TUTUtorial

Chances are if you're a {tight budget} mom and you have little girls, you've already made your little princess a tutu. If not, today is your day! This is the easiest, no sew, absolutely adorable creation! 

What you will need: Tulle, Scissors, and a long piece of ribbon. Three things! Seriously, it's that easy! 

Let's get started: Fold your tulle in half and measure (or eye it like I did) and begin cutting 1 inch strips.

Cut through the middle fold to make two strips.

Do this over and over again. I used three colors (one yard each): turquoise and two shades of green.

Stack them in somewhat of an order, but it doesn't have to be perfect.

I used a long piece of ribbon for the waist. You could use velcro but I think the ribbon is easier, plus you can always add to it as she grows. Tie a knot at the end of your ribbon to keep your tulle from falling off as you're working.

Gather your strips in tulle and fold in half. I used three green for the middle and one turquoise on the top and one on the bottom. I wanted it to be symmetrical so I stuck to the same pattern, you could mix it up as much as you want. 

Tie a knot through the ribbon where you have the strips folded. Try to point the not downward to make it lay better.

Turn on a good Lifetime movie and keep on tying.

Hold it up to your princess to measure as you are going. I knew Khloe would be wearing hers for an upcoming photo shoot so I wanted it to be super full and fluffy.

And there you have it! From beginning to end it took me about 30 minutes to complete.

I got the tulle on sale at hobby lobby for less than a $1.50 per yard, plus I already had the ribbon. Total cost was less than $6.00. Now, go. Go buy that tulle and see just how easy it is to make!! :)

Here's the pic of Khloe wearing it during her photo shoot with Kayce Stork Photography. We LOVED how it turned out.

Happy 9 Months Khloe

I'm not gonna lie, I didn't REALLY want to title this blog "HAPPY 9 months." This momma is sad at how fast her little love bug is growing up! It is so fun to watch your tiny little creation develop her own little personality. 

This has been a very fun month with all the new things she's doing!  Plus I'm so thankful those terrible teething crankiness has subsided, at least for now.. 

• Weighs about 18 pounds
• Wearing 6-9 month clothes and is in between a size 2 and 3 shoe. Size 3 diapers. 
• Napping 3 times a day and 12 hours at night. Still prefers to sleep on her belly, but she has started sleeping on her sides a lot more this month.
• Has TWO teeth! 
• Officially weaned from a bottle as of four weeks ago. She thinks she is such a big girl when she gets to sip from an open cup during meals and drink through a straw when we are at restaurants. 
• She is great eater but does NOT like puffs. At. All. She does like the Baby Mum-Mums.
• Walking! Walking! Walking! And it is A-DOR-ABLE!!!
• Climbing on EVERYTHING. I have to keep my eyes on her at all times or she is likely to come crashing down from whatever she is trying to get on top of.
• The girl LOVES dancing. The minute she hears music she starts jumping up and down and clapping her hands.
• Waves her hand for hi and bye bye, mimics people snapping, claps on cue for patty cake and loves playing peek-a-boo! She's also discovered how to smack her lips together to make kissy sounds. This week she has started bumping heads (It's all fun and games until the day Momma gets a busted lip! ha)
• New words she's saying: DaDa, buh-bye, k, hey and hi. Still won't say Ma-ma :(
• Still loves bath time and being outside
• Hair is getting so full and thick! She really likes "petting" my hair and surprisingly she does it as gentle as she can. She's learned that she has to be gentle with Bella so I think that helps. She is much harder to keep a bow on these days. As soon as she feels it on her head, she rips it off. I'm TRYYYYYING to break that habit.

Notice her pulling her headband off above? Not ok Khloe Brooke. Not ok! 

This was the only picture I was able to get her to actually smile while looking at the camera. She's at the age that it is nearly impossible to keep her still enough to catch a good pic.

 Case in point, she was smiling so big until I snapped the picture above. Ahh.

 

Happy 9 months sweet baby girl!

The Royal Wedding Shower

My baby sister is getting marrrrried. I can't believe it. It seems just like yesterday that she was hiding my car keys and not telling us where they were until Kelli and I agreed to let her  go shopping with us. (Which, she JUST confessed a couple weeks ago that she regularly did this!!!! BRAT!)

I have been living vicariously through her wedding preparations recreating what I SHOULD have done for my wedding. We have had a lot of fun shopping and planning her big day. Though I have become her personal slave, I have enjoyed every minute of being the "wise big sister!" I told her a couple weeks ago that I didn't care how old she was or if she was married I would STILL boss her around and that would NEVER change. :)- 

My sister, Kelli, and I hosted Toot's lingerie shower a couple weeks ago at my Grandma's house. We asked everyone on the invites to wear a hat for this ROYAL event! ;)

A picture of the gorgeous bride-to-be wearing a "Wife in training" badge that I made out of tissue paper and mosquito netting.

The food table. Very disappointed at how blurry it turned out. :(

Super fun and cute cake pops we made.

We couldn't have a party without pepperoni bagel bites. Our fav!

Cupcake toppers made from my printer, hot glue, and toothpicks : )

Such a cute and super cheap accessory to add some FRILL!

