What Will it Bee?...

I have recently been seeing a lot of pins on pinterest and friends facebook pages on gender reveal parties. For those of you who aren't familiar, it is a celebration to creatively announce the gender of your upcoming arrival.  Most people seem to do a form of cake or cupcake.  They dye the inside blue or pink and when you cut it open, there is your announcement. I've seen whole showers planned around these.

Since this is our third kid in three years, I thought it a little silly to do anything too extravagant but thought it would be fun to try it out for the fam.  Besides, I'm always looking for excuses to bake.  So I invited a friend over who was familiar with fondant and she gave me my first lesson in cake decorating.

I decided I wanted to do a cute play on words and theme.  "What's it going to bee?" with a bee adorned cake.  We made a small cake for some friends from my church community group and then a larger version for my family.  I have been dying to make bee cake pops and this was the perfect excuse.  I needed a white cake mix so its color wouldn't interfere with dying; I chose french vanilla.  I separated the batter into three equal parts.  I baked one layer plain, another with it dyed an in between shade and the last the darkest truest of the color.  Once they had cooled, I shaved them so they would be level and saved the cut pieces for my cake pops.  I dyed some cream cheese frosting pink and iced in between the layers as I stacked them.  I crumb coated the whole cake in just plain white cream cheese frosting.

We rolled out the pre-packaged fondant (yes... I was too prego, fat and lazy to make it from scratch) and I was surprised how easy it was to manipulate.  We dyed some yellow and some black.  I trimmed the small cake with a yellow ribbon at the bottom and used the black for the letters. 

The fun part, however, were the cake pops.  I made them traditionally, here's the tutorial I did on them, and used yellow candy melt for the main color.  Before they got too dry I inserted two white heart shaped sprinkles at the top for the wings.  Then I went over them with black icing for the stripes and sprinkled black sprinkles to give it some texture.  I attached a chocolate chip on the back for a stinger (well I thought it looked like a stinger, Jason told me it just looked like the bee was pooping but he's a boy and they know nothing about cuteness.)  Voila, bumble bee.  Some were a little more abstract then others but I think everyone got the idea.  I placed a couple on the cake and there it was.  My bee themed reveal cake.

At the actual family reveal I had everyone vote.  It was great because the majority guessed wrong so it was a great surprise.  I had my sweet mama cut the cake and....

Sorry Jason.  You are going to drown in estrogen.  Only princesses here.

Dissecting Daddy...

I think I have finally recovered from our bout with potty training.  And I regretfully have to report that Adelyn won and I lost.  We have decided to start back up when big papa is home to help :)  And speaking of Daddy, I want to share a little idea that the girls and I constructed for dear old dad for his stocking.  Moving into a new house, being pregnant, a first birthday and Christmas all within three weeks pretty much left me with no choice but to be extremely frugal for stocking ideas.  Jason and I agreed not to get each other gifts this year but I just couldn't let his stocking be nakie.  So I whipped up a little interview sheet for the girls and I to fill out all about their dad with the intention of continuing the tradition year after year.  I think filling them out might have been as fun as Daddy reading them.  I wish I would have had enough forethought to video tape the actual process.  I sat the girls down at snack time and explained to Adelyn what we were doing.  I would ask her a question about daddy and write down her answer word for word and then she would get to color a picture of her and her daddy when we were finished.
Hilarious.  I loved that there was no pause or hesitation between question and answer.  Everything was matter of fact and absolute truth.  My personal favorite was, "My daddy likes to...for fun" and Adelyn quickly answered "wear skirts".  Yes...yes he does.  And true to Adelyn form when we were coloring the picture I asked her to try to stay in the box and she responded, "Mom, I don't like to stay in boxes..."  No Adelyn, no you do not.

However, the real tricky part came to when it was time to do Marcella's.  I wasn't quite sure how to fill hers out since Mama. Dadda, Papa and wawa are about all we can really make out of her sumo style rantings.  Therefore, I decided to stay true to the interviewing process and phonetically sound out her mumbles.  This is the part I wish I would have taped.  I would ask her a question and she would look real serious like she was thinking it over and state her answer.  I have no idea what she was saying but she definitely did.  We went back and forth through the whole questionnaire without even getting off track.  She was focused and firing those answers.  Loved it.

I can't wait to see their handwriting and drawings progress as they grow.  I plan on compiling these into a book once they are all grown and out of the nest. I've attached the document I created if you would like to use it or base it as a jumping off point for further questions.  Enjoy!

All About My Daddy...

To Pee Pee or Not to Pee... That is the Challenge...

Today was our first official day of potty training.  Last night, the husband and I decided that it was time on our end to fully commit.  Adelyn has shown interest and hatred towards everything potty for the last few months.  One day she and her potty are best friends and the next day it is the poop eating monster that she won't even go near.  Santa even brought her special character panties in her stocking for a little extra motivation and the little stinker brought them to me and said," Mommy, these are cool but I told you I wasn't ready for that pee pee stuff."  Yes Adelyn, so you did.  But in my head I think, "If you are verbally advanced enough to tell me there is poop in your diaper, you have diaper rash because it's diarrhea so you need cream, and know exactly where to get the supplies and practically do it yourself; I think you are advanced enough to wipe your own cheeky buns." So after doing some mommy googling last night I decided she could check off 100% of the "is she ready" checklists.  So it was time.  Bye bye day diapers and hello Dora undies.

