"HELLO"

It has been literally been foreverrrrrrr. I have had way too many life events happen to even begin to catch up from my last post- so I will just start as of currently.

We welcomed sweet baby Ophelia Marie to the world on September 3rd 2015. I can't believe we are a family of four! Ophelia is the reason I am blogging again. I loved being able to look back at all the fun and not so pretty things Aubriella did. PLUS I forget all the small day to day things that the girls do, this is the perfect place for me to document them all. Believe me there are LOTS of moments I want to cherish forever....or at least look back on and laugh.

P.S. can I just say how obsessed I am with Adele? someone please find a way to get into her show without spending $800!

Lions, Tigers and Bears OH my!

I have neglected my blog life. Hi, my name is Alisha and I have serious time management issues. There, I said it! I have to confess that I have entirely WAY too much fun playing with play dough and tea party and "I'm going to get you" games ALL day long and I usually forget to document all this amazing-ness.

BUT I am making blogging, at least weekly, a priority as of now. Aubriella is growing way too fast and we are exploring often, I want need to blog it all :)

SO, I'll start with today- we totally died and went to heaven at the San Diego Zoo!

She LOVED her frog my parents bought her

Duck Pond, Quack Quack

We normally start putting up all our 'Green' today for St. Patties but today was a semi-sick one. Aubriella has been fighting off a gross stomach bug for almost 4 days now :( But feeling cooped up, we decided to go to the duck pond just up the street from our home. It made us both feel better :) TGIF!

 

This is pretty much the look Aubriella always gives out now- the "Mom you're kind of embarrassing me" ....look

 

 

 

Valentines Day Adventures

So, we definitely enjoyed ourselves this Valentines Day by showering each other with LOVE. Yea right, this year was all about FUN :) Life has changed in so many ways with Aubriella, for the good:) Mainly celebrating all the holidays differently. This year instead of a fancy-pancy dinner and gifts we don't need- we celebrated the day by taking Aubriella to the Zoo!

OF COURSE we started the Day with Valentines Pancakes :) We fell in love (no pun intended) with Sprouts' Organic Sweet Potato Pancake Mix

 

 

Aubriella LOVED the Zoo, we always knew she was obsessed with animals- but I think we have to buy her a giraffe now :)



 

 



Birthdays and Beach Days

I can't remember the last time I was on here! :( Life does that sometimes, it gets so busy you don't have time to do the little things you enjoy. Here is an update from our last blog, Aubriella turned 16 I mean 1!!!! hehe. I am a blogger FAIL because I was SO busy at the party that I forgot to get pictures of all the adorable decorations I made!:( I will post the links to where I found the directions for everything- hope it inspires someone to DIY their next party.

 It was "Shabby Chic" theme, so we used up her old birth announcement milk bottles as cups for the guests and had babies breath in mason jars as center pieces. I created two banners-similar here

I also did a fabric banner for around her high chair- precious and EASY it took 10 minutes! Similar here

I wanted "kids food" because we had party trays for all the adult guests. So I created a kids table, which had a basket of her favorite Peter Rabbit Squeeze Pouches, Zucchini Muffins (her fav, I make them) a huge bowl of fruit and Chicken Meatballs (I also make).

Finally, I had all the tables covered in Butcher Paper- cheap and easy, also went with the theme. I am so excited for the years to come, I LOVE planning parties!

Here is our big girl on her "actual birthday"looking SO cute

Shirt: Carters

 

 

 

 

The weekend following her big party, we were having some awesome weather here so we decided to take Aubriella to the beach. We had a great time! This car is amazing:

 

 

 

 

 



 

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Crackers- Easiest Recipe EVER!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, we had a very nice Christmas this year:) Aubriella's first!
I for one love getting together with all the family and the decorations- But what I seriously look forward to the most is my Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Crackers. I make them every year, and they are a HIT. They are SUPER delish and so, so easy. Here is my step by step on how to make them. I have to warn you, it is SUPER simple :)

Here are ALL the ingredients

 





Ingredients:

Almond Bark 2 packages

Peanut Butter creamy

Ritz crackers 2 boxes

 

Step 1. Make a peanut butter sandwich with all the crackers

 

Step 2. Melt the Almond Bark according to directions on package. I split the chocolate into two pieces.

You will have TWO batches and I have found that glass bowls work best, easier to clean.

