Suburbia | Marriage Confessions Suburbia | Laugh. Fight. Stay Married.

Now, if I’ve learned anything about my readers over the years, it’s that you folks are nosy, nosy, nosy. And that comes from a very nosy person myself. I love knowing details about things. Where stuff came from, how much it cost, where the idea started. And I know you all do, too, so this post is all the behind the scene details from Gracie’s party.

I set the food up on our dining room table, and we moved our deck table out into the backyard under a tree in the shade. People fixed their plates inside and then moseyed on outside.

I decided not to go with a theme, and instead settled on colors – pink, yellow, and white. With the cake, cupcakes, and Gracie’s wings, though, butterflies kind of became the unofficial theme.

I found a lot of the decorations at Party City, like the yellow tissue pom poms and the banner handing over the window. But I saw a lot of the same things at Target for cheaper prices after I’d already bought everything.

Most of the food ideas came from Pinterest. One of my favorite, simple ideas were the clear plastic punch cups with ranch dressing in the bottom and then carrot and celery sticks standing up in them. It made it super easy for people to have their veggies and the dip without making a mess. Plus, they were really bright and colorful. I thought this was such a neat idea, and even used it later to give Bean some peanut butter with animal crackers. I think this will become a staple when I entertain from now on. So many options!

Another great Pinterest hit was the funfetti dip (also called the “Dunkaroo Dip” on Pinterest). It was super easy to make. You take a box of Funfetti and mix it with 1/2 a large carton of plain yogurt and 1/2 a container of Cool Whip (I used the fat free). Blend it with a hand mixer until it is combined well and serve with animal crackers or graham crackers. I put out animal crackers for the kiddos and it was a big hit. It tastes like icing!

My last big Pinterest idea was super simple, too. Rainbow fruit skewers. I bought a whole pineapple and cut it into chunks, green and purple grapes, blueberries, and strawberries. You just put them on the skewers in rainbow order. I had enough fruit and long enough skewers to do it twice. I thought they looked really cute, and they were one of the first things eaten.

I didn’t get a picture, but my Grandma made finger sandwiches that I put out on a cake plate. She made cucumber and cream cheese, chicken salad, and egg salad sandwiches. They were delicious! I also had lemonade punch in a punch bowl (a gallon of lemonade, a 2-liter of Sprite, a 1/2 gallon of pineapple juice, with floating lemon slices).

I tried one Pinterest thing that, sadly, didn’t work. But I think it was my mistake that messed it up. The Pinterest link said to fill balloons with water and then freeze them. Then, you put those into your cooler at a party and they act like ice to keep things cold, but they look more festive. Sounds super easy, right? It really was. I messed it up, though, because I didn’t give the balloons long enough to freeze. I did them at 8:00am the morning of the party, but by party time at 2:00pm, they still weren’t frozen. I also messed up because I used water balloons instead of regular balloons, and I discovered that water balloons are water balloons because they are super thin so they pop easily (makes sense, right?). Unfortunately, because the water balloons were so thin, it was really hard to keep them from popping…all over my kitchen! Bean thought it was hysterical every time it happened, and it happened several times! I will definitely be trying it again because I like the idea, but next time I’ll use better balloons and more prep time.

As party favors, I gave out little mason jars with Easter basket green straw in the bottom of them, then with Skittles piled on top of that. I tied a yellow ribbon around the top to tie in the theme. I meant to put a sticker label on the top of the jars that said, “It was SWEET of you to come,” but I just ran out of time. Still, I thought the little jars came out cute.

I used the extra mason jars I had to hold plastic utensils on the food table. Waste not, want not!

It was a pretty laid back party, which was nice. Pinterest definitely came through for me again, but so did my family. It was nice to have help getting everything together, but it was even nicer to be getting things together for our family and friends. Graciekins is a lucky girl to have such great people around her!

