All Around

God is in the tiniest of details, and I love that.

This little guy made a home in the window box outside Patrick's room.  We enjoyed watching him until I had to change the flowers out for some fall mums.  

Summer Finds

I adore Target.  I can usually come pretty close to finding a knockoff there of an overpriced item I like in a magazine.  

Take these guys: got them on Sale for like $45/each.  Magazine: $145.

The kids use them for all kind of things they shouldn't.  

My favorite addition I found on ebay.  I saw a cast iron horse windmill weight I loved at a local antique store.  They wanted $800.  I settled for this cast iron horse instead. $35. 

I haven't been able to get to the big flea markets this summer like I had planned, except for one trip back in May to the Washington, PA Antique Market.  It took me about 50 minutes to get there, but my BF from college went with me and we fueled up with Starbucks first.  

I would say the merchandise was so-so. I was really looking for some furniture pieces, which were few and far between.

Instead I found this vintage child's toy cradle that I plan on refinishing white for Kaya's dolls. $10

And... Jesus.  Once we actually do something with our dining room, they will have a permanent home there. $50/pair

I love the hunt. Maybe I can squeeze one more trip to another flea market in the area I want to try.

Kaya's First Birthday

Let's pretend this post isn't almost a month late...

Kaya turned one on July 29th and we celebrated with the grandparents and our "Alice in One-derland" theme.

 

The invites I ordered from Brooke at the Etsy shop PurpleandPlatinum.  The great thing about her shop is I only wanted 4 invites and didn't have to order ten to get what I wanted.

I wanted to make a fun, whimsical high chair banner, and saw one on the internet.  Then I couldn't find it again.  So I spent about $8 on tulle at Joann Fabrics, then hand sewed it in a pleated fashion onto a regular ribbon.  I found the letters in black on clearance at Michaels, and painted them gold.  I sprinkled the wet paint with fine gold glitter, and sewed them to the tulle.  I  used command hooks on the edge of the high chair tray to hold it on.

 Kaya's cupcakes and smash cake I made using an online tutorial from www.notquitenigella.com. 

The various Alice in Wonderland characters you see in the pictures, including the Cheshire cat below, came from Michelle at Snowscottage on Etsy.  The detail was amazing.  Highly recommend her shop if you are doing anything Disney related.  I hung keys and little pocket watches that I got at Michaels from the chandelier, along with mini tea cups that were in a damaged toy tea set found at TJ Maxx. 

 Did you know you can get a moss table runner at Michaels?  I bought white ceramic mushrooms there as well and painted them a metallic mossy green and pearl pink.  The white rabbits were recycled from my Easter decorations.

 Kaya and I found these vintage tea cups at an antique mall nearby one Saturday afternoon. Mostly I found them. She just drooled.

 

I wanted a banner that read "Welcome to One-derland", but couldn't find one I liked online.  I was at Party City and found this kit for $7.  You put the letters on yourself to make it read whatever you want.

My mom with the birthday girl

Baba with Kaya

Kaya loved the cake and threw a big fit when we took it away.

 

 We played a game of pin-the-nose-on-Olaf after cake.

 The boys got Kaya a doll that we named Alice. 

A bracelet from Baba and Grampy

A week later Kaya had her one year check-up, weighing in at 21 lbs, 12 oz and 31 1/4 " tall (that's in the 96th %).  She wasn't walking unassisted by her birthday, but she took her first steps on August 5th.  By the next week, she was walking more than crawling.  Turns out this lady is the best climber of the three (which led to her falling down the stairs a week ago).  She has four teeth, all center-two on the top, two on the bottom.  She says "ball", "woof", "Baba", and another word I am completely blanking on at the moment.  She loves to clap, and Patrick is her best bud. I took away the bottle when she turned one, and she didn't seem to mind, but I haven't attempted to break her of the pacifier yet. 



This is one of my favorite pictures from her one year shoot at Picture People. The first two photos on this post were also from the shoot.

She is sleeping 7:00 to 6:30ish with usually one afternoon nap.  She has more dresses than she could possibly need, but who can blame me?  Just like her brothers, she is content to swing until the cows come home.  She is a pro at going under the water when we swim, and I am praying that she will be my fish since I have two boys who still hate to put their faces in the water.

Happy Birthday, K.

Love,
Mom







once she

First Pirate's Game

We finally got around to taking both boys their first Pirate's game. It was HOT. Thank goodness we left Kaya home with a sitter. In case you are wondering, the Pohl boys made it to the end of the 4th (barely).  This coincided with the exact moment the popcorn ran out AND we cut them off from the cotton candy.  We saw the Pirate's hit a homer in the first inning! 

It was the best part of my weekend, hands down. It has been a particularly hard summer for me, especially the past month.  Lots of yelling, lots of tears. I feel like I am completely drained, and school doesn't start for another three weeks.  God always gets us through, though. 

Kaya's First Birthday Cake

To keep with my Alice in Wonderland theme, I decided to do a down-the-rabbit-hole smash cake and coordinating fondant cupcakes.  I found this website, and followed her tutorial for the smash cake, then tried my best to copy the cupcakes: 

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2010/05/05/alice-in-wonderland-cupcakes-10-tips-for-cupcake-decorating-from-planet-cake/

My fondant lego cake was a disaster, so I was braced for another fondant failure. But guess what? I rocked these puppies. They took approximately six hours, but it was (mostly) fun.  

I used the prepared icing you buy at the grocery store instead of buttercream, and I don't think it affected the final product all that much. Of course I used the crappy Wilton fondant from Michael's that doesn't taste that good, because it was the cheapest stuff and I was pretty sure it wouldn't look nice anyways. The inside was Ducan Hines Pink Velvet cake mix.  Yeah, not kidding you. It was amazing. 

I had to insert toothpicks inside Alice's fondant legs, but otherwise just scaled up the cupcake topper version in the tutorial for the cake. 

I loved this theme, and plan on repeating it for a sixth or 7th birthday.  

Realizations

Tom and I are officially too old for a mid-week concert.  We hauled our sorry butts 1 1/2 hours to see my first Buffett concert (and Tom's bazillionth) last night. Boy, am I dragging today. It was fun though, and glad I can cross that one off my list finally.

Camp Is Here!

I am not sure who is more excited about a week of dinosaur camp- the boys, or me.  It runs for three hours, and Tommy and Patrick are in adjoining classrooms, so I have only one drop-off and pick-up. It is my only week this summer where I can run errands with just one kiddo in tow, and it comes the week before Kaya's first birthday. Although we aren't having anything more than a small family party, I still wanted to decorate, so we have been picking supplies here and there. Here is a sneak peak at the theme I picked:

I am having so much fun with my first girly party. More pictures to come, of course.

Back to camp-

We kicked off the week by taking the boys to the Natural history museum on Saturday so they could really grasp the size of the dinosaurs.  This was our first time there since we moved back in 2009.

There was a special dig site for the kids that had real tools that they used to chip away at the faux rock that surrounded replica fossils.  The rock came off painstakingly slow, but the boys were happy to be wearing goggles and using any sort of tool.

Kaya was bored and angry because she couldn't have snacks in her stroller, Tommy tried to touch everything that said "please do not touch", and Patrick seemed to be interested in everything. 

Tommy did great at camp. It helps that this was his brother's school, and now his for this fall. He already feels at home. Still not a single accident over the past two weeks, so I would say we are officially fully potty trained. He sleeps in undies, and his swim diapers have been tucked away for Kaya. Way to go, Tommy!