12 Do-It-Yourself Projects I Plan to Attempt in 2012

I made several Do-It-Yourself Projects last year and I have been very happy with the results (laundry detergent, glycerin soap, wheat bread, cinnamon rolls, yogurt, etc.). As a matter of fact, I have continued making these items on a regular basis because they have become our new favorites!

I decided to challenge myself to try 12 new things again in 2012. I have set a goal of only doing 1 per month so it's more realistic for me to actually complete the task I start. I always get side tracked and start doing so many other projects at the same time, but just to find I never complete half of what I start. The purpose for posting this list on my blog is to hold myself accountable! :-)

January- Homemade Granola Bars (I made them already and they are delicious)
        
February- Sew Heart Shaped Rice Heat Packs for Valentine's Gifts
                Homemade Heart Shaped Crayons (Valentine's gift for my sons friends)

March- Homemade Poptarts

April- Homemade French Bread

May- Homemade Wheat Thins

June- Homemade Vanilla Extract (making it now so it will be ready by Christmas)

July- Sew Big Floor Pillows for the Kids (I'm hoping to find pillow forms at yard sales or thrift store)

August-Homemade Bubble Bath

September- Eczema Fighting Lotion

October- Homemade Chapstick

November- Homemade Vick's Vapor Rub

December- Homemade Chai Tea Mix

My Huge Baby Belly

Alright, so I'm 37 weeks & 4 days pregnant and I'm feeling HUGE & very uncomfortable now! I can't wait for little man to get here......I am so done being pregnant! With this being my 4th pregnancy and having 3 boys all ages 4 and under, this has definitely been my hardest pregnancy to date. I can't wait until I can start feeling normal again!



(Obviously I need to clean our mirror in the bedroom)

My New Birthday Gift

My husband and I have a really nice Nikon Digital Camera that I absolutely love, but the only problem is, it's really big & heavy to tote around. When I'm leaving the house with 3 kids (soon to be 4) with a diaper bag, purse & whatever else we may need, it's really hard to carry my big & heavy camera case too. I love taking pictures of my kids & capturing those precious moments which pretty much happen anywhere and at anytime, especially with their age. :)

I'm excited to show you my new pretty pink Cannon Power Shot SD1400 camera my hubby got me for my birthday. I haven't used it yet, but I'm anxious in trying it out. The only thing I will need to get used to is how tiny it is. This will fit perfectly in my purse or diaper bag where I can keep it with me at all times & never be without a camera again! :)



And of course I had to get a pretty pink camera case to match.

My Baby Shower

I had a wonderful time celebrating my baby shower today with great friends & family! I wanted to thank you all who came & shared in this joyous occasion with me today. It meant so much to me!

God has definitely blessed me with another precious gift from above and I can't wait to meet you baby Caleb! Your big brothers are very excited to meet you too! :)


Look at this beautiful & tasty fruit bouquet that my mom & her friend Joan made. I thought this was so creative & fun!

Me & my wonderful mom!

Thank you mom for making this day so special & all of your hard work involved. I know it wasn't easy for you considering you are just recovering from your hip replacement. You mean the world to me!

Me & my Grandma! Thank you Grandma for all your hard work in cleaning up. Your the best!

My good friend Lindsay who was such a huge help in preparing for the baby shower, not to mention her much talked about pasta salad (we are all waiting for your recipe?!?!).

My moms friend Joan whom my boys have gotten to know as "Auntie Joan" over the years. She is always so creative & she worked hard in making my baby shower invitations that turned out adorable!

My friends from church that I have gotten to know & adore over the past few years. Jonna, Lora & Jackie.

Here are all my amazing friends & family that came today to celebrate the blessing of baby Caleb. Thank you for making this day so special & all the memories you have created for years to come! I love you all!

I think it's baby fever......4 preggo's all at the same time! :)

Watch out.......who's next?!?!

New Coupon Blog......Yay or Nay?!?!

Since I love coupon shopping and finding great deals, I was thinking I might start up a new blog to post all of these fabulous finds & coupon deals rather than using my personal blog for this! I want to make sure this blog is for my family & friends only.

