Jan 27 2015

Bitty’s 3rd “Vintage Strawberry Shortcake” birthday party!

Posted on January 27, 2015 by traylee

Bitty’s birthday was earlier last week. Since we were celebrating her birthday the following weekend we had a mini party on the day of. Her big sisters were off of school that day for MLK day so that was a little bonus! On each of our lil monsters’ birthdays we measure their height up in our laundry room to see how much they have grown. Bitty is learning our tradition and couldn’t wait to have her turn.She’s grown quite a bit since we’ve moved into our home a little over two years ago.

That evening we celebrated with cupcakes that she got to help me make! We used two of the girl’s iPads to FaceTime Paw-Paw & GiGi so they could join in the fun too. Bitty sat in Aub’s lap just giggling and covering her mouth as we sang to her. Such a little cutie our three year old is!A few weeks earlier I had already begun planning her party. Bitty LOVES Stawberry Shortcake and watches it daily on Netflix on her iPad. So I was beyond excited when she asked for a “Strawberry cake birthday”. Thanks to my computer savvy hubster (a skill I seriously lack) I told him what I wanted and he threw this precious invitation together for me. I seriously don’t know how he makes it look so easy.We printed it on ivory paper to give it more of a vintage feel. I found a strawberry stamp at a local craft supply store to give the ivory envelopes the final strawberry shortcake touch.The only downfall with opting for the vintage Strawberry Shortcake theme over the modern one was the lack of availability of store bought decorations, but I wasn’t about to let that deter me. I just made it all myself, of course I had some help from our three little ladies & Maw-Maw too. Party hats, party favors, all of the decorations, food tents, the table cloth, & the matching curtain for the back drop. The morning of I printed out some coloring pages on ivory card stock for our three little lovelies to color for us and hung them up in the kitchen as well. A lot of work, but a lot of fun. So with that said, here are the things we threw together!

Party hats with Bitty’s favorite Strawberry Shortcake characters…A big Stawberry hanging on our front door to greet our guest…I forgot to take pictures of all of the strawberries we made. But we had several hanging throughout the dining room, kitchen, & living room with the characters on them. Along with a banner that said “Bitty is 3!” And some spelling out “Three”.For her cake table I used a vintage fabric that was a soft sage green with white polka dots for the table cloth & curtain behind the table. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture of that. I framed a strawberry shortcake picture, and covered a #3 that I found at the local craft store with paper & a little Strawberry Shortcake. The little bird & black block letters with her name have been at her parties each year. And completed it with some strawberry shortcake balloons & red and white polka dot balloons that we blew up.For her cake we picked up a little cake from a local bakery covered in fresh strawberries for her to blow her candles out. And then I made two 9×13 cakes with my Maw-Maw’s strawberry cake (a family secret) recipe with my homemade cheesecake frosting. Of course I also forgot to grab a picture of them too.
Now on to the goodies!Raspberry Tart’s raspberries…Cherry Cuddler’s chocolate chips…Plum Puddin’s marshmallow pops…Blueberry Muffins…Strawberry candy…Strawberry fruit snacks…Lemon Meringue’s lemon cookies…Lime Chiffon’s m&m’s…Blueberries…A Strawberry Shortcake party wouldn’t be complete without strawberry shortcakes…Orange Blossom’s tangelo slices…Strawberry Shortcake wafer cookies…Strawberry pb&j…Grape pb&j…Huckleberry Pie’s pink mac & cheese…Apple Dumplin’s juice jugs…Strawberry Shortcake’s punch…We used red & white plates and napkins…For the party favors we had the homemade party hats…Some adorable strawberry sunglasses we found at a local party supply store…And lastly some homemade jelly and jam that I made with some precious labels my hubster made for them…Bitty’s blueberry jelly…Bitty’s strawberry jam…Bitty’s Apple jelly…Keeping with the theme we gave her a big box full of strawberry shortcake presents. Dolls, toys, backpack, book, puzzle, clothes, toothbrushes, & a homemade card.We opted to not have any games. Bitty is going through a shy phase. We didn’t invite as many people as we normally would. And just let everyone mingle. Thankfully she handled it well. She of course covered her little eyes and smiled while we sang happy birthday to her. But she was happy to blow her candles out. She was thrilled to play with her sisters, cousins, and friends. And managed to handle being center of attention as she opened her presents. Afterwards she ran and hugged me and said “Thank you for my strawberry cake party I loved it!”. Melts a mama’s heart! It was a special day for a very special little one spent with family & friends that love her most! We’ll be sharing the rest of the pictures from her birthday party privately with our fam & friends. Thank you to everyone that made her day such a happy one!

