Back To School - Yes Day 2014

My friend Brooke shared the joy of yes day and it seemed like big fun to me. Essentially, you pick a day and whatever the kiddos ask for (within reason) they get to do. Addison is a little young to really know what to ask for but she's always taking about going back to New Orleans so that was the plan. I took the day off of work for our mommy-daughter play date! We invited our friends Ashley and Micah to join us and a good time was had by all!

We headed out early that morning and went straight to the Louisiana Children's Museum. We had never been and I wasn't sure what to expect, it was a good time! The Louisiana Children’s Museum is located in the Warehouse Museum District between Magazine and Tchoupitoulas Streets, just four blocks from the Morial Convention Center. Apparently, you're not in NOLA unless you're in the Quarter because Addison asked all morning when we were going to New Orleans. 

They had a section of different types of architecture in New Orleans - this is Addison inside one of the homes. They had a little kitchenette inside with a tea set so that was big fun. 

Addison and Micah on the street car. 

General store - Addison had fun gathering items off the shelves then ringing the bell a lot...I mean she really rang that bell, a lot! Here she is with a sack of flour, ringing the bell.

Here's the New Orleans she knows and loves - Jackson Square and St Louis Cathedral, or as she calls it "Tiana's Castle". Please note the sassy hand on hip, this kid! We usually spend most of our time in the quarter - Jackson Square, French Market, etc. so this familiar site perked her up. 

She spent some time cooking and setting the table in the little kitchen area. It surprised me how gender stereotyped Addison and Micah's play choices were - she in the kitchen and he at the train table. 

We got a bite to eat at Warehouse Grill around the corner, then headed to City Park, with the goal of making a trip to Carousel Gardens - only to discover they were not open on Wednesday. So, we suffered through the heat next door at Story Land. Micah immediately beelined to the pirate ship from Peter Pan - he is a Jake and the Neverland Pirates fan and immediately named the ship "Bucky". 

They ran around like kids who are not bothered by the heat while Ashley and I melted. It was so hot but at least it is shaded. 

Pinocchio and the whale

Jack and Jill slide

Fire breathing dragon slide - this was a big hit for both of them. 

The last time we came, Addison was too small to slide on her own - it's a very high slide - so I had to slide with her. It was kinda scary up there. She had no problems this trip, she went again and again and again. 

Hey diddle diddle...the cow jumped over the moon. 

Rapunzel

After our near heat stroke, we headed around the corner to Morning Call for frozen coffee, milk and beignets. 

This was my first trip to Morning Call and I was disappointed the beignets came sans sugar. Of course, there was powdered sugar at the table but I need them to be drenched in sugar as soon as the come out of the hot oil. It just wasn't the same and I didn't feel like I could get enough sugar on them. Ashley and I joked about taking the top of the powdered sugar and just pouring it on - that would have worked!

Sad little beignet without sugar - the kids didn't seem to mind and only took a little sprinkle. Ashley and I were disappointed and wondered how they belonged to us, as we couldn't get enough sugar. 

 

After soaking up the a/c, we decided to call it a day. On the way to the car, Addison insisted on visiting the water fountain - since it's our "yes day", she went ahead and checked it out then asked a million questions about it and wanted her picture snapped. 

Addison and Micah crashed before we even made it out of town and napped most of the way home. The day was quite the success. I'm looking forward to many more mommy-daughter dates in the summers to come. 

 

Good dirty fun

Last weekend, I "ran" the 5K Foam Fest with some friends from work and had a BLAST! I was quite worried, feared impending doom before the race started but laughed the whole 5K.

One of the items on my bucket list is to be a contestant on the show Wipe Out. I figured this was the closest I'd get to making it a reality, so I signed up like no biggie. Not until a friend of mine, who I was trying to talk into joining us, educated me on some of the obstacles, then I feared for my life...seriously, I'm not a swimmer and truthfully don't consider myself physical fit.

My coworker, Emily (third from left) came up with the name of Foxy Foam Fighters and made our capes. They were a challenge on some obstacles but went with our superhero theme. This is our fresh and clean pre race shot.

Here we are mid race dirty and foamy...we were having so much fun but getting tired at this point. They all made fun of me because I kept my mask on the whole time. My eyes are very sensitive to the sun so I kept my sunglasses on over the mask which kept it firmly in place. And added a little mystery....who is that masked girl flying through the course (that's a joke, obviously, despite the cape, I didn't not fly).

