My Day Off + Weekend Recap

Hey y’all, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Our weekend wasn’t too shabby… Not too shabby at all for me since I was off Friday!  I’ve been wanting to take a day off for a long time just to get some little projects done around the house – everybody knows how hard it is to get anything done when you have little munchies running around – and I rarely use vacation days for actual relaxation anyway, so in true Lindsay fashion, I took a vaca day just to stay home and DO ALL THE THINGS! 

Thursday I sat down and made a master list of every single thing that I want to clean out/organize/make/do and I’m not even kidding you, it was over 200 lines long.  So obviously I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do all the things… It would take 3 months of vacation (or maybe just quitting my job altogether) to get everything done, so I narrowed it down to a few things that I’ve really been wanting to do, but have been putting off forever:

• Paint curtains for my office (DIY post coming soon!)
• Finish gallery wall in my office
• File massive stack of paperwork in office tray
• Remove all videos from video camera and save to external hard drives
• Transfer all old home videos from DVDs and convert to computer files
• Date and organize all old home videos and save to external hard drives
• Install rack on pantry door
• Clean out and reorganize pantry

As you can see, I got quite a good bit done, but I still have a loooong way to go.  I am really excited about how the curtains turned out and I can’t wait to share them with you, hopefully later this week!

Friday night hubs and I opened a bottle of wine, we ordered pizza, and we had a movie night – Toy Story 3, per Jacob’s request.  He loved it and I loved watching his expressions as he watched it. 

Saturday we stayed home all day, and the kids stayed in PJs and played… pretty typical for us on Saturdays when it’s cold.  

We usually go to Saturday evening mass as a family, but since this past weekend was Palm Sunday, I went to church alone while Brian stayed home with the kids.  The Palm Sunday readings are always very long and I knew those little hooligans wouldn’t behave for the extra long mass.  Let me tell y'all, sitting with the adults was GLORIOUS!  Our church has a “cry room” in the back which is a training room of sorts for families with children, and we always sit in there with Jacob and Olivia, but it’s always very loud and squirmy to say the least.  I can’t even tell you when the last time was that I went to church without kids, and it was so relaxing and nice to sit with my extended family (grownups!) again.  It was also nice not having to constantly pull one kid out from under the pew while having to take the other to the bathroom fifteen thousand times.

This mass is always one of my favorite masses of the year, so it was nice to be able to give it my full attention.  Ever since I was a little girl, I have always taken my palm and folded it into a cross before mass starts.  I still have every single one from years past.

After church, Brian and the kids met my parents, my brother, my uncle, and me at a local pizza place (pizza again!) for dinner.  I think both kids were happy to be out of the house... they had gotten a little stir crazy as the day went on.

Sunday, we met Brian’s mom and step-dad and his sister and her family for brunch to celebrate his mom’s birthday, followed by birthday cake at their house.  The kids were on major sugar highs after eating chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate syrup and birthday cake, so we turned them loose in the back yard to run around, and then in case that wasn’t enough, we took them to our favorite playground.  

Olivia was so pooped after the playground that she fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car (the dreaded car nap) and Jacob looked pooped, but he hung on until we got home.  Miraculously, Olivia went right back to sleep once we transferred her to her crib. 

We lounged around the house for the rest of the afternoon while the babies napped.  And by lounged around I mean the hubs lounged around while I worked some more on transferring old home videos.  In case you haven't noticed yet, I don't lounge around.  I'm always busy doing something!

We finished the weekend with our usual Sunday dinner at my parents’ house and then it was early to bed Sunday evening to get a positive start to the work week.  

I hope Monday treated all of you well!  DIY painted curtains post to come later this week!

Air Show

Ahhhh, nothing says spring like some quality time in the out-of-doors (and coming home covered in a thick yellow coat of pollen).  Saturday, we took the kiddos to their first Air Show and a great time was had by all, even Brian, who was dog sick with some sort of sore throat/hardcore headache combo (which was likely caused by said pollen). 

Jacob was thrilled to his little toes for his first Air Show.  We have been wanting to take him for some time now, pretty much his whole life, because he loves airplanes… and trains… and cars… and trucks… and… well, you get the point.  He’s a little boy.  He loves all modes of transportation.  Last year, the Air Show was just weeks after Olivia was born, and I was not quite ready to venture out of the house for an all-day outdoor event with a three week old.  Not to mention I was still recovering from major surgery.  So we were finally able to take him this year and it could not have been a more perfect day weather-wise. 

They day started out cloudy and a little chilly, but the clouds quickly cleared and the sun came out.  From the second we walked in the gate, Jacob was enamored.  He kept shouting, "Look at THAT big plane!  Look at THAT ONE, too!"  I actually teared up a little seeing him so happy.  Nothing beats seeing the excitement on your children's faces when they are experiencing something for the first time.

