sunday

my sunday consisted of lots of tissue paper...



...and jelly beans!



i decided a couple weekends ago, while at the kiehn's house, that i wanted to make some pouf balls to hang around at elle's birthday party. jessica had made some for ruby's room and they turned out so cute. i totally copied. but, very rarely do i ever have an original crafty idea! jessica explained to me how to make the pouf balls, but i'm visual so i had to find a tutorial on the world wide web. i love that you can find how to make anything online. all you have to do is google it. i followed this tutorial at frog prince paperie. easy schmeasy!

and, the jelly beans? well they are going to be given away as party favors. have a few things left to do to the baby jars before they are complete.

hope everyone has a good week. it's going to be a busy week for the high household so you probably won't hear from me until friday!

something sweet saturday

one week from today...


we celebrated the warmth of today with lots of ruffles!

...we will be gathered with all our family (and a few friends) to celebrate the first year of elle louise's life. i cannot even believe that my baby girl, my tiny little newborn is almost one year old.


looks thrilled to be receiving kisses from ma!

as i sit here. as i type i'm wearing an old burn-out alternative apparel tee that i wore the entirety of my pregnancy. i remember getting it when i first learned that i was pregnant. i purposely bought it too big then because i knew i would be growing into it. and, i so vividly remember wearing it in the later weeks of my pregnancy and it being so tight on my growing belly. i wore it home from the hospital under a too-small velour suit and it was still snug after having elle. and, now it just hangs off of me. it is so worn and it is so soft and it is filled with so many memories. i still wear it all the time now because it reminds me of such an amazing time in my life. the time when i was growing a human being inside of me. i will never fully grasp the miracle of new life. but, i'm so grateful for the many blessings the Lord has provided these last 22 months. a healthy pregnancy. a healthy newborn. and a healthy first year.


sleepy head. daddy was in tjmaxx. we were in the car. waiting. patiently!

elle louise turning one is so bittersweet. oh, to go back to the very beginning and just take it all in again. to smell her sweet newborn skin and breath. feel her snuggle up to me in the middle of the night. to relive those first few days at home when aaron and i were just in complete awe and wonderment of our sweet girl. oh, the sleepless nights and the days full of naps. and i could go on and on. as cool as it would be to go back and relive all those moments, we are having so much fun now that i don't think that i would go back if i had the chance. elle louise is so full of life and curiosity. its something new every single day. i love that we wake up not knowing what new milestones elle is going to acheive that day. tomorrow it will be something. we don't know what. maybe walking? maybe a new word? we'll find out tomorrow!


forever love!

today was beautiful. wish i could say this beautiful weather was going to be around next weekend for elle's birthday party, but i'm afraid as quickly it came it will leave us. snow and ice are headed our direction this week. arkansas weather is so crazy!

a play area for elle louise

elle louise and her toys have taken over our living room.

we do live in a rather small home, but we have a huge living area. we thought about transforming our bedroom #2 into elle's playroom but decided that we like having her in the living room with us. so we have come up with a simple plan. move our big desk into bedroom #2 and transform that desk-area into a play area for elle louise!


this is the area we want to transform. the big desk is a family piece. its heavy and big. but, we want to hold on to it. its a great piece with a huge work top! it will be great in our office-slash-craft-slash-sewing-slash-gift wrapping room.

we want something loud and fun!
something visually stimulating for elle.
but, a design that flows with the rest of our home.



a comfy chair for ma and pa. a place to read and snuggle.


organization for all elle's toys and books


funky rug. a must.


lots of pictures, prints and random things.
and, a big giant chalkboard!


i want elle to look up and read positive messages...
...and see funny pictures.


love the overall look of these playrooms. we don't have the space for a lot of stuff, but we will make due with what we have.

this project i am very excited about. i cannot wait for elle to have her own space to explore, dream, and learn!

credits:
Doom Girls
dazeychic
dear colleen
google images
the nester
companykids

and, because i can't post without a picture of my sweet girl, here she is...

