Mantle Makeover

This is what my mantle has looked like since we moved in 2 years ago...

I literally just put some things on it that I already had to fill it up and haven't done much to it since. I was ready for a change so I gathered some ideas I found online and applied it to the new look.

I really like the way it turned out. I'm sure I will change it again soon, but for now we are enjoying it. The old window was on the front porch when we moved into this house. I cleaned it up and gave it a fresh coat of white paint. The little candle holders were used at our wedding on the cake tables. I literally spent $5 for the wreath for this simple re-do. Everything else was stuff I already had around. Love that!

Whatcha think???

Silly Saturday

Here is a little something to make you smile today. :)

My girls are so silly.

I'm Back!

Howdy!
I'm back...yay!
I haven't blogged in forever...for many a good reason. Life has been crazy around here, as you can imagine, and it's impossible for me to sit down and blog (even though I really want to). I finally feel like I am at a point where I can and we FINALLY got a new computer (insert happy dance here). We have had Nick's computer he bought in 2003 for college and it is slow as molasses. Blogging with that thing is nearly impossible without feeling like I need to throw it out a window. Now I can sit and watch my girlies play and write about them - among other things. :)
Speaking of my girls, Eden turned 3 on April 24th. It was an emotional week for me. Just thinking about the fact that I have a 3-year-old gets me weepy. I still remember her as a baby and just can't believe how big she is. We celebrated with friends and family with a "zoo" themed party (Eden's idea). Parties around here are always a lot of work and I was determined not to stress myself out with this one. Nick and I decided on a budget for the party and tried really hard to stick with it. It's so easy to spend a lot on birthday parties (at least for me) and it's really not necessary. What's important is that the birthday girl and her friends have fun. The part I love (and usually go overboard) is getting to decorate. My Sister-in-law shared with me about a lady on etsy who makes customized birthday decorations. You send her the information and she creates a document that she sends to you with all the decorations. You print them, cut them out, and put them together. It's extra work on my part, but totally worth the price tag. I spent about $40 on the invitations, all decorations, and thank-you cards (that includes stamps too). I knew I wanted to go with this idea so I ordered it about 2 months in advance and worked on it little by little throughout the weeks before the party. The week of was busy, but not really stressful (which was my goal).
Here are some party pics...

The tin buckets were filled with animal crackers and goldfish...

Food Table - we served hot dogs, chips & dip, and yummy fruit salad. Isn't that frog the coolest?? My Aunt put that together and brought it for the party!

Dessert Table

Paw Print Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes....yum!

Lion Cake Bites

Bear Cake Bites

Presents

Party Hats

Dash is my in-laws dog who made a surprise visit to the party...Eden and Dash are best buds so it was a fun treat for her!

Eden got a sand box from Nana & Pawpaw and it was a party pleaser for sure!!

Bounce House Fun!! Our good friends, the Merritts, let us borrow this really awesome bounce house...thanks again guys!!

E with "Khaki" (Cathy) and GG

Sweet friends and family...

Opening Presents

Elephant Peanut Hunt

Cousin Cayden

Blowing out her candles! YAY...THREE!!!

In other Vann news, my twinsies are getting so big. If you can believe it (because I can't) they are 10 months!! Both officially started crawling about 2 weeks ago. Man is life different with 2 crawling babies. I'm actually glad they started this new phase because they were getting bored easily not being able to get around and do what they want. I would constantly have to switch them from activity to activity and they were getting so tired of the exersaucers. Now they can move freely about the house playing with what they want to. It's definitely a challenge keeping them from getting things or doing things they aren't suppose to, but they are definitely a little happier being "free" to do what they want. Last weekend, I went through all of Eden's toys and removed all things that were too small for babies, so now I'm not worried about them playing in Eden's things. Eden however is having a hard time letting the babies play with her. She thinks they are after her and all they do is take stuff from her. Haha. We are learning to SHARE - an interesting phase for sure. It is so funny to see their little personalities really coming out.

McKenna - Isn't that picture adorable?? She loves to swim!!

Jillian - Such a sweetheart!

Here is one last picture -as my dad says - just for grins. :)

Blog ya lata!

GO AWAY, SNIFFLES!! (& SOME EDEN FUNNIES!)