Now I am anal, not a play on words...well kind of, and wanted to make sure we had a plan.  So, I decided after much discussion with friends, researching and just knowing my kid that it was all or nothing.  No diapers during the day no matter what.  No going back.  I think I waited as long as I have to begin this, not because I didn't think Adelyn was ready but because I wasn't quite sure I was.  I knew my little drama queen was going to be a handful and today I learned something that I always kind of knew, I am always right.

We started the morning off with a pee pee try before breakfast.  No go.  However, she was super excited about wearing her big girl undies and ran around yelling at Marcella to look at her hiney dancing.  I explained that every time she went pee pee in the potty she would get an M&M.  That seemed motivating.  Well after sitting and reading for 20 minutes after breakfast, we had let go!  Yeah Pee Pee!  We did the potty dance, the "bye bye pee pee" and flushed it down the toilet.  We had a brief tantrum about only getting one M&M and not the whole bag but it wasn't so bad.  Her Nana told her to call her and tell her what surprise she wanted when she finally went potty.  So we called Nana in Fornia (California for you non-toddler speaking readers) and Adelyn very directly told her she wanted drums and a computer.  Probably not what Nana wanted to hear but that's her problem now.

The next three attempts weren't so pleasant, and to be honest I almost gave up.  After 35 minutes of trying before nap time, I finally gave up and put her down for a nap in her plastic training pants.  Within two seconds of me putting her in there I discovered two things, she peed all over immediately and those plastic training pants are crap.  Pee was everywhere and in her tantrum throwing dramatic rage the sloshing pee in her "containment" panties was sloshing everywhere.  I picked her up and tried to put her on the potty but the damage was done.  Stink was everywhere.  I cleaned her up and just threw everything in the wash.  It took me 45 minutes to calm her down.  She didn't want these Dora undies, she wanted the other ones, she wasn't tired and I'm a mean mommy.  Adelyn, you don't even know mean.  Finally, got her down for a nap and this prego fatty was exhausted.

The next two accidents occurred as she was standing directly next to the pink pot.  She is frantically telling me she is going pee as it's getting everywhere and she's literally a step away from it.  Frustrating.  We go through the 20 to 30 minute tantrum ordeal for each episode.  The kicker is, Marcella has become very aware of Adelyn's melt downs and they scare and concern her.  So, as I am attempting to calm the terror and clean up the pee soaked carpet I have a one year old also screaming and holding on to me for dear life.  I was about ready to throw in the towel and tell her she could wear diapers down the aisle for all I cared.  But the Lord always knows what you can handle and the big girl ran to her new friend, sat down and big eyed screamed "I did it Mom!  There's real orange pee pee in there!"  I was at first concerned that she told me it was orange, dehydration?  but quickly realized who cares!  We did it!  But it was short lived.  For as we were celebrating my very helpful Marcella came over and dumped the pot of pee pee in my lap.  You can't win them all.

Tomorrow we will be at it again and I pray that our 50/50 will increase to be favorable in my corner.  Any and all tips are appreciated...

I Guess Us Stay at Home Mommies are Just Plain Lazy...

I read an article recently claiming that working mothers are healthier than stay at home moms.  I have to say I was a little surprised by this claim.  Oh, I don't know why.  Maybe because I never sit down during the day so I always assumed I was burning more calories.  But the article explains that working moms reported less depression symptoms.  The more I chewed on this, the more it definitely made sense.  Us SAHMs tend to be isolated.  We grow up in an environment where social interaction is forced on us through school, activities and work.  Then baby pops out and it's just us and babble drooly.  It's natural, right?  Well, not for me. 
Anyone who knows me, knows that I never shut up.  I'm a talker by nature and I have discovered, as much as I absolutely feel called and privileged to have a husband who supports me being home, conversation with toddlers just isn't as fulfilling (however at times down right hysterical).  I love being home with my girls and wouldn't trade it for the world, but I have to honestly admit that it is lonely and well... sometimes depressing. 
That is why this year I am committing myself to breaking this rut of isolation.  I have already joined a mom's group through my church and try to plan a play date a week but I'm going to take it a step further.  I'm going to attempt the crazy and get out at least once every other week with other mommas, sans kids.  You know, put real people drool free clothes on, make-up, maybe do my hair and pretend I have a life outside Yo Gabba Gabba and princess dresses.  I also am going to try and make more of an effort to babysit swap and take advantage of local Mommy's Day Out programs, because sometimes I dream about exercising this huge prego bod.
I can't wait to prove this one wrong!  Would love to hear what other stay at homers do to socialize and beat the isolation blues...

My Prego Italian Creation...

There are numerous not-fun side effects during pregnancy but one of my favorites is cravings.  I am free to try and make all the crazy combo yummies that I would be too calorie conscious or timid to try.  Pregnancy opens the senses to a creativity that only hormones can muster, an urge to try new, strange fusions of flavor.  Oh, happy eating.

