Britt Bass, Balloons, and Bears...

Oh my!  If you frequent this space then you know I have a true affection for all things party planning and hosting.  Well, just recently I was approached by a friend to help create hot air balloon centerpieces for a bear and balloon inspired Bris. Talie Shove at funnybeautiful.com came up with the fun spin of modernizing the centerpieces by painting a Britt Bass-ish style balloon and adding hand drawn teddies. I absolutely loved her idea AND loved how they materialized!  So glad to have been a small part of such a beautiful tradition.  And just loving how these hot air balloon centerpieces brought a little joy to the day.  Bears, balloons and Britt Bass for the win!

Let's Party! Friday Favorites

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Hip hip hooray, it's Friday! And if that's not a reason to talk parties, I don't know what is. ;) I have always had a soft spot for a cute party with all the fun details that make a celebration unique and special, so today I thought I'd share some of my favorite party supply shops.  I'm sure there are oceans of shops out there, but here are a few I've come to know and love.

Shop Sweet Lulu is an online boutique that carries on-trend and adorable party supplies, bakeware, etc.  Their prices are super reasonable too. Bonus!

Ultra Pom is a rental shop I used to rent the sequin tablecloth for Greg and Kaitlin's baby shower.  I was a bit nervous about renting a tablecloth (that would have desserts all over it no doubt) but I was SO pleased with this experience! They make the whole process really easy. 

Shop Meri Meri Meri Meri party supplies are some of my very favorites.  If you are looking for unique and precious party collections, you won't be disappointed with this company. Amazon also carries loads of their party supplies if that is a more convenient ordering method for you.

Beau-coup I used this website to order custom, white-chocolate dipped fortune cookies for Greg and Kaitlin's shower (in the middle of the Summer!) and they arrived, packaged to perfection and really yummy.  They are a fun shop for unique sweets and favors. 

Luna Bazaar is a shop I used to order pink vases for Marin's Third Birthday Party.  They have a large (and affordable) inventory of party decor.  

 Anthropologie is always a good idea, but I especially love finding unique party and hosting gems here, including the tablecloth and cake stands I used for Brite's first birthday party.  

Hope these are helpful for all you party people! Have a fun weekend and if you need us, we'll be at the poooooool.
;)

Easter Basket Gift Guide

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Happy Friday! I've had such a fun time picking out a few things here and there for the girls' Easter baskets this year, so I thought I'd share a few ideas I've come across.  Books are one of our favorite gifts to get them and That's Not Funny, Bunny is such a sweet story about how true friends love you for who you are. I think Marin is going to really enjoy it. We are also putting this book and this book in their baskets. And those surprise carrots! I actually have no clue what's inside them, and I think they're party favors, but they were just too close to their kin, the highly acclaimed (at least in our house) YouTube surprise eggs. ;)
Easter festivities start this weekend with the girls' first Easter egg hunt, and I'm sure it's going to be a blast to watch!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Marin, Marin, how does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockleshells and Papa helping you put your seeds in a row. ;)

Atlanta was beautiful this weekend, sunny and perfectly warm, and we spent as much of it outside as we could.  Saturday morning, my dad came over to help Marin build and plant her first garden.  He did this with me and my brothers when we were kids, so I thought it would be fun for her to share in the sweet memories.  My dad is a pillar of patience and took so much joy in teaching and helping her, oh and also brought a delivery of pink donuts before we got started! She LOVED every tilling, worm-catching, planting, (and eating donuts) part of making this garden. Here's to hoping for something, ANYTHING, to pop up from the soil in a couple months, especially since a certain someone used her body to mix the soil after the seeds were planted. hehe ;) 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm off to make breakfast and smooch little groggy faces! xo

DIY Valentine's Slime

As Marin gets older and her little world expands,  it's so much fun to see her making friends in our neighborhood, ballet class, etc.  She asks about them all the time and never passes up the opportunity to take a neighborhood walk, hoping she will see one of them playing outside.  So this year, she was thrilled when I told her we were going to make Valentine's slime for our friends.  Being a slime and play doh professional herself, she danced and sang through the whole activity.  I think it may have been her favorite mess yet. ;) If you're interested in making slime, here are the super easy ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup liquid starch
• 1/2 cup glue (clear or white works)
• You can also add food coloring, rose essential oils, or confetti

Just mix the water and glue together (mix well!) then slowly add that mixture to the liquid starch.  After we finished making our Valentine's slime, Marin played with hers for THREE hours. It was such a blast. Hope you and yours are having a fun Valentine's week!

