A Simple Circus Birthday

As promised, here are the more detailed photos of my son's 2nd birthday last week!

I tried to keep things fairly simple by using basic streamers and balloons for decoration. I also minimized the "treat table" to just cake, popcorn, and soda. I realize I could have done much more...but he is only 2 and I wanted to spend the majority of the day with him, instead of preparing party extras. (I'll save the more extravagant stuff for when he's older :) 

I baked and decorated the cake the night before (something I would highly suggest doing for any party) while my husband hung most of the streamers. I'ts been a little while since I've stayed up late working on projects, and I must say it was a little more challenging then usual...being 7 months pregnant and all! 

It was fairly difficult decision to make, but I'm glad I went with a colorful "Circus Party" theme!

Don't worry, tutorials for the streamer loop, circus tent cake, and carmel puff-corn are on there way, so stay tuned! 

A Valentine's Day at Home

Last year, my husband and I decided to celebrate Valentines Day at home!

We don't have many favorite restaurants in town, and our baby boy went to bed around 7:00pm. So, instead of paying for a babysitter and going out to a somewhat decent/overcrowded restaurant, I put together a homemade Valentines dinner and dessert.

Here are some highlights of the evening. Feel free to use any ideas for your own at home celebrations...

1 & 2 - Free Valentine's printable's courtesy of Martha Stewart.
Find the wine label HERE and the "Be Mine" spin wheel HERE

3 - For the rest of the table decor, I gathered up all of the fun/cheesy Valentines decorations I already owned. One of the apothecary jars is filled with paper hearts and pink streamers, the other is filled with carmel Hershey's Kisses!

1 - I made one of our favorite desserts...a white cake with strawberry and cream cheese topping. To make the dessert a little more special and festive, I made mini heart shaped cakes and layered the toppings in between (recipe to come next week!)

2 - I also made THIS delicious soup with homemade bread on the side (one of our all-time favorite meals).

To keep things on the inexpensive side, my husband and I gave each other a budget of $20 for gifts...it was a little challenging but here are some of the gift ideas we came up with...

1. Mini photo book of our favorite family photos. I purchased the book at Target, for around $4, then I cut and sewed on my own felt heart embellishment when I got home.

2. Potted flowers instead of a bouquet of roses, I believe these are Azalea's. They are much less expensive, just as pretty, and will last much longer!

3. Thrifted/vintage frame with personalized pictures. Find my tutorial on how to personalize it HERE.

4. Mini loaf of homemade banana bread with a love note attached...I gave this to my husband in the morning so he could have something special to start his day!

Happy Friday

My baby turned 2 yesterday and we had tons of fun celebrating! I made him a little birthday crown the night before and he apparently thought it was pretty cool because he kept it on All Day! My little guy has been a tad behind on talking, but yesterday we heard a whole lot of "YAY's" and "WOW's"! 

Just wanted to give you a sneak peak of all the birthday festivities...more to come next week!

Hope you enjoy your weekend

Vertical Heart Garland

I don't have much in my collection when it comes to Valentines decor, but last year I was able to put together this fun heart garland. It was very inexpensive and took hardly any time at all to make!

Here are the basic steps for making this Heart Garland...

Materials: "Valentine-ish" paper, thick yarn or twine, and scissors.

Instructions: Cut hearts into various sizes. Make 2 small slits in the center of each heart. Run a long strand of yarn through the slits of each heart (each of my stands has about 10 hearts). Hang in desired location!

*The thickness and roughness of twine, plus the small slit size, makes the hearts stay in place without glue or tape :)

Progress

So, I'm still working on organizing my house and last week I tackled what I like to call "the room of death." Which is a room that is basically the result of having no garage or outside storage space plus one to many hobbies!

I call it the "room of death" because it is always a BIG unorganized mess, to the point where I usually just shut the door and pretend it's not there.

Actually, I'm a little embarrassed to even show you these photos but I am glad to say that I made some good organizational progress and last week the room went from a catastrophe, to a somewhat functional space...

I know it's not as pretty as some of the ideas I posted about last week. I would like to do more, but as of right now, we aren't sure how much longer we will be living in this home so I don't want to put too much money and time into it :) 

We also just about finished the kids activity table that we have been working on for our son's 2nd birthday...

I am so happy with how it turned out! Now, I just need to get it painted and then put on a nice thick protective clear coat...I should have a tutorial ready sometime next week! 

Happy Friday!

CHOCOLATE has been on my mind lately. I've been having some pretty major pregnancy cravings for anything sweet and chocolate seems to be the one thing that never disappoints. 

