Saturday, February 1, 2014

Valentine's Day Special!

We just added some adorable new onesies and pink headbands to our etsy shop, perfect for Valentine's Day!! We're also running a special on our shipping, so head on over and check it out :)
www.etsy.com/shop/plaidandpaisleyshop



I'm not going to lie, the pink glitter one is my fav!! But they're all perfect for a little princess!



I love monograms, and I also love glitter if you couldn't tell! And the paint splatter onesie is definitely one of my new favs! www.etsy.com/shop/plaidandpaisleyshop




Thursday, January 23, 2014

16 Weeks

Yesterday I officially hit the 16 week mark, and of course posted our announcement via FB. If it was up to me, I would have just waited until the peanut was born, and kept it all to myself. After 2 misscariages you don't want to jump the gun to early, and I kept saying after my next appt. I'll tell everyone.

Because of my history, I had a sonogram at my first appt. which was 5 weeks and 5 days. It was kind of a shock to hear the doctor say, ok so this is your 5th pregnancy. Still kind of crazy to think about. I read a lot about women struggling with infertility and the heartbreking journey that it is, but it's very rare you hear about anyone struggling after having 2 healthy babies. Who am I to be so heartbroken? I should be thankful to have my 2 healthy babies - which of course I am! But it still doesn't make the sting of a misscarriage any less. So at that first appt, she let me know that since you can't hear the heartbeat that early we would do a sono, and even with a sono we might not be able to see the heartbeat either.



But we've got an overachiever on our hands, and at 5 weeks, 5 days I saw that little heartbeat. And for just a moment, time stopped. And I soaked it all in. It seems like so long ago, and yesterday at the same time.

If you know me at all, you also know that I am not one of those women who I enjoy being pregnant. In fact I hate it. I was literally sick as a dog for the first 14 weeks, which made it incredibly difficult to hide, at least to me. I kept blaming it on the cold weather. See winter is good for something! My dear husband deserves a freaking medal, because besides going to work everyday I pretty much was useless. I would go straight to bed after getting home, because everything made me want to throw up. The worst part? I was taking my finance management class that whole time. I am really amazed that I survived, because let me tell you I cried. a lot. It was by far the hardest class I've ever taken, and had to do so while basically having the flu the.entire.time. The holidays? they were no help. At Thanksgiving I was only 8 weeks, and hadn't told anyone. The smells were indescribable. The car ride? Pure torture. I pretty much slept the whole time. Christmas was a little better, only because I had my 12 week appt. on the 23rd, and so after hearing that sweet heartbeat for the first time, I finally agreed to at least tell our family. I was so sick, and was a real grinch pretty much the whole month of December - again somebody give my husband a medal!

By week 14 I was at least getting my appetite back, but traded in horrible morning sickness for pure exhaustion and massive headaches. I told you I'm not one of those women who like being pregnant :)

After my 16 week appt on Monday and hearing that heartbeat one more time, I finally decided to let everyone know, that there's no need for a double take, I didn't eat too much over the holidays, just eating for two!



And while a few people commented I looked tiny (thank you!), that's only due to horrid morning sickness for 14 weeks. But don't worry I'll make up for it soon, both my girls were 9 lbs when they were born!

So for now, I'm literally counting down the days until July, and soaking up the few perks that come along the way!





Monday, October 14, 2013

Chevron Birthday Party

Last month my "baby" turned 4 years old. It's very bittersweet, but she is wise beyond her years. Girlfriend knows how to work the system, and isn't afraid to do so. Papa would be so proud! He may just get that lawyer in the fam that loooves to argue after all.

For her big day, we invited her friends from school to celebrate at the park. This is Hadley's first birthday party with school friends, so it was quite the occasion. We went with a chevron theme, and a lovely mix of homemade and store bought.



 Gracen may or may not have had a wee bit of birthday envy. But I don't blame her :)





I know there's a lot of articles out there regarding parents who go overboard on their kids birthday parties, but to each their own. If you love to craft, then by all means craft! If you love to bake, bake! Do what makes you happy. But don't make people feel bad for "going overboard" when it's something that they're passionate about. I by no means think I go "overboard" but just make sure not to ask the Mr. :) I'm going to continue planning their parties for as long as they'll let me!



Thursday, October 10, 2013

Grand Opening: Plaid & Paisley

This past weekend we finally launched our Etsy shop Plaid & Paisley! Feel free to browse around and let us know if you have any specific ideas or things you'd like to see. We can customize pretty much anything. Even if you don't see it, we can customize it just for you!

Tie onesie found here
This is one of my fav, and can be made with pretty much any choice of fabric and stitching.
 
Headbands found here
I love the skinny headbands, and the color options are limitless!
 
Polka dot letters here
My sister's been hand painting these letters for 5 years now, and I'm obsessed. So glad we finally opened up a place to sell them :) Colors and patterns can match pretty much anything!!
 
Animal letters here
These animal letters would be perfect for any jungle nursery, or I love the ABC for a playroom!
 
