Introducing Jessica from My World Made By Hand!

YAY! We have another guest!
How lucky are we?!

Jessica, from My World Made By Hand, could tell we needed a helping hand this week and is taking over for the day!
She has an awesome blog where she makes super cute crafts, she's hilarious & sneaky, and she tells it like it

is!

We totally adore her and we're so glad she's stopping by!

Howdy howdy...I'm so happy to be taking over Modern Wivelyhood today {thanks to Mrs H and Mrs J for the opportunity}.

So...this is me...I'm Jessica from My World Made By Hand

You may remember me from a few of Mrs H and Mrs J's favorite tutorials...they really liked my inexpensive and easy DIY bulky wooden candlesticks and apothecary jars...

But enough about how much THEY love me...teehee...let's talk about why YOU should love me...

I started blogging in January of this year {2011} as a way to motivate myself to actually do the stuff I love to do...CREATE! You see, I am a working mother of four {3 boys and 1 girl} and my husband {the love of my life} is an OTR {over the road} trucker ~ meaning he is NEVER home! As you can probably guess, I don't have much free time {nor do I have a lot of extra money}. I'm also an attention hoarder {yes, I'm admitting to it on the world wide web}...so blogging is perfect for me ~ I get to create 'shtuff' and get attention for doing it...PERFECT {plus, I do so LOVE seeing what all of the other talented ladies out there are making...such an inspiration}. My crafts are easy, inexpensive, usually fairly quick, and fun...

Did you that you could turn that old raggedy t-shirt from your hubby's closet {or a new $3 T from the craft store} into these:

 And you don't even need a sewing machine...Hallelujah!!!

And then with the leftover pieces you can make some fUnKy PuNkY bracelets???

{Tutorial for these will be up in the next few days.}

 Or that you could turn duct tape into these:

And the best part of the the duct tape crafts ~ your kids want to create them with you! I can't think of a better way to craft...


And then there's my absolute fave...the one that everyone always wants as a prize or a gift. Pendants from paper and washers...


Hope y'all like what you see and decide to stop on over at My World and see what other goodies are hiding over there...{hint...there is a giveaway going right now ~ you should enter}!!!

*Remember fabulous Lesley stopped by yesterday with her amazingly generous giveaway*
Go enter! 

Lucky lady will be able to gift herself for Mother's Day!
I'm not sure if any of you are like that, but I look for any excuse reason to treat myself!

Have a great day! 

Welcome Lesley! {Guest blogger & a giveaway!}

We are so thrilled to announce our first ever guest blogger!
Lesley, from Fabulously Flawed is taking over today!
I almost fell off my chair when she volunteered to help us out this week and I did a happy dance when she offered to do an AMAZING giveaway!
She is a genuine, honest blogger and says exactly what she's thinking and I love it!
She is the type of friend you'd want to have your back, she makes darling, inexpensive crafts, and I can always count on a good, almost pee my pants laugh when I head on over to visit!
Isn't she fabulously awesome?
Enjoy!

 First of all, thank you so much to the wives for allowing me to scoot on over and hang for the day.
I'm incredibly excited to be here!

So, hi!

My name is Lesley and I'm a married mom to 4 very lovely children, 3 of whom I home school.

I'm generally crafty, silly, ridiculous and over-all just a gigantic pain in the butt. But, when I'm not being a mess of housework and homework, I run Fabulously Flawed
and a little Etsy shop.

Modern Wivelyhood is one of my very favorite blogs and I'd like to celebrate it by offering y'all a chance to win an item from my Etsy shop.
But, not just any item. An item of your choosing!
Just head on over to
Fabulously Flawed on Etsy,
point and choose.
Awesome, right?

Good luck everyone and
thanks again, Modern Wives!

So, to enter, just leave a comment with the name of your favorite piece in Lesley's Etsy shop.

For extra entries :

• Follow Fabulously Flawed on Google Friend Connect. +1
• Heart Fabulously Flawed on Etsy (put username in comment). +1
• Follow Fabulously Flawed on Twitter. +1
• Follow Modern Wivelyhood on Google Friend Connect (see sidebar). +1
• " Like " Modern Wivelyhood on facebook. +1
• Tweet about this giveaway ONCE (not daily, not hourly) +1. Be sure to include the giveaway link in your post. Come back here and paste the tweet location.

That's 7 ways to enter! Not too shabby. 

Good luck to all.

