Sweetness

two of my favorite new people

xx

Tick Tock

Time is flying by! 

Our sweet girls are three months now.

and my 'big girl' is ready to start another year of preschool

she was only six months when we snapped this picture

where did the time go?

xx

Today's quick change

I can't wait to blog about decorating again. 

It will happen one day. 

*sigh*

But the babies (and Betsy) have been keeping us on our toes.

(emily above, margo below)

I did, however, manage to squeeze in twenty minutes today 

to change the rug in our dining room.

It was probably a bad idea since I threw my back out yesterday.

But I couldn't help myself.

This is still my favorite room in our house.  

But it currently doubles as the twins' bedroom.

There's a diaper changing station on the buffet now.

We're glamorous, I know. 

I had to make name tags to identify which crib belongs to who 

(or is it 'whom'?)

 Here's the new rug!

what do you think?

Our twins are 2 months!

Wow. It's been two whole months.

We're still here, although some days I can't be so sure whether I'm here or there.

I found some cheap help (although she can't drive very well).

Our babies are smiling now.  It's pretty darn cute.

They are also sporting their winter clothes in the middle of summer. 

We're in Seattle for a few months.  

Need I say more?

I will be back, but for now~ our hearts and hands are very full.

Our sweet babies are HERE!!!!

May 12th was a very special day for us!!!

Our twins were born at 36 weeks.....

 I can't believe it...

we've got two more sweet GIRLS!!!!!

Emily Brooks 

12:29pm

5lbs, 2oz 

We've always loved the name Emily!  Brooks is my mother's maiden name and I somehow wanted

to incorporate it into our new family.  Our sweet little Emily will definitely wear it well.

Margaret (Margo) Grace 

12:30pm

5lbs, 15oz

Margaret was my husband's grandmother who passed away on April 11th. She was absolutely 

one-of-a-kind, and we hope our little Margaret will be as funny, sweet and wonderful as "Mema" was.

 Big Sister Betsy is taking her role very seriously and is doing a great job.

 We are all at home, resting and enjoying our newest little McDs.  

To say that we feel blessed is an understatement!

xx

  

Happy Mother's Day!

I think this sums it up best.  Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day!!!!!!!!

Before I was a Mom;

I made and ate hot meals,

I had unstained clothing,

I brushed my hair every day,

I had quiet conversations on the phone,

I slept as late as I wanted and I slept all night long.

Before I was a Mom;

I cleaned my house each day,

I never tripped over toys or forgot lullabies,

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous,

I had never been puked on, pooped on, spit on, chewed on, peed on, or

pinched by tiny fingers.

Before I was a Mom;

I never thought about immunizations,

I never held a screaming child so the doctors could give shots,

I never looked into teary eyes and cried,

I never felt my heart break into pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt,

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

Before I was a Mom;

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down,

I never sat up late hours of the night watching a baby sleep,

I never got up in the middle of the night to make sure everything was okay,

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

Before I was a Mom;

I had complete control of my mind, my thoughts and my body,

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside of my body,

I didn't know that having something so small could make me feel so

important,

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,

the wonderment, or the satisfaction of being a mom.

Before I was a Mom;

I never knew that something so small could effect my life so much,

I never knew that I could love someone so much,

I never knew I would love being a Mom,

I didn't know the bond between a Mother and her child,

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much.

~anonymous

Babies, birds and a donut

Happy Friday Friends!  

32 weeks and counting.....

These babies are growing and KICKING like crazy! 

Still on my feet, but now much slower.....

I stopped in at Starbucks yesterday for a donut.  I haven't had a donut in at least three years.  But I REALLY wanted one.  The problem was, as I pulled up, three police cars did too~ and blocked the entrance when they jumped out of their cars and apprehended a shifty looking guy in an old junker of a car.  I watched the scene go down but my concern was really centered on how I was going to get into the store for my donut. 

I'm just telling the truth. 

I weighed the options.  Would I be able to run if something happened~ like if this guy went crazy and started a shootout, could I actually get away?  What if he went into Starbucks and took hostages? 

What if????

I think you know how this ends.  I braved it all and stormed the joint. I got my donut.  

The cops got their man. 

Then I took a nap.

******

Now, onto another subject.  A seriously great find!!! 

i've got birds on my mind today.  How cute are these plates?!

At first glance, I thought they were Anthropologie, but nope! They're West Elm!

  And only $16 for the set of four. 

Done. 

Oh and they're melamine which means that my little miss can throw them around 

and they'll still hold up!
(I think they'd look perfect with my next donut)

Cookie Monster Party complete!

