The Crain's Nest

I Love Love.

2012-02-14T07:42:00.000-08:00

All of us over here at the Crain household want to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day! Whether you have a date or not, I still think this can be a fun day for you. Send a friend a little treat, drop off flowers to your widowed neighbor, send some chocolates to your mom...you are creative, think of something. Our plans include pizza, some homemade whole wheat brownies, and Limeberry (frozen yogurt) of course! As if we would celebrate any other way. We hope you all enjoy this day often thought of as the "greeting card holiday." Well, we are doing homemade Valentine's for one another that list the 14 things we love most, which we will also write for Eden too...so take that Hallmark! Just teasing card companies, I'm glad you can make some money today.

Enjoy your day! :)

XoXo,

The Crain's

*Thank you to those of you that made it through my last post and encouraged me. I wasn't looking for affirmation, but God always knows what we need because I most certainly took each and every comment to heart. Thank you dear friends for reminding me that being honest is a-ok!

On This Cloudy Monday...

2012-02-13T12:43:00.000-08:00

Grab a cup of coffee and get comfy because I have a lot on my mind and I have no idea where I am going to go with it...so since I think of you all as friends, I figured who better to spill my heart out to, right?

First things first...my computer died. I mean it won't even turn on. It's a goner. Technically Josh can fix it, but I have jokingly said I planned on killing it so I could get my beloved MAC. Obviously this is not an actual possibility at this stage in our lives, but its worth pretending. I tend to pretend a lot. Like how I pretend that I can actually buy new clothes. Most of them hail from the early 2000's, some even from the 90's. I guess we shall call them vintage. I'm not complaining, but it leads to my next point.

Our family is broke. I think I've hinted at it a couple times. I don't think any of you thought we were taking baths in money here, but things are beyond just tight. Things have gotten real and they have gotten scary at times. I tend to be a frugal sort and will do anything to save a buck (seriously one of these days I'll share my money saving tips and I think some of you are going to be scared). With the realization that we NOTHING (in the monetary sense...we have EVERYTHING in a spiritual sense) we started to be even more radical in our approach to life. One thing? It looks like we are officially giving up our house. So many have asked how I feel about it and honestly? We feel great! We are going to miss this place so much when it is gone, but we know it is absolutely the best thing for our family. I'll probably be talking about the house a lot as I really want to preserve the memories of this house, every square foot of it (don't worry...there are only 834).

The thing about being without money is that a lot of times you have to deal with some tougher issues. We have learned humility a whole lot of times throughout the past year. I've learned to smile through the tears as yet another person yells at me because I can't pay them. Don't they know I want to so bad? Most of these moments are so very embarrassing, but I am sharing them because I can almost guarantee someone out there that is reading this is going through the same thing. I want you to know to not be ashamed. It will all be okay. Trust me, I have to tell myself this daily.

The whole money thing has taught me a lot about the friendships I have. Some of them have grown stronger and others not so much. So many people have prayed for us and with us and that means the world. However, I know a lot of friends just don't know how to approach us right now and that's okay, we get it. I'm struggling with feeling burned by a few people right now and I so desperately want to imitate Jesus and love them just the same. But it's hard. I find myself wanting to avoid those friendships right now because I don't think I can plaster a smile on my face and love them the way that I should. I know this sounds awful, and I agree, but it's just what I am feeling right now.

Did you know that I have struggled with depression since I was 12? It wasn't until the summer before I met Josh that I finally pushed myself to get help. Now the pain from it all is so rare that it shocks me every time I feel that dark gray cloud looming overhead. It seems like I have to fight a bit harder right now and I know its just a time of testing. I'll get through it, I always do, but I think I am just trying to hard to fight everyone's battles alone. I cannot possibly do this and sometimes I forget that. The thing is, I absolutely hate watching people hurt and it seems like so many friends are hurting right now. I wish I could just fix everything for everyone and I know that I cannot do that. So I pray. A lot. I just always want my friends to know I am there. ALWAYS. You know what is sad? Back in college I had a classmate who turned to me and said, "You cannot be a Christian and have depression. If you are depressed then you aren't really a Christian." WHOA. She wasn't speaking about me, she was speaking in a general sense, but she had NO IDEA the pain that I had gone through. Guess what? You can be sad and love Jesus all the same, and He will get you through it.

I don't know if any of you are still here reading. Probably not and that's okay. If any of you are, I just wanted to let you know that all of this has kept me from blogging. You know I'm always talking about being open and honest on here, but I found myself unable to blog because I didn't want to be honest about all of this. I love to smile and I like to make others smile and this stuff? This stuff is just sad. But, it's my reality now. And I realized that even if this only helps one person on this whole Earth, well, then it's so worth me typing out the raw emotions I am feeling right now. Can I be honest about blogging? Some days it is such a wonderful thing and I LOVE it. There were a few times where I thought it might be fun to make money off of the blog just because I'm always wanting to make a buck. Yet, I love feeling like I have nothing holding me back. I can post about anything I want because it's mine. You know what holds me back from posting more often? Criticism. I find myself tortured when no one comments. What a bad bad attitude to have. Yes, I have chosen to be out here on the vast internet, but I need to always remind myself that I am blogging for me and in doing so, I hope some of you like what I have to offer. I'm learning to let go of my fears from my wonderful husband. I don't think he knows that he is teaching me anything, but he is. See, Josh, and all of those other real estate agents out there handle rejection, criticism, failures, etc. each day. How they do this with a smile on their face is beyond me! It's why I have always said I could never be an agent...they must have backbones made of steel. Either way, I am so proud of Josh and what he does every day and I am thankful that I am learning to not take everything to heart. Phew..that's hard.

Well, thanks for any of you that made it through this novel. I know I never have pictureless posts, but that's just what you are getting today...especially since I am without my trusty laptop. Thanks for allowing me to be honest always :) If any of this was familiar to you, know that I am always praying for you and that you can make it through, you just have to believe that you can!

XoXo,

Mallory

Project 52:6 | Love

2012-02-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

Showing love to your child is vital. Showing your child how to love is important. One thing I have learned this week is how affected children are by the love that their parents show one another. I have been trying to view my relationship with Josh through Eden's eyes lately. I think its so necessary for her to see that I love her daddy and respect him. I tend to be someone who shies away from "PDA" and while that will most likely never change, I also realize that it's not necessarily a bad thing for her to see us hug or even kiss. In fact, I actually think it's healthy for her. I want her to know, without a doubt, that I think her daddy is the most amazing man on the planet. I want her to love her daddy, respect him, and always cherish the sacred bond that they have created.

It's scary knowing that one day Eden will be at an age where boys will start to pursue her, and I pray that Josh and I show her what true love is, to avoid the boys who do not like her for the right reasons. I want to raise a woman of God who first and foremost respects herself. Am I scared? You betcha. But I actually think it can be done and I am so very determined to make sure that it does.

I love love.

Alright, no more sappiness! I promise this only happens once a year (the sappiness) and its all due to this Valentine's day shenanigans. We typically like to save money (surprise surprise) so we play to stay in Tuesday and just have fun as a family. However, due to some free movie tickets and a gift card, Saturday will be a date day! I can hardly wait. Hope you all enjoy your loved ones on the day of love...and no you don't have to have a significant other to enjoy it. Mom's and dad's make great dates as do friends!

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:

styleberry BLOG, Lucas and Mahina, Wicked Kate, The Mog Blog, Dana Moran Photography

Let me know if you want to join in on the fun! It's never too late to start your Project 52 :)

One last thing, I am so mortified that no one told me that I had a major error on my last photo post. YIKES. Let's just say, putting these together late at night was not the best choice for me.

Vintage Rustic Baby Shower | Part Two

2012-02-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

I'm back with more shower eye candy! Obviously I talked plenty in the last post, so let's just move right along to photos of Ruby's special day shall we?

The Event Details

Location: Willamette Valley Fruit Company

Food: Made by hostess Ashley and her entourage of family and friends, strawberry shortcake provided by WVFCO

Floral: Olson Florist, Anderson McIlnay, and some donated by Megan Ward

Lemonade Stand: Made by the hubsters for Eden...many people have been asking about it, and we are very willing to rent it out for your event, just ask! :)

Favors: Homemade Thin Mint cookies (Ashley correct me if I am wrong)

All paper products (invitation, favor tags, signs, bookplates, and "Wishes" were designed by me.

I'm sure I am missing something so please don't hesitate to ask!

And in case you missed it...

The Invite & Part One

Vintage Rustic Baby Shower | Part One

2012-02-07T22:25:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to reveal the photos from the besties baby shower last weekend! The motivation truly comes from EVERYONE as they are all harassing me to get the photos up on the blog. As if I am known to be horrible at following through on posting things here. Come on. In case you can't read sarcasm, trust me...it's dripping with it.

I have so many photos I am not even sure how I am going to even fit them all or where to begin. First of all, some shout outs. My first thank you goes to the lovely Ruby. Thank you Ruby for having a baby so we could all celebrate you and your precious baby girl. Also thank you for having a baby so I can be Aunt Mal for the third time to the third girl. Makes me all giddy inside. A BIG GIANT and HUGE thank you to Ashley for being a fabulous co-planner and making the most terrific food. Seriously, everyone is still talking about how tasty everything was. Maybe I'll hire her to cook my dinners every night. Hmm, too much for a soon-to-be mom of twins? Nah.. Lastly, a thank you to the photographer of the hour, Megan! Yeah, I actually forgot my own advice and decided I would be able to take tons of photos. Who am I?! We all know what happens when I say that. NO PHOTOS GET TAKEN. So, thankfully Ashley and Megan had that handled and I got to sit back and ~~relax~~ play hostess. Alright, let's get to the eye candy!

The hostesses with the guest of honor (l to r: Me, Ruby, Ashley)

Anyone saying "enough with the table already?!" I loved every photo Megan captured of the table setting, I just couldn't choose. Either way it's so fun to relive the shower! Now obviously there are a whole lot of details that you haven't seen yet. That's because I have this fear of overloading the system and crashing my whole blog. So, fear not...they are coming. I can't wait to show you the beautiful food, and the activities, and the favors, and I even have a great little shot of the fabulous guests.

Also, I'll have details about the venue and all in the next post. Please let me know if you have questions and I'll address them in the next post! Stay tuned...

*Here's the invite that was the start of the inspiration in case you missed it.

Vintage Rustic Baby Shower | The Invite

2012-02-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

Today is the day...the day that I am revealing the invitation for the BFF's baby shower. This is my favorite invite that I have designed yet. I knew I wanted to do something unique, that tied the theme in, and that held all the valuable information that invitations always need. Instead of lots of words, why don't I just let the photos talk, sound good?

These were so fun to put together! Time consuming for sure (I made around 50 of these), but I enjoyed every moment of it. Also, I have a serious addiction to envelope liners. I absolutely cannot get myself to put together an invitation without an envelope liner. The envelopes just look naked.

One thing I can thank my pal Pinterest for is the idea of bringing books instead of cards. I thought it would be fun to make a library card of sorts encouraging guests to save the money usually spent on cards and buy a book for baby Hayley. Since I am also honored to be helping put together Miss Hayley's nursery, I knew that she had her very own reading nook, but no books to put amongst the shelves. Obviously this was not ideal. I am so happy I went for this idea, because it turned out great. I encourage you to do this if you are planning a baby shower, I was so happy with the results!

Now, dear friends, I am happy to announce that the baby shower happened...and it went better than I expected! I had some extremely high expectations for it, but Ashley (the other planner and a dear friend of Ruby's) and I somehow pulled it off. I CANNOT wait to show you photos from the day and give you all the details. I'm actually getting ready to look at them now...and then I am going to relax. A lot. Because every single solitary part of my body is sore after that event. A party isn't great until you come home with bruises you know?

Project 52:5 | Creation

2012-02-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

Oregon has had some very unseasonably beautiful weather...and it's February! The skies have been blue, the tulips and daffodils are peeking up through the ground, and we are all shedding our winter coats for t-shirts. While there is still a chill in the air, none of us seem to mind. It just feels so wonderful and so promising to see the sun shining where usually gray is rampant.

This week I was very inspired by the flowers I saw blooming as well as my BFF Ruby. Her baby shower is tomorrow and it just makes me giddy with excitement. Literally, my life has revolved around this event. We are all so in love with her baby girl already. It gets brought up in our house at least ten times a day. We tell Eden all about her new cousin Hayley, we talk about all of the wonderful changes that our friends will go through as they become parents for the first time, and we just can't stop talking about how excited we are to hold the little one. The thing is, Ruby lost her grandpa not too long ago. Her relationship with her grandparents is so amazing to see so having her grandpa leave this earth was a very hard reality. I think its amazing how we all have our time here on this earth and in our place comes new life. I love that its a beautiful web of creation. I'm so excited for Ruby and Daniel as they embark on parenthood, and I know her grandpa will be smiling from afar as they bring a new baby into the world.

Oh and don't you worry, I will be back with all sorts of baby shower details. You know I'll be camera happy as always. I can't wait to finally share the invitation with you all...

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:

styleberry BLOG, Lucas and Mahina, Wicked Kate, The Mog Blog, Dana Moran Photography

Let me know if you want to join in on the fun! It's never too late to start your Project 52 :)

Project 52:4 | Friendship

2012-01-27T14:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know what we did to deserve it, but we have seriously been blessed with the most amazing friends. Some days I feel like we are always taking from our friends...I mean seriously, we require a lot of energy...but somehow they love us and know that we love them.

I've loved watching Eden grow up with her little ~~pal~~ boyfriend Beckett. Although they are 9 months apart, they have become best buddies. This past week Eden even started showing signs of regression from spending time with him...she spent an entire day crawling and rolling from her tummy to her back just as Beckett is doing. My goodness. I don't even want to think what she would do if we were to have a baby right now! Eden loves taking care of him though and that's a good thing because his mommy and I spend a heckuva lot of time together. I'm sure we will get plenty of eye rolls as Kirsten and I have yet another craft day in the week as they grow older. I figure its just another excuse for them to play right?!

