True Beauty

I love this text and hope to instill it's message in my daughter's heart.
Happy Sabbath!

Gray's Day: Day 4 - Build-A-Dino

With Baby Girl's arrival just weeks away, we wanted to get Grayson something we could use to give him some practice being gentle, nurturing and loving.  Derek had passed a Build-A-Dino store a few days earlier and thought that would be something Grayson would really enjoy.  So off to dinoland we went!














 First he picked his dino's body:

 Then he gave him a heart:

 After dino got sewn up, he gave him a bath and scrubbed him real good:

Then he got to pick out his outfit:

 Then we had to pick his name and get his birth certificate.  We decided to name him Elvis.

 

 

Now that Elvis is home, Grayson reads to him, kisses him and puts him to bed at naps and bedtime, feeds him, plays with him and loves on him.  It's been a great way to show him how to take care of and be gentle with his own 'baby.'

Baked Parmesan Chicken

Now that I'm an official Stay-at-Home Mom, my husband kindly informed me that cooking is a great way to use up some of my free time.  So I've been trying some new recipes and have found some really good ones.  This is probably my favorite so far. I serve it with grilled asparagus and corn on the cob.  (recipe adapted from MyKitchenEscapades)

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 45 min
Total: 50 min

Ingredients

4 Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup Mayonaise (I used light)
1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
1 1/2 tsp Lawry's Seasoning Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 cup + 1/4 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese


Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 glass pan.
2. In a bowl, mix together all ingredients except the chicken and extra 1/4 cup cheese (you will use this later).
3. Place chicken breasts in glass pan and spread mixture over all chicken breasts evenly.  Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of cheese on top and place in the oven. 
4.  Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

Gray's Day: Day 3: Free Mini Golf...Kinda

Another yucky weather day in KS. So where did we go for a good indoor activity?  The free indoor putt putt...aka the golf store.

It was getting close to nap time but we just weren't quite ready to head home, so we stopped for a little putting practice.

Grayson had a great time and was ready to go after about 30 minutes.  The perfect mini activity. :)

 

 

Gray's Day: Day 2 - Sir Jumps-A-Lot

The weather in Kansas has been absolutely awful since we've been here...cold, windy, rainy, etc.  I feel really bad that we can't take Grayson outside to get some nice fresh air and release some energy too.  Since I'm not quite familiar with the area and I'm somewhat limited in my mobility at this stage of my pregnancy I wanted to get him something that he can do at home to release some energy and have some fun.

The idea of a trampoline came from the fact that he recently discovered jumping in the crib.  The problem with that, aside from jumping on the bed, is that he tends to get pretty excited and then hits his forehead on the railing of the crib.  So after a few good knots on his noggin, I decided we needed to divert his love for jumping away from the crib.  Hence the trampoline.  It's great! He loves to jump and it's such good exercise for him.  Here are some pics from when he first tried it out. We had to take his PJs off, he got so hot!

This trampoline is the Kids Jumper from Pure Fun.  I ordered it online for about $65. 

Gray's Day: Day 1 - Choo Choo!!!

Since I'm getting close to my due date with Baby Girl, I really want to spend some extra special time with Grayson and find some activities to keep him busy when the baby comes.  So I'm trying to plan some Grayson Days to show him how special he is and also help prep him for Baby Girl.

A few weeks ago we were in Texas visiting family and we took him to some fun places.  We started at the Trinity Park where we rode the little train through the park.  Grayson loves trains so we tried to surprise him.  He was pretty excited when he saw the train coming and we told him he gets to ride on it.  He got to ride with Papa and Tutu too!

Then we took him to the playground area and then to the pond to try to feed the ducks, but the ducks didn't really care to be fed.

 Then we had lunch at the Fort Worth Stockyards and found a pony ride and a life size train!

It was the perfect Grayson Day!

Super Easy No-Sew Curtains

The back door of the house we are in is between a bathroom and the kitchen and doesn't have blinds on it so I really needed to add some sort of privacy covering to it.  Since the house was built in 1963 and still holds some retro character, I wanted to add some splashes of color to enhance the retro vibe. So what better way to add privacy and color than to add curtains?

 

Supplies Needed for Panels:

Fabric
Scissors
Iron-on Adhesive
Measuring Tape
Iron & Ironing Board

The fabric I used for the kitchen sink and door panels is Premier Prints Gotcha in True Turquoise.  It's a medium weight home decor fabric I ordered from Fabric.com.  They have thousands of different fabrics and often offer coupon codes (search for them via google, yahoo, etc)


I'm a HUGE fan of Heat n Bond Hem iron-on adhesive!  This stuff is amazing and perfect for curtains of any size! You can find it at both Joann Fabrics.  It completely replaces the need for sewing.  I've used it for both standard curtain panels such as these hung with clips as well as grommet curtain panels.

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Measure your window for both height and width of the full window space you want covered.  This means where you want the panels to start and stop. My window space is 34" in height and 17" in width.

2) Determine what size of fabric is needed for each panel.  HEIGHT: For these panels I added 4" to the height of the window space I initially measured (34"+4"=38").  This allows for a 2" hem on each end. WIDTH: For the width, I used the actual width of the window space I initially measured (to allow for bunching of the panels and the hems) (17").  I then cut each panel to 38" x 17".

3) Prior to using the adhesive, fold and iron a 2" 'seam' to create a crease along the top of each panel.  

 

4) Open the fold, insert a strip of adhesive under the flap and then close the flap. Iron over the 'seam.'

5) Repeat steps 3 & 4 along the sides of the panel, however, use a 1" seam rather than a 2" seam.















 
 
6)  You will notice that you will have a small pocket at the top of each corner.  To give it a finished look, insert a small piece of adhesive into the pocket and iron over it to seal it.















 7) You should now only have the bottom of the panel remaining unfinished.  To ensure proper measuring and a correct height, hang your drape as you would if it were finished and mark the panel where you want it to be hemmed. Remove the panel from the rod and use these marks to repeat steps 3 & 4 above to complete the panel.

For this project I used curtain clips.  I purchased these at Target for about $5 for a set of 7 clips.  For such a small window I used 5 clips on each panel.   

Here is my completed product... 

 
And some other projects I've used this technique on recently...

Orange Fabric: Embrace Tangelo Contemporary Slub Fabric by Premier Prints