Craft of the month; LOVE.

It's here! The first ever link up of DIY craft of the month series. I cannot express to you guys how excited I am about this. How excited I am to be motivated to try new crafts, get inspired, and think outside of the box. 2011 was the year for cooking for me {still an on-going learning process}. And I have a feeling 2012 will be the year of crafting.

I think we can also learn a lot from each other, and part of the reason I am so excited about this series is that I get to see what you guys are doing over there in all your craftness!!


This month is the LOVE month in preparation for February! Anything goes that makes you think of love. Anything red, pink, hearts, whatever. Anything "v-day" related. Anything/anyone that you "love." A gift for a loved one. Basically anything goes.

My Craft: {Our 14 numbers}

Supplies used {all found in my home}: Blank 5x8 hardback white book. Pictures. White cardstock. 

 For my craft, I wanted to make something for my hubby, Andrew. I sat on pinterest for hours upon hours looking at crafts. I have a whole board pinned full of love crafts.

And I had come down to 5 of my favorite choices. I actually had something pretty much picked out. And then? I decided that I wanted something unique. Something that was special just for him. I kind of combined some of the ideas that I had seen and made it my own.

 This idea? Came to me at around midnight one night. And I kind of went with it. I didn't really have this book in mind right away. I saw the blank book in my craft box.

I saw pictures. And I thought I would put the two together... but wasn't sure what I would do.

I started out by painting the front of the book. Then, I had put this big wooden A on top.. and painted it pink.

 Yes, I said pink. Now, what was I thinking? I have no idea. I soon realized, that was a bad idea, and I ripped it off. And started over. Picture Becky, think Picture.

Then I sat on the computer. For hours. Thinking of our "14 numbers." I wanted something that had 14 because this was going to be a combined gift for Valentine's day and our 6 year "dating" anniversary. 

At first, I was going to do 14 reasons why I love you... but again, decided against it, as I wanted something more unique. So then I began. 14 numbers that are unique to us.

   Dear Husband, 

May you never forget the memories and moments that have built us together, kept us together, made us stronger, made us better parents and husband and wife, and most importantly made us a family. 

Made with love, Your wife.

February 14th we made the decision to have a baby.

13 reasons why I love you.....You're...funny, handsome, caring, giving, loving, sincere. My soulmate. My best friend. Selfless. Devoted. Intelligent. Best father to our daughter. Devoted husband to your wife. And most of all you love me for me.

12 places that have meaning: Maui, Vegas, Hilton Head Island, West Lafayette, Indianapolis, Noblesville, Louisville, New Smyrna Beach, Sedona, Orlando, Lawrenceburg, Belarus.

1+1= Elliana

10.08.10 First time parents

9 {times a million} is how many times I'd marry you over and over again.

 8 stands for August {the month we got married}.

7 of my favorite memories: our trip to vegas, date nights downtown, spring break 2006, our engagement, maui, the day we got our keys to our first home, our daughter's birth

6 letters { P U R D U E} where our story began.

5 a.m. {is how late we stayed up at my dorm the night we met talking nonstop. Later, I find out that when you left that night you told your best friend "she's going to be mine."

4 b's {baby, burby, bee bop, baby cakes}

You made all my dreams come true on our 3 year anniversary {you popped the question}

2 ways I say it. I love you. Ya tebya lublu.

1 You are the only ONE for me. My ONE love. My ONE true best friend. My heart. My soulmate. The one I can't wait to grow old with.

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So now it's your turn! Show us your craft or crafts that you worked on this month. You can show one picture, or 20. You can include directions, supplies, cost. The more the better!

Enter by Saturday. Sunday, I will sit down and choose my favorites, and will feature those top 5 crafts and blogs on Monday. I may even have the voting left up to you guys in the future... we shall see!

So grab a button, write up your post, come back and link up, and hop around!

*HTML for Button for the DIY button {seen above}*

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Happy 6 years baby.

To the best 6 years of my life.

6 years ago today Andrew asked me to be his girlfriend.

3 years ago today, he asked me to be his wife.

It's a very special day.

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I'll be revealing to my husband his gift from me tonight.

My love craft.

Don't forget to link-up yours TOMORROW!! 

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Also, just checked, and there are still sizes left on the jackets on sale!

Dear Elliana

Time stamped: January 28th, 2012, 03:29 A.M.

Dear Elliana,

I've tossed and turned in my sleep for the past hour. Thinking about you. 
I read something tonight. Something sad. About a mom that passed away so young, leaving behind her 4 young children.And it made me cry. I'm not sure why this story, tonight, now, has affected me so much as I am surrounded by loss day in and day out at work. But it has. And it has made me think about how precious and wonderful this life has been with you in it. 


