Cool Whip Cake Smash

Yesterday was Charlotte's birthday and when I made her cake, I had thought about making her smash cake with Cool Whip because I heard it smashes better. And then I became too wrapped up in decorating her cake that I completely forgot to use Cool Whip instead of my usual buttercream. SO I made another cake REALLY fast so she could smash it. 

 Where's Charli?!

 She is just so cute!!

Charlotte's Birthday in Motion

I got a little too anxious about getting Charlotte's birthday post up for everyone to read that I forgot to see if Google was going to make me a few motion pictures, which they did. Instead of updating the birthday post, I'll let you just watch these here! I just have to share them! (I take too many pictures!)

I feel like she was grabbing for the cake, and grabbed the owls head instead....

I think I forgot to put this one on the other birthday post, but even if it's there, I love it so much it's good enough to share twice! He loves her SO much!

Look Whoo's Turning 1!!

A year already! Say what?! 

When she was a newborn, I wondered what she would look like when she was a year old. Now that it's here, I look at her and think, "When did that happen?" 

This little girl took two naps today because I knew she would need the extra rest. She woke from her second nap right before dinner, which gave me just enough time to change her into her birthday outfit. (Nanny bought it for her nine months ago, and it still fits...) She is just so CUTE! I held her hands as she practiced walking to the living to see all of her party guests. I helped her balance there for a while, but eventually she forgot because she was too distracted by her beads. Every day she's getting better and better at standing alone. 

 I was pretty determined for her to wear this headband, but she's at a point where she hates any kind of headband. I hate it. She looks so adorable with them on...

I have yet to post a tour of her room, but it's owl themed. Sticking with the theme, so is her cake! The top reads "Look Whoo's 1!" And this girl knew it - she was such a show off today!

After dinner, Charlotte opened her presents, with *a lot* of help from Hunter and JP.  

 She has the cutest giggle and shared it with us when she was checking out this toy from Nanny. 

 I spoiled her a little this morning and let her play with this cabbage patch doll before I wrapped it. When I handed it to her, she snatched it up and gave it a kiss. So sweet!

It was a gorgeous day out today, so I opted for us to do her cake smash on the deck. 

 She didn't go too crazy with it. At first she just picked off the letters on the top before she eventually went for the owl head. 

 Before she could devour it, Hunter came to the rescue to free the bird head from her mouth, and the body from her hand. 

 

 A couple minutes later, she was done. She realized she had that dreaded headband on, so she took it off and scooted away. 

 After all that decorating, this is what is left of her cake. So much work just to be smashed, but totally worth it!

"Owl" always love you!

To see her party in motion, go here!

My First Quilt

I visited the farm during spring break at the beginning of April. While I was there, my mom had a few of her quilting magazines out, so I browsed through a few. I mentioned to her that I was thinking about making a quilt that my family could use on picnics. Then she took me upstairs to the quilting loft and pulled out some patterns that she already had. 

 Within a few days of getting home, I went to the quilt store, which is practically across the the street from my house, and bought fabric. By the end of the night, I had everything cut out and ready to sew. 

 And by the end of the week, I had the top almost done.

 When I laid it out on the floor though, I decided it was going to be too small. I wanted it big enough for all of us to fit on it, and so that Perry could lay on it. After another trip to the store, to get more fabric, I was back to sewing on three columns to each row and then two additional rows to the bottom. (Roxy's back leg was originally how wide it was.)

 But once I had the additions sewed together, I realized how uneven it was so I spent another solid week ripping out and re-sewing the first few sections I did so they would line up better. (The left row was about 5 inches shorter than the right row...)

I sent home with Robin when she went to her friends' bridal shower and my mom quilted it for me.

Surprisingly, only a month later, I am happy to say it's *completely* done. Okay not completely. To personalize it a little, we're going to put our hand prints on it, and then have people sign the back when they use it with us. Picnic anyone?

Do you know how hard it was to get this picture? Hunter and JP have been eagerly waiting for it to be done so we can go on a picnic that all they wanted to do was sit on it while I took a picture.

 And then Kiki joined in...

 I seriously have no good pictures of the three of them together. This is how they all turn out. One kid looking, usually it's the baby...

This girl LOVES being outside. Can't believe she'll be *one year* next week!

A little catch-up....

I've been so busy finishing up my quilt and chasing my children around the house, that blogging at the end of the day was the last thing I wanted to do. So here's a look at the past few weeks. 

What you can't see in this video are the girls lined up by the fencing ooo-ing and ahh-ing....

Charlotte's been having fun on the slide too...

 JP loves styling his hair in the mornings so I bought him a mirror. For whatever reason, he refuses to use his bathroom, or the main mirror in our bathroom...

While I was baking the other week, Kiki learned how get into stuff. Luckily this mess wasn't as big as the time I dropped the flour on the floor and let Hunter play in it...

 I made this cake for my sister to take to a bridal shower the other weekend. The white cake was supposed to sit on top of the blue cake, and have burlap around the bottom of it....but it melted on the way home. I only saw one picture of it assembled, but it looked like just about all the rose swirls slipped off.... Ahhh well. Everyone said it still tasted good. Too bad it didn't quite turn out.

 I was going to take the cake myself but months ago, my sister Kim and I had planned to go to the vintage fair together, which happened to land on the same day. We've been a couple other times together and have enjoyed strolling through the booths. This time around we scored a few things. I grabbed up some pearls for dress-up for Charli and the same green box that my mom has, known as the "button box." Kim bought the other tin for her button box. And I'm slightly jealous of her owl, and the Milkbone dog treat tin is pretty cool too.

 During the Easter egg hunt, the boys scored 6 passes to the carousal. JP has been so anxious to go ride the horses ever since he went to a birthday party there, and rode one by himself and "I DIDN'T FALL OFF THIS TIME!" (Not that he ever has...but he thinks he has.) He really wanted to show this skill off to Hunter. 

 Later that day, we hung out in the neighbors yard and had some fun on the trampoline and playing with water guns. 

 This past weekend, I made another trip home for a bridal shower for my best friend in high school. While Charli, my mom, and I were at the shower, Hunter and JP went bowling with dad and papa. Hunter scored a 92!

And finally, JP got out his scuba gear yesterday so he could go swimming in the tub... boys.