Girls night!

1st girls night since Owen was born! YAY! Who is ready for some guilt free Tokyo?  This momma!

Figured I would document....my hair is only gonna look like this for another 4 minutes.

PS.  Started a new thing on my SPT blog called, Photoshop Friday.  Check it out if you like before and afters.  See the love that goes into my sessions :) http://simonetrahanphotography.blogspot.com/2011/12/photoshop-friday.html

Christmas crafts and Owen update!

I make these wonderful cookies every year for family and friends at work.  I only make them at Christmas because I would weigh 500 pounds if I made them throughout the year.  They are seriously fantastic - and that's no compliment to me - its just the cookies!!

This year I wanted to make cute little Christmas cookie cans to pass out my goodies! Here is my up-cycle use for my son's formula containers.

Supplies needed: wrapping paper, formula can, tape, paint, ribbon, and of course your goodies!

Paint the cap - chalk board paint would be really cute!! This is the first coat - I did two and it covered fine. 

Fold and tap the paper to fit your can. 

I taped it at the seems and it held around just fine.  The formula cans have a lip around the edge that helped hold the paper in place. 

Tadaa! Now add cookies! 

Owens is home now and starting to seem better every moment! We still have some coughing fits, and I have been thrown up on a few times, but he is actually smiling now.  I have to go back to work tomorrow and I am  hoping he feels better - my poor husband....I did enjoy the extra mommy and Owen time these last few days.

Advent Calendar...almost.

I hate to say - but this will be the first year that we have done an Advent calendar.  EKK! But since I have been bitten by both the DIY and Pinterest bug this year...I decided to make one....Simone style! I found this really cute one on a blog (that was not written in English, btw) and decided to go with this theme. Unfortunately - sickness has taken down my house and we never got to finish making it.  Maybe next year I will start in July???  Well...here was my list - and till Christmas comes I am just going to let the girls pick something to do every night.

Our activities

Each package has a special not inside of what to do as a family

25: Read Christmas stories for bedtime. 

24: Make salt dough ornaments. 

23: Make and send Christmas cards. 

22: Make paper snow flakes and decorate the kitchen. 

21: Make paper garland. 

20: Pick out children from an Angel tree and buy them gifts.

19: Make Christmas presents to mail to Grandpa. 

18:Learn a new Christmas song. 

17: Make snowmen from toilet paper rolls. 

16: Make paper stockings. 

15: Make reindeer pops. 

14: Paint a Christmas tree with hand prints.  

13: Make Christmas cookies with fun shapes. 

12: Make a tissue paper wreathe. 

11: Make Christmas tree ornaments with scrabble tiles. 

10: Make a ginger bread house. 

9: Wrap presents we made for the family. 

8: Make a nativity scene. 

7: Hot chocolate and smores outside by the fire pit. 

6: Drive and look at Christmas lights. 

5: Watch a Christmas movie for family movie night. 

4: Make Christmas rice crispe treats (shaped like trees and ornaments made from candies)

3: Make treats for a house-bound member of our church and deliver them. 

2: Make a "Thankful For" board of things the kids are thankful for. 

1: Read the Christmas story from Luke.


This is about how far we got before all 3 kids got RSV....

That's it.  Pretty inspiring, huh? It would have been cute. 

Sweet baby boy and the hospital.

Today Owen was admitted to the hospital.  He has RSV, strep throat and possibly phenomena....if we ever get to get his xrays! It has been a long day. They put in a IV tube - with no IV hooked to it yet - which he thinks they gave him as a toy and so my entire evening has been trying to keep him away from this appealing plastic tube hanging off his hand.  I finally got him to fall asleep and here comes the nurse to take his temp....rectally. Not asleep anymore.

We did discover that Owen loves the sound of the webcam on the laptop....so here we are.  Horrible hat hair and everything.  I'l take my smiles from my sweet boy anyway that I can.

simone.trahan.photography blog

According to my blog, http://simonetrahanphotography.blogspot.com/ , I have one follower from Ukraine and 44 from Russia! That makes my heart happy - I have a special place for Ukraine in my heart.  The month I worked there will never been forgotten.  Plus! I know some pretty amazing little Ukrainians that are now part of our loving church family! Go adoption!

There's my 12:30 am happy moment.

Thank you.

This month a friend shared some very inspiring things with me - rather things about me.  She shared with me about how I was inspiring her and such wonderful kind words about myself as a person, a mother, a wife.

I am not sure how to convey how humbled I was to hear such things.  It took me a long time to write her back because I honestly didn't know what to say! Truth be told, I generally feel inadequate 99% of the time.  I feel like an inadequate wife, mother, worker, person.  I feel that I am always too busy or short tempered or inpatient.  I let the world beat me up.  I worry - constantly! I look around at all these wonderful, Godly women that I aspire to be like and I feel the ball stops short of the hole on my end.  So to hear that to someone else thinks that I am something to be aspired after was very humbling.  

Thank you, friend, for lifting my spirits this month.  I appreciate you more than you know.  

Make your own wipes!

In this house - we use wipes - for everything!! So when I heard about making our own for cheap I was on board....while the glue and paint are drying on our Advent Calendar, I thought I would show how we made our own wipes.  I know there are other blogs out there that have shown this - but this is an account of our experience!

 You will need : 1 roll of paper towels.  2 cups of distilled water (or boil 2 cups and then let them cool to room temperature).  2 tablespoons of baby wash and 1 table spoon of baby oil. One container with a lid - mine is a little excessive but its what I had! Total spent - $2.20 to make 204 wipes.  204 wipes store bought = $10.00 or more depending on brand.  

1 roll of paper towels - we liked using the Viva because they are soft.  I got the select a size roll for $2.20.  Baby oil and baby wash - which most of you probably already have!  

Use a sharp, serrated knife to cut your roll in half.  The blog I saw had the roll all pretty and clean when it was cut - mine did not.  :)  Here is what it actually looked like...and it only got worse.  Take the middle card board peice out.  Set one half aside for next time.

 Place the baby wash, oil and water in your container.  Place one half of your paper towel roll (cut side down) in the bottom and close the lid.  Let it sit until all the liquid is absorbed.  Turn your whole container up side down and let it sit this way for 10-20 minutes.  Turn right side up and enjoy!!