How blessed and thankful I am to be your mother. To live this life. To take care of you. To laugh with you. Make memories with you. Capture those memories. Enjoy those moments. To see you grow. To see you learn. See you wake up every morning with the absolute most beautiful smile on your face. And how with every day that I spend with you, I pray to God "for just one more." 


I hope there never comes a day that you have to look back on these letters to read how much I love you. I hope it isn't until you are 80 years old. Because I hope to be around that long to tell you every day just how much I truly do, love you.


I never knew a love like this could exist. I dreamt about a love like this. But I just never really knew how strong it was until you were placed into my arms. Here you were this precious innocent child, and I was now your mother. And forever your mother I will be.


I take for granted the days we have together. 


I want to LIVE more with you. I want to enjoy life to the FULLEST with you. I want to give you everything my baby. Every part of life, every part of me, every part of us {your papa and me}, every part of what you deserve.


I want to make you a promise tonight. That I will be the best that I can be. I may not know it all. I may struggle from time to time. I may not be the storybook perfect mom....

But Elliana, I promise you this, I love you more than you will ever know... and I will live each and every day showing you just how much.


Love,
Mama.

HUGE BLOWOUT ON TOTSY!

I couldn't believe I woke up to yet another blowout sale.

After receiving my two jackets in the mail that I got last time they had a sale, I couldn't help but order 6 more. Some for me in different colors, others for family members!

Hurry quick, the sizes are going fast!

Also get FREE SHIPPING on your first order for new members {or new email addresses!!}. Membership is free, just sign in!       Start here.

First Snowfall

Yes, I am aware that I dressed my daughter like the Michelin man. However, she was warmer than warm, I tell ya.

Thursday Randoms

Thursday Randoms. The week where we talk about all thing random. Things that happened this week. Things we did this past weekend. Thoughts on my mind. Reality TV junk. Picture dumps. Elli updates.Nothing is off limits.Anything goes.

So if you are looking for "life" updates. This is the day to find it. You can also find me on twitter and instagram {frommrstomama} for updates as life happens.

If you ever have any questions about anything listed in Thursday randoms, just as in the comments and I will try to answer them either through email, or on the following "Thursday Randoms" Post.


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DIY craft link-up sneak peek. There it is guys. The link-up will be posted next Tuesday {the 31st} where we will link up our "Love" crafts. I worked on mine for hours. After posting all my ideas on crafts on Friday, I decided I still wanted to do something that was unique and special for my husband. I kind of went with it... didn't have this idea starting out.. but I am so happy with the finished product. I can't wait to show you guys what it is! In the meantime, enjoy this little sneak peek!

 So, check out my craft board, get some ideas together, and start crafting away! Link-up will be up at 7 am on the 31st! Tuesday!

And this is the mess my little craft made. Ha. It was 4 am. I had worked hard. My thoughts were scatter brained all over. Obviously you can tell per the picture.

It was fun though, I have to admit it. But I need to learn how to be crafty and organized at the same exact time.

Is this even possible?

Because, I am totally the same way in the kitchen.

Too much sleep, tired mama. I've learned that I run on best 5 hours of sleep max. Sometimes 6. Anything more {which happens a lot}, then I am super tired. I know that may sound goofy to a lot of you. But honestly, if I get 8-10, sometimes 12 hours of sleep... I wake up exhausted. I even have to take a nap. Less is more. Call. me. crazy.

Valentine's Day Pinterest print out. Now resides in my kitchen. It is so cute! I love it. I think I would have preferred for it to be in a white frame, however, I actually kind of like it in the black as well. I will be out hunting down a white one though next weekend. But seriously, I have been missing out on all these crazy free print outs on pinterest! I plan on printing a new one every month {holidays, etc}. I use white card stock paper to print them off on.

If you want to print some of the print-outs that I have pinned, here is a direct link to my print-out board.

Elli draws. While mama cooks. Obviously she's more interested in eating the crayons and throwing them, however from time to time, she does get a little line in here and there.

So it gets me excited for this next year when she really starts getting into this kind of stuff.

I can't wait to draw with her. Work on crafts together. Gets me all sorts of excited.

Soup. Have you noticed a trend lately? I've been cooking up a whole lot of soup these days. Why? Because I grew up eating soup every day as a child/teen. My mom made a different soup a day. 5 days a week.

At the time? I hated it.

Now? I appreciate, and I try to do the same for my baby girl. And so far? She loves soup! Yup!

And this new recipe I tried? Can be found here. YUM!

Home Tour. So I have part one of my home tour post done. I had asked this question on twitter, and I'll ask here as well... should I include "before" pictures. I mean, guys, we ripped our house upside down. Everything about it changes. Tore out floors, bathrooms, painted EVERY room, tore up ceilings, lightings... you name it, we did it. That being said, I have tons of before pictures. Should I do a post first on the "before" and then show the "After" the next day? Or include it in the same post? If I include it in the same post, it will be mass picture overload and I am afraid people will miss the details. So, what do you think?

