It was a good week! We had a lot of adventures, made some progress in the sleep department (going to bed at 9 pm helps), and it’s ending with cake and a date for E’s birthday.

Sunday:

I bought some Jason Wu at Target - one of these days I might even WEAR it

Lazy toddler is lazy

I brought my knitting to a Super Bowl party. I'm so cool.

Monday:

15 Weight Watcher's points. Totally worth it.

I am amazed at how quickly she fell in love with this seahorse

I'd call her a genius artist, but she keeps trying to draw with the wrong end.

Birthday crafting has begun! I got all 45 flags made this week.

Tuesday:

Beeyotch, don't be lookin' at my grapes.

Car naps FTW

Nice healthy dinner, until I ate like FIVE portions.

Wednesday:

Still having mixed feelings about gymnastics

Oh hey, whatcha got? Can I see it? Can I can I?

Adorable toddler photo opp ruined by my lazy housekeeping

Thursday:

Library turtle! Meaning a turtle at the library, not some sort of special species

The entire top floor of our town library is for kids. I feel like a total idiot for not going sooner.

Library train table. I'm surprised I EVER got Evan to leave.

I'd actually been in bed for at least half an hour when I took this. My life is so exciting.

Friday:

Evan and T sharing a hiding spot

Smug elevator face

This look is called "The Lazy Mother's Smock"

Sometimes, everyone gets along

Saturday:

I'd like to speak to a manager about this restaurant - there's a weird guy lurking in the corner

Someone was a little confused about whose birthday it actually is

Do I LOOK like I'm enjoying this, Mother?

I am a wee bit overexcited about tonight, because E and I are going OUT with NO KIDS because I found a baby sitter. We’re actually paying her an obscene amount of money to just be in the house – we’re not leaving until we put the kids to bed so they won’t even know we’re gone. It’s too bad we don’t live in the 1950’s when we could have just locked the door and told the neighbor to call the fire department if it looked like the house was burning down. Then we could afford to play a few more hands of blackjack tonight. Child endangerment what?

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

I had too much on my plate this week to do a good job with my photos. This is why I don’t ever join those 365 projects – if the best I can do some days is a blurry photo of what I had for breakfast there is no way I can handle much more. We spent 2 days stuck at home with a broken car and one day stuck at home because of naps – I swear at least one person in the house was sleeping all day on Saturday – but hopefully next week we’ll do more fun things. Evan has been totally obsessed with The Fishy Movie, so maybe we’ll go to the aquarium and find some Nemos.

Sunday:

She rips off the bib so she just eats naked now.

I'm kissing her, she's kissing the baby in the phone

Lego basketball

Monday:

Laying on the floor at Stroller Strides, avoiding doing more plank

Sriracha makes even organic vegan miso ramen delicious

She's reading that book by osmosis

Tuesday:

Goal setting at Stroller Strides - now I have real life friends to hold me accountable!

She's a social media expert already

Someone got out of bed and into trouble

Wednesday:

Send help

Grocery shopping. I bought way too much healthy stuff.

Cowls are so hot right now. Check out my new toddler neck warmer.

Thursday:

You would think a blind person picked out her clothes, but no, I did.

What, you think the angel gets to just sit on her ass all year after Christmas?

She's extremely fast when she's half naked.

Friday:

Diet yet delicious - egg beaters, carn balance tortilla, sriracha, blueberries, coffee with skim milk and sugar free vanilla syrup

Nap time project

Evan asked please so nicely - and it was on clearance

Saturday:

Donut shaped donut machine. Delicious.

Whatcha doin' Mama?

Geeze, does that kid EVER wear normal clothes?!

Air-poppeded popcorn sprinkled with parmesan. Perfect.

 The rest of the weekend will be spent doing dishes and laundry, since somehow I didn’t manage to do enough of those things during the week and I’m practically buried in them. HOW do two small people get so many things so dirty? Hopefully next week all the people and all the cars will be healthy and we take our mess somewhere I don’t have to clean it all up.

