Late Night Great Night

There are a lot of reasons I love my family. Several of those reasons were super apparent last night while we were all hanging out in Lyla's room after a pretty long day...
"What goes on in the Walker house when the lights are on past 10 pm?", you may ask.  Well last night, this is what I walked in on:

What reasons did I think of in response to these sweet moments?  Well, obviously, they are both SUPER talented.  Even more than that, though, I loved watching them cheer each other on  and love each other.  Of course Lyla loves it when we clap for her, but it's so fun to see her encouraging her Dad and me on a daily basis.  Almost every day she tells us she loves us without being prompted, and she compliments us freely.  If she or I make a mistake, she says "Keep trying!"...sometimes even adds a cheery, "Never give up!"    I love how kind she is, and I love how she doesn't let mistakes slow her down.  I hope she never loses her sweetness or her stick-to-itiveness.  I may be biased, but I think she is something pretty special, and I have loved watching her grow from adorable baby blob into the walking talking little lady she has become.  She's got her terrible two moments of course (see tooth brushing post), but they are far out-numbered by the terrific ones, and they leave me feeling like a pretty lucky mom.

Spring Has (almost) Sprung!

So it's almost March and the wind chill was in the single digits when I headed out, alone, this morning to stroll through Target for some husband sponsored "me time"!  Don't get me wrong, I love shopping with a toddler who hates shopping carts on my hip as much as anyone could, but it's so nice to only have to carry a perfectly warm caramel latte! Ever since I pinned an awesome list of Target shopping tips, I have been loving that place even more!  I knew yesterday was the day they marked down women's clothing, so I headed straight there! I scored two tops and a cardigan for under $15!

(I got the blue top in black, too!)

I was feeling super refreshed and happy with my selections, so I hit the seasonal section on my way to check out to find something for my little lady.  I found two things I knew she would love that would have us feeling like Springtime! 

A birdhouse painting kit...

...and a strawberry planter! (She's as strawberry fanatic!)

See how excited and crazy she looked?! ;) 

We had so much fun this afternoon!   It took me way too long as a new mom to figure out how important it is to invest in myself.  I used to have such high anxiety and guilt every time I was away from my baby.  I'm still learning how to balance everything, and I probably always will be, but we're on the right track!

Sister, Sister!

I haven't posted in a while!  It's partly because the beginning of last week we were in birthday recovery mode, but the second half of the week was super busy for a lot of fun/great reasons! 
First of all, on Thursday, Lyla and I were playing in her room upstairs when we heard someone at the door. I assumed it was another girl scout,  so we didn't even check to see who it was...we just let Dustin answer it.  I heard him coming up the stairs a short time later with a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hand! Then he went through the awkwardness of saying, "uhmm...someone sent you flowers, and it wasn't me....?"
We were both surprised!  Both of us were excited (or maybe concerned on Dustin's part!) to see who they were from!  We opened the card and read a sweet note from none other than...my sister! It was a thoughtful "Just because!" gift!  We love love loved them!  Thanks for making our day, Kat!

[Dustin said he had a new idea for a stand up routine about the awkwardness of opening the door to find that someone has sent your wife flowers, and then having to go deliver them to her! ;)  ]

Thursday afternoon, it was time for Lyles and I to head to Texas!  For the past three years, my sister has organized a flag football tournament in memory of her brother-in-law, Justin Osinde.  Lyla and I were so excited to go play football with Kat and Juju (I'll be honest...I was more excited to spectate Lyla playing football with Kat and Juju)!  We made our first stop in Henrietta, and stayed there for a couple of days since Dustyboy was working and going to school.  I really am not super comfortable driving in the DFW area, so I was happy we were able to tag along to the tournament with my mom!  We drove to Arlington first thing on Saturday morning!
Each year the tournament has grown and grown!  She is able to raise money and donate all of the proceeds to Suicide Prevention.  She has found a way to celebrate the life of Justin by doing something he loved and to bless others along the way.  This was the first year Lyles and I were able to attend, and it was so fun!  The weather was perfect, Lyla got to play football (sort of!), and Kat and Juju's team won for the third year in a row!  (No, it's not rigged...they're just that good!)   I'm so proud of my little sister for honoring Justin in such a great way.  
When the tournament was over, we drove right back to Henrietta.  Then Lyles and I went back to OKC Sunday morning.  I've got to say, for a kid who used to make car rides...how should I put this...Hell on Earth?  She did wonderfully awesome!  She didn't fuss once until the last bit of our drive home on Sunday.  I was super proud and relieved that she seems to be riding like a champ nowadays! We had a great weekend!  Here are some pictures from the event!  I have a football super star on my hands! 

Yo Gabba Gabba!

