Happy Anniversary

Today I celebrate 5 wonderful years of marriage to my sweet, sweet Hubby! He works so hard to provide for our family and works every day to better himself through work and education. I picked a good one!

 

It's hard to believe 8 years have gone by since we first met.

 

Our wedding was a beautiful day....

 

So much has happened since then...

 

 

We've welcomed our gorgeous daughter into the world in 2010.

 

He managed to survive one more pregnancy... (although sometimes I thought I might not)

 

And we now have our beautiful baby boy.

The perfect family.

 

I am so blessed to call these three my family and watch them grow in love each day.

I'm thankful for all my husband has given me in 5 years and look forward to many, many more together.

The Water Sling

During the Becoming Mommy series here at Grits & Giggles, I shared my tutorial for making your very own Ring Sling to carry your infant or toddler comfortably, hands free!

 

As we prepared to go to the beach a few weeks ago, I decided that keeping up with a toddler with an infant in tow would be a little challenging without some extra hands. As much as I LOVE my linen sling, I knew it would get heavy in the water and probably be uncomfortable for me and my tiny human.

 

So...I created the Water Sling!!

 

The water sling is made just like the regular ring sling, but is made out of Lycra/Spandex material. It's still very durable, doesn't hold water, and is super comfortable to wear.

I did use a stretch stitch on my machine to allow the seams to pull and stretch more without the thread breaking.

 

Because it does contain sooooo much stretch, you do have to adjust the sling to be extra tight on your little one, but my tiny human looks super comfortable being that close to mommy.

 

I got to spend the day at the beach playing with (and chasing) my baby girl without worrying about needing extra hands, or dragging around a wet and heavy baby carrier.

 

It was perfection.

It will be even more fun this summer in the POOL as baby girl learns how to swim! I can keep baby boy close to me, and keep both hands on my little swimmer.

Homemade Pizza Bites

The new kid-friendly favorite at our house is Pizza Bites!!  These pizza bites are super-easy to make, great for the kids to help, and can be made sooo many ways.

Ingredients:

 

1 large can pre-made biscuit dough.

Mozzarella Cheese

Pepperoni (or other fillings)

 

for topping:

Butter (or oil)

Parsley

Garlic Powder

 

 

To assemble, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Chop up your pepperonis, or other fillings. Other meats or veggies would be a fun variation.

Open your package of biscuits and remove one. Using a knife or your fingers, separate the biscuit dough around the center, making two thinner circles.

Flatten out the circle, spreading out the dough. Place some chopped fillings, and some cheese in the center of the circle.

 

Make sure you leave room at the edges for folding.

Begin folding the edges into the center, keeping the fillings in the middle.

Fold until the filling is completely enclosed in the dough.

Flip your little package over and place in a lightly greased baking dish.

Mix some butter, parsley, and garlic powder together and brush the tops before baking.

 

Bake until the tops of the pizza bites are golden brown. Mine took around 17 minutes.

Serve them up with some dipping sauce, and watch them quickly disappear!!

 

Easy Microwave Cleaning {Tutorial}

To go along with my spring cleaning and reorganizing extravaganza, I needed to do a little more cleaning in my kitchen. I realized that my microwave and other appliances needed some serious love, but the idea of cleaning stuck and burnt-on food off of the inside did not sound appealing. My normal cleaners were too harsh smelling, but I didn't want to scrub for hours. So I decided to use some steam.

The results made me very very happy!

No matter how well you cover your food in the microwave, explosions will happen. In a perfect world, we would wipe them out immediately. But when we're using the microwave, it's not usually because we have extra time on our hands...so it gets, and stays, dirty.

ewwww....

 

Oh my....

 

So to make it sparkle, I made a little solution:

1 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Vinegar

Microwave for 7-10 minutes (depending on how gross your microwave is)

 

The steam will lift the grime right off. Just wipe it clean!

 

 

I used the leftover vinegar water to wipe down the rest of my kitchen too to make it sparkling clean.

Just make sure you let the water cool a little bit first!

Happy Cleaning

Buy One, Get One

FREE

 

Yes... for the next 24 hours, Grits & Giggles sewing patterns are Buy 1, Get 1 free!

 

Pick up the new Lindsay Reverse Knot Dress pattern for your little girl!

 

 

The sale/celebration is for two reasons:

 

The Etsy shop now offers INSTANT downloads of patterns. I want to see how well it works, and the best way to know is to hear from customers.

 

Second, my next sale will be my 100th sale on Etsy! For a tiny little shop, this is exciting for me!