We even had nicknames...flirty, fierce, and I can't remember the others. Emily added our names on the back of our capes.

Here I am at the top of one of the four walls we had to climb. This was a challenge, especially since I'm so short. Apparently though, it was easier for me with smaller feet to get in between the slats, so the tall girls said.

Victorious at the top! But then I had to get over and down...tough stuff. I was so proud of me at this point because several of my teammates were going to skip the third and fourth walls but I was pumped to be so close to the finish line. I gave a little motivational speech and we all gave it our best. 

Last obstacle, worlds largest water slide, into dirty foam. This picture cracks me up because I was so preoccupied with not getting dirt, water, foam, who know what else in my mouth. The shot of my landing shows I totally nailed it.

Final jog to the finish line as a team. 

Team photo op...I have this framed in my cubicle at work. We decided it was a good team building exercise and we should recruit other coworkers next time.

Dirty shoes, post race. 

Tons of fun...and I burned 1256 calories!

Emily told me on Tuesday that another foam/mud race is coming to town in the fall...she's already recruiting team mates...I'm in!

Minnie Mouse Extravaganza

We recently celebrated Addison's second birthday with a toned down Minnie Mouse extravaganza!  Her birthday party was originally scheduled for Sunday the 27th of January but due to unexpected funeral arrangements we postponed to February 2nd, which also happened to be Brandon's birthday.  We ended up with a smaller celebration of Addison (and her daddy's) birthday with a pink and zebra themed Minnie Mouse party.  I joked that it was a good thing Brandon didn't mind a Minne Mouse themed birthday party. 

I was glad that it worked out we were still able to celebrate because in true party planner style, I had big plans for that day and didn't want all of my ideas, hard work and Pinterest research to go to waste!  Here are some pics and details of how it went.


Minne Mouse Wreaths

 I saw a lot of cute wreaths on Pinterest but since we have double doors and need two wreaths, I had a hard time justifying the cost for wreaths that would hang on the front doors for a few hours.  I found the grapevine wreaths pretty inexpensive at Hobby Lobby, with a little floral wire and a can of black spray paint...voila!  I also found the letter A and number 2 at Hobby Lobby, covered with pink polka dot scrapbook paper.  Then added the polka dot bows which I made from ribbon also found at Hobby Lobby.  As things turned out they ended up hanging for over a week and were recycled for a friend of a friend who is having a Mickey Mouse party in March, so it was a good investment of time and money, in my opinion!

 

 

Party Favors

 I have discovered based on my own personal experience that I don't really want to send folks home with party favors they will just throw away.  As a parent, I find it wasteful to receive something that just goes in the garbage when you get home.  So I tried to think of things Addison enjoys and included them in the goodie bags...coloring sheets, bubbles and candy.  In the small bags were a small bottle of Minnie Mouse bubbles and one piece of Minnie Mouse candy (either a lollipop or a fun stick). I printed the coloring sheets from disneyjunior.com and was pleased to find several birthday themed sheets, rolled them up and tied with tulle.

Candy Bar

 I had not originally intended on doing a candy bar but when I saw the printables that came in the package from Amanda's Parties To Go, I couldn't resist.  I'm lucky that Addison's birthday is so near Valentine's Day and she's a girl because there is never a shortage of pink candy this time of the year.  I used the candy bar wrappers and kisses stickers from the printables, had pink m&ms and black sixlets.  I made the cookies myself, which is my speciality but used Wilton Sugar Sheets for the first time.  I have a hard time getting the right color black and when I saw the zebra printed sheets it was a no brainer.  I iced the 2s with royal icing as I usually do but the sugar sheets were a huge time saver for sure.  I wasn't certain they would be tasty but there wasn't one cookie left after the party so I'm guessing they weren't all that bad.  I found the zebra printed bags at Party Time and strongly encouraged each guest to fill up a bag of candy before leaving!

Center Piece

 I made the centerpieces from the printables as well, found the zebra printed tins and plates at Hobby Lobby.  Luckily, zebra and hot pink was en vogue at the moment because I found a lot of items available.  The Minnie Mouse items were printed on card stock and taped to bamboo skewers which I stuck in Styrofoam and covered with hot pink gift filler.  I used scrapbook paper to back each pick so you couldn't see the tape used to attach to the skewers.

"Minnie" Corn Dogs

I got most of the menu inspiration from Pinterest, saw one party where every single menu item was Minnie inspired...I wasn't that creative but did have a few touches of Minnie here and there.  These were purchased at Walmart and just baked in the oven.

