Project 365{+1} Week 9-Our Needs

As I've looked back over the pictures from the week, I saw a little trend. Unintentionally, the pictures this week capture some of the major needs that us, as people have.

We have the need to CREATE:

 The need for FOOD:

 The need to be free to PLAY:

 The need to have parties, with our FRIENDS:

 The need to be SILLY:

 And, the need for REST:

♥ Angela
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Rustic Woodland Owl Baby Shower

Whew! What a crazy weekend we've had. It feels so good to finally sit down and go over the events from the last few days. Friday night I stayed up super late making Semifreddo's in baby food jars for the baby shower. Around 1am, as I was heading to bed, Judah came running out of his room, barking like a seal and not able to catch his breath. He had gone to bed totally healthy and normal so, this was really unexpected. We took him outside to see if the cold air would help and he still couldn't talk. He was coughing horribly and then he started throwing up. He was having so much trouble breathing and he was so white that we called 911. So scary!!!! Nothing like this has ever happened with him before and although my husband and I stayed calm, I know I was freaking out on the inside. Long story short, he had a bad case of croup. The next day, Jeremiah took him to the Doctor and they gave him a steroid. He's still sick but, thankfully doing much better. 

Saturday morning came super fast because I got very little sleep on Friday night. Coffee was my best friend and I was super excited for the baby shower I was throwing. My friend Margy is having a little girl, after already having 2 boys. She is such a cute pregnant lady and the sweetest girl. It was such an honor to be able to throw her a shower! When I started to plan the shower, I asked her about the theme for her daughter's nursery. She said she had found some cute owl stuff so, I decided to go with a Rustic Woodland Owl theme, hoping that maybe she would want to use some of the decorations for her babies room. This theme was SO much fun to work with. Everything was pink and green, with lots of owls, mini chalkboards to label all the food and spray painted sticks for the homemade felt owls to hang on.

 The table was set against a window and being able to look out at the trees was perfect for the theme. It was not good for pictures though...the light is supposed to be behind you for taking good photos. Oh well!

I made mini chalkboards from old fence wood and used them to label the food. We served peach pie pockets, Rolo Cookies, my friend Cami provided a veggie tray, Julie made a fruit tray, Sally made turkey pesto sandwiches, Christie made an owl cake and I made lemon semifreddo's in baby food jars. The silverware was in spray painted mason jars. 

The welcome banner was made with burlap and pink paper. My sister helped me hang it on sticks that were actually from her yard. I love decorating with natural things. Cute and inexpensive! At the end of the banner, we hung tulle and brown paper bag poms.

 For a table decoration, I spray painted sticks with a light brown glitter spray paint. I filled a couple narrow mouth vases with green and pink tulle and then added the sticks to the vases. The owls were made with felt. I found a pattern online and it worked awesome for making cute and inexpensive owls.

Making the lemon semifreddo in the baby food jars was super fun and simple.The baby food jars were just the right size for ladies to be able to have their own individual jar but, not have a huge serving. It worked well since there was also a cake and lots of other food. I'll be sharing more about the lemon semifreddo later in the week! The bird house on the table was from the dollar section at Michaels'. I just painted it to go with the color theme. 

Throwing this shower was so fun. I actually wish that I could always be planning some sort of party! I'm so happy for Margy and I can't wait to meet her precious baby. Having Margy's family at the shower was one of my favorite things. Her family is so incredibly sweet! I hope they all had a great time, I know I sure enjoyed being around all of them!

♥ Angela 

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Our Friday in a Nutshell

 Today has been a fun and busy day for us. This weekend, I'm throwing a baby shower for a friend so, today I'm busy cooking up some treats for the shower. This morning, the kids and I hung around the house while I made some peach pie pockets for the shower (the A is for her baby-to-be's name).

A little later in the morning, we headed to McDonald's for a playdate with our MOPS group. To be honest, we've never gone and played at McDonald's before. I guess Judah hasn't been old enough for very long so, we just haven't done that yet. It ended up being a really fun time though! Lots of ladies and kids showed up and the kids had a great time playing. Judah tends to be on the shy side so, I told him that he could go play and that I'd watch him and wave at him as he was playing. It totally blessed me to see him playing and then see him look at me and we'd wave at each other. Paisley enjoyed her fries and then she wanted to get down! down! down! That's when the chase began. The girl is 16 months but, she thinks she's like 8. She wants to keep up with the big kids and I'm worried about her getting trampled. So, it was a little challenging keeping track of her and also keeping track of Judah. Sometimes I wish I was one of those super laid back moms that could just sit and sip her coffee while her children are out running like crazy. But, that's not me so, it was busy and just slightly overwhelming for me to keep track of them. The funny thing is that at this point, there's really no light at the end of the tunnel. Just when they're old enough to be more independent, we'll most likely have another one for me to try and keep track of. So it goes! 

After I got them down for their naps, I started the Rolo Cookies for the baby shower. I found this recipe on Chef in Traning  and they really do look like a little piece of heaven. A little over two weeks ago, I gave up sugar....of course not forever but, for quite awhile. Well, let me tell you.....these cookies have been the biggest, most chocolaty, chewy, best smelling temptation yet. I literally texted my sister while making them "it's terribly hard to not eat sugar when making rollo cookies but, I won't!! Tell me I'm doing a well. Help! :)" Yes, that was my text, word for word. She wrote me back but, not for like a half hour. I ended up not eating them but, it was hard. Like, really hard. 

For the rest of the day, I have more baby shower preparations to do, a check book to balance and other normal life stuff to take care of. It's almost the weekend, hooray! Happy Friday! 

♥

Angela 

Chalkboard Painted Flower Pots

Happy March!

