Eli's Daniel Tiger Birthday Party!

Hi There!  I know it has been a LONG while since my last post; We have been busy living life and it has just been a crazy 2016 so far. However, things 'seem' to be slowing down enough to post about my little man's 1st birthday!  

When deciding what theme I wanted this party to be...  there was only one obvious choice: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  This is a cartoon version of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and my son absolutely loves it.  His first giggle was watching this show (don't judge... I needed a distraction when cutting his nails).  

Anyone that knows me knows that I love any DIY thing to add a personal touch.  So off I go into the world of Pinterest in search of ideas related to Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  Lucky for me, PBS Kids website  has great ideas for decor, food, games/activities, timelines, etc. Check it out... they have great ideas for other themed parties as well.  

I made the crayon bag label and Eli's 1st Birthday Coloring book using the free coloring pages on PBS Kids website and printed at home with simple staples and done.. it was so easy!  

• Eli's 1st Birthday Coloring Book - PBS Kids (this link is for the full page coloring pages, not for the book seen here; I used these pages to create the book myself).  
• Crayon Favor Bags Label - PBS Kids
• Crayon Cellophane Treat Bags - Amazon  (These bags fit 12 crayons perfectly)
• Crayons - Dollar Tree
• Daniel Tiger Stickers - Birthday Express
• Daniel Tiger Blowouts - Birthday Express 

Now you are probably wondering what I put them in... I thought about the paper favor bags with handles... but when I went to my local Dollar Tree - I saw these wonderful canvas totes that fit perfect and were exactly what I was looking for!  

If you don't know; Daniel Tiger's mom, Mom Tiger, loves sunflowers and she and Daniel went about town giving Sunflowers to their friends in the Town of Make Believe. Unfortunately, having a birthday in January proves difficult to find fresh Sunflowers as they are not in season.  So a dear friend convinced me to make them ourselves.  I reluctantly agreed and went back into the Pinterest world looking for ideas...  couldn't find one specific idea but we found several that I was able pull from.  

Here are the supplies to make these Centerpieces: 

• Small 8-10oz Mason Jars - I bought mine at Target but you can find these anywhere
• Crayons - Dollar Tree (I put them in upside down)
• Natural Raffia - Dollar Tree
• Bamboo Skewers - Walmart
• Fuzzie Sticks - Walmart
• Yellow Dessert Plates - I also bought these are Target but you can find these anywhere
• Brown Construction Paper - Walmart
• Please note: If I have to do this again, I would buy brown printer paper instead. It is much easier to print on and already cut to 8.5x11 size.  
• I printed 8-9 different phrases that Daniel Tiger says regularly and printed a few test pages on plain white paper to ensure the size would fit into the inner circle of the plate. 
• I found a bowl that fit the inner circle of the plate and used it as a stencil to draw two circles on each brown paper around each phrase.  

Our amazing Daniel Tiger Cake by Hot Mama's Cakes

Games for the older kids to keep busy during the party

We had such a great time celebrating our boy's 1st Birthday... hope the new year is treating you all well!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  

Beijinhos*,

*This is Portuguese for kisses :)

Isn't Water Just Water??

Hello Everybody! After an unplanned hiatus, I am finally able to come back and share my world with you!

During my hiatus, I have since gone back to work, my beautiful baby boy is now 5 months old and I have learned so many lessons God has thrown my way.  My Lessons came in an array of ways… some were BIG and some were small.  One lesson that I just couldn’t wait to share was that I needed to be more aware of what I am putting into my family’s body.  

With the Sacramento Valley heat, don’t you just love having a refreshing cold bottle of water? Did you think I was going to say beer?  Well, that is good too but for today’s post… we’ll talk about water.                                   

                              

My husband and I have been buying bottle water for a long time… especially for our son’s formula.  We made big assumptions that it was clean water and the BEST water for us AND our son.  I mean, it’s just water right?  

While reading “Healthy Child, Healthy World" by Christopher Gavigan, I found that bottle water ISN’T just purified water.  There are actual ingredients on the ingredient list.  I WAS SHOCKED!  Am I the only one that just assumed the ingredients were just water????  

Well if I was…. I am definitely late to the party on this.  

Here are the ingredients listed: Purified Water, Potassium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Calcium Citrate, Sodium Chloride and Magnesium Oxide.

I was immediately concerned about all the sodium that I was giving my very young son.  It may be the new mommy in me but I immediately wrote to Eli’s pediatrician and even she said that just plain filtered Tap Water is better than the bottled water.  WHO KNEW?! 

Eli is fine and I am not saying that bottled water is UNhealthy… I still drink it. With him being so young and his system so fragile, I am doing my best to watch what he is given to ensure he is given the most natural foods in their natural state. 

I mean, he has the rest of his life to eat or drink the bad stuff… right?  Hehe

Cold break

Hey All! Sorry, I hadn't posted anything, our family has been fighting the COLD... We are finally gaining momentum over it. 

Now that I am feeling better, my brain will be able to focus back on this blog. So please stay tuned. 

Thanks for checking in! 

Infertility - Taboo??

This is going to be a series of posts and personal ones for me, but I believe this needs to be talked about and shared.  After all, this blog is about Faith, Family, and Home.  I also believe that this is something that is not discussed enough, for whatever the reason may be.  Since this isn’t just about me, I appreciate Husband giving me the green light to talk about this… Thank you my love.

Sorry, No Post Today

So sorry but there won't be a post today... Check back tomorrow for a new post!

Time Management Challenge - Update

Ever have one of those days where things just don't seem to go right in a particular situation?  I feel it is God trying to show me my lesson.  For instance, in my previous post, I talked about challenging myself to better my time management.  Immediately after that, I was extremely late somewhere and forgot to do some things I needed to do.  I was so frustrated and saw that I MUST improve my ability to manage my time.  I am losing time during the day and productivity.

Fast forward and my phone's calendar system (Husband and I use this to see what each other's schedule is) was not accepting new appointments nor showing old ones I had. This was frustrating... I mean, aren't smart phones supposed to be smart and foolproof???

Follow by Email!

These days, We all lead very busy lives and it can be hard to find the time to sit and peruse your favorite sites. Before having Eli, my favorite past-time was sitting on my porch with a glass of wine or coffee (depends of time of day) and perusing my favorite blogs.  Husband and I had our favorite TV shows we used to love to watch...  Now?  We are lucky to even get an hour of TV in our day.      

So as I continue to streamline this blog with content and features, I keep all of this in mind.  With that, you can now subscribe to my blog via email!  We all check our emails daily, (or hourly as I do sometimes), so now you can see my posts and/or updates (who knows, you might even see free printables!). 

To get you an idea of what is to come, here are a just a few posts I am working on:

• Backyard update is finally happening!

• Time Management Challenge - Update

• Personal posts of Faith

Thanks for checking in!

Bjs*

  

*this is short for Beijinhos which means kisses in Portuguese