BG Family Party

I'm way behind in my blogging and just uploaded some pictures. After BG had her friend Tangled Party, we had a family party. JM got a smoker for Father's Day/Birthday and has been anxious to try it out. He smoked some pork and we had pulled pork sandwiches. They turned out delicious! The weather was nice and we spent a good portion of the party hanging out outside.

This was also the first time some of our family had met Duncan, our new dog, so there was plenty of attention for him. Grandma with Blanche and cousin Emma.

BG smiling cute. I try and try to get a picture of the two of my girls together. It's pretty much an impossible feat. One of them is always looking away or not smiling or getting up. I have a great sequence of attempts from this party that I won't bore you with, but it really does seems impossible.

My sister-in-law recently graduated from Culinary school and loves to make cakes. She also just got a job at a bakery and is thrilled about it. So whenever there is a family event, she is the go-to girl for the cake. When she asked BG what kind of cake she wanted, BG told her Strawberry.

Aunt Rae is known for her fabulous chocolate cakes, so Daddy put in the request for a "Strawberry" (quotes required) cake. With a wink, wink, and a nudge, nudge, he convinced her to make a chocolate cake with strawberries on top. That way we could still tell BG she was getting her request.

The cake was delicious. I had to take this picture to show off the super yummy strawberry meringue filling. We all loved it and BG didn't even notice her "Strawberry" cake was actually chocolate.
Happy Birthday BG! I can't believe you are already 5 and will be starting school soon. Lately, she has been telling me she is going to "act like a Kindergartner" which means she will be nice to mom, listen and obey. Whatever it takes.

Hot, Hot, Hot

It's hot. Not as hot as some places right now, but still sticky, sweating, squinty-eyed hot. The girls want to play outside in the hot. I don't last very long. It's not long before they start asking for popsicles. My strict nutrition regiment goes out the window when it comes to popsicles. Because it's just so hot.

The one I really feel bad for in this heat is the dog, Duncan. Wearing a fur coat can't feel good in this heat. When we let him in the house, he runs right over to the vet blasting Air Conditioning and plants himself. He lays there soaking it up until the girls come to pester him. That takes about 1.6 seconds.

Even though it's sweltering outside, my office is freezing. I keep a sweater at my desk to ward of the chills. Then I go outside and it's like stepping into a furnace. Crazy summer weather.

Bedroom Remodel: Phase 3

We have been remodeling our master bedroom. We have been in our house almost 4 years and our room has never gotten much attention. I finally convinced JM to put some budget into the room. We actually really liked the room when we first bought the house, but tastes and designs change and I was tired of the colors.

Here's our room with the old wall colors. There was two colors in the room, a beige color and a rusty brown. The room is pretty big but only has one builder-standard light fixture in the middle. It always felt so dark because the colors on the walls sucked up any light.

We bought the bedding a while back and I was really itching to get to painting. You can even see the "swatch" up on top of the bed. I may have forgotten to take it down before pictures.


I showed this picture earlier after we got the primer up. The paint had a velvet texture to it and since we were going crisp white on the bottom, I was worried about coverage. Even with the primer, I was loving the change.
At this point, I stopped taking in-progress photos. We painted everything and installed crown moulding, chair rail, new baseboards, door and window casings and boxes on the lower half. It took WAY longer than we anticipated.

Then the project snowballed. Once we painted the white, we realized how hideous the color of our doors was. They looked like sun-faded white, a sickly yellow color. So then we had to paint the doors. When we painted the doors, the ceiling turned yellow and that had to be painted as well.

Our room was in complete disarray for weeks while we got all the painting done and trim installed. Then we had to caulk, sand, and paint some more. Whew! It was a much bigger project than we anticipated.

Here is an example of the boxes we put up on the lower half of the room. This is also one of the few in-progress pictures I took. We also added a windowsill since there wasn't one.


And the final result! The pictures are kind of bad. I really should use a better camera than my point and shoot, but I'm pretty lazy.

The color on the top is a stormy blue color, with grey undertones. I am loving the way it turned out. All the trim really finishes off the space.


Now that the painting and trim is done, I have a huge list of other things I want to do. Specifically, replace the furniture hardware, add window treatments, art for the wall, and other accessories. Hurray for having our room back! I love the change. The whole room is so much lighter, brighter, and cozy.

Linking to: Thrift Decor Chick

Praises Be

Yesterday was a monumental day. A day a mother dreams about for her child from the moment she is born. A day that has been longed for, counted down to, and must be celebrated. It was the day that Blanche went to Nursery. {insert wild applause.}

Technically, she isn't "of age" until Wednesday, but I just could. not. take. it. anymore. We've been wandering the halls during church for months now. After dropping her off, I circled back to look through the peek-a-boo window. She was being held by her teacher with one fat tear lingering under her eye. I quickly ducked away and headed to class, all by myself.

I learned some things yesterday attending classes without a child in tow. For example, I didn't know we are studying the New Testament this year in Sunday school. News to me. I also had the chance to look around and discover there are a lot of new people to our ward that I don't know. But what I enjoyed most of all, was just sitting, listening, and taking it in.

