Salt Dough Ornaments

Are you all getting ready for Christmas?

Our house is decorated and stockings are hung, but that's about it. Good thing Cade is spending extra time with the grandparents this weekend so I can help Santa out a little :)

To share a little Christmas cheer, we decided to give Cade's presents to them a little early. We went out like little elves and hand delivered his gifts Wednesday night.

Each box contained a handprint and footprint ornament that were hand-painted, as well as a few prints from his 9-month session.

The ornaments turned out perfect (thanks to my awesome painting skills, I know). Cody actually said "Those look good, I thought they were going to look like a kindergarten art project." 

Anyway, I totally Pinterest-ed the idea. There are lots of cute Christmas crafts for kids, but Cade is a little small to do a lot with paint other than eat it. And since both grandmothers LOVE ornaments, we thought it would be perfect.

I actually had to try twice to make these happen. The first day I tried Cade would absolutely NOT cooperate. He kept squishing his fingers and toes into the dough where I couldn't get a good imprint. I had almost given up and decided last week I would give it a try. He must have known I was desperate because he did perfect!

Cade had the easy job, because then the ornaments had to be baked (be prepared, it takes forever), cooled, and painted. I baked one evening, painted hands the next, and the feet after that.

If you're interested in making them, they're super easy just time-consuming.

You'll need:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup salt

1/2 cup water

(this is easy to double, which you'll need to do if you plan on making more than about 4 ornaments)

Roll out dough on wax paper, but leave about 1/2 inch thick to get a good impression.

Cut around impression with knife and place on baking pan.

(Don't forget to make a hole for hanging at this point, you won't be able to do it later)

Bake at 200 degrees for 3-3.5 hours.

I used acrylic paint to finish these. I bought red, black, white, and orange. You can mix white with a drop of red to make Santa's pink face, and the black and orange will make brown for your Snowman arms.

These are perfect gifts for family or just something sweet to have for yourself!

Cade {10 months}

Cade used to do so well with our weekly pictures.

Do you know how hard it is to get a 10 month old to sit still for even 2 seconds?? Especially when all he wants is the camera I'm holding in my hand!

We went for an ear re-check at the doctor yesterday (our month long ear infection is finally gone) and Cade weighed in at 20 pounds 13 ounces. He's wearing 6-12 month tops and bottoms, but 12 or 12-18 month jams now. His big feet are quickly outgrowing size 3 shoes :(

What's New

Pretty much everything! I feel like I have a totally different kid this month. Cade is still pulling up on everything, and will now let go and stand on his own for a moment before sitting down. He says "mama" "dada" and "aye-aye" (which I assume is bye-bye). And I swear he's said "cat" more than a few times now. He waves hello, goodbye, and claps. Cade also will throw a fit now when you take something away from him or remove him from where he's not supposed to be (like our trash can, which is his favorite thing in our whole house). He's also discovered he can throw things. Yay.

We really started more solid foods these last few weeks, because what better time than the holidays?! He doesn't care much for baby solids like yogurt bites or cereal puffs, but does great with our food. He loves green beans and macaroni and cheese. So much that when I tried to feed him baby food the other night he literally cried until I shared my food with him. I'm thinking fairly soon we'll be on all solids.

Still not much luck on the sippy cup. Cade just wants to chew on it instead of drink out of it, especially since he has 4 molars coming in right now. He does great drinking out of a regular cup. Too bad he's not coordinated enough not to sling it all over the floor.

Thanksgiving was so much fun! Cade got to meet all of his cousins from Alabama. Now we are definitely in the Christmas spirit. The house is decorated (he hasn't ripped a single ornament off the trees) and all of our presents are bought. I've got a pile of presents in the office waiting to be wrapped, but I'm just not motivated right now. I feel like he will decide to tackle those once they're under the tree.

Be Thankful.

I really enjoy Thanksgiving, and this year is no different. Because who doesn't love a holiday where the main activities include eating, football, and pre-planning a massive shopping trip on Black Friday?

But seriously, as I sit here and think about this year I can't help but be amazed at how much love and happiness we've experienced. Not only for ourselves, but for our friends and family as well. As our family grew, we watched our friends' welcome little ones as well. We can only hope our little ones are as good of friends as we are. 

We have so many blessings to be thankful for. 

Photo credit: Nicole Gagliano Photography

God knew what he was doing when he gave us the best gift we've ever received. Cade has brought us joy and happiness that we never knew was possible. We've watched him grow, smile, laugh, and start talking in these last 9 months. He continues to amaze us every day. He is sometimes a challenge to our patience, but that's where grandparents come in...

