Weekend Review - Birthday Weekend

Well I'm an exhausted mama. Gibbie turned three on Saturday and we had a super kick ass Hello Kitty party for her. She cashed in on some awesome gifts and it was a lot of fun having the entire family at our house for a change (they all live in the same area and we live about half an hour away).

We started the birthday out with a manicure (which is insane because I think I was 15 when I had my first manicure).

Seriously though, Hello Kitty nails! How could I resist!!??

After the manicure we went to pick up the cake and cupcakes. Lou's Guiltless Goodies is amazing!

Check out this awesome spread. Yes, Gibbie is spoiled, at least on her birthday.

Singing Happy Birthday to Gibbie. She got bashful when she realized everyone was singing to her.

She ended up with a lot of awesome clothes, a Leap Pad 2, a Vtech phone, a lot of art stuff, books, and a scooter!

Check out the super adorbs Princes Merida dress. She wore it all evening.

The next day we took a very relaxing afternoon trip up to Mesilla, NM. We love that city and it's so close we go about once a month.

It's all fun and games until she thinks hitting mama on the head is fun!

It was a great weekend and since The Hubs has today off we're just going to relax around the house and maybe work on some art!

What did you do this weekend?

Flashback Friday

I've been super busy this week. Between going to our church's preschool open house to recruit for our MOPS group and getting everything ready for Gibbie's birthday party tomorrow I am finding it hard to stay awake at this point. If I can make it to 6pm tomorrow I'm going to take a disco nap.


Let's get to pictures.

This was when we moved into a bigger apartment on her first birthday:

She loved kissing her reflection.

 Here's me messing around in same apartment:

I am pretty sure I was avoiding physical labor by messing around.

 Look at that face! Those cheeks! My GOD!:

 Always a princess:

 Getting ready for a date night about a year ago:

And now I want to cut my hair. I just love having short hair!

 This must have been just before or after last year's birthday party judging by the balloons:

I love that face!

Birthday party outfit. The sleeves and shoes were part of an Olivia treasure chest. The dress was Harajuku Mini of course:

 I get bored easily:

The Hubs and Gibbie playing with toys she got for her second birthday last year:

OK, back to decorating!

Wordless Wednesday - Old School North Pole Edition

Tuesday Topics - Catering to Your Kids

It's quite possibly the biggest fight you'll ever have with a toddler. I used to dread this time of the day because I didn't know if it was a battle worth fighting. DINNER! Seriously, I can't even with this fight. I always said I would never make two dinners to please us and our kid but it has come to that lately. I tend to try recipes on the fancy side that attract a more grown up taste so I end up making the kid a grilled cheese or a pb&j so there's no fight over her not eating dinner.

This past weekend I decided that this is just ridiculous and it needed to stop. My goal is to make more kid friendly meals and maybe only have one night of making her something separate. This week it will be Friday. I'm just making us fried rice with shrimp and Gibbie hates rice so she'll get her sandwich.

I've definitely let it become a habit for too long. Tonight we had tacos and black beans. Gibbie loves beans and has always eaten a deconstructed taco with us. She did end up eating some of it but not before asking for a sandwich twice. Proof enough for me that I need to break this habit immediately.

I met a mom through MOPS two years ago who basically said she wasn't going to have the battle. She put dinner in front of her husband and three sons and they could decide if they were going to eat. If they didn't eat what she put in front of them then they just didn't eat. Upon hearing this I thought it was a great idea but never stuck with it. The Hubs is pickier than Gibbie so there'd be a lot of nights of me eating alone. Best friend J once said that she had heard that anyone needs three bites to tell if they like something. The first bite was to see if their taste buds liked it, the second to see if their stomach liked it, and the third to see if the two agreed.

My Facebook friends gave me a wide variety of answers for this one. One friend said she makes the kids something to eat at 4:30pm and then have dinner with her husband later. Sometimes it's the same meal, sometimes she does a more grown up recipe. I actually did consider that at one point but I don't think it really fits us. Another mom said 95% of the time the kids eat what her and her husband eats. She even has a rule that if one of the kids says they don't like whatever it is then he has to eat a bite of whatever it is for each year. (Example: Kid is 6 years old, kid says he doesn't like green beans, kid has to eat 6 bites of green beans.) She goes one step further and doesn't let the kid have an after dinner treat unless he eats it all. My lovely Best friend M plainly says, "Eat or go to bed hungry...kids are not gonna starve in one evening."

I am totally leaning more towards how Best friend M feels about it. I think The Hubs is feeling a bit more lenient though. I even tried for a while to implement a sort of three bite rule. Three bites, if you don't like it, I'll make you a sandwich. Truth be told, Gibbie can handle a meal she isn't thrilled about it. The Hubs and I do it on occasion when a meal doesn't come out as well as I had hoped for it. So why should I, as the main cook of the house, have to do extra work? I am starting to think that the point of this topic is to talk myself into it. OK, I can do this.

