Little Muon

Look What I Found!

2012-01-28T01:13:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm writing this blog, but no one's reading it. At times, it's disheartening when you check your comment section and the only ones that are commenting are your family members. LOL! I try not to let it get me down and remind myself that I created and write this blog for my own personal enjoyment. And if just one person out there in web-land finds inspiration in my posts, then that's the icing on the cake for me.

I was reviewing my stats (did you know you could do that) and noticed a traffic source that I didn't recognize (usually it comes from Google searches). When I clicked on it, guess what I found? Me!

Did you see me? I'm #4! Bellenza, an inspirational wedding site, has an article called "How to Make a Nautical Themed Wedding Truly Magical". The chocolate sea shells from my beach themed bridal shower had a shout out in the article! Am I a total dork for being excited about this? SOMEONE (other then my sister) is reading my blog! Whoo-hooo!

Owl Baby Shower

2012-01-24T02:39:00.001-05:00

Been meaning to write this post for a while. I was a little wiped out after planning this Owl themed baby shower for one of my BFFs. I've known Yung since we were kids, she's practically a sister to me. When I found out that she was pregnant, I couldn't be more excited! Yung and I grew up together and now our kids would be doing the same! Yung's mother in-law was supposed to host her baby shower for her, but due to some health issues, regrettably unable to do so. My sister and I were asked to step in at the last minute to plan the shower. Due to the busy holiday and work schedules, Trang and I only had about a month to plan and organize this party. We were on a tight timeline, but I wasn't going to let that stop us from throwing a memorable and beautiful shower.

We started off with brainstorming a theme. Knowing Valentine's Day would be coming up soon, we knew that we would have red and pinks readily available to us. From there, we decided that owls would make it even cuter! So a red and pink Owl themed baby shower was born!

Here is the dessert table. The background was made of pink and red streamers overlapping each other. The tablecloth was a white blanket from Ikea.

My Aunt Mai made her special carrot cake cupcakes for the shower. They were delicious! Trang designed the cupcake topper.

And my go-to treat, Oreo dipped chocolates with an owl twist.

This is the food table. Decoration was fairly simple here. Trang found some branches in her backyard and we hung some tissue poms and felt owls on them. I found an adorable pink owl fabric and used that as a table runner (sorry no close up picture of the runner). Trang designed the food tent labels as well.

I found some children owl books on Amazon and used one of them as a guest book.

Found these vintage blocks at the flea market and used them as photo holders of mom and dad when they were younger.

Found some left over Christmas decor and turned them into owls!

Here is a family pic of Yung and Brad with the Grandparents and Uncle. I made the "Welcome Baby" bunting out of scrapbook paper. Wish I had a better close up picture, but hopefully my sister was able to get a few for me.

Yung and Brad, I know you will be great parents! I hope you had a wonderful time!

P.S. More to come on the projects I worked on for this party!

Linking to the following parties:

Sneak Peek: Owl Baby Shower

2012-01-16T00:30:00.001-05:00

Been busy this week planning my childhood friend's baby shower. Yung is expecting a baby girl, so we went with an owl theme. Working on a post about the party, but here's a sneak peek of the party!

The Lost Art of Thank You Cards

2012-01-11T00:45:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and New Year! The holiday hub-bub is finally over and things are getting back to a semi-normal state around here!

My sister and I were talking the other day about the lost art of thank yous. Acknowledging a kind act, a gift, or whatever, saying thank you has become a lost art; especially thank you cards/letters. Growing up, my mother expected that we write a thank you letter for any gift we received. This lesson has stuck with me to this day. Now I know a few people who say, "they don't do thank you cards". To me, it comes down to good manners. In today's technology world, thank yous can be in the form of emails, e-card, Facebook status or comments or even a tweet. So there are no excuses for not thanking someone.

I digress (sorry for the rant). Anyway, back to the point of my posts. Call me old fashion, but I still like to WRITE thank you cards. With the holidays being over, writing thank you cards to all my wonderful family and friends has been hanging over my head. Little Muon and Little Man were totally spoiled this year and received a TON of gifts. Meaning, mommy needs to write a alotof thank you cards.

I thought about ordering thank you cards via Shutterfly, but after all the holiday shopping, I really needed to watch the dollars. So during a shopping trip at Michaels, the dollar bin solved all my thank you card dilemma.

All of this was a dollar each:
"Thanks." stamp = $1.
Stamp pads = $1 each.
1 pack of 8 cards with envelopes = $1. I bought 3 pack of cards.
Grand total of $6! That's 25 cents for each card! Score!

The card had a little window, perfect for the stamp to go. I changed it up a bit and made the "t" in a different color. So cute! Here are more images for your viewing pleasure.

I'm going to include a picture of the kids (with their perspective gift) with each of the cards. My family and friends were kind enough to think of my kids over the holiday, so spending 5 minutes to write and say thank you is the least I can do.

Oh and thank YOU for reading this blog!

I Heart Photo Challenge: On Your Feet

2011-12-05T16:41:00.002-05:00

Hello Friends

I know, I know, where the heck have I been?! I've been MIA and have neglected my blog for so long. Being a mom of two and working full time has been a VERY.VERY.VERY challenging adjustment for me and my hubby. I'm not doing a good job of balancing work, home and myself. I'm hoping that once the holidays are over and things slow down a bit at work, I can dedicate more time to me.myself.and.I (including my neglected blog)!

In the meantime, I am doing a quick post for the I Heart Faces Photo Challenge of the week, "On Your Feet". This photo was from one of my favorite sessions I "shadowed' with my sister. Baby Ella was turning one. Mom had a thing about feet and made a special requests to capture the family's feet. This is one of my fav shots from the session, so when I saw this week's challenge, I knew immediately what photo I was going to submit!

Crossing fingers. My first photo challenge I'm entering!

Surprise Baby Shower: Alice in Wonderland

2011-07-10T23:47:00.000-04:00

Sorry, I've been missing in action lately. As some of you may know, baby #2 was due on July 9th. But since nothing ever goes as planned, Little Man arrived 3 weeks early on June 17, 2011, weighing in at 7 lbs 1.8 oz and 19 inches long!

Meet Bodhi Nguyen-Lee.

Little did my sister know, she planned my surprise baby shower JUST in time; five days before Bodhi's arrival to be exact! Trang and my childhood friend, Yung, did an amazing job planning an "Alice in Wonderland Tea Party"!

Trang's incredible graphic design talent and attention to details never ceases to amaze me! Here are a few photos from the baby shower. For more detailed information on the party and to view more of her amazing photos, visit Trang's blog.

The invitations were designed to look like playing cards. Trang used her newly restored letterpress to imprint the invitations.

She also designed smaller playing cards to use with the centerpieces.

Here I am enjoying the food and tea!

Trang designed these adorable tea favors for our guests to take home.

Trang and Yung also created a "sweet" dessert table!

The baby shower was amazing and beautiful. You ladies blew my mind away. Also, thanks to all my friends and family for helping me celebrate!

Little Muon's Memory Box

2011-05-17T00:20:00.004-04:00

If you know me, you'd know that I'm a sentimental person and love holding on to items that can trigger a memory or emotion. When I was a teenager, I created a memory box using a plastic tote box to store things like my diaries, old letters from friends, pictures, drawings, etc... When I got older, I went thru the box and cleaned out a-lot of things that I felt didn't mean as much anymore. For example, the New Kids on the Block pin I kept didn't quite mean as much as it did 20 some years ago. Wow! I'm aging myself here! I haven't upgraded my plastic tote, but it works for me and I still add to the box whenever I want to hold onto something special.

When Little Muon came along, I also created a memory box for her as well. Actually, my intention is to buy a sort of "Hope chest" to store these items in. Traditionally, a hope chest is a chest used to collect items of clothing or household linen, by unmarried young women in anticipation of married life. Now, I'm not THAT old fashion, but I still like the thought of passing on a sentimental piece that contains special moments and memories of Little Muon's life. I haven't found the perfect wooden chest that fits my style or is within a reasonable price range, so in the meantime, I use a pretty box that I found at Michaels as her Memory Box.

The lid flips opens and stores items that I think would be special to her when she is older.

I'd like her to know about historical moments that occurred in her lifetime. For example, when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, the hubby bought a newspaper and an issue of People specifically for her Memory Box. My only regret was that I didn't a newspaper for the day she was born. Guess I had other things on my mind that day!

I also have a small photo album in the box to store special photos. I have pictures of her grandparents when they were young, pictures of my hubby as a child, etc... On the cover is her hospital picture. I also kept some special baby clothes, like the onesie that she wore in her hospital picture.

I also kept all the cards that have been given to her from her baby shower to her birthdays. I used scrapbook paper, a circle cutter, ribbons and stickers to keep them labeled and bounded together.

Using a smaller box that I covered using scrapbook paper, I keep loose items like a newborn diaper to remember how small she was, hair from her first haircut, my pregnancy test, her hospital bracelet and my mother in-law's obituary (to name a few).

I also have her birth announcement, 1st and 2nd birthday invitations, and our family Christmas cards in the box. I'm planning on putting them in small 8x8 scrapbook so that they are all in one place. I also have her sonogram pictures in her memory box as well.

I'm aware as time passes, this particular box is not going to be able to house all the items that I add to it. But hopefully, I'll be able to find the perfect Hope chest one day. For the moment, this works for us.

I hope that when Little Muon gets older, her dad and I can sit down together with her go thru all the special items in her Memory Box, telling her about their significance and stories behind each of them.

What about you? Do you keep a sort of "memory box" for your kids? What items are in there now? And if you don't have one now, I hope this posts inspires you to start one for your kids today!

Teacher's Appreciation Week - Easy Gift Idea

2011-05-07T03:25:00.001-04:00

Not sure if I should even bother posting this since Teacher Appreciation Week is about over. I actually had no idea that the first week of May recognized teachers and their hard work. Little Muon hadn't been attending a daycare until this past week. I struggled with sending her to a traditional daycare when I first had her and opted to have a family member take care of her instead. She's fast approaching her 3rd birthday and hubby and I realized that we had to get her into a more traditional daycare environment to (a) prepare her for Kindergarten and (b) develop her socializing skills with other kids.

Here she is with hubby on "our" first day.

This was before the tears and screaming. It was a traumatic day for Taylor, mom and dad! By the 3rd day, she had completely adjusted and drop offs were fast and easy (with no crying or vomitting)! I really credit the teachers for helping her adapt so quickly and making the experience as easy as possible.

When I found out it was Teacher's Appreciation Week, I knew it was a perfect opportunity to thank the kind teachers and director for making our first week as stress-less as possible.

My first thought was chocolate and coffee! I came up with this easy and inexpensive gift idea:

I went with a green and red color theme. Supplies and cost breakdown:

1) Chinese Take-Out box (Walmart in the party supply dept). Comes with 4 boxes.
Cost = $1.50

2) A BIG bag of mini-chocolate treats.
Cost = $7.50

3) Shredded paper made as basket stuffers (Walmart in the crafting dept).
Cost = $1.00

4) Red ribbon (not pictured)
Cost = $1.50

5) Dunkin Donut Gift Cards.
Cost = Four $5 gift cards ($20.00)

6) Glue Dots (not pictured)
Costs = $0 since I already had them

7) Cardstock (not pictured)
Costs = $0 since I already had them

Total Cost = Less then $8 per teacher. Not too bad!

I filled the bottom of the take out box with shredded paper. This was only because I was worried that I wouldn't have enough candy. Turned out I had plenty of candy, but since I already bought the shredded paper, I used it anyway. Then topped it off with lots of candy!

I wrapped the red and white polka dot ribbon around the box two different ways; (1) across the box and (2) up and down the box with a bow on top.

