Goals

It’s very important to set goals. It keeps me focused. Right now our main goal has been to get the house presentable for Thanksmas (Thanksgiving & Christmas get together with my hubby’s side of the family). This will be our first year to host it and nervous doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings. I know it will all be perfect because we will be spending time with family. This is also the first time that this side of the family will see our house. While we have improved it vastly since we bought it last summer. There are still quite a few things on our “to-do list”.

So far, I think we’ve been flying through the list of projects. Just this weekend, my awesome hubby painted the bathroom and touched up a few spots throughout the house. Last weekend we painted the dining room. {pictures of both coming soon}

But this post isn’t just about those goals. I have about a million goals to accomplish before the year ends. I made a list at the beginning of the year and so far I’m falling short on my accomplishments. By posting my goals on here for all-of-the-world-to-see, I hope for this will be the motivation I need to make it through my list.

.The List.

• Find a Church & Attend as often as possible
• Nightly Chapter & Prayer together as a family
• Cook at home more, eat out less {doing this}
• Try 2-3 New Recipes a month
• Save More, Spend Less {trying really hard on this one}
• Read 10 books this year { 8 more to go}
• Read a story to baby boy every night
• Be more physically active {doing this}
• Date night at least every other week
• Send more cards
• Make more homemade gifts for holidays and birthdays.
• Print more pictures, keep photo albums
• Lose weight
• Goals:
• Hubby: lose 15-25 lbs {13-18 more lbs to go}

• Me: lose 15-25 lbs {8-18 more lbs to go}
• Be comfortable and happy with our bodies
• Take Vitamins
• Eat healthier {doing much better}
• Limit 1-2 pops per week {really good here}
• Drink more water, juice, and milk {definitely doing more of that}
• Laugh more; Be positive
• Be closer to God, Family, and Friends
• Travel more
• Establish good routines
• Help more/Volunteer
• Be more active in community and school functions

Tonight we are joining a Bible Study group of young married couples. Starting tomorrow morning I am doing the couch to 5k plan. Wish me luck.

What are your goals?  Have you accomplished them? Any advice for me? 

Rubber Ducky Birthday Bash

This weekend we celebrated our son’s 1^st birthday! His birthday is actually on Wednesday but the weekend worked better for celebrating with the families. It was a blast. Who knew a 1 year old party could be so much fun! Since I'm a first time mommy, this was my first birthday party to plan and host. It was quite the experience. I loved every minute of it! 

Picture time!! 

There’s the birthday boy! I made his shirt and paci clip. I think he liked the balloons more than anything else.

Awe family shot.

Daddy duck had to have this duck whistle he found at the dollar store. Little duckling just couldn’t resist playing with it. He actually blew into it; he even surprised himself with that one.

We had the welcome signs posted on the front and back doors. Duck labels used as napkin rings. Pom poms for centerpieces with little ducks inside.

Duck feed pails for the little ducklings to put their snacks in. Snacks consisted of Quackers, Cheesy Duck Puffs, Ducky O’s, Cheese Quackers, and Duck Legs. For drinks we had Pond Water, Bubble Bath Punch, and Duck Juice. I absolutely love the way his cupcake cake turned out. It was simple but very awesome.

I found a great duck balloon on ebay. Target had the awesome duck storage bins that held our goodie bags. (The goodie bags contained a bar of soap & two test tubes full of bubble bath all wrapped up in two washcloths.) I designed all the printed pieces at the party including his Happy Birthday Banner.

I made him a “Year in Review” poster. It lists his birth date, weight, length, sign, birthstone, growth, milestones, famous people born on his bday, this day in history facts, prices of gas, rent, milk, bread and movie tickets, popular songs and movies in 2010, important news in 2010, and a list of his favorite things. Above the guest book and year in review we hung a photo line with a photo from each month from birth to 11 months.

These are the outdoor decorations. My younger brother drew duck feet walking up the sidewalk. He also drew this adorable duck on the front porch.

We played Pin the beak on the duck and duck waddle race. Funny how much the “big kids/adults” got involved in both games.

He was so sleepy by this point but he was quite the trooper once he got into the cake.

It was an amazing party. I honestly don’t think it could’ve been any better. Thanks so much to all those who came and to those who helped! We greatly appreciate each of you! Everything went smoothly and everyone seemed to have a good time. The birthday boy definitely enjoyed it all and that’s what makes all the hard work worth it. : ) Happy birthday little man!

