Today we spent the day decorating our house for Christmas! Its a little early for my usual routine, I usually decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving like we did as kids; however, next weekend is going to be busy and we'll have family over so I decided to go ahead and decorate now. I think houses always look best during the holidays so what's an extra week of Christmas goodness in the house?!
Something that I've started doing the past couple of years is keeping Christmas cards that friends and family send us. I just love getting Christmas cards in the mail and appreciate the effort that people go through to send us cards so I think its worth keeping and displaying. Well, for one reason or another, we've never sent out Christmas cards of our own so this year I'm determined to fix that!
A few weeks ago I came across an offer that Shutterfly is doing to get 50 free Holiday Cards. How great is that?! I get to finally send out cards and its free! I have used Shutterfly in the past and they are great. Kate's birthday invitations were ordered through the site and I think they turned out great. I also appreciated the fact that the invitations were shipped the day after I ordered them. Everything was completely customized yet they were able to get it out the next day, it was impressive. Since I have had such great experiences with them (and thanks to their great offer) I have decided to do my holiday card shopping through them. Now for the hard part: picking which cute design to use. Here's a few choices, maybe you can help me choose!
*Option 1: Sweet & Retro- I like the whimsical look and it kind of reminds me of the 50s & 60s era for some reason and I love that era!
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/sweet-and-retro-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&storeNode=93491
*Option 2: Snowing Joy- this one is just fun & a little childlike which is still appropriate for little Kate.
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/snowing-joy-christmas-4x8-photo-card-4x8-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93491
*Option 3: Christmas 2010 Card- this one is simple & classic & actually says Merry Christmas!
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/christmas-2010-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&storeNode=93491
There are still a ton that I like but this was as much as I could get done with asking the husband for his opinion.
I'm also loving the idea of photo gifts. I can never have to many pictures of my little one so I hope my family feels the same! I think certain coffee addicts in my family would appreciate a mug with sweet Kate's picture on it like this: http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs/custom-mug
Side note: this is the invitation that we used for Kate's birthday. So sweet.
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/5x7-flat-photo-cards/rainbow-bits-pink-birthday-5x7-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&fa=2&storeNode=92259
Anyway, I love Shutterfly and I'm really excited about the special they are offering. They are always running great specials and giving away freebies. As a girl who loves a sale, I love it & I love Shutterfly!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Two Years
This week has been busy and eventful and full of celebrating. It has been Kate's birthday week! I'm a very sentimental person (sometimes a little too much!) so I did lots of reminising about "this time two years ago I/we were___." I understand that Kate isn't really aware that it is her birthday but I think its nice to still sit and think about how much she has changed our lives in these last couple of years and the joy we felt around those first few exciting, yet tiring, days.
Tuesday afternoon Kate and I went out for her last outing as a one-year-old. We did some major shopping to spend her bithday money that family had sent her. If you know Kate, then you know she really loves shoes and clothes more than toys so she was having a ball. Later that night, her "Birthday Eve," we watched the video that we had taken at the hospital and the first few days following her birth. She was in love with the little baby in the video. The three of us were all snuggling in bed when all of a sudden the birthday girl stood up, walked to the end of our bed, and.....tossed her cookies. Yes, in our bed. This was the first time that Kate had ever had that happen so we were all a little shaken up and not sure what to do. It happened once more about an hour later but some cuddling with Mommy settled Kate's stomach and she finally fell asleep. It was sad that when it was officially Kate's birthday she was sick and not feeling so great.
The next morning Kate woke up and wanted to watch more of the baby on the TV so we watched the video of her birthday last year. It really is crazy how fast little ones grow up. She looks so much older from just last year. She was still a little sick but took a long nap and was all back to normal and ready to celebrate her day! We took it easy that afternoon while we waited for Jonathan to get home from work. Unfortunately, since Kate had her little episodes the night before we had to cancel plans we had made with friends for the evening. Oh well, a trip to the movies can wait I guess. Once Jonathan got home we took a quick trip to Toys R Us for Kate to pick out a toy and get her birthday balloon from Geoffrey. Kate couldn't decide on a toy but was loving the movie aisles so she ended up getting some new DVDs, one of which is "Charlotte's Web." We picked up food from Cotton Patch (since that's basically what she lived off of when she was in my belly thanks to Jonathan working there at the time) and headed home to have a family dinner and watch her new movie. We had a lot of fun discovering the animals in the movie, eating our dinner and cake, and trying to build a fire in the fireplace. Even though Kate's birthday started off with a little glitch it ended up being a lot of fun and we enjoyed spending time as a family.
