Fun things to look forward to...

The end of August is upon us.  September is already promising cooler temperatures and fun fellowship. I'm excited for Fall to arrive...even though, I'm not very fond of it's spouse - Winter.

Peter and I are going to the Minnesota State Fair on Wednesday (thank you ahead of time to Grandma and Grandpa Gulbranson for watching Simon!).  We were going back and forth concerning taking Simon and just decided that with the crowds and and such, he probably wouldn't have a very fun time.  Next year he'll adore going and will be able to deal with the large crowds and no nap in a better way (fingers crossed). So yes, tomorrow will be glorious.  The weather is looking to be perfect and the company splendid.  I'm already planning in my little head what I want to eat - Sweet Potato Fries and Hawaiian Shaved Ice are ranking high on my list. :)

Thursday, I get to spend the day with two very old friends and their adorable son.  I haven't seen them since 2004 (?).  Wow, how is that possible?!  I can't wait to see them and to catch up on the last 6 years.  I can already tell that there will be much laughter - Dan can make me laugh like no other.  My abs will get a workout and I will definitely be wearing waterproof mascara - the laughs will be that hard and intense.  Take my word for it. Ahh, Thursday can't come fast enough!! 

Starting next Tuesday, I'll be watching my little niece 2 times a week.  I'm *really* excited.  Simon is going to get to know his little cousin and will have fun having another little person to play with.  I can already hear the giggles that will soon be filling my little apartment...and then house!

We close on the house in less then 2 weeks.  Majorly excited!

I'll leave you with a few pictures that make me smile every time I see them.  I love my iphone camera!

Kisses.

I ♥ St. Paul

That smile.  Oh my.

My new guilty pleasure.  I'm obsessed.

Jude got his very own cake to smash and demolish.  Don't worry, there were yummy cupcakes for the rest of us.

Jude's Smash Cake! Jude definitely gets the prize for completely demolishing his first bday cake.  I was impressed.

Simon in Sesame Street heaven.

An update on THE house...

My son has developed a painless (from what we can tell) limp in his right leg.  It's getting worse and I fear that we'll be going to the chiropractor and possibly the doctor after the weekend is over with to get it checked out.  This has happened once before and it went away on its own, although I think the limp wasn't as pronounced as this current one is.  If you think of it, could you pray for him?  Thanks. :)

Now for the real reason that I'm blogging today...

A long overdue update on "our" house.  After 18 weeks (just over 4 months) we finally received confirmation from the bank that our offer was accepted and that a mid-September closing date was in the works for us.  It's a very surreal feeling knowing that, Lord willing, in less then a month we'll own a house!  Our apartment lease expires at the end of October, so it looks like we'll have a good month and a half to move in (more like deep clean the house, paint, re-do the tiny bathroom, etc. and then move in and unpack).  I'm really excited that we won't have to stress for time in packing and cleaning.  It's going to be a crazy month, but we're both up for this little adventure.  We were able to get the house inspected 2 weeks ago and came up with only a handful of moderately-easy (fingers crossed) projects...and a couple of not so easy projects.  Nothing major.  This house will certainly keep us busy. :)   Peter and I are going to Home Depot tonight for our date night to look at a bunch of stuff - paint samples included.  Should be fun and highly romantic. ;)

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us during these last 6 months (you know who you are). It was a much longer process then we first anticipated...but we found out that the average short sale takes 9-12 months to process, so I guess the Lord decided to bless us with a shorter time period.  Thank you, Jesus.  

So yeah, I'm really looking forward to making this house our own.  I think the thing I'm most nervous about is picking out the right paint colors for each room to go along with our furniture/lifestyle (such a lame fear).  Every.single.room needs a new paint job - there are crayon markings everywhere!  Peter keeps reassuring me that if we're not happy with the paint, we can pick something new...it's not a permanent disaster.  He's right. 

I can't wait to post pictures, but will probably have to wait until we close on the house since the sellers are still living there.  I'm looking forward to doing before and after pictures (B&A pictures have always intrigued me, especially when they're my own).  So yes, I will try to keep you all updated and hopefully by mid-September we will be first time homeowners.  Bring it on. :)

My peculiar twin.

I've been so anti-social lately. It's weird. I'm in a odd kind of funk, that I haven't experienced before. Not only am I being a homebody, but I'm also craving sugar galore, I'm cranky and extremely tired - mixed in with intense headaches. Oh body-of-mine, why do you hate me so?

I'm hoping this will pass soon, as I really don't care for this introverted person who can think of nothing else but frosted cupcakes, jello salad (you know, the kind that looks disgusting, but tastes pretty darn good, the kind that's made with fluffy cool whip and marshmallows -you can judge me, I don't care)...oh, and chocolate caramel crack(ers) - lol. Last night was crazy. I made dinner, ate my usual portion, cleaned up the kitchen and found myself "starving". I snacked throughout the night on both healthy and non healthy items, trying to appease my cravings, but nothing worked, I just wanted more. It kind of scared me that my body could attack me that way. I started having visions of a plump Jessica who I could barely recognize because she was stuffing her face with food. That vision should have been enough to hold me back from one more rice krispy treat or the bowl of cookies 'n cream ice cream, but it wasn't.

