2013 - A Year in Review

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2013 - What a whirlwind of ups and downs.

2013 started with a low note - We lost Chris's grandpa unexpectedly and traveled to Oklahoma to be with family. We also found out I was pregnant in the spring but it ended in a heartbreaking miscarriage (is there any other kind?) at 6 weeks. At this point I was pretty much done with 2013, but in looking back on the year this morning, I realized how truly amazing the year was and how incredibly blessed we've been this year.

Out of the loss of Chris's grandpa and the pregnancy, came a renewed sense to seize the day, get stuff done and appreciate every moment with our loved ones.

February - I threw a surprise baby shower in a box for my sister. It was so hard not being able to shower her with love in person but we had fun doing it from afar!

March - We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary and seriously, every year gets better with this amazing guy! Our nephew was born and we celebrated A LOT of family and friend birthdays.

J Hodges Photography

April - I helped to prepare for an amazing friend's baby shower and passed several teacher certification exams. I was also offered a teaching position at my current school.

May - Through the struggle of a miscarriage we still had a fun visit to New Orleans to meet our newest nephew and I passed my Special Education certification exam!

June-July - We channeled our frustration and sadness from the miscarriage and went gangbusters on painting and decorating our house. We made a lot of changes and it looks AMAZING! I also started blogging! 

(Office Makeover, Laundry Makeover, My Favorite Paint)

August - I got ready to begin my first year as a teacher and decorated my classroom. We also enjoyed several family members visiting.

September - We celebrated Chris's 30th birthday and he survived! :) We also celebrated my birthday AND found out I was PREGNANT!!

October - We had our first sonogram and found everything was going smoothly. We, of course, were on pins and needles after this spring.

November - We decorated for Christmas early, had our second dr appt and announced to our family!!

December - We announced to our friends, I completed my first semester of teaching, Chris got some time off and we started some new Christmas traditions of our own. 

Every year has ups and downs but despite our rocky start, 2013 has gone down as a great year in our books. Here's to a 2014 filled with more ups and than downs and a resolution to live in the moment and make every moment count!

Fun Baby Shower Keepsake

I had the pleasure of helping plan one of my best friend's baby showers back in May. We chose a nautical theme since she had chosen to decorate the baby's room in nautical decor. I was put in charge of cupcakes and a couple of us were in charge of games. One of the "games" I had in mind was a "Wishes for Baby" card. I'd seen a lot of these on Pinterest and decided I could make the cards myself to fit into the nautical theme. Here is what I came up with:

I had the cards printed on cardstock and the guests at the shower filled them out as they were arriving. I wanted my friends to have these as a nice keepsake, so I offered to bind the cards afterwards.

Binding them this way just didn't seem special enough so after some creative thought, I decided to scan the cards and use Shutterfly to create an actual book. 

I was also able to add photos from the baby shower and match most of the faces to the corresponding wish cards. I couldn't tell if it was going to turn out as sharp as I wanted, but I gave it a try and it turned out even better than I'd hoped.

*Faces are blurred to protect everyone's privacy

I returned the originals along with the keepsake book to my friends and I think they really loved it! 

If you aren't sure what to do with those sweet little cards after they're all filled out, I think this is a super fun idea.

Happy Friday!

Surprise Baby Sprinkle in a Box

My family is spread out all over the country and I've made it my personal mission to get them all to Texas. I'm envious of my friends who have family just down the street or at the very least, in the same state. It would be nice to have that BUT until we convince everyone to move out to Texas...we make the most of phone calls, texts, emails and Facetime. Technology is amazing, isn't it?

So, not too long ago my sister got pregnant with baby number two. I had racked my brain trying to figure out a way to throw her an amazing baby shower when she got pregnant with baby number one but we were poor newlyweds relocating to Texas so I wasn't able to do much of anything. I knew with baby number two I wanted to do something really special but with family and friends all over the country, it's pretty impossible to throw an actual baby shower...so I decided to throw her a Baby Sprinkle in a Box.

Here's how I did it:

Step 1: I sent an evite to everyone on the "guest list". I explained what I was doing and asked for each "guest" to mail me...

*a favorite baby book

*a onesie that would remind my sister of them

*their due date guess and

*a baby picture of themselves (for a game).

I gave them about a month to mail everything to me and asked them not to spill the beans to my sister.

Step 2: I made a gift list as the gifts arrived and wrapped them. I wrapped them in matching paper and pretty ribbon to give it a theme and more of a party feel.

The sesame street paper denotes the gifts my sweet baby nephew got along with all of his new brother's things.

Step 3: No party is complete without games! I scoured Pinterest and found....

*the celebrity baby name game - you can find that here.

*Baby Photo Name Game - I used the baby photos of the "guests" to create a matching game. I strung the baby photos on a piece of yarn to double it as a "decoration". :)

*I also made a cute little calendar with everyone's due date guesses, just for fun and more "decoration".

Find the Free Baby Printable - Here

Step 4: Party Favors for the Guest of Honor! For this, I bought some Bath and Body Works Foot Scrub, Foot Cream, Hand Cream and a bottle of blue Essie nail polish. See a theme of relaxation and pampering? Something my sister doesn't get a lot of with a toddler...I also included some cute thank you notes since I sprung this little party on her with no warning.

Step 5: Box it all up and send it off! I lined the box with pretty tissue paper, stacked all of the gifts, an envelope with the games and added a letter on top explaining what she was opening. I tracked the box so I could alert my sister when it was being delivered without blowing the surprise too early.

I also enlisted the help of her hubby to take pictures of the surprise when she opened the box. I was then able to share a few photos with the party "guests"! We totally pulled it off too - she was so surprised and I think it really made her day! :)

Her Haul :)