Whoooo loves owls!?

So this year for Christmas, thanks to Pinterest, I've been 'pinspired' to make ornaments, and gifts, and food, and crafts, and traditions, and...well you get the picture! So when a friend of mine posted on another friend's wall about the Christmas Owl...yeah I was stalking...so what!?...the wheels started pinning, I mean turning!

If you haven't heard about the Christmas Owl, here's the little 'story' thingy taken from this blog post: http://www.beneathmyheart.net/2012/11/owl-themed-gift-wrapping-and-diy-ornament/...

 “I’m a little Christmas Owl. Please hang me in your tree. I won’t say much while I’m here, but my eyes have much to see. When Santa starts to check his list, you know he checks it twice. He sends an owl to be his eyes and see whooo’s naughty and nice! So, every time you see an owl with his eyes so wide and bright… be on your best behavior for that owl is Santa’s sight!”

My sister in law LOVES owls! And she's a teacher so it's super fitting! I figured she'd have a tree in her classroom of 1st graders who would LOVE the idea of the owl. So back to pinterest I went and I found this little beauty.....

 

 

The full tutorial is at http://juicy-bits.typepad.com/juicy_bits/2009/12/131-give-a-hoot-for-the-holidays.html. The gal who made them had super easy instructions...I don't do things that are hard to handle!

 

In all I made 7 owls, with one 'special order' on the docket for later.

 

 You can really see how small these are in the top left picture. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to do the group of three...sorry bout the bad quality picture...I was being lazo and didn't go get the good camera. The left one in the trio is maroon and turned out quite pretty! The right one, as painful as it was, is for our Iowa State friends. 'Santa' survived but just barely! In the top right picture, the blue one is ours for our all blue and silver and boring beautiful tree! The pink one is for a friend who just found out she's adding girl #3 to their family! So just had to do pink to celebrate!!



 

I didn't realize until just today that the lady used different colors for her wings and eyes....I just used brown for all of them. Mrs. S might get a funkier one for her classroom!

 

My changes/pointers for this tutorial:

1)Print the pattern on cardstock...you think you'll only do one but you'll love them and you'll find white sparkly rick rack at walmart and you'll do 7 more....before Dec 1 even!

 

2) I left out the belly on mine. I just did the rick rack on the main body part. I like it just as well...but your call. Just adds a step.

 

3)I used rick rack for the ribbon which is not a cost effective idea but oh so cute! But you could use ribbon of any kind.

 

4) The tute calls for small buttons for the eyes....I didn't have any and this was a "I have to do this craft right this instant" situation...so I just stitched my eyes. Just did a 4 part star thing.

 

I loved this ornament so much! In the tutorial, the gal mentions making one bigger for a lovey...I just may do that...especially since I just found some jumbo rick rack in my stash. Can't be too hard and would make a cute pillow/lovey for a nature type themed room...or owl lover...ahem my dear friend Jenni!!! :)

 

**The owl has worked wonders for the kids' behaviors...except for when the boy child hits the girl child upstairs and says, "I bet the owl missed that one!" I have visions of making one for every room...but that may be a bit too scary! I don't want to scar the poor kids!

 

For the ones I gifted, I hooked the saying (Just printed on computer paper) to it with a small safety pin and either hung it on a door knob, wrapped it, or mailed it. (They are really light so they don't cost much to send!)

 

(Also it was super fun to go 'Santa knocking' on people's doors yesterday....knock on the door, hang the owl and run!)

 

Enjoy the owls!!!!

A little thing I like to call "Mommy Phenomenon"

So the flu bug hit Paxton last night. And this stay at home (aka not the one that has to get up and go out in public) mom got to do full shift last night. And after about the 15th trip to dump 'the bucket', something occurred to me. In my pregnant glory, I have gotten sick over many things....the deer hanging in my front yard, the texture of potatoes, my own tongue in my mouth....but I didn't get sick once last night. How is that even possible? With my eldest in the next room, 'giving it all he's got' I just stayed calm, got up dumped it, even got some on me once. And not even one hint of a gag. (This morning is a different story....Thankful for Zofran!)

So as I was laying there trying to sleep all I could think about was this Phenomenon...how is it possible that I can go from gagging over a PEE diaper one day and dealing with El Sicko with zero trouble? I know there are many parts to this mommy phenomenon beyond dealing with sick kiddies, like the eyes in the back of the head, knowing by the look in their eyes that they have a fever, knowing when they're snatching a treat out of the treat jar. Something happens when one becomes a mom. And it's awesome! God really knew what he was doing! (I wonder if Mary had the mom sense what with her son being part God and all....)

Being pregnant with my fourth kid I feel somewhat like a mom vet....so I'm gonna share some of my 'night time sickness warrior' supplies.......

 

Sleep mask: #1 can't live without! Blocks out all the light of the 'Brighter than the Equator at noon' nightlight....the night light itself is a must. Nothing is worse than El Sicko fumbling around in the dark to find El Bucket...NOTHING! (Also I almost always have towels that need washed for some reason....put those on all sides of Sickie...just in case)

 

Popcorn Thingy: Helps with the inevitable crick in the neck from couch sleeping (and also to ward off the headache I had to start with...Mommy's just can't win!) (Also helps with the 'Darn I'm sleeping by myself and not with my super warm blooded husband' chills.)

 

I have quite possibly THE MOST COMFORTABLE COUCH in the world. I'm not even kidding. 'Nuff said!

 

The Good Doctor is a must for this am. Coffee is more of a 'feel good' drink for me. Nostalgic really. Dr Pepper is really where it's at. (Blah blah pregnant blah blah not good for you..yeah yeah)

 

 

There you have it in a nut shell...now Mommy's gotta go get ready for the day! (Aka put on make up and pretend like I didn't spend the whole night playing nurse!)

 

And my local gals...I can in fact hook you up with either a sleep mask or a popcorn thing or both!

 

I'd love to hear from you on your 'tried and true' Mom Tricks!



3+2=5 Biermans that is!

So most of you know by now that the Bierman's are adding another babe to the mix in early May!! This is my primary reason for being so absent. It's been a rough couple of months for this mama! So here's the scoop on preggers here....we found out Labor Day weekend...I felt great for a couple of weeks..and then BAM sick! But like with every other pregnancy of mine, I finally learned 'the rules' of this baby which are as follows 1) Drink Orange Juice...LOTS of orange juice! 2) Wake up at 330 AM every single morning just to hang out...(and go potty and drink more OJ!) 3) Cravings galore!! And tears....but that's another story!

So the kiddos are just completely estatic about this! You should see the sweet grin P gets when he rubs my belly. Ahhh it's just too much! Lyla talks to baby every day...and yes I melt!

This coming weekend is the start of hunting season...which means family coming and us ladies will hopefully get so sew some, shop some and eat some! After working on mom's quilt, (I'm gonna turn her into a quilter one of these days!!!) I'm hoping to get a start on the cloth diapers! We have the supplies to do three...and I hope that they are easy enough so I don't change my mind about cloth diapering! Well anyways...I hope to have some photos to show you soon...of something. Coz this blog is getting boring...but energy is running low these days!

For the record Baby Bumble B is about the size of a lemon....and judging by my crazy hunger, growing every day! I have told the hubbs that in order to stay strong and not find out the gender next month...he will have to go to the appointment with me....because I'm really losing my resolve!

Ok well I'm off to get some housework done before Daddy and Brother get home!...see you SOON I promise!!!