So yeah. The being tired has thrown me for a loop too. I thought that I was just tired from our to trip to Duluth on Thursday, but it's been almost a week and I have yet to recover. I should probably stop blaming it on that now. The headaches that pop up wear me out too, so I guess I could blame it on them. I need to start doing traction more. I need to!

I can't really explain the anti-social part either. I've never been like this. I'm always the one who wants to be out and about and wants to be surrounded by friends and family. It's not like I'm curled up here at home with the lights down low and hiding from anyone who comes my way. It's just that I don't have any desire to be...social. I have to go out shopping tonight when Peter gets home to get diapers and I'm actually dreading that trip. I usually love getting out of the apartment and shopping (even if it is for only diapers). Maybe the sermon on Sunday jinxed me. It was pretty much about our society becoming loners. Doing everything by themselves, shopping, eating, watching tv, etc. He referenced a book by Robert Putnam Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. I remember hearing the sermon and thinking, I'm glad I'm not like that - sounds depressing. Um, yeah. It is.

Don't be alarmed my dear readers, I'm sure that this will pass - it has too! I'm sure it's just an hormonal imbalance and within a couple of days I'll be back to my old peppy self. yay. haha, seriously, it's funny when you think you know your body or self so well and then everything turns topsy-turvy and you have no idea who that person is staring back at you in the mirror. It's kind of creepy. You can feel bad for my husband, I give you permission. Poor guy is just as confused as I am. Sigh.

P.S.
No, I am not pregnant.

Staycation

(As my dusty blog loaded up this morning, my son who was standing behind me on the computer chair, immediately started to hoo-hoo in my ear as he saw the owl on my banner. Yes, he shares my love of owls - and I had nothing to do with his infatuation. Honest.)

I've been wanting to blog all week long. I wish I had a bluetooth keyboard that I could use with my iPhone. Either that or a laptop. I find that I want to blog at the most inopportune moments. Usually while I'm in bed, sitting out on our balcony or on our comfy red couch...not so much at the desktop. But here I am, sitting on the uncomfortable computer chair staring at our computer screen, slowing emptying my brain out on this blog.

Yesterday confused me as I woke up glad that it was Monday. This is the second Monday in a row that I've been okay with it being the end of the weekend. No, I don't have a fever. It's kind of nice not being grumpy about it being Monday - freeing if you will. I don't think this phonamon will last, but I'm enjoying it while I can. Yesterday was my first day in almost a week where I was able to lay Simon down for a nap and have 2 hours completely to myself. Peter took a half week off last week from work (Wed-Sun) and so we were together as a family for the majority of that time. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my boys...and LOVE having my husband around. But Monday came and I was very glad for some alone time.

Thursday is the day that sticks out the most from last week's staycation - it was our trip to Duluth (2.5 hours north of the cities). Duluth holds a lot of dear memories for me...mostly romantic memories as Peter and I spent our honeymoon there at a fabulous B&B. We also went back for our first anniversary back in 2007. We've always gone just the two of us and always had a fabulous time. We've been wanting to go back for the longest time, but have been dragging our feet because, let's face it, 2 hours in a car with a baby/toddler who doesn't like the car didn't sound relaxing or fun. But the desire to go got stronger as the years passed and before we knew it we were packing up the car and our little one and setting out on a mini road trip. Simon stayed pretty content on the way there and on the way back, getting a little whiny just as we were getting back near the cities. I think the whining was due to the fact that the little guy went the whole entire day without a nap - even on the 2.5 hour trip back he still didn't sleep - stubborn.

The day trip was so much fun. It was the first time I had been up north where it was actually hot. According to the weather report it was only a few degrees cooler in Duluth then it was in the Cities (it's usually at least a good 10 degrees cooler). We were kind of hoping to skip the hot and humid weather, but as it turned out, we were stuck with it. Oh well, at least we dressed appropriately. We walked a lot, played in the fountains that were scattered about, ate yummy ice cream and splashed in Lake Superior (Simon LOVED *running* into a lake. He's never been able to do that before, he's always been confined to a swimming pool). Between the running into the lake and rolling in the sand, he was a pretty happy little boy. Towards the end of the day, I remember telling Peter that I've never seen him happier. It was quite the trip.

The rest of the weekend we found ourselves pretty exhausted. I guess doing a day trip to Duluth with an energetic 2 year old really wears a person (or two people in this case) out. I wasn't feeling the greatest Friday-Sunday, which was a huge bummer. I was glad that we were able to just take it easy and do little fun stuff here and there around the city. Sunday, I could hardly keep my eyes open during church. We arrived home and after lunch, I promptly took a nap by myself - I hardly ever do that. It was nice to sleep with the windows open (all week long we were in the mid 90's with intense humidity. Sunday came with temperatures in the 70's with a cool breeze - perfect weather...or as my friend Rosanna says it: "Ridiculously perfect like a Stepford wife." - haha, love that girl!)

There are so many other topics that I wish to blog about (like our house for one), but those must patiently wait for another time. There are two large laundry baskets full of clean laundry that need to be folded and a little munchkin that would appreciate a playmate. Until next time...

