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Hello! You've found Little Bits of Everything, a blog run by cousins Rachel & Haley Estes. We've now gotten our own site! Hop over to www.littlebitsofeverythinginc.com where all of our new ideas now live. Thanks!

H&R

Happy Valentines Day!

Today I just wanted to share with you a quick little gift idea that can be tailored to any holiday or occasion! I sent my sister a box sorta like this once as a "just because" gift and used yellow bright paper and stickers. Yes, I'm going to be the old grandma sticking stickers on all my letters :)
This particular gift is for my mom for Valentine's Day... Maybe she'll share some chocolate with my dad!

All I do is cut scrap paper to fit the inside flaps of a box and use double sided tape to adhere it.

Add goodies...

Tissue paper and a card

And BAM, you got a simple cheaper option for a gift. 

These goodies were all picked up at Target and were just for a fun and bright little box during all the horrid weather that is getting dumped on Tennessee (while it's in the 80's here in Yuma, Az).

Anyway, all of you whether you are single, dating, married, or whatever, have a fun day and show someone in need a little love. Obviously you don't need to go kiss the homeless man on the corner, but you could bring him a toasty cheeseburger instead. Either way, do something kind today.

XoX!

Rachel

Freezer Breakfast Biscuits

Well I'll go ahead and warn you that the pictures here are not great, and this is definitely not as fun as the last post about puppies! However, it is maybe a little helpful!

As I get farther and farther into this pregnancy, the more I tend to want to sleep in and not do anything! I hate cooking as I have mentioned before, but I'm trying to better about using our bountiful baskets and whatever else we have in our refrigerator. I saw a picture on Pinterest of some DIY breakfast biscuits that you can make and store in the freezer in individual wrappings. That might make me more cheerful waking up in the morning, plus I had all of the things to make them! I have actually been eating breakfast, for the sake of the babies I'm growing, and cold Crispix get old after 6 months! So here was my own version of the freezer breakfast biscuits.

I had some cheater Pillsbury frozen biscuits that I just baked:

Some Jennie-O turkey sausage:

Some delightful Tillamook cheddar:

And five eggs:

I cooked the eggs, sausage, and biscuits, and let them cool a little. Then I cut the biscuits in half and added the sausage, cheese, and egg!

Then I wrapped those suckers in Saran Wrap and put them in a gallon sized zip-lock bag.

Last step- Toss in your freezer until you are waddling around in the morning looking for something warm like your mother used to cook for you! Microwave till heated through. Seriously, I didn't realize that people didn't cook every day for their children till I moved out and started eating cereal. Sad reality. Oh well, hope someone gets some use out of this nifty idea!

~Rachel

PUPPIES!

 The puppies have finally arrived! And right on their due date Saturday the 8th! Honey was acting pretty uncomfortable and restless the whole night before on Friday. She woke up several times during the night and kept nesting and pacing around. In the morning she woke up exhausted and tired but did not seem to be in active labor. I assumed the night before was just another false alarm and figured they wouldn't be here for another day or two. By 10:00 that morning Honey starting shivering (one of the first stages of labor in dogs) she had done this before so I just wrapped her up in a blanket and snuggled her on the couch not thinking much of it. By 11:00 she started to pant which I had been waiting for all WEEK! This I knew was a sure sign that she was in active labor! I got my kids all rounded up and occupied with some toys so that she could have some peace and quiet and snuggled up with her on the couch figuring it would be several hours of this before anything real exciting happened. Boy was I wrong. By about 11:20 she started to strain and started pushing right there on the couch! I put my kids down for a nap woke Devin up (he had worked the night before) and got Honey all settled in her bed where she would have her puppies. She pushed for over an hour and just about the time I started to get worried and started thinking perhaps I should call the vet puppy number 1 made his grand appearance at 1:00 p.m. He was HUGE and is still the largest of the litter, and paved the way for everyone else that followed! The second puppy a little girl followed less than 10 minutes after the first and they all came 10-40 minutes apart from then on.  All SEVEN! Were here by 4:30 p.m! Honey did an amazing job and each puppy came out breathing and healthy as can be! They are now a couple days old and they are all thriving and doing well. We ended up with a group of 5 girls and 2 boys and many different coat colors! She is a great little mom but seems pretty exhausted and a little frazzled from all the excitement. The last few weeks of her pregnancy really sucked a lot out of her and all her nutrients went straight to her puppies. She is looking pretty frail and I've been pushing hard to really get her to pack on the calories every day and start looking healthy again. Other than that things are good hopefully Honey will get back to some normalcy over the next few days and I won’t have quite as much mess from her to clean up. My poor washing machine is taking a beating! That pretty much sums it up! I’m off this afternoon to take the brood to the vet and have everyone checked out. In the meantime here is an OVERLOAD of puppy pictures to enjoy. I don’t have any pictures with Honey she was out taking a potty break and would not have permitted me to take any pictures of her babies if she had been in the room!(believe me I tried! And I decided it was not worth stressing her out over borrowing her puppies for a few pictures! )

Enjoy!
below is a picture of all the puppies numbered in order of birth for anyone who is curious!

