a bit of sunshine

Ten on Ten :: October 2011

Good morning everyone and welcome to this months installment of the Ten on Ten project! When your ready add your set to the linky below - and if you've never played along all you have to do is take a photo an hour for ten hours and capture a beautiful day in your life. Find out more about the project HERE.

just a little reminder that monday is ten on ten!

I hope you will join me - learn more about the project HERE!

peeks from our week

this week in no particular order has included - a little clay making session + homemade pumpkin spice syrup + unpacking a few more boxes + lots of yawns from mommy and daddy + bible study and new friends + a few overwhelming moments + bird feeder making at church school + many hours being loved on at children's hospital by a doctor trying to get to the bottom of my oldest sons chronic health issues + vegan oatmeal pumpkin chocolate chip cooking baking + a house that just might actually close tomorrow + being grateful for the beauty in the ups and downs of this life

I am so looking forward to sitting down and sharing more about some of these little peeks but until then am thankful for a full and hopeful week!

So hows yours been friends?

wordless wednesday

spider chandelier :)

drum roll please

the winner of the b. children's wear giveaway from last weeks blog party is:

Summer - from Crosbie Crew!

and the winner of the modern little ones giveaway is:

Ellie - from Ellie's Pink Piano!

Congratulations ladies email me and I will get you hooked up with your prize!

Whitney will be drawing for the third prize on October 8th so there is still to enter for the gorgeous necklace if you haven't yet HERE!!

instagrams from the fair

This was our second annual trip to the fair for Chris' birthday. The boys even did a lemonade stand to raise money for it this year! We had a blast and rode the rides all day long, ate yummy BBQ, funnel cake, checked out the animals and even played a few games.

I actually really hope we keep this tradition going for years to come it feels like the perfect way to celebrate with Chris and to welcome in the fall season too. And in the evening Grandma picked up the boys (she had Josie all day) and so that we could ride some of the big roller coasters together before watching the Counting Crows and eating yummy strawberry scones for dessert. It was awesome! Thanks Grandma for your special gift of helping with the kids to make this day possible it was so generous and kind of you!

I just love traditions - what traditions do you love to do in the fall?

I hope you all have a great weekend - if you haven't had a chance to yet make sure you enter the giveaways going on right now here, here and here...I will draw for the gift certificates on Sunday evening!!!

Happy Friday everyone!

Sponsor Spotlight

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Kayla Aimee. KA is the beautiful wife of Jeff and mother of a little miracle named Scarlette. Born fifteen weeks early Scarlette spent the first 5.5 months of her life in the NICU. KA is an incredible SAHM who has an infectious way of writing about her life on her blog and as you can imagine a passion for preemies and micro preemies.

Today Kayla Aimee is here to share a special + sweet way to dress up a preemie shirt while following some strict hospital restrictions...and shes sharing pictures of her sweetie pie too :)

I am super honored to have Kayla Aimee as my feature sponsor this month her blog and life is a blessing and testimony of Gods goodness and grace, you must check it out I know you will love it!

Now here's KA:

This little project is a quick, easy and inexpensive way to pretty up some basic baby clothes. My daughter, Scarlette, spent the first 5.5 months of her life in the NICU. While in there, we were really limited on clothing options for her. Not just because she was an itty bitty little thing but because the hospital had pretty strict standards about what we could put on her. The most important requirement was that her shirts snapped open in the front for easy access to all of the electrodes/wires attached to her chest.

So Scarlette spent a lot of time in simple, snap open tops like these. The thing is, they aren't the cutest shirts in the world. So I decided to dress them up a bit.

All you need for this project is a baby shirt, some assorted ribbon and some needle and thread.

Pick out two pieces of ribbon. Open the front flap of the shirt and stitch one piece of ribbon to the inside. I used lace for this part. Then layer the other piece of ribbon on the outside of of the front flap and stitch it down as well. I sort of bunched the ribbon as I went to give it a ruffled look.

I am not a huge fan of the snaps being visible so I decided to cover them up with rosettes. To make the flower ribbon rosette, cut a small fabric circle for your backing and cover with fabric glue. Pin one end of the ribbon to the center of the circle. Spiral the ribbon around the center, twisting it as you go. Twist the ribbon a bit more loosely on the last few spirals to create a fuller, flowery effect. Let dry and then secure with a few stitches to the bottom and sides of the rosette!

And that's it! It's a ten minute or less project.

Scarlette is ten months old now and happily at home so we can dress her in whatever we like. But I still make her a few of these cute shirts from time to time because she looks so darn sweet in them. Am I right or am I right? (Answer: I am totally right. My baby is stinkin' cute.)

Your local NICU is most likely always looking for preemie clothing and hat donations. A few of these shirts would probably brighten some parent's day so if you're thinking of making some, consider creating a couple preemie sized ones to drop off at your local hospital. Trust me, when your little one lives in what amounts to a cubicle with very few personal effects, seeing them dressed in cute clothes is not only fun, but provides a much needed sense of normalcy.

A twenty-something not-so-newlywed and southern girl through and through, Kayla Aimee (you can call her KA) likes scrapbooking, Macy's at Christmas time, and really good fitting jeans. By day she is a stay at home mom but by night she is a blogger, deal finder and kick arse ping pong player. You can read more about Scarlette's story on her blog at http://kaylaaimee.com

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