"Dee!"

The weather has been extremely crazy here lately! On Mother's Day we had gorgeous weather in the morning and by afternoon we had marble sized hail, rain, thunder, tornado warnings, and then finally, more snow! It's nuts I tell ya! That being said, when a nice day rolls around, we take advantage of it and head outdoors!

Addison has taken quite the interest in the wildlife recently and one of her newest words is 'deer' only her version sounds more like "dee". It's adorable! We constantly have gobs of deer either in our yard or the neighbor's yard and so every time she seems them she gets really excited and yells "Dee! Dee!", making sure we have heard her so that we will pick her up and let her get a better look. 

We really love to watch her grow and develop. Every time she learns a new word, we are just so proud! I wish this growing process would slow down just a bit though because it feels as if it's going way too fast! 

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

I literally hadn't flown a kite since I was a little girl so about a month or so ago, we bought a kite at the local dollar store and had been dying to try and fly it! Since the weather was almost perfect for flying a kite recently, we decided to go take advantage of it and headed to the park where we knew there would be lots of space! 

Addison really enjoyed helping daddy "hold" the kite and we were impressed with how tightly she actually held on to it! She just giggled and oh'd the entire time. So cute!

We were amazed at how well the kite actually flew! You never would have known it was only $3 by the way it soared!

Of course, daddy, being the man that he is, had to let all of the string out so he could see how high it would go. The problem with that was, we then had to wind the string back up once he was done! :) 

What we've been up to this week.

So I FINALLY downloaded Instagram for Android and I thought I'd share some moments from our week!

We watched the snow.

And swung outside the very next day!

We spent time cuddling our favorite toys. 

And we got acquainted with some pretty hummingbirds!

Most importantly, we had fun spending time together, just the two of us!

I hope you don't mind seeing camera phone pictures because that's what a lot of our spontaneous pictures are taken with. They give us a chance to catch a moment when it happens instead of running to find a camera. The great thing about Instagram is it spices those moments up and I am so happy I finally  had a chance to download it!

Thanks again for stopping by and enjoy your Thursday!

Crazy Colorado Weather!

The title of my blog is 320 Days of Sunshine, right? Well obviously we don't get sunshine EVERY day otherwise the title would be 365 Days of Sunshine (or 366 for this year). Yesterday was one of those sunless days.

Here is what we woke up to. 

Yes, that is a lot of snow. On May 7th. YUCK!

It was a really wet, sticky snow and a lot of it melted as soon as it landed but we probably had a good 8 inches that actually accumulated. It literally snowed all day long and when we went to bed it was still coming down.

Here is what it looked like outside when we woke up this morning. Still quite a bit there!

 

The great thing about Colorado though, is the ridiculously powerful sun! Now, less than 8 hours later, this is what it looks like outside! 

 

Yup, except for the shady parts, the snow is completely gone. 8 inches in less than 8 hours, gone! That is CRAZY! So yes it was a bummer that we had a snowstorm yesterday but honestly, we are grateful because we badly needed the moisture. And seriously, who can complain when it's such a gorgeous day today??? :) That, my friends, is why we love Colorado!

A Fearless 1 Year Old = A Frightened Mommy

So last night, after putting my daughter to bed I said to Nick. "We need to lower Addie's crib mattress AGAIN tomorrow." You see, she really wasn't too tall yet but she is a daredevil and likes to try and climb in things, or in this case, out if things.

Well, around 1:00 this morning she wakes up crying. Often times she will do this and fall back asleep so I layed there a few minutes. She didn't go back to sleep so I got up to get her and just as I went to open the door to her room, I heard a loud crash followed by screaming.

I knew it had happened.

I flung the door open and sprinted to where she was lying on the floor. She was on her back with a bloody nose and a bloody lip. I almost panicked. It was a nightmare!

I picked her up, Nick wiped her nose, and we quickly examined her over. Thankfully her nose and lip did not bleed much but it was enough to really scare me. As I rocked and cuddled her, she soon calmed down and we checked her for any sign of a concussion. Luckily, she checked out fine except for the growing bruise on her forehead.

