new

hello blog life...

Welcome!  this is my personal blog, where I ramble, share things that everyone may or may not want to read.  My personal stuff goes here.  I put it here so that my clients don't have to read about my boring life.  I blogged for years before I started my work blog and i want to keep them seperate, because while my business is a part of my life, my kids are the biggest thing!  :)  so here you will find good mommy blogging, and our day to day lives.  If you want to see how insanely boring I am...read away.  If you want to see beautiful pictures...check out my work blog: Candi Leonard Photography blog

now that you have been warned, scroll down to see what is NEW in my life.  :) 

saying Goodbye.

This has been a week of Good-byes in our household.  Travis officially left his work.  It wasn't an easy transition for him and there are moments when he still struggles but I know it will work out for the best.  Of course with that change, we also said good-bye to 50% of our household income.  So needless to say, it is changing things a LOT for us.  

 

I am feeling overwhelmed with change lately.  Things have gotten out of hand in our lives dealing with the stress of our situation.  I have decided that I am going to say good-bye to this blog.  I have used it for the last 6 months as a way to vent about our situation and while I needed it because many nights I just needed to talk and had no one there to listen, I am ready to move on.  I have blogged for almost 10 years.  I enjoyed it.  But like all great things, it is time to see the end.  I will still have my work blog to share photos of the kids.  I just feel the need to have a little more privacy in my life.  I am also taking a facebook hiatus.  I don't know how long.  All I know is I am tired of trying to keep a happy face on when I don't feel like it. So instead of dwelling on it.  I am letting it go.  

 

Travis and I recently started watching Chicago fire.  One quote from a recent episode said 

"Disappoint someone.  Heck, Disappoint everyone.  Just never disappoint yourself."

 

And I needed to hear that and Travis needed to hear it too.  We have been living with our situation and trying to not disappoint others with our decisions in the process.  It is time to give myself grace in that part of my life.  I have people disappointed that I don't come to things when in reality, it is just too much on ME to drag all our kids there.  I have people disappointed in my lack of responding to emails, when in reality, somedays I don't even turn my computer on.  I have people who would rather talk about my life decisions behind my back, and in Reality it is my life to live.  I can tell you that EVERY big decision that I made, I had a million people at my back saying I shouldn't and I never regretted the end.  I am used to letting people down, but I am also used to letting it eat at me until I can't bear the stress of it.  I have to let this go for my own health.  I can't please everyone and I don't want to.  I want to be a good wife and mother and a happy person.  That is all that I care about.  So I am letting it go.  

 

I know it sounds bitter, reading this.  But it is actually freeing.  I feel a peace that I haven't felt in a long time.  I think in life we rely so much on telling people things via facebook updates or blog posts or texts that we lose that personal commuication.  I know I have personally witnessed this in my life.  And I am looking forward to having REAL connections with people again.  Instead of reading and sharing via social media.  I am looking forward to reconnecting with people that actually care enough to stop by or call.  I am looking forward to seeing how this changes our lives.  

 

So Farewell blog friends.  

Ames is one!

My little Ames turned one recently...HOW DOES IT HAPPEN SO FAST?

 

we had a sweet little woodland party for him!  I have been planning this party for months!  It was fun collecting little things to use.  Most of the stuff was things from around our house and then some things straight from nature!  

The whole party was planned around his cake.  My hubby cut that tree and carved that stump just for me.  lol!

(the little guy on the left up there is a raccoon my oldest made!)

 

my mom made the cupcakes and cake as always!

I had fun dressing up water bottles and drink bottles, etc.  :)

Ames enjoyed his cake too!  :)

 

It was a super fun party!  :)  I am already dreaming about his next one! 

supplies: 

greenery, birds, hedgehogs, burlap- hobby lobby

pinecones, tree stumps- NATURE!

ONE shirt, treat bags, stamped wood slices- etsy

Everything else was around my house already!

9 months +

I meant to do this post a over 2 weeks ago and oops, life got crazy.  So without further ado...

 

Ames is 9 months old!

He has 4 teeth and two more pushing through anyday.  Drooling machine!

He is a happy baby still.  he can crawl all over creation and is getting faster every day.  He pulls up in his crib and pack and play.  He is active for sure!

Have no idea about weight yet, but will know when we go for his check up later this month!  

He loves all baby food.  Nothing he hasn't liked yet.  He has transitioned to formula with our crazy past two months and it has been a wonderful transition.  I almost wish I would have done it a little sooner.  I am proud we made it 8.5 months with breast milk, but my body was ready for him to wean.  He takes 6oz every 4 hours and that extra 1.5-1 hour between feedings has made a HUGE difference for me!  Plus I can always tell what he is drinking now.  :)

 

We are still in size 2 diapers and 6-12 month clothes.  Some of the 6-12 mo clothes are still too big.  He is long and skinny!  

