Erin Akin Carroll

'Tis the Season to Be Kind

Nov92011

Good afternoon, my friends! Is it the most wonderful time of the year, or what?

I absolutely love Thanksgiving and Christmas. November is my birthday month and as soon as November 1st hits, I just get in the spirit. I love the colors of the leaves, the promise of great times with friends and family, amazing food, and a time of year to reflect on all the reasons that we should give thanks.

But it’s also a time of year to give back. We should be thinking of ways that we can give back and help others all year long, but something about this time of year reminds us to think of others.

My dear friend, Nina, and I were brainstorming about a month ago about ways that we can give back this season. Our list just grew and grew and we decided to make a printable for you all in case you’re looking for ideas.

The list has 25 ways to give back and be kind. Some of the items are the simplest things you can think of, but make such a difference to the person you’re helping. I hope I can be intentional this season about helping others and focus less on myself and my family and more on others.

Together (with the help of fabulous designer Kelly Ashworth), we created Erin and Nina’s 25 Acts of Kindness List. Please feel free to download this and print it for your personal use!

Click here to download Erin and Nina’s 25 Acts of Kindness List | ‘Tis the Season to be Kind

Hayes is 6 months old!

Filed Under: Hayes, Uncategorized

Nov82011

Dear Hayes,

You are now 6 months old! A half of a year old. Where did the time go? I still think of you as my bitty baby and not as the big, rolly polly baby you have become.

You are still the most chilled out little guy I know. Nothing really seems to phase you.

You absolutely love watching Hudson play and love getting his attention so he’ll smile at you. And he has been interacting with you even more in the last few weeks.

You love playing with your Sophie the Giraffe. Hudson loved his, too, and you just love having Sophie nearby to chew on. You are drooling so much, but you have been for a few months now so it’s hard to know if you’re actually teething.

You still adore your lovie, the monkey. It doesn’t have a name. We just call it “lovie” and know you’ll name it someday on your own.

Peek-a-boo, “where’s mommy?”, and patty cake are your favorite games to play. You absolutely love to laugh and you get tickled so easily. You love to smile at people that look at you. You’re just the most patient little thing. You just love to be held, but you don’t fuss until someone holds you. But you do light up when they come to get you.

You started sitting up on the day you turned 6 months old. You can sit unassisted for about 10 minutes and then you start to slump and we lie you back down to rest. You still roll all over the place.

We had your six month appointment yesterday and you got some shots, but you toughed it out and hardly cried. We just scooped you up and you were all better. But you are a big guy!

You still spit up quite a bit, but your doctor tells us not to worry and that it’s not reflux. We are going to start giving you fruits and veggies now. We’ve tried a few times before, but you weren’t interested at all, but this time we’re going to keep at it. Yesterday you had sweet potatoes. Hudson was begging for some! Hopefully you’ll like it, too!

6 months old

Weight: 20 lbs (85th percentile)

Height: 27.5 inches (above the 97th percentile)

Clothes: 9 month, 6-12 month, 9-12 month

Diaper: size 3 Huggies

You Are My Sunshine baby shower!

Filed Under: Featured Posts, Parties and Showers

Nov72011

This weekend, with 5 of my friends, I co-hosted a baby shower for a very dear friend.

We decided on a You Are My Sunshine theme for the shower. We focused on yellow and orange with touches of gray for the color scheme. She’s having a baby boy, so we wanted it to be boyish without being too dark.

I called on my friends at Sweet Birdie’s Nest to do the invitations, banner, party circles and cupcake toppers. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. They’re so good!

I started looking on Pinterest a few months ago for some inspiration and found a handful of things.

For the drink table, we had water garnished with oranges (which was really good) and my mom’s yummy banana and pineapple punch. That stuff is so addicting! The banner said “Allyson’s Little Sunshine.”

The board with the You Are My Sunshine lyrics came out of my guest bedroom.

We decided to keep the food pretty monochromatic. We were able to think of lots of food items that we could serve that fit the orange and yellow color scheme. We even had things that we thought of that we didn’t use.

We served Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets (one of Allyson’s favorites), fruit salad with banana, pineapple and oranges, a pineapple pretzel salad (and now we all want the recipe), pimiento cheese sandwiches, carrots and hummus, cupcakes and miniature cheesecake bites.

Outside, we decorated with fall items that we already had like pumpkins and mums. We also blew up a few balloons and used the ribbon wreath. I also had some pinwheels from Hudson’s first birthday party and we used those outside, too.

The other hostesses and the mama-to-be are very special friends of mine. We have a lot of pregnant friends right now and I love seeing all of these families grow. I can’t wait for Allyson’s little boy to make his arrival so we can all love on him!

I saw an idea on Hostess With the Mostess to do a fun, sunshine-themed playlist for the party. I used some of their suggestions and some other sunny songs that I like. The playlist ended up being really cheery and I have been listening to these songs a lot in the last couple of days.

This is the playlist we used for Allyson’s shower.

Details and Vendors

Serving Pieces: our personal collections, Anchor for Target, and Willow House

Cupcakes: Publix

Paper goodies: Sweet Birdie’s Nest

Food: Chick-fil-A and our kitchens

Punch Recipe: My mom and there’s a link here

Pinwheels: Hobby Lobby

Ribbon Wreath: Tutorial here

You Are My Sunshine artwork: Sugarboo Designs and Etsy seller Pretty Smitten Prints

SheShe Made Giveaway

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Nov62011

One of my favorite things about blogging and using Twitter is the people that I meet and also the incredible resources that I become exposed to.

A couple of years ago, I found out about She She Made online boutique.

She sews, creates bows, applique and embroidered outfits and she also sells some of the best smocked outfits from Anavini.

Anavini is one of my absolute favorite brands for kids clothes. They have some of the highest quality smocked outfits for boys and girls. The outfits are well-lined and well-made. And this Christmas line featured today is just too cute!

The boys outfits come in a traditional longall and a smocked long sleeve tee shirt with matching pants.

The girls have the option of traditional Christmas colors, hot pink or teal blue with snowmen. You have an option of a bishop dress or pants set in your colors of choice.

All of these outfits are adorable and will be so cute on your little guy or girl for Christmas!

Today, SheShe Made is giving away one smocked Anavini Christmas outfit to one Blue-Eyed Bride reader!

To enter, just leave a comment on this post.

For a second entry, “like” She She Made on Facebook. This will also help you stay up-to-date on Facebook sales. (Be sure to come back and let me know you’ve done this.)

The winner will be announced on my blog in a few days and you’ll get to contact She She Made to place your order for your Anavini smocked Christmas outfit!

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