You know when you are coming to a party hosted by the Allison girls there WILL be chicken and ketchup. Our menu consisted of: chicken & cheese quesadillas, pepperoni bagel bites, sausage balls, chicken strips, mexican cheese dip, salsa, fruit sticks, strawberry shortcake, strawberry cupcakes, and strawberry cake balls dipped in white and dark chocolate. So yummy!

Yummy pink lemonade with strawberries and lemons.

I loved the personal touch of the custom napkin holders.

I really expected Khloe to be asleep for the night by the time the party started. I wish I would have dressed her up in a cute hat too!

Some girlfriends from Toot's school.

This gag gift was definitely the best laugh of the night. Thanks Kelli for helping me get it together!

Her expression was just priceless opening a lot of the gifts!

Thank you so much to all the girls that wore hats. So cute!

Sisters!

Great turn out, great food, great gifts, and great memories! Thank you to everyone that let me boss you around and make my baby sister's shower perfecto! 

19 days and counting until the big day!! Bittersweet!

ps. Kelli, can I convince you to do a destination wedding???!?!?!? ha ha ha. jk. I will do it all for you again babe!

Confessions of a picky eater

If you know me, you know how much of a picky eater I am. Just to be clear, when I say I am a "picky eater," what I really mean is I have the taste buds of a five year old.  Salad, steak, fish, ranch, and sweet tea are just a few of the items on my do-not-eat list. Chicken nuggets, french fries, mac & cheese, and coke are the staples of my everyday diet. For most of my life I have been such a picky eater because I was just too scared to try new things. As I've gotten older, I've become very self-conscious and embarrassed of my not-so sophisticated palate.

I think the embarrassment began while working at Scruggs, Sossaman & Thompson, a law firm in downtown Memphis. Every holiday or special occasion was a perfect excuse to have a celebration dinner at a super swanky restaurant. While attempting to place my order during the first Christmas dinner with the firm, I had a full fledged panic attack. Filet Mignon was the only thing on the menu that I could actually read and understand what it was. I have never really liked steak, but at least I knew what I would be eating. Turns out it was 32 ounce steak! Yes, THIRTY TWO ounces. The waiter was astonished when I returned the steak and asked for it to be cooked more thoroughly. "The chef will be offended," he informed me. He (along with the rest of the table) was APPALLED when I went even further and requested a side of ketchup to dip the steak in. I ate THREE bites of the steak and was over it. The attorneys NEVER let me live down that experience! 

By no means do I enjoy being so picky. I feel so awkward and uncomfortable when refusing such pretty and well prepared food at friends' house. I hate it. So much so that I have recently began forcing myself to be a "big girl" and just try it. 

This is the {true} story of the biggest accomplishment I've had with new foods to date.
As you remember, Khloe's birth was a sudden and very unexpected experience. If you missed the story of her arrival, you can read about that here. Sunday afternoon a nurse came by our hospital room and told us not to make plans for dinner. The hospital prepares a "special dinner" for Doctor's and their wives after giving birth. How SPECIAL can a hospital dinner really be, I thought. 

We could not believe our eyes when they rolled in a cart with white linens and fine china plated with a Steak dinner for two. Juicy steaks, baked potatoes, salad and sweet tea. "Babe, when I get done eating, I'll go and get you some chicken nuggets," my sweet and understanding husband said. I waited patiently as he cut piece by piece of his thick and savory smelling steak. I'm not sure if it was the smell or the fact that I hadn't eaten in three days but I wanted a bite. John David sneakily watched as I ate the two pieces he cut for me, and then continued to place two more bites on my plate until I realized I had just devoured an entire steak.

Seven days later, I wished I had ordered a steak at Applebees when everyone's steak orders came out. It wasn't until that day that I discovered my love for steak, which is a very bad thing considering Longhorn Steakhouse is less than a minute WALK from our house!! 

After eight years of being together, I was so excited to go on our first Steak Dinner Date to Outback last weekend. It was yummy!

 (picture of a very excited wife on our first real date withOUT Khloe since she was born!)

We have had more steak in the past nine months than I can count! John David is loving it since it has broadened the range of restaurants that I am willing to go to now that chicken is not required to be on the menu! 

So there you have it! One day at a time I am becoming quite the big girl! Stay tuned... you never know what I might try next!!

A Good Daddy

 "Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a Dad."

A good Daddy makes fun character voices when reading books to me. 

A good Daddy poses for five hundred pictures just because Mommy asks him to. 

 

A good Daddy spends 3 hrs assembling a swing just for me.

A good Daddy changes my stinky diapers. Over and over again. 

A good Daddy uses the utmost concentration and concern when performing such scary operations on me. (Clipping two week old nails)

A good Daddy teaches me how important naps are.

A good Daddy holds me close and tells me how much he loves me everyday.

A good Daddy gives me his full attention after a long day of work. 

A good Daddy takes a five minute break at work just to give me sweet kisses. 

 

A good Daddy knows what makes me smile.

A good Daddy doesn't care what he looks like while carrying me around.

 

A good Daddy plays in the floor with me and makes me squeal!

A good Daddy shows me the world and reminds me that I will always be his little girl!

A good Daddy is my Daddy and I love him very much. 

xoxo Khloe Brooke

~Happy {very belated} Father's Day John David~