Owen's First Birthday

I had been thinking a long time about what to do to celebrate Owen's first birthday. I looked on Pinterest of course for inspiration, asked my little sister what she thought, and tried to think of the very best theme, date, time, etc. 

Eventually, I concluded that it was all a little too overwhelming for something he wouldn't even remember. I decided we would do a very simple celebration with a couple of friends on his birthday. 

Then my two younger sisters came to visit, and last minute, we decided to throw him a party before they had to go home.  They wanted to help with everything and be here to celebrate, so I figured, why not?

We chose a circus theme and I think it turned out great. He had fun and so did we. 

The first thing we did was make some decorations. We loved this idea from pinterest. It was so easy and looked great! Kennedy and I used cups, bowls, and small tupperwares to make different size circles on bright colored paper. We cut them out and taped them to black thread and then taped them up on each side of the ONE letters that Katy had made. 

We loved the highchair decorations from this party, so Katy and Kennedy made some just like it. Super cute!

I had red and white stripe fabric in my stash that went perfectly with the theme. We hung that up, used the extra paper circles to add decoration, and hung balloons. 

For food, we had homemade corndogs, homemade mashed potatoes, fruit salad, circus animal cookies, cherry sours, and of course cupcakes!

Owen got an extra large cupcake all to himself (pictured in the center).

After eating dinner, Owen opened his present from Mark and Caitlin. He took the top tissue paper out, took his present out (a sheriff onesie!), and was so excited about the last tissue paper. To him, that was the real present!

We loved having Aunt Katy and Aunt Kennedy here! They were so much fun and so helpful and we sure do miss them!

We took a little break after dinner and before dessert to let the food settle. Owen loved playing with the big dice! 

 Here is his cake smash outfit!! I just thought it was the cutest thing. 

Hat tutorial found here. I printed the pattern on cardstock, made the hat, then hot-glued the chevron fabric on it. I made the pom-pom for the top and added yarn to tie under his chin.

Tie tutorial and pattern found here. I printed the pattern and followed her tutorial and it turned out great!

Diaper cover tutorial and pattern found here. As with the tie, I printed the pattern and followed the tutorial. I used size 12-24 months because my little man has a big bum! It was a little big, but the elastic made it fit just fine. 

He didn't like the stickiness of the frosting at first, but I think he was enjoying it by the end. 

 After a nice bath to clean up, he relaxed with a bottle, then went to bed. 

Happy birthday to my sweet boy!!

~K.A.N.

Baby Boy Pajamas

In early June, Owen and I took a trip to Nevada to see my family. For those who might not know, it is HOT in Nevada! The only pajamas Owen owns are the sleeper kind with the little footies. That just wasn't going to cut it for that kind of weather. 

I told Nathan that we should probably get some cooler pajamas for the trip, and he suggested I just make some. He often suggests I make things, even random things that I honestly can't make, but this time, he was right. I definitely could make pajamas!

Using the t-shirt scraps from the quilt I made, I whipped up some pajamas!

And they were kinda crappy. I made it up as I went, not really following a pattern and using random pieces of t-shirt. The neck ended up being WAY too big, so I stitched it together in the front and back. That looked super tacky, so I added a little cougar logo which in my opinion, improved it tremendously. They still weren't great, but they would work for what we needed them for!

So here they are:

And they fit!

And he can still move and play!

Round of applause for cool (literally) pajamas!

~K.A.N.

Senior Pictures

My family came and visited us in April. My mom, dad, and brother (Zack) signed up to run a 10 mile race with me, so they just made it a whole family weekend trip. It was tons of fun!

Before they came, my mom asked if I would take senior pictures of my brother (David). I of course said yes! They also brought along David's best friend Justin and I was able to do his senior pictures as well. It worked out perfect to have Justin there with David. They made each other laugh and we were able to get some great pictures of them both. 

  Thanks for making me laugh too! 

~K.A.N.

Baby Boy Nursery

This post is long overdue considering my baby boy is now 8 1/2 months old!! 

When the time came to find out what we were having, I was so excited that it was a boy! Part of my excitement came from getting to do this nursery. This nursery is a little makeshift with pieces coming from all over the place, but I absolutely love it. 

When you walk in the door: 

From the other corner of the room:

This wall is probably my favorite!

The banners were made by a friend and were put up at my baby shower. I was so excited to keep them because I knew they would add such a cute decoration for his room!

The crib was bought at a yard sale for $25!!! Talk about a steal. We actually got it before I was even pregnant, but we knew we were going to start a family soon enough and we just couldn't pass it up.

This chair is the same as the chair I re-upholstered, but it was not re-upholstered, so I threw together a quick (and not-so-pretty) cover for it to match his room. But hey, it matches!

The pillow was a small pillow from a thrift shop - probably about 50 cents. I made a quick cover and it matches great!

The lamp was re-done to match his room and it's a perfect fit. 

The small side table used to be a little chess table that my husband has had for a long time. The top broke, so my grandpa helped me build a new top for it. I painted it white and it sits so well next to the chair!

Ideally, I wanted to have wooden letters painted white for his name. I did not have the means to make them and didn't want to spend the money on them, so I decided to use what I had. These letters are made of stiff plastic mesh that I cut to the letters. I then picked the fabric to match the room and cut it a little wider on all sides than the mesh. Each side was then folded over to the back and hot glued down. I used ribbon hot-glued in a loop at the top to allow me to hang them. 

I LOVE how these curtains turned out! They are made from a twin flat sheet cut in half and hemmed. I then measured the sheet and cut and sewed on the navy blue to have 3 stripes of each.  

These shelves were made by my mom and are so perfect for all of his books!

I finally got these pictures up just a month or two ago. They make the perfect finishing touch to his room. Left to right: newborn, christmas/favorite picture, 6 months.

From left to right in this picture: 

The two baskets are for dirty laundry, one for colors and one for whites.

The dresser was given to us by my parents. We painted it white and bought the wooden knobs and painted those blue. 

We got the changing pad from my sister-in-law and it fits perfectly on the dresser. I made the changing pad cover by using the actual changing pad as a "pattern". I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out!

The nightstand was also given to us. We took the old handle off and got a knew wooden one and painted it so it matched the dresser. It is so functional. The extra diapers and wipes go in the cupboard below. The small basket in the opening holds the burp cloths, and the top basket holds the current diapers, wipes, lotion, thermometer, etc. 

That completes the room tour! I hope you love it as much as I do!

~K.A.N.

Mason

This morning I took some pictures for my friend whose little guy is now 18 months. It was lots of fun, but boy does he have his own idea about pictures...he was done when he was done. 

Even still we were able to get some really stinkin' cute pictures, and I wanted to share a few of my favorites. 

And although it wasn't easy, we were able to get a picture with mom. 

I'm going to miss these guys like crazy when we move! Thanks for letting me capture some sweet little moments with you today!

~K.A.N.