Favorite things

Here in the Schaefer household, we are preparing to move, be in transition for a couple of months and finally, set up home in Las Vegas, sometime this Spring. (PS: Our offer got accepted on a house there! Woo-hoo! We are on our way to owning a home in Las Vegas!) All that to let you know that we are in the midst of CHANGE, oh glorious change. But I'll try to keep you up to date on everything.

Since I've been back home now for a little while, I've been finding all kinds of inspiring and lovely things. So here is a couple of them in no particular order:

1. Pumpkin Nutella Snack Cake from Twopeasandtheirpod. Make it. You won't regret it. I can literally eat an entire pan. But I won't. Because I can't make them anymore or else I will. Its a vicious cycle.

2. I've become a little obsessed with Etsy lately. I also have been searching for some unique things to put in our new house. Practical or just beautiful. This falls under the practical category and I just love this dry erase daily wall decal.

3. My particular obsession with Etsy has been artwork. Check out some of these for our reading/music room.

Reading is Cool

Our House

Keep Calm

4. And while I'm searching on Etsy, I take a break to eat this. Key Lime Pie, also from Twopeasandtheirpod. So refreshing, so easy, so delicious. This is going in my recipe favorites folder.

5. And then I go back to finding these treasures. But this time I look for things for the kids' rooms.

Here's some for Judah:

Take Flight

I love cars

Here's some for Malone:

Believe it

Adventures Awaits

6. Speaking of kids, check out these kids learning kits, called Time for Tots. People are so inventive. They are themed learning kits for kids. For instance, I just saw a February kit, or a shapes kit, and then it includes all the tools you need for the kit and a list of activities to utilize the kits with. Uh-mazing! I definitely plan on getting some of these for the kids in the HOT summer days in Las Vegas when we can't go outside. Hmmm....that will be an entire year of us not being able to go outside...Winter here, Summer there. Yikes.

7. My friend, Melanie introduced me to these. Its a website called File Folder Fun and they have free, download-able games for kids of all ages. You print off the pictures and glue the various parts to a file folder. Super easy, cute and free. I know my description of it stinks, but you HAVE TO check it out.

8. Gray. The color. I want to paint every room in my new house a variation of gray. Who am I? What happened to my obsession with bright colors? I guess its bright colors with gray walls.

Alright friends, I'm off for a little weekend fun with some girls. Cameron is graciously playing Mr. Mom, so I can go to Seattle for a couple of days, reboot, and hopefully come back a better mommy and wife. But more on that later.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

I have news: I no longer have a baby girl. All of a sudden, I blinked my eyes and she is a full-fledged little girl, complete with LOTS of emotions (that we're learning to control), and opinions about what to wear AND eat (WHAT? This is new for me) and a love for all things grown-up. The best part is that she can conversations with me about her day. She can randomly come up to me and say, "Mom, I like you" or "Wow, I like your socks." Yep, folks, she's three. Where did the time go?

In our house, we celebrate birthdays for days, weeks, months at a time. Since its hard to understand why we have our birthday parties on one day, but our actual birthday isn't until the next, we just keep celebrating. And that's what we did this past weekend. It started a couple of months ago, when someone...ahemm.....ahemm.....Leigh Anna...planted the idea in Malone's head of a princess birthday party. We had been talking about it literally for months and by "we" I mean, Malone and Leigh Anna. So, of course, I could not just give her a crown and call it a day.

So we made it a Princess Fest.

But first, the Birthday Girl had to open her presents from family. Oh how she loves her baby dolls and needed furniture for her dolls. We take our babies' needs very seriously around here.

Then it was busy, busy, busy getting ready for her party. We had a crown decorating station.

and lots of food. We also had a cake. Oh the cake. It took me 2 whole days to make. But it came out UH.MA.ZING (if I have to say so myself.)

I don't think she quite knew what to do when she saw it. She knew what I was doing, but hadn't seen it completed yet. I think she was more concerned that her new Barbie was stuck in the cake. Ha Ha Ha.

We opened presents. And by "we", I mean, me, Malone, Judah and some of her friends who wanted to help. It was a group activity. I'm always blown away by people's generosity.

One of her gifts, from our dear friends, Leigh Anna and Sara was a box full of princess dress-up outfits. Here's Snow White in all her glory.

What a great party! It was my favorite Malone party to date and I'm pretty sure Malone LOVED it. So, here's to you, three year old, Malula! We love you so much and can't wait to see what lays ahead in this journey of guiding and teaching your little heart.

As a PS: Look what a handsome boy this fella is. Can you believe that he will be one on Sunday? I am the luckiest girl in the world.