We walked from plane to plane until Jacob spotted an especially large aircraft off in the distance, to which he screamed, “I wanna go see THAT one!”  So we did.  It was called “Spirit of Freedom” and it was a C-54 from the Berlin Airlift from World War II.  Not only did he get to see it, he got to go in it because they were giving tours!  Pure heaven for this 3.5 year old. 

In the cockpit!

After the tour, we went over to look at some military vehicles and Jacob was thrilled because he got to climb in an army ambulance and an army tank.  He REEEEALLY wanted to get in the army helicopter, too, but that wasn’t allowed.  A picture in front of it would have to do. 

After walking around for awhile, we grabbed some Nathan’s Hot Dogs from a food truck and went to find a spot for the show. 

First up was a Parachute Demonstration Team to start the show… seven people jumped out of a plane at 5,000 feet, y’all.  I’ve seen this plenty of times in the past, but it never gets less scary.  Never gets old either!  So amazing.

I was so relieved once all 14 feet were on the ground safely.  After the parachuters, we got ice cream and we watched helicopters "battle" and a biplane and a couple of other planes do tricks and loops through the air.  Jacob loved every second of the show, and Olivia enjoyed all of the outdoor time and sunshine.  It was the perfect way to kick off spring!

I hope you lovelies enjoyed your first days of spring, too. XO

DIY Gold Glitter Wine Glasses

Hi friends, Happy Friday Eve!  I’m thrilled to be publishing my very first (the first of many, many, MANY, I’m sure) DIY post.  :o) 

I drink a fair amount of wine, and over the last few years it has really become my drink of choice.  Nothing is more relaxing after a long day than kicking up your feet with a big ol’ glass of vino (and a foot rub from the hubs).  I’m a Merlot girl, so the bigger and rounder the glass, the better.  As a matter of fact, I’m currently on the hunt for some Olivia Pope wine glasses that do not cost an arm and a leg… hers are the absolute best, I swear, but I just cannot bring myself to pay $12.95 for one glass.  Seriously, Crate and Barrel, you’re killing me. 

Anyway, if you follow me on Instagram you already know that I’m obsessed with everything gold and glittery, and I thought it would be fun (and still classy) to have some gold glitter wine glasses. 

Here are the supplies you will need:

Wine glasses – I purchased mine from Ikea for $1.99 each. You can find them here.

Krylon Glitter Blast Glitter Spray in Golden Glow – I purchased mine from Michael’s

Painter’s tape – I like 3M with Edge Lock because it gives a clean line with no paint bleeding

First, you will need to tape up the edges around the stems with the painter’s tape.  It should look something like this when you’re done.

Stand the glasses up vertically (like you’re drinking out of them) and spray the stems and bases with a thin coat of the Krylon spray.  The spray is a little runny on the glass at first, so I sprayed one very thin coat on each glass and let it dry for about ten minutes before spraying anymore.  That served as a good base coat that prevented the paint from running on subsequent coats.  Once the base coat dried, I sprayed several more coats until the base looked completely covered.   The stems, however, did not look completely covered at this point, so I laid each glass on its side and sprayed several more thin coats on each side of each stem until they looked completely covered.

I let them dry overnight, and voila - super easy DIY gold glitter wine glasses!  The Krylon Glitter Blast is truly the secret weapon to making these the easiest DIY project… it was nice not to have to worry about Mod Podge and loose glitter, and the spray still gives the same fresh glitter look.

Now if you’ll excuse me, Scandal is coming on, and I have a date with Olivia Pope and my not-quite-as-large-as-hers-but-mine-are-cuter-now wine glasses.  Hope y'all have a great evening!

Fresh Air = Weekend Fun!

Happy Monday (said no one ever).  Well, it was back to the grind today and it definitely started out as a Monday.  I won’t get into that right now, though.  I’d rather continue to reflect on our wonderful weekend.  We finally, FINALLY had a weekend where nobody was sick, it wasn’t raining, and it wasn’t cold!  All the clappy hands!!  

Lately Olivia has been cranky in the evenings since she’s been adjusting to taking just one nap a day instead of two, so we haven’t even attempted to go out to eat on a Friday evening in several weeks.  However, this past Friday we just decided to take the plunge and try it again, and everything went surprisingly well. 

We kept it kid friendly (duh) and went out for pizza… the restaurant is always a zoo on Friday nights and there are usually a bunch of other kids there, so it’s nice and loud… the perfect setting to camouflage the inevitable meltdown.  Luckily, we didn’t even have to worry about that, though.  Both of the babies were as good as gold, and as happy as clams just to be out of the house, I think.  We topped off our meals with some raspberry gelato (Jacob’s pick), and then we headed back home for early bedtimes for the kiddos, and relaxation + a full TiVo for Mommy and Daddy. :o)

Saturday we hung around the house in our PJs most of the day, and then we went to our usual 5:30 Saturday evening mass. 

