{happy birthday sarah}

My little sister Sarah is not so little anymore

She's almost as tall as me, she is starting to get her own style, She plays a mean guitar, She knows good music..

& today she turns 14!

Its been so fun watching you grow into the beautiful young woman you are today!
It seems the older you get, the closer you & I get, & i love that!
You are the best sister anyone could ask for :)
Love you to pieces Sarah!
Happy 14th Birthday!
xoxo

{old wax new wick}

ya.

I went there :)

ok now that i'm done trying to be cool, 

I would like to show you what to do with that annoying leftover wax around the edges of your yummy smelling expensive candles.  

You know what i'm talking about right?  

the wick is burned all the way down, but there is a TON of useful wax left on the sides of the container. 

What can you do with this leftover wax? 

Well, when life hands you wax, make a candle!

{ok ok i'll stop trying to be cool}

This is what I do :)

You know those big bags of 200+ tea light candles they sell at IKEA for like $2? 

We buy so many bags of them and always have them on hand.

They're great... but.. they don't smell nice

Actually they don't have a smell at all! 

so i like to spruce them up : )

I take a candle, remove it from the little metal round container, then remove the wick.

I remove the wick by using a lighter to melt the wax on the bottom so it easily slides out. 

place the wick back into the original container

Get a flame going in your yummy smelling candle container to begin melting the wax, move the container sideways so the flame hits right on the wax and melts it.

 pour the melted wax into the empty tea light container 

{use a towel or oven mitt to protect your hand from burns!} 

Let your new little candles sit & harden.

I got 6 little tea lights out of left over wax

Once they are fully hardened, 

You can enjoy many more hours of your expensive yummy smelling candle, in new little candles you can spread all over your home :) 

Happy Saturday! 

{4 years}

On Friday {March 8th}, William & I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary 

I cant believe how fast time flies! 

This year, to celebrate, we left Giuliana with my in laws ..OVER NIGHT. 

We have never done this. I have never been away from giuliana for longer than 3 hours at a time!

When we dropped her off, I cried as we walked out the door... I was sad i had to leave her,

 But i was so excited to have some much needed time with my husband.  

After dropping her off, we went home, got dressed up in our sunday best, & headed out towards scottsdale.

We walked around the Kierland commons for a while, people watching & talking. 

Then went to dinner at Maestros Ocean Club, one of our favorite places for special occasions. 

We ordered WAY too much food, laughed a little too loudly, & all in all just had a great time! 

at the end of dinner, our waiter brought out a yummy warm celebratory butter cake. 

But we were stuffed!

So we took that butter cake home & ate it in bed while we watched Harry Potter :) 

Maybe that sounds strange to you, but for Willy & I,  it was a perfect ending to a perfect day. 

It really was the best day ever! I didn't realize how much i missed my husband. 

It's crazy how, once you have kids, you have so little time for each other. 

This day together reminded us of how much we Love & miss one another, & how important it is to strive to cherish every moment that we do get together.

I Love you William, so very much, & I cannot wait to see what the next 4, 10, 20, 50+ years have to offer. You are the most amazing person i have ever met, & I am so happy to spend my life with you.

Here's to many more years! 

xoxo

& Happy Sunday :) 

{Sick baby, Sad mama}

I have been a bad blogger

a bad bad blogger 

My last post was over a month ago

& before that, a month gap again!

Truth is, i just haven't really had anything to write about. 

I haven't really been working on any projects, &

The past few months have brought on a whirlwind of changes for our family

but the changes are not really things to blog about, so..., you see my dilemma :) 

But anyways, I am back, & i am going to try to post at least once a  week... at least thats the plan :)

on my first post back, i will just start with reviewing the last couple of weeks.

Our house was plagued by the cold/flu bug that was going around.

First my husband got it, then i got it, & then our sweet little Girl got it. 

After her cold cleared up, she suddenly just wanted to lay around all day.... which is SO not like her.

Then she woke up with a Temp of 103.5.. not good.

She kept the high fever for 3 days. 

Her Dr. said she had an ear infection & an upper respitory infection, poor girl! 

This is the first time GIuliana has really been sick, so naturally, we were freaking out! 

I've spent the last 3 days trying to keep her fever down & keep her comfortable & hydrated. 

Today is day 4, & after 3 days of lots of rest,  cool showers, ice munching, & antibiotics, she seems to be feeling so much better! She actually walked around smiling & playing today, which she has not done for 3 days. 

Its nice to see her finally acting like herself. These last few days have been so hard to watch,
just look at her sad little face

{Doesn't this just break your heart?}

Well, Stay healthy everyone! :) 

Happy wednesday! 

{Sensory play}

Our sweet little Giuliana is now 13months old

Where has time gone?!

She is no longer a baby & no longer enjoys baby things. 

A baby jumper no longer does the trick ;) 

We actually have to get creative now, trying to find activities that she can manage & learn from. 

Its been a blast watching her learn & develop! 

I have been doing a lot of sensory play with her the past couple of months, & she absolutely LOVES it!! 

It's her favorite activity during the day

She knows where i keep all of the supplies, & sometimes i catch her digging around trying to get the supplies out! 

Sensory play, i feel, is very important! It helps your babe learn about their surroundings, how different things feel, how they taste, how they smell.. 

I like to use items that are not harmful, such as millet, water, rice & home made playdoh.

also, i ALWAYS stay right by her or close by as she participates in these activities, 

Here are some of the activities we do: 

1. Millet

Always lay a mat down, things WILL get messy, & it makes clean up afterwards so much easier 

Fill your choice container with your millet {I use a casserole dish}

Put random items in, shapes,  toys, bowls, scoops

Let baby play & explore! 

2. Water

i like to fill a casserole dish half way with water

put in some random toys 

i give her a spatula too! 

she loves to splash around & poor the water on the toys

3. Rice

again, mat, casserole dish

Fill dish with rice & toys & scoops.

Some times i put a mini muffin tin off to the side & she scoops the rice into the little holes :) 

Giuiana loves the way the millet & rice feel on her skin, she likes to put her foot in the casserole dish & sprinkle a little millet or rice on her foot. Its so cute! 

4. Play doh

We just recently started to use play doh in sensory play. 

I like ot make my own playdoh because then i know exactly what is in it

I flatten it out & let her press her shapes into it {1st image}

or tear it up & let her figure out how to squish it together {2nd image} 

She Looooves to squish & play with play doh! 

It has been a lot of fun watching her learn about all of these different things. 

She has figured out that dry rice & millet don't taste very good. 

She has figured out that if you splash the water, you WILL get wet.

She has figured out that Play doh is NASTY tasting

It's funny watching her battle her natural instinct to put things in her mouth

she'll hold it up to her mouth, & its like she suddenly remembers "oh wait, this is gross" & she puts it down haha 

She's growing & learning so fast, I can barely keep up! 

Happy Friday!