Shabby Chic Tea Party

I can't believe my Josephine is 2 already! Wow, time flies. Here are pics from her Shabby Chic Tea Party b-day party from last weekend! We had great weather and lots of fun! Thank you again to all of you who helped celebrate. I thought I'd start out with the little guest of honor herself...

Thanks for looking! Wondering where I purchased something?

Scalloped circle shabby chic invites - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop/millalove

"J" and "2" Cupcake toppers - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop/millalove

Teacup favor tags - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop/millalove

"Josie" and "Happy Birthday" shabby chic banners - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop.millalove

Tea Party door sign - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop/millalove

Josie's "2" Tea Party outfit - Mandy Ann Clothing www.etsy.com/shop/mandyannclothing

Pink tissue paper poms - Party Poms www.etsy.com/shop/partypoms

Pink pom garland - Party Poms www.etsy.com/shop/partypoms

Mini pink pom ties - Party Poms www.esty.com/shop/partypoms

Square tiered b-day cake - Lovin Oven www.lovinoven.com

Cupcakes - Lovin Oven www.lovinoven.com

Petit Fours - Lovin Oven www.lovinoven.com

Tea Sandwiches/Scones - Tea Harbor

Invite matching scalloped "J" cookie favors - Lovin Oven www.lovinoven.com

"Sip, don't slurp" sign - Glitter N Grunge www.etsy.com/shop/glitterngrunge

Teacup Windchimes - Hobby Lobby

Shabby chic wooden "2"s - courtesy of me

Hydrangeas - Sandi's Florist

The rest? Michaels, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, Macys, Ebay, Sam's Club, Starbucks, Target

Music/Entertainment - Jeanie B! www.jeaniebmusic.com

Cute little girl? - Homegrown :)

Gimme My Refund!

Do you know what this little do-hickey is? It's called a Clarisonic skin brush....made by the same genuises that produced the Sonicare toothbrush. You know, the automated toothbrush made for those people who are just too lazy to actually move their hand up and down to brush their own teeth. God forbid you should have to manually brush your teeth...oh, the horror!!!

But, I somehow managed to fall victim to this little device above. It promises to clean your skin 6x better than manual cleansing and remove dry patches, clean up problem skin and maybe even reduce fine lines. And, so it seems, every last little consumer review is nothing but ravetastic (yes I just made up that word). Finally one day while browsing needlessly through Sephora, I bit the bullet and decided to try it. I hoped it would do all it promised and more. And with a price tag of $195, it better!

I took it home and got started that evening, so excited! My skin was going to be like a baby's bottom.

Wrong.

After 5 days I saw absolutely no difference, so I packed it up and marched back to Sephora to get my money back. However, I fell victim again. I was just about 5 inches into the store when I was already being lectured about how I didn't give it enough time. So, I turned around, took it back home and for the next 6 weeks used it religiously in the morning and in the evening every single day.

Well, I finally returned it today. I really can't say anything bad about it, I just felt for the spendy price tag it better work some small miracles on my skin....and it didn't. Sure my face felt soft and glowy right after using it, but it didn't last. Plus, I felt like I was getting better results from just a simple glycolic acid at home peel once or twice a week. So, naturally, i took it back!

It's amazing how much this bothered the Sephora girls...you woulda thought I called their baby ugly or something. As if it weren't bad enough that I had a team of 3 lecturing me on what a miracle the Clarisonic is, the rest were standing around giving me the "i can't believe she's returning that" stares. It's total blasphemy!!

But, hey, you can't say I didn't give it a fair try! Sorry Clarisonic.

Party Love

It should come to no surprise that my favorite party planner is Kim from The Tomkat Studio...if you've been here before, you've heard me talk about her! Not only does she have fabulous taste and creative gifts, she is also gorgeous, a great mommy and so incredibly thoughtful. And she is busy, busy, busy!! She still somehow managed to post Josie's party before me! THANK YOU Kim for all of your generous words and inspiration. As always, I'll be reading! You can check out Josie's Shabby Chic Tea Party feature HERE on Kim's website.

Move Over Crocs

No surprise, my kids wear Crocs. What kid doesn't? But, in my opinion, no matter how many Jibbitz you cram on them, they are still ugly as sin. I am so tired of looking at Crocs...seriously good riddens!! So, here are my top 4 little girls summer shoes for playground and water play for this season:

Keen Newport Shoe $40

Geox Roxanne Sandal $55

Havianas Flip Flop $22

Teva Psyclone Sandal $28

How Can It Be??..

