A Pretty Mantle, A Messy Home

Who has time for laundry and chores when there is much more fun

to be had crafting, thrifting, and decorating.

Yes, my home is a disaster,

but if you can get past the piles, and the obstacle course

of toys on the ground

then you are very welcome to our happy chaos - our home! 

We tend to showcase our life through a tiny pinhole.

We direct the attention only to that what makes us happy and feel safe.

But I'm hear to say - "Bull****!"

Is your home sparkly clean? Probably not,

well either is mine.

Much like the world of fashion,

bloggers tend to "crop" out the true reality

of what our lives are really like.

This is my life!

These two kiddos are my 24 hour, 7 day a week reality.

Yes they are super cute, and yes I love them to pieces,

but boy howdy are they exhausting.

I'm tired! All the time!

But mostly I'm tired of being upset with myself

for the things I don't get done in a day.

I want need to stop worrying so much about what others think

and start enjoying my life in a fashion that is true to myself.

I know this post is a bit off topic...

but these are the ideas that are rolling around in my silly noggin today.

Tomorrow is the 4th, family will be coming into town, 

and despite my best efforts the house is not nearly ready

WELL SO WHAT!

If you love me - you love my mess!

At least my mantle is pretty, right?

A Magical 1st Birthday

I can't imagine any mother 

welcoming their babies first birthday

without a mixed bag of emotion.

Happy, excited, sad, baffled, 

you name it - i've felt it

and am probably still in the midst

of sorting through it.

But alas, it's here, 

my baby girl is a full fledge toddler,

just starting to take her first little penguin like steps.

Oh boy, I'm going to have two little people

running full bore in opposite directions in no time at all!

Baby girls party was a giant labor of love,

of which I am so very much indebted 

to my friends and family.

From pom-poms, to house work this party

could not have happened without them.

My amazingly talented mother-n-law

brought Abby Cadabby to life with this

amazing cardboard cut out. 

I'm still in awe and shock at how spectacular

she turned out!!! 

My sister-n-law made the birthday hat 

completely covered in teeny tiny fabric yo-yos.

-and I thought I was the yo-yo queen?!

My little pickle however, was not as enthusiastic 

as she ought to have been.

Took 3 days just to get this one shot of the hat on her

sweet yet stubborn little head!

Poor daddy (our prince charming) missed out on most of the party,

he was busy cooking up a 20lb turkey and ham along with all the fixings.

So many friends and family came and celebrated with us

that all the food was gone

before hubby or I ever got a chance to sit down and eat!

Luckily there was cake!

Well not this cake,

this cake got good and smashed!!!

The video is epic, this girl did not hold back!!!

I was one very proud momma!

She could have been happy all day

squishing frosting and cake through her fingers,

and licking icing off the plate.

Cookie Monster would have described her

 as "good enough to eat!"

and in the words of our beloved friend

Abby Cadabby 

*

Annalea, mommy thinks

"You're MAGIC,

yes you are!!"

And so life moves forward, 

in just 4 short months we will be celebrating 

baby boy's 2nd Birthday

And yes, I am already planning. 

The BIG One

We are just one week from celebrating miss Annalea's

1st BIRTHDAY!

My head is a whirl this evening as I try to process

just how amazingly quick and wonderful this past year has been.

My baby girl is growing up,

I see it in the little things she does each day

and boy howdy is she a  little spit-fire.

She's a happy baby, but only if things are going 100% her way.

Lord help us, I can't even begin to imagine what her terrible two's

will be like. This girl is a screamer, has been sense day one.

As you can see I had to stop at 9 months with the monthly picture,

as little stinker just wouldn't sit still any longer - not even for a second!

A few fun facts:

Baby girl LOVES Sesame Street!!!

She will be as busy as can be but the second she hear's 

Murray's voice she parks her little butt.

She was in Premie clothing her first two months

and has been wearing 18m the past two months

Still NO teeth!

She can hold her own with her "big" brother"

She will not take a nap!!

It's pretty much been that way from the start.

