Alyssa's Shower

Last night I made these little cake balls.

There not as easy as they look.

The recipe to make them is super easy but to melt the chocolate and roll them really smooth is the hard part.

I was a little frustrated that not all of them were smooth but the were a hit at the party so I guess it didn't matter. I used white cake mix, white icing with white chocolate coating and not one calorie was in them either! Lol Then I made these mini cheese cake pies.

They were SOOOO good!

I wanted to make a cheesecake so my mom suggested to make mini cheese cakes.

At first I put them in mini cupcake wrappers which didn't look good at all so my dad went into town and found these already made mini pie crusts which made my day.

I made a no-bake cheesecake from scratch then filled them up and put a cherry on top.

It was really simple, anyone can do it! I will post the recipe sometime this week.
Then it was time to get ready for the party.

Jaina was excited about going and playing with all the big girls at the party. Our childhood next door neighbor Rachel threw the shower for my sister at her house in town.

It was decorated so cute!

It was a Tea Party theme with bright colors.

We had "light" tea party food like, sandwiches, cheese, fruit, dips, veggies and cupcakes.
Rachel had some special order cupcakes made for my sister.

They were lemon with real raspberry filling. SO yummy!
We also had flavored tea, of course.
peach tea, raspberry tea, green tea, ect.
She used a variety of tea cups and tea pots.

And my sister Stephanie and I made this awesomely cute diaper cake for her.

We weren't sure what we were going to do for the cake. So we went with the colors of the party and decided to buy letters of the baby's name and paint them to match.

A-Alyssa

R-Rose

W-Wall

My sister and some of her guests

Then it was time for games.

My sister Steph and I came up with the first game.

It was a questionnaire all about mommy and baby.
Then Krystal came up with the poopie diaper game. Lol so funny Krystal laughing hysterically and Jean's smelling the diaper in the back ground.
My mom's first time to play. Laughing and trying to guess what it was. Then Rachel came up with the toilet paper game. You guess how much toilet paper goes around her belly and as you can see for being 8 months pregnant she hardly has a belly!

Her belly in this picture looked like me at 4 months! lol

Jaina had to come out and see what was going on.

Then it was time to open presents.

I got her this little play mat and Jaina got her some little items for when she travels with the baby.

My sister Steph made her this little basket filled with lots and lots of goodies.

And my uncle had me bring down his present for her, a stroller and car seat.

Jaina sat on Rachel's lap and watched Aunt Jenny open presents for a while.

After presents we took a couple photos with everyone.

The 'Jones' sisters, Me, Jennifer and Stephanie

Childhood friends, Rachel, Me, Jen, Steph, Krystal and Ginger

Then it was almost time to go.

I found Jaina in the toy room with Rachel's girls.

What a mess!

I hope my child didn't do all this! Lol

But before we left we had all the girls, Jaina, Rhiannon, Jordan and Ashlyn go outside and release some balloons up in the air. But Jaina was not about it, she wanted her balloon to stay inside, lol.

The shower was great and I can't wait to meet my new niece sometime in March!

Busy Busy Day

Thursday morning I took Jaina in to see the doctor.

Her poor little eye was glued shut.

Our doctor checked her out but said she wasn't for sure why her eye was so swollen. She didn't have pink eye and she hasn't been sick. So Dr. Flippin put her on some antibiotics anyways which was good because now she has a little cold. Her nose has been running and she hasn't been feeling to great and guess who's sick now. Me!This kid loves to go to the doctor.

She loves to explore before the doctor comes in and always impresses the nurses at how well behaved she is when she's there.

Maybe just maybe she'll be a doctor when she grows up.After we got done at the doctor we headed over to meet my sister Stephanie at my uncles house. She decided to ride with us to my parents house in Houston. My other sister Jennifer is pregnant and her baby shower is on Saturday.

When we arrived in Houston the first thing i did was purchase this bad boy. I went over to the sewing store with my dad and I got this top of the line, computerized, Janome sewing machine. In the sewing world you can't get any better then a Janome machine!

I can not wait to use it when I get home, I have many projects up my sleeveToday my mom, Jaina and sister Steph headed into town to buy lots of baby shower stuff.

Her shower is a tea party them.

I was in charge of the cake balls and cheese cakes.

And my sister and I put together her adorable diaper cake.

She will be surprised to see it.

Tomorrow we are getting up early to make the rest of the food and then head over to our friends for the party. Cant wait!

Jaina was helping Aunt Stephy paint our letters for the cake.

Comments and Cake that will melt your heart

Today when I picked Jaina up from her new baby sitter's house she had made this cake.

Isn't it the most beautiful cake in the whole wide world!

I Loved it and we shared a piece when we got home and it was good!

I received the BEST compliment I have ever gotten today.

