Designing a Country Birthday Pool Party for 60.

Lord help me.

I knew I wanted a big family get together at the farm for Belle's birthday, but I honestly had no idea so many people would be able to come to the party!  Belle is so blessed with a wonderful family.  That is all there is to it.  I am blessed to have a daughter in such a wonderful family.

I already posted about Isabella's party HERE.  Now comes the "How did you do that?" Q&A.

Okay, so here comes the designing part:  Theme: Country Birthday Pool Party.  Colors:  Orange, Blue, Yellow, Purple.

I have a lot of Ball Mason Jars for canning, so I just swiped a couple packs of them from storage and they became my flower vases- fits the country theme.  I found fabric remnants at a local craft store that fit the color theme I was using, so I swiped those for next to nothing.

I tied each fabric strip around the jars to jazz them up a little bit  The jars were going in several different places- each with a different piece of fabric (not all matching, remember, no stuffy parties here!).

WALKWAY SHEPPARD'S HOOK FLOWERS::
I picked up some Sheppard's hook flower hangers for the walkway to the pool, as well as around the pool.

I tied the ribbon around the jar and replaced the rib to make it look a little more complete.

I then tied some country twine (I found it in the tool barn, but you can find it at any local craft store) around the base and then made a short loop at the top and tied it in a knot.  I tested the length for the jar to dangle and secured the knot.

All I had to do was put water and flowers in the vase and voila!  It was complete!!

BALL JAR TABLE DECORATIONS::

To carry the Ball Jar idea to the guest tables, I again tied the ribbon around the neck of the jar and secured the rim back on the jar.  Each ribbon was different, but matched the color scheme.   I placed some large, oatmeal colored pool rocks in the bottom of the jar (oatmeal is definitely a country color!).

The vegetation for the table decorations is the kicker, but I will totally let you in on it!!  :)

I walked about 30 feet to the corn field and cut 40 leaves off the corn stalks- 4 for each jar.  Yep, that's right.

I didn't pay a darn thing to decorate the guest tables.  I already had the ball jars, the pool has hundreds of the rocks I used, and the corn shucks were free.

Score. :)

FABRIC LINE PICTURE DISPLAY::

This was the hit of the party.  It was so easy to make and I just loved it.  It was unique and fit the country theme.

I had this vision of my Mamaw drying her laundry on the line and I just felt like that was 'country', you know?  I knew I wanted to some how incorporate that into the party decorations.

I knew I also wanted to display pictures of Isabella from birth to 12 months.

I had originally thought of making different picture frames for the pictures, but I just felt like that was too 'stuffy'.

One day I was working on the fabric line and I thought, "Why can't I just hang the pictures from the line and incorporate both ideas?"  Well, Sarah, you can, and it worked out great!

I purchased some light orange (creamsicle colored- yum!) ribbon to match Isabella's dress (more on that in a minute) so I used the same ribbon (Hey! It has to match right? bahaha) to tie the line from a couple of trees in front of the food tables.

It was perfect.  The guests could browse the pictures and see how Belle has grown while they are grabbing a drink or a bite to eat.

I am most proud of this decoration (along with the hanging flower vases) because while at the party a couple different family members said (yes, with a tear or two- Kleenex anyone?) that Dottie would have been so proud of the decorations and she would have done it up right, just the same way.  That made me feel so special and that I had done right by Dottie.  I really didn't want to disappoint her and the great legacy of country parties she left behind.

HOMEMADE PILLOWCASE DRESS::

So, once an idea is in my mind, all kinds of thoughts start flooding in.  I was walking through JoAnn fabric with Matt and I looked at him and said, "She needs a pillowcase dress, that's country, right??"  He just laughed and headed towards the fabric section where I get different fabrics to make cutsies for Belle.

He, yes folks, daddy picked the fabric and it was just perfect.  It said, country, party, birthday girl, and and most importantly Belle.

I made it while she took a nap that day and it turned out just right.  I sorta just eyeballed the size (I ended up with a 1/2 yard of fabric) I thought I would need and went with it.  I didn't use a pattern, just thought about what it would need (loop for the straps, arm holes- just wing it-, and finished edges) and went with it.

