Monthly Archives: May 2012

A Day in the Life: Beautiful May Day

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It was nice to wake up in my own bed!  Vacations are fun, but I never sleep well, so I always enjoy that first night of sleep back home.  I woke up feeling refreshed!

Cupcake also woke up feeling refreshed and ready for pancakes.  They weren’t actually on the menu.  I was hoping to just feed her some cherries and Cheerios, but……. pancakes were a good idea.

I spent way too much time fiddle farting on the computer this morning when I should have been getting ready for the playdate.

While I was in the shower my lovely assistant cleaned out my vanity drawer for me.

I made a fashion faux pas by wearing horizontal stripes, but I don’t really care.  It’s not like I’m trying to pretend I’m skinny.  I’m flaunting the roundess!

There was no time for hair styling, so into a ponytail it went after some air dry time.  Oscar needed to go for a walk around the yard and get put up in his crate.  The shoe fairy needed to visit and put all those shoes that were strewn around the hallway back into the closet.  And the snack needed put out.

I served up some Monster Cookie Dough Dip with apples and graham crackers.  I prefer the tartness of a Granny Smith, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so I put out some Macintosh apples as well.  (Note: Cupcake preferred to just pick out the M&Ms and chocolate chips from the dip.)

We started out inside, but the girls got a bit antsy.

When toddlers start banging on the fireplace instead of playing with all the fun toys and eating the delicious snacks that have been provided it’s time for a change of scenery.

The fresh air was nice.  The only problem with this is we don’t have a fence and 2 year olds just can’t resist running off.  Picture 5 pregnant mommas on the edge of their seats waiting to run after their child.  Only 1 is supposed to be on bedrest, 1 is two days away from her due date, another is 2 weeks from her due date and that doesn’t leave many kid wranglers when they all go running.  Somehow we managed.

Nap time craft time!!!!  I spent Cupcake’s entire nap time down in the basement working on a sewing project and watching the last few episodes of Weeds (thanks, Netflix!).

Post nap I had a fussy britches, so we snuggled, read, watched some Curious George.  Fussy britches did not want momma to cook dinner, so daddy got kitchen duty.   Luckily it was easy dinner night.  Pasta.  He can handle that.  Cupcake and I played with her new fun Nap Time Craft Time project (more to come later!).

I served up some salad with our pasta dinner.  Cupcake preferred to just eat carrots from the salad.  (This makes two nights in a row she only ate carrots for dinner. Yesterday’s were cooked. Today’s were raw.  At least she’s eating vegetables, right?)

It was a gorgeous night so we spent a some family time outside.  Apparently she didn’t get enough sand and water table time in earlier.

We also did some swinging, watered some flowers, played with rocks, and ran a few laps around the house.

Good night, Cupcake.

I had some Thirty-One business to take care of, which took a little longer than I expected.

So my plans to put a coat of paint on the night stand got put on the back burner.

Some Google Reader to catch up on (while enjoying deep, sleeping puppy breathing in my ear).

And my bed and my book were calling my name.

 

The Big Girl Bed

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Well, I hadn’t really planned for Cupcake to get such a big bed for her big girl bed, but after months of stalking Craigslist and hitting up the thrift stores and consignment store a few times I stumbled across this bed on Craigslist for just $40!!!  I couldn’t resist.  Luckily I had already bought full size bedding on clearance at IKEA that I was just planning to sew into twin size and her new room can handle a full size bed (her current room cannot, so H2.0 will have to settle for a twin size bed when the time comes).  The bad news is the comforter I bought is twin size, so I’ll have to exchange it.

So even though I just painted all the spindles on the deck and that tedious project was somewhat fresh in mind I still thought painting this bed frame was a good idea.  And then I primed it.  It took almost 2 hours!!!  Eek!!  I figured I’d brush it since I had just finished priming another piece of furniture (hiding behind the bed back there) and I might as well keep going!  And it was a bit breezy (with a threat of rain) so I couldn’t spray prime outside.  However, I am going to spray paint it.  Now to decide what color!!!

Do you want to help me pick?

So here is her bedding.

Her dresser is white.  The lamp that will sit on the dresser is Sun Yellow.

I’m thinking of painting the room Lavish Lavender.

Here are the options.

Aqua

Apple Green

Berry Pink

Sun Yellow (same color as the lamp)

Or do you have another suggestion?  I prefer Rustoleum spray paint.  I think it has the best coverage and it has the easiest nozzle to press!

So, which color do you prefer?

Nap Time!

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Well, not exactly.  I finished my sewing project!  You know the one I showed you the fabric for.  I used the fabric to make a nap mat for Cupcake.  Since she will no longer be sleeping in the pack and play at the lake house and will be sleeping on a cot I thought she needed a nap mat to go with it.  Something to make it a little more comfy.

