May, Where Have You Gone?!

Yeah... I know... It's been a while! The excuses are normal! We've been busy, as usual! I always say that I'm going to be better about posting... but now I'm going to say, "I will TRY to be better about posting more often so that you don't have to read a super long post!" There! That'll do!

On April 28th, Caitlin was invited to a Princess Party for a friend from church, Savannah. I've been babysitting her, so Caity and her have gotten really close. It was at a hair salon in town that hosts parties for children and adults. The kids party package had the birthday girl getting her hair curled, and everyone getting their fingernails and toenails painted.  It took Caity a bit to relax, but once she did, she had a lot of fun!

I was thinking that I'd do something like that for my 25th birthday in July! But for grown women, we get a full mani/pedi! I think there are different packages, but I haven't talked to the owner as of yet.

With the warmer weather settling into our region, we have been trying to find healthy ways to keep cool with snacks for the girls. We bought some Edy's Fruit Bars from Walmart and they are GOOD! A little on the expensive side, but well worth the money!

When we eat anything, Vivian wants to eat it, too. Charles was eating a pomegranate flavored fruit bar and decided to let Vivian have a go at it! You can see her reaction:

It was too comical to NOT snap some photos of her eating the fruit bar! Once she got over the first few licks, she went to town on it! Now each time we eat one, she will crawl across the floor to us!

On May 3rd, I had to give Caitlin a bath that morning because she had wet her bed. When I was washing her hair she said, "Mommy, my hair is too long. I want cha to cut it for me!" I said, "Are you sure?" And she just nodded her head and giggled!

As soon as she was out of the bath, I dried her and sat her down to cut her hair before she changed her mind! She didn't hold very still, but I did the best I could! She just LOVED it!

I've still been babysitting Hunter and Savannah, and one perk of having another girl in the house, is dress up time for the girls! We bought the girls a Disney Dress-Up Box and it has three different skirts inside, perfect for Caitlin, Rosalie, and Savannah!

Vivian turned 7 months on May 6th! My little chubber is getting SO BIG! Time has flown by so, so fast! I can hardly believe it! It seriously feels like yesterday that we brought her home! Her newborn photos make her look so big now! She is one happy, healthy baby girl! She is army crawling all around our house! She has even started saying "Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da!" and on a rare occasion, she'll say, "Ma-ma-ma-ma!"

Happy 7 Months, Vivian Rane!

With the warmer weather, I have enjoyed being outside with my girls! Aside from my horrid allergies, when I'm loaded with benadryl, zertec, and claritin, I'm able to be outside for a few hours and enjoy the wonderful weather! The girls have been wanting to eat their meals outside, and on a super nice day, I can't say no!

The girls enjoy having our cats Lilly (grey) and Leo (orange) to accompany us on our lunch dates in the yard! Rosalie enjoys feeding them, even though I've told them repeatedly to NOT feed the cats! She tells me, "Nienie hungie!" Translation, "Lilly hungry!" So I cave, and let her feed the cats... Although I fear I'm breeding a monster!

I had a good day with my allergies, and I decided that I'm not in enough photos with my girls. I'm usually the one behind the camera. And since having my girls back to back, I'm not in the shape I'd like to be in, so I generally hide from the camera. But I'll do photos of my face! (I'm working on the body part!) The girls all cooperated with me!

We celebrated Rosalie's 2nd Birthday on May 18th at our house! We invited a ton of people and had to move the location of her party to our home due to windy weather. But the turn out was fantastic! I made her Ariel Dress Cake and everyone loved it! I've posted about it here, but here are some photos from her big day!

The next day, May 19th, one of my cousins graduated and we headed to her town to watch her walk across the stage! It is a huge day to celebrate and I didn't want to miss it! That, and I don't always get to see my family because of distance. I am very proud of Shianne! She has, and always will amaze me! She's had a rough life, but she's taken everything in strides. Watch out, world! She's a graduate and she's going to achieve her goals!

The girls had a blast at her graduation party! My Uncle has some smaller children, so his backyard had a jackpot of yard toys and cars! The girls sprinted over to them and had so much fun! Vivian got to meet some of my family for the first time! Everyone just loved seeing her! They kept saying that she has "amazing eyes" and that she's "chunky!" Hahaha! She's all muscle!

Charles has enjoyed the weather lately! He's been Frisbee golfing almost every evening as well as grilling out! Anytime I ask him, "What do you want for supper?" His response is generally, "What do we have to grill?" We just LOVE the warmer weather and being outside with our girls!

