Roly-poly, Pell-mell, Tumble-bumble

As I mentioned in Monday's post, the kids had the day off of school.  We went to "the farm", met daddy for lunch and then went to a park that we hadn't been to in a while (and wrapped the fun up with a stop for gelato, of course).  Instead of playing on the playground, the kids spent at least 45 minutes running up and down this sledding hill.  

 It was a blast to watch them.
There's something inspiring about watching children playing and running and rolling (in this case).  They are so carefree.  So full of energy and life.  I sat and tried to imprint that time in my mind.  The giggles, the breeze, the smell of the grass...

 

Oh how I love times like these with my amazing little creatures. 

 

And they delight in it too.  

Because kids feel most loved when you spend time with them-uninterrupted.

Even if it means just sitting on top of a hill watching them "roly-poly, pell-mell, tumble-bumble till they come to the green grass and stop short." 

(Poky the Little Puppy reference).

 

On Wednesday, I found this half sheet of paper on  the kitchen counter.  My daughter spent some time writing Bible verses and it really blessed me; especially the verses that she chose!  All three are amazing reminders.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

What Happens When I'm Messed With

Tuesday morning I was on my way to a conference when I realized that I forgot to put deodorant on.  If you watched my "we're all weird" video, you know that my left armpit has a mind of it's own and definitely won't make it through the day without being anti-persperized.
I know.  A little bit too much information but whatevs.  You're weird too.
I arrived at Target a few minutes before they opened and did the old "watch to see another early bird walk in before I get out and wait by the door."
It was 7:59 and a woman and her daughter walked in (through a side door I'm guessing was left open for employees to enter?).
I proceeded to the door. 
A young Target employee greeted me and said, "we're not open yet."
I said, "what time do you open?"
She said, "8am."
I held up my phone with the clock that said 8:01.  "It's 8:01", I said. You know those cell phone clocks are right because they're controlled by some crazy Russian satellite.

She then glanced inside the store.  "We still have about 30 seconds."
Then she went back inside leaving me standing like a moron by a now re-locked sliding glass door.

Uhhhhhhhh.  Ok.   Facebook status update on phone that now says 8:02 "At target girl unlocks doors then tells me I can't come in. "We don't open for another 30 seconds." Seriously?"

That will teach her to mess with me.

She probably spent that time laughing with a friend that she told some sucker outside that she had to wait 30 seconds.

33 seconds later.  She comes back and unlocks the doors.  It was really hard for me to not give her a look or say something snarky.  The lyrics from the song by Bette Midler "From a Distance"  kept echoing in my mind, "God is watching us, God is watching us!"  Not really but that chorus has been stuck in my brain for some odd reason lately.

The only lesson to be learned is people are funny.  The girl was taking her job very seriously and I can appreciate that.

AND I just thought it was a funny story that might amuse you.

Another weird thing that happened that day was on the way home from Bible study.
A car full of teenage boys was trying to get my attention. 
I turned and made this face at them.

Don't mess with me teenage boys or Target girls.  Don't mess with me.

Just another day at the farm... and giveaway winner!

The kids are off of school today and tomorrow.  The big question is always, "what to do?"  on days off.  Thankfully, they're still at the stage of childhood where mostly anything is fun.    

We have a really, really neat working farm only 20 minutes away.  It's a farm run like it was in the late 1800's.  They have a original 1800's house, a big barn, animals and even people dressed the part.  And the best part is, it's FREE.

I told them we needed to wear our bandannas.

 I love the windmill!

 Oh Bessy...

 Piggies.  They were fighting over their food like... well, pigs.

 Hank the horse.  This guy is huge!

 

Like I said, I loved the windmill ;)

Shut the barn door!  Half of it anyway...

My affectionate miss.

They ran everywhere.  It's getting hard for me to keep up.

 Love my girls hair against the radiant blue sky...

 Wow.  My littlest is taking full advantage of being in the woods.  I didn't see him when I took the picture so you can imagine my chuckle when I was looking through these (look to the right.  My husband still didn't catch it even after reading prior sentence)!

And the winner of the huge-mongous giveaway is:

Congrats!
Thanks so much to all the participants!

Insta-Friday - "Everybody's Got the Fever"

InstaFriday is not very exciting over here at Sweet Floweret this week!

2 weeks of sickness just finished it's rampage through our home.  Every member of our family caught the bug.
Crazy high fevers, coughs, exhaustion...  Wow.  That was so not fun.
Our theme song of the week was "Fever".  The Michael Buble version.

"Ev'rybody's got the fever
That is something you all know
Fever isn't such a new thing
Fever started long ago"

We polished off a bottle and a half of children's ibuprofen, one bottle of cough medicine, a small jar of vicks vapor rub, and I popped so many ibuprofen gel tabs I lost count.  I woke up each morning feeling like I got hit by a truck.
Thank God for ibuprofen.
Those little plastic cups that measure the medicine dosage were all over the house.  After a couple days, I stopped caring about washing them out after dosing my kids up.

