January brings - catch up

Since this blog is about documenting life, I figured I'd do a post about January...3 months later :-).

In January, we had a lot going on and just about every weekend was busy.

Since J and I didn't get a chance to do our Christmas dinner as a couple, we planned it for January. Unfortunately, our planned childcare didn't work out. So our neighbor was really kid and she stepped in to ensure we were still able to get out for a bit.  

J and I had a great time at dinner.

And so did the girls. Thankful for kind and VERY THOUGHTFUL neighbors!

I wear my hair in twists when I get home. Yup...that's pretty much how you'll find me on any given evening :-).

One day when I got home from a long day of work, I was still working on my phone. Suddenly, it got quite. I asked JOE what she was doing and she said she was drawing me.

Well, check this out...

She took a picture of me.

 Check out the side by side. Lol...#nailedit

We didn't get much snow in January. However, because I had been so busy, I didn't get a chance to wash my car. JOE took a look at my car one day and said "mom, I'm going to give you some money to wash your car."
She really is such a kind and sweet girl. She gave me 3 pennies. And while it might not mean much to most, it meant the world to me.
Thankfully, J rescued the situation and paid to have my car washed and gave the attendant the cash as well. She was nice :-).

Yeah...it was bad. That's why she offered...

We had a super-moon in January! How cool was that? It really was ah-mazing! I tried to capture some good pics since I was up and out early enough to but this was the best I could capture.

Overall, January was a good month. Because we hosted Christmas, we had a ton of leftover food in our freezer so for the most part, I didn't have to do much cooking in January. #WINNING

Hope you had a great start to your year.

DIY Inspiration: Trolls and Princess Poppy! JOE turned FIVE!

For some reason, I thought I posted this last year but turns out, I didn't! Gosh...one of the reasons I started blogging was a way for my kids to look back and see some of their milestone changes.

JOE turned 5 last November. She is in kindergarten and had just about everyone from her class at her party. She had a Trolls themed party and had a BLAST at her party as you can tell from her pictures.

I made her Princess Poppy dress using a simple peasant dress pattern. It was easy and honestly, the most time was spent making the leaves that went on the dress since I hand sewed them.

As always, I ordered her custom made cookies from Jackie Chews. She never disappoints!

Next was her sign for her birthday. This was pretty much a foam circle wrapped in tulle. I went to work with hot glue and flowers I found in the flower aisle at Walmart.

I also made troll hair for JOE and all of her guests.

I officially HATE glitter. I got glitter tulle and wrapped them around headbands to make the troll hair.

 

My floors after all was said and done.

I made the gift bags using soft foam sheets from the dollar store and free handed it. Then used a paid of scissors to cut.

For the bags, I used some of these felt flowers I found on amazon.com and then pretty much free-handed the faces and added googly eyes with my hot glue gun.

I used the same flowers on the thank you notes I attached to the bags. There were like a hundred flowers in the order so I am getting A LOT of use out of it.

I popped some unflavored corn kernels and melted chocolate in theme colors. I was hoping it would turn out brighter but it didn't. However, it tasted DELISH!

The thank you notes were attached to the pop corn bags.

Princess Poppy.

For her cake, I ordered a cake from a local bakery. They were going to charge $15 for each figurine. So instead, I purchased all of them for $9.79 from Amazon. I washed them in dish soap and warm water and then let them fully dry before placing them on the cake.
Also, the bakery was going to charge $5 for flowers to I went with gum paste flowers and put them on myself. Granted, they didn't stay as well but that was primarily because the icing was butter cream as opposed to fondant.

JOE LOVED her cake!

The next few pictures are the decor from her party. She had a great time.

 It was a paint party and kids got to choose between knights, unicorns, trolls and some pets. I also made Troll hair for all the kids.

When we left, JOE turned around, gave me a hug and said that was the best party ever!

Hearing those words TOTALLY made it all worth it.

Cheers to my FIVE year old!

Is anyone there?

I can't believe it has been MONTHS since I last wrote a blog.

Life has been so B-U-S-Y! For those wondering, no I am not pregnant. No I am not going through any unusual challenges in my marriage or life. It was more a good thing.

I often find that I tune out when a bloggers starts trying to make people guess too much so I'll cut to the chase. Afterall, you have had to wait for a solid 6-months to hear from me.

Anyways, last October I received awesome news! After 24 interviews, I received my testimony and got a job in a higher grade. It was a blessing and couldn't have come at a better time.

While celebrating that blessing, I also received another blessing in early December by being asked to act in a new position as well. So in essence, I had 2 jobs for 4 months. All of my "free time" was GONE baby GONE! It has been a lot of work but it has also been rewarding. I felt humbled by being given such back to back opportunities.

As I am sure you can imagine, juggling 2 full time jobs, being a mom to 2 young and very active kids as well as being a wife was mroe than a full time job.

I feel like things are starting to settle down now and I am looking forward to being able to relax a bit.

I just wanted to stop in to say hello and check to see if anyone still reads blogs or if it is now all about vlogs and YouTube videos.

In anycase, if you are interested, I will be posting more DIY and lifestyle topics on my Ayobeboutique site with some more personal posts here. If you are interested, feel free to subscribe to the page so you never miss a beat.

I hope the year has been kind to you so far. Fingers crossed that we skip the Spring and go straight to summer. I am DONE with the snow/cold weather!

Oh and for those wondering, I am now 47-lbs down! More on that later.

In answer to the question? Yes, we are still here :-).

This is 40: Model behavior

So I decided to do a photoshoot to mark my 40th and I am so glad I did this because I had such a great time!
These pictures were taken on the last day of September. I love the month of September not just because it is my birthday month but also because it marks the beginning of a new season. It brings beautiful changes that can be seen AND felt.

I did a photoshoot with the ah-mazing and seriously talented Jamie Good of Jamie Good Photography! She is so awesome and has done quite a few of our family pictures including our pregnancy announcement as well as our family photo session where we told my in-laws of our new addition.
She is just so great and we look forward to her photographing our family for the holidays this year. If you live in the DMV, you HAVE to check her out.

Here are the pictures from our session. This is a picture heavy post so be prepared. I had so much fun and couldn't even decide on a favorite.

These are Atkins bars. Since I couldn't have cake thanks to being on a low carb high fat diet, I went with my #Atkins bars. Simply delish and guilt free. #winning 

Oh and I love a nice glass of red moscato. However, the day, I went, they didn't have my preferred brand and this one was on sale for $3.99. After tasting it, I wish I bought more because it was worth way more than the $3.99. I'll be getting more of it in the future :-).

Cheers. My new favorite picture of me.

The little black dress...

Shoes chosen by JOE. She said they will "make my feet pop!" I agree with her.

In the past, when I had a birthday, I didn't feel any different. But this time, I felt different. There is something about 40 that just changes your outlook on life. 

For me, 40 brings happiness, self confidence and feeling empowered. 40 makes me truly thankful foro God's favor and blessings. 

This was by far the best birthday present I could have given to myself. I 1000% recommend doing a shoot to capture your milestone birthday. 

Have a fabulous day and remember to be kind to strangers!