It turned out great, matched her party and I got a lot of nice feedback on Facebook about it.  So, if you are thinking about making a little dress for your girlie- do it- even if you aren't sure, Google a pattern (if you need specifics), YouTube a tutorial on how to make them, etc etc etc.  There are so many ways to do cute little things that don't cost much at all and you know it was made with love. :)

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to post in comments and ask.

Be Blessed.

30 Things to do Before I'm 30, Pt. 4

Quick refresher on PART 1, PART 2, & PART 3.

And here is part 4...

Focusing on enhancing my personal reading goals!

16. Read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow all over again, just because.  Visit Sleepy Hollow in October after I have read the book, just because it is beautiful.

17.  Start reading with a book club, again.  Re-prioritizing what is important (ok, I could have read 15 pages while I was reading mindless Facebook updates).

18.  Read 12 books (one per month of the year).  Be sure they are from different genres, branch out sister!

19.  Share the books I read throughout the year on the blog and with friends.  What better to do than to share one of your life's passions?

20. Read to Isabella every day.  Even if she likes reading different genres, I want her to understand why reading is so important.

Big Girl Birthday Pool Party!!!

July 16, 2011

This is a bitter-sweet post, so some of the readers might need a Kleenex box.  Fair warning.

Poppy was so excited when Matt suggested we have Isabella's big birthday party at the farm, we never thought twice about changing it.

Let me back up a little bit and give some history (perhaps those Kleenex's will come out sooner rather than later??).  Dottie was always known for her parties- birthday, pool, cookout, holiday- you name it, she had a party for it.  She did her parties up right, you know what I mean?  None of this unoriginal party planning blah blah, she was so methodical and creative (I can only hope to some day come up with some of the ideas she did!).

We haven't had a party of the Dottie caliber since she passed away (yeah, it is coming up on 2 years soon- so hard to believe it has been that long).  Bill really wanted to work on the pool, landscaping and have the party there, and I thought it would just be perfect (quick pause for a Kleenex fetch).

Pool Party Time!

Bill worked incredibly hard, along with his business partner Kris, they did more landscaping, flower pot designing and cleaning up than I ever thought possible!!  All of this, while we are trying to plant our huge garden!!  Insanity!  And totally worth it!!

You are probably wondering why we had it on a different day than her birthday.  Well, the kids (meaning Sha, Kate and TJ) were at the beach and they would miss it.  We couldn't have Belle's favorite cousins missing the biggest party in a long time, so it was solved: July 16th it is!

Katers & Belle.  She loves cousin Kate!

Big thanks to a special cousin- Kate- for playing with Belle while we set up the last minute decorations for the party!  She had a blast playing with Belle and Isabella just loved hanging out with her (her little face lit up every time Kate walked into the room!). 

The party started at 1 with food being served around 2.

Everyone arrived, had a fabulous time hanging out with Isabella, eating, swimming and just generally chillin' out.

Grill Master Flash (Andy)

We had a lot of good cookout grub- the usual, plus some specialty local and family dishes.  Everyone scarfed down the food, so I feel safe in saying that it was good! :)  Andy was our Grill Master, flipping, grilling a lean, mean beefy/swiney spread (I took everyone's word on this!).  Thanks to Andy, it was great!!!

Then, again, comes my favorite part:  The Cake!

ERRRRRRT!  Stop, halt, wait just a minute!  We can't progress forward with the eating of the cake until we do the dressing of the babe.  Okay, so basically, I had a crazy number of outfits (go big or go home, right?) for Isabella.  She started off with her regular dress- see hanging out with Kate pic, then she had the dress I made to match the party, then she had her tanktop/tutu outfit to wear while she ate her cake, plus she had the bathing suit as well as clothes for afterwards.   A girl's gotta have options,  right? Bahahahaha

Sweet Baby Birthday Girl and Mum.

