Kate's Playhouse

Well, I've been absent from my postings for a while now and here's why! I have spent the last week creating a playhouse for Kate's birthday! It is entirely made out of felt and slips over a card table. I came across this idea on a blog & knew that it would be the perfect thing to make for Kate for her party and also serve as her birthday gift. Its great because once she's done playing we can just pack up the table & put it away and it doesn't take up too much space. There are little things all around the house that Kate can pick, harvest, and move around. (You'll see what I mean in the pictures) I actually had a lot of fun making this. I figured it would take me a few weeks to complete but it really only took me about 4 full days of sewing to get the majority of it complete. Kate has tested it out & given her approval. She has even learned a new word because of it, "House." To see how this will tie into her party you'll have to wait until after the party to see what we are going to do. I'm really excited & proud of my little creation!

 The window sill is a pocket to hold flowers. The house number are the numbers from her birthday.

 Another angle of the front with a peek at the side.

 Another side: apples can be picked from the tree, flowers from the bushes, and the birds can be removed and moved to other places throughout the house. The little drapes in the window can be closed when she wants to block out visitors.

 A closeup of the apples. She already loves to pretend to eat them. Apples happen to be her new favorite fruit.

 Trying out the house. She loves it. (Excuse the messy hair business. This was right before bedtime)

 The back of the house. A little dog house complete with a little dog. And, again, the apples can be picked. Oh, and the butterfly can be removed and moved around.

 Close up of the little puppy.

 The last side of the house. A little garden with vegetables that can be "harvested." It looks a little skimpy now, I'm still working on finishing those up. But there will be carrots, corn, (crinkly) lettuce leaves, and anything else I can think of before I completely lose my steam.

A close-up of the corn. They can be picked from little husks.

And there it is! Kate's playhouse. She usually welcomes visitors into her house so come on over and play sometime!

Quarter of a Century

Its been a few days since my last post! I got sick last week and didn't get much accomplished. Being sick is no fun. I was almost back to 100% by the weekend which was good because it was a Tech football weekend. Home games for us means little family reunions. I had both sisters with their husbands, (still weird to say both of my sisters are married!) a friend of my sister, Mikey, and my mom all in town for the weekend- it was a packed house but a lot of fun! This past weekend was also Jonathan's birthday weekend so we had double the fun!

Friday we carved a pumpkin for Kate. I really don't like Halloween, especially all the scary stuff, but I acknowledge it for now because its fun to dress up Kate in cute little outfits. For our pumpkin we carved out the face of "Pablo" one of Kate's favorite characters from the show the Backyardigans. It turned out pretty cute, however, now Kate thinks all pumpkins are called Pablo.

Saturday was Tech gameday! We started tailgating in the morning with Lis (a.k.a. Pal), Matt, and E. Kate had a blast being outside, snacking on food, and looking at birds. The game started off being fun but then took a very ugly turn when Tech fell behind and never caught up. I hate losing, just hate it. I hate that we have 3 losses and we still have more tough games ahead. Its tough being a Red Raider sometimes, you have to be able to handle the good with the bad. I hope the season can somehow turn around and we can start to like our new head coach again. No matter what though, I'm still a Red Raider & I will always give a Guns Up with pride. Anyway, enough of the sad talk. Here's a couple pictures from the tailgate & game. (Notice I'm wearing my pink shrug I talked about in my post the other day. I never got a good picture of it but you can get a peek.)

