*whew* I can breathe now.

The past month has been insane... and resulted in a crap-ton of pictures.

My dad's 50th surprise party went off without a hitch!

(I realize that is super young for a granddad, but I was adopted by my aunt and uncle so he's not biological! )

Although I'm having a really hard time with the fact that my brothers are now teenagers and the oldest is a college student. What the crap!

Also, I finished the Couch to 5k program and ran my first 5k!

My friend Ashley and I ran it together and it wasn't that bad! There were a TON of big hills, though, so I'm pretty proud that I only walked 100 steps (yup, I'm a geek and counted!) and ran the rest of it! I'm already signed up for a 2nd one on October 8th!

I used this tutorial to make a new pillow for the couch! I used 2.5" squares because that's what I already had cut out from a random night when I cut pretty much ALL of my scraps with the Go cutter!

This was my first time putting an invisible zipper in a pillow- it was easier and faster than the envelope method in my opinion!

Lastly, Noah turned 2 yesterday! We threw a Dr. Suess themed party on Saturday. Most (if not all) of these ideas came from Pinterest (here's the link to my pinboard of ideas for it!). We rented a bouncy house (from Friday to Monday- yeah, we hung out in it after Noah went to bed at night, so what?) and I think all the kids had a blast!!

These party hats were presh! I totally recommend Modern Bebe for any party printables! She was so great and the stuff was so easy to print!

The favor bags had "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" skewers, 2 pencils and 2 buttons (from the Target one spot!).

The birthday boy had a great time!

Today I even went ahead and made Noah's thank-you postcards and started writing them!

I've never been this on top of things!

Whew! Now that the crazy month is over, I'm hoping to have some more time to finish some projects- first off that t-shirt quilt!

flashback friday: big mama.

Two years ago today, I was pretty dang miserable.

I wished away every second of every day of August 2009.

I was convinced I would have an August baby because- holy crap- he was huge on the ultrasounds and my family is known for big babies and no one ever made it to their due date.

No one but me.

Fast forward two years and our house is a frickin' wreck and I just want time to slow down.

(For the record, it appears as though Thomas the train and Dr. Seuss had a love child, which has vomitted all over my living room.)

Nostalgia got the better of me for a minute as I looked through these "belly pics" that I took every few weeks when I was pregnant with Noah. He was so much quieter and easier to deal with while in utero. :)

Now, in the last 45 minutes I have of Noah's nap, I'm off to bake Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes and make some Who Fluff on a Stick. Oh you've never heard of Who Fluff on a Stick? Then you better check back later to see some party pics and experience it's awesomeness.

more Silhouette SD projects

a new shirt for Noah
(he has no idea how cool this is)

a new shirt for dad (Go Gamecocks!)

and a new house motto:

4 things... a non-update, if you will.

1. I've been running (3x week) and going to Zumba (1-2x week) for about 8 weeks now and tracking what I eat on myfitnesspal.com. I'm not losing weight super fast (12 lbs so far), but I'm doing things that I *know* are healthier for my body and that makes me feel awesome! My first 5k is on October 8th and I'm really excited!
2. This guy starts "school" back tomorrow (he attends a Parents' Morning Out playschool). I can't explain to you in written form exactly how excited I am.
3. Aah, the t-shirt quilt- project 4 years in the making. Way back before I even had a sewing machine, I had all of these great intentions of making one- how hard could it be? Cut squares, sew them back together. Now that I'm a bit more versed in quilt making, I understand what an undertaking this is- an expensive one! I plan to take on a few of these for some sorority sisters and I have already bought 2 bolts of FusiKnit which put a nice dent in my wallet. So far I'm loving it and I had so many fun memories come back to me while cutting these- college was so fun! Since I took this picture I've started sewing 2" sashing strips to the rows- slowly but surely it's coming along!
4. Snickers Popcorn. Don't ask questions- just make it.
   

Then just make sure to keep your almost-2-year-old away from it while it's cooling!

