DIY Camera bag

With my last California trip rapidly approaching, i really wanted to bring my new Nikon D3100 with me but was SO afraid of something happening with it while traveling. I found SO many drool worthy camera bags online, but did not have enough time to order and have it delivered in time for my trip. Then i saw THIS on Pinterest. BRILLIANT! How easy is this tutorial on making your own camera bag?? I HAD to try!

Here are my pics:

I bought some padding from Joann's and made these little pockets for each piece i cut to fit in my purse.



Slip it on and stitch up the open end.



TA-DA! It came out so good! And there was room to spare for my wallet and i was even able to fold my cardigan and place it in there on the plane. My camera survived the trip and just wait till you see the pics i took at my best friend Adriana's wedding. More to come on her beautiful DIY wedding.

"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!"

I'm laying on the couch eating ice cream and reading for MY own enjoyment. Reminds me of Kevin McAllister: "Guys, I'm eating junk and watching rubbish! You better come out and stop me!"

This is what happens when the semester before your senior year is OV-A! Later suckas!

Let's take a journey

So i feel like i am boring with all my 365 day project posts, and instead have SO many fun craft/kid/house posts to play with. So let's take this 365 day project on a little spin. I will start featuring some of my recent projects and "count" them as 365 day project posts. How does that sound? I promise to keep blogging so that way in a year i can look back and see exactly how my life was a year ago.

Ok so let's go from Day 45 to Day 50! On day 50 Noah and i took a little trip. We flew to California to be a part of one of my bet friend Adriana's wedding (another post about that, trust me). Noah is my little frequent flyer. This was his 8th flight since he was born. He is just like me when it comes to going places;he is very relaxed and laid back. Belle is a big homebody and HATES to even get in the car. For our airplane ride i wanted something fun for Noah instead of just sticking him in front of a portable DVD player for 5 hours like i had done in the past. While browsing Pinterest (my love) and some other blogs i came across this.

Now i had been wanting to make Noah a quiet time book for some time now, but my craft list is longer than my bookmark list. This seemed like something i could whip up in no time. Mine didn't turn out as bright, colorful, and interesting as this one, but Noah loved it nonetheless. Here are some pics i snapped with my cell phone from our flights out to California. I will make sure to do a "California" post, and of course a wedding post soon!



I printed off some Thomas printables from THIS site and had them laminated at school. Oh, how convenient it is going to school to be a teacher. Our teacher resource room at my school is WONDERFUL!







Hmmmmm pizza. His fave.



Took a little break to watch some Thomas at our connecting flight in Atlanta.



Traveling with young kids soon?? I recommend something "new" they've never seen before. Hence, the Quiet Time Book. Favorite snacks and drinks, and a relaxed attitude. Happy Travels!

Happy Birthday to God's most beautiful angel

Today is my cousin Lucy's birthday. She left us to be with the Lord last August after a brave battle with Cervical Cancer. Words can't express how much i wish she was still here. Not a day goes by that i don't drive in my car, hear a song, and think of her beautiful smile. Her legacy lives on in her children, who i absolutely adore, and i pray that i can be half the mom she was. Her job here on earth was done, and Jesus called her home. She would be SO proud to see how wonderful her kids are turning out. It is a direct reflection on her love and guidance with them. I love you Lucy. Happy 36th birthday. You were always the best role model, and still to this day you are.

Piiirraate Party!

Since day 45 was Noah's pirate party i am going to do a post on it because it was that much fun. Noah has recently been intrigued by pirates and i thought it would be the cutest theme for his birthday! I saw SO many fun pirate parties online, but i really wanted to do a few things on my own.

I bought the essentials at Target which had an ADORABLE pirate section in the party section. I then went to Party City where i found the pinata, balloons, and lots of little trinkets to add detail such as chocolate gold coins and other fun things. Since it was Noah's party i had all his favorite foods: baked mac' n cheese, pizza, cheese puffs, and watermelon.

I wasn't sure about the cake and figured it would be easy to do cupcakes. I didn't find any fun pirate cupcake ideas i liked, but i did find this treasure chest cake and thought it was SO cute and unique! I also liked how there was a video tutorial.

Overall, his party was a success and he LOVED it. He is at the age where he really understands that it is his birthday and he's been talking about his party ever since. Here are some pictures to make up for my Day 45 post :)

I use to do monthly pictures of Noah on our glider, but now that he is 3 i think it will be cuter to do yearly ones in front of our chalkboard wall! I love how it came out!


Noah's watermelon pirate ship. Got the idea HERE




Baked Mac'N'Cheese






Treasure hunt! Got the idea HERE




Here is Noah's present from George and I. We splurged and got it from HERE


I think he is going to have ALOT of fun this summer.


Here is the treasure chest cake i stayed up late making. It was pretty easy and turned out good!



Here is my little pirate. I cant believe he is already 3. I love you so much Noah. You have my life complete and i couldn't imagine it without you.

It gets better. And it does, and it did.

