From our house to yours!

I am really horrible about getting these out, so here's a fast and easy way...

Click for bigger view

I guess the appropriate thing to say now is Happy New Year!!!

Can't believe another year has come and gone, and SO much has happened this year for us. Glad to be happy and healthy, and wishing you all the same!

**Our card was designed by the fabulous Becca over at Jumping Jax Designs**

trying something new!

mmm....our xmas vacation so far. and this week my thankfulness continues to grow. hap i am thankful for beautiful surroundings,  gorgeous scenery, awesome accomadations to include our private hottub, quality time with my family, delicious cinnamon rolls, our girls loving the hot springs, food on the table, and a few xmas presents. oh, and my new phone which i am posting this from . hence the all lowercase letters. havent figured  everything out yet. thankful today and every day. happy holidays to you all.

Tis the season!

We finally have snow that is staying on the ground for more than a few minutes....

In other news, I have been madly sewing! (see below)
Hub-bee is going to be off for the next 2 weeks so I am sooo excited to get to spend some quality time and down time as a family. We will be heading to the mountains for a few days but the rest we will be at home! I am hoping it continues to snow. I really do like Colorado for that reason. We get such a variety of weather, and I enjoy it all for the most part. And the parts I don't enjoy are gone before you know it. This December has been especially mild with weather into the 60's a good percentage of the time. T-shirts, mortercycle riding, ICED coffee drinks? Can this be true? lol

Heres wishing you all a very cozy holiday season whatever your weather may be!

Leg gussets or no leg gussets...

So somewhere along the line in the past week, I got a whim to try making my own diaper. Not because I want to save money, not because I think I can (or can't), but because I am wanting a diaper with specific attributes! I am having trouble finding a great night-time diaper that I love, and that stays leak-proof! (Bitty is starting to wet more, so this is a new issue)

Prior, Bitty was wearing BG AIO, Fuzzibunz pockets, and BG pockets with success. Now almost every morning she is wet. So I decided to try and create a diaper that has the traits that I am looking for!

So I sit down at the computer, and of course google how to sew cloth diapers. Yikes! I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I thought I would find a lovely little website that explained from A to Z how to make a diaper. Um, no. I found websites with patterns, more websites with patterns you have to buy, and various instructions that were like reading Japanese! And then they all use fancy little abbreviations and talk about materials and stiches I've never heard of! I scoured the web for probably a total of 4-5 hours combined and put together pieces from here and there to try and have it all make sense for ME. I found a simple pattern (just to get an idea for size so I can tweak), looked up how to do certain things (like attaching elastic), how to make and attach leg gussets if desired, and types of fabric.
To make the first diaper, everyone recommends using old towels, t-shirts, blankets, etc. This is just to get an idea for size, and obviously you don't want to use $10+ of material on your first shot!
What works better for my little mind is to work from scratch. Trying to follow instructions when I have no idea what it means is hard and I almost always mess up. But if I have an idea in my head then I just go for it. It's a try try again method. Probably more time consuming, but works for me. After I finish I can go back and look at intstuctions and then they make sense! Backwards I know. SO, I completed my first diaper yesterday....heres a look!

Everything is going to be hook & loop becuase I have no idea how to do snaps, and you need a fancy dancy snap press and all. Oh well, I like the velcro just fine. I already have more ideas how to change it, so we'll see what the next one looks like!

Thankful Thursday

I feel like I have so much to be thankful for that I am going to do this post along with Alysha over at The Tarr Pit, and others.

Obviously this is a time of year where others are also remembering and stating all that they have to be thankful for, but I want to remember every.single.day what I have to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for:
1.  a faith that allows me peace and comfort during times of unrest.
2.  a God who knows our hearts when no one else does.
3.  those who surround me and encourage me on a regular basis
4.  a wonderful, supporting, loving, and caring husband
5. who is also the most wonderful Dad, Brother, Son and Uncle
6.  2 of the most beautiful healthy girls that make me smile on a regular basis
7.  my family who loves me unconditionally
8.  our friends and family who love and support us
9.  having a job and an income to support our family
10. the simple things in life :)

This list could obviously go on and on, but today, these are the large parts of my/our lives that I feel thankful for. How about you?

Calling all winners!

So in the spirit of the seasons and all, I announce the winner to my cup cozy giveway. There were 3 entries.....
AND YOU ALL WIN!!!!!

{Betcha wish you entered now eh?}

Katie, Mindy, & Shanda email me to claim your own personalized cup cozy!

So whats the deal?

I haven't gotten on my blog in a week....tsk tsk. And here I get on to find out there are no entries into my giveaway! Whats going on? I practically got mauled at work when I walked in with one of these things on my coffee.

"That is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time"!

"You should totally sell those"
"Hey can you make me one for my wife"

"What a great idea, and great way to be green...did you come up with that yourself"?