All this to say, we know some amazing people. We have best friends, friends, and acquaintances that all have a special place in our hearts. We love them all for who they are. Each has a unique story to tell which just pushes us to be better people. God truly blessed us with a wonderful group of people to share our lives with, to laugh with, to tell jokes that aren't funny and yet they laugh anyway with, to cry with...the list could go on forever. Thank you dear friends for being there for us even when it feels like we can't give back nearly as much as you give to us.

*Sidenote. Please laugh that Eden's face may permanently be in a "kissy face" position. Literally she puckers up those lips to everybody and everything! That girl needs an intervention. She couldn't eat the other night because there was a Santa (fake of course) sitting on our dining room table (our version of storage) and she just wanted to kiss him. Over and over. Its becoming ridiculous. And yet so cute.

And of course....

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:

styleberry BLOG, Lucas and Mahina, Wicked Kate, The Mog Blog

Let me know if you want to join in on the fun! It's never too late to start your Project 52 :)

This Is Where Our Story Begins

2012-01-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, my Project 52 is coming...but I had a little something on my heart that I wanted to share. Specifically a blog, and a book, and a young woman who is on an incredible journey.

I was introduced to Katie's blog during a MOPS meeting. A few women at my table were talking about her and were so passionate and excited as they described who she was and what she was doing. I took note and told myself I should find out more, but time got the best of me and I never got a chance. However, today, I remembered. I'll most definitely say it was a God thing because I happened to be on one blog, that directed me to another blog with a Gotcha Day video (a video that shows the journey to bringing a child in to their forever home). The blog that had posted their Gotcha Day video of their little girl that they had brought home from Ethiopia last year also had a video of Katie. Intrigued, I watched...and I was broken.

*For those of you reading this not on our actual blog, there is a video embedded into this post. If you don't see it you'll need to click on to the blog to see it. Trust me, its worth it :)

This is a woman of faith. Courage. One who shows grace and mercy to all that she meets. A young woman who is now a mom to thirteen beautiful girls. She has an amazing testimony and yet she is completely humble. While we can all sit here praising her for all that she has done, she merely sees herself as a vessel. A child of God that is just following what He commands.

I've been feeling like through all of the hardships that my little family has been going through that God has something BIG in store. Every day I feel it. I feel that tug in my heart that says, "Listen. Go. Be open. Be available." I have no idea what it means. I have no idea what God is planning. I just feel confident that it's something that is going to stretch me beyond my little bubble. I have lived a VERY safe life. I let excuses get in the way of doing God's work. I know that this may just be a time for us to minister to the precious little life God blessed us with...we want Eden to grow to be a loving and caring young woman...but maybe being safe isn't helping her at all. I wish God was leading us to adoption right now. My heart aches each and every day knowing that there are babies and children waiting for a family. I know our baby is out there and that God will bring us to that child when the time is right. I know He can do incredible things, but its hard to see that when our lives are just so incredibly unpredictable right now. We can't afford food for our one child, so we most definitely can't provide it for another. That's hard. It hurts. But it's true. So, for that part of our story, I will continue to wait for God's timing. For now, Josh and I both know something crazy is about to go down and I am going to work to let my guard down and break that bubble I live in so we can follow the path that God has created for us.

Am I scared? You betcha. But, I am ready. And I know it's going to be so worth it.

Here am I Lord, send me. Isaiah 6:8

16 Months

2012-01-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

Yikes. I am so totally behind on this update. The car breaking down, the first snow of the season, and the basement flooding all kind of took over and there was just no time for anything more. So, here I am, posting about Eden's sixteenth month when we are really not all that far from her seventeenth month. Oh well, I think this is mostly for me anyway because I am sure most of you don't care what Eden said, ate, and played with yesterday.

Things You Love

Tangled (she could watch this on repeat)

Super Why (we all have the songs memorized)

Your nativity set

The Ball Popper

Puzzles

Saying "no"

Hanging out at grandma and grandpa's

The iPad

Reading every book in the house

Helping clean up toys

Playing with Bella

Beckett (her baby boyfriend)

Your friends at the church nursery

DANCING

Things You Don't Love

Meat

Shopping

Having accidents on the floor

Getting your hair washed

Things You Have Learned

Animal Sounds: moo, neigh, baa, woof (uf uf), meow

Words: ball, dog, Bella, No, Yes, Grapes, Cheese, Crackers, Please, Peas, Puffs, Milk, Peepee, PooPoo, Papa (grandpa), Louela (Lola), hello, buh bye, "Beeeeeee!" (Aunt Brooke)...there's more, I just can't remember them all!

Signs: please, more (you learned this one on your own somehow), thank you

Funny things...every time you see an animal you say "moo" even though you know cows say "moo" and you typically know what the other animals say as well. You think its hilarious. You have learned to laugh at us...not because we are tickling you...but because you are starting to understand that your parents are the funniest people EVER (seriously we are). Your opinion has only become stronger and now you make it clear if you don't like something. You got your first molar!

First snow of the season and I had to blur it out so you couldn't tell that really there was hardly any snow!

I feel like she looks so much older in this photo...sigh.

The girl of many faces...this one was occurring too frequently and then we realized she was working on a molar.

I can't believe we are just about to February! Things have been more than crazy around our house. I am feeling slightly overwhelmed. I'll talk about it when the time is right, but for now I am going to go get some work done before Eden wakens from her naptime! I look forward to being back to blogging...

Project 52:3 | Time

2012-01-20T23:13:00.000-08:00

It seems like each and every day I have the same internal battle where I continually beat myself up over how much time I spend with Eden. Yes, I am at home with her every single day, but is that enough? Is it enough to be in the same room if I am doing my own thing and not actively engaging in her play? I don't think that we are meant to have our focus 100% with our children every moment of every day, that would be impossible. However, I do think it is so vital that we are intentional with our time. That we make it a point to show them that they matter. It's funny to me that every time I think I am the only one who struggles with this, I have five friends who admit they are going through the same thing.

Likewise, my time needs to be intentional with my husband as well. With our busy schedules we often times only spend quality time together a couple hours one night a week. We have done our best to lay aside Friday nights as our family night. Once Eden goes to bed, Josh and I are able to spend time doing devotionals, watching a movie, and getting to take time to actually talk. We talk a lot, but rarely about the deeper subjects of life. In a world where we are so consumed by activities it is so hard to find the time to sit still and relish your husband (or boyfriend, friend...whomever!).

Lastly, time with God. I love my Creator and I have mentioned that once or twice or so on here. I'm finding it so much harder to find time to spend with Him. This is something I am constantly improving on. It's amazing how the one person in my life who is more important to me than anything is the one I tend to spend the least amount of time with. This saddens my heart and I want to make Him a priority.

Wow, time really is a sore subject for me. I struggle with it all of the time. I hope I can be an encouragement to all of you out there.

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:

styleberry BLOG, Lucas and Mahina, Wicked Kate, The Mog Blog

**************************************

Things have been quite interesting around here. Our state has been inundated with flooding. Looking at the streets in our city makes it feel like we are watching a movie. It just seems so unreal. We never have any disasters in our area so this flooding has been quite devastating to many. Please keep Oregon in your thoughts and prayers! Thankfully the flooding we dealt with in our home was minimal and the things that were lost were trivial compared to what others may have lost.

Christmas 2011...Better Late Than Never?

2012-01-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

So, where did the time go? Suddenly I was realizing Christmas was a week away, and now its a whole new year! Between the holidays, getting to help the besties but together a nursery for their baby girl, helping plan a baby shower, and dealing with all of the financial junk that we are going through right now...well, I just don't even have a moment to sit. I am starting to notice my feet are absolutely killing me by mid-day because I never rest. I never knew standing in your bare feet all day could be so painful. I'm loving this time though (well except for that last part). I am now going to try to play catch up, at least on posting Christmas...and eventually I'll make it to the new year.

We saw Santa.

Side story. After this year Josh and I have really been praying about if we wanted to do Santa or not. He was fine either way, but I was so dead set on continuing the Santa traditions that I had grown up with. Well, something changed because I honestly kept feeling like the whole Santa thing just wasn't right for our family. This shocked me! I never thought I would say that. To be honest I used to think people who didn't have Santa in their home were just plain bonkers (sorry friends!). However, we started to realize that we felt like it was taking away from our Savior's birth and honestly, we felt that by adding in new traditions we wouldn't even miss the old ones. We will still watch all of our favorite Santa inspired movies, we will still bake cookies (we just won't put them out for Santa to eat, but probably give them to friends and family), we will read "The Night Before Christmas" and all those sorts of things...but it will all lead back to Jesus' birth. Please note we have nothing against Santa...in fact we LOVED him growing up. I'm still in shock that this decision came to us as it did. So, by all means, have Santa visit your homes, we think there are so many great things about that bearded man.

We went to Washington to spend time with Josh's side of the family and had so much fun. We rode a train (something we won't be doing until Eden is MUCH older, that girl knows how to throw the best tantrums at the worst times), played at the pool (indoor of course), had lots of Christmas meals, saw lots of family, opened presents, and had lots of fun!

The tutu we made Stevee

Afraid Eden learned to put her hands on her neck when she is overwhelmed from me...I do it a lot.

The kidlets (cousins and second cousins and such)..the best one I could get. My child is mean to her cousin. You can't see Peyton. You can kind of see Darren. Julia is cut off. James is hiding behind the couch. So Caleb and Eden are stars of the show apparently.

This year we made almost all of our gifts. I'll have to do a separate post on that one.

We all came home late on Christmas Eve so that we could spend Christmas morning opening presents at home, going to church, and then eating Christmas dinner with my side of the family...oh and of course open more gifts.

Obviously Christmas was too much for Eden this year.

Project 52:2 | Peace

2012-01-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

I love nap time. While I don't take them, Eden NEEDS them. More like, I need her to take one. I love her more than anything, but those two hours are bliss. I use them to rush around and clean as much as I can. Sometimes I even fit in a light lunch. Rarely do I put up my feet and relax, but that's alright, I'll save that for retirement. For now, I am enjoying the fact that God gave us nap time so we can be refreshed and rejuvenated for our kidlets...because you know you can feel the steam coming out your ears by the time nap time rolls around..

For more Project 52 goodness, check out these fine blogs:

styleberry BLOG, Lucas and Mahina, Wicked Kate

It's not too late to join in! If you are thinking about it, just do it. I am already so excited about the idea of compiling these into a photo book or something (yeah...like I am ever that organized) at some point. If you do it, let me know and I'll link up to you!

*I'm sorry I've been such a bad blogger. I am shoulder deep in event planning and you know when I plan an event I go all crazy and have no life right? My poor family...I am so neglectful sometimes. Yet, they know I love it and they love me for it. Thanks family, I appreciate you. Anyway, I still need to catch up on Christmas, New Years, resolutions, goals...oh my goodness I don't know where to begin. I'll be back though, that I can promise!

Project 52:1 | Joy

2012-01-05T21:49:00.000-08:00

Just because my goal to put myself out there with photography was SO last year, it doesn't mean I shouldn't keep pushing myself right? Right. So, I wanted to do something that would get me to try a few new things, while also giving me a reason to be better at documenting specific parts of my life. See, I find that I am good at taking photos when Eden is dressed up, or the house looks halfway decent, but to get a photo of our daily life? That just doesn't happen as often as it should. I know one day that will bother me. So, I started to consider taking a photo a day.

That idea was quickly squashed. Actually committing to do something every day for an entire year is just not something I can do. I am so very willing to admit it. I thought some more and then realized I LOVED seeing people post their project 52 photos. The concept of project 52 is that you take one photo a week. You can find blogs that actually give you a specific topic to follow or you can just make something up and go for it. I chose the latter. The thing is, the past few months have been extremely stretching for us. We no longer wonder what its like to run out of toilet paper and pray that we will find enough change to buy some more because we are living that right now. It has been a humbling experience, but one we would never trade. Honestly, we feel blessed to be living through this. I never truly understood how people would become so desperate. I get it now.

The great news? We have learned so much and are growing because of everything we are going through. We are pushing forward and are doing everything we can to get out of this situation. Some days I feel so raw from the emotions that come with all of this. I don't feel sad for us, not one bit...but I just so desperately want to give Eden a better life. I would be dishonest to say that there haven't been some days where I just feel down. Mainly because while I don't feel ready to bring another child into our family (I am really struggling with the thought of changing up the great dynamics we already have) some days it bothers me that I can't due to the situation we find ourselves in. It's silly really...I mean, I just said I am not ready. The doctor even said I am not ready until at least March. Yet, I see the way Eden takes care of babies and it is so evident that she will make a wonderful big sister. I would love to see her with a baby brother or sister, but at this time I would find it irresponsible to try for another child. So, unless God blesses us with a child despite the "barriers" then it will be awhile before we can grow our family. Wow, I definitely have no shortage of words today. Basically this was a long way of saying I am using this "project" to see the blessings we have in a new light.

My Project 52 is going to be titled, "New Beginnings." This year looks like its going to be full of unknowns and changes and through all that I want to be able to see all of God's great promises. So, here's week one.

Guess what? My idea to do the whole take a photo 365 days in a row actually was reborn. I found a great app called My365 that you can just upload your photos to and it even puts them into a calendar so you can see what day you took them! I am doing this with the camera on my phone to get more of the random shots. Those won't be as well thought out as the ones I display for project 52. If you have ever considered embarking on a photo a day journey, try the app...it definitely has me motivated! Also, I know that sounds rather ridiculous...me talking about my fancy phone when I just said we can't buy toilet paper. I'm not going to get into it, but just know that it was a gift. Yes, I have a hard time having fancy things. However, I have many people who for some reason think I actually deserve them and for that I am thankful.

Thank you all for blessing us each day. We have great family, friends, and readers of this little blog baby and we are grateful.

Want to join in? Leave me a comment with your blog address so I can link to you..and in return you can do the same and link to mine. It will be fun!

For more Project 52 inspiration check out these other blogs:

styleberry BLOG, Lucas and Mahina

15 Months

2011-12-30T00:27:00.000-08:00

So Eden is our her way to 16 months...and I am just now posting about 15 months. Whoops. Honestly I don't remember what she started doing this past month and what she is doing now, so I'll do my best to remember ALL the way back then.

