Baby Pictures!!!

We went today to do the 4D ultrasounds and get some more pictures of our baby. Oh my gosh, it was awesome and we got some great pictures, we also further confirmed that she just might be as stubborn as her mother. I think that is what my mom refers to as revenge but whatever, she is cute. They also estimated my due date to be 2 weeks early then the one I have been going with throughout the pregnancy so instead of February 22nd, they are thinking based on her size and development it will be February 9th. Oy vey, I our nursery is full of 6ft tables, card tables, folding chairs and other items from all the holiday parties. I better get on it! I have all of January to figure it out but I have been much more exhausted than normal so this should definitly be interesting, that is normal though right?? Well anyways... on to the pictures!!!



Also, very exciting in an "I get to make bows!! " sort of way, they checked and she does have hair at this point. I didn't even know you could find this out on an ultrasound until my mom asked, of course, leave it to the hairdresser to inquire about the hair status of the baby lol. I tell you what, I would not have thought to ask though.

Hope you had a Merry Holiday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, I sure did but there was soooooo much to do! I have to say it was the busiest holiday season that I have ever had and the baby is not even here yet so I can only imagine how it will be next year with a baby too! Here is a picture from Christmas eve with hubby and after that is the picture from our holiday card this year.

Holiday Cards

I made these for one of the girls at work and she gave me the picture (which is an adorable idea by the way right?!) and requested "season's greetings" because she would be sending to people who celebrate various holidays and otherwise let me do whatever I wanted- which is fun and challenging at the same time. What I did was make a matte for the picture on my Cricut with the Winter Woodland cartridge and I also used it to cut the phrase "season's greeting" for these cards as well. The snowflakes I used a couple of different punches for so that I could make them while the Cricut was doing the rest of the work. To finish them off I used some stamps (I am dabbling with those clear stamps that you can interchange on the acrylic blocks- have any of you tried those, all I need is a new addiction lol!) to add who their were from and then embossed that with a white glittery embossing powder- I am pretty happy with the way they came out and so is Heather. The best part though is when my she had told her boyfriend originally that she was going to have me make their holiday cards, he wasn't sold on the idea, I am thinking he was imagining I was going to create something with paste and crayons because we work at a preschool lol but he ended up being just has happy as she was which I thought was awesome!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!!!

Holiday Decorations

I have been meaning to post these for a week but I have been SWAMPED with work and school and trying to keep up on the house while having half the energy. I still can't believe that this belly is not even full size yet! But as long as she is healthy, it is alllllll good (oh and the midwife said I only gained 2 POUNDS last month, sorry I have told anyone who will listen, even the lady at the car dealership where we got our new cars lol). But on to my decorations, I still need to get a picture of the lights at night so that is on the to do list, but here is the rest.

There is my mantle with the candle holder that I took the candles out of to add ornaments, with our stockings and the hannukiah I made for Hannukah.


And this is where I hang all my holiday cards in the front room, I have been lagging about adding a bunch that we got the last couple of days so after today that will be twice as full.



We have this huge pine tree outside that I hang ornaments in the bottom of and it always looks festive but the grass underneath is on a hill and hubby wouldn't let me do too much this year because of being prego.


Here is our Island of the Misfit Toys ornament on our tree that symoblizes all our misfits in our home (meaning our rescue animals, my mom gave our house this name because we can't say no to a sad story and a cute face)



This is our other favorite ornament on our tree, this is hubby's very first ornament from a couple of years ago, he picked it out.


My snowflake window, it is as close to snow as I will get this- or any- year living in So. Cal.



And here is Scott's tree that he decorated, I have yet to get a picture of our tree that I like, hopefully soon.


So hopefully I will do much better with the blogging for a couple of months, my midwife wrote me out of work until April after I have the baby so maybe now I will have a couple of minutes in the morning to get my thoughts out. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Snow Candles

I was flipping through the Martha Stewart magazine while waiting for my precious Duncan to be done at the vet the other day and saw a cute craft that looked like it could be done with minimal materials. Of course, I found the idea as they were calling my name so I only caught a glimpse of it and here is what I did with the snapshot that was left in my brain...

First I gathered some candles, I picked 8 short ones and one tall one because in the end I used them to create a hannukiah (menorah for Hannukah) for my mantle for the Hannukah Party I had over the weekend. I also grabbed trusty Mod Podge, a brush and some Kosher salt (I kind of chuckled kosher salt/hannukah get it? at least I make myself laugh lol).