And so, as I was already selling them, I decided to do a giveaway. Apparently they are not as attractive in
2-d as in real life. Sigh. I guess I will just give one to somebody at work. {Here is one I made recently for a girl at work....picture it on a cup if you can, I didnt' have one to take a picture with : ( }

If you are wanting one, don't forget to enter here. (You could have this in the bag easy as pie) And they make amazing unique presents, at a great price.You can get one for yourself or someone else here. Got a certain color, theme, idea? Let me know and I'll do my best to create it! THIS GIVEAWAY ENDS TONIGHT 11/23 @ 1159 PM MST. This is your last chance.
******************************************************************************
In other news, we are headed up NORTH for turkey day. See we have been having weather in the 50-60s here lately, and the weather up NORTH is like say 14 degrees and snow....BOO. Hope we have decent traveling roads.

Bitty #1 is sooo excited and has been ramped up for a good week now, driving me absolutely bonkers. She got a new suitcase, which is pink/purple. And guess what "Pink and purple are my FAVORITE colors" (Bitty) She can't believe they make a suitcase in her favorite colors.

Here is bitty #2.... Isn't she the sweetest?

A new addition to QBB... The cozy sweatshirt skirt. And stylish too if I say so myself. Bitty #1 LOVES skirts and dresses, but mainly skirts. So with the upcoming trip up north, I decided to make a cozy skirt for her to wear. Pair it with leggings and some cute boots....its got style written all over it, as well as WARMTH.
(oh, and its pink, so of course its an immediate hit)

 I also made a coordinating shirt and bow for the jean skirt... here is my model. She had no prompting, as I caught her reading the VS catalog the other day, I'm assuming that was her inspiration.

{P.S. I just love the pout}

Hope you all have a warm safe holiday!

Grand Opening!

So, you may or may not know that I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine, and together the two of us are sometimes able to succesfully create a few practical and or adorable creations. Thus the birth of my little side gig....Queen Bri Boutique!

You can visit me here.

To celebrate, I am giving away a custom cup cozy to one lucky winner!

Take a peek...

Back center is a regular fabric cozy

Front left is a monogrammed w/coordinating ruffle

Front right is ruffle only

I dedicate this creation to my love of coffee and the unmentionable coffee chain...

To Enter: {all comments must contain email address}

1. Must be a public follower of The Bri Hive

2. Pick which cozy your little heart desires +1 comment

3. Suggest a fabric or color +1 comment

4. Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link +2 comments

5. Comment about this giveaway on FB and leave me the link where I can see your comment +1 comment

6. Heart me on etsy +1 comment

7. Like me on FB +1 comment

This giveaway is open now until 11/23/10 at 1200 am MST. Winner will be chosen via random.org and emailed. Winner must respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen :(



MMM...

That's all that needs to be said. Now gather the following ingredients and carefully read the intense step-by-step directions. The outcome is guaranteed to be fabulous. I am doing this as well as I write...

2 cans Pillsbury flaky original biscuits
3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Step 1: Cut biscuits into quarters. Toss the sugar and cinnamon into a gallon sized bag and add the biscuit quarters. Seal and shake until evenly coated. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375.

Step 2: In a saucepan, mix the following ingredients:

1 & 1/2 sticks MARGARINE (this is a must otherwise you will be making hard candy instead of caramel sauce)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Step 3: Stir until dissolved.
Step 4: Grease a bundt pan and place biscuit quarters inside.
Step 5: Pour sauce over biscuits
Step 6: Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. Check and if biscuits are starting to turn, remove foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes.
If  you follow the directions correctly, you should end up with the following:

It should be a golden brown on top....to ensure the biscuit being done all the way through! Remove from the oven and almost immediately turn over onto a plate. {Works best if you put the plate on top of the pan and then flip :) }

**As an added tip, frequently I make 1/2 this recipe. It bakes faster and is not such a temptation to snack on all day. The perfect amount for the 3 of us!**

Dear Readers, are you there? Its me, Bri...

I know it has almost been 2 weeks since posting on my blog....
If you are still reading this, bless you and your socks.

I have taken a new venture and started working as a psych nurse. It is an adventure! Unfortunately it takes me away from my family and thus, I spend most of my free moments soaking up love and snuggles from the bittys....and the hubbee :)

I don't promise to post all the time, but I look forward to still sharing in this little journey of mine with you all.

And thanks for all of your well wishes with the new job and pumping and all, it has been getting better.
'Til next time,

Happy 6 months to my baby girl!

I canNOT believe I have a 6 month old. Where have the moments gone to? I still see her as my 3-4 month old, and am not anxious for her to grow as fast as her sister has :( We have yet to go to her 6 mos check-up so I will fill in the blanks for that later.

At her age, I was 18lbs 8oz & 27" long

At her age, bitty #1 was 15lbs 3oz & 26 1/2" long

Looks like the girls got the height gene!

Her little large personality is continuing to surface. Most recently she has found her screaming voice during church! Exercising her freedom of speech I suppose.


She is primarly in 9 month cloths with a few 6-9 still fitting, and 6-12. Within a week I'd say she will be moving on to 12 month & 12-18 month sizes. YIKES!! Bitty #1 was spot on with her sizes, wearing 6-12 month at her first birthday! Needless to say the seasons/sizes aren't adding up with the girls so I am having to buy winter clothes for bitty #2.


