a whale of a shower...

another successful event...a baby shower! (in conjunction with a "big sister party")

THEME: whales, inspired by the baby bedding.

INVITATIONS: designed by erica, inspired by elsie flannigan--although i will take the credit for the stitching on the whales and the envelope liners matching ones for the sister party


CAKE: designed and baked by erica



FAVORS: i made paper cones and filled them with candy. each had a little whale



DIAPER CAKE: annie


other fun things: onsie cookies (forgot to take a picture :( ), whale bean bags for the kids to play with, baby sized food, guest folders that had the game sheets and envelopes for each guest to address for the thank-you cards. (i made her thank you cards to match the invitations) and a baby dum dum bouquet that my kids took over, you can see it in their eyes!

In memory of "The Lip House"

So i'm up at a ridicuolus hour baking cookies (which are so cute) for the shower tomorrow, and while they bake I've been adding songs to my playlist...I had to add "you make me feel like dancing!" It brings back SO MANY memories from "the lip house!"

It was the last house I lived in before Orum and I got married...just to clue you in on some of the highlights...6 girls, 3 bedroom, and 1 bathroom...yes i said 1! not 1 1/2, but 1! but, suprisingly, it wasn't such a big deal since our schedules were so staggered. It sarted out with Me, Margaret, Annie, and Liahona (I had lived with annie and lia for the 2 months prior during summer term--they had lived with one of my "roommates" from the dorm freshman year. margaret was their friend who was away for the summer in D.C. which is the only reason i ended up moving in that condo). Then there was Jessica--she was friends with some of the guys in condo row that we went to church with. Then her friend Cari moved in too...it was thanks to Cari that our house got it's name!

I was home for a few weeks keeping the boys while sam and linda lou were in jackson when the move acctually occured. I drove up to the house, and found red neon lips hanging in our front window! (well they weren't really neon, they were made of red rope lights, but you get the point) They made a big impact, so we kept them up the whole year! We lived on a main street for student housing, so it also helped when giving directions!

We had LOTS of fun times in the house...lots of dancing to this song for one. (It was the cd that usually stayed in the bathroom, courtesy of cari) Turning the basement into the ? what did we call it? we attempted to sheet the whole area like they did on an episode of trading spaces, but it didn't really work out! Decorating with our finds from DI--like our HUGE 1970 olive green lamps, does anyone have those/pictures? Bunk beds...? The piles of dirty dishes...for some reason we belived the land lord when he said he would install one...right! Our valentine's day breakfast, which annie seems to still be carrying on. Margaret and annie sharing a bed. Annie in her mummy bag. The missing lotions, coats, and make-up...Trading spaces episodes everyday at 4. Annie and the hair salon in our den. The piles and piles of laundry. Me burning my thumb down to the bone the first week we were there (well not really to the bone, but close to it!) Sunday morning rush to get to church. Tasty treats from Cari's kitchen! the strange men walking in our house when they were paving the back parking lot, along with the random electricity outages that jason "forgot to tell us about." And so much more! Help me remember...Miss y'all so much! Love, bre :)

this is the only digital picture i had of us...margaret, lia, annie & miles, me & elijah. the boys are only days apart! elijah is older, but he looks so much younger! it was obviously, years after we had moved out, but it was the last time we got together before we all moved to other states! cari-i know i have pictures with you from my wedding...i'm going to find them, don't you worry!

i remembered more...wedding planning! margaret and i got married a week apart. annie was close to being engaged, or maybe she was? Jessica got engaged and moved after christmas (we did get a new roommate from next door). "the carwreck" me and cari--she was driving me to school. we later took a visit to the er thanks to her dad, i can see! the last minute trip to vegas, which everyone backed out of, so it was me, annie, and jed. the plan was to ride the big kahouna, but it was closed when we got there. we ate at denny's on the strip and drove back. i guess it was a holiday; annie and i slept when we got home, but i think jed had to go to work. and that was after he got a ticket on the way home--so close to our house! and of course my surgery and all the contraband i recieved at the hospital! :) I suppose these would be my "wild and crazy days."

It's a Potty MIRACLE!

So yesterday a miracle occured in our house! My baby boy has decided that he will willingly use the potty! This picture was taken in November when the interest started, but it didn't last long...recently, he was throwing a fit when I even mentioned the word "potty!" Well things have changed, and I'm not complaining!

On Tuesday night he peed on the potty becasue Renée did, and then immediately ran to her room to put on princess panites...just like hers. Well, I whipped out his underwear and he willingly took them! He grudginly took them off to put on a pull-up to sleep in, but did thanks again to Renée!