...that one of my nearest and dearest has been blogging for over a year and I didn't even know!! I'm not sure how I missed the boat on this one considering she is blogging about some of my favorite things (party planning, flowers and home decor)!! Please check out Alex's blog and enjoy her timeless and refined taste at http://prettyluckymorning.blogspot.com/. I also posted her link as a permanent fixture on my blog roll. I have so much to catch up on!!

Party Central

Hi, I'm here. I'm just in full blown party planning mode!! We just had Josie's 2nd birthday Shabby Chic Tea Party and we all had so much fun...more pics to come! Thank you to all who came and celebrated with us!! Now I'll be working on this year's Preschool Prom at Anna's school. Prom committees and all. We're doing an "Enchanted Garden" theme, so throw any good ideas my way. Add in a baby shower and I barely have time for my real job! :) Joking. Kinda.

I'll be back soon with more Tea Party pics!

I Frenched The Dog

Well, almost. Tonight we were running late, so naturally I slaved in the kitchen and made my kids a gourmet meal. A Kids Cuisine. I also made a salad plate for myself, but after "more milk", "my fork!", and fits over eating enough for dessert, the next thing I knew it was bathtime and I had yet to take a bite. So I figured I'd get around to eating later and left my meal on the table.

As soon as dance party and bathtime were over, we came back down and I hoped to sit and eat. But as soon as I sat down I realized that almost all of my salad dressing was gone from it's little disposable container (I was using my fav take out salad dressing). I immediately went to Anna to blame her for the missing salad dressing and ask her what she did with it. She denied it vehemently, but I didn't believe her. Surely if Josie had gotten her hands on it, she'd be covered head to toe in vinaigrette. This also coming from a child who just a few days ago while sitting at her mini table and coloring vigorously right on it herself with a marker, yelled over her shoulder (not thinking I was looking), "Mommy!!!..Josie is coloring on the table!!".

So after huffing and puffing with her for about 30 seconds, I marched back over to the table and picked up a big piece of lettuce with my fork and jammed it into the container trying to get the little bit left at the very bottom. I swooshed it back and forth and all around...I was getting every last drop if it killed me. Afterward, I do this 2 more times.

See, I didn't give myself enough time to really think this through. But, it slowly dawned on me. Anna was with me the entire time, so when would she have done this? Also, if she did take the salad dressing out, where was it? There was a little bit on the table, but not an entire container full. And what?...like she took a spoon to it and ate it like ice cream! I don't think so.

So, I realize....it was the dog. The dog must have gotten her little face just high enough to lick, lick, lick the center of the container...but she couldn't quite reach it enough to knock it off the table so she could finish it off (which explains the little bit left in the bottom).

ICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If that weren't bad enough, I spent the rest of the evening profusely apologizing to Anna for blaming her. I told her that sometimes mommies are wrong and asked her if she would forgive me. She said she would, but she made sure that I knew that on Kai-Lan (one of her favorite shows), Tolee doesn't forgive Rintoo.

Oh My Poop

At what point do you realize that your 2 year old has crapped in her pants with no diaper or underwear on?...about the same time you realize the dog has taken a piss in your shoes. This happened to me tonight. Not kidding.

Somehow Josie came home without a diaper on and I didn't notice until it was too late. I was so busy cleaning up the present that the dog left me in my shoes...GASP! (but don't worry...they were cheapo flip flops) that I didn't notice the poo until I grabbed her to go upstairs for our evening "dance party". Boy did I get a nice surprise. And after a quick surveillance of the room, I knew I had my work cut out for me. Poo turds everywhere, stepped in and smashed, on her shoes, pants, floor...and she thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life. It took me 2 1/2 hours (and half a bottle of wine) to get this place back up and running.

After baths, both girls were dismissed to the couch so I could clean and disinfect all the floors. The whole time Josie just sat laughing and singing "stinky poopy, stinky poopy". So glad someone found it funny.

Foofa Frenzy

O. M. G. Someone please save me from the Foofa frenzy. Look at Miss Foofa up there looking all peaceful and innocent. Right. I am subjected to the Yo Gabba Gabba madness on a daily basis and yesterday Josie received a very thoughtful and considerate b-day gift from her Mimi in the mail. A talking Foofa.