Sunday was a much better day- it was Jonathan's birthday! He is now a quarter of a century old! My mom treated us to a tasty lunch at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant. The boys stayed behind while the girls plus Mikey visited the corn maze just outside of town. The kids loved it. They got to ride a "cow train," see some animals, go on a hay ride, pick some pumpkins (or Pablos if you are Kate), and were forced to take lots of pictures. My little dainty Kate wasn't sure what to think about all the blowing dirt & hay at first but she finally warmed up to it and began to run around yelling "yee-haw!" While picking pumpkins I found one that was small for her but Miss Independent wanted to pick her own. She walked around until she found her little "Pablo" then asked the worker to "hewp peese." (help please in Kate language) It was pretty sweet. She insisted on carrying it all the way back to the hay ride. After the visit to the corn maze we rushed home, cleaned off the dirt, then changed Kate into a super cute dress to get her two year old pictures done. Her birthday is exactly a month after Jonathan's so I tease him that his birthday is really now just a countdown to Kate's. The three of us had a great time trying to get Kate to take the perfect picture. I got a few sneak peaks from the photographer and I think our mission was accomplished. I'm really excited to see the final results, when I do I'm sure this blog will be overflowing with Kate pictures. Our day ended in the sweetest way possible. Before Kate went to bed, she crawled up in the recliner where Jonathan and I were sitting and gave us kisses and cuddled for a while. She gave us pats on the cheek (her way of showing love), shared her blanky, and was just all around sweet. I love that precious little girl and its moments like those that remind Jonathan and I how blessed we truly are.

Wow, writing about our busy weekend is making me tired all over again! However, the fun didn't stop there. Since the weekend was so busy we never really got a chance to fully celebrate Jonathan's birthday so we extended it by a day. We did some birthday shopping after work and ended up buying a tent along with his other gifts. Jonathan has been trying to get me to camp out in the backyard but we never had a tent and now it gets a little too cool at night so we decided to camp in the living room! We had tons of fun. Kate took over the tent preparations and "helped" her daddy. After her close supervision she let Daddy finish and she ran around the living room jumping and yelling, "yaaaay!" We ate dinner in the tent and, in Mommy's style of camping, watched Dancing With the Stars. I'm willing to camp as often as Jonathan wants as long as I can use a toilet when I need it, watch some TV, and end up sleeping in my own comfy bed. :) The tent was definitely a hit; in fact, it is still up in our living room & Kate took her nap there this afternoon.

Happy birthday Jonathan! The year you were born Reagan took office, the 49ers won the Superbowl, OU won the football championship (boo!), "What's Love Got to Do With It" was record of the year, & the Super Mario Brothers were created. However, you have been around longer than video games have been in the U.S. & you are older than the Oprah show!
And now the countdown to Kate's birthday has officially begun...

My creation for the day!

While looking through my newfound love of crafting blogs I came across this link and tried it out. This was seriously the easiest project ever! I think it took me like 20 minutes and I was even on the phone for most of it. I love the idea of using old clothes that you still love but no longer fit in to or wear that often. I made my own little shrug to wear to the Tech game this weekend. This weekend its "Pink Out the Jones" in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month so now I have a pink shirt to wear- and it didn't cost a thing! How fun!

T-Shirt Shrug

Fight Raiders Fight!

I haven't posted in a few days because they have been busy. We traveveled to the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area this past weekend for the Tech vs. Baylor game. We had a really great time & ended up having a mini Phillips family reunion. My sister in law - Jennifer- lives in Arkansas now with her husband (they got married this summer) so its very rare that we get to see them. They were in town as well because Arkansas played A&M. Also, my in-laws were in town on their way back from a conference in Atlanta & my other sister in law-Nicole- and her husband also came to join us. We all went to the Tech game while  Jennifer & Oscar went to their game. I tried teaching them the fight song & the little chants that we do. The game was pretty close & got a little stressful, but what is a Tech game without having a little stress thrown in?! In the end, we pulled off a win! I had warned them that if we lost I would not be as pleasant afterwards so thank goodness for the win!

After the game we explored the State Fair & ate some funnel cake- yum yum! Once we had enough sun that we could handle we left and made our way to dinner at Medieval Times. We had so much fun! Kate fell asleep just before the show started so once she woke up in the middle of it she was pleasantly surprised. She loved it & had fun making horse noises & yelling along with the crowd. If you've never been to a Medieval Times, check it out. Its a lot of fun. (especially when your knight wins!)