I don't know about you but, I am excited that it's March! This is going to be a fun month for our family. My sister finds out the gender of her baby at the end of this month and I'm so excited to know what she's having. It's also a month full of Birthdays for our family and the first day of spring is this month. This month, I also hope to plant more veggies in our garden. Right now we have garlic, peas, two types of lettuce and spinach planted. The garlic has been thriving all winter and almost 2 weeks ago, Judah and I planted the peas. I just stepped out to take a peek at them and I saw tiny little sprouts. So exciting! 

Today I want to share one of my more recent projects with you. A couple of weeks ago, I bought my first can of chalkboard paint. Oh, I was so excited!!! Chalkboard paint is actually pretty inexpensive. I bought a 30oz container from Home Depot and it was only around $11 for the can. Chalkboard paint also goes a really long ways so, this can will last me for awhile.

Opening up this chalkboard paint and getting started on my first project was exciting. I know, I'm such a dork but, these things excite me so, whateva! I have a few old flower pots, that I've used year after year. When I say old, I mean old. These babies belonged to my Grandma who went to heaven when she was 84. Well, they aren't 84 years old but, they are old and not very attractive. I decided to paint a good sized rim of chalkboard paint around the top of the old flower pot. This way, I can write little, happy signs like "Welcome" and "Happy Spring". Heck, I'm going to write whatever I want on these flower pots. I might even write "Don't you dare wear your shoes in my house".....just kidding!!!

Anyway, here's what you do:

Bring your old (or new) flower pot into the house. Chalkboard paint can pretty much be painted onto any surface so, I think a plastic flower pot would work just as well. I put my flower pot on newspaper, on my dining room table. 

 Wrap tape around the flower pot. This way, you can paint all the way down to the tape and even paint onto the tape. When the paint is dry, you just pull the tape off and you have a nice straight line. I'm not the kind of crafter that paints perfectly straight lines. I need the tape to help me!

 I used a foam brush to paint on the chalkboard paint. The foam brush was less than a dollar at Home Depot and if you rinse it well after your project, it'll last for a long time. 

The first coat of chalkboard paint dried and then I painted on a second coat, the next day.

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So, what about you, are you excited for spring? If one of my projects or recipes inspire you, please let me know. I would love to create a page to feature the things that YOU'VE made! 

Happy March!

♥

Angela
This post might be linked up to some of my favorite link parties. 

DIY Wooden Utensil Box with Burlap Flower

An old piece of fence wood before:

An old piece of fence wood after:

Tonight I want to give a quick shout out to Heidi, over at the Frugal Girls. I'm super honored that I was able to guest post for them. If you'd like to read more about how my husband and I made this utensil box, out of an old piece of fence wood, you can click here.  Making something out of nothing is so much fun! Check out the Frugal Girls page, to read the whole post.

♥
Angela

Natural House Cleaning Products-Review and GIVEAWAY!

Recently I was sent a 30day supply of natural cleaning products by Natural House. I was excited to try these products because they are made with probiotics and they are supposed to be way safer and more effective for cleaning. 

I was sent their "Flushy", "Sinky" and "Trashy" products and while they all seemed to work well, "Trashy" was my favorite. Trashy is a trash can spray, that uses probiotic cleaning to remove odors and keep odors from coming back.

Natural House probiotic cleaning products brings you a revolutionary, new method of cleaning the most dirty areas of your home. Utilizing non-toxic, probiotic cleaning agents, Natural House products are strong enough for commercial clean-up, yet safe and gentle for all of the members of your Natural House.

Here's a little more info about why these all-natural cleaning products are superior to those currently on the market:

*Natural House products use an eco-friendly cleaning method of probiotics that create a beneficial, odor eating ecosystem to naturally drive out and digest odors at their source.

*Natural House's plant-based ingredients are eco-friendly, non-toxic and biodegradable to naturally fight the toughest problems you face in your house.
*Natural House's products, Sinky and Flushy even break down and digest fats, oil, grease, and solid waste to ensure your disposal, pipes, drain lines or septic tank run smoothly.
*Natural House's cleaners contain good probiotics which continue to scour, clean, consume odors, grime, grease, and germs, and they continue to do so until your next weekly treatment!

So how exactly does probiotic household cleaners work?

The surfaces in your house are like a garden. If you don’t seed with good plants, weeds will grow. You have the same choice with your household surfaces: sanitize for a moment with harsh chemicals leaving your surface open to recontamination or seed with probiotics to continuously weed out the bad micro-organisms.

Traditional cleaners “clean” a surface for a moment in time; the second the rag is finished wiping the surface, that surface is almost instantly polluted once again with ambient dust, dirt, and micro-organisms.

Natural House probiotics creates mini-ecosystem on a microbial level that produces enzymes which break down odors, dirt, fats, oil, grease, food scraps, waste and toilet paper products on a continuous basis between applications. This creates a natural, clean, balanced environment that is safe for even the most sensitive members of your natural house.

The action is in the foam! When using your Natural House products be sure and let it foam first to release the cleaning agents before going to the next step on the package directions.

The short and skinny of it is this... our natural probiotic cleaners keep on cleaning long after you've stopped!

Now, for the giveaway details!
Natural House has offered to provide one of my readers with a 30day supply of their probiotic cleaners.
To enter this giveaway, all you need to do is answer this question in the comments section: What is the most challenging part of your home to keep clean? If you are not a follower of my blog, please leave your email address so, I can notify you, if you win.
For additional entries:
*Leave a comment that you follow me with Google Friend Connect
*Leave another comment if you follow by email.
*Leave another comment if you follow me on Pinterest.

This giveaway will be open until Monday, March 12th and the winner will be chosen with random.org
Good luck!
*I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.