That's My BOY!

Every night

Before bed

Logan lays his clothes

out for the next day.

Just as if he were wearing them.

Although I was DEFINITELY not like that at his age

I am now.

What a funny little guy!!

Pickles & Ice Cream Shower

Last weekend we had a fabulous shower

for a dear friend

Carol.

She's adding a new baby girl to our mix!

Baby Macy

{love that name}

Me & the girls brainstormed ideas for the shower.

First it was just gonna be an

Ice Cream Sundae Shower

Then We thought

Pickles & Ice Cream!

Brilliant!

Above is the adorable invite *ahemthatimadeahem*

Below is probably my favorite thing from the shower!

I designed these little onesies on the computer and printed them on

Iron On transfer paper

Iron them on, hang by cutsie ribbon & voila!

A cute decoration AND she can actually use them!

Close up of my favositest little onesie for my favoritest new little girl!

The Sundae Buffet in all it's glory.

Mmmmmm I'm getting hungry just looking at it!

In the back you can see the Sundae Glasses.

We gave those out as favors *they're from the Dollar Tree*

and attached a cute little saying to the bottom

with adorable ribbon of course.

In the very back is a hand painted canvas *by the oh so talented Julie*

that we all signed and wrote well wishes on.

Just wanted to make sure I made you good and hungry...

Here's where the pickles come in.

Jamie brought her mother's homemade pickles to go with the cravings above!

Really, who doesn't like pickles!?

Pink Carnations stuffed in ice cream cones.

Another hand painted canvas by the talented Julie.

Seriously, she needs to go into business doing this stuff!

If she had a blog I'd totally link to her.

I've got her working on something for my bedroom as we speak!

Had to throw in a shot of this adorable little gal and her mama!

I love a good chunk baby and she fits the bill.

Group Shot
Can't wait to meet you Baby Macy!!
Brynn has lots planned for the 2 of you.

Dear Blog,

I'm Oh So Sorry I've been neglecting you!

I haven't been just loungin' around twiddlin' my thumbs though.

Promise.

I wouldn't do that to you!

I've been

Working

Taking Care of nephews PLUS my own 2

Spring Breakin' it

Plannin' an UBER-Cute baby shower that I'll show you all the details from soon

Plannin' a 9 Year Old's Birthday Party

Attempting (unsuccessfully) to plan my OWN brithday soiree...

Dirty 30's here I come

But

Most importantly

I've been workin'

HARD

on my very own

PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE!!

That's right!

You heard it here first.

Well, maybe not really first but whatevs

Wanna see it?

You knoooooow you do!

OK! OK! Calm down! Here it is

Just click the image below with that beautiful little girl:

Now That You're 2...What Can You Do?

Talk like nobody's business. You repeat the last word or two of everything I say!

"Brynn, you're supposed to poop on the potty!"

"Poooop on Potttty"

Recognize letters and either start saying, "A, B, C..." or "wettters"

Same with numbers. You count to 5 if I say it along with you but at 6 you always say 7!

Recognize and can name animals, as well as, the sounds they make.

LOVE being outside. If the door is left ajar you are out in a flash!

Running at lightning speed saying FAST as you go.

Greet everyone you meet with a HI and a grin.

Love storytime and talk about it every morning.

Sing:

I Wub Ewe

Happy Burday toooo CAKE

Itsy Spiiiiiider

Remember places we pass when we're driving in the car.

Ex: Everytime we pass the bank with the water fountain that turns to ice in the winter you say

ICE! MOMMY ICE!!

Fun Facts:

We say, "Be Sweet!"

You...tilt head to rest on your shoulder and give sheepish grin.

You have a super awesome fake laugh!

The Mema Walk. Nuff said.

Milk is a necessity in the morning. You chug it like you're an old sailor at the end of a hard day.

You & Logan are oh so fond of each other and play well together (for the most part). To send him off to school in the morning you wave, say baaayyaaa & blow kisses. Then you yell BOBO!

And tear up.

Oh, you've got the *sad face* down pat. I've never seen a lip so far out and eyes so pitiful before in my life! Me & your dad try to avert your attention and then secretly laugh to ourselves. It's so darn cute and I'm pretty sure you know it.