 

So for the next 24 hours, buy one pattern for instant download, and in the Message to Seller, tell me which other pattern you want for FREE! I'll e-mail you the second pattern to your Etsy e-mail address.

 

This offer will end at 8:00pm eastern time on Saturday night.

 

Thanks to all of my fabulous readers for making blogging and sewing so  much fun!

 

Click Here to go to the shop.

Gotta Love Genetics....

When babies are born, usually the first thing the new parents are asked is "Who does he/she look like?" If we're all being honest, most babies look like a squished up pink blob of human, but they're all beautiful in their own way. Once they do start to take on their own facial shapes and colorings, it's fun to see who they actually DO look like.

 

 When Goldilocks was tiny, I always saw Hubby when I looked at her. As she has gotten older, we dare anyone to deny that she is my carbon copy. Thankfully she did get her Daddy's eyelashes...good luck saying no to those if they're batting at you!

 

Baby boy is a little more of a mystery...then we went digging for pictures.

 

I took this picture of my beautiful babies a couple of weeks ago.

 

After staring at it for a while, I thought it looked familiar. Hubby and I went to my grandmother's house to dig through some pictures...

 

And we found this little beauty from 1988. Oh the horrible primary colors...

 

Wardrobe issues aside, we agreed that there was no denying who our babies look like right now!

 

 

To save you from scrolling...here's a little side-by-side.

 

I love genetics (although we weren't quite friends in college. That class is hard people!!)

 

Curly blond hair and light colored eyes for my baby girl. I want baby boy's hair to turn auburn soooo bad like my baby brother's. It's such a pretty color. We'll wait and see once he actually grows some hair what color it will be! Hubby has lots of red in his hair and beard, so we're still holding out hope that baby boy gets his coloring.

 

 

25 years  later, I still love this "little" guy. Baby brother might be a foot taller than me, but he'll always be my little bro!

 

 

I hope both of my babies can have the relationship that Adam and I have. There's a lot of love in this family! With Hubby and Kaileigh in the mix, we both got a new brother and sister to love too!

Loving Springtime

It's  spring!! While we're still having some chilly days and nights, the afternoons are getting warmer and perfect for taking babies outside to play.

 

Here's a little dump of some of my favorite springtime cell phone pictures...

 

Whether I'm cleaning or playing outside, babywearing is my favorite way to tote around my tiniest human. He falls right to sleep whether he's in his ring sling, or wrapped tight tied to Mama. This was his first time on my back. It seems backwards, but its so much easier to get a baby tied to my back, rather than in front.

 

As my baby girl becomes more of a "big girl", we get to experiment with more grown up styles! She loves pigtails, and actually sat still enough for me to throw some French braids in there! It stayed nice and  neat, and she loved having a cool hairstyle.

 

Springtime also means BASEBALL! I'm not a huge baseball fan, but it's worth watching a few games to see Goldilocks jumping and cheering. She loves sports so going to games is so fun for her! She looks like a doll in a sea of orange at a Clemson game.

 

I loved getting to celebrate Mother's Day with BOTH of my babies! They are my world, and I love spending my days with them. Baby boy was baptized on Mother's Day, so he's dressed as a real southern gentleman...seersucker bowtie and all.

 

We've busted out the sidewalk chalk, so it's time for some seriously colorful masterpieces on the back patio. The backyard is the perfect place for art, gardening, sports, and digging in the dirt. Everything's more fun with a 2 year old involved!

 

 

Some days, it's just as fun to have a pajama day. Onesies an PJs for everyone, cool and comfy. Definitely one of the perks of being a stay at home mommy to my beautiful and happy children!

 

The weeks to come this summer are going to be filled with fun, learning, trips, baking, playing, lazy days and awesomeness. Just as they should be.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to those ladies who give their whole heart to their children, day in and day out! Not all mothers have children of their own.

Some fill a special place in the life of a person who needs it!

 

Today I'm especially thankful for my Mama. She is the kindest, most good-hearted, most loving person I've ever known.

 

If I can be half of the mama to my two babies as she has been to my brother and me, then my babies will be just fine.

She is what a mother should be, to her own children, and to those around her.

The babies are lucky to have their Nana who loves them more than they will ever know!

 

 

Today I am also thankful for the two babies who made me a Mommy. They fill my life with joy, laughter, and excitement.

 

Goldilocks makes me laugh harder than anyone I know. She is my little firecracker, and her love of life always makes me smile.

 

Her love for her brother makes me smile even more. She is quite a "little mama" to him, and he's lucky to have her.

 

This little boy melts my heart with his gummy grin and cuddly personality.

He loves to be held and snuggled, and I could spend every waking hour doing it too!

 

Happy Mother's Day everyone!