She is sitting well with a little support and has great head/neck stability
Rolls front-to-back and back-to-front regularly
Sleeping 9-11 hours at night
Sleeping 2-4 hours during the day (for some reason in short spurts)
Wakes up an extremely happy babes! Loves to see you first thing in the morning, along with big sissy
Moved on to the jumper/exersaucer and loves it
Likes her bumbo
LOVING baby food and is a PUFF MONSTER!!!! Eats baby food 1xday
Still nursing 5-6 times per day

Here is the little goober:

Frustration

So I am really frustrated with my pumping work set-up. Or maybe lack of set-up for better terms. The past two weeks I have been in orientation in classrooms. I haven't been on the floor and our days are extremely structured. This makes it awkward to leave, but not impossible. I don't really have a problem with excusing myself for 15-20 minutes even when it misses the break by 5-10 minutes :)
HOWEVER. I don't really have a conducive place to pump. The first day I was given an empty conference room. The next day it was occupied so I was moved up to an exam room on a floor. That worked for a few days but then yesterday it was being used, so the NM (nurse manager) told me I could use the staff bathroom. Ok I said, lets check it out. Yes, there was an outlet, but no place to sit! Not to mention a cold dark bathroom isn't really pumping friendly. Do you have to really think about that long to come to that conclusion on your own? So I simply mentioned the lack of a place to sit {in the restroom} and she got flustered and finally offered an office not being used. The main issue I have is the pressure I feel not to be pumping, like formula would be so much  more convenient for everyone else.
So I sat in the office after she said, "Don't go through any of my papers" and held back tears. Why doesn't anyone here understand or offer empathy? I'm sure someone here has been a working/pumping mother.
All I am wanting is for a place that I can go without having to disturb anyone or "bug" them. Being able to just slip away do my business and come back. I don't want to have to involve anyone in the process or be reliant on someone else to find or make a space available for me. Maybe I am asking to much? But in the mean time I waiver on something that I don't have any reason to be unsure about. I thankfully have a plentiful milk supply and it wouldn't make sense to waste it simply because it's inconvenient for those around me. I feel really discouraged with the thought of having to fight this battle every time I have to go to work. That stress in itself now will probably affect my milk supply. AH.
Sincerely,
Simply Frustrated.
Any suggestions? Words of advice? Comfort?

Wordless Wednesday

Back to it!

I don't know why its back to it, because I'll be starting work for the first time in almost 6 years. Its going to be much different then school and being at home with the girls. The good news is that after the first 3 weeks, my position will be PRN or as needed, and I will be able to pretty much set my own schedule to include the shifts and days I want. This will allow me to work as little or as much as I want, which for me will be about 24 hours a week. This will *hopefully* cover the cost of my student loans and daycare. Hrmph. The fact that I will be working solely to pay for those two things and not to finally have extra money kindof makes me sad and grumpy. Oh well. Yes Mom, I am glad I will have the ability for pay for those things at least! :)

So, this opens the door to coming home right at dinner time every night and wondering how I will manage fixing and preparing meals! I know I will have to plan ahead. Sounds simple right? And really it is, but grocery shopping has to be done in advance to have the necessary stuff to make what is planned or all of the planning goes out the front door when I open it to get the pizza from the pizza delivery guy! So here is my plan: Make 4 meals out of the 5 work days and use leftovers for lunches. The 5th day is a freebie and will be take-out/leftovers/whatever-you-can-find-thats-edible night. I know that we all fall into monotonous routines and need fresh new ideas for meals, even if they are the someone else's everyday go-to that they are sick of.

Meal One:
Brats on the grill
Veggies
Baked Beans

Meal Two:
Spaghetti w/meatballs
Cesar salad
Bread

Meal Three:
Beef stir fry w/veggies
rice

Meal Four:
Breakfast for dinner! :)
Biscuits & Gravy
Sausage
Eggs
Fruit

This week was quick, so I have a few of the ol' staples in there....hopefully I will be branching out a little more in the future!

Thanks for all your recent words of encouragement regarding the house/job etc. Hopefully everything will go smoothly this week. Thanks to my wonderful mother in advance for coming down and watching the girls!! Not having to worry about your kids while being away is a wonderful feeling. Now just to get used to pumping at work. Any suggestions from the mama's who do this? I'm very anxious and apprehensive. What if they don't have a comfortable place to pump? Will I have to go into the bathroom? My car? Is there a plug-in there? Will I have time to eat and pump?
Ah!
Wish me luck!

Photo tour :)

Some of you have requested to see the house....

Front Door :) If you look closely you can see the reflection of Pikes Peak!

We'll start in the back of the house since that is how they loaded :)

                                                                     Master Bath

                                                                  

                                                                      Master Bedroom

                                                                 Kitchen & Dining

                                                                    From the front door

                                                                     Jaylynn's Room

View out the front door.....def. gonna miss this!

 I am missing a few rooms and the basement but you get the idea. Siennas room is missing for some reason, I'll have to get that taken care of...

Enjoy!