Five Little Pumpkins

A Tale From the Pumpkin Patch

Five little pumpkins  

sitting on a gate; 

The first one said 

"Oh my it's getting late.”

The second one said 

"There's a chill in the air."

The third one said  

"Well, I don't care.” 

The fourth one said 

"Let's run and run and run.”  

The fifth one said  

"I'm ready for some fun.” 

Then WOOSH

went the wind 

And OUT

went the light 

and the five little pumpkins 

rolled out of sight. 

Happy Fall Festival!!

Does life get much sweeter?  I don’t think so!!

XOXO,

Angel

silly hats

hey everybody!

i'm just dropping by with a quick note and super cute picture.  jude is doing great and the days are fun.. well sort of.. i'm on a mission to de-clutter, deep clean, and organize my entire house room by room and that hasn't been very fun for jude...

so i'm making a promise to get him out to the park and to play more outside because it won't be long before it's too cold to play inside.  WE ARE GOING TO THE PARK AT LEAST TWICE THIS WEEK!!!

now, if i could find a warm hat that jude would wear, we could spend more time outside when it's cooler.  it's my fault he won't wear a hat.  since he was born, i've had an awful time covering up his beautiful hair with a curl-smooshing hat.. so i never made him wear one.

it's really a shame because he is so stinkin' cute in any hat he wears...

i hope everyone has a great week... i'll be back later with a couple projects and some pictures to show off my redhead at the pumpkin patch...

have a great week,
angel
xoxo

a sweet "homemade" birthday party

A little over a week ago, my sweet redhead turned 3!  Can you believe it?  I'm still trying to process it.  And of course every three year old deserves a birthday party; however, we decided to do a "family-only" get together for his birthday.  For his 1st and 2nd birthday parties, I had huge parties with tons of guests and tons of food, but it was a little overwhelming for Jude and A LOT of work for me.

So I decided we would only do hotdogs, cake, and ice cream.  No goody bags, no decorations, no big production.  Just family, cake and ice cream. Right?

For anyone who really knows me you are probably shaking your head.  It is literally IMPOSSIBLE for me not decorate for a party.  I'm the gal who pulls out the good dishes when my brother-in-law and sister-in-law come across the yard to eat pizza with us.

I've been so inspired by all my new blog friends lately, that I decided I would use some of their ideas and some of my own.  So off to the ultimate craft store (Hobby Lobby) I went.

My first goal was to take advantage of the 50% off punch sets sale.  I wanted to make Jude a cupcake birthday cake embellished with toppers that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDE" and a few 3's.  I was inspired by Embellishing Life and her cupcake toppers.  But when I saw that an alphabet punch set was $50 and a numerical punch set was $20, I realized this might not be the most budget friendly idea.  

So I headed over to the party section and got some great ideas..  I decided to not really have a theme but just to decorate with bright colors.

I saw these hats and LOVED them, but not for $3.99 a piece.  

So I decided I would try to make my own.  I already had some crafting goodies and party hats from Jude's LSU party last year, so all I needed was a few sheets of felt and a bag of pompoms.

I took a hat and unfolded it to use it as a pattern for my felt. 

Then I used craft glue (found out later that hot glue was quicker, easier, and cleaner)..

 and glued the felt to the old hats.

Then I printed a "3" and some circles to use as patterns.  I hot glued the cut outs to the hats.  Then I added the pompoms and whatever trim I already had in my sewing box.

I thought they came out SUPER CUTE for homemade party hats!

All together I spent $3.00 plus tax on 8 hats

8 pieces of felt @ $0.25 each

1 bag of pompoms @ $1.99 then 50% off

The pre-manufactured cupcake toppers were also cute... maybe not as cute as homemade ones would have been, but.. maybe next year if I get a punch set before then.

And the marshmallow pops were a HUGE success.  

Then I hung punch balloons all around the porch and deck for decorations.  

It was nowhere near as precious as This Blessed Nest's Cute As A Bug birthday party, but I didn't think it was bad with only three days of planning.

The Birthday Boy really enjoyed his day!

And the sweetest moment of all

was watching my sweet Judey Jude

blow out his birthday candles all by himself!

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

—John 15:11

*Edited to add the video Jude blowing out his birthday candles.

Jude's Candles from The Mustard Seed on Vimeo.

We are so excited when we take a moment to realize just how far our Judey Jude has come!

Hospital Update

This morning Jude had a procedure planned to place tubes in his ears and due an MRI of his spine.  Seems simple, but since Jude has quite the medical history, his pulmonary specialist gave orders for Jude to stay overnight for observation (mainly because the MRI would take at least 2 hours and that would require Jude to be intubated)

Well, when we arrived we were informed that the MRI could not be coordinated with the tubes so we had a decision to make...

1. stay tonight and do the MRI in the morning and stay tomorrow night as well

or

2. reschedule the MRI all together in a week or two.

We decided to reschedule the MRI so that Jude does not have a two night stay and have to face anesthesia two days in a row.

Now the good news is that Jude did so well with anesthesia that the ENT talked the pulmonary specialist into maybe letting Jude go home this evening if he does well today.  YAY!!!

