bubble popping excitement

sometimes it's just the little things that really make us happy. and their happiness with popping this bubble wrap STILL puts a smile on my face almost a week later. enjoy the giggles and pops!

after his nap

after nap time most days, we know sawyer is done when he starts screaming through the monitor. generally, he's not a pleasant waker-upper. he's awake and he wants you to know he's awake – immediately.

but yesterday afternoon, when he'd been napping for almost three hours, i decided to open the door to let the sounds of the house wake him. what i found was not a sleeping sawyer. instead, he was just standing at the edge of his crib, arms propped up on the railings and just looking as sweet as he possibly could. i decided to risk the crying and run for the camera; see if i could capture some of his sweetness in a photo. and i think i found just what i was looking for.

small shop update

just in time for fall and cooler weather! although, cooler weather really has nothing to do with bibs... unless you're having a baby in cooler weather, and ta-da! this update has everything to do with that, right?

but i digress... when i saw the new lotta jansdotter line, i knew i had to have some of it. and when it arrived on my doorstep, i think i audibly oohhh'd and aahhh'd at the fabric. i immediately rushed off to joann's to match with some lovely coordinating fabrics. and then i think i fell in love with the fabric even more. such bright and vibrant colors yet they distinctly make me think of fall and warmth.

there are currently three new color combinations available in bibs. the bibs are a great size and have a layer of fleece in the middle to really help soak up the messes (without the messes soaking through the back of the bib and onto your sweet babe's clothes). and, if you've been waiting for the return of diaper clutches, you might see some of these combinations pop up again. you're welcome!

fun memories

last friday night, the boys had been tucked in bed when i got a message from one of our friends. all it said was, "come to tuscaloosa tomorrow." i read it out loud, looked at jeremy and immediately knew that we'd be going to tuscaloosa. i mean, we had absolutely nothing on our schedule for the day, except to watch football.

we woke up saturday morning and the day was so gray. i'll admit, i had my doubts about going to tailgate when we left that morning. it was pouring rain. POURING. but i just sucked up my doubts and went with it. and because of that, we were left with a beautiful, slightly overcast day in tuscaloosa. not too hot, not too humid. perfect really.

game day in tuscaloosa is a little crazy. we had sawyer strapped into the stroller. (which he was sometimes happy about and sometimes VERY unhappy about.) cayden had to hold a hand everywhere. (which he was actually very good about. thankfully.)

we walked all over campus and visited some friends in their different tailgating spots. and searched for big al everywhere. that was cayden's one request: to see the elephant. we finally ran across him where the trumpets with the million dollar band were practicing. big al started heading out of the area and jeremy literally stood in front of him so that cayden could see him. big al reached around cayden's shoulder and patted him on the back. the three year old's day? completely made! (so THANK YOU big al! we know you were in a hurry.)

around 2ish, the boys were starting to get all sorts of grumpy. so as the thousands (and thousands and thousands) of people made their way to the stadium, we made our way back to our car. that alone was like a video game – dodge the drunks! (and the really, really drunks. seriously thought one guy was going to take us out he was weaving so badly!) the boys crashed in the car and we made it home by the middle of the second quarter. roll tide!

natural light & a sweet baby

on sunday, i finally got tired of our family room being so dark that i completely removed our blinds. (we have some curtains that we can pull at night for some privacy.) and removing those blinds? allowed so much natural light to come flooding in that my heart immediately exploded at all the happiness streaming in those windows. and seeing all that light that was hitting my sweet boy gave me cause to pull out the camera and shoot. these photos still aren't perfect, but they're perfectly lovely to me and jeremy.

roll tide. 2012 style.

so i suppose this is becoming somewhat of a tradition around our house. i hadn't really thought about it, but i have a photo of cayden back on his first college football weekend... and apparently i've carried that tradition on the past few years. this year's version? a little trickier. these photos are not good. but i'm ok with that. it really captures the essence of our two boys perfectly. sawyer's never still and cayden is always chatting about something. so here, we have blurry sawyer and cayden with his mouth open. oh, and roll tide, y'all. happy football season!

(need a blast from the past? check out 2009, 2010 and 2011!)

want to make your own labels?

great! it requires exactly two supplies. tshirt transfer paper and twill tape. the size of the twill tape you purchase will depend on the size you want your label to be. i picked up 1" tape because i knew i'd need that width to fit my logo. before i changed my name/logo and i was just printing my icon on them, i usually bought 0.5" tape. (you're also going to need a printer and an iron. i'm presuming you already have those on hand!)

start by designing your labels on your computer in whatever program you want to use. i use my design programs, but i'm sure you could lay something like this out in word or something equal to that. don't ask me how though; i'm kind of word/other program stupid. sorry.

when you're ready to print them, i have an option in my printer settings where you can choose your paper type. i set mine to tshirt transfers. when i choose this option, it automatically reverses my design. if you don't have a tshirt transfer option, look for an option to reverse your image or just reverse your image before you go to print. you want it to print reverse so when you iron it to your twill tape, it'll come out reading the right way.

i cut my labels in strips and then iron them to my twill tape. be sure to read your transfer paper instructions. mine require the highest cotton setting with NO steam. you want to be happy with your labels, so be sure to read carefully. also, trim your strips to be a little bit narrower than the width of your twill tape. you want to make sure the transfer sticks to the twill tape. if your strips are wider than your twill tape, you'll have overhang and run the risk of your labels peeling up later.

once they're ironed and have cooled off, peel your backing and admire your strips of labels! trim them out however you want to use them. i like to double mine over so that there's a logo on both sides. then sew something cute and put your label in them. pretty easy, right? oh, and if you're wondering, i have some wet bags that i've washed multiple times and my label has held up beautifully. now go make some labels!