Doors

It's official. Aiden can open doors! OMG OMG OMG.......gonna have to start deadbolting the exit doors now. WHY DID THIS COME SO SOON!

I was having "Me" time in our bedroom. aka Daddy watching Aiden. He walks down the hall, opens the door, and comes running towards the bed squealing. Mommy I found you! Oh goodness!

Now there is officially no privacy.

Hungry Caterpillar

HOW CUTE IS THIS PARTY IDEA!!!! And after one of the best books "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" This would make an ADORABLE party for Aiden for next year, since it's going to be a low key party. I was thinking WonderPets...but this is soooooooo much better! The Dr. Seuss party is for when he's 5 that I posted about before if you were wondering.

The invitations. I can just drop these in the mailbox myself since it's really only going to a few close people. I'll have to make a few card ones for my parents and siblings since they live in FL.

Step 1Using the flat inner lid of from one of your jars, trace circles on various colors of cardstock (one for each invitation) and cut them out. Write the name of one of your invitees on each circle, then use a dot of hot glue to attach a colored circle to each jar's flat lid.
Step 2To create the caterpillars, connect four green pom-poms in a slight zigzag pattern with dots of hot glue. Glue a red pom-pom to one end. Use wire snippers to cut a 4-inch length of brown pipe cleaner. Bend it into a "V" shape and slightly curl the tips. Slip the "V" in between the head and body and give it one twist to hold it in place. Cut out small ovals of yellow cardstock and layer a smaller piece of green cardstock over each, attaching with glue. Use hot glue to attach two eyes and a small green nose to each caterpillar head.
Step 3Fill in our invitation template with the details of your party, then print them on green cardstock and use scissors (or a craft knife) to cut them out. Use your hole punch to create caterpillar bites, and lightly score each leaf down the center.
Step 4To assemble, tuck one green leaf and one pom-pom caterpillar inside each jar. Screw a personalized lid onto each jar, and hand-deliver them to your lucky guests.

The cakes. Aiden will get a personal "Apple Cake" and everyone else gets Cake Pops. LOOOVE! I especially love the grassy mound the pops sit on. Couldn't be any cuter!!

Apple CakeIngredients
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light agave nectar
3 large eggs, brought to room temperature for 1 hour
Cream Cheese Frosting
Red Food Coloring (most markets now sell food coloring that is free of dye)

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, or one 9 x 13" baking pan.

Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. Combine the milk and vanilla and set aside as well.

Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides if necessary, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. With the mixer still on medium speed, slowly pour in the agave syrup. Stop to scrape down the sides when necessary until it is evenly incorporated and smooth again. On low speed, add the eggs one at a time until combined.

On low speed, add one half of the dry ingredients and mix until barely incorporated. Add the milk and vanilla mixture on low speed again, scraping down the sides to incorporate. Finish by adding the last half of the dry ingredients and mixing on low speed just until smooth, about 15-20 seconds. (Over-mixing will lead to a tough cake.) Pour the batter into the prepared pan or pans.

Bake the cakes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted of the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and allowing them to cool completely.

Using a 4" round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut three circle of cake out of the cooled cake. (At this point you can cut the rest of the cake into smaller circles or squares for other people to enjoy.) Place one of the pieces of cake on a small saucer, then frost with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting. Stack another layer, frost it, and place the third layer on top. Using a small serrated knife, cut the cake into the shape of an apple. Dust off the crumbs.

Color the rest of the frosting with food coloring until the desired color is reached. Frost the cake, making sure to leave a small “hole” in one of the sides to resemble the space for the caterpillar. Top with the decorative marzipan or candy for the leaf and stem.

Frost the other pieces of cake and decorate as desired.

Pop CakesIngredients
1 box white or yellow cake mix (or homemade cake), baked and cooled in a 9 x 13" pan
1/2-3/4 cup vanilla or cream cheese frosting
2 14-oz. bags green candy melts (available at crafts stores and baking supply stores)
1 14-oz. bag red candy melts
Decorations for the caterpillar's face: Candy “eyes” or yellow and green fruit candy strips for the eyes, sour candy straws for the antennae, fruit candy strips for the mouth.

Equipment
24 lollipop sticks
1 foam brick, green if possible, at least 8 x 4"
Green moss
Craft blue
Happy birthday letters

Preparation
When the cake has cooled, use your hands to crumble it into a large mixing bowl. The crumbs should be no larger than the size of peas. Add 1/2 cup of the frosting and stir to combine. To see if the cake pops will hold their shape, pinch a piece of the cake mixture between your fingers. If it sticks together, it's perfect. If not, add another 1/4 cup frosting and stir to combine.