As I was putting Jaina's shoes on to go to her babysitter's house she hugged me and patted me on the head and said "momma you are so pretty"

I almost cried, it just melted my heart. It was SO sweet.

It's moments like that between a daughter and a mother that I will never forget.

I love her so much!

First Things First

Today I noticed Jaina's eye was all gunked up which her eye only does that if she's sick but she's not sick.

She did complain earlier that she didn't feel good and actually took an afternoon nap which is really rare so I'm wondering if she is actually sick or if maybe she has pink eye or maybe it's nothing.

Let's hope that its nothing!

You can't tell she's not feeling well in this picture but if she is then I'm going to have to take her into the doctor before we leave to go out of town this weekend.

I received a special package in the mail today.

Anchors of Faith is a book written by Justin's step-grandma Pat Veal.

It's short stories complied by friends and loved ones inspired by God's Faith.

I cant wait to read it!

I will get with Pat and ask her how to order her book if any of you guys would like a copy.

Also if you are a coupon collector like me you can donate old expired coupons to families overseas who are living on one budget.

They will take expired coupons, over a month past due but they only can be coupons clipped from the paper not printable coupons.

You can also find out more info at http://thekrazycouponlady.com/ look on the right hand side of her page and click on this photo and you can read all about it.

I plan on donating a bunch this week and all it will cost you is the stamp :)

The address is:

KCL Overseas Coupon Program

Amanda Brumbaugh

10960 W. Bridgetower Drive

Boise, ID 83709

And finally I had that dreaded dentist appointment this morning.

I HATE going to the dentist but my wisdom teeth have been bothering me for about a month now. I went in to have my teeth cleaned and to make an appointment to get them taken out today.

The dental assistant said my teeth looked really good and I take very good care of them. But she did say I had some inflamed gums which I knew that because I think I brush them too hard. She gave me a soft tooth brush and said that everyone should use a soft tooth brush and to NEVER buy into the "special" toothpaste like whitening, tartar control and so on because it will actually make your teeth and gums worse. She also said I do a great job at flossing which is great because I heard it can lower my chances of cancer, heart disease and it can espand my life by 6 years!

But the bad news is that I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out on March 10th which is right around the corner and I'm SOOOOO nervous!

After I left the dentist I was feeling more like this. Ha!

M-I-C-K-E-Y

Jaina loves her some Mickey Mouse!

I got her this Mickey Mouse for Christmas which is a piggy bank and every time she puts a coin in it, it says "Oh Boy" or "Mickey Mouse" but I have to watch her when she's putting the coins in because I've caught her putting them I her mouth! Yuck!

Every morning she says, "I wanna watch Mickey Mouse Club Mouse". So I fix her breakfast right away and then off she goes to watch her show.

This Weekend

This is how Jaina spent her Saturday night......playing with tampon applicators,haha

She was being too quiet so I knew she was up to something. When I finally found her she was in our bed and had every one of my tampons unwrapped and was playing with them.

I called Justin in the room and he died laughing, he thought that was the most hilarious thing ever.

Other then that we haven't done much this weekend.

Justin got his lawn mowing business together. Its his side business away from the fire department so if any of you guys need service in the central Texas area let him know.

I had homework allllllll weekend long and if I see another statistics problem I think I'm going to throw up!

And Jaina has been on her best behavior all weekend long. She has played outside for most of today and yesterday and has been very content playing with Dixi.

She has came up with a new word.

When we ask her "Jaina where is your sippy cup or where is Daddy's phone" her reply every time is "somewhere" in the most innocent voice like she really knows where it's at. Lol

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Today's Events

Last night I made the mistake of buying Jaina some bubbles because all I heard until she went to bed was "momma bubbles, momma bubbles" over and over again.

I should have hid them from her until the morning. LOL

And then first thing she said as soon as she woke up was "momma bubbles , I go outside and blow bubbles"

So guess what we did :)

She had a blast and I let her play out on the deck until almost 3:00 today.

She had another "first" today.

We went for a walk in our neighborhood and I laid her clothes out and was going to dress her but she insisted that she do it.

She put all of it on by herself, panties, pants, shirt and socks, all on the right way.

The only thing I had to help her with was her shoes.

That was a proud moment for both her and I!

Tonight I met my uncle in Austin at the University of Austin for the Annual Teachers Awards Banquet.

He was one of the top 10 teachers in the state of Texas back in 2009 and gets to come back every year.

He invited me to the formal dinner tonight which was fun.

I got to see all the teachers that were with him in 2009.

And the wine was great!

But my steak wasn't so good, it was so red it practically was running off my plate and now I'm feeling the effects of an uncooked steak so I think I'll go take some medicine and call it a night.

Full Moon Arising

Today I did a very daring thing with a 2 year......I painted her room.

Really? Am I that Nuts?

If you don't have children you will never understand.

It was a disaster in itself!

