project 365: weeks 15 & 16

Shocker. I'm playing catch up again. Le sigh..

WEEK 15
Sunday, April 8th:

Doing some early morning coloring with Daddy.

Monday, April 9th:

Seriously. Who is this big kid??? Where is my baby?!?

Tuesday, April 10th:

Melt my heart.

Wednesday, April 11th:

Playing after school.

Thursday, April 12th:

Trying out Chinese food. Not such a fan.

Friday, April 13th:

Entertaining herself at her two year well check.

Saturday, April 14th:

At her party.

WEEK 16
Sunday, April 15th:

Watching some Dora before church in her new chair.

Monday, April 16th:

Bubbles.

Tuesday, April 17th:

Playing with her pal at Chick-fil-a.

Wednesday, April 18th:

We're finally getting around to taking apart BG's cradle. Yea, the one she hasn't been in since she was six weeks old. Nice. Someone had to get in there and play a bit before we could get it all apart.

Thursday, April 19th:

Signs there's a toddler in your house; scary freaking dolls show up in your bed.

Friday, April 20th:

BG and her buddies at school.

Saturday, April 21st:

Someone woke up in a foul mood yesterday. Can you tell?

i'm her mother.

Birthday post two will have to wait as I am flat out spent after the week from you know where.

How are the weeks so dang long but the years are so dang fast?? Ponder that.

BG is currently in one of my favorite stages so far. She's started adding an "ummm" to her sentences that is just about slap yourself adorable as in;

"BG, what color dress are you wearing?"

"Ummmm" (usually complete with a head tilt "umm.. blue!!".

Seriously. Kill me with the cuteness.

Then there is the "help Ella" stage which also just slays me because how can you turn a toddler request down when it's followed with a "help Ella Mommy. Peas?".

Yea. You don't. Unless you're Scrooge.

Then there's the "Mom is the great healer of the world" stage.

Quite possibly my favorite because it means I have some seriously powerful and slightly magic lips.

Any boo boo she gets? She wants a kiss from Mama to make it all better.

Dude. Just when I thought I couldn't love her one inth more, she goes and looks at me with tear soaked big eyes and a wobbly bottom lips and says "I hurt Mommmy. Kiss and better peas?"

Floor. Puddle. Me.

Because I'm her Mother. And Mom rocks. And has healing powers.

The other day she fell, hard. She was attempting to wash her baby in the sink (another story for another day) and fell off the stool she had placed under the sink (all in five seconds people. Five). I heard the crash from the other room and took off running. I found her rubbing her elbow and crying "it hurts Mommy! Hurts!".

She placed said elbow in my face and waited, waited on Mommy to work her magic. So I did.

And though I know it couldn't have helped, she stood up, wiped her eyes and when I asked "all better", she gave a wobbly nod of the head.

So because I'm her Mother, I do the making all better. And I will for as long as I can. Because these bumps and bruises? I've got this.

It's that broken heart in fifteen years that might do me in.

We'll go ahead and stop thinking about that k?

a very fairy birthday part 1:details

Months ago, I picked a "Tea for Two" theme for BG's second birthday. I was stoked about it. It was going to be awesome with fancy hats and teacups and dress up clothes.

Then I got realistic and realized it was a party for a two year old. A two year old who runs around like a banshee most of the time. And whose toddler friends would never sit still for my prim and proper tea party.

Plus, I couldn't get my heart into planning it. So I went back to the drawing board.

I really wanted to stay away from "themed" parties for a few more years, but I kept coming back to doing an Abby Cadabby themed party. After a chat with my friend Erin, I realized that I could do more of the fairy theme and a color scheme with some Abby thrown in, than a full on Abby party. Plus like Erin said, I knew my child would be thrilled to see her friend Abby at her party.

So Abby Cadabby it was.

My friend Jess designed the invites for me again this year, and just like every time she does something for me, I loved the final product. I took the picture, emailed it to her, and in no time had this pretty little piece of paper just waiting to be sent to all of BG's friends.


I scaled way down this year from years past and I'm so glad I did. Because in true M form, I waited til the last minute to do most of this stuff. Which is why day of, we ran around like crazy people finishing poms, picking up balloons, and making food. But... it all worked out. And the day was perfection.

So time for some pictures..

