EAT:
I ate it yesterday… I’m not talking cookie dough! I’m talking pavement! It’s raining and I’m walking along in my husband’s worn out Rainbows (flip flops) and I slipped and landed on my ankle. I just sat there like an idiot thinking… “I can’t believe I fell!” My mom was over and of course I was instantly a big baby. I was brimming with childhood satisfaction when I showed “my mommy” the bloody scrape on my wrist. It was like proof that I was really hurt.

PLAY:
The instant Hot Hubby gets home from work…

Daddy is much more fun than mommy. He can do all sorts of sound effects!

LOVE:

I love buying books for my kiddos. I have this thing where I get the kiddos a book for every holiday. I was browsing the Valentines section and found this lovely little book…

Snuggle Puppy! a little love song by Sandra Boynton

Every time we poured the glitter off a Valentine Eli would yell Happy Birthday Dada!! It was hysterical!!

One for each of Eli and Cora Jane’s Buddies…
I love my boy!!
We didn’t forget Eli’s favorite person…

The little stamped heart is made from Eli’s finger prints. Press the little one’s finger on the stamp pad. Stamp on the paper at an angle. Twist and stamp again.

I think this would be so cute with red ink on a white Valentine!!

Note: All the Valentine stuff is 50% off at Michaels… sometimes it pays to procrastinate!

… is a penny earned!!

I love dolls.

I loved them growing up.

When I’m shopping I always seem to take a quick jaunt down the purple and pink aisle just to see the cuteness there.

Now I have a daughter.

I hoped she would love dolls… but I didn’t want to “make” her like them.

For Christmas Cora Jane got her first baby doll from her Godparents.

She LOVED it!!

I found Baby be Blessed while cruising the Internt… how cute these dolls!!?!?!?!?? My favorite thing is that you can completely customize your doll to look like your child! And they print a scripture of your choice on a patch for the doll’s tummy. We choose a verse for each of our kiddos and this would be such an awesome (tangible) way to show them the verse daily!!

I got the chance to talk (email) with Tina who does a bit of everything at Baby Be Blessed…

How did the journey of Baby Be Blessed begin…

Baby be Blessed actually officially opened the online doors on January 1, 2008 but had been on my heart for a long time. I could probably write a book about my venture of getting to this time of my life. It has been a great and very hard journey…but to keep my answer direct and pointed toward truth, Baby be Blessed began when the Lord laid on my heart to give everything in my life to Him. It started with all my hurts, which took a long time to heal (He still is working on some), but I knew He desired more from me and my life. As a stay at home Mommy I made dolls on and off for many years and sold them online. They were primitive dolls and in 2007 started making dolls for children. But yet I knew there needed to be more… I looked at a doll I was holding in my hand and prayed over it. I asked that if it was His will that He would allow me to do this to glorify Him. By His leading, scripture was added to the belly of each doll after that. Early in the year, the Lord gave me my Laura, who works side by side with me in everything and many others that help with cutting, sewing and shipping. Though this ministry started with what the Lord placed on my heart, it has grown to include many hands and feet of Christ. 2008 was a year full of blessings in which we humbly give thanks to the one we know they are from. We pray that our eyes would always be focused on truth and the work which is laid before us.

Your fabric choices are awesome! Where do you find them and how do you choose your prints?

Our fabrics are chosen by what catches my eye… We purchase them through a few of great companies, but mainly Minky Delight and Fat Quarter Shop. Fabrics are a great passion of mine…I love all sorts of styles and always ready to add the latest collection to our fabric gallery!

What is the difference between the custom dolls and the personalized dolls?

Custom dolls are completely designed by you! You get to choose everything… the style, fabrics, hair color, personalization and scripture!

I have noticed you do a monthly Blessed Recipient. Can you talk about what that is all about?

Our Give a Blessing is simply reaching out and giving as many blessings to other’s as we can! Showing the love of Christ to another and lifting each other up in prayer during a time of need!! Our Give a Blessing Recipient is a child/family/person who is going through a difficult time. We support them through prayer, encouraging others to pray and also by the financial support our customers provide throughout that month. Our recipient is chosen by the Lords leading. Giving and reaching out to as many people we can is so strong on our heart! May Christ be glorified through it!

What inspires you?

I pray it’s obvious that first and foremost, I want Christ to be our inspiration! His character of serving and loving others is what we desire. But He does place things in my path that inspires me and allows me to put things together the way I do. Sometimes it is through my children. Our little Emma doll is fashioned after my little Lola and her wild sense of style. Fabrics also inspire me and get me excited about putting things together in a different way

Thank you Tina for giving my little blog the time of day!! I LOVE your dolls and I can’t wait to get one for Cora Jane.

Brad took the actual day of his birth off work to go snowboarding. This has become a tradition because it’s free on your birthday. Snow had just fallen and he had the best time (we love you Jeff!!).

While he was snowboarding we made him his birthday cake…

I love the way the mini layer cake looks…

The plan was to make Hot Hubby’s favorite…chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

I was out of chocolate frosting… ug!

I have whipped frosting… yeah… he LOVES whip. After I started frosting the cake I noticed it was cream cheese whipped… ug!

Brad doesn’t like cream cheese frosting… ug!

I never knew this was the beginning of foiled plans…

Brad got home from snowboarding and took a birthday nap. I was going to surprise him with dinner at Disneyland, complete with the big bag of kettle corn to snack on while we strolled the park and rode kiddie rides.

Then there was a scream…

Eli had been sitting on the counter with my awesome cousin Olivia, and fell. In the time it took to pick him up he had a HUGE bump… it looked like a blue and red golf ball was embedded on the front of his forehead.

I was cuddling him and Brad suddenly said, “Eli is falling asleep try to keep him awake.”

Eli wouldn’t wake up.

To say that I was freaking out is an understatement!

We loaded up and headed to the ER… Eli was lethargic the whole time falling asleep as I tried to keep him awake…

We were really scared 🙁

We got to the ER, and as soon as we got out of the car Eli was just dandy. REALLY! He was running around, making the whole waiting room laugh, pretending to be a choo choo train… with the embedded golf ball on his forehead.

We decided to stay and get a scan because he had been so out of it earlier.

ALL CLEAR

Sigh of relief!

But we didn’t get out till 10pm… too late for the birthday surprise 🙁

The following week my sporty Hubby decided to take his friends paintballing for his birthday party. They shot at each other all day then enjoyed Tri-Tip for lunch!

Testosterone was a flowing!

Nothing like shooting the ones you love…

They were banged up, bruised and covered in welts… they were MEN!

Hot Hubby got home, and the kiddos and I let him have a (much needed) 2 hour nap, then we took him to our favorite pizza joint (Haus of Pizza in Huntington – for all you local readers!).

Now I’m sure you are all wondering what I got Hot Hubby for his birthday… I shall not include the details… but he liked it… wink…

Welcome to the first ever Remember When Linky!!
Remember When… You Got Married?
Enjoy my wedding then scroll down to the bottom and add your name and the link to your wedding post (not your main blog). If you are linking a new post include a link back here so your friends can show off their weddings too. The linky will be open all week so be sure to check back to see the latest wedding flashbacks!
My hair had fresh flowers…
We really wanted the ceremony to be short and simple. It rains a lot here in February… it poured every other weekend in the WHOLE month. The week before, at the rehearsal, it was pouring… I mean sheets of rain. We were knee deep in mud and water. We had no “plan B.” We must have been blinded by love… ha!

Our wedding party was large and they were all fantastic. Did Brad get thrown in the lake? Nope… I said it would be OK after the pictures and the guys respected my wish… but it never happened later!

I had to get a little silly… thankfully he was kinder to me!

I loved the dance floor! Lights and lanterns hanging from an old tree… beautiful… romantic…

Surprisingly, we stayed till the very end. We had so many out of town guests to hug and chat with. Brad kept trying to pull me away… it was hysterical. I was so exhausted after the wedding we hit up Starbucks on Main Street in Huntington before we headed to the Hyatt. We were still dressed in our wedding garb and the barista wrote “bride” & “groom” on our cups. We thought we would get freebies for sure… no luck… but we did draw quite a bit of attention from passersby!

Our wedding was a dream come true… except that I forgot the table numbers and the cater came and told me (yes the bride) immediately after the ceremony… like I could do something about it. It all works out in the end… as life usually has a funny way of doing…

I love Giveaways!

Penny Pinching Diva is hosting an Eli’s Lids Giveaway. Yeah!

Enter to win a Lid of your own to top off your little guy (or gal). Shynea (the acutal Penny Pinching Diva) has made this giveaway super fun with loads of ways to get extra entries.

I got the chance to ask Shynea a few questions…

How many kiddos do you have?

I am the mommy to four little boys. Ages 7 years, 6 years, 17 months and 3 months.

What do you love most about being a mom of boys?

I love everything about being a mom to boys. To me, they are so loving. They are always asking me how am I doing. Or telling me how pretty I am. Just showing appreciation of everything I do. They never let the small things go unnoticed. I also love the fact that I get to let my tomboy side come out. I get to wrestle with them and I have an excuse to stop cleaning and just get down on their level. From legos to the Playstation, I get the chance to be a kid again when I am with my sons. I get the chance to raise boys to become men so that they can one day go out and be good people and good husbands.

When and why did you start Penny Pinching Diva?
I started Penny Pinching Diva as a way for me to blog about my family and share with other people my experiences of “pinching pennies”. I am a stay at home mom, so I had to learn how to take care of my family of six on one income. So here I was, surfing the Internet one day and I came across all of these websites on how to save money and how to use coupons. I decided to combine my blog into a little bit of everything. So I post about my family as well as money saving tips, couponing, shopping at CVS, recipes, crafts and frugal living.
If you only had 3 quick Penny Pinching hints to someone who wanted to save money they would be…

• Always use coupons
• Shop off season
• Learn how to play the CVS game

What inspires you?

My family inspires me. Everything that I do, I do it for them.

Thanks Shynea for Hosting this giveaway!!

Eli’s Lids was highlighted on the OC Register Mom Blog.

Spray the adhesive to the NON PRINTED side of the paper

Glue it to the WRONG side of the fabric

Cut out the letters guided by the grey

I kept the paper on so the letters would keep a strong shape

I also traced and cut our kiddo’s hand prints and a heart for My Love’s name.

I added the center heart later (I’m still thinking of adding ‘s after the heart).

This was very easy to do and inexpensive to boot! I got the 2 big canvas for $6.00 (for both on sale), the small one for $4.00, the paint was about $1.50 each and the fabric was about $2.00 each. This huge art piece was less than $20.00!!

An added bonus… If I decide to change the wording or colors I can peel off the fabric, repaint, and spray adhesive new stuff on!

This would also be a lot of fun to do with scrapbooking paper instead of fabric...

WARNING:

The next day you might recieve an email from your hot hubby while he is at work…

.

Hey love,

I was just thinking about this weekend and how much fun I had with you and the kids. Just wanted to tell you that I love our life.

PS. I love you over the bed creations.

PPS. Your mom is right, you are the only person that has an idea and makes it come to life!

PPPS. Have I told you I love grabbing your butt???

Reminder: Don’t forget to post about your wedding or link up to a previously written wedding post tomorrow for Eli’s Lids first ever Remember When Linky… Remember When You Got Married?