Using a small ice cream scoop or your hands, form 1 1/2-inch balls of cake. Place them on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Make at least 1 dozen small cake balls for the caterpillar's body, then use a larger ice cream scoop or your hands to form a 2 1/2-inch ball for the head. (Make an extra one if they're fragile.) Once all of the balls have been formed, place them in the freezer for 1-3 hours.

Before removing the cake balls from the freezer, melt the green candy melts in a glass bowl in the microwave for 30-second intervals, stirring in between until they're melted. (It should take 60-120 seconds total.) To form the cake pops, dip the end of one lollipop stick 1/2" into the candy melts. Poke the stick into a cake pop, making sure it only goes halfway through. (This will help the pop adhere to the stick.) Then dunk the entire pop into the melted green candy, and gently spin the pop over the bowl to remove any excess drips. Poke the lollipop stick into the Styrofoam to let the cake pop dry. Repeat with the remaining cake pops, then melt the red candy melts to complete the caterpillar's head. Once the candy coating has dried, decorate the head. Cut the straws into 3-inch pieces. Run a toothpick through each one, then use the bottom of the toothpick to attach the antennae to the head. Cut the candy strips into the shape of the eyes and mouth, then attach with a little bit of frosting.

Once the pops have set and are placed in the Styrofoam, glue the moss around the brick, then attach the letters of “Happy Birthday”, if using. Allow glue to dry before presenting the caterpillar.

Decorations
How to Assemble Lantern
1. To create your caterpillar's eyes, cut out two large yellow cardstock ovals (approximately 3" x 1.5"), then cut out two green ovals that are just slightly smaller. Use hot glue to attach the green ovals atop the yellow ones, and affix the eyes to the red lantern. To create the nose, cut out a small half-circle of green cardstock and glue it to the head.

2. For the antennae, fold each pipe cleaner in half and twist the ends together, and then kink the ends slightly. Use hot glue to attach the antennae just inside the top opening of the red lantern.

3. Cut seven lengths of clear fishing line for hanging. Tie one to each lantern. Hang the head first, using tape or a tack to attach it to the ceiling, and then hang the green lanterns in alternating shades behind it. To create the appearance of movement, adjust the length of the line for each one so they're not all at the exact same height

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Christmas in July?

So I have recently started talking to people about Christmas...and I have to post this or I will forget. :-) Yes people Christmas in July. I'm starting shopping in Sept...so I gotta get to it.

I have a few projects I want to do.... 1. Advent Calendar.

I'm not sure if Aiden will truly understand this Christmas this year, but I still want to do everything. :-) So let's start with the Advent Calendar....I remember having them as a kid, and I want Aiden to experience that. Well what's better than a homemade advent calendar! One that we reuse every year! All those savings :-) and personally made by Mommy! Double bonus.

So the hunt began for ideas.....Thanks to Tip Junkie there were LOTS there. I will take and grab from there, but below is the one I want to make. I love the concept of it! What kid doesn't love decorating a tree!

I can DEFINITELY make mine look better than this one....and ORGANIZE those pockets. They drive me crazy with all those empty spaces. lol But this is my starting point. 

Steps: Use felt as the background and the tree. I was thinking a Red background and a Green tree. Possibly even put a Yellow star at the top. Then for the pockets I will go and find some cute Christmas fabric. Now comes the fun part. Button hunting! Once I have 25 buttons, attach some Velcro behind them and DONE!

Cute right?!?! Then I was thinking on some of the days attaching a note to the button.

Example notes: "Makes cookies for Santa." "Watch a Christmas movie with Mommy and Daddy." etc....then when Aiden get's older do notes like "Give away a toy" "Make cookies for neighbors and friends"

But then my yearly tradition that's starting this year is the Christmas Eve present. So that will definitely be a note. What's the tradition.....new PJs! New PJs to wear to bed and wear on Christmas day. For the whole family not just Aiden. I'm excited about that one!!

Feeling Loved

As I announced in my last post about my new position...it was just announced to the world at work and I've been overwhelmed with the number of emails and pings of congrats, thank yous, and don't leave mes.

Today during our team meeting it was announced and needless to say everyone was SHOCKED and thought the Security group "stole" me, when I informed them I did interview and there was no stealing involved. lol I just had to explain this wasn't a "get me outta here" move, but a promotion move. Just stepping up the corporate ladder. Then all was good, but they were sad and I'm kinda sad too. I love my coworkers. But I'm excited for what's to come.