I found a great tutorial for it over at Sew4Home.  I actually bought the fabric a week or two before the birthday party, but had to put it aside until the Bee Day Celebration happened.  Oh, I hate when I buy fabric and can’t play with it right away!!!  So the first opportunity post-party I had I got to work.  This project was probably one of the more difficult projects I’ve done.  I even found it trickier than adjusting Halloween costumes for a dachshund.  It was all straight lines, which was nice, but there was a lot of material………..and binding!!!!!

The one other time I tried to bind a blanket it turned into a disaster!!  Here goes nothing!!!

And then there was the part where I tried to stuff a bunch of fabric and batting through a tiny opening under the arm of my machine and tried to stitch a straight line.

Yeah, that was the part where I bent my needle.  Oops!

I also got a great arm workout!  I did find that if I guided the top with my right hand and the bottom with my left I was able to get the fabric through pretty well.  I did have to stop every so often and smash all that extra fabric under the arm.

(It was important to finish this step while Cupcake was napping because I didn’t want my ink to disappear before I finished quilting it!)

The finished product!!!

All rolled up and ready to go to the lake!

Toddler test drive at home………

And dachshund approved!!

We’re still at the lake (where the internet connection isn’t so great) so I’ll have to update you how it went when we get home.

 

UPDATE:   Toddler approved!!!  Cupcake loves her new nap mat.  She was more than happy to sleep on it during nap time and night time.  Sometimes she got a little wonky, but that’s just her style.

 

Swim, swim, swim

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We’ve got warm weather again!  I decided it was about time I got the zebra pool out for Cupcake.  So, while she was napping I got the pool out of the basement and got to work blowing it up.  Turns out the pool required way more air than I estimated and I quickly tired out.  Luckily hubby came to my rescue with an air pump.  We filled ‘er up, rinsed ‘er off, and filled ‘er up with water!  When she woke up from her nap she asked to go outside.  Yes, ma’am!

She was excited to see the pool!  We had grabbed a few squirt toys for her to play with and tried to coax her in.

Daddy had to get in with her.

Too cold!!!

I guess we needed to give the water a little more time in the sun.

She much preferred to be on that side of the stripes.

20 Weeks!

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This isn’t the best picture, but I was busy painting furniture when I realized I hadn’t taken my 20 week picture, yet!!  So pardon the boring ponytail and the shadows because I took it in the evening, but at least I remembered to wear my black shirt!  The belly has really popped out the last week or so.  And a good number of my internal organs are making their way upward giving me a roundness to the belly.  I hate the dent of my belly button, though.  That deep, cavernous pit looks silly under snug shirts.

I’m feeling pretty good, other than being attacked by pollen.  My allergies have gone haywire.  At least I don’t have morning sickness on top of it.  That would really suck.  My right hip has starting giving me trouble, just like it did with my first pregnancy.  So that’s no fun.  Particularly when we’re at Stroller Strength class and we’re playing tag.  No sudden changes of direction for me!

We had our anatomy scan last week.  As soon as the sonographer placed the wand on my belly the placenta showed up on the screen.  She confirmed my suspicions that it is anterior (in front).  That eases my mind because I hardly ever feel this baby, which is very disappointing.  I love baby kicks!  I hope as baby gets bigger I will start feeling it more.  Little H 2.0 looks perfectly healthy and measuring right on track.  2.0 also likes to snuggle up on the placenta (the shaded area right in front of baby) and not budge!  There is no potty shot to share.  The tech made a guess at 2.0′s gender, but she said it was just a guess so I’m afraid to put any stock into it.  So, I don’t know if I want to announce it.  If we had gotten a glimpse between the legs and I didn’t know someone who was told one gender at 20 weeks and had a baby of the opposite gender (my sister-in-law) I would maybe take her word for it, but I just can’t.  Hubby on the other hand is. (Strangely my conflicting feelings didn’t stop me from buying a gender specific outfit for baby just a day or two later!)

I’m up 10 lbs at this point, so let’s just hope I can maintain the steady weight gain. I don’t want to gain more than another 20.  I don’t NEED to gain more than 20 more.  I’m still going to Stroller Strength and just signed up for the next session. I know it’s going to be rough with the summer heat, but it’s got to be done!  I might start filling two bottles of water for class as I usually finish off one bottle as it is.

I’m still getting some stomach sleeping in, but not as much as I used to as some days it’s just not comfortable.  The “boyfriend” (body pillow) has made it’s way into the bed a few nights when my hips were bothering me.  Hubby isn’t a fan. I really need to get a new slip cover for it because the fleecy one I currently have isn’t warm weather friendly.

