She's crafty!

When my sister in law Brandi asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding this upcoming May I immediately started planning her bridal shower in my head even though it was going to be over a 

year away from that moment. I had recently discovered that I loved crafting and after doing some pretty cute stuff for Lilah's 1st birthday party had become slightly obsessed with it. The date of the shower finally arrived last weekend and I went a little crazy with the crafting but it all turned out beautifully. I handmade all of the invitations, made a tutu cake stand, made 20 mustaches and 20 tiaras on a stick for the Staches and Tiara's game, and made a food menu and little menu cards for the different desserts and drinks all in the same theme as the invitations. I wish that I had taken more and better pictures of everything. Karen and I (my co host and maid of honor) were so busy performing our hosting duties that I didn't have a lot of time to take pictures. I also wish that I had some photos of all of us together. It was really a very special day and am a bit sad that there are not more photos to remember it by. I did take a few which I will share here! 

Tutu cake stand and cake (cake by Pam Courtney)

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes (click here for recipe)

Cotton Candy Cosmos (click here for link to recipe)

The blushing bride

Better view of the fabulous cake

Cookies and Brownies

My Pinterest inspired Dollar Tree flowers

We made a red wine sangria too! Yum!

Rainbow Fruit Kabobs

Tales of a Defeated Mommy

Today has been quite a day! It has been one that highlights the glorious ups and the really low downs of the parental experience. It started off with a bang at of all places...Walmart! I am in the process of evicting the tons of junk that has accumulated in our basement over the last 9 years and needed a few of those big plastic totes to keep all of said junk we want to keep. Talk about a trip down memory lane! That is a story all on it's own that I might decide to write about later. Anyways we were not even in the door yet when the crazy started. She didn't want to sit in the cart. She is a big girl now you know and very independent and wants to walk, not ride in the cart. One thing I know is that letting a 2 year old loose in Walmart is just dumb unless you want to chase said 2 year old up and down every aisle. After unsuccessfully wrestling her into the seat and going against the advice on that handy chart on the seat of the cart, I put her in the back of the cart instead. It was a mutual compromise. I should also mention before going any further that Walmart is Lilah's favorite place to go. She loves her some Walmart and asks if we can go to Walmart several times a day. Don't ever mention in front of her that we need something because she will promptly tell you that you need to go to Walmart to get it. So I find the totes, pick the kind I want and realize that they must go in the cart where she is sitting. Shit. So we wrestle. I get her in, click the strap on over her and push the cart to the checkout with her screaming at the top of her lungs and writhing in the seat. Now it is about 8:45 am and usually a very slow time at Walmart but it just so happens to be race weekend at the Kansas Speedway which is 2 minutes from Walmart and it was full of Nascar Nation. People with their colorful jackets sporting their favorite driver's sponsor logos pushing their carts full of Busch beer and beef jerky. We were quite the specticle. I kept my poker face on and stood in line and tried not to look anyone in the eye. If I saw a disapproving eye there might have been bloodshed. She breaks loose of the strap and now I am holding her down with one hand and pushing the cart out of the door with another. We get to the car and then begins the wrestling match into her carseat. If I was not already shot of nerves and ready to have a breakdown I might have been smart enough to try to diffuse her before getting her in the seat. It can be done easily sometimes with talk of say getting a juice box when we get home or watching her favorite movie or something along those lines. 2 year olds are not complicated beings. But I am not smart in that moment and spend the next what felt like at least 10 minutes trying to strap her in the damn carseat. So many people walking by stopped. I like to think they were just trying to verify I wasn't trying to kidnap her. I think the look on my face was enough to keep walking. I finally lost my mind, let go of her and started sobbing in her lap. Yes, big bad momma was done, defeated. I couldn't do it another damn second. Then she stopped. She sat up straight, stopped screaming and crying and let me strap her in. She did cry all the way home as did I. When we got home I got her out and she clung to me and stroked my hair and said, "love momma". I didn't forget about all the crazy but I did get over it at that moment. You see there are moments of parenting that will suck the life right out of you but then there are those moments that melt you and give you the most glorious feelings of love you have ever known.

Miss Sassafrass

Pin-Crazy

I can't seem to keep up with this blog very well. I think about it all of the time and always seem to have ideas to blog about but I can't seem to just sit down and do it! Being at home is busier than I thought it would be. I thought I would have ample time to do all of the fun things I want to do but it turns out that I have way too many fun things I want to do! I want to blog and craft and bake goodies and try new recipes and be a coupon queen and housekeeping goddess and prepare for an enormous garage sale and most importantly spend lots of time with my kids. I am not sure even the queen of all superwomen could pull all that off.

I have managed to get in lots of new recipes since I do have to cook every night. I am trying at least 2 new recipes a week and our dinner rotation has gotten a lot more interesting! Wow do I love me some Pinterest! That shit has seriously changed my life! It was like only eating plain Cheerios your whole life everyday for breakfast and then being given a donut! What is all of this wonderful, magical awesomeness that I can cook, craft, wear, read, laugh at and drool over? Seeing all of this made me realize how much stuff there really is out on the internet. I have never been a big internet surfer. I would usually check my email which would lead me to online shopping mostly. Then I would get on Facebook for a while and WAF- a forum I am on which consists of a small group of women who have been together since we were all pregnant together and due in February 2010.

But now you ask? I have Pinterest! It is a one stop shop for almost just about almost anything I would want to see on the internet. It has opened my eyes to many delicious foods and beautiful things and things to create. And good god is it addictive! See more pins....See more pins......See more pins............ yes please! And I am actually doing things I found on there. I have made a ton of recipes and made a few crafts. I plan on starting to blog about some of the things I find and do from there. I wish I was a better photographer though. My photos never seem to do any justice for the food. It might also be that fancy Corelle it is sitting on too!

Well it is a rainy Sunday night and I put a pot of chili on earlier that I can't wait to eat. It smells so freaking good! That is actually my recipe that I have adapted over the years from my mom's recipe. It is simple, but so good! Maybe someday I will get around to sharing that one! For now I am just going to see if I can write another blog by the end of this week.