September 29, 2015 by Stephanie

Baseball Cupcake Holder

I posted about George’s birthday a couple weeks ago, but I forgot to post the tutorial about the cupcake stand using baseball bats. Whoops.

Here is how we made this happen.

We bought a maple softball bat. Regulation wooden baseball bats have black handles, and that was not the look we were going for.

First step is to cut the bat into three somewhat equal pieces. It is a little tricky cutting the bat because it doesn’t lay evenly. It is better to have two people to stabilize while the cutting is happening. We used stacks of washers to level the bat out as much as possible.

After drilling pilot holes in the ends of the bat, you can screw in the double ended dowels.

You will need three circles out of high grade plywood. They will all be different sizes. We actually used a precut for the bottom largest size. It was a precut lazy susan. We weren’t able to find the other two precut, so Tom cut the other two. For the smallest, he used a circle cutter bit. For the middle circle, he cut it out with a jigsaw. He centered a bolt through the middle, and he put it on his drill press (pictured below) to sand the edges while it was spinning.

Then Tom painted all the circles white.

Once the painting was done, we just pieced everything together with the dowel screws.

Tom used a lag bolt on the bottom to hold it together.

Then I used a paint pen and plates as my stencil to do the stitches.

There you have it. It is perfect for desserts, but I am sure George will find other fun things to put on this stand when the time comes.

I am working on an update on our house to share what we have been up to around here. I am glad to be using our creative juices again! George’s birthday projects really sparked us to get our craft back on.

September 28, 2015 by Stephanie

Devotional Review: Intersect

I love stories. Even more, I love connecting to other people’s stories. I have always thought listening to someone else share pieces of who they are, opens my eyes to more of this world, and more of myself too. Often times hearing someone else explain their situation puts words to things I have been feeling but didn’t understand. It’s through stories that we start seeing people’s guts and glory. It’s here that we find that we are all the same.

I was given this devotional study to review, and I must say that I really enjoyed it.

image via

Intersect is a DVD that has five brief snapshots of five individuals’ lives. Each section hits on a different topic in our walk with the Lord. It talks about what is holding us back and how to move forward.

Along with the DVD is a study guide or question prompt.

Now this study is probably more meant for a group setting, but I was able to glean a lot from it using it as my personal study for a week. Each day focuses on a specific passage and uses the video message to tie it into today’s times. I think we often struggle seeing how the Bible can relate to our world now and brush it off as old news. It allows you to dig a little deeper into the Word but through a contemporary lens.

Each video is about 7 minutes long. You hear a story from an ordinary person and their struggles they faced. I found all the stories to be relevant, and some were things I had grappled with personally. Then Rob or Chris summarize a passage and give you what I like to call a “pep talk” with the Word. Rob and Chris are the creators behind the video and both have pastoral backgrounds. Then you can use the study guide to provoke discussions in your group or for me to journal about on my own.

I think this would be great for Sunday School settings or if you have small groups. I do feel that it may connect more with young adults (20s-30s) with just the layout and some of the content of the stories. I think all in all though, any age group could get some worth out of it.

Here are some key points that I took from the study (paraphrased):

Real life isn’t a dream.
God can breath new life.
Run towards God.
In disappointment, we can learn more about ourselves and more about our faith.
Sometimes we are the only thing holding ourselves back, and God is the wind behind us pushing us forward.
Control is an allusion.

As a bonus, it is based out of London, so all the speakers in the video except Rob have a British accent.

I did receive this study complimentary from Litfuse Publicity Group for my review. These thoughts are my own.

September 23, 2015 by Stephanie

Fit for Me 38/52

First off, Crosby is doing good. They were only able to find that one tumor, so they got that out with no problems. His leg issue is a joint issue which could be early signs of hip dysplasia or arthritis. So we have some things that we are going to try at home to treat that for the time being. Thank you for all the good thoughts and prayer our way. He will be back home this afternoon!

On to my fitness log…

Well this week is slightly embarrassing.

What I did last week:

Thursday-30 minutes on a bike.

Impressed by:

womp. womp.

Struggled with:

Life just happened this week, and working out just took a back seat. But in other news we have pictures up on the wall.

Did I meet my goal from last week?

I failed miserably this last week. But I can’t let this one week define me.

What is my goal for next week?

So it turns out that we cannot cancel our gym membership until January even though we moved out of the city. That was a major bummer. So my goal is to make it to a class on Saturday so it is not a complete waste of money each month.

Fitness Thoughts:

Sometimes I think you just need to have a down week. I am not training for anything big like the Olympics, and I try to stay fairly healthy with what I eat. But sometimes this home-girl needs to just sit on the couch and watch some Ellen for a few hours. These weeks are good for me as long as it doesn’t become a routine.

71c14f8085cdbf4652743c0ea3ce4ea8 image via

September 22, 2015 by Stephanie

Anything For Them

I know I haven’t shared about the puppers much lately on the blog, and I feel awful that the first one back is with glum news.