My baby is TWO!  We had a wonderful party, and of course I photographed the details to share with you here! For those of you not familiar with Yo Gabba Gabba, it's a show about a DJ (Lance Rock) who brings a boom box full of little monsters (and a robot!) to life using the magic words "Yooooo Gabba Gabba!!".  The show is non stop music and teaches life skills and how to handle problems in a fun way!  Lyla has been a Gabba Girl since she was about 9 months old! (I know, I know...too much screen time!  But a mom has to have her hands free some of the time!) Since she is now two, and it's STILL her favorite, a Gabba party was the only option!  I scoured pinterest, gabbafriends.com, and even came up with a few of my own ideas!  Enjoy!
We set the tone with these etsy inspired invitations!  (Can you look at that face and not smile?  I dare you.)

Now, on to the party!...
Here is a view of our fireplace!  I made a "2" with details from the gabbas out of cardboard and card stock.  The party hats are also card stock.  I used empty boxes to make stands for the gabba's to sit on and wrapped them with paper to resemble the characters.  One of my favorite projects was the Gabba bunting. It's all felt!  I also made some last minute boom boxes by covering a shoebox lid with foil and embellishing with cardstock!

 The idea for cup stacking came straight from the "Cool Tricks!" segment of Yo Gabba Gabba!  Lyla loves to stack cups at our local museum, so I added a "Muno" eye to each of them to keep them on theme!

 One of my other favorite projects is the Brobee toss game!  Brobee sends all of his fruits, veggies,etc to the "Party in his Tummy"!  I made felt bean bag food to toss right into the Brobee!

Foofa is Lyla's favorite Gabba!  I made a "Pin the Flower on Foofa Game" (which I totally forgot to have anyone play at the party!)...but look at the cute Foofa inspired blindfold!

 I ordered Yo Gabba Gabba temporary tattoos from amazon, and made a cardboard Toodee!  I used the same wrapping paper and cardstock from my other projects.  I also had a plain foam koozie on hand, so I decorated it to look like Toodee and hold the tattos.  

 Lyla loves to color, and I needed a "Plex" activity!  I decided to make a Plex inspired crayon box and table accent!  I also printed "Yo Lyla Lyla!" coloring pages with all of the characters on them!

I think the biggest hit of the party was the photobooth!  I all ready made a plex and muno head for our Halloween costumes!  Lyla had a foofa mask and a DJ Lance Hat, so I just made some Brobee and Toodee accessories to finish off the Gabbas.  I also laminated and printed a thought and speech bubble so that party-goers could write their own birthday messages!

The balloon drop was a last minute idea!  It's so easy, though, and I knew Lyla would LOVE it!  I used a plastic table cloth, some tape, and 50 balloons!  We did a countdown, and it was a big hit! 

 The streamer canopy was another last minute idea, but it ended up being one of my favorite details!  It's just a hoola hoop tied to the ceiling fan and 3 rolls of streamers in pink blue and yellow!  I wanted to keep the party "girly-ish", so I used these fun bright colors seen in the "Yo Gabba Gabba!".

The last activity during the party was watching a Lyla video montage ( I know, I know... but I love it!).  We did one last year at her party, and we picked up right where we left off!  You can see the video a few posts back!  (Look how nice everyone is...watching pictures of my baby for 6 minutes straight).  <3

The food table was another fun way to incorporate the Gabba characters! I also included a "guest book" for everyone to sign!  I got a "Party in my Tummy" board book from half priced books for $2, and had everyone sign their name!  
Dazzleberry Lemonade (or raspberry lemonade, as it's listed in most stores) is Muno's family's favorite drink, so it was a must!  I also made my own Gabba water bottle labels.  

 Here's a shot of the entire buffet table! The tablecloth was inspired by another mom blogger, this is the tutorial I used!  I used 4 table cloths total to make this new sew ruffle table cloth (1 for the top, two for the ruffles, and 1 as a base for the ruffles to be taped to)!  It is one of my favorite details! I love it even more because it was less than 3 dollars! :)   I used cardboard to make the back drop and stapled fabric in a fun chevron print.  It's hard to see, but I also included pictures of all of the Gabba character's homes on the display as well as big prints of my little cutie!  I used the winking picture on her invites, and I thought it would be a good way to incorporate some pictures of Lyles at the party as well!

Finally, the food!  We had "Toodee's Tortillas" (& salsa), Brobee Bites (which are veggie chips- in all the colors of Brobee!), "Foofa's Fruit Salad", Muno Sticks in a upcycled Muno canister, & "Plex Mix"!  Dustin also made hot dogs, but I didn't take a picture! :(

The cake was lots of fun, too!  The frosting was sooo delicious, with a yummy funfetti cake!  It's a replica of DJ Lance's boom box! 

Here are a few pictures of our guests enjoying the festivities! 

There's a party in their tummies....!

