Where Have You Been?!?!

Some of you may be wondering, "Where the HECK have you BEEN?!?!"  I mean, come on.  It has been since Halloween that I posted.  Yes, I am hanging out in the blogging slacker pile....BUT I haven't just been doing nothing this whole time.  I promise.

Let me tell you what I have been up to.  My husband was gone for 8 whole days.  He went hunting for white tail deer in Missouri with his best friend.  Now, those of you that know me well know that when he is gone, I take it as a perfect opportunity to do something BIG in our house.  This year was no different.  I can't wait to show you the space that I worked on, but I will get to that starting tomorrow.

Here's a couple of other things that happened.  I made this for my sister in law for her birthday.  I got the kit from The Wood Connection and love the way that it turned out.  The model they had on display had the Grinch facing backwards so you wouldn't have to do the face.  I thought it would be much more cute with the face painted on, so I did it instead and am loving the way it turned out!  As an added bonus, my sister in law loves it too and already has her Christmas decorations up.  :)

It snowed here in Utah.  Like a lot.  Overnight.  When the girls woke up and saw the snow, they wanted to go play in it.  I suited them up and let them head out.  Lillie loved it.  Addie didn't.  This is the only smile I got.  After this, Addie sat down and cried.

When Addie started to cry, I brought her in and we enjoyed the snow inside while Lillie played outside.  It was far more enjoyable to watch Lillie throw snowballs at the window.  Addie thought it was hilarious and would laugh and laugh every single time the snow hit the window.

 This is where the events of the last week or two become not. fun. at. all.  We all got the flu.  It was a messy, smelly, and down right awful flu that I am just hoping is gone today.  It has been plaguing us since last Thursday and I am ready for it to be gone.  This photo was taken after a very long night of being sick.  I hate seeing my babies hurting so much!

Now that we are on the road to recovery (fingers crossed) I am hoping that I can get back to normal posting again.  I do have something HUGE in the works for YOU that I can hardly wait to tell you about, but that will have to wait another week.  (Just be excited.)  

That pretty much brings you up to speed on life right now.  I hope you'll stop by tomorrow when I start showing you the BIG project I have been working on.

Happy Halloween!!!

I just wanted to pop in on my favorite holiday of the year and say Happy Halloween!  We have had so much fun this week doing "Halloween-ish" things.  It is really fun to see Lillie getting into the spirit of it all.  In fact, we let her choose all of our costumes this year, and she decided that she wanted to be Jessie the cowgirl, I got to be Woody, John is Buzz, and Addie is one of the Aliens.  (Don't you see the resemblance?
"The cla-aw!" 

If you haven't already seen it with your kids, I recommend watching the new Dreamworks Spooky Stories that is available on Netflix.  There are four videos as part of it, and I laugh my head off every time.  It is a Halloween movie that is perfect for little kids.

Here are some fun Halloween projects we have been working on.  Lillie likes spiders, so we made a web our of yarn and mod podge and a cute spider out of a styrofoam ball and pipe cleaners for our door.  Plus, we even made a spider that was a yummy treat.

I hope you are safe and have a BLAST tonight trick or treating!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Photo Book

For the past several weeks, I have been working on putting together a photo book for my youngest who just turned one this week.  I am really pleased with the way that it all turned out and can't wait to get it in the mail!

If you are interested in seeing my daughters first year summed up in one book, check this out.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create your own personalized photo books at Shutterfly.com.

It was so easy to put together using Shutterfly.  I was even able to score half off AND free shipping!  The moral of the story is to watch for coupon codes and don't be afraid to try using two at once.  It worked for me!

Life is Funny Sometimes

It's been a while since I checked in.  You know, like about life in general.  I know you are probably dying for me to skip all the blabber and just show you adorable pictures of my girls, right?  Well, we will get to that.  There is plenty of adorable-ness going on at my house.

