Christmas

For Christmas this year, we traveled to my hometown to celebrate with my grandparents. I hadn't been there for Christmas since before I was married and I spent every Christmas day there growing up so it was time to go! We even met most of my other family there too!

I didn't take a lot of pictures but here's a quick recap of what I did capture:

There was a huge snowstorm a few days before we got there. The girls loved playing in the snow!

My grandpa and Chaseton. I will forever cherish this picture!

Jaelyn and her cousin Braxton, eating dinner at the bar.

Marleigh loves to hold Chaseton!

Finlee

Jaelyn

Finlee and Chaseton, ready for bed!

The girls loving on their brother.

My kids!

Fin and Chaser

Matt and Jaelyn

The girls (Finlee, Marleigh-my niece, and Jaelyn), ready for lunch!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas! I loved getting the chance to spend time with my family!

Xoxo,
Tanna

Five Months!

Chaseton, you are five months old today!

December 7th, 2011

And here you are at five months old:

You love to have your picture taken!

You seem to be growing right before my eyes. I'm not sure what you weigh or how long you are but its obvious that you are growing. We'll see at your check-up in January! You still wear cloth diapers but wear size 3 disposables when we're traveling or someone else is watching you. You are in 6 month clothing!

Here's what you're up to:

• You are rolling and scooting (on your back) everywhere! You can get to anything you want to reach. You especially love paper. Such as the presents under the Christmas tree..you've opened several of them. :)
• You are still nursing like a champ! You will also take a bottle when we need you too!
• You love to hang out with your daddy! You two are best buds as long as you are doing something together. If we are just hanging out, you want me to hold you.

• You love tummy time. You love to explore the whole floor and play with your toys. I put you on a blanket in the living room and found you in the kitchen the other day. How are you already mobile?

• You are such a good, calm baby! You love to smile and have been giggling a lot lately.
• You love when your sisters give you attention. Even if they are a little rough, you laugh at them.
• I hear 1000x a week that you look just like your dad. And its completely true.  
• You are a my buddy, my "brother bear"! You love to snuggle and let me hold you..and I love it!
• I say this all the time but I don't think I can say it enough. You bring a joy to our house that is unexplainable. You complete us and I can't even remember what life was like without you. You are truly a gift from God. We love you so much, Chaser! Now quit growing so fast. ;-)

Xoxo,
Tanna

My First Quilt

My grandma has been an avid quilter since before I can remember. Both my kids and I have many, many quilts that she has made and I will cherish them forever. A few years back, I never thought I would be interested in making a quilt but this year when I decided to make all of my Christmas gifts, I decided a picture quilt would be one item that I would be making.

I really enjoyed making the quilt top. However, putting it together was a lot harder than I thought. I can't wait to inherit my grandma's quilting machine so that it will be so much easier! ;)

My mom is the lucky recipient of this quilt and I know she will love having it!

Xoxo,
Tanna

Bathroom Organization

I found an idea on Pinterest and I loved it. I am always looking for ways to organize and use every bit of space that is available. Here is what I made:

Individual Toothbrush and Toothpaste Holders

We hung them above our towel hooks.

It was such a simple project and only cost us $2.50 for all 5 of them.

Supplies:

Recycled Jars

Old wood from when we built our fence.

We painted them in our favorite colors!

Metal Strapping

Find your old jars and cut and paint your boards. Place the strapping as tight as you can around the jars and screw them to your board. We also placed some hot glue to make sure they were good and snug with the strapping. And hang them on your wall. Easy as that.

Xoxo,
Tanna

"Roadkill Rescued" Headboard

I've been inspired by a blog that I read called "Roadkill Rescue".  If you aren't familiar with the blog, the lady (Beckie) that writes it finds "trash" that people are throwing away on the curb, rescues it, and turns it into a treasure! I am in love with this blog. It really inspires me to recycle and reuse what I have at home for other things that we may want and save the money that we would have been spending on those certain items.
Since reading her blog, I am constantly looking around as I drive hoping to find trash that I can turn into treasure. Matt and I were driving around one night and I spotted a pile of wood and wondered what I could make out of it. I'm not quite brave enough to just take something off of someone's curb so I convinced Matt to go to the door and ask if we could take what they were throwing away. (Oh the things a man will do for his wife!) :)
Come to find out, the city was going to charge this little old lady $150 to remove this complete wooden garage door off of her lawn so it had been sitting there until she could get rid of it. She was excited for us to take it off of her hands!
Matt and I have never had a headboard of our own in our room so I knew this was one of the things that we would be making with our garage door. I love how it turned out!

We sanded it down, painted it, added trim, and we now have a new headboard! And since we had all of the supplies on hand besides trim, we paid very little for it!

Be looking for more projects! I've "rescued" quite a few things to re-do! :)

Xoxo,

Tanna

Easy Recipes: French Bread Pizza and BBQ Cups

I wanted to share two easy recipes that are our go-to recipes when we need something quick to make for dinner!

French Bread Pizza
French Bread Loaf
Pizza Sauce
Pizza Toppings (We just use pepperoni but you can use whatever you prefer!)
Mozzarella Cheese

Cut your loaf of french bread in half, length wise, so you have two long pieces. (You could easily cut the two long pieces in half and each family member could make their own pizza!) Top with sauce, toppings, and cheese. Bake at 350 until the cheese is melted and the bread is perfectly crisp! Cut and serve!

BBQ Cups
I learned how to make this recipe in 8th grade Home Ec. class.

Refrigerator Biscuits
1 to 1/2 c. of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 lb. hamburger, cooked
shredded cheese
salt, pepper, garlic salt (to taste)

Smash the refrigerator biscuits so they are flat. Place each of them in a muffin tin and form them to the sides. Mix hamburger, BBQ sauce, and salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into each cup. Top with shredded cheese and bake at 350 until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Xoxo,
Tanna

Four Months!

Chaseton, you are four months old today!

November 7, 2011 (Grandpa Loren's birthday!)

And four months old:

You are getting to be such a big boy! You weigh 14 lbs. 1.75oz and you are 24.75 inches long!

You wear all cloth diapers but size 3 disposables when someone else is watching you!

And you wear size 3-6 month clothes but can wear 6 month clothes!

Here's what you're up to:

• You love to play and watch yourself. You are grabbing at so many things now and love to have attention directed towards you!

• You love tummy time! Up until recently, you haven't been a big fan of it but now you love it! You also still roll over like a pro!

• You had your first Halloween this year! You dressed up as a dinosaur. We went to grandma's church carnival and then trick-or-treating!

• You are such a smiley baby!

• You tried rice cereal for the first time this month. You love having something different to eat but you refuse to take a bottle so cereal it is!
• That being said, you are still completely breastfed and you nurse so well.
• You had your first outing with just Daddy this month. You went to Home Depot and he was so excited to take you, just you and him. Daddy also loves watching sports and just hanging out with you. I have a feeling you two will be best buds!
• I can't even explain the joy that you bring to our home. We love, love, love having you here! Your sisters love you too! They love to play and talk with you and can't wait until you can run around with them!
• You went to grandma Pollock's church for the first time this month! Grandma and Grandpa had a lot of fun showing you off!
• You're so special to us and such a good baby! We can't wait to watch you grow more and more everyday!

Xoxo,
Tanna