Before heading back to bed, Nick lowered the mattress for me. I ended up staying up and rocking Addison a lot of the night just to be sure she was okay. We woke up the next morning a little tired and the only sign anything had happened was the bruise on my poor baby's head.

Addison's First Christmas: Baby Ornament

Since this will be Addison's first Christmas I am really hoping to start some fun traditions and I hope to share them with you over these next few weeks.

One tradition that Nick and I hope to do is to purchase or create an ornament for Addie (and our future children) every Christmas. I would like to somehow have the date as well as her name included somewhere on the ornament so that we not only know whose ornament it is but what year it was received. :)

This year we are pretty tight on money so I knew I was going to have to find an ornament that wasn't too expensive. I looked everywhere from Hobby Lobby to Wal-Mart to Hallmark. I couldn't find anything cute that wasn't way too expensive or gaudy looking. I finally had a DUH moment and decided to check out Etsy! Of course I was overwhelmed by an array of ornaments but after hours of searching, I finally found an adorable ornament that fit all of my requirements (and my budget)!

The shop I bought it from is called "From Nancy's Heart" and the store owner (as the name implies) has some of the cutest ornaments I have ever seen! I already have my eye on a few that I hope to get as gifts. They would make adorable gift tags!

Anyway, I was excited to see that it arrived while we were in Iowa and I couldn't wait to share it with you! You will have to forgive the pictures. Our camera was dropped (wonder who could have done that...) and is no longer in service so I am stuck taking pictures with my phone. Sorry about that!

Here is how it was packaged! Isn't that cute? Part of me didn't want to open it because of how pretty it was wrapped!

Eventually I did open it though and here is what the ornament looks like! Eeek! I LOVE it! It is even better than I imagined it would be! I wish I could show it to you in person so that you can see all of the gorgeous glitter!

Nancy also sent a really sweet card so I wanted to share that with you too! Her customer service was amazing!

I wanted to put it on a tree but didn't have mine up yet when I took this picture so I used my mom's little feather tree instead! :)

Again, the pictures do not do this ornament justice so I apologize for that. We are completely thrilled with how it turned out though! Nancy is such a sweet lady and obviously very talented! She has so many cute ornaments in her shop so you should definitely go check it out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I look forward to sharing more traditions with you in the near future! :)

Power

When I think of the word "power", many things come to mind. In fact, there are 32 different definitions for the word in the dictionary! Now that is one incredible word!

Well we had quite the experience with power last night. Hurricane force winds reaching 125 mph hit us suddenly in the middle of the night which resulted in lots of damage. Trees were ripped from the ground, roots and all. And I'm not talking little small trees, I'm talking massive trees that have been standing for decades! Power poles were snapped in two leaving many (including my household) without power for hours. There is a barn at the end of our road that is no longer standing and its rubble can be seen for miles. That's a lot of power!

Fortunately, the only damage that hit home with us was Nick's shop. Part of the roof was ripped off but thankfully, it was not the area that Nick was using so no damage was done to his supplies. However, someone else was using that area and so I am sure they are feeling a little bit differently about the situation today.

Here are a few photos of the aftermath.

Now that's a lot of power, huh? One thing that hit me today though was this. Who gave the wind that power? Our mighty Lord did! He has the power. He has ALL the power! He IS the power! Nothing can compare to Him. So why do we not fear Him more than we do? He is an all powerful God and He should be feared! Why are we so quick to misuse His name and sin against Him when the truth is, he could take us away from this earth if he wanted? We too quickly forget that this God of ours is not just the New Testament God,  but He is the Old Testament God as well. The two are the same!

Fortunately for us, He is also a compassionate God who loves us more than anything. More than we could ever imagine! He spares us time and time again. He spares ME time and time again! Everytime I fall, He is there, waiting to help me back up. He is my provider, my sustainer of life, yet I treat Him as a convenience store God. I act like it is His job to help me through the tough times and then leave me alone once things get better. Wow. I can be so blind.

Why is it sometimes so hard for me to pick up my Bible and read His word? Why do I have to force myself to spend time praying and talking to Him? I need Him so much but I act as if I can make it on my own.

