HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN

Happy 30th Birthday Logan! from Katie Buell on Vimeo.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2014

Happy Halloween - one day late! To be honest, I have never been that into Halloween, but now that we have kids, it has a whole new meaning. We took Ellis trick-or-treating to a few houses last year, but she was so little that she really didn't understand it and I doubt we even let her have much for candy at that age. This year she caught on real quick and she couldn't have been more thrilled to be getting treat after treat after treat! Pure joy, I tell you!

The kiddos had two sets of costumes this year. Ellis went as Miss Piggy (VERY fitting) and Lennon went as Kermit the Frog to the kids Halloween party at my work. I bought Ellis a princess crown at Target for $.99, made some pig ears out of foam and felt then sewed them onto the crown, made her a piggy nose out of a toilet paper roll and felt, bought her a boa and she wore a tutu she already had and a strand of fake pearls of mine. It was cheap and totally did the trick! For Lennon, I took a pair of Ellis' old white leggings that had a hole in the knee and a stain, a white stained onesie and two pairs of Lennon's white socks (one for his hands and one for his feet) and died them all green with Rit liquid dye. I cut green felt to make the scalloped pieces around his neck, feet, and hands and my super talented sister in law knitted him the most adorable frog hat (in one night)! Oh, how I love homemade halloween costumes!

It ended up being freezing on Halloween here in Wisconsin (surprise, surprise) so we went to plan B for costumes so we could incorporate coats. I ended up pulling out a bunny costume that my mom made me when I was little for Ellis and I put Lennon in a hand-me-down snow suit that just happened to be brown. I looked at them and thought..... hmmm.... this is totally Ralphie and Randy from A Christmas Story! We went with it! ;)

How Family Pictures REALLY Go

It’s fall y’all! Well, actually, it’s been fall for a while now and it just dawned on me that we should probably get our family pictures taken so we have something to slap on a Christmas card in about a month or so. In the back of my mind, I knew I should get a session on the calendar, but I have been dragging my feet. For one, I HATE getting family pictures taken and for two, I have been selfishly wanting to lose the last few pounds of baby weight before I send out pictures to about 100 of our closest friends and family. I am just being honest (and self conscious) here.

I figured we should get this over with, so I called our friend Kari to see if she could take our pictures yesterday. I asked her maybe two days in advance and luckily, she had an opening! Fall for photographers is like tax season for accountants, so I said I would edit them if she spent an hour with us taking them.

Family pictures are kind of funny to me. Like I said, I hate taking them, but I love getting them back. Everyone looks so happy and the kiddos look so sweet. Well, let me tell you, that was NOT what was going on during our family photo sesh. Here is a quick recap of how it really goes – at least for us…

First off, I always fuss way too much trying to color coordinate and figure out what everyone is wearing. It usually consists of a last minute run to Target or Old Navy because we never seem to have anything cute. Then, we strategically plan out when we need to get everyone showered/bathed, dressed, and fed/nursed so we can to get to the session on time. Right before we left, Lennon had a blow out. Logan changed him and put him in a new (unfussed about) outfit. We then got everyone in the car and we were on our way! Half way there Ellis says, “Oh no! Look at Lennon!” from the backseat. I unbuckled my seatbelt and looked back and he had spit up all over his 'plan B' outfit. I swore under my breath, sat back down, buckled up, and hoped it dried by the time we get there. We got to the park and it was beautiful out and actually pretty warm. (Yay! One thing went our way!) We then gathered up the kids and a cute antique quilt that I love and followed Kari to the spot to take our pictures. So far, so good I thought. We were finally all set up and Kari was ready to take our pictures when Ellis decided to grow horns and become a devil child. So, the rest of the hour went pretty much like this – the wind was blowing my hair in my face and Lennon’s hat off his head, Ellis was chewing on her scarf, both kids were sneezing and had boogers everywhere, Logan and I were arguing b/c we both thought the other one should've grabbed the diaper bag from the car, Ellis wouldn't stand still or look at the camera and from time to time decided to sit in the dirt (in her fussed about outfit), throw rocks and take off her shoes. Poor Kari was standing there trying her best to get a good shot while, I assume, secretly wondered if I was going to throw my two year old in the bush next to us.

Can anyone relate? Are we the only completely dysfunctional family when it comes to family pictures?! Is there such thing as a two year old that stands still, smiles and looks cute for the camera?! I asked Kari at what age kids get better with the picture taking and she said about six years old. Well, I guess our next family photo session will be in 2020 when Lennon is six!!! ;)

Anyways, out of the 196 frames, we got about seven good pictures that didn’t require major editing and head swapping. We look so happy, huh? It’s all lies I tell you, lies! Lol

Here is what about 95% of them looked like:

