2011- Popular & Favorite Posts!

If you are a blogger..
you need to check out statcounter.com

It really helps in giving you all the background info on your page views/content

I just clicked for the first time to see my yearly stats..

2010 - Page Loads...353,528

2011 - Page Loads...966,564

?!?!?! Soo excited!! Might not be a lot compared to

some of the big time bloggas but it's big for me! :)

I thought I would share some of
the popular posts people viewed!

I had fun sharing them with you..
These are some of my favorites!

Felt Food - Favorite Tutorials
My mom and I made these and a bunch of other fun ones for my sophia's 2nd birthday.
the key was to give her a present that year that was veryyy soft
since she had a newborn sister. :)

Free Baby Shower Printable- Baby Jeopardy

Made this for my friends' shower that I threw.. it's been downloaded 1,103 times!

Happy to be a part of all those baby showers! 

Storybook Princess Party-

Sophia & Sienna's 3rd and 1st Birthday Party

(spent $4 on that DIY castle!)

Most Popular Inspiration Board -

Gift Giving DIY Projects

RECIPES

Saw a lot of clicks going to the button at the top for Recipes!

I can see a lot of you are like me..always looking for new ones to try!

Tutorials

Also saw a lot of clicks going to the button at the top for Tutorials!

Here's some of my favorites..

Streamer Canopy Tutorial

Owl Cupcake Tutorial

Tissue Pom Pom Inspiration Round-Up & Martha Stewart Tutorial

Sweet Shoppe Party Theme - Sweetopia Village

Sophia's 2nd Birthday Party

Pamper the Mommy Baby Shower

Threw it for 3 friends of mine who were pregnant.

I especially loved making up these We heart babies We heart mommies cupcake toppers..

and teaming up with my friend to create a bath bomb bar!

DIY

Always a favorite topic on the blog..

a lot of clicks went to the button at the top for DIY projects!

Here's a recent favorite...Glitter Votives

One of the most personal posts I've done was sharing

about my best friend's murder..She was A Victim of Domestic Violence

It was a great source of healing for me to blog about it. And I have been so blessed by all of your prayers and support through this hard time. I was also amazed by the vast reach that domestic violence has in our world..so many people know of, or are, someone affected by it. Please join me in this new year to pray for the end of violence..and for all those affected by domestic violence. I especially pray that every woman knows how amazing and worthy of love she is. And I pray that we may help stand up for those we know being told otherwise.

Thanks for making this year such a wonderful one on my blog..

for following my journey as a wife, mother and woman of God.

and for those of you who blog yourself..thanks for sharing YOU with us!

My family and I wish you many many blessings for this new year!

Have a fun and safe night!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Our Kids' Cookie Decorating Play Date

A couple weeks before Christmas

I hosted a Cookie Decorating Play Date!

It was really fun seeing their creativity go wild!

And I was impressed with how clean the floor was at the end of this. ;)
A Cookie Decorating Party would be a great

theme for a child's birthday party!

Or have a grown up one and pull out the fancy cookie decorating books for inspiration.

This post is making me go into a sugar come just looking at it. ;)

KEYS TO SUCCESS:
1. Bought pre-made sugar cookies from Grocery Store's Bakery
(Know the bakers so got a discount! But best purchase..saved time and a dirty kitchen :)

2. I had each of the moms bring sprinkles to add to the mix!
(I loved seeing the variety.. and the kids loved contributing to the fun table!)

I put out sugar cones and M&M's for the

kids to decorate as trees! 

Some of them rolled the frosted cones in sprinkles! super cute.

Sophia's looked like one big blob of Christmas! haha. very festive. ;)
She had no interest in eating these..it was all about the making pretty!

How cute are my mom and sienna on the bottom left??? :)
Sienna loves to shoosh people right now.

SUPPLIES: (had, bought or brought by others)

Sugar Cookies - Giant Eagle

Square Green Paper Plates - Target

Green Square Containers - Dollar Store

Red Bowls (3 or 4 pack) -  Dollar Store

Homemade Icing: Classic Vanilla Buttercream - (I made the morning of. LOVED it.)