Wouldn't it be nice if I craved carrots and celery instead? Well yes, but...then I wouldn't be able to try one of these wonderful homemade hot cocoa recipes and life would just be too boring.

 1-Traditional Hot Cocoa  2-Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate  3-Mexican Hot Cocoa

Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

photo credit: large left-hand photo, via

Circus Party Inspiration

I've been trying to think of a theme for my son's 2nd birthday party next week. It really shouldn't be that hard of a decision seeing as all he is really going to care about is eating the cake and opening presents, right?!

But, I figured since I already bought THIS Ikea circus tent as one of his gifts...I could use it as inspiration and incorporate it into a circus themed birthday party!

We aren't planning on doing anything huge, but I thought it would be fun to at least have some inexpensive decor in bright circus colors, and of course a circus themed cake.

I just finished browsing Pintrest for some party ideas...a big thanks to all the creative people out there that make party planning so much easier!

Image Sources: 1 2 3 4

Happy Bird-day Cake!

My Mom's Birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I am so glad I got to spend it with her! My siblings and I prepared a roast dinner and of course I was in charge of the cake! (ok maybe I put myself in charge of it :)

The cake was actually more difficult to create then what meets the eye...

My Mom's first name is Robin and she has a thing for robin birds so I thought that would be a fun theme to go with. She has had this Cricut Cake Cutter in the garage for a couple of years now so my siblings and I decided to pull it out and make all of the bird and tree pieces with fondant.

Apparently the cutter doesn't work so well with homemade fondant because every time we tried to cut a shape the machine would sort of eat up the fondant. We did manage to make a few of the smaller birds using the cutter but if you look closely, you can see how jagged the edges are. In the end, I cut most of the fondant pieces by hand and I think it turned out just fine.

If anyone has ever used the Cricut Cake Cutter before, let me know if you have any suggestions :)

Getting Organized

last week, I walked into my house after a month long trip home and couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.

I started to unpack, and realized how much "stuff" our little family has accumulated over the years. As I opened more closets and drawers it dawned on me that it's time get organized. I only have 2 more months to go until baby #2 arrives and I would love to have our home in mint condition before she gets here! (ok mint condition may not happen, but I could get close to it).

Organizing a whole house can be an overwhelming task. So, I have decided to take things 1 room at a time. I am getting rid of anything that we can do without and then organizing the things that we want to keep.

Our current home doesn't have a lot of closet/storage space but I figured I can make the most of what I do have if they are organized well.

Here are a few inspirational photos I've found of creative ways to organize closet spaces (thanks to BHG)...

I don't know about you, but de-cluttering and organizing my home makes me feel great. In fact, the other night I was talking with my husband about how "organizing my house cleanses my soul" ... I was totally joking, but then again it's totally true. 

So far, I have tackled 1 room and am anxious to get started on the rest! 

What are some ways you stay organized? and how do you decide what to get rid of?

Swing Inspiration

My little guys 2nd birthday is coming up in just 2 weeks so I've been trying to decide what type of birthday presents to get him. I already purchased this rad circus tent from Ikea but thought it would be fun to get him a few more 'entertaining' gifts since we probably won't be venturing out of the house much after baby #2 is born.

My husband is feeling confident that we can make him a swing similar to this one...

Source

We probably won't be able to hang it in the house, but one great thing about living in NM during the winter is that the weather is typically nice enough to go outdoors, as long as you bundle up!

So, we might be a little too ambitious about this project, but I'm excited to give it a try.

Wish us luck! 

My Baby Shower

Last week my older sister threw me an incredible baby shower! She found a few ideas from Pintrest, like the "Ready To Pop" theme and made sure to include a variety of "Pop" treats like Pop corn, blow Pops, soda Pop, and Pop rocks candy!

Here are a few photos from the shower... (please excuse the poor photo quality, they were all taken after dark).

Like I mentioned before, I was able to make the cake (yes, for my own party :) I was pleased with the way it turned out, especially considering that it took me hours to bake (my mom only had 1 cake pan and I needed 3 layers) and the morning of the party, I re-frosted the whole thing because I was disappointed with the original bright pink icing color. I have now learned to add food coloring VERY slowly! 

*A BIG thanks to... my sister for throwing the party, my mom for hosting yet another giant get-together at her home, and to my younger brother for being a pro with the Cricut, he made the sign and the pop-corn boxes! 

As Big as a House + Bangs

I am now about 30 weeks pregnant and I literally feel "As Big as a House!"

