Super Heroes!

Here is my first "major" project that I have used my "new" sewing machine for. Matt got me my Singer a couple Christmas's ago, and I've used it once before this to make burpies for my nephew, Creed. Well, when I say "make", I mean that I attached some ribbon to some Gerber cloth diapers to make them look baby boyish and cute.

Powell always pretends to be a super hero (or super villain now, thank you to "Megamind"). He loves his Superman pajamas, and always wants to wear them because of the cape. I mean, who can be a super hero without a cape? I wanted to get him a cape that he could wear whenever he wanted, and I wanted it to be cute and good quality. All of the capes you see in the boutiques are $30 and up. Was not going to pay that. I decided to try and make one myself, and after looking at a few tutorials online, I decided to go with this one. Of course I had to make one for Isabel too since they like to play with the same things, and play together nicely...sometimes.... Mine did not turn out as nice and perfect as the ones in the tutorial, but it was my first time sewing something like that, on my own, with no real prior experience to speak of. I am pretty proud. The kids love them. That makes me happy.

Here are the finished products. Powell picked the colors of his cape, and I picked Isabel's colors. She didn't really care anway. ;) He has a lightening bolt on the back of his, and she has a crown on the back of hers. I realize you may have to use your imagination for the lightening bolt, and according to my husband, I should have sewn it on vertical, not horizontal. For the record, I had a seam that was a little messed up on the right side of the circle, so I really needed to sew the bolt on horizontally.

"My hero!" This really makes me laugh because this is Powell's infamous, "mad face." Looks pretty scary, don't you think?

Powell had to add the gloves to his ensemble. Apparently super heroes need gloves to help them fly. That's right. The cape is not enough for flight. Isabel didn't want her picture taken. This was right before naptime.
She's still cute, even though she's sad. Of course, she had to have some "glubs" too.

CoverGirl NatureLuxe BzzCampaign

I recently received my samples of CoverGirl's NatureLuxe liquid silk foundation and NatureLuxe gloss balm for a BzzCampaign that I am involved in. Being a BzzAgent is pretty awesome. You sign up for campaigns that would apply most to you, they typically send you a free sample and some coupons to hand out, and I get to tell you wonderful people how I liked the product!

First, we will start with the foundation. I am normally not a foundation type of girl. Even when I worked for Clinique, I loved wearing the eye makeup, cheeks and lips, but I always hated having to wear the foundation. To me, foundation has always been thick, cakey, heavy, and you can always tell who is wearing it. I have always been just a concealor kind of girl. Only wearing it when I had a blemish or dark shadows under my eyes (which seems to be happening a lot more than it used to!). I was pleasantly surprised by the NatureLuxe foundation. It is very light and smooth. It's not heavy, but it does a good job at evening out my skintone. The one thing I will never like in any foundation is when you rub your face against a light colored shirt, for example, your makeup is transferred to that shirt. Unfortunately, that's going to happen with pretty much any and every makeup.

Onto the lip balm. I love lip stuff. Lip stick, lip gloss, lip balm, chapstick, whatever! Obviously, I loved getting to try something else out on my lips. Really loved the NatureLuxe lip balm. I was a little nervous because of the color of lip balm they sent me. It came in the color 'Pinot', which, surprise, surprise, is a wine color. Thinking it was going to be very dark when I put it on, it only gave a hint of the color that it came in. Not sticky feeling at all, and very moisturizing.

Some interesting information about the NatureLuxe foundation and lip balm:

• 3 out of 4 professional make-up artists would recommend the new COVERGIRL NatureLuxe Collection to their clients
• 8 out of 10 professional make-up artists agree NatureLuxe Silk Foundation provides flawless coverage and a light, luxurious feel
• 9 out of 10 make-up artists would recommend NatureLuxe Gloss Balm to clients for a sheer color with a non-sticky, lightweight feel

Also loving that the foundation contains SPF 10 and lip balm contains SPF 15!

Don't know if you can tell the lip balm color or my evened-out skin, but here is a picture for posterity's sake.

The Little Stinker-Belle Turned 2!