Sugar Cones - Giant Eagle Brand

Circle Trays - Dollar Store (Re-used for Cookie Exchange Trays)

Sprinkles - Brought by all the moms.

Snowflake Tablecloth- Target (on sale from last year)

Red Disposable Plastic Tablecloths-Target 3 pack

Christmas Morning in our House

Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!

Hope you all had a great weekend/week so far.. 

It's been fun seeing everyone post their family celebrations. :)

I wanted to share some of our Christmas Morning fun.. that started at 6:45 am..

with us already sleeping on sophia's floor so she wouldn't walk out any earlier than that......haha.
one big slumber party for baby Jesus.

We told her she had to stay in bed or else Santa wouldn't come to our house.....

Sophia right before coming out..."Daddy..I don't think Santa came. I didn't stay in my bed all night. I trieddd..it was HARD." haha.. 

A few videos are mixed in.

Because you need to see these cuties in motion!  :)

I love doing a big Christmas post every year on my blog so that all my friends and family who are far away can see how it went! Love how we can stay connected this way...So come on in to our house and see what went down. hugee post. you've been warned. ;)

Our Christmas Decorations

Gotta love the Half Decorated Tree...we have an ornament eater.

We buy most of our decorations after Christmas at Target when they are on sale!

You can grab up some great bargains if you hold off. And Christmas is a month long celebration..so throw them on up! ;) One year we bought a fake tree (not shown) and we seriously were so excited about the price we got it for that we put it up a few days after Christmas..for another week 1/2 or so. hehe.

This Christmas there were lots of pink..and baby dolls.

LOTS of mothering going on. :)

My parents got sienna that sweet little baby high chair..
and it was put to use all day long!

Sophia's big present from Santa was a Doll House!

Can't wait to share the DIY details of this fun project. We got it on craigslist for $30 bucks and then I jazzed it up a bit. still need to mod-podge it but didn't have time. I was hot glueing  $store kitchen towel bedding Christmas Eve. hehe. It was SOOOO fun seeing her play with it..and I think this baby is gonna give me lots of moments of quiet play time.. which....sound awesome.

Grandma B got the girls a Train Table!

I'm so happy with the size..it's not one of those ginormous ones..

and fits pefectly under the corner windows in their room.

THANKS GRANDMA B!

Dress Up Clothes & Closet (from ikea bookshelf and a piece of wood.)

We loaded it up with some dress up clothes from Target's Halloween Clearance. some were for a few bucks! It was cute seeing sophia play with the hangers and dresses..she felt like a big girl. Now it's in their playroom..and they can actually see their dress up clothes!

Now I just need to teach sienna to use a hanger......;)
My Sister sent up some tap shoes for sophia which she LOVES!

My parents got Sophia a Doctor's Kit!

Ben and I were sick patients all day long. :)

My mom made the baby hats for the dollies from Santa.

(dolls=Walmart.. $11?? I was so impressed.)

Ben's big present from me was a Keurig (mini one from target)

and a Blu-ray DVD player that ben "helped" pick out.

And I was sooo excited that ben got me all things that I had at one time asked for or mentioned I liked..even if I had forgotten about it. Like sweat pants!! (wearing them now. haha.) and The Pioneer Woman Cook book.. and a cast iron skillet. My mom also sent up some fun goodies! Can't wait to try out these molds. sophia is gonna love it.

My big presents had to be the piano from ben.. which was free..but he used his muscles and his friends' muscles to get it in our house. They have injuries to prove it. LOVEEE IT. so excited to start playing again. and He also got me a flip cam..so I can record every move of my fast moving girls!

We had to make phone calls to all the family far away!...

and eat Sausage Egg Strata...it's a tradition. Best part about it. I made it the night before. pulled it out while we unwrapped..and then just threw it in the oven for 30 minutes. 

yummy bubbly cheesy goodness ready to go.

We did lots of lounging and playing.

and took a 2+hour family nap....so nice when they go to sleep at the same time.
Our Christmas Miracle.

Thanks for checking out our Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Below is our version of a family photo of the day..
we took turns with wiggle worm children.

Blessings to all of you!