Things You Love

Screaming

Brushing your teeth

Peanut butter sandwiches

Smoothies

MILK

Cheese

Dancing

Singing

Saying "Beeeeeeeeee!"

Giving kisses

Playing with Bella

Things you don't love:

Having to wait for anything

Train rides

Eating food

Girl, you and your strong personality are just taking it up another level. We love your independence and your spunk, but it sure does come out when we are in public. You are VERY vocal and talk, sing, and scream no matter where you are. You are saying more and more words..the ones you say the most: cheese, crack-errrrs, Bella, dada, pink, yummmmmm. You also sign "all done," "please," and "thank you" (although thank you is not done correctly, but we'll take it anyway). Sometimes I worry that you don't use as many words as other kids because I am not so good at practicing words with you (I forget how smart you really are sometimes), but I know you are developing just fine. You are always surprising us with the things you understand. You are able to show us what you want. If we ask you where something goes you show us and promptly put whatever it is away. You may not be able to say many words, but you sure do understand what we are saying. One of these days I think your vocabulary is just going to explode. I can't wait until you start talking to me in the car...now if only you were forward facing so I could see you. Oh and you are now up to SIX teeth which is a giant accomplishment seeing as you didn't get teeth until you were a year old. The only time we knew you were teething was with your first tooth, otherwise the only sign that points to teething is you are an even pickier eater. I love that you handle teething like a pro.

Eden, thank you for being the best daughter we could have ever asked for. Your independence just tells us that you are going to be a strong woman when you are grown. We pray that you will seek God in whatever you do. We are having so much fun talking about Jesus and praying with you every night. We also love how great of a helper you have become and can see that you will make a wonderful big sister if God blesses us with another child one day. Your daddy and I think you are the best thing that has ever happened to us and we are so thankful for yet another month with you.

*I'm still working on getting over the fact that I am back to using my kit lens...but the photo taking has lessened immensely. Its so hard to get photos when its so gray outside. I guess this will just challenge me even more. I have got to get better at taking photos even when the lighting conditions aren't right, otherwise I'll miss out on some great opportunities!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well, let's call this a big, fat Christmas fail. I planned on showing you all some of the ways we jazzed up our house for Christmas. That didn't happen. I did take pictures, I just didn't have a chance to show them to you. I planned on sending out Christmas cards, and then we couldn't afford to order them or buy stamps. I then planned on showing you that card on here, but never got a chance before we left on the train for Washington. Oh and did I mention that I slept a total of seven hours in three days because I was so busy crafting away on every single homemade gift we are giving this year? There was a lot of them. I am tired, but oh so excited that it's Christmas day! So, since I pretty much just failed at everything, I quickly threw together another Christmas card for your enjoyment. Yes, I pretty much rock my failures.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get to enjoy some time with families and friends...and eat lots of food, because that's important.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

Being Neighborly...And Other Christmas Goodies

2011-12-15T22:09:00.000-08:00

We have the greatest neighbors. Really, we do. We actually have experienced a lot of not so great neighbors, so moving to our current location proved to us that neighbors can be nice. Because we love them so much we like to do a little something for them for Christmas (well and throughout the year too). I didn't have a chance to show you what I did last year...or at least I don't think I did, if I did then just think of this as a reminder. We needed something simple and inexpensive, but cute all at the same time. Here is what we came up with.

Aren't those fun? We found the pails in the dollar section at Target. You could always find some at a craft store or Goodwill and decorate them yourself, but at the time (working full-time and had a 2 month old) I just couldn't find a spare moment to DIY much of anything. So pre-made worked for me! The inside is filled with Peppermint Bark from Costco. That is some good stuff! We also found little packets of hot chocolate and stuffed them in there as well. See those cute little Santa socks there? We had found out that our newest neighbors were expecting their first baby so we had to throw those in for fun.

So, if you need an idea for an easy and inexpensive gift, there you have it. This year I have plans of giving them some homemade popcorn in glass jars. I don't think they actually read this blog so hopefully I didn't just give it away. Not that I gave much away, it doesn't sound all that great the way I described it, but I promise, it will look half decent in the end. What? I am not promising miracles here. I'll try to share photos if I get them done sometime soon! Christmas is almost here and I haven't finished one present. Talk about procrastination!

One last thing....our Secret Santa struck again! If you remember we had someone drop a tree at our door and make a run for it. Well, we are guessing that same person (the knock was the same anyway!) dropped a little gift box with all of the fixings for hot chocolate and smores. I happened to be standing next to the door when they knocked, but of course had to do the whole ninja thing and quietly creep to the window to see who it was. No luck, I was too slow and didn't catch them! I would have taken a photo BEFORE we ate everything to show you how cute it was, but we kind of inhaled all of it and ended up in a sugar induced coma. Here is a picture of the cute little mugs that were in that gift box.

Hope you all are enjoying the holidays so far...and hoping that you have gotten a better start on gifts than I have this year.

Famously Famous

2011-12-14T14:40:00.000-08:00

Okay you guys, I have been so anxious to tell you about my little secret and I can finally share it!

Eden's nursery was featured on Baby Lifestyles today!

Insert picture of Josh and I freaking out and celebrating early this morning when we woke up and saw it. We actually knew it was coming. They had contacted us about featuring our nursery and we of course said yes. Who says no to such an amazing blog? Not us! I have no idea what rock I had been living under, but I actually hadn't heard of them until they contacted us. Honestly what a great place full of inspiration. I wish I had known about it when I was pregnant! Good thing we plan on adding lots more littles into this house so I will definitely be heading over to be inspired in the future.

Seriously though we are so thrilled and so honored to be featured on there and I just had to tell you! I felt like it was too good to be true so I had to wait until I had seen the post and refreshed the screen five times (you know, in case my eyes were playing tricks on me) to actually believe Eden's nursery was there. Head over and check it out, its a wonderful feature. I know you all are sick of me talking about her room by now, but seriously they did a wonderful write up about it.

Also, for those of you who are new here from Baby Lifestyles, WELCOME! We are glad you came by. Now, grab a snack or two, sit down, and enjoy all my random musings. I have lots to say. Feel free to ask questions if you have any about the nursery, but to help you out here are all of the nursery posts for you to catch up on!

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4,Chapter 5, Budget Breakdown, The Reveal

Thank you dear readers for being so supportive and encouraging as we learn the ins and outs of design and making our house a home. We cherish you!

Bring On The Fat

2011-12-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

Lately we have been adding lots of butter into our diet. We use coconut oil in everything. We strive to only buy products that were made/grown locally. In fact we rarely buy anything that has been pre-made and make most everything in our kitchen. We choose full fat and never low-fat food. We like our eggs to come from chickens that have roamed freely. We even buy milk that is not homogenized. I know it looks like we have lost our minds, but let me assure you...our minds are (mostly) intact.

I used to dream of being a dietitian or personal trainer. I loved food and its relation to our bodies and I just wanted to soak up every bit of knowledge and pass it on. Then, I married a man who gagged at the sight of a vegetable or anything else that resembled "healthy food," I got busy, etc. I just kept making excuses. Well, after 9 months of eating whatever food we could possibly buy (usually cheap food means not so healthy food) or that people gave to us, we are finally done with eating poorly. Literally, we were just eating to survive before and now we want to eat in a way that will help our bodies thrive. Eating good food is the best thing you can do for yourself, and most definitely for your children (whether you have them now or in the future). I think we can all agree that something is wrong with our society...diseases, obesity, etc. I think I am just over it all. I don't want Eden growing up thinking that eating something that resembles meat at a fast food restaurant is actually good for her body. I mean, who else is going to teach her the best foods to eat? Anyone else willing to step in here? As much as I enjoy watching The Biggest Loser, I would rather not have to have my children on the show. Dear Jillian Michaels, don't take this personally, but I don't want to meet you. Well, I want to meet you, but just not because I chose to abuse my body with harmful foods. Is she even on there anymore? I don't even know!

While we venture on this new "real foods" journey I just want to give you tips, tricks, and resources that we find while on this adventure in hopes that it may benefit you as well. Even if you are fine with eating your Big Macs each day without thinking twice about it (coughMYBROTHERcough) you still may enjoy learning just a little bit more about treating your body (and your planet) right. Oh, and Brett, please don't disown me as a sister. I truly do love you, just maybe don't love your food choices..haha. Okay, but seriously I do still want you to claim me as your sister.

So, after that ridiculously long-winded (hopefully not too preachy) post, here are a few blogs that have inspired me so far on our journey.

First, I have to give major props to one blog in particular.

via

100 Days of Real Food

Lisa is one smart woman. I wish we could be friends. I love reading about her journey and boy oh boy can this woman cook. So far we have tried her homemade honey whole wheat bread, whole wheat tortillas, berry sauce, banana ice cream, chocolate sauce, whole wheat crepes, biscuits, chicken enchiladas, pumpkin bread, granola, macaroni and cheese (I know I'm missing some), and used her recommendation for homemade creamer from Deliciously Organic (I made the pumpkin spice one for Josh). We have loved EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. No joke. We are obsessed.

A few (very) new to me blogs have been providing me with even more wisdom. I am starting to feel the whole ignorance is bliss thing because honestly sometimes it does get a bit overwhelming (you know I always have to state the facts). However, each one of these blogs has broken it down in such a great way. In fact at Kitchen Stewardship, the goal is keeping it simple and doing baby steps. Love this!

The next blog is new to me, but I fell in love instantly. Monica, who writes Oh Sweet Escape actually commented on one of my posts so I went to check out what her blog was all about. OH.MY.WORD. She is gorgeous and super sweet to top it off. Oh and the best thing? This girl can cook. If you want to be inspired in your cooking, go now. You'll love her.

Looking to "green" up your life in all aspects, this next one is sure to give you a great place to start: Frugal Granola

Greats posts and easy to read. Lots of resources on eating and living healthy lives: The Nourished Life

Loving this blog! Another wonderful resource: Simple Organic

Great tips, especially for you moms: Keeper of the Home

I found this blog via Jamie Oliver and love it for planning out healthy meals for kids. Even if you don't have kids you can find some great inspiration: Healthy Meals and Food for Healthy Kids

Now I need to make a little disclaimer here. I am in no way a nutritionist. I know this may come as a shocker (ha!) to most of you. Technically I am just a wife and a mom who is concerned about the state of health in this generation and am refusing to follow that trend. Also all of these blogs that I have shared are just blogs that I have fallen deeply and madly in love with in recent days. Most don't even know I am writing about them (hope they don't mind!).

Here's the other thing. I don't want you to think that I expect each one of you to choose this lifestyle. I don't. We all make our own choices for ourselves and for our families and I expect you are making the best one. I respect that. I am just so over the moon excited about what we have learned and how much better we are feeling these days that I felt the need to share. I can't imagine that we will ever go back to eating processed food. Yes, we let ourselves eat it while on vacation, and we even have a treat once or twice a week. However, our overall food intake is food that would have been ingested on Little House on the Prairie. It's natural and downright good for you.

Please let me know if you have any questions or anything! I love this subject and would love to chat more on it if you would like to hear. Maybe another post will be in order?

Update Schmupdate.

2011-11-29T23:05:00.001-08:00

I've been making some changes to the blog. I'm pretty excited about it. Nothing too fancy, just a little facelift of sorts. It needed it in a big way and I finally had a chance to make it happen. There is still so much for me to learn when it comes to coding and all that fancy stuff, but I'll learn one of these days.

Also, sorry for the sporadic blogging. I am hoping to get some more detailed posts of Eden's party up soon! I've been a bit of a downer lately and I really don't love blogging when I am Miss Negative Nancy. Plus life has just been hectic. I haven't said anything here and I am still not quite sure how to go about talking about it, but we may not be in our house after the beginning of the year. I won't go into details here because things aren't sorted out, but it's just the way it is. In the end it will be a good thing, but its one of those times where you know its the right thing, but it still bums you out a bit as well. Maybe I'm the only one that gets that way.

Anyway, I promise there is more to come! I also have some fun news to share and I can't wait to be able to tell you (no its not a baby!). Thanks all for sticking with me (if anyone is actually out there...). Hope you are all loving getting ready for the holidays as much as we are!

Speaking of the holidays, I might as well share a couple photos while I am at it. You know I can't leave a post without any photos!

Thanksgiving

My brother and sister-in-law hosted this year. The food was DELICIOUS. I definitely enjoyed a couple portions. Also, I loved what Stephanie did with the napkin, such a cute little detail. Eden, being the picky eater she is, decided to just be a grump. Thankfully her aunt Brooke is always willing to jump to her rescue and entertain her for countless hours. We actually accomplished a family photo thanks to the tripod the besties gifted me for my birthday. I'm spoiled. Also, look how everyone looks at me in that last photo. Yep, they were all like, "Mallory is so pretty...ooh look at her!" In reality everyone is looking because every single time the camera snapped a photo Eden thought it was a good time to elbow me in the face. I am being completely serious. She just knew. She really does love me.

Christmas (well, almost)

We enjoyed our first fire of the season. I think it looks like our heads are on fire. We watched Elf and listened to Christmas music (we actually do this throughout the year, but its the first time we did it AFTER Thanksgiving). I have a bit of a story about the second photo...

I was giving Eden a bath and had just pulled her out of the tub. I wrapped her in a towel and was just walking out of the bathroom when I hear a loud knock. Even though NO ONE can see me, I still go into ninja mode and tiptoe to her room, hoping that whoever the scary man is outside of our door won't know I am home. I should probably tell you that Josh was in fact home. He was just in the basement so I took it upon myself to just be a big scaredy cat and run away with my naked toddler. Bella is barking like the crazy dog she is and Josh comes up to see what the commotion is. At this point I am safely hiding in Eden's room debating if I should put her diaper on (apparently the burglars would know I was there if I put a diaper on my child?). After a noise that sounded a bit like, "OOF!" coming from the front door, Josh says, "Mal, come here now!" The naked toddler and I head to the front door to see Josh covered by a Christmas tree. I stand there, mouth hanging open. Josh says, "I opened the door and this tree fell on my head!" Naked toddler and I jump out on the front porch to see if we can see the culprits. No such luck. So now we have this gorgeous tree that a little Christmas elf left on our porch. We put some lights up on our perfect little tree and are going to decorate it sometime this week. We still have no idea who blessed us with this tree, but we sure do hope they know that it was a true blessing for our little family. We thought we were going to have to go without a tree this year, but someone took the time to go pick out a tree and leave it for us. This is definitely a Christmas we will never forget (and it's not even December yet!).