Dec 25 2014

Protected: Christmas 2014

Posted on December 25, 2014 by traylee

Oct 31 2014

Protected: Halloween memories…old & new

Posted on October 31, 2014 by traylee

Oct 29 2014

Protected: 4 lil monsters 2nd annual Halloween book drive

Posted on October 29, 2014 by traylee

Sep 6 2014

One of the boys…

Posted on September 6, 2014 by traylee

This morning I remembered the invitation on our fridge from Mad’s classmate. I had completely forgot to RSVP, forgetful has been my middle name, if it’s not in my calendar or on our fridge. I asked her if she was good friends with the little guy and she said yes she plays with him at recess every day. So I told her I’d call his mommy and see if it would be okay if we still went to the party. She very matter of fact, in her usual five year old way told me “His mommy is dead. He told me. You’ll have to ask his daddy if we can go to his party.”. I was taken aback to hear my little girl tell me this, but I called the number on the invitation and spoke to the gentleman that I assume was his daddy. He was more than happy to have Mad still go to the party. And so we went. When we arrived three little boys spotted her and shouted her name and came running and started taking turns hugging her and happily picking her up! When each of them were done she would pick them up too. There she was, our five year old daughter happy as could be to be one of the boys! She was the only little girl there and these little boys were thrilled that she was there and they ran around together for the next two hours like the best of friends and she was certainly not the unwanted tag along girl. It was absolutely heart warming! I’m so thankful that even though I didn’t feel well I pushed myself for her to have a fun afternoon. Especially for this little fella who’s mama wasn’t there, who’s daddy threw an amazing Ninja Turtles birthday party and wore a single pink breast cancer awareness bracelet, that didn’t really have any family their outside of an aunt and a few of his new classmates. Yet another swift reminder to always count your blessings. I constantly tell Matt no matter how bad I feel, I always feel so incredibly blessed, because I know there is always someone out there that would give anything to fill my shoes. I am tremendously thankful for the life we share together and know all too well how precious it is.

Afterwards while it would have been easy to go straight home we went to target to get a few necessities. Mad has a fun school project due Monday morning. We’re anxious to put a package together for two special friends that are serving our country. And our little doll face is finally ready to buy some big girl panties and do away with the days of the diapers. I’m fairly certain she would have already been fully potty trained had I not been having all of these medical problems. But since she’s my last lil bit, I’m not in all that much of a rush to end each of these baby phases.

When we came home the girls were happy to bring a little something special to their Maw-Maw for Grandparent’s Day and spent the evening with her. And I came home to a surprise package myself. My incredibly sweet friend, Sandy, that I’ve known since I was fifteen and sat behind her in science class sent me a care package. I simply love this lady. It’s kind of funny how you can know someone for so long and have been friends with them back in school and have a much closer bond as adults many years later. She’s one of those friends. I’m truly blessed with such genuine people that go out of their way to remind me in all kind of ways that they are there for me. Thank you for always being one of those friends Sandy.

Aug 31 2014

I’ve got sunshine…

Posted on August 31, 2014 by traylee

The last month of my life has been rather shaky and quite honestly pretty scary and painful. I’ve spent countless hours between three different specialists offices and had endless testing, labs, & procedures done. I’ve been given some scary news and left with a lot of uncertainty as of yet. Yes, another vague blog. The people we have opted to share my personal medical problems with are in the know, and I still choose to not publicly share the details of my health online. Especially since only one of our four children know some of the details of what’s going on. My husband and I both agree, our girls are far too young to understand or to even have to.