Please pray for me as I work on getting my priorities straight each and every morning. Often times it is a struggle for me. I know that it will look different every day but I want to be dedicated to my Lord as He is dedicated to me!


Let us not forget the true Power.

Purpose.

This morning I went to my friend Leanne's house for brunch and of course, true to form, we spent hours chatting. It was great to spend time with such a dear friend and I really needed it. We had some really meaningful discussions and I left with a light heart.

Anyway, one of the things that came up was blogging and the reasons behind it. She shared with me how her blog has become a way to document her life and her children's lives and it really got me to thinking. What is the purpose of my blog? I mean really? Why do it?

I have come to realize lately that this blog has kind of become a mishmash of randomness and it really has no specific purpose. So I have decided to give it one and what better purpose than one that I find the most meaningful: to be myself. That may mean different things but basically I want to share my thoughts and my life with others.

I don't really feel the need to create fancy tutorials or projects that I think will draw readers in. I have discovered that I really am not great at that and so therefore I will leave it up to those who are! :) I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to impress others either. I honestly don't have the time or energy to focus a lot of my attention to this blog because I need to be focusing it on other things, like my family and my Lord. Because of this, my posts will be sporadic (which you are used to already) and will probably be short and centered on what is taking place in my life. Let's think of it as my public journal!

I don't want to sound haughty because, believe me, that is the last thing I want. I just want to be honest with you and with myself. I truly hope that I am not coming across as rude or conceited. I feel that it is important for me to share the purpose of my blog with those who read it and I really hope that will understand where I am coming from!

For those of you who blog, I'm sure you all came to this point in your blogging as well. So share with me, if you will. What is your purpose for blogging? I would really love to hear it! :)

Now I'm going to leave you with some seriously adorable pictures of a very adorable little girl! LOVE HER!

 

Thanks for stopping by and thank you especially for understanding my purpose! :) 

 

DIY: Tulle Pom Poms

When I was picking out the decor for Addison's nursery, I realized just how expensive it can be! I was originally going to go with a cheap bed set but then fell in love with this bedding from Babies R' Us and of course it was fairly pricey! However, I figured if I could save money on all of the other areas in the nursery, it would be worth it. Right? So instead of buying an expensive wind up crib mobile, I figured I could just make something!

In came these adorable (and much cuter than any mobile) pom poms! They were so cheap and easy to make so I am sharing them with you! The great thing about these is that they can be used for a variety of purposes, not just as makeshift crib mobiles! :)

I know there are probably other tutorials like this one out there, but I am sharing with you how I made mine!

Here are the materials you will need!

 

• Tulle (I found some white tulle at The Dollar Tree in the wedding section!)
• Ribbon
• Rubber band
• Scissors
• A book to wrap the tulle around. The size of your book (or blu-ray in my case) will determine how big or small you want your pom poms.

 

1. To begin, close the end of the tulle in your book or blu-ray case and start wrapping it around. Wrap it about 20-30 times, depending on how full you want your pom-pom to look.

 

2.  After you are finished wrapping, cut the tulle so it's no longer attached to the spool.

 

3. Cut the tulle down the center of the book and take it off the book. Keep the tulle in a neat stack.

4. Now cut the tulle in half again. Since I am a perfectionist, I like to measure the tulle so that I can find the exact middle. You could definitely just estimate though!

 

5. Combine the two piles. Now you should have a nice stack of squares!

 

6. Find the middle of your stack and gather it in your hand.

 

7. Use a rubber band to secure it in the middle.

 

8. Tie a piece of ribbon around the rubber band. 

 

9. Begin to "fluff" your pom pom by separating the pieces of tulle. Pull the tulle in different directions so that it starts to form a ball.  You will need to play around a bit with it until you have the look that you like!

 

Ta da! The perfect tulle pom pom! I actually created this pom pom to go on top of a gift box. I think it's the perfect embellishment! You could also use this same technique to create a fun hair bow or even add it to a decorative pillow. The possibilities are endless! :)

 

I hope you enjoyed my version of the pom pom! I LOVE the look it brings to the nursery and Addison really enjoys to look at it as well!

I'm linking to these parties.