 

I told you how I like taking pics of my sick kids ;)

My little girl had 103 temps for 3 days.  She found a spot on the living room floor to take a nap and slept.  and slept. and slept for about 3 hours before moving to her bed.

Things are looking up.  My husband told me last night that he was taking today off since he has to work some this weekend.  Then he told me that he was taking my youngest out so I had the morning free.   My mind translated that to "go shopping and buy yourself something nice."  So I did :)

Kohl's-Elle Brand shirt and Lauren Conrad earrings

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!

Sweet Baby Skirt and Matching Onesie Tutorial

Have a baby girl or need a gift for a shower?
This skirt and matching onesie set is so very easy to make and took me less than an hour. 
Doesn't hurt that it's super cute :)
Even a novice sewer can whip this up in no time.

I looked up skirt tutorials online for babies and most were adorable but looked a little too complicated for my one hour time limit (yes, I waited till the 11th hour to come up with a gift for my friends baby!).

Last fall, I made myself and my daughter this skirt.  Here's the website with the tutorial I used for it.

I adjusted the measurements to a 3-6 month baby.  :)  And I made it completely different.  Other than that, it's about the same.  Ha.

I almost wanted it to have a tutu look to it, so it's pretty short, but I don't think that 3 month old's care very much about modesty. 

Without further ado... The tutorial.

 (The lace is is optional.  If you don't have it, you can just fold the fabric over 1/4" and sew the edge).

 Cute skirt.  Done. 

Onesie.  I don't have any pics but the process is very, very, very, very simple. And everyone said?  Very.
*Cut a cute flower or pattern from the fabric that you used for your skirt (hint:  don't cut it perfectly yet.  Leave an inch or so around the actual flower/pattern piece that you want to use).
*Cut a piece of heat and bond approx the same size as the fabric piece.
*Iron the fabric to the paper-less side of the heat and bond.
*Carefully trim the edges around the flower or pattern.
*Peel the paper off the back and iron on to the onesie.
Here' the tutorial I made aaaages ago on how to use heat and bond for a onesie.

 I made the matching flower headband with a scrap of fabric. 
I tried to find a tutorial for it to share but maybe I'll post my own later this week :)  If you want...

PS:  the fabric I used for the skirt is from Heather Bailey's Pop Garden line.  

Do you have any questions?   Was anything not clear?  Please email me and let me know.  I'd love to help you.
Thanks!

Huge Anniversary Celebration Group Giveaway! Over $300 in Goodies!

Happy Monday, everyone.  I'm soooo very excited to show you all of the goodies that are up for grabs in this amazing group giveaway.  Why a group giveaway?  I'm celebrating one year of my first sale  on Etsy (after almost giving up, I'm up to 172 sales!  woohoo!) as well as my 2 year blog anniversary!  Good times.  Good times.

When you're a company of -one- you've gotta find ways to keep yourself pumped... right?  right.

 The ladies involved in this giveaway are an amazing and eccentric group and I hope that you'll take a moment to browse through their blogs, shops and FB pages to see what they're all about!  I'm so blessed by them and I'm sure you will be as well.

As far as the giveaway, the winner takes all!  It's so easy to enter... Follow the instructions at the end of this post.  A few clicks, and you're in!

Without further ado, the amazing prizes up for grabs...

Chevron Tote by Kindra from Garden of Eden Goods - Value $55

Blog   |   Facebook  |  Shop

Choice of Original Art by Tiffany of Grace for Grace - 

Up to $28 Value

Facebook   |   Twitter   |   Shop

 Necklace of Choice by Nicole of Miss Mommy - Up to $28 Value

Blog   |   Facebook   |  Twitter  |  Shop

 H2Go Aluminum Bottle from Laura of Our Reflection - Value $15

Blog   |   Facebook   |  Twitter

Pedicure Set including bath salts, sugar scrub, lip butter and pumice stone from Laura of the Lemon Dahlia - Value $20

Blog   |   Facebook     |  Shop

 Framed Art by Angie Tomato Tomahto - Value $25

Etsy   |   Facebook

Custom Embroidered Pillow Case by 

Hayley of Hayley's World- Value $20

Blog   |  Facebook  |  Twitter

 Starbucks Gift Card from Lina of Living With Power- Value $50

Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter

 Modern Typography Stationary Set by Vicki of 

Curly Willow Collections -Value $20

Blog  |   Shop   |  Facebook  |  Twitter

 Print of Choice from Jackie of Willow of Wonder - 

Value up to $20

Blog  |  Shop  |  Facebook  |  Twitter

Headband of Choice from Christy of Noelle Grace Designs- 

Up to $15 Value

Facebook   |   Pinterest

You can earn up to 40 entries below!  
 It is a mandatory entry that you are a follower of my blog via Google Friends Connect (on right side bar).  I am asking that you choose at LEAST one method of following my friends (if not all for more entries!).

