I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar

Soapbox Saturday: Baby Beau and Belle

2013-05-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I was contacted by Baby Beau and Belle (a company with gorgeous baby clothing) to see if I'd like to review something for the new baby. I got on their site and fell in love with the beautiful, high quality items. I really liked the vintage look of their clothing lines.

I picked the Natalie Layette for Elsa. I was dying over this cute baby in it.

It came quickly and well-packaged.

In the original picture I thought the fabric looked more formal. It's actually a knit fabric, but that has it's advantages as well. It's nice to have a pretty dress that is actually comfortable as well. We have a family wedding in June that this would be great for.

All the lace details at the top are so wonderful. And the dress is super soft.

If you're looking for a blessing, christening, or occasional outfit for a baby there is a really big selection. The prices aren't low, but the quality is high. Here are a few other things I loved there. (Warning: The beautiful photography and clothing on their site might just make you baby-hungry.)

The have options for boys as well.

If you'd like to check out more of the gorgeous clothing from Baby Beau and Belle, you can find their web site HERE, their facebook page HERE, and they are on Twitter and Pinterest HERE and HERE.

Thanks for stopping by.

Giveaway Winners

2013-05-25T05:30:00.000-06:00

And here are the giveaway winners from Baby Week:

The pattern winners are....

_____________________________________________________________________________

And the Very Jane Baby Basket winner is.......

Knotted Baby Beanies

2013-05-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

I had a lot of grand ideas when it came to sewing for this baby. There are a billion ideas in my head, but this time around I'm already a mom of two. That means that my grand ideas have morphed into a few 5 minutes projects - things I can squeeze into small increments of time. Today I have another super simple sewing project. This one can be made in about 5 minutes. No joke.

You know I love finding ways to upcycle old clothing and this project does that well. It utilizes the existing hem of a t-shirt, so the sewing is really minimal. I've always loved these little knotted beanies you see on newborns.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

the 15 Minute Diaper Clutch

2013-05-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today I have a super simple sewing project - the 15 minute diaper clutch. I'm not super fast with sewing, but this baby takes almost no time at all. It's also a pretty easy project - even if you're a beginner. While I'm calling it a diaper clutch, it could easily be used as a regular clutch as well.

I knew I wanted this case to be fairly large. It needs to fit my wipes and I like it hold 3 larger sized diapers as well. I laid out my fabrics together with the patterns on the outside as show.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

What I Love Wednesday - Very Jane AND a Giveaway

2013-05-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

One of my very favorite sites to peek at is Very Jane. They offer some amazing daily deals and all of the items have a homemade-etsy feel. I've mentioned Very Jane once before and I'm still in love. While I usually hate getting emails from sites, I love being on their email list because their items are awesome and so are their prices.

Well, today I have a fun treat for one of you. The fun people at Very Jane let me hand pick some baby items for Elsa and one of you will receive all the same ones. Here's a peek at the baby basket.

Here's a better look at the package. Have you seen the barefoot sandals that have become popular? That's what these are and I can't wait to try them on her teeny feet.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

Baby Carrier Cover and a Pattern Giveaway

2013-05-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

Remember how my mom sews really well and even has a few awesome patterns for sale? Today I thought I'd show you the baby carrier cover she made for me. AND she offered to give away a few baby carrier cover patterns to 3 lucky winners as well.

I definitely went girly on the fabric choices here.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

Elsa's Nursery - the big reveal

2013-05-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today it's finally time to show you little Elsa's room. It's all ready for her arrival. It's a huge change from the previous, dark boy nursery that I had it decorated as, which you can see HERE.

Here's the view as you enter the room. It's bright and happy, but not crowded.

The sign I made HERE hangs right over her crib. The thin MDF is attached to the wall with nails, so there's no chance of it falling down.

My mom sewed the bedskirt, which has two colors and ruffles on it (though you won't see that well until we lower the crib).

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

Sunshine Sunday - two wheelers and fancy dates

2013-05-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

This week was kind of a long one, but full of little great moments.

