wild about you + {a free printable}

**I had all intentions of getting this post up last night, but I got a ticket yesterday afternoon so I had absolutely no motivation to do anything......except watch The Bachelor.  Ha!

You know you have a true toddler when they love a food one day and then hate it the next!  A little while back, I bought a huge tub of animal crackers at Sam's because he loves eating them at Mother's Day Out.  Of course, after I bought the huge tub of animal crackers he decided he didn't like them!! Of Course. When I saw this cute valentine on Pinterest, I knew it would be perfect for all of little friends at Mother's Day Out and MOPS, and a perfect way for me to get rid of my giant tub of animal crackers that my son won't eat!!

I just needed to spruce up the label a little bit.  I saw some other cute ones on Pinterest that had zebra print and leopard print in the background, but they seems a little girl.  I decided to just go with the zoo animal theme and I think they turned pretty darn cute!!

So if you have an abundance of animal crackers like I did and need a cute little valentine for your little one, here is the printable for you!!

**These are spaced a little funky (with a space on top of each of them) so you can cut the big space above the picture,  fold them over a baggie and staple them. Or of course you can cut them all the way out like I did and back with colored paper.  Either way, I think they'll be pretty cute!! 

{To download, Click so the image pops up in a new window, Right Click, Then Save & Print!}

DIY felt Christmas tree

Y'all, this little project is so easy.  I did it all during one of Pearson's naps!!

I made the template for tracing the Christmas Tree with wrapping paper that had grid lines.  It made it really easy to make a symmetrical tree. 

 You can see a little better in the picture below how I made the template. 

A while back my Grandma found a large Craps table cover for a great price at a garage sale and bought it because it looked like a nice big piece of felt. It had been sitting at my Mom's house waiting to be used for a fun little project.  Instead of buying a large piece of felt, I used this!!  If you have to buy your felt, I'm sure you could find a large piece of felt in the fabric section of Hobby Lobby or at Hancock's or JoAnne's. 

 I bought all of the ornament and present felt pieces at Hobby Lobby.  They were 4/$1.00 except the Houndstooth was 2/$1. I used 2 red, 2 green, 1 yellow, 1 white, and 2 houndstooth.  I traced the ornaments with a little circle tupperware and I googled "star clip-art" and "christmas light clip-art" to printed a picture off the internet to use as my template for the star and lights. 

I used these Command Velcro strips to hand it on the wall. 

 I put our little tree underneath our bar next to our real Christmas tree.  I absolutely love how it turned out!! I originally wanted to make this felt Christmas tree because I thought my busy 18 month old was going to be all over our real Christmas tree.  I thought this would help distract him by giving him his own little tree.  

Oddly enough, he could really care less about our Christmas tree.  He has a pretty good time decorating and un-decorating his little felt Christmas tree though. I think Pearson will look forward to playing with his special Christmas toys each year, especially this one!!

 Although he has a pretty good time playing with his little people toys too.  

Tonight Mary was the train conductor, taking a wise man, the angel and Baby Jesus for a ride!

 

Baby Jesus wanted a turn to drive too.

After his train ride, Pearson returned Baby Jesus to the stable.

Remember Jesus is the Reason for the Season!!

a meal planning craft

A few weeks ago at MOPS we made the cutest Meal Planning craft!!

 Since it was so simple, I just had to share a "how to" with you.  

 All you need is an 8x10 picture frame, some scrapbook paper and a dry erase marker.  I used 2 pieces of paper to give it a fun look but one piece would be fine too.  We had a "What's for Dinner Stamp, but you could always type it up on the paper to get the same affect.  

 That's it.  Super simple huh? And so cute!! I use it every week now!!

Oh and that other little cute craft......I made that at MOPS too!! It's just a piece of painted wood with a clip and ribbon glued on the top and a peg in the back to make it stand. 

Yesterday was our last MOPS meeting and I'm sooooooo going to miss my (every other) Mondays with my sweet Mom friends.  I'm already looking forward to September when we start back up.  

And because no post is complete with a picture of my little man........  

I don't want Pearson to be addicted to TV, but just recently I've been able to get him to sit {or sometimes stand} in one place and watch a 15 minutes Baby Einstein video.  It's nice to not have to chase him for a little bit!!

subway art

When Pearson was born I saw a cute shop on Etsy where you could personalize a picture with your baby's birth stats.  I loved it and knew I had a perfect spot for it in Pearson's nursery, but I wasn't about to pay $20 for some ink printed on cardstock.  Thankfully my sweet sister in law is awesome with Photoshop and all things digital so she made it for me!!

Apparently this type of artwork is called "Subway Art" and I have since become a little obsessed with it!!

Tonight I printed off Subway Art for each holiday.  I would like to find a place on one of my end tables to decorate for each season/holiday of the year!! 