Hope you are all having fun preparing for the Christmas season! Personally I think it came way too fast this time around. I LOVE Christmas and I usually think it can't come fast enough, but this year I feel like things are so chaotic that I can't even enjoy this season. Hopefully I can put the brakes on and just treasure each moment that this great season brings us. Happy decorating!

14 Months

2011-11-19T08:27:00.001-08:00

*I took the photo and wrote this post when she actually had just turned 14 months and then never finished it. That was November 17th. Mommy fail.

Well, here we are at yet another month gone by in our child's life. This month was quite exciting because she started truly understanding us. Sadly, because of this, that also meant we also started doing timeouts. This girl definitely learned how to throw tantrums just like the best of them. Thankfully we quickly learned to just let her throw them and just walk away. I usually stand in the same room, but only acknowledge her in the beginning to give her a rundown of what's going to happen. "Eden, I'm sorry you are upset. Mommy will be right here when you are ready to ________." Usually she is throwing a fit because she wants me to carry her EVERYWHERE. While I would love to do that, its not always practical, and it certainly is putting a strain on my back. Besides, she should be able to walk around on her own. Oh the life of a toddler.

We actually have a fairly accurate guess of Eden's stats since we had to go to the doctor this month. She had a horrible cough...I mean so frightening that I had to stay up with her all night...and the doctor decided it was asthma. We don't know if it was or not since most every child has had a bad cough, but we started her on a nebulizer as the doctor instructed. Thankfully she is finally better after lots of time in front of that nebulizer, keeping her in from the cold air, and lots of Vicks on her feet (it works, try it!).

Eden's Stats:

Height: 27.5 inches

Weight: 17 lbs. 13 oz.

All of Eden's baby friends have passed her up. Yes, I mean BABY friends. This girl is petite just like her momma...sorry Eden!

Things you love:

Saying "YUM!" every time you see food

Running

Pointing to your nose, mouth, eyes, toes, fingers, and belly button when asked

Stacking and sorting everything

Making monkey sounds

Making lion sounds

MILK

Brushing your teeth (you take us to get your toothbrush)

Popcorn

Bananas

Eggs

Screaming

Babies

Things you don't love:

Food (seriously you don't like to eat all of a sudden)

Waiting for your milk to be poured

Being patient

Lately this is the conversation that happens between Eden and I:

ME: Red Robin!

Eden: ba?

ME: No, say YUM!!!

Eden: YUM!

I am determined to have my child star in her very own Red Robin commercial. I am such a stage mom.

I was planning on having Eden's monthly posts be MUCH simpler than her first year, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Oh well. As always here are some photos of her last month. Oh and of course the disclaimer that my lens is all whacked out so please don't critique them!

Grandpa Crain took her on her first carousel ride
(She was not so happy once the horse started moving..)

Holding hands with Beckett
(I couldn't upload a video of them kissing, but they did!)

No more pictures mommy!

She is such a confident walker...and is hard to keep up with!

Her newest love, Clifford!

This is how she sits when she eats EVERY.SINGLE.DAY without fail.

We love you Eden!

Pinkalicious First Birthday: Smashing The Cake

2011-11-18T13:36:00.001-08:00

Every baby must have a smash cake at their first birthday party right? Well, I thought so. I pondered giving Eden a healthy version of a cake cause you all know I'm kind of crazy and well, I was struggling with the idea of just introducing an entire sugar filled cake just because my child turned one. So, I looked for recipes and came to the conclusion that to make one that was dairy/wheat/orange veggie free was nearly impossible. Yes, I could have figured something out, but at that point I was overwhelmed with party details and just knew I had to let this one slide. So, I made a cake. Out of a box. The frosting? From a can. Tinted with pink food coloring. Not my proudest moment, but sometimes as parents we just have to do what works and I am proud to rock that mantra for today.

So, here's the thing. I actually thought Eden would dig in face first into her smash cake. I mean, this girl is not afraid of a little dirt. Or so I thought. I think my idea of "dirt" is a little different than most. Maybe I should have considered the fact that as soon as she is done eating she holds her hands up until we take her to the sink and wash them. Either way, this girl did not even think the cake was a good idea. In fact, she downright threw a fit in the middle of her party crying, "mama! mama! mama!" and holding on so tight with her cute little fingers wrapped firmly around my neck. I'll admit, while it was disappointing to not have a baby covered in pink frosting, I wouldn't trade the feeling of having my daughter need me. Made me feel loved. I have no pictures of her sitting in front of her smash cake, bawling her big eyes out, but I did decide to do a "take two" at home with just the two of us.

This is actually the same cake from her party, I just saved it and brought it home. I added sprinkles to the top (as I had intended to do the first time around) that helped to cover up some of the imperfections that occurred when she hit the cake at her party.

Also, just a hint. I knew I wanted to get all of these great shots of Eden enjoying her cake at her party. This was super important to me (this was before I found out that she would have nothing to do with the cake). So, I taped up a large white plastic rectangular tablecloth (bought at a local party supply store). I made sure to tape it high enough that it would serve as a background, but also left enough on the ground so that all of the mess would be contained and we could just toss the tablecloth when she was done. This was especially important since we were in a business that was also serving customers at the time. Just a hint for those of you wanting to get some great shots of your little one!

Aren't you in love with the ombre pink insides of the cake? I was so excited to reveal it at her party and then extra disappointed when she never even made a dent in her cake to reveal all the work I had put into the INSIDE of the cake. So, of course I had to cut into it the next day to show all of you what was hiding on the inside. It turned out even better than I had imagined and I was so happy with it. All I did was put a little pink food coloring (this is crucial, don't use the red dye, it just won't work. I found some pink coloring by Wilton's at WalMart and it was so worth it) into the cake mix until it was the perfect shade of light pink. I then poured the batter into my small 6 in. cake pan (found at WalMart as well in the craft section). Then I would add a bit more into the batter until I had a medium shade of pink that I was happy with, and then baked that in the 6 in. pan. I think you can guess what happens next. Yep, I added some more until it was hot pink and baked that. The frosting was a similar process, just added a little bit of pink coloring until it was a very light shade of pink. Super easy and yet definitely an attention grabber. *Thanks to my handsome hubsters for helping get the frosting absolutely PERFECT!*

Here are some shots of our little pot-bellied girl getting her cake on. As you can see, she still wasn't that into it.

Right after I snapped that last photo she promptly picked up her foot and stomped on the cake. I think that was her way of staying, "get rid of this darn thing!" I listened...and then Josh and I totally dug into the center (where her baby feet hadn't smashed into) and ate it right up. Quite the load of sugar.

If you missed the first post where I revealed photos from her party check here.

Also a quick thank you to all of you who have commented on her party! I have definitely done my share of picking the party apart until I feel like it was a terrible event because that's just what I do, but you all have reminded me that it was fun! I know Eden will enjoy looking back at the photos of her party and won't know about all of the little details that didn't go perfectly. What actually turns out "perfect" anyway?

Pinkalicious First Birthday: The Eats

2011-11-17T15:17:00.001-08:00

I'm back with my favorite part of any party....FOOD! Seriously, I love eating food, cooking food, talking about food. Yes, food is most definitely one of my loves. On to the details.

I "pinned" a ton of food inspiration to come up with the perfect menu for Eden's party. I knew I wanted to go with food that made you feel like a child again so that's where I started. The other important issue with the food was the fact that Eden ~~has~~ had a dairy allergy (yay for growing out of it!). We wanted food that Eden and any other child with allergens of some sort could at least eat something.

Also, just a note that any recipes used are linked to the food title, so just click on the name of the food and it will take you to the recipe! If there isn't a link its because we didn't use a recipe or because we bought it :)

Pizza Balls

Mini Mac+Cheese and Veggie + Dip Cups

Fruit Kabobs

PB+J Sushi

Tortilla Roll-ups

(Not pictured...just used the standard ones from Costco)

Goldfish + Animal Crackers

Now I know it looks like I forgot to feed my guests dessert, but that's the best part. Eden's party was at my parent's frozen yogurt shop (our shop is just too small for our guest list and my parents willingly agreed to let us make a mess of theirs) so everyone got to go fill up their cups with frozen yogurt and all of the toppings they could want. This was SUCH a huge money saver for us and we are so thankful to my parents for letting us do this. I had even thought about purchasing some cute cups that I designed, but then realized the Limeberry logo cups were cute as is and my mom kept reminding me that they were happy to have us use them. So, I did. I'm so glad. We are obviously in quite the financial crunch right now (maybe that's not so obvious..but we are on a spending freeze permanently I'm pretty sure) so any money saved was quite a blessing. Besides, who doesn't love some frozen yogurt?!

As for drinks we went with pink lemonade served in mason jars and then organic whole milk and natural apple juice for the youngest ones in the group. More on the drink portion of the party later!

I cannot close this post without a GIANT and HUGE shout out to my friends, Maggie and Kristen. They were extremely vital in the food portion of the event. In fact, there would be no food if it wasn't for them. See, I loved the idea of all of the food, but actually making it happen was a different story. I needed to be able to set up the party, but also cook the food and keep it warm all in a few short hours. Yeah. Not going to happen. They willingly volunteered their morning (and the time to go pick up all of the groceries!) to get the food prepared. Can I just say they did an AMAZING job? LOVE THEM!

I'll be back with more details later! Anyone else feeling like "this is the party that never ends...yes it goes on and on my friends..." What? You don't remember Lamb Chops? I loved that show. Even had the lamb puppet.

Let me know if you have any questions about the food or even another aspect of the party. Oh and just so you know, people are still talking about the peanut butter and jelly "sushi" that we served so that's a must make.

Pinkalicious First Birthday Party

2011-11-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

When it comes to Eden's first birthday party, all I can say is WOW. It was a lot of planning and even more work, but in the end I was so happy that we decided to go all out for her big day. I know she won't remember it, but it really was a great time with all of her family and friends and a great way to say, "we made it a whole year!" Eden is blessed by so many people that love her and we were so thankful to everyone who made it. We only wished we had a bigger venue so we could have invited the rest of her friends!

I'll have a source list for everything in a future post. I am also planning to break down the party into a few more specific posts so we can get into the details. If you have any questions, requests, or anything pertaining to the party feel free to comment on this post or email me at thecrainsnest[at]gmail[dot]com.

A big thank you to everyone who helped make it happen...we couldn't have done it without you. Seriously. The party would have been a flop. Thank you to everyone who came out for Eden's special day! And I can't forget to say thank you to all of your wonderful blog readers for all of the sweet comments and support you gave to me as I planned this shindig. More to come!

Blow Out The Candles

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

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Today is my birthday. I turn 27. I grew up in a family that LOVES birthdays. We celebrated all month long. This is not a joke. However, for some reason, this year I really didn't want much...in fact I didn't want anything at all. I asked to go see the movie, "Courageous" with Josh and that was about that. I don't need anything. I don't want anything. I am doing my best to set an example for our household. One that doesn't focus on the getting of gifts, but of giving gifts. Trust me, I think Eden deserves the world, but I pray that she will grow up not focusing on the gifts. As the holidays approach I am asking for money for Christmas. I have plans for it. I hope it blesses the people that need it. We may have little in the way of money right now, but I still feel like I am blessed beyond belief. I have a husband that loves me more than I could have ever dreamed, a beautiful and loving daughter, a dog that may cause me grief but sure brings a lot of laughs into our home. I have clothes on my back (although maybe not the most stylish) and food to eat. We may live a very simple life, but that's just fine with me. I am thankful for what I have. There are certainly days where I look at our bare cupboards and wonder just how I am going to feed my family for the day, but thankfully those days are getting more rare. No matter where I am in life, no matter where I live, my home is with my family and that's really all that I need.

Since I am not really in the celebratory mood for my birthday, I thought you all may want a little fun instead. A little later on I am going post Eden's birthday! Yay! And only 2 months late...whoops. First I waited because I had ZERO photos of Eden at her party. That was not okay. Then the lovely Charissa saved the day and provided me with some fabulous photos of my girl having lots of fun at her party. Then I debated sending my photos to another blog (totally out of my comfort zone), but then realized that the photos that I took were very sub-par and I just couldn't get myself to go through with it. Then...I had no excuse. So, here we are. I don't know why, but I am super nervous to post them. There was a whole lot of blood, sweat, and (a few) tears. I loved every minute of planning the party, but then when it comes right down to it I beat myself up over every little detail. It's a horrible trait. One I hope to kick someday. It truly did turn out perfectly and I should probably just stop worrying. I wish the photography was a bit better and I surely will hire someone next time. I was just way too focused on everything else so the photos suffered for it. This makes for an unhappy Mallory. Anyway, be looking for the post this afternoon! I hope you like it...

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

2011-11-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

Have I told you yet that I am a L-O-S-E-R?! Because I am. Majorly. I also named my Beta fish "Resol" in high school (loser spelled backwards), but maybe I should have kept that to myself. Either way, I am crossing my fingers that I am going to be a winner. Let me tell you what I want to win...

Red Pearl Designs is having the best giveaway! Megan is letting one lucky winner choose 50 holiday cards for FREE. Oh you know I want in on that. I know our friends and family are so anxious to see a current photo of me because I am just that pretty. Oh fine, really they just want to see Eden and most likely you won't even see any part of me in the photo, but give me a little hope please. I must also let you know that these 50 cards are for the most beautiful, gorgeous, magnificent letterpress cards. Letterpress + Mallory = one big weird happy family.

I'm sure you are so tired of me saying this, but let me just remind you that the beautiful Megan is the one who designed Eden's birth announcements. In case you forgot what they look like here it is one more time.

She does amazing work people. So if you are in need of holiday cards then head on over and enter the giveaway. You can bet your bottom dollar (what?!) that I am. I am only telling you this because it truly is a great giveaway and I just realized that by telling you all to go over and enter means I have even less of a chance. Oh by all means please make it that much harder for me to be a winner. I dare you.

Enter HERE.