• One winner will receive a piece of their choosing from Fabulously Flawed.
• Entry open to anyone 18 years of age and over.
• Open to those in the US and Canada only.
• Giveaway ends on Thursday May 5, 2011 at 11:59 pst 
• Winner will be chosen via random.org
• Because I know emails can get lost in the ether, I will email the winner twice. If I don't hear from you within 24 hours of the first email, I'll try again. If, after 48 hours, I still haven't heard from you, another winner will be chosen.
• Winner will be announced in a separate post on Modern Wivelyhood.
• I will check to make sure the winner did not cheat by entering under multiple accounts/email addresses. So really, don't even try it. Cheating is not a good look.
• Disclosure: I received no compensation in return for this feature.

Seeing as Mother's Day is right around the corner, the timing couldn't be any better!

Can I have some anxiety with that motherhood please?

Wouldn't it be so nice to pick and choose what we wanted to come with Motherhood?!
Oh, I'd love extra kisses and snuggle time, but can you go easy on the tantrums and the tattle-tails?

I'd really appreciate double patience, understanding, nice voices and a baby who sleeps through the night no later than 4 weeks.

Give me playground dates where no one gets hurt,

 a bath tub that never produces bumps,

 a doctor's appointment where we leave with stickers for baby and 100% for mommy,

an outing where they are all friends and not left out,

a classroom to grow and use their minds with teachers that encourage,

and I'd love to help pick their buddies.

I'd make sure they were as loyal and as fabulous as Buzz and Woody!

Please hold the anxiety...

Wait, anxiety is part of it all.

I'm not sure how many times I checked my email,

refreshed my facebook page,

or read a Parents magazine.

Except the pages looked blank and my blackberry screen was blurry as I anxiously waited for the Doctor to come tell me how cowboy's surgery went.
I replied with a grateful attitude to the many texts that said,
"We are praying for him,"

and

"Let us know when he gets out."

When cowboy was a baby he would tilt his head up towards us.

It almost looked like a smirk and since his parents happen to be a tad sarcastic,

we were sure he was smirking at us.

It came to be his signature look.

Cute right?

We thought it was until we found out he had a strabismus.

He would tilt and his superior oblique muscle would pull his eye in towards his nose making him occasionally look crosseyed.

Only fix: surgery, at the hospital, handing over your everything to a nurse and watching her go past the double doors.

Check up appointments from 2 years old to 4 years old went well, up until last week when they asked to operate again...on both eyes.

He can see exceptionally well, it's just that ridiculous tilting & slightly twisted images!

This time the anxiety was almost overwhelming.

Putting a 4 year old out and operating on the things which allow him the blessing of sight almost put me under!

The recovery hour was horrible and we cried together.

Him in pain from IV's and me frustrated I couldn't fix it.

I usually can fix anything with a kiss and if needed a little Tylenol!

So here's the reason we've been a little MIA.

There's been a lot of cuddling, watching movies, and enjoying the down time.

{plus we are moving this week, when it rains it pours!}

Love at 18 months prior to 1st surgery

Total stud at 4 years before 2nd surgery

"Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle."-President Thomas S Monson

*Stay tuned for an awesome giveaway...it may or may not be coming tomorrow*

Easy Peasy Bunny Cake

I put on an Easter party for some friends and their kids.

I needed a treat that was easy to put together and I wouldn't be too sad when it was demolished.

I found a bunny cake from Betty Crocker and I thought it would be pleasing to most kids.

funfetti cake-check

frosting-check

an absurd amount of marshmellows-check

my bff to help because I'd rather have someone else do all the work-check
Here's Mr. Bunny in all his marshmellow glory.

ears-5 cupcakes each

then 3, 4, 4, 3 for the head

Our dessert area all finished!
Complete with Mr. Bunny, the most fabulous dessert ever that I will post a recipe for soon {carmelitas}, nest egg cupcakes, and the simple Pillsbury sugar cookies.

We used pink frosting for the ears and nose

and I'm 99.9% sure a little sweetie swiped some frosting from the nose!
Who could blame her?!

We used mini chocolate chips for the whiskers and the lips because it's what we had on hand

and grasshoppers for the eyes.

The original from here

Looks pretty similar right?!

Let the hunt begin!

I love parties, I love hosting and love the chaos of happy kids.

My sweet boy is just like his momma.

He had eye surgery on both eyes that morning and was ready to go hunting at 6 that night with a smile on his face.

Wouldn't let me touch his hair, but I love him scruffy hair and all.

Daddy and Miss L coming to help him find the egg with his name on it.

We had 20 kids and over 200 eggs.

Such a blast!

What are some of your Easter traditions?