I was able to use some awesome free printables available in blogland to decorate the box. "Anything But Perfect" had these fun Teacher Appreciation circles. I used my 3 inch circle cutter and used glue dots to stick them over the ribbon on one side of the box.

For the other side, I printed out a Teacher Appreciation Card from Paper Box Press. I cut the card the same size as the gift card. Using glue dots, stuck the gift card inside the top half of the card and wrote a little thank you note on the bottom half.

I punched two holes at the top of the card and added more ribbon for embellishment. Again, using glue dots, I stuck the thank you card to the other side of the box.

Finally, I used Good Gravy's polka dot gift tags and tied it to the top of the box with more ribbon.

And then I was done!

Couldn't you totally see using this idea as a goodie bag for a birthday party or for some of your favorite Moms for Mother's Day!

And because I was late in posting this for Teacher's Appreciation Week, here are some cool Mother's Day printables that you could reuse for this idea.

Good Gravy

Whisker Graphics

Embellish

Household Binder: My Divider Misadventures

2011-04-07T01:09:00.001-04:00

Remember my Household Binder Challenge that I was following along with at IHeartOrganizing? If not, you can see the post here.

Well, I'm putting the finishing touches on it, but it's pretty much done! I'm planning a separate post featuring the finished product, but wanted to tell you about my misadventures with the binder's dividers!

Remember when I said that I wanted my binder to be "pretty"? Well, that also included the dividers for the binder. Sure, I could have taken the easy route and purchased dividers that would have worked, but NOT meeee! In my defense, I thought I was saving money by using what I already had on hand.

I already had some cheapo dividers in my office. But they were flimsy and NOT "pretty". So I had the brilliant idea of taking some scrapbook paper and cutting them to size with the dividers. I would make them sturdier by laminating the divider and the scrapbook paper together. Awesome idea right?

Pretty too!

Well, here's the problem. When I started inserting my documents into the page protectors, the dividers weren't wide enough! And now you couldn't see the dividers at all!

Now I was MAD! Because I liked my pretty dividers and I spent alot of time cutting and laminating them! I didn't want to give up. I WASN'T going to give up!

Then I thought, "hey, could I fit the divider INSIDE the page protector?" I could, except for the tab!

I was determined now! I would make this work!

So I lined up my page protector and my divider to figure out where the tab would be located.

I cut a slit the width of the divider tab. Then I cut along the edge of page protector to create a space for the tab. Hopefully, you can see the page protector in this picture.

Then I gently slid the divider in the page protector.

And the tab popped right into the space I had cut for it!

Now you can see my dividers and the page protectors weren't covering them up!

And I have pretty dividers! Okay, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if you really needed a tutorial on "Creating Dividers the Hard Way". But I'm really proud of my dividers and their "prettiness"! Thanks for looking and indulging me!

Easy Magnet Board Idea

2011-04-06T22:22:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while and finally getting around to it. If your kid(s) are anything like Little Muon, she LOVES to be in the kitchen when I'm cooking. She gets under my feet which could potentially be dangerous. What better way to occupy her then magnets! Unfortunately, my appliances are stainless steel so magnets don't stick AT ALL to stainless steel.

So for a long time, this is where Little Muon played with her magnets.

Yup, that's the side of the fridge. The very small part that sticks out far enough for her. It wasn't working. The space was too small and cramped and I'd usually find magnets all over the floor rather then on the fridge. Plus, every time I opened the fridge, she would have to move out of the way or the door would hit her.

I was on Facebook looking at some of my FB friends photos when I saw one with a magnet board stuck to the side of a kitchen cabinet. Well, why didn't I think of that!

During a trip to one of my favorite place on Earth, I picked up this Spontan magnet board for only $12.99!

And voila, we have this!

I used Command Strips to attach the magnet board to the cabinets. That way, we could remove it without damaging the cabinet. I had a bucket from the dollar bin at Target laying around, so I used that to contain the magnets. I used the Command Hooks to keep the bucket in easy reach.

And now Little Muon has her own space where she can safely play with her magnets, while still being in the kitchen with me!

My next project, this awesome alphabet magnet tutorial from NiceGirlNotes. Much nicer then those cheap plastic ones.

Aren't they cute?

[images from NiceGirlNotes.com]

NiceGirlNotes came up with this idea to prevent this from happening:

I had to include her cartoon drawing because this happens to me ALL.THE.TIME!

Household Binder Challenge

2011-03-23T00:31:00.005-04:00

In my attempts to be better organized for 2011, I decided I would finally jump on the "blog"-wagon and create a "Command Center Binder" (aka Household Binder). I love organizing with binders and already have a "binder system" for bills and taxes. I thought I'd expand upon my system to include a Household Binder too!

The Household Binder essentially becomes your family's ultimate reference tool and the home for all the paper that's currently plastered to your refrigerator or cluttering up your kitchen counter! It's basically a one stop shop for all your most referenced information like emergency phone numbers, frequently called numbers, cleaning list, etc...

This is exactly what my family needed. No more digging around for the plumbers phone number or having my fridge plastered with the gym schedule and magnetic business cards! After a google search, I downloaded Aby Garvey's free guide "How to Create A Command Central Binder". The guide helped me narrow down what I wanted to keep in my Household Binder. I decided on the following sections:

Emergency Information - Address & directions to my house (in case there was an emergency and someone other then me had to phone for help). The hubby's and my work information and phone numbers. Secondary emergency phone numbers (i.e. close family and friends and next door neighbor). Numbers to the pediatrician, Poison Control and "Ask A Nurse".
Service Directory - Plumber, cleaning service, electrician, dog groomer, babysitter, etc...
Frequently Called Numbers - Numbers of family and friends, doctor's office, etc...
Gym Hours and Group Class Schedule.
Health Insurance Information.
Pet Sitting Instructions & Babysitting Instructions - So I don't have to retype them each time.
Business Cards

I wanted to do this on the cheap, so I used what I had around the house.

One 3-ring binder
Page protectors
Label maker
Dividers
3 hole punch

After gathering all my information and materials, I loaded up the binder with the dividers and page protectors. I'll be dedicating a separate posts about my "misadventure" with the dividers soon (b/c you know I never do anything the easy way)! So there my binder sat. Empty and incomplete. I didn't want my binder to be plain with black and white charts and checklists. I wanted it to be "pretty", with a colorful binder cover and nicely laid out lists and charts. But I didn't know where to start!

Then my prayers were answered when one of my FAVORITE blogs, IHeartOrganizing, posted the Household Binder Challenge! Jen is amazingly organized and the best thing about her... she does it with STYLE! My kind of girl!

Jen created a binder cover, one that you can personalize:

I was so excited, I quickly downloaded and printed it out!

For the month of March, Jen is giving away free printables for IHeartOrganizing's Household Binder challenge. So far, I've been able to snag a few goodies and add sections that I didn't think about to my binder:

Auto Maintenance Log
Finance Checklist (this will be going in my Bills Binder though)
12 Month Calendar
Important Dates
Movie Inventory
Blog Ideas and Checklist

Jen promises more freebies such as a Home Maintenance Checklist, Daily Schedule for the kids (for step in babysitters), Pet Info, Freezer Inventory and Important Contact and Household Information.

You can also go to her Etsy shop to purchase other customizable checklist and templates.

Okay, so remember, these printables are only FREE for the month of March! So even if you're not ready to start your Household Binder, I suggest you go over to IHeartOrganizing and download the templates before they're no longer available! Then whenever you are ready to start the project, you'll have everything ready to go!

I've linked each of the printables to the specific blog posting, but if you want to see ALL of the FREE PDF printables for the binder, check out Jen's sidebar and they'll all be at your fingertips.

And before you ask, no, I'm not getting paid to endorse IHeartOrganizing, I just REALLY HEART Organizing and I TOTALLY Heart Jen's blog! So, get on over to IHeartOrganizing and take the Household Binder Challenge!

I leave you with some images of IHeartOrganizing free printables! They are so P.R.E.T.T.Y. and you know how much I like pretty!

{all images below are from IHeartOrganizing}

Seriously, what are you still doing here!

Linking to the following parties:

Address Book Clean Up!

2011-03-22T17:30:00.003-04:00

Real quick post since I really should be in bed resting from this horrible sinus infection; nothing worse then being 25 weeks pregnant and sick!

The big and NEVER ENDING project of our laundry/home office reno is still going on. Feels like I'm never going to get done before this baby comes. Plus, there are so many other projects on my "TO DO" list. My personal goal for 2011 was to get organized, well actually BACK to being organized and clutter free the house. Before Little Muon, I was an organized fanatic! Funny how a 7 lb 11 oz baby throws your world into chaos and next thing you know, you are closer to being labeled a "hoarder" rather then "organized"!

Before I become TOTALLY overwhelmed with the never ending list of projects, I thought this would be a quick and easy one!

How many of you have address books that look like this? M.E.S.S.Y right?

For obvious privacy concerns, I blurred out personal information. So, no, my address book isn't filled with smudges!

My dear friend Stacy has moved THREE times in the past few years! Every time she does, I cross out the old address and write in the new one in the next entry box. Not only has Stacy taken up more then half the page, but my address book was starting to look like a doodle pad!

I came across a blog that presented a solution to this dilemma, so this isn't something I came up on my own. I can't seem to find the link to the post, so if you know it, please email me so I can give credit where credit is due!

Since I like the binder my address book came in, I didn't want to go out and buy a new one. I got lucky and found this at Target and on clearance!

I just popped out the old pages and popped in the new ones.

Ahhh.... much better!

Next I used some Easy Peel Address Labels from Avery and used Microsoft Word to mail merge all my addresses onto the labels. If you don't know how to mail merge, you can simply type in the addresses using the Label feature in MS Word (mail merge tutorial potentially in the future I think)! I had already created a mail merge data source for my Christmas Cards a while back (which is essentially everyone in my address book) and leads me to wonder why I never thought of this before!

Print, peel and stick. Now my address book looks like this:

Now if Stacy moves again, I can simply create a new label for her and stick it on top of the existing one. No more crossing out old addresses! Well, what do you think? Easy enough? Are you ready to go clean up your address book too?

Office Reno Project: Document Holder

2011-03-08T23:48:00.002-05:00

As you know from my "Laundry/Office Room Renovation - Part 1" post, my big project right now is putting the finishing touches on my newly renovated laundry/office. Big reveal to come, that is, if I ever get done before the baby comes. So much on my "TO DO" list.

Anyway, wanted to share some of the smaller projects I'm working on to "add" to my new office space. This was a quick and easy project, but I loved how it turned out. You really don't need a tutorial for this, but I'd thought I would do one anyway since it never hurts!

I had purchased a plastic thing-a mabobber (no, not the technical term for it) at Staples a while back ago. I think it's supposed to be some sort of literature holder (like for flyers, pamphlets and brochures) for stores, but I wanted to have it to hold my notepads, stamps, frequently referenced documents, etc... I had it sitting on my desk, with the thought of maybe hanging up on the wall someday. But let's face it, this thing looks BORING!

I thought I'd spice it up with some scrapbook paper and Modge Podge. I HEART Modge Podge!

I used scrapbook paper from Prima Papers "Breathe Paper Collection" by Corina Nielson (purchased at Michaels). It's basically a collection of coordinating designs and colors. I'm really into green and blue right now, so that's going to be my new color palette for the office. I used the literature holder as a template and traced the shape onto the scrapbook paper and cut it out.

The holder actually has a removable plastic divider to split each level in half. I'm using the divider for the first two levels (for smaller supplies). That's why you see the piece above cut in half as well.