SPOOOOKY

2011-11-01T23:26:00.000-07:00

Eden loves Halloween. She didn't inherit that from me. Honestly, she was the happiest child ever. I tried to keep her from eating candy, and yet she found it and DEVOURED it. Serious. Here's proof.

See? Terrible right? I hate to admit it, but she is so cute with chocolate on her face, even if I am wincing watching her eat it. It's one of those moments where you throw up your hands and realize kids have some innate love for sweets. I am still going to do everything in my power to keep the sweets out of our home at least and I'll choose to be less rigid when we are out. I'm all about the happy medium.

Look at my girl dressed up as a ~~cupcake~~ frozen yogurt. She cried every time we tried to take off her costume. She LOVED it. Weirdo. She most certainly didn't get that from me, I despise dressing up. Josh on the other hand...well, yeah, we will just say she got it from him.

We also carved pumpkins for Halloween...well the day before anyway. Did you know I absolutely LOVE yanking the guts out of pumpkins? Honestly its like Christmas morning for me. Every year I can't wait to get my hands on the pumpkin and clean it all out. It is my goal to get every single solitary strand of guts out of those beautiful orange gourds. It is even more fun to separate the seeds from the stringy guts. Yep.

Do you see how Eden is holding my arm? The girl wouldn't touch the guts for anything, but she held on to my arm the majority of the time. My girl can be sweet when she wants to be. Oh and please pay no attention to me in this photo. I had planned on not letting you see what I look like wearing no makeup and hair shoved under a headband. Sorry for this image.

Want to see something less sweet? Take a look at my husband carving the pumpkin. That's how we do it around here.

And the finished product.

Many people ask if Bella likes Eden. Well, does she have a choice? Look at those two. Eden loves to lay on top of Bella. Eden also weighs ten pounds more than her puppy. We may need to have a chat with her about not squishing the dog. Oh and the disposable diaper? That was the just in cause our daughter actually wants to get messy and play in pumpkin guts but oh wait she apparently is terrified of all things messy. You know she is rocking her cloth diaper all other times.

I made Eden do a photo shoot in her costume. Yes, I am that mom. I particularly enjoy being that mom thankyouverymuch. I had to use the flash on my camera during Halloween (because my gosh darn nifty fifty lens bit the dust) and I just couldn't handle posting a bunch of photos using flash. I needed to capture my girl in her cute costume. So, we wheeled the wagon down the street. I had dreams of her behaving the way she always had in the past during all of our thousands of photo shoots. She would sit where I wanted to, slyly look up at me with the cutest grin, happily throw leaves up in the air...you get the picture. Yeah, that didn't happen. I was literally CHASING her across the grass and scooping her up every time she made it to the street. I even bribed her with snacks. That did no good. She either had chipmunk cheeks from shoving in too many crackers or would throw her arm up in the air while simultaneously whining until I gave her another one. My perfect photogenic child is no more.

Excuse the truck and the house in that last one. I had to include it because it reminded me of the fact that she suddenly feels the need to stand on her head. Literally, she puts her head to the ground and has her rear in the air. No idea where she got this idea, but it happens when you least expect it. Makes us giggle.

Last week we also got to spend some time with friends. We don't seem them often enough. It's so fun to get all of our kids together and watch how they interact. I think they are going to be longtime buddies.

I need to show you part 2 of the pumpkin patch, but that must wait. My eyes are closing and there is a certain one year old who likes to wake up at the crack of dawn these days. Time to rest!

Happy Halloweenie!

2011-10-31T23:21:00.000-07:00

So I had this great plan where I take a photo of Bella in her hot dog costume and say, "Happy Halloweenie!" It was a great plan, but I failed to remember that actually making that happen was a little above and beyond what I could handle. Big fail. Let's all pretend that it actually happened shall we?

Once I get some photos of Eden in her costume I will post them, but for today I figured I would FINALLY show you all that I did in fact embrace the fall spirit and put a little decor around the house. Nothing exciting, but hey, I tried. Oh and I discovered this year that I actually don't like Halloween. I think I just don't get it. Why would I want to decorate with fake spiders all over my house (we have plenty of live ones in our basement), dress up in weird clothing, watch movies that make me pee my pants, engorge myself in candy, and embrace dead people? I just don't get it. However, I did get enough of the spirit to take Eden to a couple of houses for fun. More on her experience on this day at a later time...let's just say she is all too happy embracing this holiday a lot more than I am.

As usual, for the decor, I stuck mostly to the mantle. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE having a mantle? It has been my dream for so long to be able to have one to decorate and hang stockings from. The bad news is I don't have the money to buy anything for said mantle, so I just have to shop around my house. This wouldn't really be bad news except that I don't have much to use as it is.

It is definitely more...cluttered...than I usually would be comfortable with. I like clean, simple, bare and this is most certainly none of that. It is kind of fun though and I am happy enough with it. I really do need to come up with a new look for the mantle for Christmas. I have pretty much continued keeping that old window with photos in the center and books on the side for the better part of a year.

I am in major obsessive love with my gold pumpkins. If I were a good blogger I would have taken before photos, but I'm not, so I am asking you to use your imagination. I bought these two pumpkins at the Dollar Tree. Which means I spent $2 for two foam pumpkins. Way better than the prices I had seen at a certain craft store. I originally planned on getting them all glittered up like I had done in years past, but after I had painted them up with some gold spray paint I realized I was quite happy with the result and left them as is. Maybe next year I will need a little more bling, but for now I am just loving them as is.

Hope you all enjoyed yourselves on this Halloween! Want to know a fun fact? Today marked our 5 year dating anniversary. Yep, we started dating "officially" on Halloween in 2006. Our date consisted of LOTS of scary movies. No, seriously. We watched the entire Halloween movie marathon until 3 a.m. Good to know we bonded over blood and guts. How romantic.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Patching The Pumpkin

2011-10-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

During a bout of AMAZINGLY gorgeous fall weather here in Oregon, we decided a trip to the pumpkin patch was most definitely in order. We followed tradition this year and returned to Bauman Farms. We seriously love that place. I mostly just appreciate that we don't get charged a million and one dollars to enter a farm with a young child who really can't do a whole lot of activities anyway. Honestly, some of those farms out there are getting crazy expensive. It's pure insanity I tell you. I thought it would be fun to compare this years pictures to last year's since Eden was only a month old last year during her first trip to the pumpkin patch and was 13 months this year. It is so fun to look back and see how much she has changed. Oh and also to laugh at ourselves for forcing a newborn to pose behind a wood cutout.

Last Year

This Year

Last Year

This Year

Last Year

This Year

Last Year

This Year

Wasn't that a fun little trip down memory lane? Here are a few more fun photos from our little farm trip.

Is this not the cutest calf nose you ever saw? You can't see it here, but Eden kept putting her hand through the fence and petting it's soft little nose. We were all in love with the baby cowie.

As you can see our daughter has my love for animals. Good thing we want a farm. I never thought I would want a goat, but this girl LOVED feeding the goat. Maybe I'll get over my memories of goats eating my favorite shirts when I was younger...I mean, its only been 20 years since that happened. Geez.

We wanted to get a photo of her standing in front of this measuring stick, but unfortunately Eden thought that was rather boring and off she went.

We took a little walk through the pumpkin patch. We didn't find the unique pumpkins we were looking for, but Eden sure had fun. Oh and ridiculous side note...I had no idea that Eden had found the CUTEST pumpkin ever while I was taking photos. I was so busy holding the big black box in front of my face, snapping away, that I never even saw it. Needless to say I threw a fit after I saw these photos and realized we didn't buy it for her. Don't worry, we ran to the store and bought her one!

This girl loved petting the hay on this pumpkin dude. Don't know why, but apparently it was rather entertaining.

We had a great time at the farm. Our only regret was that we went right at closing so we were sad to have to leave. I am honestly so excited for next fall just so we can go again! Wow..never thought I would be excited for fall, but things sure have changed this year.

A Forgotten Trip + Photo Overload = Seattle.

2011-10-20T23:15:00.000-07:00

Eden and I took a trip to Seattle with my parents. She was 10 months old. Whoops. I had been editing the 50,001,212 photos I took on the trip and got bored with it and then just never posted anything about it. So lame. This was the very first time I went on a trip as a "single" mom. In fact, it was also Eden's first time staying in a hotel (which was interesting). My thoughts on staying in a hotel with a baby...no big deal if you are lucky enough to have one of those babies that actually goes to bed without SCREAMING. Not so great if you don't. It turned out that she wouldn't fall asleep unless she wore herself out by crawling around in my GIANT King sized bed. I had no problems with this at all, I am always looking for an excuse to snuggle my girl. Oh, and about the bed, it was heavenly. Full of pillows. Luxury I tell you. It was also nice because my parents were just down the hall so they could help me out as needed. It was needed. A lot.

So, what were we doing up in Seattle? Well, visiting my younger sister! Okay, technically she lived in Bellevue, but let's not get technical.

That's my baby sister, Brooke. Well, yeah she's not a baby anymore. She's all growed up.

We got to spend lots of time exploring with my sister. Well, as much as Eden and I could handle. Sometimes she and I would just lay around the room while I crossed my fingers for her to fall asleep. It was also vital in ensuring that she ate because this girl DID NOT eat in public. Yes, it was the longest year of my life, but it was worth it. Or at least I tell myself it was.

This was the view from our room. Not too bad right? If you went down the hall to my parents you would see Mt. Rainier. It looked so close I wanted to reach out and touch it.

We got to go visit this very old and gorgeous building that had been converted into apartments. My sister was taking a tour as a potential place to live (she didn't end up moving there but it's fun to look at nonetheless).

One of our stops during the day at this fun guitar shop in downtown Seattle. Guitars are cool.

That's Eden's future guitar. You know the one.

Oh, hello cute bookstore that belongs in an equally cute and cheesy romantic film. Well, if you erase the graffiti.

At one point we took a little trip to Kirkland. If you haven't been please go. I want to move there. They also have an amazing burger place. Not kidding. Plus they use local organic meat. That's a win in my book. Oh and if you really want to know I think it was called The Sip. Could be wrong.

This is not the burger place I just mentioned. Who can resist a restaurant called Olive You?

We had a random photo shoot on the water.

Oooh, sparkly duck.

Check out those sparkly pink TOM's. This is back when she needed assistance to walk, so weird.

The best part of the trip? Eden's first time in a pool! She is a water baby. SO not like her mom. She loved it.

Swimming made her very tired.

Other highlights included a pizza place that made me wish I could marry it. If you ask me the name I'll just say I don't know, because I really don't know. Same thing happened when I decided I wanted to marry Josh, I didn't know his name. Ask me about it sometime. We also enjoyed a whole lot of Starbucks. Oh and I got a delivery of a Top Pot donut. My favorite. We went to a really fun new church called Rain City Church. If you live nearby, check it out. Eden played in their nursery and loved it. Also, it was located in a movie theater. I craved popcorn through the whole service. We did a whole lot of other stuff, but that would require me to remember and that's not happening 3 whole months later.

All in all I will say I survived my first trip without Josh. Eden survived too. I actually didn't want to come home which surprised me. Obviously I missed Josh, but I just wished he could have come up and had fun with us. It was a great trip and sorry it took me an extremely long time to blog about it. Hopefully that's not the same fate for Eden's party...

13 Months

2011-10-19T15:41:00.001-07:00

Look who is 13 months (well, 2 days ago)! This past month Eden worked on perfecting her walking skills and now can do so very confidently...and is even working on running. One BIG exciting change was finding a TOOTH! I was able to cease looking for toddler dentures which was a huge sigh of relief. There were about two days of some serious crankiness and then she was back to her happy self.

Things you love:

Walking everywhere

Waking up your dada

Playing with Bella

Farm Animals

Throwing things

EATING (she officially eats more than me now)

Apples (applesauce, apple cider, green apples...)

Feeding Bella

Swings

Playing in the park

Talking, singing, and shrieking everywhere you go

Dancing

Reading every book in the house

Sorting + organizing toys, shoes, etc.

Things you don't love:

Getting told "no"

The nursery at church (she used to LOVE it so much, hoping it's short lived)

When mommy leaves for the weekend

Not getting to eat everything that you want

The sun in your eyes

Yep.

Trader Joe's organic animal crackers...with us wherever we go.

So much for a toy basket.

This girls loves shoes + organizing. Put them together and well, you have this.

Showing off her church outfit

This was taken immediately after that last one. This was also during teething. Can you say MOOD SWINGS?!

*Sorry about the quality of the photos. I dropped my beloved nifty fifty lens (otherwise known as the 50mm 1.8) during Eden's birthday party and it has never been the same. It makes me so sad. In fact, I almost can't handle the sadness. At least the subject of the photos makes me smile!

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for your prayers regarding my little scare last week. The good news is it was just an infection and I am all done with my crazy medication. Thankfully the medication didn't make me sick (despite the 50 million warnings that it would make me very ill) and I can certainly attribute that to lots of prayer and my miracle product, Kefir. Hopefully I'll get a chance to tell you all about that soon. Not being sick was a major blessing since I had my very first weekend away with the ladies of my church so I was so glad that I didn't have to worry about that! You all made me feel so loved and comforted, so thank you from the bottom of my heart!

The Making Of An Announcement

2011-10-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

There has been something Eden has been wanting to say for awhile, but we had to wait to share the news (Okay no people..it has nothing to do with her becoming a big sister so just stop it).

Translation: I'm going to be a cousin!!!!

Eden received this special onesie from her adopted aunt and uncle, Ruby and Daniel a couple months ago. To say we were excited would be the understatement of the century. In fact, Josh and I literally couldn't sleep that night following their announcement because all we could do is talk about their baby. Honestly, it felt like we were having another child, that is just how excited we get about our best friends having their first baby. I think it made it extra special since we now know what it is like to see that 'positive' on the stick. I am really hoping she never shows anyone the video that she recorded of us finding out because honestly we acted like loonies. Okay fine, I was the only looney one there.

