Oh to be a Princess....

Recently a local youth theatre group but on a Disney Princess tea party and musical review.  It is pretty popular and I knew Natalie would absolutely love seeing all the princesses in person so I made sure to buy our tickets early.  We also invited both Grandmas so they could join in the fun! 

Natalie rocking her Snow White dress with Grandma Dee and Grandma Deb.

 

I had a general idea of what to expect (tea/lemonade, sweet treats, princesses and music....you know, because I am super skilled in deductive reasoning!) but I was blown away by the show and the effort all the teens and young kids put into the show.  Man are they are talented!!!

The show was "hosted" by Lumiere with a little help from Cogsworth...

There were over 50 characters (Princesses, friends and villains) from all types of Disney films....(prepare for picture overload) :)

Pocahontas & Snow White

Cinderella & Belle

Ariel & Rapunzel (with Pascal, of course!)

Mulan & Merida

Tiana & Jasmine

Elsa, Anna and Olaf

Prince Phillip & Aurora

No, I have no idea why she is brunette!  ;)

 While all of these princesses were super exciting for Natalie, she was most excited to see Princess Sofia the First.  The look on Natalie's face when she saw her was absolutely priceless!  A mixture of awe, shock and pure thrill at meeting one of her favorite princesses.  :)

 
The show was just about an hour and a half and consisted of 35 songs!  

The Genie (with Aladdin) sang a Friend Like Me

Meg (from Hercules) sang Zero to Hero with some help from the other princesses.

Kristoff and Sven sang the Reindeer Song 

 

Giselle (from Enchanted) sang Every Girl Can be a Princess. 

 

Sebastian, Ariel, Flounder and Melody (Ariel's daughter...who knew?) sang Under the Sea

 

The show was super relaxed and the princesses were so sweet with all the little girls.

Natalie got to watch part of the show with Snow White and with Sofia!  She was so excited!

 

During the last song all the princesses danced with the kids.  It was so sweet and the perfect way to end the show.

 

With my favorite princess!!  ;)

 

 

I'm back....and "Come on in" to my Family Room

Hi all!  Is it really already April 15th??  We are in full blown birthday planning mode.  I have made more trips to Hobby Lobby in the past 2 weeks than the previous 2 months!  I have spent too much time on Pinterest checking out ideas and even more time crafting!  I am totally in love with everything I have so far and will probably end up putting the decorations up a week or so early just to be sure it comes together how I am envisioning.  Does that make me crazy?!  Yes, it probably does!  :) 

We are also in major Spring mode (even though today's high temp is in the 30's, what the heck Mother Nature?!?!?) and spending a ton of time outdoors.  Natalie is a total monkey on her new swing set and we are scoping out all the parks in the area.  We have also made a trip to the zoo, to a local farm to see all their new baby animals, a baseball game, a princess tea party and a few Easter egg hunts (of course) in the past 2 weeks.  Oh and Natalie started swim lessons.  Whew, I love this time of year but it has worn me out!  I have so much to update on - not to mention the pictures to share - and I am going to buckle down over the next couple of weeks and get it all out here.  I'm thinking in I need to set a specific time to blog.  Does that help you?

Even though I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon in recent weeks, I have still been keeping up to date with some of my favorite ladies out in blogland.  I was super excited to see Andrea over at Momfessionals introduce a new monthly home tour link up!  One of my favorite things to do is check out display homes for ideas and inspirations.  Plus I love seeing how other people integrate their style and ideas into their spaces.  So...this is a perfect link up for me! 

We moved in just about a year and a half ago and I am still working on some of the details and tweaking what isn't working as we go.  The color palette is pretty neutral but our house is a very open plan ranch and I felt like we couldn't do too crazy of color combinations.  Of course, sometimes I feel like we went too neutral.  I'm hoping that will allow me flexibility to change out accents as we continue living here.

So this is the view after you pass through the foyer.  Kitchen to the left (the opening by the tv), a hall to the right and the formal dining room to the back right.
The wall color is a greenish grey.

Looking in from the kitchen area.  As you can see we have a very nicely decorated kid toy area.  ;)  This is a constant struggle for me but I am trying to just go with it since I know I will miss this time in our lives soon enough.

