{9 years}

Happy Anniversary today 

to the guy that still 

makes my heart flutter, 

puts a smile on my face,

and joy in my heart. 

I can't believe it has almost been a decade...what a crazy ride!

{father's day card tutorial}

I wanted to share a tutorial for two quick and easy cards I made for my hubby and my Dad for Father's Day. I love making cards for so many reasons...easy on the budget since I can shop my current stash, I get to play with said supply stash, and most importantly I can customize the design and message to the person I'm making it for.

I used the same basic design for both cards. My hubby's...

And my Dad's...

I started with a 12x12 piece of patterned paper and cut it down to 8 1/2 x 11 inches {to fit my envelope when folded}, and folded it in half. Then I picked a coordinating paper and cut a strip that was 8 1/2 inches wide by some random measurement {anything between 2-4 inches is ideal}. I just eyeball these based on what I pictured placing on top of it.

After I glued the strip to the front of the card, I took out my trusty circle punch...

Turned it upside down so I could see where I was cutting the circle...

And punched the circle on top of the coordinating paper strip. A cute felt heart was then added to the open circle, on the inside of the card.

Letter stickers finished off the message on the front of each card. I love the American Crafts thickers...they add great dimension...

And there you go! Two quick cards that were personalized for my hubby and Dad to celebrate their greatness in fatherhood.

And this is a template that can be personalized for any occasion. Replace the felt heart with a button, paper flower or other 3D sticker to go with your theme!










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{the fat lip express}

So yesterday I had the day off {yay!} so we decided at the last minute to take a family trip about an hour away to one of our favorite shopping areas. It has a nice mall and loads of other stores around. It used to be our old stomping grounds pre-twins so we could hit up DSW, Gap, Old Navy, TJ Maxx and of course Panera.

Trips with the boys there have a slightly different focus though. As in...forget the above mentioned stores. Just isn't going to happen. But that's OK. Because we had FUN.

Now the trip to the mall started out pretty great. We took them to the playground right away and let them run around like crazies for about 30 minutes. Then we ate some authentic chinese food in the food court {joking of course but it is still deeeelicious}

Then we headed back downstairs to scope out a train that we saw driving around the mall. Yep - an actual life-size train driving through the mall. Sounds crazy, right? Wellll...on our way to find the train, we were going down the stairs. I was holding Landon's hand, and as we made it to the final step, his face came face-to-face with the handles of one of those car/carts you can rent for your kiddos.

It wasn't pretty.

Bloody lip and all. Poor little guy.

Luckily we were right next to the information desk and the very helpful lady handed us some kleenex to stop the bleeding {because we didn't have the diaper bag...but that is another story for another day}. She was SO sweet and gave the boys each a card for a free cookie from the cookie shop.

So once the bleeding and tears had subsided, we thanked the nice lady for the kleenex and cookies and made our way to the cookie shop. We grabbed two of the chocolate fudge variety and headed in the direction of the train, which was just a few steps ahead of us.

That was when the best part of the day happened... {excuse my phone quality pics}

Ticket in one hand...cookie in the other.

Its hard to smile when your mouth is crammed full of chocolatey goodness. 

They held onto their tickets all day and even slept with them last night. So cute...

And the hubby bringing up the rear...on his phone of course. Can you tell we are Reds fans? :)

So did we get any actual shopping done while we were at the mall?

Not unless you count the window shopping I did while going past my favorite shops on the train. Ahhh the life of a parent. And I wouldn't trade it for a thing.

{bump bump}

A conversation with Dan as we were driving around town listening to Christmas music:

Dan: "Whoever thought that "ba-rump-a-bump-bump" would be a good song lyric?"

Me: "Well, I think it is "pa-rump-a-pum-pum" and it is supposed to sound like a drum."

I love a man that can make me laugh, and I will never be able to listen to that song the same way again.

{seven}

Dan and I got married seven years ago today.


We seriously look 16 here, don't we?!

Happy Anniversary Handsome.

{mini-me}

I can't help but make an Austin Powers reference when I look at our boys. They are really miniature versions of Dan and I in so many ways.

I may be a brunette now but back in the day I was sporting lighter locks, just like Ben's. And check out our matching profiles....

The minute Landon was born I immediately knew he looked like Dan. They both have this cute under the eye puffy thing going on, and not in a tired way....just like their cheeks decided to work their way up a little farther than most. Does that make any sense?

Oh well...you can see for yourself here...

Ben has recently adopted a love for rocks, just like his Momma had when she was his age.

Here I am at 3 years old, noticeably proud of the collection in front of me. And here is Ben a few weeks ago with just about every rock he could find in his Gigi's yard.

(He doesn't look happy, but believe me, he was having lots of fun with those BIIIIIIG rocks).

It is so rewarding and inspiring to see their personalities start to come through, and how similar they are to their mom and dad. I like to think they will be their own people with all the best parts of us mixed in.

{helping}

Helping their Daddy shave last night (and showing off the backs of their new, very handsome, haircuts).

{aquafina}

No, this isn't a post about bottled water. Not really.

I don't blog much about my handsome husband because he is not a social creature. He refuses to facebook. Actually, he feels a little more strongly about it than that. He thinks facebook is the devil.

Seriously.

But I still love him.

He is also very honest. Brutally honest. And not just on occasion. Pretty much all of the time. Even when we are shopping and I say I think something is cute (that's my word for everything I like).

He'll usually make a face and say "really?!" or "that is hideous". And he means it.

But I still love him.

Last night we were at the mall and something similar to the above happened. I did my usual eye roll and my mother-in-law was with us so she joined with me which is always reassuring. Eye rolls are always better in pairs.

I told him that you can be nice and honest at the same time. He laughed and of course disagreed.

(I'm too nice and pretty much anyone who knows me can attest to that fact. But I try to be honest in the nicest way possible...really I do.)

I told him that he has no filter. He is like hard water. The hardest, most calcium-laced water you can find.

If we were a science experiment it would look something like this...



And I said he makes me look like Evian. Or maybe Aquafina. I won't pretend to be that fancy.

Did I mention that I still love him? I really do. But maybe I should buy him one of these for Christmas...



(Just kidding honey.)

{dad's day}

What's better than a game of catch with your boys on Father's Day?

My favorite trio...

I even got to spend a little time with my Dad...

I gave him a special gift this year...framed photos of the boys, each wearing one of his dad's hats, sitting in his childhood rocking chair. Pretty special...

It was a great day with many new memories. Hope yours was as well!