Using a sponge brush (also purchased at Michaels), I put a layer of Modge Podge over the paper (image side). I then inserted the paper into each section and smoothed out the wrinkles and bubbles. Easy right? Here is the final result. I think it gives a nice pop of color and doesn't look as plastic-y as it did before!

Cost: Free! Yup, I had all these supplies on hand, so I didn't have to spend any money for this quick and easy project. LOVE IT!

For now, it sits here. That is, until I can get the rest of the space together. And then maybe it will find a different home. K, so now are you ready to try your hand at Modge Podge-ing?

Kid Friendly Recipe: Ice Cream Cupcakes

2011-03-07T00:25:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, I dragged Little Muon and the hubby to one of my favorite places, IKEA! I could actually spend the entire day there if given the opportunity. But unfortunately, like most 2 year olds, Taylor DOES NOT have the patience for being cooped up in a shopping cart while mommy drools at all the furniture, containers and possibilities the store has to offer! What's a mom to do? ....Well, negotiate and bribe! I know, it's a horrible tactic, but it works!

"Just 5 more minutes and we can go get some ice cream", I promised Taylor, telling her that we would stop at the food area after we checked out. This time, she looked at me and said, "I want ice cream cupcakes"! I looked at the hubby and said, "now why didn't anyone ever think of something like that"!? Little did I know, that Delish.com had and my hubby had actually saved the recipe on his laptop to share with me!

So we stopped at the grocery store and home we went to make "Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes". Hope you have as much fun as we did making them!

Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes

(image from Delish.com)

Ingredients:

2 pint(s)strawberry ice cream
1 pound cake (store-bought or homemade)
6 teaspoon(s) strawberry jam (oops, I left this out in my picture above)
2 cup(s) heavy cream, chilled
2 tablespoon(s) confectioners' sugar
Sprinkles, for decoration (optional)

Directions:

1. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil cupcake liners. Take the ice cream out of the freezer for 10 minutes to soften enough to make it easy to scoop.

2. Using a serrated knife, cut the pound cake into 6 slices, each about 3/4-inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter, cut 12 rounds from the cake slices. Put a cake round in each muffin cup. (If you don't have a cookie cutter, find a glass that's the right size, and use it as a guide as you cut the rounds with a paring knife. You want the cake rounds to fit in the bottoms of the muffin cups.)

(Shortly after this picture was taken, Taylor decided to taste test the pound cake. And yes, I know, it's not Christmas anymore, but she still fits the shirt!)

Here's what you should have after step #2.

3. Drop 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry jam onto each cake round. Using a 2-inch ice cream scoop, scoop 12 balls of ice cream, dropping them into the muffin cups as you scoop. The scoops should be large enough to peek out over the tops of the muffin cups. Put the muffin tin in the freezer to allow the ice cream to firm up again, at least 20 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Here's what you should have after step #3.

4. Place a metal mixing bowl and the beaters from your electric mixer in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Pour the cream and confectioners' sugar into the chilled bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, begin whipping the cream until it gets very foamy. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat the cream until it forms medium-firm peaks.

5. Remove the muffin tin from the freezer. Gently spoon the whipped cream into a large ziplock bag, remove any excess air, seal the bag, and squeeze the cream over to one side. Snip a small corner off the side of the bag where the cream is, and gently squeeze the bag to pipe the whipped cream on top of each cupcake to resemble frosting. Start around the outer edges and swirl up in the middle.

6. Decorate the tops with sprinkles, if desired, then place the muffin tin back in the freezer until the whipped cream firms up, about 45 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the freezer about 5 minutes before serving.

We had a blast making them!

Mine didn't turn out as "pretty" as the picture from Delish.com, but they were delicious and we had so much fun making them.

Here are some tips I thought I should share:

1) The whip cream was not sweet enough to our liking; tasted too much like milk. I would either double the amount of sugar or use Cool Whip instead!

2) When the directions call for a "large Ziplock bag", this does NOT mean a sandwich size bag. It's not going to be big enough! Actually, the amount of whip cream we made was WAY too much for 6 cupcakes. I'd cut the ingredients in half (except for the sugar, see #1 above).

3) Make sure you explain to your child that the sprinkles are for the CUPCAKES! Not for HER to eat up even before we begin!

Now that I think about it, maybe next time I'll just bribe her with SPRINKLES instead!

Linking this up to the following recipes swaps!

Laundry/Office Room Renovation - Part 1

2011-02-28T22:33:00.003-05:00

Well... there goes my 2011 blogging resolution of posting more frequently. I think this is my 3rd in 2011 so far. Where have I been you ask? Between work, being pregnant, dealing with a VERY SASSY 2 year old, and doing some renovations, I've been E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D. There are times during the day when I think, "this would be great to blog about". Then I get too tired or busy to actually sit down and type up the blog.

Anyway, before I start going on and on, I want to share with you one of the projects hubby and I have been busy with. Last summer, I decided I wanted to finish off the "unfinished" portion of my basement. It WAS, a movie theater room (now a playroom for Little Muon) and off to the side is a 200 square foot laundry/storage room.

Here's are some pictures of the "movie theater" room before it turned into a playroom! Hubby mourned the day he lost his man room. You see what parents do for their kids!

Hubby insisted on getting "movie theater" recliners (with cup holders too)!

The other side of the room. We liked having our friends come over and play board games every once in a while, so the table was perfect in the space!

You can see the door leading into the laundry room on the left side next to the bookshelf. I thought to myself, I could utilize this space so much better. The Plan: Move the bedroom/office downstairs into the basement. Hubby and I called up a basement renovation company who specialized in the installation of a panel wall system that was resistant to moisture. For my little 200 square foot room, the company wanted $20,000! Yes, I said TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS! But the sales guy was going to give me a discount if I allowed the company to put a sign on my lawn. I could have my new laundry room/office for the low, low price of $16,000!

I don't know about you, but I couldn't justify spending $16,000 for only 200 square foot of space. Personally, I would have renovated my kitchen first for this insane amount!

So option #2, call up dad. So the hubby and dad spent last summer framing and putting up drywall. Dad even re-routed the vents so I could get heat in the room! He put up recessed lighting and even gave me a closet!

Here's what the room looked during the renovation. Hubby and dad started the project without letting me take a "BEFORE" picture! I was so upset! Anyway, here is dad starting to frame out the cement walls. Sorry for the crappy quality, hubby took these with his camera phone.

This is the "office" area. Dad and hubby finished the framing and some of the drywall at this point. See my new closet! The other half of the room is my "laundry" area.

With the drywall up, electricity and light ran, Dad decided that between hubby and I, we could finish the rest of the project ourselves. With our funds running low, the project came to a stop. We were left with a half done room.

Here is the laundry area:

My office:

So with the new baby coming, I thought we should kick start the renovation back into full gear! First thing to tackle was the cold, cement floors! And then of course, revamp my closet with some shelving.

In the meantime, this is what my "movie theater" room looked like. Boy, we have a lot of JUNK! Can we say HOARDERS! Hey, don't judge!

Well, that's what I've been up too. Floors and closet are finally done and we're slowly moving things back in (not before going thru EVERY SINGLE ITEM and purging a lot of crap first)! But I'll save that reveal for next time! Here's a sneak peak of the shelves being installed into the closet. You can also see a little bit of the tiles we installed!

Kid Friendly Recipe: Ice Cream Cake

2011-02-04T00:11:00.007-05:00

Taylor loves helping me cook in the kitchen. So tonight, we made an easy Ice Cream Cake together! My friend Kelly from It's All About Priorities originally featured this on her post "Cooking Frenzy".

We had so much fun making this and wanted to share this yummy and fast dish with you.

Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients:
1 box of 12 ice cream sandwiches, any variety (you will use 11 sandwiches)
1 container of Cool Whip
Candy topping of your choice (or crushed cookies, or sliced fruit)

1) Using an 8-inch square pan, put one layer of ice cream sandwiches down . We used Cookies and Cream sandwiches. *The size of the cake varies depending on the size of your ice cream sandwiches*

You may have to break the sandwiches to get the perfect fit.

2) Spread with a layer of Cool Whip.

Resist licking the spoon!

3) Sprinkle with your choice of topping. We used chocolate chips since that's what we had on hand.
I love the intense look on her face, like she's concentrating really hard!

4) Repeat steps 1 thru 3, creating a second layer.

5) Cover with plastic wrap, then foil. Freeze and enjoy for later!

You can be as creative as you want to be. For example, I could have used crushed Oreos to go with the Cookies and Cream sandwiches. Kelly used Neapolitan sandwiches (vanilla, strawberry, and banana ice cream). You can also add fruit toppings like sliced strawberries or bananas as well.

After a long day of work, I really enjoyed spending some special quality time with my baby girl. Thanks Kelly for sharing this delicious recipe. I hope you guys have as much fun as we did making this!

I'm linking this recipe to the following Recipe Link Party:

Project Life 2011

2011-01-11T22:44:00.006-05:00

It's here! It's here! I ordered my Project Life kit about a week ago and it finally came! Happy Dance....

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to begin featuring a blog series in 2011 about my Project Life book. So let me tell you a little about it first and by the end, you'll probably want to go out and get one for yourself too!

Becky Higgins came up with a simple concept. Give wanna-be scrapbookers an easy way to capture the moments in there lives without the "scrapbooking". Yes, I said that correct! Scrapbooking WITHOUT the scrapbooking! In other words - no glue, no techniques, no figuring out layout design.

For someone like me who is a busy working mom and likes the IDEA of scrapbooking, but never can find the time to actually sit down and CREATE a page from scratch, Project Life is the perfect fit. What I really like about Project Life is that it combines my love of pictures and journaling in one.

There are so many great possibilities with Project Life. For example, you can use Project Life to:

Capture a picture a day for an entire year. More on this in another post!
Capture a picture a week for an entire year (much easier, trust me!)
Chronologically order your photos and highlight a handful of pictures from each month per layout.
Feature a theme or event (holidays, trips, birthdays, back-to-school, etc.) per layout or per album.
Or simply organize years and years of old pictures.

Here's a little synopsis from Becky herself. Check out the video. It's a little long, but it gives you a great overview of what Project Life is and everything that is included in the kit.

I ordered the Amber edition:

And here are some of the goodies inside:

I plan on storing my accessories in a little leather box I had laying around. It'll store all my journaling cards, stickers, pens, etc... for easy access.

Here's a shot of my "unfinished" cover page. It's still under construction for now since my printer is out of ink and I really wanted to add a family photo to the cover page. I had some scrapbooking supplies I had laying around and never used! Now I have no excuse!

I plan on using Project Life to feature not only every day life, but highlight our family events, happenings and activities for 2011. I also want to add art projects, special cards, any type of memorabilia to the album as well.

So? Are you ready to go out and get one of your own yet? I hope so! And when you've begun your Project Life journey, be sure to email me and let me know how you plan on utilizing Project Life to capture YOUR LIFE!

Some other informative and creative links about Project Life that may interest you:

Kelly Willette
Flickr Photos of Project Life Albums
Jessica Turner's Mom Creative Blog
Order yours at Amazon.com - They are currently sold out, but be patient new shipments are coming!

I'm BACK and with an Announcement!

2011-01-09T02:46:00.002-05:00

Hello Friends!
Wow! I can't believe 2010 is finally over and 2011 is here. What a year it was. As some of you may have noticed, I've been M.I.A. since October. As you know, I'm a full time working Mama and unfortunately, it takes me away from the family during the end of the year. Fall and winter are my industry's busy time and I've been working like a mad woman! This week, I think I pulled in 60 hours. Hopefully, by February, things will slow down for me and I can get back to enjoying life with my family, working on some organizational projects and craft ideas that have been on my "TO DO" list since the summer time.

