F-A-L-L Letters

Another week and another Pinterest Project! The host decided that we would be decorating letters with buttons. There are so many great and different ideas for this out there. I decided to change things up a bit and decorate not only with buttons, but with some other items as well. My love of all things fall lead me to choose the letters F-A-L-L. While the project wasn't done during the palydate, it was completed! And here it is:

I wrapped the F in twine like I did for the S on my wreath.

I used buttons for the A. I ordered mine from Amazon. (Here and here.)

I used leftover wreath fabric that I tore into strips and tied on the first L.

I used a mix of fall colored beads for the second L.

I love:

I am linking to these parties this week.

Foodie Friday: Cinnamon Snack Mix

When this recipe, from Alli N Son, popped up in my reader, I knew that I would have to give it a try. I love a good snack mix and nothing says fall like a recipe with cinnamon in the title. I consider it a success, being that the bowl is already gone. Thanks for the great recipe, Alli!

Cinnamon Snack Mix
Ingredients:

• 5 cups honey graham cereal
• 2 cups corn chex cereal (I used a honey chex)
• 2 cups ramen noodles, crushed (this seemed like an unusual ingredient to me as well, but it adds a great crunchy texture to the mix)
• 2 cup pretzels
• 1 cup raisins, craisins or chocolate chips (I used Craisins)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a large bowl, mix together the honey graham cereal, chex cereal, ramen noodles and pretzels.
• In a small bowl stir together the melted butter, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.
• Pour over the cereal mixture, and toss to coat.
• Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet covered with tin foil.
• Bake 10 minutes, stirring once. Cool and store in airtight container.

Target = Happiness

Did you see the press Michelle Obama got last week for shopping at Target? While I don't get why that could be called a major news story, I do get the need to shop at Target. Target is my happy place. Our Target has double carts. (Unlike some stores!) Our Target has a Starbucks. (And really what can make a mommy of two happier than retail therapy with a side of caffeine?) Our Target recently added fresh groceries. (I love the convenience of one stop shopping and that is quite often why you would find me at the other place. You know, the blue one. This also makes Target a legitimate stop on my errands list, not just a fun place to visit.) There is just something about a Target that makes me feel happy and loved. I really think it is the layout and the displays, but maybe they pipe in some sort of addictive drug. I just don't know. I do know, however, that I totally get what Mrs. O was doing at her local Target. Just getting her fix of the double red rings.

Baby Cream: 1 Month

Our baby girl turned one month old last week. In some ways it is hard to believe that she has been a member of our family for an entire month already and in other ways it seems as if she has been here forever. It is neat how a new family member can fit right in.
Cream has been rocking the nights for me. She usually wakes up to nurse once during the middle of the night and then again sometime around 6 or 7. She is also a quick nurser and quite often goes right back to sleep. Like I said, "Rocking it!"
She has also been gracing us with a smile every once in a while. And sometimes when I am talking to her she coos and talks back to me. I really love it when they start interacting. It never ceases to amaze me that they can learn about social interaction so quickly.
Cream has started to have more quiet alert time as well. For a while Mr Cherry joked that she was either eating, sleeping, or crying. It is nice to have a little time to actually enjoy her company without having to try to calm her down.
Cream is a pacifier baby like her sister. I really like having babies that take the pacifier. It is so nice to have a way to calm them down when they are all worked up.

While she hasn't been to the doctor since her two week (she was already up to 9 lbs 11 oz), I can tell that she is still steadily gaining weight. She is a good nurser and takes a lot in at a time. She has really started to spread her nursing sessions out which is a bonus for me. We gave her her first bottle recently and she took it like a champ.

I can't wait to see what changes the next month brings for our little squirt.

Pin It! Fall Wreaths

Our Pinterest group met a while back to work on wreaths. While we all made fall wreaths, two of us made rag wreaths and two made yarn ball wreaths.
Here is the rag wreath that I worked on:

I used a wire wreath form that I bought at JoAnn Fabrics. It had four wires so it took a while to tie all of the strips of fabric onto it. The original tutorial I followed said that she used quarter yards of four different fabrics. I ended up having to go back and get additional quarter yards.

I cut my fabrics into six by one inch strips and double knotted them onto the frame. I purchased the "S" from Hobby Lobby and wrapped it in twine.

Here is Jenna's original rag wreath.

Her "E" was also purchased at Hobby Lobby. She ended up painting it and sanding the edges.

Even though we complained about how long the wreaths took, she decided to make another one with a Halloween twist.

Here is Lori's yarn ball wreath.

And Lisa's with the leaves.

We were all commenting on how fun it is to see how the projects can turn out differently even with the same original concept.

Linking to:

I am linking to CSI Pinterest Project Link Up