Baden is now riding a two-wheeler! Seeing his little body peddling his little bike just makes me crazy happy.

My husband and I each took one of our boys out on a date Friday night. My very favorite restaurant is the Roof in Salt Lake, but it's pretty darn pricey so we go maybe once a year. Well, Rex has heard me talk this place up for a long time and he's begged and begged to go. We happened to have a gift card from someone, which wouldn't have been enough to cover my husband and I eating there, but it was perfect for Rex and I since he's the little kid's price. So, he won and we went on a fancy date.

On the way there he asked me non-stop questions about the place. "Is it tile or carpet? What do the servers dress like? Can I eat dessert first? How big is it? How many tables of dessert are there?"

It's a fancy buffet and I did let him hit the dessert table first. He was in heaven....and so was I. It was so much fun.

It's right next to the Salt Lake temple.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

5 Ways to Use an Engineer Blueprint

2013-05-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

As you've probably seen in blogland, Engineer Blueprints from Staples have become a big thing. Why? Because you can print a huge 2'x3' poster (black and white only) for only $3. Mostly, it seems that people use them for family photos but there are a LOT of ways to make use of them. Here are a few uses you might not have thought of.

1) School Elections. My niece is running for vice president at her middle school. Why not go big with a few posters? I figured she could use markers to fill in the stars or banner if she wanted to spice it up with a little color.

2) Toy room/bedroom art. These Lego posters have been a hit in our playroom. Read the details about them HERE.

3) Events. I was asked to do a booth at a Women's Conference this year about dating your spouse. My mom and sister came and helped. For the booth decor we kept it simple and did a poster of each couple. Booth decor price? $9. Nice.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

The Nursery Closet - vinyl clouds

2013-05-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

I think this is the last nursery project and then next week I'll show you the whole finished look. It's actually all done and I can't wait to show you!

For the closet, I liked the idea of removing the doors and making the closet itself look cute. The walls inside it were already white, but I wanted to add something fun to them. I was inspired by Destiny's walls that I mentioned HERE on a Five Finds Friday. However, I wanted to use clouds and make it look like wallpaper.

I used my Silhouette to cut out about 9 feet of vinyl clouds. I squeezed as many as I could onto the page.

To apply them I came up with an easy system. I got out a piece of painter's tape and applied is to the wall, making sure it was level. Then I made stars to indicate where I wanted the clouds to go in that row and dots where the clouds go on the next row (since they are staggered). I used a small piece of tape to measure the distance between each line. So after I completed a row I would move the short tape, move the long tape, and make sure it was level. Then all I had to do was quickly apply that row.

It was a lot faster to do than I thought it would be and it was a billion times faster than stenciling.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

What I Love Wednesday - Happy Lists

2013-05-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

Back when I was in college I had a blank poster I taped on my wall. I added the words, "Things that make Cheri happy" and every day I would add something to it along with a little picture I'd draw. I wish I still had that poster. It made me smile just to look at it and read through the things.

I think gratitude is so important to our happiness and I don't feel like I've been keeping tack of the things I'm grateful for as much lately. So, I thought I'd make a little list here to get me started and then start a list by my bed again that I can write on at night.

So here are 5 things that make me really happy.

1) Green Turn Left Arrows. What's not to love?

2) How when one of my kids is being a total punk, the other seems to notice and becomes so kind and helpful to me. The boys were fighting today and Rex was driving me crazy. Baden came over and said, "I'm going to try really hard not to be mean, Mom." Thank you. You can have all the inheritance, son. :)

3) Popsicles. I'm sensing an addiction for the summer. We are going to be making a LOT of popsicles. I just can't get enough of them. Plus, it's nice that you can make them pretty healthy, too.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

DIY Dipped Glitter Vase

2013-05-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

Every so often it's awesome to find a project you can do in just a few minutes. Here's one I'm sharing HERE at the I Love to Create Blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mommy School - Summer School Plan 6

2013-05-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

I want to do a week on American history with the boys. It'll even give me a chance to brush up on American history myself. We'll take a day to cover each big event.

