Our Love Story in Numbers

This was one of the first items I pinned on Pinterest and I just got around to doing it. My friend gave me this frame and I still have not forced a "family of 4" picture so I had to improvise. I love the "love dates" and I'm all about nautical aspects so I merged the 2 together. I started with my husband's birthday, my birthday, the day we met, the day we got engaged, the day we got married and our daughters birthdays.  Then I added the coordinates of those places. A great gift idea...

Now off to start planning my DIY (with assistance from the Blood ladies) Tinkerbell costume for Nat!

xo
Maggie & co.

Lady O's Baptism

A couple weeks ago {prior to the 2 week vacation} Olivia was baptized.  It was a wonderful ceremony and we were surrounded by the best people.  We asked my cousin, Lisa, and Andy's good friend, Ken, to be Livi's Godparents.  Here is a round-up of the prep and celebration...

{MENU}
lunch meat sandwiches, cheese/crackers, fruit, pasta salad, key lime cheese ball with graham crackers, chocolate dipped pretzels, chocolate stuffed raspberries, and cupcakes.

This is to show how silly that a box of cupcakes make 24 but my stand only holds 23...

 {DECOR}   

Handmade Baptism Subway Art, Ribbon Topiary Tree, and Wreath.

This was during the process. It's Mimi getting her hair did...

Again the day was great.  The kids jumped in the pool after the party and had a blast.  Thanks so much to everyone who helped out {even during our A/C crisis}.  What fabulous people Livi has in her life to help celebrate all these special days with her.  Here's some love from her...

XO

Maggie & co.

Happy Summer!

Natalie's last day at her current school is Friday and I just finished up gifts for her current teachers, previous teacher, school director and dance teacher.  We have enjoyed our time at Alpha & Omega and will miss the whole staff next year.  But just think, Livi will be there in no time.  For now, we look forward to Natalie becoming a Little Cougar in the fall (which I am SUPER excited about!)  Can't believe she'll be in pre-k though!  Again for inspiration I searched Etsy and Pinterest and this is what I decided on...

Top: little pink tin bucket (Hobby Lobby) with travel size germ-x (Target), sunscreen (Publix), and a nail polish (Target) all wrapped in a towel (Target). Tied with raffia (which can give you splinters- I know from personal and very recent experience).
Bottom: reusable plastic drink containers (Hobby Lobby) filled with a variety of propel and crystal light water mixes (Publix).
BTW- I love this stool from IKEA.  Best $14 I have spent at that store!

Close up of the pink container for her teachers

Beach Day Recipe Tag

Drink container tag

So there you have it.  All I have to do is bake a box of muffins for the fantastic staff and I'm done.  Happy summer to all but especially to all you teachers out there!  Now I'm off to enjoy the little bit of sanity I have left before summer begins...

You Wake Them...You Take Them!

We've been in the new house for almost 3 months now and we are still putting it together.  Yes our beds are together and painting is done but it's the little things now like a "baby sleeping" sign for the door.  I am going one step further and removing the door bell all together- it's too loud anyways...  I looked on Etsy and Pinterest for inspiration and decided on a wood plaque that I had Andy paint (several coats).  I purchased 3 sets of cute alphabet stickers from Joann and went to work.  Now I am pretty sure I bought it all before Olivia arrived- but better late than never...

Then Natalie joined the fun.  She had minimal help with the letters...She's such a smart cookie!

Teacher Appreciation

So I know teacher appreciation was last month but I am just getting back into a routine after Olivia's arrival.  Since Olivia's birth, Nat has been going to school 3 days a week- which worked out great for Mommy during Teacher Appreciation Week! {Only 3 gifts}  Here are just a few things I did for Nat's teachers at her school.
*You will notice that The Wednesday gift is missing- it was a small glass container of flowers and the tag read, "Thanks for helping Natalie bloom".  Stupid camera...

Thursday Treat

Friday Fun

Friday Yummies for the whole staff

Now off to figure out end of the year gifts.  Nat's End of the Year party is Wednesday and her last day is Friday.  Then it's off to Little Cougars in the fall.  I am so grateful to her current school for everything they have done.  We'll miss you guys!