There are so many things that I say in a day that I never thought I would.  Literally every. single. day. I say something that I think, "I never would have put those words together if it weren't for my kids. Ever."  When you combine it with the things that are said back to me, it's just plain laughable.  I figure we all say things that looking back are really amusing, and I thought maybe we could share some and laugh together.  Who's with me?

Ok, here's a few of my latest.

Me (to Lillie) "You can't run around naked. People will be here any minute."
Lillie "It's ok mom.  I will hide in here."
Me "You can't just hide.  You need to get dressed.  No one wants to see your bum."
Lillie "Why?"
Me "Because it's not modest, because I said so, because I'm the mom, and because you will get sick if you don't."

Really.  I went there.  This isn't even the weirdest conversation we have had today.

Oh, here's a good story that happened just yesterday. I walked into the bathroom to Lillie wiping her nose.
Lillie "My nose has something on it."
Me- wipes Lillie's nose, throws away wipe, and starts to walk out the door.
Lillie "It's hurting.  Something is hurting inside my nose."
Me -walks back into the bathroom and looks inside Lillie's nose.  "What the heck?  What is that!"
Lillie "I don't know"
Me- sees a spongy matter inside Lillie's nose and grabs the tweezers to remove.  What looked like a little tiny piece of sponge turned out to be a one inch piece of foam from our love sac. "What? Why? How?"
Lillie "I don't know"
Me " We do NOT put things in our nose. Especially pieces of foam."

The jury is still out on why that happened because we can all assume the "how" of that one.

Have you ever noticed that when you are telling your kids things they can't do that you say "we" instead of saying "you"?  Things like "We do not hit our sister with a fork." or "We do not wrap washi tape around chairs."  Can you relate?

This little cutie is learning how to be a tease.  It is guaranteed that as soon as the diaper comes off for me to change her that she will crawl away as fast as she can while giggling.  Then she will hide until she sees you coming and then will crawl the other way.  She will also pretend like she is going to give you something and then move it out of the way.  

She is so busy that I don't even know what to do with her some days, but then there are sweet moments where you can't help but grin and feel so blessed that you have two healthy and beautiful girls.  I love their sweet relationship and hope that they remain friends always. 

 

That is your personal update from me about my cute girlies which is also incidentally an update on my life right now since they are my world.

Send me your best funny mom/kid conversations.  I am dying to hear them!

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Growing Up

I am getting old.  It's something I just have to come to terms with.  Let me show you examples to show you what I mean.

This little girl....Ya, she's old enough to be in school. It blows my mind. (She loved her first day though, and I think she will do so well in her class!)

And this little girl.....She says "no" and is trying to walk.  She shouldn't be old enough to do that. Can I just freeze this sweet little face?  She is growing up too fast.

If they are both growing up too fast, then there is only one conclusion.  I'm growing up too. Well, my body is. Just because my body is getting older doesn't mean that I have to act older, right? Good. Now that we have that cleared up, there are a couple of things that I wanted to share with you.  

*You know these awesome JCrew necklaces (like the one I'm wearing in the photo above)?  I got mine for super cheap, and I thought I would share the link with you so you can buy your own.  I'm just super nice like that. (No, I am not getting any compensation for this link.) I have seen them sell for ridiculous prices, but you can buy it here for $12.89! They have all sorts of colors available.

*The Blogiversary Bash giveaways are still going!  If you haven't entered, you should! If you look at the pic of my daughter up above, she is wearing a bow like the ones I am giving away.  Now that you've seen them in action, you are gonna want it.

*I may be biased..... my daughters are beautiful.

Thought of the Week {5}

My thoughts lately have been centering around motherhood.  Some days I feel like I am failing as a mom.  I am sure others have felt the same way, and I thought maybe we could work together and help each other.

My two year old has reached an age that is incredibly hard for me.  She will be 3 in August and has developed a temper, entitlement, and naughtyness that can only be described as impossible.  She can be the happiest sweetest little girl in the world, but in an instant it can all change.  I am trying to help her "keep her happy face on", but I just don't know how to keep my patience in check when she is just being so naughty.  She doesn't listen, she tells me "no" a million times a day, and she would rather sit in time out than do what I tell her to do.  She is sounding like a teenager. 