Master bedroom shiplap + Inspiration

Last week, while Andy was out of town, I decided a house project was in order to keep our minds off of missing dad. I have always loved the look of shiplap and have also been wanting at least one room in our house to have white walls, so I made plans to make both of these things happen in the master bedroom..uh..while watching both girls. I promise it made sense in my head. Ha! Well, turns out this was a much bigger undertaking than I could wrangle on my own, so I am beyond grateful that grandparents, aunts, and uncles came to visit with drills, saws, tools, chick-fil-a and the willingness to help watch the girls. I'm also really grateful for fun memories made during a week I was dreading a bit. 
I decided to use 1x8 v-joint wood panels for the wall I wanted to shiplap and the same color paint as the baseboards and molding, Behr Premium in Shoji White, for all of the walls. I am really happy with how it all turned out and can't wait to finish the rest of the room's makeover! Here are a few rooms that are inspiring me to get this pup finished. I'm feeling a cottage meets modern vibe. Is that a thing?

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New Year Resolutions for 2016

Happy New Year! I have always been a sucker for a fresh start. I love Mondays and all the firsts of the months. So of course, I ESPECIALLY love a new year, plum full of fresh goals. And being the dreamer I am, goals usually begin around here in grandiose declarations like, "This year I'm going to start really enjoying being in the kitchen." And, thanks to the ever-increasing influence of a realist husband, these bursts of whimsy do end up in actionable (and realistic) bullet points. So, here they are, my dreams (and goals, dear husband) for 2016.

SPIRITUAL STUFF

THE DREAM: I will plant scripture in my heart every day, and I will create opportunities for my family to do the same. I will focus more on having a grace-giving heart and on service toward others. I will open my home and dinner table to others more. I see wine pouring and board game playing. It's going to be good.
THE GOAL: I have loved the quiet mornings of 2015. So I am going to continue to get up at least an hour before the girls wake up, so I can read and focus on the work that needs to happen in this heart of mine. I am going to post one new scripture in a central spot in our home each month for our family to read together at dinner time. I am going to invite friends to our home at least once a month and feed them food that I really worked hard on.

HEALTH & FITNESS

THE DREAM: Cardio-something will become a regular part of my weeks again, just like it used to be circa before children. And I am nursing right now, so I will continue to eat everything in sight. But in all seriousness, I'm sure there is work to be done in the nutrition department, but I will re-visit this later.
THE GOAL: I am going to do some form of cardio (with an emphasis on core) 3X a week. I have ordered this work out DVD for a really accessible option.

WIFERY AND MOTHERHOOD:

THE DREAM: I will make my people feel loved and known and cheered for.
THE GOALS: Okay, so I have goals written down that I am going to try to accomplish this year in the area of being an all-around more encouraging, available, etc. etc. wifey, but I'm not going to write them here because it FEELS WEIRD. Onward. Our girls. We are going to read scripture with them every day (the one-a-month mentioned above). We are going to sign Marin up for an activity like ballet or music lessons where she has a little more time with other kids. I am also including a bit more "school" time into our day. Also, for our oldest, LESS SUGAR. I am literally going to cut every sweet thing she eats in half, even if it's a skittle. (I am clearly not reducing the portion of drama I dish out.) We are going to make sure we play outside every day, weather permitting. And lastly for Marin, I am going to make sure she and I get a one-on-one date each week. (She and dad already have a date each Saturday.) For little miss Brite, we are going to move her to her own bed. We will miss her warm, chubby little body in our bed, but the time has come. I've also set the goal to nurse her to at least 12 months and to start adding solids into her day before the end of her ninth month. We are also going to start reading to her every day. I know she is just a baby, but we started putting books in front of Marin when she was just a little one so yeah, MORE STORIES and WORDS for our littlest. Oh, and more dance parties and bed jumping forever and ever amen.

There is so much more in my heart and head concerning ways I hope to grow and projects I want to finish this year, but I'm sure there are enough Mondays in 2016 to hold more goals. So, I think that about sums it up for now. Voila. Happy New Year, friends!

Tricks AND Treats for Toddlers

Happy Halloween week! We are having fun this year getting into this spooctacular holiday.  Since Marin is a little older and understanding more, we are taking a fun and light-hearted approach to Halloween, avoiding the scary side of things because, well, she is a kid AND you know, we want to help direct her mind to "things above." My mom used to make holidays so much fun for us, and I'm hoping we can do the same for our family.  So, here are a few fun and kooky, not-so-spooky, tricks-and-treats that we've been enjoying this Halloween.

- Oreo bats and ghoulish grin apple slices were super easy to make and Marin thought they were just the cutest.  I also think these "boo" nanas and these hot dog mummies looked yummy.

-At our last trip to Target and the library, we picked up this book, this book, and this book.  All keeping the light-hearted approach to Halloween.  I also thought this book looked cute.