Jude is doing WONDERFUL so far.  His oxygen levels are at 100% on room air (without giving him any oxygen) and he's sleeping so sweet and comfortably which is not a surprise since he got us up at 4:30 this morning!

Sorry the quality of theses pictures are not that great because I took them on my iPhone.

On a side note: I got to really use my Boo Bag I won from Kellie at This Blessed Nest though her Fall Festival.  I won the bag for the second week of the party, but I haven't got to use it much yet... until today.  It made the perfect overnight bag to hold our (me and Jude) clothes for tonight and tomorrow, plus my toiletries, a couple magazines, a book, and my macbook.  It is SOOO CUTE and I love it.  Thanks, Kellie!!

**This Blessed Nest has an Etsy Shop where she makes these cute bags and others.  Clink on her link above to be redirected to her blog for more information about this adorable bag.

Well, that's it for now.  Thanks for all the prayers and support.  God has been so good and faithful to me.

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

—Isaiah 26:3-4 

XOXO,

Angel

"Hoo" am I?

I'm linking up with Night Owl Crafting and her weekly "Hoo Are You?" linky party.

Here are this week's questions? 

1.What was your favorite meal growing up?

2. What's your favorite month?

3. What store is most represented in your wardrobe?

4. How many times do you go to the movie theater each month/year?

5. Fill in the blank- I've never been able to ___________________

Here are MY answers to this week's questions?

1.  My favorite meal growing up was spaghetti.  I thought it was a fun meal to eat.  I can still remember asking for "basghetti".

2.  My favorite month would have to be October.  I love the holidays and October always seems like a kick-off to all the fun events during the end of the year.  I really love October through December.

3.  It's usually a pretty good mix.  Right now I have a lot of Banana Republic Outlet and Old Navy in my closet.  Love cotton!

4.  I used to go all the time, and loved to go by myself (weird, I know but I loved going alone).  Since my son was born, we go to the movies about 2-3 times a year.

5.  I have never been able to WHISTLE!  I know, ridiculous right?  Despite my husbands teasing, I still try with my only success being an airy shrill sound.

Well.. that's all my answers for now.  Post your own answers and make sure to link up with Night Owl Crafting.

What have I been doing?

 Well.. last week, I had a FULL week.  Besides the usual hectic schedule of therapy and doctor's appointments for Judey Jude..  we had a couple other projects going on as well..

FRAMES, FRAMES, and more FRAMES

A sweet lady, who is not only a dear friend to me but also a woman I have a great deal of respect for, saw my post about the picture frame I made from my wedding napkin (that still needs a wedding picture in it, by the way) and asked me to make her some frames for her high school reunion.  I was honored!

She thought they were precious when I brought them to her and that totally made my day.  I hope her former classmates found them as adorable as we did!

NOW...

This week will be quite busy as well.  I will be working on some pillow case dresses for a sweet little girl at church.  And since I have my sewing machine out, I'll also be working on a project to link up with

This Blessed Nest and her Silhouette Party!!

I actually have a few ideas, but I am hoping to get at least one finished because Jude has a hospital stay scheduled this week.  It's just an MRI and tubes, but my sweetie with respiratory issues has to stay overnight.. so remember him in your prayers this Wednesday.

oh.. by the way.. you'll want to definitely check back in the next couple days because I have two must see posts coming up:

1. A post for my sweet redhead's birthday events and...

2. A REALLY EXCITING SURPRISE (and I ain't dropping one hint)




See you soon!!

Gettin' Gussied Up.. for a PARTY

So... everyone know how much I love my Judey Jude with his curly red hair.  In fact, as everyone also knows, I love his curly red hair so much that I have a hard time getting it cut regularly.  (I usually wait until every tells me what beautiful hair my "daughter" has before I get it trimmed)

So, last Thursday morning when I went to get Jude out of bed..  I realized it was definitely time for a hair cut.  Even though his curly red hair is beautiful, it can get wild and take on a life of its own.

(It still amazes me to find Jude sitting up in his crib when I get him up in the morning)

With Jude's birthday party coming up, I figured, "Why not go ahead and get his haircut today?"

Good thing his Maw Maw Lucy (Lane's mom) cuts hair..

She has cut all her boys' hair all their lives... Lane has never had his hair cut by someone else, and so far, neither has Jude (for all 6 hair cuts ;-)

It is amazing to me to see how much Jude has matured and developed despite all of his obstacles.

When Jude got his first hair cut at about 13 months old, he had just gained to ability to hold his own head up and it was still a struggle for him.  So Lane had to hold him while I helped and Mrs. Lucy cut.

As he's gotten older, he only needed me to hold him, but he would scream and cry the WHOLE time.

This time, he sat in the chair by himself the whole time and didn't cry at all.

He was such a big boy and I was so proud of him!

But, of course I could not have her cut off all of his beautiful curls.. there are still plenty of red curls framing those big blue eyes.  

I know mamas are biased, but I know I have one handsome lil' man.

Stay tuned for a post of birthday party pics... They are too cute..

xoxo,

angel