Favorite Smart Phone Apps

In today's world of technology almost everyone has a smart phone of some sort.  I personally have an iPhone.  It is great not only for me but also for Cale.  So today I thought I would share some of my favorite apps.

1. Instagram
This is probably one of my most used apps.  It is a place to share your pictures.  I love to take pictures to help remember fun times and events in our lives, but I don't always remember my camera.  This app allows me to take and share pictures on my phone!

2. Pinterest
As if it wasn't addicting enough on the computer!

3. The Weather Channel
Let's be practical here.  Who really watches the news anymore?  Any big stories can be found online and I am not going to stay up to see the weather when I can open this app and check it whenever I want.

4. Anything by Duck Duck Moose
This company makes some of the best kids apps out there!  They use music, sound effects, great color animations, and more.  Some are simple for younger kids, while others are full of learning for preschoolers.  Cale loves these.

5. PBS Kids
This is by far Cale's latest favorite app.  This lets you watch tons of favorite PBS shows.  Super Why (The Super Reader) is his favorite.

6. Watch Disney Junior
Here is a FREE app that allows you to watch FREE Disney cartoons like Mickey Mouse, Doc McStuffins, Jake, Handy Manny, etc.  If you are like me you never pass up anything that is free&disney together.

I would love to hear some of your favorite apps!

Afternoon Project

We finally had a break from the rain today!  And although it was overcast earlier, the sun is shining brightly right now.  I was certainly glad to get out of the house today.  I hadn't left home since Sunday and I was beginning to go a little stir crazy.

My day started by being woke up at 6 am by a certain little girl!  I finally decided at 7:20 she wasn't going to go back to sleep and I was tired of being pounced on in bed so I got up.  Every Wednesday I join a group of ladies at church for our Bible study.  We are currently reading through the book "Parenting By God's Promises" by Joel Beeke.  It is fabulous!

Click{HERE} to see more

So....getting to my project.  After lunch my whole house decided to take a nap, except me.  I knew if I couldn't sleep for a few hours, I would be miserable.  So, while they slept, I got crafty :)

A few years ago I ordered this key ring holder for my livingroom.

It was cute and served its purpose.  I have since then repainted my livingroom but never changed out the keyring holder.  So today, on a whim, I decided it was time to change it!  I started by painting the whole thing with a coat of black.



After I let that dry I wanted to spice it up a little.  I took some silver glitter paint that I had bought a while back to use on a different project and painted just the letters and the pegs.

Once I let it dry good I was able to hang it back up.  I love the black against my burnt orange walls (even though the color looks strange in this picture - it was taken with my phone)!

Here are by before, during and after shots....



Birthday Party DIY Style

Thanks to Pinterest, I have tons of new DIY ideas.  So I decided that as I was planning for baby girl's first party I wanted to make a lot of the decorations.  I have been inspired by Pinterest but so far the 2 items that I have created have been all me.  I pulled out my Cricut and scrapbook paper and got busy cutting. 

First on the list was a "happy birthday" banner.  I am doing pink, blue, and purple for her colors so I used those colors to cut out 2 overlaying "frames" and then the letters.  I used just stick glue to put the 2 frames together and then glued the letters on.  After that I painted on a layer of Mod Podge to seal it.  With just a layer on the front the paper edges started to curl up.  After they had dried for about 15 minutes I decided to paint another layer on the back in hopes that it would help the curling edges.  And it worked like a charm!

Next, was time for my cupcake toppers.  I had already cut pink circles, small cupcakes, and number 1s all using my cricut.  This time instead of using glue, I only used Mod Podge.  I put a layer on the circle, added the cupcake, put another layer, added the 1, and finished it off with a final layer.  All that is left to do now is to add some sticks or toothpick and ta-da!

Sunshine and summertime

As a teacher I have the luxury of having summers off. With 2 small children at home I cherish this time with them. One goal I made this summer was to spend at least 1-2 days each week either at the beach or the pool. Today we killed 2 birds with one stone! Since mom lives at the beach we decided to turn our visit into a sleep over. We made it out in time to play in the pool for a bit before nap time. Sissy loved the new float nana bought her.

After nap time it was low tide at the beach so we decided to go play in the sand. We didn't put on our swim suits because we didn't plan on getting in the water. Well of course Cale had to get his feet wet. Fortunately he is still fearful of the water so to our ankles
was perfect for his comfort zone. We even got to rescue a fish that got washed up in a wave and couldn't get back out into the water.

Catching up

Although I won't go through all of the details of the past 10 months or so, I will get you caught up to speed on our crazy life.

*Madelyn is now 10 months old!  She is full of life and into everything.  She is pulling up on anything she can get her hands on and will even let go and stand there by herself.

*Cale is almost 4!  Holy Moly where has the time gone?????  He will begin Preschool this year (tear, tear!).  He is so excited to go to "school".  He is so talkative and a social butterfly.  He would talk to anyone!

*Bryan and I are about to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary in a little less than a month.  That to me is just crazy!  We are still both teaching.  We have recently joined a new church, Grace Covenant Presbyterian.  We love fellowshipping with all of our dear friends.  Cale loves it too.  He has learned so much since we have been going there.  He got in front of the church about 2 months ago and recited his catechisms.  I was so proud!

So that is our life lately.  I have some DIY projects that I hope to work on and will be sharing soon!

Hello....anyone out there???

I started this blog a long time ago to share our lives with our family (near and far).  I did well for the first year or so, but then I started my masters and the blog got put on the back burner.  Then on the day I graduated with my masters, we welcomed baby girl into our lives!  And altough I tried to start blogging again, having 2 kids and working full time took more out of me than I ever expected.  I wouldn't change it for the world, but it is a lot of work. 

This time around I want to blog for me.  I read so many blogs with people sharing family, DIY, crafts, inspirations, etc.  I am ready to reenter the world of blogging and hope that I can keep it up.  So for those of you still out there.....look for some new posts coming soon :)

For now I will leave you with some recent pictures of our world....