I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22.

Coming off the heels of my 33rd birthday and breathing down the neck of my 10 year wedding anniversary, I'm feeling nostalgic.

My 22nd birthday. I'm a baby!


(Those are bar bathroom condoms that were gifted to me.)
Also note the adorned left hand. I was also given a ring.

Spaced out, cold having, ring giver:

(Also a baby.)

Cold medicine kicked in:

Adorable. I loved him then but it's even better now.

Happy Throwback Thursday. Have some good memories with me!

Key Lime Soda Pop Cake

The ladies and I just celebrated their Gammy's birthday with quite possibly the tastiest cake ever. We made her a key lime soda pop cake with whipped topping. This trend of baking cakes with just soda is a dieter's dream. It cuts the calories way down but you don't lose the taste. We used Betty Crocker white cake mix, but any boxed mix will do. The "key" was the key lime Stewart's soda. One 12oz bottle of a flavored Stewart's soda, one box of cake mix, blend together and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. We topped ours with light whipped topping. It was grand. I believe next up we'll try Stewart's cherry.

My first attempt on Pinterest recipes. Squee!

It took me a looooooong time to get into Pinterest. I thought it was boring and totally didn't get it. But all of a sudden I WANT TO PIN ALL THE THINGS!!! The crock pot recipes alone are enough to make me squee my pants.

Tomorrow is Louis' birthday and I'm going to make my first Pinterest recipes.

The cake:
Dear husband thinks he's too thick in the middle. I thought this was a lovely options.
"This recipe is 3 ingredients and 1.5 weight watchers points a piece! 1 box lemon cake mix-mix with one 20 oz bottle of diet 7-up Bake at 350 for 30 min in 9x13 pan Cool and top with one tub of light cool whip The entire cake is 19 weight watcher points and it is divine!"                   

Source: Uploaded by user via Nadja on Pinterest

Dinner:
How easy is this??
Frozen chicken, cream cheese, corn, black beans and rotel. Serve them babies in tortillas soft taco style!

Source: thelarsonlingo.blogspot.com via Allison on Pinterest

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 I love Pinterest. Please, come find me, follow me, and let me creep your boards!

Wordless Wednesday - Birthday

One

This time last year I was on the phone with my sister in law trying to figure out if I was actually in labor. I was terrified. How was I going to handle having two children? I didn't feel prepared. I couldn't believe that I could care for and love anyone else like I did Athena. How is that possible? Then God graced me with Zofia. It was all clear. My heart has two halves, one for Athena and one for Zofia, and it will never belong to me again. For as long as it beats it beats only for them.

My tiny sweet baby Zofia is turning one. I can't wrap my head around it. I'm not just saying that. I honestly can not get it in my head that she isn't 6 months old. This year has gone by with lightning speed. Slow your roll, Father Time, I need to enjoy these ladies.

Athena is beyond excited for here Sissy's birthday. She did almost all the work in the cake preparation department.

We made flower cupcakes with Lalaloopsy doll decorations.

Om nom nom

Cousins

Happy Birthday, little love. You're the best surprise I've ever received.

Preparations for birthday bonanza 2011

Can you believe it? Fifi is going to be turning 1 here shortly, and I need to get my butt in gear with making the goods.

The ladies have been digging the tea party scene lately and that is what Athena has chosen to do for Zofia's birthday. They are all about the LaLaLoopsy dolls at their parties:

And Athena wants me to make Zofia a teapot cake:

This is the shirt that Athena helped design for her sis:

Seriously, I love the cupcake monster. However, Louis isn't feeling it. Perhaps he would prefer the robot:

Or the cutesy cupcake:

What do you guys think?



3/4 of a Year

Someone is 9 months old. Someone thinks they're hot stuff.

Fifi says, "ME! HOLLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She LOVES bath time with her Sissy and thinks that it is absolutely the time to try out independent standing. If you can stand in a slippery tub without knocking yourself out, YOU.ARE.BIG.STUFF.

She's already been standing and walking around hanging on to the furniture for about a month.

One of the biggest differences between Zofia and Athena as a baby is food consumption. Athena was fairly indifferent to food as an infant. In fact, I'm fairly certain she'd still be living on breastmilk if I let her. Zofia, on the other hand, began swiping food off of plates at 5 months. Her desires and actions led me to the baby led weaning approach, where you let the baby feed themselves right off the bat. This goes against everything we've been taught by OUR mothers. No more purees or baby mush. You trust your baby to feed themselves, hand them a piece of food, and let them go to town. I WANT to trust Zofia's judgement that she can handle that waffle, but how seriously can I take her when she also tries to eat power cords and dog feet?? It's a work in progress. 

