a tutorial :: skinny snowmen

so, for sammy's winter one-derland party, i wanted to make some snowmen out of bottles. i had seen this and thought "oh, the kids would love this!" BUT i don't drink frappacinos and i didn't want to waste $6 on some bottles. so, my friend runs a coffee shop here in town and she gave me some old syrup bottles. so, i made skinny snowmen! they are very simple, and i love them so much, i still have them displayed in my kitchen.

here's the toot.

materials:

white paper

medium sized styrofoam balls

felt

construction paper

permanent marker

1. wash the bottles with warm water and let them air dry

2. wrap the bottles with white paper and hot glue so it adheres well

3. fold up the top kind of like you're wrapping a present. it will look a little more like snow this way and you can cover the whole bottle.

4. cut a 2 in. strip of white paper and wrap it around the neck of the bottle.

5. press the ball into the top of the bottle, but not too hard because you don't want to break the ball. there's no need for glueing the head since it will be pressed into the top of the bottle.

6. draw eyes and a mouth on to the ball with your marker.

7. cut a 2 in. wide strip of felt and wrap around the neck of the bottle, glueing every so often. snip the ends to make a scarf.

8. cut out an orange triangle (or a mustache!) and glue on for the nose.

9. cut out a hat shape of any kind and glue on the top.

10. add buttons to the bottle

VOILA!

sammy's birthday

i can not believe my baby boy is one! i'm sure every mom says that at some point in her life, but i feel it. i mean, i really feel it. anyway, the day that sammy was born, jackson got about 4 inches of snow. what should have taken a 7-8 minute drive to the hospital took us 25-30 minutes. it's a good thing sammy waited to come! ha! anyway, the idea entered my head that we should have a winter one-derland party. i had seen a few pictures on pinterest and other blogs, and my head just went into high gear. we invited family to come celebrate sammy and his wonderful joy. anyway, here's some pictures and i'll post some tutorials soon about some of the decorations.

with sweet marie

hot chocolate bar

the spread

frosty the snowman cake

snowmen banana kabobs

chocolate covered oreo penguins

the snowmen centerpiece (tutorial here)

the birthday boy!!!

birthday donut

happy birthday, little buddy!!!!

it's amazing what a few pillows can do

before

and after

a little summertime fun

there's nothing like a good sunny day and an elmo sprinkler. seriously.

my first tutorial::a table runner

well, i am slowly being inspired by all these other blogs that i read (like this one and this one mostly) about sewing and even with lots of boys, enjoying my girliness. i have also realized that a blog post does not have to be a novel. it's way too overwhelming when i think about that.

anyway, tomorrow i'm having a baby shower for a friend of mine. she's obsessed with strawberries right now, so we decided to have a strawberry shower! also, i think it's fun because she has two older boys (about dillon and isaac's ages) and this is a girl :). so, i made a girly table runner for the shower. here's the tutorial.

you need some muslin or linen fabric, and then a contrasting color for the ruffles, thread, and scissors. i like to rip my fabric to the right size because i am a horrible cutter. also, i don't know definite dimensions, because i totally eyeballed it. my table is about 4 feet long though and the runner just barely hangs off the side. i believe i got a yard and a half, and it's about 12 inches wide. if you like a more finished look, you can iron down hems and sew them so that it's a little cleaner. i just stitched a seam down the sides so it wouldn't fray anymore.

next, i used this tutorial for making ruffles. you basically start a stitch down the middle of your fabric and don't backstitch to secure it.

then, when you have stitched all the way down, you pull one of the pieces of the thread (the top thread or bobbin thread, whichever has a little more give) and ruffle. ruffle away.

after i had ruffled both of my pieces of red fabric, i sewed them, using my ruffle stitch as a guide, onto my muslin. easy peasy.

then, i used this tutorial to make a few fabric flowers (did i mention i liked this blog). my fabric wasn't solid, but i really like how it turned out. after i made my flowers, i hand-stitched them onto the runner.

there you have it! a nice, girly table runner!

