Animals on Parade

I bet you thought you were going to see a picture of my lil' animals parading around, didn't you? {wink}

I don't know about your little guys, but mine love wheels, love anything that rolls around and usually they are playing with vehicles {of all kinds}.  I love these as an alternative and they were just playing with them before naptime.  I ordered them from Happy Squash Toys when I was putting together the boys' nursery.  I remember sitting in my hospital bed, belly full of 4 little ones, and dreaming about them playing with these sweet toys, so it's so special to see it actually happen!  

I also love that they are made from wood and painted with a safe non-toxic paint.  You can find quite a few wooden toys on ETSY.  I also love PLAN toys and Melissa & Doug.  We have lots of Melissa and Doug puzzles, travel games, and pretend food.  I have come across some Waldorf magazines too with lots of ideas.  There are so many more options even in the past 5 years since E was born.  

While we have a mix of the good ol' standby plastic toys too, it's nice to have these as well, no bells, no whistles, just good old imaginary play.  

What is your child's favorite {natural} toy?

You know you're a mom when...

...you slice a chunk off the top of your finger peeling a cucumber {yes that's as exciting as my story gets}, and the only band-aids in the house look like this...

yep the lovable space ranger Buzz :)

My guys tended to me, E told me "mom you're going to be ok, we are here, we'll take care of you"...he got me an ice pack.  Matt brought me some neosporin, said band-aids, a kiss, then went to finish mealtime because of course the little guys have no clue mom is bleeding and cursing {in my head},
they just want more food!  

E then brought me a glass of water which he proceeded to drink himself :)  

It's the makings of a sitcom {for real}.  I am just glad that when I hurt myself there really isn't time to be in pain, and somehow I still manage to laugh.  

So tell me how your answer to you know you're a mom when...
{we've all got one, do share!}

Got Sand Toys?

Anyone who knows me knows I don't mind toys at all {except for when they takeover completely, revenge of the toys style}.  I like my home inside and outside to look like kids actually live here, but I love finding ways to keep things organized and easily accessible. 

So far every morning, okay a few mornings but that was enough; I have hauled a bin of sand toys from the garage through the house outside and back at night {not so fun}.  We needed some sand toy intervention!  Thankfully a quick fix. 

Of course my husband said, "do we need that many shovels?"  Ha, ha funny guy, he hasn't had any sandbox fun this season {yet}.  With five boys yes you need as many sand toys as you have, thankfully 1. they are cheap and 2. I purchased most of them on clearance from Tarjay last year.

I drilled some holes in the bottom of the buckets, found some hooks at Lowes and voila, instant sand toy organization.  All of the boats were recycled from the boys first birthday and they make for fun in the sand/water table. 

My motivation lasted longer than the weather, for the holes I drilled were about to be majorly tested {yes major storm, tornado sirens} and they held up!  I found 2 large round buckets at Tarjay on Friday for $5 each, got drillin' again, and placed them under the swingset.  These hold more sand and other outdoor toys.

So a bit of effort now will hopefully save me some time cleanin' up later, keeping everything within reach for these boys to have some serious fun {in what is the closest thing to our version of a beach!}. 

I need 1 more hook, hear me Lowes?

Now if I could invent something to zap off all the sand and leave me with squeaky clean boys...I guess that's what the sprinkler is for ;)

Don't forget to take a quick minute and enter my first awesome giveaway!

Sweet & Silly Dreams

A few nights ago I finally grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures before putting the little guys down for the night.  There are always sweet moments, but I hardly ever capture them because my camera is not usually nearby. 

I also had to take a picture of this...

Yes, my little darlings, to the tune of the clean-up song, did this all by themselves!  Messy, you say?  All the books are back on the shelf I say.  They were so very proud as they should be.

Finally, some silliness before lights out.

Aiden

Beckham

Liam

{yes, just to prove I put them in the right crib} ;)

  

Griffin

sweet {and silly} dreams,

First Giveaway!!

It's Memorial Day weekend and I hope yours is filled with sunshine, relaxation, and time with your loved ones.  In celebration of my new blog, I am super excited to announce my first giveaway!!

When I first started looking for personalized tees for my five little men, I found them to be quite expensive.  As we all know little ones are hard on their clothing and they grow so fast.  I was thrilled when I found April's designs at Print Your Own Tee.  She is an absolute dream to work with and her designs are super adorable, so affordable, and the best part is you can print them yourself!  This has allowed me to find tees on clearance, use coupons like this one to a favorite spot for transfer paper.  I have made all five t-shirts for less than what I would have spent on one...seriously.  

April is so generously offering 5 free designs and her tutorial, a nearly $20 value!  

Take a look at a few of my favorites...