...yesterday, waiting for daddy to get home. holding her baby. watching veggie tales. she looks so grown up. and she gets into that rocker all by herself.

blue-eyed babies

last saturday the kiehn's treated us to dinner at chili's and dessert at their house afterward. we had so much fun! elle louise, of course, had the time of her life with her best friend, ruby james. i read, not long ago, that babies the age of elle and ruby don't really interact when they play, they usually play parallel. well, not elle and ruby. they play together and interact with each other. follow each other around. share pacis. and sippy cups. and babies. they are so super sweet together. watching them is the cutest thing ever. i have never laughed so hard.


pulling out all ruby's toys.


discussing their next plan of action.


puzzles, anyone?


or the jumperoo?


hi!


swapping pacis and sippy cups.


playing a little game of catch phrase.
girls were on a team. and we won!


kevin feeling a little defeated :(

thank you kiehns for a wonderful evening. our family of 3 loves your family of 3. dearly!

tasty tuesday {spicy chicken stew}

Spicy Chicken Stew

Ingredients

2 baking potatoes (about 1 1/2 lb.), peeled and cut into chunks (3 1/3 cups)
1 (10 oz.) package frozen sweet corn
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks (1 cup)
1 onion, thickly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (12.5 oz.) jar salsa
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, halved (about 1 lb.)
4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 10.5 oz.)
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 (6 inch) fresh corn tortillas, cut into strips

Preparation

Place potatoes, corn, celery, carrots, onion and garlic in slow cooker. Stir in salsa, salt, cumin, chile powder and pepper. Distribute chicken evenly on top of vegetables and pour chicken broth over chicken. Cover slow cooker and cook stew on high for 4 hours.

Transfer chicken to a plate and shred with two forks into bite-size chunks; return to slow cooker. Mix tortilla strips into stew. Serve warm.

Yields 6 servings.

made this recipe sunday night and had plenty (but not too many) leftovers for lunch this week. aaron loved this and elle louise ate the chicken and carrots. a great, fulfilling and super easy dinner! i give it 5 stars!

***edited to add: this stew is not spicy at all. next time i will add hot rotel and more chili powder to give it more spice.

design intervention

i need some design intervention this sunday morning.



this is the view from the couch in our living room. it is not pretty. at all. we have the most ancient of ancient big-screen tvs. so ancient we can't even attach a free-cable antenna to it. it is not digitally converted. ugh. but, this is not about the tv. it is about the space. we are at a loss for what to do in the corner. the obvious thing to do would be to get a new tv. but the tv still works just fine. its such an eye sore. but, we are going to have to work around it for now. so, the question to you my blogging friends is what the heck do i do with this space?

a couple things. the tv has to stay in this corner. its the only corner with a cable outlet and it is a tv with a big boxy back. so we have to put it in the corner to hide the hideousness. it can't sit flush against a wall. also we have a sectional and the chaise is on the left side. so really it only works in this one corner.

help!

also, i've had several readers leave me comments about what kind of camera we have.


a picture of me taking a picture of myself. taken with the iphone. edited with instagram app.

we have a canon rebel t1i. we got it the year we got pregnant with elle louise. before we knew that we were pregnant. for our birthdays in the spring of 2009 we asked for money and we got lots of it so we used every last penny and purchased the camera. the best purchase we have ever made. we have saved a lot of money on professional pictures. the only pro pics we have had were elle's newborn shots taken by rachel blackwell photography and this past fall taken by lauren ames photography. also fortunate to have a cousin that is also a photographer. a very good one. she took some pics this summer and this fall. she's from lubbock, tx so i can't take advantage of her as much as i like, but i take what i can get.

i don't really know how to fully use my camera. i was scheduled to take a class on february 6, 2010 but elle came on the 4th so the class never happened. and i haven't gotten around to taking another one. the camera did come with a dvd but i'm too impatient. i shoot all pics on the manual setting and edit in iphoto or at picnik.com. i think i've got some great pics of elle from her first year of life. i will cherish them forever.

if you are thinking about getting a new dlsr, i would highly recommend a canon.

we are watching church on tv today.

happy sunday!

snow day

thursday morning we got LOTS of snow. so much so that even aaron got to stay home with us for the day. i think he got bored because he organized the kitchen and cleaned behind the refrigerator, but i was happy as a little ole lark to not have to go anywhere and to stay in my pjs all day long. i will never understand why people want and/or enjoy to actually get out in the snow. no. thank. you. it was so cold and windy. i can't imagine having gotten elle out in that weather for any real amount of time. yuck. different strokes for different folks is suppose.

aaron really wanted to show elle the snow so we bundled her up and headed outside. she was not a fan. it was too cold and i don't think that she enjoyed all the layers. i felt so bad because i couldn't find her mittens. but she didn't touch the snow and we were literally out there for 2 minutes.









elle loves taking baths. so we filled up the tub with warm water and let her play until the water cooled! i think she could play in the bathtub for hours if the water never would get cold.









aaron painted some frames a couple months back and i honestly forgot about actually hanging them. yesterday seemed like the perfect opportunity. elle slept 2 really long naps, so i had lots of extra free time! i placed the pictures and aaron hung them on the wall. i think it turned out great. couldn't be happier. i do want to add a few more pictures, but i'll have to get frames first.