Unfortunately things didn’t go as smoothly at church as they did at the pizza place – both of the kids decided to act like a couple of wild animals, and since we were in church, we didn’t have a nice, loud atmosphere to conceal the noise.  Jacob was jumping around like a wild banshee, and Olivia kept slamming her milk down on the ground and throwing herself back because we wouldn’t let her run wild.  Everyone in there was probably thinking our kids have no home training.  Note to self – do not take your very small kids to church after they’ve just taken two hour naps.  Let them burn off some energy first. 

Luckily, we had Olivia’s paci and she calmed down once we busted it out, but man, we are trying to keep her away from the pacifier, not encouraging her to use it.  After some serious threatening from hubs and yours truly, Jacob eventually calmed down as well, and then he wanted to snuggle which is always welcome.  

After church we took the kids to Panera for dinner (just call us daredevils… or just plain crazy), but they were perfect angels.  Go figure.  We sat outside because the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we actually had a picture-perfect dinner.  It totally redeemed the evening.  

Sunday we had our usual lunch at Brian’s Mom and Step-Dad’s house, and his sister and her husband and kids joined us as they always do.  The weather was absolutely AH-mazing so we all hung out in the back yard after we ate.  Jacob played trucks on the deck and Olivia hammed it up in Mommy's sunglasses.  It was nice and relaxing, and oh-so-wonderful to get some fresh air and a healthy dose of Vitamin D! 

This face, y'all.  Here it is again!

After that, it was naps for the kids at home (and free time for Mommy and Daddy – WOO HOO!) for a couple of hours, and then in the evening we went to my parents’ house for some good food, good wine, and good company.  I guess they don’t call it Sunday Funday for nothing!  How were your weekends?  I hope you enjoyed yours as much as we enjoyed ours!

Olivia's 12 Month Well Visit

Somebody had her 12 month checkup yesterday and the doctor confirmed what we already knew… 1. She’s growing like a weed and 2. She’s HUGE.  Seriously people, check out these stats!  If her toddler class had a football team, she would be the offensive lineman!
 

Weight - 23 lbs. 6 oz., 90th (yes, you read that right) NINETIETH percentile

Height - 30.75 inches, also 90th percentile

The doc said there’s no need to worry that she’s huge (I wasn’t anyway) because her height and weight are proportionate, and that’s what actually matters.  He checked her ears and said that they look great (Thank. Goodness. Jacob had a bazillion ear infections before we had his tubes put in.), BUT he had to clean one of them out because he couldn’t see in there and she SCREAMED the entire time.  He said that she’s reached all of the appropriate milestones, she says more words than the average 12 month old, and that she looks all around perfect.  I could not agree more.  Just look at her, that spunky little nugget. :o)

She had to have shots at this appointment, and I was very proud of myself for holding it together and not crying this time.  I almost always tear up or full-on ugly cry every time.  I just can’t stand to see my babies in pain.  She did cry while they were administering the shots, but she stopped as soon as I picked her up and loved on her.

Jacob came along for the appointment, and he accepted a blue lollipop on her behalf for behaving so well.  He loves going to the doctor… I guess that’s not such a bad thing, though.  All in all, it was a successful trip, and we will hopefully all stay well and not have to go back until Olivia’s 15 month well-visit in June.  You hear me, germs?!

Until then, I’ll just keep sitting over here trying to figure out how my tiny self made such GIANT babies.

Anybody else out there with me?

Olivia Cate's Pink & Gold First Birthday

*Copyright Notice - Please DO NOT pin pictures of my children on Pinterest.  You may pin pictures of the projects and decorations, but NO pictures of my children.  If breeched, legal action will be pursued.*

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I can't believe my baby girl is one... seriously, HOW?!  I just had her yesterday.  They say time flies when you have babies, but I never knew just how accurate that statement was until I had my own babies.  This year was seriously the fastest year of my life, but it was definitely the best. 

As y'all know, I am a DIY kinda girl and I love creating and crafting, so I decided to make the majority of Olivia's party decorations myself.  People always ask me, "when do you have the time??"  Since I work full-time, it took months to get it all done, but I just did a little each day when I could, aaaand then I took the Friday off before the party and binge-crafted to finish the rest - HA.  Hallelujah for lunch breaks during the work week and nap time on the weekends!!  <Clappy hand emoticons!>

I knew that I wanted to do a pink and gold party since before I ever even got pregnant with her.  Seriously.  So the color scheme was easy.  Coming up with a theme was a little harder, though.  I had seen some cute Winter Onederland parties on Pinterest that I thought might work well for a February birthday, but they didn't really go along with the color scheme, and honestly, by February I'm about ready to kick winter in the teeth.  