Since I know that so many of you have gone through this as well, I thought I would ask for any tips or advice you might have to help me not only remain calm (even through the naughtyness) and also tips for how to help my daughter.  She needs to learn that she can't pull a fit in the store, she can't have what she wants all the time, and she needs to be obedient.  Is that too much to ask? 

Help.

Thought of the Week {4}

Lately I haven't been doing much thinking.  I know, right?  I feel like the last couple of weeks are just a blur and I don't really know how I made it out the other side.  But, I am here and I thought it might be fun to share a couple of funny things with you because who doesn't like to laugh. 

Shopping: Source

This one made me seriously laugh because it is so true!  Shopping with my husband is like a form of torture for both parties involved.  Also, my husband is a hunter, so this really is a perfect saying for us since we both can relate to it.

Stonehenge: Source

Patience: Source

Birds: Source

 I don't know about you, but I got a good laugh out of these.  I do know that my family is always making fun of me for the things that I find funny.  They just don't have the same sense of humor I guess.  Hopefully you fully appreciate my humor though.  Right?  Anyone? 

Also, if you happen upon something that you find humorous, would you pass it along?  I am always in search of a good belly laugh.  Thanks!

SNAP Conference Re-cap

Once upon a time (in April) I went to this conference at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, UT called SNAP!.  It is really sad that it has taken me this long to write about it because it was such an amazing experience and I have wanted to share with you a few things about it.

First of all, the people.  I am constantly amazed by how incredible the blogging community is.  It truely is like I am visiting another part of my family when I get together with these women.  Some of my greatest friends and supporters are women that I met through blogging.  Love, love them.  It was so fun to meet up with people I already know, and get to know some other new friends as well.  I was so excited that all of the members of Point Of View were able to be in the same place at the same time for the first time ever!  These ladies are the best!

Did you know that bloggers are just people too?  Seriously.  They are just down to earth people that decide to share part of their life on their blog.  One of my favorite classes was a panel that discussed bringing your personal life into your craft blog.  I have been trying to implement some of the ideas into my blog (which is why I started the thought of the week) so that you can get to know me, the person behind the blog. 

One thing that was fun was that I brought my youngest daughter along with me.  She was only 6 months old during the conference and I am still nursing her.  She was so good through the whole thing and was loved on by everyone.  It is a good thing that she is such a good baby! 

Another one of my favorite classes was a photography class taught by Emilie of Photo by Emilie.  She helped me take my camera off of auto.  I know!  I am so excited about it!  She is one of the sweetest ladies ever and gave such easy to follow instructions and tips.  I really enjoyed the class.  Plus, her daughter Penelope is seriously one of the cutest little girls ever.

 The sponsors were incredible.  They spoiled us like crazy!  Seriously, the bag I brought home was PACKED with so many amazing gifts.  When you registered, you were given a huge scentsy bag full of all of the goodies from the other sponsors.  Then, thoughout the conference, there was more swag to be had during the classes.  I especially loved the Scentsy class and the Poppy Seed Projects class.  It was so nice to have a more hands on kind of a class.  I came home with an arm full of new stuff every night to show my husband.  Thank you, thank you to the sponsors!

 Of course, the venue.  Thanksgiving Point was the perfect place to have the conference.  The grounds were beautiful, and it is conveniently 10 minutes from my house.  I loved walking through the gardens a couple of times with some of my favorite people.  It was nice to chat and relax in such a beautiful location!  Oh, and of course take photos since I took the photo class and used my camera in manual mode for the first time ever! 

 What do you think? 

Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without talking about the awesome accessories worn.  Oh my goodness there are some talented ladies!  The earrings, hair pieces, necklaces, shirts, and shoes were all A-MAZ-ING.  Take these boots for instance.  I had to snap a picture of them.  Steph (love her) took her worn out boots and put duct tape on them.  Seriously people.  These boots are covered in patterned duct tape. 

