Andrew Turns 13!

For Andrew, his birthday falling on a school day was a big bummer.

He woke up to balloons all over his bedroom floor and I'm not sure whether he or Lily was more excited about it! :)

 

"Mom, can I pleeeeeeeeease stay home? It's not fair that I have to go to school on my birthday!"

It was the first day back after Thanksgiving break and he hadn't missed any days of school all year, so he knew the answer before he asked the question.

Resigned that I wasn't going to give in and let him stay home, off to school he went. 

While he was at school, I worked on his cake.  His Xbox controller cake.  It seemed fairly easy, so why just have a plain pan cake? 

Andrew's favorite kind of cake is chocolate with white icing. Perfect.  I followed my favorite cake recipe for the yummiest from scratch-ish chocolate cake, homemade buttercream frosting and knew he'd be thrilled!

In order for this cake to be authentic, it had to be thick. Double layers and we were set. I printed out a paper Xbox controller to use as a guide to cut the 13x9 cakes into the right shape.  Truthfully, George cut it out because he's more skilled at stuff like that than I am and I didn't want to mess it up.

After the cut out, all I had to do was frost it and create the knobs and buttons. I opted to use the buttercream frosting for the whole cake because it tastes better than fondant and just used marshmallow fondant for the knobs.

I was happy with it and I knew Andrew would love it and that was all that mattered to me.

When he got home from school, he went into the kitchen like usual.

"Mom! This is awesome!"  
My work was done.

We had given him the choice of where he wanted to go out for supper or his choice of what supper he wanted at home and he chose to go to The Golden Corral. 

Andrew and Lily were most excited about the desserts.  Man, they're cute.

After supper, it was time to head home for presents and cake! We gave him a subscription to GameFly which is like NetFlix for video games and money {first time he's ever gotten money from me or us} and I made him a special card just from me reflecting on all of his birthdays.  He loved his cards and gifts from family and friends! We have very thoughtful people in our lives! Thank you for always thinking of us!

 

 

 

 

 

We had a happy, simple family celebration for his birthday this year and it was relaxing and perfect. He was happy and that's ultimately the only thing that matters.

 



 

I can't believe my first baby is now officially a teenager!

Stephanie Street aka Sesame Street Live

One of my favorite parts about two years old is the language development. Lily calls Sesame Street "Stephanie Street". Completely enunciated into "Steph-a-nie Street," plain as day.  {I've mentioned Amy and Victoria a lot, but what can I say? We love them!} So when I won tickets to Sesame Street Live earlier this month, it was a perfect mom & daughter double date! 

The girls and probably moreso their moms, were super excited to go!

We'd hit a warm week in January for Pittsburgh so we didn't have to have coats! Why does that matter, you ask?? Well because it's important to see these girls' cutie Elmo outfits they had on, of course! Who doesn't love toddlers in Elmo shirts and red tutus?

We made our way inside and there were tons of "Oh my! Look how cute they are!" as we made our way to find our seats with all our stuff, I kid you not. I will note that no matter how long you've been a parent or how many kids you have, taking an active {read: runs like the wind} toddler and carrying purses, camera bags and diaper bags will make you sweaty. 

We got programs and souvenirs the girls were happy to read and play with as we waited for the show to start! We kept them corralled in between us, but truthfully they didn't need it much. They were only on their feet to dance and to get up to climb on our laps. 

 

 

The dad in front of us kept asking how old Lily and Victoria both were as he listened to them chatter back and forth and also with us. We've got talkative understandable kids. I'm guessing it has nothing to do with who their mothers are haha.

 

Lily was a little apprehensive as the lights went down and the characters began to come out and stayed close to me for a few minutes and then was pretty enamored with the whole show and danced and sang along!

 Victoria was ecstatic from the get go! She was even shouting for the characters to come back when they'd leave the stage. It was so fun to watch our girls enjoying the show!  It was a show about making music and these two girls looooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeee music, so it was perfect!

They enjoyed some snacks after intermission when we headed up for a potty break and diaper change and were definitely excited when the show started back.  Lily loves her some french fries!

We had so much fun and were very lucky to have been able to go! Better yet...to share with our best friends! Making memories.

 

You can read Amy's post about it here!

Say Hello, Will Ya?

 

 

1. What blogs do you visit daily? Please list 1-3 of your favorites.

 

A couple of my favs: 

Amy at Our Journey as Rookie Parents ~Amy's a blog friend turned in person friend who was the friend I was searching for after moving to Pittsburgh aka sanity saver for me and the mama to Lily's bff Victoria.  {holy run-on sentence, but I'm leaving it!}
 

Kristen at First Name Smith ~ Kristen is one of those bloggers who makes me laugh. She. is. hysterical. She's also mama to a boy just a week or so younger than the Lilinator, so I love to see what they're up to in sunny Florida, you know holding baby alligators and such.

 

 

2. Are you on Instagram? If so, what is your user name?

Of course! I spend way more time on instagram than twitter or facebook. To see bunches of Lily find me: littlepunkypie

 

3. Can we find you on Pinterest? What's your Pinterest address, and what can we expect to see you pinning most? (recipes, DIY projects, home decor, etc.)

Oh Pinterest...I love you! A virtual bulletin board for ideas? Yes, please! My husband was never so happy to have me toss out the magazines I'd been hoarding saving. You can find me here pinning lots of printables, birthday ideas, recipes and home projects.

 

4. What are your favorite blog link-ups to participate in? (weekly link-ups other bloggers have...any number will do...please link us to them!)

I used to do these all the time and an all time favorite is 5 Question Friday, but lately I haven't done any. I enjoy Shannon's So What Wednesday and have participated a couple times, but I love reading hers and the links even if I don't. {She's got a babe a couple weeks younger than Lily too which is how I found her.}

 

5. Why do you blog?

I've always been a writer. Journaler. Utilizing writing for an outlet. Blogging just became a way to connect with other people. I've had a variety of them over the years--this one started under a different name to document my pregnancy with Lily and now is more an expression of our lives~ documenting our adventures, my thoughts, and a lot of photographs.  I love the connection, the feedback and being able to reflect.

 

6. Tell us one random fact about yourself.

I'll make mine all school being a teacher on hiatus: I went to a School for the Deaf for preschool as a hearing child, I skipped 2nd grade and I started college in 1990 and graduated in 2005. ;)  ***i did take a 10 year break in the middle ;)

 

Link on up with Laura and "meet" other bloggers!

Happy Monday!