So this is what it's like to be up at 5 am. On Friday, I had a "mandatory" class for work. My mom came over to watch the baby E and I was up bright and early getting ready. As I drove to the hospital I realize that, wow, this is what it used to be like when I worked day shift.

It was kind of... nice. To listen to the radio in the morning. Grab a starbucks.

However, not nearly as nice as waking up to the baby girl and spending all day with her.

Elli slept for 4 hours 2 days in a row. Speaking of the baby girl. Girlfriend has been rockin' the naps. The past 2 days her first nap was 4 hours long, and on the first day she even took an additional nap for 45 minutes. I probably should have put her down for another nap yesterday like I did the day before, however, I felt like she wanted to play.



Wrong. She was miss cranky pants by 6.

1k follower giveaway. I have emailed some of the sponsors that were a part of the giveaway and have not heard back for the additional information needed. Therefore, at this point, I am going to go ahead and hold off for the giveaway. I am sorry that I was not able to put this idea together, however, I am planning on doing a giveaway here soon. So be on the lookout for that.

Sister's birthday party. I wrote about it here. And by wrote, I mean showed a lot of pictures. Anyways, my sister turned 17 and Elliana made sure to dress very classy for the big party.

And I have to admit, she was pretty darn cute. Necklace, bracelet, hose, fur boots, big flower headband, dress with a matching coat.

Yes, girlfriend has some style.

Lemon drizzle loaf. I made this twice this week.


It is hands down one of my favorite recipes to make. It is so easy, tasty, refreshing, and I always have all the ingredients on hand.

Want the recipe? I posted it here. Some readers have tried it before and emailed me that they loved it, so I am confident that you will too.

How does Carson deal. E is totally obsessed with c-man. I think that I have mentioned this many times before, but seriously, I cannot say it enough, girl is in love. Her face lights up when she sees him, and that dog can work wonders around her.

Unfortunately? he gets the shaft 90% of the day.

A kick here. A punch there. And now? A head-lock. Ha.

More power to him for staying so strong.

Pots and pans.

The latest craze.

As you can probably see... they go flinging and flying in our kitchen. That and tupperware.

Yay for me.

What is your LOVE story link up. Did you see m post on the link-up info? If not, go check it out.

You can get a head start on your post too because the questions are listed in there.

Share pictures, as many or as little as you'd like.

And post your love story on February 7th and come back and link-up, hop around, and meet new lovers!




Monica. She went home this week on the bachelor. Lets talk about her departure why don't we. She totally didn't strike me as the girl who gets emotional. Distraught. A mess. But girlfriend was just that. And I liked her. In fact, I still do. It just breaks my heart that these girls, including herself, get so into this guy that they barely know... on a show... where they compete with each other. And then they leave crying? Oh lord. Common, you have better chances on match.com!

Courtney. Now lets talk about this nutso why don't we. Is she weird or is she weird? I mean, not only is she a complete queen B, but she is totally awkward, says weird things, and one immature woman. If you even want to call her a woman. She acts like a wild animal.

Someone needs to tame her.

Product of the week. I am linking up again with Aly and Tiffani for their product of the week series. This week? It's one of my beloved items in the kitchen. The quesadilla maker.

I mean, this girl over here is obsessed with taco bell quesadillas... so when we got one of these for x-mas last year? I was seriously in heaven.

We use this thing around 2 times a month! YUM YUM!

It goes hand in hand with BLL. Just suggestin'.

How I came up with the name Becky.

Wait. What?!
Did I just say that I named myself? Yes, friends. I did. I said it, and I did name myself. Now, before you get too excited, let me just start out by saying that Becky is not my real name. Not my first name. Not even my middle name. In fact, Becky is no part of my name what-so-ever.

So. Now you really want to know what's going on, don't you?

Is she a spy? Did she just use this as a "code name" on the blog? Oh wait, her facebook is Becky. Is her whole life on this "blog" a scam? Am a following one of those creepy people who steal people's identity? Did I cover all the crazy thoughts? Yes? Okay good. Now, put them aside and forget about it. I am still BECKY. Rest assured.

There's just a little story behind the name.

Let's go back to 7th grade why don't we. Aside from the year of boy crushes, pimples, and awkward puberty stage, it so happens that this was the year for name changes.

Here is the scene that I will illustrate for you.

Me. Standing in the hallway of my crowded middle school in the midst of 4 of my "best" friends when one of them blurted out "Hey... what's your middle name."

