new etsy shop!!!

So I gave in, and I started one!

Check out my link to the right~

Pinwheels and Pigtails

Right now, there are just a few baby girl onesies and bibs....but definitely more to come soon, including things for the little men in your lives!

A Beefy Valentines Day (????)

This week Molly experienced her FIRST Valentine's Day!  

She has no idea what that means, but I am certain she loved her Valentine's Day Treats from her Mommy and Daddy!

She got the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" along with the stuffed caterpillar to match!  She loves all things soft and stuffed, so the caterpillar was a big hit!

How cute is she in her Valentine's Day outfit?

She is blowing you a big Valentine's Day kiss!

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Last week was the week of ground beef...for those of you that don't know, Blake's parents have cattle and last year they sent a steer to butcher with a hanging weight of 1100+ pounds.  Well we got a third of that...which means we have to eat a pound of beef every day for a year in order to eat it all!  That batch included all kinds of steaks, ground beef, sirloin tip steaks and cubed steak.  This was last summer when we got all that meat.  This coming Saturday, Blake's dad is sending another steer to Muenster to get "hamburgerized"~ not sure if that is a real word, but they use it~  This one is just going to be made into ground beef and summer sausage, and they wanted us to take another third (approx 250 lbs), but seriously, who can eat that much meat?  We are going to start a new tradition in our Spivey household that every time you come visit, you walk away with a pound of beef, like a door prize!  

So last week, it was all ground beef, all the time.  Every meal was made with ground beef.  Needless to say, this week we needed something different.  So I went back to some oldies but goodies, chicken spaghetti, paremsean corn chowder, and Grandma's Chicken Rice Casserole.

Ahh...refreshing...but next week I am sure we will be back on the ground beef kick!

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NOW SWITCHING GEARS TO CUTENESS!!!!

I have been on a sewing binge this week!  Last week was the week of ground beef and this week is the week of homemade outfits!

First, on Tuesday, she wore this pair of super cute springy pants!

And because the view from the back is even better than the view from the front!

 My first attempt at pants, and after a day of rough-housing with two boys I did have to make some adjustments!  Apparently Molly has a bit more 'junk in the trunk' than I thought...actually it is more like 'junk in the front' a.k.a. wet diaper that busted through the seams.  So I had to reinforce those and add a little length in the waist because she was sagging everytime she stood up~ which is a big no-no!

Overall though, the attempt was a decent success!

Then, on Wednesday, she wore this little skirt!

I am IN LOVE with this yellow, black, and white fabric!  

The skirt is reversible, so it is two outfits in one!

This one went off without a hitch!

See this little black and white print on the inside?  Reversible!

And today, Thursday, I sent her off in this new pair of pants with a matching bird onesie! 

Again with the yellow, black, and white~  I told you, IN LOVE!

I think this attempt at pants will fair better than the first.  It is a thicker fabric and I definitely reinforced the seams and gave her plenty of room to bend and play!

And lastly, I made my dear, photographer friend, Brooke (a.k.a. Eben's mommy) her very own special camera strap cover!  I have seen these featured on other blogs and etsy sites and thought, I could do that!  And it wouldn't cost me $18 like they charge!

Hope you love it Brooke!  And when your camera needs a new outfit, let me know!

Breakfasts and a Birthday Party

Well, if every week was a four day week, I could SO do this school thing a whole lot easier!

I have been trying really hard to be a better mother and wife lately.  

I know I need to expand Molly's taste buds, so I have 

been cooking more breakfast meals.

I have learned that Molly does NOT like eggs or oatmeal (just like her momma!)

But she does love her waffles and blueberry pancakes!

One morning this week I tried my hand at french toast for the first time.

NOT a big win with that one.

I downloaded a recipe app on my phone and the french toast recipe was from there.

I think I needed thicker bread, it was a bit soggy in my opinion.

Then, Saturday morning, I wanted to make blueberry muffins but did not have a mix (how I normally make blueberry muffins). 

So, from my same recipe app, I made homemade blueberry muffins.

Another failure of a recipe.

They weren't awful, just not nearly as sweet as what we are used to.

But this little lady LOVED them!

