End of School Year Teacher's Gift

Still can't believe Landon's last day of school was today! Made these lil planters for his teachers to thank them for all their hard work with him this past year. He has certainly made some enormous strides from when he started back last August and we are so thankful. 

Here's all you need to make these lil guys:

- flower pot (I did not plant and grow these myself, I got these potted gerbera daisies at Trader Joe's...$4.99 each)

- chalkboard tag ($0.59 each at Michael's)

- chalkboard marker. How I just found out about these chalkboard markers is beyond me. I used to use regular chalk to write little chalkboard signs (here & here) but these markers make it SO much easier, and much prettier. Found mine at Michaels for $12 (4-pk).

- Ribbon to prettify and gift-ify your pot and also to secure your chalkboard tag. You will need to tape down in two areas so it doesn't slip down to the bottom of the pot. I found this cute apple ribbon a while back in the clearance bin at Michaels. Any ribbon will work just fine but the thinner actually the easier to work with.

And there you have it! A simple, handmade, thoughtful and creative gift to your kiddo's teachers they are sure to appreciate :)

Recent Adventures, Snapshots, & Artwork of Landon Christopher

I spy a little blonde boy

Sir Landon of House Bauman. (We're currently highly addicted to Game of Thrones)

Dinner date with the lovely miss Sophie

wagon rides with sissy

A recently discovered photo in my camera roll from last month, sweetly keeping watch over baby Charlotte. He also informed me that he wants 6 more baby sisters. 

DIY monogram coffee mugs

Saw these beautiful monogram mugs at Anthro a while back and stuck them in the back of my mind. Recently saw this pin on pinterest about making your own customized plates with a sharpie marker, & I decided to try to make my own monogram mugs. Plus, I wanted to make some housewarming/new mother gifts for a few girlfriends and decided these were the perfect gift, and even better that they would be handmade.

All you need is a ceramic mug, a sharpie, and stencils (optional). Then bake in your oven at 350 for 30 minutes and ta da! The marker will set in and is now permanent, and you have yourself a beautiful, personalized mug to make your morning extra happy.

A few important notes:
- Do not put these in the dishwasher. They can handle a good hard hand washing & scrubbing, but the marker will come off a little if you dishwash. So don't do it.
- Do not preheat the oven before putting the dishware in. As soon as you turn the oven on to 350, put the mugs in with it. Otherwise, the drastic temp change will cause them to break. And you don't want that to happen.

Little Bits of Mother's Day

(Matching rose quartz mother/daughter bracelets via Charged by Sun and Sea

GIVEAWAY! Natural Amber Teething Necklace

I received this Amber teething necklace when I was pregnant, and definitely didn't think I'd need to use it as soon as I did - but at 4 months old little Blair Bear had started to teethe. I began using her Teething Necklace and love it. I initially thought she was supposed to chew on it to relieve her discomfort, but discovered that she is only supposed to wear it, which left me very confused and skeptical about it, but I noticed that she isn't nearly as fussy and is much more calm when she's wearing it. As a big proponent of natural health & healing (especially for little ones) I researched more about baltic amber and its healing properties along with reviews from other mothers who used it as a teething remedy.

I learned that baltic amber has been used for centuries for teething and is renowned for its healing and anti-inflammatory properties, which is how it can be helpful for soothing red inflamed cheeks and gums. In addition to helping reduce pain, drooling (for which amber is said to work by stimulating the thyroid glands) and irritability that is often associated with teething, amber beads have also been claimed to relieve eczema, speed up wound healing and stave off ear and throat inflammation, amongst many other ailments. The effects come from the beads merely touching the skin -- When a baby wear the necklace, the natural temperature of her skin warms the amber cortex (the external layer of the stone), which releases succinic acid, which is absorbed throught the skin into the bloodstream, which provides the pain relief. I love it.
I love learning about this stuff and using all-natural, non-invasive, side-effect free, & effective remedies, so I'm thrilled to have learned about these Baltic Amber Necklaces and I'm so excited to be offering one lucky mama a chance to win one of these for themselves :)

All You Need To Do:
1. Leave a comment on this post, telling me which teething necklace you would choose if you win.
To Gain Additional Entries:
1. Share a link to this post on facebook & tell your friends about it!
2. Share a link to this post on Twitter! (Easy way to do this is just to hit the "share it" button at the bottom of my right sidebar)
2. "Like" Amber For Babies on facebook
3. Follow Mumma's Corner (either via google friend connect, bloglovin', or subscribe to posts by email)

*Please leave a separate comment on this blog post for each additional entry, letting me know your Facebook and Twitter name if applicable, and be sure to leave your email address on each comment so I know how to contact you if you're the lucky winner! Good Luck!

