James' 27th Birthday Party

I hosted a small family birthday dinner for James' 27th birthday last night at the house. It turned out just how I had planned it. The food was very simple (crock pot shredded chicken tacos, beans, and rice). And the company was great. I know James felt very loved and enjoyed celebrating his special day with his loved ones. Now for some pictures

The Decor

The Food

The Guests

The Pumpkin Carving Contest

The winner was defiantly Tom for the below two creations.

The Birthday Boy!

It Was a Beary Long Day, and This Mummy is Tired!

Friday was defiantly a very busy day. I hosted a little Mummy & Me Luncheon party for Ben and a few of his little friends from 10 till about 1. I went with of course a mummy theme and purple, orange, and lime green color scheme. We kicked off the party with a dramatic reading (ha, ha) of Ben's favorite book, "Where's My Mummy?" Then played a game of pin the face on the mummy-- loved the kids interpretations of what a face looks like.

Then they enjoyed a lunch of mummy dogs (with horrible mustard eyes), and mummy pizzas.

The cute party guests.

Once all the guests left I quickly got Ben down for a nap to rest up for the next event of the day- a wizard of oz themed party at the rec. center downtown. Ben wore his back up costume, a little bear suit we found at a second-hand store to give his clown costume a break from the festivities. He played a few games, made a few crafts, and enjoyed pointing out everyone's costumes to me telling me what everyone was dressed up as.

After the party we were supposed to go to Uncle Jeff's football game, but opted out because not only were we both tired, I still had to shop for supplies for my costume. We attempted to get everything I needed at the party store and Marshalls, but I realized I had to venture to the mall to H&M for my outfit. I got everything I needed for just under $30, plus I got a new outfit to wear after Halloween. I'll post pictures tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great Halloween tomorrow.

A Good Day

Today was a great day with my best little friend. We spent the whole day together and I couldn't help but think again and again throughout the day how we don't have many more days left just the two of us. How things are going to change soon, and it makes me a little sad for him. I know he is going to love being a big brother, but I just want to cherish these last few months with him as my one and only. So . . .

We spent the morning roasting marshmallows over an open fire, : )

The afternoon washing our rides,

And the evening browsing the library for new reading material and at home baking sugar cookies.

Mommy loves you Ben so much and I promise to always make time for just the two of us no matter how large our family grows. And according to you "we are going to have lots of babies!"

Ben's Big Boy Room

There is nothing baby about Ben's room at the new house. It's kinda sad. But I get to design a nursery very soon, so it's okay that I'll soon have one big boy and one baby boy! Ever since starting preschool Ben has really enjoyed painting and crafting. He was bringing home so much artwork, that I knew we had to do a little art gallery. I still want to expand it with some more frames.

Ben's new big boy bed (a hand-me-down from his Auntie Amanda who is now off at college). He really has to jump to get on here. James said to remember how he struggles to get on now, because by the time we leave this house he will be swinging his leg over and touching the ground. I was worried that he would fall off, but so far, no injuries have occurred.

The shape of the room provided the perfect little nook for his toy box.

Love all the storage and shelf space that this cool IKEA contraption provides.

The reading corner.

The perfect reminder for every child of God, young and old!

I love the built ins in the closet, they provide the perfect place for all of his things. Things I want him to get into on his own are placed below, and those I don't want him to get into alone are out of reach.

I can't wait to start on the nursery; I've got big plans. It will be the first nursery I get to design, so I'm super excited.

Getting Crafty

Ben and I made these adorable mini marshmallow ghosts for my friend's neighborhood Halloween carnival. Simply fill skinny plastic bags, like those used for pretzel treats, with mini marshmallows, and sharpie on little ghost faces. Or in our case hot glue on googly eyes and paint on the mouth (can't find my black sharpie anywhere).

Burlap, ribbon, and black paint were used to create this simple banner for our family room mantel. The mini pumpkins I plan on using for James' b-day party celebration and a friendly carving competition. We will see if they are even possible to carve.