Sorry for lack of posting lately. We have been battling a nasty sinus infection at my house. Nick dealt with allergy stuff for about a week and then developed a sinus infection. Poor guy had to deal with it for 2 weeks straight and is still coughing some. Then, Eden got a sinus infection & now me. When I took Eden on Friday, her pediatrician started her & I both on an antibiotic. I woke up that morning with a sore throat and just knew I was getting it too. I started the meds and thought I was in the clear until Sunday night when I started getting sniffly, head pressure, congestion etc. Today, I feel MUCH better but still have some congestion and cough. E is much better too. She kept saying "Mommy, I have the sneezes!!" The babies sounded a little congested on Monday morning, so I went ahead and took them in just to make sure they weren't getting it too. Our pediatrician started them on an antibiotic as a preventative so hopefully they won't get it. So far, so good!

Hopefully we are at the end of all this yuckiness!

Since this is a boring post I'll share some funny things Eden has been saying lately.

*Eden has named most of her babies - here are some of them...
-Squeaky baby - b/c the arms and legs squeak when you move her
-Naked baby - b/c she took all the clothes off of her
-Heidi bug - a little baby she has named after her friend

and this is the best one....this is how our conversation went today:

Me: Hey Eden, what is this babies name (pointing to a particular baby)?
E: That babies name is called about Flower Crap.
Me: What did you say?? (wondering where in the world she heard crap!)
E: Mommy, her name is called about Flower Crap. (This time she is showing me what crabs do with their pinchers. This baby says things when you squeeze it's hand so she named it Flower Crab, but she says Crap.)Haha. There is a flower on it's shirt so I guess that's where flower came from.

*If you ever ask her what time it is she will most likely tell you "It's thirteen-o-four-o-clock!"

*This one is actually from several months ago, but I'm sure she would say the same thing now...

We were eating at a Mexican restaurant & were telling her about all the different foods on our plates:

Me: Eden, do you know what this is (pointing to refried beans)?
E: (In a very loud voice) POO-POO!!!
Me: (after a long laugh) No, sweetie those are beans.
E: (still in a very loud voice) No, that is POO-POO!!

*Since we moved her to a big girl bed, it's really rare that she gets out without calling for us. When she wakes up she always says...i mean yells:
"Mommy, I'm awake!! - Can you hear me - I said I'm awake!!" -she does this until one of us goes and gets her.

*The other morning I went in to get her and the first thing she said was...
"Mommy, I was wonderin' - I'm hungry - can I have some French Toast and milk?"

Every time I talk to my Mom on the phone, she always wants to talk to her too.
I was talking with my Mom the other day, trying to say things so she wouldn't know who I was talking to yet (b/c she begs until she gets to talk if she knows I am talking to GG)...
E: Mommy, who you talk to?
Me: A lady.
E: Oh! What that lady name?
Me: uhhhhhh....Charlotte (my Mom's name)
***Eden makes a real serious face like she is thinking really hard.
E: Is that my friend GG?
Me: uhhhhh
E: Mommy, that's my GG! I want to talk to my GG too Mommy!

*She has a radar like you wouldn't believe. Nothing gets past this girl. We tried to hide her medicine in some ice cream the other day, b/c it's torturous trying to give it to her.

As she is eating her ice cream:

E: Mommy, something hurts my mouth!
Me: Are you OK? Did you bite your lip or something?
E: No.
Nick: Is the ice cream too cold in your mouth?
E: No, the medicine in my mouth! (now panicking!)
Me: It's just ice cream, baby girl. Eat the rest.
E: No I can't, the medicine hurts my mouth.

*This morning I put a cough drop in my mouth. I was sitting on the couch working on a project, and she was sitting next to me playing with her Leap Pad.

E: *sniff, sniff* Mommy, something smells good!
Me: oh really? (knowing exactly what she is smelling)
E: Yes, what you making Mommy - something smells good! (the sniffing continues)
Me: (trying to ignore & change the subject) I don't know - what are you learning over there?
E: *sniff, sniff* Something smells good - I want some!
Me: It's a cough drop.
E: oooooooo - I want a cough drot too!

-I had to go cut a little piece of a pink starburst so she could have a "cough drot" too! lol

And this is where I found her the other day...


She is so smart and keeps me laughing!! :)

FUN WITH FRIENDS

Eden has done a complete turn in the past 6 months. If you know her well, you know she has always had a hard time playing with other kids and adults for that matter. Since she was 3 months she started having separation anxiety and needless to say it was a rough first year for us. I always get sooooo excited when I see her playing with other kids and actually having fun without me sitting right there with her. She has really changed in the last few months and is such a big girl now.

