16 months of Carolina

Carolina just turned 16 months old.  I know that's not an official birthday but every 17th that comes it takes my breath away a little bit.  Just when I get used to ONE, two seems to be faster and faster approaching.

We did these monthly photos up until a year old.  If you are planning to do them just put them in the not easy but totally worth it category.  For the next baby, God willing, I'll just write in the months because once she realized that was a sticker on her belly it was all over!  You can use picmonkey or some other free editing software to write it on the photo.

We got a frame with 12 photo spots, the monthly stickers, and the onesies as a shower gift.  It was such a sweet idea!  

Celebrating the little milestones with photos is so precious.  I wish I were better about doing photo books but we do what we can!  I would love to establish some traditions in our family.  Besides celebrating birthdays and Christmas, I don't remember any growing up.  Wouldn't it be fun to have those moments that you share together that become the precious memories and history of your family?

What traditions do you incorporate into your family?  I'd love some ideas!

xoxo-Jennifer

Pumpkin Patch 2013

Last weekend we went to Blessington Farms to visit the pumpkin patch.  Besides being blazing hot, it was so much fun.  I just eat up every opportunity to take these iconic pictures with Carolina.  

Remember how long we waited to get our precious little girl?  40 months!  40 months of watching everyone else get to do these fun things.  Yep, I just want to soak it all in.

Check out this dads and daughters picture on the pedal carts.

 I had to try it too.  I'm not going to lie, I was feeling the burn pedaling that thing.  Obviously I need to lift more weights.

Family photo

Chiquilina always wanting to walk on her own.

My sweet friend Rheanna and her daughter Grace

This is G and me being silly!

Un-storing

So I mentioned that I have been doing a lot of cleaning in the last month.  Almost every day I'm thinking about it again.  I have a little tip that might help you too.  Since when we put things in containers, organizers, boxes, etc, we call it storing, I like to call this un-storing.

Sometimes we put things away or "organize" them as we like to call it but it's really just a way of not having to deal with something at the time.  I've noticed that as I pull out bags and boxes of things that have been stored away to use later, they are really not getting used and may never get used.  These organizers, boxes and bins are taking up my space!

I've been pulling them out and seeing what's really inside.  It's not that it's all junk but much of it needs to be in a place that I will use it or let it go.  

My goal is empty boxes and bags and bins.

And then my goal is space.

Empty space

The first thing to do is begin decluttering your spaces that are obvious, that are in plain view.  After you have done that, don't think you are finished.  Look around and see if there are containers and drawers that you can begin decluttering too.  If you aren't sure about something pull it out and look at it for a couple of days.  Maybe you'll decide you don't need it.

Did you need it when it was in the container?

How long ago did you put it in there?

Hmmmmmmm.

Some things are better contained however.  You know what those things are!  Containers can be great for concealing things and making them look neat on a shelf.  I'm all for that.

But maybe there's a couple containers that can be combined, or cleaned out?

Care to join me in the process?  It's a journey so don't worry if you don't do it all in an hour, a day or even a month.  It's a mindset that you might always be looking for things that you don't need anymore.

This is how Carolina likes to clean, I mean un-clean her room

xoxo-

Jennifer

Favorites at Costco

These girls are best friends!  They light up when they see each other.

I have a friend who takes me to Costco almost every time she goes.  I love Costco and I never thought I would say that!  We don't have a ton of space for big warehouse packages but I have found that if I spread purchases out I can really make it work for us.  

Some of the bulk items are not only tough to store but they can hit the budget pretty hard. I have to be very disciplined when I shop there.  Sometimes we split items like eggs, vegis, cheese, and snack packages like the Annies crackers.  Sometimes I just have to leave something behind because I may not need it immediately and it can wait until next time.  On our last visit I had to leave behind the Reynolds wrap.  Even though it is a good price, it was too much for that week and we needed the kleenex more.

We have so much fun and take far longer to shop than anyone should. This is our version of a double stroller or what happens when I forget mine.  It's the you sit at my feet and I'll kick your head stroller.  

 We usually make at least a half day of it and stop and get a coffee first at this cute place on the way.  It's such a cute area with Anthropologie and Paper Source next door.

It's always an adventure with two little one year olds!  We always have to clean up after we leave because theres usually a million cheerios on the floor.

So after the first stop, we head to Costco for shopping and sample eating galore.  When I first started shopping there I would look online for some of the favorites so I wanted to share my list too.  I put the link to the products on Amazon but everything is much cheaper at Costco.  I listed prices from my receipt but your local Costco may have different prices.

Almond Butter $7.99

Annie's Crackers $11.59 for 36

Dubliner Cheese was $10.39 on sale on our last trip but normally $12.99

Organic Tortilla Chips $4.99 for this huge bag.  I split it up when I open it into 3 large freezer ziplock bags and they stay fresh for a couple of weeks.