So, one day I was doodling some hearts on a piece of paper and I thought how great it would be to incorporate hearts into her party since I love them so much, and THEN I realized that the party was just a week after Valentine's Day!!  How could I NOT do some kind of love theme?  And that's how the "Our Little Love" theme came to be.  AAAALL THE HEARTS!

I actually handmade all of the decorations for Olivia's party, but before we get started sharing those, I understand that a lot of people just don't have time for crafting.  So if you aren't looking to make your party items, I have listed some FANTASTIC items of pink and gold birthday items below.  These gold glitter heart picks are almost identical to the ones that I used for Olivia's cupcakes and these rose gold crowns would be adorable for a pink and gold party!  These are also an absolute MUST for all parties and announcements right now and this pink table cloth would be perfect for a pink and gold party as would these gold place mats!  

I have also listed several items below from Amazon... all are pretty inexpensive and most qualify for Prime free two-day shipping!  You definitely can't go wrong with that.  All links have been updated as of May 2017:

ONE // TWO // THREE

FOUR // FIVE // SIX

SEVEN // EIGHT // NINE

TEN // ELEVEN // TWELVE

THIRTEEN // FOURTEEN // FIFTEEN

Now, here are some of the crafts that I made for Olivia's party...

Banner for food table

Banner for her high chair

Main cake topper

Clips to hold her monthly photos on a banner for the mantle

Garland for the drink table.  I later went back and added pink hearts as well.

Jars to hold silverware and straws

Cupcake toppers

The party was on Saturday, February 21st at noon.  The day was mostly sunny and it was warmer than usual, so that was just the icing on the cake.  Good thing we didn't plan a Winter Onederland theme.

Invitations

Y'all know I had to do a chalkboard since I've been documenting all of Jacob's birthdays with chalkboards AND I documented every week of my pregnancy with Olivia with chalkboards.  I love how it turned out.

For the party decorations, I used lots of light pink ribbon and gold glitter scrapbook paper.  The people at Hobby Lobby now know me by name.  Who am I kidding?  They knew me by name before this.  I'm pretty sure that heaven is going to look a lot like Hobby Lobby. 

On the Menu:

Chicken salad sandwiches on croissants
Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets with honey mustard dipping sauce (because you can't go wrong with CFA!)
Fresh strawberries, grapes, and pineapple
Chips - plain and BBQ
Fruit pouches, Puffs, and Yogurt Melts for the 121,723,225 babies who attended
Cake
Cupcakes
Cake pops

And my favorite touch - a Candy Bar for the older kids to take home as party favors.

Strawberry Heart-Shaped Marshmallows

Strawberry Banana Gummy Bears

Chocolate Sixlets

Tutti Frutti Rock Candy

Cherry Rock Candy

Yes, the older kids (namely, Jacob) were tearing around the house like maniacs from all the sugar.  Oops.

Olivia, of course, had her own little smash cake and it was just darling.  And the gold glittered One candle made by yours truly really completed the look.

And ooooh her outfit.  I die.  Seriously, I die.  I wish I could say that I made her onesie, but I ran out of time and had to purchase one on Etsy.  I found someone who was selling the gold glitter heart with "One" in them, and I asked her if she could add Olivia's name to the butt, and BOOM, perfection.

Gorgeous!

I can't even with those thigh chunks!

I made her tutu myself (and holy goodness did it take forever), and it turned out great... until she put it on the morning of her party and we realized that her chunks were even bigger than I had anticipated.  #DIYFail  She still rocked it anyway, stretched out elastic showing and all!

Perfect before it was stretched out ;o)

I made her headband as well, and that fit perfectly.

I couldn't wait for her to dig into her smash cake... Jacob hated his and cried when the frosting got on his hands, so I was looking forward to one of my babies getting really messy.  I just knew she was going to make the messiest of messes, but instead, she daintily stuck her little hand in the cake, put the tiniest bit in her mouth, and then gagged.

I tried to feed her with a fork thinking that maybe she just didn't want to get her hands dirty, but she just swiped it from me and proceeded to feed me instead.  What the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets!  At least we didn't have to worry about a sugar high and a tummy ache later...

She received so many sweet gifts, but she wasn't too interested in opening them... she let Jacob do all of the work for her while she shredded some paper.

The whole party was perfection, and I'm so thankful to everyone who took the time out of their Saturday to come.  It really meant a lot to us.  It's the last time I'll ever plan a first birthday party for one of my own babies (I can practically hear God laughing at me and saying, "That's what you think."), so I'm glad it was a good one.

With that, I'll leave you with the only two remotely good pictures that we were able to get of our entire family.  #RealLife #HandToTheFace

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