So I end with a few of the reasons why I love my users...they crack me up daily. A few memorable responses to finding out the news:

*NOOOOOOOOO! Who's gonna help me so patiently like you when i mess up again!! Like I always do?!
*You think ____ is gonna be your replacement!? Nooooo, I can't make stupid comments to them!
*No one will quickly look into the issues like you when I call them....I'm going to have learn to wait, and you know that is not in my vocabulary.
*What are they offering you? I will offer you 10 times as much if you come back. That is if you will take IOUs, because you know IP doesn't pay me that much.

etc. etc. etc. All day I have been cracking up. I love them! Like I said yesterday I feel so blessed and one really feels it during times like these. I just need to remember that always. :-)

Catching Up

So much has gone on since my last post. highs and lows. So lets start out with a few highs. :-)

Aiden: Lately I have been in a smoothie kick and making them almost every morning for breakfast. So the other day Aiden got to have some threw my straw, which he is a pro at....but the other day he realize if you blew into the straw bubbles appear. OMG! He wouldn't stop and would just laugh and blow (spit) all in my drink. Lovely, but it was so cute I didn't make him stop. Silly boy! I gotta get him a big boy sippy cup that has a straw on it now. Oh how he is growing up!

He has done great ever since we switched to all sippy cups. No more milk. No more bottles taken to bed. AH! I was so worried, but he's done so good we probably could have started this earlier. We have been pushing his last milk bottle at dinner now and no more drink after so when we eventually start potty training we can get him in the mood to pee before bed and no accidents at night. Not sure how potty training will go...or when we will do it.....let's say he's gotta start talking more before we get there. lol But to promote his "big boy" sleeping now we gave him a big boy pillow (normal standard pillow) in his crib. If we throw one on the floor in the living room he thinks it's his nap mat at school and will lay across it. Smart boy.

Cute little toy I got Aiden the other day...which he just throws. lol Geez this boy is not a stuffed animal kid. He only likes blocks, trucks, and balls. SUUUUCH a boy!

Murph is home! He's been at the inlaws since we went to Florida. Since our backyard isn't fenced in he enjoys it more there. Aiden was soooo happy to see him when he got back from school. And let me say Murph is a completely different dog. He's grown up! Praise the lord!! He listens. We can let him go and he will come back. He's relaxed in the house and not wanting to play 24/7 on the hardwoods. I think the inlaws' dog, Tanner, taught him a thing or two. However, I think Grande misses Murph...who else is willing to run up and down their yard for hours catching balls....not Tanner. lol

Me: So, a few weeks ago I had interviewed for another position at IP. Not because I didn't like my current position, but for personal growth reasons. Well....turns out I didn't get that position, because they wanted me to start Aug 1 and that was too soon to transition. But God was looking out for me and last Wednesday I got a call from the manager who interviewed me offering me a position in the group that had just opened up. And my current manager approved it! AHH! Freak out!! You are looking at the newest SAP Security Analyst. AHHH! I had been doing security work for my current group and have really grown to like it, so I knew that would be my next spot I would go for. I just didn't think it would be this soon. I guess in my head I thought it would be like 5 years before I switched groups, but in these times when you see an opening you just have to go for it. Live and learn right?! Well I'm glad I did. Not only do I get to switch buildings to a better part of Memphis, but I'm in the same building as my bff, Erica! Yah! More lunch dates than like 1 a month lol! Well I'll have more to share when I transition in Sept, but I'm beyond excited and feel blessed that all my hard work has paid off and people recognized! Not many people can say their paychecks have raised 20K in 2 years! Blessed!

Now the lows. All weekend I have been sick. Sick is an understatement, it was torture! I have NEVER been this sick in my entire life, and I hope I never go through it again. So, Friday I noticed oh I have pink eye! Great! and what's that my throat is a little itchy. Ugh sinuses! So I come home feeling like crap. I slept from 1-4pm. I barely stayed awake when Aiden got home too. All Saturday I slept. Nonstop. Luckily Wes watched Aiden all day. "Daddy bonding time". Sunday I woke up my throat was even worse and I just knew there was something seriously wrong. I go to the doc.....oh what's that I have STREP THROAT! OMG! So again I had to keep Aiden away from me for another 24 hours once I took my meds because I still was contagious. Miserable. Then started the chills and hot flashes! I've never gone through that and never want to again. One minute I'm sweating so bad I'm drenching my clothes running a 101 temp turning our house into National Geographic. lol The next minute I'm running a 97 temp shivering, chattering teeth, running in the room to yank down my fleece pjs from the top of my closet. Insane! However I'm on day 3 of meds and none of that so far...Hopefully I can return to work tomorrow.

17 months!