So, this post actually gets even more exciting. No people, Ruby and I are not pregnant together...and in fact we technically can't even think about another little one until Eden is at least 18 months...this means NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Alright, now on to the exciting stuff. Daniel and Ruby asked ME to take photos for them to announce their pregnancy to everyone. No pressure or anything. The only photos I take are of Eden and inanimate objects that can't tell me how horrible I am at photography. The scary thing is, Daniel and Ruby can talk...crazy as that may be. Of course I couldn't say no, I mean they are family to us and I just cannot say no to family. So, I did it. And I was so very honored. Want to see?

Yes, these are the same, I just liked the processing of the second one so I had to include it. Oh and um, hello cute puppy! That is Stella...yes it rhymes with Bella. I think they should name their child "Aiden" so Eden doesn't feel left out (I couldn't come up with something that rhymed better...).

Also, if I had the time I would include some outtakes from my photo session with Eden. Trying to get that girl to sit still so I could get a clear photo of her onesie was asking a whole lot of her apparently. It ended with her climbing up the ottoman, and whining at me when she got stuck. Maybe I'll get those posted for fun one of these days, but today is not that day. I have to go get packed because I, my friends, am going on a retreat with the ladies of our church! Yes, the first time being away from Eden overnight. Actually its overnight times two. So, time to prepare and then snuggle with the monkey a whole lot to make up for lost time.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

From My Heart

2011-10-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

I almost didn't write this. I thought about keeping this to myself. I mean in reality it didn't end up being that big of a deal, so I might as well just keep it between the few that know. However, the thing is, I always go back to my goal of being honest. I also realize that most of the time the things that I experience have also been experienced by others, and I don't know about you, but I know I like to know I am not alone. So here it is.

I have been nursing Eden for 1 year and 2 weeks. I far surpassed what I originally thought I could handle. Honestly, before I was pregnant I used to say, "Three months is my limit! There is no way I want a baby attached to me after that." Oh silly, naive me. Well, anyway, as of yesterday, Eden had been done nursing for one week. It happened gradually and while it was a bit weird, we were both more than ready to end that part of our bond (Eden made that clear). This leads us to yesterday morning.

I found a lump. It kind of surprised me. The funny thing is I dealt with plugged ducts the entire time I was breastfeeding which would cause lumps ALL.THE.TIME. However, I knew it wasn't normal. I called my OB and they scheduled me for an ultrasound that afternoon. I had never wished I was pregnant more than that moment, because suddenly the word "ultrasound" had a much different meaning. I was shaking, but worked on holding it together. I'm a mom now, we are supposed to be calm and rational right? I would say I am pretty gifted at staying level headed about things (okay well there are a time or two...or three that this was not the case) but for some reason I just lost it. I did the ugly cry. I now remember why waterproof mascara was invented and why I should never buy anything else again. It was funny because I knew no matter what, it was going to be okay, and yet, I actually felt scared. I was so thankful that I didn't have to wait long to get an answer because I may have driven myself crazy.

1:45 p.m. came and it was appointment time. I noted that the ultrasound technician looked younger than me. That seemed strange and yet somewhat comforting. She was nice. With Josh by my side I laid on that familiar bed with the same black and white screen in front of me. Only this time, there was no cute blob of a baby to look at, and no heartbeat to count. Just weird wavy lines that meant nothing. The tech poked and prodded and printed photos. She made a comment about not getting dressed and needing a second opinion.

My heart sank. No one needs a second opinion for a lousy plugged duct. This is when Josh started making jokes about ducks and gooses.

She returned. "We believe its an infection," she says. Right. I was over thinking everything and I am fine. I may have thought, "I can't believe I just paid thousands of dollars to find out I have a stinking infection!" Don't let that make you think I wasn't thankful because I was more than thankful. I realize not everyone gets to find out that they only have an infection. Not everyone gets to walk out with just some nasty antibiotics that are supposed to make you sick four times a day. It could have been so much worse. It's been hitting me hard since yesterday. My day went from sad to happy so quickly. I started playing the "why" game. Why was I the one that got to walk out of there with that news? Why do others have to hear the news that changes their life forever? I'm so thankful for everything that God has given me, and so glad to know that He has a plan for everyone. I wish I could say I understand it all, but I don't.

So, for now, I keep taking those pills, praying that it really is just an infection. In one week we should know. Otherwise I'll be back for more tests. In the meantime, I am using this as a reminder to be thankful for what I have as well as reminder that our lives are fleeting so live them in the best way possible.

Thanks for listening.

How To Avoid The White Shirt And Khakis Dilemma

2011-10-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Recently my brother and I were planning a family photo shoot as a gift for my parents 30th anniversary. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts it was unable to come to fruition. However, I still wanted to give you some insight into how we planned our outfits for...count them...NINE people. Yes, the idea of coordinating eight adults and one child sounded a little intimidating without resorting to the 90's go to look of all white shirts and matching pants. You know you have one of those in your house somewhere, don't be ashamed...we all did it. Anyway, I have some ultra stylish family members so I wanted to make sure that each personality was able to shine through their clothing choices. So, here is how it all went down in case some of you out there are planning a photo shoot this fall...or really at anytime.

First things first. I needed a color palette. The proposed date was in mid-September so I knew it was right in between late Summer and early Fall. I wanted to have a wide variety of colors for everyone to choose from. To come up with this palette I selected an outfit for Eden first.

Old Navy Floralprint Poplin Swing Dresses For Baby

I found this dress (sadly, no longer available) from Old Navy that had such the perfect mix of Summer and Fall and so many colors to choose from. It was perfect. So, with that dress as inspiration, I then plucked out each color from the dress so I had an actual palette to look at. From there, I set out to find outfits for Josh and I. Thankfully Target pulled through for both of us. I found a navy dress for me and some gorgeously inexpensive boots to go with it (similar to photo below). For Josh, I found an olive shirt that was neither dressy nor completely casual to pair with dark jeans (the shirt pictured below was the closest match to the shirt I found at Target). Once I had our three looks pulled together, I created a mood board in Polyvore to send to all of the family members to help inspire them when selecting their outfits.

Phillips Family Photo Shoot

Flutter sleeve dress
$20 - target.com

Faith leather boots
£90 - debenhams.com

INC International Concepts Shirt, Oliver Slub Polo Shirt
$8.99 - macys.com

Old Navy Floralprint Poplin Swing Dresses For Baby
$16 - oldnavy.gap.com

As you can see, picking out outfits for a family photo shoot does not need to be intimidating. It is as simple as thinking about the season, choosing an inspiration piece that coordinates with that season, picking out every color you can find in that piece, creating a simple mood board (you do not need to do this, but it sure helps those who are visual), and then choosing items that work within your designated palette. As for the worry of becoming too "clashy" with clothing that has a lot of prints, I would say stick to classic pieces that are not "loud." This simply means it is okay to choose an item that has a print (prints are a good thing, it gives some dimension to the photos!), but to keep in mind that the print should be muted. So, for instance, you would not necessarily want the large floral pattern, with a plaid shirt, a polka dotted shirt, and a striped shirt. The prints would compete with one another. However, if you were to take the one bold pattern and pair it with a soft print it would easily complement the other.

Honestly, don't let the idea of coordinating outfits scare you away from a fun photo shoot. Trust me, I am by no means fashionable whatsoever, but if I can steer VERY clear of having matchy-matchy outfits then you can too. I mean it. And by all means, please take the time to spoil yourself and the ones you love with a photo shoot. They are so very worth the money and time. Besides, its a great excuse to look great and an even better excuse to laugh at yourself twenty years from now when you look at all of the clothing choices and say, "what were we thinking?!"

Jar of Cupcakes

2011-10-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

Today I just have a super simple gift idea for you all. Our neighbors had brought home their newborn baby boy and we wanted to give them a little something. Of course a baby gift is obvious, and we could have done a meal, but we knew they had their family staying with them for awhile so meals weren't an issue. Then it hit us. The one thing you don't get a lot of are "treats" when you come home from the hospital...and who doesn't need a little sugar to give them some faux energy once in awhile (especially with a newborn). So, while Josh and I are working towards living healthier lives (more on that later) we still think its fun to make something sugary as a treat every once in awhile. Plus, I needed some quick and easy. Enter a boxed cake mix and some frosting...ummm, did I just go there? Yes, yes I think I did.

These were so simple. I picked a box of funfetti cake mix because, well, it's fun and some white frosting. I prepared the mix according to the directions and poured the mixture into one of my glass jars about 1/2 full. I baked them just like I would bake a cake and just kept my eye on them until the toothpick came out clean. Helpful hint: use a funnel or just have a very steady hand when pouring the batter into the jar. If any batter is left on the sides of the jar it will come out a burnt mess...yes, I have had experience. As for the frosting on top I just took the store bought frosting and placed it in a plastic bag. I cut off the tip and swirled it around until I got the desired effect. Then I sprinkled on some rainbow sprinkles and was satisfied. To package it up I traced the lid of the jar onto some scrapbook paper, cut it out, and attached it to the top of the lid for a little extra fun. Then I tied on a fork (it's what we happened to have) with a ribbon and that was that. Of course I attached a little note before we delivered it as well.

Have fun with this...use different mixes, add in different toppings, decorate it however you would like. These would make great hostess gifts, welcome to the neighborhood gifts...the sky is the limit really. The only rule is, make one for yourself at the same time or otherwise you'll be delivering a half eaten jar. Consider yourself warned.

Invitation Only

2011-10-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

First things first. A party needs an invitation. Well, okay technically the inspiration and design were first, but followed closely behind is the invite. I mean, why go through all the work of planning a party if no one knows to come and enjoy it? Exactly.

When I started designing Eden's invite I really didn't know exactly where I was going to go with it. I knew I wanted a photo incorporated into the invitation somehow, but I also knew that I really didn't actually want the photo ON the actual invite. When I saw this pin I knew immediately what I wanted. Ironically I had already planned on incorporating balloons into Eden's first birthday photo shoot when I saw the inspiration photo. Great minds do think alike if I do say so myself. Not that my mind is great. I won't go into details of how I did it because honestly the tutorial I followed was done very well. I'll go into a few suggestions later on.

When it came to the invitation I really just started designing and let my imagination run wild. I definitely redesigned it a few times. I would start one and it just wouldn't feel right so I would wait a couple minutes and sometimes days until the perfect idea hopped into my mind. It was a lot of trial and error, but I am so glad I chose to do it. I really wanted to DIY her invitations for her birthday...I think it was a little therapeutic for me and kept me from being too sad at the rate at which she grew up. Okay, I sound sad, but honestly I couldn't be happier to have a toddler, it is a really fun age. Oh, and of course, if I were to decide that I was NUTS (which technically I did realize halfway through working on the invites) then I would of course gone to Megan at Red Pearl Designs since the lovely lady also designed Eden's birth announcement. You all know me though, I like to attempt the impossible and stay up way past my bedtime and make myself absolutely crazy so I make my own invitations.

I really wanted the fun to start BEFORE the recipients opened their invitations. Yes, of course I could have just written out our return address, but where's the fun in that?

Even the back of the envelope got a little love. Oh and let me give you a heads up...if you are going to go ahead and make address labels, then by all means PLEASE do not spend the extra money to buy stickers to seal the back of the envelope and just make your own. Not that I would know or anything. So, that's what you see here. Mallory thinking its a good idea to just buy some stickers, when in reality it took 2.5 seconds to make her own stickers and ended up liking the result better. Lesson learned. Oh, and one more tip...I chose to barely wet the sticky part on the envelope for fear that the recipients would just tear open the envelope in a ~~fit of rage~~ hurried excitement to see what was inside and then added the sticker to keep the envelope flap down. Maybe I'm the only one who shreds innocent envelopes whenever they arrive in my mailbox.

So I wanted to give a few tips on the envelope liner. First things first, turn on a movie, a t.v. show, some music..I don't care what it is..but definitely have something going on in the background to keep you sane. I loved making the liners, but it definitely takes time. And with over 50 invitations let me just say, I may have wondered if I had lost my mind a few times. Honestly though, once you get into your groove it will be done in no time. Also, if you have a paper cutter you will save tons of time. I used the paper cut to cut off the excess paper along the straight lines so that when I went to cut out the actual liner I only had a couple very small cuts to make. If you don't have a paper cutter, well that sucks. Also, I did use double stick tape, but then ran out on the last few that I made. I originally thought about just going with a glue stick since it would cost a whole lot less than the tape, but don't do be a Scrooge. Seriously, it is so worth it to use double stick tape. Glue makes it all wonky (is that even a word?) and you have to sit there and hold it while its drying. Um yeah, no thanks. Plus with tape you can remove the liner which I know made some people happy because they wanted to keep the photo. Other than that, just follow the tutorial to make your liner...and the best part is? It's not limited to photos! Seriously...try scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, newspaper...really, anything because it just makes whatever you are sending that much better. Honestly, send me hate mail with a cute envelope liner and I will be all smiles. Or don't.

So, that's Eden's first birthday invitation. Anyone surprised by the amount of pink I used in one invitation? If so, you are in for an even bigger surprise when I reveal her party. If anyone attempts the envelope liner send me pictures! I would love to see what you all come up with. And of course, if you have questions...ask away!

Pre-Birthday Fun

2011-10-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Since I am STILL waiting on photos of Eden on her birthday (this is a not so subtle hint to those of you that were snapping away!) I figured I would share how you celebrated as a family before the big party.

Eden's actual birthday fell on a Saturday which meant it was also the day of her party. We knew with her turning one that we would need some time to just snuggle and love on her as well as reflect on the past year as parents. Well, I think I needed this more than Josh, but that's alright, he was along for the ride. In order to ensure that we could get a little bit of family time beforehand we decided to celebrate Friday morning, the day before her birthday. When she woke up that morning we brought her out to a big giant stack of sprinkle pancakes that we made using our typical whole wheat recipe (we like this one and this one). She devoured them! Josh and I may have had our fair share as well...

My sister also came over to spend some time with her so I could get some last minute errands done for the party. I couldn't resist snapping a few photos of the two of them before I left.

This is a present that she received at her birthday from her grandpa and Lola (my parents). I am telling you all now, this is the BEST PRESENT EVER. Seriously. If you have a baby or young toddler or know anyone that does, get them this trike. She cries when we take her out of it, but we figure that's a good thing. We no longer are allowed to use the stroller for our evening walks because she adores this thing. It's quite fantastic and it is a 3-in-1 (you know us and our need for multi-use items) so it can be used from 10 months through the end of her toddler days. Speaking of presents...this girl made a killing at her party. Seriously. Every gift is very well loved already. Oh and the clothes? Super cute. I seriously love children's clothing.

