I promised I'd share more detail about the 1st Birthday we threw for Goobie here on Saturday, so here it is... A post with more details then you want...

Let's start with the decor...

The first thing people noticed was the giraffe bounce house in the front yard... It took up 3/4 of the front yard and was the hit of the party for kids and adults alike! 

The next thing people noticed were the ENORMOUS balloons...

You don't really get an idea of how big they are in the photo above so check them out when I sent two home with a dear friends adorable (and exhausted from bouncing) girlies...

Yes, they were HUGE! 

I got them from Groop Dealz a couple months ago but you can find them here if you want them...

I also had fun giraffe balloons but they didn't get any close ups in the pictures...

So here is a close up of the giraffe balloons:

We got them here...

The thing people seemed to notice next were the backdrops behind the gift & cake tables...

I thought they turned out cute...

They were made with PVC pipe and twin size bed sheets...

I believe I ordered the banners from Zulilly... I got them about a month ago... I have seen similar ones on there since so keep looking back if you want them, but I may have got them from Etsy or Groop Dealz too... I honestly don't remember. 

While we are over there would you look at that cake! 

 It is from "LAUGH loud SMILE big" which is the amazing cupcake bakery I have featured the cupcakes from in the past on here...

Not only is it as cute as can be but it was so yummy! 

They also did these giraffe cake pops and...

The smash cake!

I took these pictures of the beginning of the "smash"...

Then I put the camera down and enjoyed the moment...

Suffice it to say she was covered in cake and frosting! 

I am not sure this is decor but we provided a bucket of various bug sprays because Maine in the summertime is really buggy! 

(Please ignore the grass... Our yard is very shaded and grass is a constant struggle... Moss and weeds constantly want to take over... In some areas they seem to be winning... Don't tell Paul!) 

The table decor was fun to come up with... 

For months every time we saw  a different giraffe stuffed animal in a store we bought them to use on the tables... We found the vintage looking giraffe toys in a little shop in downtown Camden... Add a mason jar of bright flowers and voila... Centerpieces... 

I didn't want to use plastic table cloths as they blow up non stop (as pictured below) but since I did in fact have a budget I was trying to stick with so I went with them... They were colorful and fun! 

The paper products were a combo of Mary & Martha and Oriental Trading...

In the background of this picture you can kind of see the other games I had set up for the kiddos to play... There was hopscotch and two kinds of toss games.

I invited the adults to take home one of the little wooden giraffe toys on the tables and had these goody boxes for the kiddos... The boxes are Mary & Martha and contained a beach ball, bubbles, a birthday rubber ducky & a pinwheel. 

And now for the star of our shindig...

It's too bad she wasn't having fun!

Hahahaha... She had a total blast... She had no idea why everyone was here and why we were having this big party but she sure was having fun! 

Her totally crazy outfit is from Christi Creations on Etsy and was even cuter then the pictures show! 

Here she is by the bounce house with her mom... You should have seen that tutu bouncing!! 

I think that just about covers everything... 

P.S. Sorry for the quality of the pictures... Allison has been borrowing my camera for her youtube videos and I discovered 10 minutes before the party the batteries were dead... Yghhh... So all the above photos were taken with my i-phone camera or snagged from friends facebook posts! 

Thanks for listening,

Brain Dump...

So I just have a lot of random thoughts and such floating around in my brain so here is where I air them out a little...

Cabo may not happen... I know... I worked SO HARD to earn that trip, but here is the thing, I made a rookie mistake. I didn't earn it at a high enough level for Paul to go for free so I need to pay $800 for him to go... By FRIDAY!!! Unless the Lord works an amazing miracle in the next 48 hours it's not going to happen... That's the bad news, the good news is I can take a cash payout instead of the trip and with that, the $800 we were planning to use (but just won't have in time) and the cost of the airfare we can go on a really nice trip in April by ourselves... In fact I have been pricing trips and we can go just about anywhere on what we have... So now's the hard part... Where do we go? (Suggestions of nice places to visit in April would be VERY WELCOME! We have batted around Seattle, London, Ireland, Hawaii, Texas, a cruse... When you can choose nearly anything it can be overwhelming! 