We have been noticing that Crosby has been limping a lot lately. We thought that he was just laying on it wrong and his back leg had fell asleep. It got to a point though that he was not walking in on his own from outside, so we knew it was time to call the vet.

On the plus side, the vet thinks it is just a pinched nerve that he will have to work through. We are having x-rays done to confirm.

However, it was a good think that leg brought us in because our vet found a tumor on his groin.

We normally take our dogs in towards the end of October/early November for their yearly check up and to update their heart-worm, so we are sure it would have been found then.

However this is something that the sooner you take care of it the better off you are.

Furthermore, boxers are prone to tumors, so there could be others that we just can’t see.

I didn’t think it would happen so soon.

We aren’t completely sure on Crosby’s age since he was found as a stray. We think he is around 5 years old, which in my head seems all too soon to be worried about health concerns.

But here we are.

Today he is having surgery to have the tumor removed and see how serious this thing could be.

Last night, Tom and I had to have a discussion about worst case scenario.

I would love to be more prolific, but my heart is just heavy right now.

Our dogs are like our flesh and blood, which may seem weird to some. We would do anything for them.

We would spend all the money we have fixing them. We allow them to take over our beds. We allow their dog hair to be on everything. We bought them a huge dog park of a yard.

They have changed our hearts, so we would do anything for them.

They have provided so much emotional support and laughter throughout our time together. I have loved watching them be siblings to each other and to George.

Hopefully we can get you back to your toy destroying ways here super fast Crobber Dobber.

September 21, 2015 by Stephanie

It’s Not “Mom” Hair

I don’t really understand the phenomenon of “mom” hair. I have had long hair for a couple years now, with the last time I really cut it being in 2013.

I know a lot of mom’s who cut it immediately after the kid is born, which I guess started the phrase “mom” hair. I had so many people ask me if I was going to cut it to be mom length.

Wait what? Just because I am a mom it has to either be in a bun or short? Will they take my kid away if my hair isn’t short?

No. No. No.

I seriously don’t think that the hair is what qualifies me as a mom or is the “uniform” we all have to have. Just saying…

I am still me with my same tastes in hairstyles. Just because I am a mom doesn’t mean that I have to fall into some box. I also shake my fist at the notion that all I am these days is a mom. While I love my role as a mom, I have so many other identities that I am proud of as well. I am just happy being me, and being a mom is part of that. It just doesn’t define all of me, and neither should my hair.

I may be in the minority but I think short hair is more work than long which is partially why this first year I wanted to keep it long. Yes George pulled on it all the time, but it also made it easier to just tie it back. It was more practical for me to have longer hair. With short hair, I feel like I always have to have it styled instead of a braid which is my go to hair do in a pinch. I was never able to perfect the top knot, which has also been lovingly coined as the mom bun. Again, not really sure why.

Can’t it just be a hairdo?

I am all on board with moms who cut their hair to feel good about themselves or to have a big change in their appearance after their little one arrives. I think self-care and feeling good about how you look is really important, especially when your hormones are all out of whack. And if cutting your hair does that for you, get out those shears. But you don’t have to label it as “mom” hair. Be yourself. Your mom label isn’t all that you are.

Enough of my randomness about the dislike of the name “mom” hair.

This weekend I did make a drastic change and cut off 9 inches. I do it every couple years to donate it. I have been doing it since I was sixteen, and I have lost count how many times I have donated now. This was really the biggest reason why I didn’t cut it right after George was born. It’s just my thing.

After two years of growing it, it can be pretty intense to cut it all off at once.

I already had some moments of mourning not having the length. Trying to wash my face at night when it all won’t stay up in a ponytail brings a little regret of the cut. And I already wasted shampoo and conditioner.

However, there is a lot of fun that goes with it.

Seeing the reactions to the drastic change just leave me tickled. Yes I cut my hairs. Yes I meant to cut off that much.

I have a new stylist (who is a friend of ours) who did an amazing job! AND she showed me how to actually style short hair. Every time before, I only knew how to straighten it as a pretty basic bob. So I may actually keep it longer than I normally do because I am in LOVE with it.

These pictures were taken only a couple days apart. Nine inches gone. I would seriously curl my hair every day if I wasn’t lazy. I just love my hair curly. Anyone want to come be my stylist every morning? The pay is lousy (meaning non-existent), but I would feed you any cereal you would like.

I did ok today trying to curl my short hair yesterday. It went much better than I thought. Well enough that we did our family photos in our back yard yesterday.

I am just loving this stage right now. I love my family so much, and this is the happiest I have even been in life. I don’t know how I could do life without these two men.

Just for funseys, here is a progression of our family photos over this year. I have a variety of “mom” styles because any hair that I wear is mom hair because I am a mom. Go figure. You can also just call it Stephanie’s hair style.

(Top Left) George was 2 weeks. (Top Right) George was 2 months. (Bottom Left) George was almost 8 months old. (Bottom Right) George is almost 13 months old. The first photo and last photo were taken almost a year apart. I mean seriously…he is just the best. And it looks like he grew into those ears.