I am so happy to still be doing this 365 project. What a neat thing it will be to look back on these posts a year from now. Like i said in my other post, things have been going SO good over here. Belle is 6 mos old, Noah just turned 3 today and they have been such blessings in my life. As they get older i get SO sad because i know that these moments are fleeting. My last summer semester at Augusta State is half way through, and i feel more confident than i did in the Spring. Not that i thought i wouldn't make it, i just felt like it was never-ending and i didn't know HOW i would do it with 2 kids. Sometimes i feel SO behind everyone else because of my 2 kids and i have to work THAT much harder. Don't get me wrong i would NEVER EVER regret joining the Air Force over going to college. If anything, the one thing i regret is getting out of the service. Joining the Air Force was hands down the best thing i've ever done, but i feel like i was meant to teach, and there is a light that is finally getting bigger at the end of my tunnel. So here are my pics to get me caught up on this project.

I take SO many pics and i probably always will. I want to capture every little thing about my children because the time goes by so fast. There is nothing like a great picture, to make you smile, to make you cry, or to make you remember something you had forgotten. Here are my pics for Days 38-44.

Day 38: I scheduled to have our family pics taken at the end of March and after 2 reschedules due to weather, we finally took them! I've had a few sneak peaks of them and they are turning out beautifully. I am so excited to have some pics of us as a family of 4. I feel like our family is so complete since having Belle, and i look forward to hanging some new pics in our home. I rarely take cellphone pics of myself, but here is me all done up and getting ready to get dressed to go. I rarely take the time to do my hair and makeup so since this was a rare occurrence i snapped a pic. Here is the girl behind the blog :)



Day 39
"Mama come build a foo foo wit me!" These are the words i hear daily. But lately i can't pass them up. I LOVE building trains with Noah. It's actually pretty relaxing and it lets me get my creative juices flowing. Well as much as you can by building a train. Here is one of the tracks i built Noah on Day 39. He asks almost every morning to build him a new one so he can play with it the rest of the day. He's so cute. Apparently Mama is better at it than Daddy.



Day 40
I have been sewing alot lately! Not enough to have amazing projects to show you, but at least an hour a night. I'm working on something i kinda thought up in my head and i'm ALMOST done. Hopefully i'll finish this week and then i can post a pic. Belle has been OBSESSED with washcloths lately. In the bath she goes crazy chewing on hers because she is teething. She also loves crinkle toys that make noise. So i made her this. It's a little crinkle square and she absolutely LOVES chewing on it! I was pretty proud. I whipped it up in about 20 min! Oh, and FYI i used an old Pop Tart wrapper to make it crinkle ;)



Day 41
I felt bad the next day that all my sewing projects are geared towards Belle. SO i tried a crayon roll. This is something i see on etsy alot, and it's suppose to be an easy project. I wanted to give it a try before i used some cute fabric because i dont want to waste cute fabric. So i cut up an old button down shirt of George's and whipped this thing up. Noah actually LOVES it, so i will be making him a better one with cuter fabric.



Day 42
This is just a cute pic of Belle that i couldnt resist. Her hair is getting so long and looked so cute in this headband. She was getting ready to eat breakfast and Noah was making her smile as usual. She loves him and looks up to him so much. It melts my heart to see how excited she gets over him. She has been eating baby food that i make twice a day and loves it. I love my lil mamacita and cant believe she's going on 7 mos old!



Day 43
Speaking of what a great big brother Noah is. He has been asking to help more lately and this day he asked to help me feed Belle. I let him sit down with her in his lap and he lasted about 5 minutes. Hey, that's progress! But he is so good with her and really does like to help.



Day 44
This was the day before Noah's 3rd bday party and instead of cleaning and getting ready for it, i was doing crafts with Noah. We LOVE doing a letter a week where we color or do some type of craft that involves that letter. I've been working with Noah on how to write his name, so we've started N. I did noodles for N and Noah had alot of fun with the glue and noodles.

31-37 Yes I'm cheating

So i dont have any excuses this time for not regularly blogging since i have my computer back EXCEPT that school and children have kept me busy, and for once i'm not complaining! Maybe it was my parents visit that got me out of my funk. I had been feeling so down and out, and just in the slumps for quite a while when they got here. Having them here to lend a hand in cleaning and playing with the kids LITERALLY felt like i was at the most expensive resort far away. It all hit me the night before they left, i laid in bed that night with the hugest knot in my throat thinking, "How am i going to do it once they leave?" I was dreading the rut i was in when they had first got here, but to my surprise a few days after they were gone i found myself rejuvenated, refreshed, and motivated to get all the things done i had been wanting.

I've gotten back on a great running schedule, which had gone downhill during Spring Semester. I have also been doing so many fun activities with the kids, and i've even been working ahead this semester and getting my homework done days before it needs to be turned in. If you havent met me, i can be ONE BIG STRESS CASE and procrastinator all in one. All that to say, there is nothing like mom and dad and little extra love to bring you right back to where you were. Thank you mom and dad SO much, for everything. Here are my days 31-37 all summed up in a few great pictures i got while they were here :)