I'm always looking for fun stuff to do with our kids!
*We are looking for a few guest bloggers click here if you are interested! Thanks!*
I'm linking this post up here
Simply Sweet Home-Friday Favorites
504 Main-Tickled Pink Fridays
Spunky Junky-Feature Friday
A Few of My Favorite Things- Favorite Things Friday
Tatertots and Jello-Weekend Wrap Up

Please help!

Here's a last minute plea...

Mrs. H is studying pretty much 21 hours a day getting ready for her last tests

and

Mrs. J is moving to California next week {woo hoo}

and between packing and taking care of cowboy who just had eye surgery on both eyes,

there's not much time to blog.

Would anyone like to do a guest post on our blog?

We are looking for people Monday the 25th-Friday the 29th.

email us or leave a comment

modernwivelyhood@gmail.com

Thanks and have a great Thursday!



I think I kinda deserved it

About 18 months ago, Little Miss L came into this world...

FAST.

As in I got a bed at 11:55 am and she made her grand entrance at 12:17 pm.

Thank heavens my nurse was also a midwife!
My pain tolerance is not good at all.

For this reason, I never thought I would live through a birth without an epidural.

Well, I lived!

Shocked at how empowering it felt, but don't know that I could mentally prepare to do it again.

On a shopping trip with Mr. J after her arrival, nothing was fitting and it was bugging me!
We walked into Anthropologie not thinking much of anything, and magically everything fit!

I could lose baby weight and it would still fit.

I think Mr. J was still in awe {shock}, he must have been, because he didn't complain that shopping day. 

Last week I posted pictures of Little Miss L and Cowboy let me know, he wanted a picture with mom.

So he got some!

Cowboy shirts-{Gap outlet} jeans-{Gap} shoes-{Converse from 6pm.com}

Me cardigan-{Anthropologie sale} shirt-{Anthropologie sale} jeans-{Anthropologie sale}

shoes-{too old to remember} necklace-{from my FIL that my MIL picked out :)}

Giving his dad the "what for?"

*You can find a tutorial for the shirt here!

This boy loves his momma!

And fortunately for me, he doesn't care who knows it!
Yet!
I'm linking up at

and

The Pleated Poppy-What I Wore Wednesday

Lovin' me some blue and yellow!

Arizona decided to throw us a curve ball this weekend!

We had a couple birthday parties to go to and it was freezing!

{for the desert it was freezing}

With Easter right around the corner, I'm ready for the fun, light spring colors.

I decided to step out of my comfort zone.

Usually with a yellow cardigan, I'd wear white, brown or black.

{predictable}

Then with this boyfriend shirt, I'd pick a navy or white cardigan.

{You probably saw that coming from a mile away}

I decided to try the 2 together and glanced in the mirror.

I pretty much hopped out of my room so I couldn't back down and wear one of my favorite over-worn outfits and grabbed the family to go.

Cardigan-{Old Navy} Striped shirt-{Old Navy clearance} Jeans-{Anthropologie}

Shoes-{Payless} forever ago

I'm not a huge jewelry person.

Not because I don't like it, I do!
I just don't know what to put with what.

How long or how short a necklace should be when wearing a v neck, crew neck, scoop neck?!
I'm too much of a worrier with that stuff!

Love the soft rosettes on the cardigan!

On a side note: I want my hair to grow faster!

Any tips?!
I don't like being in the in between stage and this is where I usually break down and chop it again.

Please excuse the lighting!

Little Miss L had to show off her natural fashionista side!
Headband-{Lyndi Lou Bowtique} Jacket-{Gap} Shirt-{Target} Jeans-{Gap} Shoes-{Pediped}

So, polka dot shoes and striped shirt...

Maybe not so great, but it was too cold to wear any of her other shoes.

Remember, we are in Arizona and we are not prepared for the cold.

And there are the shoes...

Great job Mr. J!

Not too fancy, but had to show 'em!

By the way...

I saw this shirt at Old Navy this weekend on clearance for

$2.50!
Seriously!
I bought it for $6.50 and was thrilled!
They have them in almost every color.

Ah, I love deals!

And Little Miss L once more just because she's that cute!
Happy Monday!
I'm linking this post up here

And here
The Pleated Poppy-What I Wore Wednesday

A Tip for Thursday

Happy Thursday!
I read somewhere recently that moms and dads work harder on parenting than they do on marriage.

My first thought was uh huh whatever, since I get defensive easily {flaw of mine}.

After I thought about it a little more, I could completely see how that could be.

I'm with our babes 5 days a week, all day.

Once in a blue moon Mr. J will come home around 5:30 and we are beside ourselves.

I "work" on my parenting skills full time because lets be honest, Mommy is a 24-7 job.

