Gender Reveal

Our Gender Reveal:

(I purchased ornaments and ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

 The perfectly-sized boxes came from Dollar General. Easy and adorable.)

Boy or Girl? Pink or Blue?

It's a Boy!

Our Story:

I am not one of those women who can wait until the birth of my child to find out whether I'm having a boy or girl. I HAVE to plan. So, when we were presented with the option to find out what we were having at 13 weeks with a blood test, I jumped at the chance! Especially since we were able to find out right before Christmas.

I love showing off my babies (who doesn't?!). So, I was more than eager to announce the gender of this Harner baby in some creative way during Christmas. We celebrated two Christmases: one in-state with my family, and one out-of-state with my in-laws. Because of this, there were some secrets to be kept after we revealed to our first set of family, but no one seemed to mind keeping the secret! ;)

I will admit that I thought for sure I was having a girl. I was convinced. But, just to be safe, I purchased "boy" items as well as "girl" items for our reveal. I was too excited to wait to put together our reveal, that I prepared to assemble the "girl" reveal before we ever received the call from the doctor. I'm glad I didn't! :) :)

My sweet, sweet OB's office staff actually called me on the day the results arrived - one day before we thought we could find out. When they said, "it seems to be a boy," I simply said, "ok!" I had planned to surprise the hubs with the news on our Christmas morning, but he was sitting beside me in the car when I received the call!!! He knew from my reaction that we were having a boy - I was completely shocked. Even though he knew before Christmas, he still melted to see a sweet blue hippo toy hanging in another stocking on our mantle. ;)

I am so in love with the idea of having two little boys, now. I can still be queen of the castle, even if my castle is filling fast with superheroes, balls, trucks, blocks, and smelly boy shoes ;)

Brown Bear Birthday Bash

Samuel turned 2 in December! (Yes, I am just now editing the pictures and blogging...)
He LOVED Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle for about 2 months. It was the only book he wanted to read over and over and over... he would read it to himself, to his toys, to us - it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. So, naturally, I planned a Brown Bear Birthday Bash for his 2nd birthday.

I don't like to have BIG parties for birthdays. I think it's important to celebrate with family and friends, but to keep the celebration small and focused on things that make the child happy. I have a goal to have a birthday day for each of my children when they are old enough to choose what they would like to do with just Daddy and Mommy, in addition to a small family gathering. I want to keep it a day focused on them and not overwhelmed with 25 screaming children and 50 frantic adults climbing around ball pits, jumping houses, and whatnot. I don't want to associate birthdays with stress. ;) ...although I'm sure I won't escape having a crazy, frantic party or two.....

So, with that said, we kept this "bash" on the small scale. Our guest list was small, the decorations mimimal. We planned a few games and set up a photo booth. I planned it for 2:30 in the afternoon, so I wouldn't have to serve a meal (awesome for a low budget). Samuel had SO much fun. He tends to get overwhelmed with too many people, so our small gathering was just right for him - he was beyond happy to see his guests!

I spent about $40 on the decorations for his party. I found the Brown Bear themed decorations here at this adorable Etsy shop - SmashCakeandCo for $10.

The favor tags were too cute! I made Cocoa Rice Krispie Treats as favors. They were supposed to be in the shape of a bear paw, but ended up looking like brown blobs of...well, you know...SO I didn't photograph those too closely ;)

favor tags

 I adored this banner! I purchased red and white ribbon from Hobby Lobby and threaded each pennant onto it. It was so easy and looked adorable. I used the same ribbon throughout the party on other small details.

banner

The cupcake toppers made the cake table look so fun! I printed them and used double sided tape to attach them to colored card stock, and then taped them to these red and white paper straws I found at Hobby Lobby.

 

cupcake toppers

My biggest splurge was $20 on two photo collages I printed from Walmart. I chose my favorite instagram photos from Samuel's 2nd year and arranged them into two 11x14 collages, which I hung above his "gift opening area".

his gift opening area ;) (I'm obsessive)

we love this ornery boy!

