Saturday, April 28, 2012

A Dino-Mite 1st Birthday - Nijelosaurus Turns ONE!

It's amazing how fast a year goes by! Wow! I feel like I was just bringing my son, Nijel, home from the hospital and now he's ONE. He's walking (not too well, but walking nonetheless), talking, and full of awesome personality. I just love him to pieces and definitely wanted his first birthday to be (almost) as special as him. ;)
So this year, we decided to have a DINO-MITE 1st birthday party for our little man.
His birthday banner.
Here's the birthday boy!

Yawn. Being one is so exhausting!

I found his baby leg warmers and his dinosaur tie/suspenders onesie on Etsy, of course! Etsy is such a great place to find adorable handmade items!

On to the party details!
It got hot today, in the mid-80s, and for April that's kind of crazy. But we're in Indiana so what should I expect, right? At least the heat was accompanied by crazy, gusty, good-luck-keeping-those-table-cloths-down, and you-can-forget-about-those-paper-plates, WIND!
And while it made keeping the decorations secure a definite challenge,
 I was certainly glad to have it.

I spent a bit of time, more than I'd care to admit, on making these food labels.
I used my cricut, which greatly cut down the time, and this  FREE dinosaur template to make the adorable dinos to "hold" the food labels.
All I did was nix the heart that was in the original dinosaur template
and in its place I used hadmade labels.




Chips- Dinosaur Scales (Pictured)
Frito Scoops- Dinosaur Claws
Devilled Eggs- Devilled Dino Eggs (Pictured)
Hotdogs- Pterodactyl Dogs
Hamburgers-Stegosauraus Burgers
Veggies and Dip- Herbivore Valley (Pictured)
Dirt Pudding with Gummy Worms - Dinosaur Dig (Pictured)

Here's his cake! Complete with a volcano, vines, & lots of colorful dinosaurs!

 That's one brave pterodactyl sitting on top of that volcano! ;)

And, I can't blog a first birthday without a few icing covered baby shots, right?
Hey, this is pretty good!


I'm "this" many!

 Mmmm, icing!

 My son is NOT shy about eating. He loves food!

Also, keeping with the theme, I placed these adorable dinosaur masks out on the tables for the guests to wear!
Here's the birthday boy's big sister, Lillie, modeling her mask a wee bit too close to her brother's sticky, bright red, icing covered "claws". Rawr.

We are just SO blessed with wonderful friends and family who helped make Nijel's big day one to remember. We had a great day and having special people there to share it with made it even more DINO-MITE!

A note to my son:
Nijel, you are a blessing and a joy. I have enjoyed watching you learn and grow into a truly awesome little boy. I pray that you always know how much you are loved and how special you are!
Happy birthday, big boy! And many, many more!

Love Always,
Momma (Ashlie)


Monday, March 19, 2012

My Children

I love overcast days. I love them SO much! And not just because you can get some of the best light for photos but because my kiddos are SO pale I like not having to worry (as much) about their skin getting burnt!
Last Sunday I decided to take my sweet Lillie on a walk to the park. My main purpose was to get some updated photos of the sassy little thing, but her main goal was of course to hang out with mom and to swing once we got to the park. I'm sure the swinging trumped hanging out with me but we'll just say it was a combination of the two. Oh, and our unseasonably warm weather gifted us some wild flowers in our yard which made for a pretty little prop. Here are a few shots of my doll baby. She loves more than anything when we call her a beautiful princess. In fact when we ask what her name is she says "Lillie, The Beautiful Princess, *insert last name here*."


Lillie, Age 3

Reminding us to "stop and smell the flowers" ;)

Of course she got to swing!
Now for my little monster. I use the term "monster" lightly. He is the best little man in the world, the farthest thing from a monster even when he is showing off and giving his best growl. Nijel will be 1 year old on the 18th of April. I cannot believe a full year is nearly complete! I will cry like a big ol' baby at his birthday party next month. I managed to get through Lillie's with just a few tears but I know that I will be much more emotional at his being that he is our last first birthday to celebrate.
Very slyly trying to eat a stick.

Nijel, almost 11 months old

The little man just being adorable!

So, there are my sweetie-pies! I am so blessed to be able to spend each and every day with these little ones! They make me smile and I hope their happy faces make you smile (even just a little) too!


Love Always,
Mommy (Ashlie)




P.S. Coming soon I will have posts about my first vegetable garden! I am pretty darn excited to get started planting so I know there will be plenty to share!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Some projects

I have been horrible about blogging lately. Shame on me! However, I thought I might go ahead and share a few photos of two projects.  One that has already been completed and the other I am currently working on.

The one above is a gift I made for my sweet mother-in-law, Debbie, or as we like to call her in this house, "Nena". Nena leads the praise team at her church and is so kind-hearted and a truly great lady! So I wanted to give her something special and meaningful this past year for Christmas.


I always feel a bit self-conscious about gifting things that I have made. ("Is this good enough to give to someone I care about?" "I hope they like it!" "Maybe I should just go to Wal-Mart and buy something instead...") It never fails! Those thoughts always come knockin' and screamin' inside my brain!  

That being said, I actually really ended up liking the wall-hanging and I decided I'd like to try to make one for my home as well.
We have ABSOLUTELY no photos on our walls. We have a very old home with plastered walls and honestly, sometimes getting nails through that stuff is impossible! But, I am tired of not being able to walk through this house and see the beautiful faces of the people we love on a daily basis. I wanted a piece of (dare I say it?) "art" to compliment the photos that I WILL make my husband hang for me. (Thanks in advance, babe!) So here is what I came up with:

Now, keep in mind it isn't perfectly finished. I still need to drill holes at the top and add a pretty ribbon to hang it from, but I think it turned out pretty okay! Right?
And, I adore this saying because it's just so true! Can't wait to finish it up and get it up on the walls along with some pictures of the fam!

Thanks for stopping by! ;)

Love Always,
Mommy (Ashlie)