Valentine's Day 2012

So with Valentine's Day 2012 quickly coming to a close I thought I would share what I did...
Even though Miss Nat had a case of the gunky eyes and missed out on going to school today- I still dropped off her valentines and some treats for the teachers because they are simply awesome (the teachers)!

Found this on Pinterest and Natalie was all about making them with Mommy.  The only downfall was that the only place that carried the mold was Walmart- which I'm not a fan of...  That aside- they turned out super cute.  The tag said "Have a {colorful} Valentine's Day".

I also made these homemade heart shaped chocolate dipped rice krispy treats.  This was interesting to make and Andy actually helped me a lot.  Starting with accurately reading the directions...  Perfect bite size snacks and somewhat healthy versus everything else they probably ate today.

These were for the director of Nat's school (middle) and her teachers (sides).  The tag said "I dig you" to go with the shovel in the bag/coffee cup.  The teachers had caramel filled kisses and the director had Valentine M & M's.  The teachers also had a hand print heart- which is listed below.

Her school has a small staff so everybody knows everybody (and every kid) so I make something for the whole staff.  I wanted to make these cookies but time ran out.  So I settled for heart shaped chocolate chip cookies iced with heart sprinkles.  You can never go wrong with chocolate chip cookies...

Last but definitely not least...I made them a long distance hug {also Pinterest} for Natalie's Grandparents.  They are both hanging somewhere in their respected houses.  This is also another shot of her hand print heart.

  
Ok now off to start and finish a special celebration craft for one of Natalie's teachers who is moving to another class by Friday...

All Tied Up In Blue

This past weekend I helped throw a baby shower for my sister, Jenny, and the first boy in the Kluga family, "Cooper".  It was a lot of fun to put together and it was just icing on the cake that I was able to do it with such amazing ladies- Mema, Aunt Em and the Wonderful Cake ladies (Mandy, Melissa & Sandy).
I fell in love with this tie bunting and the theme was set!
I saw a yarn wrapped wreath on Pinterest and I just had to do it.  It wasn't my favorite thing in the process (I thought my wrists were going to detach from my arms) but I love how it turned out.  I followed the tutorial for the felt flowers here and everything was bought at JoAnn's.

My Mom was planning on doing a diaper cake so I decided I would tackle a diaper tricycle.  Of course, after I made it I found a motorcycle which would have been cute too.  But again, I am really happy with how it turned out.

The one and only game was the traditional "Don't say baby" game but with a little twist.  Jenny and Andy don't have a name picked out so we added the word "name" to the game.  They had to be little bowties and neckties to go with the theme.  This was probably the cutest part of the party.  Congrats to Dawn!  Hope your Starbucks was delicious!

In addition to the game- I put together these "Advice Cards".  Guests were able to pick who they were giving the advice to and write it below.  I wish I had this passed out while Jenny was opening presents.  It would have been cute getting one from each guest.  There's always next time...

The bunting!!!  I bought the scrap booking paper from Joann's and traced the bow ties and neckties then attached them on the ribbon.  One said 'Mommy's Little Man', another said 'Daddy's Little Buddy' and the last one said 'Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy'.  They were super cute!

 

 Favors are a hard thing to decide on.  You want something cute but something guests won't throw away.  Insert Mema and Aunt Em!  Sugar bow tie and necktie cookies!  There were 2 tags- "All tied up in blue for the little man's debut" and "All tied up in blue- sending our love to the Armanious crew".  They were a hit!

The cake was from JJ Gandy's and the Cake Ladies do not dissapoint!  It was delicious and super cute!  Bravo girls and thank you again!

I came across this subway art in one of the baby shower blogs I found.  The best part was that it was FREE!!!  Thank you Simple Crafter!  The washcloth cupcakes were fun to make too.  I found a cupcake sleeve template, wrapped the washcloths and added the red pom pom for a cherry.  

I enjoyed playing with all the blue and bow ties but my Andy is happy to have me back...for the moment.