Ham & Swiss Sliders

 No Minnie inspiration here just plain old deliciousness! I found these bad boys on Pinterest and they are my go to party sandwich now!  They can be made ahead and just thrown in the oven on party day, so delicious.  You can find the recipe here.



"Bow" Tie Pasta Salad

 The "Bow" Tie Pasta Salad was found here from Pinterest.  It's a La Madeleine copycat and is pretty spot on.  I chose it for the menu solely based on my love for La Madeleine's pasta salad and the fact that it used bow tie pasta helped with the Minnie Mouse theme.

Cake and party hats

 The cake! The driving force of the party! It was already ordered, made and paid for before we originally cancelled the party and was the main reason we decided to reschedule.  I couldn't imagine this beauty going unappreciated!  It was white cake with white icing, bottom layer pink with white polka dots, middle layer zebra (of course) and top layer was a Minnie head made out of rice krispie treats.  Thanks to Jennifer with The Baked Cake for helping with instructions on how to freeze and defrost, it was just as delicious and beautiful a week later!  The party hats were thrown together from the printables and plain pink party hats I picked up at Walmart. Also, not to go unnoticed...the cake knife.  This was a very special gift from Addison's Grams and PawPaw Donnie and is probably the sweetest gift she's received.  It came with the cake knife shown here and a cake server, both engraved with her name and date of birth and the sweetest poem.  The poem indicates it should be used at every birthday celebration until she gets married and then used to cut the cake on her wedding day.  Just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye because it was the last gift she received from her Pawpaw Donnie and it will be a least 30 years until she'll need it for her wedding (so her Daddy thinks!).

Millie, the puppy sister

 It wouldn't be a party without Millie, the puppy sister, joining us.  I had to have a matching outfit for Millie, so I found this pink zebra print collar just for her to celebrate the occasion.  The collar is from Comfort Collars, local girls who hand make the collars.  I originally found them at a local craft show where I bought Millie's Christmas collar.  I like that it is handmade and local!

Birthday girl waiting for cake cutting

Birthday girl checking out the photo collage

I'm not going to lie, this was probably the most labor intensive aspect of the party.  I'd seen a picture on Pinterest which was the inspiration but it was one of those pins that was just a picture with no link or instructions.  So here's how I did it...I taped together several pieces of newspaper to make the size I wanted.  Next, I drew out a large number two on the newspaper and started arranging the pictures.  Once the pictures were all where I liked then, I cut out the shape of the number and hung it up on the wall.  All of the pictures used were from the past year and since I ordered so many pictures, we ended up with two #2 collages.  She seemed pretty impressed with it and was so funny because she pointed herself out in a number of pictures before realizing ALL of the pictures were of her.  I used masking tape to tape the newspaper, pictures and hang on the wall...simple to use and no damage to paint/wall.

 

 

Birthday girl and birthday daddy enjoying a piece of cake

 We had been practicing blowing out the candles for a while before her birthday.  At dinner, we would have her blow on her "hot" food before eating and remind her that is how she would blow out the candles on her birthday cake.  Well, when it came time for it, she got so upset!  I'm not sure but the only thing I could guess was the fire on the candles was a surprise.  As soon as I lite the candles she started crying and didn't stop until they were blown out.  It was pretty funny but all of our planning kind of backfired (no pun intended).

Abadie family party portrait

 Here we all are at the end of the party, I think she has a good time, seemed to enjoy the cake and ice cream and the presents too of course.  Thanks so much to our friends and family who were able to make it on such short notice for the rescheduled party.  I do love planning a party and think it's time to get started planning her third birthday! ;) Special thanks to my friend Michelle (mom to Gia and Gracie) for taking pictures at the party and spending time away for your two little miracles!

Our new friends

I'm super excited to share about the two newest people in my life. My dearest friend Michelle was expecting twins in the New Year and much to every one's surprise they made a very early appearance on December first.  Taking a note from my own playbook, she kept the names to herself and didn't tell folks the babies names ahead of time.  Well, with the exception of strangers...which was fun, especially when we went places together and I encourage her to tell strangers, then badger them to tell me. 

At any rate, Gia Louise and Gracie Marie made an early appearance on December 1st at 32 weeks when her water unexpectedly broke at home.  The only thing cuter than one baby girl is two and they are so tiny!  They spent a small time in the NICU but were both home by Christmas.  I'm pretty sure that's the best Christmas present ever. 