The girls have had a blast with the Princess Golf set that Rosalie got for her birthday! We also bought the girls some lawn chairs and they bring them (literally) everywhere we go. Walmart, Grandma's, the park... everywhere. It's quite adorable! The bottom photo above is the girls sitting in them! We bought three, one for each girl!

Vivian is getting stronger and stronger each day. I noticed that lately when I hold her, she will kick her legs like crazy. When my sister-in-law was over for a visit, she asked if I had a jumperoo. I thought, "GENIUS!" And since then, Vivian has been a Jumperoo Monster!

Charles and I have been doing great, aside from our allergies! We have decided that June 1st would be the start of our new Clean Eating Lifestyle. It's going to be hard, but we want the long-term benefits of doing so. We've looked into clean eating and having a whole food, plant based diet. Granted, we won't be cancelling out meat completely, but the meat we are going to consume will be carefully purchased.

We hope to not only lose weight, but be healthier and live the word of wisdom. We want to live to see our girls grow up, graduate, get married, and more! But they can just stay little for now! I'm not ready for them to grow up! Not yet!

Happy 2nd Birthday Rosalie!

We celebrated our second daughter's birthday a little over a week ago! A few months before her birthday, I put out photos of all Rosalie's favorite characters (The Little Mermaid, Dora, Rapunzel, Aurora, etc.). She dove right for The Little Mermaid! I started planning and getting things ready for her party. 

I made Rosalie's invites on my own using digital scrapbooking. I used a floral background from a clip-art site, Ariel clip art from this site, and used various elements from different kits found here.  I let Rosie pick out the Ariel clip art she liked the most and matched the other colors accordingly! Here is the final outcome of her invite:

I'm getting better at digi-scrapbooking! I really, really enjoy it! I've made a lot of stuff lately that I'm going to document on my craft blog soon!

Once Caitlin's party was over, I knew that I'd have about 8 weeks until Rosie's party, so I got straight to work by searching Pinterest and other craft blogs for fun ideas for an Under the Sea party! (my Party board) I decided to make Salt Dough starfish and shells for decoration! I painted them with water colors. And although I had a lot of ideas for decorating her party, we ended up having to move the location of the party and I didn't get a chance to. But I'm sure my girls will want another Little Mermaid party in the future! 

I decided to make Rosie an Ariel dress cake for her party. A week before the party, I had a trial run with a marshmallow fondant recipe I found. I made a double batch because I trusted the recipe to be delicious. THANKFULLY, it was very good! It was easy to make and super delicious! This type of fondant is a little fragile when handling, but that's why I ALWAYS have a trial run! I didn't take a photo of my trial run, but the final cake I made on her birthday turned out fantastic! Here's Rosalie's cake:

I made some Ice Cream Cone cupcakes to go along with her cake. I recommend making this the morning of your party. Otherwise they get a little soggy and droopy! I frosted them and dipped them into brown sugar to make them look like little sand castles! Then I stuck in a cupcake topper, of course!

I made treat bags for the kids who came to the party. I filled them with Swedish Fish and Octopus gummies, then taped on a "Thank You" label with some ribbon! I wanted some gummi sharks, but I couldn't find any in our small town... The kids still loved them!

With all of that done, all that was left was for me to cut the fruit, set out the food (we grilled hot dogs and served them with chips, fruit, and punch), and set out the decorations!

Everything turned out well considering this was suppose to be a party at the park! It was way too windy outside and my allergies were acting horrible. We made a last minute decision to have the party at home and I shoved everything into my bed room power cleaned before the guest arrived! Thankfully, my sister-in-law Megan was there to help me clean and watch my kiddos!

Here are some photos from Rosalie's 2nd Birthday Party!

Singing "Happy Birthday" scared her at first!

Rosalie made bank with all her gifts! It's safe to say that she's going to have a fun summer in the yard with all her new stuff! Everyone had an awesome time and right after everyone left, Rosie crashed out and took a long nap!

The last two years have flown by. There is not a day that goes by that I am not thankful for my sweet Ninja and the time that I get to be with her. I am overwhelmed when I look at her with such emotion that only a parent can understand. She has grown so much already and I stand all amazed at her beauty. I love you, Rosalie Cadence!

8 months pregnant with Rosalie

Welcome to the world, Rosalie!

Rosalie on her first birthday

Rosalie on her second birthday

Seems like she's a pouter when it comes to singing "Happy Birthday" to her! I look forward to many, many more birthdays and years with my little Ninja! She is one determined little lady now... makes me wonder what she'll accomplish later in life! She's gonna change the world for the better!