The One With the Last Photo of the Day

Today is the last installment of the Photo a Day for the Month of May project. I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but I did take some cute pictures. Today, Ellie and Olivia were playing together quite nicely.

First Ellie tickled Olivia and then... she tickled herself? I don't know. She's a silly one.

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 30)

Little baby long johns are the cutest ever.

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 27th)

 

I can't help it... I absolutely love how much Ellie adores her little sister. It is just the sweetest thing.

And Addie loves Ellie and Olivia. She likes to use her Aunt Mallory's iPhone to talk to Ellie and tell her that she loves and misses her. Awww... babies are so cute.

The One With the Seattle Excursion

We took a little excursion up to Seattle this past weekend. Ellie stayed with her grandma in Portland and we took Olivia with us for her very first roadtrip.  

We spent the evening exploring downtown Seattle. Olivia was sleepy and needed a little pick-me-up at the original Starbucks.

I'll admit it right now, scenic photography is not my strong suit. But it was fun to try anyway. We had a great time exploring and then Olivia and I hung out in the hotel all day while Steve went to his work conference. It was lovely. 

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 25th)

There's nothing quite like a little baby all basking in the early-morning sunlight.

The One With the Vacation

Yes, I'm falling a bit behind on my photo of the day project. But today, I have an excuse. I'm on vacation and don't have my computer to upload my images with me. So... in the next few days you can look for some pictures from our Seattle trip.

In the meantime, however, I thought I'd tide you over with some awesome posts by Mallory showcasing ridiculously awesome reading nooks and too-dangerous-for-me-but-cool-elsewhere hanging beds. I especially love the reading nook with miniature furniture to create a child-sized library (pictured below). Frankly, I'm obsessed with miniature furniture. Ellie loves it, too. And who wouldn't? Every child deserves a little spot that is the right size for them. It is completely unfair most people have to wait until adulthood to be big enough to enjoy things like chairs and sofas. 

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 20th)

Even though I love pictures, I have a hard time remembering to take pictures of normal things. Like Ellie taking her baby for a ride on the lion. So I am working on taking these normal, everyday pictures so someday in the future I can show Ellie how cute her life was. I know these aren't the greatest pictures technically speaking, and they probably won't even end up in frames. But maybe a scrapbook can be full of these. I mean, she is pretty adorable, isn't she?

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 19th)

It has been so lovely out lately. And because we live in Portland, I know it is fleeting. So we've been spending every afternoon soaking up the sunshine. Ellie loves being outside. She rotates between playing in her toy car, sitting in her little chair and scolding the rubber ball as it rolls away from her. And then she cries her eyes out when it's time to come inside.

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 18th)

I heart tiny bay shoes and outfits that match. Especially when they are handmade by a dear friend. (Check out Mallory's post about them here.)

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 17th)

I loved this idea that my sister-in-law, Annette, had for our other SIL's baby shower. She used her Cricut to cut out the little badges and letters and stuck them in little pots of M&Ms. Of course you could easily personalize this for any baby shower or any party, for that matter.

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 16th)

This weekend we celebrated my niece, Carly's, first birthday! It was a smash! (Get it?) She loved the chocolate cake, like any good girl should.  

 

This is a very quintessential Carly expression. Always so wide-eyed and enthusiastic about everything. She's lots of fun.

 

 I just love this picture of her parents helping her blow out the candle. Too sweet.

And of course, I have to show off how cute Little O was at the party.

The One With the Sad State of Affairs

Just in case you're tempted to think my life is perfect, I'm here to set you straight. Granted, the blog world creates a delusion that every mom who blogs about her kids and her crafts lives in a perfect world with a perfectly clean house and crafts that never go awry. Well, I am not one of those moms. Take Example A:

I tried making the Princess Cupcakes from Hello, Cupcake. They were quite time consuming and tedious. I was making them on Saturday night, hoping to have them ready for my niece Carly's birthday party on Sunday. I only got through four of them before I had to call it quits for the night. When I woke up in the morning to resume my post, I discovered that three of my four princesses had lost their heads. The vanilla wafer and pretzel heads were too heavy and had broken the cupcake bases. It was quite a sad day.

So I put a crown on the one left standing and took it to the birthday girl. It definitely is not the best cupcake I've made. Not to mention that she looks a little bit  like Mrs. Clause with her red and white dress.
And apparently I'm not the only one who had a cupcake mishap lately. Mallory over at Purplest Pecalin had a bad run with some Shark Attack Cupcakes. I think this might be proof we should only do cupcakes together, for better luck.
I actually think I may try these again someday. Once I finally figured them out, they seemed doable. However, I will make all the pieces separately and only assemble them just before the party starts, to keep the heads from falling off prematurely.

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 14th)

Apparently, Bumbos aren't just for babies. As soon as Olivia was tired of it, Ellie snatched it right up as her little reading spot. She pulled over her blanket and a book and started reading to her bear. I love that this is her newest form of entertainment.

