A Dozen Couplets for a Dozen Years

Hello blog readers, this is Dave.  I have temporarily hijacked this site to post a response to Heather's very nice tribute on this, our twelfth Anniversary.

A Dozen Couplets

A dozen years have come and gone

My love for you has moved beyond

The stratosphere and out into

The solar system, yes, it’s true

Past Venus’ bright stunning show

(which pales next to your radiant glow)

On by the Martian desert sand

(e’en there our life would be so grand)

And out on to the outer rim

Of Sol’s influence our love won’t dim

And while our love expands beyond

The stars and sky, my sights are on

Our life and home right here below

Right now so filled with joys you know

A dozen cookies I should make

For your soft lips to then partake

A dozen times we can hold hands

And talk of mem’rys and our plans

A dozen hugs so full and warm

To feel at home within your arms

A dozen years of smiles and mirth

And to them you have added worth

Beyond all measure in my life,

I am so glad you are my wife

12 Years!

Today is our 12 Year Wedding Anniversary!  

Happy Anniversary to the best husband and father.  When I was young and tried to imagine what marriage would be like, I never even dreamed love could be like this.  You are everything I ever wanted and so much more.  You are all that I need and more than I deserve.  

I can hardly believe it has been so long!  In some ways it feels like we have always been together and in some ways it feels like we only just met.  

In honor of our 12 years together I want to share 12 reasons why I love you more and more each day ♥

1.  You always let me be right, even when I am completely wrong

2.  You know I have a better sense of direction and ask for directions from me

 

3.  You love spending time with the kids and read to each of them every night.

 

4.  You put up with all of my crazy whims and go along with my plans whole heartedly.  

 5. You love me for me and don't expect me to be anyone I am not.

 

6.  You support me in all that I take on.  Even if you think I am doing more than I need to or you think there is a better way to do it, you still help me and let me do it my way.  Thank you.

7.  You actually listen to me and care about what I have to say.  

8.  You work so hard and then come home and still help out and work some more.  

9.  You always put the toilet seat down!  :)

10.  You think I am beautiful and you never let me believe that I am not.

11.  You devote so much of your time and energy to helping others.

12.  You are so patient with my many shortcomings.  I know life with me has not been easy and I am grateful that you not only stand by me and love me, but that you never make me feel like I am a burden. I have never once felt unloved, unimportant, unintelligent, or unneeded. You give me strength, confidence, and hope.

Thank you for choosing me and loving me.  I still cannot understand how I got so lucky to be married to someone as wonderful as you!  I am so very thankful that we get to spend eternity together.

I cannot imagine a happy life without you in it.
I look forward to many, many more years of love and joy with you! ♥

 

Striped Skirt

Over the Summer we were given a sack of hand-me-down clothes for Ady from a cousin.  Ady and I went through them and decided what to keep.  Ady doesn't like tank tops so she decided not to keep the one that was there, but I like the stripes in it so I decided to use the fabric for something else.  It is a nice stretch jersey fabric and was still in good condition so I didn't want to throw it away.  At first I thought I would take it in a bit and make a dress for Evy, but I decided that the way the straps were would be complicated to take in without looking strange.  I forgot to take a before picture, but here is a picture of what is left.  You can get the idea of what it was.

I started by cutting off the top part.  I cut it straight across.  Then I turned it under and sewed a casing for elastic.  I measured the waist of one of Evy's skirts and cut my elastic to that size, then fed it through the casing and sewed it closed.  

I had one long strip of fabric left so I cut it in half to make two flowers.  To make the flowers I sewed a loose stitch all the way across, then pulled it to make a ruffle on one side, then twirled it around into a rosette.  I sewed one onto the skirt and then decided to make another to sew onto a T-shirt.  I decided to make it into a pin rather than sew it on so the T-shirt can still be used under dresses. 

Here is the finished outfit.

I think it turned out so cute!  

It started out as a girl's size 7/8 tank top and is now a 6-12 month size skirt.

Since the tank top was a hand me down, the total cost for the project was basically free!  I had the shirt already, and it can still be used for other outfits.

Here is Evy modeling her new clothes :)

She isn't standing independently yet, so it was hard to get a good shot of her in the outfit.  She loves to stand hanging onto furniture though, so I tried some different poses.

