A {tiny} Birthday Party

So,  here are the pictures I took of all the goodies at Miss Pepper Mae's First Birthday Party.  Malinda did such an amazing job,  we will be getting all our cakes and desserts from "The Atomic Bakery" from now on!  Most desserts went with our "tiny" theme,  including tiny tarts, tiny sugar cookies, tiny cupcakes, etc.   Enjoy the pics!

{make a wish}

Handmade felt birthday cake from Grandma CC

So this is a bit late but it's better than never!  Miss Pepper is 1 year old and showing more and more of her personality every day.  Her 1st b-day was wonderful,  thank you everyone who was apart of it!  Honestly,  I'm having withdrawals from the leftover cake!  It was to-die-for, seriously!  Now for some updates on our little angel on earth :-)

• She started walking literally on her 1st Birthday,  and hasn't stopped since!  
• When she walks,  she prefers to be holding something... 3 times her size.  I think she likes the challenge.  This might be a big pillow, watering can, football, etc.
• She has discovered dropping things behind her head.  I don't know why she's so amused by this,  but she will grab objects and drop them behind her head like it's second nature... then goes about her business.
• She not only says "dada" and "mama" but "uh oh"... so cute!
• She puts herself to work,  literally.  This includes taking clothes out of the clothes hamper and putting them back in,  or taking all her toys and throwing them in the bathtub.  
• She still loves to cuddle.
• Currently the funniest thing to date is her getting to "walk" Dakota.  She holds the leash and belly laughs the whole time,  especially when she drops it on the ground.  I have never heard this girl laugh so hard!
• Her highlight of the day is taking a wagon ride around the lake with cousin Jackson.  
• She is slightly obsessed with her headbands.  She will point to them for me to put one on her then wear it the entire day.  I think she figures thats what girls are suppose to do,  so she wants to do it!
• She loves to play outside,  and stands at the door crying until we go!
• She has stolen our hearts and won't give them back!  Love you my precious 1 year old!

We are excited about this weather,  and can't wait to get some fall-time activities on the way!  This includes going to the pumpkin patch and zoo... and lots and lots of pictures of course.  Stay Tuned!

little red {and the big bad wolf}

So,  couldn't you guess this is what's on my mind?  Halloween is just around the corner and my thoughts have gone straight from Pepper Mae's first birthday to her "first" halloween costume.  Now that she's walking,  what's better and more adorable than Little Red Riding Hood?  Nothing I can think of.  And the big bad wolf... that's going to be no other than Jackson {although,  we have Dakota our 2 lb. yorkie as backup... we are going to try to spare her the torture}.  Of course I can't wait to start figuring out this costume!  She will have more of a cape than the picture shown.... but isn't that image to die for?  Stay tuned for the 1 year post for our precious girl!

{more ruffles, please?}

She is doing a new "smirky" smile... love it.

What can I say, I'm a serial crafter lately... so bare with me.  This is what Pinterest will do to you.  I made this dress based off of this one, and it turned out oh so cute!  Don't get me wrong,  this is the 2nd try... the first one was not-so-great!  Miss Pepper Mae loved modeling it for me,  and I loved taking pictures of her in it!

{tiny party birthday invites}

So here are the tiny invites for Pepper Mae's "tiny" themed party this Sunday.   I was so inspired by this tiny party for her little girl about a year ago I knew that is what I had to do!  I ended up designing the simple business card sized invites in illustrator so print at home and used a bunch of colors I wanted to use in the fabrics at the actual party.  I got my wonderful talented husband involved and he actually water-colored the chevron stripes for the envelope liners and the band across the back of the invites!  He did them on watercolor paper and I scanned it into photoshop and just printed it out on 8.5 x 11 presentation paper.  He also drew out, inked, and water-colored the cupcake.  A little piece of happy tape was used to fasten the inner envelopes, and a piece of divine twine was used to tie on the mini-magnifying glass.   I used a calligraphy stamp I purchased off of Etsy a while back to stamp on the return address and it turned out beautifully!   I haven't gotten a chance to mail all these out yet... so don't fret if you haven't gotten yours yet they are on their way I promise!  I will look forward to posting more details on the "tiny" party later! Enjoy!

{button up boomers... oh my}

So,  let me start by saying that some of you probably don't know this but one of my main forms of nesting during the last part of my pregnancy was making bloomers.  Lots, and lots of bloomers.  I went out and got a pattern and went to town.  It almost would be considered obsessive,  especially considering she only wore a couple pairs for a few minutes after she was born! {see top picture}

Well,  I think I've found my replacement for the bloomers.  I saw the "Button-Up Bloomers" on a website when I was browsing for diaper covers... I had seen someone make a pair with an old antique flour sack and and oxford shirt and wanted to make them.  {still plan on it!}  The girl who did the tutorial was on project runway at one point and now enjoys making clothes for her daughter and posting tutorials on how to make them.

With all that said,  here is my first of many pairs!  I think they are adorable and were super easy to make! {took one 3 hour naptime}  Pepper Mae seems to be very comfortable crawling around in them and they are so easy to take off and on.  The possibilities are endless...  I just paired them with a grey tank from Baby Gap.  One of the next pairs will be ones I make for her 1st Birthday to wear during her smash cake,  and will be a beautiful Kokka pink striped fabric with light blue piping!

Next project?  Jackson's suspenders I found on a DIY boys accessory tutorial on Babble.  They are going to be light blue with white dots and will coordinate with Pepper Mae on her birthday.  Can't wait to show pictures of Jackson showing them off!

{11 months}

This is Miss Pepper Mae's 11 month post... on time!  I can't believe she will be a year in one month.   Here are a few things we discovered about Pepper Mae this past month:

• She has discovered a new hobby... "wallowing".  We push the ottoman up to the sectional and put her on the couch,  and she goes to town,  just rolling around without a care in the world.  This will occupy her at least 30 minutes,  which is amazing for her age. 
• She has started hugging... for real.  I will be holding her and all of the sudden she will wrap both her arms around me and squeeze as hard as her little muscles will let her,  all along with the sound of her straining she is trying to hard.  So sweet.
• She has started mimicking us... coughing, stretching, you name it.
• She is still pretty weary about "strangers", so if you say something to her expect her to burst out in tears.  She lives by the motto you can look but you can't touch.
• She has discovered the drain in the tub... and how to open it.  I stick her in the tub and 3 minutes later she's let all the water out.
• You can tell she knows what your saying,  it's so crazy.  If I say let's read a book,  she goes and gets a book.  Babies catch on way sooner than most people think they do.
• It's nearly impossible to change her diaper at this point.  If you can change a moving object that refuses to lay on it's back... call me.  This girl has more interesting things on her agenda!
• The squeaking of the front door really freaks her out... I have no idea why.  One day I spent 15 minutes with her moving it back and forth showing her it was okay,  and it didn't help.
• Yes, we got her ears pierced...  and they are blingin'. {did I just say that?}
• She crawls around with "foe" pacifiers in her mouth.  One day it was the plastic syringe we give her her Zantac with,  and another day it was a little teething "toothbrush" with a handle.  We took the poor thing's pacifier away at 3 months so she has to make do. {see picture above}
• She still has the sweet curls on the back of her head... love love love her.