Birthday Weekend

Saturday I turned 26! This is me showing you how excited I am to be on the down slide to 30.....

Saturday morning I woke up, came into the living room and saw this banner greeting me.

 It was the most amazing banner I have ever seen! In case you think I am crazy because this is NOT the most amazing banner then I am prepared to diagnose you as a non-Office watcher. And more specifically, not a Dwight fan.

To help you better understand where this came from watch the video below. It will explain everything.

After I saw the awesome banner George made me he brought me breakfast that he picked up from Panera and my gifts.

Let me start by saying that George rarely gets good gifts for me. Over the years for various holidays and birthdays he has gifted me the following: an hair hockey table, a 3 ft tall Nut Cracker, and a scooby doo trashcan for my car. See, the gifts just don't make sense.

But this year, he finally got it! All he did was walk  into Anthropologie after work one day and he did amazing. That's they key. He went to Anthro, you can't go wrong there. 

Here is what he picked out:

Branch & Twig Colored Pencils

He kept saying he thought they would be good for decoration. Whatevs, I am using these! 

Jewel-Sparked Bobby Pins

I seriously love these. The yellow one is really more of a chartreuse, and it is so pretty. I am wearing it this very second. 

Volcano Jar Candle.

Mine doesn't look exactly like this one, but it is the same scent. Volcano. It smells pretty amazing, and not at all like a volcano....or at least not what I think it would smell like!

George did so great, he is the best!

I had such a good birthday with lots of other gifts & dinner dates from friends and family.

Tomorrow George and I are going on a mini road trip to Atlanta. We are headed to Ikea to get new furniture for our house. I have waited for this day for a long time. We have beige suede couches. Please, imagine in your mind how terrible it is to have SUEDE light colored furniture with a toddler and preschooler. Are you imagining grape juice and peanut butter smeared everywhere??? Yes. Everywhere. And in case you didn't know, suede is so annoying to clean. So we will be purchasing dark gray furniture that has removable, WASHABLE slipcovers. Get ready. Our house (or just the furniture) is about to look like it did before we had kids. It brings a tear to my eye.

New Shoes and a Sneak Peek

Hello Friendlies! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Mine was alright, but can I just say that I am glad we are back to normal life this week? Vaca was fun and all, but routines make me happy :)

I have been looking all over for Lucy some cute shoes for fall. Somehow Ryder has 10 million pairs of shoes and Lucy has none. Well, I did just buy her 3 pairs at Old Navy, but they are pretty basic and not really my fav. But there is an Etsy shop I have had my eye on since I was pregnant with Lucy. They sell A-freaking-Dorable mary janes. I wanted to buy some for her when she was a little baby, but they are about $35. So, I realized I would use my brain and decided she could have a pair when she was actually walking. $35 for an accessory(which is what a shoe is for a person who cant walk)? Um, no. Im all about deals. Which is why today she was dressed head-to-toe in baby Gap, and the whole outfit cost $20. Oh, you wanted to see the cute shoes and go to the Etsy site? Here it is!

 

 

 

 

 Ok, see! Aren't they awesome! They have tons more cuties....here to check them out!

Now I just need to figure out which ones I want :)

 

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Sneak Peek! My beautiful friend Emily took these amazing pics at Lucy's birthday party. There might be a full birthday post later, with links to the mason jar tutorial :)

 

 

 

Hope everyone has a great day, I think we are heading up to skate church tonight.

Early Start

 

*pic from here

Tomorrow I get to wake up bright and early. I have a date with a jigsaw, some plywood and paint. I have been meaning to make a tree coat rack for about 5 months, but just havent gotten around to it. After I went out and bought my very own jigsaw (it really is mine. Its in my desk hidden away from George) I drew out my tree on crappy plywood we had lying around the garage. George didn't want me to practice on "good" plywood. Well, I am freaking practiced up enough. I could use that thing with my eyes closed. 

I cant wait to get it finished. I am so sick and tired of tripping over bags in our entryway to get out of the front door. Diaper bags, backpacks, shopping bags, purses: get ready. I am making a home for you.

Also, tomorrow afternoon my fam gets to go celebrate with our sweet friends for their son's first birthday. My friend Caroline and I had our babies on the same day, in the same hospital. It's pretty awesome :)

Both of my kids are napping so I am about to sit on the couch myself, fold clothes, and watch.....something. Netflix is thebomb.com for its price, but sometimes I do get sick of watching the same old crap. Apparently I need to be watching Mad Men (says all my friends). If it's on Netflix I will give it a try. See ya!

Happy Birthday!

Today is a pretty awesome day; it's Lucy's 1st birthday! We have had a pretty low-key day so far. After we had breakfast and dropped Ryder off at Pre-School we came home, drank some milk, and took a nap. Well, she did :)

After sleeping beauty woke up from her long morning nap we went outside and had a little picnic lunch. She was more interested in the dessert though. Last night I made these Chocolate-Coconut Bars. Don't make these unless you are ok with eating the whole pan. Because you will. Unless you package them up and give them away to your friends. Your friends will love you.

When George gets home from work we are headed to my grandfather's to open some presents with my family and eat some birthday ice cream. Im honestly sick of cake right now. I don't think Lucy will mind :)

Isnt that quilt fun? My grandmother made it. It was mine when I was little, or maybe it was my brother's. Either way, I have it now! hahaha! I made the cake plate, and my sweet friend April made Lucy's awesome shirt! She is oh so crafty. We still haven't ever had a craft date together, and that makes me sad :(.

Lucy has started taking a few more steps now. She would randomly take one step every couple of days and then fall. That was it for her and walking. But about 5 days ago she started taking about 5-7 steps before falling. She will get there soon enough. She is also all about the word "cat". Everything is cat. I know she knows what an actual cat is though. Because when she sees Cat's Baby and Baby Kitten (our two cats, Ryder named them. We call them CB and BK for short) she says "cat" and gets super excited. But with everything else she points to it and says cat almost like a question. I've told her a million times that the flowers are not cat and neither is the light. Oh, babies.

Off to work on my 7 Day Toy Cure. Thank you Lord for the Hulu+ app. Bye!

Lets get ready to PARTAY!

pic from here

 My little love's first birthday party is tomorrow morning and I am so excited! Today is a busy, busy day of getting everything ready. I have been very proud of myself planning this party because I have actually not procrastinated! All I have to do today is worry about the food. OK, and I do need to pick up some last odds and ends :)

I was going to get Sam's to make the cupcakes (30 for $12.99!) but when I asked them if they would bake them in the cupcake wrappers I had already purchased from this adorable Etsy shop they said NO! So, I am off to make them myself. And by "make myself" I mean I will open up a box of Betty Crocker cake mix.

BUT! I do have to actually make the butter cream frosting myself. I have been researching on Pinterest for tips on awesome cupcakes, and have read that canned frosting is a no-no. I hope I dont screw this up. Im always so impatient. I hate waiting for cupcakes to cool. I always want to slam the icing on as soon as they come out of the oven.

Ok, off to bake!