Birthday Fun and More

~Pretty~

Samuel just had his first birthday party (Pixar's Up themed) and I loved how the decorations came out! Mostly thanks to my crafty sister and her new Cricut (that I gave her for Christmas... definitely not in order to extort cute decorations from her).

The banner says "Adventure is out there." I saved it to go up in Samuel's room.

And here's one of the birthday boy and his floating house:

Carl Fredricksen never looked this cute.  Do you see the adorable "Grape Soda" bottle cap cutout?  It was all just so darn cute.

~Happy~

I mentioned in my last post that we got a new Peter Rabbit teapot and have been having tea parties in the afternoons.  I actually got the idea from the Ambleside website. The essay suggested an afternoon tea to help with the evening pre-dinner sugar crash as well as to sneak in some poetry and conversation. I loved the idea so much I implemented it immediately.  Here is Juliana with her very own teacup listening to some Beatrix Potter (appropriately enough).

And she only spilled three times!

~Funny~

I don't know why she does this.  Do your toddlers do this??

Yes, that is our dog's bedtime crate. She loves to go in it. So. Weird.

~Real~

I recently had the really brilliant idea of letting my two year old finger paint inside ("Well, that's understandable, it had to be inside," you're thinking, "it's winter!" Nope. California. It's 82 outside.).  At the kitchen table, which is white, without paying much attention to what she was doing (I was painting too).  I looked over after about 10 minutes, and this is what I saw:

I just. I mean. I really should have seen this coming.

So, you know, business as usual around here.

Go see Leila for everyone else's pretty, happy, funny and real this week.

Our Latelies

~Pretty~
We don't have a whole lot of decorating done around here.  So far we have one advent wreath on the kitchen table, one strand of garland above the tv, and one Christmas card holder of which I am extremely proud.  This little baby was the product of only about five minutes of effort and I didn't even go to Pinterest to come up with an idea for it (although granted, I'm sure its very existence is a result of my time spent on that little site).  Here it is on the mirror in our entry facing the front door:

I mean, clothespins? Clearly a Pinterespiration.

Here's the long view:

Why, hello there, headless me.

~Funny~
Juliana trying on hats at CVS while we waited for my flu shot:

"Pink is my signature color."

And Sammy practicing for his role as le petit prince:

~Happy~

The day before Thanksgiving was our third wedding anniversary!  On the following Saturday my hubs was a groomsman in our friends' wedding and we took a picture of the two of us after the ceremony.  A picture of the two of us is rare indeed.  Evidence:

Aw. Pretty cute for an old married couple.

~Real~
What you're looking at right here is a 9 month old with a broken femur:

At least he's cool enough to wear Wordsworth quotes?

I know: sad and adorable at the same time.  Poor guy.  While walking to church as we do every Sunday morning, I slipped and fell backwards.  I held him the whole time, but somehow his leg got a fracture.  It was horrible, but he has recovered beautifully and he now rolls around and tries to crawl with that big old thing on his leg.  He's a tough little dude.  

Head over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for more of life's little joys (and realities).   

Quick Takes Friday

1.  I have been known to declare (dramatically, with great self-sacrifice) to anyone who will listen once I finish any sort of project that I'm not going to blog about it because I just don't have the time: I can either do the project or blog about doing a project, but not both.  This, while mostly true, is maybe also an exaggeration, so I'm working on trying both for a bit just to see how it works out (if my hero, P-dubs, can homeschool four children, assist in the running of a ranch, star in a cooking show, write two cookbooks and two children's books, make dinner every night (while blogging about it) and still post like 5 times a day maybe I can manage a couple posts a week.).


2. I have to use my time wisely, right?  For instance, right now the hubs is going to watch The Walking Dead. I can't watch The Walking Dead (seriously I don't know why they'd make a show that is unwatchably gory) but I like the storyline.  Blogging while not-watching The Walking Dead is a perfect use of my time and resources (what's that? "Laundry?" No, I don't know anything about that.).

3. New favorite mascara alert (don't get too excited, this is a bi-monthly event): Maybelline The Colossal Cat Eyes Mascara.  It is GREAT.  My "HG" ("holy grail" for those of you who don't spend time watching YouTube makeup tutorials. I know, I'm cool.) is Clinique High Impact mascara, but I have to go to the mall to get it, and I don't go to the mall much these days (they're not double-stroller friendly).  This is a very good substitute.  

4. I have many projects floating around in a half-completed state over here, but lately I have managed to finish a few.  At one point we made a frame for a poster I had and wanted to frame, but it didn't work out (we couldn't figure out how to safely mount it with glass/plexiglass so we just had the poster framed professionally).  Anyways, we have a very large (maybe 3'x4'?) very light frame that I want to do something with, but I'm not sure what.  I was thinking one of those frames-within-a-frame projects I keep seeing on Pinterest, but I haven't quite worked out anything.  Any thoughts?

Not quite this busy, though.  Via Pinterest.

5. Ugh maybe I can't even listen to The Walking Dead. The sound effects are hideous.  But the plot is extremely compelling!  Perhaps I should just read the comics.


