Domestic Adventures

I’m obsessed with Etsy.com. I’ve only recently begun to browse etsy, and it’s like attending a never-ending art festival right here in my kitchen - without the crowds. I’ve already made a few purchases (Yay, I’ve started my Christmas shopping!), and have “hearted” tons of favorites.
I also love all the ways you can shop. You can go the normal route and search by category, artist, or keyword, or you can find treasures via the time machine, geolocator, or suggestions based on your favorites.
The idea of having my own etsy shop appeals to me too. Except, I have no idea what I’d sell in it. I have lots of half-hearted ideas, but nothing brilliant…yet.

The internet is so not good for people who like to shop more than we should.

Another set of pictures from several weeks ago. By now we’ve learned to always bring towels and extra clothes when visiting Downtown Disney.

Remember these cool ice cream sandwich molds from Williams Sonoma? Several weeks ago I happened upon them on sale and the sales girl claimed they weren’t overly messy, so I thought we’d give them a try. Making these almost-too-cute-to-eat sandwiches was remarkably easy. You bake brownies pressed out flat into a jelly roll pan, then stamp out your shapes with the mold. A little scoop of ice cream goes into the mold, press it all together and voila! Super cute ice cream sandwiches. The box has a recipe for sugar cookie sandwiches too, but I highly recommend the brownie version - you really can’t go wrong with ice cream and brownies.

Suckered again into cute shoes for Emmaline. No, really, she actually needed these. Her feet are growing, I promise, they’re a full size bigger than the last shoes I bought. But seriously, I just love these adorable giraffe Keds we found. The strap across her foot is even a giraffe head with the snap for the eye. The design is by Eleanor Grosch who, it turns out, has lots of cool artwork at PushMePullYou Designs.com, and a fun blog to boot. I’m awfully tempted by the grown-up sized shoes.

As I set the lunch plates on the table, Micah was whining and fussing. “Don’t want applesauce. Dis is yucky applesauce.” Emmie was complaining, “But I don’t want banana. Do I have to eat banana?”
I sighed and sat down between them to pray. “Dear God, thank you for our food. Help everyone to eat their lunches happily. Amen.”
Perfectly quietly Micah picked up his spoon and began shoveling applesauce into his mouth.
“Mommy!” Emmie cried as she jumped up on her chair, “Look! God’s power got on Micah!” Then she flopped down into her seat and quietly ate her banana.

Thank you, God.

Planning and making party decorations is my favorite part of a party. I had so much fun making this birthday banner for Emmaline. It’s not often I find the time to make fun things. The pom poms were inspired by Tricia who kindly put up instructions at Oh So Crafty.
The funky flower theme came together really cute, but it was important to Emmaline to incorporate some fairies, so tucked into our centerpiece were a few whimsical extras. We also had a fairy hunt in the back yard, and of course there were lots of fairy gifts.

For Emmaline’s party favors, I filled mini chinese takeout boxes with pink and blue jelly beans, play necklaces, stickers, and mini gel pens. I finished them off with tags made from paper and stickers leftover from the invitations. Emmie did a great job of distributing the favors as each guest left and thanking them for coming, and I so enjoyed doing a little crafty something.

Four little girls and one big sister helper joined us Saturday to celebrate Emmaline’s birthday. I really enjoyed putting everything together and it all went very smoothly. In fact, the whole thing was much more calm and carefree than I anticipated. As guests arrived, they each got a plastic flower pot to decorate with markers and stickers. After that was lunch (hots dogs, as requested by the birthday girl), then we went outside to fill our customized flower pots with marigolds and dianthus.
This was the first year I didn’t have some grand cake envisioned months in advance, and even though our cupcakes were so simple it felt like cheating, they were really cute. Yellow cupcakes with white icing, a sprinkle of green sugar, and a flower lollipop each.
Now it’s time to start brainstorming for next year!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Emmaline!

In an effort to tame Micah’s double cowlicks, we went short. He’s not my shaggy headed little Micah now, but he’s still adorable. My little guy sat very nicely during his haircut looking down at all the hair piling on the floor around him. “Oh no,” he said. “My hair is falling off my head!”