The table before. I started the tablecloth last year with the help of my friend Emily who had it monogrammed for me out in Oklahoma. The tradition continued this year and I think it turned out great!


Sweet tea and "fairy" pink punch.


Umm yea. She's spoiled.


Poms (made the morning of, nice), favors for the kiddos, and the birthday banner I made.


Yarn wreath I made. Y'all, that thing was time consuming like whoa. Hats off to you crafty Moms who make those things regularly.

Same shot, different angle.


Abby's Fairy "School", just some writing pads and lots of markers. We also had bubbles, a fairy "castle", and the swingset for the kiddos.


The cupcake toppers and favor tags were ordered from Party On Designs. She was so easy to work with and the items turned out perfect.




The cake was from Publix and the cupcakes from Sams. Both? beyond delicious.


We served just a bunch of "fairy" food (aka, small food) since the party was in the afternoon. My aunt made her delicious cheese spread and my Grandma's cucumber sandwiches and my Dad manned the oven for the rest of the food. They saved me in this department!


As for the birthday girl, she rocked a t-shirt made by Ashley at Pumpkin Butter Kids and a tutu I made. I made the tutu about two months ago and it's definitely looking a little worse for the wear. In fact, I caught my dog sleeping on it last week. Nice. But there was no way I was making a new one and BG loved it, so there's that. It is definitely done for after this day though.


All in all, I couldn't be more pleased with how it all turned out. Thanks so much to everyone who helped! And come back tomorrow for pictures of the birthday girl and her friends.

(almost) wordless wednesday

My kid is so much cooler than me.

Easter Weekend 2012

It's kind of hard to believe this is BG's third Easter here with us. Crazy.

Usually Easter can be pretty hectic with family and church and running around like mad, but not this year.

This year we stayed put. And we really worked on keeping it slow and simple and focused on Him like it should be.

We pulled out the Resurrection Eggs this year to start working on the real meaning of the holiday, but I think BG is still a bit young. She just wanted to open every egg every night. Sort of defeated the purpose. But I loved starting this with her.

Easter weekend was awesome. We stayed home and did things just the three of us.

On Saturday, I took BG to an egg hunt they hold here in town. Her teacher had told me that she loved the egg hunt they did at school so I was pretty stoked to see her participate in one.


There were a ton of people there. A ton. We walked through games and inflatables and food carts to find the pre-school aged hunt. There were kids all around the perimeter of the hunt just itching to get started. I gave BG a "pump up talk" and as soon as they blew the start whistle, she dove right into....

...my legs.

She was terrified of the wildebeests herd of toddlers.

But she quickly got her bearings and joined the madness.


She sort of loved it. She ran all over the place picking up those eggs and wasn't afraid at all to get in there with the bigger kids. I was pretty proud.

After a jaunt in the bounce house and a helicopter egg drop in which BG only wanted to go after discarded candy, we headed home. Overdue being as how I basically had to drag her out of the bounce house by her toes. No lie. Love a challenge.


We decided to head to Sunday evening church the next day so we had super leisurely Sunday morning. We got up, had breakfast, and then set up to dye some eggs. We had never done this with BG (I am not a mess fan), but it was pretty fun and only slightly messy. Not too shabby.


Except this girl dug out an egg dying kit from last year instead of buying a new one so the eggs barely even got a tint of color. After sitting in there for four hours. Oops. Total Mom fail. On two counts since having a kit laying around meant I skipped last year as well.

Oh well.

For some reason, the Easter Bunny didn't make it to out house that morning (ahem...), but he decided to stop by during BG's nap and leave her some surprises.


Nothing too crazy. Lots of books, some Dora bubbles, some Abby play dishes, a chocolate bunny (her Dad's contribution), and an adorable frog that I just knew she would LOVE that she promptly decided she didn't like at all. Fantastic.


She actually picked everything else out of the basket and left the frog in there. Would not even touch it. Seriously?? It's adorable!


We held another little egg hunt in the front yard after lunch so that Dad could do one with her. She quickly distinguished the difference between the eggs with candy and the eggs with money and promptly discarded the ones with money while shoveling the chocolate in her mouth with a quickness. Crazy kid.


We ended the day at church which was amazing and such a powerful message. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I am so blessed. I am so thankful.