Favorite Children's Books

When I saw Kelly over at Kelly's Korner was going to do a link up with you favorite children's books, I got so excited!  I have a problem with buying books.  I don't often buy toys for the kids, but I have trouble saying no to a book - I want them to love reading!  So we have lots of books.  And by lots, I mean LOTS!  They are scattered all around - so that makes them more available!  We have them in Katie's room, Jack's room, the playroom/sunroom, the bonus room, and even the living room! I always have good intentions of making our collection smaller - I will go through them and if we don't really read them, I will set them aside to take to a local used book/movie/music place.  Well, when I do that, I usually end up buying even more kids books!  These are a few pictures of our book stashes along with a stack of some of our favorites right now.

I also have a huge stack of books to use as surprises when Katie has a week getting all her stickers...I can think of about 5 regular books and probably 10-15 early reader books.  I love that my kids are so entertained by reading a book - and I hope that love for reading and learning stays with them for a long time!

I can't wait to visit some other blogs and get ideas for some books to add to our collection - remember?  I have a weakness for books :)

Favorite Pinterest Ideas

Today I am linking up with Kelly's Korner's SUYL: Favorite Pinterest Ideas!  And good grief, I should be an expert there...I have close to 7700 pins! So here are some of the pins that jumped out at me as I scrolled through them!

Isn't this a great quote??

 Love this cake as inspiration for Katie's party!

 Love this as inspiration for a memory board for Jack's first birthday!

 I am going to get all of our eggs out for Katie to play with...what a great idea to make it a learning activity too!

 How can I already be thinking of apparel for football season?!  I absolutely love this scarf - Auburn colors AND dots!

 This essie color, Cute As A Button, is so fun!  I actually have it on right now :)

 I'm also trying to come up with some fun things to do this summer...this would be a fun routine!

 Speaking of football season, I cannot get over this necklace...WAR EAGLE!  And I think I may need to add this to my jewelry stash soon!

 Doesn't this wreath scream spring?? I love it!

 We will be doing this the next time we go to the zoo...a zoo passport to check things off as you see them!  

Wanna follow me on Pinterest?  There is sure to be something you like in all those pins :)  Find me {here}!

Favorite Family Picture Ideas

So I realize I may have gotten a little carried away with these family picture ideas, but I just can't help myself when it comes to photography and pictures!  I decided to start the collection of pictures with my maternity pictures from when I was pregnant with Katie.  It was so fun to go through all of these pictures! So prepare yourself...

Here are a few pictures from my maternity shoot when I was pregnant with Katie...

 {I can't believe I wanted to do pictures showing my belly!}

And next up?  Early pictures of Katie - I think these were at 5 weeks...

 {This was my bonnett when I was a baby - LOVE this!}

Some pictures taken when we took a Christmas card photo are next - I love the pictures of us with Katie individually...

 Pictures of kids with one of their favorite toys are always fun, I think!

 Such a goofy expression!  I think this would be a cute one to put out at her 16th birthday party :)

And here are a few others from our Christmas card shoot in 2011.  I love the first one - Katie was really the center of it all (until baby brother arrived - ha!)...

 Action shot! Sadie was running around all crazy and Katie thought it was so funny!

And now, a few favorites from the maternity shoot when I was pregnant with Jack!

And the newborn session pictures of Jack....he was 7 days old here!

 And some others from our Christmas card session from last year!

 I've been meaning to get a copy of this one done - LOVE!

 Love this one too! It just makes me smile :)

 And Katie and her buddy....

Now, that's not to say all family pictures have to be in official sessions.  This was us as a family last night - reading a bedtime story and saying prayers!  Love that we all pile into Katie's bed - and she loves it too! Excuse my funny face...Jack was pulling my hair!

\I can't wait to see what ideas other folks have for family pictures.  I am slightly obsessed with pictures (I even took some for friends to use on their Christmas cards last year!) and cannot wait to get more ideas!  Want to visit all the others or link up?  Jump over to Kelly's Korner! I love her Show Us Your Life series every Friday!  I'm also linking up with Follow Friend Friday!

