Paxton

A few months ago I finally caught up on a few of my annual scrapbooks.  Specifically - the pages for Paxton's year-by-year album to match Ayla's. 

I love these books.  They only require that I make one two-page spread a year, but show a great collage of photos of the kids from each month of the year as well as highlight some of the milestones and big events.  Simple, and do-able. 

His album is an 8" x 8" book by American Crafts.

Also...a good reminder of how miserably hard his first year was...

and how sweet and fun he became about 1/2 way through his second year...

And while I was at it, I finished up Ayla's next two pages too:

Felt good to do a little bit of scrapbooking. :)

For Paxton's 2nd birthday, I was all about keeping it simple.  Even so, I wanted the "theme" to be special and represent something he loves.  There's NO better choice than his prized possesion: PUPPY.  Puppy has been around since before he was born, and Paxton attached himself to Puppy sometime around a year old (I think).  Puppy sleeps with him, plays with him, and calms him down when he's upset. 

So, I thought it was fitting to try and put his beloved Puppy on Paxton's 2nd birthday cake. Initially I had NO interest in making the cake and decorating it myself. I thought it ought to be easy to just bring in a photo to any old bakery and they'd whip up a great design for me.  So I took this photo and went cake shopping:

Bust. Most places wouldn't do it at all and suggested alternatives like other dogs or bears (NOT the same), some would scan it and print the photograph onto the cake (eh, not really right), and one bakery would do it and charge me an arm and a leg for a teeny-tiny cake (which if I had lots of money, probably would have been a perfect choice), and finally I said, forget it. I'll do it myself -- he's only two, he won't care if I screw it up.

So, I stopped at a sandwich shop and I sat down and drew this picture (lucky for me, they even had crayons at the counter for me!):

I figured, if I could draw Puppy, surely I could ice him on a cake...right?  (Keep in mind I'm SO not a food display or preparation kind of girl.  I much prefer paper, glue & paint!)

So, next, determined to give Paxton a Puppy cake he would love, I trudged around WalMart looking for icing, cake mix and inspiration.  As I got to the front of the store, my cart full with cake mix, frosting, yellow cupcake icing, I make a last-ditch stop at the bakery to see if perhaps the Walmart Bakery could help me out.  Once again, they said, nope, we don't do freehand. 

"But...." she said..."I could scan your drawing for you and give you an edible template that you could pipe icing over the top of".  Why didn't anyone else give me that option? Awesome!  So while she was scanning the turning Puppy into an edible template for me, I took a quick look at the pre-made cakes in the display case and noticed this adorable cake that was perfectly iced with multi-colored balloons and orange outline.  As I imagined a crumbly, probably burned, not-very-pretty iced cake that I made myself I thought "Oh, how much easier it would be to just add Puppy to THAT cake."  And so, that's exactly what I did!

(Unfortunately I was so excited to ice the cake, I forgot to take step-by-step photos of this part, but you get the idea)

Add a little bit of cupcake & cookie icing, the template went onto the top of the cake, and I iced and iced and iced and iced...

And we ended up with exactly the cake I dreamed of (okay, not exactly, but close enough) when I decided I wanted a Puppy cake for Paxton.  I'll call it "semi-homemade". :)  And believe me...everyone who eats the cake is glad it was!

Linking up to: It's So Very Cheri, Sugar and Dots, Not Just a Housewife,

Day 5 - Friday.  Busy all day long.  Working, laundry, packing the kids (for a trip with Daddy - yay!), errands, more work and then freedom (from kids), but not from work. :) That's okay, I think work is fun.

The stats:

• 160 photos saved to my hard drive.  30 shown here. Many of those were product pictures though...so they don't really count.
  
• Ben thinks Fridays are haunted around here.  The kids and I always seem to be worn out from the week, on each other's nerves, and have no patience with each other, which results in lots of crying, whining and yelling (by all of us).  So I usually try to take them someplace fun instead of keeping them cooped up inside.  
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - Ben took the kids to Auburn for the weekend, and I got to stay home by myself!  I think the last time that happened was early last summer.  I was due. 
• Another notable fact about today - We received our information packet about our sponsored child in Ecuador via Compassion International!
  

Ahh...Thursday.  Day 4 of this project. 