sorry about the bad picture...it was taken with my phone

did i mention we had a baby ;)

three months ago! i am so HORRIBLE at blogging!!! i am really going to try to be better. like the slinky post and i'm going to make a table runner this weekend that i think is blog worthy. we shall see what happens. i always think it's a good idea, but yadda yadda yadda.

so, we had a baby!!! samuel evan was born on february 7, 2011, at about 2:15 pm, weighing in at 7 lb 10 oz, and 20 inches long. the labor was a little crazy. the short story is that i was up from 1:30 am for the rest of the night with contractions that were nowhere near normal. we went to the doctor at about 10 that morning and i was already more than halfway there!!! we drove to the hospital in the pouring down snow (made a 20 minute drive what should've been an 8 minute drive) and was still having irregular contractions when we got there. long about 12:00, the nurses asked me if i wanted an epidural or anything else for pain. they told me if i didn't have anything, then i'd probably have sammy in just a couple hours, but if i did have something, it could be at least 3 hours, if not longer. well, my dream team (ben and my mom) and i decided it was time to just do it! by a little after 2:00 i was ready to start pushing and the doctor wasn't even in the room! they started paging the doctor over the intercom. he finally got in there an sammy was here about 10 minutes later!! it was so great to finally meet our beautiful, dark headed, screaming baby boy. he has been nothing but joy and is such a laid back baby. you can check out all the pictures of sammy here. enjoy!!!

everyone loves a slinky

the boys both received slinkies from grandpa and granny when they stopped through on a trip to missouri. last time we got a slinky, it ended up all twisted up and we wondered if the slinky would ever survive the williams house. well, i can tell you truthfully that a slinky is a lot of fun, and i can show you through pictures of my boys ;)

reflections

when i think about what all has happened since february of 2010, i'm blown away. seriously. i'm sitting here and 9 days away from my due date with little sammy. what in the world?!? anyway, i just want to list some things that i've walked through and been thankful for over the past 12 months. ok, here goes:

• this time last year, my granny was on her death bed. i summed my thoughts about granny here. even though it's been a year, it's amazing how much i still think about granny (daily, i think) and how much i want to run by her house, call her and hear her sweet voice on the other end. to hear her tell me how much she's praying for my whole family and how much she loved our little boys. the thing i miss the most is her unconditional love for me...not just me but for my whole family. i hope i'm becoming more like her every day.
• the month of may consisted of going to florida with ben's family and having a FABULOUS time. right before we left, we put our old house that we loved on the market. it was shown several times, but it wasn't time for us to move just yet.
• june - i called ben about the second week of june and said "well, the boys are either going to have to move upstairs to the tower (in our old house) or we're going to have to move before we sell our house." he was confused and didn't get it. so, i said "we're PREGNANT!" mercy, can we have another blessing for this year?!
• the summer was filled with the boys swimming with friends, mimi and papa, visits with grammy and pawpaw, fun with friends, and playing outside. did i mention is was the hottest summer EVER!? and we completely re-landscaped our yard, with the help of grandpa and pawpaw, and totally kept all of our plants alive during the whole summer. for those of you that know us, that is a HUGE accomplishment!
• in september, ben and i celebrated our 5 year anniversary in nashville! it was SO wonderful. it was the longest we had been away from the boys ever, but it was so worth it! two weeks before we went to nashville for vaca, we got a contract on our house! let's talk about things happening all at one time!! so, we go to nashville, leave boxes all over our house, and enjoy staying in a hotel for a few nights. then, we get home, have an amazing yard sale, close on our house, find out baby #3 is indeed another boy, and move...BAM, BAM, BAM! really, those last three things happened in three days. oh my!
• since september, we have been settling into our wonderful home. izi turned two (with a monster party) and dillon is our big 3 year old (complete with a mr. mets birthday party bash). in the middle of their birthday parties, i turned the BIG 3-0 and my AMAZING husband threw me an AMAZING surprise party! one of my bffs, glenna, came in for the party, i got to skype with my friend, jackie, and she gave everyone a wonderful memory of us. my mom, dad, and sister were there with memories in tow. then, i got to chat with my other bff, hannah. it.was.the.best.EVER!!! not to mention that all of my friends were there, too. anyway, it was wonderful. then, we had Christmas for two weeks straight, celebrated ben's birthday (he's 33 now), celebrated new year's (did we make it to midnight), and now are just waiting on sammy to get here!
• oh yeah, WE'RE HAVING A BABY ANY DAY NOW!!!!

i can't wait to meet sammy and see how much hair he has and just to hold him and love him. it's going to be interesting to be a family of 5, but i think we're all ready for him to get here. i like reflecting. it's so good to be thankful for what you've been given and for allowing the Lord and others to impact your life. i'm thankful for that.