I can't claim any craftiness about the kitchen table, but someone handmade this cute runner, just not me. And I love the sunflowers; they remind me of my mom. And since the table was my parent's old table, it really reminds me of my mom. : )

How to Spend Two Days

Yesterday morning I dropped Ben off at preschool and my Dad picked him up for me and took him to spend the night at my parent's house. I will be picking him up today at around four with James. So how did I spend my two days? I think I struck the perfect balance how to spend two days to myself: one day for me, and one day for my family.

As soon as I dropped Ben off yesterday to preschool, only after sitting with him through circle time and a fun visit from a firefighter, I headed to downtown Walnut Creek for a wonderful haircut. I got the works. A scalp massage with lavender essential oil, a deep conditioning treatment and hand massage, and then an amazing haircut. I've decided to grow out my hair, so she just cleaned it up a little bit, but I really like it. After my haircut I treated myself to a little scrumptious snack from Kara's Cupcakes-- a s'more cupcake and milk.

Once the sugar kicked in I was ready to shop. I scoured a local consignment store and scored four amazing designer sweaters at great prices that will work through my pregnancy and then afterwards. Then I headed to my new favorite, H&M for some essential pieces including a black maternity pencil skirt, and a few non maternity pieces that work great. I love not having to shop ALL maternity. They really rip us preggo women off and then you can't wear the pieces once the belly goes back down to normal size again. I ended my me day with a trip to Cold Stone with four wonderful women and chatted it up until nearly ten o'clock at night. Such a great day!

After a thoroughly selfish day yesterday, I thought I better devout my time to my family today. How so? By cleaning our entire house, working on Ben's Halloween costume, and stocking our fridge up with some much needed food. Soon I will be getting in the car to go pick up my baby from his Mimi and Papa's house, and I can't wait to see him. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. I'm so glad that he had such a great time and was such a good boy, but I am also glad that he is ready to come home and is missing me. We then will head to mine and James' hometown of Brentwood for a family pumpkin patch outing, then to our favorite local restaurant for dinner, El Camino, and lastly to James' football practice. Yes, his football practice. He signed up to re live his glory days on an alumni football team and today he has his first practice. The big game is in a few weeks. I think we just might feel 16 again tonight, except for the bringing our three-year-old to the pumpkin patch part. : )

Gotta Go, Gotta Go, Gotta Go Right Now

I have gained such a sympathy for those suffering from overactive bladder syndrome in the last few weeks. The frequency of which I have to "go" has gotten out of control. Baby Boy #2 is quite the boxer or kick boxer (I can't tell which limbs are flailing around on me), and my bladder is his punching bag. My night's rest has become so interrupted with frequent trips to the bathroom, that I am beginning to think that I will be more well rested once he is out and my mind changes it's tune to, "and I don't have to go right now!"

Probably unlikely though!

Clowning Around

I got the idea to make Ben a clown costume from Parents magazine. It was so simple and very cost effective. Here is a breakdown of materials and directions:

Materials: Girls bermuda shorts size 14, long sleeve t-shirt (both on clearance at Target), oversized bow tie purchased from party store, bag of pop poms, green felt, bag of party hats, large colorful buttons, ribbon, face painting kit, and a medium-sized embroidery hoop. Total cost for everything was around $20-25.

First I stitched the oversized bow-tie to the t-shirt to reinforce it. Then I pinned the embroidery hoop into the shorts (I could have hand-sewn it, but I hate hand sewing, so I just safety pinned it). I had Ben hold them on himself while I measured the ribbon for size and simply sewed on the ribbon and buttons to create suspenders. I safety pinned the suspenders to his t-shirt so they wouldn't slip, but the pants could still slip off.

For the clown hat, I simply cut the green felt to size and hot glued it on to the paper party hat. Then I hot glued a large pom pom on top and on the bottom rim, and glued buttons up the front. He had the perfect clown-like shoes already, so I just taped on some pom poms for added detail. And woola, there you have it.

After looking at the pictures from our friend's neighborhood Halloween carnival (such fun- see below), I realized that his pants could use a little something.

So I have decided to sew some large patches onto the pants before his school Halloween party and parade to add a little flair and change things up a bit. And because we have at least two more events to go to I have to think of a family costume idea. I had a three bears plan in the works, but since I never finalized the bear rentals for James and I and because James informed me that it's "kinda lame," I'm back at square one for now.