End of April

Here is my picture dump for the end of April, in no particular order:

After bathtime, Brooke always reminds me of a little hobbit

 Some daddy time:

 Thanks Ben and Katie for the crab outfits!

 Blake shot a coyote:

 One morning Brooke wanted to hold Porter. When I told her to hold out her hands, she cupped them in front of her as if Porter were the size of a tiny mouse.

 Brooke is starting to draw faces and people instead of just scribbles and I think its so cute!

 She loves helping me give Porter a bath

 My sweet baby boy

An Idea is Born...

I don't know about you, but I love getting things in the mail other than the usual credit card offers and bills. I love to see that envelope addressed to me or my family and know that something exciting awaits inside. What will it be? An invitation? An announcement? Updated photos of friends or family to display? Even with all the social networking sites that allow us to quickly and easily share photos, there is still something I love about getting them in mail.  Getting something addressed just to me says, "you are special." So special, in fact, that someone took the time to print, address, and mail a little something with me in mind.

That being said, I also feel like creating unique photo products shouldn't be expensive. I hate paying special pricing to create an annoucement, an invite, or a photo collage. Not only is it more expensive than printing just a regular 4x6, 5x7, or 8x10, but you end paying to ship the product to your house and then money for postage. No wonder no one mails anything anymore!

I have been creating my own photo products for years and I love it. I get exactly what I want and don't have to pay any extra fees because I can upload my creation to my favorite photo website or store (whichever is going to give me the best deal) and print it just like a regular 4x6, 5x7, or 8x10. Not only is it cheaper that way, but I feel like I am getting a better product because it truly is unique and customized just for me.

So without further, adieu, I proudly introduce to you PBdesigns. A unique website where I create, just for you, a fun, custom photo product. Come to me with an idea all your own, or let me create something beautiful just for you.  On my website you can view samples of work I have done, but it definitely is not limited to that. In fact, the sky is the limit when it comes to what I can create.

I would absolutely love to hear from you! Let's work together and come up with something with style, with class, with some pizazz, and above all, something that you will love today and in the years to come.

Extras

Here a few extra things that didn't make it in my last post about our "tale of two weekends" While Brooke and Blake were away in Moab not only did I paint both our bathrooms, but I decided that Brooke's room was a little neglected after all the effort I had put into Porter's nursery. I got this idea from a girl I occassionaly blogstalk. Since we don't technically know each other and she probably doesn't know I look at her blog, hopefully she will never know I stole this idea from her ;)

I made a bulletin board by wrapping corkboard with burlap strips and then wove it. I had been looking for something to put on this empty wall in Brooke's room and also a place to showcase some of her cute baby things: her hat and booties from the hospital, her birth announcement...(I realize she is 3 now, but as you can tell, I am having a hard time letting go)
I love the letter cards and I wrapped cothespins in ribbon so as Brooke gets older we can take off some of the items and showcase artwork or other memory items from trips or whatever.
Also, I made a "birth annoucement" sign for Brooke like the one I did for Porter's room and hung a cute picture frame that I have had forever, but never got around to putting up.
Don't ask me why I think kids falling asleep in random places is so funny or cute. But it kills me everytime. This is the first time I have found Brooke asleep somewhere besides the car or in her bed. Naps are far and few these days, but she have a scheduled "quiet time" in her room each day. I could tell things were awfully quiet up there and went to peek:
And here are some Moab extras. Thanks Steph for sending these pictures!

Brooke and Blake on a hike:

Having fun with Honey and the cousins!I love that Amelia takes such good care of Brooke! They get along so well together :)
Video of Brooke and Karson biking:

Blake said that Brooke was a "digging fool" all weekend
Showing off their Easter loot:

A Tale of Two Weekends

Before I get to the weekend, I need to do a little catch up of our latest happenings:

Brooke and I built a house! For Christmas, cousin Amelia got Brooke this cardboard house that you color and then put together. This was something fun for us to do while Porter was sleeping. We'd put in a movie and sit on the floor and color away. I am a little anal, so the first thing that I had to let go of was any notion that the coloring was going to be "perfect" and to just let Brooke do her thing.
I think it's an understatement to say she loves it!

I think this speaks for itself:
Of course Brooke needed her picture taken too:One time while Brooke was playing I hear her say: "I want to bare my testa-mommy.." I hurred and grabbed the video camera, and this is seriously the cutest thing ever! The best part is that I did not coach her on this! This is just her listening during church and soaking it in.

For Easter this year Blake decided to take Brooke to Moab to his family get together. I thought about bringing Porter and going too, but then I thought about camping and getting up in the night with a 2 month old and decided against it. Good choice! The first two days were very windy and the nights were really cold. So instead, I just enjoyed some alone time with my little man:

And took the opportunity to paint both of our bathrooms without a three year old "helper" around. I Don't have a before pic, but it was a creamy yellow color that was just nasty

Next on our list is to tile the floors.

Blake and Brooke's weekend in Moab:
After three nights of camping, Brooke's hair was in need of some TLC!We waited until they came home Sunday afternoon to do her Easter basket:Brooke's turtle craft she made today at preschool:

Spring's Cutest

Stats: 12 lbs (75%) and 22.5 inches long (50%)

At two months, I am finally starting to figure Porter out. The source of all that fussiness I wrote about earlier? He's hungry! (Go Figure) I started pumping so I can give Porter more milk when he eats and that has made a world of difference. No more fuss-pot most of the day and me trying to nurse him every hour. He also doesn't like to eat first thing in the morning. He likes to just be awake and look around and say hello to Brooke. Usually its 30-45 minutes before Porter decides that he's ready to eat. Then he is usually awake until 11am and then pretty much sleeps the afternoon away, only waking up to eat, until around 5 or 6. Then it's his fussy-time and he's like that until 9 when he goes to bed for the night. He is also FINALLY starting to sleep for 5 hours at a time at night, which means I usually only wake up around 3am, and that is so heavenly for me.

I have gotten a lot of compliments over this dress and other moms wondering where I got it. Want to know my secret? KMart. Who knew!? I got the shoes there too.

Here are some recent Brooke Bits:

• during breakfast: "Mom, we don't fight. Only dinosaurs fight."
• during the middle of sacrament meeting: "Mom, can I dust the church?"
• When I complimented her on a picture she was coloring she said, very upset, "No! It's not beautiful! It's pretty!"
• while wrestling with Blake, he snatched her wand away and Brooke replied, "I need that wand so I can hit you!"
• "Mom, I need to go potty. My wand needs to go potty, too!"
• "Dad, my sucker just fell in the dirt...it's okay I'll just wipe it off on my tongue."
• She has seen me pump milk many times, but doesn't really understand the whole process and during one of her prayers said, "Please bless mommy that she can pump something..."
• I asked her what her toy catapillars name was and she said, "umm....Fungus!"
• has suddenly started calling me "partner" like "Hold on Partner! I need to put on my shoes."
• says "Can I be hungry?" or "Can I be thirsty?" when she really means "I AM hungry/thirsty"
• about 10 times a day I hear, "We don't say butt, huh mom? We only say bum or body." I think I hear that word more now than when it wasn't forbidden ;)

And here I was thinking that only girls got the cute outfits. Not so! I am loving my little man in his church clothes!

Porter in real time, not very interesting, but still cute to watch!

HAPPY SPRING!!