Honey the mother is a Miniature chocolate dapple Dachshund
and Bear the father is a Long haired black and tan Miniature Dachshund as well.
-Haley

 Here they are in order of birth. Colors indicate the gender of each. 

Rachel's Twin Girl Baby Shower

Now that I have shared with you all the little goodies that I made for Rachel's little ladies, today I get to share a few pictures from her shower!

Rachel loves me so much that she married my husbands brother just so that she had a good excuse to move to Arizona and live closer to me;) OK it's just an added bonus that she actually LOVES her husband but I tell you she really uprooted her whole life several years ago for me! So as much as I love having her close to me it means she is FAR from all of her close family and friends back in Tennessee! So we threw her a small but fun little baby shower last weekend! I was seriously impressed with all the goodies and essentials that she was gifted and she is one step closer to being prepared to welcome her two ladies into the world! Not that you can ever fully be ready for such a life change but she at least has some lovely car seats to strap them into to get them home from the hospital! Definitely a start! Although having seen Rachel with my babies and many others I have a feeling she will ease right into motherhood and be someone I am running to for advice in no time!

Sugar Cookies my SIL made she is a fabulous baker! 

 24 Weeks Pregnant with TWIN GIRLS!

Along with some fun baby gifts I made some easy garlands to decorate my Mother-In-Laws house with
 for the party, and I even made another rosette cake similar to the one I made for Scarlett's first birthday but in pink instead of cream! I snapped some photos of the decorations and the food which was so delicious, before all the guests arrived and I even got a few little belly shots of Rachel to prove she is actually pregnant! She looks amazing and I doubt anyone would ever guess she is more than half way done being pregnant with TWINS! She looks as beautiful as ever! I also think it is nice to take a few baby bump photos throughout your pregnancy to appreciate how "small" you once were. Especially when you get to 30+ weeks and you pretty much just want to kill over and DIE! At least that has been my experience!

speaking of being pregnant:
STILL no puppies going on day 62.. what can I say she is good at this being pregnant business so why stop now?!

Ok I'll shut up now! ENJOY!

-Haley

Valentine's Day Wreath

A few weeks back me and several of my awesome mom friends all got together (without our kids!) and made some Valentine's Day wreaths!! I am so lucky to have such an awesome group of ladies who I live near and attend church with to not only get together for play dates but also have some fun "kid-less" time. There are even several moms who also have twins and totally understand what its like to be a mom of crazy twin toddlers!! Its always a good time when we get together! They are all so creative and talented & it was fun to see how everyone's wreaths turned out so different and beautiful!

I used an old wreath that I had previously had all wrapped up for Christmas and wrapped it in burlap strips. Then I a used a bunch of felt and a hot glue gun to make the flowers! They were seriously the easiest flowers to make! I have had much less success with felt and flower making in the past and these were quick and easy! I promise you flower making is NOT on my list of talents so if I can make these any one can!!

I it was fun project and its the only Valentines decorating that I have gotten around to this year and who doesn't like a nice pink wreath on their door? I know I certainly do!
I made the banner with burlap and felt triangles and just used some craft paint to paint on the letters!

here is a tutorial on how to make the flowers if any one wants to make their own! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bQ36AM2PPY

Happy Thursday everyone!!

-and still no puppies... maybe tomorrow?!! who knows!

-Haley

Crochet Beaded Baby Socks

I'm back again today with another baby gift. My mother taught me to make these when I was in high school. I have two sisters they are 12 & 14 years younger than me and she use to make them these little crochet beaded socks to match their outfits. Eventually she taught me how to make them as well. They are super easy to make and take very little time. Especially if you are crocheting a newborn pair! I made Rachel a set of 7 pairs (14 total) so she would have at least a weeks worth of socks for her little ladies!

here is Youtube link that shows you how to make them: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7U1BD8SEdY

I also made her some signs for her girls room and am going to go visit her in a few weeks will bring with me a dresser she had me snag for her from craigslist. While I am visiting  I am going to help her paint it and finish putting her nursery together! So I will post about the signs once I take pictures of her finished nursery

. They are a little different than anything I have done before and are monogrammed initials of both her girls names! I they are sweet and simple and as soon as I get some decent pictures I will be adding them to our shop! They are a great alternative to a quote or saying and perfect for personalizing a child's room.

I also snapped some pictures of  Rachel's shower that I will share later on!

Update on Honey: no puppies yet we are patiently waiting for them to make their arrival. She was acting pretty restless and uncomfortable on Monday and I thought surely we would have puppies by now but I was wrong! today she is back to her normal self with no labor in sight! Her official due date is Saturday so we will see if she makes it that long! Dachshunds gestation lasts anywhere from 59-70 days and typically come on day 63-64 today she is 59. I am  hoping by Monday I will have some fresh little puppy pictures to share! until then I'll keep sharing all the projects that have been underway since the first of the year!

We also had a Goodwill open up near the shopping center I frequent for groceries. I have snagged up some pretty cool things each time I went and will have some fun before and afters to share of my thrifty finds!

-Haley