Birthday Wreath

I'm sure many of my blog friends have seen this craft before, but I just stumbled upon it last week.

Next month is Haven's birthday... and as soon as I saw this wreath, I knew I had to make it.



You can find the original post here.

What you'll need:
(1) 18inch straw wreath with the plastic wrapping still attached ($3.99)
(2) boxes of floral/greening pins ($1.99 ea)
(200-250) 12 inch balloons ($10)

Note: In her original instructions, she only used 144 balloons. However, if you read through the comments, a lot of people mentioned that they had to use many more. Also, 12 inch balloons mean the balloons are 12 inches after they are inflated. I'm a dum-dum and was at the store for a long time before I figured that out. And something else worth mentioning is that Dollar Tree nor Target had the variety pack of orginal balloon colors. The Wal-Mart by my house is too sketchy, so I overpaid for my balloons at Party City.

All I did was take two balloons at a time, stick them in the middle of the balloon, and pin them into the wreath.

For the first half hour, I was still seeing the "pin marks" and it didn't seem to be going the way I wanted. But, I just kept pinning like it was the only way to get into Heaven... and it really did come out cute.



I did a round across the top-- then a round around the sides-- and finally a round around the inside.




It was all worth it because the next morning when Haven saw it on the mantel, he started shrieking!! He loves it as much as I do. :)

Updates

On Friday, April from Party of Five gave me my first blog award. I, in turn, pass this award along to some of my favorite bloggers... So that will be on my list this week. Thank you, April!

I love blogging.... but I love reading other blogs more. So I can't wait to hand a few out.

My house is cold!

We moved one of our sofas into our sitting room. Our family room is poorly insulated; it might get into the 50's on a day with a lot of sun. We had company over last night and I was dreading the chilly the room was going to be. So, I bribed Chris and Noel to move one of the couches into our sitting room.

We all love it. It's not getting moved back until I find another couch for that room.

It's warm and there isn't a television. Heaven.

Haven on the other hand, loves the cold weather.

Glave just had his first haircut. At first when his hair was growing out, it looked really cute... Then it quickly turned into a hair style that made us look like we don't care about our child.

He was such a trooper!

We are getting into potty training mode. While I was home on vacation, I thought that I would get him used to his potty chair.

Like his mother, he likes to be rewarded with food.

Do you notice the pee on the wood floor? :) He started spraying everywhere and doesn't get the point to shoot down. I'm still working with his father on the same obstacle.

Cheesy Chicken Chili

I've made this every New Years Day for the last couple years.

There are many variations out there; one of my favorite bloggers calls it Santa Fe soup. Whatever you call it, make it your own by trying it with sausage, chicken, hamburger, or adding more beans.

What you'll need:



Block of Velveeta

2 chicken breasts, or 4 small tenders (mine are always frozen)

1 can of stewed tomatoes

1 can of corn (drained)

1 can of Rotel

1 can of chili beans (drained as best as possible)

1 packet of taco seasoning

Sour cream for topping


Put the frozen chicken in the bottom of the crockpot and throw everything else on top. It's best to cut the Velveeta into cubes so that it melts easier.



Cook on high for 4 hours.

Serve with a hunk of sour cream on top. :)

Back to Reality...

I didn't win the lotto over my vacation... So here I am back at work.

While I adjust to real life, here are a few pictures that re-cap our Christmas vacation.

Instead of spending Christmas Eve alone and going to the in-laws after Santa comes, we decided to avoid the bad weather and travel up to central Illinois on the 23rd.

It really made it feel like Christmas lasted longer, gave Haven more time with his cousin, and gave us more time to lounge.


{Blaine and Haven on Christmas morning.}

{See all of those presents in the background? Those are still in my basement. I need a bigger house. In the meantime, I'll bring up one gift at a time until next Christmas.}

{My favorite person in the whole world.}

{My grandmother, who I have been forced to call Aunt Toni my whole life, came into town. Can you guess which one she is? This is a whole blog post in itself.}
{This is our car on the way home. Mind you, we have a 7 passenger vehicle. Does this look safe for my toddler? You can send me my Mother of the Year award anytime.}

I hope everyone is having a great New Year. :) We acted like old people, stayed home, and were in bed before 10pm.

I have thought a lot about resolutions and here are a few, some I started before the new year:

1. Follow through with the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps. We have three of these done but out of order. Remember this resolution when I blog about the Christmas present Chris bought for me.

2. Lose 10lbs. Yes, me and everyone else in the country are on the same list.

3. Be nice, make peace, forgive. {Blah, blah, blah} I'll blog more about this in a couple of days.

4. Have another baby!! :) We are going to start trying late spring/early summer!!