Catch up Day 1: Xave's Birthday

I'd had big plans for Xavier's 4th birthday, but as his birthday drew nearer I felt more wary and tired. My mom is an awesome party planner and has done his last 2 birthdays, and they turned out awesome! I can't seem to find the pictures from last year's firetruck party, but here's some from Xave's construction themed 2nd birthday.

{Favor and cake table}

 

{Kids "road" picnic table and construction site sand box in the back corner}

 

{We did not steal the construction signs either. They were retired. :))

 

So this birthday we finally decided to nix a theme and just go simple. Xave asked for a rainbow cake and cupcakes with sprinkles. We had the party at my parent's new house, and my Mom took care of the birthday boy's special request. And she didn't dissapoint. :)

{Chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles}

 

{Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter pie frosting}

 

These were to DIE for... Makes me want some good ol' peanut butter pie. :)

 

 

{Rainbow cake}

 

This cake had a tragic story. My mom attempted a new frosting recipe. It failed to set up the first time, and the second time she figured it out. After the cake was all assembled she turned to open the fridge door, went back for the cake, and it had toppled over. Yikes. She almost called me to go get an emergency replacement cake, but took a few minutes to recoop and miraculously put it back together. She thought it was wonky and ugly. I thought it was Dr. Seuss-ish and wonderful. And it tasted like fruit loops. I don't know how she did that, but who wouldn't like a cake that tastes like fruit loops?

 

 

And here's the birthday boy, in all his tongue sticking out and "Mom, are we done YET??" glory. What a silly guy. :)

 

 

 

I relinquished the camera during present time so I could hold the baby, and unfortunately most of the pictures turned out blurry. This one however makes me giggle and shows his excitement for all his neat-o presents. This one was a Melissa and Doug construction play set. It's been put to good use in assisting a strip of paneling to break off it's long and horrible relationship with our wall. It's okay buddy, I'd rip it down too if I had something to put in it's place. ;) (Okay, it's not that bad, I'm just not a big fan of wood panelling. :))

 

Cake time! A.K.A. Mom's favorite part of every party...

 

If you can figure out what's horribly wrong with this picture I'll pay you $5. Okay, not really. Sorry. I am going to torment you though and make you figure out what is so wrong with it. Once you do figure it out: Don't worry, he got that piece. ;)

My little guy-that-was-just-a-baby is 4!

I'm going to go cry in the corner now. (Figuratively of course...)

Let's Play Catch Up!

I've been gone a while again. This time I'm back for sure. :) Our computer has been down for a little over a month now, and still is. Joy. Another month or so and maybe I'll get around to ordering the part to fix it. ;) We're almost enjoying not having a lot of technology in our house. Or at least my husband is. Not having another distraction has helped me focus on getting things in order and figure out life as a Mommy of 2, but I'm ready to reconnect with the outside world. So, Hello! Did you miss me? ;) (I've noticed my readers have continued to slowly gather. Thanks gals and welcome! I'm glad my extreme absence hasn't deterred you!)

Much to my dismay Xave has abandoned naptime and that hour or two of bliss where the kids were both asleep is a distant memory a majority of the time. I literally crave creative thinking, and photography is something that gets my mind whirling without taking up too much time. I find this nifty gratitude 30 day photo challenge, so here goes nothing. I'll share my pictures here each day, but first I'd like to share a few of the things I've been doing in the last few months. Those posts will be coming up the next few days, so until then, I hope you're having a  wonderful day! :)

This is the move that never ends...

Yes it goes on and on my friends.. We've been in the process of moving for a whole week! (Not exactly never ending I know. ;) ) Except we're not actually moving. As is no surprise to a majority of the country, times are hard and after my husband got laid off last winter, we ended up moving in with his parents and have lived with them since. Last month they decided to go look at a house completely out of the blue and a crazy thing happened! Three weeks later, they were signing papers and moving out. Which means, we've been helping them pack and move while we empty out the old storage shed and re-setup their old house as our own. Quite exciting, but after moving 15 times in my life, 5 in the last 2 years, I'm pretty much done moving for a long long time. So I'm still on a hiatus and will hopefully one day find my way back to full time blogging because it's a lot of fun, and I've got some big ideas for our house that I'd love to share with everyone. I miss you all and can't wait to get back into the swing of things and come check out what you've all been up to too.

I hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine and not getting blasted with it at 5 am like I am every morning! Guess it's time to get some new curtains. ;)

What a Bunch of Animals!

At the zoo that is... ;) I had really high hopes i would actually post this last week like I said I would. Our life is a little discombobulated right now, so I hope you can forgive me for being so hit and miss right now.

