Claire's 2nd Birthday Party

As of yesterday Claire is officially 2 years old!  I don't know how that happened so fast and I'm a little bit in denial about it ;).  We threw Claire's birthday party last Saturday.  Her birthday is on the 19th but we celebrated it on a day when Bryce didn't have school or work and our families could come.  Claire isn't a big fan of cake so we decided to throw her a donut party.  Here is a picture of everything all set up before our guests arrived.
A shot with the birthday girl.  She was dying to open her presents but we were somehow able to distract her until everyone arrived.
I made two different kinds of cake donuts; vanilla with pink frosting and chocolate with chocolate glaze.  I also made donut kabobs with donut holes & fruit and we had chocolate and strawberry milk for drinks.

The first thing we did was open presents.  Claire was so excited to open them!  Since Christmas was just a few weeks ago she needed no reminding of what to do with them this year.  
Claire got a new outfit and a horse & carriage to go with her princess castle from my mom & dad.
She got play-doh, the melissa & doug play-doh accessory set, and cookie cutters from Bryce's parents.
We gave Claire a new dress, a book (Olivia & the Fairy Princesses), and a Bitty Baby!  My mom also gave me her old doll cradle so we fixed that up and gave it to her with her baby.  I had a Bitty Baby when I was little that I loved.  I knew I wanted to get Claire one for her first baby doll.  The only doll she had before this was the homemade fabric one I made for her birthday last year.  Instead paying full price for a brand new one I started watching on eBay to see if I could get a good deal.  American Girl has a doll hospital that you can send any of their dolls into to get fixed up.  I figured if I could find a used one in decent condition I could send it into the doll hospital and have the head replaced so it would look brand new, but it would be less than half the normal cost.  I found the doll & starter set in like new condition and only ended paying $45 for the entire set!  I was so excited to have gotten such a good deal!  The doll was in almost perfect condition too so all I had to do was use a magic eraser to get a few scratches off of the head.    

After Claire opened her gifts she and her cousin Lydia were too excited to eat yet so the adults visited and we let the girls play for a few minutes before moving on to the desserts.
Last, we sang Happy Birthday to Claire and started eating the yummy treats.  Claire was very unsure of the candles and did not want to blow them out so Bryce and I had to help her.  I recorded a video of her while we sang happy birthday that I will have to upload to this post.  

I didn't get a picture of her with all her gifts at her party but I took a few on Monday before we took her to the American girl pop-up-shop in Salt Lake (I'm going to do a separate post for that since this post already has tons of photos).  So here she is wearing her new birthday dress with all her gifts!  
She loves her Bitty Baby!  She takes it with her when she goes to bed and naps and always comes out of her room with it tucked under arm when she wakes up.  Its pretty adorable watching her play with & take care of it.  She is getting lots of good practice in for when she becomes a big sister in a few more months!  She had such a great birthday and it was so much fun celebrating it with her!  She is the sweetest 2 year old and is so much fun to play with at this age.  I love seeing her use her imagination and see her cute little personality developing more and more as she grows.  She is the best gift I've ever been given.  I feel so lucky that I get to be her mom.  Happy Birthday Claire, I love you too much!

Pregnancy Update: 20 Weeks

How far along? 20 weeks +4 days (the picture was taken on the day I was exactly 20 though)

How big is baby? About 3/4 pound, 6 inches long.

Stretch marks? Still none yet

Sleep: Still sleeping great, although I know the uncomfortable stage is creeping up quickly so I'm enjoying my sleep while I still can :)

Best moment of the week?  Celebrating Claire's birthday & getting to see our little boy on the ultrasound today at my doctor's appointment!

Food cravings?  Costa Vida grilled chicken salads

Symptoms? A little bit of heartburn & lower back pain but nothing too bad yet     

Movement: Little boy is starting to get super wiggly & I'm feeling kicks and nudges all the time now.  

Gender? Boy!

Belly button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On
Anything making you queasy or sick?  No.

Happy or moody most of the time:  Happy for the most part.  A little moody at times because none of my clothes fit :( regular clothes are uncomfortable or look weird and most maternity clothes are too big on me still.

Miss Anything?  Being able to lay on my stomach on the floor when I play with Claire.

Labor Signs? Nope and hopefully not for a while!

Looking Forward to? My Target Ultrasound next month! 