I will probably work on a name for my new blog this week and once I have it up and running, I will definitely let you all know. What do you think? Am I crazy for trying to do this? I'm open to your comments or suggestions! :)

Thanks!

In My Mailbox Today & Getting In Shape!

I was so excited to find these goodies in the mail today! I signed up for this freebie (Airborne) back in December and what an awesome freebie to score! I got two tubes that contained 10 tablets each. My husband and I buy this all the time to try and stay healthy when the kids get sick. It works great for us and we LOVE it!

Who doesn't love Creamer in there Coffee?!?! When I saw this freebie, I jumped on it right away. It's a coupon for a free 16 oz. bottle of creamer. I buy creamer all the time, so this definitely will help save us some money that I would be spending anyway. :)

And last, but not least.......I got a FREE subscription to Weight Watchers Magazine and I got my first issue today. Not only does this magazine have lots of good ideas on eating healthy, low-calorie recipes, it also contains coupons. Oh yes, COUPONS!!! Anywhere I can get coupons to help save money, I am so there!!!! :)

My goal for this new year is to get healthier! I would be happy to lose some weight, but my main focus is getting back into shape. I have not exercised much since I got pregnant 4 years ago with my first son. I am so out of shape. Running around after munchkins all day isn't necessarily the workout that is going to help get me back in shape (wishful thinking though). I have just been flat out lazy and it's time for a change. I know our lives can get so hectic & busy, but I need to find a time that is best for me to workout and hold myself accountable.

So, the reason why I am posting this for you all to see, is hoping you can all encourage me throughout this process. Maybe some of you are in the same boat and you would like to make that change with me! :) That would be awesome! It would be great if we can encourage each other. We can thrive so much more with encouragement while being blessed with our friendships!

Fall Is Finally Here

I can't believe that today is officially the first day of fall. It still doesn't feel like it, but I'm excited for the weather to change. I do not like the heat and I don't do well being outside in the heat. I love the rain, the cold weather and the nice breezy days. Oh, how I love fall! I'm looking forward to doing a lot more crock-pot cooking since the weather will be getting cooler. I plan on crock-pot cooking at least 2 times a week, if not more. I want to make lots of different kinds of soup (I love soups, especially in the winter) and I also want to try a lot of new recipes. I get tired of eating the same kind of food all the time, but I don't want to try new recipes or cook much with the oven during the summer. It's just too hot! Now......it's time to experiment! Experiment with new foods, textures, colors and varieties. My boys are very picky with eating veggies, so I'm going to start making vegetable puree' so I can add this to whatever dinner I am making so they will get the proper nutrition. They won't even know I am doing it! :) I also plan on making baby food too. I have done this in the past with my older two boys and it's just so much cheaper, healthier and it's easy.

I sometimes set myself up for a challenge in wanting to do too many things and I don't have the time to complete everything. Hopefully I will find the time to do all of this. Happy 1st day of Fall! :)

Extended Mother's Day

My hubby is the sweetest and most loving guy and I am so blessed to have him! The following Sunday after Mother's Day, he treated me like a Queen and re-created Mother's Day all over again. He got up with the kids to let me sleep in and he even brought me breakfast in bed once I woke up. What else could a girl ask for?! Not to mention, he even let me stay in bed for half a day just relaxing and watching t.v. to get my rest and try to catch up on sleep. How awesome is that! It was a wonderul and relaxful day and I enjoyed it tremendously :)




This was my amazing looking french toast & bananas in the shape of hearts with a glass of orange juice. It was Ooohh soooo delicious! He even had 4 cards on the tray......1 from hubby and 1 from each kid! I thought that was very cute.




This is another one of my Mother's Day gifts. It's an E-Laptop pad from Brookstone. It makes sitting on the couch and being on your laptop so much easier and alot more comfortable. I love it!




And last but not least, a pedicure gift certificate for Champlain Nails & Spa (You know my son helped decorate the envelope when you see Thomas The Train and Sponge Bob stickers as decoration). He knows how much I love getting pedicures, but I usually can't justify spending the money unless I get it as a gift :) I'm looking forward to getting my pedicure this coming week before my friend's wedding!