And now on to the fun and EASY part --- picking your family Christmas card design! There are tons if companies to go to for your printed family photo card, but Minted is my absolute favorite! Their designs are very much my style and because I am 100% a paper snob, I love that they print their cards on beautiful, thick paper. I was just looking over their site and found these adorable holiday ornament cards! What a great idea! If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that we are a rather thrifty family – and by thrifty, I mean cheap. I know several families that have done away with the whole ‘holiday card’ tradition because it actually costs quite a bit of money. There is the cost of the photographer, new clothes if you choose to purchase them, the printing of the cards and then the cost of mailing them out to all of your friends and family. Even though it is pricey to keep up with this tradition, it is one I refuse to let go. I LOVE getting eveyone’s holiday cards in the mail. The entire month of December, I cannot wait to get our mail! I also always keep one of our own cards every year and it is so fun to look back at them throughout the years. We have been sending them out since we got married in 2008. What I love about the holiday ornament cards is that people will probably hang them on their trees and keep them for years to come, instead of just pitching them once the season is over. I don’t know about you, but it makes me feel just a little better about spending all that money. Here are a few of my favorite designs from Minted:

WELCOME LENNON WHITAKER

Yes, after two and a half months, I am finally getting back to blogging! I have lots to share, including the arrival of our sweet little man, Lennon. He is Benjamin Button, a little old soul. I love him to the moon and back and feel so blessed to have him.

Announcement: Designed by me. Photograph courtesy of Roots to Wings Photography.

BABY BOY BUELL'S NURSERY - FINALLY COMPLETE

Well, it is finally complete. I actually got my brain to think 'BOY' and turned Ellis' old nursery into one suitable for a little man. I think we did pretty ok! :) I will post pictures of Ellis' big girl room soon. It is about 99% complete. (All room links below)

Room Links:
- Allister the Alligator (we named him ;) - Jelly Cat (We bought him at a little boutique downtown - can't remember the name of the place.)
- Crib Sheet - Burt's Bees Organic
- Wooden Crate Shelving - Wal Mart - We stained
- Book Shelves - IKEA picture shelves - no longer sold in natural wood
- Mobile - Amazon - I folded the paper boats out of an old book and map I had laying around
- Green Plastic Bucket - bought at Target for $6 - Can't find on-line for some reason.
- Wicker Basket - Target - Similar
- Hipster Animal prints & Frames - Bought the prints off of Shutterstock and I printed them myself - Frames are from IKEA (no longer sold, but these are similar)
- Bed Skirt & Changing Pad Cover - Both made by me - $20 for fabric for both from Jo-Ann Fabric - used these two tutorials (crib skirt tutorial) (changing pad cover)
- Wooden Spool End Table - Found on the side of the road - stained and got glass cut to fit on top - secured in place with clips.
- Man and Monkey Print & Frame - Bought an old story book on Ebay for $4 - ripped out a page and framed. (I framed one for Ellis' room as well) Frame - IKEA
- Curtains & Pillow - I bought at work at our company store - $5 for each
- All White Furniture Set (crib, armoire, dresser, and changing station) - Bought the entire set for $500 at work at a scratch and dent sale. (Armoire alone retails for $1,300 - SCORE!) We bought these before we were even thinking about having kids. Is that weird? Maybe. I knew we would someday use them and I couldn't pass up the deal. :)
- Pretty much everything else (skateboard ($10), tin, bronze mouse ($6), globe ($15), coca-cola crate ($15) & cars ($1 each), etc.) all Flea Market finds!

MOTHER'S DAY 2014

Yup, once again I am a bit late on this post. Mother's Day was great! I had brunch at our house to celebrate my Mother and Mother in Law. We had quiche, french toast bake, fresh fruit, muffins, and of course, CAKE!

Cakes are kind of my thing. I like to bake them, but I REALLY like to decorate them. I used to do it for my job at two different places when i was in High School, so I have had a little practice. :)

This time around I made a hummingbird cake. It has been popping up on my Pinterest feed a lot lately and I wanted to try it out. I put buttercream frosting in the center and cream cheese frosting on the outside.

Here is the recipe I followed. Everyone thought it was pretty darn delicious!

PUMPKIN APPLE MUFFINS

Made these and I LOVE them. Seriously! They are super yummy! Here is the recipe from Eating Bird Food. The only thing I did differently was doubled the cinnamon to 1 tsp and skipped the topping.

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• ¼ cup (1/2 stick) Earth Balance Buttery Stick or butter, softened
• ¾ cup sucanat or dark brown sugar
• ¾ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• ¾ cup pumpkin (roasted or canned)
• 2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed + 6 Tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup quinoa flour or all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 1½ cups peeled and finely chopped apple pieces (about 2 apples)
• Topping
• 2 Tablespoons sucanat or dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners or coat with cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed with the 6 Tablespoons of water and let sit while you start preparing the other ingredients.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the topping – 2 tablespoons of sucanat with 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the quinoa and whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
5. In a large bowl, mix the ¾ cup sucanat with the softened butter until combined. Add the flaxseed/water mixture, pumpkin and vanilla. Stir in yogurt.
6. Fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Gently stir in the apple chunks.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the brown sugar topping. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.
8. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Store any leftover muffins in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.