Okay, now that she has her fabulous tutu on, I can continue.

about 1/3 the line of people taking pictures

Once we walked out of the house in her new outfit (tutu ensemble), I felt, for just a brief moment, like a celebrity bodyguard.  Nope, not kidding, there was a line of people taking her picture (and there I was, toting the "celeb" while the paparazzi snap their million dollar photos).  I gladly handed her to the proud host: Poppy!

Isabella again had her own smash cake, this time it was white butter cream with a big orange "1" on it.

The Dessert Spread!

The Dessert Spread:  We had large sheet cakes (from Costco- YUMMMM!) for everyone else to dig in to.  We also had chocolate sprinkle covered strawberries (feel free to ask me what time we were making these!! ;)  haha) watermelon,  and icecream sandwiches of a variety of flavors from the Creme Stop!  Yum!!!

Big Orange 1 Cake!

So, here is the fun details from Isabella's second go around at a 1st birthday cake!  Of course we have the regular tiny touch, while looking around to make sure it is okay.  Then we have more touching, along with wild arm waving, a few pieces of cake flying into the grass.  A few bites of the icing, more smooshing of the cake, followed by oodles of fun!  She was even so dainty as to eat her cake with a fork! 

big bite of sugary goodness.

fork eating.

Clothes Update:  She did get a little icing on her tutu (maybe 5 dots) and a little on her shoulder (don't ask me how).  She had two flecks in her hair (I laughed at this) and the usual icing ring around her mouth and a load on her hand.

Matt and I had a great time encouraging and helping her eat the yummy cake again!  :)

After food, guess what is next.  Yep, you got it: a dip in the pool!

This is one of my favorites. <3

The plan was to let Aunt Meggie and Kate take Belle into the pool, with Matt and I watching and cheering from the side, however, Isabella had other plans.  She whimpered a little as Kate took her in and just squeeled once she got her toes in the water.  Not good.  Mum and Dad had to get their suits quick and hop in- outcome: Happy Isabella.  She smiled and giggled as soon as I got her (I am usually the one holding her in the pool- her comfort zone I guess!)

She played around with Olivia in the pool for a while and splashed, having a good time.  A bunch of the others were in and out all afternoon- it was perfect weather for a swim and a nap (just ask Zack!). :)

After she finished taking a dip with Olivia, it was time to open presents.  Isabella was sweet and told Olivia to come and sit with her (Olivia is a little over 2 years old).  They had a blast, opening presents, playing with the toys, then Olivia was very into reading all the cards- TOO CUTE!

Excited about a present!

Isabella was very blessed with some super cool toys (she loves them all- most of the time she bounces from toy to toy, equally playing with them- like she can't quite decide on a favorite), good books to read- I am very excited about this-, along with a children's book from Spain and her fun red beret from Pamplona, Spain (Thanks Linn!!!).  Notice she is wearing the hat??  She wore it the whole time she opened presents.  Cool. Did I mention this is my fashionable child?? ;)

She likes eating cake, so she eats the fake cake.

Bill, Ryan, TJ and Bill.  Playing Serious Horsehoes.

Isabella was a doll.  She spent time with each of her new gifts.  Inspecting, looking over, pushing buttons.  I liked that she was thoughtful with each toy, rather than throwing it to the side and ripping on to the next one.  She gave most of the toys to Olivia as soon as she was finished looking at them, so that they both could play with their new found goodies!  :)

After she finished opening her presents, everyone just relaxed, playing horseshoes (a heated game ensued for most of the day!), making s'mores,  and just enjoying the time with friends and family.  As for the horseshoe came, I believe Bill and TJ came out on top, but Kate, Ryan and Dennis sure gave them a run for their money a couple of times!!

Folks started packing up their things and saying their goodbyes (you have to start this about 30 minutes before you want to really leave with our family- it's big!) around 7.

<3 her.

Shortly before this (maybe 5:30ish) Isabella could hold on no longer.  Yep, that's right folks, she went without a nap (bless her heart, it wasn't without many people trying to get her to take a nap!) until 5:30 in the afternoon.  She finally crashed while Aunt Meggie was holding her (and chatting with everyone).  It was the sweetest thing!  If you look close, you can see a drool blob on Meggie's shirt!  bahahaha love her!