"Eggs?? Wha....?"

SpoonCam.

"Purees are fo suckas!"

"Yeah. Lemme do it. That's better."

We're still learning as we're going. Just because she's my second one doesn't mean I feel like a pro. I still need all the advice I can get. Baby led weaning intimidates me a little, and we do NOT have the sleeping thing down. In due time, right?



Dress-up Made Easy

Some things are a big deal in this house:

Dressing up.
Birthdays.
Dressing up for birthdays.

Since dressing up is already a daily activity in our household, Athena starts talking about her birthday attire a good 6 months ahead of time so I have plenty of time to prepare for all of her requests. The other day she announced that she needs to have a "Wizard of Oz" party and that we all need to dress as characters. (She said that Yia Yia can be the beautiful nice witch and that I can be the mean witch. Excuse me?) So I swear she must have had something to do with CostumeSupercenter.com contacting me to do a review. The timing was impeccable.

Athena and I perused the site together and we both LOVED it. It's very organized, user-friendly, and they have costumes for anything you can think of. You can search by holiday, theme, character, gender, age; the choices go on and on. Going through the awesome selection of costumes for toddlers, we saw a ton of stuff we wanted, but Athena had a one-track mind:  Wizard of Oz costumes. She was overjoyed at their selection and we had them send us a Toddler Dorothy Costume post-haste!

It quickly arrived and I was surprised at the quality. I was honestly expecting one of the thin, papery material costumes that you usually find. This costume was thick, sturdy material and washed up great. (We got jelly on it almost immediately.) When her dad got home and recognized her as Dorothy, she nearly fainted from excitement. I've had to pry the thing off of her daily.

What do you think? These for her dad and me?

I know you generally only equate costume stores with Halloween, but there are SO many more occasions that call for a fun outfit. For what you spend on pretend-play clothes at a regular store, you'd be better served spending your money at a costume store and getting more elaborate choices. I see many more purchases from CostumeSupercenter.com in our future.

*Athena Bee's Disclaimer: I was sent a costume to review. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh! So you thumb your nose at Valentine's Day? Well that's OK! There's another reason why today rocks! Why, it's Zofia's 8 month birthday!

Yeah, you heard me. 8 months old already. My how the time flies.

Zofia is quite the explorer. She never sits still.

(Just look at these widdle piggies!!!!!)

And she's been standing up for a couple weeks now. (What?? Slow your roll, baby!!)

Her sissy is still her favorite person in the world, and she is Athena's favorite photography subject.

She thinks bottles are dumb. Pacifiers are dumb. Clothes are dumb. Sleeping is dumb...

... but she's working on it.

I love my job.

Weekend Roundup

'Twas a weekend of birthday celebrations and Super Bowl festivities.

On this day 34 years ago, my husband Louis was brought into this world. On this day 29 years later, my nephew Evan followed suit.

The birthday boys:

Evan Thomas - 5 years old

My nephew Sammy enjoying his red velvet cake.

He dyed his hair punk rock style with the red coloring. Awesome

Louis John - 34 years old

We celebrated Louis' birthday and watched the Super Bowl.

Athena was the entertainment.

Veggies and cake were on the menu, per the birthday boy's request.



Zofia caught up on some computer work. Come on, Fifi, can't you take a break?

This is the first time in a long time Louis let me celebrate his birthday. It's amazing how children can make everything fun, even for die-hard party poopers. :)

Happy Birthday, fellers!!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

I kid you not, guys. Zofia is 6 months old already. UNreal. And in celebration of her 1/2 birthday, she slept 8 hours last night!

Let the fun begin! She's getting quite mobile. In this picture she somehow got off her pillow on the floor and made it all the way over to the Christmas tree where she commenced kicking ornaments off.

She thinks bouncy seats are for jerks, so she's out.


Know what else she thinks is for jerks? Mashed bananas. If you don't get that crap out of her face and give her a meat pie, she's gonna riot.

Her absolute favorite things are Athena, ODB (the dog), and Yo Gabba Gabba, in that order. This is her showing her enthusiasm for DJ Lance Rock (and pretty much just life in general:


Yo Gabba Gabba from Nadja Brocus on Vimeo.


Athena and I will be baking a 1/2 birthday cake for her after we all enjoy a night at the ballet!

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Zofia! We love you!