One of these days you will actually get to see her party...hopefully...

No Room At The Inn

2011-09-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

Can I be honest with you all (whoever you may be) about something? When we bought our house and I saw that it was mini-sized it kind of made me happy. Yes, we really strive to live within our means and I was all for the challenge of living in 834 sq. ft. (that is livable space...don't mind the fact that we are all but taking up every inch of the 834 sq. ft. in the unfinished basement!), but that wasn't what was causing me joy. Okay, get ready, this is going to sound harsh, but I promise to try to make sense of it so bear (or bare?) with me. I was happy because it meant we had an excuse not to entertain. Whoa. I just admitted that I was happy I couldn't have people over and throw parties. The thing is I am terrified of hosting. I LOVE planning parties (um hello Eden's ridiculous first birthday party), but the idea of being the host frightens me. The whole time we have people over I am stressing about if I am doing things right, if they like the food, if I am boring them, if ~~the house~~ I smell okay (what?), and a million other things. Instead of just enjoying the fact that our friends (or family) are spending time with us, I just stress. So, my newest challenge is to be an entertainer and ENJOY IT. Every ounce of it. No more stressing (yes, Brittany...this may be why it has taken me FOREVER to have you over!). With that in mind I have been dreaming of our future home, the one that will be able to house more than 3 people and a dog comfortably.

My future house will have a large open kitchen. I don't mean the actual prep area has to be huge or anything because really anything bigger than mine will seem spacious. What I am looking for is a kitchen that has room to move and places to sit and eat. Kitchens are the hub of the home and currently I turn into a raving lunatic if a certain husband, child, or dog feel the need to share the space with me while I am cooking. I WANT them there, but the fact that I have to trip over them in order to move two inches to grab a spatula just drives me bananas. So, an open and inviting kitchen has been added to the list.

Source: houzz.com via Mallory on Pinterest

Source: interiorgroupie.blogspot.com via Renee on Pinterest

Source: nesting-instincts.blogspot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

Another must have for my new entertaining lifestyle is a large and open living area. Are you sensing a trend here? I would love a space that has plenty of room to host a slew of friends and family while still feeling warm and inviting. Currently we own one small sofa, a slipper chair, and a desk chair...with a few ottomans scattered between. This usually means if we have more than a couple of people over, many are sitting on the floor. That's not horrible, but its not ideal. I would like my guests to feel comfortable after all.

Source: hellolovelyinc.blogspot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

One last thing. A bathroom. Or, more importantly an extra bathroom. We have ONE bathroom in this whole entire house. You would think that would be enough for two adults and a baby, but it is not. AND THEN you add visitors and it is just pure chaos. Someone is always in there when you need to go..well, you know. Oh and the shower? Good luck.

Source: simplifiedbee.blogspot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

So, while I am perfectly happy in my home right now and have no intention of buying a bigger home anywhere in the near future (what?! I still need some more time to adjust to the idea of being this fantastic entertainer) I will still dream of our future house and continue to gather inspiration. Dreaming is always a good thing.

What would be in your dream house, or even your next house? Is anyone else dying over that gorgeous living room?! I wish I were that kid so I could run in there too. Also, any of you smarties out there know how to get the source to be centered under the photo or a better way to embed photos from Pinterest? I am goings all sorts of crazy trying to fix it.

Hope you all have a fun filled weekend...and if you live in the PNW (Pacific Northwest for those not in the know) don't get too wet!

(If you are wanting the challenge of improving your entertaining skills spend some time here)

Pretty People

2011-09-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

In an effort to upgrade my "cool" factor...I felt the need to brag about my friends. They are beyond cool. Too cool for school y'all. Hmm...apparently when I bring out the cheesy lines I also decide I have a Southern drawl.

Anyway, today on Style Me Pretty...yes, THEE blog for all things wedding...a wedding was featured. I know, I am hitting you with the obvious right now. However, the wedding wasn't just any wedding, it was of a beautiful girl that I went to high school and college with. Not only that, but her wedding was photographed by another friend that I went to high school with. Oh and want to get hit by some serious crazy? The photographer that I just mentioned, I just told you about how his wedding was featured on the very same blog. Yeah, pretty people flock together (is that how the saying goes?). Now, I know you are all thinking that if that saying is true than HOWINTHEWORLD did I become friends with them? Would you believe its my amazing personality that draws the pretty people in? No? Oh. Well then I am at a loss. Anyway, please go look at this absolutey stunning bride, handsome husband, FUH-REAKING FABULOUS wedding, and the most amazing wedding photos to date.

Source: stylemepretty.com via Mallory on Pinterest

Wait, want to hear a sad story? No? Well, its coming anyway. Erich, the photographer, had offered to shoot our wedding all those 4.5 years ago. Can I just say I have kicked myself in the rear end only 1,003 times for not saying yes back then? I mean, we didn't formally discuss it or anything...it was just an offer, but SERIOUSLY? Erich, can we please have a redo? I want to have another wedding anyway so I am all for it. Just don't tell Josh until the day of mmmmkay?

I Heart Faces | People's Choice

2011-09-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

This is the photo that we used for Eden's first birthday invitations (which I promise to share with you soon!). It captures her so well. It's the moment I felt that we no longer had a baby, but a very independent and loving toddler. We had longed for a baby and when the timing was right she joined our little family and has brought so much joy, laughter, and all out fun into our lives (because one can never have enough fun).

www.iheartfaces.com

2 Years

2011-09-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Source: blogs.babble.com via Karen on Pinterest

Two years ago (well technically two years and two days) I started this blog. I can't believe it's already been that long! Our blog is like a friend to me...it lets me rant for hours and never talks back. Should I admit that I think of my blog as a friend? Umm probably not. Whoops. Okay, but in all seriousness I really, truly love blogging. I wish I could spend more time on here, but alas at this point in my life I'm far too consumed by family and our business to spend countless hours on here. Maybe one day I'll be devoted to posting each day, but that probably wouldn't happen unless I had more than two people who read this thing, ha!

When we decided we wanted to start this blog back in September 2009 we were just living in an apartment daydreaming of the day that we would own a home and fill it full of children. We had no idea that just two short months later we would be putting an offer on a house, getting pregnant a month after, and moving into our ~~brand new~~ very old house the following February.

We have had so many changes in these past couple of years and I can't wait to see what changes will occur over the next two years!

One change that I have been contemplating for awhile...and I even wrote about it in our goals for this year...is changing up the blog. As in, name change and everything. I have the name and in fact even have the blog started. I just for some reason can't get myself to pull the trigger. I have commitment issues, for real. So, fingers crossed, I will get over it and just do it already. I should have just handled it like I handled marriage...I met the man, got engaged right away, got married just a short while later, and it was a done deal. No time to back out :)

We are also contemplating a big life change right now. No further details right now...just letting you know that things might get all crazy up in here.

Anyway, happy 2nd birthday blog! Maybe next year I'll throw you a big party...

12 Months

2011-09-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here we are, the last one of these monthly posts. Now admittedly I doubt I can stop posting these, but it will most certainly be a bit different of a format. We won't have all of the pediatrician appointments and such for measurements, but I am sure I can't resist documenting my little lady. Yep, my "baby" is now a big, semi-independent toddler. Well, she thinks she is fully independent some days, but I beg to differ. This last month whizzed right by as we prepared for her big first birthday party (don't worry, I am planning some big posts for that one!). I definitely would stop and snuggle her a lot just so I could be sure to cherish every last bit of her babyhood. Honestly, having a baby was so much fun...and yet, here I am LOVING having a toddler. Yes, she sure does have quite the personality...which can be good, but a lot of times means we are having to use the word, "no" a lot more than we would like. This girl is not docile. Not even a little bit. She is curious and loves to get into anything she is not supposed to. If things don't go her way she will scream. My ears hurt after these episodes. Obviously we are going to have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure she becomes a well-behaved young lady! We love every minute of it though, even when it means chasing her down because she got a hold of the toilet brush yet again (gag!).

12 Month Stats
Length: 28 inches ~ 25th percentile
Weight: 17.6 lbs. ~ 5th percentile
Head: 44.5 cm. ~ 50th percentile

(Update: Shoe size: 3...that's for you, Danae!)

Eden Rae, here is what you have been up to lately:

You started walking! (September 7)
You clearly say dog, mama, dada, pig (well, according to daddy)..and probably more that we haven't deciphered
You know to get our phones to play the peek-a-boo barn app and to get the remotes to watch Blue's Clue's
You have started bringing us books to read and like to listen to them over and over
You are down to just one 2 hour nap a day
You like to curl up in Bella's bed (usually with Bella) when you are sleepy
You have discovered your love for grapes this past week and love orange juice

You play tug-of-war with Bella ALL.THE.TIME

You apparently don't care for cake and frosting (fine by me!)

You moved to the WALKER nursery at church this past month!

You are extremely active so you are really enjoying your riding toys and ride them all over the house
You know how to sign "all done"

You are STILL toothless (shopping for dentures this month...I kid, I kid!)

My girl, you are so much fun! Daddy and I love you so very much and this past year has been the greatest of our entire lives. We never want you to forget how much we love you and enjoy you. You make each day a party. You still love everyone and are starting to make little baby friends which we love. I love that you follow me around while I clean the house, but can play all by yourself as well. We thank God for the blessing you have been in our lives each day! Never forget it bear!

Your first birthday party photo shoot

Riding a "horse" at the zoo

Honoring those that have served our country (September 11, 2011)

I'll be back with all of the party details and of course PHOTOS as soon as I gather them all from everyone that took pictures during the party (yeah...I never took one of Eden the entire time! Bad mom!).

Now off to play with my TODDLER...

Happy Birthday Eden Rae!

2011-09-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

At this very moment one year ago our lives changed and honestly we could never have imagined just how good we would have it. Honestly it doesn't seem like a whole year has passed since the doctor placed the tiniest little girl with an itty bitty button nose in my arms. Despite the events that happened after she was born, I still think about that moment with a big smile on my face. Today we will have had a big over the top party to celebrate not only our little girl, but to celebrate the fact that Eden has survived a whole year with us as parents. Today I will write her a letter letting her know just how special she is to me. How my love for her will never change. How she has made me the best version of myself. Amazing how someone so small can effect your life in such a big way.

I'll definitely be going back to read Part I and Part II of my birth story just to make sure I remember every single moment of that day.

I have so many words I would like to say, but part of me just wants to leave it at this. Simple. To the point.

Eden Rae, you have made me realize that being a mom is the best job I have ever had. I may not always be perfect at it, but you love me anyway. I love being your mom and I can't wait for all of the years to come. You are already growing up to be such a fun and loving child and I look forward to watching you grow.

Happy birthday.

*Thank you to Pinterest for inspiring Eden's birthday photo...gotta give credit where it's due folks.

It's a Cruel Summer

2011-09-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Well, summer finally hit here in the Pacific Northwest...I would say that it is no longer "fashionably late" but RUDELY and RIDICULOUSLY late. I mean Starbucks brought out their Pumpkin Spice Lattes...shouldn't that mean we have already been hit by so much heat that we are excited for fall? Yeah, I am definitely not there yet.

I have been so nonexistent on my blog and it really bothers me. I would love to write posts each day and honestly I always have a blog post brewing in my little head, but I just haven't figured out how to fit blogging into my day yet. Thankfully, after an entire year, I finally feel like Eden and I have a pretty decent routine going on in this house...and that happened just as she decided to start WALKING. So, now all routines are out the window and it is time to figure out some new ways to get stuff done. The hardest task is definitely using my steam mop. I can't get the girl to stop following me as I am using it. And doing it during her naptime? No way. I have quickly learned that having a small, old house means finding one spot to sit in during naptime and never moving. Well, I exaggerate. Thankfully Eden sleeps through a whole lot, but still...naptime is sacred and I don't want to take any chances.

Have I mentioned that this post is going to be a bit more random thank usual? You thought that wasn't possible right? Well, think again. I have lots of wackiness going on in this head of mine and I need to share it. Speaking of which...weaning. I am so ready to wean Eden off of nursing its not even funny. I've loved doing it for this entire year and have most certainly surprised myself with sticking to it the entire time. However, this girl has ADD when it comes to nursing...and despite the fact that she has no teeth she still finds a way to bite down, HARD. I guess for some reason I had this notion that weaning would be super simple. She turns one and we are done. However, I am realizing it actually is rather complicated. Add to that the fact that she can't have cows milk and I am downright baffled at what I am supposed to do. She has her one year appointment on the 20th so I know we will learn more, but I feel like I should already be starting the process. I honestly have no idea how to cut down on feedings. UGH. Why is parenting so complicated?!

Lets move away from parenting and talk about another complicated, but enjoyable subject...LOVE AND MARRIAGE. One of my dearest friends got engaged this past weekend and I am simply elated! I remember when we were younger (we have been friends since 8th grade) talking about boys and our futures and such. It's just so crazy to see where we are 14 years later (WHOA..I am getting old). The fun thing is she was in my wedding when Josh and I tied the knot four years ago and it just makes it even more sentimental. Pour on a little more cheeeeeeze please. Anyway, congratulations to Marcus + Brianne!

Speaking of weddings, a couple that I know just had their AMAZING wedding featured on Style Me Pretty. Excuse me, WHAT?! Yes, their wedding was that fantastic that it is featured on the super huge wedding blog. Go check it out, its amazing and will blow your mind.

Source: stylemepretty.com via Mallory on Pinterest

I started this post planning to show you photos of our trip to the beach that happened over a month and a half ago. I am so behind. Obviously I have already overwhelmed you all with words so I will do my best to only show you photos of the trip. No promises, I really like talking.

Eating at Mo's...classic Josh face.

Touching sand for the first time

Sandy "tookies"

I love this photo...I have no idea what is so funny but I always want to remember this moment, the moment I realized that being a mother brings out pure joy in me.

This photo makes the water look gross...I should probably fix that, but I won't.