Happy December GIVEAWAY!

check out this wonderful giveaway at it's almost naptime. she really has great ideas and why a mom is a mom ;)

Happy December GIVEAWAY!

so much to be thankful for

well, i am officially the world's worst blogger. if anyone still reads, thank you! if anyone still cares, thank you!!

now, on to new things ;)

i was reflecting today on things i'm thankful for. there are so many! and so many that i know i haven't even thought of! so, i'm going to list them as they come to my mind.

• my amazing husband who works so hard to keep me happy, keep our boys happy, provide for our family so i can stay home with the kids, and who is an amazing man of God, who leads our body of Christ in worship every week and loves it
• my 2 (soon-to-be-3) boys. what a JOY! they are the epitome of wonderful. they happen to both be 2 at the time (this happens two weeks our of every year), and they are wonderful. i love the way they play together, how they don't sleep well in separate rooms, how they love me and have squeezed me more in the past two days than every before.
• my family, who is about to welcome our 10th baby into the myatt/williams/tankersley family. lee and lili are adopting from russia and officially have a son! they passed court!!!! he will be here in time for Christmas, and i'm sure that it will be a Christmas that we will ALWAYS remember.
• my church family, who love me despite who i am, who walk through this life with me, and teach me how to be a better woman of God, wife, and mother.
• the williams' family, who loves me like i've always been a williams. they could hang out with me and not ben and all would be well and we would feel like it's always been this way.
• our new house. have i mentioned the size of our backyard? and the fact that i have a music room and we have a playroom? and the fact that ben works from home now, so we get to see him throughout the day?! i love it!
• my bffs, hannah, and glenna. i love the way they know me better than anyone else does (besides ben, and let's face it, he's my real bff ;)), love me just the same, and can quote you've got mail with me over and over and over again.
• my friends who are here and abroad. my "new" mommy friends at ccc, and my "old" mommy friends who live in texas, arizona, and alabama.
• i'm so thankful that at nights, ben and i relax, turn on the tv, and watch another rerun of scrubs because we love it so much.
• above everything else, i'm so thankful for a God who loves me, who died for me, and who continues to show me the gospel every day...sometimes in a new way. a God who is my first love and who calls me His daughter. a God who my boys ask about everyday. wow. so thankful.

so, without further adieu, i will leave you with a couple pictures of the things i'm thankful for. happy thanksgiving everyone.

"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

right now...

ben is singing a new song on his guitar, and trying to teach the boys how to shout in it.

the little people airplane is singing "high and low. high and low. up in the sky and away we go..."

dillon's big tonka trunk is making honking noises and he is pushing it on the hard wood making a lot of noise.

petey is sitting very quietly beside me (surprise surprise).

i'm in heaven.

the boys have had fun putting shoes on lately and have surprised me with some pretty fun outfits.

NEW HAIRCUTS!!!!!

not too shabby

well, it's only been 3 weeks since i updated instead of 2 months! i call that progress!! since my last post, we have had a contract put on our house, we have put a contract on another house, and we are in the midst of LOTS of boxes that need to have more things in them instead of outside of them! ha! if you know me at all, you know i like to be organized in a certain kind of way. i like to do things on the fly for sure, and i really don't mind a messy house at all, but, when it comes to planning something, i get a high on having things organized. so, needless to say, i have a schedule for when each room should be packed and if i stay on this schedule, we will have everything packed before mine and ben's 5th anniversary getaway!!! yes, you heard me right! ben and i are leaving the boys for 4 nights and 5 days with grammy and pawpaw to get away for awhile! we're headed to nashville, are spending a couple nights at aloft. then, on saturday and sunday, we are going to be involved in our friends' wedding! ben is going to be leading worship and i am going to be coordinating (see, a planner at heart!). then, ben has something up his sleeve for sunday night and no one knows what it is! i'm not even sure if he knows what it is, to be honest with you. haha!