7 comments | posted in Around the House, Fun Things, In the Kitchen, Marriage Confessions, Suburbia | tags: birthdays

Sunday afternoon we had Gracie’s first birthday party. We had a really nice afternoon sitting outside in our backyard under the shade tree. The kids played, the adults ate and chatted, and the birthday girl went to town on her birthday cake. All the makings of a great day!

Gracie decided to wear butterfly wings instead of a birthday crown. I think it was a smart choice. Crowns fall off, but wings are forever. I found the wings at Target in the baby section (next to some killer shoes, which I will have to go back for later…). I thought they were a steal at $5.99.

Gracie also wore sunglasses. Like the diva that she is.

My mom made Gracie’s smash cake and my sister helped her decorate a dozen cupcakes for everyone else. I loved the cake. She cut mini marshmallows in half and dipped the sticky side in colored sugar, then placed the marshmallows in circles around the cake to make it look like petals.

Gracie thought it was so beautiful that she didn’t want to touch it at first. It was less of a “smash” cake and more of a “finger poke” cake.

Before she got too goopy, we tried taking a few family pictures. Which NEVER goes well. With two small kids, someone is always picking their nose, or moving, or looking the other direction.

After cake, we played outside with the kids and opened presents. It was such a beautiful afternoon. Oh, and Gracie got a microphone. So, life was grand.

When Gracie started getting grumpy (she skipped her nap), we moved inside so that she could rest a bit, but she ended up playing even harder on the living room floor. We took all her presents out of their boxes and the kids played for over an hour with everything. It was the first time Gracie had sat with the “big kids” and actually played before. She’s such a big girl now that she’s one!

19 comments | posted in Family, Fun Things, Marriage Confessions, Parenting, Suburbia | tags: babies, birthday, Family, first birthday, toddlers

1. For the first time in the whole life, I have a tan. Not a sunburn. A real tan.

2. I started the Couch-2-5K program last week to help tone up this summer. The first day of training required 20 minutes of walking/jogging. I made it 10 minutes and haven’t done it since. But I have the app on my phone, so I think I’ll try again this week.

3. When Bean and Gracie take their afternoon nap, I usually spend that hour on my float in the pool. It is heavenly.

4. We have really tried to stop watching TV around our house so instead we have music playing all the time. We listen to Bean’s music, Disney soundtracks, country, classic rock, big band, alternative, pop, and everything in between. My playlist this morning has Michael Franti, Baby Einstein Mozart, Taylor Swift, Michael Buble, Adele, Jimmy Buffet, and more.

5. Chris built this awesome fence on our back porch that encloses the area with both back doors. Now, if Bean were to somehow get out of either door, there’s still a big fence keeping him from the pool. This area has become our favorite playground. Bean, Gracie, and I spend most of our day out here. The other parts of the day we’re in the pool.

6. We have had fresh corn on the cob and watermelon at every dinner for the past two weeks. It’s awesome! I love summer foods!

7. After dinner, we have bath time and then bedtime for Bean sometime between 7:30 and 8:00. After that, it’s still light outside, so Chris and I sit on the back porch and drink lemonade. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we listen to music, and sometimes we just sit in silence. It is the perfect way to unwind.

8. I’m trying to lose my baby weight by swimming in the pool as much as possible. I swim laps, tread water, and do push ups on the side of the pool. Plus, when I’m playing with Bean, I’m throwing him all around and that’s a work out, too. So far, it’s working pretty good, but I don’t own a scale so I don’t know for sure. But I can fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes! Yay!

9. Bean’s favorite thing to do outside is play with his water table and the hose. He fills his table up with water from the hose and he chases the dogs around the backyard trying to shoot them with water.

10. Gracie sleeps really good outside. I put her in her bouncer seat on our table on the back porch and she snoozes while Bean and I play or swim. I can’t wait until I can take her in the pool!

11. Chris is working on his golf swing and so he spends evenings out in the back yard hitting wiffle balls while Bean chases them.