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 13th)

Little Livvy is getting so big! She rolled over for the first time. And I snapped this right before she did. I don't actually know if I can handle her growing up at all. I thought the whole deal with having a second baby was that she would just stay little forever. Apparently, that's not true. 

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 12th)

 

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Annette, I have a new obsession with tissue poms. I've been making them for all sorts of things the past couple of days. Here are a few I made for the graduation party. 

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 11th)

Banners like these are all the rage right now. And I can see why. They're so easy to personalize and fun to make. This is the one I made for a friend's graduation party. I chose purple, black and white because she graduated from my alma mater, The University of Portland. And I have a lot of Purple Pride. And she is a Laker's fan, so it was kind of a win-win. Except that there wasn't any yellow at the party.

The possibilities with these are endless. I have a feeling any party I am involved with in the foreseeable future will feature one of these. And wouldn't these be adorable in a nursery, with the baby's name draped around the crib? Ummm... yes.

If you are interested in having a banner made for a party or for decoration, comment on this post or message me and we can work something out! I would love to make one or several for you.

The One With the Lambie Cupcakes

Occasionally, I take the opportunity to get back to the thing that inspired this blog in the first place: cute cupcakes. The lovely Mallory has been away in Peru for the past six weeks and we've been scheming the whole time about making some deliciousness upon her return. Well, she finally came back and we decided to make some lambie cupcakes. They're very springy, aren't they?

 

As far as cute cupcakes go, these are probably the easiest I've ever done. We were inspired by these Easter centerpieces.  Of course, we both immediately thought of turning them into cupcakes.

To make the Little Lambie Cupcakes you'll need:

• White cake mix
• Vanilla frosting
• Mini marshmallows
• Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies
• Mini chocolate chips
• White Wilton candy melts

Bake your cupcakes in white liners according to directions on box. Once they have cooled, frost with a light layer of vanilla frosting and stick mini marshmallows in the frosting to look like wool. In a microwave safe dish, melt some of the Wilton candy melts. To make the heads, secure two mini marshmallows on the Milano cookie with the liquid white candy melt. Stick mini chocolate chips on to make the eyes. Flatten two marshmallows and pinch on one end, securing to the top of the cooking with the melted candy for the ears. (You could add a little ribbon of your choice, also with the liquid candy melt.) Once the eyes and ears are set, secure onto the cupcake with more of the liquid candy melt.

Wouldn't these be the cutest with a Little Bo Peep mini-cake for a birthday party? I think so. Maybe I'll try that someday.

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 9th)

My favorites!

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 8th)

Addison came over to visit last week. She wanted Olivia to play with her and Ellie. She kept demanding that Aunt Mallory let Olivia walk so she could play with them. Mallory had to prove to Addison that Olivia is unable to walk.

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 7th)

Bumbo time!

The One With the Easter Photo Shoot

In case you've ever wondered, "Jeez, how does she get any usable pictures of her toddler and infant?" Well, I'll tell you. I take about 500 pictures. And delete 495 of them. Why? Because I'm not amazing at using my camera yet. And even if I were, babies move a lot. And now that there's two of them, it is even less likely to get them both cooperating at the same moment.

And sometimes, Ellie doesn't help things. Take a look at this series from their Easter photo shoot.

Here they are just sitting together nicely.

Ellie even gives Olivia a little kiss. Awww... how sweet.

Then Ellie decides to stick her finger in Olivia's mouth. She thinks this is normal protocol with babies.

The finger isn't working, so she clutches her around the neck and starts rocking her back and forth. Olivia obviously isn't thrilled.
In fact, she's looking at me like, "What the heck is this kid doing to me? When are you going to rescue me, mom?"

And so, I have to put down the camera and do just that. Not that I mind, really. They're both very snuggley.

The One With the Photo of the Day (May 5th)

I love naked babies. Seriously. A whole bunch. They are my favorite. You could probably convince me to have 20 babies if you reminded me they would be naked sometimes. Yep... I'm a big sucker for those chubby wrinkles and gloriously soft skin.

The One With the Tulip Festival

This is Ellie's best friend, Jake. Sometimes she goes around the house looking for Jake to play with.
Jake and his family went with us to the Tulip Festival on Saturday.

This is Ellie and Jake running in the tulip fields. That was the most entertaining part for them.

This is Ellie and Jake in some wooden shoes. I call it, "Big Shoes to Fill". I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of that caption.

This is the family picture someone took for us. I love the tree that is giving Steve's hair a little extra body.

There was some great food and little activities for the kids. Not to mention some little shops and a Wine Down in a lovely garden for the adults. If you live in or around Portland and are interested in going, check out the website. The Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival is open until May 8, 2011.
We had a great time and I can't wait to take them again next year, when they could enjoy the jumping castles and obstacle courses that were also there.

Also, this counts as my photo of the day. :-)