Charlie's Second BIrthday Party

We celebrated Charlie's 2nd birthday in November.
I still can't believe that he's two.
My sweet, cuddly, silly, wild, totally crazy, busy little boy is...two.

Charlie's favorite place on Earth is the zoo.

His favorite toys are trains.

It seemed fitting to celebrate his second birthday doing things he loves, in the place he loves, with the people he loves.

So - we rented out a large room at the zoo. There wasn't a whole lot of decor to work with, and I was on strict orders by David NOT to go too crazy...for my sanity's sake. I complied with David's wishes and, I have to admit - the evening was really enjoyable.
Maybe David had the right idea afterall.

The table decor:

Guest Table decorations

A garland I made from scrapbook papers:

Here's a picture of the totally adorable cupcakes that I almost ruined by dropping them 10 seconds after picking them up from the baker. I almost had a heart attack. I did my best to mend them, but you can see that a couple of them were still kinda smooshed-ish.

Drink container decorated with zoo animal train cut-outs made with my cricut.

Another banner I made out of the pages of a vintage animal train book I bought on etsy.

Animal crackers for our friends:

Another picture of the cute, smooshed-ish, cupcakes:

Charlie checking out the chickens on our tour of the zoo:

Blowing out the candle:

Really enjoying the cute, smooshed-ish cupcakes:

Charlie wore pants I made out of zoo animal fabric I bought from a shop on esty.

Opening presents:

Such a fun time. Such a sweet boy.
I'm one lucky mommy.

And, one lucky friend. All the fantastic photos posted in this post were taken by my friend Sonya.
Thanks, Lady!

how to build a snowman...southern style.

When it snows down here, people completely freak out.
Schools close.
Grocery stores become flooded with people rushing to buy bread and milk and eggs.
Weather Reporters stand on "treacherous" highways chomping at the bit for the first hint of slippery wet stuff, and - with any luck -the real glory shot: an actual bonafide snow-induced collision.

It's crazy.

I tend to be pretty cynical about all the snow hype, but even I have to admit that a real, true, snow is just about as close to Heaven on Earth as you can get.

And even though David and I spent 3 years living in Ohio (where it can snow as late as May), building a snowman is something that we've never done together. Ever. In fact, I think the last time I built a snowman was in Elementary School. It's not that building a snowman didn't sound fun to me, it's just that my nice, warm house, comfy jammies, and Alias re-runs sounded like way more fun.

But now, we have kids.

And live in the South.
Where it never snows...

SO - this year, we built a snowman. With two very excited little guys in tow.

We've been back in the South for 4 years. Which - as it turns out - is just enough time to become totally unprepared for any type of freezing precipitation.

Commence Operation Improvisation.
or Operation Southern Rookies Build a Snowman.
or Operation Freeze Your Fanny Off While You Pretend to Know What You're Doing.

Example #1
Use Ladies' Garden Gloves as protection. Because your manly, warm, Ohio gloves are in STORAGE.

Example #2.
No snow gear? No problem. Rainboots and 2 pairs of socks should do the trick.

No rainboots? Hmmmm...that's a little more tricky...
Mom of the Year says that footed jammies and a some crocs will just have to do.

At first, Avery and Charlie were all about helping us out.

But after about 3 minutes of hard-ish work, they decided that they'd rather do something else.

Like throwing snowballs.

...eating snow.

or just...going inside.

Despite the obvious sting of losing our once motivated "help", David and I stubbornly pushed ahead. By the time frostbite officially started to set in, we figured out a method for rolling giant snowballs.

Because if Charlie Brown and Lucy can do it, so can we.

(side note: at one point in the process, I literally referenced the scene in Frosty the Snowman when the kids are building their snowman for assistance. Because I'm a mommy. And I've seen that movie 1.5 million times.)

 and created quite the curvaious snow...lady.

Hooray.

We admired our handiwork for approximately 2.5 seconds before Avery and Charlie started whining and crying due to the numbness in their extremities.

It felt a little like that scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
You know, the one where Audrey looks like this?

Ellen: Clark, Audrey's frozen from the waist down.

Clark: That's all part of the experience, honey.

she said...

Avery:
This is my CIS phone (holding up my old cell phone that she plays with).
I got it at AT&T.
Actually, my husband got it for me.

Me:
He did?
That was nice...
What's his name?

Avery:
Christ.

Me:
(trying to compose myself)
Oh...

Avery:
(Holding up her beloved unicorn Pillow Pet)
You know, my son sleeps on his Pillow Pet every night. He just loves it.

Me:
He does? What's his name?

Avery:
Little Pepperino.

Me:
(This time, I can't keep the giggles in)
Cool name.

Avery:
Yeah.

waiting is the worst.

I have this daily conversation with myself.
It goes something like this:

Not much longer.
You can do it.
Just hang in there.

And every time I realize that something I need is in our storage unit, or I trip over one of the giant plastic bins in our bedroom, I repeat it to myself.
It's my new mantra.

It's not really working.

We've been living at my mother-in-law's house for almost 6 months now.
It's been a long, hard, six months.
Not because of her...she is wonderful to us.
Because I miss my stuff.
All of it.
I even miss my sofa that's covered in Mod Podge.
And I really, really missed my kid's sweet little handmade ornaments at Christmas. That was a biggie.

I'll be honest. I'm struggling.
I know that the end result  of all this waiting will be wonderful, but getting there has definitely been hard.

We've found a house we really like, but it's a foreclosure. And although we've submitted an offer, we have yet to hear the first word in response. And it's been 2 months.

I think that I can handle hearing "no" better than I'm handling "wait".

God loves to teach me the same old lesson on patience that I've been learning my whole life.
Maybe He doesn't love to teach it to me. Maybe I'm just super hard-headed.
Maybe I like to talk about having joy in my circumstances and being faithful to Him, but just don't like to actually do it.

That might be it.

So, I'm still here.
Slightly depressed, but here.
And once I figure out how to load pictures to my blog again, I'll catch everybody up on what I've been doing while I've been waiting around.

Later.