The giveaway closes at 12AM Monday, April 24th.  After checking the entries, a winner will be announced on my blog Tuesday!  The winner will also receive an email.

 Like I said, this Rafflecopter widget makes it really quick and easy.  Thanks so much for coming over today.  
And "may the odds be ever in your favor."  
-Sorry, couldn't resist myself.-

Insta Friday! The intruder, the goose and the moon

I love insta friday because it's a display of random pictures taken with your phone.  It's a peek inside the norm of the everyday. 

Healthy? It can't be! 3 delicious food finds...

Hi friends!
I hope you're having a wonderful week.  My 3yo is getting better after spiking super high fevers the last few days.  I actually went out in public today for the first time since Monday. 
If you know me at all, you can imagine how stir crazy I was.  But oh so thankful for being able to be home to take care of my little man.  Why are they so cute when they're sick?  Even with the snot... The droopy eyes and desire to cuddle makes my sick kids irresistible to me (other sick kids with runny noses, not so much).  We always take pictures of them when they're sick too.  Are we the only ones?

Any hooway.

I don't know about you, but I'm always on the search for food that is good for me but that tastes good too.  Not an easy task to be sure.
However, I did stumble upon these three foods and thought I'd share them with you.  Because if you were eating pure deliciousness and it was healthy, I would want you to share it with me.
That's how I roll.

1.  Dark Chocolate Almond Milk.  This is heavenly.  The brand is 'Silk' and if I were drinking brown silk that's what I would dream of it tasting like.  (Actually, putting fabric in your mouth of any kind is kind of gross and would likely make you gag). 
 The liquid silk is fine.  Here's their brag: 

• 50% more calcium than dairy milk*
• 120 scrumptious calories per serving
• Excellent source of antioxidant vitamins C and E
• Absolutely no saturated fat or cholesterol
• 100% free of lactose dairy

So there you go.  Just don't drink the whole container in one big gulp.

2.  Better Oats Instant Oatmeal with Flax Seeds.   At my store, they're 2 boxes for $3.  That makes each serving just about .30 each.  They're less than 160 calories depending on the flavor you choose.  They're made with whole grains and are a good source of Omega-3's!  I just finished a box that was blueberry muffin flavor.   Yum.  I like that you don't even have to pull your measuring cup out for water.  You tear open the package, pour the oats in a bowl, and use the empty pouch to measure the water.  

3.  Champagne Mangos.  I've talked about these on FB.  They are soooo fabulous.  80 calories and crazy amounts of vitamin C.  I've been having them for dessert lately.  They taste different than regular mangoes.  They even have their own website.  So if you want to read more, click here.

PS:  If you eat the mango right out of the skin like an animal, it leaves your lips yellow.  I looked like Ronald McDonald the other day (with yellow instead of red).  I freaked my brother in law out to be sure. And myself when I looked in the mirror.


Have any great, healthy foods that you're family has been enjoying?  Please share.  I need some more options.

Office/Sewing Room Redo Ideas!

I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to paint/reconfigure the sewing room/office.

I'm also trying to convince my husband that his Braveheart sword replica and autographed picture of William Wallace (Mel Gibson as William Wallace) won't fit into the scheme of the new room.  They're going to need to make their way into the basement somehow...  This is going to be tricky...  Do your husbands have weird things they insist on leaving out because they think they're cool? I guess I don't doubt the guy coolness factor, just not in my future girly sewing/office!

We currently have THREE desks (one for sewing, one for my mac, one for hubs PC).  When I sew or have a project, I have to haul my stuff to cut into the dining room.

(1)  (2)  (3)

So I know that I want to turn the closet into an office of sorts.  I really like the first one because it seems the most realistic in terms of what we can actually do.  The second one is beautiful but I'm not wallpapering or hanging a chandelier.  The third.  Wow.  My husband could probably actually do it.  But it would take a while (not to mention expensive)...  I really love all of the little touches.  Especially the cubbies, the hanging pendant light and the cushioned seat.

(1) (2) (3) (4)

I tend to wear navy and grey-A LOT.  I can't help but being drawn to those two colors.  I also like that you can add a splash of pretty much any other bright color to that combo and it looks good.    SO I thought why not paint my room in those colors?  I was thinking of painting the closet a navy chevron.   I was going to do navy, gray and touches of yellow, but I have a green desk.

I think the combination of these colors is so fresh, bright and preppy!

said green desk

Love chevron.  Too trendy? (1) (2) (3) (4)

1.  I love the yellow!  I may have to do somewhere else.  Maybe our bathroom...

2.  Isn't the navy chevron so cool?

3.  Like the gray too.  If I don't do it in the office closet, maybe one of the large walls...  My husband will love that :/

4.  I really really like how the antique armoire was transformed.  So cool.

(1)

I also really like this color with the green shelving which is the same color as my desk.  What do you think? 

If it weren't for pinterest giving me so many ideas, the room would probably be done by now ;) 

Follow me on pinterest to see all these pics and their sources more easily.