I signed up for Audrey’s handmade exchange with some misgivings – not because I didn’t think I would get a wonderful gift, but because between Caroline’s party and Christmas I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make anything even REMOTELY worth sending to another crafty person. I managed to get something in the mail (although I STILL haven’t sent my recipient my guest post) but the really pleasant surprise was a beautiful pouch and delicious macaroons from MY secrket gifter. Check out her guest post below!

——————————————————————————-

Hello!  I am Kelley.  My blog is Casa Crafty where I write about my many crafting experiments, my family and day to day life.

This year, I thought it would be fun to participate in the Handmade Sekret Holiday Exchange from Audrey at Planet Hausfrau.

I did have fun! Although, it is difficult to make something for a stranger, so I searched and read and combed through this here blog to get as much insight into Suzanne as I could.

 

 

So long, 2011. You were cool and all, but I have PLANS in 2012 and they cannot get here fast enough.

In January I adjusted to being a mother of 2 by almost falling apart and dispensing tons of helpful advice, but I also discovered how much I LOVED having another kid. I shared pictures of Caroline’s nursery, posted my tutu tutorial (one of my top posts ever!) and failed at cloth diapers.

In February I made some muffins, which might have contributed to my slightly ranty post about my feelings on dieting.  I had a huge realization about why doing the dishes wasn’t such a chore after all – although honestly, I should reread that once a week, since I’ve pretty much forgotten it again. Because I like embarrassing myself, I shared my high school poetry anthology and I talked about headbands. A lot.

In March I failed at parenting not once, but twice. I tried to decide if the kids looked alike or not. And I bemoaned how even good advice isn’t always good.

In April, Evan turned 2 and we gave him a room makeover and an awesome birthday party. I embraced my inner hippie and joined a CSA (which turned out to be a GREAT decision). I knit some cute stuff while avoiding knitting the sweaters I’ve had started for more than a year. I had totally forgotten I made these scones until just now but I’m definitely making some this weekend.

In May I discovered Pinterest and my life was never the same. I tried to explain how hard it is to get things done when you ALSO have two kids to watch. I dressed Caroline up for a baby fashion show. To battle the evils months I reorganized my pantry and made it prettier. And then my toddler drove me to drink by asking WHY a zillion times.

In June I made a list of ways I might be crazy, but it turns out a lot of you are crazy too. We took on the hugest house project to date and built ourselves a gorgeous patio. Caroline had her half birthday – and it’s so crazy to look back at my just-barely-sitting-up and not-yet-crawling baby compared to the second half of the year! I wrote about the evils of Pull-Ups  and the joys of my amazing stroller.  And I complained for the zillionth time how parenting feels unequal.

In July I joined Weight Watchers (something I see to have forgotten recently) and  shared some of the amazing handmade shops I’ve found. I took a lot of adorable pictures at Lake Compounce and the Sunflower Festival.

In August I went to BlogHer, posted my 1000th post, and celebrated my 7th wedding anniversary. I dorked out with my kid’s dinosaurs and Caroline took her first step. I also baked a galette and redecorated my living room. And we all survived Hurricane Irene with minimal fuss.

In September I made a lot of stuff, like sriracha and cupcakes and shit with pinecones, which is one of my top visited posts ever. We went to the beach, which was epic. I decided having two kids wasn’t so bad after all.

In October we went to the fair and I met one of my long time interwebs friends IRL. We had a Halloween party where Caroline was her sunshiney self. Evan turned two and a half. I did that stupid accent meme vlog and I told the story about how I was once almost in a movie.

In November I posted every frickin day, which is too exhausting to recap.

In December I tried and failed at twinkle pics of the kids. I declared potty training a success but not necessarily a happy one but having a two year old is still kinda awesome.  I made super delicious cookies and the internet agreed. Caroline turned one and I threw her a pretty nice party. Then we tortured the kids with the all important Santa picture and had a very nice Christmas.

Whoa, I sort of can’t believe all the stuff happened – and that I wrote about all of it. I think I liked 2011 better than 2010, mostly because I was less sick, not pregnant and really let myself blog for the love of blogging (mostly). I am going to KEEP enjoying myself in 2012 and I’d be honored if you decided to keep reading.