DIY Play Kitchen

As everyone probably already knows from my Christmas post, we made Claire a play kitchen for Christmas.  I decided to post about how we made it and where we got all of the accessories.  We made the playkitchen from a nightstand I found at the salvation army for $5 almost 4 years ago.  When we still lived in our basement apartment and had rearranged our furniture when we turned the second bedroom into Claire's nursery we didn't really have any room for it anymore so I asked my sister if she wanted it.  She kept it for a few years and then after her daughter Lydia started climbing on it all the time they stopped using since it was more of a safety hazard haha.  Laci gave it back to us since they weren't using it so we could turn it into a play kitchen.     
I forgot to take any before pictures of the nightstand, but I found this picture on my sister's blog.  You can kind of at least see a side view of what it looked like before.  It didn't have the shelving on top, the door for the oven, or the little side table.  
Bryce first built the shelves to add to the top of the nightstand so it would like more like a kitchen hutch instead of a nightstand.  After Bryce added the shelves I painted it white and then I mod-podged floral paper to the back of the bottom cubby.  I also used the same paper on her little table so it would all go together like a matching set.  The floral paper I used is wrapping paper from Rifle Paper Co.  After I painted it and added the floral paper Bryce attached the oven door & side table.  Then I painted a coat of clear polyurethane over the whole thing to keep it from get marked up or scratched easily.     
I decided I wanted to do a play kitchen for Claire last spring so I spent the whole year collecting accessories to go with it.  This was probably my favorite part!  I had so much fun finding everything all year.  She already had the tea set, we got it on amazon for her last year.  All of her pots & pans, plates, cups, & the red kettle I found out Savers and the D.I.  The yellow mini colander is from Target and I found the little wooden toaster on eBay. The trivet we got for a pretend stove burner I found on Amazon for $5.      
The mixer is made by Le Toy Van and I found it on Amazon.  It looks like its currently out of stock, but when it was in stock I watched for the lowest price and was able to get it for $35.  Its regularly priced around $40 I think.    
The mint utensil holder & wire storage basket I found in the dollar aisle of Target last spring.  All of the mini kitchen utensils (except for her red heart measuring spoons which were just old ones of mine) I found at factorydirectcraft.com   
We also added some knobs on the side of the kitchen to hang things from.  I found her a little broom at World Market and her dish towel is another Target find.  The knobs are from Hobby Lobby a few years ago.  
I used an old cooling rack that I had for an oven rack, my mom gave Claire the cookie set for Christmas, and the gold cake pan & muffin tins are from the D.I.
I got this set of wooden fruits and vegetables made by Plan Toys on Amazon, it looks like they are out of stock on this too but when it is in stock its around $17.  Claire loves these.  They velcro together and come with a little wooden knife you can cut them apart with.  I found the mini heart cutting board on Amazon but when I bought it it was only $4 so the price will probably drop back down.    
Here's a close up of Claire's little table with the matching floral paper.  The table is an old table I already had.  The little cake stand is from Hobby Lobby and the mini desserts are from Amazon it looks like the price has gone up on these too, I only paid $12 so if you watched them you could get a better deal on the price.
I think that about covers it!  We turned a little corner in our living room into Claire's Cafe and brought her table & chairs out from her room.  I am so happy with how it turned out.  Claire has already spent hours playing with it, and I'm sure its something she will continue to play with as she grows!

Portrait 52.52

Playing with her new kitchen she got for Christmas.

"A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."

Portrait 51.52

She never tires of playing in the snow.

"A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."

Portrait 50.52

Eating peppermints & playing in bed with her babies.

"A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."

Christmas 2015

On Christmas morning I woke up around 6:30 and couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to get up and get ready for the day.  I made overnight cinnamon rolls the night before so I got those out of the fridge to start rising.  Around 7:30 as I was finishing getting ready in the bathroom I heard Claire climb out of her bed and come out of her room to find me.  I excitedly picked her up and gave her a big hug.  We went and woke Bryce up so we could all go open presents together.  As soon as Bryce was awake we headed into the living room to show Claire her new presents. 

She was still groggy and tired so she didn't say much but she smiled, ran up to her new kitchen, and started playing with it immediately.  