You love to wear

Our shoes. Your puuuse. Necklaces.

Anything girly.

Barney, Kai-Lan, Yo Gabba Gabba & The Wiggles are your faves.

I ask how old you are and you say

I 2! And hold up your 2 pointer fingers.

Your the Best Baby Girl I could ever ask for!

Being 2 suits you.

Me & My Boobs

There. I said it.

Boobs.

We go everywhere together.

Like 2 Peas in a Pod.

I've become quite found of them and them of me. It's part of what makes me a girl.

What if, one day, they were gone!?

Replaced by fake chicken cutlet thingys!

Smooshy, little, gel-like thingys.

Oh the Horror!

Even worse, what if Just One was gone!?

Then there'd be the one real and the one fake.

Always one feeling inferior to the other.

How strange would THAT be!

It's a reality I'd rather not face but, one I'm destined to deal with.

The fact is, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at around 36!

HOLY COW!!!

That's just a few short years from now!

Logan would be 14 *gasp* & Brynn would be 8!

And Josh 39. Just on the cusp of 40.

So many years ahead of them that they'll need me for.

They may not admit it but they'll need me.

I'll have words of wisdom and inspiration for them and I'll always be their biggest fan!

There through the good and the bad and I Want It All!

Every Stinkin' Minute Of It!

So I'm taking steps.

Precautionary measures to find tell-tale sings that might signal a problem.

When I first mentioned something to my GYNO about wanting to get started with mammograms she sent me to a Dr. Woman.

Upon first meeting she was shocked at my age. Said they'd never had someone as young as me come in. Then she used the word HIGH-RISK over & over again.

I kinda wore the title like a badge of honor while in her care. We questioned whether or not insurance would cover certain things and she'd say,

"Well I really think it's important and I'll appeal it if they don't. I'll write off your office visits if you're not covered cause I wanna follow you."

In some weird way, that kinda made me feel special.

Her first recommendation was BRCA (sounded out like Braca).

A genteic test that shows if I carry a gene for Breat Cancer.

But would I really want to know this? Yeah, I think so. If it came back positive I can take steps to reduce my chances of getting it by 50%.

So yeah, I think I'd rather know and be able to care for it early than turn a blind eye.

If insurance does NOT cover BRCA I am still scheduled for yearly mammograms with every other year doing the Breast Ultrasound.

Dr. Woman feels that having both of these gives you the best overall image of the area.

At the age of 28 I had my first mammogram.

At the age of 29, my first Breat Ultrasound.

Wish Me Luck On My Journey.

Brynn's 2 Sweet Candy Shop

I wanted to take a minute to discuss what kind of party planning actually

went on behind the scenes of this 2nd birthday party.

The theme was pretty easy.

One of my favorite sites for party ideas is Design Dazzle.

I was stuck between the Milk & Cookies party and the Candy Bar.

Once I googled the candy bar party and saw all the magnificient things that

could be done my theme was decided.

Her Mema got her an adorable outfit to wear that had a 2 on the shirt and a cupcake skirt.

I took photos of her and the lollipop and preceded to design her invites in photoshop.

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out!

On to the Candy Bar!!

Most of the glass jars were flower vases I had or were borrowed. All except for the round ones with the lids. They were half off at Hobby Lobby! Love that store.

These little treasures below are called Cake Pops

& were inspired by the oh so talented Bakerella.
Nana is the baker in the family and created these as well as the Birthday Cake below.

My Giant Lollipops!
These were soooo easy and so stinkin cute! I got 2 big dowel rods, cellaphane and ribbon.

The pool noodles were donated by Mimi & Poppy. See, no one thinks to sell pool noodles in the middle of February! Boggles my mind. Hot glue pool noodles into a circle. This is no easy task and must be done with 2 people. One to glue and one to hold noodle in place. Let it dry for a few minutes and ram the rod through the middle. Wrap with cellaphane.

Tie with a ribbon and voila! Giant Lollipops!

My next project was the Lollipop Topiary. Now for some reason I have a lot of different size styrofoam balls, ribbon and a lot of small/medium wood dowels laying around. So I used 2 of the balls, 2 of the dowels, got 2 silver buckets from the dollar store and some lollipops.