 Another view into the living room from the kitchen.  As you can see I have exactly nothing on our coffee tables.  These are still relatively new and Chase is into everything so finding cute items hasn't been a priority.  It will be soon but I really want to make sure I find the right pieces and not be rushed into purchasing items I don't really love.

Looking the other direction (towards the kitchen and formal dining room).  We have two large open frames to get into the kitchen that I love for flow and so I still feel 'involved' when in the kitchen.
There are also two pretty good size cut outs.  We painted those a dark green for contrast.  The dark green is also on the large staircase wall in the hall and in the dining room.  These areas are a work in progress too.  Sometimes I love the stuff we have up there and other times I really dislike it.  :) 

Looking in from the dining room.  (Oops, I need to fix the drapes!)

 

So there it is...our Living Room!  Where we spend most of our time as a family and almost never looks this picked up!  :)

 

Can't wait to see everyone else's homes!

 

 



New Year's Resolution Update - Month 3

Start a blog.  Post at least 4 times a week

Um, Fail.  I knew last week was a big miss but I guess I didn't realize just how much I slacked off this month.  Only 8 posts in March...half of my goal.  Time to hit the reset button and get back in the game.

Lose the last of the baby weight
So far so good.  I started drinking more water again this month.  I love the cucumber, mint and lemon flavor which is supposed to be a metabolism booster.  Win!  I also started taking a Pilates class once a week.  I know it will take more than that to see drastic changes in my body shape but it feels good to get out and do something for myself.

Try a new recipe each week

Man, here is another resolution that has hit a rut.  Is this pretty normal for 3 months in?  It is good to have the accountability here since I am definitely seeing my slacking out in the open. 
Part of this goal miss is that I didn't cook as much as normal this month and part of it is because I have found some really great recipes that I have on repeat.  Not cooking so much?  Fail.  Finding great recipes to repeat?  Win.
Anyway, this month I tried out a Mix and Match Mama recipe for Chicken a la King.  Super easy and yummy.   A Tomato Soup recipe from Peas and Crayons that was ridiculously good.  Double the recipe for dinner and lunch leftovers.  She is not joking that the mozzarella balls make this even more delicious....oh and the cheese most definitely needs to be frozen!  Lastly, I made a  creamy lemon and basil pasta sauce off the box of lobster and shrimp ravioli I bought.  (Can you believe I tried a recipe that wasn't on Pinterest?!?!  Yeah, me either!)

Make an effort to be less tired
Our sleep training plan was a success!  Chase did so well that I actually feel silly that I let his poor sleep habits dominate our lives for as long as they did.  He is now sleeping from 7:30 to 7am every night.  A few times a week he will wake up at 6am but if I grab him and bring him to our bed he will sleep for another hour to hour and a half.  Works for me!  He is such a snuggler that he will lay right on my chest and nuzzle in for that last hour of sleep.  I LOVE this time with him more than I can express!  Sometimes I go back sleep with him sometimes I watch the news but I always spend some of the time taking in his sweet baby smell and cherishing this time with him. 
So anywho, with Chase sleeping better I am feeling so much more refreshed as well.  Plus since I am not nursing him as frequently I slip in a second cup of coffee some days.  And that always helps!  :)

Be present
Good days and bad days.  We had quite a few more nice days this month and it is so much easier to be present and involved while we are out enjoying the beautiful weather.  Not an excuse but an observation that I need to be accountable for on the days we are home and not on the go.

So there you have it.  The good and the bad of my resolutions after only 3 months.  Are you still keeping up with your resolutions?

Us - Everyday. Week 13

What a week!  I haven't been around much because we had a busy week prepping to install/build our new swing set.  Our prep time paid off and the swing set went up without a hitch....and in just under 6 hours!  Those guys totally rocked it!  :)
We also have been having some computer issues and PicMonkey has been a casualty of the problems.  Not having PicMonkey seriously affected my desire to blog since I couldn't make cute collages or fix my pictures.  Bummer!

Day 80:  I can't get over how much my baby is turning into a toddler!  Check out all those teeth!