Anywho, we DID go to the zoo last week, i just unfortunately didn't get many pictures of that. We weren't thinking and went on the discounted day to get in a little cheaper. Discount day in the middle of summer. Just sounds like trouble doesn't it? Needless to say, the zoo was packed and we had to park at least a half mile away because the parking lots, and roadsides, were packed. It also happened to be quite hot. Next time we're going in late fall when everyone is in school or something. ;)

Despite the craziness, it was a lot of fun! I thought I knew all the "typical" zoo animals, but they had some I hadn't ever heard of and it was neat to learn a little about them. We gave Xave an old disposable camera my mother-in-law had found in a random box and let him take pictures of the animals he liked best. We'll have to use up the rest of it and get it developed to see how good they actually are. (old school, right!?)

After the zoo we drove to a small splash truck we saw a video of online and had a blast. We decided we really need one of those here, but that probably isn't likely anytime soon. I did get some good pictures of that so check them out below. I'm posting with my phone for now and haven't figured out how or if I can put them anywhere other than the bottom. Kind of lame, but better than nothing. :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Get out and explore your local (or not so local) area and try something new, or enjoy an old favorite! :)

Baby Blessing :)

Yesterday we finally got to have Hunter blessed. The hubby did an amazing job and it was beautiful. You never would have known he was nervous beyond belief. Love ya sweetie ;)

I wish I could have gotten/made an all white outfit, but my dear sweet husband forgot to mention he'd set a date with the Bishop until Friday morning. Needless to say I was in a bit of a panic after that. Our town lacks special occasion and church clothes for boys except around major holidays, so I was skeptic about finding ANYTHING nice.

I couldn't validate paying $30+ in gas for one outfit to drive to the big city either. After scouring clothing rack after clothing rack I finally saw a white polo on a clearance rack after I'd given up and was heading out of the store. Perfect! I know it's not at all about the clothes, but I really wanted him to look nice and it was relieving to finally find something.

After all that trouble I ended up forgetting his shoes on the table, so he was barefoot. What can you do? Haha. They sure are cute though aren't they? Have an awesome week! :) (we're going to the zoo this week so look forward to some fun pics from that!)

Happy 4th of July!!

I swear my life has been on fast forward lately. We're suddenly in the midst of summer, my sweet boy will be 4 in a month and my little baby is 2 1/2 months old. How did that happen??

A few weeks ago was mi Madre's birthday, so I decided to make her the purse she requested a year ago. (oops!) My sewing machine has a broken part, so I borrowed my MIL's and went to work. It was obvious I hadn't sewn a bag in a while, and after much frustration and silly mistakes I finally got it done. (Phone pictures aren't the greatest. ;))

My brother and his wife were visiting last week so we went up to see them for a few days. Super fun! I watched the other kids while my parents took a mini vacation with them and also got the responsibility of picking up their new kitten, Snowflower. She's adorable!!! They moved to the country recently and need some mousers, and they definitely got that! Feisty but sweet . Check her out below too. :)

(Blurry again...)

It's been an exciting month! (or more...) So back to today! We went to a ceremony and breakfast at church this morning to celebrate Independence Day. Later on we're having a BBQ to celebrate the 4th and my hubby's very belated birthday. He read somewhere about a challenge/project for people to read the Declaration of Independence, so we'll be doing that tonight too. I think it's important to remember the real reasons for our holidays and not just eat lots of yummy foods. I hope you all have a fun and safe 4th!! :)

Potty training today!

We are potty training today! Woohoo! We've tried several times in the last year with resistance, and decided not to force it. He's seemed ready to try again for a while so I did some research and found some tips. Successful day so far and Xavier loves his big boy undies! Keep your fingers crossed for me. ;)

Hopefully if it stops raining I can go work on our new coffee table, but more on that later. Enjoy your weekend! :)

Food Friday: Buffalo Chips

For anyone who actually knows what a real buffalo chip is, I'm sure you're a little horrified to see a recipe for "buffalo chips". Just hang in there and keep reading. ;) When I was younger we had a tradition when family came to visit to go have a girl's night. So we'd all get in the car and drive a little ways to a fun pizza place in a "close" town. (It was not unusual for us to drive up to 2 hours to go out for a dinner out! Gotta love living in the middle of nowhere!) We always got hamburgers with fries, and lots of fry sauce *YUM*, and for dessert we'd have buffalo chips. Now it's time to use your imagination a little bit. For the buffalo chips they bring out a small cake pan right out of the oven, and inside is a piping hot cookie with some super cold vanilla bean ice cream. Totally awesome twist on cookies and milk! The other day I was craving these little beauties, so I decided to make a smaller version at home. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. :)

(Food photography is obviously not one of my talents. I need to work on that. You get the idea though. Ice cream, hot cookie, warm melted goodness? I thought so.)

"Buffalo Chips"

1 package pre-made cookie dough, any flavor
Vanilla bean ice cream


Preheat oven according to package instructions.

