5 Minute Photoshoot

I have needed to take a picture of Macyn for her birthday invites, but it has been cloudy and rainy all week. Today has been absolutely beautiful out so we decided to go take some at the Harvest Village thingy in here in town. Here are some of my faves - for the record, she was pretty dang wet from splashing in the bird bath! I'm not sure which one to use for her invitation, but I will have to see which ones looks best. The invites will be coming to a mailbox near you!

Sunday Best (and Worst)

Went to church and Macyn wore her Sunday best:Came home, and changed into her Sunday Worst:'nuff said. At least the Vikings are on the road to a good draft pick.....

11 Months Old

Macyn is now 11 months old and it is hard to believe shes almost 1 already! She is crawling around like crazy and has become a professional waver, clapper, and peekabooer (made up word, I know). She also likes to jump in her crib and cruise around anything and everything in the house. She will sometimes even let go and balance for a few seconds. But I don't think she will be walking any time soon - she's pretty content with crawling. I also think this is the last month of her "laying down" shot. Its just too hard to get her to lay still! Case and point:
She also loves looking outside and eating "big girl" food. aka,anti baby food! She will eat a couple bites of baby food, but after that she wants nothing to do with it. Some of the attitude she throws around makes me wonder if shes thinking, "Mom, I'm an independent big girl, I can feed myself, and I don't need that baby food." So she eats whatever we are eating, or a Gerber Graduate meal. She also loves the carrot and apple dices. We still haven't gotten the sippy cup down yet, but we are working on that.

She continues to sleep well through the night (11-12 hours), and is an overall happy girl! She wears 12-18 month clothes and also went up another diaper size this month. You would think she would be a chunker with all the food she eats, but she must have a pretty fast metabolism.

Its soooo hard to believe she is this old already! But we are looking forward to planning her party in a month!

I did it!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte, here I come! I decided that since my small group got canceled tonight, I would attempt to make the torte. It turned out pretty well, except I kinda messed up the filling, but it still tastes amazing! And the best part is, it took me maybe a 1/2 hour tops to make. Here are the pics:First, get some torte pans from the Pampered Chef. They create a well in the middle of the pan which makes for easy filling. You can also use these for ice cream cakes!Chopped peanut butter cups for the topThe first peanut butter chocolate brownie ready to be filled...........with a peanut butter/marshmallow combo! This is the step I screwed up, but you won't see it anyways since there is another brownie that goes on top!Here is the final product! Add the other brownie on top, fill the well with peanut butter cups and drizzled peanut butter (I'm not so good at the drizzling). But this is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Soooooooo good. I cannot wait to make more recipes with my torte pan!

First Ride Down the Slide

We went to the fair on Sunday, and after walking in the heat we thought we would hit up some rides. However, each ride cost about $3 each person and it was definitely not with it to me! So we opted for the $2 per person giant slide that we could all enjoy together!Here we are at the top (after catching our breath from lugging a 20lb baby up a lot of steps)All locked and loaded and ready to go!WHHHHHEEEEE! The slide actually goes pretty fast, and I'm pretty sure I got some air on one of those "humps". Macyn didn't cry, nor smile. I think it went by too fast for her to know what was going on. But we can always tell her that her first ride was giant slide because Mommy & Daddy were cheap-o's.

All in all the fair wasn't too bad. Except the part where a Carny yelled at me and told me I looked like her cousin Ashley. 'nuff said. It was time to go.

Bargains or Bust, Part II

Here are the rest of our garage sale finds....and the most I spent on anything for Macyn was $4! Some bargains were the brand new black velvet dress, a sweater from Old Navy, a winter puffy coat for $2 (in case she grows out of hers), and some pink ugg slippers. Since I went crazy for garage sales this past spring, I didn't need as much stuff this time around.

Here is a rundown of what I got at the fall garage sales, part II:

8 long sleeved onesies
1 long sleeved shirt
1 winter coat
1 hoodie
1 tshirt
1 pair of overalls
2 outfits
1 sweater
1 puffy vest
1 pair of jeans
3 pairs of tights
1 pair of shoes
1 pair of church shoes
1 pair of slippers
1 hat/mittens set
2 fleece sleepers
3 non-fleece jammies
1 dress

And here are the other things I found:

Bath Ring: $1

Disney Princess Mega Blocks: $5 (was originally $8, but I got them down to $5)...I thought this would be a great toy for Macyn to play with, and something that Daddy would play with too. Turns out, these are Macyn's go-to toy right now. She loves to empty the bucket and throw them, and try and shove them into other toys (even when they don't fit). I may just have to get her some more Mega Blocks for her birthday!Potty Chair: $5. That's another day.....I think we will practice walking first!Bike Helmet: FREE!! Can't go wrong there. Maybe next year it will fit her head so we can ride bike with her in her trailerBaby Gate: $5. Made of plastic, and swings open so you don't have to take it down all the time or step over it. Haven't installed it yet, but its a lot cheaper than buying them at Wal Mart!My new purse: $16. I loved this the instant I saw it - even better yet, it was made in Tanzania. The person I bought it from has gone on mission trips over there, and they bring these bags back here, sell them, and bring all the money they make back over there. This reason alone made me fall in love with it even more. The prints they had were amazing.... and I figured I could treat myself to something knowing I was helping out other people as well. And for the fact that I am still using the same purse I got at Maurices last year at Crazy Days for $5, it was time for something new.Home Sweet Home Sign: $1. I hung this when I was dead tired with my eyes half shut....which is why its not centered, or aligned with the light switch cover.