I just tried on a few shirts that I wore only a week or so ago and I can't even button them (apparently I am growing at a rapid rate!). But I can't blame it all on the baby. I'll be honest, I have put on more then my fair share of pregnancy poundage thanks to all the yummy holiday food that seem to never disappear. It's so hard for me to say no to sweets when I'm not trying to fit into my favortie jeans.

But, besides feeling like a giant, (+ a few other ailments) things are going pretty well! I am still sleeping alright at night, and have been having a blast spending time with my family. I leave to go back to NM this morning, and am excited to see my husband who flew back a week earlier then me... to do that silly thing called work :)

I did end up getting my hair cut a couple of weeks ago and I was actually brave enough to get bangs! It's fun having a new hair style, and I definitely feel different with them but they have taken a little time to get use too! I keep wanting to push them to the side, or just pin them up because I feel weird having hair lay on my forehead :) But my husband says he likes them, so I guess they will stay for a while!

Happy Friday!

My wonderful sister threw me a fantastic baby shower last night! My mom's birthday also happened to be the night of the shower so I was able to make 2 cakes, one for the birthday and one for the shower! (I know it's a little weird to make a cake for your own baby shower, but my sister actually just had her 2nd baby girl last week so she needed some extra help :)

It's been a long time since I've made a layered cake, so I had to refer back to some of my old cake building tutorials!

A big thanks to everyone who came to the shower and for all the yummy food and gifts!

Hope you have a great weekend...look forward to some fun cake and shower photos next week!

Simple Rustic Wall Art

Surprise surprise, my husband has yet again created an awesome piece of wall art for our living room!

I've always envied his ability to make such eye catching yet simplistic art and he never spends more then an hour or two making it.

This specific piece was painted using black and white acrylic paint on a plain white canvas. He first outlined the basic shape of the wood in pencil, and then painted over it using a very thin brush. He worked his way from outside to inside and slightly varied the distance between each tree ring.

After each tree ring was painted and dried, he used white paint and added a little detailing to make the wood piece look more realistic.

Unfortunately (or fortunately :) we still have a lot of empty wall space to fill, but I'm excited to add this to our slowly growing art collection!

How much will you spend on baby clothes?

I am now 28 weeks pregnant and am excited to say that I finally purchased my first baby girl dress!

This is actually the one any only clothing item I have purchased for my soon to be baby girl thus far. Mainly because I have a hard time finding clothes I like and I have even more difficulty spending money on clothes that could be ruined in a second (by a killer diaper explosion) or become too small in a matter of months.

With my first, I mostly bought clothes second hand, or on sale from target or old navy. I made a couple more expensive purchases on little sweaters from Baby Gap, but I sort of felt like they were a waste of money because my little guy outgrew them within a month or two.

How do you decide what to spend money on when it comes to baby clothes?

Happy New Years!

Every year, the New Year seems to sneak up on me and I never quite get around to making the fun party favors and decorations I had planned. So, this year, I found a few "last minuet" party ideas that are simple to make and require little supplies...

Find more info here... 1 2 3 4 5 

My family has a few fun New Years traditions that I have really looking forward to including a White Elephant gift exchange and Christmas stocking re-fills on New Years morning!

Do you have any New Years traditions?

Have a fun and safe weekend!

Family Photos

Family time means lots and LOTS of photos...which isn't always the most pleasant activity.

This Christmas Eve, my family attempted to do a little photo-shoot and it was anything but easy. We had 2 squirming toddlers and no one to actually take the photo, so we had to do the whole tri-pod timer thing!

Out of the 20+ photos taken, this was my favorite! (we did manage to get at least one where everyone was looking at the camera, but this one shows a "real life" shot...so much funner then a posed picture :)

I am still on Holiday and have been taking some time away from the computer (and I must admit it has been  refreshing). I plan to be back to my normal blogging self soon, so please excuse my infrequent posts while I spend time with family.

Happy Friday

I love spending Christmas is Washington. Everything is perfect but the one thing that would make it more perfect is SNOW! After seeing this photo I thought about how much fun our little guy would have if it snowed this Christmas. I know it will most likely rain instead but we will have a great time either way. I hope you all have an amazing Christmas weekend.

Photo Credit

Peanut Butter Balls

Peanut Butter balls are one of my favorite Christmas treats! I love the slightly crisp chocolate outside mixed with the creamy peanut butter filling...Yum!

Apparently I'm not the only one with a love for peanut butter and chocolate...I made these the other night for a holiday dinner and they were gone before I could even finish my main course (luckily I saved a few and left them at home, just in case :)

These little treats are really quite simple to make, they just take a little extra time to roll out and dip. Get the recipe and tutorial by clicking below...