Girls Weekend

The girls and I are spent Friday night and today with my sister.  We love having Auntie so close!  The rest of my family is way too far away for a weekend trip, so it is nice that I don't have to be completely homesick!

We went on a subway!  The girls were thrilled!  Last year Big One was in total amazement at the big train!  Little One was very little, so I bet this year she is going to be over the moon!

And we went to a big food expo, so that is right up my alley. A lot of walking and chasing the munchkins. Lots of crowds.  Lots of taste testing things.  

And Greek food for dinner!  My sis has this super tasty restaurant right by her house.  Chicken gyro?  Yes please.  Greek fries?  Mmm hmmm.  Greek salad?  Yup!  Heaven.  And someone else is going to make it!  With no clean up!

It was a great time.  Well, most of it.

LO decided that she didn't want to sleep in the Pack-N-Play.  So after her yelling/screaming/crying for a good long while, I gave it, put her in the bed I was going to sleep in with a bunch of pillows around her.  Heh.  That didn't work either.

So back in the PnP.  Um, no.  Cue violent coughing/gagging noises that made me fear for my life that she was going to get sick all over the place (fun times, BO never ever did that!).

Back in bed, this time I said fine, I'll go to bed too.  It was around 10pm. I tried singing to her.  I tried rubbing her back.  I tried playing with her hair.  I tried pretending I was asleep.  I tried turning my back to her.  I tried hiding under the sheets.

Nothing worked.

She kicked me in the back.  She kicked me in the head (how is that possible?!).  She sang twinkle twinkle little star.  She played with my hair and told me it was "pwitty."  She poked my eyes and said, "Mama wake up!"

At 12:12 I put her back in the dang PnP.

Done.  So. Very. Done.

She was out like a light at 12:15.  Sigh.  

It is a good thing she is cute.

Sisters <3

I know I say this all the time, but Big One could be her kid!

Good thing you are cute, kid.  Mama is tired.

Artist and a Snack-a-holic

Big One loves to color.  Loves.  Her amazing Auntie brings in all of the recyclable paper from work (you know, the stuff that has one random line printed on it?) whenever she visits so she has a ton of paper to use.  She goes through at least 5 pieces a day.  And that is being conservative.

Who knows, maybe she will be an artist some day!

Her ability to recreate something is pretty cool.  She has the memory of an elephant.

Cinderella - complete w/ blue ribbon in her hair.

Winnie the Pooh.

In other funny news, Little One is quite the Snack-a-holic.  She will happily push away most things you give her for meals during the day and then five minutes later declare that she is hungry.  Sigh.  This is a pretty common site if I forgot to put the child locks on the pantry.

What?  I'm not going to eat it out of the bag, I have a bowl!

And it is popcorn!  That is healthy!

Rainbow Party and NaBloPoMo

It is that time of year again.  What time?  Crazy time for our household.  Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Craziness on top of craziness.

And.  NaBloPoMo.  So.  Here is Day 1.

Over the weekend we celebrated the girls' birthdays!  We do them together because our families live several hours away, so one trip is really the easiest.

This year we did a Rainbow Party!  I think it turned out awesome.  Thank you Pinterest for all of the fab ideas!

My amazing friend, Brie, made an amazing party package of labels for me!  Everyone knew what they were eating and what all of the activity centers were and they were just so gosh darn cute!!  You can check out her shop ModInkDesign and take advantage of her Grand Opening Sale!

This was probably the first party that I didn't have a ton of leftovers.  Well, except hot dogs.  We cooked way too many of those.  Even the two layer cakes were almost gone!  There were about 50 of us.  But that is a lot of cake!

The kids had a blast.  The bounce house we bought for them (used) was a huge hit.

And the girls got an insane amount of gifts from our generous family and friends.

Next year I swear I will get more of my party projects done ahead of time so I don't put my family to work so much.  Really!  I promise!

It really was a fabulous day.  Thanks to everyone who made the time to come and celebrate with us.  These are for sure the memories that the girls will keep with them forever.

This balloon banner was a last minute addition to my To Do list and I think it made for an awesome entrance!
(Thanks mom!!)

All dressed up and ready to party!

The dresses I made!

This was supposed to be a good picture opportunity for the parents/kiddos.  It went unused.  Oh well.

"Special Cheerios" aka Fruit Loop necklaces were a big hit!

Big One could happily color all day long.  This was a big hit.

I should have covered this Ikea table because it is now covered in paint.  The kids loved this.

Little One painting.

Dessert table.  Skittles and sugar cookies on the left.  M&M bars and twizzlers on the right.
The cloud and rainbow turned out awesome.  I think I'll put it in the playroom.  I can't imagine throwing it away.

Rainbow cake!  It tasted as good as it looked!  The fondant rainbow was also a late add to my To Do list.  I am so glad I made it though.  What a statement, right?!

Big One was very excited about the cake!

