the thank you cards are done!

If you're family and/or friends who came to the party... you may not want to look. Otherwise, I had to share the awesome thank you I made on Shutterfly... featuring the Elbow Cake pictures!

Bold Dots Thank You Card

Thank you and personalized Valentine's Day cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Oliver's Sesame Street birthday party!

I was really, really happy with how Oliver's birthday party came together this year!

Here's the invitation:

I made these myself in Microsoft Publisher and had them printed up in 5x7

The logistics:

12:30pm - Oliver & Trent (my BFF's son visiting from out of town) go down for naptime.

Trent is sleeping peacefully and Oliver is fighting it. My mom stays behind to convince him it's time to sleep.

1:00 pm - get the car loaded up, head over to the hall with BFF Jen, start decorating. Brother shows up with a giant bag of ice and his helpful pants on. Mom drives over and we get shit done.

2:15 pm - Thanks to the help of my awesome crew, we are miraculously done decorating! Drive over to the dollar store for helium balloons, drive to pizza place and pay way too much money for pizza.

2:45 pm - back to the hall, husbands and babies arrive with the rest of the food, and it's time to get this party started.

I am so incredibly grateful for all the help I had putting this together - I couldn't have done it without my awesome family and friends and my amazing husband who is now famous for his delicious pretzel bread (with Hershey Kisses inside!!). 

Just before 3:00, when people started to arrive, I looked around and I couldn't have been happier.

Now on to the pictures!

a couple of my favorite details. lollipop tree and homemade cupcake toppers

 

balloon garland, strung with plain old needle and thread

bounce house, borrowed from a friend, indoors! which is why I love this hall.

an impromptu parade? don't mind if I do.

cupcakes & milk :)



elbow cake!!

Elmo loves you, Ollie, and so do we!

photo cards are the coolest {Shutterfly}

When it comes to holiday cards, I rarely send them out. One year, we sent a Christmas card with a picture of our pup on it, and the year Oliver was born I actually handed them out ON Christmas. With picture of the kid. I really love giving (and receiving) cards and notes with photos included… probably because of my love of all things scrapbooking-related! They're just that much more personal and special, not just something you got a box of 50 of and signed your name to a bunch of times. 

I was kidding myself by thinking I’d get Christmas cards out this year... there's just been too much stress on my family (emotionally and financially) this year, and right now I'm so focused on Oliver's birthday party, that it's just not a priority. Sorry, family and friends. If I don't see you around the holidays? Maybe you'll get one of those animated e-cards.

So back to Shutterfly. If I did do Christmas cards, it would probably be one of these.

For the "Happy Holidays" set, politically correct and all. Modern snowflake :)

Merry Christmas, clean and simple. Love that it's folded and really features the photo!

Guess what? I’m also not very good at remembering to send out thank you cards. (Great "review" right? HAHA) I usually get them done, but hardly ever in the socially-acceptable amount of time. My friend Proper Paige would be appalled, really. But I do get them done, eventually, and this year Shutterfly is going to help!

I'm getting 25 free cards (in exchange for writing this post) and there are so many cute designs to choose from! I've decided to go with thank you notes, since they are so sweet (all opinions are my own, duh) I know I will want to send them out right away. (I was not compensated in any other way, so postage is still on me.) I'm still deciding if Oliver will be allowed to color his name on these before they go out, though. (Clicking any photo in this post will take you to Shutterfly's website.)

I'm torn between a few of the designs... trying to find the most Sesame Street Birthday friendly match. Plus, it has depends on which photo I decide to use. I'm probably one of the most indecisive people, ever. Why yes, I am a joy to live with.

I have a thing for orange.

This card rocks... a fun & different way to say thanks.

I love this idea: full black & white photo with colorful letters...

The party is this weekend (!!!) so I have a little bit of time, right? (Heather?) Ooh maybe I'll use a photo from the party! From what I can tell the shipping only takes about a week... yeah, no, you're right. I'm really that ridiculous.