 

We are FINALLY to a point in our sleeping routine where it is getting better.  He goes down between 7-9pm and usually wakes ONCE at night for a feeding and is up by 7 or 8am.  Sometimes that feeding is 2 or 3am, sometimes he will go to 5 or 6am.  I love those later days!  :)  Gives me hope!

 

He loves chatting up a storm.  He has so many new sounds.  I think we will have lots of words quickly!  His little voice is precious!  And don't get me started on his giggle!  

 

I can't believe we will be planning a first birthday soon!  Excited but sad.  

 

Christmas 2012...

This year was a whirlwind Christmas.  I feel like I blinked through December.  It has been crazy.  But the holiday season is to an end and I am feeling hopeful for the future!  Here are some highlights from our Christmas...

 

I decorated so very similar to last year, only adding in some twinkle lights.  :)  

 

We hit up the Great Wolf Lodge (by surprise this year!) on our usual Christmas Adam night.  The boys were told early on that we didn't have enough money to go.  The cost of the trip was almost double what we normally pay when we went to book our usual room.  I happened to luck up and check at the beginning of the month and find a deal that was cheaper than we normally pay so I booked and we kept it between us.  The kids opened up a gift that morning in a BIG box telling them we were going!  They were tickled!  My mom kept Ames, and I think I was most excited about the chance to sleep an entire night through, even though I didn't as I still woke up looking at the clock every 2 hours.  My trip was fun as well since my pal Nia was there with her son as well, so after the kids were tucked in bed, I slipped over to her room for some girl chat.  

 

The boys enjoyed a fun Christmas of wii u for the bigs, an artist easel for Ashton and a lightning mcqueen seat for Ames. Our presents were low key with each kid having 3 to open (one was a shirt, the other two toys they wanted).  No one missed the hype or what i like to refer to as the "over crapification" of Christmas.  We had simple and perfect.  Travis got me two beautiful sets of earrings and I got him stuff he wanted for his bow.  

 

We traveled to our usual spots and opened gifts and ate way too much.  The boys of course were loaded down with TOOO much stuff.  I don't know where it will all go.  It left me with the itch to purge, which I had the opportunity to do somewhat since they spent Christmas night with Grandma.  

 

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas!  

14 years.

 

FOURTEEN YEARS later, I am still his girl.  I am still head over heels in love with this man.  Everyday is not perfect, but the good far outweighs the bad.  We have grown so incredibly close these last 2 years that I can't imagine how life can get much better.  13 was so lucky for us, I don't know if 14 can top it.  I am ready to give it a try though!  

Fourteen years of ups and downs, joys and sorrows, sickness and health.  We have truly lived through life together.  Building careers, raising a family, finding our own path in life.  It has been a beautiful journey so far!  

 

People thought we were crazy, but here we are beating the odds that were against us.  I pray that my children are blessed with a marriage as wonderful as ours.  I hope that our example will help them reach that dream.  

 

 

A space for Ames...

I have wanted to share this space for MONTHS.  I literally finished his space the day before he arrived, but never found the time to photograph it.  It was super dark today, but I went with it anyway, so ignore the not so perfect pics!  I had to share it now, because now or never!   Because he will be grown before I know it!  :) And because it is time to lower that crib now!  I can't believe it!  

WELCOME TO AMES' SPACE... 

We are out of rooms  for now so we share with him.  I tried my best to skimp as much as possible knowing we had a another boy, and needed nothing....but I couldn't resist making him a "home" of his own.  :)  So we started with what we had and went cheap...

 

We painted Austin's old crib (Austin had it in natural wood, Ash had it in orange).  Ames gets a fun black crib!  I wanted it to match our furniture.  So we went black and it looks AMAZING!  :)  I had found a fun bedding set at Land of Nod that was yellow, white and grey that I loved.  But I didn't want to splurge for all of it.  So I bought the sheet and bumper and changing pad.  I bought an extra sheet as well to use the fabric for.  :)  

 

I cut the sheet and made my own crib skirt.  SUPER EASY!  

I also made this adorable pillow...

and I made my very first ever quilt (didn't photo it yet!).

We hung pom poms for him to look at.

 

And I FINALLY used this IKEA frame for something!  Painted the A and hung it on the fabric inside the frame.  LOVE IT!  :)

 

 he loves his space...

SOURCES:

crib bumper, sheet, diaper pad cover- land of nod

diaper holder bin- baffin bags on etsy

pom poms- etsy

all fabrics- etsy

frame- IKEA

A, small frame- hobby lobby

chevron bins- target

 

 

A SUPER Mario birthday!