On Wednesday he was wearing a diaper, but stayed dry the whole day...we were at Mimi's house, and he went to the potty 3 times! And then again when we got to our house! I'm not sure what started it...maybe Mimi's house is magical (it is where Renée potty trained while we were home for Christmas one year). Or mabye it was a result of our conversation in the car Tuesday morning. We had just dropped Renée off at preschool and he said, "I go to preschool!" My response was, "if you start going to the potty and wearing underwear you can..." Whatever the reason...I'm so happy!

Today he wore underwear! He was so excied and showed everyone we saw! We even took a short trip to target and made it out dry! I think overall a VERY succesful first day in underwear! YEAH ELIJAH! His only accident was during the time he was up past his bedtime! It's not the route I took with Renée, but he his a little more strong-willed so we're going all in!

Jessi's wedding

Jessi's wedding was yesterday...it was a beatiful day sans the awful wind! While setting up--we had to fix and refix everything multiple times! the vases kept blowing over and breaking. Eventually, someone decided to scruch up the table overlays and place large rocks underneath to brace the flowers! luckily, there was a flowerbed nearby with huge rocks! and it worked about 90 percent of the time! everytime a huge wind would come, we would look around to see what needed to be caught! next problem--the poster size pictures that were supposed to hang around the edges of the bandstand...kept blowing off! eventually, several had to be taken down and then were placed in the flowerbeds along side the extra lanters--it actually looked really cute and purposeful!

I have to say the detail i was most pround of were the lantern cluster! It was so awesome! Jessi had 36 white lanters. I concinced her to let me spray paint them and they looked SO CUTE! the only question was how exactly i could get them up there! a table and a 9 ft. ladder of course! (i know melanie got a picture of that!) my inital method was going to hang them by a magnetic hooks, but turns out clips were cheaper--so i got clips. I intended for the magnets to hold them, but the clip did the trick! the wind didn't get a single one! I have to admit i was SO PROUD of the creation! It made the space! (A side note about the cake--both this cake and the cake from the last wedding were designed from the same picture!)

Now for the major wind issue...the chocolate fountian! The ceremony was across the park at a cool cazeebo. I had the fountain set up and ready to go...then the wind came! Before the guests ever made it over to the reception area 6 lbs of chocolate had gone to the wind...so noone every saw/ate any of it! So far i'm 0-2 for the chocolate fountain! better luck next time!

Of course, just as the last wedding there were camera issues! I at least remembered to take pictures, but after a few snaps my battery died! UGH! At least melanie kept snapping away (that's her below!)

Other fun details--fortune cookies (intended to be used with the chocolate fountain) had personalized fourtunes, monogramed cookies for favors, the candy buffet (the dum dum bouquet made another appearance), the poster size prints and monograms, and lots and lots of sweets! At the cazeebo for the reception, we had shepard's hooks lining the walk with daisy filled jars hanging by ribbon, the huge urns filled with branches going everywhere with tea lights hanging in jars, and a monogramed runner! The bride was so happy and looked so beautiful! She wanted everything to be very simple, fun, but funky...she kept saying the entire time, "i love it!" I loved it too, and it was so fun to do it for her! Everyone seemed to be having an great time--especially during clean-up when mo and the kids started the kareoke/dance-off!

Best wishes to Jessi and Jeff!

and enjoy the beach...

more parties!

i just can't get enough!
i absolutely ♥ to plan parties!
it might just be the funnest thing i've ever done! (i know that technically funnest is not a word, but i think it sounds more exciting! artistic license, right?) in just 2 days is Jessi's wedding--at the park how fun!? and one week from that a baby shower! the theme is whales!
how fun is that?

tonight, i've been working on a few things for the wedding--candy pretzels and a dumdum bouquet. yesterday, i put together some branches to hang votives from, it's so funky! and tomorrow--just a few other hundred things to do; i can't wait! pictures to come soon!

now something to make you laugh:

some background info--elijah hangs out in the bathroom every moring while orum gets ready for work. he just left...

yes--he's fixing his hair "just like daddy does" and brushing his teeth...with my toothbrush! notice the purple on his pj's; he'd already been in renee's make-up (purple lipstick!) it was a very busy morning!

baby jack johnson...

so, there's a new edition to the jack johnson fan club in our house. renee was converted after watching the curios george movie, but i guess the guitar did it for elijah.

obviously, since it's pink it's renee's. (a pink guitar was on her Christmas list -- leave it to mimi to find one!) she likes it, but elijah is COMPLETELY obsessed with it, and has been since day one. in fact, it went into hiding for a while because it was such a hot item.

well, it's back the novelty is over for renee and love affiar is intensifying for elijah. he asks for 2 things when he wakes up in the morning--his waffle and his "bitar." it is now down to 4 strings, but it's still music to his ears!

what can i say? he's a natural! we've showed renee countelss times how to hold it, but he did it right away without any help!