6. Baby picture time!  Juliana loves these "blue ice popsicles."  They're actually Pedialite pops.  I figure they're slightly better than Otter Pops? Maybe?  Sure!

7. And here's Sammy because he's cute.

We play in the playpen in the backyard so the dog will give us some room.  Otherwise he'd be licking Samuel while beating me with his wagging tail and scratching Juliana.  He's very friendly.

Go see Jen at Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty}

I love this little planter in the front of my house.  My husband planted things he knew I'd like and the result is such a sweet, pretty mix of colors.

{happy}

The other day when I went to get J after naptime I opened the door and found this (minus the kid underneath... The picture was taken later during playtime). That morning Daddy had built a fort.  (Also, eek: I promise her room is normally a titch more organized).  She barely came out all afternoon.

{funny & real}

My big girl has gotten WAY into gardening lately.  Evidence:

That's a herculean effort right there.

Mostly she picks the green ones, but occasionally we can convince her that the red ones are worth her while.  She fought with this one, but won in the end.  She was thrilled to eat it.  Ecstatic doesn't even cover it.  

Until.

Would you believe some wicked tyrant insisted she sit in a chair to eat her tomato so that the wild beast we employ as a dog in our backyard wouldn't eat it out of her hand?  Neither could she.

The saddest anyone has ever been when eating a tomato.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1

I loved this essay by Pat Gohn on developing a practice of praying with others.  That is NOT something I am generally comfortable with outside of a relatively structured church/pre-meal grace/bedtime situation.  Nope.  But I have discovered something lately (this is a real revelation, so get ready): I'm pretty sure God didn't put us down here for comfort.  I know, right?  Mind-boggling.  That truth has been ringing across most of my days lately, though, so I figured I might as well embrace the discomfort a bit and try to provide some grace to those around me at the same time.  So, uh, we'll see how it goes?  

2

I've started reading 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess which has only been reinforcing the discomfort thing.  That is not a comfortable book.  Has anyone else out there read it?  

3

Lest you think I'm starting to become very holy and impressive (she says), the thing I've been most excited about this week is the new eyelash curler I got.  It's heated.  It's amazing.  

4

Since Hallie posted about visiting Grace and mentioned something about Simon's being funny, and since I just recently discovered Grace's blog, I just fell down the rabbit hole of Simon Says posts.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I was laughing out loud at work, ya'll.  I mean it's slow around here so no one cares, but that kind of behavior isn't exactly promotion-worthy.  Worth it.  

5

Sammy hasn't had much play on the blog yet.  Gratuitous baby photo ahead.  

Yes, that is spit up.  Look we can't all be clean and hygenic ALL the time.

I love this baby stage.  They're so cute and squishy and milky but also all big-eyed and cooey.  Yum.

6

This weather in Southern California is weird.  Hot, humid rain.  It's like Florida's climate decided to take a little jaunt Westward.  I'd like it to go home now.

7

Have a wonderful weekend!!!  Go visit Jen for more Quick Takes!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} ~ Birthday Fun

We've had lots of happy, funny and real with plenty of pretty thrown in lately.  October ends with my birthday and Juliana's birthday so we've been go-go-going the past few weeks.

{happy}

For my birthday we went to a pumpkin patch that had hayrides and a real working farm and a maize maze and pumpkin chucker and a hay pyramid (I didn't know this was a thing).  We had a blast!  We ended up with one of my favorite family shots we've taken in a while:

So happy!!  They're hard to see, but note her pigtails.  They stick straight up... hilarious.

{funny}

Once we brought our pumpkins home (note: we didn't buy that giant one above... that thing was just monstrous) J decided they were for eating.  Just the stems, though.

{real}

I posted yesterday about her Halloween costume and she looked SO cute in it, but it took lots of prep.  She has a whole team:

Cuteness like this takes time.

Go check out Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {p,h,f,r}!

Halloween 2011, Pinterest-Style

Since Monday was my Jellybean's first "real" Halloween (the first one in which I was no longer recovering from childbirth, that is), I felt compelled to make her a costume.  Now, I don't sew.  At all.  It's kind of sad.  I wish I did sew, though!  I have TONS of pins on Pinterest with sewing projects just sitting there, taunting me with their cuteness.  So I had to find something that was very light on the sewing, otherwise my "making" the costume would have consisted of me asking my mom to make it for me.

In my search I found so many incredibly cute ideas:

via Pinterest

I thought this was beyond darling, but would require all kinds of sewing machine time.  Not to mention skill.

Then there was this:

via Pinterest

Oh my gosh I almost died at the cuteness. Plus it links through to a real tutorial.  Alas, though, it not only required sewing skills but some sort of plasticized belt action that was way out of my skill set.

And this is clearly awesome, but there's no way my kid is going to be willing to sit in a bucket all night.  Too big:

via Pinterest (Seriously if you're not on Pinterest I don't even know where you get your ideas.  You are awesome.)

