the great outdoors

We love to be outside! It is such a nice change of scenery after being inside the house all day, everyday of the week. Since the weather was nice at the beginning of this week, we spent some time playing in the front yard while Riley ran wild. Little n loved picking up leaves and crawling in the dirt after realizing it is easier than walking over lumps in the grass. Spring cannot get here soon enough!

life lately, according to my iphone...

Is it just me or is January taking its time to end? Not that January has been a bad month, it just feels as though it has been January for a very long time. Much more compared to months lately! We have already accomplished so much in this first month of 2013.

We have made it our goal to spend more time together as a family and take advantage of the opportunities we have here locally. We took the first Saturday and went to the museum because it was free family day.

I tried a new tea room here in town with my best friend the next weekend. They had a delicious chocolate mint tea, chicken salad, and deviled eggs. It was so nice to get a girls day out after not having one in so long!

This month I have been organizing and cleaning things up. I am hoping to make our life more simple this year by getting rid of a lot of things that we do not use or really need. While trying to make things more simple and cut back, I go and spend a few dollars on a couple of valentine's day toddler accessories from target. I could not pass up this adorable sippy cup and snack container!

I finally got all of my birthday and Christmas gifts unwrapped and out of their boxes. Now they are looking so lovely on my kitchen counter. My dad got me a target gift card so I went and got the chalkboard containers I had been eyeing for a while. Our youth group is making and selling treats for valentine's day so I spent one evening trying cake pops for the first time. They turned out pretty good I must say!

The weather here has been cold one day and then warm and windy the next. Early this week little n and I spent some time outside.

Our student ministry has started 2013 with a bang. Game night here, rally there...

Monday was happy mail day for me. I got the afghan I ordered from @hack_n_tweets instasale. This was my second instasale and I must say it is so addicting and fun! Everyone was going crazy over her afghans. I was a little upset at myself for not paying attention and refreshing the feed when she posted this gorgeous white knitted afghan, but then THE ONE showed up and boom my email was there in the comments! I did not waste a second on this gorgeous afghan in yellow with scalloped edges. I was so excited to see that I had gotten it. When it arrived in this adorable packaging, I fell in love even more.

Because we have been blessed with wonderful weather this week, we have played outside and taken family walks. I can't wait until spring gets here!

@littleteas on instagram

diy: jersey and lace infinity scarf

Has it seriously been almost a year since I shared something crafty on my blog? Last year I felt so drained dry of creativity, thought, and motivation. Pinterest has a little to do with that. Sometimes I feel like everything has already been done before. But I have decided this year "no excuses!" I am going to share what I do whether it has been done before or not. I do try however, to make mine a little different than what I see. For example, this project has been done by tons of people, but I may or may not have done it in a different way. Also I tried to style mine different than those I have seen. So here is how to make my version...

You will need lace trim, jersey fabric, scissors, thread, and a sewing machine. Also about 30 minutes of your time. It is that easy!

I started out with 1 yard of jersey fabric (you should only need 1/2 yard) and approx. 4 yards of lace trim. First, you will cut your jersey fabric at 14" wide and 60" long. Basically the whole length of your fabric. 

Next, lay your trim down on your fabric where you want it and pin it down. I did two rows of lace with about 7 stripes in between the two. If you look in the photo above right, I left excess to hang off so that I wouldn't end up too short after sewing. Keep in mind that the lace can stretch or move.

After pinning down the lace I started to sew the edge of the lace down on both sides. Remove the pins and continue until all the trim is sewn down. Cut the excess off the ends of all trim. Now you should have 1 long piece of fabric with trim sewn down the front...

This step is to finish off the scarf. Turn your fabric good side down (side with trim) and take the two ends of your fabric and lay one side on top of the other. Pin down the side. It should look like the top photo on the outside and like the bottom photo on the inside (good side).

After sewing down the ends of your fabric, you should end up with one giant "circle" of fabric. This is your scarf. To wear it, put it on and twist it on over again so that you end up with 2 "circles" around your neck. The scarf is meant to be short, that is the style of an infinity scarf. If it looks like the photo below, you are done! Easy as pie!

I think I will make several of these, they are just too easy and fun! And because I know I will get asked, the fabric is from Hobby Lobby. They actually have quite a bit of jersey fabric right now. Really cute neon ones and lace ones...

life lately, according to my iphone...

@littleteas on instagram

first haircut

Almost a week ago we took little n to get his first haircut. I wasn't sure if he would cry or not. He has always surprised us in other things he does so we kind of had a feeling he would do great! They had little cars and an airplane for kids to sit in so he had a good time sitting in the police car and "driving." The stylist was great, he was moving all over the place and she still managed to get his hair cut perfectly how we wanted it. He never cried once, he was as goofy as always. They took his picture and gave us a little keepsake of his beautiful blonde locks. This mama almost had tears because her baby is no longer a baby, but he sure does look like his daddy and they are the cutest guys in the world!