If you know me, you know that I usually do ANYTHING but a typical birthday party.  So when Alex requested Mario, I REALLY froze up.  But after some initial brainstorming (pinterest, etsy, google) I came up with some ways to make Mario FUN!  :)  So here is what we did...

 

I made these cute flower power plants out of piping, styrofoam balls, dowels, spray paint and felt.  SUPER EASY, SUPER CHEAP, SUPER CUTE!  I put fire balls on the inside for treats! 

 

I did my typical drink bottles, only with mario themed straw toppers made by me.  

I turned the chip bowl into mario fun too!

My favorite project was this little Mario felt banner which now resides in Alex's bedroom on his new bed.  So FUN!  

 

For favors, I made m&m's with Mario toppers.  I also had store bought boxes filled with pencils, mario gummies, and these cute little homemade coin bags. 

The cupcake toppers were made by me as well.  

THANK YOU PINTEREST for the cute idea to cut a number out of cardboard and wrap with tinsel.  It was so cute as a backdrop!  :)

 

The Birthday boy loved it all.  :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I can't believe that October is OVER!  Man, time just flew right by me.  I started decorating Sept. 1 for Halloween and I STILL never finished.  I had great intentions, fabulous ideas and just no time to see it through.  The last few weeks have been a blur of sleepless nights, a spoiled baby, and TOO much on my plate.  *sigh*  There is always next year, right?  

 

I am going to share my living room, because I did decorate it!  :)

 

my favorite thing we did was the spiders up the mantel!  

Since the trimwork was done, and I had new sconces to decorate, we had a little fun with those too!  And the shelves as always!  We mixed things up a bit this year!

the buffets became home to some school crafts and leftover stuff for this year...next year I have GRAND plans!

 

And of course, the kidlets....

alex wasn't thrilled with the COLD weather.  Luckily we had grabbed a photo at school already too...

and my sweet little guy...showing off his sitting skills!  :)

 

There were so many things I wanted to do this year that just didn't happen, but it is ok, because my kids LOVED it all.  So I guess I will just have to give myself a break!  :)

Sweet Circus party!

Ashton turned FOUR last month!  We had a rather fun Vintage circus/carnival party!  He is a kid that LOVES to plan parties with me.  We had SO MUCH FUN making everything.  He LOVED IT. 

 

Everything started with is cake.  I saw a cute one on Pinterest and we went from there.  I made the ribbon wands to stick in it and had an etsy girl make the cute toppers.  My mom made the cake (even though she insisted it was TOO plain) it was exactly as I asked complete with a gumball border around the bottom.  :)  

my favorite little spot to decorate is the cake/treat table.  I pull stuff from all over for it.  I lucked up and found the cute tickets at the dollar tree!  I used them EVERYWHERE.  :)

We had homemade carnival games and some CUTE drink bottles!  :)

We had a photo booth too!  OF COURSE! 

Overall, we had a GREAT day! 

 

SOURCE LIST:

ribbons wands, treat signs, game signs, number 4 light up- made by me!

popcorn tubs, tickets, rings for toss, cups- dollar tree

cake topper animals- crumbly art on etsy

ribbons- hobby lobby

popcorn bags, treat cups, jar toppers, straws, milk bottles- sweet lulu

circus dress up stuff- hobby lobby and target

 

6 months...

Seriously?  Half a year?  WHAT!!!  My sweet baby is 6 months old.  It happened over night!  

He is a bundle of joy.  Seriously.  We can't get enough of him!  

HE weighs in today at 16 lbs 10 oz.

He now has 2 little teeth.  He is still chewing on EVERYTHING.  

He sleeps through the night again with an exception of a few 3 or 4am wake-ups every now and again.

He LOVES baby food.  Probably our best eater yet.

He LOVES tummy time.   HE is happy as long as he is around someone during it.  HE rolls like a champ from one side of the room to the next.  He also tries to get into a full crawling position but can't quite hold it up for long.  

He giggles...so much.  He smiles constantly.  

He isn't much of a napper, but every once in a while will give me a good one. Usually this is during school pick ups in the car.  No free time for this mommy!

 

He is still in 3-6 mo clothes although a few of his 0-3 still fits.  The 6-12 mo stuff swallows him whole.  :)  He is in stage 2 diapers.  

His favorite toys are his sophie giraffe (best toy EVER!) and his frog from Jennifer!  

We had our first sickness this month too...which is why this post is a few days late. Our first ear infection and round of antibiotics.   :(

 

I have a fun little fall session planned for this week for him.  :)  I will share it soon!