Another Daddy Wednesday + Updates

Caleb is home with Gallie this afternoon - he sent me this photo of her on her old rocking horse so this tells me they are digging into stuff in storage and I'll probably come home to a mess :)  Oh well, she looks like she's having fun!  I also heard they went to the library and she got to watch one of the movies she checked out - definitely getting spoiled today!

I have a couple updates - the house, and more importantly, the b-day party!

We are in full birthday party mode at our house!  The treat bags are packed, homemade decorations are made and hung, presents are wrapped, sprinkles for pancakes are in little dishes, milk jars are ready to be filled, and pajamas are picked out.  I'll post pictures of everything after the party on Saturday - we are very excited!  Actually, I'm a little nervous to have 11 four & five year olds to entertain for 2 hours...

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The house is coming along.  The foundation is done and they started framing last Monday.  Here are a few of the things we are excited about and a couple of the little things we are doing to make it our dream home :)

Apron (or farmhouse) Sink - I've always loved these sinks.

Open Shelving - we will have about 1/2 of our cupboards in open shelving.  I'm excited about this because I really love a lot of our dishes and now I can display them!  Plus easy access :)

Chevron Tile - we chose this for the mud room just because it will look cool and different.

Free Standing Soak Tub - an alternative to a swimming pool for Gallie :)

A Kitchen Aid Dishwasher - I will be so happy to not have to scrub the dishes sparkling clean before we put them in the dishwasher.

Sea Glass Pendants - for the kitchen.  I just think these are so cool and beachy!

Beach Rope - to hand the lights in the entry way and dining room.

Chalkboard Pantry Door - for grocery lists and cute Gallie drawings :)

Vintage Glass Doorknobs - just because I like them.

Happy Birthday Cody!!!

We celebrated Cody's birthday with dinner last night and he was asleep for most of it!  I guess that's how it is for new parents :)  He couldn't even keep his eyes open for a quick b-day photo - but at least Ayden did - he's way cuter anyway!!!

Fishtail Braid Tutorial

Many people have commented on my imperial braiding skills :)  I've especially been complemented on the fishtail braid and asked many times how to do it.  It really is just about as easy as a basic braid.  Here's what to do:

Divide the hair into 2 even sections.  I don't bother to part it exactly down the middle - just wing it.  This braid looks better if it's a little messy anyway!

Take a small section from the outside of the right side.

Pull that small section over to the left.

Now take a small section from the outside of the left side.  It takes a bit of hand maneuvering to keep all of the hair in place for the fist few strands, but you get the hang of it quickly.

Pull the small section over to the right.

Repeat these steps until you are at the bottom of the braid.

And that's all there is to it!  You have a less than 1 minute braid (I timed it!) that looks like you spent 20!

You can also pull it apart a bit to get that messy look that I hear is "in" right now :)

Thanks, Gallie, for being my hair model!!!

Daddy Wednesday

Caleb recently started watching Callie every Wednesday after school.  I think it's been nice for them to spend extra time together... and to do fun things like bike riding on a sunny day!

Over the weekend...

Gallie had quite an adventure this weekend!  Our friends from Seattle (the other Youngs!) came up and stayed with us Saturday night.  We had pizza and watched a movie with the kids - then they spent an hour in their sleeping bags giggling and playing and having a pretty cool sleepover :)  In the meantime us adults played a dice game they taught us and had a glass of wine - pretty wild!

Finally asleep!

On Sunday morning Lily joined the girls (that made 4 girls ages 3-5!!!) and we went on a mountain adventure!  We drove to Mt. Baker with the intentions of sledding only to find out it isn't allowed there anymore.  But the girls didn't care at all - they had a blast playing in the snow and didn't even mention the sleds.  We packed a lunch and ate in the lodge (part of the mountain adventure!) and then played for another hour or so.

I didn't pack my camera in the snow so I only have pictures of them sitting on the sleds by the car :)  But believe me, they had the best time!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

This morning we surprised Gallie with a homemade card and a cute little puppy (named Rue, after Molly's dog) - she loved it!  She surprised us with special cards she made - we loved them!

Pirate Valentines

Gallie and I made these cute little valentines for her class party tomorrow.  I got the template here.  I just printed them on some cardstock I had at work then wrote the "you're grrreat!" with a marker.  I cut out the felt heart patches from some scrap felt I saved and Molly kindly sewed them onto the cards for me.  Gallie signed the back of each one :)  I think they turned out pretty cute and she is super excited to pass them out to her friends!

