Falling Behind/ Guest Bloggers?



Wow I am totally lagging in blog posts lately!

First off I want to apologize for my absence :) Things are going pretty well for us right now but also pretty busy!!

Miss K starting school, me job hunting, daily workouts training for my first 5k, and a bridal shower coming up this weekend... when I say busy, I mean busy! I love it though and I'm also on a personal mission that I will share with you all when I'm ready and/or finished.

I will be out of town for a few days but don't worry! I have a guest blogger lined up who is new to this whole blogging and stay at home mom thing!

Also, if anyone wants to guest blog here at live.laugh.photograph I would love to have you! Just send me an email to laurabicks@gmail.com. It can be a craft, recipe, inspirational, old, new, whatever!

Drop me a line ;)

xoxo

Kindergarten

I never thought I'd see myself here.

I mean, I knew I would but when Miss K was born and I thought about her going to school and becoming a "kid" I just thought it was so far away and I had plenty of time!

Well, that time is here, the now! She started her first day of Kindergarten today.

I did not cry.

I did not get emotional.

I did not feel like I was losing my "baby"

Instead I was happy.

Proud of this little person I raised.

Excited that she was excited to start and couldn't wait to meet her teacher.

Today was amazing and I can't wait for all of the goodness to come........

Here we go, we are on our way!

Daddy's Girl

A little pep talk from both Maw-Maws before going to her classroom!

She had the option to come home with me or to stay until the half day was over. She stayed and even rode the bus home all by herself! PROUD moment!

I always ran to the mailbox when I got off the bus. It cracks me up now that she does the same thing :)

I would love to hear about the first day your child started Kindergarten!!

Any advice?!

xoxo

A day at the park

Miss K and I have been spending lots of time together lately since she will be starting school this Friday! It makes me sad but at the same time I am really excited for her to go because it's all she talks about.... Plus I plan to get back into the work force and get my career started!

We recently went to the park to get some of her energy out. It was a lot of fun and if it weren't so hot outside we would probably go every day!

Afterwards we checked out a new frozen yogurt place and it was delish!

xoxo

New Haircut

Well Miss K's first day of school is next Friday. She won't be starting full time until 2 weeks after but we are gearing up for her first year at school!

Last week I gave her a new haircut. I asked her if she wanted "bangs" like Ellie (my little sister) and Mommy and she said yes!

However, once I was finished cutting, she kept saying she wanted me to cut them more because they were "getting in her eyes". She is getting used to them now and we are training them to stay to one side.

After I was finished she started modeling for the camera and blowing kisses to all her fans!

Today we're going shopping for school clothes!!! Wish me luck, she's a picky one!

xoxo

DIY Cat Treehouse

In my last post I rambled on about the kitty tree house we made for the kitten we weren't sure we were going to keep lol

Well, just in case you are interested in how to build your own for your furry friend, here is what you will need:

Carpet- we used 2x12 ft section

staple gun

2- 2x4's

plywood

12in. cardboard concrete form

sisal rope

Optional: toys to hang, fabric to line inside of cubby hole

OK let's get started.

First, we roughly drew out what we wanted it to look like. We saw 2 different ones at petsmart and took what we liked from each to make one we loved!

For our base we used a 2x2 piece of plywood and wrapped with carpet. Then we cut the 2x4's to size. No measuring, we just eyeballed how tall we wanted it to be. The tallest one would hold the cubby hole on top.

The second 2x4 was cut shorter to place a little circle area where the cat could lounge.

Then we took the remaining 2x4's and cut two pieces about 1-2ft tall. We wrapped all of them in carpet except the longest two boards. I wanted kitty to have a little scratching post so I wrapped half with carpet and the other with sisal rope around the bottoms.

Now comes the tricky part. To make the cubby hole and little lounge post, we needed to cut 3 circles. 2 for the cubby hole (top and bottom) and one for the lounge post. I had the pleasure of doing this task and it wasn't easy! I needed to cut them to fit inside the 12in. cardboard concret form.

I securely stapled the circled plywood inside of the form at the top and bottom. I lined the inside with fleece. The hubs was cutting the carpet to size as well. Then I cut out a little hole and wrapped it in carpet. This was the hardest part!

Then for the lounge post we cut a piece of cardboard concrete form about 6 inches high. Then I placed the last piece of plywood cirlce inside of it and stapled it together. Then carpeted that as well.