I’m pretty much exclusively in maternity clothes now (except for some knit dresses and skirts) as shirts are too short and pants are too tight.  And I’m busting out of everything.  Seriously.  The bust keeps expanding.  I don’t recall it getting this big the first time around!  I bought a maternity bathing suit for the summer.  It’s cute!  I just might get to test it out this weekend as it’s supposed to be HOT.

That’s about it on the pregnancy front.  I’m trying to get as much DIYing done around here as I can before the belly starts to make it more difficult.  I’ve got furniture to paint, a bedroom to paint, a cornice to make.  Lots on the to do list that will only get more difficult as the weeks go by.

 

What a Tease!

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I’m hoping if I show you this picture of some fabric I washed last night that it will help put the fire under my butt to work on my project with it.  I’d really like the project done before Saturday, so if you could just cheer me on a bit that’d be great!

Any guesses as to what I’m making??????????

Hint: The solid color is fleece. The two prints are flannel.

Welcome to the Hive

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Cupcake celebrated the big 2 with friends and family this weekend.  We had a wonderful time!  The theme was a Bee Day Celebration.  I was really nervous that I couldn’t pull it off, but somehow it all came together.

This wreath greeted our guests when they arrived.  I used some baby soft yarn and wrapped it around a styrofoam wreath.  I then stamped out the letters and punched them, strung them from some ribbon and strung the ribbons across the wreath.  It was super easy!

Forgive me for the horrible food table photos.  I realized halfway through people stuffing their faces I hadn’t taken a picture, yet!  Bad blogger!!!!  I found this cute little basket at the thrift store for $0.99 and spray painted it black to hold the plasticware.  We served up some mini corn dogs (which were a hit with little kids and big kids alike!) and Chicken Caeser Sandwiches.  I found the recipe for the sandwiches over at Chef in Training.  I had several people ask for the recipe.

I also served up some pasta salad (recipe from a friend), cheese and crackers, honey lime fruit salad (from Oh! You Cook!), some snack mix and of course lemonade!  I found the chalkboard markers in the dollar section at Target and the pots are terra cotta pots from Hobby Lobby spray painted yellow.  I used black beans to hold the markers in place.  I thought it looked like dirt.  Hubby thought I should just put dirt in the pots, but I didn’t think dirt and a food table mixed.

My favorite part!!!  Dessert!!!  I had a small dessert table crisis before the party. I have a 3 tiered cake stand that we used for last year’s party and it worked out well. Well, last year we didn’t have a sideboard here and we borrowed a table from the neighbors to use for the dessert.  It was wider than the sideboard.  The cake stand doesn’t fit on the sideboard!  So, we improvised.  Cupcakes with no stand.

Honey cupcakes with honey cream cheese frosting!  I found the recipe over at Half Baked.  They were delish!  Just enough sweetness, although the cake was a little more dense than I prefer.

And I love me some iced cookies!  It was convenient that Sweet Sugar Belle featured some bee cookies on her blog recently as I’m still a cookie decorating novice and can use all the help I can get.  And I almost had a heart attack over these cookies!  Cupcake found the container of them on the dining room table and in the excitement of finding them she started shaking the container!!!  Oh, the royal icing massacre that could have occurred!!!  Luckily there were just a few cookies that suffered a little damage, but I don’t think anyone noticed as they gobbled them up!

There were also chocolate dipped marshmallows and honey sticks from a local farm to nibble on.

The kids did a craft!  Parents painted their little feet yellow and we made bumble bee footprints on canvases.  They all turned out so cute!  They also had a great time playing with the sand and water table, swinging in the tree, and catching bubbles from the bubble machine.

As a thank you for coming all the kiddos got to go home with these adorable little bee buckets filled with bug catchers, magnifying glasses, and bee silly putty.  (I was SOOOOOOOO excited to find these little buckets in the dollar section at Target one day I did a little dance in the aisle.)

It was a great Bee Day Celebration! We are so thankful to have great friends and family to have spent the day with us.

 

But I am glad it is over!  I am tuckered!

Does anyone else find party planning stressful and overwhelming?

 

 

Target with a 2 Year Old

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Does your Target have those big, red concrete balls out front?  Ours didn’t until recently.  And now every time we go to Target Cupcake wants to kick the big, red balls.  She can’t be convinced it would hurt.

We’ve never eaten at the cafe inside Target, but it doesn’t stop Cupcake from asking for food the moment we walk in the door.

If you take a shoe off Cupcake to try on a new pair of shoes she will not let you put the shoe that is already hers back on.  She will insist on holding the new shoes while wearing only one of the shoes she came with.  You will then have old ladies every 10 feet telling you your child is missing a shoe.

If you try to put the aforementioned shoe back on Cupcake before leaving the store she will bust out the highest pitch scream you’ve ever heard.

