One craft and then pictures

If you aren't madly in love with Stella this may not be the post for you! I'll post her finished nap mat and then the rest is pretty much just pictures of her. I LOVE this thing! It was so easy and Stella obviously loved it, she flipped and flopped all over it laughing and playing for a good 15-20 minutes! I didn't make the button tabs like Jenny had in her tutorial. I was lazy and just sewed ribbon in so it would tie like a sleeping bag. I didn't make a carrying strap either... I LOVE it and can't recommend it highly enough!

Friday night we went to meet my cousin's beautiful new baby boy. He is dark, gorgeous, and looks like such a boy already! Stella was interested in him, but NOT happy when Mom, Nona, or Grandma Bev held him.

As soon as I held him she had to crawl up on my lap.She enjoyed a book with Brooklyn. She sat and listened so intently to the whole thing - it was darling!I love this one! Eating Reeses puffs on the way to Grandma Snider's house. That last one didn't quite make it down before she fell asleep. (She put her hat on herself.)SO excited just to sit in a chair by herself.Her first Easter Egg Hunt. She didn't quite know what we were doing and really just wanted to run around the yard shaking them. She was great at picking them up, but had a little trouble putting them in her bag.Grandma Snider put a ton of change in the eggs! And one of the best ideas ever??? She gave each kid a piggy bank to put their change in - GENIOUS! Stella's been in need of a piggy bank and right now she LOVES putting the money in the slot. Look at that concentration!Pinwheels were in their Easter baskets - her cousin is teaching her how to blow on it to make it spin.One of her new things... if you ask her where something is. SO CUTE!With "Aunt" Jen. Darn her for being SO photogenic! (She is adorable in person too!)Helping to burp another new cousin.Again, not a fan of Mama holding another baby!Pulling Jim's hand off of her chair. She doesn't want you to touch anything lately. (Which makes pushing the grocery cart difficult.)She's starting to let you actually read to her again. She loves books and will bring one over to you and back into your lap. She doesn't usually let me get far before she's turning the pages, but she's learning to listen.

Does anyone just edit pictures???

I have a ton of pictures from this weekend to load and post but I look at them and wish that I had the editing skils I see on other blogs. I know that so much of the loveliness of the photos is the editing... I actually looked into buying a new photoshop so that I could get some of the "action sets" I've been seeing... HA - I had NO IDEA how much it costs! I'm just a mom who wants pictures of her girl!

So... I keep thinking that someone who is really into photography and has the program/action sets already REALLY should consider a little side business of editing pictures for other people. I would gladly pay someone to be able to email them the pictures I take of Stella and have them make them fun and funky. I mean, check out these girls! Beautiful!

I've tried in Photobucket, Picnik, and my old Photoshop 7.0, but I just don't have the time or skills to make any positive changes...

Sheri (the AMAZING woman who takes care of/loves/plays with/cooks for/nurtures/and teaches Stella) took this picture last week. Wouldn't it look SO great with some fun coloring???

I have had a little bit of fun editing, but it's not what I'm looking for...

Loving the sun!

It's back to being grey and rainy today (which if I'm going to be honest with you, makes it a whole lot easier for the kids in my classes!), but yesterday we enjoyed another BEAUTIFUL day!

Tasting dirt.

Filling her watering can.

Asking Mama to fill her watering can since the water isn't coming out for her.

Watering the ground NEXT TO the barrel of herbs.

The pear trees are FINALLY blossoming!

Sitting in her chair - smiling at her Dad (who did NOT want to be pictured catching some sun!)

Waving at the little boy who just moved in next door.

I'm almost done with Stella's nap mat and my sweater so hopefully I'll have some things to show soon!

The calm after the storm... I'm ready for it!

It's still pretty busy around here. Jim is recovery well from his surgery (I took some LOVELY pictures but he "asked" me not to post them!), but he still can't do a lot around the house. I'm still doing most of the work including taking care of him, Stella, and trying to get a few Etsy orders out. I'm going much more slowly than usual, but that's ok.

When we get home in the afternoon Stella makes a b-line directly for her Easter presents. I am tickled that she loves them so much.

It's supposed to be beautiful, so I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time outside this weekend. (She saw a dog.)

And I'm hoping to find some time to work on a nap mat for Stella. I'm not sure she's old enough or if she'll like it, but it's SO darn cute and I would love one for myself so she's going to get it! Jenny made a darling one and posted a tutorial. I got red minky (I've about had all of the pink I can take for a while), and the same chocolate flowery fabric that I had for my "Hooter Hider"

Finally, just because they're SO DARN CUTE!!! You really should check them out if you have a little girl (or even just know one) Peonies She doesn't have a ton posted currently, but she didn't have the ones I was looking for either and she did them for me in a few days - her customer service is great. Now I just with Stella would leave them in!

Birthday Snoball!

(I've never eaten a Snoball... apparently they do NOT need to be pink (sorry!) and this one did NOT taste like a real one. He did say that it was delicious though. Good thing since I took the time to fill it with custard!)

Happy 34th Birthday My Love! I stole this idea from someone, but I love it!

34 reasons I adore you!

1) You make me feel loved, appreciated, and beautiful everyday.

2) The way you can make me laugh - especially when I'm about to cry.

3) For balancing out my highly emotional and worrisome ways.

4) The ease with which you interact with all people.

5) Your work ethic.

6) You're the most amazing dad I know and Stella and I are so blessed to have you in our lives.

7) For being my rock through 4 years of trying to get pregnant.

8) For being the ONLY person in the world I could have made it through those four years with.

9) For taking such fantastic care of me while I was pregnant.

10) For your attempt to get me a haircut, massage, and pedicure the week before I had Stella, your willingness to sit with me through all three, and you painting my toenails yourself when they fell through.

11) For NEVER painting my toenails again!

12) For always eating what I cook for dinner and that little, "It's good." in the voice that I know means, "please don't make that for dinner again."

13) For hunching your back when you hug me in that way that means you want me to scratch your back.

14) Your ambition.

15) For always wanting to do better and more for us.

16) For putting up with my crafts, Etsy, and endless crafts.
17) For encouraging me to slow down when I take on too many things.

18) For telling me I'm a great wife and mom at the exact moments I feel like I'm neither.
19) For being so patient with me these last two weeks when I've been frazzled and exhausted.

20) For telling me you appreciate me and you know how tough these past two weeks have been.

21) For being a great patient through all of this.

22) For letting me vent (often).

23) For learning that I just need to vent and not for you to "fix it" (we're getting better)

24) For encouraging me to do things I'd never do otherwise. (some good, some not so good! :))

25) For feeding the Stinker better meals than I do.

26) For being the household food Nazi.

27) For not getting upset with me when I tell the story about the world's worst gift for the 100th time.

28) For making up for that one gift ten-fold!

29) For always making me feel that I can be myself - the good, the bad, and the downright UGLY!

30) For teaching me to love watching Sunday football.

31) For always wanting to learn something new.

32) For being someone that I know I can trust explicitly.

33) For telling me (on a regular basis) that if you saw me in a room filled with women you'd pick me every time.

34) For helping me create the most beautiful and amazing little person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.