Sunday we spent the day with "Pal." My older sister wanted the kids to call her Pal which is short for Precious Aunt Lis; however the kids have somehow started calling her Po instead. Either way, she loves it & the kids love her. We got some shopping done & Kate came home with a new fall wardrobe.

We are home now & recooping from our trip. This week is Jonathan's birthday week & we have a Tech home game this Saturday so it looks like we'll have more fun adventures ahead!

Sewing, Scrapping, Shopping, & Screaming

Well, with post #1 under my belt I'm feeling pretty confident about my writing. I've gotten a lot of feedback from it so now I'm a little more inspired to know people are actually reading this! Most people have commented on the story of me and my relationship with 3-23; while I agree that it is a pretty amazing story I have to remind you that it really is all through the work of God and definitely of myself. Its amazing the way He works and gives us little reminders that He's always there for us. That's such a comforting feeling, right?! However, in my first post I realized that I really didn't talk about my other half- my husband Jonathan. I don't really want to get mushy here but he really is my best friend and the true love of my life. We've been married for 3 years now and I wouldn't be where I am today without him. He works so hard to support Kate & I while still working towards earning a degree. I really don't think most people could manage to do all that he does. I'm lucky to have him as a husband and Kate is lucky to have him as a daddy.

I had planned on writing this blog about my new found (and some old) interests but today had events that have now distracted me from that. Today ended up being a crazy day, overall pleasant, but crazy nonetheless. We started off our day with a playdate with some new friends and then the day just got more and more eventful as it progressed. I went to get an oil change, car inspection, and tire repair but ended up adding a tail light replacement and new tire purchase. Most of it was taken care of at one stop which was really nice. (Side note: if you are in the Lubbock area, go to Bolton Oil for any car needs you may have. They are amazing. They are super fast, you get to stay in your car, & they even offer you a drink while you wait! This is especially nice for us mommies who have to take babies along with us.) A trip to the mall, Target, and a haircut was also added to the list. This brings up my next topic. Let me preface this by saying I love Kate so much & I love watching her grow into a little toddler. Now then, with that said, the little girl has gone crazy. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and say she is learning to be independent or something. But, seriously, going out with her to run errands has become an adventure that is not always so much fun. She doesn't like to sit in shopping carts anymore so I have to bribe her. Today I used a giant cart with a seat for 2 kids attached and gave her a little Icee & cup of popcorn. I wish I had a picture to attach to show how ridiculous we looked. It worked for a little while so I guess it ended up being ok. This new found "independence" is a little exhausting but I think it is making me a more accepting person towards other parents. In the past when I saw a kid throwing a tantrum I would think that they must be brats and the parents should do something to stop the scene their child was making. However, I have now learned that kids (especially around the age of 2) are just going to throw tantrums and a lot of the times there's really nothing you can do to stop it. I'm hoping this phase passes pretty quickly and I'll get my sweet baby Kate back.

Now, on to more fun things and my original intent for today's post. My new interest is sewing! I've always wanted to learn but never really acted on it. Lately I've been kind of obsessing over wanting to learn so I decided there's not much holding me back now so I'm going for it. I would just love to be able to make little things for around the house, some gifts, and maybe some day be talented enough to make things that I can pass on to Kate and her family. I have a quilt that my great-grandmother made for my mom, I use it everyday and now it has also been incorporated in Kate's night time routine. When I tell her its almost time for bed she asks to "sit" so we snuggle up in the quilt for a few minutes before I send her to her bed. Its prettty sweet. Anyway, back to the subject at hand- I bought a machine this past weekend and have now made 2 pillowcases and an apron. My next project is pajama pants. The ladies at the store told me those are one of the easiet things to make; however, others have now told me they may be a little more tricky than I was told. We'll see how it goes. I hope to find a lot of blogs that will give me some inspiration and hopefully some lessons. (which goes back to part of why I started blogging) One blog that I've found that I urge you to check out if you like fun, crafty things is one that is run by a mom in our new playgroup. Its kojodesigns.blogspot.com. Its wonderful and so much fun!