I am still in shock that we had so many people (60- yikes!) to the farm for Isabella's party- we are so blessed.  I am thankful Isabella had such a great time with everyone and that they enjoyed her bubbly company.  I am also thankful that she was able to brighten up a bitter-sweet day. :)

Thank you Isabella for making your own party such a joy- and thank you everyone that attended the party- you made it unforgettable for us all!

Here's to new beginnings.

Be Blessed.

The Big Cuke Dip.

July 21- 24, 2011

Our first adventure with canning this year: Pickles and Banana Peppers.

This story is not complete without starting it off with the quick run to the Wal-Mart (boo hiss). I am sure you can only image what comes of a quick, after 6pm run to this fine establishment (wipe the sarcasm from your screen now).

Well, let me give you a quick run down on what went down at Wal-Mart.  Found some Ball canning jars in various sizes, no problem.  Hopes arise.  Wander aimlessly throughout toys, sporting goods, and hardware looking for ONE Wal-Mart employee to check about a bucket (we needed another one).  No luck.  Dashed hopes and dreams that Wal-Mart MIGHT not be that bad.  Continue walking on to Electronics and find a manager- only to have him continue to walk away, sending a team member over to help instead.  What a winner.  Outcome after 15 minutes...no buckets, even though they had 10 on-hand.  We were told "they are probably in a bin in the back, not scanned."  Such an honorable answer.

Stopped at Home Depot: bucket and lid found without issue.  Home Depot saved my retail beliefs.

By this time it is ridiculously past Isabella's bedtime- Thanks Wal-Mart.  We feed her a little more and off to bed she goes.

Breath.

Can you tell he is excited?

Spread out all of the loot from the garden today (pickin' in the 100+ heat is for the birds.  Heck, the aforementioned birds weren't even around).  Decide to get started at 10, guess it is better than 11, right?

Cuke Lime Bath

35 minutes later, Matt and I are finished cutting the cucumbers.  Splish, splash, they are taking a Lime Bath!

We are letting the cukes bask in the lime glory all night, then rinse them off 3 times (yep, the recipe says 3) and will begin working up the recipe from the back Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime (hey, it's worth a shot, right?  We have plenty more in the garden if this doesn't taste good!)

Not opaque, as one would expect.

July 22, 2011

Okay, now the Cukes are taking a spicey bath.  Yum.  They smell like fall, oddly enough.  I like the smell of fall.

They can soak in this bath from 5 hours to overnight.  I am doing overnight- all that spicey goodness needs to be soaked up by those lovely Cukes.

July 23-24, 2011

Makin' Progress.

Okay, so I am kinda over the long process.  I like results, and yes, I will admit two things here: 1.  The pickling process is easy and 2.  I can see results each time I open the bucket.

Now comes the fun part.  Cooking the pickles in their spicey bath and really canning them (in the boiling water canner).  Hopefully this will prove to be free entertainment for both Matt and me.

I have determined, as I freakishly organize all of my pots and pans that I need BIGGER pots to accomplish this in a much more time efficient way.  Note:  insert catchy phrase, such as GO BIG OR GO HOME.  Yep, with canning I have figured you need to go big or go home with your cooking pots.  I already have the big boiling water canner and the pressure cooker.  I am talking the prep pots.

You need a pot for the flat lids, and the food you are cooking, and the "heat the jars" pot, and the canner itself, and the blah, blah blah blah,....okay you get the point.  All stove eyes are accounted for in a process like this.

The other thing about canning with smaller pots is how many times you have to do the same process.  For instance, on the pickles, I will have to do the same process 5 times to can up the 5 gallon bucket of pickles we made.

Here is what the process looks like for the pickles we made:
Cook pickles in syrup for 35 minutes
While cooking pickles, warm the jars-- only problem: I can only fit 4 pint jars in a pot (not a lot when you think about a 5 gallon bucket...)
Pack each jar with the pickles, seal and set next to canner
Accumulate 3 jars (all my particular canning basket holds) and put in canner.  Process for 10 minutes and remove.

