Acorn Season

Yesterday was the perfect day for an acorn hunt! With the Autumn Equinox approaching, the parks are just covered in these cute little guys. I could not resist packing up the family and rounding some up.

We brought along a little bucket to collect our acorns in. I showed Adrianne what the acorns looked like and told her to find as many as she could and put them in the bucket. She had a blast, and she wanted to find all of them all by herself. I'd have to say most of the acorns in the bucket were found by her! Whenever we found a broken one, I told her to leave it for the squirrels because they love to break open the acorns and eat the little seed inside.

Adrianne was fascinated by the idea of the squirrels eating the acorns. I stopped to show her some squirrels. We didn't have to look for long, they are pretty much everywhere. As soon as we spotted one, Adrianne of course immediately wanted to try and catch one. She was so determined! I have never seen her run so fast for so long! As we chased the squirrels, one of them started playing hide and seek with us. He would run around to the opposite side of a tree trunk, and then a second later he would peek out from the other side before running off to behind another nearby tree! She was laughing and screaming, "SQUIRREL, WHERE ARE YOU?" Eventually I stopped her and showed her where the squirrels went. I pointed up in a tree and told her that was where the squirrels lived, up in the trees. We watched for a minute and eventually we saw one peek out at us from above. She loved seeing the squirrel's home!

Rowan loved it outside too. Adrianne and I showed Rowan the trees. We let him feel the rough bark. Adrianne enjoyed feeling it too.

I am so grateful for beautiful fall days like these. There is something magical about the four seasons. It just keeps everything so interesting and makes you feel alive. And there is nothing like an adventure in nature when things are starting to switch up.

What is your favorite thing to do when the first days of fall start to creep up?

To Have And To Hold

Getting Ready

All Set

The Bride

The Groom

Getting Married

The Wedding Party

The Happy Couple

Father and Daughter

A Happy Family

A rainy day didn't put a damper on our happiness. If anything, it only made us shine brighter! The whole day was fun, so even when things went wrong, it was still perfect.

The ceremony was beautiful. Michelle wrote the entire thing completely customized to us and our backgrounds. (For more info about her ceremonies and pricing click here.) I would highly recommend her, by the way. Everyone was complimenting us afterwards about how beautiful the ceremony was. It was so personal!

The whole night went by way too fast. The dance floor was full of people all night long. So much fun and so much love. I am so grateful for that night and so excited for the future!

Thank you for visiting!

What's New?!

Hello, all! In case you hadn't noticed, TBN went on a bit of a hiatus for a while there.

So what's new? What happened while I was away?

As for me...? Well, there were a few things actually. First was our WEDDING! It was, in a word, perfect.

Second was our honeymoon in HAWAII! It was, in a word, paradise.

Third was my enrollment into Full Sail University for GAME ART! I am, in a word, ecstatic.

I just recently received my "Launch Box" from them, which included my new computer and really awesome software that I'll need in order to do my course work.

Yes, that is correct. I am going to start learning how to make digital 3D art for video games. I'm really excited to have a career path for myself, set in stone. I can't deny that video games are part of what make me me, and so I am setting forth to pursue a way in which I can turn play into work. 

Things will be a little bit different around here at The Better Nester, but only because I am going to start chronicling my journey from stay at home mom to independent game developer! 

It's true, my dream is to run my own game studio. My mission would be to create games about beauty and art, and less so about action and war. The power of video games is strong, and so many people dislike game because they "teach kids violence." Well, not all games are created equally. There are plenty of games about peace and tranquility, and there will be even more when I'm creating them! Besides, games can also be a powerful learning tool for children in an educational application.

Anyways, fear not! The Better Nester will live on! But I think I am going to start a new segment for my Full Sail tales, for all those who care to read. It just seems easier than trying to put up a whole new blog for it and having to keep track of both.

AND I will also put up more detailed posts about both the wedding and Hawaii soon, so keep your eye out!

I'm still alive!