Today marked the day that we brought Kate home from the hospital. I remember bringing her home but not yet realizing that we really get to keep this baby and raise her for the next 18 or more years. The first day home also brought on one of the worst nights Kate has ever had, to date. She cried, more like screamed and I mean SCREAMED every hour, on the hour for about 30 minutes. So really we had a night full of screaming with little short pauses in between. Jonathan stood it for just under an hour then got my mom from the guest room & told her he was sleeping on the couch and she could help me. Poor guy, I couldn't blame him though, he had to go back to work the next day. Its just funny how life with a newborn is somewhat of a blur but then certain moments really stick out in your mind and make for a good story.
Well, that wraps up Kate's birthday week. I'm so proud of my little girl and how much she's grown these past couple years. She is developing her personality and independence and it is so fun to watch. She learns something new everyday and never fails to put a smile on my face no matter how my day is going. Motherhood is crazy, emotional, tiring, rewarding, and about a million other things but I feel so blessed to have been given this role and especially with this little girl and her daddy by my side. I love you, Kate. Happy second birthday!
Tuesday afternoon Kate and I went out for her last outing as a one-year-old. We did some major shopping to spend her bithday money that family had sent her. If you know Kate, then you know she really loves shoes and clothes more than toys so she was having a ball. Later that night, her "Birthday Eve," we watched the video that we had taken at the hospital and the first few days following her birth. She was in love with the little baby in the video. The three of us were all snuggling in bed when all of a sudden the birthday girl stood up, walked to the end of our bed, and.....tossed her cookies. Yes, in our bed. This was the first time that Kate had ever had that happen so we were all a little shaken up and not sure what to do. It happened once more about an hour later but some cuddling with Mommy settled Kate's stomach and she finally fell asleep. It was sad that when it was officially Kate's birthday she was sick and not feeling so great.
The next morning Kate woke up and wanted to watch more of the baby on the TV so we watched the video of her birthday last year. It really is crazy how fast little ones grow up. She looks so much older from just last year. She was still a little sick but took a long nap and was all back to normal and ready to celebrate her day! We took it easy that afternoon while we waited for Jonathan to get home from work. Unfortunately, since Kate had her little episodes the night before we had to cancel plans we had made with friends for the evening. Oh well, a trip to the movies can wait I guess. Once Jonathan got home we took a quick trip to Toys R Us for Kate to pick out a toy and get her birthday balloon from Geoffrey. Kate couldn't decide on a toy but was loving the movie aisles so she ended up getting some new DVDs, one of which is "Charlotte's Web." We picked up food from Cotton Patch (since that's basically what she lived off of when she was in my belly thanks to Jonathan working there at the time) and headed home to have a family dinner and watch her new movie. We had a lot of fun discovering the animals in the movie, eating our dinner and cake, and trying to build a fire in the fireplace. Even though Kate's birthday started off with a little glitch it ended up being a lot of fun and we enjoyed spending time as a family.
Today marked the day that we brought Kate home from the hospital. I remember bringing her home but not yet realizing that we really get to keep this baby and raise her for the next 18 or more years. The first day home also brought on one of the worst nights Kate has ever had, to date. She cried, more like screamed and I mean SCREAMED every hour, on the hour for about 30 minutes. So really we had a night full of screaming with little short pauses in between. Jonathan stood it for just under an hour then got my mom from the guest room & told her he was sleeping on the couch and she could help me. Poor guy, I couldn't blame him though, he had to go back to work the next day. Its just funny how life with a newborn is somewhat of a blur but then certain moments really stick out in your mind and make for a good story.
Well, that wraps up Kate's birthday week. I'm so proud of my little girl and how much she's grown these past couple years. She is developing her personality and independence and it is so fun to watch. She learns something new everyday and never fails to put a smile on my face no matter how my day is going. Motherhood is crazy, emotional, tiring, rewarding, and about a million other things but I feel so blessed to have been given this role and especially with this little girl and her daddy by my side. I love you, Kate. Happy second birthday!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Kate's Birthday Party
Last weekend (and not this one that just passed) we had Kate's birthday party. I know I'm a little behind on my posting but last week was crazy busy. I have spent a lot of time planning Kate's birthday because I just love for her to have a party that is just all about her! Well, this year I couldn't decide on a theme for her party. Kate has many loves right now & I couldn't decide which she would enjoy best so I decided to do something a little crazy. Kate's theme was "Kate's Favorite Things" and we incorporated the Backyardigans, Handy Manny, and Minnie Mouse. I had a lot of fun getting everything together and I think Kate and her friends really enjoyed the party.
Before the party I was baking some goodies & Kate decided she wanted to help. She had her potholders ready and wanted to "test" the food before her guests would later.
The overall look of the party.
The gift and sign in table with some of her pictures from her birthday photo session. (Not the session with the black eye incident)
The Backyardigans area. If you are familiar with this show then you know that they always end their adventures with getting a snack, so I figured what better way to bring them in than to use them at the snack area! We also had a "Pin the Bowtie on Pablo" game. Pablo is the blue penguin from the show. The kids didn't fully understand the concept but they enjoyed playing with the stickers!
