Magnetic Clipboards

     A lady from my MOPS group ordered two clipboards from me. She wanted one for her daughter Emma, and one for her son Jack. She wanted them to have a common color of brown, and a pocket at the bottom to put school stuff in. She also wanted them to be magnetic, so that she could put them on the refrigerator.  The pocket and the magnetic backing are both things I had not done yet. So, I of course was up for the challenge, and I also thought that they were both fabulous ideas. Since they were magnetic I didn't put a folder on the back, so we fancied up the front a bit more.

For Jack's I decided to keep it simple, I went with the two main colors of green and brown. The clipboard itself was painted brown. The mom chose the paper and I started creating it from there. For the body of the clipboard I used the transportation paper, and the green and white paper as a contrast.

Where the green paper begins is also where the pocket begins. The transportation paper was used for the pocket. I used green and brown ribbon to tie the pocket on. I chose to make the clipboards as matching as we could for the siblings. So on both pockets is where I put the names. For Jack I also added a car embellishment.

The pocket is very cute and also provides another opportunity to organize.

I chose a star to top off the clip. The transportation paper had stars on it, plus the I didn't want to do anything to frilly for Jack.

The idea for Emma's was to keep it very similar in style to Jack's. But the two main colors I used were pink and brown. The mom chose the paper, and I went from there. When I saw that she had chosen bird paper I loved it, because I have a bird stencil. I thought the stencil would add a little bit more of a girly feel for Ms. Emma, and also tie in more brown that the mom wanted. So I painted on the bird stencil to the left of the clipboard.

Emma's is like Jack's. The bird paper covers the body of the clipboard, and the pink paper is the contrast paper. Where the pink and white paper begins at the bottom is also where the pocket begins. For Emma's I used pink and brown ribbon to tie the pocket on. If you notice it is the same style of  ribbon as Jack's, just pink instead of green.

For the top of Emma's I added a little bit of ribbon (pink, green, white, and brown), and a green and pink flower in the middle of that.

This is the final product. These were two clipboards I loved doing. It is so nice to make something personal for someone. I enjoy making my projects to fit a person's personality and likes. These pictures were taken on my refrigerator. So I am now trying to think of who else could use one. I love the idea, any and all organizational ideas are great!

Christmas Frame

One of my dear friends Leslie asked if I would make her a Christmas frame for her girls. Leslie and I met while our husbands were in med school together at UTMB. She has the cutest little girls, Isabella and Madeline. I of course said yes. This was the first frame that I have gotten to do a frame specifically for a holiday. The colors were easy; red, green, and white. This was a fun frame and I hope to make more like it.

She wanted it to fit an 8x10 pictures, and include both of the girls names. This a look at the entire frame.

I included a few Christmas embellishments, but mainly stuck with ribbon and paper as the main design.

   Leslie, I hope you like the frame. I can't wait to see the final product, those beautiful girls in the middle of this frame.

Airfest 2010

     One great perk of living in San Antonio is getting to see all of our brave men and women in uniform around town. There is a lot of military here. In most places where you live you get asked, "What does your husband do for a living?" Not here, here you get asked, "Is you husband military?" Just funny how things are different depending on where you live. Well we are proud of our men and women who serve, and we got to enjoy some of their talents last weekend.
     Lackland Air Force Base hosted Airfest 2010. It was a great event with lots to see and do, they had free parking and free admission. It was a perfect family event. When we got there there was a forever line. But it did move fast, and the show could be seen outside the gate. We couldn't believe how loud the planes were, Rylan immediately started pointing to the air (this is what he does every time he hears a plane). Luckily for our little man today he would see a lot of planes, and hear more than he may have wanted to. When you walk in the gate their are vendors selling small planes, tours of planes, planes overhead, planes everywhere.

They started out with these little planes (sorry, I can't tell you the names). They were little trick planes and did great tricks that the crowd loved.

This is my boys in front of a Thunderbird.