This project was so easy!  I will definitely be on the lookout for other T-shirts and Tank tops to make into skirts for Ady and Evy.

Friday Favorites and a Giveaway

My friend,  Shannon, recently posted on her blog about some of her favorite things.  She thought it would be fun to hear about favorites from others as well, so I thought I would join in! 

One of my favorite treats right now is Vanilla Joe Joe's sandwich cookies from Trader Joe's. They are so yummy with little bits of real vanilla bean.  They are the perfect non Chocolate treat!

image source 

I have been enjoying trying new Root Beer Brands and right now my favorite is Goose Island Root Beer

Image Source 

 It is made with Cane Sugar instead of Corn Syrup, so it is really smooth. 

We recently came across another brand of Root Beer that we tried, Boylan, and while I didn't love the Root Beer, they also have a Creme Soda that is awesome.  It is also made from Cane Sugar and has that smooth and creamy taste.

 image source

Enough with food!  Tayden got some new converse sneakers for school and I am LOVING them!  I wish I had bought a pair in my size. I still might.....



Buy Me! You know you want to!

Actually Ady's are pretty awesome as well.  She has a purple pair and we put rainbow shoelaces in them.  I will add a picture of them when she gets home from school.  They look so cute with jeans or with a skirt! ♥


Buy Me Here!


I am looking for an orange pair for Kyler, but I haven't found them in his size yet. 


Now for some favortie Baby Things!  It has been so fun to "start over"  with Evy.  We are limited on storage space, so I hadn't kept a lot of baby things from when the older kids were little. So it has been like starting over.  There are so many cute and clever baby items now that didn't exist 10 years ago, or at least not that I had heard of.  It is also fun to be buying it all in pink and purple this time!


One of the best things I discovered early on is Baby Legs Newborn Legwarmers!  I expecially love these for a little winter baby.  Her little legs were so tiny that tights would not stay on and looked so baggy and ridiculous.  Baby legs are great for keeping little legs warm during diaper changes too because you don't have to take them off to get to the diaper.



I am also loving these Aden and Anais Muslin Swaddling blankets.



I wish I had discovered them when she was younger.  They are lightweight and easy to tick into the diaper bag, but they still keep her nice and warm.  She gets sweaty with thick blankets so these are perfect for her.  They are really soft too. 

This time around I am cloth diapering.  There are so many options available now and they are so easy.  I actually really like them.  They come in lots of cute colors and patterns, they are less wasteful and expensive, and you don't get diaper rash or poop outs!  Here is some of my stash.

I have tried several brands and the ones I like the best are Blueberry, Fuzzi Bunz, and Bum Genius.  They are all similar and work well.  I have also found a brand that works just as well and costs about a third as much, Alva Baby, so I have several of those as well.  At some point I may do a blog post reviewing different brands.

And now some of my favorite Websites.


I have really enjoyed using http://www.picnik.com/ for editing photos.  It is a great, free website that allows you fix blemishes and red eye, adjust the exposure and color saturation, at matting, frames, and other effects and add text to your pictures.  It is really easy to use and I love how I am able to make my photos look so much brighter.

Another site I am in love with right now is http://pinterest.com/.  If you have not checked it out yet, you should!  It is like a photo bookmarking site.  Any pictures you see on almost any website can be  "pinned" on your boards and kept for you to look at later.  It's fun to put together boards for inspiration for craft and sewing projects, party ideas, photography and decorating.  It reminds me of when my mom would cut out pictures from magazines of ideas she wanted to make and keep them in a file in the filing cabinet.  It is also a bit of a social networking site.  You can "follow" other people, if you like their ideas and keep up to date on what they have "pinned".  If you want to be my follower, you can find me by clicking on the pinterest icon at the top of my blog.


I will stop now.  If you are even still reading after all that!  I will occasionally be posting my favorite things on Fridays.  Today's favorite things is also a giveaway.  Leave a comment below telling me one of your favorite things.  If I get at least 10 entries, next Friday I will select a winner using a random number generator at http://www.random.org/.  The winner will receive a pack of Joe Joe's in the flavor of their choice.  Yumm!