Today we had her friend, Heidi, over to play so her Mama could run some errands. They started the morning out by eating breakfast and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together. As I was cleaning up breakfast, I noticed they had disappeared from the living room. I then heard squealing and laughter coming from Eden's room. This is what I saw...

Eden & Heidi from Carissa V on Vimeo.

They then found Jiliian and McKenna's Bumbo seats and decided it would be a good idea to use them. Haha. I read them books while they sat in them and every time I turned a page, they would scream and yell "hooray!!!!"



Those are some cute girlies!!!

SEW FUN

I have always wanted to learn to sew. It's one of the things I want to mark off my personal list of accomplishments. The time to learn could not be any better. I have three cute girls who need some cute things made by Mommy. :)

For Christmas last year my Aunt Cathy and my Grandparents gave me this sewing machine they found at a garage sale and had fixed up.


I am just now getting around to using it after being pregnant and getting ready for my babies. I am so glad I got it out and figured it out how to use it. I had absolutely no sewing knowledge until a few days ago. I read some stuff online, talked with my Aunt a few times, and read the machine's manual (which Nick found online for me). I'm sure I am not doing everything correctly but the things I have made so far have turned out pretty cute. I have just been doing projects that only require straight lines - I was told that's a good way to start. I'm having so much fun. Here are some pics of what I have made so far.

When I got my machine, my Aunt and Grandmother had given me a bunch of old fabric scraps. To learn how to use the machine, I used the scraps to make a little bag for Eden. It is probably the worst sewn bag ever, but Eden adored it. I didn't measure anything, I just went to town sewing trying to figure out what I was doing. (Don't look too closely.)




After I had some idea how to sew a straight line, I made these little dresses for E. I had seen them online a while ago and thought, "I can totally make that!" They are really very easy to make.

I started with a bandana dress...


Then, I had some zebra fabric from something I did last year and applied the same idea from the bandana dress to make this...


I love how excited she gets when I finish something and let her put it on.


I am now working on all the girls' Halloween costumes. I can't wait to see how they will turn out.

Have a great weekend!

MOMMY'S LITTLE HELPER

From day one, Eden has been a Mommy's girl - for sure!! She is a little more independent these days, but still wants to do just about EVERYTHING I do. I love that she wants to help, but sometimes it's hard to get stuff done. Her thing lately is to help me in the kitchen. I can walk into the kitchen to get a glass of water and she will follow me asking if she can help. She has a stool that she pushes around the kitchen the whole time I am in there, using it to see what I am doing or to help. It's great having her in the kitchen, but it's also frustrating because she is at the age where she wants to touch everything - which is sometimes dangerous in the kitchen. She is also at the age where she doesn't always obey what I tell her to do which results in a very messy kitchen. God is really teaching me patience. Since the day we found out she was a girl, I couldn't wait to have her in the kitchen helping me. I absolutely love to cook and bake and thought it would be so fun to have a little helper. I know we will eventually get to the point where she is actually helping, but until then I am trying to be creative in the what I let her do and creative as I explain what we are making and how we cook food. My friend, Karen suggested to get some pasta, a bowl, and a spoon and let her do whatever she wants with it while I do my cooking. I tried that and it worked for a while, until she decided to eat the uncooked pasta. I was concerned she would get choked on it because it was so hard. I may try the pasta thing again and see what happens. Do you have any suggestions for how she can help me in the kitchen??? I would love some creative ideas.

As a way to keep her involved in cooking, I try to do some sort of baking each week because baking seems a little more toddler friendly than cooking. I measure out the ingredients and let her dump it in the bowl and stir it up. She loves that. Her favorite part though is eating the batter (which she gets from me - that's my favorite part too.) This week we baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. (Recipe below pictures). Nick enjoys the weekly baking as well. :)Here are some pics from our baking fun!***Please excuse her crazy hair - she had just gotten up from a nap. :)

She liked dipping the beater in the batter to stir


And then, licking it...


It's my favorite part too...it's a little hard to resist!


Watching the cookies bake


She likes to smell them as they come out of the oven


Eating our creation - "Those are won-er-ful, Mommy!" she says.


Here is the recipe we used:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions: (pre-heat oven to 350)
1.)Cream butter, peanut butter & sugars until well combined
2.)Add egg and mix until fluffy
3.)In a different bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
4.)Mix flour mixture into butter mixture until well combined
5.)Stir in chocolate chips
6.)Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet
7.)Bake for 8-10 minutes
ENJOY!!