Hey, what do you guys think? Feel free to shout out opinions, yous guys.

the one I knew

Remember that one night... remember all those times?

We were... inseparable.

You taught me so much.

We knew each other so well.

I saw empathy and selfishness.

You saw loyalty and dishonesty.

You were just what I needed when I didn't even know I was missing anything.

Were you just a crush? I do remember thinking how perfect we would be.

But of course it was better to keep things the way they were.

Of course. I saw that, once time gave me a little perspective.

Through good times and bad, we were a pair.

My heart aches sometimes, from thinking about where you should be.

There are so many things we could be sharing.

I just know we'd have been so proud of each other.

You changed my life.

I miss you, my friend.

 

This post was inspired by my late friend Rob.

here's a crazy acronym for something fun that will hopefully get me to write more: NaBloPoMo.

So. I just said the other day that I'm not a writer.

But what I didn't say is that I like writing, and I wish I did more of it. Even though I've come to accept it, I don't like the fact that I let stress hold me back in this area of my life. I like blogging.

So I think the main purpose of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) is, well according to the badge at the very least, a way to improve your writing. From my understanding, the idea is that simply by getting you to write more often, you become better at letting the words out, and making them come out the way you want.

Basically, I'm using this to get myself at least thinking about writing more. Baby steps. If I have to think about writing something every day, maybe I can train myself to just sit down and let the words flow. Trial by fire, right?

Right now my blogging style is... half-assed in that I get an idea, and if I'm not doing anything else right at that particular moment, or in like the next five minutes, then I come blog about it.

Ok, no. I start a post. Then Save as Draft. Then some other time I come back and reword and edit and preview and then... wait a day or two. Then re-read one more time. Then schedule or publish. And that's if I don't have to go find the camera or get Nick to email me the picture I had in mind to go with the post.

So here I am, NaBloPoMo-ing along with some of the best (like her and her and her). My intent is to make blogging feel more like a natural, easy, enjoyable hobby, and less like the broken process it is now. This is going to be a challenge, and I'm excited!

blog game extraordinaire

Yippee Skippy, I got tagged in two blog games!

Once by Cici, who is my homegirl. Go visit giggle giggle hiccup, you guys! Rules: answer the questions. Tag 5 people to answer 5 new questions.

Then by Mrs. B at messily ever after! Click it! You won't be disappointed! This one didn't have "rules" just answer questions and tag some more peoples. This works out beautifully for me, so I can just tag all the same poor saps.

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From Cici:

(1) If you could have a guy's mind for just a minute...what question or piece of understanding would you want to take away from the experience? What is it really like to walk around with something in the way all the time? Like, when I was pregnant, it felt like Oliver's head was getting in the way, making me walk funny. How do men walk with penises. Final answer.

(2) What was your favorite childhood place of travel? um, I guess Georgia, since we went there so many times (every summer) and my aunt/uncle/cousin lived in a development with a POOL! Whoa! Awesome!

(3) Can you pat your head and run your belly at the same time? (DO IT!) Yes I can.

(4) If your life had followed a different path from what it is right now what do you think you would be doing right now? Or perhaps, what do you wish you could have done perhaps in another lifetime? I'm going to take the easy answer here, but it's the truth. I really can't imagine my life, if it had been different, being any better than it is right now. I love my family, I am so lucky to be Oliver's mom. I mean, seriously.

(5) What is one goal that you've set for yourself to complete in the next year? Ugggggg I should have goals, shouldn't I? But I can't come up with anything that doesn't involve doing less than I do now. Ha!

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From Mrs. B:

1.As a child, what did you want to be when you "grew up?" Are you doing it now? I vividly remember telling my parents I wanted to be a bus driver. No, I am not a bus driver, but I do still think it would be cool. Those are some great hours...

2.What is your favorite, quick go-to recipe on a busy evening? Um, ok. Let's say I had to cook for some reason, like Nick is feeling sick. I would probably make brinner (breakfast for dinner). Pancakes, or even easier, waffles! Bacon & eggs. Quick & easy!

