Newborn Photographs

 Wanted to share some of my favorite shots from the newborn shoot done by Lily Miller from BlahBlah Bebe Photography located in Twentynine Palms, CA.

 She also made the lovely hairpieces for baby Natalya, Bella, and I.

I absolutely love the vintage feel of them and all the lace. She is so talented and I am grateful I was able to be a part of her art.

4th of July Care Package

I know I am slow but hopefully others can get ideas from my care packages and improve them for yourselves. I know looking at other people's care packages gave me good ideas! This is the 4th of July care package from this last summer while my husband was on the 31st MEU.

This was really easy. I got paint, paintbrushes, and construction paper, and some decorations and the Dollar Tree. I highly recommend the Dollar Tree for deployment care packages.

"Some lovers feel a spark. But I feel fireworks when I think of you!"

Dollar Tree goodies are the best because we all know they can't carry a bunch of crap with them. So once they are done playing they can just throw it away!! Or send sentimental things like pictures and things that are small and easy to tuck away.

The best thing is of course snacks!!! Homemade or store bought. You can never send enough snacks because they always have buddies (some that don't get care packages) that will help them eat it.

To keep everything from rolling around in there stuff it VERY tight. If anything seems like it could melt or explode (like chocolate or shampoo) put it in it's own zip lock baggie and wrap it in bubble wrap. Helps to keep it cool and safe. Keep your grocery bags from shopping because they are great for stuffing in there to take up room... TA - DA!

Easter Care Package

I need to catch up on posting pictures of all my care packages that I have made so others can get inspiration from them and hopefully make theirs ten times cuter!This is the Easter Care package I made for my brother in Iraq. I just got paint from the dollar tree (best place to shop for care package stuff!) and decorated a military flat rate box from the post office. I got the camo easter eggs at the dollar store too. They also have blue camo eggs for Navy! The chocolate photo suckers I actually won in a contest from Tina Marie's Custom Treats. They turned out so cute! One of the pictures is of their toddler holding his brand new little brother. The second one is of their twins that were born while he was deployed. He was able to be there for their birth but then had to leave them again for another 7 months or so.

Learning to Cook

We always buy the same groceries and make the same food over and over. Our grocery bill is literally the same every time within a few dollars. So we decided to start trying a new recipe every weekend because our mealtime routine is getting pretty boring! We both love cooking and it's a fun thing for us to do together. This time we chose Tamale Corn Cakes With Rajas Topping from the Pampered Chef cookbook, 29 Minutes to Dinner Volume 2. It was really fast and easy! The first picture is from the cookbook and the second picture is how ours turned out. Yummy!

Homecoming #2 December 2011

Bella waiting for daddy to get off the plane.

We decorated a sign for him. It was also his birthday!


Waiting for Kelley to get off the plane.

Here he comes!

She grabbed him right when she saw him.

Happy to be back together!

Next day baby Natalya was born!

Natalya Estelle 22 December 2011

My husband got home on December 21st and I was scheduled to be induced the next day on the 22nd. Last picture before meeting baby Natalya!

Bella has no idea what is going on. She didn't really understand that there was a baby in my tummy. I tried to tell her and she would get really upset. I think she thought I ate a baby or something. Who knows what kids think?

After 4 hours and 43 minutes of labor she was born! First time holding her at 12:43 P.M.

The nurse was so cute and made her a bow hat! Awww...

Ready to go home!

She looks so tiny in her carseat.

First time meeting big sister! She wouldn't let go.

Behind

Well I have gotten behind on my blogging......So here is what has happened in my life since I posted last and I will catch up on other stuff later.

After his sister's funeral, Kelley headed back to Japan on July 3rd.

In August I turned 23

Bella turned 2 and had a big Dora party at Jabbers in Nampa.

Halloween with her cousins. Bella was a piggy.

Kelley came home on December 21st and it was also his 22nd Birthday!