Here's a link to all the cute Subway Art I printed off tonight!!

Valentine's Subway Art

St. Patrick's Day Subway Art

Easter Subway Art

Memorial Day Subway Art

Birthday  Subway Art

July 4th Subway Art

First Day of School Subway Art

Halloween Subway Art

Thanksgiving Subway Art

Christmas Subway Art

Cheap, easy craft!! Gotta love it!!

Thank you Pinterest!!!

K'Link baby wraps for sale

My absolute favorite "baby gear" item is my wrap that my Mom made for me.  

 When Pearson was little little I would put him in it so I could get things done around the house.  I especially used it when he was fussy around dinner time and Daddy wasn't home yet.  

Now I put him in it every we go to the grocery store.  He absolutely loves being in it.  It's great because he thinks he's being held, but I have 2 free hands.  Plus it frees up the seat in the cart 

{or as I say, buggy} for me to put my purse and coupon binder.  I don't know how I would grocery shop without it.  He doesn't make a peep while he's in it.   

As you can see, there are 2 rings that he actually "sits" in, then you wrap the other piece around to secure him in and make the wrap look cute!! 

He can sit facing me or facing out.

He loves being it both ways.  I'm telling you, he would stay in this wrap all day long if I let him.  He loves it!! And I love it too!!

 It's so handy to have around.  What you can't see in the picture is that if you turn the colorful fabric square inside out you can put the all the pieces into it as a carrier for the entire wrap.  The you have a cute compact little carrier for your wrap that will fit right into your diaper bag!!

I have recently learned how to make these myself and I'm so excited to share that I will be selling my "K'Link baby wraps" called for $40.  {plus shipping if you don't live locally} Similar wraps sold in stores retail around $70, so this is a steal!!

These would make great Christmas gifts or  baby gifts or you could even buy one for yourself.  I know you will love it!! 

If you are interested in purchasing one, please e-mail me at 

katymlink {at} gmail {dot} com

and we can talk details!!

the P's have it

My saturday has been spent with lots of P's.  

1. Pinterest
**I'm so addicted to Pinterest.  I have actually had an account since May but I just allowed myself to get on.  I had some projects I wanted to finish before I really dove in.  I've had so much fun finding new ideas.  I have only made one craft and 3 recipes, but I plan on actually doing/cooking/making lots more of my ideas I have pinned!!

2.  Pedicure
**My SIL gave me a pedicure gifcard for my birthday.  Matt watched the baby this afternoon while I went and treated myself with a much deserved mani/pedi.  The last time I got my toes done was when I was still pregnant.  I was long overdue.  The color looks black but it's actually a deep purple.  I went with something dark in hopes that it will help bring us some fall weather!

3.  Pot Roast
**I tried a new recipe for Pot Roast today.  It was really good.  It was so nice to put dinner in the crockpot this morning, smell it all day and have a easy dinner and clean up.  I even froze 3 bags of leftover meat for BBQ sandwiches, beef nachos, and shredded beef tacos.  Yummy!!

4.  Playoffs

**I'm lovin' watching the Rangers play.  I absolutely love watching the post season games.  I actually watch the entire game.  Unfortunately I'm having a little trouble watching this game because Matt keeps flipping the channels back and forth between the Rangers and the Baylor game.

5.  Pearson
**And the majority of my day was spent with my Sweet P.  Pearson is finally out of his little fussy funk.  He was so sweet today!!

 I was afraid our day was not going to start off well since he woke up this morning screaming.  He was crying because he had rolled over in his crib (while swaddled) and couldn't get back onto his back.  Poor guy!! Thankfully our day turned around quickly!!

 Pearson has only been taking 45 minutes naps all week and he took an hour and a half nap this morning while Matt and I did some little projects around the house.

 I took Pearson with me to the grocery store this afternoon because he LOVES hanging out in the K'Tan.  He looked around almost the whole shopping trip them fell fast asleep right before we checked out.  I love that he loves the K'Tan.

 This afternoon while Matt watched Pearson he actually slept the entire time I was gone.  He took a two and a half hour nap!!  Yay for long naps!! I hoping for lots of long naps this week!! I don't have any plans this week so I would love to mess around with some Pinterest projects!!

I just put Pearson to bed with one arm swaddled in and one arm out.  I am just not ready to give the swaddle up cold turkey.  Pearson has been sleeping 12 hr at night since he was 2 months old and I just don't want anything to change.  I really think the swaddle helps him sleep better so we'll see how it goes transitioning him out of it.  I put him in bed at 7:00 tonight and he was asleep by 7:15 without a peep!! I'm praying for a restful night for my little guy.  

 Oh my goodness....I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to have my sweet, happy, content baby boy back!!