I know, I know, I haven't posted in forever! My excuse: wedding invitations... If you are about to get married, the only advice I can give to you is to fork up the extra cash to have your invitations done for you if you can! I am really pleased with the way mine turned out, I got a couple of DIY kits. But, wow, they were much more hassle than they were meant to be. Mostly at the fault of my own printer, which refused to take the thick card stock. 

I must admit though, once I finally did get them all printed, it was nice to go out to the park and plant myself in the grass and plow through assembling them. It was a perfect day, not too warm, but definitely not chilly at all. The sun was shining, there was a very light breeze. And I just sat in the shade with my boy and put together nearly a hundred invitations!

What else have I been doing?

I made a new pattern! I have made Adrianne so many little felt foods, I want to share them all! But the patterns take much longer to make than I really have time for. I did get a breakfast set done though, which is now available in my Etsy shop! 

The best part is, since I have no time myself, my patterns are all designed with your lack of time in mind! They are super fast and easy to make, so if you don't have the confidence or attention span for some of the more elaborate felt food patterns out there, you'll love this one! (In my not-so-humble opinion...)

I've got so many more pattern ideas too! I wish I could get them all out there right away! But I suppose it's a work in progress. Like most things. Luckily, my artistic adventures tend to be the things I do to relieve my stress. Exercise has been another de-stresser for me lately as well. And stress is something I have plenty enough of. It's hard to keep it in check, but I have to remember how important it is to not get too stressed out.

What do you do to de-stress?

Happy Easter!

Today we stuffed ourselves at two delicious family feasts to celebrate Easter! Then we had a great Easter egg hunt in the backyard. The girls had such a great time collecting all the little eggs filled with fun treats in their buckets! Here is our day in photographs:

This is five generations of my family! My little ones and me, my mom, her dad, and his mom!

Anticipating Paradise

I don't think there can be any question as to why I am looking forward to this summer. A honeymoon in tropical paradise Hawaii? Need I say more? I've been so ridiculously busy lately that I think a vacation at the end of the semester is definitely in order. Oh my gosh...just the word...vacation...

Anyways!

The wedding plans are going fairly well though, as stressed out as I am. Things are finally falling into place. I'm getting my dress fitted in a couple of weeks, so wish me luck! We think we may have a cake and officiant and DJ booked. And look what I got:

Time for me to get cracking on these bad boys, DIY style! These kits are pretty nice, I've already delved into the box and you get to put everything together yourself, so it still feels like I'm doing it all on my own, except all the bits and pieces have all been collected up for me. I'm just dreading the invitation on which I run out of printer ink. I've really got to get these mailed out...

Well, that's what I've been up to these days...wedding plans, wedding plans, wedding plans! Oh and of course lots of essays for school, a sick toddler with the flu, a newborn who doesn't like to sleep, and learning some computer stuff on the side among other things!

I feel kind of lame that I haven't done any crafting in a while. I have so many projects lined up, but I just can never find the time! I'm going to try and make a couple of wreaths next, I think. My door is looking kind of bare and the only wreaths I own are a Christmas wreath and a Halloween wreath. I know there are lots of wreaths floating around on Pinterest and I could use a little inspiration. Anyone have a favorite wreath they would like to share?

Sunny With A Chance Of Photoshoots

Number 1 rule of photography is to never use a camera flash. Always use natural light.

So when the sun comes out around here, the camera comes out! Rowan is already learning to hate the sight of it, and Adrianne...well, she at least likes the gearing up part of photoshoots.

Adrianne distracted him long enough that I could get some cute shots...

of his adorable toes!

Look at those lanky feet!

Curly baby toes are just the best...

And dimply hands are just as sweet!

Toddler toes are pretty cute too, they're so chubby!

Isn't my girl beautiful?

He's All Smiles

Look who's feeling better! Yep, Rowan's back to his goofy, smiley self. He's a charmer, this one.

I love it. He is so happy and smiley that it's easy to get cute smile pictures of him. He is just smiling all day long. Be still my heart!

And he's always sticking that tongue out =P Gotta love that double chin as well!