(did I mention she is stubborn?!)

She is a daddy's girl

she especially loves to Facetime with daddy

when he is out of town

She loves animals and outdoors.

As much as I hate to admit it

she may just turn out to be a tom boy.

I never got around to posting some of our easter pictures.

Can you believe this sweet dress was made by my grandmother?

It is seriously gorgeous and sewn to perfection. 

Most of the dresses she made I completely wore out as a child

but I'm lucky to have a handful of these beauties.

I made the easter backdrop earlier this year using vintage coloring pages.

If anyone is interested in the details, just let me know

and I can put together a little tutorial 

and of coarse my little fella is growing up

quicker than I would like too. 

He is so so hard to take pictures of,

but I was lucky this time to get a few

sweet smiles with no blurring.

Well it's late, I best be off to get some much needed sleep.

Keep an eye out, my next post should be the

birthday party!!!

April Showers

Earlier this month we celebrated 

the arrival of a sweet baby girl into our family.

My sister and her little one flew in from Texas 

so that we could all meet her little one

and shower them with gifts and love.

I was so excited to put this shower together for my sister.

She has thrown me two gorgeous showers

and I was thrilled to return the kindness.

The center piece of the table was this three tiered paper cake

I used styrofoam as the structure and attached

all the paper and trims with sewing pins. 

I wish I had more detail shots

but the guest were arriving just as I was taking pictures.

We got a lot of compliments on these little white cakes.

They kinda look like pinafore style cakes 

but are actually Fancy Cakes

by Little Debbie. 

We attached paper butterflies (found here)

with a bit of sugar icing. 

The same paper butterflies were attached to the paper straws.

My baby girl was in the hospital a couple weeks before the shower

with pneumonia so I was a bit stressed 

that I wouldn't be able to complete all my projects in time.

But luckily a few late nights and I was able to accomplish all but one.

It was also in April of last year that my baby shower took place.

I delivered just a couple weeks later

and I never did get around to posting these.

As you can see my sister and family really made my day so very special

and I was thrilled as I said earlier to do the same for her. 

Let's Ketchup

As a blogger it's always been really hard not to share

all our special moments as foster parents,

but now that this "small Fry" is ALL MINE

it's time to dish out the sweet stuff.

Pete's 1st party was pretty much pulled together at the very last minute. 

It was hard to face celebrating an entire year of this sweet baby boys life

knowing he could be taken away from us at any time.

But although he wasn't ours legally, 

he was MY baby boy.

So we went forward with throwing a over-the-top 

1st birthday party, so that my husband and I

along with our friends and family could celebrate

this special little man who had brought us all

so much joy and fun the last past year.

Pete LOVES french fries, and especially Ketchup

so it just seemed so fitting to run with the theme.

I could not believe my luck 

when I spotted these mustard and ketchup bottles

at the dollar store. The packaging said they were paint bottles

but the entire pack all red and yellow!!!

I love the idea of smash cakes,

but we were on a pretty tight budget

so I thought we would try a bowl full of ketchup instead

and boy was it fun!!!

It took a bit before he really got into it...

but once he got the idea

boy did he go for it!

I'm so glad we decided to make Pete's birthday just as special

as if he had been our baby boy all along.

I would have forever regretted it,

and felt pretty crummy about going all out for baby girl's birthday

which will be here in just one short month. 

After throwing Pete's party I was kinda stuck on the idea

of ketchup and mustard, 

and so began a series of sketches of anthropomorphic fast food friends.

It took 7 months but I finally turned those rough ideas

into a series of 7 embroidery patterns

which is now available in my 

Kitschy Digital Shop.

I'm a novice at embroidery but I'm pretty happy with how 

these two tops turned out

and must confess that I think I caught the embroidery bug

it's kinda relaxing... and a great road trip activity.

Photo-shoot with two charming young men

is in the forecast for these two tops.

Can't hardly wait!! 

P.S. You can now follow silly ol' me on instagram 

for "behind the scenes" of current projects

and life at home with my kiddos.