I ♥ Renée!

So this evening Renee and I were riding in the car. We were talking about who were her aunts, uncles, who were sisters, etc. She was basically trying to figure out genealogy patterns in her smart little head. So we started naming her aunts (the ones that are orum's sisters--which by the way are all always claiming to be the "favorite aunt". so it is a problem that they created!)

I'm naming and she stops me and asks, "Do you know who my favorite aunt is?" Holding back laughter, I replied with a, "no, who?" She immediately said, "little aunt marion!" when i asked her why the reasons included--"because she's so funny! she laughs whenever I laugh and she plays candyland with me!" So I guess it's true children spell love T-I-M-E!

We miss our litte aunt marion so, and we can't wait until she is home for a visit! Renee quickly asked for a sleepover with her while we were on the subject of our beloved little aunt marion! I'm sure she can't turn us down--at least she hasn't yet! Except this time, she expects to actually sleep with her!

i know the picture is from easter, but it shows another reason why i ♥ this little girl! she LOVES pink! for the second year in a row she collected only pink eggs! today we were painting with watercolors and she asked me why i like green. we were in the kitched, which i painted lemongrass green. i told her that green is fun, but that when i was a little girl that my favorite color was pink. she looked at me with a look of horror and asked. "why is your favorite color not pink anymore?!" what can you say to that?

WARNING: IT IS HARD TO STOP

http://www.freerice.com/

RULES: Chose the right meaning of the word and these people donate free rice through the UN. You'll see an advertisement banner at the bottom--these people pay for the rice. Each word right is worth 20 grains of rice. They also rate your vocab level. Get 3 in a row right and your vocab level goes up a level. Get 1 wrong it goes down.

I got up to level 32. I thought I was doing pretty good, but there are like 55 levels. I guess I need to expand my vocabulary! I finially I had to make myself stop after donating 5500 grains of rice. I'm sure that doesn't feed too many people, but it was 2 in the morning! thanks paige!

level update--i stopped at 5500 grains of rice again, and my highest level was 35.

i'm so excited!

i just figured out how to post music all by myself! YEA for me!

so what do you think?

i was at friend's and she commented that mothers usually have a harder time "letting go" of their son versus their daughter. i started thinking..."maybe so?" we want our daughters to go to be strong, independent women that can hold their own in the world, but we want our sons to be sweet and nurturing--contrary to the male stereotype. my other friends still cuts her sons food up and de-bones their meat...they are 14 and 12! (i'm not mentioning names, but you know who you are...)

if i think about my own children--which one is more rotten? definitely elijah! (i just rocked him to sleep for the second time today...never happened this way with renée) but then that brings me back to the nurture/nature issue. yes, it is true that of the 2 elijah is much more cuddly. he loved to be swaddled as a baby, as opposed to renée who was breaking free of her blanket when she was only a few days old...the list goes on. she likes to sleep in her own bed, while i frequently have the little one crawling into my bed between 3 and 5 am. not to mention--someway or another that "pa pa" always finds its way back to his mouth! maybe it's a combination of being the youngest, second, and a boy? who could know for sure, but what do you think?

he's back...

well almost...it sounds silly now, but i thought--cast off, normal mobility. well, he got the cast off on monday morning. but he didn't walk until about 6pm, and then only a few steps. he walked around today, but with a big limp. it pretty cute. he walks without bending his knee or moving his ankle. the doctor said that it's normal, and he should start walking normaly spontaneously within the next 10 days. although, he's not running yet it does not mean he's not his mischievous self. this morning he was quietly playing in the kitchen with playdough...so i thought. i looked around the corner and found him cracking eggs!


i know what you're thinking, "get a fridge lock." HAHA! i got one months ago and it only took him a couple of days to beat the system! he gets his little chair or a stool (whichever is closer) and unlocks it himself. if we ever leave it unlatched, he latches it back, what a thoughtful helper ;) although, it did serve its purpose the past couple of weeks due to the cast and inability to climb, but now he's back to his old antics!