First I painted the Mod Podge up the sides of the candles:



Then I poured my Kosher salt into a box lid from my craft area so it would be easy to roll them for full coverage:



Then roll the candle through the salt a couple of times:


Let dry completely- preferably where no wagging dog tails can take off the salt, just a little tip from me to you =)

Hannukah Party

We had the Hannukah party for dh's family last night and I have to say that it went pretty well, this is a much less formal holiday celebration so I almost felt like I wasn't doing enough. But the house was clean and I had put some thought into the decorations so I am hoping everyone had a good time. Now, on to the pictures, I took only a couple hundred... can you tell I like the new camera?

There were latkes and other goodies to eat (and my mother-in-law oh so kindly made hubby and I some vegan ones).



Then there were presents for the kids, the presents in the plastic bags are expertly wrapped by my brother-in-law....

And Baby Barbour got a couple of presents too from my brother and sister in law, special thanks to Sasha for holding them for the picture lol:
And the adults did a gift exchange, I ended up with a zebra print snuggie, awesome! (it is one of those things I wouldn't buy for myself but I will for sure use).

Then we lit the candles:
And then there was dessert and schmoozing and a couple of cute pictures of hubby and I and the beach ball I am carrying in my belly lol.

Snowflake Window Decorations

This is the third time I have tried this and I think I finally figured it out and am happy with how it turned out, I have been making various stencils and using the canned snow to make a design on my sliding glass window. First I used doilies but the edges didn't work to well and they were a little expensive because you could only use them once each time. Then I went old school making the paper snowflakes elementary school style with folded pieces of circle paper that I cut designs into, but that took forever and still didn't give me a look I was happy with. Then, a woman I work with asked me to make her holiday cards for her this weekend and since I had planned on making mine as well to send out on Monday AND cricut cartridges were on sale for $39.99 (usually 89.99) I got the Winter Woodland cartridge to use for both. This gave me the opportunity to use the snowflakes that were on the cartridge to make my stencils using some thicker card stock that I could get at least a couple of uses out of, so here is how I did that:

First I made my stencils, I used more than these pictured, I think about 8 for one side of the sliding glass door. I made some with large snowflakes and some with a few in varying sizes so that it would all come out a little more random.


Then I taped one of them up on the window.


I sprayed it with the canned snow.


And carefully removed the stencil.


When you are reusing it, for the bigger ones you can just move it, re-tape it and spray it again. For the smaller ones, move it, re-tape it and then pat it with a paper towel without wiping it and then spray again. If you try to wipe it without it being on the window you will get the snow on the clean, backside of the stencil and it will get all over the window.

I plan on doing this to my front window as well, but with how many times it took me to get it to where I liked it, I am glad I didn't start there, this way I can keep my mess ups to myself lol.

New Toy!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sooooooooo excited!!!! Hubby and I got a new toy that I have been wanting for what seems like ever, a Canon Rebel T1I and it even came with two lenses, a carrying case and 4GB memory card. Costco is the best, I had seen it online and wanted it but when I was picking up the pictures for my holiday cards and my contacts I thought I would check the camera section just in case they had it and then I could get it without the wait of shipping. Well they did and even better, it was CHEAPER than it was online, by $50! That is a good day, I got the camera and got to take it home that day AND saved some money, I am a happy camper. Now hubby just has to teach me how to use it, he has a few Canons but they are from when he did photography in high school and used and developed actual film. He doesn't get all the digital stuff yet but he understands more about shutter speeds and f-stops than I do at this time, and how to switch lens and take general care of a camera this involved- also something I am nervous about and just learning. I have however already played with it and took some pictures and I am hooked already. I am still going to carry my other cameras in my purse for every day use because they work great for that, and at this point I couldn't leave the house without a camera, but this new camera will be so much fun to use at at special trips, events and pictures around the house.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!!

Oy, things have been so very busy lately with Thanksgiving, my birthday this last weekend and school and this weekend is the big Hannukah part for hubbies family and I don't even know what I need to do lol. I thought that I would look for some holiday decorating ideas for that and Christmas and post the links here just in case anyone else was interested, click on the pictures and it will take you to the directions.


First I found this pine cone tree idea (country living), I was thinking it would be a great way to use up all the many, many pine cones I have from our two large pine trees and the base I could pick up at the dollar store.


This idea (country living) reminds me of a much fancier version of an ornament me and my mom used to make for our tree when I was little, and it smelled soooooo good.


This idea (country living) I have never seen before and I thought it was very cute and something children and adults would get a kick out of.


I thought this idea (from hgtv) was great, but I don't have a chandelier in this house, in San Diego ceiling fans win out lol.


These (hgtv) are adorable and I am sure my dogs would love for me to make some candy trees but I don't need any extra vet trips.


This bird bath idea (better homes and gardens) is beautiful but, um, nothing freezes where I live.

I could look for ideas forever but I am sure that will give me enough on my to do list to keep me going for a few more days lol- I hope some of these links will help you all out too!