bday thanks

Third Birthday Games and Cake! from LB on Vimeo.

There is tons and tons of thanks due to my mom and dad for helping so much with Aiden's party.  My mom initially found all this Dr. Suess stuff at the bookstore last spring and snatched it up.  There were also great Dr. Suess sticker books in the favor bags.

My mom sent me these photos from her friend's desk at school where someone had brought in this hungry caterpillar cake.  I just loved it!  We added to the face (the original was just a red cupcake) and added the yellow twizzlers as the little spikes on his back.

On one of the many websites (I think it was Party Perfect) I subscribe to I saw these little cupcake topper books.  I knew as a kid I would've just loved a mini book. I thought I could make my own.  They have actual pages with other clip art.  Aiden was pretty fascinated by them.

My mom made storybook watercolors which I just love.  (I love them so much the I'm going to hang them up in the the new babies' room.)  This is Make Way for Ducklings, and below is the Hungry Caterpillar.  There was also the Wild Things, Horton, Hippos Go Bezerk, and Curious George.

 

We put books and all the character stuffed animals that we have all around the house to decorate.  My mom scouted out all sorts of Dr. Suess stuffed animals to match his new books.

Mom made these Wild Thing candy monsters and played a game with the kids where they marched and landed on a number which matched the monster's number.  They were all different with juice bellies, cookie heads, and candy galore.  The kids just loved them.

My woot lover mom found this deal of the day for a party tent which was a big hit.  It held up pretty well with some crazy wild thing kids jumping around in it.

My dad jumped right in to help clean and took tons of fun photos!

I can't thank my folks enough for sharing Aiden's enthusiasm and pulling together so many creative ideas.  THANK YOU!

More party photos coming soon...

halloween friends

These halloween friends migrated east from their usual spot in Gran and Pop's yard to set up shop in our yard. Aiden was hunting trolls in the front yard during most of the set up, pretending to be a two headed monster with dad, and occasionally helping name the guys Gran, Pop, and I were trying to get to into the ground.   Aiden says that "when the world turns dark into Halloween" the friends will be happy to see the tricker treaters.

Halloween Friends! from LB on Vimeo.

1,000 posts

Well, this is quite the climactic 1,000th post, isn't it!?  

Due sometime in late April, this little pipsqueak likes to:
- make kissy lips during ultrasounds (which are occasionally 3D at my new doctor! These photos don't even do justice to how cool that is in color with movement!  Who knew that a teeny tiny 12 week old that is only 2 inches long has chubby knees and oh that tummy!)
- put his or her hand to his or her forehead with an "oh the drama!" expression (as demonstrated above)
- hide under my pelvic bone and move so much that the regular belly monitors can't find his or her heartbeat (yep, that's enough drama for mama)
- be called a sister all the time by his or her big brother who watched the first ultrasound so intently we weren't sure he understood, but then the tech handed him a sonogram photo and he hugged it!  (THE sweetest new brother moment.)
- make mommy feel like a big ball of tired bleh, and no thanks, saltines don't help (dramatically different from his or her brother who didn't make me sick, which has everyone convinced it is a her)
- get almost all of his or her nutrition from tomato sauce, cheese, yogurt, and pesto
- let us know his or her gender sometime so that Aiden can straighten out that it's possible he's not the only brother
- go to photo class and will be helping me finish my portfolio this spring (with a minor scheduling glitch where I officially don't finish until May, so unless this baby is very late, I will need to figure something out)
- surprise us so that we end up replaying that iphone commercial where the wife tells her husband she is pregnant over the video phone (while J was in Australia!) - I can be quoted as making fun of this ad only a few months ago:

marble race!

Gran and Pop arrived just before dinner last night for the week of birthday, school grandfriend's day, and halloween fun!  This is a big hits week coming up for Aiden and it kicked off strong.  The marble race was a special request from Gran and Pop's house, and it was a hit.

Marble Race! from LB on Vimeo.

fundraiser

I'm frequently touched to the point of tears by stories... heck, a Hallmark commercial usually gets me. But when I joined this mom's group earlier in the year and heard second hand the story of this mom that was just diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, I felt strange tearing up for this mom of three, just a few years older than me.

I didn't yet know this woman, but I thought of all the ways cancer has affected my family and so many others that I do know. Let me tell you when I did meet her, I had that gut wrenching I must do "something"/ "anything!" to help make some sort of difference.

She is a big advocate for getting screened early and paying close attention. Here are her own words on the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk coming up this weekend:

Why am I walking?
"I'm walking because in May 2010 I was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. I wasn't diagnosed early when the disease is cureable as the symptoms were missed since I was nursing my youngest son. My future is uncertain so we focus on the here and now. I'm feeling good and fighting this thing with the help of my awesome doctor at Dana Farber but with current medicine this won't always be the case. I don't want to be a survivor, I just want to be with my family and friends and enjoy my life. My future depends on finding a cure!"