For whatever reason. Who knows why. Why 7th graders are so intrigued with the absolute ridiculous things at the most absolute ridiculous time. I will never know.


But she asked. And I needed to give her an answer. And times a ticking guys. Because how long does it take someone to answer what their middle name is right? Seconds. But I didn't want to tell them my real middle name because I was embarrassed by it.

So here I am, I have no time to think, no time to waste. Palms are sweating. Hearts a racing.

"Becky! UM. My middle name is Becky."


All the while, I'm thinking: "What the hell are you thinking self. That is not your middle name. And really, Becky? You don't even know a Becky. You aren't even fond of the name Becky. That's the best you could come up with???"

My little brain sure was beating up this poor scared little 7th grader self that I was.

Rightfully so, because what would happen next was beyond my wildest dreams. Never would I ever think....


That these 7th grade girls would come up with this brilliant idea to start calling me Becky. And make it their lifetime goal to get everyone else to call me Becky too. Clever those little pimpled brats are, eh?

They told all my teachers to call me that. Called my house phone and asked for Becky. Would introduce me to everyone as Becky. Basically, spoke for me. Refused to call me by my real name.

I didn't have a say in this really. I didn't have a problem with my real name. I didn't wake up that morning and say "Hey, today sounds like a good day to change my name." Nope. And I'm pretty sure that grandfather, you know, the one that named me, probably wouldn't be too pleased about it either.

But it stuck. Those teen boppers were on a mission. Mission accomplished.

So it stuck bad. I now was Becky. It stuck so bad that my own parents would catch themselves calling me that. Stuck so bad that all of my teachers through middle school and high school called me that. Stuck so bad that my own husband is much more used to the name Becky. Although he prefers the other.

Stuck so bad that I even contemplated changing my name legally when I got married.

But I didn't. And I don't plan on it. Ever.

My biggest regret out of all this? The fact that I couldn't have come up with something better than Becky {no offense to all the other Beckys out there... I feel like I am a Becky so I can poke fun, right?}. But honestly, Becky?! Really! Gosh darn it, self.

So, for now, I just have these two names. One that was given to me at birth {that i love}, and another that was given to me by my little ol' brain at a moment of weakness.

Although the majority of the people in my life call me Becky, there are a select few, like my mom and dad {and other relatives} that call me by my first name.

So there you have it. That's my name story. And I know many of you would have loved to find out my real name, but we won't go there blog world. Not yet. That's a little part of me that gets to stay secret behind the computer. Although a select few of you actually know it.

Maybe one day... just not today.

Although, I do have to warn you... it's nothing crazy exciting like Ivonna-Humpalot {because that is totally original and all}. However, there's a hint in there for you.

Don't go crazy guessing over there :)

So are you totally shocked sitting in your seats? Do you want to stab me in the toe right about now? Do spill.


{Also, I forgot to give credit to this chick who made me blog about it. I was planning on doing it anyway...But she gave me that little oomph. Also known as peer pressure. She's like those pimpled brats that peer pressured me into naming myself Becky. Because that is exactly what happened here guys. JUST SAY NO. }

So deep in thought.

I love this look.

When I see her do this, or when I see this picture, it makes me wonder....

What is she thinking this very moment. Right now.

What goes through her head?

She looks so deep in thought.

She looks so focused.

So busy.

At the same time.

She looks peaceful.

Content. Happy.

I wish that she could talk to me right now.

I know we will have many years of her "talking"

but I want to know what's in her head now.

Because she won't remember these years.

They won't be a part of her memory.

As if this time in her life never even existed.

But that's what my role is.

As her mother.

To capture these moments.

These memories.

The happy times.

And relive them with her years down the road.

Show her who she was then.

The things she did.

The places she visited.

The people she saw.

The things she ate.

The things she loved.

And the things she hated.

The way she dressed.

The way she played.

The way she cried.

And more importantly, the way...

she thought.

To her, life was beautiful.

Life was exciting.

Life was adventurous.

New. Fun.

Maybe 14 month old Elliana...

will teach something to 16 year old Elliana...

Guide her through life. Guide her throughout the years.

Guide her through all the challenges ahead.

Because although she may be the same person....

She will be completely different.

I can only hope that she sees the beauty of life.

The excitement of it all...

The opportunities in front of her...

The same way that 14 month Elliana does.

The same way I see it for her.

Lost in the moment. So deep in thought.

Last night, in pictures.

We had a wonderful time last night at my parents house celebrating my sister's 17th birthday.
Seems like it was just yesterday that I was changing that girl's diapers.
Now? She's holding hands with her boyfriend of 1.5 years at the dinner table.
I was just saying last night... when Elliana turns 16, she'll be 32. Crazy.


And as always, it was so nice to spend quality time with the family.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.