What we've been up to lately:

Time just keeps slipping away around here. We're busy busy busy! Aurora's new buddy is still with us three days a week, which seems to be working out well for everyone. I'm still in school full time, taking THREE classes at once right now which is a little stressful. I've also started running for exercise because it's the most (actually, only) convenient option for me. In between all of that, we've been trying to get out and enjoy this new spring sunshine as much as possible! Here's some of our moments from the last few weeks:

Running errands with mama.

Snugglin and watching Sesame Street! (SO CUTE!)

My first 5k - don't laugh at how slow I am please!!

Teaching her buddy how to draw with chalk!

Longest bubble bath ever!

Aurora's first ice cream cone!! (Shhh.... don't tell her it was vegan and all -natural!)

Say hello to my new hobby: Canning!

This was my first batch: fresh chipotle salsa and marinated mushrooms. I'm hooked already!

What we've been up to lately....

Aurora is getting so big and is really becoming her own little person these days. It's beautiful and exhausting at the same time! So, what's new? Aurora dances... all the time. She sings little gibberish tunes. She's obsessed with the video of the baby who dances to Beyonce and yells "Baby, Uh-Oh-Oh-Oh" every time she's near a computer. She likes water beads and 'coloring' and play dough. She loves to point at cars and yell "Vrooooom!". She gets excited for rides on the 'bus-bus'. She can drink out of an open cup (in small amounts), she eats with a fork (when she has the patience), she brushes her teeth almost all by herself. She knows when her diaper is dirty and she understands what the potty is (thought we haven't officially tried it yet). She knows SO many words, even if she says them silly. It's baffling to me when I think about what she could do just a short year ago... which was none of those things. When people say 'It goes fast', they mean it. I have no idea where the time went. We're already planning for birthday number two, it's mind-blowing.

Painting with water at Hasboro's Big Backyard!

Fishin'!!

Getting a closer look...

She loved this giant wooden xylophone!

Check out this awesome treehouse they have for the kids to explore!

Aurora tried pizza for the first time, she'll get the hang of it eventually...

All dressed up for brunch with her grandparents.

Coloring!!!

My teeny little bean has officially sprouted into a big bean stalk!

Beach Baby!!

This weekend we took Aurora to the ocean for the first time. She had a blast! Her favorite part was throwing sand around and hanging out with everyone who talked to her. She's not so sure about waves though... Here's some pictures!

  

Cuddling with the bestie.

Snacks!

Annd.... mess.

We had a great day, and mama finally got some sun. Can't wait to go back!

Check out our new favorite thing!

So after searching online and doing a TON of research on bicycle seats for Aurora, I finally decided on one!

I knew right away that I didn't want a trailer and I wasn't a huge fan of the ones that hook onto the back of the bike. Particularly because my bicycle has a heavy duty cargo rack attached to it that I'd have to remove.

That left me with pretty limited options. There was one that mounts on a rail between the seat and the handlebars, but my bicycle didn't have a long enough frame. Then I found one called the iBert that I really liked. It mounted on the handlebar stem which made it perfect for my bike and it was getting amazing reviews. However, it only came in a strange green and orange color and it was pretty expensive so I had a hard time committing to it. Well, lo and behold a month later when I decided to break down and buy it... There it was on Amazon; $15 cheaper and in PINK! Decision made! Two days later the seat and a tiny helmet arrived in the mail! Unfortunately, it was raining so our first ride had to wait until the next day. 

What the heck is this... a new hat?

This is Aurora "hugging" the box. She's a little strange haha.

It was super easy to install! Looks good, right? 

Aurora was so excited to get in it! She kept pointing at my bike yelling "vroom vroom!"!

Vroom!

We had a blast riding about the neighborhood. She learned to say "Whee!" and waved at everyone. She even clapped her hands a  bunch of times. Everyone one we passed on the street got a kick out of her!

And of course we had to stop for a snack!

Mmm... fruit cup!

It looks like this bike seat with be getting a TON of use! Aurora loves it, I love it and we get tons of compliments when we're out. I cant wait to start taking some longer rides! <3

Aurora's First Corn on the Cob!

I've always loved corn on the cob and I get so excited when it starts showing up in the supermarket! Last week, they had some on sale really cheap so I couldn't resist. Aurora has a play food set and like to pretend  she's eating the corn, but she had never had it on the cob like that before. Anyway, I remembered that my little brother ate it with us almost as soon as he had teeth so I left a few rows of kernels on one and gave it to Aura to see what would happen. It took her a little while to figure out, but she loved it! 

Here's how it went...

(Pardon the bad lighting.)

What... the... heck is this?

Hmmm....

There's food on here.

Oh... I get it!

I guess she'll be eating corn on the cob with mama more often!! Saves me a lot of work, that's for sure!

I'm off to Hawaii!!