Thursdays are usually pretty good days around here.  Lots of work to do, Ayla's at school, and usually Paxton goes to his friend's house for the morning.  This week, he was home, but he "helped" me work and read stories, so it worked out just fine.  My Week-in-the-Life exercise went a little better today (helped that it wasn't raining and I wasn't sleep-deprived from storms).  I have found though that I manage to do about 10 noteworthy "tasks" before I even make it downstairs in the mornings to get my camera.  Today, that included getting two kids dressed, changing Ayla's sheets, letting the cat outside, and starting a load of laundry.  None of which I enjoy doing before I've eaten my bowl of cereal and checked my email...but what can you do?

The stats:

• 75 photos saved to my hard drive.  30 shown here.
  
• Paxton *actually* performed on the potty tonight...after three consecutive trips DURING dinner.  He also appeared to be scared to death of the entire experience once he realized what was going on.  We made a big deal of how great it was, and he was rewarded with chocolate chips. 
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - Paxton didn't go to Shelby's house this morning and was home instead, which means Ben & I didn't have our regular Thursday lunch-date.  But otherwise, today was a pretty normal day!
  

Day 3.  Wednesday. 

Rainy.  Cranky.  Tired.  Working. Seems like we had more fun the last time we did this project....hmmm...

The stats:

• 102 photos saved to my hard drive.  30 shown here.
  
• Paxton LOVES the self-timer.  Thinks it's hilarious.
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - pretty much nothing.  Today was pretty basic and normal.

Day two..we made it through. Lots of work and things to do. :) Just click the image to see a larger version of our Tuesday:

The stats: 

• 96 photos saved to my hard drive (30 shown here).
• Don't be fooled.  Paxton is NOT potty trained.  He just likes to "try".
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - I went to lunch at Ayla's school because she was "Star of the Week" and Paxton joined Ben at Disciples Fellowship for "Lunch on Lorna."

Day one of my Spring 2011 "Week in the Life" is complete--at least as far as getting to the kids' bedtime.  I may have to retire my camera at that point each night this week...I'm beat. A day full of activities (some normal, some extra) plus photographing them, and writing 'em all down will wear a person out.  Now I'm off to watch some TV and veg...okay, maybe I'll get one shot of that. :) 

Here's what today looked like at our house (you can click the photo to view the images larger):

The stats: 

• 128 photos saved to my hard drive (35 shown here).
  
• The first three lines of photos in this collage all occured before 8:30am.
  
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - We went bowling & Ben gave blood.

If you joined me...how'd you do?  If you didn't, why not?  Give it a try.  Do a "Day in the Life" instead of a week and give it a shot. :)

My mom brought the kids some flat, colored stones from Florida a few weeks ago.  I wasn't sure what we could do with them that would allow the kids to enjoy the stones, without them becoming a tool of mass destruction in our home or another "something" to pick up. (Who am I kidding?  everything becomes "something" to pick up)....

Side note: I LOVE grandparents and the gifts they give to our kiddos.  And the kids LOVE the gifts.  However, said grandparents may need a lesson or two in age-appropriate gifts.  :) Breakables = no nos.  Kids don't understand the difference between "decorative" and "toy".  Sadly, we've lost several sweet and sentimental gifts to because-they-loved-them-so-much-they-broke-them "accidents". 

Anywhoo...truly there's nothing wrong or breakable about these stones, and Ayla especially was very excited about them, so I wanted to come up with a good way for the kids to use them.  Together, we came up with pendant necklaces.

Originally I was going to drill a hole in them, but my drilling skills are limited, the stones are SOLID, and my efforts did NOT produce anything more than a slight scratch.  Plan B.  Washers & E6000 glue.  Yeah, that'll do it.  Then I added some cute rub-ons (hearts for Ayla & a dinosaur for Paxton) and a ribbon, long enough to go over their big ol' heads!

The kiddos were pleased.  I wouldn't call this the most quality jewelry designing, but for a 4- and 1-year-old...it was just right:

Nope, that's not a basketball, that's his belly... :)

I *so* wish I could find the website that inspired this idea -- because it was NOT my own.  But I failed to save it, and now I can't find it.  Just know it was from someone much more clever than me. :)  Happy Halloween!  

After months of Paxton wearing pink & purple sunglasses (having snatched Ayla's), I figured it was time to get him his own.  He wore them ALL day long (inside too).