I also have a love for scrapbooking. I love to document all the special moments in our lives. Jonathan thinks I'm a little extreme sometimes but I think he'll appreciate it some day. I am a Cricut fanatic, if you don't know what that is look it up- its amazing. I'm still working on the book of Kate's first year (I know, I'm quite a bit behind- that's what happens when you finish college in the first year of your baby's life.) but hopefully I'll get it done by her birthday which is next month! I haven't found a blog to pass along for this but as soon as I do I'm sure you'll hear about it.

And finally, what girl doesn't like to shop? I, personally, am all about finding some deals. I'm the girl who looks through the sale rack before hitting retail items. This pleases my little future-accountant husband. :) I have found 2 sites in the last few days that you really need to check out if you have little ones. First, www.babysteals.com. If you are familiar with Groupon it's kind of the same thing but with items for maternity, babies, and young ones. They have to deals of the day that they post at 9 am & 9 pm MT. They put these discounted items (like 50% off or more) up and have a limited quantity but offer that deal until it is all sold out. Pretty nice right?! The second site is www.zulily.com. They basically have different designers or items for kids that they offer at big discounts and keep that sale open for a few days. I don't think there's a limit on number of items they can sell, just the limited time. I haven't bought anything from there yet but they really have some amazing deals.

Well, I think that's just about it for today. Thanks for taking some time to read about my adventures. Goodnight!

Hello Blog World!

Well I've finally taken the plunge and joined the world of blogging! A few different things led me to start blogging. First, I have friends who blog and I love reading them. I like to read what their inner thoughts are and keep up with the events in their lives. I like that technology has helped us be able to stay connected when events in life keep us so busy. Secondly, I started this blog so that I have an outlet to share my own thoughts and ramblings when I feel the need. I am a stay-at-home mom and while it is so rewarding and I love it, there are times when I need to take some time to myself and feel like I am talking to someone who is older than two years old. Similarly, life with a (almost) two year old is so fun, crazy, fast-paced, always changing, etc. I think it will be fun to document the little happenings of my "Baby Kate" and look back on our adventures together. And for my last reason to join the blog world, I have discovered in the past few weeks and months that there are so many fun & helpful blogs! I have spent some of my free time (aka the time when Kate is taking her little cat naps) looking at different blogs and finding inspiration for all sorts of things. I've been trying to keep track of all of them but have failed at it so I figured I might as well start my own blog to help me keep up with their latest and maybe even share them with my followers! (That is assuming that someone actually reads this!)

To end my first official post I'll explain my blog title. Three Twenty-three is my birthday but has so much more meaning to me than that alone. My birthday has always been extra special to me because I share it with my grandpa, Papa Chuy. When I was younger I would call Papa Chuy and remind him that "3-23" was coming up and then once the day arrived we would exchange happy birthdays. Sadly, Papa Chuy passed away two years ago, just before I gave birth to Kate, so now anytime I see a 3-23 it means so much more to me. As if these three numbers weren't special enough already, God blessed me and gave me another reason to love this combination of numbers. As I mentioned before, Papa Chuy passed away while I was pregnant with Kate. When I was getting closer to my due date I was so excited but part of me was so sad that my Papa Chuy wasn't going to be there to help us welcome our new little girl. I prayed that we would somehow be reminded of him when Kate was born and God, being perfect in all of His ways, had me deliver Kate right at 3:23 pm. I knew at that moment that God always has a way of being there for us right when we need Him, that Papa Chuy was there to welcome Kate in spirit, and that this new baby that I was holding was a bigger blessing than I ever could have imagined. So here it is, my new blog: Three Twenty Three.

p.s. I should probably give credit to my husband, Jonathan. He is the one who made me realize that this was the perfect blog name for me! Thanks, Chops!