I have been brainstorming on some great ideas and excited to share them on upcoming posts. Here are some blog ideas that I want to feature:

De-cluttering & Organizing for 2011 - Feature some spaces that I've been cleaning out and reorganizing.
More of MawMaw's Recipes
Project Life - An easier way of scrapbooking and documenting life! Placed my order last week and so excited to get started and tell you more about it.
Craft Ideas - I love crafting blogs and I really want to challenge myself to creating some of the awesome project I've come across.

2010 began as a rough and scary at the same time. But I truly believe that being strong for each other and keeping the faith carried us through. And towards the end of the year, it brought us many blessings and exciting changes. The biggest change (and my big announcement), Little Muon is going to be a BIG sister!

Trick or Treats? Halloween TREATS!

2010-10-27T00:44:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the M.I.A. I've been swamped at work and have such little time to dedicate to posting.

But I had to dedicate a post to celebrate one of my favorite holidays, Halloween! At work last week, we had a Fall Celebration. Members on our team signed up to bring in a snack or other goodies to share with the others. It was 5 full days of heavenly good food and tons of carbs! I'll have to work extra hard at my New Year's Resolution of losing weight... again!

Anyway, here are my "Fall Celebration Cupcakes". I didn't have time to make anything fancy, so I used cake mix from a box. Bought some candy corn pumpkins (really just pure sugar shaped as pumpkins), but they added that special pizazze that I was looking for! Oh, and the frosting was also store bought. I "Martha Stewart" it up a bit by putting the frosting in a plastic bag, cutting a hole in the corner and piping out the frosting in a beautiful little mound of delicious chocolate. Start from the outside and rotate your wrist in towards the center. So easy and pretty!

Have a Happy Halloween!

I ran out of frosting towards the end and had to scrape the bag for left overs, hence the sad looking cupcake on the bottom right hand side. Don't mind him!

Not Super Mom.

2010-09-26T01:02:00.003-04:00

The blog world is pretty new to me and it's opened up a whole new world of ideas and inspiration! I usually follow blogs about organizing, crafting, parties, and cooking (just to name a few). As much as I love following and reading these blogs, sometimes they make me feel like a bad mom and wife.

Let me explain. Most of these organizing blogs are written by stay at home moms. Not only do these "Super Moms" have the patience to be at home EVERY.DAY with their kids, but they provide educational crafts and projects for them. On top of that they keep their houses immaculently clean, make home cooked, nutritional meals, are beautifully made up, and make extra money for their family by having a successful blog! Atleast that's what it seems like to me. By the way, none of the description above apply to me!

I'm a full time working mom. During my industry's busy season, I work 50 - 60 hours a week. There have been days where I work from 9 am - 8pm, come home to spend a little time with the hubby and Little Muon and then log back online to work until 3 am! I don't cook any meals that require more then 30 minutes, my house always needs some sort of dusting or cleaning, there is always a ton of laundry to either wash, fold or put away and you'll usually find me sporting a pony tail and no makeup!

Inevitably, these Super Moms always seem to post on their blog about their day to day routine in the hopes of giving you tips and ideas on how to run a clean, organized household. One Super Mom said that she cleaned and washed her kitchen and bathroom floors everyday (haha, yeah right))! Some suggest doing one load of laundry everyday. And one even had time to make a home cooked dinner, help her kids do homework, bathe them, and have family time before putting her kids down for bed by 7pm. Um, I'm usually leaving work at 7pm!

So I thought I'd write my own version of tips and ideas on running a household... minus the super powers!

1) Mahalo for Leaving Your Shoes at the Door - That's the sign hanging on the wall as you enter my house. This is my first line of defense in fighting and reducing dirt that enters the house. Have you ever looked at the bottom of your shoes? Yuck! Not only do shoes bring in unneccessary dirt, but they can track in residual pesticides from the outdoors. I read one study that showed that indoor shoe-wearing was a larger source of children’s pesticide exposures than eating non-organic fruits and vegetables!

2) Vacuum high traffic areas EVERY DAY... well my Roomba does anyway!

Although the no shoes rules help reduce the amount of dirt that comes in the house, it can't be totally avoided. I have 3 dogs that track in plenty of their own dirt. Since the dogs don't wear shoes and can't leave them at the door, my Roomba has become my best friend. I'm sure you've seen the commercials and have always wondered "is it worth it"? Roomba's are not cheap, but trust me, they are worth it! I bought mine on HSN. You can opt to spread out your payments to help with the cost. I don't have time to vacuum everyday, but my Roomba can! I turn it on before leaving for work and have nice dirt free floors when I come home!

3) Slow Cooking is fast cooking

Have you ever been so exhausted after a long day of work that cooking is the last thing on your mine? Well, I have one of these days atleast once a week. Eating out can get expensive, so enter my second best friend, the slow cooker! We try to do at least one slower cooker meal a week. There are so many things you can cook with a slower cooker: pork chops, roast beef, enchilladas, even a cake! There's even a blog out there about a family who only cooked with the slower cooker for a year! McCormick even sells seasoning packets especially for slow cooking. All you have to do is add the main ingredients and mix!

4) Never leave a messy kitchen - I don't wash my kitchen floors everyday. But I do make it a rule to never leave dirty dishes in the sink. After dinner, while one of us gets Taylor ready for bed, the other cleans up. This means, loading the dishes in the dishwasher, washing and drying any pots and pans, wrapping up leftovers and wiping down the counter tops and stove.  With our hectic schedule, leaving clean up for the next day can easily allow the mess to get out of control!

5)  Pick a room, any room - Like I said, there is always something in my house that needs to be dusted or vacuumed. And since I'd rather spend my weekends with the family then cleaning, I break it up throughout the rest of the week.  I'm not saying I clean a room every day, but say I'm in the bathroom washing my hands. I'll go ahead and take an extra 5 minutes wiping down the mirror and sink and scrubbing the toilet. For cleaning duties that require a little more time, like washing floors, I leave that as my weekend option.  I might wash the kitchen floor on Saturday and bathrooms floors on Sundays. But since I maintain the kitchen regularly and do quick cleanings during the weekday, I can just focus on the floors rather then the entire room.

6)  Leave a room with atleast one item - In my crazy household, things aren't always where they're supposed to be.  So whenever I leave a room, I always make sure I take atleast one item that doesn't belong and put it back where it's supposed to be. For example, I always bring a cup of water to bed at night. In the morning, before I leave the bedroom, I always take the cups with me. Otherwise, I'd eventually run out of cups!

7) Don't be a junk mail Junkie- I was dog watching for my sister while she was on vacation for a week. The amount of junk mail she got in that week was insane! It made me realize how quickly this stuff can pile up. That's why every night I do a quick look at the incoming mail and immediatly throw out or shred any type of junk mail. If you're like me, you probably get a lot of catalogs too. I rarely keep catalogs that come to my house. If I don't usually shop at a store, then I throw out the catalog immediately. If it's something I'm interested, I might keep it to skim through, but also trash it within a day or two. If I see something I like, then I write it down and go online to order it.

Well, those are a few things to control the chaos and mess in my house. I don't have super powers and am far from being a "Super Mom", but hopefully, you found some of these tips and ideas useful. Good night!

I was featured on Sara's Party Perfect!

2010-09-10T17:52:00.000-04:00

I am a loyal reader of the blog, Sara's Party Perfect. I love all the creative parties that are featured here and it's a great place for inspirational kid parties!

Back in May, I emailed Sara when I was planning Little Muon's Nemo themed 2nd birthday. Sara features "Reader's Questions" on her blogs and I got so many great responses and ideas from other followers.

I thought it would be nice to show Sara pictures from the party and thank the readers who responded to my question. I emailed Sara and totally forgot about it. Well, just a couple of days ago, I received an email back from Sara saying she had blogged about my Nemo party on her blog! Check it out here!

Okay, okay, she spelled my name wrong (it's not Nuong) and she didn't put a link back to my blog, but I'm still happy that she took the time to dedicate a post to my Nemo party. Being new to the blogging world, beggers can't be choosers. And I'm not going to nit pick about the details!

I was featured on Save the Date for Cupcakes!

2010-08-18T16:05:00.006-04:00

My Blue and Green "Beachy" Dessert Table was featured on Save the Date for Cupcake's blog today! WHOO HOO! My first feature! I am so excited. Stop into Save the Date and check out all inspirational dessert table and party ideas.

MawMaw's Recipe Corner: Coconut Dream Pie

2010-08-17T00:40:00.010-04:00

When I first met my husband, he would always rave about his "MawMaw's" cooking. My husband's family come from West Virginia and MawMaw was known for her good ole' Southern cooking, especially her desserts! The hubby would rave on and on about his grandmother's Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Homemade this and that. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

By the time I met MawMaw, she was well into her late 80s and had stopped baking and cooking. But my husband's aunts continued to make some of MawMaw's favorite dishes.

On my first visit to meet the family, my hubby's aunt had made MawMaw's Coconut Dream Pie. When I opened the fridge and saw a big mound of yumminess topped with coconut, I was in heaven! And when I took my first bite, I fell over. DELICIOUS! After I picked myself up from the floor, I made the hubby ask MawMaw for the recipe.

When my husband was growing up and MawMaw used to make this pie for him, he thought it was MawMaw's very own special recipe! When he asked MawMaw for the recipe that day, she said, "Look on the back of a Dream Whip box!" We later learned that many of MawMaw's "special recipes" came from the paper or magazines or even pudding boxes! Regardless, before we left that day, we had a small collection of MawMaw's recipes.

I've only made a few of MawMaw's recipes, but I'd like to be able to start trying out the rest of the collection (which is sitting in a folder waiting to be organized). So I thought I'd get the project started by featuring a few of MawMaw's recipes here on my blog. My first "MawMaw's Recipe Corner" post will naturally be of MawMaw's famous Coconut Dream Pie. When hubby and I make one of MawMaw's dishes, it always brings some very special memories back for him. I guess that's why he loved eating her food so much. In the end, we realized that MawMaw did add her very own secret ingredient in all her dishes... love.

So here it is, MawMaw's Coconut Dream Pie:
(wish I had a better picture of this, but trust me, it's YUMMO! )

MAWMAW'S COCONUT DREAM PIE

Ingredients
2 env. Dream Whip whipped topping mix
2 3/4 c. cold milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 (4 oz.) pkgs. instant pudding mix, vanilla
1 baked 9" pie shell, cooled or 1 graham cracker or chocolate crust
1 small tub of Cool Whip
2 cups shredded coconut

Directions
1) Beat Dream Whip mix with 1 cup of milk and vanilla in large bowl with mixer on high for about 6 minutes until thick and forms peaks.
Warning: Don't overbeat. It will change the consistency of the mixture.

2) Add remaining milk and the pudding mix; blend on low. Beat on high for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

3) Spoon into pie shell

4) Top Cool Whip over pudding mixture. Sprinkle with coconut.

5) Chill at least 4 hours.

Surprise Bridal Shower - Part 3: The Panty Poem

2010-08-10T01:45:00.012-04:00

Last post from Yung's Bridal Shower. Yung and Brad live in a small apartment with not much storage areas, so they opted not to register. They pretty much have everything they need "household" wise anyway. And because Yung LOVES lingerie, we decided to go with lingerie/panty themed gifts. Jessica Weiss wrote a bridal shower panty poem for her best friend's shower that prepared the bride with a pair of panty for certain marriage milestones. I found the poem here and decided to have each guests read a verse from the poem before presenting their corresponding "panty" gift. It was so much fun for both guests and bride to be!

Here is the poem with the corresponding "panty":
We friends have a secret to share
About our little bride
She is obsessed with underwear
And that we cannot hide.