We are so lucky to have a wonderful support system. If it's possible for anyone to love Cade even a fraction of how much we do, it's these 4 people. They are always there for us and him, and it makes me so happy that he will grow up knowing and loving them.

I'm thankful for Mrs. Tammy, Cade's babysitter. I'm fortunate to have a job where I can spend 4 days a week at home, but when I'm at work it's such a relief to know my baby is in good hands. She takes such good care of him and he just smiles every day that I drop him off. That makes life so much easier!

Speaking of work, I'm thankful to be able to do what I truly enjoy. Critical care nursing is a challenging (mentally and physically) job that I never knew I'd love. I can honestly say that I enjoy going to work. I have a wonderful work family and if it was possible to get them all in one place at one time I'd post a big group photo of them! I'm lucky enough to precept wonderful new grad nurses who probably teach me more than I teach them.

I could go on and on, but you probably don't want to listen to how I'm thankful for peppermint, Starbucks, Luke Bryan, and my cat. So I'll end it here. But I hope you remember everything you're thankful for this Thanksgiving and always.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(now let's go shopping!)

Hello Holidays!

Are you as pumped and ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas as I am?

My normal holiday excitement has quadrupled now that I have a little one to plan for!

I'm not really a huge fan of mall Santas (or Easter Bunnies for that matter) but I felt like we had to get a pic of Cade and Santa just to say we did :)

Cade did pretty well...I think he was fascinated by Santa's beard.

(and I was silently praying he didn't yank it)

We are ready to stuff our faces on Thanksgiving and spend the day visiting with family.
This is also prep-day for Black Friday, which I consider a holiday in itself. Since Cody will be duck hunting, Cade gets to spend the day shopping! Lucky him!

I have so many Christmas presents to buy. As in, everyone except for Cade. Santa's got him taken care of already ;)

I'm taking today to myself (as in, I'm off work and Cade's going to daycare) to clean the house and decorate for Christmas. I cringe thinking of the Cade vs. The Christmas Tree Battle that will for sure go down. My bet is on Cade.
I've also got to order stockings now that we are three and of course I can't find a matching one for what we already have. I'm looking at these classic stockings from Pottery Barn. I'm also debating on ordering 4 so we'll have one for a (way in the future) Roberts' ;)

Cade {9 months}

I just can't get over the fact that I have a 9 month old.

Pretty soon I'll be planning a first birthday party!
It's been such a busy month for us with stomach bugs, trips, pictures, Halloween, etc. I feel like October was here and gone in a minute.

I feel like so much has changed in the last month...

Cade now weighs 19 pounds 13 ounces and is 28 and 3/4 inches long.

He's wearing 6-9 month clothing and 9-12 month pajamas. He has a big foot, and he's in a size 3 shoe right now. We got his first pairs of walking shoes this weekend, and I bought size 4's. I feel like by the time he actually wears them that's what size he'll be in because he can almost fit a 3.5, and most brands don't do half sizes anyway.

We now have 8 teeth, 4 top and 4 bottom. Favorite foods are still bananas, sweet potatoes, strawberry yogurt, and a chicken and apples combo that I totally don't understand. But he loves it so whatever. I've also been doing some baby cookies with him, which is the only solid food he wants anything to do with right now.

I seriously need to baby-proof this house now that Cade is not only crawling, but pulling up on everything. This includes things you can't actually pull up on, like the front of the washer or refrigerator. Thank goodness it only took a few days for him to figure out how to sit down on his bottom when he got tired. I felt pretty bad every time I couldn't get to him before he got tired, tumbled back, and whacked his head on the hardwood floor. He's getting brave too, already trying to walk around stuff that he's holding on to or reaching out for things he wants while he's standing. I feel like he'll be walking in no time.

Cade's sweet little cupcake Lexi :)

We had a fun Halloween even though Daddy had to work, and Cade was such a cute little scarecrow. It wasn't Cody's top pick by any means, but it suited him so well! I'll be so excited next year when we can go trick-or-treating :)

We're looking forward to the holidays of course! Cody's family is all coming in for Thanksgiving so Cade will meet some cousin's for the first time. And what's almost as good as stuffing your face as a form of celebrating? Shopping the whole next day! Black Friday is right up there with Christmas morning for me...I'm already mentally mapping my attack plan. I've bought Cade one present, and I have a few more things in mind for him. I haven't even started anything else so it'll be time to get serious!