easter

Easter was so much fun this year! I love our back yard so I was really looking forward to hiding eggs and having Riley look for them. We had dinner (really more like late lunch) at my mom's house then dessert at our house. I did decorate-of course-but most of the stuff was from Riley & Kira's birthday parties. Everything else was from the dollar store. It is amazing how much cute stuff you can find at the dollar store. :)

For desserts we had a TON. I made mini cheesecakes, mini brownie bites (if you ever try to make these use cupcake liners!), chocolate dipped strawberries and pineapple lush. I also had mini lemon cupcakes from the store and my mom made a bunny cake that was strawberry cake w/berry filling. YUM. We had lots of easter candy in addition to all that! So it was a total sugar rush type of party!

We had four kids for the egg hunt and that was the perfect amount. Well, five if you count Kira but she wasn't looking for eggs. She just liked being out in the yard. :) We had a LOT of eggs hidden...I think around 120? They were all plastic and filled with either jelly beans or bubble gum. We had a couple packs of larger size ones that were filled with little toys left over from the bday party pinatas. I did have one egg with a dollar bill in it, and the oldest kid found it so that was appropriate. Next year I'll probably have to put a $5 out there


So the next birthday we have at our house is Daddy's, May 20. I found some cute Scottie dog decorations (for $1 of course) to put up but I don't know if I'll go "all out". {who am i kidding?}

Kira.

You are ONE.

Plus a few days. :)

You aren't walking on your own yet. If you have something to hang on to you're really fast, but you haven't taken more than one step on your own yet.

You love music. If anyone is even humming a tune you start dancing. Another thing you love to do is dance!

You are the best eater! I don't think I've given you a food yet that you didn't like. This pleases me to no end because your older brother is Mr. Picky and has a very short list of foods he will eat.

You wear size 18-24 month clothes, but the 18 month stuff is starting to get a bit snug. You wear size 5 diapers.

You like to talk all day in your own baby language. I adore your little angel voice!

I am so lucky to have a daughter and a son. You both make my life so wonderful and I hope I can do a great job being your mama!

kira's party

My sweet baby girl is one year old! I cannot believe it but the calendar says it's so. I have been planning her 1st birthday party since I was about 7 months pregnant with her. I saw the "Look Whoo's Turning One" stuff on celebrateexpress.com and decided that would be the theme. I didn't want it to be too theme-y though so I only got a couple things with the owl printed on it. I did get the pinata because it's so cute and I can hang it in her room now that the party's over.

Grandma got her this adorable pettiskirt...at Costco! You never know what you'll find in that place! Her fairy godmother Jen made the bow to match her shirt.

I used a twin sheet as the backdrop for the cake table. Got it at Target! :) I spray painted a bunch of frames in raspberry and turquoise and had pictures of Kira through the year all over the place. The big picture in the middle is me holding her for the first time. My dad gave it to me that day so it's not painted ;)

a little DIY lollipop thing I made w/the Cricut and a Hobby Lobby k. I had to grab those candies from the $.99 only store because the matched perfectly! love that!

This cabana thing was one of my crazy ideas....but we have this weird structure in our backyard that was perfect for it. We thing the people who lived here before us might have had a bench in there? I found all the drapes in the garage. They were just collecting dust (and lots of it) so I washed em and staple gunned them up. We happened to have an extra twin mattress because Riley just got a new bed with a trundle, so I put that in there with the fitted zebra sheet. My mom spent a couple weeks making the pillows for me using the polka dot fabric and a bunch of Kira's flannel recieving blankets that we don't use anymore. I added some bunting from Target and a tissue paper ball from Polka Dot Market. I wish I had better pictures of it because it came out REALLY cute! I wish I could have it set up all the time but the sprinklers soak that area so it was a one day only happening.

Our adorable birthday princess enjoying her own cake made by Grandma.

I made the little owl banner w/the Cricut. We had pink raspberry lemonade, iced tea and the pop was in a tub from Walmart. It was the perfect shade of turquoise so I had to get it! I got the beverage dispenser from Fry's and it was under $20! I also saw it at Ralph's in CA.

This was the table set up a couple days later on her actual birthday (it's the 28th). I *love* those tissue hanging decorations so I had to have them out again! If it was appropriate to have them out every day of the year I would. I just want to live in a party store, ok?

And one more shot of my birthday girl! This was her real first birthday cake, made by me. I do wish I had spent more time making it pretty, but I'm sure she thought it was fine.

I love you baby girl!!!

so so so CUTE!!!