Update: Dining Room Table

 Last weekend was a really busy and wonderful weekend for us. My husband's parents came down for a visit. We had a wonderful time with them. After their visit, we decided to get started on the table. We built it in one day. I can’t believe it went together so fast. Granted, we did miscalculate on the frame and had to redo that part but other than that it was a breeze. Basically, the hubs built it and I made it pretty. Instead of boring you with a lot of text, I’m just going to let the pics do the talking (for the most part). Enjoy! 

The correct frame...I have all these pictures of each step we did to build this but it was for the miscalculated frame and I'd rather not show that one ;)

It's a pretty good size table 6ft by 4 ft. (ignore the mess surrounding the table)

I had to rough it up a bit and give it some character. 

Staining...see the difference. 

Just look at all that detail. *swoon*

I even got the legs to be just how I wanted them...not how I planned on doing it. I had researched this technique to "antique" the legs...I was all set to do it, then I dropped my staining rag and it hit one of the legs. As I pulled it off I realized it had left a little of the stain on the leg. It looked awesome (in my opinion) so I took the rag and rubbed it along the frame. Presto! I got exactly the look I was going for and it took literally 60 seconds to do. 

Pretty hands, huh? Advice: When staining you will get the stain on your hands (hopefully not as much as me, try not to be jealous) it happens. It does not come off with soap and water though. Ryan googled it for me and found that veggie oil helps. Worked like a charm. So when staining if you get some on you, just wash off with veggie oil.

GLOSS! We wanted this baby to shine! 

The finished product...kind of. We're still glossing it. We've got about 2 more coats to go. Isn't it lovely? Now we just need to get to work on the chairs and do something about that horrible Texas Orange on the walls...ick. (BOOMER SOONER)

{BONUS} 

I worked on a side project during the table construction this weekend: The Growth Chart! I've been wanting to make one of these for months now. I made myself a goal that it had to be completed for my son's first birthday so that I could measure him then. I saw it originally on TipJunkie and it immediately when on my project list. 

We bought a 1in thick 6 ft x 8 in board from lowes for $6 and a can of stain for $6. My husband helped me measure and mark the board. After we had the marks made I printed the outline of the numbers. I then began tracing the numbers onto the board. I laid a newspaper under my numbers and traced along the outline with a ballpoint pen and using a lot of pressure. The ink from the newspaper transfered perfectly. I used a black permanent marker to fill in the numbers and marks.

Then sanded the edges a little to removed the sharpness and stained it.

It was a very fast project and really easy! I absolutely love it and can't wait to get little man's measurements on it next Wednesday.

Party Planning

Our little boy is about to celebrate his very first birthday. To keep it short and sweet and not provoke any tears: it’s been a very fast and wonderful year.

Let’s get this out in the open: I love planning and DIY projects. I can’t explain why but I just do. So you can imagine how excited I am to plan and make things for my son’s first birthday party.

I will not specify exactly when I began planning but let’s just say that it was “early”. I tackled the theme first: Ducks, Monkeys, or Cars. I went with ducks because honestly when else would he let me throw him a rubber duck party?!?! I couldn’t get over how adorable this theme could be so I ran with it.

After searching the net for ideas and inspiration, I’d come up with a plan. (TipJunkie and Pinterest were my main resources in this search. These are two of my favorite sites, they even rank higher than Facebook.)

Theme: Rubber Ducks

Colors: Blue & Yellow

Games: Pin the beak on the duck & Duck waddle (racing with balloons between your knees)

Goodie Bags: Bath time supplies- bubble bath, soap, & wash cloths.

Cake: Cupcakes in the shape of a 1.

Drinks: Water, kool-aid, and Bubble Bath Punch

Food: Snacks that little duckling could have – Pretzel sticks, cheese puffs, cereal, crackers.

Cute Ideas that I love:

Making him a birthday t-shirt & hat

Tiny Pails for snacks

Pom poms for centerpieces

Year in review poster

Photo line – a photo of him from each month of his first year

Personal DIY Banner

Welcome to Bryson’s Pond & Duck Crossing signs

The party is a little over a week away. All the projects are well underway and most are completed. I’ll make more posts of the progress of the projects and then a final post of the PARTY! :)