So you see....as this process continues, each round averages about an hour, by the time you cook the pickles, pack the jars, warm more jars, can the jars, blah, blah, blah....this is about the time my attention span says, "Ciao, dahlin" and I am ready to go do something else.

I rest my case.  Everyone thinking about canning should have big pots to do this process with, or please, for the love of all things canned, share your small pot secret with me so I don't have to repeatedly gouge my eyes out with Isabella's baby spoon while waiting on the process to start over again.

Okay, yeah, that was harsh.  Sorry folks, sometimes things get a little funny around our house- we had quite the chuckle at the thought of someone actually doing that to themselves, all over canning pickles.  bahahaha okay, laughing again.  Maybe it is the fact we are still canning at 2:45 in the morning?  I don't know, you decide.

Little Banana Pepper Batch

Once we finished the pickles, we did a batch of banana peppers.  yum.

The banana pepper batch yielded 10 jars.

The pickle batch yielded 22 jars. 

We will officially be eating pickles until our bodies shrivel up like a pickle.  If, by chance, World War III were to erupt, have no fear, we have plenty of rations for friends and family.  We will survive by golly.

Okay, funnies aside, here is our end result.  Not bad for one round from the fruits of our labor! :)

Jars, Jars and more Jars

If you need free entertainment, just come to our house and watch us can- loads of laughs, guaranteed.

Be Blessed.

A Year of Belle

Now that Isabella is a year old and all the parties are over, here is a sneak at the photograph decoration I made to show her growth over the last year.  You can see a full picture of it on the post about her big party (coming up soon).  These are the pictures I used, month-by-month.

Enjoy.

30 Things to do Before I'm 30, pt.3

You have already seen part 1 and 2, if not, go HERE and HERE and read 'em!

Here is part three.

These are all local to my home.  I purposefully chose these to prove that where I live IS enough. :)

11.  Visit Gettysburg, again.  Not to just see the sites, or to be able to say, "Ive been there", but to feel the spirit of our Nation and what makes this such a special place.  I also want to view it from a woman's perspective (hopefully I can find a historical piece of writing to sustain this!).

12.  Visit Zoo America.  The zoo is next to Hershey Park, thus living in the shadow of the giant.  I was here once before with Matt, but it was kinda chilly then and we didn't spend a lot of time there.  I would like to learn more about the species housed at the Zoo. 

13.  Visit the Capital.  President Theodore Roosevelt called the capital "The most handsomest build I ever saw!" and for good reason.  Take it all in, from the "handsomest" perspective. 

14.  Attend a Harrisburg Senators' game.  They are a minor league team that is pretty darn good- the likes of Strasburg & Bryce Harper.

15. Shakespeare in the Park.  A free festival, celebrating the obvious, including free showings of the year's play.  This year it is: All's Well That Ends Well.

Happy Birthday Isabella!

July 8, 2011

On Isabella's birthday we had some family over for a nice cookout at our house and to reveal our completed basement (yes, there were scissors and ribbon involved).  Here are a few pictures from her birthday.

Aunt Meggie, Uncle Billy Bob,  Poppy and cousins Kate, Sha and TJ came over to celebrate Belle's birthday.

Our neighbors: Cameron, Dylan and Ben came over and brought what they considered "the perfect present for Isabella."  Little did we know how right they were, lesson learned.  Kids know best.

The boys brought her a balloon.  Their thought?  They would bring her a balloon for every year she is old on her birthday (1 for 1, 2 for 2, etc).  How thoughtful is that??

For the rest of the night that balloon was attached to her.  She never let it go.  Crawled all over the house, dragging the best birthday present around with her.

The sweet little guys were 100% right. :)

After munching away on burgers, hotdogs, veggie burgers, and salad, it was time for....yep, you guessed it: cake.

Now, I will pause and say how excited I was about this point- the cakes were from Schenk's on N. Mountain Rd...and, yes, they had strawberries and butter cream icing.  Squeee!  I actually thought about skipping the real food and heading right to the cake, but I held myself back.