1) On day 1 we'll talk about Columbus. I scoured the internet for ideas on how to explain this to them, but I just didn't find anything that I really liked. So, I'm going to do something that always works really well with the kids at church. I will have a box with different items in it that each represent part of the story. As I tell the story I'll pull the items out. This always helps keep their attention because they're wondering what's in this mystery box.

For example, I'll talk about how Columbus met with the king and queen of Spain and pull out a crown. I'll talk about the three ships and pull out three little boats. I'll talk about the Native Americans and find a prop to pull out for them....and so on.

For a little activity to go with it we'll make little origami boats like these. (Nothing fancy, but my boys have taken a recent interest in origami.)

2) On the next day we'll talk about how we gained our independence. I might have to switch around the order of the weeks because it would be great to do this unit over the 4th of July week. We'll talk about Revolutionary War and George Washington. We'll do THIS little craft of our first President.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

Sunshine Sunday - Mother's Day

2013-05-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Mother's day isn't really my favorite holiday, to be honest. It often ends up being the day my kids fight the most and my visions of being showered with gifts and praise come crashing down. So, I decided that instead of thinking of today as a day that I should be praised and appreciated, I would think of it as a day to express my gratitude for the chance to even be a mother.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am pregnant and you probably read Our Fertility Story. I just read it again as I was writing this post because it helps me step back and recognize what a gift it all is.

I don't need my kids to behave perfectly to have a perfect Mother's day. I don't need an amazing present from my husband and breakfast in bed to make the day just right. I just need to remember what I've been given. I know those two little boys were meant to be mine and I can't wait to meet this little girl and get to know her.

I chose the name Elsa a long time ago. I've loved it for many years. It derived from Elizabeth, so the meaning is "consecrated by God." She is our gift from God and I always want her name to remind me of that.

So if your day isn't picture perfect today, I hope you mothers can have a happy moment today just knowing that you've been given such an incredible privilege. Someone calls you mom.

Magic Fort Winner

2013-05-11T07:47:00.003-06:00

And our random winner for the Fort Magic is....

Congrats! We'll be in touch!

Feature Friday - Homemade Popsicles

2013-05-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

I've been on the hunt for some fun popsicle recipes that the boys and I could make together this summer. My sister pinned THIS one for me and we tried it out today.

I liked that there were few ingredients, all of which were healthy. However, the popsicles weren't incredible and the milk and the orange juice separated a bit when we tried to mix it all together.

The boys still liked them anyway.

I thought I'd ask you guys if you have any good popsicle recipes. We really want to try some creamy ones with Greek yogurt and we're aiming for some healthier ones (fruit, honey, but not straight sugar).

If you have a recipe to share, please leave it in the comments section. We'd love to try it out.

Thanks for reading.

The Master Bathroom Final Reveal

2013-05-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

So along the last few months I've been taking pictures of my prego belly and the bathroom renovation, guessing which one would be done first. I am happy to report that the bathroom beat me. It's DONE!!! And I couldn't be happier about that. So, here's a whole lot of pictures and a whole lot of info on what went down around here.

If you recall, this wasn't a project we "picked."

Our shower was leaking, so we started to peel up the tile, only to reveal that the previous owners had tiled over existing tile and there was moisture and mold all over. I was pretty devastated.

We ripped out more....

...and more and more until we realized that the shower and the floor had to go.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

What I Love Wednesday - Our New Car

2013-05-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

Several weeks ago I mentioned that we needed to get a bigger car to accommodate our growing family. You guys were really helpful and shared what you knew about the cars we were looking into. Thanks again! Here's what went down and how it all ended.

After reading everything you said, I wanted to look into the Acadia more and I also wanted to push the minivan issue with my husband a bit. After ~~quite a bit of disagreeing~~ a lovely discussion, he okayed the minivan idea. So I looked into both a minivan and the Acadia.