So while my life may feel like it’s in a bit of a shamble full of endless fear and uncertainty it’s also full of a lot of faith and hope. My faith has never been so strong. While scared, I still hold out a lot of hope as well. I’m seeing some of the best specialist around. I have absolutely learned that the people we have in our lives are the ones that belong in it. I can’t even begin to get over the support system we have. First and foremost my husband and my mom, obviously. Who live right here and experience it with me daily. The ones that never once let me think even for a moment that I’m going through this alone. They are picking up my slack when I’m weak. They encourage me when I need it. And they wipe my tears when I just need to let it out. My mom helps me all day with Bitty and with Aub & Mad after school while Matt is at work. She just spent the last week being my personal driver getting me to appointments all over town. Dad & Gina came all the way out here just to spend two days with me and to bring me to have a spinal tap done. Susie skipped a weekend at her ranch house just to go sit with me at an appointment to get some results. Our parents have been so supportive whether in the same house or as far as six hundred miles away. My children, without knowingly doing so bring me the greatest joy ever and will forever be my world! Little do they know they single handedly are my reason to keep pushing forward to get through this. Then there are our friends and relatives. Matt’s cousin had a floral fruit arrangement at my door within hours of telling her what was going on. I’ve got certain friends & relatives that somehow manage to check on me every single day. One friend always asks when my next appointment is and what time ,and it never fails when I’m on my way I get a message with just a heart or a smiley face. One friend is always up late at night when our husbands and our children are asleep and we talk about any and everything when we can’t seem to sleep. She’s just good for my soul and probably helps me more than she knows. Some send me Bible verses, that is something I especially love! Some have insight or know someone who have been through a similar situation. Some are just a shoulder to lean on. Some remind me that it’s okay that I’m forgetful, especially even more so these days due to one of my new medications. Yesterday Matt checked the mail and there were two thing in it for me. One was from my bestie in San Antonio, wasn’t expecting a package from her, so that really confused me. And one was a thick envelope from my specialist, which always means more referrals, which always mean more doctors. Not enough of those currently in my life. I of course opened the box from Em first and I instantly started to cry, happy tears this time. It was a box of “SUNSHINE”! She knows I’ve been being slammed lately, especially in this last week with daily appointments and not always the greatest of news and here sat a box full of goodies from a gal I simply adore that lives 30+ minutes away, that took the time to throw together a fun silly box of things to make me smile. With a silly picture of the two of us and a simple note that said “Hello Sunshine I love you!”. I am so incredibly in debt to the people that have been keeping me up, when I could easily just feel down. To the ones that have continuously shown me their love and support in each of their own special ways and all have meant the world to me. Really, I hope you all know how much you are really pulling me through these scary times! I may have my struggles and fears, but I refuse to loose sight of just how truly blessed I am!

Jul 6 2014

Alzafar & Pride

Posted on July 6, 2014 by traylee

Yesterday we all went up to Camp Alzafar to spend the day with my cousins, both local & visiting from out of town. It’s such a unique place and the 4th of July celebration is always so much fun. They do watermelon throws in the pool for the kiddos to swim for & decorate golf carts for a contest. Budah got the girls fishing poles for their birthdays so they were thrilled to head straight to the water shortly after we got there. Even I caught a fish with them, though admittedly it was itty bitty, but I caught one none the less! More important was the bonding time I got I to share with our three oldest monsters during that part of the visit while Daddy, Bitty, & Maw-Maw were up at the camp. I especially love the pictures I was able to capture of the three of them working together and will forever cherish that moment with them when really nothing else mattered. I always loved going fishing with my Paw-Paw and seeing the girls learn how to from their big brother meant the world to me and was a vivid reminder of some of my fave childhood memories spent with my Paw-Paw. Afterwards they were all ready for a dip in the pool and lunch. It was such a nice afternoon catching up with our family and we look forward to doing it again soon.

After we got home we had just enough time to get cleaned up and then we headed over to my love’s work with our two oldest girls for a shuttle ride down to walk in the Pride SA parade in support of his works LGBT community and our lil monsters’ Guncles. It’s was incredibly fun and the emotions of being a part of something so amazing with our children was nothing short of over whelming. The girls absolutely loved being in the parade and getting to hand out beads (we had to keep reminding them that it was different from Mardi Gras and they couldn’t throw these beads). I love that our monsters don’t view people based on their race, sexual preferences, or way of living. Mad’s excitement alone to give one of our fave local drag queens some beads was pretty priceless. To quote her “I want to give that guy in the pretty dress some beads!”. It didn’t seem odd in the slightest that what she knew to be a man was rocking a dress, makeup, & wig. One of the endless things that we love about our five year old. Both girls were thrilled to share the experience with their Guncle Alex as well. Even putting on a little performance for him while we waited for the parade to start singing one of their fave Grease songs, Aub was Sandy and Mad was Danny. And I’m certain Aub was super appreciative of the piggy back ride her Guncle gave her on the walk back to the shuttle afterwards. We are so thankful to be able to teach our children how much our world needs equality and to never judge a book by its cover! We can’t wait until Pride SA 2015!

Such a fab day spent with fam & friends!

Jun 8 2014

Aub’s 9th “Grease” birthday party!