Birthday fun!

I'm way behind catching up on the blogs that I follow...and obviously I'm behind on my own blog as well.  Such a crazy, fun and VERY hot weekend.

Friday, of course was my son Simon's 2nd birthday (whew, say that 5 times fast) - I can't believe my little baby boy is 2!!  He's changed so much from last year at this time...and even more so then 2 years ago when I first met him in person.  He's changed my life for the better and I honestly can't imagine living without him - it must have been a very boring life that I lived before him, because he's added so much joy and energy to it - what the heck did I do before him? ;)  My friend's mom commented that she understood why I was in such good shape (whatever) after witnessing my son's energy level firsthand.  It's true, I feel like I'm always running after him and trying to keep up.  He's amazing!

Because I could...and because my in-laws were ever so gracious to allow me to use their backyard, I threw a party for the Simonator.  I was expecting him to be a little more excited about the festivities.  But truth be told, he was more excited for the people who played with him and the two helium balloons that his sweet Aunt Ruth got for him, then the decorations and presents.  Okay, I take that back, he was pretty excited over Matt and Jackie's Elmo automated book - anything with that furry red monster on it totally makes his day...add buttons that make noise and you've made one heck of a happy kid!  So this detailed post of his birthday party is not for the enjoyment of my son, but rather for my girlfriends who enjoy creative things.

I really did have SO much fun planning his party and realized how much I missed party (event) planning and opening up my craft closet to the many creative wonders that it holds for me. I wish I had more excuses to be crafty. ;)  So without further ado, here are all of the juicy details of my creative inspiration.

So, to begin with, I was coming up blank concerning a theme.  I didn't want to do an Elmo themed party - even though, my son would have been in Elmo heaven.  I wanted to stick to a calm and soothing theme that both adults and children would enjoy.  My first bit of inspiration was the fun Etsy artist evite that I found on Pingg.com - love that site!!  Yes, I cheated and went the email rout instead of sending invites through the mail.  It was a very last minute decision on where we were having the pary, hence sending them out through the mail wouldn't have made any sense - and would have cost more $$ (I ♥ free things!). 

I was instantly drawn to the colorful image and loved the tricycle!  The colors actually match his nursery colors quite well, so I decided to go with a color theme that matched the invite. 

My second inspiration was from my friend Christine.  She posted this back in July (scroll half way down) of her adorable daughter's room.  I was instantly inspired by the tissue paper pom-poms and was happy to read that she made them herself and that they were easy to make.  I headed over to Martha Stewart's website and sure enough there they with very easy instructions on how to make the lovely pom-poms.  As soon as we finalized the location for his party - my in-laws beautiful backyard - I knew that I needed these to complete the look.  I also knew that I needed them to look more boyish, so I headed out to find orange, blue and green tissue paper to go along wih my color theme.  Ever so easy!

   

The banner was my own creation. I again used the colors that I had already setteled on.  I had come across these fun clip-art letters on Martha Stewart's website a few months ago (what would I do without Martha?) and decided that a banner would be a fun project for the letters. I Googled the S-I-M-O-N letters and found them on a website for kids (they were actually originally letter-mazes).  I printed them off, and used them for templates for the bigger cutout letters. That actually worked out quite well.

The food I kept nice and simple.  A veggie tray (that went with the color theme - green peppers, cucumbers and bright orange baby carrots), pretzels (I toyed with the idea of keeping up with the theme and going with orange cheese puffs, but Peter wisely nixed that idea - lol), limeade spritzers and water for the beverages and of course the adorable Cake Pops!!

Care to guess where the cake idea came from?  Yep, good 'ol Martha.  I was on her site a couple of weeks ago and came across a video for the Cake Pops.  I was instantly excited about this cake project and decided to scrap my other cake idea all together.  Best decision ever.  Not only are they SO fun to look at but they're equally fun to make and ever-so-delishious.  Matt asked me when I was going to start selling them at the State Fair - which got me thinking, maybe they would sell well if I wrapped them in bacon before dipping them in chocolate.  Oh yeah. ;)  For the cake plate, I wrapped floral foam in white tissue paper and hot-glued it to the cake plate, covering it with bright yellow tissue paper grass.  I then poked the sticks through the foam and voila!

So that was the gist of Simon's 2nd birthday party. We were blessed by everyone who could make it.  Simon had 3 other little people who made it extra special by just being there and entertaining him with giggles and hugs.  I came away from the night feeling very blessed by all of our sweet friends and family.  I wished more then anything that my family could have been there too (only in a perfect world, right?).  We missed all of the friends and family who couldn't make it - you know who you are, also know that we were thinking about you!!  I'll leave you with some fun "people" pictures from the evening.

I love little Penny in the background and Simon in motion.  So cute!

Simon and his buddy Jack had fun with the very popular balloons  - great idea Ruth!!

Simon playing with his BFF Jude.

The youngest party goer of the evening...Penny is pretty special.

Not quite everyone, but pretty close - such great friends and family!

The Gulbranson boys...and Penelope. 

Simon loves to play on the swing set!

...he also loves bubbles!!

My sweet family.  :)