12. Summer officially starts next weekend, but it began in our backyard a couple months ago.

13. In Connecticut, fall and winter were my favorite seasons and I’ve been surprised at how quickly I’ve grown to love the summer heat down here. It’s going to get hotter and hotter and muggier and muggier, but that’s fine with me. I plan to have an awesome summer at home with my babies!

31 comments | posted in Around the House, Florida, Fun Things, Just for Fun, Marriage Confessions, Moving, Operation BWYP, Suburbia | tags: Florida, Moving, summer

Chris and I have just about decided that my next car is going to have to be a mini van.Â I have mixed feelings about that.Â I know we need it.Â Right now I have a small SUV and with two car seats in the back and a stroller in the way back, there’s just no room for anything else.Â When I go grocery shopping now, I have to stack my bags all around the stroller and, when I am really desperate, around the kids.Â We have run out of room already and as the kids get bigger, we’re just going to add more junk and a mini van is the obvious solution.

On the other hand, I’m 28 years old.Â I’m supposed to be wearing short skirts and driving convertible Mustangs and staying out past my bedtime on a school night, right?Â I’m too young to drive a mini van.Â Mini vans are for moms.

To pump myself up for the mini van that is in my inevitable future, I have decided to conquer my greatest fear as a mother of two.Â The double stroller.

My parents gave this to me for Christmas and I was horrified (sorry, Mom and Dad). Horrified. Single strollers and travel systems were for hip, 20-something mom’s with tiny babies and toned calves. They were for mom’s who wore wedge platform sandals while changing diapers and had their nails done once a week. Single strollers were the sleek SUV’s of child transportation.

But double strollers? Double strollers were for moms of multiple kids. Old moms. Moms who wore mom jeans and 80s hair. Moms who said things like, “Because I said so!” Moms whose children had temper tantrums in front of nice restaurants. Double strollers were the clunky mini vans of child transportation.

Clearly, I was a single stroller person. Or, at least I aspired to be a single stroller person. When given the choice, who wouldn’t choose toned calves over 80s hair?

But things have been getting hairy around here on outings. I called my mom after the dreaded sushi catastrophe and complained that I had lost all control. She was very helpful and gave me some good advice on handling Bean right now and then she said, “You really need to be using that double stroller. At his age, containment is your best option.”

So, yesterday I had to run some errands and before we left the house, I took my single stroller out of my sleek SUV and loaded up my mini van sized double stroller. When we got to our first stop, I hauled out the big stroller and spent the next 15 minutes in the parking lot cursing and huffing and puffing while I tried to figure out how to get the darn thing to open. See? Already this stroller was big and inconvenient. I loaded up the kids and headed into the mall. And you know what?

IT WAS AWESOME!

Both kids were secure. Bean couldn’t bolt away or lay down in the middle of the floor. I was able to move around much easier without Gracie in her sling. And we were in and out in record time. True, the double stroller is longer, but it is actually just as slim as my single stroller, so I wasn’t bumping into things like I worried I would be. I fit in small aisles and could maneuver it really well. Why I hadn’t been using this the whole time!

I’m 28 years old and I’m a mom to two beautiful kiddies. I’m a young mom. And that means that I might have to drive a mini van and push a double stroller. But I’m learning that that doesn’t have to be ALL that I am. The car I drive or the stroller I push or the 80s hair that I have, all of that is just part of my life. It’s not who I am.

I’m 28 years old and I’m a mom of two beautiful kiddies. I love reading and writing. I am married to my favorite person. I burn things when I bake. I love my family and wish my sister lived closer. I like cold watermelon and warm swimming pools. I don’t know or care much about music. I get my joy from my faith. I love bookstores.Â I’m a happy person.

Strollers and mini vans are just the accessories.

(Having said all of this, I should confess that I did wear wedge sandals while pushing my double stroller. Vanity is a hard habit to break.)

40 comments | posted in Marriage Confessions, Operation BWYP, Suburbia, Understanding Katie | tags: babies, Baby Products, Baby Trend, parenting