I have been putting off and putting off painting her room for months now. Back in August when I ordered her furniture I was suppose to paint it and have it done by October but that never happened because her furniture didn't arrive on time. And since then her room has been a hot mess! Half purple, half white, half pink and green.

So today I took the day off from studying so I could paint her room but I had one problem Justin was at work and Jaina was home with me.

Do I dare try it?

Sure why not.

So I get everything ready and Jaina immediately starts crying saying she wants to paint.

Okay, so I give her a small brush and tell her to only paint the bottom wall.

So far so good.

Then as I'm painting the ceiling, remembering what joy this use to be as I'm getting paint in my eyes, my paint stick breaks, the roller smashes me in the head and falls on the carpet getting paint everywhere.

So not fun!

Then as I'm cleaning up in the kitchen I walk back to her room and Jaina had smeared paint all over the carpet!!!!!! The whole time I'm saying over and over again in my head "God please grant me the patience I need to get through this day"

I tell her "Please be a good girl and I'll take you to McDonald's and get you a happy meal".

Yeah right, didn't work!

As you can see for yourselves she has paint all over her and her hair.

But I couldn't resist I took her anyways, lol.

She got her Happy Meal and I got my salad.

A lady once told me that if you ever tell your child something then you better stick with it and follow through. Haha, I had to take this picture to remind her when she gets older how tiny she once was :) Then she got ice cream!

This was her first ice cream cone ever.

She did pretty good but she didn't quite get it. I kept telling her to lick it with her tongue.

She would stick out her tongue and then lick her lips. lol

A couple of other things and turned my frustrated day into a wonderful day.

I needed to go by Wal-mart before heading home and I needed to use the rest room and when Jaina saw me going I asked her if she wanted to try to go in the big potty and she said yes and she went!!!!

I was SO excited for her! Yay! We're getting closer to being out of pull-ups!

And here lately when we've been out and about she points to the moon and asks "what's that" and tonight as we were driving home it was a full moon so I asked her what that was up in the sky and she said "the moom" I said "good job" can you tell me what color it is and without me ever telling her she said "it's white!"

Ha! She's SO smart!

Practice Makes Perfect

Jaina loves brushing her teeth.

This morning she saw me and said, "I wanna brush my teeth!"

I let her practice most of the time with water or with her baby tooth paste and she loves it

I plan on making her a chart to put in her bathroom. She can place a sticker on everyday that she brushes her teeth, it will help to remind me and her.

I remember my uncle had a chart like that for my sisters and I when we were little and we had so much fun with it. So I think she will too.

And speaking of teeth I believe I've finally made the decision to get my wisdom teeth taken out over spring break.

The one think I hate doing most is going to the dentist but they have been hurting me for the last couple weeks so I think it's time :(

Yesterday we had really pretty weather so we played out on the back deck for a while.

She had a good time until she thought the chicken was going to attack her then she wanted so go inside.

And just an update on her potty training.

She's been doing pretty good and I think we figured out the key to success.

Kendra, our new babysitter said that she broke her daughter by letting her run around the house with no pants on. I tried it on Jaina and it has been working out great because she was more apt to going in the potty since she doesn't have anything on rather then going in a diaper or panties.

And so far so good!

I'm keeping my finger crossed!

Wordless Wednesday~Where's Jaina

Hearts And Cards

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

This morning Jaina played with her piggy bank and put all her new pennies in it that Allie gave her last night when he came over. Then we got ready to go meet Jaina's new babysitter.

Justin and I were a little nervous because we didn't know what to except. The daycare wasn't able to get Jaina in this spring so we had to result to finding a babysitter on our own. And let me tell ya, it's not that easy especially when you hardly know anyone where you live.

Desperate, which I know this sounds really crazy I signed up on the Care.com to find a sitter. So I gave it a try.

The website is safe and everything is kept confidential plus you can do a background check before you sign up with the babysitter if you please.

So I felt pretty good about it.

I happened to find a lady a little older then me that lives here in Salado which was perfect. We dropped Jaina off at noon today and when I met her babysitter I had a great feeling of comfort which was a load off my shoulders.

She's sweet, has a nice house and has a daughter that's 3.

Which is perfect so now Jaina has a new playmate.

She said they have snack and craft time in the afternoons too.

Jaina was a little shy when got there but I'm sure she's going to warm up pretty fast.

After leaving Justin and I knew she was in great hands!

When I got home Justin had already picked her up.

Justin had laid her crafts on the table for me to see and I thought they were so cute

And this little canvas painting was just adorable!

I loved them both.

It was a nice Valentine's gift to come home to.

And speaking of Valentine's, Jaina got to open all her cards tonight from all the grandparents.

She says a BIG Thank You to everyone.

She also got to open this box of goodies from her Mimi. It was filled with new spring clothes, coloring book with crayons and some snacks!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!!