DIY Christmas Ornaments with MiMi <3

I can not remember where I found this recipe, if it is yours please tell me and I will link you back!

If you are at all interested here is the recipe we used:

* 2 cups of flour

* 3/4 cup of water

* 1/2 cup of salt

* 1/2 cup of cinnamon

* the end of a lollipop stick to poke a hole in our ornaments

* some glitter!:)

* ribbon

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- mix your ingrediants in a large bowl
- roll a ball and flatten it
- use a cookie cutter to shape your ornaments//poke a hole somewhere w/ a lollipop stick or whatever you have laying around
- put them all on a foil covered pan and add some glitter on top
- bake for 25 minutes @ 350 degrees//let cool//add ribbon and hang;)

It's cute and the kids like it, and hey if the kids like it, WE like it!

My Children's Christmas Photos || Done by me

Here are some photos I took of my children for Christmas. I did these this past Saturday knowing that Ethan would need time to heal after his surgery (which was yesterday and I'll post more on that later). That being said, BOOK NOW if you want Christmas photos done!! I am only doing weekends and already have 4 sessions in the works. REMEMBER I am flat rate of $50 that includes EVERYTHING, it includes my TIME, PHOTO EDITING, and MOST importantly 50-100 photos ON A HIGH RESOLUTION CD for YOU to print WHEREVER YOU WANT! That's right, I am not like those crazy expensive photogs that charge you 20 bucks for a 5 x 7, you pay $50, and you GET the CD and can print WHEREVER YOU WANT:) You are saving 100 bucks right off b/c other photog's charge AT LEAST that just for their time, and you won't touch a CD for under 90 bucks ANYWHERE, even JCPenney and Wal mart:) Just sayin;D

Ethan's Surgery..

So, Monday (the 30th) is Ethan's surgery at UNC.


I am only slightly upset at one thing. They told us at our first appointment they would call us the Friday before with the time and instructions. So I am upset that when I call this morning I am surprised to learn that their offices have been closed since Wednesday for the holidays..meaning I can't reach ANYONE that I need to until they re open the actual date of surgery!


Well, that is too late because we have to drive to Chapel Hill for one, and for two they told us we would have a cut off with food and liquids prior to surgery but that they would call us on that friday to let us know the exact details..so we have NO info!! (ugh)!


So I called around and got the hospital operator who was able to give us his surgery time (8:00 am). GOOD! But I still have no info on how early we need to be for his pre labs and prep.. But now we had her page a urology resident to call us back with instructions on when to cut off feeding (this part will be hard). ::sigh::


Is it me or have we been given the run around by multiple people ALL year in regard to not only Ethan but even my crappy hospital experience at Cape Fear where they lost my paper work the day of my c section, only to have them do it stat the next 2 days later b/c "oops we messed up we need to take the baby RIGHT NOW!".


God help me get through the rest of this year, that's all I ask, it's been beyond stressful, especially dealing with Ethan's issue by myself with out any help. I am pretty sure they said only juice after 12 midnight..so I hope this goes over well and please keep Ethan in your prayers that all goes well for his surgery. I trust the doctor and know that beyond this minor error in calling us and getting us this information that UNC really is one of the best hospitals in the nation and I just pray pray pray for ONE, everything goes well for Ethan and TWO, I can calm my anxiety enough to not be on edge all day/night/weekend until then. :::breaaaath:::

DIY Wreath PHOTO TUTORIAL

Let's make a wreath!! I have seen countless tutorials for these EVERYWHERE! I found the tutorial on eddieross.com on one blog and later on this blog:

gave me the idea. I figured I'd give it a go and on a budget!! So here is the finished project (oops my flash didn't fire so it's dark) I'll take a photo of it on the door tomorrow if it's sunny out! Total Cost? $12..

STEP 1: Go to the dollar tree and collect the following amount of ornaments (more or less pending your taste). They didn't have much of a selection when I went in..and so..I did what I could. Get small and larger ornaments to rotate out! and your pick of wired ribbon (I couldn't decide so I got both).

STEP 2: Find a wire coat hanger and unravel it and try your darnest to make a decent circle out of it..

Step 3: String the ornaments onto the coat hanger, big..small...big..small, or any order you like really.

Step 4: Don't be alarmed when you start out and it looks like this (LOL):

Because eventually as you keep adding ornaments it will start to look like this (and yes KIDS LOVE MAKING THESE, so have at it!)

Step 6: When you are done tie the hanger back up and add a bow..perhaps you actually know how to do a bow (I CAN NOT TO SAVE MY LIFE). So I enlisted the help of Doug.

And again I will take a photo tomorrow at some point to show it better:) ENJOY!!

Random Photo Generator

Sometimes, I catch myself randomly looking through my photo archives. Ever since my computer crashed last year, I lost pretty much EVERYTHING I didn't previously upload to myspace or email to family. I STILL do not have my most cherished memories:( MiMi from newborn to 3 years is pretty much erased. THANK GOD for the sporadic photos I did manage to save.

So now I make it a habit to back up photos occassionally. Not all, but most.

I obviously have way too many since December of 09 (when we got a new computer) to current that I never posted them all. So, I figured on random sporadic days I can open my gallery close my eyes randomly land my hand on one folder and then randomly land my hand on an image and share it.

So today's random photo generator image is:

From 1.05.09

it's my lovely leaf hurricane that I got from k mart, more and likely it was on clearance. I LOVE leafs! If you don't believe me, my dining room chandelier, along with various leaf decor around the kitchen can back that point up;)

I love Adobe <3

Yes, I really do. Love Adobe that is. I have tried a ton of photo editing software in the last 8 years and I have to say Adobe products are my favorite. Sure they can break the bank if you don't exactly have a couple to a few hundred, or in some cases six hundred bucks to fork over. BUT TRUST me when I say Adobe can take one of your BLAH digital photos and turn it into high quality when you learn the program.

My favorite adobe program by far is LIGHT ROOM. It's worth every red cent! I am always able to fix bad lighting and contrasting in this program. It makes overcast days look like bright and sunny, no body's business days;) Take my word for it, I KNOW.

What would I have done had I never discovered adobe?

Some of my photos just wouldn't be so bright and vibrant. That's what!:) Now if you are a penny pincher (like me) you can spot about 80 for my other FAVORITE program. It's called Picture It! and it's by microsoft.

Picture It! is really easy to learn and has EVERYTHING Adobe does, except you have to KNOW it to do the same actions. So when I first purchased Picture it! years ago it was over 100 bucks, but I went and snagged it off amazon.com who made an pricing mistake on their website and listed it for only 19 bucks! YES! and Amazon.com was awesome and let me snag it for 19 bucks, even though it was well over 100!

That program is my first love! haha.

Anyway, Christmas is coming up and I have yet to purchase the kids their outfits for outdoor portraits I plan to take. I did get a few of baby butterfing.ers though:) I just love his smile, but I am his mother after all..

Taking orders for custom tutu's

It's that time again! I am now taking orders for custom winter/christmas tutus!















size newborn-4T will be $35 up to 3 colors! (

* Includes ribbon & Flower embellishment of your choice that I have in stock!!

** My tutu's are not skimpy I use 60-100 yards on EACH tutu (most tutu makers only use 8, that's a HUGE difference!! - no panties or diapers show!!) hehe.

Anyways, here is some of my work: