Happy Halloween, Folks!

I love Halloween for so many different reasons. From the orange pumpkins, to the over all feeling of Fall to the first chill in weather {which comes very late for us, Texas natives}. I wish everyone happy pumpkin carving memories and a very safe night of trick or treating with your little ones. I know we sure are looking forward to our evening of spooks and treats!

No tricks here..

but we do have some pretty cute treats:)

I've owned a Singer {model #4206} since this past Christmas {yes, almost been a year}. I've done some very safe sewing on it, but I've been terribly intimidated by this amazing piece of crafty machinary. So, the time came for me to just take off the floaties and start using this bad boy. My very first project was to create the girl's halloween costumes. I barely can read a pattern and google was my best friend for about 3 hours as I looked up terms and such. But, with a little help from my friends {gotta love my Joe Cocker plug there} I made it through & I'm little school girl gitty that I've made my girl's costumes. Especially since this is Piper's 1st halloween its a memory I will cheerish. So, in this house this trick or treating season we will have the most adorable little cat & the most precious little red riding hood this neck of the woods has ever seen.

I'd love to hear your first project with sewing? Were you wanting to shout from the roof tops, "look at me, look at me..I am crafty!" {cause I sure did!}

Just wanna eat 'er up:)

Well, time flies and babies grow..how sad is that?! I just want to keep my sweet Piper as my little precious baby girl FOREVER! I think having a 13 year old and a 5 year old puts into perspective to just how quickly they grow up on us. I just love them at this age. So, sweet & everything is new and exciting and you just can't help but smile when they discover their little toes and the perpetual river of drool that runs down their chubby lil'chins. I love every ounce of this little june bug.

{happy 16 weeks piper jane-lee}

If you live in the montgomery,spring,magnolia or conroe areas you must call Stephanie with Rustic Reflections Photography for all your photography needs. She truly captures the moments perfectly and timelessly. Shes incrediable with all ages & really brings on the inner beauty in all of her clients.

Click here to visit Stephanie at Rustic Reflections Photography

Win a complete homeschooling curriculum!

What an opportunity for both a homeschooling mama or a even if your children attend an out of home education program! I don't know about you, but anything to help ME help THEM is a definit plus!! Please visit Mothering.com's blog enter. Giveaway closes on October 14th 2011.

Click here to visit Mothering.com's Blog for the Homeschooling Curriulum Giveaway!

Yay! For Play Clay

After purchasing Mama K's Play Clay {and loving it} I was determined to find out how to create our own & I think I've got it:)

Ingredients...
1 cup of all purpose flour {I used Private Selection Organic Unbleached All-Purpose}
1 cup of h2o {I used straight from my tap:}
1/2 cup salt {I used Morton Coarse Kosher Salt}
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil {I used Spectrum organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil}
2 tablespoons of cream of tartar {I used McCormick Cream of Tartar}
1/4 teaspoon of gel food coloring {I used Betty Crocker Neon Pink Gel Food Colors}

Kitchen tools needed...
pan
wisk
wooden spoon
floured surface for kneading
plastic wrap or sealed container for storage

Method...
Place all ingredients into your pan and wisk well together.
Put the pan on med/high heat and continuously stir as the clay thickens {this will take anywhere from 2-4 minutes}. It won't look much like "playdoh" at this point, but once it gets thick its time to pull off the oven.
Place your HOT clay onto your floured surface {it will be very sticky at this stage..no worries} and allow it to cool for a few minutes before beginning to knead.
When you begin kneading work in some of the flour from the surface your working on. It should start feeling more like clay/playdoh {the stickyness should no longer be an issue} it should be pliable.
Remove from your floured surface and continue to knead.
~Let the Clay Fun Begin!~

I did record a "howto" vlog on this and my dumbie butt deleted it. Its called I had a baby in my lap and was trigger happy with that delete button...lol.

Hope you have fun clay dates with your little ones :)

Mamas got a brand new...

diaper:)
If you already follow my You Tube channel then your probably already aware that I'm a dedicated fan of Fuzzibunz {still am}, but I've started venturing out into the great wide world of cloth diapers. I have had some great experiences and not so great ones along the way. If your new to cloth diapering it can be a bit overwhelming when you 1st begin researching on what you would like to have in your diaper stash. Theres prefolds, pockets, fitted and covers, all in ones, all in twos {still a little off by that one..lol}, perfect sized or one sized. And then to make matters worse they abbreviate it all; AIO {all in one}, OS {one sized}.

Once you've started to actually practice the art of cloth diapering on your little one, ultimately thats when you'll find your "favorite". Either it be a brand or just a type of diaper. It definitely takes trial and error. Once I found my preferred style {I love pocket diapers simply because I can add inserts or take away depending on Piper's needs} the question was what brand did we like. Fuzzibunz seemed to never let us down. I loved also that if something went wrong with the diaper that FB guaranteed their diapers and as long as you have a receipt they send you a brand new diaper. Now, the ONLY issue I have is that Fuzzibunz is made in China. This bugged me.

I thought okay, we're cloth diapering to lesson our families carbon footprint, but yet for all that goes into creating the diaper, shipping the diaper and what not...I wanted a great, dependable diaper made here in the Good Ole' US of A!

and guess what?! I found one!!!

We are loving our Simplex 2.0 {its very similar to the FB perfect fit} made by Swaddlebees and most of all its made here in the US! We've also purchased a Swaddlebees Econappi (bamboo) {one size fits all}. I will definitely be doing a review on YT of my new found love in the diaper world.

So, if buying US is just as important to you as it is me then Swaddlebees definitely warrants a visit from you. I actually purchased my Econappi from Nutured Family here in Houston Texas, but they also have a website.

Click here for Nurtured Family's Website

But, you can also go directly to Swaddlebee's website as well.

Click here for Swaddlebees Cloth Diapers

I would love to hear about some of your favorites and why they make your "must have" list.

{Piper has a very happy tush}

{Simplex in Lemon Lime by Swaddlebees and like Piper its made in the US}

In the world we live in

Friday morning I was awaken the sound of silence. Yep, you know that odd sound when your ceiling fan isn't turning or the mind numbing hummm of your a/c is absent..yeah that kind of silence. By the time I sat up in the bed I heard the fast approaching sound of sirens. First thought was, fire, but then I just knew it was a car accident.

Wes was on his way to his weekend reserve duty by 5:30am when he texted me, "the power is out cause some poor fool has hit the pole to the power lines". Come to find out that "poor fool" probably didn't survive his/her head on collision with the massive power pole. Very sad ... very, very sad.

But, as the morning moved on it really dawned on me. As we sit in this stifling Texas heat someone was receiving news that was going to change their lives..forever. Its scarey when we really think about the "inconveniences" we encounter probably are the effect of a "cause" that dramatically influences someone's life. Sometimes the cause is from a positive source and then sometimes it's not. So, in all honesty I spent those few hours grateful that I was on the "effect" side of this story and not the "cause", and it made that humid start to my day a little bit easier to bear.