Almost-2-year-old- crazy! Birthday party invites went out yesterday and I can't wait to show y'all pictures of his Seuss party!

jumping on the trendy train

If you would have asked 16 year old me if I like "trends", I probably would have rolled my eyes at you, turned on the heel of my converse one-stars with the rainbow laces (so NOT trendy, right? Riiiight....), flipped my hair over my shoulder, turned up my ipod (which had a heavy mix of everything from Blink 182 to Britney) and walked away.

Yeah I wouldn't have admitted it to you then, but today, I'm all about trends. The feathers in the hair type stuff- not so much, but fun and cute things- hecks yes! I'm all about these trends right now.

1.

Any workout that allows- nay, encourages- you to wear tassel-butt pants is ok in my book.

Not to mention it's WAY fun and you can burn upwards of 800 calories in a 1 hour class! A group of friends and I have started going to a class on Thursday night taught by Liz (HI LIZ!) and soon there will be a Tuesday night class- STOKED! AND it reminds me of competition cheerleading (too bad we can't do stunts) AND the past few weeks one of our songs has been "Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing (!!!!!). AND I am learning how to booty dance (don't think about that too hard, you could go mentally blind). I could go on, but I'll leave that alone and move on to my next favorite fad...

2. Hexigons

I bought one of Sara's kits and I'm officially in love.

They are tiny and time-consuming so I'm only planning to make a cover for my last trendy gadget...

3. My kindle

Yes, I'm aware that books will still be around even though the kindle exists and yes I still love the smell of a book, but I also LOVE the convenience of the Kindle and the way it allows me to be absolutely lazy at night and read in the dark without the bother of lifting my arm to turn a page. *happy sigh*

Oh, and the last 2 trends should go without saying: Pinterest and this Iced Coffee Concentrate. Holla!

Joe and I are heading up to DC this weekend for one of my absolute bee-eff-effs! I've never been to that area before- if you have any ideas or suggestions (fabric stores, anyone?), shoot me an email or leave a comment!

I thought summer was supposed to be calmer than the school year?

Man, things are seriously busier in the summer than they are during the year- what's up with that? Unfortunately, I don't have many accomplishments to share as I've been travelling, preparing for a wedding I'm in at the end of the month, getting ready for Vacation Bible School (which I'm in charge of all opening and closing ceremonies and music... it doesn't seem like much but when you're looking at 400 kids already signed up, it gets daunting fast!) and I got a kindle- So there went hours upon hours of productive time!

I did make these shirts last week for Aislyn who became a big sister yesterday! Her little brother Elim was born and I just can't wait to see him and squish him!

Other than that I've basically been just running around after this kid all the time.

The big boy bed transition went freakishly smooth and he's doing GREAT sleeping in it! He's been in it for almost 3 weeks and hasn't gotten up at night once (I would knock on wood, but let's be for real- my kid's obsessed with sleeping and once he's out, he ain't wakin' up til morning!). He does like to come to the door and knock right after we've put him to bed, but then he just gets back in bed when we don't come to the door!

The coolest thing that's ever happened to Noah happened this week when we went to see the Wiggles in concert. They said no flash photography so we left our camera at home (since we rode the light rail up there and if they wouldn't have let it in... well, we would have been screwed!) but I have a couple of pics from my phone. Unfortunately, this is the best pic of me and Noah. Lame.

He is absolutely in LOVE with his new shirt and didn't want to take it off to get in the bath that night.
(whoa- proof he has hair!)

He was so cute though. The first hour of the show he just sat there staring incredulously at the stage like "Is this real life?". The last 45 minutes or so he started clapping and singing but you could just tell his mind was completely blown. Sam and Captain Feathersword even came down to our area and waved to Noah! So fun!

I've got a few projects mentally lined up that I hope to get finished after this crazy week of VBS starting with a king sized quilt for our bed. Am I insane? Maybe.

can you spot the difference?

*deep breaths*