We don't get paid vacation and usually I can barely get a closed door potty break!

Do you get to work on your marriage/relationship 24-7?!

I'm not a perfect companion, but I'm always looking to improve.

My in laws love to compliment me on being

SUPPORTIVE.

{Little do they know, I'm a very dependent person and a great actress}

Mr. J works a long grueling day.

Sometimes if he needs to lend a helping hand and we are really lucky,

we get to tag along.

Who wouldn't want to tag along when it's free?!

{only bad part is he has to work while we explore and try not to break anything} 

It's easy to be supportive when you know he's working so hard for this little stud

And this mini princess

It can be hard to support long hours and sometimes 7 day work weeks.

Especially when "I" miss a girls night out,

make 2 dinners because Mr. J gets home late,

or when we move a lot to keep climbing the ladder.

Doing it for our little family makes it worth it.

Don't kid yourself though!

This night I tried my hardest to be supportive while we drove aimlessly around the sketchy streets

of downtown Tucson, with starving, whiny children, in the pitch dark to find this statue of Mr. J's

Great Great Great Grandpa.

You better believe when I snagged a few ok pictures of Mr. J with our kids for journaling purposes,

I was so glad I kept my mouth shut and help find it.

It's not easy to support someone else's schedule when you have a pretty full one yourself.

I know that it helps our marriage because support is appreciated on both sides.

I appreciate when he takes the time to help out with the kids so I can fulfill my church calling,

go to girls nights, and he always supports whatever hobbies I choose for the week.

I have a problem with wanting to do anything and everything all at once and he supports my craziness!

Besides supporting his career, I love when he gets to do something for himself.

It can be playing basketball with friends, going golfing on a Saturday, or sometimes turning on his xbox.

It helps our relationship when we get to do things for us!
What works for your marriage or relationship?

What makes you a fabulous person to be in a relationship?

Would you be willing to share?

If so, email us at modernwivelyhood@gmail.com

*We aren't marriage experts, but who wouldn't want to improve if all they needed to do was practice?!*

 

Saddle Up!

Welcome to our Cowboy room!

When we first moved to Arizona, we thought this move could be more permanent than our previous spot.

{Meaning more than 18 months}

We started renting an apartment by a neighborhood that we would love to live in "if" we bought here.

We could paint "if" we {Mr. J} painted it back before we left.

Mr. J is a very simple man and I didn't want to burden him with a job on top of a job!

So I tried to come up with something cute and quick.

I went to Home Depot and found some rope.

Not too thick that I couldn't bend and twist,

and not too thin that it would look like an ant trail on a wall.

I got a dark chocolate spray paint and my sweet younger brother spray painted it for me.

We put it on the wall and Mr. J followed me with a hammer and nails and wah lah!

It's been a fun, temporary, and quick way to fill up the space.

It's huge!

On the opposite wall we added some Cowboy decor from Hobby Lobby.

I got ALL this and a cowboy hat bank for just under $30!

Love Hobby Lobby!

Whenever we say "I love you," it turns into "I love you more" and usually ends with a race to "I love you to Infinity and Beyond" which wins and beats all.

Sometimes when I feel like winning, I remind him it's on the wall and I said it first.

Most of the time, I let my competitive spirit take a back seat and I get picked on for losing.

Patches joined our family shortly after the Cowboy room took shape and he is definitely the favorite when friends come to play.

Inspiration behind the room?

Who lets their child pick out their Halloween costume at 18 months? Me.

Who ended up crying freaked out about putting it on the night of? Him.

We bribed him with a lollipop to keep it on and the bent cowboy hat that someone lent us.

Ever since that Halloween, everyone in my family just calls him Cowboy or cowboy Joe.

It's probably easier since Joe is my dad's name also and my parents did have a family owned western store back in the day, so the cowboy theme works!

Sorry buddy that you decided to be half baby half horse, but your cute cowboy bum rocked it!

I'm linking up at these great parties!

Dittle Dattle-Amaze Me Monday

Simply Cadence-Make it for less Mondays
Tip Junkie-Tip Me Tuesday
Blue Cricket Design-Show and Tell
We are THAT Family-WFMW
The Trendy Treehouse-Creative Share
Type A-Anything Goes
Lil Luna-Linkin Up with Lil Luna
Night Owl Crafting-Hoo's Got Talent
Women Who Do It All-Idea Sharing Wednesday
A Few of My Favorite Things-FTF
Simply Sweet Home-Friday Favorites
Spunky Junky-Feature Friday
Tatertots and Jello-Weekend Wrap Up