Well, someone call the President because Foofa sparked World War 3 over here....tears and fits of jealous rage from Anna and possessive screams from Josie. As Josie clutched Foofa for dear life, a few times I asked her nicely if Anna could just hold her Foofa for a moment. This only prompted her to grip Foofa tighter and scream at me "NO!! MY HOO-HA" Yes, she calls her hoo-ha.

And at bedtime I thought maybe I had a window of opportunity for Anna to play with Foofa because Josie went to bed and accidentally left Foofa in Anna's bed. Boy was I stupid. 60 seconds after leaving her room and right as Anna is thinking Foofa is all hers...

we hear frantically from Josie's room..."HOO-HA!!"

And this morning I woke up to desperate screams coming from Anna's room...."Mommy, where's my Foofa?!?!?!" You didn't get Foofa Anna, Josie did. "Yes I did, where's my Foofa????" Anna you're dreaming.

It was small miracle that I even got Josie to school without a major meltdown over parting ways with her Foofa pal. My only saving grace was that 'Hoo-ha' said that she would sit in Josie's carseat and wait for her to get out of school.

Foofa hasn't even been here 24 hours and we already have tears and blood shed.

Thanks mom.

The Perfect Present

I love being a mom...for reasons like tonight. Tonight Anna's class threw a Luau Party for all the mom's for mother's day. We dressed up, had treats, did fun projects and the kids put on a little performance for us. I definitely had my mom glow on. Anna was so cute...each time she would do her little part in their performance, she would finish, look right at me and her whole face would be beaming with pride. It might help that I was the obnoxious mom in the back with the "whoot whoot"s and the "yay Anna"s! :) Anyway, at that moment, there was just no place else I'd rather be...and looking around at all the waterworks, it seems all the moms felt the same way.

But, the best part of the party was one of my gifts! Anna made me a beautiful picture and on the back were her answers to questions her teacher had asked her about me and it was titled "My Mommy". This is when the entertainment began. All of the kids were asked the same questions about their mommies...and after only a moment of reading our sheets, most mom's were in hysterical laughter. Here are some of the funny answers that I can remember from a bunch of 3 yr olds:

My mommy looks beautiful....when she puts her hair on.

My mommy is....200 years old.

The nicest thing she ever did for me was...buy me stuff.

My mommy loves to eat...in the bed with my daddy.

This one below is the best one of all...just to set the stage, the mother of the little girl who wrote this has her hair highlighted pretty blond and has obvious dark roots...I'm already laughing and I haven't even typed it!:

My mommy's....eyes are small and she has beautiful black hair underneath. LOL!!!

Jeez, these 3 yr olds. Such entertainment. Ok, so I have to share all of Anna's answers. This might bore you, but I just love my present!

My Mommy by Anna

My Mommy's eyes are...blue and she has beautiful long hair

She is...35 years old and her favorite colors are pink and purple. (just to set the record straight, i am NOT 35 yrs old)

Her favorite flower is...yellow.

She loves to eat...pizza.

The best thing she makes for me is...pizza.

She takes good care of me and makes me feel better when...she lays on the couch with me.

My Mommy likes me to eat to...stay happy and healthy.

I think she looks beautiful when...she has lipstick on.

The nicest thing she ever did for me was....hold me.

My Mommy and I like to go....to the Mickey Mouse store together.

This year for Mother's Day I want to tell her....that I love her.

Oh The Irony

I find these pics below so ironic...and so amusing. We aren't Toy Story overloaded over here, but I'm sure there are pleny of families who are. Where one more "to infinity and beyond" may just entice a parent to drive themselves off a cliff, at least in their mind! ;-) Our weakness over here is with the Wonder Pets and Yo Gabba Gabba, not Toy Story. However, with Toy Story 3 on the horizon, I see the insanity just getting worse. Walk in to any Disney Store and Toy Story paraphenalia takes up about 1/4 of the place already!! So, my sweetest cutest little nephew Cole is and has been on the Toy Story train for quite awhile now. And while he's such a trooper tagging along with a bunch of girls to American Girl, the pics below are of his Woody's trip to American Girl with us!! Cole must have gotten tired of carrying poor Woody and wanted to give him a ride. It's just so ironic that he is strangling poor Woody when millions of parents out there really wish they could! ha After we took these, we laughed and laughed.....and laughed some more.

HELP!!!

And here's the little culprit below with his Woody.