SUYL: Organizing Ideas

I have very lofty goals for organization in our house.  We have cubbies in our laundry room/mud room.  We have bins of arts and crafts supplies in the closet in the laundry room (think: crayons, markers, paint, stamps/ink, etc).  But it seems once one area is organized, another area needs some serious attention.  So, I consulted Pinterest (of course) for some inspirational ideas!  Here we go...

Get a bin to organize each child's "memory box" from their school years.  Pretty good idea!  Along these same lines, I use the Artkive app to keep up with Katie's art from school - I take a picture and then I have it stored.  That way I don't feel pressured to keep every single piece of art - and I can make a book of it all from each year. 

 This is one idea I saw and actually followed through with - these small organizer drawers for batteries and other little items that tend to get lost.  I have a label maker and this will be the perfect project to use it on!

 I LOVE this wrapping supplies organizing idea.  I want this badly!  All of my wrapping stuff is in bags and piles and it is frustrating when I need to find a certain kind of bag/tissue paper in all the craziness!

 How neat is this?!  I see this being PERFECT when Jack gets older and has legos and all the little things that can be stepped on...all you do is cinch up the bag and it is stored!

 LOVE this - the bright colors and how nice and organized it really looks are quite appealing to me I think!  I do have some bookcases with the colored fabric drawers with label blocks I made for them.  We are on our way to this look :)

 And who doesn't love free printables for getting life organized??  I found these on Pinterest and can't wait to see what I can use to make each week a little easier.  I know meal planning is a great way to keep our dinners organized!

 And I actually have saved some documents to print and create a family binder - and I have a big binder to use.  Now - to find time to put it all together! :)

 And the "crap baskets" - perfect!  Maybe this would take care of all the stuff that collects at the bottom of the stairs!  And it would also be good to make sure everybody puts their things back in the right place in their room!

I can't wait to see what other organizational ideas people have!  Jump over to Kelly's Korner to check it out - I know I will!

SUYL: DIY Projects

Happy Friday, folks! I decided to do a link up today rather than Foodie Friday - I did cook something yummy this week, but it may have to wait until next week!  This link up is with Kelly's Korner on DIY projects!  I was trying to remember some fun things I have done or made and decided on these four projects!

Before we started potty training with Katie, I made these "potty treat" jars.  Doesn't it look fun? That was definitely what I was going for - fun, girly colors that would make Katie excited about potty training - oh, and the actual treats inside too :) I spray painted the lid of a mason jar and got the ribbon at the dollar spot at Target.  I had the letters and the treats, so it really wasn't too expensive to make either!

Something else I made for Katie's room was a headband holder!  I used a paper towel roll, some cute fabric, and some ribbon....that's it!  And I love that it organizes all the headbands and keeps them together.

I absolutely love making rag wreaths - for baby showers, holidays, gifts, etc!  All it takes is a wire form from a craft store and some fabric and ribbon.  I made this one for a friend's baby shower and was in love with it - I think I cut the fabric just the right length - and I love the texture the ribbon adds too!  And the pinks and grays definitely make it look great too!

Something else I had been wanting to do for a while is a knot blanket (note: no sewing - this is nice since I have yet to set up my sewing machine)!  I found some scraps of flannel at JoAnn's (both a plain pink and a Disney princess piece) and couldn't resist giving it a try.  I cut them to the same size and lined them up and started cutting the strips of each piece/layer and then tying the strips of each layer.  I cut strips about 3ish inches long and about an inch apart and I'd cut some strips and stop and knot them together (the top and bottom piece).  It was really that easy!  And Katie absolutely LOVES it!  She sat on the floor with me while I was making it and was so eager to get to snuggle with it.  Now that I know how easy it is, I may start doing these as gifts (after I make Jack is very own as well)!  I love that you can make them as big or as small as you want (depending on the size of the recipient)!  I may make some little ones for Katie to use as blankets for her dolls.  And then I could make a big one for Brad - the possibilities are really endless!

I can't wait to see what projects other folks blog about!  Have a super weekend!