Posted on June 8, 2014 by traylee

Another birthday pulled off without a hitch just six days after the last one. Of course once again I had a whole lot of help from my hubster and my mom in making and preparing for these two back to back parties. Somehow this became the year of movie themed birthday parties for our three lil ladies. Bitty’s 2nd was Wizard of Oz, Mad’s 5th was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Aub’s 9th was Grease! Her birthday isn’t actually for another two weeks. But we discovered that by planning the party closer to when school lets out she is able to have several of her school friends attend as well. And this lil doll face had a really good turn out yesterday! It was fun planning for a party themed off of a movie that is a fave of both our oldest daughter and myself. We had mini turkey burgers that her daddy made, bags of chips, popcorn, cookies, moon pies, lots of pink candy, dipped pink pretzels, pink ladies’ lemonade, & root beer, coke, & sprite floats. I made her cupcakes look like shakes complete with a little red candy for a cherry and a pink and white spiral straw. I was able to find lots of fun 50’s decorations and printed out some grease pictures too. Probably my fave was the vintage looking pictures that look like the dancing hot dog and bun from the drive in scene. For the games they played “pin the kiss on Danny” and “freeze dance” to music from Grease. They also got tickets when they came in for a prize drawing towards the end of the party to be sure everyone won something. Their take homes were cat eye glasses, polka dot scarves, & a cute cd that looks like a vinyl that her daddy made full of fun 50’s music. He also made Aub, Bitty, and our Goddaughter, Aryie, Pink Ladies tees and Mad a T-Birds tee.

It was an incredibly fun theme for a 9 year old’s party. With at least fifteen squealing little girls, all of our local family, and several of our good friends here to share her fun celebration. We appreciate the time so many people set aside for our three of our four lil monsters that have June birthdays. We know all too well how busy this month can be for everyone especially as school lets out and with Father’s Day. Thank you all for reminding them how much they are loved!

Coincidentally Aub and I also got the same gift for our 9th birthday. My 9th was my Golden birthday and also one of my fave childhood memories. It was a cold rainy day. I went to spend the evening with my mom and maw-maw. They had spend all day putting a bike together for me and realized they hadn’t had time to make me a cake. I was completely fine with it and suggested we use a moon pie for a cake instead. So they put a candle in one and sang happy birthday to me in my maw-maw’s kitchen. I happily cut it up for all of us to get a piece including our pup Strawberry. My maw-maw also made me a dress in my favorite color, purple, that had darker purple jelly beans all over it. Oddly enough Aub’s fave color these days is purple too! Afterwards they took me to Zack’s for an ice cream. That evening my mom chased me up Marietta St as I learned how to ride my bike in the rain. Maybe it wouldn’t sound like a perfect birthday to anyone else, but that one is rather high up on my fave birthdays ever. I’ve shared that story with Aub many times over the years. So you can imagine how happy it made me when she asked to have moon pies at her party! So in addition to her new bike (that we thankfully didn’t have to put together) and the Grease 2 DVD (so she now have both movies), we gave her a box of moon pies too! She beamed when she opened them, even though no one else understood the inside joke shared between us at that exact moment.

Some pics from her special day…

Last and certainly not least the invitations her daddy made! (Of course he removed all of our personal info off of it for me to share.)

May 26 2014

Chicago!

Posted on May 26, 2014 by traylee

After a long weekend alone in Chicago with my love for our first time since our honeymoon seven years ago we are finally home with our lil monsters again! We had a fabulous time in what has easily become one of our favorite cities in just four short days.

Some of the things we enjoyed on our little vacation:

FRIDAY….
Wicker Park! My love got to stand in front of a building that was in a scene of one of his fave movies “High Fidelity” for a pic. We had lunch at an old lil pub called “Pint”. We hit up a rad lil local Skate shop to get our son some souvenirs we knew he’d like. We rode the El for the first time. Bought some goodies at Hershey’s & Ghiradelli’s for our lil monsters. Had dinner at Giordano’s at the recommendation of our friends. Then that night Matt went to catch his friend’s punk show while I went shopping with my friend Mandy before she left to go out of town the next morning. After his show Matt met up with us and we checked out the lounge on top of our hotel and then the three of us had a drink at Gino’s East next door to our hotel. Gosh I love that lady and the fact that her doing a hash tag search for #brusselsprouts two years ago gave me one of the kindest souls for a friend!SATURDAY….
At the recommendation of my friend we had breakfast at an absolutely beautiful place called “The Grand Lux” overlooking Michigan Ave. Then walked to Millennium Park to take pictures of “the bean”. Probably my favorite part of that moment was that our daughter facetimed us while we were there and we were able to show her as well. The complete look of awe that she had was priceless. After a little more exploring it was time for our Chicago mob tour. It was ninety minutes full of all sorts of interesting facts. That evening was our much anticipated murder mystery dinner. Our Mother’s Day/Father’s Day gift to each other. By far one of our favorite things we did while we were there. We had to pick our own alias names, of which Matt picked out for us “The Blacksheep & The Blacksheep’s Wife”. It was in a beautiful hotel downtown. The entire show was full of comic relief. And we even got to channel our inner detective in us and we solved the case! So much so that we figured out all four of the actors that were planted amongst the guest too! We jokingly attributed our mad detective skills to watching far too much Investigation Discovery over the years, ha ha.SUNDAY….
We got up early and headed over to the Sears (Willis) Tower. Apparently the locals still call it the Sears Tower. Pretty much like we still call a bridge back home “the green Bridge” when it obviously hasn’t been green for many years now. Tell that to a local though! I have an incredible fear of heights, but am thankful we weren’t in the Hancock Tower that has a new glass box that tilts out. We had a perfect view of that box from our hotel room and that looked terrifying to me. After coaxing myself into it I somehow managed to step out into that stinkin’ glass box that is on the 103rd floor that is 1,353 feet in the air. I faced my fears. Mainly so that I could tell our lil monsters. I never want them to let their fears control them or prevent them from seeing the world (even if it happens to be from a glass box at a frightening 1,353 feet in the air). They can do ANYTHING they set their mind to! Outside of that glass box there was an absolutely stunning view of Chicago that I just couldn’t get over! From there we went Oz Park to take pictures of the Wizard of Oz statues for our lil monsters since it’s one of our family faves. Did a little more last minute shopping before dropping off our things to the hotel and meeting Phil & Katie for lunch at Gino’s. Then we went to the a Navy Pier and explored the Stained Glass Museum and loved taking in the beautiful view of the Michigan Lake and city skyline. Then we walked over to Garrett’s for the infamous “Chicago Mix” popcorn (that happens to be cheddar & caramel, interesting mixture) for our popcorn loving daughter before walking back to the hotel. Sunday night we went to the “Midwest Live & Loud” show and Matt got to see his favorite band, Noi!se. He finally got to meet the lead singer that he genuinely admires for his musical talent, his family values, & his military background. Just an all around good fella. Sounds like I just described the man I am blessed enough to call my husband. It’s no wonder why he looks up to him.MONDAY….
We enjoyed out last breakfast in the city out in front of our hotel before walked over to Giordano’s to pick up pizza to take home for our lil monsters to have yet another taste of Chicago. I loved exploring that city mostly by foot and really getting to take it all in. After checking out we headed over and caught the Metra out to Buffalo Grove and got to spend the day with Matt’s cousin Rachel. Her dad & step mom even came out to spend some time with us, incredibly sweet people. We just love Rachel! She is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. I’m so thankful we were able to spend some time with one of Matt’s favorite relatives and well one of mine too! On the way to the airport she took us over to see the place that his grandparents’ home once stood. It’s now a big building there, but still so amazing to be able to show the picture to our lil monsters and show them even a tiny piece of family history. Back when we went to New Orleans my dad showed us the home that my great grandparents once lived. It’s almost unbelievable to me that it’s still standing and in fantastic condition. How amazing is it to show our monsters the home that their great great grandparents lived in?I have to say it wasn’t easy being away from our lil monsters, and I likely wouldn’t have gone had they not been able to stay home and in their environment with their maw-maw. Two of them even got to go have some fun with my friend and her girls. FaceTime was also extremely comforting to be able to still see them daily. It was a fantastic four day weekend spent with the love of my life. The last eight years we’ve shared together have been full of amazing experiences and I’m incredibly thankful to be able to add this to our ever growing list! It was fun Chicago, but we are so happy to be home with our monsters where we belong!

May 4 2014

Eight years since…

Posted on May 4, 2014 by traylee

I think it’s safe to say I am looking forward to school letting out as much as our lil monsters are. Only 24 days, yes, I am counting too! Pretty sure Bitty & I still don’t know what to do with ourselves after almost an entire school year come Monday after a weekend full of chaos and a house full of folks. This weekend we got to enjoy celebrating my love’s birthday with our fam & friends. Friday also made exactly eight years since our very first date. Next weekend we get to celebrate Mother’s Day with both of our moms! The following weekend is our lil ladies’ dance recital weekend. After that it is our Chicago weekend get away. Then the weekend after we get home we celebrate Mad’s 5th birthday. And the following weekend is the last day of school and Aub’s 9th birthday party! Literally SIX fun filled consecutive weekends of family, friends, & fun! So much to look forward to, then a summer full of enjoying our lil monsters being home and sleeping in! I can’t help but to endlessly thank God for this beautiful life we live and the amazing people we get to share it with.

4 lil monsters

Just another day in chaos

Category Archives: friends