i always procrastinate on home projects. every time i actually finish a project that i've set out to do it hasn't taken up too much of my time or energy and i wonder why i dreaded it in the first place.






a view from the living room.

we have eaten every meal at home this week. breakfast. lunch. dinner. i think that might be a first. our refrigerator and our cupboard are bare. in the words of the nester, i'm feeling very "homie"! i started working every morning this week and by the time i leave the office, elle is ready for her afternoon nap. so, we come home. we eat. and she goes down for her nap. doesn't give us a lot of time to eat lunch with friends/family. or do anything for that matter. i'm okay with it. i'm just tired. i'm not used to waking up every single morning and getting ready. its not fun. buts its doable. one plus, elle started sleeping in her crib overnight sunday night. its been so bittersweet. aaron and i both miss her in our bed, but she does sleep so much better. and, so do we. she still wakes up about 11:00 or midnight (which is when i'm usually going to bed) to nurse and then between 5:00-6:00 to nurse. she'll sleep until about 8:00. its worked out great with my new work schedule. i can be ready by the time she wakes up.

tonight my parents are watching our sugar booger and we are going to eat with friends. i cannot express my excitement to eat something that i have not cooked!

p.s. i have a new new year's resolution! i'm not making anymore baked goods for my little family of 3. why? because i eat them all. on my own. its ridic. i made pumpkin cookies on tuesday and they were gone yesterday by lunch time. seriously. gag me with a spoon!

a first birthday party inspiration board

elle louise's first birthday party is right around the corner. i am starting to get excited! i wanted to share with you some of the deets of the party without giving too much away, so i made an unofficial inspiration board (collage made at picnik.com).



aaron and i are not big "party planning people" and we don't really get into that much but of course we want something special for our girl. we are not going all out or over the top. it is going to be simple and sweet. a lot like her! aaron designed her invitation (which i cannot wait to show you all. it is so cute.) and we printed them at home. my middle SIL was kind enough to let me borrow her cricut to do some fun paper projects. i've also been using resources at my work to make some cute stuff. i can't wait to share the special day of our baby girl turning ONE with all of our family!

the lady that is making elle's "smash" cake and the cupcakes (if you are local and need an excellent and inexpensive baker, i know the person!) said to me the other night, "you know each year you have to outdo last year"! got me thinking...glad that we decided to do something small and low-key this year. we can only go up from here!

and, here's just a fun picture of elle from lunch (we went the messy route again today!). turkey chili. yum!


a bath quickly followed!

happy HUMP day!

something sweet saturday

elle louise loves all her cousins very much, but she has a special love for parker.



at home we have parker's picture on a lower shelf in our kitchen. every single day she goes to that picture, picks it up and takes it with her around the kitchen. she usually brings the picture to the middle of the kitchen, sits with it and talks to it as if it was actually parker in person. it cracks me up. she just jabs away and kisses the picture and then holds it up for me to kiss.



in her baby world, parker is her first love. i texted my SIL the other night these pictures and told her that it was going to be a sad day when i would have to break it to her that you can't marry your cousin.

last night {documented in iphone pictures}

elle louise took a late afternoon nap after taking an afternoon nap. she slept until 7 last night. needless to say, she woke up FULL of energy and ready to play. about 11 last night the daddy and i, well we were spent.

we had spaghetti for dinner. i think i made spaghetti a few months back and elle really liked it then. but, she LOVED it last night. i mean, she tore into it. she ate so much. i made it with ground turkey and mushrooms and she ate that turkey like nobody's business.




headed straight to the bath...

aaron's not a big spaghetti person so i never fix it. but, hallelujah, i had all the ingredients for it this week so he had to suffer. don't feel sorry for him... he liked it!

aaron borrowed 'despicable me' from his parents so after dinner we popped it in. elle was intrigued. she would sit by us in bed and then crawl to our feet. she laughed. its the first time she's really ever "watched" something besides shows on pbs. i choked up a couple times as i watched her watching the movie. then, after about the 3rd time she slapped me in the face, we were brought back to reality. and, it was time for her to go "nigh nigh". precious babe. even when she is cantankerous and slaps me in the face.


i hate that you can't edit red eye in iphone pics...







she only slept until 7:30 this morning and went back to sleep at 8:45. she is still asleep! 2 hours. that is a record for length of a morning nap.

my mom called and offered up her baby-sitting services tonight so i think that we will go see a movie. i really want to see 'black swan'. hopefully aaron is down for that too!

happy friday!