Put square styrofoam in the bottom of the bucket and fill with marbles or rocks. Whatever you have to weight it down. Stick the lollipops in the styrofoam balls. Insert the dowel into the foam in bucket and hot glue it together. For extra support. Insert ball into other end of dowel and hot glue it at the base of the ball. Put tulle in base to hide rocks and tie with ribbon.

Lollipop Topiary

Candy Shop Labels

Now these jars would been cute just plain with the candy showing but, let's go one step further. I made up some labels. Printed them out and cut with scrapbook scissors. Used some of my extra ribbon from the topiary's to put around the jars. They looked OK but, something was missing. I had some old scrapbook stickers (you see, at one time I intended to scrapbook...then I found BLOGGING!) I think these were Martha Stewart. I added them to the sides of the labels. NOW it looks finished! It's all about the details people.

The Banner
Scrapbook paper cut into triangles. Unfinished wood letters from Hobby Lobby. Half-Off! Seriously people, Hobby Lobby has phenomenal sales! Paint letters and glue onto paper. Let dry and hot glue ribbon.

TWO SWEET BANNER. Easy-peasy

Chalkboards

AGAIN, Half-off unfinished wood chalk boards from HL. Hot glued excess ribbon I had from Giant Lollipops and add a few pieces of candy from crafts I already had. I used these for a HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign & for The Candy Store menu.

Last but not least...PARTY FAVORS & GUEST BOOK!!

I kinda felt a little bad about all the sweets. Just a little. So I got the 3 pack of toothbrushes from the Dollar Tree and the swirl lollipops from my work (I get 40% off!) Tie with a ribbon and add a little tag. DONE
Logan didn't know what to get Brynn so I suggested the Dr. Seuss Happy Birthday To You book. We sat it by the favors and had everyone sign it. I made a little picture to go with it so people would know to sign it. Can you see the shout out to my favorite musician in the writing;)?

All in all I think the party was a success! Lots of people commented on the decor. Yes, it was time consuming but, the crafts were not hard! Honestly, I think the more stuff you can do yourself, the more meaningful & in-expensive it will be! I had a blast doing it and I think she had a blast being the star of the show.

Go Figure...

I first heard of them at work.

Girls of all ages were in search.

Even girls in highschool!

You could tell as soon as they came in the door what they were after.

They stormed in. An air of hysteria about them.

Panicked even.

Marched striaght back to the counter bypassing all the

Justin Beiber

New Moon

& Zhu Zhu Pet

Paraphenalia.

Do

You

Have

SILLY BANDZ!?

A crazed look appeared in their eyes at the sound of the word.

"No, I'm sorry! We've been out for a few weeks now."

A slightly muffled maniacal laugh would escape their lips

as they slowly backed away from the counter.

Still in search.

The silly, stretchy, made-of-plastic bandz that will surely make their life better!

I wondered to myself if Logan would like these.

Nah, they're bracelets! They're probably just for girls!

The first week of February he comes in the house.

I know that look.

I've seen that look before.

Panicked

Air of Hysteria

Crazed Eyes

"MOM! I need SILLY BANDZ!!!"

"They're cool and stretchy and shaped like things and Evan has like 30 something and Joseph has like 60 something.

Go to Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, CVS or maybe Walgreens.

They have them.

I need them!"

I heard the slightly muffled maniacal laugh start.

Every day the same look, same questions, same laugh.

I had, in fact, found them but was saving them for Valentine's Day. Oh it seemed like so far away! I considered giving them to him early to ease the pain but thought the surprise would be better. Surprises always are.

So I waited and he panicked.

He was BEYOND thrilled when he got them.

Well, as thrilled as Logan ever looks.

Eyes light up and a small crooked half smile forms.

I know it's thrilled.

He wears them with pride.

Patiently awaiting the day he can go back to school and begin his trading.

The morning finally arrives and he's postioned them up his arm.

He turns to me and says,

"They're probably not even cool anymore.

They've been around for a while."

GO FIGURE!!!

p.s. he was wrong. they are still way cool and have just been banned at his school.