Kisses

I am using the new version of blogger and I feel like my photos look a little...yucky (for lack of a more technical term). I do like how "clean" the new layout is if that means anything.

Well, thanks for sitting through my rantings and overall wackiness. With all of the sickness that went through all three of us and me being completely overwhelmed by party planning I just don't have time to sit down and write, even though its my favorite thing to do (besides pinning of course...haha). Now back to playing with my walking BABY girl (only 9 more days of saying that).

Have a great Thursday!

A Sneaky Peek

2011-08-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

Today we had a little photo shoot with a certain soon-to-be birthday girl for her invitations. We thought you might like a very small peek...

That's all you get to see for now!

Thank you to Maggie + Kelsey Wilson for suggesting the most obvious location for a photo shoot. Honestly, it turned out PERFECT!

Can't wait for you all to see the final product...in fact...I can't wait to see the final product! Back to work...

Birthday Inspiration

2011-08-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

With Eden's first birthday party only a few short weeks away, I thought I might give you some insight into my planning. Here are some of the inspiration photos I have 'pinned' over the past year. Yes, I started planning while in labor...there were even witnesses so all I can plead is insanity.

Original image here

Original image here (I bought these!)

I know, not a whole lot of a sneak peak...but I am SO busy trying to get stuff together for this party that I don't want to take anymore time away from planning. Seriously I thought planning it a year in advance would make my life a whole lot easier, but somehow I feel like it's been harder! I know she won't remember any of this, but that's fine by me because I think we are celebrating the fact that Josh and I survived a whole year of parenthood (because that ain't no small feat). Truthfully if I were half normal I would just have a small family party, but I am not (half normal that is). I was aching to throw a big party, so a big party it will be. There may or may not be 80 people on the guest list. The good news is I don't think all of them will come, but seriously...I didn't even know I knew that many people. The sad thing is that doesn't even include all of the people I would like to invite. Hi, I am Mallory, and I have a problem...I feel like I cannot leave anyone off of guest lists. You should have seen me creating our guest list for our wedding, I am still upset over it!

Anyway, that is what is going on in the Crain household as we prepare for toddlerhood. Thankfully the invites are designed and will (fingers crossed) be printed this weekend and sent out next week! Hopefully I'll get some time to snuggle my BABY at some point...

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P to the S.... If you aren't following me on Pinterest yet and want to do so...just look over to your right (those of you on Reader will have to actually go to the blog to see) and you will see a little Pinterest button. Click it and follow me! As always, if you haven't yet joined the craze, leave me your email address and I'll send you an invite!

**A little disclosure if you will....my obsession with Pinterest is all my own. They do not pay me to say a thing about them nor do they even know who I am. I just happen to have a severe addiction to pinning and wanted to share it with the world!

The Weight Of Motherhood

2011-08-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

My heart has been really heavy today (honestly it feels like I'm going to fall over from all the weight) and I just felt the need to unload a bit. This blog is nothing if not therapeutic for me and sometimes I just need to use it simply for that.

Being a mom is hard. Like harder than any job I have ever had...and let me tell you, I have had some crazy strict bosses (Tina- I am talking to you! Okay, not really you just happen to read the blog..like you could be strict..). I am saying this because I had one of those moments today with Eden where your life flashes before your eyes, only it wasn't mine, it was hers.

Eden and I were hanging out in the kitchen and she has this ADORABLE shirt that my parents gave her that she tends to like to pull strings out of. I saw that she had pulled a string rather far and I dove down faster than I even knew I could. I grabbed the string and yanked it away horribly quick. I had these visions of her swallowing it (earlier she had rocks in her mouth so it really isn't that hard to believe that the string would go directly into her digestive system). Immediately after pulling she started screaming. She is not one to get terribly upset about much of anything. My heart plummeted. Something was wrong, very wrong.

I fell to the floor to examine the hand that I had pulled the thread from and that's when I saw it. Eden had wrapped the thread around her finger and when I yanked it, it caused it to tighten and knot the thread. Her finger quickly turned red, and then lavender, and then a deep shade of plum. I was shaking and knew I needed to act fast. The problem was, the thread was wound so tightly around her finger that I couldn't get anything under it in order to cut it off. I panicked. I wanted to call 911, but I couldn't even get myself to leave her side. I kept pulling...grabbing scissors...anything I could find to try to get the thread off, but nothing worked. I knew the hospital was exactly ONE MINUTE away, but the idea of putting her in her carseat where I wouldn't be able to check on her horrified me. I was going to have to call an ambulance. As I watched her cry and lay there helplessly I knew I had try one more time. I thanked God for my super long fingernails and prayed that they could miraculously get under that thread (I had already tried multiple times to no avail). Thankfully my nail got under it and I just started pulling as fast as I could.

The screams coming out of Eden made me aware of how extremely painful it was for her. I felt horrible, but I knew in the long run this was the best thing I could do for her. After what seemed like hours, I got the thread off. I pulled her so close and just rocked her back and forth on the kitchen floor. I kept shaking and saying "I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry...mommy loves you..." over and over, but did not cry. I couldn't shake that icky feeling inside and grabbed the phone to call Josh. I tried holding it together as I recounted every moment of that terrible accident, but I just couldn't. I lost it. Hot tears streamed down my face as I realized how close Eden was to no longer having any circulation to her finger. The image of her finger starting to go black was haunting me. I kept thinking, "God, I said to keep her safe inside me! I knew I couldn't handle having her out in the world where there is so much pain!" However, I knew deep down that no matter how scary that moment was for the both of us, I am so very glad she is here on this earth.

Sometimes I don't feel like I am that great of a mother, but I can't imagine my life without Eden. There are days where I question the way I am raising her. I try to do what's right and yet I constantly have people judging what I do. I know what Josh and I are doing is right for us and for our baby, but it is hard not to question yourself when people judge. I am constantly feeling the pressure to be more selfish in life. "You should have lots of alone time." "Putting her to bed at the same time every night keeps you from staying out, you shouldn't be so strict." "You shouldn't let her eat and fall asleep, it's not good for her." Honestly, it is so hard not to question who I am as a mom. After today I realized something. God made me Eden's mom, no one else. She is my responsibility. I will always choose to do what I believe to be the best thing for our family and even if that doesn't fit into someone else's life or schedule I will stick to what I believe in. In that moment of pure terror, the only one that could help Eden was me. Eden cannot help herself...that's why she has me. Eden's needs will come first, as will any other babies God blesses us with.

I say all of this as an encouragement to all you mom's...soon to be mom's...and ladies who desire to be moms. Parenting is HARD, but know that you are doing/will do a great job. I know it. No matter what you do, know what is best for your child and stick with it. God designed us to nurture and raise up our children so let's rock that responsibility. Don't let people get in the way of that.

I know not all of you that read this blog have a faith in God, and that's just fine. Since my faith is such an important part of my life, I wanted to share a portion of scripture that I read and think about all the time.

"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate." Proverbs 31: 27-31

Carnival Schmarnival

2011-08-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

I am buried in photo editing at the moment. I have so many photos that I have downloaded and am trying to get through each one of them so I can post them here. Tonight I am sharing some photos of our time at the Bite and Brew of Salem. We were able to steal Josh away for a little (very much needed) family time. We thought we were so very smart going on Sunday evening, but as it turns out everyone was packing up and leaving by the time we arrived. Lesson learned. We still had fun walking around and tasting a bit of the food. Sadly I only had a few photos of the carnival portion of the event since they had already closed that area down. Oh well...there is always next year.

Frozen lemonade + burger sliders + pulled pork sandwiches

Carnival rides + food

Just a little something we saw on our walk back home

Have a fabulous weekend! xo.

11 Months

2011-08-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

This last month has flown by and I think mostly because we were BUSY. Eden experienced a lot of firsts during her tenth month of life. It also must be said, this girl is starting to look and act like a toddler. Boy, oh boy does this girl have quite the personality. We can already tell she is going to be "miss thang" and be quite independent. She most certainly is the firstborn girl in the household. I would be so very surprised if she is anything like me when it comes to sports and activities because at this point we see her being very outgoing and active. Not me at all. Pretty much I have come to the conclusion that she is her father. She has his curls, his ears, his personality..really the only thing that she got from me is her blue eyes and blonde hair. Oh and maybe her love for noodles (I'm sure its the filipino in her).

11 Month Stats
Length: 27.5 inches (won't really know until next month)
Weight: 16.5 lbs (we weighed her on a scale recently, don't know how accurate that is)

Eden Rae, here is what you have been up to lately:

You took your first step!
You are now taking a lot of steps (SO VERY CLOSE to walking)
You are allergic to dairy, orange veggies, and wheat (praying you grow out of these)
You love playing ball, musical instruments, reading books, trucks, and blocks
You are finally on a sleep schedule
You are talking so much and it sounds like actual sentences (no idea what you say though!)
You love to eat noodles, garlic, chicken, peanut butter + jelly sandwiches, fruit, hummus, waffles, green beans, and peas

You LOVED going into the pool for the very first time

You prefer drinking out of straws

You prefer to shred + eat toilet paper and flush toilets over anything else

You are STILL toothless (considering dentures)

Oh baby girl. You are growing up so very fast. There was a day when I thought I wouldn't know what to do once my babies became toddlers, but honestly I don't even remember what it was like to have a newborn. We LOVE everything about you. You keep us busy all day long. You are seriously the goofiest baby we have ever met. You like to stick out your tongue, hold your feet up in the air while in the stroller, and smack your lips together most hours of the day. You give us sloppy kisses and try to eat my face. I think your daddy and I spend most of the day just laughing at you because you are hilarious. You still love everybody and we think you always will...you are our social butterfly! This is your last month as a baby and I plan to treasure every moment of this time with you, but I am most certainly looking forward to watching you grow as a toddler. Love you honey bear!

First time at the beach

My typical view

First pair of TOMS!!

Relaxing at the Saturday Market

Lola + Grandpa returned from a trip to Kaui

Your first time swimming!

Only one more of these monthly updates to go...not sure what I will do after 12 months...

The House That Never Was

2011-08-03T23:24:00.000-07:00

My husband is a destroyer of dreams. A dream destroyer if you will.

He and I both share one thing in common. We are dreamers. Both of us could dream of our futures for hours and truly believe we can do or be anything. Most of the time money gets in the way. Sometimes reality does. However, today, my dreamer of a husband decided to be the voice of reason. Excuse me, WHAT?!

One thing you should know about me is that I am the world's most indecisive person. Those of my friends or family members that actually read my blog are definitely shouting, "AMEN SISTA!" right as I type. Well, not right as I type because obviously if I am still typing I haven't published this post. Moving on. So, today's indecisiveness happened to be regarding houses. See, Josh and I disagree on the number of children we want to have. I am most certainly a planner and some days it is very hard when someone asks, "how many children do you want to have?" It is very innocent in nature, but inside I am thinking, "oh my goodness I don't know and this is not good and what should I do and I must have an answer!" Actually I am just screaming inside.

So what do kids and houses and indecisiveness have to do with one another. Nothing. Okay, actually everything. See, I wanted two kids. Josh wanted three. I absolutely DID NOT want three. I need even numbers people (that's normal right?). Days after Eden was born Josh had the nerve to say, "I want at least four kids." Did you catch that? AT LEAST. Want to hear the crazy part? I am actually open to this if that is what God has in store for our family. Oh dear me I have gone off the deep end. Alright, so kids...houses...lots of kids...need big house.

While thinking of big houses I started dreaming. The bad thing about my dreaming is that I then go crazy and start finding houses (benefits of having a real estate agent for a husband) and I can never just settle on one...I love lots of houses...in lots of areas. However today, well today I found our family the perfect house. Want to see?

Just seeing this one photo I pretty much died inside. Now, look down at the next photo just to ensure you all realize that I have truly gone off the deep end.

Yes, that would be a barn folks. And you know where barns are? On farms. In the country. I am a CITY girl...I grew up in Southern California. I pray daily that I can live there again. For some reason though, I found this house and thought, "I could do this. I could live on a farm with acreage. I can see myself with kids running around my feet and playing hide and seek amongst the trees." Honestly I am working very hard at letting go of what I think I want and being open to whatever path God has planned for me. Oh and the best part about this barn? Umm...hello PERFECT photo shoot in my very own backyard.

I'll take you on the rest of the tour.

That's my fireplace. It's original and I love it. I would add a giant hunk of wood for a mantle...preferably one from an old barn or something special like that. Can't you imagine all of our stockings hanging there for Christmas? Definitely can't be 59 kids and counting...I don't think we have enough room for all of those stockings.

Oh hello kitchen. I would knock out some walls to make it open to the rest of the house most definitely. Those lower cabinets? They would be painted dark gray. The upper cabinets? Say bye-bye because they would be replaced with open shelving.

Here's a little inspiration for you.

Source: vtinteriors.blogspot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

Be still my heart. Look at those wood floors. And the large area. Lots of room for little feet to run around.

So, I pitched the idea to Josh. I said, "look...I think this is the only time I am going to be crazy enough to suggest moving to the sticks. If you want 21 kids we are going to need a large home. Oh, and did I mention it has a barn?! I can have all of the photo shoots I want! Honestly, what else do we need?! Oh and I'll love you forever."

How can you say no to this? Oh, I don't know, why don't you ask my cranky pants husband. If any of you don't have a cranky pants husband let me tell you about my house so you know all of the details in case you think she should be your home. I may set up a tent in your backyard. Hope you don't mind.

The footage to your square: 2230
Rooms for your beds: 3 (although I see 4 listed elsewhere so who knows)
Places to potty: 2.5
Acres to roam: 2
Monies you would need: 204,900 (yes, you read that right!!!)
Location of perfect farmhouse: The Boonies of Salem

I love my house, I really do, but can you deny the fabulousness of this home?! It is just begging for me to fix it up.

Oh and by the way, if you decide to make her yours I know a great real estate agent who can show it to you.

Also, this is not my husband's listing. I showed it to him. The agent does not know me and does not care to (well, I added that last part). I just had to feature this house that I am in love with.

So long house....

*All fuzzy house photos (unless listed otherwise) are via the mls listing here.

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P to the S - I still love you cranky pants, but I am starting to rethink having a gaggle of children... ;)