Gracie Marie

Gia Louise

 They were oh so tiny when they arrived but were otherwise very healthy.  Little tiny Gia is so small she doesn't have any cushion...but she's catching up.  I try to see them weekly because they are growing so fast and last I'd heard, Gia had almost doubled her birth weight already!

Since I didn't know their names ahead of time, I had to get something monogrammed because what respectable southern baby doesn't have lots of monogrammed outfits?!?  Here are the two outfits I came up with before hand.

Purple and Gold Fleur de Lis

Big Sister ~ Little Sister

Since the onesies came in a pack of five, I had the fifth one monogrammed with a G after their arrival and announcement of names.  First of many outfits they can/will share!  What's sweeter than one baby girl?!?  Two baby girls...congrats Kevin and Michelle, so very happy for you guys!!!

Top Ten of 2011

Since I was such a slacker blogging after Addison's arrival, I decided to do a top ten of 2011 to highlight some of my favorite moments of the year...enjoy!

10)Becoming a Kelly's Kids rep - yep, that's right, I became a rep for Kelly's Kids in 2011. My first season was this Fall and it was a lot of fun having trunk shows at friend's homes and getting to pick out all sorts of ridiculously cute clothes for Addison. I looked into it for the rep benefits and pretty much spent every penny of my commission on clothes for Addison, which was just what I had planned. I recently received the spring catalogs in the mail, and went through today deciding what I can spend all my commission on in the spring.

9) Best compliment of 2011 - a coworker stopped me to ask me what color lipstick I wear, she said she was noticing my lip color the other day and meant to ask me what lipstick it is...I don't wear lipstick!!! Best. Compliment. Ever!

8) New patio - Brandon got a wild hair shortly after Addison was born and added a patio in the front yard, at the time I was a bit confused about the sudden urgency, but understand it is basically the opposite of nesting. Women make a happy home to prepare for baby's arrival, men need to work outside after the baby comes. I blogged part one months ago but never completed the update, you know, because I'm a slacker. Well, here's the finished product, it turned out awesome!

Our new patio

7) Girls Night Out - I love spending time with my girlfriends which is new to me because I never really had a lot of girl friends growing up. I have made a lot of good girlfriends in the past five years and love sushi/margarita/American Idol/Project Runway nights.

6) Pick a state - I've set a goal to visit all 50 states by the time I'm 50 and truth be told am a long way off. It's getting harder to decide where to go because, I'm not that excited about all 50 states. This year we decided to put the remaining states in a hat and draw our next location. The winner was...Kentucky! So, I've been planning our 2012 vacation to Kentucky and am excited about seeing Churchill Downs, the Louisville Slugger and Kentucky Derby museums, going on a bourbon tour, Louisville Zoo, and much more. Imagine my delight when I discovered that Indianapolis and Cincinnati are a few hours drive...so I'll attempt to knock three states off the list in one trip. I'll need to do that to achieve my goal because 50 isn't that far off!

5) Labor Day at the beach - We spent Labor Day weekend in Gulf Shores with my dad and his wife and Tropical Storm Lee. It wasn't really what I had in mind for a weekend at the beach but we made the best of it.

Labor Day in Gulf Shores

4) Boo at the Zoo - We took Addison for her first visit to the zoo for Boo at the Zoo. Our local zoo decorates for Halloween and local sponsors give out candy to the children. It was absolutely crazy packed. We weren't worried about waiting in line for candy with a nine month old so it was no biggie. We ended up with an annual zoo membership because you could bypass the admission line if you purchased a membership. After waiting for all of one minute, we signed up. The best part is, the membership reciprocates to other zoos around the U.S., including the Louisville Zoo! :)

Addison's first trip to the Baton Rouge Zoo

3) Mother's day - this mother's day was very special because it was my first mothers day and I got a Kindle! Just kidding...well, I did get a Kindle, but that's not why it was so special. We also had Addison baptized on Mother's Day and all of our family came over for brunch after church, it was a very special day.

Addison's baptism, my first mother's day

2) LSU's undefeated season - how special is that...I know it's kind of lame for that to beat out mother's day, but I'm pretty freaking excited about our amazing football team and am nervously awaiting the BCS Championship game on Monday night.

Trying to keep this in mind

and the number one moment of 2011...

1) Addison's birth day - the most special moment that I don't really remember thanks to complete exhaustion and lots of narcotics but still the best day of the year by far!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful year...looking forward to all that 2012 holds, wishing you many blessings!