When I picked up Blanche from nursery, her teacher told me she did great. I knew she would. She loves toys, and snacks, and tiny chairs. Nursery is the perfect place for her.

Tangled Party

BG requested a Tangled party for her 5th birthday. She LOVED the movie and likes to play it often. When I first started thinking about a party, I had no idea what to do. Thanks to the Internet, I "came up" with lots of great ideas! These pictures are in no particular order (and blogger isn't working right to let me rearrange them).

We made these fun Pascal blowers. BG and I cut and glued them all together before the party and let the kids draw on their own eyes and mouths. It didn't take Blanche long to figure out how these worked and she loved them. Find the template here.

This is the cake I made for BG, obviously a tower. I totally cheated and used donuts stacked up on a wooden dowel. I don't have great cake making skills, so I took the easy way out. I didn't even bother to paint/color the roof, just left it a plain ice cream cone.
I did buy some frosting tips figuring once I had the tips, it wouldn't be too hard to decorate. I now have a greater appreciation for cake decorators. Not that I didn't' before, but even with those tips, making it look good takes practise (which I didn't do). I used a leaf tip to make "vines" growing up the tower. They looked more like green blobs. It's a good thing 5 year olds don't care.

One of our party activities was painting the walls. Since Rapunzel is locked in her tower, she takes to painting all the interior walls. I mixed up some washable paint (2 C water, 1/3 C cornstarch, food coloring), taped up butcher paper on the fence and gave the kids paint brushes. They had a great time. I did put aprons on all the kids just in case.
We also made necklaces, complete with a frying pan charm. This activity kept the girls attention the longest. It took some concentration to sting those beads.
We also played pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider. I got the Wanted poster here and the frying pan template here. We colored pictures, opened presents, and ate cupcakes. Again, I'm no cake decorator, but this is what I came up with. I was hoping the purple with yellow piping looked like her dress. I know, I'm pretty awesome to make zigzags on a cupcake and call it a dress. ;)
I made a long yarn braid to decorate the front door, but didn't take a picture. It looked kind of like this. Actually, that site gave me lots of the ideas I used for the party.

The girls had a great time and I survived hosting 6 5 year-olds. After cleaning up this party, we turned right around to start getting ready for the family party the next day.

Working Mom

I'm a working mom. I have been fortunate to cut back my hours since having Blanche to 30 hours per week. I stay home every Wednesday and every other Friday. My job is flexible enough that I can adjust the days I work as needed. On top of the flexibility, the pay isn't bad either.

And yet, I'm not happy. I don't feel challenged in my work and feel like I'm missing out on my kids. I had considered writing a post about this when I ran across a friend who posted on the exact same topic. It made me feel better that I'm not the only working mom who feels this way.

I'm not saying being a stay at home mom is easy. It's not. And there are many days I am grateful for the reprieve that a job allows. But I feel torn. Just this morning, this was the thought process/conversation that was going on inside my head.

"That job at the state looks interesting. It's in an area that I'd like and it would be a step up professionally.
But I'd have to work full time and the state does 4 10s. Can I really get two kids up and out the door by 6:30 am? Plus it would be a longer commute.
I think I could do that.
Who am I kidding? I can barely get out the door by 8am; I am perpetually late.
Maybe I could hire a nanny. If we had a nanny that came to our house, I wouldn't have to worry about waking up the kids at all. I would just have to get myself up, which is a million times more manageable. Plus, I'd be making more so we could afford a nanny.
(Working the hours in my head) That would mean four days a week I would leave before my kids get up and get home just in time for bedtime. The whole point in cutting back my hours was to spend more time at home, with the kids. I'm able to do that now.
Maybe I should just stay at my job long enough for us to get completely out of debt then stay home. I could stay home for a few years, then go back.
How am I going to stay involved while I'm at home. I need to keep my skills up so I can actually get hired when I go back. How long should I stay home? Can we even afford for me to stay home?
I enjoy working. I like feeling like I'm contributing. I like proving that example to my girls, that moms can be productive members of society while still being a mom.
Maybe I should apply for that job at the state."

Round and round it goes. On paper, I have a great job. Pays well, flexible hours, but I'm not fulfilled professionally by it. If I changed jobs, I would have to go back to full time work, or take a pay cut. There just aren't many well paid part time jobs out there. Working full time means less time with the kids. It makes me wonder how many other women are this plight, or if they have figured out something I don't yet see. It wears me out just thinking about it.

Summer Sandwich

Last night we had one of my favorite summer sandwiches. It is super yummy and pretty easy.

Egg Salad- you know, hard boiled eggs mixed with mayo and a little mustard
Bacon- because eggs and bacon are great friends
Cucumber slices
Fresh basil leaves

Stack all ingredients on some yummy bread and enjoy. The cucumbers give a nice crunch. The basil gives sweet freshness contrasted with the salty bacon. So yummy! Add a slice of melon and you have the perfect summer meal.