In other news... Just in case you want to be weird-ed out, here is a picture of something funny that I found today:

Haha, Adrianne leaves around the cutest surprises! I caught her earlier walking around the house and saying "num num num num..." I suspiciously asked her, "Adrianne, where did your banana go?" And she just laughed and shouted "num num num!" as she ran pointing to her baby. She is hysterical!

Aaaand...one more cute picture of Rowan.

Rough Day

We had our first three shots done yesterday... =( Ro-Ro did pretty good in the doctor's office, he only cried for a few seconds. But boy did we have a rough day after that. His poor little legs were so sore that every time he moved them he would burst out crying. He even looked sad when he slept! See in the picture?

The only thing that would soothe him was being held him up against my chest as I walked with him. So I did. All day long.

It's so heartbreaking when they have to get their vaccinations, but what can you do? Imagine the guilt if they came down with something that could have been prevented... The most heartbreaking thing was when Rowan would just look up at me and give the sweetest, gummy smile, despite all he'd been through. What a trooper! I remember Adrianne doing the same thing.

Both Rowan and Adrianne reacted similarly to the shots the first time. It wouldn't have been so bad if their legs didn't get so sore. Adrianne would cry every time her legs were touched when she got her first shots. At least they didn't get fevers, though! Just swollen, sore legs.

The nurse said that it would probably be harder on me than it would for him. I don't know about that, but it was a rough day admittedly. There is nothing easy about hearing a baby cry and being powerless to help him. Not only that, but I was also over heating due to the fact that I was constantly moving all day and it's been really warm out lately but unfortunately we haven't gotten around to putting the screens back in the windows. It got over 75 degrees in here!

Some nice, cool strawberry lemonade done right sure did help. Through it all, I tried to keep in mind something my mom always taught me: that you gotta take care of yourself in order to take good care of others! One of the best learned lessons out there. =)

Anyways, we're over the hump now. Just two more months til we get to go through the same exact thing.

Manliness

One thing that ought to be known about Rowan is that he really loves to feel manly. Adrianne was never really too picky about who was holding her until she went through her "only mama" stage that all babies go through. But Rowan? Well, sometimes mama just isn't manly enough for him!

It's so funny, it really does seem like Rowan just needs a little testosterone every once in a while. He sometimes will only be calmed if his Dad holds him. And the thing that gets him smiling the most? Just call him "strong," "handsome," or "manly." He'll beam from ear to ear!

One day we popped over to grandparents' house for dinner and I all but tossed a wide awake Rowan into his Papa's arms, since it's not too often that people get the chance to see the little guy with his eyes open. Well, he just snuggled his head right into that manly shoulder and passed out.

Don't get me wrong, he can be a total mama's boy sometimes (though not as much as I would have dreamed). But sometimes the only thing that will soothe little Ro-Ro is a good old fashioned manly shoulder to sleep on.

An Organized Schedule

I finally finished! I wrote down every assignment due date, every tiny little thing I should do and when, for the whole semester, for every class. Now I don't even have to put an ounce of thought into what I have to do, other than to just complete the assignments. Everything is perfectly scheduled around my wedding and honeymoon as well. I even gave myself the weekends off! Hopefully this makes my life a little bit easier while I'm juggling babies and wedding plans.

Still got the sniffles, but at least that daunting task is out of the way. School starts Monday. Wish me luck!

In other news, Rowan has a new favorite spot.

Rowan has this need to be held upright at all times unless he is sleeping. So I decided to try and find a spot he could sit all by himself in (with me nearby obviously). The corners of the couch just so happened to do the trick! He loves it there!

Of course, Adrianne got a kick out of it. She is one proud big sister.

Nervously, I have to watch as she gives him the most adorable little smooches on his cheeks and forehead. (She laughs hysterically when he turns his head from side to side, trying to avoid her kisses.) She is so gentle with him still. I marvel at it always.

And of course, she had to bury him under her two best friends, Rufus and Piglet. She is just so generous that way. She has always been a wonderful sharer. Just wait til she gets her first play make up set in a few years. Watch out, Rowan!