Being so close to Veteran's Day I loved that this man was wearing this jacket. It read, "Honor the Finest and Bravest, United We Stand, America's Heroes."  There were a few instances this day that gave both Tyson and I chill bumps. It is events like this that remind you how proud you are of your country, those who fight to protect it, and the freedom that you have.  

The thunderbirds were the last show of the day. They were amazing. There were six of them, but these four stayed together the entire time.

The other two were separate, or doing something crazy like this.

At one point five of them united. When they split we were able to capture a shot of it.

At the end they all joined together, all six of them. It really was very cool. Just imagine how impressed the kids were if Tyson and I were in amazement?

          This is my favorite picture from the entire day, my boys watching together!

Daddy's Shoes/Boots

Rylan really is so much like his Daddy. And the other day he put on his Daddy's boots. It just made me realize how much he watches our every move, and also just how much he really is his Daddy!

I love to wear your shoes Daddy,

As you can clearly see.

Pretending I'm as big as you,

For soon that day will be.

I hope to be like you someday,

Strong, Patient, full of love.

You’re the greatest Dad on earth,
With quite the shoes to fill.
Author ~ Unknown

Our Little Angel

     As soon as Rylan began walking, he also developed a halo. I will admit our child is not an angel, however he thinks he is (and Mommy agrees he is pretty close). Since he was 12 months old I have captured a picture of him in his halo. "These halo's" (diving rings for the pool) come in four different colors; orange, white, yellow, and pink. Rylan doesn't care what color his halo is. He puts one on at least once a week. The pictures below show you our little angel!

12 months

13 months

14 months

15 months

                                                      16 months

Happy Birthday Granny

   My Momma celebrated her 25th birthday last week. Crazy enough Kirby, Rylan and I all ended up surprising her at work that day. She was so happy to see us, and I think it really made her day very special. These are some pictures that I took while we celebrated with her!

We took her to dinner at an Italian place, and they served her cheescake for her special day. Rylan was being so funny. He kept posing with Granny, and wanting me to take a picture of them together. We were all cracking up at our little ham. I just love this picture!

Of course Uncle Kirby and Rylan played like crazy. On Thursday before we went home Uncle Kirby got to dress, and watch Rylan while Mommy got ready.

My Mommy and her sweet son who drove 6 hours to see her.

                        The four of us celebrating Momma's special day!

Monkeying Around

     This year for Halloween we decided that Rylan would be a monkey. He makes lots of animals noises, but his favorite is the monkey. As soon as he saw his costume he began making his monkey noises. However, when it was finally time to put it on, that took a little getting used to. I apologize in advance (Granny & Nana), I was not able to capture a really awesome picture of him in his costume. I tried my best, but this busy boy wasn't about to sit still.

     Tyson had to work Halloween weekend, so for the most part Rylan and I were on our own. On Saturday they had a little Halloween Celebration in our subdivision. Rylan and I went and stayed for just a bit. We did stay long enough for him to win third place in the 3 and under costume contest.

     On Sunday evening our dear friends Matt & Emily hosted a Halloween party. Now you must understand that with 4 kids ages 13 months to 17 months. Our parties are not the Halloween Parties we all once attended. It was low key, fun, and relaxed. Emily made a deliciously huge batch of chili, pumpkin bars, and had little smores (these were so good). We all ate, enjoyed the kids in their costumes, and handed out candy. Tyson was able to make it for a little while at the end. We had a great Halloween, and we really enjoyed watching our boy Monkey Around!

This was very soon after Mommy put the costume on. Can you tell he loved it?

This was our monkey while he was being judged for the costume contest.

Joseph was a giraffe, and he didn't seem to mind his costume at all.

The girls just so happened to both be insects, and the boys were both jungle animals.

Ella was a sweet little bumblebee.

Clara was a precious little ladybug.

Leave it to the jungle animals to be the ones to get into all of Mr. Matt's electronics.

Surprisingly, the kids didn't really care to eat any of the candy. However they all enjoyed playing with it in the bowl. Ella and Rylan really enjoyed it. There were a few times we picked candy up off the floor to give to the trick-or-treaters.