He loves putting on other people's shoes right now.  Here he is wearing my mom's black flats.  :)

March 24

Day 81:  Not the best picture but we spent the afternoon at the bounce house with our friends Kristen, Olivia and Alyssa.  The girls had a blast!

March 25

Day 82:  Natalie insisted on wearing a scarf today like her mama!  Love it!

March 26

 

Day 83:  Prepping for the swing set build. 

Wood sorted?  Check

Hardware sorted and grouped by step in their own little bag?  Check

Having your OCD wife takeover the pre-work?  Check :)

March 27

Day 84:  Chase's party invites are ready to be mailed!

March 28

Day 85:  Lunch with my Grandma Mary.  Chase, once again, devoured his lunch and Grandma was super impressed!

March 29

Day 86:  Our fabulous crew and their awesome work!  Thank you all so much for your help!

The kids are loving having their 'own park' in the backyard!

March 30

 

Us - Everyday. Weeks 10 - 12.

Somewhere along the past couple of weeks, I completely fell off the 'Us-Everyday' posts.  Not sure what happened but today is going to be a catch up day.  :)  Sorry in advance for the amount of pictures!

Week 10:

Day 62:  Chase hanging out in his adorable soccer outfit from Uncle John & Aunt Megan.

Do we have a future soccer player??

(Mar 3)

Day 63:  We love playing Princess dress-up!

(Mar 4)

Day 64:  A fun letter play date at the library.

We learned all about the letter W!

(Mar 5)

 

Day 65:  They love being able to sit together in the shopping carts at Sam's Club!

(Mar 6)

Day 66:   A beautiful day for the park!

(Mar 7)

Day 67:  Today we celebrated our sweet friend's little boy, Vincent's 1st Birthday! 

Natalie LOVED the cake and ice cream!

The Birthday boy was super sweet and rocked Chase a little before we left.  The adorableness just melts my heart!!

(Mar 8)

Day 65:  I was surprised to find this sweet little bed crasher in our room when I went to bed this evening.  :)

(Mar 9)

 

Week 11:

 

   Day 66:  The perfect day for the Zoo!!! 

I think the entire city was there...on a Monday...oops, forgot it would be spring break.  :)

We had so much fun checking out all the animals, having a picnic lunch and riding the train!

(Mar 10)

 

Day 67:  Love my boys!  :)

(Mar 11)

 

Day 68:  Hanging out with my super cute little guy while Natalie hung out in the bath.

(Mar 12)

 

 Day 69:  It was a little windy out but a perfect temperature to have ice cream on the deck!

(Mar 13)

 

Day 70:  Natalie made a grab bag of supplies for the birds to make nests. 

Super cute idea to kick off Spring and she was so excited to help her bird friends!

(Mar 14)

 

Day 71:  My adorable niece, Caroline Elizabeth made her big debut around 11pm on the 14th so we went to meet her on Saturday morning.  It was awesome being able to snuggle and love on her!  Not to mention, check out her full head of hair in person!  :)

(Mar 15)

 

Day 72:  Celebrating my cousin's little girl, Olivia's birthday party at the local bounce house play place.  Natalie had the best time jumping and doing the obstacle courses!  She also loved showing off her skills to Matt since he hears a lot about our fun times here but has never been able to go with us.

(Mar 16)

 

 

Week 12:

 

We started our St Patrick's Day with green milk and cinnamon rolls with green icing.  Yum! 

Day 73:  Ready to go in our green attire.  :)

(Mar 17)

 

Day 74:  Yea!!!  We have our own copy of Frozen!!  :)

We may or may not have watched the movie ever day this week!  Love it!

(Mar 18)

 

Day 75:  Love her so much!

(Mar 19)

 

Day 76:  Chase is really enjoying the warmer weather especially when he can zip around the deck in his walker! 

 (Mar 20)

 

Day 77:  I started working on my Easter/Spring fabric banner.  I am loving the bright colors!

(Mar 21)

 

Day 78:  It may be 2 months away, but I have started planning my clothes for our trip to Mexico.

Can you tell I am excited?!?!  :)

(Mar 22)

 

Day 79:  This little dude LOVES baked beans!

(Mar 23)

 

 

Thanks for catching up with us!