It's official. We have ourselves a three year old!  Betsy celebrated with the help of all her pals one week before her birthday.  I was excited to attempt a Cookie Monster theme, and I have to say~ for being 31 weeks pregnant, I was just thrilled that I was still on my feet for the big event!

  

homemade invitations

and treat bags

The cast of characters.

(take one)

(take two)

(take three).  Over here guys!!!

special birthday crown made at school

I was excited to make these cupcakes for the party and her class

(and they were oh so easy!!)

and oh so tasty!

what's a cookie monster party without a cookie buffet?

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Cookie Monster!!!

Romantic Prairie Style

I will start this post by saying~ I need a nap.  More than I need water, air, or chocolate.  

Today I need a NAP!!!!  

And I was sure that I would get one... until the doorbell rang.  

Waiting for me on my doorstep was a copy of Romantic Prairie Style~ and let's just say~ 

there will be no nap today!!! 

Aside from the gorgeous front cover featuring Maria's home (Dreamy Whites~ who doesn't love her??!!), I came across these few pages which made me want to run off and buy a farm.  Or at least an old farmhouse table. 

Who wants pie?

Ahh, so lovely

photos by Mark Lohman

You can get your copy from Amazon.com!  

Enjoy!!

Bumpdate~ 25 weeks

My how they've grown!  I posted a pic of my 21st week below.... and holy shmoly~ I'm officially huge!!

Hope you're all having a great Thursday!!!

This and that..... and getting BIGGER by the day!

Hello Friends!
And a happy belated Valentine's Day to all of you.  My sweet little Valentine had a party at preschool and this mama was in charge of the treat bags.  I have to say, this is my favorite part about preschool!!!

My other two valentines are busy growing... and kicking!  I'm officially six months along now, and getting slower and bigger by the day.  The photo is from three weeks ago, but oh this tummy is certainly beginning to pop!

The only question that remains is... will I still be on my feet by the time my sweet has her third birthday in April???  I certainly hope so!  I have been totally inspired to throw a Cookie Monster themed birthday party for my girl.  This blog offered up some fabulous ideas!!!!!  I am praying that I can pull it off.  How adorable would this be?!  All images below are courtesy of www.hostessblog.com

Me want cookies! And you will too after checking out this adorable Cookie Monster-themed Real Party thatStephanie Stach created for her son Alex’s 3rd birthday.

From adorable cups, party hats, and cupcakes inspired by our favorite sugar-loving monster to cookie-jar favors and giant cookies on sticks, this party is loaded with tons of sweet & super creative details!

Read on for all the details, as told by Stephanie…

*****

“I saw the adorable cookie monster cupcakes on HWTM, and immediately knew that it would be the perfect theme for our son Alex’s third birthday.  It was so much fun to use the inspiration board as a starting point and build a party around it.

To make things easier to coordinate, I chose to go with many different shades of blue… it isn’t that easy to find the perfect cookie-monster blue!  I made blue pom-poms from Martha’s tutorial to hang over the buffet, found acookie monster pinata at the local Party City, and even found bright blue spider-mums at the local farmer’s market.

To add a little extra fun, I put the mums in a vase filled with Cookie-Krisp Cereal, and wrapped it in blue striped scrapbook paper.

I made cookie monster party hats that the kids loved by embellishing a basic blue hat with a felt mouth, googly eyes and a pom-pom and fuzzy boa (inspired found here).

For drinks, I made the Cooking Monster cups from the HWTM inspiration board by hot gluing cookies and googly eyes to blue paper cups.

The food was all chosen to resemble cookies… we had round cinnamon toast topped with cream cheese and bananas, sausage biscuits, blueberry scones, and mini pizzas on the main buffet; and a separate cookie buffet with oatmeal sandwich cookies, M&M cookies, chocolate crinkle cookies, triple chocolate cookies, and chocolate chip cookies on a stick.

The highlight was still the Cookie Monster cupcakes, which my local bakery, Sweet N’ Sinful, did a fabulous job of replicating.

For a craft activity, the kids each made a Cookie Monster paper bag puppet out of bright blue bags and white and black construction paper that I precut for them.  The bags were perfect for taking home their loot from the pinata.

For party favors, each child got a cookie jar filled with an assortment of cookies.

I found the jars at the dollar store, and embellished them with scrapbook paper, a pom-pom, and a tag that said “Alex’s Birthday was brought to you today by the letter A and the number 3.  Thanks for Celebrating with Us!”

It was a great party. Thanks so much for the inspiration!”

*****