Push 2 pre-portioned cookies into the bottom of a ramekin.

Bake according to package directions. The dough will puff up considerably.

Take a spoon and gently press it down and let cool slightly.

Add a scoop or two of ice cream. Enjoy!



Super simple, right? They're also super delicious and would be awesome at any summer bbq or party. The ramekins are nice so you get individual portions, although you could share one if you really wanted too. You can also make them in a larger pan if you want one dish you can all dig into. :)

Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend. :)

One month!

It's been a month since I had Hunter! Can you believe it?? I sure can't.. It's been kind of a blur. I've been taking pictures of some of our fun, but haven't gotten on to share. Here are some of the things we've been up to!

Tie dye cupcakes {directions HERE}

Xavier needed a little Mommy time, so we made some fun cupcakes! I was a little lazy and used box cake and store bought frosting with some bright colored sprinkles. We had a lot of fun making them, and even more fun eating them. We called them "Rainbow" cupcakes though since Xavier loves rainbows so much. :)

Every year our town celebrates the start of the cherry season with a HUGE parade and street fair. This was our first family outing with Hunter. The parade was great and Xavier probably got as much candy as he did last Halloween. After the parade it gets a little crazy downtown, so we ended up heading home a little earlier than we'd planned.

A firefighter gave Xave a little plastic hat at the parade, and when we got home we decked him out with all the stickers they handed out with a few extras too. He was pretty excited about the whole thing.. and apparently missing his pants! :)

Hunter shares his birthday with my husband's Grandpa, and a few weeks after we had a BBQ with some of his family to celebrate. (75 years!) While we were all talking Xavier wandered over to the food table and started eating the beans right out of the pan. I was a little mortified but everyone just thought it was funny.

Xavier goes to a play group with some of the kids from church every week, and they got to go to a local children's "museum" where they get to play and do some hands on activities. I was still pretty worn out so Grandma took him, but it sounded like a lot of fun! Once I get to feeling more active and motivated we'll have to go again.

So I didn't really crave foods while I was pregnant, but I've craved foods like crazy in the last few weeks. Fruit pizza was one of them. I made a huge sheet tray of it and was a pretty happy camper! This is something I've had since I was a kid and is a fairly common recipe, but here's the one I used  just in case your like me and haven't ever actually made it! {Fruit Pizza}

We had a beautiful Sunday morning a week ago, so we took some pictures with our little man after church. Isn't he sweet in his little sweater vest? :)

We're currently living with my in-laws and they're re-doing their front yard, so Xave's been having a blast helping out. Every day he's come in covered in dirt and happy as a clam. He looks pretty darn cute in Daddy's hat too!



And here's our little guy. Still can't believe he's a month old already. What a joy he's been so far. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

He's here!

Okay, so he's been here for a week and a half, but I haven't had 5 minutes to get on here since then. I finally gave in and bought myself a Moby wrap, which came today, so I can snuggle and carry our new little man and still have my hands free to do other stuff. What joy some fabric can bring! :)

So without further ado, I would like to introduce Hunter Ross, born April 17, 10lbs 2 oz, and 20.5 inches long.

It was pretty late when he finally decided to make his appearance, so we were all totally wiped out. They began the induction with a foley bulb on Monday night at about 10, and he was born a little over 24 hours later. I had a pretty smooth vbac, and I couldn't be happier! The whole birth was a totally different experience and the recovery has gone sooo much smoother. I'm really glad we decided to continue without a second c-section despite a question about his size.

Big brother was pretty confused and a little afraid of Hunter at the hospital, and it wasn't until we got home that he really showed an interest in him. Ever since he's often coming over to peek at his toes or see what he's doing. There has been a little bit of jealousy, but nothing too terrible.

So for now we're just enjoying our two sweet boys. I'm not sure when I'll be back to blogging regularly since we're still adjusting to everything, but I'll try not to stay away for too long. Thanks for any positive thoughts, prayers, and comments about our little guy. We're so happy he's FINALLY here. :)

41 weeks and STILL pregnant!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to stop in really quick and say hi. :)

I'm 41 weeks pregnant today and in a little bit we'll be heading to the hospital to be induced. Yay! I'm super excited! I was totally devastated when my due date came and went and I still hadn't had this baby yet. I never experienced labor with my first, so I'm a little nervous about the experience, but glad to almost be done. What a beautiful but trying experience pregnancy is. Can't wait to finally meet our little man! I'll still probably be away for a little while longer, but I'll come share pictures of our little munchkin once I'm feeling a little better. For now, here's some pictures of him still refusing to come out. ;)

{41 weeks minus a day... My mom would like to add I look way smaller here than in person. Haha.}

 {Xavier trying to push Hunter out :)}

I hope everyone is having a wonderful spring, and hopefully not to many allergy issues! See you on the other side. ;)