So for out little panty queen
We'll make her feel just fine
By working as a friendly team
To form a panty line.

Yung, these undies are to last you
All throughout your life
And Brad will be pleased to say
He has a sexy wife!

So listen up to hear about
Your lifelong panty plan
These underwear, we have no doubt
Will last your whole life span.

The first are for your wedding day
Of coure they are pure white
We know Brad will shout, "Hooray!"
When he sees you on that night.

(Bridal Whites)

The next are for your honeymoon
They're sexy and all lace
We hope you'll leave your hotel room
'Cause the Dominican's a gorgeous place!

(Sexy Lace)

On Valentine's you'll wear this pair
Before you hit the bed
Cuz Cupid's arrow in the air
Shoots tushies that are red

(Red for V-Day)

After a year has passed you'll face
Anniversary number one
With these you'll surely have a blast
'Cuz leopard's so much fun!

(Leopard print)

Then when the time is right for you
And don't be saying, "Maybe"
You'll wear your little pink or blue
In honor of your baby

(Pink for a girl and Blue for a boy)

And when your years of wedding bliss
Become the big 2-5
Don't worry - you'll just slip this on
To keep the sparks alive

(Silver sexy full cut)

When finally you're old and gray
With these you can't go wrong
'Cuz sorry Yung but at that age
You just can't wear a thong

(Granny panties)

I loved how each guest had their own interpretation of the "panty" for their assigned verse. I think Yung is set in the underwear department! Give this fun game a try at your next shower!

Surprise Bridal Shower - Part 2: The Food Table

2010-08-10T00:37:00.004-04:00

Wanted to share with you some more photos of Yung's Bridal Shower. As you can tell, alot of my planning went into planning and designing The Dessert Table. To keep me from literally pulling my hair out from stress, I decided to keep everything else low key. So that I wasn't spending even more time in the kitchen, I made the shower a potluck. The guests really came thru and had some delicious and wonderful dishes to share.

I had a table cloth I had bought from Ikea two summer ago just sitting in storage waiting to be used. I finally had the opportunity to break it out.

I made these "Martha Stewart" inspired poms from this tutorial. I made them in two different sizes. Smaller greens ones for the dessert table and larger blue and green ones for the food table. Here's a tip, buy the tissue paper from Walmart. They have a good selection of colors and they're only $1 or $2 per pack (depending on the color). Much cheaper then Michaels and better colors then what the Dollar Store had to offer. I wish I could have hung the poms from the ceiling, but they were really HIGH and I didn't feel like falling that day! I got the blue paper lanterns at Micheals in the summer clearance section for .49 cents each. Can't beat that!

My sister found these adorable sea shell place card holders on clearance at Michaels as well. They were perfect for the food labels and fit with the "beach" theme. Oh and do you spy the blue buckets I reused from Taylor's 2nd birthday and Easter party? And those blue bowls in the pic above were also from Little Muon's 2nd birthday. I love being able to reuse supplies from other parties!

One last shot of The Food Table.

Thanks again ladies for all the yummy dishes you brought to share!

Surprise Bridal Shower - Part 1: The Dessert Table

2010-08-09T01:22:00.005-04:00

My long time childhood friend, Yung, is getting married next week! I'm super excited for her and am so happy she has finally found her "happily ever after" with a wonderful guy. In celebration of the big day, my sister and I threw Yung a surprise bridal shower! Yung is practically a sister to Trang and I and has always been there for us and this was our opportunity to finally thank her for being such a fantastic friend.

Since Yung is getting married on the beautiful beaches of the Dominican Republic, I went with a "beachy" theme. And if you've been a follower of my blog, you know that I really like to focus on color rather then making obvious, over the top statements with the decor. So my colors were green and blue with touches of "beach".

When I started planning Taylor's 1st birthday, I discovered the blog world. I found some fantastic party blogs and have gotten my ideas and inspiration from this community of creative bloggers. The latest craze in the party blog world right now is the "dessert tables"; the most famous of them all being Amy Atlas. She is absolutely amazing and so creative! Yung's bridal shower gave me the opportunity to FINALLY do my own dessert table. So I set out to make a chocolate dessert table, inspired by the blue and green colors.

I was so happy with the way it turned out. And I think Yung was too. So many thanks to my sister for her graphic design talents and helping me with the planning and cooking. We had many late nights, but it was so worth it!

Here are some pictures... taken by none other then Trang Dam Photography.

Trang designed the sign and goodie bags.

We made caramel candy pretzel sticks and chocolate dipped pretzels.

Oreo Dipped Chocolates...mmmmm. Exactly like the Oreo Lollipops I made for Taylor's birthday, minus the lolli!

By the way, I had been eyeing a square cakestand like FOREVER. But only could find them online and super expensive! I went to one of my all time fav store, HomeGoods, and found this one for $12.99! Can't beat that! I added the green ribbon for a touch of green!

Chocolate seashells...

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries...

Trang and I found that awesome P A R T Y platter at a consignment shop on one of our shopping excursions. I fell in LOVE with it when I saw it! We filled the letters with Hershey Kisses.

Can you believe that table cloth came from Goodwill... new in packaging! I also scattered some blue and green glass marbles (from the Dollar Store) on the table as well as sea shells from my own collection. These small touches really brought the table together.

Finally, the delicious cake... Giant Food better cream! How cute is this cake!

Along with the goodie bags, guests took home these adorable flip flop luggage tags. These came in handy for those that were going with the happy couple to the Dominican.

To go over the dessert table, I made a "Sweet Love" bunting out of scrapbook paper. I made a circular version of this for Taylor's 2nd birthday.

Yung, I hope you had a great time. Congratulations and much love to you and Brad.

Taylor's 2nd Birthday - Part 4: Thank You Cards

2010-08-08T22:58:00.005-04:00

One more post about Taylor's 2nd Birthday. Finally getting around to sending out thank you cards. My talented sister designed the thank you cards. These will be going out to all the wonderful family and friends who helped us celebrate out baby becoming a toddler!

Love that it follows our Nemo theme! See the invitation here.

Check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of Taylor's 2nd Birthday.

100 Things to Do for Great Summer Photos

2010-08-04T01:47:00.005-04:00

Wow! It's August already and summer is almost over. The older I get, the faster time seems to go by. What have you done this summer?

Kelly Willette from willettedesigns.com has a fantastic freebie: a list of 100 things to do for great summer photos. The premise is simple: spend your summer with your kiddos (or for those who don't have any, your friends) doing some of these fun activities AND a camera. These activities are great ways to spend a lazy summer day and the opportunity to capture memorable summer photos.

Here are some of my favorites from her list:
1) Go to the beach.
2) Build a sand castle.
3) Visit a local museum.
4) Have a sleepover.
5) Make home-made ice cream.
6) Blow bubbles.
7) Press summer flowers.
8) Play outside in the rain (or sprinkler and hose).
9) Create a nature journal of what you find in your yard.
10) Write a letter to a soldier overseas.
11) Make banana splits.
12) Have a water balloon fight.
13) Watch all your old family movies on a rainy day.
14) Create a scavenger hunt.
15) Tie dye t-shirts!

Here are some of the things we've done so far this summer:

Turned TWO years old!

Went to the beach:

Blew and caught bubbles:

Blew out candles, just for the pure enjoyment, on Uncle Dave's birthday, mommy's birthday and Grandma's birthday!

Had a family picnic at the park:

Got some fishies!

Got a "big" girl bed:

Went to the pool... ALOT!

Made music with all of mommy's metal bowls:

Had a GI procedure done (what a sad day):

As well as laughed, sang, and danced alot! Check out Kelly's site and grab your list of 100 things to do and finish off your summer with some great photos!

Taylor's 2nd Birthday - Part 3: Dipped Oreo Suckers

2010-07-22T23:36:00.009-04:00

I've been meaning to write this post as a part of my "Taylor's 2nd Birthday" series, but somehow time got away from me. Well, I finally got around to posting it! In case you're interested, Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

I wanted to share with you my new favorite party treat idea, Dipped Oreo Cookie Suckers. I found this at one of my favorite new sites, HowDoesShe.com. It is so full of fun and creative ideas. I wish I had more time and a vinyl cutter machine (check the site out and you'll know what I mean) to try my hand at a few of the projects. But when I spied this tutorial on their site, I thought, "I could do that"!

It is so easy and so yummy! Here's what you need:
1) Oreos
2) Lollipop sticks
3) Melting Chocolate
4) Sprinkles
5) Lollipop bags
6) Bag ties or ribbons

Believe it or not, you can get all these items at Walmart. One stop shopping I tell ya!

I used Golden Oreos for mine. OMG! These cookies by themselves are DELICIOUS! Dip them in chocolate and sprinkles, and you've got a little bit of heaven....

My first attempt at these were at Taylor's Easter Egg Hunt that she hosted with her little friend Cameron back in April. Walmart had colored melting chocolates that were Easter inspired. I picked up a bag of yellow and orange. The orange I saved for Taylor's birthday party. Always thinking ahead! I also found a spool of Easter ribbon for .99! And you probably can't tell, but the sprinkles were even Easter inspired! See the little bunny rabbit ears? So adorable! The little blue bucket, I found in dollar bin at Target, which I later reused at Taylor's birthday party as well. What can I say, I'm a thrifty mom!

I made a batch for Taylor's birthday that followed the Nemo inspired color theme, orange and blue.

Give them a try. I promise you won't be disapointed! Send me pictures of your creation! Enjoy!

Ah-B

2010-07-07T14:58:00.002-04:00

Wubby, blankie, banky, lambie... there are a ton of names for security blankets. Taylor has named hers "Ah-B". Pronounced exactly how it sounds. We can never leave the house or go to bed without it. Taylor cuddles and hugs Ah-B like it's a real person. It must be a comfort mechanism, but Taylor also likes to pull and pick at Ah-B, causing huge holes. She also likes to wrap the strings around her feet and fingers. We've replaced Ah-B twice already, worried that the damaged Ah-B could potentiall create a safety issue.

Here is Ah-B #1. Notice the huge hole. We replaced it because we were afraid she would get wrapped up in the hole.

Here is Ah-B #2. Not even 2 weeks old, Taylor managed to pull it apart already.

I don't have a picture of Ah-B #3, but Taylor wasn't interested in it at all. She has proclaimed it to be "Not Ah-B" and tossed it aside in defiance! Kids!

Taylor's 2nd Birthday - Part 2: Friends & Family

2010-06-29T00:23:00.005-04:00

I blogged about the party details in my last post, so here are some pictures of Taylor's guests.

Taylor and her Grandmother (my mom):

Taylor and her Paw-Paw (hubby's dad):

Taylor and her Godmother Tina:

Taylor with my parents and cousin Josh. He's such a cutie!

Taylor with her cousin Alivia and Kala:

Some of our friends who helped us celebrate!

Thanks to my awesome sister for her gorgeous photos!

One last shot of the birthday girl blowing out her candles!

Taylor's 2nd Birthday - Part 1: Finding Nemo

2010-06-28T01:15:00.016-04:00

* Warning: This post is photo heavy. Please give images time to load. *

June has gone by so quickly and this is only my second post of the month. It's been a busy month and I've neglected my blog for a few weeks. Let's try finishing June up by recapping Taylor's 2nd birthday!

When I was trying to decide where to have Taylor's birthday, two things came into consideration:

1) Budget - I was working on a very tight budget and didn't want to blow it on the venue. Besides, you don't have to spend a fortune to have a memorable and fun birthday!

2) Location - My house was not an option since my dad and hubby were doing a small remodeling job. My unfinished laundry room was being revamped into a new office/craft room. Dust was everywhere and the playroom was now a storage room. I needed a place where the kids could run free and wild! A bunch of kids in small spaces STRESS me out. That's why I hate Chuck 'E Cheese so much!