I have a friend who is a really good bow-maker. I can make a bow, but they don't come out the way Jen makes them. She's been making them for a long time so she really knows how to get the ribbons packed in there with out looking too stacked, which is how mine turn out. So when Kira has a special occasion coming up, I go to my bow lady! I asked Jen to make something that would match the colors of this bib.
And this is what she came up with:


I mean how PERFECT is that?!?! I didn't even ask her to do the feather part and it's exactly what I wanted. Kira will be wearing a pink pettiskirt that's pretty fluffy so she'll need something big on her head to balance it out. I pray that she actually keeps the bow on for pictures. She is at the point where she usually yanks them right off, but maybe she'll surprise me on her bday. She sure did last year! How can it be a year???

OC is back

The original "real" housewives are back on Bravo! Actually the only original left is Vickie and her fat face. Sorry, but I really dislike Vickie. I wonder if we're going to see her and Donn break up this season, because we know they are now divorced. In her talking heads last night whenever Vickie said anything about their relationship you could tell by her face that it was all fake and for the show. At one point she says something like "We're really trying to recommit" but then her eyes get all shifty...like a LIAR!

Gretchen, what a bee-yotch! I've never really liked her either. Her first season she used the 'my fiancee has cancer' card every chance she got. She jumped right into a relationship with Slade Slimy after he passed away, so I guess she wasn't all that into her "love" with Jeff. She tried to say there was 9 months in between Jeff passing and her & Slade getting together, but Andy totally busted her on that on the reunion after her 2nd season. I don't have a problem with her having a new relationship, it's the LYING that I don't like. Last night she was obviously not ready to be around Tamra but she went to the party and was a total bitch from the word go. She claims she was not drunk but why would she go so crazy over Alexis saying she was a princess? If that's your girlfriend and you're not in a pissy mood your girlfriends can say whatever they want to you, and you can say stuff to them. But if you're in a bad mood, and drunk...I think we all know that's a recipe for disaster.

This season looks like it's going to go the way of the rest of the "Real Housewives" show have gone....lots of parties for no real reason, lots of drinking and lots of fighting. I will watch because Bravo has a spell on me and I watch all their shows, but it doesn't feel fun like it used to. I would like them to put a cast together that is ACTUALLY REALLY friends before the show ever happened, not thrown together because they're all on the show. That is how the OC show was 1st season. Yes they partied and went out alot that season, but it felt more "real".

What did everyone think of the premier?

Happy Birthday Riley!!!!

My baby boy Riley turned 4 on Saturday. We had a Toy Story party in the backyard and it was lots of fun. It was lots of work, and knowing we have another birthday party happening in two weeks leads me to the conclusion that this is the first and last time they will both have big parties the same year! Next year we'll just do something small for Kira and a BIG party for Riley because he'll be 5 and his birthday is on the 5th, so that's his Golden Birthday and there's 5 golden rings in the 12 days of Christmas...I just think it's cool that his Golden Bday is his 5th! After that we'll do one party for both of them until they complain about it or we don't feel like having parties anymore. Like that'll happen.

Now for some pics!

I love that a simple sandbox can keep them happy now...if only it was always going to be this easy....

My mom made this amazing Toy Story cake! It was her first time doing anything this fancy and I think it came out soooo cute!

Of course we had to have the Toy Story cupcake tower with cupcakes from the grocery store. For me, it's not a kid's birthday party if there's no fluffy sugary airbrushed icing involved.

Instead of beating the pinata with a stick, they pulled strings out of the bottom until the candy fell out. I was inside looking for the loot bags when they got the right one! :( But we're having another one like this for Kira's party so I'll make sure not to miss it. :)

I didn't mean for the iced tea thing to be in the background like this, but I'm glad it is because I love that thing! I'm thinking of reasons to have parties so I can use it!

This girl was a happy party baby, she turns 1 in just 21 days!!!! Impossible because she is my babydoll but I am excited to make a pretty pink party for her.

Riley and his best bud Ethan...now they're both 4! They discussed this alot that day. :)

i really love Valentine's day but....

Easter has the best candy! I am a sugar freak so I get excited for the candy that goes with each holiday. Yes I am a big *dork*. My favorite Easter candy is Cadbury Mini Eggs. If I have a bag of those in my reach I will keep eating them and eating them until I'm sick. Like a goldfish kinda.

One candy I am NOT a fan of is the regular Cadbury Eggs. I do think it's cute how the inside looks like a real egg yolk...but it also grosses me out. It's too oozey or something, I don't know. Cadbury Eggs are like Miracle Whip, you either love it or hate it. I also hate Miracle Whip! ha!