Celebrations!

January is full of celebrations for us.  In the past week we have celebrated the New Year, our 4th anniversary, and Quinn's first birthday!  We decided to go ahead and throw Quinn a little party with some friends before we moved.  We will literally be moving into our new home on Quinn's birthday, so we wanted to make sure that we had a chance to celebrate.  Hopefully we will be able to celebrate more with some family after the move. 

 Quinn seemed to love all the attention at her party.  I know its pretty common for kids to panic or cry in these situations but Quinn seemed to feed off of all of the energy.  This cracked me up because Matt and I are not big party people. 

 I made Quinn's birthday cake.  It was so fun!  It was made of funfetti cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.

I think Quinn liked it too.  She had no problem digging in.  We have waited until this point to give her any type of sugary treat (besides what our family members have snuck her).  I'm glad she enjoyed it!

 

 

 more party treats...I made too many and now I can't stop eating these :/

 This was the toy that Matt and I gave Quinn.  She seems to really like it.  Excuse the bedhead here-haha  Quinn is trying like crazy to walk.  We have seen her take multiple steps.  Miss my little baby but I am really enjoying the fun of having a toddler.  Although I am a little concerned about the whole discipline thing.  We have already witnessed a few tantrums...luckily they are still pretty cute and don't last very long!

 

 

And this one is for us.  Matt and I made it through the first year of parenthood.  It's officially not about us anymore, and I think it's better that way.  I am so thankful for the way Matt has supported me through this past year.  Becoming a mother was a tough transition for me and he showed me a lot of grace.  Matt has made becoming a dad look easy.  I am so thankful for how God grows us closer each year!

As I reflect on this year, I am just so thankful.  Thankful for God's amazing grace and mercy (these words have taken on a new meaning this past year).  Thankful that the best is yet to come.  And, thankful for God's blessings and gifts in our lives.  My resolution for 2014 is to surrender my expectations to the Lord and see what happens.  And, as a true American would say, work out more :)



birthday bliss for my favorite people

For the past five years, I have attended all of my niece's and nephew's birthday parties.  It was pretty easy to drive a few hours to attend when we lived in Chicago.  When we moved to Florida, it wasn't so simple.  But, my parents sponsored a trip for us last summer so that we could attend. ;) I wasn't quite ready to accept that we might miss their birthday party just because we lived so far away.  You see, all three kids + my sister's birthday are within a few weeks of each other (end of August/beginning of September).  Usually the party consists of close family, maybe some friends, and an amazing cake :) Sadly, this is the first year we won't be there.  Now that we have a baby, we have to plan our trips a little more carefully.  I am looking forward to the trip we are planning for this fall though!

 

Anyhow, I put a lot of heart and soul into this birthday package to help make up for the fact that we won't be there to celebrate. 

These labels were easy and fun to make.  I wrote the letters in glue and poured glitter over them.

The gifts?   For my sister, I bought her a 3-month subscription to Birchbox.  Birchbox is a company that you can subscribe to and receive a variety of beauty products to sample each month.  There is a men's Birchbox too.  You can sign up for yourself or send them as gifts.  Who wouldn't want to get a bright pink box with beauty products in it every month?!

I made these zipper pouches for Natalie (6) and Stratton (4). 

I packed the inside with goodies from Target...sticker earrings for Nat and fake car keys for Strat, price tag stickers for playing store, notepads, fruity tic tacs, glitter crayons...

 

I am working on some zipper pouches like these for the shop.  In the meantime, you can find some new cards (including the birthday card in this post) available for purchase!

I have been on a roll lately, as far as creativity goes.  The inspiration keeps coming to me like a tidal wave.  I can't keep up with it!  I get an idea and feel compelled to make something that second!  It's almost annoying.  I know I am going to crash and burn pretty soon though...probably the day Quinn starts to crawl.  So, for now, I am just going to keep plugging away!

Happy Birthday to Matt!

This week we celebrated Matt's birthday! I don't usually get all sentimental in my blog posts, but Matt deserves some recognition on his birthday. That being said, Matt is one of the most patient and thoughtful people I know, and I am SO thankful for him in my life :)

To celebrate, we made a gourmet dinner at home. (aka-we marinated the steaks for 24 hrs. vs. 1 hr. ;)

:)

Beacon joined the party with all of his fur.

Tadaaa! We were pretty impressed with ourselves.

Present time! (Yes, Matt's present is wrapped in Santa paper...I guess I'm not following in my mother's gift wrapping foot steps too well--sorry, Mom!)

Apple Crisp for dessert

So thankful for another year with my best friend! Hope you had a great birthday, Matty!

Labor Day Weekend

For labor day weekend we managed to make one last trip to see my family. We celebrated Stratton's 2nd birthday and hung out with my cousins!

Meredith claims that Matt and I try to make it look like Natalie and Stratton are our kids in pictures. And, she also claims that some people have actually mistaken us for their parents. My response...mission accomplished ;)

This little guy made all of our hearts melt at his party. Sweetest boy EVER.

Couldn't resist including this pic...cute little tush :)

Dinner

Cousins :) So good to see all of them!

Birthdays

My niece is 4!

The party was princess theme :)

Notice one of my most daring cake creations to the left...Meredith was the cake director and I was the cake decorator :) We made a great team.

:)

We also celebrated Mere's birthday! She is getting up there! I love rubbing it in...that's my job ;)

this gift was a big hit

soooo cute

Nat and her favorite uncle!

I just finished my first week of school. I am happy to announce that I am not afraid of any of my students this year! haha And, I am taller than the majority of my students--wohoo! They are pretty cute kids. It already feels SO much less stressful than last year, but it will be challenging now that they added another class to my schedule. I have a lot of kids to keep track of (about 150). It's nuts! Let's just say that the other night I easily went to be at 8:58 pm. Feels good to be putting in a hard day's work again....even if it makes me feel totally exhausted :)

4th of July/Grandma's 80th B-day

This fourth of July weekend we were able to visit Matt's family! It was his Grandma's 80th b-day. You would never guess she is 80! One of Grandma's wishes was to take us (all 14 of Matt's extended family) on an architecture tour. It's amazing how many dates and names she can recall! We were all amazed.

the party

We did many activities this weekend, including fireworks, a baseball game, and boating.

Go Matty!

He tore it up :) (Just a tid bit sore today)

Ben & Kels

Yay, Topher!

Kels got some air!

Thanks for a great weekend, McCauleys! Hope everyone had a fun fourth!