Isabella wasn't sure what to think about all of these lovely folks singing happy birthday to her (notice I didn't say singing on key), I believe it was a little overwhelming.  She did reach for us to sit it down by the end of the song (insert thoughts of which name did we sing to, heck we sang them all, which made it even funnier - Belle, Bella, Izzy, and Isabella).  I am convinced she thought we were crazy- yes, Isabella, your family is crazy and loves you tons and tons.  Don't worry, you will have plenty more embarrassing moments as you grow up with us!!  We are not quiet, shy folks.

She had her own smash cake to do whatever her little heart pleased, while the rest of us munched on our own strawberry cake!  I highly recommend doing it this way.

She very carefully touched the top of the cake, looked at Mum, looked at Dad, looked at the cake, and touched it again, very carefully.

This continued for 3 or 4 more times, then Aunt Meggie walks by and what does Belle do?  She throws her arm at Meg and grunt, grunt, grunts.  We quickly realized that she wanted Meg to wash her hand off- please GET that icing OFF!  bahaha

Of course Meggie did exactly as Belle directed her and once again she was off to touch the cake again, now that she had a clean hand.  This continued a couple times, Matt and I stepped in and fed her a few bites so she could taste it, and by the end she was just tired of playing in cake.

Just in case you weren't convinced we were crazy...

Cothes report:  Not a drop of icing on her dress anywhere, including the black from the polka dots.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have a princess on our hands! :)

Now that she is super hyped-up on a sugar high, we moved on to presents.  She wanted to tear the paper off the presents, but the balloon (remember that perfect present??) was a hindrance.  She still surged on like a trooper, bouncing up and down, crawling around and squealing, while Aunt Meggie helped open the presents. :)

She was blessed with an awesome porch swing from Poppy, some adorable clothes from Baby Gap (guess who these are from!!), a bouncy ball, Mrs. Potato Head, and an awesome musical card from Poppy.

Notice, Poppy went all out! :)  He is a good Poppy to Belle.

 

She had a lot of fun opening her presents, but did get a little bored with opening them (it took too long to get the present out of the package), so off she went to play with Paisley and her balloon while Aunt Meggie worked extra hard getting the presents out of their packages!

I guess Belle is collecting her "people" to do things for her, just like her Poppy!  ;)

She played and played until she wore herself out.  Not too tired to Skype with her Nana though!!  I asked her if she wanted to talk to Nana and she instantly perked up.

She had a quick Skype session with Nana, to wish her happy birthday, but by then the sugar high was turning to to a sugar crash and burn.  She couldn't talk to Nana for rubbing her eyes, so we signed off.

She crashed about 5 minutes (just long enough to change a diaper and put on some jams) later.

Isabella had a fabulous birthday and enjoyed hanging out with her family!!

Coming soon: a post about her big birthday party.

Be Blessed.

Isabella's 12 Months!

Here are some of the stats from her recent well-baby check-up for 12 months!!  By the way, I cannot believe she is already a year old.  :)  She is a sweet little girl, and that is all there is to it!

Getting measured!

Height: 17 3/4 inches (71 percentile)
Weight: 18.13 pounds (14 percentile)
Head Circumference: 29 3/4 CM (50 percentile)

All of the measurements are following her graph nicely, so I am not going to worry about a skinny tot.  It is what it is, and she eats, so all is good.

Who needs a Band-Aid?

She did have to get two shots, but did really well.  Cried a little for the first one, not at all for the second (probably because it was already numb from the first).  She stopped quick, and waved "Bye" to the nurse as she left, 2 minutes later she is picking the Band-Aid off her leg!

I received a lot of positive feedback from including things about her life, so here are a few more. :)

How long is her hair?
LONG.  She pretty much has to wear it up all the time, or else it hangs down to her mouth.  Yes, I know you are dying to ask, I have caught her trying to eat her hair, since it dangles to her mouth, I suppose that makes it quite tempting.  Yes, to answer your next question, she had a lot of bows, and she has lost a few, usually to her tossing them to Pugsley without us noticing! ;)  He thinks that makes them a chew toy.