Stats:
Weight: 29 pounds
Height:33 inches
Size 4 diapers
24-2T clothes

Milestones:
*Monday marked the first day of NO bottles. We had cut back to just the AM & PM bottle, but as of Sunday night I bagged them all up and put in storage. I know I know I delayed this big time, but better late than never. And honestly he didn't mind at all when he got sippy cups of milk instead of a bottle. YAH!
*First haircut
*Walks all by himself into daycare, because he's a big boy! We used to have to hold him half of the way.
*Still not saying a lot of words but babbles sooooo much. Sorry my baby talk isn't that great :-) When I pick him up from daycare he looks at me and just jibbers away and I'm like "ohhh really. Is that how your day went?!" lol
*We officially have a car dancer! YES! Either his head is nodding or he has one arm in the air bringing it up and down. Mad skills! lol

Eating Pattern:
Eats a lot less! By looking at his pot belly and the rolls on his legs you think he was eating alot...but I can tell he's slimmed down a bunch. However, we still can't eat around him and not feed him, because he is a catfish. Run to you with an open mouth.

Sleeping Pattern:
7pm-6:40am. Pretty constant. And sometimes on the weekends he lets us sleep into 8am. Heaven!

Likes:
*His new activity wall and desk. I can hardly keep him away from it.
*Swimming. Especially when Grande jumps off the diving board making it a wave pool.
*Any dog. He just LOVES dogs.
*Momma! Yes he is still a huge Momma's boy.
*Rolling around the floor when mommy or daddy tickles me

Dislikes:
*When no one is around him. He doesn't mind if you don't play with him, he just wants you in the room.
*Mosquitos. They are deadly.
*The heat. This 100+ degree weather is awful. Aiden+Heat= Unhappy Baby

It's so funny to see Aiden with his cousins. He adores Lily (3.5 year old) and would follow her to the end of the world. When he plays with Harlee (15 mo old) its hilarious! He likes to put the blocks back in the container aka Clean Up, and she loves to throw them out. Hilarious!

So sad to think that he's soon approaching 2! WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE! OMG!!!

Headboard

Best In-laws ever! Thanks to them my pillows will never get swallowed by the black hole behind our bed anymore. :-) We officially have a headboard, which I love. It's a little bit more shabby than modern which is what Wes would like, but I like throwing in a little girly into the mix. It's made out of old doors. So I won! :-) Of course after a long talk.

You might even notice our 2nd anniversary present, cotton. NEW SHEETS! I've been wanting some gray sheets. I had a set on my old bed and once I put this puppy on Wes said we were never changing. And they are very affordable too, which is always nice for our budget. I think you can only find them at Bed Bath & Beyond, but they are "Pure Beech" and amazing! And they've improved on their thread count, cause I can't find the one I got online. You have to just go and touch it. Silky smooth and wash well too if you follow the instructions.

Hard to believe at the end of this month it will be 2 years. Feels like forever! Crazy. And I can say after our first 2 years we can accomplish anything. We've had plenty of highs and lows to go around and couldn't ask for a better partner and father.

Haircut

Today marked Aiden turning 17 months, so what better to do than for Aiden to have his first haircut!!!! Bye bye baby curls. Hello handsome stud! He was amazing and didn't shed a tear or fuss. All the women were amazed. However, he did want to stand in the chair....so I had to hold him in position. Silly! After we headed over to see Gabby to show her the new duo and I kept trying to run my hand through his hair like I've always done and OH its all gone! He looks like a big boy now! :-( Makes me sad.

After Gabby's he was exhausted, so down for a nap. Then I headed over to Goodwill and found the gem. His new table for $2! AHH I've been looking for one ever since I decided to make him an activity wall. It's perfect!! All I have to do is clean the top, scrap the stickers, and spray paint the top bright blue. That's my project next weekend.

Well, I said I would accomplish the wall this weekend. And I did!!! Well, I still have to touch up the baseboard. Stupid drips! :-( The magnetic paint was the hardest to work with...or maybe I did it wrong but my walls aren't 100% smooth. At least it's in the corners. I LOVE the chalkboard paint, it's Schoolhouse Green. Reminds me of the kind we had growing up in elementary school. I only found the tintable paint at Home Depot. Lowe's only had black.

Once everything was setup, I let the little one loose and OMG. HE LOVES IT!!!!! He knew what to do right away and was having a ball trying to figure out how to put the magnets back on the wall. I'm on the hunt for some alphabet letters that he can't swallow. I saw a pattern how to make them out of felt, so I might try that. While, he was playing I left the room to do other things he followed me, next thing I knew he went back to his room just having a blast. I'm so glad!! I really wanted to give him a space to be creative since we don't have a playroom. I highly recommend everyone do it!