If you try to take off the other shoe she will kick and scream “No, no, no!!”

When you are browsing the clearance rack she will get bored and throw her raisins and the lid to the raisins container on the floor.

You won’t discover that the lid to the raisin container is missing until you are halfway across the store.

Since the store is under construction the area between the racks is much narrower than usual.  You will run the cart into a few racks.  Cupcake will yell “Oh no!” every time you do.

Cupcake’s eyes will light up when you hand her a new toothbrush.  She will tell you all about her new toothbrush the whole way to the checkout.

Cupcake will insist on putting her new toothbrush on any conveyor belt that she sees.

As you start heading out of the store, she will remember that you bought her a new toothbrush and “please, please, please” until you give it to her.

She will ask you to open the toothbrush package the whole way home.

Once home she will set the toothbrush on the counter and forget all about it once you offer to warm her up some pizza for lunch.

 

She’s Two!!

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What a fun filled day Cupcake and I had.  But first I need to give you a bit of a back story.  Cupcake doesn’t always go to sleep when we put her down at night.  Usually she brings all her toys in her bed plays awhile, then falls asleep.  Sometimes she ends up with a ball on her head.  Sometimes there are so many toys there’s no room for her.  Sometimes her blankie doesn’t make it back to the bed and she wakes up in the middle of the night in a panic when she can’t find it.  So I’ve gotten into the habit of checking on her before I go to bed.  So Monday night I am elbow deep in royal icing while I listen to shuffling sounds on the monitor, but nothing too alarming.  She did say the word diaper at some point and I panicked a little as she was wearing a nightgown for the first time and her nighttime cloth is hook and loop closure (which she can remove if she wants to) but I also knew her baby was in her bed with her and she likes to pretend to change baby’s diaper.

So I head up after two hours of cookie decorating and go straight to bed.  And then I realize I haven’t checked on Cupcake.  I peek into her room to find her passed out (so cute!) with a tub of coconut oil!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ahhh!!!!!!!!  OK, so if you’ve never used coconut oil you may not know that when it gets warm it melts.  See above were she was wearing a nightgown?  Yeah, it was a warm night!  We use the oil as a diaper cream and moisturizer.  It was in the top drawer of her dresser.  The lid was not on!!!  It was on it’s side!!  It was after 10 o’clock. She was sleeping. I couldn’t really assess the situation, so I just removed the tub from her bed and hoped there wasn’t a disaster in the morning.

If only you could have heard my laugh when I saw that girl on her birthday morning!!!!!  The girl had the stringiest, greasiest hair I have ever seen!!!  Over half her sheet was covered in coconut oil!!  The two books she had in her bed were completely soggy!!  And her poor little penguin was slick!  Oh, I love that kid!  So please excuse the greasy hair in the first few pictures!

We had pancakes for breakfast!!

We opened a present!

We played with the new toy!

Someone needed a bath!!

We met our friends for bowling!

We had lunch and play time at Chic Fil A.  And someone took a long nap! (wish it was me, but I watched Gossip Girl and finished decorating the cookies)

We spoiled our dinner.

We went shoe shopping. We went to the camera shop (somehow my eyecup went missing and I was really starting to miss it!).  We had homemade pizza for dinner.

We played daddy jungle gym.

We went on a long trike ride.  We had a great, fun filled day.

My baby girl is 2!!!!

Party Prep

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Tomorrow my little Cupcake turns 2!!!  How did that happen?!?!?!?  She has grown SO much in the last 2 years.  It is absolutely amazing!  She talks nonstop, is running and jumping and climbing ALL THE TIME, she can do puzzles, she loves to read and for the most part is a happy girl.  The girl can definitely turn on the ‘tude, though!

We decided to have her party the weekend after her birthday since the weekend before was Mother’s Day and because we’ll have some out of town guests we didn’t want to interfere with any plans they may have.  So that means party prep is in full swing here!

It started with this.

The deck looked awful!  That’s why I power washed it last week.  And that just made it worse (which is what I was going for).

It was a two nap and one night (with a helper) project, but it’s done!  Have I ever mentioned that our deck is huge?  We wanted to repaint it last year before Cupcake’s birthday, but it was too rainy leading up to the party.  In the end it didn’t matter since it rained the day of the party any way!  So far it looks like sunny skies for this years party.  Let’s just hope that doesn’t change in the next few days!!!!

See the difference?

We will not be entertaining any guests before Saturday because the dining room table looks like this.

Actually it looks worse now!  I did some food shopping and a little more craft store shopping.

I’ve done a little more spray painting, some wreath making, banner hanging, serving dish washing and some furniture rearranging!  I’ve been cleaning as well, which will be a continuous process over the next few days until party day!

It’s going to be a busy week!!!