Thankfully, my mom is amazing at making cakes (the most delicious cakes). So, we have beautiful cakes on small budgets because we get them for free! :) She found this design on Pinterest and did an adorable job replicating it!

cake

sugar overload

We had LOTS of cake for our small party. No one complained, though! ;)

Finally, I found the idea for the food on Pinterest. We had fruits and veggies of the colors in the Brown Bear book. Our guests pigged out on these! I left this party feeling healthy....with the exception of the 2 cupcakes I ate... ;) I resisted eating 3

food table

We had a pinata filled with Samuel's favorite candy: suckers...and this preggo mommy's favorite candy: flavored tootsie rolls. ;) We also had a photo booth - a plastic table cloth on the wall with some goofy props - this was a blast!

All in all, we had so much fun! Samuel was showered with love and gifts! I cannot believe he is 2. I feel like he's grown up overnight. I'd love to bottle up some of this adorable two-ness to savor on days he's grown and has morphed into a turbulent teen... ;) But I'll just soak up the sticky fingers and funny words as much as I can now. ;)

The Best Chicken Noodle Soup...ever.

Happy New Year...Happy Mid-January!

So much has taken over my life lately, that my blogging has fallen to the wayside (speaking of wayside, is it beach season yet?? I'm finished with cold and snow...). We'll catch up on my busy life later... ;)

For now, let's focus on this dreary winter weather and try to find an end to it! If not an end, at least a perk amidst the freezing cold.

My perk tonight was this Chicken Noodle Soup. I cannot even say enough about it. I'm dying over this recipe. I hope my hubs liked it as much as I did because it is now on my rotation of staple recipes. Plus, most of the ingredients were already on hand.

My two year old LOVED this! I scooped some soup out for him, leaving behind the broth (I wanted to avoid a huge mess tonight!) - so he had the veggies, noodles, and chicken. The chicken was his favorite. I love when he shares our meals instead of eating "kid" food - so this is keeper!

This is a Pinterest recipe - I cannot take credit for it. I will just share my new-found love for it.

You can find the recipe here.

A Few Notes:

• I omitted the white wine and just used an extra cup of chicken broth.
• I also only used 5 chicken thighs and found it to be PLENTY of chicken.
• I cooked the chicken for only 7 hours and found it to be perfectly tender. The smell was too tempting to wait another hour to eat, so I was ecstatic to find it done at 7 hours. ;)
• I would add more than 2 cups of noodles the next time, possibly 2 1/2 - 3.  2 cups didn't seem to be enough with the abundance of chicken.

Enjoy!

a rainy day book review

I am a Lynn Austin fan, so I was ecstatic to receive this book for free from Bethany House Publishers to review. I am also a Biblical Fiction fan - I'm overly intrigued with the culture and lifestyle of those times. I secretly wish I could experience is for one day. That's why I couldn't wait to read this book: Return to Me.

Unfortunately, I was not impressed with this book. It was not what I expected from Austin. Her characters always grab me and pull me into their stories - I usually finish Austin's books wishing I could read more about her characters. This book, however, left me struggling to connect to any of the characters. As another reviewer stated, I was frustrated with the characters. I felt they lacked dimension - I had a difficult time connecting with them.
I understand that this is Biblical Fiction based upon historical facts, but fiction should provide the liberty to add more dimension to the story while maintaining historical facts. I was bored. I trudged through this book in hopes of a spark in the plot, but the book trudged along a one-dimensional plot line for 200+ pages. When there would seem to be a spark in the storyline, it was resolved on the very next page, so there was no suspense at all in this book.
I would recommend it for insight into Biblical history, as it beautifully describes the rebuilding of the temple and the events surrounding it. But, as for entertainment, I would not recommend it. There was not enough drama/action/romance/activity, character development, or relationships to keep my interest. I simply trudged through the book so that I could give a honest review.