I hope everyone else had a great 4th of July weekend like me!! It's going to be tough going back to work tomorrow. Work hard for the $$ so Hard for the $$!

Family Reunion

Yesterday, we went to the Tate Family Reunion (Wes' Grandmother maiden name was Tate). Sooo many people. Aiden was all about it too. Just making laps around the table, watching all the other kids, and throwing the basketball. Good food, good company. Couldn't have asked for a better Saturday.:-) He stole the show...everyone couldn't get over how cute he was. Duh! He's my kid. lol

Tonight Aiden's spending the night at Gabby and Grande's so I can work on his magnetic chalkboard wall.....wait for picture updates! YAH!! Looking forward to swimming, cooking out, and enjoying the family. Hopefully, I can find a firework show we can go to...

This last picture was from our cousin Ashley's wedding. She looked beautiful!! One good looking family!

Destin

I would have posted about my vacation earlier, but I've been swamped! So here we go...

Travel time was to begin Friday. Well the night before we had a bad storm, winds like I've never seen before. Yes, it storms in Memphis like every other week it seems like these days. So with that our power went out at 8pm. Thankfully after I cooked dinner! Our power was out all night. Let me say the house was HOT, steaming! Worst sleep ever. :-( Then it only got worse from there...

1. Woke up at 5am to all the lights on. So as I'm stumbling around turning them all off. I notice a big orange ball in the front yard. I thought to myself "Dang the sun has already risen that much. There's no way it's only 5." So I move closer. OMG that's not the sun but FIRE! Since the power was back on the power lines were making our trees in the front catch on FIRE! Freak out moment! I run in the room to get Wes. Call 911.

2.Then as I'm on the phone the transformer at the end of our drive blows up. Sparkles flying in the air. Ground on fire. More trees on fire. Freak out moment #2. The whole time I was thinking where is the help bc the police/fire truck are less than 2 miles away. Each second felt like an eternity. (Help was there in less than 5 minutes btw). My other thought was....I need to have something ready if it gets near the house aka the water hose. Well let's just say I'm still in my pjs, hair a mess, no makeup, no contacts (so I'm blind) running around the house like a craze woman.

As the police arrive the transformer was going off like crazy and now all the neighbors started coming outside. Then the power line catching our trees on fire fell to the ground (Burning our grass...we have a huge line of dead grass where the line fell). However, within 10 minutes the power to those lines were cut off. Fires died. Everything is good.

Now the aftermath. We go outside and see the cover to our cable line was blow off, because yes in the midst of the madness there was an explosion on the side of our house. The cable line coming from the ground to the house was fried. Burnt up charcoal. INSANE. Out comes Millington Cable. They repair our line, but here we are week 2 after all this the line is still above ground. UGH! Makes it hard to cut grass, well makes it hard for Wes to cut grass! :-)

Needless to say after all this, getting away was the best thing ever!

So now onto our trip! Which was wonderful and too short! It was really nice seeing the fam since the last time I saw them was Xmas. :-( Thanksgiving seems really far...no likey. My brother and SIL were sweet enough to let us stay with them for the week in Destin. Although 2 of the days we were in Pensacola visiting my rents, my sis and her hubby. Couldn't ask for a better fam!

Lane and Ashley bought Aiden a CUTE baby pool, which we turned into a float. Aiden loved it! He loved going to the Bay in general. The water was calm and allowed him to stand. Which he loves bc it makes him think he's a big boy! :-) His favorite thing about the water was playing with everyone's empty beer cans. And as you can see we even caught him trying to drink from it. lol Just wait wee one! :-)

However, he HATED when sand would get on his hands. As you can see from the pic above. He would get upset then throw his hands down only getting more sand on them. SILLY! Although even on that emotional trip to the beach (aka. Aiden didn't nap well so everything upset him) he did something hilarious. So there we all are chilling on the edges of the water when Aiden spots two, I'd say about 16 year olds,  girls getting out to go back to their towels. What does my boy do? Follow them! OMG! "Hey pretty lady"

My bro's dog Maverick and Aiden became bff. Maverick was so cute! Everytime Aiden would whine in bed, Mav would run to the door then run back to me and whine. Like "Go get him! He needs you" So cute!! Aiden didn't even mind when he got in the bath with him after one day at the beach. lol BFFs for sure! I know Mav misses him bad now.

Majority of our time was spent at the beach or relaxing at the house. we are boring...but not much you can do with a baby who naps for like 2-3 hours in the middle of the day. But that was enough for me. I was just happy to get away.

It sucked to go, but just makes me look forward to next year! Then Aiden will be 2.5 and a talking machine. :-)