we also had an ultrasound of baby #3 a week ago. this baby is measuring a few days ahead of schedule, which is ok right now...just as long as he/she comes early or stops growing before he/she decides to join us in the world! we were able to count fingers and toes, saw the backbone, face, and jawbone, and saw that little thing squirm all around!!! it never ceases to amaze me that there is a BABY (aka HUMAN BEING) inside of me! i love it!

also, my sister and brother-in-law have been in the adoption process with russia for almost a year. after receiving one referral and never being able to meet the baby, they have received another referral and are going to meet sweet little baby boy on tuesday! my eyes are filling with tears as i type this. we have prayed and prayed for the next baby that will be a tankersley and it is evident that God wanted "nic" (he doesn't have a name yet) to be a tankersley! please join with us in praying that everything goes well when they meet him. lili told me that a union student came over to help them learn some russian the other day. one of the things she taught lili to say was "i'm your momma!" oh the joy!!!!! i can't wait to share in the joy of this little boy and to be a part of his family!! he is almost exactly 6 months between the boys, so i foresee LOTS of adventures between the williams and tankersley boys!! with the craziness of moving, i haven't taken many recent pictures, but i will post some that are my favorites.

to august resolutions!!!!

i was looking at our blog and realized that i used to update our blog a lot more than i do now. i mean, dillon's birthday pictures (which, his birthday, is in DECEMBER!) are still on the home page! they're not archived! that means that i probably have updated, oh, 5 times since then. and while some of you may say "well, janie, that is almost once a month", to that, i say LAME-O!!!!

so, i am making an august resolution that i will update the blog more frequently, even if it's just so i have a record of how wonderful my growing family is, and even if nobody reads it anymore.

july has been extremely extremely busy! we started the month with my family coming in from chicago. it's always so much fun to see how these cousins don't skip a beat when they're apart for awhile, then back together! and it only keeps getting better!! we were able to spend a lot of time with the myatts. mimi always has so much planned for us when the myatts come in, that it's a stay-cation for us!! while they were here, ben's sister, lindsey, came in from oklahoma. while she was here, we headed to tennessee safari park. let me just say, i had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! the park itself is great, i just wasn't sure that sally (the swagger wagon) was going to make it through! those ostriches were out for blood!!! we started the tour by the man at the gate telling us how to hold our feeding bowls. then, after our first turn, a deer came right up to the van! and he wasn't blinded by my headlights. he was so calm and friendly. anyway, we saw deer, llamas, wildebeests, monkeys, giraffes (that we also fed by hand), camels, gazelles, ostriches, water buffalo, bison, and peacocks, to name a few. dillon and isaac loved it and i'm pretty sure that all the adults had a great time too!

since then, i have been trying to not feel horrible (i am 11 1/2 weeks along, and i can barely believe that my first trimester is almost over!), find fun things for the boys to do while it is BLAZING hot here. i think we've had 2 solid weeks of highs in the 90s, with heat indices of over 100*. not fun. so, we've made several trips to the train museum, played in the water a lot, dressed up like cows to get free chick-fil-a, and really have had a great summer.

at church, we're about to start a parenting class that ben is kinda going to be helping teach. i say kinda because: a. we really know nothing about parenting; and b. we have been on the administrative side more than anything of the class. anyway, we're going through shepherding a child's heart and i am so very excited about this study. so many times with parenting, i just get so frustrated, i don't know what to do. i know that every parent feels like this and has many days like this. i guess i have just had more frustrating days lately than encouraging ones. i know i'm complaining/ranting/complaining about my kids. i don't mean to do that, and i really hope i'm not. i think i am very excited to know what to do better on and what to do instead of doing what i'm doing now (that's a lot of doing...). anyway, i am excited to be encouraged by other moms at our church and to form an even bigger camaraderie with our friends. we are also praying about where God will have us soon. our house is still on the market (go here to see a video of it) and we really just don't know what is going to come in our life. we covet your prayers. our desire is to be in full time ministry. ben is so blessed by the Holy Spirit for leading worship, and possibly even pastoring. you can go to southernorthodoxy to see his resume and to hear music he's written and worship services he has lead.