What does she eat?
 Pretty much everything at the table, as long as it is soft, and doesn't present a choking hazard.  Her favorites (i.e. we get a big "YUM" when she eats them) are quinoa, black beans, brown rice, Tilapia, chicken, Cheerios, cheese, Mamaw's blueberry yum-yum and cake (these are two very recent newly acquired favorites, after her birthday parties- go figure!). We are starting to see our own favorite foods come out in the favorites she really likes to eat.  How cool is that?  It makes my heart smile.

What does she say?
Mum
Dad
Yum
Yay
Answers questions/recognizes things - i.e. Q: "How does Pugsley go?"  A: "Ahhoooo."
Claps her hands on command (without a visual)
Waves "Hi" and "Bye" and says each appropriately (old news, but still sweet)

Is she walking?
Not officially.  She obviously walks assisted, runs around in a walker, and can stand for a really long time, but hasn't walked on prompt for us yet.  It's cool, I am glad she is going at her own pace, rather than ours. :)  I have a feeling once she starts walking we will be getting a lot of exercise running around the house chasing her!

How long is she sleeping?
She goes down around 6:30-7.  We try to keep her up a little later, since it is summer time, but she just keeps rubbing and rubbing her eyes.  She normally gets up at 9 the next morning.  I know I have been blessed with a sleeper and I am very thankful for that.  Each child is different, so I am sure if we ever had another he or she would NOT sleep so well. :)

Naptime?
Yep, she takes them, like a champ.  She has taken herself down to 1 nap a day (I am not worried about it because she sleeps so long at night- play hard, sleep hard).  Usually she goes down around 12-1 and sleeps for about an hour and a half.

What does she "like"?

Love my swing from Poppy!

She has started recognizing VeggieTales songs (we sing them to her if she gets sleepy in the car).  She got a little Larry the Cucumber for her birthday and her eyes were WIDE with excitement, so she is pretty much hooked. :)  She also likes to sit and read a book- this melts my heart, of course.  Her Poppy got her a swing to go on our deck for her birthday and she very much enjoys swinging on it!  Swimming is the new thing.  She loves it, but only if Mum takes her in!  I can pass her off after I have taken her in, but not before.  Cute. 

Check back soon, I will be posting about each of her parties, so you can see the princess in action!  I must say, laid-back princess is a good way to describe it! :)

Be Blessed.

Pink Lemonade Pie

Yum.

This is a ridiculously quick and easy recipe- perfect for those hot, dog days of summer!  It is the perfect cross between sweet and tang, yum!

Thanks to my great gal pal Jenny for introducing me to this delicious pie, right in the midst of my pregnancy.  You sure know what a pregnant gal needs! ;)

I modified the recipe just a tad, so here is what I came up with and use now!

Enjoy.

Pink Lemonade Pie
Serves: 6-8

1 Keebler Graham Cracker Crust (you could use any brand or make your own, this one works and tastes best to me)
1 8oz. tub of Cool Whip, thawed
1 packet of Pink Lemonade Kool-Aid
1/2 can Eagle Brand Sweet Condensed Milk

Combine Kool-Aid packet and sweet condensed milk in large mixing bowl.  Stir until completely mixed.  Add Cool Whip and stir until completed mixed together.
Pour mixture into graham cracker pie crust and smooth out.  Cover and place into freezer until hardened.

Remove from freezer about 30 minutes before serving for the perfect soft serving consistency!

Be Blessed.

An Accomplishment.

This basement has been a long time coming, and I am so pumped to share Matt's accomplishment!!!  He did a bang-up job and I am SO proud of him!  I would shout it from the highest mountain.  Great. Awesome. Fantastic.  But, everyone already knew that about him. :)  No really, I am very proud that he is such a hard working man, and that no matter how long it takes, the project will be done 100% correct and with a smile on his face (perhaps except with the bookcases temporarily, read about that HERE).  I am so glad we didn't rush through this, take the easy way out, or let people talk us into "what everyone else does in a basement."  That ain't us and I am darn proud it isn't!

Here are some of my favorite details from this project.

Enjoy.

Be Blessed.