A Book Review

This summer, I received a special from Bethany House Publishers: 2 free books in one month!! I couldn't have been more excited. The first book I read, Rebellious Heart, was SO good, the second...not so good. I HATE writing negative reviews just as much as I HATE giving students negative feedback on their writing...but sometimes it MUST be done...

photo from Amazon.com (linked)

I have read Tracie Peterson books in the past. This book is not unlike the others I have read. It has an enlightening historical setting, which seems more interesting than the love story between the two main characters.
I felt this book was too predictable, like her other books. It was a sweet story and a nice lesson on loving others as Christ loves us, but the rest of the story was lacking. The characters did not seem developed enough for me to feel attached to them. I found myself wanting to skip ahead so that I could finish reading it and start reading something else. However, I made myself read every page, in hopes that I would like this book a little more, but in the end, I did not.
I hoped for a twist in the story, but found only the same storyline as her other books: two unlikely characters who were not supposed to fall in love, fall in love; one or both find themselves in perilous danger only to rescued, resulting in a complete change in emotion toward one another.
It has a happy ending, which keeps the book entertaining, but I can't say that the book was entertaining enough to warrent a referral to friends.

Ramblings...

My baby will be 2 in less than 3 months!! I am dying. I cannot handle this. He's grown inches taller overnight, he's talking nonstop, playing with cars and pirates on his own....I love the growing up but I miss my little baby!!

21 months old!

I fear I have fallen into the "mom fashion pit." Nothing trendy appeals to me. Pumps are not practical, nor do I want to show my midriff...but let's be honest, midriffs should only be acceptable in a few places, restaurants not being one of them! (rant over...)

A certain little boy is in the habit of asking for chocolate every morning. I give him a Kiss or a Peanut Butter cup. I always said I'd never let my kids have so much candy or chocolate, but I can't resist that sweet voice. Some need coffee, he needs chocolate ;)

I've started my Christmas shopping. Who am I kidding?? I started it in August...in hopes of sticking to a budget, but I always get caught up in the season and shop some more. ;)

My heart was completely overwhelmed with the thought of Mary praising God that His promised One had arrived - can you imagine her, looking at her sleeping baby boy and knowing God's promise? Only a few believed it while he was still new. She knew. :)  I was thanking God that my baby is here, and God overwhelmed me with that thought. (Perhaps I'm in the mood for Christmas...ha!)

We have a new puppy. Her face is too cute for us to be frustrated with her for too long about anything...let's hope she keeps that cuteness because, I fear, we've brought home Marley... ;)

Maggie - 8 weeks old

Blueberry Casserole

I'm not a cobbler fan. Probably because I've only ever tried Peach Cobbler, and I don't care for baked peaches...I feel like they taste like bad breath (am I the only one??).

My mama (pronounced, "MawMaw" in WV ;) ) made this blueberry cobbler a few weekends ago. I couldn't get enough of it! I made some for my little family and ate most of it. I even contemplated having some for breakfast (it's fruit, right?? and with ice cream on top, it's the same as having milk...).

I would LOVE to keep this as a top-secret family recipe, but it's not our own - it came from a church cookbook (love those!) that my mama picked up at a yard sale, of all places. I'm now a believer in cobbler. Once you taste this, you will be a believer in cobbler for every meal and every snack in between. ;)

Blueberry Casserole

1 can crushed pineapple, undrained
2-3 c blueberries
1/2 c sugar
yellow cake mix
2 sticks butter, melted
1/4 c brown sugar
chopped pecans

1.) Spray 8x10 pan and preheat oven for 350.
2.) Spread pineapple in bottom of pan.
3.) Mix blueberries ad sugar. Spread on top of pineapple.
4.) Sprinkle cake mix on top of blueberries.
5.) Pour melted butter over cake mix.
6.) Sprinkle brown sugar and pecans on top of butter.
7.) Bake for 25 minutes.

Top with vanilla ice cream, and enjoy! Leftovers are great, too!