But this.  When I saw this I knew:

Via Pinterest via Ashley Ann Photography

It has all the qualifications: 1) It's ADORABLE 2) It's completely awesome 3) It's very, very light on the sewing. Plus it has the added bonus of being a superhero costume, which meant the hubs was TOTALLY on board.

I wasn't sure how I was going to pull off the shirt, as hers was a retro printed one from Old Navy, but I figured maybe an iron on or something would do it.  

So I set out, an intrepid explorer on my lunch break and braved the Walmarts.  There I found the perfect shade of tulle, the white felt and the red felt (for the stars on the cuffs and crown) and, randomly, the last 12 month plain red t-shirt in the store.  I didn't find any suitable gold fabric, though, so that had to wait for a trip to JoAnn's.  

(I took no pictures of the progress, sadly)

The tutu was no problem.  I watched this tutorial and that was it.  Two hours one evening and done. It took me a little longer to sew in the white stars, but I just did that little by little.  I then decided on puffy painting the logo onto her t-shirt and then added lots of gold glitter, which worked great. 

The last hurdle was the actual sewing.  I ended up running down to the last minute and had to figure out how to hand sew the thing at work on my lunchbreak.  So keep that in mind!  It came out fairly well, but not exactly like the inspiration.  And the cuffs had to be sacrificed.  Just no time at all.  Oh well, she looked cute anyway!  Behold, the finished product, with some leggings added for warmth:

Aren't I cute, flying in my invisible plane?

The pink diaper sticking out really adds the effect.

She had a great time and looked adorable... all we could ask for really!  Happy November everyone!

To see tons of other actualized Pinterest ideas, check out Young House Love today!

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real - (Mostly) Cellphone Pictures Addition (My camera is broken)

My sweet girl is just so pretty (totally unbiased opinion).  I mean, come on:

I cannot believe this critter turned 11 months this week.  She was JUST BORN!

This is her "looking at daddy" face.  She is smitten (she takes after her mommy in this way).

I am still loving my new office. Look at this view!  So happy.

My old office had a window into a sad hallway.  Definite improvement.
Also, note the Disneyland book in the basket.  That is my "waiting area" book that I hand to people when I need them to wait a sec for me.  It has awesome fun facts in it such as "The vegetation that lines the moat around Sleeping Beauty's castle primarily consists of junipers because it is one of the few types of foliage that swans will not eat" and "Tom Sawyer's Island was officially annexed and recognized by the Missouri State Legislature in 1956."  Now you know.

Both funny and real:

I now have to fold pretty much everything at least twice, as "helping mommy" is her favorite game.  

Disney Adventure -- Firsts, Flashmobs, and Fantasyland

Thursday evening the hubs, J and I set out for Disneyland. We hadn't gotten to go in a few months, and though she had visited before (proof:

)

this was the first time she was big enough to go on anything and potentially enjoy it. Stephen wanted to take her on the carousel, so that was our first stop. I was not completely convinced that she would be allowed to ride, but was quickly proven wrong. We found a horse and strapped her on and started documenting her first ride with all the thoroughness of a moon landing. I remember when I was young and would ride the carousel thinking that it must be no fun for the adults who had to tend to their kids instead of getting to ride.

How wrong I was. We probably had more fun than she did. It was so precious.

Next up was a trip on Small World, which is something of a sensory overload for a seven month old, I think. She sort of like it. Sort of.

A rare mom-baby photo. Usually I wield the camera.

Earlier, when we had arrived at the park, we could see there was some sort of media event going on, but I didn't do my due diligence beforehand, so we didn't know quite what. Had I done any research I would have known Thursday was the opening day of the new "Mickey's Soundsational Summer" Parade and they were having a huge sort of VIP opening for it.

Lots of media guys.

Normally we're not huge parade-watchers, but my sister's boyfriend's mom was involved in a flashmob which opened the parade (we knew there was going to be a flashmob, we just didn't realize what it was for).

Finally the flashmob began. They faux-interrupted a speech.

Don't they make you want to dance? Between this and the return of So You Think You Can Dance, I'm one step-ball-change away from signing up for jazz class.

By the time the flashmob was over, I was SO stoked to see the parade, which ended up being pretty great (not surprising, given it was Disneyland). The floats are themed to look like pop-up picture books, and were really gorgeous.

Click on read more for all the float-goodness.

Redundancy is Extremely Real

~~~

When I was pondering over what I could post for this week's installment of pretty, happy, funny, real, I worried because it turns out there is only one thing I have taken pictures of this week. I'll leave it to you to guess (how could you possibly) what that might have been. After despairing for a few moments, a light went on (I decided to cheat). WHAT could be more real than a mom who incessantly takes pictures of her child? Nothing, I tell you. So here we are.

Here you have the "evocative black and white quasi-profile shot."

I like to call this one "Mommy please put down the camera and play with me."

This one is my favorite:

There are more (oh, there are more. We're just scratching the surface here, people) but they're all from the same baby photoshoot, so I will spare you!

But oh! I just remembered I took some pictures at our church fair last week. And, is it just me, or does this:

Just look like the worst idea ever? Eek.

We had fun on the ground, though.