Flash forward to this fundraiser I was invited to which was paired with one of those "parties where they sell you something." I was at this party thinking, I should do this - I should host a raffle and donate proceeds from the sales at the party to breast cancer research.

So my friend who sells Silpada jewelry agreed to donate a portion of her proceeds and I planned the party for breast cancer awareness month right before the walk. It's something to help make a difference, even if just a little something.

Aiden napped upstairs at the beginning of the party (thank goodness for white noise), came down to pick our first raffle winner, and then headed to the playground with daddy.

The party ended up earning almost $200 to support my friend's walk. Pretty good earnings for an afternoon hanging out, buying jewelry, and eating pink ribbon shaped food (including lotsa pink drinks!).  I totally let my pink phobia/aversion go for the day, and even frosted my pumpkin cupcakes with pink frosting!  I did not boil my own ribbon bagels, those are a Panera special edition this month (they have strawberries in them).

Besides the raffle, which everyone entered, my friend had given me a simple game to promote awareness.  They were stickers with pictures and names of breast cancer survivors.  Each guest had one on their back and when given clues had to try to guess who it was.  It is remarkable the range of people that have battled breast cancer.  We also all went with the "dress your chest" theme and had beads which could be swiped if they said the forbidden word, "jewelry."

Here was the nice thank you from Lorien to everyone at the party: "Thank you for hosting this fundraiser and thank you to everyone who attended and made it a success!  Not only is the money going to a fabulous cause but you also put me over my fundraising goal.  Team Lorien will have about 70 people walking and showing their support on Sunday and together we've raised over $7000 already! Thank you!!"

recipes

We've been breaking out the snowman pancakes already on the cool mornings.  Strangely, ALL of the chocolate chips were sold out at the store the first time earlier this month, so I made my first batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins much later than usual this year.  Although, I have made many, many loaves of pumpkin banana bread (with honey for extra goodness)!  I've taken on a new favorite morning warm up of hot lemon water - surprisingly yummy!

A guilty pleasure lately is cream cheese. Now you can't just eat it on it's own, right? So here are two recipes that make it extra yummy. Maybe not the healthiest, but yum!  I made the apple dip for my party and it was popular.

Lemon Ginger Apple Dip

1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 7 oz container of marshmallow cream
1 package of lemon gelatin
3/4 teas ginger

Cream it all together and serve with sliced apples.

Cannellini Bean Wrap Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, if desired
4 (10 inch) herb flavored or plain flour tortillas

Preparation:
In blender container or food processor, combine drained beans with remaining ingredients except tortillas. Blend or process until mixture is almost smooth. Spread mixture on tortillas and roll up, enclosing filling.

pumpkin farm

We took a trip to the farm for their pick your own pumpkin tractor ride.  It is a tractor ride to a big opening to a corn maze, trek through there and it opens into a field full of pre-picked pumpkins set in the open field for you to "pick".  When you ask Aiden where he is going anytime he's on a tractor he says "nowhere,"so I think he really gets the whole point of a tractor ride.   He loved tip toeing through the corn maze looking for dragons and corn monsters.   He announced each step he was making with a tip and a toe, so he wasn't very sneaky.

Four Town Pumpkin Patch from LB on Vimeo.

fall beach

The beach in the fall is such a perfect place.  We jetted down to Narragansett this weekend since I had a photo shoot there.  I finished off the space on my camera memory with some photos of AB and Daddy exploring the beach, following the seagull tracks, and checking out the jelly fish.

visitors

Just about a week ago we had a treat on a rainy, rainy day. Our friends from Arizona brought a little monsoon action along and it was great to see them even through the misty rain.  Aiden was excited to meet "mommy's friends" and come along on our visit to the RISD "dead things" lab and the art museum in his froggie boots.  (thanks D for all the photos since I forgot my camera - gasp!)  (It was great to see you D and C!)

Aiden singing to his reflection on our way out the door - Rain, rain go away!

Aiden took a break from the museum to put on a dancing show on the block stage:

At first I balked when Aiden went to touch this, but it turns out my two year old recognizes a touch screen better than I do.  It was a big touch screen piece of art.  I'm floored that Aiden won't know a world without this type of technology.

The "dead things" lab (more formally called the nature lab) allows you check out some of these crazy items like a library or you can draw them on site.  We all gawked.

Cardboard guitars for Aiden to name:

We visited our favorite Red Stripe and afterward got some cookies at Meeting Street.  I love D's quote from his facebook post of the photo below: "He likes cookies and ice cream - he devoured one - then was starring at the display case for more"

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