I was recently asked to make a main dish for a holiday potluck and I was feeling pasta.  I ventured to the market and started collecting a cart full of ingredients that all just sounded good.  A little bit of sundried tomatoes (I can eat those things like candy), spinach, glorious garlic, italian dressing, chicken, garlic, fettuccine, alfredo sauce and did I mention garlic?  I went home and immediately started creating this masterpiece that I am bestowing the honorable title of Hit the Spot Fettuccine.

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1 bottle of Italian salad dressing
3 TBSP olive oil
1 package of sun dried tomatoes
1 bag of baby spinach
6 TBSP of minced garlic (roasted garlic cloves would be incredible but I was too lazy)
1 package of fettuccine
2 jars of Classico Alfredo Sauce

Step 1:  Marinate the chicken breast overnight in the italian dressing and 2 tbsp of garlic
Step 2:  Cook fettuccine according to the instructions.
Step 3:  In an electric skillet or large skillet over a medium flame, heat 2 tbsp of oil.  Saute chicken until no longer pink.  Set aside.
Step 4:  In same skillet, add remaining oil.  Saute sun dried tomatoes, spinach, and remaining garlic until spinach is soft.  Add the chicken back in.

Step 5:  Add alfredo sauce to the saute mixture.  Let simmer for ten minutes.
Step 6: Combine everything for one wonderful concoction.

I don't know the sentiments of everyone else but this nutrient devouring fatty thought it was fantastic.

Big Letter L...and It's Not for Loser...

One of my latest creations for the home was inspired from a post on pinterest.  I have always loved the simple, classy, and modern look of monogrammed letters.  This was a unique twist.  They had wrapped a cardboard letter in a fun color yarn and it looked adorable.  I have been debating what to put as my focal point in my living room above my couch.  I love collaged pictures but I needed some color.  I thought, "I have a college degree with an emphasis is art... I can tackle yarn."

So, I ventured down to JoAnnes (JoAnne and I are getting really tight), and discovered this wonderful oversized letter.  Fantastic two feet of blank crafting canvas.

I found some vibrant green yarn that matched an accent color in some pillows I made and thought it would look really nice against the neutral paint color in that room.   Let the wrapping begin.

Armed with a glue gun, my yarn, gigantor letter and some quiet time while the girls were napping I began my endeavor.  The hardest part was figuring out a way to make it look cohesive, intentional and neatly done.  It took some creative thinking but I figured out a way to loop the corners and angles of the letter so that I wouldn't have to cut my yarn.  I used the glue gun only on the corners where I changed wrapping directions.

Two hours later, I had my wall decor.  I have to say it was strangely calming.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  Now if the man and I could just agree on the frame color for the surrounding collage.  What color would you choose?

The Baby's Big Number One...

So, my little adorable Marcella turned one today.  I love both my children immensely, but for some reason I was a little more emotional with my little tiny hiney's big event today.  I can't blame it on hormones because I was exactly this far along with Marcella when Adelyn was at this age.  Maybe, because it seemed to go by sooooo much faster.  It really does feel like just last week I was as big as a house, feeling sorry for myself because I was going to miss out on all the fun Christmas activities and holding her perfect newborn head in my arms.  Really I think the only reason I didn't lose it completely is because I always have another on the way.  Will I ever not be prego? :)

However, I always thouroughly enjoy throwing them a bash.  I know, I know... It's more for me than them.  But so what!  I birthed them.  Let's celebrate!  For Marcella Jane's big day I decided to do a snowflake theme.  I saved a ton by making custom photo invites on my computer and printing them at Costco as 5x7's.  Soooo much cheaper.

I made her a banner out of different shades of blue paper, glitter, snowflakes I punched out using snowflake holepunches, and silver wrapping ribbon.  Adelyn was estatic when it went up.

We had a taco bar for lunch.  I made a bucket of spanish rice, a troph of seasoned ground beef and another of a chicken fajita-like mixture.  I had hard and soft tacos available and a assembly line of toppings to go with it.  My dad made a chorizo cheese dip and I ate my weight in all of the above.  I also made a hot chocolate bar!  I heated up hot chocolate in a crock pot.  I had candymelt coated marshmallows on straws, those incredible pirouette rolled vanilla wafers and whipped cream.

I also drank my fill of this monstrosity.  Downstairs in the kids crazy zone, I had the desserts set up on the lip of our built in.  I made a red velvet snowflake cake with cream cheese icing, lemon/yellow cake pops, and had cute dark chocolate stars for munching on.

We got the little ones stuffed holiday animals for favors and I had her baby book for friends and family to sign and her first year calendar with pictures to look at near the presents table. 

My little one loved her little individul cake and threw quite the "big kid" tanrum when we wouldn't let her eat the whole huge thing.

 It was a really enjoyable day with a lot of good friends and family around!  My girls were so hyped up from all the organized chaos downstairs with friends that I wasn't sure if I would ever get them down.  Now to start thinking about baby number 3's...