Before you ask, it is Funfetti Cake.  Surprised?  I have done cake from scratch before, but I haven't found one that I like as much as a plain ol' box mix!

These were also a big hit.  And again, I took some help from a pre-made mix.

Appetizers.  The cucumbers were served with a chive and basil cream cheese spread.  It was awesome.
I may or may not have bought another cucumber the next day for all of the leftover spread.

We had a hot dog bar and a ton of fixin's

Absolutely no leftovers.

Rainbow veggie platter was also gone.

Attempt #1

I have very fond memories of my birthdays growing up.  My parents always did their best to make me feel special.  My mom created some really awesome cakes.  And this was before the internet and pinterest folks!

I also love the girls birthday parties.  Love.  All of it.  The planning.  Making their cake(s).  The decorations. The food.  I love how much fun the girls have.  I hope they have some fond memories of them when they grow up too.


This year I decided to make the girls' party dresses.

I might have a problem.


Making the dresses is new for me.  I have actually never made a real dress.  Nothing with sleeves.  Nothing with shirring.  But then I saw this.  And oh my word isn't it just adorable?!

So with some cheering from some very good friends, I decided that sure I could do it!

I bought some ridiculously cute fabric to go along with the birthday theme.  And then I was afraid I'd screw it up.

So....

Attempt #1.  I'm pretty happy with it.  Maybe a few little changes to make the neck not so wide.  Not too tough though.

And bonus.  Nana walked in the Susan G. Komen walk today as a Survivor.  So supporting Nana and many other friends and family.

Cute, right?

With ribbon belt.

Santa?!

My Father-in-law came to visit for the day which was a very special treat for all of us!  He arrived in the morning, just in time to push the girls on the swings and play outside on the gorgeous fall day!

As Big One was running around between the swing and the slide she pointed up to the sky and excited announced that she saw Santa!

Momentary confusion hit my FIL, the Hubster, and me.  Until she pointed again.  This is what she saw:

Santa making his rounds

Clearly that was Santa's sleigh in the sky!  I quickly recovered and agreed that yes, in fact, that was Santa!  And he was checking to make sure that she was making good choices and being a good girl!

Out of the mouths of babes.  Awesome.

The girls were very sad to see PawPaw leave shortly after nap time.  And were thrilled to hear he would be back in just two weeks when he comes for their birthday party!  I think they had a great time though.

Dress up!

Snuggles before hitting the road.

Pretty sure the Hubster had a fun time with his Dad too!

Big One Turns 4!

Hard to believe that four years have passed since BO came into our lives.  Time really does fly and I cannot imagine my life without her in it.

Today she is a beautiful, well-spoken, smart, funny, spirited, artistic four year old.  She makes me smile every day.  She also makes me want to pull out my hair every now and again.

BO was thrilled to spend the day at an aquarium with friends and Auntie.  She loved receiving her Cinderella DVD and plush Disney dolls.  She is a girly girl through and through!

She brought cupcakes to her pre-school class for snack time and was just thrilled to share them!  I have a summer birthday, so I'm vicariously living through her.  We were always on summer break when my birthday rolled around.

I love watching her learn new things.  I love seeing her love for drawing.  I love seeing her generosity of spirit.  I am amazed at her beauty, inside and out.

Big One October 2008 - Brand New

Big One October 2009 - 1 Year Old

Big One October 2010 - 2 Years Old

Big One October 2011 - 3 Years Old

Big One October 2012 - 4 Years Old

I am beyond blessed to be her Mommy.  I cannot wait to see what she chooses to do with her life, but I have no doubt that it will be amazing.

Personality

Little One is almost 22 months.  Nuts.

Her verbal skills are crazy.  She is speaking in sentences.  Strangers can understand her easily (most of the time).

And she is funny.

She calls inanimate objects.  "Cup!  Where are you?"  "Butterfly (wings)!  Where are you?"  We were Skyping with my parents tonight and every time my dad left the screen it was, "Papa!  Papa!!!!! Where are you?"  Poor Fenway gets it too.  All. Day. Long.  Clearly she doesn't have an issue with her verbal skills ...can't imagine where she gets that strength from.

She loves to make people laugh.  She is adorable and tickles you and says, "Tickle, Tickle!"  Oh my word is it adorable.  Yes, I'm partial.  I'll get it on video just to prove it to you.

She is now telling us (on her own), "I wuv (love) you!"  Oh my word.  Melt my heart.  Yesterday in the car, she said, "Daddy, I love you!" and then, "Mommy, I love you!" and finally, "Big One (of course she used her actual name), I love you"  Cue tears.

Just the last few days she started fake sneezing.  Cracks me up.

And I have to tell you, Big One was never really a cuddler.  She would give hugs and kisses for sure, but they would be fleeting.  She had things to do.  LO?  She really gives the best hugs.  You can just feel the love radiating from her.

LO has a whole lot of personality for not quite two years old.  She is going to keep us on our toes, no doubt about it!