Red Star Yeast  $4.49

Garlic $3.99

Organic Eggs 24 for $6.99  

Fig Bars 24 for $7.99 

Organic Flour 2 5 pound bags for $11.99

So tell me, what are your Costco favorites?  

Happy Anniversary Appliance

Yes, my husband got me a kitchen appliance for our anniversary.  It was actually a big surprise and very sweet.  You see, he's not the best at remembering to buy me gifts so we are calling this gift a success.  Even though I was on the fence about having a juicer at all, we are having fun with it.

This one had beets in it.  Beets-Celery-Lemon-Ginger  It is Gustavo's favorite.

Carolina likes them too.

We had some green juice for the family.  

This was today's juice which I highly recommend.  

Cucumber-Kale-Ginger-Lime-Honeydew

Thanks honey for the sweet 6 year anniversary gift!  I know your boss made fun of you but I wouldn't really want a Carolina Herrera bag anyway.

Cleaning Out Old Things

There has been a lot of cleaning out going on around here for the last few weeks.  I don't know what finally broke the camels back but I just got fed up with holding on to old things.

Maybe you would like to be inspired to have a fall clean out as well?

These are a couple of books I've been reading that are delightful for getting one into gear. I have Unstuff Your Life on audiobook and I just listen to it while I'm decluttering or sometimes just puttering I should say.  I also like to listen to A Spring Affair on audiobook which is unashamedly a girlie girl book in which the main character spring cleans her life.  The Joy of Less comes from a minimalist approach which I always appreciate.

The Joy of Less

Unstuff Your Life

A Spring Affair

Yesterday, I looked at my Timehop account on my phone.  It had pictures of things I was going through 2 years ago that I had just picked up again yesterday.  They were some of the exact same things!  It was an epiphany for me.  Obviously two years ago I wasn't ready to let go of some of the sentimental items.

Now feels different though.  I felt like I have had enough of wasting my time, my space and my energy picking through the same old things again and again.

This is a picture of what happens when I open up my hope chest which had all kinds of old things in there.  I'm happy to say it is now empty and living in the guest bedroom instead of the office.  Many of those items have already been donated and some relocated, but all in all greatly reduced.  

Even though I feel as though I am always decluttering here and there, there were a significant amount of sentimental items that I have decided to clear out.  It wasn't easy.  It's hard in a way that I can't describe but I made that decision for my self now and for my future self.  It's doubly hard when your husband doubts every thing you want to throw out!

I want to be current in the things I own.  I'm pretty sure that the influx of toys and clothes from having a child is having a huge impact on my willingness to let go of things from the past.  There are so many new things coming in that I have to keep up somehow.

Letting go of these things is helping me clear my mind so much.  It is like a threshold has been crossed and now I am able to be comfortable without so much from my past in my present.  Maybe it's because I can now relive a childhood through my daughter and I don't need things from my childhood.  Calling Freud, Line 1!

Now where are those Holly Hobby sheets?

Carolina's First Birthday Party

Carolina's first birthday party was just perfect!  I had so much fun planning it and joked that it was really my party.  I'm sure she'll make her requests for future themed parties but I was happy to do this one all in my taste.   

We felt so blessed to have our friends and family join us in celebrating her first year.  Most of the kids were little so they would be able to play together and play with her toys.  It was a Saturday morning party so everyone could come and then get on with their day.  

There were so many details but one of my favorite parts was Carolina wearing the bloomers I made her for her newborn photos.  I made them a little big when I was still pregnant (not on purpose!) but it worked out.  She wore some costume pearls that my Nanny gave me a long time ago.  

 I loved having all the little babies crawling and running around the house and it was so adorable to see them interacting with each other.  See the homemade birthday cards from some sweet "older" friends in the collage below.  And just look at the little chat by the window.  I wonder what they were saying.

I know that nobody expects a gift when you are coming to a birthday party but it was fun being creative and putting together the beach bucket gifts.  My favorite thing was a stamp pad and little card for the kids to make art on.  The next day was Father's Day so I thought I was helping out there!

 You can't see them, but I had beach balls hung up through the house and a float as the centerpiece on the table.  I did use Pinterest a lot for planning but my goal was to not spend too much on decorations.  I mostly used what I had.  The most I spent was buying 9 beach balls for 99 cents each.  We also invested in a long table that we can use at holidays as well.

The cake was my masterpiece!!  I love having an excuse to bake and decorate cakes.   I thought I would make a healthy cake for Carolina but in the end, aesthetics won out.  I wanted a pretty cake more than a healthy cake.  Fortunately, she didn't eat hardly any of it.  She touched it and then pushed it over on the floor (on a sheet)!  We all still ate some though even though I made cupcakes for the guests too.

Carolina has been such a joy to us, it's indescribable how much we love her!  I'm so excited that I have more parties to plan for her and a lifetime to love her.