She was SO funny, at first she picked out all the blueberries and then started taking big bites of muffin!

 On Saturday afternoon, we were invited to Kinley's first birthday party!

Kinley's daddy and Molly's daddy coach together in Plano.

Here are Molly and Mommy all dolled up for the party!

Molly was EXTREMELY serious all afternoon...guess that is what we get when we skip the afternoon nap!

She wasn't very social at the party.  

Took her a while to leave my lap.

When she did get down from my lap, we had a little thief on our hands!

Molly grabbed a handful of Kinley's clothes she got as a present and hugged on them for a while.

Then she nabbed some curly ribbon to keep herself occupied!

 This is Kinley, the birthday girl!

Molly was not real into playing with the other kids :( 

Then she kept herself busy pushing Kinley's baby stroller.

Don't you LOVE her outfit?  I made it Sat morning for the party, I am VERY happy with how it turned out!

Molly and Daddy at the party

Struggling to sit still without falling asleep

Saturday night we went to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack (Blake had never been there).  Molly loved it because they had music going the whole time, and she rocked out in her highchair.  She definitely kept the tables around us entertained!  And she did great for not having an afternoon nap!

Sunday was SUCH a pretty day, that we were able to pay outside in the afternoon.

Molly played on her swing and her slide.  She is getting really good at the slide!  She was walking around from the slide to the steps, and she even climbed all the way up the steps by herself!

And for the first time, she was crawling ALL over the yard.  The last few times we played outside, she wasn't really into crawling in the grass.  But today there was no stopping her!  I think her outfit because an "outside-play-outfit" because I am sure I will never get the dirt out of the knees of her pants!  Molly's Meme (my mom) came by for a few minutes to see Molly.  She had not seen Molly walking, in person, yet.  And she brought Molly and little cowgirl outfit as her Valentines Day gift, since Molly LOVES riding her rocking horse nowadays.

Every day, I am amazed at how much Molly is growing up.  On Saturday, Blake and I both stood watching Molly in amazement as she walked around the house with her push-walker.  Before, she would push, push, push, until she ran into something and fuss for you to come turn her.  On Saturday, suddenly she had it figured out.  If she ran into something, she would pull it backwards and turn until she got where she needed to be going.

And today, she and I were playing in her room with her little play telephone (her favorite toy) and she picked up the handset and said very clearly "Hello?"  and then handed it to me and said "Thank you".  WHO IS THIS CHILD???

She also spent all afternoon walking laps around our house!  She even was standing facing away from me, and turned around to face me without falling!  She is really starting to figure out her feet!

I just can't believe how much she is growing...I am sure I'll be saying this every day for the rest of my life!

Off to get ready for another week of school~ so glad I was SO productive last week, I have EVERYTHING planned out for my entire week, what a relief!

A Big Girl and A Predicament

It seems like over night Molly has become a big girl! 

:(

She's like a real little person

:(

It is SO fun to watch the changes!  

I think being home for all these snow days has allowed me to really watch her change.

She eats like a grown man~she is a bottomless pit, never gets full.

She nods her head when you say "yes".

She shakes her head when you say "no."

She plays with her toys in the manner in which they were intended~no more just shaking and moving parts because they make noise.  She carefully pushes all the buttons, puts the stacking rings on their base, opens books and really looks at each page.

She knows where your nose is.

She knows that her socks and shoes go on her feet.

She knows that her hats go on her head (and sometimes she thinks everything goes on her head).

She walks back and forth between short distances fairly easily.


See~ BIG GIRL!


She even has enough hair to wear a little clippie bow:

~BIG GIRL~

:(

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Here's the predicament.
Underneath my stove, there is a drawer.
This drawer has been stuck for going on two years now.
I know what caused the stuck drawer, I'm sure you can guess the culprit too.


Anyhow, it's STUCK, and I hate that.
I hate that because I have only 5 cabinets and 1 drawer in my kitchen.  So this is EXTREMELY valuable storage space.  Not to mention the brand new cookie sheets that I had just bought prior to the drawer getting stuck.


This is as far as the drawer will open:

See that itty-bitty amount that the drawer is open?  That's as good as it gets.

