Easter 2014

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! Easter is my favorite holiday, and I had been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks. Nora kicked off Easter morning by letting us sleep in until almost 7. We enjoyed a pancakes + bacon breakfast and let Nora discover her Easter basket before going to church.

Nora's Easter basket was really simple this year, consisting of two balls from the $1 Target aisle, and handmade kitty, and some DIY tea bags for her play tea set.

We got a quick family photo after church (the only one all day, oops!).

Our friends came over for dinner and a little late-afternoon Easter egg hunt. