5 on Friday

I'm not sure why, but this week seemed to drag for me.  I'm a worrier and I was worried a lot about all kinds of insignificant things so I am glad to see Friday come!  This week's 5 on Friday is just a bunch of random stuff to round out the week.  Happy weekend!

1. This is big.  Hadley slept in her bed last night....AND....Griffin slept all night!  You might remember this post I wrote about some battles we've been having.  Since we moved, Hadley has been getting in our bed every single night.  That's about 5 months of having an extra body snuggling in our bed!  And bless his heart, Griffin is 11 1/2 months old and hasn't slept through the night until now!  The fact that they both did this the same night can only be described as a gift from the Lord himself.

2. We have plans to go to the pumpkin patch tomorrow.  I even made my kids matching shirts.  I'm feeling a little nostalgic because last year when we took Hadley- I went into labor with Griffin.  But Hurricane Matthew is putting a damper on those plans.  We are just expected to get some rain, but I was really looking forward to it.  Small pill to swallow compared to the devastation Matthew is bestowing on the coast, but I'm still bummed!

3. Wednesday was the funeral for a little boy, Jacob Hall, who was killed during an elementary school shooting in Townville, SC a week ago.  He really loved superheroes, so his parents requested everyone dress up like superheroes that day.  We live near (like 45 min- 1 hour away) there, so Facebook and Instagram have been blowing up with pictures of their kids all dressed up.  We went nowhere and did nothing Wednesday (my favorite kind of day!) but my two did play superheroes!  It's incredible to see the community come together to support this family, but I'm just so angry that it takes the death of a 6 year old boy to do so.

4. This guy has a birthday on Sunday!  He celebrated his big 3-0 last year, so this birthday is small potatoes. ;)  But we still plan to celebrate him!  We sure are thankful for the good husband and Daddy that he is, so the day is going to be all about him!

5. I'm finally starting to try to decorate our new house.  We definitely need paint on the walls, but I've been looking at curtains for our big floor-to-ceiling windows in our formal living room (aka the craft/office room).  I think I really like the look of this:


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  I also need something for our kitchen windows and was thinking something like this would look good in there:


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What do you think??

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Five on Friday

Whew, I've done a slew of "link-up" posts lately and it's exciting to connect to other people, but I also want to make sure I'm documenting my days because my kids might want to read this someday (yeah, right!) and I'm sure they don't want to read all about what we ate! (Although, after recently talking to my mom, I can only remember like 4 meals she made when I was growing up, haha!)  But it's Friday so I am linking up with April for another Five on Friday post:

ONE

My grandparents came Wednesday (H&G's great-grandparents!) and loved on my kiddos (and me!).  None of our family live here, but they live close enough to make day trips and I always love when they do.  It makes me so happy that my babies get to experience great-grandparents who are still so active! They get to love and be loved by my people and that is very dear to my heart!

TWO

I loathe group work.  Make it online group work and I loathe it even more.  I'm an overachiever and I like to get things done.  We are smack in the middle of some "group" work for our doctorate program and I volunteered to put all the info together for our final presentation and when asking for feedback from the group....[crickets]

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I mean, what is up with that?? You are getting the highest level degree for your career and you can't turn in your work in a timely manner???  Ah, my anxiety is through the roof.

THREE

I'm doing a joint birthday party for my babes this year.  I'm thinking it may be the only year I can pull this off, but invitations went out yesterday so I need to get my butt into party-planning gear!  Hubs is very handy with computer stuff and he made the invitations to my specifications.  We are having a "sprinkle" themed party because Hadley is really in to adding sprinkles to everything.  And that seemed pretty gender neutral to me.

*David made this for us because he's creative, but a similar one can be found here on Etsy. 

FOUR

I'm looking for a dress for some fall weddings/christmas parties/etc. we have coming up.  Surprisingly, we haven't had many fall weddings recently and I have no fall wedding attire (that fit post-baby bodies!).  Here are some I've narrowed it down to.  I had originally planned for a navy dress because I'm blonde-haired and blue-eyed, but this mulberry dress is kind of calling out to me!  What do you think?

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FIVE

I am so ready for tomorrow!  We are headed to Clemson for the big game!  It will be nice to be back on my home turf, see some familiar and loved faces, and watch the game.  The last game we went to was two years ago and Hadley wouldn't sit still.  I had to take her to the stadium entrance/concession stand area and let her run around.  I missed pretty much the whole game, but the police officers sure were entertained by her! *No children will be accompanying us on this trip!*

Happy weekend, friends!  And Go Tigers!!

Five on Friday

A week has gone by in the blink of an eye, friends!  And here we are with another Five on Friday post.  Fall in our house is full of fanfare.  Our anniversary is in September, my husband and both of our babies have birthdays in October, and then of course there is Thanksgiving and gift planning in November.  I think homemade gifts are sweet and heartfelt; I wish I a super crafty person, but the truth is I'm just mediocre, haha!  But here are 5 homemade projects that are easy to tackle that I've used as gifts in the past.  All you need is a sewing machine and to follow directions. (And sometimes I can't even get that right...!)

1. Baby burp cloths
    I typically just measure my own, but I've linked to a really good tutorial for these if you need help.





2. Pillow cases
    I can't seem to find the original pillow case tutorial I use, but this is pretty much the same.  Measurements are for a standard pillow case and I used cloth frill instead of ribbon.  You can also see pillow cases without frill at the bottom with the fitted sheets!



















3. Blankets
    There are lots of awesome tutorials out there for blankets and blankets are SO easy to make!


This blanket is extra special because I made it for my best friend's baby.  The white patch is actually part of the shirt she gave us to wear while we got ready for her wedding.






(one I'm currently working on!)

4. Child's Play Tool Belt
    I still get a kick out of the girly tool belt!





5. Crib Sheets
    I was so upset last year when I couldn't find any cute flannel sheets for my kids beds.  So I made my own.  But my grandmother made their other crib sheets, so we have exactly what we want for their rooms.

I'm interested to see what other *easy* projects you guys make!

Five on Friday

I'm linking up today with April for a Five on Friday post!

1. I'm hustling in fall like it's my job.  I have all the fall decor out in my house, Hadley helped me put out our "fall flag" the other day, and I have yummy candles burning pretty much non-stop when we are home.  My favorite smell right now? This Flannel candle from Bath and Body Works.  I just want to grab a blanket, a cup of coffee, and a good book and snuggle down on the couch!

2. When I found out I was pregnant with a boy, I was super, super excited because I was going to have a son!  And then I was super, super frustrated because--where are all the cute boy clothes??!  I am here to tell you they do exist!  In fact, I just ordered this adorable doggy playset from BodenUSA for Griffin and I can't wait for it to get here.  Yes, yes, yes.  And to top it off, they have awesome customer service.  I was having trouble with a discount code and the agent who helped me was just really great!

3. Right after Griffin was born, he decided he didn't like dairy/soy/eggs and I had to regretfully give those up for a while.  I love my coffee but I need creamer.  I found a gem in this SoDelicious Coconut Milk French Vanilla Creamer.  Now, I usually make some hazelnut coffee and top it off with this and it's like heaven in a cup. (*Almond milk has too much of a nutty flavor for me and come to find out G-man is allergic to almonds.)  Even though I can have dairy again, I still buy this stuff- it's that good!

4. Now that preschool is back into full swing, all of the fun stuff that comes along with it is starting.  Tuesday, the parents were invited to come eat lunch with their kiddos, so I got to have lunch with my baby girl!  She was so excited to show Mommy and Daddy her classroom.  She even showed us "the kitchen where me and Hattie and Nick play but Hap doesn't because he plays with trucks."  Oh, she's too much, haha!

5. This boy is pretty much a walker now!  He's been working up the courage for a few weeks now, taking a few steps here and there.  But yesterday and last night he was just taking off.  Happy and sad,  motherhood is such a juxtaposition.