thanks for listening to me banter tonight! here's some photos of the williams lately. i know you love it!

summer time is here!

wow! a lot has happened since my last post! oh my goodness!
first of all, we are expecting our THIRD child!!!! YEA!!!! we are due february 10 and are so thrilled!!!! we are just praying the Lord blesses this little one like He has our other two. our quiver is definitely full. praise be to God!
we also made a trip to florida with ben's side of the fam (minus aunt chewey :( ) and had a BLAST! you can go here to see pictures of florida. we had such a great time and are really hoping that the oil doesn't get to our loved st. george island.
also, we have been doing a lot of work on the outside of the house. you can go here to see pics of that.
everything else is steady as it can be. our house is currently on the market. we are staying in jackson (Lord willing) but just need something a little bigger for our sweet growing family. if you know of anyone needing to buy, it has brand new landscaping in front ;) other than that, ben is staying busy with bw-creative, i'm staying busy with the boys, and the boys are just busy themselves!! they are so much fun recently!! here's a video to show you a little bit of what our day is like...



we hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to hear from you!!

a tisket, a tasket

what is a tasket? please feel free to let me know.

well, spring is definitely in the air at the williams house. we are busy busy busy. i love spring-time however. everyone is in a better mood, i'm outside with my neighbors until 8:00 (because that's when the sun is officially gone), great consignment sales abound (and yard sales) more houses go on the market, and flowers and trees are in full bloom everywhere. as of late, when we have been getting in the car, i'm sure to here "WOAH!!!!" out of isaac's mouth (because of pretty flowers) and "there's some pink ones, momma" from dillon. i love how in tune they are with the changing of the seasons. also, i would love to hear who still reads our blog. please comment, or email, or facebook me and let me know who you are!!!

this week is Holy Week. Palm sunday is today and we are very busy with our church. ben is still leading worship here part-time, and honestly, we just love how they focus so much on Christ's life, and how all of scripture points to Christ. i have been looking forward to Holy Week because we do a huge feast called the Jesus feast on Maundy Thursday (thursday before easter). this is the end of the lenten season, the beginning of Eastertide. my heart overflowed this morning at church as i sat and thought about the people that actually saw Christ's face as he rode in on a donkey, down a narrow alley, with palmbranches laid before him. at CCC, we march around the church waving palms. well, this year, dillon really got to enjoy the palms. as he played with his branch all through church (and even got into trouble with it a little), it reminded me of childlike faith. i want to have faith like a child. that everything is great. that i can trust the Lord with everything because He is going to take care of it all. these are things i am processing right now this week. as we approach Good Friday, i know my heard is going to be super heavy. i can hear the gonging of the bell that one of the guthries rings on our Good Friday service now, and my heart fills with pain to know that Christ was in SO much agony for me alone. He is the reason we have Easter. so many people think that "Jesus is the reason for the season." don't get me wrong, i agree with this statement, but i think it should be more like "Jesus is why we have any season at all." (even though that doesn't really rhyme)

anyway, these are just things i have been thinking about lately. dillon and isaac continue to amaze us everyday. God has truly blessed us with wonderful children, who love other people, who love scripture (already), and who obey. i take this for granted way too much. they are growing so much daily and are such a joy. here's a few pics from the previous month and a half. enjoy.

hanging out with baby eli

playing on the stairs at grandpa's and granny's

always a blast with aunt jen jen!! @stone mountain

"who me?"

big boy hair!!

two peas in a pod

reading with grandpa

oh my word

this is what happens when you have a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old and you let them play on the hill ;)

first time with a spoon by himself. there was more oatmeal on him than in his belly ;)