Earlier in the year I decided I wanted to build a play kitchen for Claire for Christmas so with Bryce's help we turned an old nightstand into a kitchen and I collected little things for it throughout the year.  I had SO much fun picking everything out and putting it all together and I absolutely love how it turned out.  I will do a separate post with all the details and where we found everything.  
Claire was having so much fun playing with her kitchen she didn't even want to stop to open up her other presents.  We let her play with it for a good 10-15 minutes and then we finally were able to convince her to open her presents to see what else she got.  
Just like in years past we followed our want, wear, need, read guideline for gifts.  Claire's want was her play kitchen.  For her read I stuck with a kitchen theme and got her this Julia Child picture book by Kyo Maclear and the pictures are by one of favorite illustrators Julie Morstad.  It's a really fun book and Claire seemed pretty excited about it!  
Claire's wear was this cute green dress.  I paired it with some black tights & black floral hair bows she got in her stocking and she looked adorable in it!  Claire's need was her new coat and snow pants that I forgot to take a picture of.  We gave it to her early though so she's been using them to play outside in the snow all month long.
Claire's last gift was this cute alphabet puzzle she got from Rory.  It was a big hit, she's been playing with it a ton! 
Claire's stocking stuffers this year included magnetic letters for the fridge, a few treats, a new set of hair bows, a little notepad, and stackable finger crayons.  We also got Claire an Elsa ornament but she had already hung it on the tree and I forgot to get a picture of it!  
We opened Rory's stocking for her next so we could give her something to do so she would stop trying to eat all the wrapping paper.  
We got Rory a new collar, a few dog treats, and a pie shaped squeaky chew toy.

Bryce had me go next since I went last the year before.  My want was a Solly Baby wrap for our little baby boy on the way.  I never used a wrap with Claire, but I think I will be much more in need of having hands-free options with a baby this time around since I will be taking care of both him and his big sister Claire.
My wear was this I'm So Pregnant T-shirt.  I saw these after I had Claire and always wanted to get it for my next pregnancy.  I think its funny, and a perfect representation of how you feel the entire last half of your pregnancy.
My need was a Shark steam mop!  I love love love this thing.  I actually got it early in October when we moved upstairs.  Our new apartment has all wood floors and tile in the bathroom & kitchen.  Bryce said I could get it early as one of my Christmas presents.  It makes mopping so much easier and was the perfect gift for my Type A personality :).  

My read was the book Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson.  The last few years I've always picked out a classic for my clothbound collection but I decided to branch out this year.  I've heard this is a really cute book so hopefully I won't be disappointed!
My stocking stuffers included my favorite peppermint lotion, my new ornament (the glittery wood heart), lip gloss, and a few treats.
Bryce opened up his gifts next.  I had him save his 'want' for last because it was a surprise so he started with his wear.  I got his T-shirt from the same place I got mine (Hello Apparel). I thought it was way funny and is probably an accurate way of how he feels with his upcoming graduation in the Spring & another baby on the way haha ;).

Bryce's need was reversible hunting camo bibs & a coat.  One side is white snow camo and the other is the green camo in the picture (I know I'm not using the proper names haha).  
Bryce's read was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  He has seen the movie and has been wanting to read the book for awhile.  I've been wanting to read it too so I thought it was a great choice for his book!
Bryce's camo snow clothes took up most of his budget but he had about $10 left over.  I told him to have his snow clothes be his 'need' so I could pick out a small surprise for his 'want'.  I found this Toilet Golf on amazon and thought it was hilarious.  He got a good laugh out of it but was actually really excited to use it haha.  He set it up in the living room later that morning and played it with Claire.
Bryce's stocking stuffers included an extendable metal back scratcher, his new ornament he's holding up, chapstick, jerky, and a few treats.
We thought Claire would want to help us open our gifts but she had no interest in helping us at all.  She was too busy playing with her kitchen.  She basically did not stop playing with it all day long.  I guess that means it was a good Christmas for her.  It was so much fun watching her play with it all day though!
Self-timer shots of our family on Christmas.  It took a few tries but we finally got a good one!  We didn't send out Christmas cards this year so this is the best you get from us.  We usually go to Bryce's parents house in the evening on Christmas but they went to visit his brothers & their families in Ohio for Christmas this year.  We had our Christmas party with them the Sunday before Christmas.  They gave us a pass to the Treehouse Museum and money to use to go on a few date nights together.  They gave Claire a shopping cart & some toy food to go with her play kitchen.  Since we didn't have anywhere to go we got to spend the whole day just playing with Claire, watching Christmas movies, and eating lots of yummy food.  I actually kind of loved it!  I wouldn't mind getting to stay home the whole day on Christmas every year.  We had homemade cinnamon rolls & fruit for breakfast and then basically just snacked the rest of the day until dinner.  For dinner we had honey-glazed spiral ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, and salad.  After dinner we watched the church's nativity video and a few other mormon messages.  We cleaned up the house a bit and then watched the Grinch together before we put Claire to bed.  After Claire went to sleep Bryce and I read the Christmas story from the bible and talked about what gifts we could give to Christ for the upcoming year.  We had some great ideas that I think will really help both of us.  I can't wait to do this with our kids too once they are older.  Christmas was so so great I didn't want it to end!  I guess now I just get to look forward to next Christmas when we will have two babies to get to share the magic of the season with!