Keeping with the patriotic spirit of the weekend, wouldn't these be great for the upcoming 4th of July holiday?! All lined up to watch fireworks or show off some style at the neighborhood parade?

Definitely for a little dude with some major star power...

A trip to the beach, a summer gathering or pictures, this one would be perfect!

For those of you lucky ones heading to the land of magic, how cute are these?  

With Father's Day just around the corner, this one would be so sweet.  

Couldn't resist this one, isn't it the truth!

Love this one, it would be perfect for a princess party or just for a day her highness is hanging around the castle.  {see this is the fun part, I get to pick out girl designs too!}

Such a sweet memory {my guys in the little Indian graphic this past Thanksgiving}.

Now for the giveaway rules...

Only followers can win, so become one today!

  {I promise we will keep you entertained! :)}

This giveaway will end at 10pm CST on Saturday, June 11th, winner will be announced here

Sunday, June 12th.

You get one entry for each of the following:

Visit PYOT and comment here on one of your favorite designs.

"Like" PYOT on Facebook and post that Michelle at ourwonderfilledlife sent you.
Make sure to enter a separate comment here for another entry.  You can just say, "I liked PYOT on FB"

Purchase a design package (5 designs or more) at PYOT and receive another entry.
Make sure to enter a separate comment here for another entry.  

Read my post prior to this one and tell me what project from the boys' first birthday you would like me to discuss further.

Make sure to enter a separate comment here for another entry.  

Does that give you enough chances to win? :)

Remember after each action you take for an entry, you need to come back here and post a separate comment for it to count.  Please don't forget this part!

Go on, hit that little follower button and comment away!

Again you must be a follower of this blog and comment here to win (I use a random number generator based on comments here to find our winner!).  Thanks so much!

First Birthday, Little Sailors

A First Birthday for FOUR Lil' Sailors!!!!

My first party to share with you is a very special one, a first birthday four times over!!!!

For the babies' first birthday I did a little sailors theme.  It was challenging to do a first birthday party quadrupled, make it individualized, and not break the bank. :)

The inspiration came from this cake.  I always need that one thing to set the gears in motion and this did it!  I too made a sailboat out of paper {not easy, but now a hidden talent of mine}.  I also added some felt for their names and I thought the different textures really played off one another nicely.

I painted the rub-a-dub-dub tub found at our local hardware store, in all of its galvanized glory.  I sanded it down, used a few coats of white spray paint, let it dry, then taped off the stripes and then handpainted them in navy.  We used it for the boys' picture and the sailboat fleet game. 

As I do not have the expertise {yet} to create all the printables I worked with a wonderful woman whose Etsy shop is now closed {smilesacrossmiles}, she was fantastic and I literally printed and assembled everything myself saving loads of money.  Sweet touches included lots of navy Grosgrain ribbon and some striped navy bias tape that I also found on ETSY along with another very awesome woman who made their sailor suits.  

Other projects done by me {Little Marvels Designs} include..

* #1 flag bunting

* personalized applique t-shirts, these turned out adorable!

* goldfish, lifesaver, and swedish fish favors

* sailboat fleet game (prizes and sailboats purchased at Target on clearance!)

* photo montage centerpieces
* oar signing, a first birthday wishes keepsake
* finally a delicious menu to top it all off

We also had a bounce house to "earn your sea legs," and of course any nautical theme would not be complete without lobster cutout cookies!  

My plan is to go over each of these projects in a bit more detail including some variations.  

I'd love to know...which project shall I start with?  

If you'd like to have help creating a memorable event for your little one, please contact me at
michelle{at}little-marvels{dot}.com.  I can create a personalized inspiration collage to give you plenty of ideas for the event.  My specialty is pulling it all together and giving you something great to work with, within your budget.

Hello and Welcome!!

I am thrilled to be sharing my new blog and design with you!!!  Isn't it adorable?!  The folks at Life Made Lovely Designs did such an amazing job and they are the absolute sweetest to work with!!

While All My Sons still exists and is so near and dear to my heart as my first foray into blogging, I will be updating this blog moving forward.  I hope you'll join me as I write about motherhood, faith, and raising FIVE boys {five and under}, design and projects, I have some insider Anthropologie knowledge {I left Corporate America to manage the Home Dept. at our local store} and I hold a certificate in residential interior decor, and finally a reboot of my business under the new name Little Marvels. {I think that was the world's longest run-on sentence, sorry!}

Our life is sure full of wonder!  More than anything every day I just want to hold on to how special it is in and of itself!

I hope you'll join me on this journey {see the little follow button, hint, hint}.  I also am happy to get to know you better too.  Feel free to link up and add our button to your blog!  And stay tuned, I will be announcing a giveaway very soon for my followers!

Michelle
{also known as}