Over the weekend...

Friday night is always movie night - a lot of times we just watch a movie we already have, but we decided to search Netlix for an animal movie.  We decided on Beethoven!  I remembered that movie from when I was little and I think I liked it?  Anyway, Gallie really liked the beginning when they get the puppy and so on, but once the meanie dog catcher guys came on she decided she'd seen enough!  This was only about 30 minutes in, so we watched a couple episodes of Horseland instead!  Horseland is her new absolute favorite show ever - all she does is talk about it now and her love for horses has returned :)

On Saturday we played Horseland for most of the morning while Caleb attended a "cupping."  He is such a complete and total coffee snob that he has to go and sit around with other coffee snobs and sip gross coffee and talk about the blueberry, or pineapple, or pear subtleties in every sip - gag me!  Sorry Caleb :)  I really hate all coffee/tea so I guess I just don't understand.

Caleb is actually working on a coffee documentary right now, so he kinda had to go to this one.  But he does say stuff like "pineapple subtleties"!!!

We decided to go out to dinner Saturday night and Gallie asked to go to Pepper Sisters.  Neither Caleb or I are impressed with that restaurant, but we did say she could pick.  She doesn't really even like their food either, but she likes the fun games they have on the table for kids - Yes, we do let our 4 year old persuade us to go to a restaurant we don't really like because she likes the toys :)

We had an open house at our condo all afternoon Sunday, and it was raining, so we just ran a few errands to pass time.  We've had a little interest, but we really want to sell it in the next few weeks so we lowered the price and that has sparked more interest.  Caleb has to set up for a shoot in the evening so Gallie and I made a picnic dinner and ate it on a blanket on the living room floor!  We had all the best picnic food - homemade hummus, strawberries, yogurt, carrot sticks, crackers, hard boiled eggs, and apple juice :)  A fun little outing and we didn't even have to get wet!

Molly

Isn't this a great picture of Molly?  It was for a hair show at school - she definitely is the stand out!

Busy Day

Today Gallie had:

A dentist appointment - no cavities!!!

And a haircut! (FYI - the first photo was staged... Molly does not actually cut hair using shown method!)

She requested "swoop bangs" like mine, so that's what she got!

Pretty.

Birthday Details

Callie's party is a little over three weeks away, so that means it's time to start planning!  This year she decided on a pancake pajama party :)  The kids will show up at lunchtime in their pj's and we will stuff them full of pancakes with every kind of sugary topping imaginable!  Just kidding (kind of) - I really try to keep sweets to a minimum, but it is a party after all :)  We picked out some cool sprinkles and we'll also have maple syrup and different fruits & berries.

Here are the invitations that we finished last night.  I found the template on Pinterest and think they are so cute!  I just printed them out on some sparkly card stock (even the envelopes!) I had at work and them cut them out by hand.  Gallie wrote the name of her friends on the invitation and I filled in the rest.  Then we used some ribbon tape I've had for ages to seal the envelope.  Free, free, & free!  Cute, cute, & cute!

Who is this girl?

Callie NEVER wears jeans.  I made her put them on about a month ago when we were going for a chilly walk and she cried.  But for some reason, today she wanted to wear them.  She looked at herself in the mirror and said she was wearing them everyday* from now on.  She especially loved them paired with her football sweatshirt!

* She has not wore them again since this was taken last week :)

Over the weekend...

The weather in B'ham was BEAUTIFUL this weekend!  It was so sunny and 55 degrees both days!  On Saturday we did some morning errands and then spent the afternoon outside biking and playing in the sandbox.

Our membership for the Everett Children's Museum expires in a few days, so we decided to make use of it one last time.  And since none of us are remotely interested in the Super Bowl, we thought Sunday would be a great day.  They have a huge and amazing outdoor play area on the roof top - so knowing it was going to be sunny was another reason to go!  We think the ECM is the best one around and would renew the membership but we are trying to save money :)

This time was probably the most fun we've had there... Gallie was in a really good mood and had a lot of energy.  We all agreed that playing outside was our favorite part of the day!

Like father, like daughter :)

We really worked up an appetite!