The playhouse also made an appearance at the party. Going along with the Backyardigans TV show, they always play and have their adventures around their house in their backyard so Kate's little house was the center of her adventure too.
To bring in Handy Manny, we decorated cookies. It was a little difficult to think of a Manny activity that wasn't too boyish so I decided that we would stretch our imaginations. So, the kids had to help "fix" the cookies and decorate them. We used little wooden popsicle sticks to spread the icing and they mimicked (at least in my mind) little wooden planks that Manny is always using to do his repairs on the show.
The cake and yummy punch!
The cake was made by the same lady who made Jonathan's groom's cake for our wedding. Funny side story with that: we actually never got to eat any of the groom's cake. The cake lady is from Lubbock and we had some family bring it down for us but the cake was ruined during the transport. I guess we all underestimated the strength of the sun on a hot August day in West Texas. By the time we made it to the reception the cake was melted and crumbled into pieces. It was quickly scooped away and I never even got a bite and didn't see pictures of how it looked before it was ruined until months after. However, my father-in-law took a bite before it was removed and he said it was still pretty tasty! So, fast forward to now, I wanted to use the same lady again but with better results and sure enough the cake was really yummy...and we had a funny story to laugh at together.
The Minnie Mouse area. Minnie is all about dressing up, being girly, and just being cute....well all of these things are some of Kate's qualities too so we went with it! We had rings, bracelets, necklaces, sunglasses, and feather boas for the girls to accessorize with. But, of course, how could we be Minnie without some Minnie ears and a big pink bow?! I made headbands with those things for all the girls to wear along with their accessories. Us "big girls" got a kick out of wearing them too!
I must note, I LOVE my Cricut Machine. It is my best friend. I made this little birthday banner for Kate to add a little more Minnie flair.
The birthday girl sporting some Minnie ears...and her poor little black eye.
Jonathan and I with our sweet birthday girl. Be sure to check out her little dress, its made by me!
The party came to a close with opening all of Kate's fun presents. She was all about it at first but then just wanted to play with her new toys so she left me to open the rest. I like to think that her birthday is also a little about me, after all I did do all the work on the day she was born, so I gladly opened the gifts! Kate now has new babies to play with, a stroller to push them around in, a car to ride around outside once it warms back up, a pretend shopping cart complete with food, a tea set, all 3 Shrek movies, and much more. We are blessed to have such great friends and family who love this little girl as much as we do. We had a great time at the party but it would not have been complete without all of our great friends there to celebrate with us.
I should also note that the party weekend was also another Tech game day weekend. We played #11 Missouri and we thought it was more than likely a loss; however, we were gladly surprised and ended up winning! Wooohooo! Go Tech! I always love a Tech win.
Before the party I was baking some goodies & Kate decided she wanted to help. She had her potholders ready and wanted to "test" the food before her guests would later.
To bring in Handy Manny, we decorated cookies. It was a little difficult to think of a Manny activity that wasn't too boyish so I decided that we would stretch our imaginations. So, the kids had to help "fix" the cookies and decorate them. We used little wooden popsicle sticks to spread the icing and they mimicked (at least in my mind) little wooden planks that Manny is always using to do his repairs on the show.
The party came to a close with opening all of Kate's fun presents. She was all about it at first but then just wanted to play with her new toys so she left me to open the rest. I like to think that her birthday is also a little about me, after all I did do all the work on the day she was born, so I gladly opened the gifts! Kate now has new babies to play with, a stroller to push them around in, a car to ride around outside once it warms back up, a pretend shopping cart complete with food, a tea set, all 3 Shrek movies, and much more. We are blessed to have such great friends and family who love this little girl as much as we do. We had a great time at the party but it would not have been complete without all of our great friends there to celebrate with us.
I should also note that the party weekend was also another Tech game day weekend. We played #11 Missouri and we thought it was more than likely a loss; however, we were gladly surprised and ended up winning! Wooohooo! Go Tech! I always love a Tech win.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Eye of Halloween
I've been so busy lately I completely forgot to post about our Halloween adventure with Kate! First, we started the weekend off by attending the "big game" in Odessa. The OHS vs. Permian game. I love this game- no matter how the season is going for either team, this game means everything. I usually run in to friends I haven't seen in a while because people come home for this game more than any other game. Most of the years I was growing up it was pretty much a guarantee that OHS was going to lose; however, we always went and stayed until the end hoping for some sort of miracle. In all of my school years, we only beat Permian twice- my 5th grade year and my Senior year. Since I've graduated OHS has won a few times so now its even more fun to go to the game knowing that there really is a chance of winning! Well, this year was a fun one- OHS won! By the end of the game we had taught Kate how to say "bye bye Mojo." She makes me so proud.