Apparently people do not want free stuff from me... I am doing a giveaway here on my blog for some free Mary & Martha Coffee & a mug and hardly anyone wants it... As of typing this my stats say over 200 people have viewed that post (I promoted on FB too) but only 6 people have commented... I must not be a very good sales person if I can't GIVE stuff away! 

We are cleaning out from our THIRD snowstorm in the past week!  It was only about 6 inches this time but being the third time in a week I have awaken to this is getting a bit much:

It is pretty though...

But since both the previous storms were so hyped to be HUGE and were both less then forecast I am afraid I am starting to get "Media Blizzard Fatigue"... It's a new ailment that came out with the naming of winter storms! 

I have been having a lot of migraines lately and they are really starting to impede my productivity... I don't know why I can't just get one at a time, why I have to get them in clusters but such is life. I have so many "identified possible triggers" I would have to live in a bubble to avoid them! Thankfully I have an amazing husband and daughters and they frequently pick up the slack for me!

I need to do another sort and clutter reduction... Aghhhhh... Those of you who have been reading my blog awhile remember just about two years ago I did one! So what happened? Well, working outside the house I got lazy about staying on top of clutter... It's the typical story, we have been bringing in more stuff then we have been taking out! Last spring we did a whole house spruce up... We had every room painted and new flooring in every room... I used that opportunity to make a bunch of changes... New furniture in the living room, kitchen & our bedroom... We did give Katy & Jed a lot of our hand me downs furniture wise but since the paint, carpet and flooring guys were here back to back and over a short period of time so EVERYTHING had to be packed and moved to the basement. My parents have definite pack-rat type habits... The room they used as a den and their bedroom were so over filled the boxed contents literally filled half the basement. Since my step dad could only take limited "stuff" with him to the nursing home and since my mother's room has to be wheelchair accessible 85% of it remains down there... Add to that all the stuff that I didn't have room for with the new furniture and/or I just didn't want in my new spaces you have an overload... The big stuff I think I can sort through quickly once I get down there... It's all the bits & bobs and such that you need but don't always have a spot for that are the most challenging... I need to get some shelves down there and some bins but in order to make room for them I need to move the stuff that needs to be sorted... Aghhh... Vicious cycle! 

I need to go start dinner... Another vicious cycle! 

Thanks for listening,

Snow Day... Grown-Up Style...

As you know I am in full-on hibernation mode... We had a storm Thursday... Another is on for tonight... It is time for a SNOW DAY post!

A good snow day requires preparation... You have to go out into the world to get supplies. Now I know this is unappealing to those of us who are currently hibernating, but once you have braved the crowds and fought a senior citizen to the ground for the last loaf of bread you can reward your efforts... This particular snow storm came at a good time of year as I discovered this clearly health filled goody on the menu at the local Mc you know where... 

As we all know GREEN is a color that signifies healthy and all natural, so I am sure this particular seasonal treat is all of the above! 

BTW... If we were real friends you would ignore the wet mess my hubs made by the back door and the cluttered side table... Just sayin!

With all preparations made, and knowing I would get to sleep in I stayed up extra late watching Olympic coverage... Actually I played Candy Crush on my laptop and every time something clearly exciting happened on the TV I missed it and prayed for an instant replay... Then went right back to that stupid but addictive game... 

LET THE SNOW BEGIN... 

I started Thursday right... I crawled out of bed at the crack of 10 AM and made my favorite breakfast...

COFFEE! 

Followed by a second cup of coffee and some oatmeal... I like oatmeal fine, but don't usually have it for breakfast as I usually stick to fruit if anything but Paul had been wanting some and it is a snow day after all!

I settled in to watch morning TV since apparently little snippets of weather people standing out in the storm that I can clearly see out my window become all important on such days... 

Pretty soon a show named "today" had eaten up most of the morning... I saw some irony there... Okay, maybe it's just me.

Any how come lunch time it was time for my current favorite "fake it" recipe...

What is a "fake it" recipe you ask? Well, it's one that seems homemade and labor intensive but is actually super easy because of short cuts! 

I'll share the "fake it" with you in a separate post tomorrow...

I then hunkered down with Allison to watch hours of BBC crime dramas and stupid sitcoms on Netflix... Ignoring the GIANT mountain of dirty laundry in the basement. You simply can not do housework on a snow day...