Thanks to my sister for running the Tattoo parlor!  "Kat's Tats" was fun! :)

Lyla playing the Brobee game! (She's allowed to get reallllly close!)

Racing and Reading!

Kaleese is Lyla's best little friend, and she slept through the whole thing! lol

Of course, these two found their way outside, but who can blame them?  It was a beautiful day!

Opening Presents...this girl is going to need a bigger room!

Photobooth fun! (Yep, that's me & Lyles rocking our two year nurse-iversary!)

Saying Goodbye to the Texas folk!

Whew!  That's a Gabba Party!  Happy Birthday, baby! Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us!  We are so lucky to have each of you in Lyla's life. <3

Love Notes

This week, and year, has been so busy for my Dustyman.  He is working super hard at his "job job", he's leading the worship team at our church, going to school, and logging 300 practicum hours.  He's got a lot of things on his to do list, and we haven't seen too much of each other.  Our "Valentine's Day" was yesterday.  The big date consisted of Lyles going to bed early and us staying up "late" to watch a movie together.  It was a nice evening snuggled up on the couch, and I was happy to spend it that way.  I got him a movie he had wanted, he got me a Diamond Candle (which I'm soooo excited to burn), and that was that.

However, when he went out for to class this evening, I realized I wanted to do something a little bit more thoughtful to let him know how much I appreciate his hard work and all of the love he gives to me and Lyles.  Originally, this was going to be a mama/lyla project, but my sidekick fell asleep early.

I saw the idea on Pinterest (where else?) to make a mail station for your toddler to send and receive letters, but as soon as I saw it, I thought "love notes!"  Just the other day, Dustin left me a sweet note on the kitchen table before he left for work, and it made me so happy when I read it.  I thought this would be a great Valentine's Day surprise, and a good way to keep the love going all year long!  I know Lyles will love it, too!  

I went to the "See Spot Save" section at Target and got tons of steals!  Each metal mailbox was 50 cents!! whaaaat??? I almost bought like 10, but I talked myself down.  I got a pack of stationary, two different sets of stickers, washi tape, and a white box for $1 each, and decorative wood chip letters for 50 cents! All together, I spent just over $8 (and that includes a Dora board book for Lyla)!

Lyla fell asleep as soon as we got home, so I got to work! I put our "names" (Daddy, Mama, and Lyla) on our respective mail boxes with gold letter stickers, covered a cardboard box with red wrapping paper I all ready had, and glued on the "Walker Mail" letters to make a base for the boxes.  I used washi tape as an accent and made a "post office" by putting the stationary, "stamps" (just a sticker sheet!), and envelopes in the white box.  Of course, I wrote my husband a lovely "Happy Valentine's Day" letter, and set it up right next to our microwave (moving my spice rack to another space on the counter).  I love how it turned out, and I'm excited for Dustin to see it when he comes home from class! I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!  Here's to writing more love notes!

Toothpaste & Tantrums

Most of the time, I can't believe my baby is almost two.  Then, there are mornings like this morning that completely convince me.  Today was Lyla's first day of tooth brushing with real big kid toothpaste!  She has been gnawing on tooth brushes since before she got her first tooth.  When she was a year old, we started her with a training toothpaste, and her dentist recommended we start with kid toothpaste around her 2nd birthday.  
Lyla has always had an affinity for tooth brushes.  She will carry them around with her and brush at her leisure throughout the day (maybe her Uncle Juju the future dentist has something to do with it)!  I do find we are replacing and then finding more toddler toothbrushes than most children need in a lifetime. It's nothing for her to spend a good ten minutes brushing, adding more water to her brush, and brushing some more.  I even have given her "seconds" of her training toothpaste (flouride free)....as a first time parent, I didn't see the harm.  Until today.
She loved her new berry mint flavor, and while she gave spitting it out her best shot, she definitely ingested most, if not all, of it.  (Though it was an amount hardly visible on the brush.)  I let her have a teeny bit more to finish the job, and she continued  brushing with water for a long time after that.  Then she wanted more of  "Wywa's  new paste".  (It's unfortunate, but hilarious, that LyLa can't say her "L" sounds.)  I told her no, and offered to help her wet her brush again with water.  This triggered a tantrum I shouldn't be seeing the likes of for a at least 4 more days! 
Have you ever seen a toddler flailing on the ground, crying "More paste, Mama!  I brush my teeeeeef!"?
Holy moly.
I tried to show the little lady some empathy, but I was mostly just thinking how ridiculous this scene was.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures.  (Though the thought did occur to me..) Lyla is mostly the smiley happy kid you see in the pictures like this (taken this morning, just prior to the toothpaste monstrosity)..

...but, to be real, we have our share of meltdowns and crazy.  
Daily.  :)  

We Like to Party!

