seriousness, I am excited that his dad can expose him to the water at such a young age, because I love the ocean and swimming and have hopes that he will learn to love them too!

Refrigerator Bling

Freedom 2.5 yrs. old

Fingerpaint Masterpiece

“One time I went to a museum where all the work in the museum had been done by children. They had all the paintings up on refrigerators.” -Author unkown

Little boy blue in yellow shoes

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” -Elizabeth Stone

My heart & soul in blue cap

Fascinated by the scooter & sidecar

Mommy & son date

Highlands Street Festival 2010

W O R D L E S S W e d n e s d a y

W O R D L E S S W e d n e s d a y

Rainbow wrapped rainbow mama

Just a peek at my ever evolving dred head. They don't seem to be growing much, per usual with my hair in general, but I do like when they stretch to be wrapped up on top of my head. Oh how I wish I could wrap them in a bun though. Learning to accept them, one day at a time. Mama B's dreads wrapped in a rainbow burrito at about 18 months of dredlock growth.

The Big T-W-O!

 The nifty vintage restored dresser birthday gift!

 It's pretty darling!

Hooray for Two!

Blue cupcakes are best eaten shoved in your face

Did a sorta space/rocket themed bday.

Here he is in his pilot birthday outfit trying out his new shades

Lil Lady Guest Two with a Lolli Too

Lil Lady Guest One enjoying her Lollipop

Donuts are Tasty!

First Sprinkled Donut

Balloon Madness

Freedom's 2nd Birthday Room O' Balloons Surprise

Freedom turned two and the morning of his birthday, mommy and dada filled his room with balloons to surprise him. He enjoyed the balloon surprise and and went a bit nuts playing for awhile with all the balloons, tackling them and rolling amonst them. Twas' pretty cute! We had just a wee party at his nana & papa's house, with family and two of his best gal pals, because I heard a fantastic suggestion that it's good to invite as many guests as the number your child is turning. With the exception of his two cousins, who'll always be invited (but they actually missed it because they were sick), and the exception of his niece, we'll plan on sticking to that suggestion. We like that idea now, not so sure how much we'll like it when he's sixteen? He is very blessed and got some super fun gifts from everyone and a really neat vintage circus themed restored dresser, from mommy, daddy & nana. Two cool for school!

P.S. Special thanks to nana for hosting the shindig & spoiling our munchkin and to aunt Jen for always helping to make everything special and successful. We're so lucky!

Freedom Scribble Crayon Art

I think he does a great job trying to use up a lot of the space on the paper. It's also kinda neat that he varies which color crayons he uses. Makes for quite a vibrant crayola crayon masterpiece! Freedom in color!

Crochet Hat Creations

I started crocheting recently and have begun to create some fun little toddler hats. I basically taught myself to crochet, over the last few months, because I saw the cutest monster hat online and really wanted to make one for Freedom, so I did. Now, I've not only made the monster hat, but I've also created some of my own original hats, that I'm calling 'Character Hats'. They're just little character, cartoon, animal etc. type themed inspired creations. Here's Freedom modeling the monster hat, which was one of the first hats I ever crocheted, actually I think it was literally the third hat I made, the Grover inspired earflap hat & the Ernie hat. I have opened up a little online shop, where people can purchase these hats and other craft creations I'm working on. It's called Attaboy CuteTure, and it's my own personal, Busy At Home Mommy handmade small business. Having so much fun learning and practicing various crochet, sewing & craft type projects and looking forward to adding more items to my shop in the future!