I feel like I am not even touching the tip of the ice berg of how much I loved my experience at SNAP.  It was so well put together by Tauni and her Snapettes.  They had everything so well planned out and made it so enjoyable.  Thank you!  I will be definitely going to the conference again next year!

Thought of the Week {3}

source

I've been thinking a lot about my weight lately.  When I got married, I weighed 20 lbs less than I do now.  I hate that.  Of course I have gone through 2 pregnancies and it has been 5 1/2 years since I got married, but still. 

My husband and I have challenged ourselves to lose the weight.  We want to get to where we used to be which is totally do-able, but a ton of work.  I am finding that the hardest part is starting.  I don't have a specific plan of what I should do to lose the weight which is probably why my attempts have been half hearted.  This is where I am coming to you.  I am putting myself out there by even telling you this because frankly it is embarrasing.  I just know that if I tell all of you this that I will be more accountable, and that maybe there will be someone that can help.  I would love any advice or tips that you have.  One thing to keep in mind is that I can't limit my calories too far because I am still nursing my baby. 

If you are in the same boat, email me.  We will do this together.  Seriously.  I am ready for a change, how about you?

Thought of the Week {2}

How did your week go?  Did you have a joyful moment?  Did you help lift someone's spirits?  I would love to hear about it!

Source: Tumblr via Pinterest

I have always been a cautious person.  You can ask my mom.  She would tell you that when I was younger, my sister Charli would be going down the slide like a crazy person, but I would take my time and be very careful.  This has resonated with a lot of things throughout my life.  This blog would be a perfect example of that.  I have been very careful about the projects I show you and how I present them.  When I started blogging, I had no idea that anyone would read this and even if they did come across it, that they would keep coming back.  It was supposed to be a way to show my family what I am up to.  It has definitely become something else, and while it is exciting, it is scary to me at the same time.  What if you don't like my projects?  What if I don't post for a whole week?  What if I get negative feedback?  Then there is a whole other side of it.  Projects are one thing, but what if I post something personal about myself and it has negative effects?  What if people are here just for the projects?  What if I share who I am and people don't like me?  It is a seriously insecure thing for me.  I think that is why I have never really been personal here before.

This is the reason I have started doing Thought of the Week.  I wanted to take a risk.  I want to get to know you as readers, and I thought maybe you would want to get to know things about me.  That way you can see who I am outside of my projects.  I want this to be an uplifting place and a place that you can come to be inspired, but I want the inspiration to be more than just inspiration for your next project.

I would love for you to be involved in this with me.  Participate through comments and let's uplift and inspire each other.  If there is a thought or a story that you think I would like, please share it with me.  You can leave it in the comments section, or you can email it to me at joniemarie85@gmail.com.

Now the question is, what things have you been afraid of trying because you didn't think you would be able to do it or that it wouldn't turn out the way you thought?  What is holding you back?  Will you put your fears aside this week and try it anyway?  I would love to hear about it!

Getting a little personal

I don't often take time to share my personal stuff here on this blog, and frankly that isn't the reason I have this blog.  BUT, I NEED to just show you some pictures of my girls that I had taken a week and a half ago in their Easter dresses because they are the cutest ever.

We wanted to surprise my mom (which didn't really pan out) and take some pictures of all the grandchildren (all three of them).  My sister and I bought these beautiful matching Easter dresses for our girls from Target. 

Photos taken by the talented Rachel from Luminosity Photography

 I love this photo of Lillie. 

Addilyn was more interested in playing with the egg than actually look up at the camera. 

She was also found eating her shoe

 My niece is only 6 weeks younger than Addie.  It will be so fun for them as they grow older to have a cousin that is the same age.

I just love my girls and feel like the luckiest mom in the world to have them.  They really are such sweet girls with so much personality. 

Thanks for indulging me. :)