3.Do you burn candles in your home? If so, what is your favorite scent? I don't burn candles... but I used to. I actually have one of those Scentsy things now. My favorite scent usually falls into the fruit category... lemon is good, or a good clean laundry scent.

4.What was the best vacation you can remember? My honeymoon pretty much rocked. Vegas, baby!

5.If you have a wedding album, how often do you look at it? Where is it stored? Oooh I never finished (or started) on our wedding album. I have a stack of stuff with which to scrapbook our trip, but it never happened. Now I'm going to get in trouble. Thanks a lot.

6.What is the thing your treasure most about motherhood? Oliver has so many people who love him, which is so, so great. He's awesome, and funny and adorable, and the best thing about being is mom is that he's MINE. (of course, he's ours, honey...) He comes home with me, gives me bedtime hugs, smiles at me in the morning. He only has one mom, and it's ME. MINE.

7.What is your favorite day of the week and, why? Saturday, easy. 24 hours of hanging out with my guys, with no Sunday night blues.

8.Are you doing anything to be more "green" or earth-friendly? Er, uh, we recycle! We part-time cloth diaper!

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Alright, now here are my questions for my peoples, which are Jess, Christina, and Diana.

1. What are your top 5 all-time favorite movies? (Also, what's your favorite "guilty pleasure" movie that you could watch 100 times and never get tired of it even though everybody thinks it's silly?)

2. If you could go back and teach your former (younger) self one lesson, what would it be?

3. I just realized I picked three girl moms, so I'll ask... what situation or challenge have you come across where you thought "man, this would be different if I'd had a boy!"

4. What kind of camera do you have? (Do you love it? Want to throw it out the window?)

5. What do you usually do to celebrate your birthday? Do you have a favorite birthday memory?

6. Tell me something I didn't know about you/your family/your blog/whatever!

Baby's First Road Trip

About 3 hours south of Cleveland (which only took us 4 hours to make the trip!),

to my best friend's baby shower.

 I made that diaper cake! Isn't it sweet?

Ollie's 1/2 birthday was that Saturday, and the shower was on Sunday.

He had a ball, hanging with all da ladiez...

where I'm from

Thanks to Metta at 365 Days: 30+ Mommyhood (another 30 year old first time mom!) for setting up this blog hop! Here's my take on “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon.

I am from coffee cups,
from Kleenex, two-liters and Rock Band drums.
I am from a half acre of suburbia
dog hair and the smell of fresh cut grass.

I am from the weeds in the gravel driveway
the climbing tree in Papa & Gramma’s backyard, cut down in old age
whose long gone limbs remember
as if they were my own.

I’m from Hohn thumb and the fifteen-cent game
from Mary Arndt and Great-Grandma on the Mountain.
I’m from proudly crafted sarcasm and the ya-ya sisterhood
and from friendships made at Friendly’s.

I’m from “nutso-crazy” and “put your foot down, Papa!”
       “Can I spend the night?”
I’m from every other weekend, plus alternating holidays,
from the six of us.
I’m from General Hospital, The Farming Game, Yes & Know invisible ink,
       Are You Afraid of the Dark?
from the Lorain County fair, sidewalk chalk art and Pat Benatar.

I’m from Cleveland and Germany and Spring City, Tennessee
from banana pudding and the perfect potato salad.
From a young country couple who went to Georgia to get married.
       The man who left his young family to find work
       and taught himself everything he needed to know;
       his wife who remembers the date and every detail of every event.
He would have been happy to stay home, but dutifully went everywhere
she wanted to go
I’m from the countless photos, obituaries, and newspaper mentions
       cataloged religiously and kept in the sewing room.
I’m from “I have my whole life to be with this man I love!”
from family and friends, here and gone, then and now, loved and lost.

I’m from replacing bad memories with newer better versions
from learning as you go
from Nick’s hugs and Oliver’s smiles
making the best of the time I have surrounded by the ones I love.