Happy Birthday Week, America!  We are so excited! Click here if you're not quite as pumped up as you could be.  :)
I started putting up decorations today!  Some of them have been waiting for weeks in the craft closet/death trap, and I thought it would be a good idea to do as much prep during the week that I can, so that I can spend the day enjoying time with family, and not frazzled trying to put it all together in time! 
I did have one last minute party decor inspiration!  I used a tutorial from this blog to make a canopy out of streamers that I just hadn't yet found a use for.  Dustyboy helped me hang it up this morning, and I am really glad we added it!  Such a big impact for < $3.   I'm super proud of my party budget.  I spent right around $50 for everything (with the exception of food and Lyla's birthday outfit).  
I can't wait to post pictures! It's really fun watching Lyles react to everything we put up!  She was so sweet this morning when Dust brought her down stairs to see the canopy!  She was so excited and said "Mama's sooo nice!".  That's why I do it!  (Well, that, and I just like crafting during nap time...it keeps the urge to do laundry at bay.)

Here's a sneak peak at Lyles enjoying the Plex coloring station!

Tutus and Tea Time

This morning has been glorious.  My baby slept in until 9:30!  (We will just ignore the part about staying up past 11 last night...)  We had yummy breakfast, skyped with my sister, and then Lyla wanted to play "Tea Porty"!  She drug out her tutus (because Mommy has to wear one, too!...sorry, no selfies!), tea pot, and scarf!  Once she was ready, we enjoyed a wonderful pretend tea.  

I don't know about you, but I can't think of a cuter way to start the day. :) 

Birthday Outfit!

Lyla's birthday outfit came in the mail today!  Woohoo!  We got it from a cute little etsy shop!  Lyla wanted to wear it as soon as I got it out of the box.  She was all about the Gabba bow & Foofa shirt!  So, of course, I had to get out some of the party decorations and set up a little photoshoot. 

Here are some of my favorites!:

The past week we have stayed in for the most part!  It's been snowy and cold cold cold with more snow on the way!  Luckily, it's happening this week instead of next weekend!  I have put a little bit of effort into her party, and I would be very sad if weather was not on our side for her friends and family to come and celebrate!  I can't believe we are just 11 days from having a two year old!  

Lyles has been a super daddy's girl the last few days.  It doesn't hurt my feelings (too much)!  I love watching them play.  He's definitely the parent to go to when it comes to racing and jumping and piggy back riding...all things toddler! She can't get enough.  Yesterday, he even got her to sleep.  This is MAJOR news, America!  She has only fallen asleep in my arms or in a car seat (which is rare) for her entire lifetime.  This development is going to be super helpful when we start to cut back on our breastfeeding (or, "mun", as Lyla calls it....IDK where it came from).  Our goal is to have her night weaned in the first month after her birthday, and gradually/gently cut out day time feedings after that.  I'm honestly not rushed to completely wean her.  She's been such a healthy kid, and she loves loves loves that time...and they're only little for a little.

Happy Birthday, Montana! :)

In other news....
I'm so excited about the latest party project.  I took a stab at this diy ruffled table cloth tutorial from a fellow mom blogger! I used turquoise and yellow to fit into the Gabba theme...it was one of the more time consuming projects I've done so far, but that could be because I had such an involved "helper". It turned out really well, and I think it will be perfect for the buffet table!
I have very few projects left for the party...with the exception of the food preparation, I think all I have left to design is a Happy Birthday banner and water bottle labels.  I'm not even going to pretend to be relieved or happy that I'm done.  Honestly, I'll probably just think up something else to do!  I love being crafty, and I love throwing a party! 
My dad is visiting us today!  One part visiting, one part mechanic-ing!
For those of you who don't know, after spending a couple of days for Christmas with my family, Dustin drove my car back to OK by himself to get back for work.  Lyla and I planned to drive back up with my family a couple of days later.  On his way home, my beloved car just jerked & stopped.  (We were really actually thankful it happened this way...he very rarely drives my car without us in it, so if it had to happen, we were happy Lyla wasn't there to have to sit on the side of the road!) Two tow trucks later, we found out it was the timing belt.  Long story short..it would cost way more to fix than my little 2005 neon was worth.  Lucky (or unluckily, depending how you look at it) for us, my parents had also had car trouble that same week and ended up replacing one of their cars, leaving their mini van unused.  They were nice enough to let us borrow it while we wait for our tax return/saved up to buy a new (to us) car next month!  We are so thankful, and Lyles is loving the new ride.  I, myself, am embracing (and even rocking) the mom-mobile!  
Unfortunately, there's been a little problem with the van's speedometer for a while, so my dad took today to come up and fix it. Having someone handy around sure does come in...handy.  :)  
Now, she's napping after a huge pretend tea party, and my dad is working his magic in the garage.  I'm snuggled up with a blanket listening to the Winter Song Pandora station...I highly recommend it! 
Have a wonderful weekend!  Try to stay warm!