Now I know a lot of you say that you get way more bang for your buck with a minivan, but that's not at all what I found. In the neighborhood we live in, AWD is a must. I could hardly find any used vans with AWD and when I did the price was crazy high. When I priced out a new minivan with AWD and leather (not a necessity, but a bonus) it started at $45,000! Yikes. Bye, bye minivan.

So there were two dealerships fairly close that had both received 15 Acadias. They were all a year old with 10,000 - 25,000 miles on them. We figured with them having that many on the lot and by coming in at the end of the month that we could get a great deal. We were pretty set on this car. We test drove it and liked it, but when we went in to negotiate we were really turned off by the guy there. They had a huge extra hidden fee and they weren't very personable. Out we went.

Then my mom kept mentioning that she had a couple of friends who loved Hyundai cars and one that had a Santa Fe. I went back through all the comments and saw that one of you had also pointed out the the Hyundai Santa Fe was now available with three rows. We figured it was worth looking into. I don't think it's an option most people are aware of, since the 3 row thing is new this year. Hyundai has also come a long way in the last few years.

My husband and I looked online and were really surprised by the pricing. For a little more than what we would have spent on a year-old Acadia, we could get a brand new Santa Fe WITH a 5 year warranty. I love a good warranty. We originally hadn't planned on buying a brand new vehicle, but the price on this made it doable.

So we headed to our nearest Hyundai dealership (Ken Garff Hyundai in Salt Lake) and checked it out. We were really happy with it and extremely happy with how we were treated there. (Ask for Jordan there if you need a car. He was awesome.) And we ended up buying a brand new Santa Fe that looks just like this, but black.

I am in love with this car. We actually got the nicer package, which included a back-up camera and the biggest sunroof I've ever seen. It goes all the way to the back so it feels like we're in a convertible. This picture doesn't do it justice.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

Child-drawn Baby Blanket

2013-05-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today my post is over at the I Love to Create blog. I let Rex make a personalized blanket for the baby and we were pretty excited with how it turned out. You can read the details of it all right HERE.

Tomorrow I'll give you our car news and Thursday I'll show you the finished bathroom! Thanks for stopping by.

Mommy School - Summer School Plan 5

2013-05-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

Week 5 of Mommy Summer School will be all about water. We'll talk about the three forms - solid, liquid, and gas (ice, water, and steam). We will then spend a day on each one.

1) For ice day we will play a few games. We haven't done a Superhero Scavenger Hunt this year yet and Rex goes crazy over that one. You can find the details HERE.

We'll also play the melting ice game that I blogged about HERE. (Just go down to #3 in that post.) It teaches the kids what melts ice quickly and what melts it slowly. It's a fun one, too.

Maybe we'll top off that day by letting the boys get a slush somewhere.

2) For the water day we will redo THIS experiment and talk about how water can move upward by using capillary action. There's a good explanation of capillary action HERE.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

Sunshine Sunday - my mother-in-law, sweet moves, and boys in buckets

2013-05-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

We had a big week around here with lots of reasons to be thankful.

First off, we bought a car and I'm thrilled about it! We are ready for another little one in our family and our car now. I'll tell you more about it on Wednesday.

My husband was out of town for a few days and I had been asked to run a booth at BYU Women's conference, which meant my husband's parents watched the boys for two days. They are really amazing, thoughtful people. My mother-in-law wins the prize of the year for watching them because Baden got the flu, throwing up many times, none of which were in the toilet. I felt horrible! She was so kind about it.

The boys have been learning some sweet moves on the rope ladder and rings we put up a few weeks ago. They like to have a spectator to watch their sweet moves, which gives me time to just sit on a bean bag and relax for a little while.

And man are they growing. I kind of have a weird thing for taking pictures of my boys in Costco carts. Here's two years ago...