Here's a cute picture to show you why I have a hard time not giving in:

Finally, if there's any topic suggestions you'd like to know my humble opinion (as well as my Facebook friends) leave a comment and let me know.

Weekend Review

Exciting stuff! Well, maybe not to you young people who don't have kids. For me, going to a movie is super exciting!

OK, OK, I'll start on Friday instead of skipping ahead to the fun parts.

The Hubs is having a lot of fun teaching his class in our backyard. The Gibbie kinda hates not being allowed to go outside with her papa but I'm trying to distract her as much as possible.

We entertained ourselves with bath time, Brave, and games on an old iPhone that is no longer a phone:

By the way, that phone is going to disappear sometime this week. I freaking hate how addicted she has become to it.

Then, after the student left we let her play with a wooden sword on the mats:

I said she could train as soon as she was taller than the sword. Not quite there yet:

We played peekaboo a lot this weekend:

Allow me to interrupt these adorbs pictures to let you know how freaking awesome my Saturday afternoon was. I got all gorgeous while Gibbie slept and The Hubs rested and we headed out. Gibbie went to grandma and grandpa's house to play with all the cool stuff they brought her back from their Alaskan cruise and The Hubs and I went to the movies.

THE WORLD'S END!!! So freaking good! A little background here as to why I was so giddy about this movie: This was the last installment of the so called Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (aka Ice Cream Trilogy, Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy, or Cornetto Trilogy). The Hubs and I saw the first one, Shaun of the Dead, on our very first date. We'd known each other for a few years but because he moved up to Chicago just after I met him that first date took a while to work out. During the time the second movies came out we were on a break though I think we might have seen it on one of our secret dates (no one knew we were contemplating couplehood again). Now, the last one is here! We're married, we have a beautiful goblin princess daughter, and life is awesome.

Also, I can't even remember the last time we saw a movie in a theater. Afterwards, it was very hard to not stop off for a pint somewhere but since we were on the other side of town (they only have sports bars over there, ugh) and we needed to get our kid we decided against it. Go see it, you must, it's freaking amazing. I don't want to give too much away but it was an interesting change to see Simon Pegg's character as the one mucking things up and Nick Frost's character being the successful grown up. The ending is not what I was expecting considering how the other two ended but it was good nonetheless.

Back to the weekend...

Gibbie has decided she loves Spider Man and found this mask at Target:

We didn't buy it but she had fun wearing it for two minutes.

We actually have no idea where she even saw Spider Man or why she loves it but we're going with it. Maybe she'll be Spider Man for Halloween! That would be so cool.

We also went to Lowe's where we ordered new flooring and I'm super giddy to get rid of the nasty toddler stained carpet soon. I just wish we could get it done before Gibbie's birthday party next weekend. It's a bit embarrassing how nasty it is. I'll definitely have to post some before and after pictures of it once the furniture is out and before we put it back.

How was your weekend?

Saturday Link Party

There's so much to do this weekend! Later The Hubs and I are dropping Gibbie off with his parents and going to see World's End (I'm so giddy)! I'm hoping to wear my new dress which is a size 14! I have to mention that because it's been 10 years since I've been a size 14 and it's a wonderful feeling! The Greek Food Festival is also going on so I may make a point to get us there tomorrow after church. We have Sunday School Rally Day tomorrow at church to get the kids excited for the Sunday school year to start next weekend. Exciting stuff!

Here's some links to keep you busy:

A better way to give money as a gift. Sticking a 20 in a card is so over!

Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Cheer up! This blog also has some awesome money saving tips.

I really want to make this family birthday chart but I wouldn't know where in the house to hang it. The Hubs and I are always asking each other when family members' birthdays are and usually end up texting his mom to find out.

Have you seen these photos of Barbie and Ken? I mean, we always knew Ken was a little "left handed" as my southern mama used to say. I obviously love these!

I love the Everyday People cartoons. This one is one of my favorites of the moment.

And now I'm crying.

I'm really into lemon right now and I'm dying to try these cookies.

Enjoy your weekend and here's an old picture of Gibbie to get you through:

Sometimes she wears fezzes now. Fezzes are cool.

Flashback Friday

It's been a wild week around here. My muscles absolutely hate me after two stroller fitness classes. I'm also about to head over to Best friend J's house where we will be watching a total of seven kids including our own! Enjoy some pictures in no particular order!

This is my favorite wedding photo:

Look at those teeth:

Gosh I miss this time:

She would eat Gerber carrots but not the ones I boiled for her:

Gibbie and Best friend M's kid last year at her birthday party:

I think I may have posted this photo with a different filter but I love it:

I would pack a box, she would unpack it, this is our old apartment:

I still remember this, she grabbed that banana out of my hand and started munching:

Kissing her baby Ariel that she got for her birthday last year:

Exciting weekend planned over here! We are going to try to pick out some wood laminate to replace our toddler stained carpet and I think The Hubs and I are going to go see World's End! I can't wait! Shaun of the Dead was our first date so I was very excited to see that the last of the trilogy was coming out! WOO!