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Friday, September 21, 2012

Wyatt's birthday cake: take 1!


Being a good mom is important to me. I want to be that spectacular mommy that makes home-made biscuits and gravy on Saturday mornings and create marvelous Halloween costumes using nothing but my sewing machine and some fabric.

So for Wyatt's first birthday {and hopefully every birthday!}, I wanted to make his from scratch. But since I've never done that before, I thought I better try a few times before the big day--


Here we go---

Wyatt's 1st Birthday Smash Cake---

Take 1!


|MrsG

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

How to: Little Man Suspenders


Like I said earlier this week-- Wyatt's first birthday is coming up. 

And although I'm trying to keep the party itself small and not overly extravagant, I seem to always try to go overboard with Wyatt's outfits on special days. 

But let's be honest. Little boys can't wear hair bows or taffeta. You can't put him in a necktie every time you go somewhere special.

And no, you can't make him wear a little tuxedo on his birthday. Believe me. I asked. The hubs said, "No." 

So I've already ordered a t-shirt that has a mustache on it and the words "Little Man" pressed on it. I think that, paired with some jeans and a birthday-hat will be sufficient.

But I also want a cake smash. I've already purchased some 4" pans to make my own! :-) Will show pictures soon! Promise!!

And there's no way I'm going to let him ruin his adorable mustache tee while he smashes a cake to smithereens. 

Therefore I've been browsing pinterest and found quite a few little men in suspenders. And lots of moms even gave the how-tos on how to do it, but I thought I would write up my experience anyway.

Because c'mon-- those moms can sew. Those moms probably do it all the time. They probably hand-make quilts and create fondant from scratch-- by memory.

I'm not one of those moms.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

One month countdown...



With less than a month left to prepare for Wyatt’s first birthday, lots of things are going on. First, the hubster and I have put building on pause while we ready our home for visitors. That’s right—we’re trying to keep Wyatt’s first birthday small and at home. Second, we finally sold our old 4-wheeler and the hubs’ latest impulse-buy: the ’87 RamCharger. Both have really helped in getting the yard ready for visitors, as it has cleared out lots of parking space and enabled Colt to clean out the garage (|). But, back to the little man at hand… birthday.


I know, I know… birthdays are the best time to branch out, rent a small amusement park, and hire trained monkeys to dance with the guests.

But let’s be real—Wyatt is 1! And this isn’t an episode of My Super Sweet Sixteen Birthday Bash (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can check out the madness here).

So, in trying to keep things simple, I have been searching {for months now} a basic theme to surround the party with. I have debated over lots of thing, pinning different things on my Pinterest {if you haven’t become part of the pinterest revolution, you need to check it out asap! pinterest.com}. First I wanted to do a Super Why! theme, then I wanted Pete the Cat, and then I had given up a character theme all together and opted for a basic green/blue/yellow color scheme.

Then, last week, while perusing etsy.com for cake toppers, I found what I’d been looking for.

You see, I’ve always wanted a little boy. I have even always said I would have a boy first. Then when we chose to not find out our baby’s gender, I got really nervous about all my wishing and hoping—so I just stuck out the pregnancy with, “I would like a boy, but I love little girls as well.”

Then Wyatt showed up and I saw stars-- and bugs, snails, dirty hands, and bow ties.

So when I happened upon this—I knew I had found just the thing to plan Wyatt’s first birthday bash around.
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Why didn’t I think of that? So simple. Everyone little guy needs a fake mustache to play with. And what little man wouldn’t want an entire party dedicated to looking more like Tom Selleck?

After searching around the internet for a while, I found some lovely cupcake toppers that have a blue and green border with a brown parchment paper design. (For anyone who’s ever received a Christmas gift from me, you know that I wrap everything in brown shipping paper—no silly prints for this girl. Pretty bows only.)
The little man’s party is slowly coming together. I’m trying to keep things simple and not get caught up in petting zoos and magic acts… but I have to admit, bobbing for apples doesn’t sound like going overboard—right?! ;-)

Well, maybe I'll keep it a bit more simple than that. Maybe hotdogs, lemonade, and fake mustaches on sticks. And cupcakes, of course. I think my favorite part might be preparing for the cake smash. I absolutely can't wait for that one. 

Until then-- here are some cuties to gaze at in preparation for Wyatt's own Mustache Birthday Bash!
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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Rain drops keep falling on my head...


But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red. Cryings not for me! Cause I’m never going to stop the rain by complaining; because I’m free, nothing’s worrying me!

At least, that’s what I was thinking Saturday when we left with plans to begin the task of installing our metal roofing in two weeks.

You see, we’ve been working on setting the posts, trusses, and adding the rafters for about 2 ½ weeks.
 It’s been a slow process, as Colt has been doing much of it by himself while I stand by with WL on my hip and the cell phone in my hand. {Just in case that amazing man was to misjudge the scaffolding and fall the 16 ft to the ground! I shudder to think of such a happenstance!}


So on Saturday, when my lovely sis-in-law brought her just-as-lovely hubster out to help us work on the fascia board, we were pretty excited! After getting rained out for part of the day, then just sitting around “vistin’” for quite a while {vistin’- Appalachian-American  method by which to say “visiting,” usually means spending time with others for no particular reason other than enjoying said others’ company. Synonyms include ‘shooting the breeze’, ‘catching up’, and ‘watching the grass grow together’.} , we finally decided that the best course of action would be to gather 4-5 guys, plan a big cookout, and shoot for completing the roof in one day. That one day would need to be in about 2 weeks, as giving all the guys good notice would be key to getting them together at the same time!

We shared out hugs and kisses and then parted ways for the day, after grabbing a late lunch together and a tasty Mexican place in Fort Payne {Yum!}.

The following day Colt and I had already planned to meet our best-couple-friends India and Justin to get some things done at the property together and commence to getting some more vistin accomplished.

We got to our rural paradise around 10:30 am, with Wyatt done with his first nap of the day and both men raring to go. They completed the fascia board that my Mr. and his bro-in-law had started-but-didn’t-finish the day before. Before I knew it, Colt was handing Justin a sheet of metal.

Wait! What?!

We weren’t going to start that for another 2 weeks—remember?! We needed time to gather a small army of men and groceries!

Up goes another sheet of metal.

I couldn’t believe it! They were just handing it, piece by piece to each other, and screwing it all down. What did they think they were going to do? Install the entire roof in one day, by their lonesomes, with seemingly no help to speak of?

Yep.

And they did just that!
 
9ish hours later, they had completed the roof. Both men claimed they just hid a rhythm and decided to keep going. At around 8:30 pm, we had loaded all the kids up in their respective cars and were ready to go home.

Both men were dead-tired and for good reason! India and I had shared a great day of vistin and the kids had played themselves into 4 light comas!
 
It was a very accomplished weekend—especially since it had started as a dreary, rainy Saturday.

Of course, we still owe Justin and India a dinner—but we welcome a reason to get together with them! We don’t get to see each other enough as it is!





As for the raindrops-they will no longer be falling on my head! Because, remember, I’m worry-free with my new metal roof!

Kiddos :-)
|MrsG