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

Soapbox Saturday - Fort Magic and a GIVEAWAY

2013-05-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today I'm really excited to tell you about a product that you and your kids will love - Fort Magic. Of all the things I've reviewed in the past few years, this is definitely one of my very, very favorites. Fort Magic is an amazing kit to help you build all sorts of forts, playhouses, and more.

It comes with TONS of pieces and lots of plans/ideas for building your own forts.

When the box arrived we dropped everything to try making our first fort. We tried the pirate ship. It was huge! I didn't realize the size of the forts you could make with this kit. The boys had fun playing in this for quite a while.

The next day we built a secret fort, which only superheroes were allowed into.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

Five Finds Friday

2013-05-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

It's time for a 5 finds Friday! Here are 5 things I found in blogland this week that I thought were awesome.

1) The girls at Eighteen25 are so stinkin' clever. Their projects are always simple to reproduce and flawless to look at. I thought these Painted Photo Bottles found HERE were so cute.

2) I'm in love with this storage unit my sister pinned the other day. (Thanks, Cass.) The lady took 3 file cabinets and topped them off with wood. You can find it HERE at Country Living. I'm crossing my fingers that I can find 2 file cabinets at the thrift store because I need something like this for a little more storage in the baby's room. Please, please, please!

3) My niece and her husband happen to be very crafty (and ridiculously good-looking). She posted a project on her blog that I thought was so clever. You know those really cool vintage chairs with the holes in them? They just took regular chairs and drilled holes in them themselves. So clever. See more details on it HERE. (Her husband also make the table shown.)

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

DIY Bath Mats

2013-05-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

While finishing our master bathroom, I've been hunting for bath mats. We needed 4, which adds up really fast. I found some I liked, but they were $20 and I wasn't about to spend $80 on just bathmats. Previously we had the memory foam ones from Costco, which I loved in the beginning. However, when it came time to wash them they drove me crazy. I could only fit 2 in my washer and the edging came off one of them. They were so bulky.

So I decided to find a way to make my own. The criteria was that they had to be able to all fit in the washing machine at once, I didn't want to spend too much on them, and they had to work with the color scheme of the new bathroom. Here's what I came up with.

I purchased all the fabric at JoAnn's, but I also waited for all of it to go on sale. You can also bring your coupons. The bottom layer is terrycloth - just like a towel. The top fabric is outdoor canvas. They are joined with bias tape.

Here's a better look at the process. I was sure to pre-wash the fabrics, because I figured the terrycloth would shrink a bit.

I cut both fabrics to be 22"x32". Why? Because I didn't want to have use more than one package of bias tape. I did the math to be sure I wouldn't have too use two packs and have more seams.

To make 4 mats, I only needed 2 yards of each fabric. I cut the fabric lengthwise first and then in half. The terrycloth wasn't as wide on the bolt as the canvas, but it was wide enough for the measurements I just gave you.

I used a CD to help me cut nicely-rounded corners.

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....

What I Love Wednesday - Our Food Journey Part 2

2013-05-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

So we've been on our new food journey for 3 months now and it's going really well. (If you missed the other posts they are HERE, HERE, and HERE.) There are moments when I run out of recipes and I am still spending a lot of time on Pinterest finding new ones. I linked up a few at the end of this post that we've loved.

However, the boys are eating more veggies - even Baden. They are getting really used to it. We have explained why we are choosing certain foods and not others and Rex especially gets it. He could actually probably give a pretty good lecture series on it all. Both boys still like candy and they get a little here and there, but overall I feel like we're winning with them.

Baden with a carrot juice mustache.

I thought it would be interesting to reference my goals/wishes that I listed in my first post.

"I want to have more energy and a clearer complexion."

I do feel like I'm breaking out a lot less. This one's a little hard to judge with the pregnancy, as my hormones are all over the place. However, I really do feel like it's improving and that makes me happy.

"I want the boys to need snacks less often, since they'll be eating foods that actually fill them. (I don't starve my kids. They just think they need snacks every ten minutes.)"

>>> CLICK HERE to READ the REST of the POST....