Carolyn's 3rd Birthday - Tea Party for Toddlers

My sweet little girl just turned three years old. As you probably have already guessed one of her favorite activities to play is tea party. Therefore it was an easy decision to plan this year's birthday party as a tea party for all her toddler friends and family.

Thanksgiving Table Decor and Friendsgiving 2018

Every year I hold a small Friendsgiving potluck with my friends. We love the special time to get together and catch-up. I also love an excuse to set up a pretty table. This year I let Carolyn help me with the table decor.

Cheater Store Bought Thanksgiving Crafts

I love doing crafts with my daughter, but sometimes I tire of having to think up ideas, or find the perfect idea on Pinterest. So for the sake of just doing something fun I will impulse buy a craft at the store. I bought these two little Thanksgiving craft kits at the craft store thinking they would be fun and easy, one was, the other wasn't. Can you guess which is which?

Easy Meal Planning Calendar

How is your weekly meal planning going? At this time of year we tend to feel overwhelmed with all the holidays coming up trying to plan out all of our meals and thinking about all we have to do. I have a system to share with you that I've been using for over a year now and can highly recommend for it's easiness and flexibility.

Family in Town

My cousin Auburn and her daughter Maggie are back for another visit. We don't have as many adventures planned this time, but instead plan to stay home and do lots of fun fall activities. Baking pumpkin cookies is on the agenda! It was so cute the way they were delighted to see each other again. Maggie was tired from waking up early and driving the long drive to get here, so she crawled into bed. Carolyn excitedly climbed into bed with her. I know they would have loved to sleep in the same bed, but I doubt there would have been much sleeping going on...

Trip to the San Diego Zoo

Ben and I decided that we wanted to celebrate our birthdays this year by going to the San Diego Zoo. This was super exciting for us because Carolyn has never been to the zoo. She loves talking about different animals and it's adorable the way she'll describe them. For example the kangaroo goes boing boing! And of course the lion is described by his "roar."

Minnie Mouse Party - Carolyn's 2nd Birthday

As promised yesterday I'm back today to continue with the mouse fun - Carolyn's 2nd Birthday party! Ben created this special birthday invitation and cut it out on his fancy cutting machine at work (think Silhouette on steroids!)

Summer Fun Summer - Colorado Trip

At the beginning of this year my cousin Jamie moved away from me. I miss her so badly but I totally understand why she needed to move because now her cost of living is lower and she can be a stay at home mommy, which was her dream! The benefit of her moving is that now I get to visit her in beautiful Colorado! Several members of Ben's family live in Colorado too and this was our first time getting to visit them! It was such an amazing and wonderful trip let me share some of it with you!

Summer Fun Summer - Cousin Visit!

Wow-wee has this summer been flying by! We have been jam packed with lots of fun things going on, leaving very little time for blogging. Two weeks ago my cousin Auburn came to visit with her beautiful daughter Maggie. It was so wonderful seeing Carolyn and Maggie become close friends. And we had the best time taking them around Southern California.

 

Vegan Vanilla Cake with Chai Frosting

It was my sister in laws birthday last weekend and she recently has decided to become a vegan. Having lots of previous experience cooking and baking for a vegan friend I volunteered to bake the birthday cake!

After lots of Pinterest searching I came across this amazing recipe by The Almond Eater and we both decided that this was the cake to make! I'm not going to post the cake directly here because that would be stealing her awesome work but you can click this link to go get the recipe yourself. I followed it almost to a T except I used a different type of butter. My grocery store does not sell Earth Balance, although I have purchased it at a different store and really do like it. But they did have a new butter called Melt and I decided to give it a try! It's made using coconut oil and it definitely does have a coconut taste. I decided this would work well in this instance because coconut and chai are friends!

Everybody loved the cake and the frosting too! And as I predicted they did go well together! I think this is probably the moistest cake I've ever made it was so soft and delicious. If you are in need of a vegan cake recipe I highly recommend it.

To celebrate her birthday we all went out to eat at a restaurant called the Veggie Grill, they have wonderful food. Then we went back to my parents house and had cake and presents. And lots of fun with lots of little ones running around! 

By far my favorite photo of the night!

I am so lucky that the Lord blessed me with Lindsay as my sister in law! I love having her as my special sister that I can confide in and share all sorts of mommy experiences with! Happy birthday Lindsay! 

Halloween 2017

We began discussing Carolyn's Halloween costume right after last year, but didn't finally decide what to do until after Ben's big flying adventure. Carolyn has become enthralled with airplanes; pointing to them in the sky, making motor noises and playing with her Little People plane in the house.

That settled it, she NEEDED to be Amelia Earhart! Which left Ben and I to figure out how to dress to match. Ben decided to be her mechanic and I would be a reporter asking for an interview.

Birthday Ball

I had dreams of throwing a regency ball for my 30th birthday, and with some help that's just what I did! Sorry this post has been overdue for two years now, but hey it was just my birthday so I thought I'd pretend I'm only 30 again!

Carolyn's 1st Birthday - Mermaid Party

Carolyn's 1st birthday was such a special day for her and me!  I've been planning this party all year! Actually longer than that even, but let's not get distracted with how crazy I am...  The way I looked at it, this was the only birthday party for her where I would be able to choose the theme, from now on she'll have more and more of an opinion and will pick her own theme.  So why not pick my absolute favorite, mermaids!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Carolyn, Teddy & Lucy would like to wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day

Carolyn wants to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year 2017

Carolyn wants to wish you all a Happy New Year!

1st Trip to the Getty & the Beach

At only 1 month old we took Carolyn to the Getty and to the beach!  We're very lucky to have a great friend who's 2nd cousin has a house in Santa Monica.  For the past two summers she's invited Rebekah to stay at her house when she's out of town and she's allowed to invite friends! So Cool!!!

4th of July 2016

I'm playing a little bit of catch-up here, since it's now September and I'm only just now getting to the 4th of July, but hey the baby has kept us busy!  At 11 days old she celebrated her first holiday!

4th of July 2013

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!  Ben and I had a fantastic time splashing in the pool and watching fireworks with the family!

Our Easter Celebration 2013

This year for Easter Ben and I hosted the family gathering for my side of the family.  As you know we had lots of fun prepping all of the decorations but honestly the best part was enjoying having my family all together for the first time in a long time.