The Theme: Winter sparkle snowflake party, with glitter, pale pink and blue accents
The Location: The entire first floor of my house

This post is going to be HUGE, so if you have no interest at all in Caroline’s party please come back in a few days when it’s been bumped off the front page. I don’t want to put in a page break and have people think I’m trying to trick them into more page views. I get my page views the honest way – exploiting my children and friends!

The Decorations:

Dining room

Tree branch sprayed with snow-in-a-can

Ruffled crepe paper trees from this tutorial found on Pinterest

Living Room

Snowflakes cut from printer paper (Google “snowflake templates” for ideas)

My clothes pin photo display re-purposed as Caroline’s year in photos display!

Epsom salt in mason jars to look like snow

Glitter play dough party favors (more details in this post), yarn wreath, mirror frosted with snow-in-a-can

Yarn wreath, $1 picture frame ornament from Target

Chandelier decorated with dollar store garland & ornaments

Doily garland

The orange high chair didn’t match my theme, but a paper table cloth and a little tulle fixed it!

Fake snow everywhere!

The Food:

Hot cocoa and cocktail bar – the Keurig made it SO EASY!

I bought every single Christmas mug at Goodwill

Mini marshmallows, egg nog, powdered sugar, crushed candy canes, vanilla syrup, pink sprinkles, whipped cream, coconut flakes. Also on the bar: dark and milk hot cocoa, cider, Bailey’s, vanilla vodka, coconut rum, peppermint schnapps, mini candy canes.

Cucumber sandwiches, candy cane blossoms, red peppers & dip

Smoked salmon, dill & cream cheese on herb bread

Cupcakes (from a box!), my favorite frosting, edible sugar paper snowflakes bought at Stop & Shop

Sparkling cranberry brie bites. You know how sometimes you seen an idea on Pinterest and think “yeah, there’s no way that idea is going to be as awesome in real life”? This one was JUST AS AWESOME.

Thumbprint cookies, gooey vanilla sparkle cookies, fruit & dip, sugar cookies, ginger cookies, mini pastas on sticks with vodka, marinara, and alfredo sauce.

Coconut snowballs

Cream cheese mints, lemon meringues

The pasta on sticks was a great idea… for grown ups. Next time I’ll get less pointy things.

Milk bottle snow men. Not quiet as cute as on the interwebs, but still cute.

Lemon cake (more boxed mix!) tinted 3 shades of pink

Tiny cake baked in a tomato can, covered in sprinkles & topped with “Caroline” written in chocolate

Don’t even THINK about taking her cake away

The Fun:

Glitter play dough & cookie cutters on a kid-sized table

All the planned activities in the world can’t stop the kids from getting every toy out of the toy box

DIY pull string pinata (more here) was a hit, even though it didn’t work exactly as planned. I had to shake most of the candy out after the ribbon holding it up broke, but the kids didn’t care one little bit.

DIY snowglobes were cuter in theory than in reality. They were kind of leaky and some of the trees dyed the water purple and the glue was messy, but everyone went home with one!

Sharing strawberries with a friend

Refusing to wear her hair bow

Dance party!

These two are TROUBLE

Playing with Grandma

Somebody got a pony for her birthday! (She’s kind of scared of it though)

Family photos with two kids – there is ALWAYS someone not looking.

Holy crap, that was ridiculously long. I think I got all the links and recipes in there but if you’re looking for something let me know. My Pinterest board for the party (with most of the ideas I did use and some really good ones I didn’t get around to) can be found here.  I’m sorry most of the photos are terrible – it gets dark REALLY early here so I had to use the flash after the first 30 minutes of the party. It was definitely a great time and I know Caroline enjoyed herself. I hear everyone’s kids slept really well on Saturday night so I think they ran off all the sugar I pumped into them before they went home. Thank you to everyone who came and especially to my mother-in-law Carol who flew all the way from Ohio just to help me make the food and watch Little Evan for a few hours!

And Happy Birthday Caroline!