Mother's Day

I received this beautiful bouquet of fushia pink roses the day before Mother's Day and I absolutely love them. My hubby had a nice day planned out for me on Mother's Day, but I guess I ruined his surprise by telling him we were going over to my Mom's house for a BBQ to spend it with family and a couple really good friends. We had a nice day just relaxing and eating way to much of course, but it was all soooo good! We BBQ'd Steaks and Hot Dogs and we also had Potato Salad, Hawaiian sweet rolls, sautee'd mushrooms, corn on the cobb and deviled eggs. Then we had the delicious Cheesecake Factory Cheescake to top if off! I think I over indulged myself that day and probably gained a few pounds in doing so.

My hubby is still planning on his special day for me next weekened, so I am looking forward to what it might be? He is always so good at making my day super special and I love it! I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family & a loving husband and I thank God for them everyday. I love being a Mommy!




Here is my beautiful bouqet of pink roses my hubby got me and my son Preston was so excited to help me put them in the vase.

Roses are my absolute favorite flower.

Me and my three precious sons!

Me, my Mom and my Grandma.

Prayer Request!

Upon returning home Saturday afternoon from the hospital, I noticed an intense amount of pain I was experiencing in the evening in my incision area due to having an episiotemy. Once I woke up Sunday morning, I couldn't take the pain and the prescription they gave me for ibuprofen was not even helping. The pain is so great that I can't sit, I can't stand for any length of time and the only way to get comfortable is laying in bed, but it's still painful to get in and out of bed. I contacted the doctor on call and he called in some pain medication for me to take over the weekened until I can see my doctor on Monday.

I saw my doctor on Monday and after my examination, he stated that I got an infection and that's what's causing all my pain and discomfort. He gave me a prescription for antibiotics and said it could take up to a week or longer to clear up. I have been taking the antibiotics for almost a full two days now and I don't notice a difference yet. The pain and discomfort is still the same at this point.

Please pray for me for a quick recovery. I need all the prayer I can get right now because I am very frustrated with not being able to do too much and it makes me feel down right now. My two older boys want and need my attention that I can't give them and I have a brand new baby that requires all my attention. Thankfully I can have baby Jeremiah stay in bed with me most of the time so I can take care of him while trying to recover.

Thank you for keeping me in your prayers!

A Few More Days........

As some of you already know, I am scheduled to be induced on Thursday, April 2 @ 5:00am at Saint Agnes Hospital. I am very excited to hold and love on my new little guy Jeremiah Scott, but at the same time I'm nervous about the procedures leading up to my delivery. Please pray for me that God will help calm my nerves and give me peace through it all. This is such an exciting time and I am truly grateful for the Blessings God has given our family again :)

I feel very Blessed for all my family & friends and I appreciate all your thoughts & prayers. Thanks for making me feel soooooo LOVED!

4X4 Tag

Here are the rules:1. Pick the fourth folder in the program you store pictures in on your computer.2. Pick the fourth picture in that folder.3. Post the picture and describe it.4. Tag 4 friends.*Remember, no cheating, cropping or editing!*

This picture was taken about 5 years ago when my parents had an apartment in Alameda for business. This was the view from there balcony overlooking Alameda at night. It was so breathtaking and beautiful to sit out and enjoy the view. Scott and I were fortunate enough to partake in this adventure every few weekeneds and spend time with my parents and taking trips to San Francisco.

I have to share with you all that this picture is very special to us. When the Alameda branch closed with my dad's business they were upset to lose the apartment, but it took a toll on my dad going back and forth managing both the Fresno & Alameda branch. The Christmas before my dad passed away, my husband took a panoramic picture overlooking the view from the balcony and took it into kinko's and had it blown up oversized and framed it. When my dad opened it for Christmas, it brought tears to us all because it brought back all the precious memories and the fun we had as a family. This memory will be held close to our hearts forever thinking of you.........We Love You Dad!