This little cutie turned 2 today. How it happened? I do not know. One day she was this tiny, precious little baby, and the next, she was this fun-loving, sassy, sweet, little lady!
We celebrated by having Matt's parents come over for dinner, cake and present opening. Nothing too fancy this year. I made these delicious PF Chang's copycat lettuce wraps. If you love love their lettuce wraps as I do, you have got to make these ones! They were also a perfect gluten free meal, as my mother-in-law has celiac's. Matt bought a cake from King Sooper's, and since it was obviously not gf, I made some vanilla bean icecream using this awesome Vanilla Bean Paste.
Here is Isabel thanking Wiley the guinea pig (Matt's parent's guinea pig that we were going to watch for them), for the adorable hedgehog purse.
Getting good at ripping open those presents.
G'ma Kathy and g'pa Herb got Isabel Bitty Baby's crib. It was too funny, because Isabel thought the box was the crib and immediately tried to put Bitty Baby inside before we had actually taken out the pieces of the real crib and put them together. Funny little girl.
Here she is with her store-bought cake. It was pretty yummy.
Lovin' that cake

She was in stroller heaven. She received Bitty Baby's stroller from my parents and a little doll umbrella stroller from my brother and his family.

She also got this mini Rapunzel doll. She loves "brushing" her hair, but I'm afraid poor Rapunzel is a little more "tangled" than she's used to being. ;)
My brother and his family also got her the Cinderella jewelry you see pictured here. She loves it. Powell likes pushing the button on the shoe that says, "Hello. I'm Cinderella." Fun for everyone! Happy Birthday my Belle! We love you to pieces!!!

Isabel at 2:

-She loves fruit, and anything sweet. What can I say? She is my child.

-She doesn't like veggies, but will, on occassion, eat raw carrots or celery dipped in ranch or corn on the cob.

-She loves to be read to.

-She loves to sing and dance (again, my daughter)

-Loves shoes!

-Loves babies (real and pretend), princesses, going for walks, the twirly slide at the park (but is afraid of the swings)

-Has a huge vocabulary. I wouldn't even be able to list all of the things she says. She speaks in short sentences, and I just love her little voice. Some favorites: "I luf (love) you!", "Luf (love) you too!", "God bless!", "Where did it go?", "I found it!", "I need help.", "I got a boogie."...She will pretty much repeat any word/phrase you want her to say.

-She now sleeps in a big girl bed! I'll post pics later after we've taken down the crib and put the cute bedding on. ;)

Dress Up!!

I love that, right now, Isabel is a girly girl. I pulled out the dress up clothes for the first time today. Thank goodness for older, girly cousins! She loves wearing her tutus, and have I mentioned that this girl loves shoes? She exclaimed, "Pink shoes!" when I brought out the Sleeping Beauty princess shoes. She now calls them "fancy".
Cute little chubby feet in her "fancy" shoes.

Definitely a fancy girl.
Just a little video of my cute girl in her dress ups. I love how she says, "ballerina". :)

In Christ Alone

Here I go, sharing some more music with you all! I shared this with my Facebook friends, and I'm sure most of you are on there with me, but I wanted to post it here as well. We sang this song in church this morning, and we've sung it a dozen times before, but it is one of those that always hits me like a ton of bricks. The words to this song paint such a vivid picture for me, of the sacrifice that was made for me, for all of us, so that we do not need to die, but that we can live, "Bought with the precious blood of Christ."

"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”" Romans 10:9-13

It is only through Christ that we can "live", and once we are His, nothing can "pluck us from His hand."

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:8-9

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood...

I love Colorado weather. Wintertime brings with it snowing, cold days, followed by a few of these beautiful, 65 degree days. The kids have loved playing outside, going for walks and playing on their cousin's swingset without having to freeze their little derriere's off! I've only documented one of those days, but we are relishing the nice weather since Colorado, is once again, calling for snow!

Happy Pancake Day!

In honor of National Pancake Day, we had pancakes for dinner. I actually wasn't really thinking about it, and was trying to decide what to make for dinner, when my friend, Alyson, turned me on to this blog. They had a post today on pancakes! And not just any pancakes, but a plethora of pancake recipes from your every day "fluffiest" pancakes to some pretty gourmet-sounding pancakes. They all looked and sounded delicious!! I decided we would try the cinnamon bun pancakes with icing "syrup". They were pretty darned tasty. I didn't take a picture as I was too involved in the making of this sweet dinner, and the serving of it to my hungry children. Just check out The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen Pancakes blog post, and you will see all of the mouth-watering pictures there!