Monkey Themed Baby Shower

In an effort to get back into the blogging game, I thought I'd share how I put together a monkey themed baby shower for my very good friend and co-worker. She loves little monkeys and wanted something different for her baby girl's shower. I told her I would throw her a shower, and we literally started finding things months in advance. It was so much fun to watch it all come together.

I made the diaper cake at home using this tutorial, and I assembled these cute little boxes from Oriental Trading as favors. They had our Mom-To-Be's favorite candy - Sweet Tarts - in them.

We had the shower at the Mom-To-Be's favorite local Mexican restaurant. I found the baby shower games we played at Party City (looks like the exact ones I bought are gone now), and made my own cute little labels for the tops of them with graphics from Very Sweet Clipart on Etsy. Here is what all the tables looked like:

 This is the gift table. Since I knew everyone would go by the gift table, I put a pink letter "A" I had painted over there for everyone who attended to sign (inspired by Pinterest). I also put the little advice cards I made over there, and after a guest filled one out they could put it in the matching "book" (photo album). I made the advice cards and the cover for the book.

 Finally, we had the cake table. It had the diaper cake, real cake, and eventually cupcakes on it too. I found a printable that said "I love you to the moon and back." on it because that was the theme of my friend's nursery. I really wanted to have personal items that she could take home and use in the nursery or to remember her special day by. I found little butterfly photo holders at Hobby Lobby that held ultrasound photos of her baby girl, and made a baby girl monkey banner with the clipart I purchased that said her daughter's name.

And I just have to show you a close-up of that monkey cake because both my friend and I were completely obsessed with how it turned out!

I was so happy with how everything turned out, and my friend was too. Monkeys can be for girls too! :)

Around Here.

I wrote this 2 weekends ago. Life has already changed. It goes so fast. Here is our around here for 2/8.


Around here we have a lot of ice. Winter needs to go. Now.

Around here we are getting ready for Valentine's Day. Addressing cards, and crafting with the kids later today.

Around here I am getting ready to take another round of midterms. Now that I'm almost done, I'm ready to be done.

Around here there is talk about M's 9th birthday. I like buying girly gifts.

Around here there is talk about what Kindergarten Cameron will go to, and when he needs to be registered. Kindergarten. Yeah.

Around here there is a form ready to be submitted for Cameron to play soccer this Spring.

Around here I am preparing for another vendor show with Thirty-One tomorrow.

Around here life is crazy... but good.

2014 & Choose.

As I thought about 2014 last month, I just kept seeing the same old things. I was not and am not particularly excited about this year. I will be working at the same place, still taking classes to get my degree, still dealing with the same issues... same, same, same. I'm glad nothing completely crazy is going on, I'm just really ready to be at the next place. At the next stage. Doing the next thing.


My word for this year is choose. I'm excited about it. I've not yet put into words what the word light did for me in 2013, but I can't help feeling like it could've done more. Like I could have done more to put it into action. Like I could have made it a bigger part of my life. I have left so many things unfinished, I'm so tired of it. So I'm going to choose to make choose a part of my life this year. I want to get more out of this word-picking business than just doing what the prompts say. I want my word to be an experience.

So, here are my personal goals I'm choosing to set for 2014:

• Complete the Beach Body workout program I started last year that was "too hard". 
• Read one book a month (that is not a school book).
• Run at least four 5K's (Last year I only did two. When I ran in a 5K in November, I was overwhelmed by how much I missed it. I'm an outdoor runner though, so it will likely be a while before I can start training.) 
• I want to write more. I really miss blogging. When I do crafts or try something new, I always think about how I could blog it. I always get worried if I start, I will stop again and that makes me feel lazy. I'm going to try anyway. 
• Take more photos with my DSLR. I used to have hundreds of photos. Now I'm lucky if I take one hundred with my camera. Also, I need to take photos of the kids more. 

 I will start with these four goals and go from there. I don't want to overwhelm myself. Do you have any goals for 2014?