I have decided that it will be a New Year's Resolution of mine to get this drawer unstuck.
Today I made an attempt.  
I unscrewed every screw that could be unscrewed.
No screws gave me access to the drawer.
At one point I had the entire stove laying on it's side in the middle of my kitchen.
Molly even helped with holding the flashlight:

So attempt #1 is a failure.
(SIGH)
I put everything back where it belongs and I guess I will attempt it at another time.
Anyone that would like to come and give it an attempt is more than welcome.  Bring any tools you feel might be helpful...the jaws of life might be necessary, we shall see.

The many faces of Molly...

Molly is getting SO funny and is getting SUCH a personality!

Here she is playing with her daddy:

Loving on her daddy:

Molly LOVES her weebles:

Happy Baby:

Sniffy Molly:

Awe....Sweet Molly:

AHHHHHH....She makes  this face where she opens her mouth and stretches her face a wide as she can:  

Waggling her tongue:

Laughing and cackeling:

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And yum, yum!  This baby LOVES peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

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While Blake was watching the super bowl, I was working on new curtains for our bedroom.

This is what my curtains used to look like:

They were just old panels that I had from my college apartment.  And the curtain rod was here when I moved in, and an awful gold color and practically falling out of the wall.

So I replaced them with these:

I hate spending a lot of money on stuff like curtains because I don't want to put a fortune into something that I may want to change in the future.

These only cost $22 for each window!  And now that I know I like the curtains, I am going to buy a new rod, I am thinking a white metal one to match the tie-backs.  And then use those rings with clips for the brown curtains.

We also have another window on the other side of the bed, but I most definitely will NOT be showing you a picture of that window!  If I did, you would see that I live like a college kid with no headboard on our bed.

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Off to another week of school!  That week off was SO nice!  I could do this every week!

Snow Days x 4

Well things have been AWFUL slow around here.  

The entire state seems to have shut down after one night of ice.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  But I know when it comes time for our make-up days, I will be wishing for these days back at school.

These snow days turned out to work in my favor.  I was terribly sick on Tuesday and was going to have to call in a sub, so the snow day prevented me from having to use my days--which are a precious commodity for a mom.  But I've been slow on the recovery which means Blake is going crazy in our house!

I spent all Tuesday locked in my bedroom and Blake was "Mr. Mom".  He was quite good at it, but I think it re-confirmed for him that he could not do the stay-at-home dad thing.  But he definitely won over Molly in that one day.  Because the next morning, Molly was most clearly calling "Da-da" from her crib. 

She has said "Da-da" for a while, but it has been a rambling of "da-da-da-da..." Not distinctly "Da-da" like it is now.  :(  One day without me and she has changed sides!

Anyhow, he took VERY good care of her which is comforting!

AND HUGE NEWS 

(seems like there are lots of these events these days)

On Day #2 of our Snow Days,

Molly WALKED half-way across the living room.

Like, seriously WALKED!  It was SO exciting! 

She did it a few times in a row and then was done...we'll see when she starts up again!

We are now wrapping up Day #3 of our Snow Days and I think Blake is going just a TAD stir crazy!  He's a bit like a caged animal.  He's like this on the weekends too, but usually he can go out to the garage or yard and fiddle or go run errands, but this weather has totally killed all of that!

Tomorrow, Day #4, I aniticipate feeling 100% again!  And I look forward to it!  I have been utterly useless on these days off, which is no fun at all!  I have big plans to clean and organize while my baby naps.  It has also been nice to see that Molly understands the concept of sleeping in....each day this week, she has not woken us up until at least 7 am!  

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Here's a bit of what we did today to entertain the baby:

Blake keeping Molly entertained, playing with their mouths

How lucky am I?  Aren't they SO cute!

Molly has figured out how to climb up into her chair.  She likes to pretend like she is sleeping and lays her head down.

BIG GIRL!

Molly then HURLS herself off the chair, face first onto the floor.

I think tomorrow Blake is going to HAVE to get out of this house to keep himself sane.  

Molly and I will be able to entertain ourselves no problem!  

Sure wish it was like this ALL the time---me and Molly at home!