Just got back from dropping Aura off at her Nana Poo's house (SO hard) Our flight leaves at 6a.m. so I have quite a bit of time to kill. I've been occupying myself with little games like "How many things can I possibly fit in my one quart baggie of liquids/gels. The answer? 

Everything I could possibly need:

Finally! My sample-size hoarding has come in handy!!

Yep, it's all in there.

I'll tell you guys everything I managed to cram in there when I get back! 

Have a good week everyone!! <3

Our Christmas Cards!!

Mod Merry Ornaments Christmas

Personalize your holiday card this Christmas with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Shh... don't tell anyone you saw them before I sent them out!

Aurora's First Birthday Party!!!

Whew! I've finally recovered enough from Aurora's epic first birthday party to write about it. It went off pretty well, a couple minor things could've been better but that's just the perfectionist in me talking. I spent so long on it but the good news is that by making everything myself I came in at just under $100- - -TOTAL!
That's food, decorations, tableware, favors, the whole shebang. I was pretty proud of myself and in the end it was worth all the stress because the kids had a great time. So where to start?
Well, Saturday I spent the entire day baking... two cakes for the layered smash cake, 72 mini cupcakes and 6 accidental big ones from over flow, plus a batch of brownies! Then I started putting together the balloon 'trees' our 'forest' tree (soon to be a Christmas tree) and a small reading/play nook under the table for the littles...

Excuse the mess, this is actually an 'after' picture! 

Then on to my favorite part: decorating the cupcakes! I made two different kinds, Spiced Yellow Cake with Honeyed Buttercream Frosting:

Finally! An excuse to use my bee and lemon decos!

Then there were Black Forest "Toadstools" (chocolate with cherries) and my favorite, though very labor intensive, Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Brownies! Finally the little layered pink angel food and chocolate Owl smash cake for Aurora to eat! Then I put them all together on the three tiered  cupcake stand that I made with some cups and platters from the dollar store and a hot glue gun... 

Does it sound like bragging yet? Sorry.

Top to Bottom: Yellow cake, Toadstools, Brownies and Adorable Owl!!

I had spent the week or so prior making little woodland creature masks out of felt. I was inspired by some I saw elsewhere but couldn't afford... they came out pretty great though and I may start making more and trying to sell them... it's one of the many ideas swimming around in my head right now. We'll see what happens... Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, there was also a photo frame for everyone to sign so Aurora can look back and see who came to her party, since she definitely won't remember it.

I designed that little birthday owl!

Here's a better picture of the masks.

I originally had this slightly convoluted idea that all the kids would wear masks and play and they would make the best pictures ever, but I realized later that was asking waaaaay too much. Aurora wouldn't keep her mask on for more than 2 minutes. Oh well, they are well made so we can always use them for dress up in later years! I made two of each so everyone would take one home too. The other minor glitches include not finishing all the signs in time and our helium balloons deflating. All in all though no one seemed to notice or mind. 

Speaking of masks, now is a good time to mention that Aurora was a unicorn for her birthday!! I got her an adorable little handmade foam unicorn horn from Etsy... it was the one thing that wasn't worth making myself. Between labor and buying all the foam and glitter it actually would've been more expensive to even attempt it. Luckily I found THIS ONE! Plus, the girl was nice enough to make a mini version for Aura!

After everyone arrived and settled in with snacks and some good conversation it was time for presents!!

She wasted no time digging into the bags...

Once all the presents were unwrapped she took some time figuring out some of her new toys with her pals!!

That's our best buddy Hendrix's mama Adriana helping them out... you can see more of her and her adorable crew HERE. Then it was onto the cake!!! Aurora never had cake before and we don't really give her refined sugar so this was quite a new experience for her!

Saying Hi to the owl... not sure what to do with it yet though.

Just took one quick explanation: "It's FOOD! Yummy!"

Then it was on! She went for the feet first, then the one of the mini oreo eyes... and then she dug right in and got down to business!

Some of the photos came out greenish because of the balloons we had hanging from the ceiling fan. Oops... sorry about that!

Still adorable though, right?

Once she started in and noticed everyone watching she really started to play it up, grabbing huge fist-fulls!

Then the laughing! I swear no kid has ever loved attention quite as much as my little bean. What a ham! Here's a short and sweet video:

Here's a couple more pictures of the cake, we couldn't stop taking them!

That's her pal Hendrix's big bro C. watching from a safe distance.

The verdict is in... Aurora LOVES cake!

After dropping the bottom part of the cake on the floor she started playing with the frosting. Oh, the mess she made!

There aren't many really many pictures after the birthday cake smashing because Aura needed and emergency bath, as I'm sure you can imagine...

Then it was off to bed for my little birthday bean after a very long and eventful day!

Aurora's actual birthday wasn't until yesterday. We went to the Children's Museum and then had a quiet night in. I'll be sure to write more about that soon. This post has gotten long enough already! 

So... there you have it, Aurora's Woodland Birthday Party was a success!!