For the long circle tube, again I used the cardboard concrete form and eyeballed how long I wanted it to be. Then I cut out a rectangle in the middle. Then I used the last of the carpet to wrap the inside and out and stapled the edges. I also used my glue gun to glue down pieces of carpet that were wanting to fray.

Once we had all of our pieces ready to go we started to assemble it. Lots of screws later we had made our very own and very inexpensive cat tree house! I realize this sounds complicated but it was really easy and we had fun building it together! I wish I had taken pictures along the way but we kind of flew by the seat of our pants.

Here is the finished result!

xoxo

Introducing Voodoo

Well I am finally starting to feel back to my normal self again!

You know the saying "when it rains, it pours"? Yeah, that expression has been my life story for the last month. So many negative and sad things have happened but I just try to remember the good.

Always keeping a positive outlook on things or re-directing my thoughts to something else helps me get through!

I know I said I would have a ton of pictures from our trip to Cincinnati but unfortunately, there weren't too many picture taking moments. I have a few and I'll post them soon!

For now, I'll tell you the story of how we got out newest addition, Voodoo.........

Whenever we go out of town we always board our dog Buddha. It's like a mini vacation to him because he can't get in the building quick enough for us to drop him off! The day after we came home the hubs went to pick him up. While he was there, he noticed these huge bird cages with kittens in them. There was a sign that read "FREE kittens, Save a life". The hubs is not a cat person in any way, shape, or form. But this particular one caught his eye. He (the kitten) was at the top of the birdcage hanging upside down from the corner!

He called me on the way home to tell me about him and I knew we at least needed to try it out! So we got a 3rd party opinion. We were mainly concerned with Buddha and how he would react. Huskies have been known to eat cats. We called the vet when he got home and they told us we could take the kitty for a few nights and try it out. The hubs was so generously giving us 24 hours. Note my sarcasm ;)

It was the best decision ever!! Kitty came in and got used to us and his surroundings. 24 hours went by and the hubs didn't say anything. Two days later we headed to petsmart to buy a few toys and such. But he never did say we were going to keep him. We looked at scratching posts, and the huge cat tree houses. But they were too expensive for a cat we weren't even sure we were going to keep ;)

We drove home and unloaded the car. Then the hubs picked up his wallet and said "I'll be back" and left. I called him to see where he was going. He told me he was on his way to home depot and we were going to build a cat tree house.... tonight! (More to come on that soon!) OK, we are building this tree house for a kitten we've had for 3 days and we aren't sure we are keeping yet?

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect kitty. Buddha and Voodoo are the best of friends. I never thought I'd see the day! I realize I've been rambling on so I'll shut up! Here are some pictures over the last week and a half...

I have to give a shoutout to St. Bethlehem Animal Clinic for saving the lives of many cats and kittens in the Clarksville area. They visit the shelter on a daily basis to rescue them and adopt them out for free. Plus if you adopt, it's half price for their vaccinations! If it weren't for them and their effort, these kittens would be in heaven.

xoxo

Our newest addition!!

First off I want to say Thank you to all of you for your kind words and encouragement through this difficult time :)

We are all doing better and my Grandpa is actually doing much better as well so that has really lifted our spirits!!

And speaking of things that lift spirits, here is the newest addition to our household!

All I will say is that we rescued him from being euthanized and we've had him for a week now.

Much more to come on this later!

Thanks for sticking with me ;) I also have 2 new craft projects that I've done and one was with the hubs help!

xoxo

So much to tell

We are finally home from visiting family. So much has happened and I can't wait to share the good stuff with you all.

Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned. Our vacation wasn't really much of a vacation in the sense of the word.

It was emotionally and physically draining while we were there.

We knew we were there for a reason and it was to see two very special people in our lives who had fallen ill. My grandfather who is doing much better, and my husbands Aunt who unfortunately is no longer with us......

We got to say our goodbyes and at least see her before she left this world. It has been a very long week so please forgive me for not blogging as much.

Right now my mind is on real life stuff and I honestly just don't have the energy or 'want' to do anything other than just lie around the house and spend time with my family :)

I know things will get better soon and I will be back to my crafty self again. But, for now, I may just be a little scarce until I am ready to get back into the swing of things!

xoxo