Since the theme was "Finding Nemo" (see the invitation here), I originally had planned the party at the local pool. After doing the math, it just didn't seem budget friendly. So we decided to have it at the park where Taylor and the hubby go to a lot. It has 2 fantastic playgrounds with the ground made of foam! There was a pavillion with tables. And the best part, it was free!

Here's a pic of the larger playground.

It was hot and windy that day! The Happy Birthday banner I made kept getting blown away, so we opted to hang it low on the benches. I made these out of scrapbook paper and blue/orange ribbons. So easy!

Even though it was a Finding Nemo theme, I didn't want to over due it by buying everything Nemo at the party store. So I tried to make the focus on the colors with splashes of Nemo in between. My talented sister designed the stickers for the goodie bags.

I found adorable miniture toys of Nemo characters on Ebay and used them to decorate the table. I loved how the bags turned out!

I also kept the contents of the goodie bag simple. Goodies included: sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and candy! My best buy: a tub of 60 sidewalk chalk for $4.99 at Jo-Ann Fabric. After using my 40% coupon, it costs $2.99. I divided the chalk out into little baggies for each child.

During Easter, I found small blue buckets in Target's Dollar Bin. I knew they would come in handy!

And because it was so windy, they also became napkin holders!

I also tried to keep the menu simple, yet kid friendly. For the adults, a choice of shredded pork BBQ sandwiches or roast beef sandwiches. For the kids, chicken nuggets or PBJ sandwiches or ham & cheese sandwiches. I also offered a fruit salad, a pasta salad, a veggie platter, rice krispie treats and Goldfish crackers or pretzels.

My fish cookie cutter came in handy! I used it on the ham & cheese sandwiches ...

and on the orange and blue sprinkled rice krispie treats!

I got this 3 tiered serving tray a long time ago, but it gets used at every one of my parties!

I wanted to give some height to Taylor's cake so I used an old wooden box, wrapped it with blue birthday paper and voila, an easy and inexpensive platform. Before the cake came out, I used it as a serving area for the crackers.

And here's the cake's turn on the platform.

Blue bowls I found at Party City and Target for the fruit salad and pasta salad. Yummy!

Taylor had so much fun running around and being with her friends! I'll leave you with a pic of the birthday girl enjoying a birthday cupcake!

Happy Birthday Taylor! Mommy loves you so much!

Next posts will include photos of our guests!

* I'm linking this to the following linky parties:

Aunt Lan's Famous Mini-Cheesecake

2010-06-02T20:57:00.001-04:00

My Aunt Lan will be turning the BIG 5-0 this month! She's such a generous and caring woman that I wanted to dedicate this post to her today. Aunt Lan is the Asian Martha Stewart! She cooks, bakes, sews, throws great parties and is always there when you need her. For example, when we were planning our big friends and family baby shower, Aunt Lan stepped up and offered to cater the entire thing as a gift! We had over 50 people at the party and the food was incredible!

Just to give you an idea of Aunt Lan's delicious desserts, here are a few photos. Feast your eyes on these, but be prepared to salivate!

The cake for Little Muon's Baby Shower.

A close up of the adorable baby on top.

Strawberry Tarts.... yummmmmmm

And last, but certainly not least (and my favorite of them all), Aunt Lan's Famous Mini-Cheesecake. If there's a party, these babies are on the dessert menu!

In honor of Aunt Lan turning 50, I'm going to share the recipe for her famous mini-cheesecake. Thanks Aunty for all the love that goes into every dish you create! Happy 50th Birthday!

Aunt Lan's Mini-Cheesecake

Ingredients:
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp melted butter

2 (8oz) cream cheese, softened ( leave at room temp and they'll soften right up)
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs (5 if small egss)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 can cherry pie filling

Directions:
1) In a small bowl, combine melted butter, sugar and graham cracker crumbs.
2) Press graham cracker mixture into bottom of lined muffin tin.
3) Preheat oven 350 degrees.
4) With a mixer, beat cream cheese.
5) Add sugar, eggs (one at a time) and vanilla. Do not over beat!
6) Pour into muffin cups.
7) Bake for 20 mins. Let them cool. Top with cherry pie filling.

Makes about a dozen.

Look Back Saturday: Water Baby Playdate

2010-05-29T20:31:00.002-04:00

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Let's take the time to remember all the men and women who have fallen protecting our freedom and way of life. The hubby served in the U.S. Navy for 8 years and I am proud and thankful for his service to our country.

Well, it's the 3rd posting in my "Look Back Saturday" series. This picture was taken May 31, 2009. Believe it or not, I didn't have a photo from May 29.

Taylor and I hosted a water playdate with some close friends. The kids were still pretty young, so I opted for a little splash pad and water table instead of a baby pool. They kids had so much fun! Here is Taylor and her friend Cameron. Cameron is about 6 weeks younger then Taylor, but he's much bigger and taller. When I look back at this picture it makes me think of a child's innoncence. This is a hard post for me to write because it makes me worry what kind of world she is going to have to grow up in. Let's face it, today's world forces kids to grow up faster then they should and I know that I can't protect her from everything. I just hope that I raise her with good values so that she can make good decisions on her own. Guess that's the best any parent can do. Sorry for keeping this post short, like I said, this is a hard one for me.

Sneaky Fruits & Veggies!

2010-05-26T23:51:00.004-04:00

If you know anything about Taylor, you'd know that she is a VERY finicky eater! She loves her carbs: tater tots, french fries, hash browns, rice and pasta. She'll indulge in chicken nuggets and fruits once in a while, but vegetables will not pass her mouth. A friend suggested giving her V8 juices which offers a full serving of fruits and vegetables. I thought it was brillant! Until I realized, Taylor doesn't drink juice either (she's a water or milk kinda gal). Needless to say, it's a stressful situation for me b/c I feel like she's missing out on an entire food group!

With the weather becoming warmer, Taylor has enjoyed the occasional popsicles we give her. While we were at the Dollar Store this past weekend, the hubby spied one of those popsicle molds so you can make them at home. Then I had an idea! Turn the vegetables into popsicles!

We started off with some orange juice (for the fruit) and V8 (for both fruits and veggies).

Pour into the popsicle mold, freeze and voila! Fruit and veggies on a stick! Much cheaper then the store bought version and much healthier too!

Taylor seems to enjoy it and mom is happy that she's finally eating her fruits and veggies!

Look Back Saturday: Blossoming

2010-05-24T20:50:00.006-04:00

My second "Look Back Saturday" posts and I'm already a few days behind. Better late then never I guess. So let's pretend I posted this on Saturday May 22, 2010.

Here's #2 in the series: May 22, 2009

This picture was taken at my mother's house on a beautiful spring evening, right before the sun was about to set. My mother LOVES gardening and during this particular year, her peonies had blossomed so beautifully. When I look at this picture I think of my parents and how much they too have blossomed and changed since Little Muon was born.

When I was pregnant, I promised myself that Taylor would have a relationship with her grandparents since I either never met or did not have a close relationship with my own. I make an effort to have Taylor visit with my parents at least once a week. It's been amazing watching them interact with her. Growing up, my parents were not the affectionate type. The first kiss I remember my father ever giving me was on my wedding day after he walked me down the aisle. And the kiss was under the instruction of the preacher! Even to this day, it sometimes feels a little awkward to hug my parents.

I guess as they've gotten older and are no longer raising a family, the daily stresses of life has changed alot for them. It's amazing to watch them shower Taylor with kisses and hugs when my sister and I really never had that kind of relationship with them. Like the flowers, my parents have blossomed into wonderfully, loving grandparents. Upon reflection, I realize that the day our Little Muon was born, we all were thrown into a new role in life and have blossomed into a mother, a father, a grandmother, a grandfather, an aunt or an uncle. How amazing that one tiny human being can bring upon so many wonderful new changes and adventures to an entire family!

Little Muon & A Big Red Truck!

2010-05-20T21:23:00.008-04:00

When I first became pregnant, none of my close friends had kids (actually, they still don't). I didn't think they would be able to relate to stories of sleepless nights, screaming babies and the excitement of a poopy diaper (really, i'm being serious)! Plus, since I was new to this whole "mommy" gig, I really wanted to find a way to connect and learn from other mothers. I googled "mommy group" and up popped Meetup.com.

Meetup is a site where you can find a network of local groups. Are you new to the area, interested in photography, gardening, or whatever? Meetup probably has a group that's just right for you. And no, it's not about meeting a bunch of strangers online. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. Yup, FACE TO FACE! And that's how I found the local Mommy Groups in my area.

I've met some really great friends thru these groups and they've helped me feel not so alone in my new role as a mom. Plus, it's a great opportunity for Taylor to interact and socialize with kids her age. Unfortunately, these groups are usually catered to stay at home moms, but Daddy is willing to step in for me on occasions.

My Ellicott City Mommy Group hosted a visit to the firestation today. Taylor and Daddy had a great time! Here are some pics from today's outing:

And one last one that had me laughing. Taylor is in this phase where she HATES getting her picture taken. Dad blames it on us taking too many photos of her and scarring her for life from a camera!

Sneak Peak: Taylor's turning 2!

2010-05-19T17:07:00.010-04:00

A sneak peak at Taylor's 2nd birthday. Can you guess the theme? I'm loving the invitation! Thanks to my 'lil sis for coming up with such a great design. Click on the image to view larger.

Look Back Saturday: Miss Sassy

2010-05-15T21:54:00.004-04:00

Since Taylor's been born, I've made sure that I've taken atleast one picture a week of her. I know, a little excessive, but pictures can be pretty powerful. They capture a moment in time that can evoke feelings and emotions that you may have forgotten, bring back a smile or laughter and sometimes even a few tears.

I want to create a weekly post called "Look Back Saturday". I know, it's not a great name, but it's a pretty basic concept; I'll post a picture of Tayls from this week LAST year and share my thoughts and feelings on what the picture is about.

Here's the first in the series: May 17, 2009

Taylor is 11 months old here, getting ready for her first birthday in about 3 weeks. She's been walking for about 2 months already and has become pretty good at it (even though she gets unbalanced easily). As you can tell, she also has her two upper and two lower teeth. I love this picture because you can really see her personality coming thru. It's not a great shot, but she's already becoming Miss Sassy! We were playing in the basement when I took this picture. She was walking every where and wouldn't sit still. Several attempts were made to climb the stairs (thanks to grandma who had been teaching her this whenever we go to visit). I should have known that once Taylor became mobile, it was no stopping her.

Taylor will be turning 2 years old in a few weeks and this picture makes me feel a little sad. I can't believe how fast time has gone by! She's changed so much in a year. Physically, she is still a very petite little girl, but so rambunctious and energetic. She loves to dance, jump, and run. She is so incredibly loving. When she gives me or her dad a hug, it seems like she's cradling our face in her hands and gives us the biggest, most loving embrace. She's still very sassy and is no stranger to the time out corner! She is constantly changing and learning every day. She is quite the chatter box and sometimes I have to stop and ask her where she learned to say that word. I am amazed that she can verbally interact with us now. It makes my heart melt whenever I hear her say "I love dya".

I love dya too Taylor!

Shadowing: Baby E's Photo Session

2010-05-10T17:06:00.028-04:00

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I've always been interested in photography. My father LOVED to take photos of us growing up. My mother kept every single photo and neatly organized them. I would spend hours going thru photo albums, smiling, laughing and remembering all those wonderful moments that Dad captured. But, I never took photography on as a serious hobby until Taylor came along. I wanted to give her the same gift my parents gave to me; capturing her life thru the lens. And hopefully, one day, when she is older, she too gets the same warm feeling I get whenever I open a photo album.

