ladybug cupcakes

On Friday, Annika and I got together to frost Mara's cupcakes. Mara had found a picture in a kids cookbook of ladybugs. Aren't they cute?!!

I helped lead the games at each girls birthday party, and tapped into my inner camp counselor...big time. It was super fun, super comical and super exhausting. This first game was like a cake walk, except the numbers were scattered. When the music stopped everyone stepped on a number, we pulled a number from a hat, and the person on that number got a starburst. That's a winner of a game. Easy and active.

And what is a birthday party without the fishing game?!! The fishing poles were loaded on the otherside of the sheet with a gummy worm and sent back over. Yum and Fun.

Each party was a little different, as Mara's party had eleven kids around age 7 and Sonna's party had ten kids around age 5. Very different attention spans! :) But between the two, we also played Birthday Blanket Name Drop, Birthday Tag, Sonna Says, Duck Duck Grey Duck, Pin the Cloud on the Rainbow, Balance Beam (with a book and an umbrella), Birthday Tag, Stone Stone and at both parties a spontaneous dance party was held shortly after the cupcakes had been consumed, thanks to the sugar high.

rainbow cupcakes

Well, I think we can all agree it was just a matter of time. I finally made the rainbow cupcakes. This weekend was filled with birthday celebrations and cupcakes as Mara had her party on Saturday and Sonna had her party on Sunday.  So I gave the rainbow cupcakes a go, with a sweet request from Sonna to make them like the rainbow cake, but just with tiny cupcakes. They turned out splendidly.

This blog post was sponsored in part by Red Dye #40: Nothing Natural About It.

we never got out a christmas card, so...

...from our family to yours.

Little Little Mama

Ivar at 18 months (He’s one and a half!)

Ivar likes the L sound. We sing Allelu Allelu Allelu all the time. He has started saying a very exaggerated “he-LOW, hello” And yesterday in the car he kept repeating, “Lil lil Mama, Lil lil Mama” And it made me feel good, because this mama is feeling anything but little lately.

Ivar likes to lift up the cushion on the glider rocker and hide his trucks and balls there. So when I go in to read him books before bed, I often feel like I have just laid a few eggs. Sometimes I try to ignore the fact that there is a truck under me, but that’s a hard one to ignore.

I wagged my finger at Ivar telling him no, and now Ivar wags his finger back at me, telling me no.

He loves trucks, tractors, trains, cars and airplanes. We have a Richard Scarry book and he will only settle on four of the pages, the ones that have proper vehicles pictured.

When we are greeted at the door at church, the greeters will always try to talk to Ivar. And Ivar never says hello. He just buzzes his lips and points to the parking lot as if to say, “that’s our car and I love our car, and on the way here we saw all sorts of thrilling vehicles going fast on 494.”

Ivar’s words: ball, bottle, nana (banana), mama, dado, toonsie, kitty, bow wow, bapa, papa, mimi, meow, cheese, mo! (more), baby,  nigh nigh, nose, e’s (ears) tee (teeth), peas (please), am (ham), uh oh, no, esss! (yes), boon (balloon), Onna (sonna), nack (snack), fishy, wada bottle (water bottle), baththththth (bath), neigh, E-man! (Amen!)...

Ivar knows when a conversation needs to end. If he thinks we're talking to long to another person he will smile sweetly, wave and say, "Bah Bye. Bah Bye." He tried this at the doctor today when he was sick of being poked. He also pulls it out when we're talking to friends after church, people we meet while out for a walk, or anyone who seems to slow his pace of life...

So with that, I had better sign off. Bah Bye.

all sorts of random

                                                                                  
***Sara, Lisa and I made these sugar cookies for a bridal shower. 65 of them. Aren't they adorable?

***I walked into the church bathroom on Saturday morning and the lights were out. The door closed behind me and I began swinging my arms around to let the motion sensor know that I was in fact there. For quite some time. But nothing happened so I opened the door again and was then able to see the light switch that was on the bathroom wall. The old fashioned kind...one that I had to physically flick up. Oh right, I thought. The light switch...

***I forgot my Pinterest password for the last week or so. Couldn't remember it for the life of me. And that was probably good. Took a breather. But today I tried a few more random rounds, trying to get into my inner-brain and I cracked the code. Oh Happy Day.

***I am ravenously hungry this week. Something important is going on inside of my womb because I cannot seem to fill up. Ever. So I started a new pinterest board for high protein snacks and smoothies. It's lovely. And hopefully filling.

***My folks were over last night to watch Ivar and when Rory and I returned they were in the middle of a news tv show that they wanted to finish. So Rory and my dad sat through the last hour of a program on the financial collapse of wallstreet. And then I got to listen to my husband and father debate for another hour. They seem to enjoy it. They're both well read and educated, but land polar opposite. Made me wonder if anyone else has these lively conversations in their family.

***I make the best burgers. I'm just going to say it. I've never had a better one than my own. It's good to have one meal that you can hit out of the park. Good for the self esteem. The secret? A whole lot of chopped onion, minced garlic, all spice, pepper, worcestershire sauce and A1. Yup. All of that. In one burger.

***Ivar speaks in sound effects. When we see a truck he buzzes his lips. When we see a dog he yells, "bow wow!" When the cat comes in the room Ivar greets him with a falceto "yowwww." We are hopeful he might be the next Michael Winslow.