Fancy Girls in Their Pretty Pearls

Ava's best girlfriend Violet came over today for a play date wearing her "little black dress" and finest pearls, so Ava decided she just must show off her pearls as well.

Can't you just see these two as old ladies going out to tea or something, Ava plump and jolly and Violet slim and proper?

Two Years Ago Today

We celebrated our anniversary in Napa on Saturday, so today (on our actual anniversary) we spent a low-key evening at home cooking a special dinner together. We cook nearly every meal at home, but it's usually something fairly simple (salad and/or sandwiches for lunch and rice or pasta with chicken or meatballs, or steak or salmon if we've done grocery shopping recently). We love cooking more elaborate meals together, but we don't normally take the time and effort unless it's a special occasion. So we loved having an excuse to spend time together in the kitchen tonight, and we agreed it was the best meal we've made together. We made the most amazing Lamb Chops with Mint-Mustard Sauce, Sweet Peas with Red Onion and Mint, and couscous, all from the Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook my mom gave us as a wedding gift.

We ate so well we didn't even have room for dessert, so we'll have to save the strawberry shortcake bears for my birthday, which, incidentally, is tomorrow.

Celebrating Two Years in the Vineyards

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary (which is actually tomorrow) with a day trip to Napa. We made a pact to visit the little mission chapel among the vineyards where we exchanged our vows every year to reminisce about what a perfectly beautiful day it was.

Ava contemplates her macaroon order while we wait in line at the Bouchon bakery.

For the new little cowboy on the way...

Tiffany referred to her now-fiance as "Cowboy" when they first started dating because he spent some time working on his uncle's cattle ranch, so I thought it only fitting that the shower to celebrate the product of their union (which was held at my house on Saturday) have a country flare. It was a blast planning and preparing for the party with some awesome ladies.

The party-planning crew and soon-to-be grandmothers serving up some pulled chicken sliders, baked macaroni and cheese, cornbread muffins, and lots more country fare.

The cloth banners took a lot longer than I anticipated. My poor mom spent hours cutting out the triangles from the eight yards of fabric (way more than we needed, we realized later). But I'm happy we went through the effort because I love how they turned out and we can use them again for summer BBQs and birthday parties for years to come. 

I framed the invitation and displayed it on the mantle along with some cowboy themed wine bottles (given as prizes) and a vintage musical rocking horse.  

The little cowboy boots on the fireplace belonged to my little brother and I found the vintage children's books at an antique fair.

I made the drink tags with blue denim-looking scrapbook paper punch-outs in the shape of stars alternated with a printed cowboy design to match the invitations. Then I just strung them through some twine and tied them around the rims of mason jars.

The mini chocolate pies were surprisingly easy to make and I topped them with some more printed punch-outs attached to toothpicks. The favor bags were also made to match and filled with homemade chocolate chip cookies. (I guess it's a good sign that they disappeared before I could get a picture of the whole display.)

Thank you, Tiffany, for allowing me to be a part of this special event.

Back to Work

Monday will be my first day back to work from maternity leave. I agreed to go back over a month ahead of schedule. I made this decision for a few reasons: 1) My (new) boss had already started contacting me frequently to help respond to some issues they apparently felt they waited long enough to resolve; 2) It was a strategic decision to negotiate working from home (otherwise I will need the additional time to arrange for childcare); and 3) Because Alex hasn't found a job yet, I am still the sole breadwinner of the family and the bread is running out.

Needless to say, I have mixed feelings about the situation. One the one hand, I'm excited to go back and hit the floor running in my new (management!) role. But I also know that I'm going to miss having so much time to spend with Ava. We've developed somewhat of a morning routine, our new little family, and it has become my favorite time of the day.

Ava's been so great about consistently sleeping through the night since before she was eight weeks old, and when she wakes up in the morning, she doesn't cry, but sometimes coos a little to let us know she's up and then as soon as she sees my face she gives me the happiest smile like I've just made her the luckiest girl in the world. (The feeling I get from this is indescribable; I think it's one of those things you just have to be a mother to experience.) Then after I feed her the three of us hang out, sing, dance, and play in bed until we're hungry enough to get out of bed and start the day.

I know we can still have these moments while I'm working, for a few minutes before I have to start my workday and on weekends, but I know it won't be with the same carefree, dedicated focus. My attention will be diverted. Life will move at a faster pace. So for these last few days, I'm going to savor every minute of bonding with my baby.

Ava's First Easter

Valerie got Ava the cutest bunny hat and outfit to wear for Easter.

Excited for the Easter parties.

"Eh... What's up doc?"

I had some cute scrapbook paper on hand that I thought would be great for Easter, and since our house is currently under construction and not worthy of such decoration, I decided to help decorate my parents' house for their Easter party with a pennant banner and coordinating cupcake toppers and a "Happy Easter" banner.

We set up a candy buffet rather than fill baskets with candy as we've always done; my mom filled the baskets with other small gifts for each of us instead.

Ava's little cottontail says it all.

This was a nice Easter and all, and our parents did a lovely job making it festive and fun, but maybe by next year we'll finally be done remodeling and I'll host the Easter party and it will look something like this, and I will make these cool egg ornaments and hang them from branches to make an Easter Egg Tree like this, and I'll serve a champagne brunch like this and cake pops in these amazing tulip cupcake liners.

The Pre-Planning Party

Tiffany shared this tradition with me that her fiance's grandmother has insisted on for as long as anyone in the family can remember. Before any big family event, she invites all the ladies together to help plan the party. This way one person is not doing all the work, everyone else gets to contribute their ideas and get involved, and it also becomes an excuse to get your closest family members and friends together for a fun event in itself.

Since Tiffany has several close friends who all wanted to contribute to her shower, we decided to carry on this tradition and get together and collaborate prior to the big event.

Here are a few of the ideas I found on the blogosphere that I brought with me to share with the rest of the party-planning committee:

If I can scrounge up enough mason jars, I will definitely be making something similar to this.

LOVE the mini pies and the vintage cowboy books found here.

This is the coolest tablecloth! Not sure I'll be able to find something similar, but I'll keep a lookout. Mason jars also make great vases and can be varying sizes.

I'm loving all the different variations of the pennant banners out there, so this is for sure on my party prep to-do list.

I also offered to make the invitations and had the perfect one in mind for the new little cowboy on the way:

We sipped on mimosas and had a great spread of cheese, grapes, salami, fruit salad, kalamata olives, and pesto pasta salad to keep us well-fueled throughout the day.

I'm definitely going to make pre-planning parties my own new tradition.