My sister, Trang has been teaching me about photography; taking pictures on manual vs. auto, lighting, composition, texture, etc... It's a lot harder then it looks. I've had the privilege of "shadowing" her on a few photo sessions. This allows me to practice my photography skills as the second shooter. This past weekend, I was able to shadow at Baby E's 1 year old photo session. What a doll!

Some of Trang's images below. See her blog about E's session here.

Here are some of my shots. Mom and Baby E are so photogenic!

Mom has an affinity for feet. I thought it was a strange request at first, but I'm actually digging this shot.

And nothing like matching pink shoes! Happy Birthday Baby E!

A New Appreciation for Mother's Day

2010-05-09T10:44:00.007-04:00

Happy Mother's Day! I hope everyone enjoyed this very special day. I didn't realize how special it was until I became a mommy myself. Seriously, I'm not being bias! I've always had a rocky relationship with my mother. I think it's because we are so much alike! All this changed the day Taylor was born. I now felt all the fears, worries, hopes and dreams for my Little Muon that my mother must have felt for me. And I finally understood why she was always pushing me so hard to be better, work harder and aim higher. I thought it was her being overly critical, but now I know it's because she only wanted me to have a better life then she did. And being a mom to Taylor made me understand that same desire. So today's post is dedicated to my mother. Thank you so much for all that you've done and continue to do! I love you mom!

Role Reversal!

2010-05-08T23:37:00.002-04:00

I am lucky to have a very close relationship with my sister, Trang. Although we are different in a lot of ways, we're also alike in many others. Not to mention, she ALWAYS laughs at my jokes because we have the same silly sense of humor. I'm proud to call her my best friend. I've blogged about her in the past (here, here and here) and her many talents; many of which I've used to my own advantage! She has been capturing beautiful images of Taylor since she was born, so when she asked me to do a photosession for HER, I was more then excited... and nervous. I'm an amateur photographer, but have never really taken it seriously as a hobby until Taylor was born. Trang's been teaching me her skills so that I can take better photos of Taylor myself. This role reversal would be a true test of what I've learned so far, but Trang is so gorgeous that it's hard to take a bad photo of her. Here are some of my favs.

Blessed

2010-05-08T15:28:00.007-04:00

I am so blessed with such a wonderful family. This includes extended family as well. As financially ready as you try to be, you don't realize how expensive kids are until you have one. When it came time to look for daycare, I knew it would be as much as my monthly mortgage! Thank goodness for my Aunt Lan who recommended her sister in law. Taylor has practically grown up with Co Nga and sees her as her Grandmother #2. She is tripley spoiled between my family, daddy's family and Co Nga's family. I am truly thankful that my daughter has so many people in her life that love her. Wanted to share a post from Lynn (Co Nga's daughter) about Taylor. It made me want to cry!

Here's a snippet of the post:

Drove about 40 minutes to get home and it was all worth it!! I love Taylor. She excitedly ran to the door with a big smile on her face and screaming. (Brings back memories of grandma...not the screaming lol, but grandma would always be at the door when I came home from school and greet me with a big hug. =) ) Walked in the house, didn't even take my shoes off yet and she had her arms up for me to pick her up...so I did. And out of nowhere, she gives me a kiss. How can you not love her? She followed me around, tried to put on my heels and walk, and when I stood still she'd come by and hug my leg. I didn't want to leave, but I had to get to class. She gave me a kiss before I left, and wouldn't let my mom hold her. She just held onto me and wouldn't let go. haha. When I did leave, she blew kisses from the door. Taylor made my day. No matter what happened I was content. Had a smile on my face all the way back to school and home and kept me going for the remainder of the week. (Wish she was here right now so I could squish her!)

Oh how the simple things can be so great! We sometimes forget, but the small things and simple gestures are often the most meaningful things.

What are some small simple things in life that are most meaningful to you?

The BIG 1 (Part 2)

2009-06-20T14:10:00.005-04:00

As promised in my last post, here are more pictures from Taylor's 1st birthday. I love photos and documenting life thru the lens of a camera. The moment Taylor was born, there was a camera in her face either from hubby and I or her wonderful Aunt T. Hubby had to buy a 1 terabyte external hard-drive after year one to store all our photos, which were well over 2000+ images. To share some of the images captured in her first year, we had a table displaying the photos at the party. Aunt T found a frame intended for school pictures for Senior Graduation with 12 slots at Michaels; perfect to display photos from the past 12 months.

Since the theme of the party were "Barn Animals", I hired a petting zoo for the kids. What a hit! Owner Jennifer and her staff at Pony to Go were so friendly and knowledgable about the animals.

We had a donkey!

Ducks.

A goat!

Chickens and bunnies!

We even had a miniture horse.

One thing to keep in mind about parties for such young children is that it can become very overwhelming if there are a lot of people. Our guest list was a lot bigger then I had originally planned, I quite literally had to force myself to cut a lot of people off the list before it got out of hand. I wanted to make sure that even though it was Taylor's party, the focus wasn't on her. Plenty of activities that kept both adults and kids occupied. Guests tend to shower the birthday girl or boy with lots of hugs and kisses and she/he ends up getting passed around alot. I knew this and wanted to avoid it as best as possible. One way to give kids some "breathing" room is to literally take the child into a cool and quiet area where they can relax. Mid-way thru the party, I took Taylor up to her room, stripped her down to her diaper and let her enjoy some quiet time and refreshed her spirits when she rejoined the party. Not a great picture, but here's the birthday girl having some quiet time with mommy.

Here are some shots of our wonderful friends and family who came out to celebrate such a fun milestone!

Tayls w/Grandpa.

Tayls and some friends.

Happy Birthday my Little Muon. What a magical first year it has been! Love Mommy!

Again, BIG THANK YOUS to my sister for her wonderful photographs capturing Taylor's special day!

The BIG 1! (Part 1)

2009-06-10T00:11:00.006-04:00

First birthdays are always so exciting... for the parents. When Taylor's first birthday was approaching, I knew I wanted it to be something special, unique and memorable. Plus parties are so much fun to plan.

I first started my planning by deciding on a theme. I knew I wanted a special activity to be the central feature of the party, but something Taylor would be able to enjoy as well. Months before the party, I debated the idea. Should I have it at a facility like Chuck E' Cheese or The Jump Zone (moonbounce)? It would be less stressful and no clean up required, but not very personal or intimate. So I knew it had to be at our house. Should I hire a magician or Taylor's music teacher? Fun for the kids, but not for the parents. So then it struck me, a petting zoo! It would lead into the perfect birthday theme, barn animals!

I told my multi-talented sister and tasked her with coming up with a unqiue invitation. She blew my mind away with what she came up with. A movable invite with barn animals and all!

The animals inside the barn doors rotated in a circle and different animals would appear (a pig, horse, goat, etc..). We had to cut by hand each barn and inner circle. Then assembled about 25 cards. Here's an image of just the barn so you get an idea of what was required in the assembly. For some reason, the image below got cut off on the right side. Click on it to view the complete image.

The back of the card was extra special b/c it showed that love was put into designing the card. It took me two days to finish cutting each card and assembling them together. That's when I promised myself that Taylor's 2nd birthday invite would be a lot less complicated.

The goodie bags inspired by the invitation. Here's a close up shot.

We even made name tags for the kids that played on the invitation. I found these adorable plates at JoAnn Fabrics in the seasonal section.

I found a flower pot in the shape of a pig at JoAnn's as well and had to have it. It was perfect for the farm animal lollipops I found at Oriental Trading. I filled the pot with a styrofoam cube to keep the lollipop standing up and the green "grass" is edible candy that I found in the Easter clearance aisle at JF.

I wanted my main feature in the dining room to be a cupcake tower. I found a tutorial online, visited a local cake supply store and voila, I had a custom cupcake tower. Did I mention my sister was multi-talented? Well, she made the barn cake that sat on the top tier. My childhood friend volunteered to make the cupcakse and we somehow ended up with 144 cupcakes (she did the math wrong and we had alot of leftovers)!

The cake dummies were wrapped in a red gingham fabric. I was lucky enough to find scrapbook paper with a grass pattern. That went on the cake boards which was then wrapped with a red ribbon to finish off the edges. I found plastic barn animals at the cake store and barn animal candles at Oriental Trading to add to the finishing touches.

Overflow cupcakes went here.

Oriental Trading had so many wonderful barn animal themed items. I had to have the personalized banner.

And while the petting zoo was setting up, I had the children work on these barn animal foam frames.

The Birthday Girl and some friends working on their craft project.

And another cute purchase from O.T., these adorable foam barn animal visors.

Whew, that's alot of barn animals! Okay, next post will include live animals! I leave you with a picture of the Birthday Girl watching the animals from the petting zoo being brought into our back yard.

Special thanks to Aunt T for her talents in designing the invite and the wonderful photographs.

A Girl and her Closet!

2009-04-21T23:27:00.002-04:00

Ask anyone close to me for one word that would best describe me, it would probably be "anal", I mean, "organized". So when I was busy planning and decorating Taylor's room, the closet was also included in the plans. I wanted a closet that could easily be changed and modified as she got older, plus had extra storage space since she was limited to one dresser with not so very deep drawers.

I did my research and found an easy closet organizer unit at Home Depot.

The middle shelving piece was perfect for baskets to store little things like socks, bedding, onesies, etc... The baskets were purchased at Babies 'R Us. I also liked the fact that I had a double bar on one side for hanging clothes and the other side would be able to hold longer items like dresses for when she got older. Definitely a unit that could grow with her.

I felt like I still needed a shelf at the top for extra storage up high. The unit did not come with this, so I had the hubby purchase the wire shelves. Inexpensive and a quick installation, the wire shelves gave us usage of our closet space up high.

The baskets were labeled using my P-Touch label maker. I was overwhelmed with the amount of clothes we got from our baby shower and needed to find a way to sort thru them. I found foam door hangers at Micheals and used them to separate the clothes by size.

And voila, in one afternoon, the closet was transformed! Here's another last look.

After seeing the pictures, a co-worker half jokingly commented that I wouldn't be able to keep the closet this organized once the baby arrived. I'm proud to say that the closet is probably more organized then before. Every 2 months, I go in and purge clothing that is either too small, too stained, or never worn and pack them away. I also reorganize and move things around to follow suit with what ever seems to be a trend. For example, when Taylor started wearing jeans, they didn't fit well in the baskets. I reorganized and moved her jeans into the dresser instead. You just have to remember to utilize your space efficiently and in a manner that works best for you.

Making Room for Little Muon

2009-04-17T00:37:00.014-04:00

My favorite part of being pregnant was decorating Taylor's room. I wanted the space to be something that could grow with her as she got older. I didn't want it to scream "nursery", but at the same time still be fun and girly.

The inspiration came when my sister sent me a link to the bedding of my dreams. It was love!

The bedding set is from Dwell Studio Garden Blossom collection. Here's another shot.

I loved the colors and the pattern so much that I decided that the room would be based off of the bedding. The walls were painted a mocha brown. The trim and furniture were antique white and the decor would have splashes of pinks and greens.

My parent's gifted to us the crib and dresser. I love the curvey contour of the crib. The crib is a Storkcraft Aspen Crib in Antique White.

When I first saw the Flea Market Chandelier from Pottery Barn Kids, I had to have it! It was a bit more then I wanted to pay, but I couldn't get it off my mind. When it finally arrived at the house, I realized it was a plug-in chandelier. Not what I had wanted or expected since the catalog had said is was a hard-wire chandelier. We had an existing light fixture in the ceiling that I wanted to replace the chandelier with and didn't want an ugly cord hanging from it. Not wanting to give up my gorgeous light fixture, I went to Lowe's and spent an hour hunting down an associate that knew something about electrical wiring and lighting. It was worth the hunt because he was able to give me simple instructions on how to hardwire the chandelier.

