deja vu?

Sometimes I sit down to write a post and I can't remember if I've already written it. I tend to think in blog form at times and my mind wanders and now...I can't remember if the words wandered on to the internet or not.

So, if I've already written this one, just humor me and read it again. Nod your head and smile, like if your mom was retelling a story for the umteenth time...no, not you mom, you wouldn't ever do that.

Okay the internet. I cannot imagine what I would do without it...the Googling, the Pinning, the Facebooking. All this random information right at my fingertips.  Like a while back I was in charge of bringing fruit and dip to a gathering. But I was too lazy to go out and buy the ingredients for the dip I normally make. So, I took inventory and I had sour cream. Then I took to the internet and found a phenom recipe for dip: sour cream, honey and cinnamon. Amazeballs.

So I again took the internet when my necklace was looking kinda dingy. First I found on the jewelry store's website that my necklace was sterling silver...didn't know that, just assumed it was white gold, hence the tarnishing I suppose. So then I searched for at home silver jewelry cleaner.

Tin foil + baking soda, add jewelry and boiling water = super clean sparkling necklace! Omgeez.

Before:

After:

jamajama

Pajama day at school. Beyond jealous!

TGIF

A little sunshine for your Friday!

The end of a chocolate filled era.

Oh my chocolate fountain business, you were good to me. But now I officially bid you adieu.

I'll rewind if you don't know the whole story. I was planning my wedding (seven years ago) and wanted something not so traditional for a cake when a fountain of flowing chocolate caught my eye on an episode of Cribs, Shaq's house to be exact. Of course there were no rental options in North Dakota, so I decided to purchase a chocolate fountain. With a loan from the Bank of Mom & Dad, I started my business! There were weddings, graduations, business events and parties. I paid mom and dad off in no time and was quite pleased with my trip down entrepreneur lane.

There was an informal goodbye when I got too pregnant to haul the ol' fountain around...and a bit more of a solid bubbye when I dropped the website and all advertising...but I sealed the deal and SOLD the chocolate fountain this week!

I received a random text Sunday evening from a friend inquiring about the fountain for her family's business and by Tuesday, she was sold.  (Funnier yet, I got a call today for a rental, too bad so sad people.)

And so, Cascading Chocolate is officially over and done. But I am so thankful to have had the business while I did. I learned plenty, met a lot of different people and made some money in the process.

Ahh, memories.

Pony

I picked Em up from daycare and low and behold, my baby has enough hair for a pony! Ok so it's not long and flowy, but it's there...look really close.

And I'm not sure if I have the world's brightest flash or what, but eyes closed seems to be a theme here. If you don't recall the Tucker post...here is a reminder.

I'd say I should just take photos during daylight...but I don't even see my kid when it's light out anymore. Sadsville.

Whew.

Last week I was all I'm back on the blogging bandwagon and then whaddya know, life laughed in my face and said not so much sucker.

I guess I honestly don't have all that much to blog about, in fact I'll tell you such things now.

I wouldn't blog about another ear infection because no one wants to hear about that. No one wants to hear about the 5pm run to the walk in, where Emmie screamed bloody murder when the nurse weighed her because she was pretty sure we were at the chiropractor again and someone was going to crack her up.

And then I won't discuss the ENT, my baby needs tubes, referral because even I don't want to hear that the first available appointment is in JANUARY. That's like 3 ear infections away. I even tried Catalyst and they're booked out until Christmas. Seriously.

And I won't talk about Daylight Savings seriously messing with our lives. 5am is just too early for anything to happen. The schedule is back in order, but it took me withholding the bottle until 6am to make that work.

And while I'm not talking about waking up too early, I won't talk about bedtime routines down the drain either. Is it okay to let this kid cry it out when she's all ear infected up? Is that just mean? Or do we all just suck it up?

And then I won't blog about the GD car seat that needs to be installed but two college educated adults can't figure out how the eff to install it. Cheeseandrice it can't be this hard.

And of course I won't even think about discussing Saturday night. We were super stoked to leave the babe with one of my fave gals from daycare...I mean how awesome that your kid reaches out with open arms when the sitter arrives... and then two sips into our drinks we got the call that Emmie went to sleep and then five minutes later sat up and puked in her crib. Areyoufreakingkiddingme, we'llberighthome...pleasepleaseoffertobabysitagain!

And that's where I've been this week, obviously nothing to blog about.

Baby Shower!

This past weekend, Kristi and I hosted a baby shower for our friend Laura.  It is just too much fun to celebrate another baby girl coming into this world...I'm obviously biased towards the pink! 

The shower was all about the baby mama and the details.  From hand sewn button napkin holders to personalized straws...I think we could start our own party planning business. With Kristi busy hosting the party at her house, I was in charge of paper goods...thank god I finally grew up and bought that printer.

And instead of playing games, we opted for making onesies for the baby! We had just enough wine to get the creativity flowing.

The grey and white straws set the theme for the party and the yellow personalized flags helped us keep straight the Kristi, Kristy, Kristin, Kris and Kelsey. Seriously. The Raspberry Lemonade Cocktail matched perfectly...and tasted like a dream.

Thank you to our friends who helped with the food - it tasted as amazing as it looks (with Laura and Tim's baby pictures framed above)! Lemon trifle, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, pimiento sandwiches, caprese sticks, cucumber bites, cheeses and mini cupcakes.

Here are Kristi's handmade napkin rings made of grey felt and super cute buttons! Also, we used Laura's favorite childhood book , Fox & the Hound, as the the guestbook.

Oh and here's the invitation...just because I thought it was pretty dang cute. (I changed the address for the internet creeps.)

11 months and a day

Seriously, why is it so hard to get a post out on one specific day?

We spent the day at the Christmas Tour of Homes in Fargo and lunching with the ladies...Emmie was a total rockstar. In and out of the car a hundred times, snooping around strangers home...she loved it, just like mom.

Anywho, today my baby girl is 11 months and one day old. The time is flying by faster than I ever could have imagined. And as so many have said, it just keeps getting better.

Well, in the cooperating for photographs arena...not so much. 

She is way too interested in that 11 sticker...even when I tried to trick her as Betsy suggested, with the sticker on the shirt before we put the shirt on...nope. She wasn't having it.

At 11 months Emmie loves books and anything she can shake or bang together. She's struggling a bit with bedtime after the whole sickness ordeal. She has been to the chiropractor three times and she loves cooked carrots and broccoli.

Oh and she WALKS.  It's not her preferred method of transportation yet, but she can do it.



Also, she loves her brother.

tips and tricks

Omigod, I'm finally back on the blogging bandwagon and it's a good thing...the camera has been getting a little full of random photos that I need to get out to the interwebs.

Like this...

That's a frozen mini muffin tin full of chopped and cooked carrot, onion and green pepper.

This is dad's not so secret anymore trifecta of taste that you can add to pretty much anything. Chili, meatballs, etc. And while I used to just freeze a tub of it and chisel out what I needed, freezing servings in a mini muffin tin...awesome.