The rest of the day went pretty much this way with the addition of copious amounts of hot cocoa & freezer pizza for dinner... (Hey breakfast & lunch were healthy-ish...)

We had a break in the snow yesterday which was the day dedicated to buying over-priced greeting cards and chocolates to prove your love for your family... 

I had not thought of this in the preparation for the storm so out into the world I dragged myself. I got some of the last "affordable" a fore mentioned chocolates x6 for everyone and a cute toy & book for my sweet grand baby. I got my husband something he's been wanting but it's way too boring to mention here and he got me the Vera Bradly wallet that matches the pattern I am currently obsessed with...

(photo from google)

Actually, I also grabbed this while I was out because he was still shoveling the driveway and then trying to repair the mailbox the snow plow clobbered... The one I just got in October! Ughhh... So he got a pass on actual shopping.

Poor Paul...

The kids (aka Katy, Jed & Baby) came over for dinner so Katy & I whipped up the household favorite, carbonara for dinner. Allison did not join us as she had a date, but that is her story to tell so I will leave it at that for now... 

Today the snow wasn't supposed to start until about 5 PM so the girlies & I decided to sneak out for some mother/daughter time... We started at lunch at my current favorite casual place Archer's On The Pier... 

(photo from google... Obviously not taken today as there is no snow!!)

Which in the summer time is fun to eat outside on the pier but since it is not summer we were inside by the wood stove!

Next we did a little sale shopping at JC Penney's, hit a local favorite The Grasshopper Shop for their President's Day Sale, and finally the bookstore next door to it...

(image from google)

I would show you the book store and add a link but as they were rude to us as usual so I will refrain from promoting them... All I have to say is my Kindle does not give me attitude when I shop on it... Just saying that if your particular business is in trouble and in constant fear of not existing you should probably be just a tiny bit nice to the few patrons who still come in your door! 

At this point the snow was starting we called it a day, dropped Katy off at home and proceeded to head home for our next snow day!! 

Come back later on for that recipe and a little surprise... 

Thanks for listening,

That Escalated Quickly...

Look who's crawling... I mean cruising... I mean standing... 

Wait... What!?!?!?!

A week ago this little girl was just getting up on her knees but could not manage forward locomotion....

Sunday that changed... She was rolling around, playing on our living room floor and got up on her knees for the millionth time BUT this time she made her first tentative moves forward...

Within 24 hours she was crawling like a pro...

But it turns out her only goal from crawling was to get over to things she could pull herself up on...

Within another 48 hours she was pulling herself up on EVERYTHING...

See that cute little bug rocking toy back there? Adorable baby toy in her Gigi's living room or weapon of mass destruction? You guessed it... She pulls up on it and pushes it around like a snow plow! 

Then last night she was again pulling up on everything and repeatedly letting go! (Totally freaking out her first time parents!) She did this over and over until she was able to stand for a couple brief seconds...

We are expecting a blizzard today through tomorrow so we won't see this sweet baby until Saturday at the earliest... I am pretty sure she will drive herself over! 

Oh yeah, look who is eating real food too! She will let you feed her about once a day but she can do it herself and does not want your help! See how happy she was when her mom fed her some cheese ravioli yesterday for lunch! (Photo shamelessly stolen from Katy's FB page!) 

I would be remiss if I didn't tell you about that BEAUTIFUL quilt up there...

Julie from Herding Grasshoppers makes the most amazing quilts that I have admired from afar for as long as I can remember, so when she said she might be willing to sell a couple baby quilts she made I did not hesitate to snag one! It is even more beautiful in person then it is in photos...

I would STRONGLY encourage you to snag one too! (If she has any more!) 

This one lives at Gigi's house for her to snuggle with when she is here... I envision many stories read snuggled up on the sofa with her own quilt. 

Thanks for listening,

Relax Y'all...

The above picture was just us having fun... 

We were unprepared for the controversy that followed!

Let me set it up...

We all drove to Portland for the day to run errands, shop, and I had to meet up with a couple customers so we decided to make a day of it...

The Girlies, Baby face up there and I headed to the mall while the guys headed to Cabellas & Harbor Freight... What's the big deal you ask? Well, we don't have a mall or any of those other things near us... We have to drive 45 minutes to get to a Target and/or Starbucks and make the two hour trek to South Portland to go to a "real" mall...