The chocolate dries quickly, so you will have to clean the same bowl over twice or use two separate bowls:)

 

Step 3. Drop the Ritz cracker into the chocolate, then cover entire cracker

 

 

 

Step 4. Place on wax paper and let dry- DONE, seriously it's that easy :)

 

ENJOY

 

 

Baby Girl Nursery

I am FINALLY getting around to posting all about Aubriella's nursery- 11 months later...:(

I had the most amazing time picking out paint colors and furniture- I was able to create my dream nursery for her and I am so happy to share all the details.

Chair purchased here, it was from Walmart, can you believe it?
Crib and changing table are both from Ikea

 

Tutorial coming soon on the DIY bow holder, here in the top right of the picture as well as the "A" in the picture below.

You can't see it too good in this picture, but her crib bedding is AMAZING. We purchased it from Carousel Designs. I loved using them, their products are high quality and very stylish.

 

Her walls are my favorite, my incredible hubs did all the work himself ( I highly recommend hiring/using someone) The taping off and measuring the stripes PLUS adding a chair rail....definitely needed help with all that :) Hope this inspires you to get creative with your nursery!

XO

 

Christmas Photos

My all time favorite time of year is here:) Ryan and I are a little a lot obsessed with Christmas.We decorate the inside and out of our home, wear snuggly jammies every night and watch all the classic Christmas movies:) ...This year we have a NEW favorite tradition, Christmas Photos.

We decided to go for a 'vintage' inspired look- and I have to say....I am IN LOVE with them. Taken right in front of our fireplace by the AMAZNG Kandis Marino Photography. I love how candid they seem and how she edited them to look vintage-ey :)

Take a look, what did you decide this year for your Christmas card photos this year?

We took some "regular' ones too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIY Chalkboard Tracker 10 Months

Here she is, growing WAY too fast. This month I could barely get the picture taken because she wants to go go go! I guess the days of sitting my little baby down are over-forever lol

 

10 Months

Height: 27  inches ( I wrote it wrong on the chalkboard-mommy brain:))

Weight: 21 lbs

Head: 18.75 inches

Sleeping: FINALLY you are sleeping. We started "sleep training" you the night before Halloween, wouldn't recommend that. You had a few hard nights but once I realized you needed to cry a 'little' you started sleeping! I thought you would cry for hours, but it seriously was 3 minutes- woohoo! Now like clock work you go down 2 hours after you wake up and three hours after you wake from the first nap you go down again. We now start the bedtime routine at 5:30 and you're out by 6:30. You're a happier baby because of all this. Can I get an AMEN :)

Milestone: Running lol seriously you are crazy and says 'MOM'

Fun Moment: You started making the cutest scrunchy smiley face at everyone, just because you KNOW you're cute:) You feed the dog every meal by leaning over the high chair and putting your hand out. You also love taking the shoes off the shoe rack at the front door. LOTS of fun this month, big changes.

Bad Moment: Fell face first onto a toy at Grandma and Grandpas house and cut your upper lip.

Teeth: You have two top teeth! They came in at the same time.
Feeding: You no longer let me feed you- I now make all your food in muffin tins and you feed yourself, such a big girl. You are a great eater, you eat everything.

 

 

Tons of cuteness

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The holidays are upon us :) Let the fun  madness begin.

This week we saw some of our BEST friends and had a run in with the TP

This is the whole gang, we have gone from parties and all nighters to being "responsible" adults and all nighters now because of our insomniac babies :) LOVE THEM!

 

 

 

Gerber Photo Search 2013

Happy Tuesday to everyone!! Can you believe its November already?! Here in SoCal it is still in the high 70's so it doesn't feel like fall- I'm still praying for cold weather so I can break out my comfy boots and scarves ;)

I am asking you all a HUGE favor this month ;)
If you have a Facebook, Gerber is having a contest for the "New Gerber Baby Face" We entered Aubriella, and she needs your votes.

Here is the link: Gerber Photo Search 2013
Once clicked, you must click on "View Gallery to Vote"
Enter in "Aubriella" for the name
Enter in Temecula, CA for the city/state

You can vote ONCE per day until December 1st!

Thank you SO much for your help- if she wins she get's $50,000 towards her college education too!

Family Pictures

OKAY.....I am BEYOND excited to show these beauties off...I can't narrow down which ones to put on the blog, so I am warning you there are a lot- but thanks to Kandis Marino with Kandis Marino Photography, they look amazingggggggg!!!!!!!