-And as for Halloween crafts and activities, we had tons of fun bedazzling baby pumpkins. Marin has also LOVED these window gel clings.  We are talking tons of quiet and peaceful entertainment! I think they would be a fun activity for long car rides too.  We might do this activity with all our extra eye ball stickers from pumpkin decorating.  Ooh, and I also have a small bag of fake spiders that I picked up at Target, and I'm SURE there is an activity (or prank) somewhere in our future that will include those little critters.

Okay, I hear a little ghoul girl waking, so I am off!  Happy Halloween week, everyone!

Decorating Baby Pumpkins with my Girly Girl

Happy Friday! We've really been feeling the October vibes over here this year. I think having kids has jolted me into finding extra value in all the festive things there are to do out there.  In the end, it just makes for tons of fun memories together, and in this case, memories over a little pumpkin decorating.  I think I've mentioned before that Marin "WUVS PINK!" She proclaims it at random through out the day, every day.  So this year I bought a bunch of $1.00 white baby pumpkins from Trader Joe's and some pink stickers, glitter, and other pumpkin bedazzling materials from Michael's for a little October activity with my girl.  It never ceases to amaze me how the smallest ideas can be such big fun. Whenever you can add pink glitter to a baby anything, you will come out winning every time. We had a blast!

The Kitchen Mini Renovation + Painting Tile

Happy Monday, friends.  I hope it was a fun and productive weekend for you and yours.  In our neck of the woods, this kitchen mini-renovation came to fruition, and I'm so happy that we went for it! When we were looking to buy a home a year ago, we were in a bit of a time crunch, so we were really happy when we found one that was move-in ready and seemed to fit so many of our likes.  It was all around a great fit for us and still is for the time being.  With that being said, there were/are a few small changes that I've wanted to make to help it feel a bit more like the home I would have built if I had my way with all the knobs and paints, etc. We aren't looking to pour too much money/time into changes because we aren't sure if this is our forever home, but a few small changes are feeling pretty good.  
The major component of this mini-renovation was changing the grey subway tile to white.  Not looking to put in all new tile, I started researching the painting option, and let me tell you, there aren't a lot of positive stories out there.  BUT I found this one (and one is all you need-right?), and I dove in.  I applied a good bonding primer and a leveling paint in super thin coats over the course of a couple days. Then, I took a very small paintbrush and painted the grout grey.  Now THAT task was as you might imagine, super tedious, like applying liquid eye liner for hours. Partyyy. After painting, we replaced the knobs and added pulls to the drawers and VOILA, a new kitchen for all my seven course meal prep. Anyone want some spaghetti?    

E for Effort (Toddler Activities)

My daily life with our two ladies has really picked up speed lately. Brite's sleepy newborn days are long gone, and not only that; she has become a bit of an inconsistent napper. In Babywise language, we are dealing with "the 45 minute intruder." In regular language, "Dude, my baby is the lightest sleeper on the planet. Please quit breathing SO loud." Along with short baby naps, and the Georgia heat keeping our play inside a lot, my time with Marin has felt limited and interrupted. Combine all the inside time with constant baby holding and leaving to reinstate the paci, and I've been left feeling a bit defeated in the big sister department. I mean, the TV watching alone!

I'm a big proponent of the "It's only a season" mantra and "Give yourself some grace" because mom guilt is REAL, friends. BUT I've been feeling the need lately to try a little harder, you know, to invest in my oldest a little bit more.

Marin is such an imaginative kid, and I think kids generally have intrinsic desires to learn and explore, but sometimes a mom just needs to look back at her day and feel like she put something together, besides another quesadilla. SO, thanks to Pinterest and extra coffee, we've been working on some activities that change things up a bit for Marin and take the edge off of SO MUCH PEPPA PIG.

Here are a few we've enjoyed in case you find yourself in the same predicament.

Happy Tuesday, mamacitas!

MATCHING UPPERCASE AND LOWERCASE LETTERS ON EASTER EGGS.  Marin really loved this because of all the PINK.  It was a bit much to expect a toddler to have the endurance to do the whole alphabet, so we matched letters in chunks of five, starting with just A-E then picking up a different day with other letters. Breaking it into fewer letters gave her a more immediate sense of accomplishment.  We even threw in an Easter egg hunt in the living room one day.

PUPPET THEATER.  I happened to be awake extra early one morning, so I found this old science board and some leftover party materials and put together a small puppet theater.  We glued felt  eyes onto old socks to create puppets.  Marin named hers Blueberry.

PINK SEA FOAM. Marin loved this! Combine water, pink bubbles, and sea creatures and you have conquered the day.  To make the bubbles extra bubbly and pink, I followed this mama's instructions.

COUNTING. I know, whomp whomp. Marin actually enjoyed it, with the accompaniment of lots of clapping and cheering, so I think it's one we'll keep around.  It took a bit more teaching and coaxing over a few days, but overall it was a positive experience.  Don't think I'm selling this one very well; back to the sea foam we go!