JELLO

 Yesterday Anna Cate and I were baking some dessert for a dinner party we have tonight and I let her lick the bowl for the first time.  I stripped her down to her pull-ups and let her have at it.  What a mess!  She was so engrossed in eating the pudding that she wouldn't look up at me to take her picture.   She and Silar were both disappointed when I finally had to take the bowl away because she keep sharing her spoon with him and neither of them seemed to care that dogs can't have chocolate! ;)

What a Deal!

Just wanted to let everybody know that Resturants.com is having a 70% off sale right now! I just scored a $25 gift certificate to The Melting Pot and two $10 to Birds on a Wire for a grand total of $4.80!!

They had many certificates available for lots of different restaurants in our area, but I only bought the ones I knew for sure we would use.  Will sometimes eats at Birds on a Wire for lunches with work and we have an annual date at The Melting Pot with the Scotts each year at Christmas time to celebrate another year of friendship.  

Click here , select your gift certificates, enter CRAVE at the checkout, then recalculate the total to see your 70% savings!!  The certificates are good for a year.  Cheers!

Little Apron

Now that Anna Cate is feeding herself, a regular sized baby bib no longer protects her clothes from the amount of food she spills and drops on herself.  She usually has a nice collection of her dinner sitting in her lap by the time the meal is over. ;)

I found this cute pattern at Leila and Ben, an etsy shop that sells modern patterns for babies and children.  Last night I dug through my fabric scraps and made this cute little apron for her to wear at the table.    

It took me about an hour to make and it turned out so cute!  Typically, I do not like to sew using patterns because I find them confusing and tedious.  This pattern, however, was SUPER easy to follow and I would highly recommend it to anyone who could sew on a beginner/intermediate level.  

We tried it out for breakfast this morning and it works GREAT!! It is long enough to contain the mess in her lap so that food doesn't fall to the floor.  Now she'll look stylish and cute while staying neat and clean at the dinner table!

Playroom

One of my goals for the summer is to set up a playroom for Anna Cate.   I have drooled over all of the rooms in the Pottery Barn Kids magazine, but unable to justify the ridiculous prices, will just have to settle for using them for 

inspiration to create our own playroom.  I love the little kitchen set pictured below, but it is a whopping $400! I could buy a real appliance for that price. 

 

                         

                     

                                 

                   So instead, I have been looking for a little wooden kitchen that I could fix up to use in the playroom.  Last Friday, Anna Cate and I drove into Columbia to have lunch with Grace, a friend I use to work with before Will and I were married.  We stopped by every single thrift and antique store I could think of before lunch, hoping to find a kitchen.  I was so discouraged that we didn't see anything that would work.  

On our way home, I decided to stop in one last children's consignment store.  I had been in there a few weeks earlier and saw nothing, but something told me to stop again and look around.  Sure enough, over in the corner...under a pile of clothes we found this little set!  I talked the lady down to $30 for both pieces and proudly loaded them into my car.  

This is what they looked like before:

(Note our little Vanna White modeling the broken door on the dryer) 

And this is what it looks like now:

Ta Da!

 After I sanded and painted them white, Will helped me rehang the doors and add the new hardware.  The total project cost only $34!  I have big plans for the playroom and will hopefully be finished within a few weeks.  I'll post more pictures once the room is finished.  

  

Anna Cate having a tea party with her baby doll. She has learned how to pour the tea into the  cups and holds them just right by the little handles. ;)

One of my favorite parts of the day...we read several stories together before Anna Cate goes to bed.  I thought her little piggies were so cute sticking out from under the book. 

One evening she came riding into the den on her little car (backwards) with a book in one hand and her suitcase in the other.  It was hilarious... she looked like she was leaving for a trip somewhere.  What a little ham! :)