Sunday, July 29, 2012

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Yesterday my Grandma turned 76 and Baby Emma reached the ripe old age of 2 months!  My Grandma has been battling lukemia and lymphoma for two-and-a-half years, so this was definitely a reason to celebrate so I broke out the cake pans.  Putting together a cake means the big girls need entertaining.  Here is a glimpse of what they did while I worked on my cake project.



I did have to briefly put them to work.  They are good snappers.



Grandma has been enjoying lemon flavored goodies lately, so I found a delicious lemon cake recipe along with a lemond custard filling recipe at Cake Central.  The cake grew. . . . .a lot.  This frequently happens to me while baking. 




Assembling cakes with a baby strapped to the front of you is a little challenging, but she loves to be close.

The idea for this cake came from Pinterest.  You can link to the original instructions here.  I put my own spin on it, but I loved the original idea.  It was super easy.




Later in the afternoon we loaded up the girls and the cake (which I swear weighed in at 10 pounds) and headed to my Mom's for lunch.  Everyone gathered there to celebrate Grandma's 76th, my brother Aaron's 29th, and my cousin Joes girlfriend Sarah's 22nd.  There was lots of good food and good times had by all.



I had to snap a picture of the birthday girls.  It's one I will always treasure.


I think at the end of the day despite being worn out, Grandma had a good day.  I made it home from the party just in time to put a second coat of paint on my bathroom walls.  More to come on that later!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Grace's New Room

In September 2011 we found out we were pregnant with our third child.  My mother's instinct told me I was pregnant with our third girl, but I waited as patiently as I could for the sonogram results to confirm.  In January 2012 it was confirmed, girl number three.  At this point I thought I would do our oldest daughter Grace a favor and start preparing a new room for her.  While she wasn't very excited about it at the time, she'll thank me later.  Now she has a room that's a little bigger than her sister's, has a private bath verses a Jack and Jill back, and a bigger closet.  This was her old room (even though Emma's letters are there and yes her bed is currently being used for "storage" because she sleeps in my room):

As requested, Grace's new room is purple.  Her favorite color.  So, when I was about seven months pregnant Mimi painted her new room purple.  If Grace had her wish, it would be covered in Disney princesses.  While I love a good princess, I wanted something that would last a little longer.  For a while it was purple and boring.  Did I mention Grace is a hoarder?  This process also involved cleaning the mess below.  I threw away countless McDonald's toys.  She would have a heart attack if she knew.


Other than princesses, Grace loves giraffes.  So thanks to etsy I was able to find some wall decals to jazz up the main wall in her room.  I have no pictures of how these decals arrived, but think about Christmas Eve when you are sitting down to put together the latest and greatest toy and out of the box come a million pieces. 


That's right each tree branch, bird, flower, giraffe, etc. had to be cut out.  One. . . . .By. . . . . .One.  And of course the girls want to help with all of this so here we are.  Newborn included.  Love my baby sling.



Pretty sure this sling was not intended for home decorating, climbing ladders, etc. but it works fabulous.  This is a Moby Wrap.  I recently found it in a consignment shop.  Wish I had had it for the first two as well.  Please ignore my appearance.  It was very humid, my hair was out of control, and I had been up a VERY long time at this point.



 My hand helpers.  Aren't they sweet?  Excuse the pantless Abby.  Potty training is underway.




Day one took approximately four hours.  Day two started bright and early with more flowers.  Day two took probably another three hours.  BUT, the results were FABULOUS!!!!!!  I love Grace's new wall!



Grace also got a new old bed.  This was actually my queen size bed from when I was younger.  It was a light oak, but thanks to Mimi it's now white.  


Along with the "Big Girl Room" came a new vanity.  Mimi snagged this vanity in May.  At that point I was not allowed out because I was contracting a lot and trying to keep a baby in, but it was an excellent find.  It came from our monthly addiction The Red Apron here in Liberty.  The pretty pink chair also came from there, but it was in their June sale.  See what I mean, it's a monthly addiction. 

This is the "play corner" where her doll house is set up.  Curtain ideas are brewing for that ugly boring window!


Wanted you to get a glimpse of her chandelier.  Grace had a chandelier in her old room and Abby has one too, both came from JCPenney but they no longer carry them.  So thanks to the Internet I found this one.  It was real crystal and cost the same as the non-real crystal ones in Abby and Emma's rooms.  It was an AWESOME find.  


And last but not least, her bathroom.  It doesn't 100% match her bedroom, but it's happy and bright just like her.  Grace wanted her bathroom to have flowers and butterflies.  Ask and you shall receive!  It needs a few finishing touches but it's mostly done.



Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into Grace's little world.  She's very proud of it.  Let's just hope she keeps it clean for awhile!!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

My First Post

Creating a blog is something I've been wanting to do for awhile.  Once upon a time writing was a big part of my life, and something I've been wanting to bring back to my world.  I figured a blog would be the best way to do this.  My blog is not very "pretty" which is something that bothers me.  I like things to be pretty.  I'll get there as I learn more about this.  But, stick with me and I will share with you all things Jessica!