Hand painted onesies here
I am a total sucker for anything monogrammed. And I love the vintage/antique look of these hand painted onesies.
 
 
Everything in our shop is truly one of a kind. No two are the same. We'd love for you to look around and let us know what you think. Pin away, and of course feel free to shop, the holidays are right around the corner -  Plaid & Paisley is officially open!




Monday, September 30, 2013

Baking Fail

I have a million things I'm getting ready to share, but this was just too funny to wait. Seriously it seems like sometimes the easiest of things turn out to be the most disastrous. This weekend was Hadley's birthday party, and amongst many treats I decided to also make rice krispie treats.

Please keep in mind I have made these many times before. So I have NO idea what happened. They require 3 ingredients. Seriously 3. I'm still confused as to how I messed these up. This picture does not do the wreckage justice.


See how there's just a big blob in the middle? I'm not sure if marshmallows go bad, I'm pretty sure we've had ours since Gracen's party in April.... or if there's a trick to using our new gas stove top? But whatever the reason I still don't know how it happened. The butter melted just fine, but when I added the marshmallows, they didn't melt like they were supposed to. It just made one giant marshmallow... and they looked like they were almost starting to burn so I just added the cereal anyways, and as I tried to stir them in made a giant mess in the process. Then I decided to try and put it in the pan anyways, and well you can see how that turned out :)

So now matter how much I think my culinary skills have improved over the years, leave it to little old rice krispie treats to put me in my place. Needless to say there were no rice krispie treats at Hadley's party!






Monday, September 16, 2013

Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

This weekend the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and I couldn't help but have a mini baking session. While my personal fav is still zucchini bread, I also made some mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffins!

Source

I am a huge fan of the Skinny Taste blog, which helps me make the things I already love, but try to use better ingredients. So when I saw these mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, I jumped at the chance to make them. They were the perfect fall treat! I made them the night before - because well I'm not exactly a morning person. As soon as they came out of the oven, the Mr. ate a couple and could've kept going if I wouldn't have stopped him. The girls each had a bunch for breakfast this morning, and then Hadley and the Mr. ate the rest before I even got home from work. I guess I better just make some more then :) These would be perfect to freeze for later too, if there are any left!

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour*
  • 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup raw sugar **
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 2 tbsp virgin coconut oil (or canola)
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • baking spray 
  • 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners and lightly spray liners with oil for easy removal.

In a medium bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In a large bowl mix pumpkin puree, oil, egg whites and vanilla; beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

Add flour mixture to the wet mixture, then blend at low speed until combined; do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tin and bake on the center rack for 22 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

*I just used 1 1/4C of all-purpose flour, because that's what I had - probably lost a healthy point but oh well ;)
**I had never even heard of raw sugar, but again I didn't have this and after some googling, decided it was just fine to use regular sugar




Saturday, September 14, 2013

Gracen's 5th Birthday Party!

Hey! Remember me? Yea I fell off the blogging planet for a little while. Starting a new job, grad school, buying and remodeling a house, traveling abroad, and 2 kiddos heading back to school kind of kept me busy.

Now that I'm in the midst of planning Hadley's birthday party, I thought I'd share the dets about Gracen's birthday party, ya know, last April :)

For her theme, we went with Pinwheels. We usually just do invites through evite so it's easier for the parents to keep track of, and they had an adorable pinwheel one. Theme chosen! We had her party at the park, and were once again very lucky with the weather. This past spring, for those who have already for gotten, was realtively cool. Hello snow in May! I kept with the dessert table theme like I did with Hadley's last fall and I'd say it was definitely a hit with the 5 year old crowd.


I also made Gracen's shirt, although this isn't the best pic of it. It's just an applique pinwheel. I may or may not have an obsession with appliques!



I made miniature rice krispie cupcakes, much easier for little hands to hold onto, and much less mess (and less sugar intake!) then the full size I made last time. I also made mini cupcakes with pinwheel toppers that I got from the party store. That was the best $2 I spent, because all the kiddos were mesmerized by them actually spinning in the breeze! This time around I made the white chocolate covered pretzels again, but used the pretzel rods - cuts prep time by a lot. And just as delicious!


I'm madly in love with her cake! She requested those colors, and even though it's not the prettiest to look at, it was still delicious, and you should've seen her eyes light up when she saw it! I just love the little banner, I just cut out some craft paper and wrote her name on it in and hung it on the oh so popular straws these days. Those suckers are expensive! So instead of doling them out to sip on juice with, I just used them as décor. And no worries - the 5 year olds didn't seem to mind! The inside of the cake was tie-dyed, blue/purple/pink of course. But #blogfail I didn't catch a photo of it! Once we sang happy birthday, cut it, and gave it to the kids, our memory card was full and the cake was pretty much devoured by the time we could erase a few.


Gracen had a blast, and we're so incredibly thankful for all the wonderful friends we've made at school the past 2 years! She is one luck 5 year old, and we're pretty darn lucky to be her parents.


Obligatory family photo! My girls have gotten pretty used to the 'mamarazi' by now ;)