I don't know about you guys but a two hour each way drive in January is a commitment for us Mainers so usually if we go we make a day of it... We all had Monday off so it became one of those days for us... We loaded all of us up in the mini van and headed off...

Like I said, we girls did the mall first thing... Macy's, Pottery Barn, Sephora, Lush, H&M, Victoria's Secret (since I guess it's impossible for twenty somethings to actually walk past that store) and the Clarks Store for "Little Miss Thing's" first actual shoes! (Plus a few other stores for good measure!) Then we met up with the guys to hit a buffet for lunch... (Yes, we do more shopping before lunch then most ladies do all day!) Then it was off to Nordstrom Rack (quickly becoming my new favorite store) and Target. 

When we were done there we headed across the parking lot to the Starbucks to meet my last customer of the day. She was running late so we were goofing off in the van... When we bought our coffee we asked for a teeny tiny little cup and thought it would be funny to have her pose with it... It never contained coffee... As in clean, new, empty... When we went to take the picture one of the girlies thought giving her the now empty little Sephora bag would be funny too... Hence the above photo. Please keep in mind we were in the van, but not moving, waiting, having fun and keeping a very overtired baby entertained until the "driving" began again and lulled her to sleep... 

I tell you all of that because when Allison posted the above photo on Facebook we got criticism... That we gave her a coffee cup, that she wasn't properly buckled (she wasn't buckled at all... We weren't moving!) and that she was wearing a bulky winter coat... (It is actually one rated safe to wear in a car seat... It looks bulky because the arms on it are long enough for a monkey so they are a bit bunched up on her arms!) 

Why are all these self proclaimed parenting police out there waiting to pounce? I get it if you are concerned for a child's safety, but the baby in the above photo is quite obviously, clean, fed & well taken care of... She is dressed appropriate for the weather and in a top of the line car seat... I would assume from all of the above that the same parents who pulled all of that off so far are fit parents and not be quick to judge.

I love the internet and the Facebook and such most of the time, but I think the semi-anonymity of it has made people a bit more judgmental and opinionated and free to voice both... I makes me glad the web was a new frontier when the girlies were small... Seriously, Katy has gotten criticism for posting a picture of the baby sleeping on her belly... She rolled herself onto her belly... She was rolling over at six weeks... When Katy responded by telling the person that she said it was impossible... Really?!?!?

Join me in reminding the thought/action police on the internet to just relax! 

On a separate note... How cute is she!?!?!?

 

Thanks for listening,

Had To Share...

Two posts in one day?!?! 

Sorry, Just got this from my daughter and had to share!

She had just finished breakfast so her mom set her up in the living room to play while she cleaned up in the kitchen... She was in such a happy mood she decided to snap a few pictures when her husband came home unexpectedly. Look at the sheer joy she has seeing her Daddy walk through the door! 

Thanks for listening,

Greatest Joy...

Before I share everything that happened and is happening in my life I must share my greatest joy... On June 21st I became a Gigi... Bloggy world meet Lilly...

 

Here she is only a few hours old! I got to be there when she was born... It was one of the greatest moments of my life!

 

And at one week old...

 

Isn't she a doll?

 

She is the sweetest, happiest baby I've even been around!

 

Here she is with her "Pop"

 

And with her Daddy!

 

A more recent one with her beautiful Mommy!

 

She is very snuggly... Here she is taking a nap with Gigi about two weeks ago!

Being a grandparent is the best thing ever! I love this little girl as much as I loved my girlies, but now I have the wisdom of how fast it truly goes and so I don't waste a minute!

 

Here is out "Goobie" being silly with her Auntie! She LOVES her Aunt Allie something crazy...

 

I know I am biased, but how cute is she!?!?!

 

And she has the BEST laugh! I dare you not to laugh when she does... It's not humanly possible!

 

Here she is this week at 4 months old...

It is such a fun age, she recognizes us and reaches for who she wants!

Yeah, she has us all wrapped around her little finger!

And we wouldn't have it any other way!

 

(PS. Yes, she is big for her age... She is in the 99th percentile and is developmentally a 6 month old... Both her mom and aunt were the same way! Tall girls often start as tall babies!)

Thanks for listening,