Giveaway will run for 3 weeks from today and will officially close at 9:00am cst on 5/30/14.

Blair Gets Baptized O:)

We celebrated sweet Baby Blair's baptism in MA last Sunday and it could not have been a more perfect day, surrounded by so much love and support of family and friends that were there to help welcome her into the body of Christ with us. We feel unbelievably blessed to have so many loving, supportive people in our life, and the abundance of hugs, kisses, kind words & well wishes, and the overall outpouring of love and generosity that we received that day, and really ever since her birth. We are so proud of the sweet and extremely joyful little girl she is becoming and so glad to set on her own path with Jesus. God has done and continues to do amazing things for us and we are so thankful to Him, for everyone He has brought into our lives, and for blessing us with another healthy, beautiful child.

Some (a lot) of pics from Blair's first holy sacrament. (All photos courtesy of my dad and girlfriend Sarah :)).

   

The Most Magical Day Ever

Disney World. Can't stop thinking about it. We had sooo much fun, it truly is the happiest place on earth. We got up early and left from Cocoa Beach (45 min drive) and stayed there all day (16 hours to be exact) and we all had the time of our life, especially Landon. His favorite ride was surprisingly the Jungle Boat Ride, and it was so cool for me to relive my childhood and go on my favorite rides again from when my parents took us as kids (the Small World and Hainted Mansion in case you were wondering).

The best memories I will take with me from the day though, are definitely the parade in the afternoon, and meeting Mickey Mouse - that Mickey legit acted and talked exactly like Mickey Mouse and was soo cute with Landon, very believable!! The parade was really cool, as we got front row seats sitting on the curb on Main Street with ice creams, and a few of the characters even pulled out for a second to interact with little Blair, she definitely looked like a celeb even the Hotshot Disney characters were smitten with :) Landon was super adorable waving to all the characters and really excited when he saw the ones he knew from the movies. He met Ariel The Little Mermaid earlier in Ariel's Grotto, so when her float came by he was screaming "Ariel!! Hi!! That's my friend!!!" To the little kids next to him. 

Landon was really a huge trooper and stayed awake and happy the entire day. He bit it at about 11:00, so he still got to see the 9pm fireworks over the castle and the night parade, but it was also nice for Chris and I to have a little time to ourselves at the end to get coffee and hit a few shops while he was out. 

A few tips & tricks for those of you who are thinking about going with your kids anytime in the future:

- GET THERE EARLY. I can't emphasize this enough. There were extended hours during the April vacation week that we went so the park actually opened at 8 and we got there right at 9, but we literally knocked out every single ride in Fantasy Land without hitting ANY lines within the first hour.

- Go to meet Mickey Mouse IMMEDIATELY following one of the parades. They pull the characters from their typical 'meeting spots' to get ready for the parade maybe 30 minutes prior to the next scheduled parade, and then they go right back there when the parade is over. We were waiting in an 80 minute line to meet Mickey and very quickly called it quits and RAN back there immediately following the parade and the wait was only 10 minutes. Huge score. Mickey was amazing and DEFINITELY worth taking your little one to meet. WAY better than Santa Clause. Do it.

- Get good seats for the parade. The parade was AWESOME. And I'm typically not one for parades. We hit the 3:30 one and got curbside seats on Main Street, and can easily say it wouldn't have been that awesome if we had to stand the whole time and holding the kids up to see over others. 

- Download the MyDisneyExperience App and get the Fast Passes! This allows you to plug in your ticket number to 3 rides/characters you want to meet and pick your hour timeframe within which to cut the line to do so. I would suggest using for Pirates of the Caribbean (awesome ride, always a really long wait) or meeting Mickey. The app is super user friendly, and kiosks throughout with Disney reps to help you with any problems. 

- in addition to knocking out a ton of stuff early with no lines, right around 9:00 everything is dead too. Most people are watching the fireworks and go home for the night right after. All the rides in Fantasy Land were pretty much wide open at this point as well. 

- Pick a day that is not super hot or rainy. We were prepared with ponchos for rain, 30% chance in the forecast, but we lucked out with 70 degrees and cloudy. It was perfect for the amount of walking we did and for the little ones not getting too tired, hot, or cranky. I really think an extreme weather day could make or break a good Disney day with small kids.

- TAKE BREAKS, sit down, get lunch, listen to your body and don't be a freak about trying to fit everything in. Of course we were freaks and actually did fit everything in we wanted to do and felt like we completely killed Disney in one day but I threw my back out 2 days later, and I know all the stress of carrying Blair and Landon on and off played the biggest part in that happening. 

Alas, the photos from my iPhone that I still can't stop looking through:

"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."
-Walt Disney