An Open Letter to My Childless Friends in This Season of Life

My Dear Sweet Friends,

Where to even begin.

It seems like just yesterday we were 22 years old and our biggest concern was figuring out what we were going to wear for a night on the town.

Here we are 5 years later and oh, how things have changed.

We used to be life of the party and the ones shutting down the bar on a regular basis. Nowadays, I am in bed many hours before last call. The only reason you will ever catch me awake at 2am is to feed a crying baby.

Craft Corner: DIY Personalized Tee

In the South there are four seasons: winter, spring, summer and FOOTBALL! September means that it's football season once again. We are big Alabama fans and of course I have to outfit the kids in the cutest Bama gear! I especially love cute little personalized shirts. However, these shirts run anywhere from $15 to $20, if not more! Today as I was sitting at my desk talking to a friend about these shirts that we buy for our little ones, I realized that I had printable HTV just waiting to be used! For all you crafty, DIY, frugal mommas: this one is for you!

Family Movie Night Bar

 

I love making ordinary days a little extraordinary to create fun memories for the kids. The other night, we decided at the last minute to do a family movie night and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go the extra mile! My stepson is with us for the summer, so we hopped in the car and headed out to gather some treats. We set out to create our own little concession stand and we had so much fun finding everything and setting everything up. He even helped me take the pictures!

 Grab your kiddos, grab your vinyl, and get ready for a fabulous movie night.

What You'll Need:

*Plastic Bin (what I got was actually a dish pan, but it was $1!)

*Chalkboard Sign (I painted the frame)

*Small Chalkboard Easel

*Various Colors of Series 51

-Mint

-Flamingo Pink

-White

*Luster Specialty Adhesive Vinyl in Champagne

*Snack on Snacks on Snack and a Fun Movie!

Mom Life: Postive Parenting

I am no parenting expert, but when it comes to how I raise my kids, I simply don't agree with several age-old ideas. One thing is for sure, there is no handbook on how to be a Mom and you have to learn as you go. Most of the time, if you follow your gut instinct, you can't go wrong!

Of course everyone is going to give you their two cents. Listen graciously and proceed with your life. If you know in your heart that you're doing the best that you can and your babies are happy, you have to stick to your guns and do what you believe is right no matter what anyone says! You can't get caught in a cycle of constantly questioning yourself based on an outsider's opinion. They don't live your life. You do!

Mom Life: 3 Reasons Why I Love Co-Sleeping

I am going to preface this post by saying that before I was a Mom, I hardcore judged people that slept with their kids. I thought it was weird and I just simply didn't get it. Isn't it funny how quickly our opinions on things change when we have our own kids?! And how quickly all judgment of other parents just falls to the wayside? Until you have children, you really have no idea what you will do as a parent and looking back, you feel pretty silly for judging people on something that you knew nothing about. 

Sweet Summertime DIY Tray

Summertime is quickly approaching and that means many weekends spent at the lake with family. When the family gets together, it's always a party! Since we are always serving something, a cute summer tray will be put to great use. I love quick and easy DIYs that can be used again and again!

What You'll Need:

DIY Beach Tote

Have you ever wanted to create a project in a crunch but realized that you were missing something crucial to the creation!? My stepdaughter is headed to the beach on Monday for Spring Break and I wanted to make a monogrammed pineapple tote for her to take...until I realized I was missing yellow HTV! Rookie mistake.  BUT, never fear! I have the perfect solution. 

For this project you will need:

Craft Corner: DIY No Sew Applique Tee

My name is Caitlin and I am a monogram addict. I have a ridiculously strong desire to personalize EVERYTHING, especially for my little ones! This past weekend, I went shopping for the kiddos in hopes of finding spring clothes. We have a few super cute consignment shops locally and I am always able to score the basics very reasonably, but the adorable little shirts that I liked were $30 each. NO WAY. Naturally, I had to figure out how to make them myself!

This was my first attempt cutting fabric with my CAMEO, and I am hooked. I might never cut anything else again.

(JOKING).

What you will need:

Craft Corner: DIY Valentine's Sign

One thing that I love about the holidays is crafting! It is so much fun to create different DIY projects for each new season. With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I had to whip up a cute little sign! ...and share the deets on how to make your own, of course.

For this cutie little sign, you will need:

*Silhouette CAMEO (or similar machine)

*Small Square Wood Pallet

*Paper Flowers

*Hot Glue Gun

*Mason Jar SVG

*Love SVG

I gathered most of my supplies at Michael's!