Not slow enough!!

So much for my hoping of a slow month! Allie's 1stbirthday is Wednesday and Cameron's 2nd birthday/angelversary is a week from tomorrow. I just can't believe it!!

It's hard planning for both days and only having one of them here. But, it's something I need to get used to.


The party planning is going great so far! My big fret was the birthday cake. In all of my organic/natural -loving glory, I just couldn't bring myself to buy her a cake from the store. Or even make one for her for that matter. I know, I know, it's her birthday and one time isn't going to hurt her, but when you know what's in those things, and you know specifically what they do and how they shouldn't be in our diets (thanks to my older bro, who's about as big of a health nut as I am, for letting me in on that stuff. I'm being somewhat sarcastic here, lol. Life was just a little bit easier when I didn't know those things!), it's HARD, LOL!!! The hubby was making fun of me, but I was bound and determined to find a way to do this.

How how easy it was!!! I never thought that our regular grocery store would have natural cake and frosting mix. Holla! (that's a signature Hollie thing...don't ask, lol)

I was a little leery about it, but O.M.G. is it tasty!! However, I'm just not so sure I'm crafty enough to make cakes, with fondant, to feed 50+ people!! Sooo, a friend of mine came to the rescue! She's opening her own bakery and offered to do both cakes (which will look like two big flip-flops...we're doing a baby luau) and Allie's smash cake for $60!!! So excited!!

I've got most of the decorations bought, just have to order a few more things from my most favorite place - Oriental Trading!! I found so much stuff for super low prices!!

Now I just have to figure out what Hawaiian type foods we're going to do!



As for Cameron's little get together, we're doing the traditional balloon release with friends and family, and Aiden and Allie will make cupcakes! I love that they get to do something themselves! My mother in law said she's going to get a blueberry bush for us to plant in his garden (that still needs to be done). I've wanted some type of fruitful/flowering plant or tree since we lost him. I thought it would be a special way to sort of "take care of him"...


Such a busy busy time of the month! I hope everything goes super smooth!

This month better go by slowwww

First off, here are a couple pics of my big girl! Aiden took this first on of her as we were leaving my parent's house.

I took some photos of Ellie last week, and was able to snap this one real quick of the two of them. Allie kept trying to poke Ellie in the butt cheek, lol (you can see her getting her finger ready in the pic). I just think it's kind of special to have a picture of our two girls - our rainbow babies - together!

My little girl is 11 months old now! I cannot believe I'm going to be throwing her a birthday party in less than a month! This last year has flown by!

She's growing like a weed and is doing something new every day!

She got two new teeth on the top, and it looks as if another will be coming in next to them shortly. If that one does come in, she'll have 5 teeth total! She's getting better and better at walking, but still prefers to crawl most of the time.

This girl is in to EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING! But, it keeps her content and happy, so who am I to discourage her? lol. It's bad! Sometimes when I'm cooking dinner, I will let her sit there with the fridge door open, playing in there, pulling stuff out, putting stuff back, etc. just so I can get stuff done, lol.

She's such a mommy's girl and I love it - well, 95% of the time anyway. Most of the time, she's happy playing, but it's like the minute she sees me, a switch goes off in her head saying, "Start crying. Crawl to mom. Make her pick me up." And I always give in.

The funniest thing she does is when she gets caught getting into something she knows she's not supposed to be in to. I'll walk in and say, "Allie! What are you doing little missy?". And she'll get all wide-eyes, hold up whatever it is that she has, and make this cute little noise - almost like she's saying, "Here mommy, you play too!". I can't help but smile every time!

Her and Aiden are little hellians around here! They both know just what to do to push the other one's buttons. Obviously, Allie isn't doing it on purpose, but I think she just likes the reaction she gets. Aiden just does it to hear her scream. I just about go nuts on a weekly basis, lol.

We bought her, her new big girl carseat a few weeks ago!! I'm so glad we did! She looks so much more comfortable in it, and doesn't cry nearly as much as she did in her infant seat. We got the Graco Myride65. The pink and brown one. We're doing extended rear facing. I didn't know anything about it before really, and kind of blew it off when I read about other women doing it. Then I read a pretty lengthy (and somewhat heated) discussion about it on my BBC, and it completely changed my mind about the whole idea!

We took her and Aiden to the Toledo zoo yesterday! They both loved it!! Allie went nuts over the aquarium! She was trying to grab the fish through the tank walls. It was so cute to watch her! We all had a great time!