I wanted to add some whimsy to the room. I found these adorable curtains from PBK that used ribbons as ties. They were $34 and I couldn't fork out any more money to PBK, o I made my own! For only $13, the finished product turned out better then I imagined! And it was NO SEW!

I bought a sheer curtain panel from Walmart and ribbons from Michaels. The hubster helped with the construction. Here's a close up of the ribbons.

I knew I wanted a focal point in the room that wowed! So I had my artistically talented sister paint a mural on the wall using the floral design on the bedding. She spent 2 weekends and close to 20+ hours painting it, but it turned out beautiful!

Here's a close up. Little Sis had to create a stencil and pain stakingly cuts out the pieces. A very long process. Unfortunately, this is the incomplete mural. She later came back in to add a stem and petals to the flowers. Strangely, I never retook the picture to show off the finished product. I'll have to do that and post later.

A bookshelf gifted by my best friend and a few more small details finished off the room.

All there was left to add was Taylor.

Credits: Some of the pictures were taken by my awesome photographer sister! Check out her blog.

Being Mommy

2008-09-27T05:39:00.001-04:00

Wow, it's already been 3 months? I can't believe how time flies. Taylor is getting bigger every day and it's been AMAZING watching her grow! I never thought that being a mom would be such a spritual, life changing event. I've seen co-workers and friends change after having their babies and I never understood when they told me that having their child was the best thing that ever happened to them. NOW I understand.

Everytime I look into Taylor's eyes, I am in utter amazement. I helped make this little tiny creature. Me! This is the most RIGHT thing I've ever done in my life. When I met my husband, I thought I finally knew what love meant and felt like. Taylor proved me wrong. Because of her, I NOW finally know what love feels like, what it smells like, and how all consuming it is. To all my friends and co-workers: Yes, she is the best thing that has ever happened to me!

One thing I have learned, being a mom is hard work! I give props to all the stay at home moms. Working is a lot easier then being home with a baby ALL DAY. To all the full time working moms, I give you props too. Balancing the pressure of a job, taking care of a baby, a husband, and a home is like having 4 jobs! No matter which one you are, it's hard to remember to find time for yourself. I get lost in the abyss of taking care of everyone else, I sometimes forget that I need to be taken care of too.

I think now has been the best times I've had with Taylor. She is cooing and babbling like crazy these days. Everytime I hear her giggle or see her smile, my heart quite literally melts. Those are my favorite moments spent with her. She is such a good baby. She only cries when she is tired or hungry. Taylor has also started sleeping thru the night, only waking up around 4-5 am to take a bottle. She is still a finicky eater, sometimes taking up to an hour to finish 4 ounces. But I don't mind because I love holding her and since I'm at work all day, these quiet moments with her are so precious and special for me. I know that time will go by so fast, soon I won't be able to hold her like this anymore.

I love watching my parents interact with Taylor. They were never affectionate parents when I was growing up, so I was worried that they would be the same way with Taylor. I couldn't be more wrong. I've never seen my parents gush over anything, so it's been so great seeing how crazy they are over this little girl.

I met this old man sitting in the hospital waiting room a week after having Taylor. She had such bad jaundice we were taking her there to get her levels checked every other day. He came and sat down next to us. It was so sweet to see how excited he was about meeting Taylor. He looked down at her and said, "How can you not believe there's a God out there after seeing her". I'll never forget that. He was right. There's got to be a God out there to allow me to create such a wonderful little being like this. Thank you God for the best gift you've ever given me.

Singing the Mommy Blues

2008-07-27T20:40:00.011-04:00

Since I'd never been around many babies and knew practically nothing about raising one, I decided that I was going to read as much as possible to prepare myself. I was pretty hard core during my pregnancy. I read books on breastfeeding, putting babies to sleep, delivery, post delivery, anything I could get my hands on. I even took the all day birthing class at the hospital. By the end, I was pretty confident that I was PREPARED! Oh, how wrong I was...

Nothing would prepare me for what was to come. After spending two more nights in the hospital, I was reluctant to leave. The nurses had taken such good care of me, bringing my meds every 3 hours so I wouldn't have to feel my va-jay-jay throbbing in pain and helping me with the baby when I couldn't handle the crying. I WANTED a few more days there, but alas, they were kicking me out to fend for myself and I couldn't take the nurses home with me (trust me, I asked).

I decided I was going to breastfeed since all the literature I read said that it was the best thing for my baby and of course I would do anything for her. After reading several books on breastfeeding and watching numerous videos, I thought, "yeah, I got this". Grab hold of breast, insert into baby's mouth, baby will then proceed with sucking. During my hospital stay, the lactation nurses would come in and help me with the feedings. Taylor latched on wonderfully. I thought to myself that all the preparation and reading I did was paying off. Until I spent the first night home with Taylor.

By this time, my milk had come in with full force. My breasts were GYNORMOUS! And I thought labor was bad! My breasts were so sore, they felt like balloons ready to pop any minute. Why the HELL didn't the books mention how painful my boobs were going to be? Now Fred is a boob man, but even he was freaked out by how MUCH boobage I had. I thought the discomfort I had dealt with during pregnancy would go away once I gave birth! Who knew this was just the beginning of a whole new chapter of AFTER pregnancy HELL!

I spent the next few nights struggling to get Taylor to nurse. What happened to the wonderful little baby that latched on so easily at the hospital? She wasn't having any of it. Fred would wake up with me during the night feedings and while I held Taylor in one arm and trying to smoosh my boob to get into her mouth with the other, Fred was by my side watching for the opportunity to shove my breast in her mouth. She would scream the entire time while tossing her head side to side as if saying, "no, no, no". These feeding sessions often left me in tears and upset that I couldn't do what was supposed to be the most natural thing in the world. I felt like a failure and a horrible mother.

By the time we went to our first doctor visit, Taylor had lost an entire pound. Now, it's normal for newborns to lose weight after they leave the hospital, but the doctor was worried that Taylor was losing too much. It turned out that she was severely jaundice which was effecting her ability to feed. So the pediatrician ordered Taylor an ultraviolet blanket and sent me back to the hospital to meet with the lactation consultant. The consultant had us start finger feeding every two hours so Taylor could get food in her body while avoiding nipple confusion (because I was still determined to breastfeed). Finger feeding is basically a syringe filled with breastmilk attached to a tube that goes into the baby's mouth.

Finger feeding syringe:

Fred finger feeding Taylor (notice how orange she looks):

I learned that apparently breastfeeding wasn't the most natural thing in the world and that both mother and baby had to LEARN how to do it. I was now to pump while Fred finger fed the baby and then try to breastfeed after she was calm and had some food in her belly.

Turned out, Taylor preferred Fred's finger over my breast. I was determined not to give up, so I kept trying even though both Taylor and I were frustrated, exhausted and bawling our eyes out after each breastfeeding session.

One night sticks out in my mind clear as day. I had been up with Taylor since 11pm trying to feed her. Fred was exhausted by then and had laid down for a quick nap. I felt guilty for sucking (no pun intended) at feeding my own child and having him wake up everytime to help me, so I decided to let him sleep for a while.

After hours of trying to breastfeed, Taylor was still screaming her head off. I rocked her, swung her, sang to her, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, tired and frustrated, I put her down and just stared at her. There we were, mother and daughter, crying like crazy. I cried while my daughter screamed her head off. I was miserable and overwhelmingly sad. I felt as if a wave was crashing down on me. So many different emotions were running thru me, I felt like I was drowning in them. My chest hurt and my heart ached. What the HELL was I thinking having a kid? I couldn't do THIS! This job was waaaayyy too hard. I wanted my old life back. I felt like I wasn't bonding with my baby and she obviously wasn't bonding with me. I was failing as a mother and worse, I was regretting ever having become one. This of course, made me feel horribly guilty. I was a shitty mom for even thinking this way. We saw the sun come up that morning, both exhausted and numb from crying all night.

By this point, I felt like a robot on auto pilot. The food I ate didn't taste like anything. I didn't enjoy the company of friends and family who were kind enough to visit and bring us dinner. I didn't care what I looked like and only showered b/c I didn't want to offend Fred with my stench.

Standing in my bathroom the next morning, I looked at myself in the mirror while brushing my hair. I stood there staring at myself and proceeded to sob unrelentlessly. I wanted to stop, but couldn't. It was uncontrollable. I cried so hard my shoulders were shaking and I had a hard time catching my breath. Fred came rushing in and asked me what was wrong. Thru the hiccups of tears, I replied, "I don't know". All I DID know was that an overwhelming saddness had hit me like a tidal wave. I had a bad case of the MOMMY BLUES.

The pediatrician agreed that I was suffering from Postpartum Depression. The flood of hormones in my body, combined with struggling to breastfeed and worrying about Taylor's jaundice was taking its toll. My doctor put me on anti-depressants and sent me to see a shrink. I had read about postpartum depression. I knew that it was typical for many new mothers to suffer from it, some more then others. Regardless of how many books I read, nothing prepared me for the roller coaster of emotions that I felt.

Funny how when I tell people about my postpartum, they tell me they went thru the same thing. But when I tell them I'm on anti-depressants, it's usually proceeded with silence, like they don't quite know how to respond. I've actually had some women pretend they didn't hear me when I tell them I needed to be put on meds because of my postpartum depression. I'm not ashamed that I had to be put on medication and feel angry about some of the reactions I was getting.

A few days after starting my meds, I started to feel less out of control. Slowly, the crippling wave of emotions became smaller and smaller. And I finally was starting to feel like I was connecting to my baby and actually ENJOYED being with her. Because of the meds, I had to bottlefeed Taylor and put her on formula. I struggled with not being able to offer my baby breastmilk, but realized that I needed to be healthy and take care of myself in order to be able to take care of her.

Don't get me wrong, I would have many more emotional breakdowns afterwards, but each day that passes, I feel stronger and more like myself.

I guess no matter how much you prepare, no matter how many books you read or advice people give you, you never REALLY KNOW until you get there and experience it firsthand. And the only way to survive and make it thru to another day is to know when to ask for help, actually accepting help and most importantly, be prepared to be UNPREPARED!

Delivering Taylor

2008-07-24T16:37:00.002-04:00

I still can't believe I'm a mommy! Taylor Thi-Muon arrived on June 6, 2008 at 9:24pm, weighing in at 7 lbs. 11 oz.

She wasn't due until June 16th, so I was at work the day she was born. I had been cramping for a few days, but thought they were simply my braxton-hicks contractions acting up. I was feeling extremely crampy that day, but didn't think anything of it because they were pretty steady and not increasing pain wise. Finally after lunch, I called Fred and told him I was going to call the OB just to see what they were going to say. When I went in for my appointment after lunch, I thought they were simply going to send me home and tell me to rest.

When the doctor told me I was 6 cm and was in labor, I was totally dazed and asked "What does that mean?" She responded, "You're going to the hospital!" I asked her if I could drive myself to the hospital and she looked at me like I was crazy. My frazzled girlfriend, Tina, came to pick me up at the doctor's office and we met Fred at the hospital.

Giving birth was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my entire life! It was exhausting work. No wonder they call it LABOR. The OB pumped pitosin into me and my contractions came in waves. Stronger and faster. By 8 centimeters, I couldn't take it any more and opted for an epidural. The epidural had to be administered twice and it still didn't take full effect b/c I felt everything! After 2.5 hours of pushing, I had my baby girl and I was officially a mommy! Life was about to change!

Taylor 5 minutes old.