I also bought myself 3 shirts for $2 each at a sale and I LOVE them!
Since DH had to work, he wanted me to get him something. The last rummage I got him Chicken Soup for the Golfer's Soul, and he hasn't touched it. I also got him a pool table at the same rummage (but that's his b-day present). So, I found him this time around an unopened Frank Sinatra CD ($3), and a Rocky Mountain High T-shirt ($.25). And 2 water bottles. Random, I know, but does he love it? Absolutely.

Early Christmas

My mom went to a Pampered Chef party and asked if I needed anything. Since I had a Pampered Chef bridal shower,there wasn't much I needed. Except, I still have the image in my head of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte recipe in one of the Pampered Chef cookbooks....which requires a Torte pan. I couldn't find one anywhere, and my mom decided to get me one. And let me tell you, I cannot wait to make this:mmmm....even if mine doesn't turn out as pretty as this one, you can't go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate! ....I'll let you guys know if its really as delicious as it looks!

Bargains or Bust!

After picking Macyn up for daycare today, I decided to hit up a few rummages. I didn't know how long this would last, since her last bottle was at 1:30 (and it was now 5:00). And, I wasn't sure how easy it would be bringing a 10 month old to different sales, getting her in and out of the car, browsing while she grabs things, etc. But I thought I would try it out, and I made it to 5 rummages!

Here are the items I picked up. I only purchased things at 2 rummages. I bought everything except the jeans at the same one. This is what I got (from left to right)... 3 piece outfit from The Children's Place, 1 pair of Baby Gap jeans, blue track outfit combo (she will look just like grandma!) :).....3 piece long sleeved shirt with a sweater skirt and cardigan from Old Navy, another shirt and pants set, 1 non-fleece sleeper, and one Carter's sleeper. For a grand total of............$9!!!! Thats a whopping 13 items too!

There was one part of the day that totally bummed me out. You see, at this rummage there was a Cozy Coupe that was parked underneath a table. The lady's 2 year old was running around so I just assumed it wasn't for sale. Then this other lady comes up and asks if its for sale, and how much she wanted for it. She made and offer of $3....and she took it!!! REALLY!? A COZY COUPE FOR $3!!!!? Totally bummed!!! I would have paid atleast $10!

Oh well, I guess i shouldn't worry about being one of "those" people who ask if random stuff in the garage is for sale....kinda like when we had ours a couple of years ago, someone asked if the table with items on it was for sale....no joke.

Hopefully I will find more goodies tomorrow. I am excited! Taking off 1/2 day of work and going with my sisters...and it will be much easier without worrying about Macyn!

Fall Fun

Since the weather has been super nice with the little cool in the air, I thought it would be a perfect time to take down my spring/summer decor and replace it with fall decorations. First up, the book case.I added some leaf garland, red bead garland (you can buy after Christmas, and use for Valentine's Day as well), some fake pumpkins and tea lights. The black pail came from my former boss from some Halloween trivia in our office. The flowers in the pail are from my spring/summer collection, but look good together for fall. The white pillar candles are from our wedding, and the framed leaf on the left hand side I made in literally 2 minutes....When I took the garland out of storage, some of these leaves had fallen off, and I thought I would get all creative and frame them instead of throwing them away. Last year on Black Friday, I picked up the 13 frames for $13 packs, and used those for my super fast project. Literally, all I did was put the loose leaves in a frame....that's it! I put them on the end table in our living room as well:The bowl is the one we got on our honeymoon in Colorado. It is carved out of a tree stump that I filled with some fake pumpkins. The leaf it is sitting on is a place mat. I decided to continue this theme to the dining room centerpiece.Once again, the centerpiece is on two leaf place mats. We got the candle holder in our past trip to Colorado. We found it at a little shop in Estes Park, and the person who made these finds dried up Aspen trees and cuts out a space for the candle. All the markings are from moose (or some animal) that would rub its horns against it. It is a pretty light weight wood, but has tons of character! We love buying things that you cannot find around here in good ol' Iowa.

So I think these decorations should last me until Thanksgiving, that is, until I get into the Christmas spirit.....which often happens before turkey day!

Birthday Cake Sneak Peak

After debating what to do for Macyn's first birthday in 1.5 months (I like to be on top of things), I came up with a GREAT idea for a cake....except the only cakes I have ever made are 9x13's. I can't even make the two round cakes and stack them, so I thought for sure I would have to order my cake from someone who makes them. But then I found a way to make a hemisphere shaped cake that would become part of my bigger vision. It turned out great! But please, don't turn it into Cake Wrecks for it looking like a "poo mound" as they like to call it.

I know it's not much, but a HUGE step in the right direction. What kind of cake am I making, you may wonder? Well, I guess you will have to wait and see!

F double O T B A double L - FOOTBALL!

Macyn went to her first Northwestern football game on Saturday. Its the same college that DH graduated from (my college didn't have football) and it was their first home game and they were hosting the #1 rated team who hasn't lost in the conference in 50-ish?? games. It was a perfect night, not too hot, but had a little chill in the air. We got there a whole hour early to get seats, and it seemed pretty packed 20 minutes before kick off.

The red raiders were doing well when I left (after staying to watch the marching band, because I'm a band geek like that) and were up by 10 points. Well, I was trying to listen to the game on they way home, but Macyn thought it would be a great time to cry the entire way. So I quick go home, put her to bed, and listen to the game. It turns out NWC lost their lead and ended up losing. It was a great first half from the Red Raiders though, I just wish I could have stayed for the entire game.

For the opposing team, 2 of their offensive starters came from my high school, so that was kinda fun to watch. Next time we go to a game, I will most likely go during the day when Macyn doesn't have to go to bed, and when you don't have to get there a whole hour early just to find a good seat!