Saturday brought on our real adventure! Kate & my nephew, Mikey, were scheduled to get their pictures taken together for my mom's Christmas card. That afternoon we went to visit my sister-in-law at her new house. We got Kate all dolled up for her pictures while we were there but then I had a little freak out because I realized I forgot a bow for the outfit change they were going to have in the pictures. Little did I know, that was about to be the least of my worries. Just as we were about to head out the door I hear a SCREAM & my nephew come running out of his room saying, "Aunt Kim, I think I just hit Kate right in the face." Sure enough, there's screaming little Kate with a cut under her eye. It turns out Kate was mesmerized by her cousin's Wii playing skills that she got a little too close & ended up getting a Wii remote to the face. Ouch. The little cut quickly turned shades of blue, green, and purple and swelled more and more. It was pure chaos from that point on. We calmed Kate down a little & made our way to the picture location but by that point I think I was crying just as much as she was. It hurts to see our little ones hurt. Well, Kate perked up & was fine but looked pretty rough. We went ahead with the pictures & the photographer said she could probably edit the eye. By the end of the session I didn't even care if the eye showed. Taking pictures of 2 two year olds is much easier said than done. Coaxing with M&Ms didn't work, acting like fools didn't work, even Grammy accidentally stepping in dog poo didn't work to make the kids happy. The kids are cute so I'm sure the pictures will be great, but the process was completely exhausting!
After the photo session we took Kate on her first Halloween adventure. Last year she was still too little to take in Halloween & we were at a Tech game so we didn't do much else afterwards. The Halloween carnival was fun but short-lived because Kate (and her parents) were just plain worn out from the day's events. She was still the cutest Dorothy there- puffy, bruised eye and all.
Sunday brought on day 2 of "the eye." It was more bruised and pretty puffy still but I think it just made Kate look cuter. I mean, who doesn't want to just hug and love on a cute little kid that looks so sad?! When it was time to go Trick or Treat Mikey came over to dress up with Kate. He was supposed to be the lion from Wizard of Oz to match little Dorothy. Well, Mikey wasn't too fond of his lion head so he didn't really wear it. The kids were still super cute. Jonathan & I dressed up too. We were a couple from the 50's.
We took the kids to see our family around town. Kate didn't quite understand the concept of Trick or Treat-ing. She didn't understand why people would give her more candy if she was still trying to finish what she had. Silly Kate, at least she isn't greedy! We had a lot of fun and then followed the road all the way home to Lubbock!
Saturday brought on our real adventure! Kate & my nephew, Mikey, were scheduled to get their pictures taken together for my mom's Christmas card. That afternoon we went to visit my sister-in-law at her new house. We got Kate all dolled up for her pictures while we were there but then I had a little freak out because I realized I forgot a bow for the outfit change they were going to have in the pictures. Little did I know, that was about to be the least of my worries. Just as we were about to head out the door I hear a SCREAM & my nephew come running out of his room saying, "Aunt Kim, I think I just hit Kate right in the face." Sure enough, there's screaming little Kate with a cut under her eye. It turns out Kate was mesmerized by her cousin's Wii playing skills that she got a little too close & ended up getting a Wii remote to the face. Ouch. The little cut quickly turned shades of blue, green, and purple and swelled more and more. It was pure chaos from that point on. We calmed Kate down a little & made our way to the picture location but by that point I think I was crying just as much as she was. It hurts to see our little ones hurt. Well, Kate perked up & was fine but looked pretty rough. We went ahead with the pictures & the photographer said she could probably edit the eye. By the end of the session I didn't even care if the eye showed. Taking pictures of 2 two year olds is much easier said than done. Coaxing with M&Ms didn't work, acting like fools didn't work, even Grammy accidentally stepping in dog poo didn't work to make the kids happy. The kids are cute so I'm sure the pictures will be great, but the process was completely exhausting!
After the photo session we took Kate on her first Halloween adventure. Last year she was still too little to take in Halloween & we were at a Tech game so we didn't do much else afterwards. The Halloween carnival was fun but short-lived because Kate (and her parents) were just plain worn out from the day's events. She was still the cutest Dorothy there- puffy, bruised eye and all.
Sunday brought on day 2 of "the eye." It was more bruised and pretty puffy still but I think it just made Kate look cuter. I mean, who doesn't want to just hug and love on a cute little kid that looks so sad?! When it was time to go Trick or Treat Mikey came over to dress up with Kate. He was supposed to be the lion from Wizard of Oz to match little Dorothy. Well, Mikey wasn't too fond of his lion head so he didn't really wear it. The kids were still super cute. Jonathan & I dressed up too. We were a couple from the 50's.
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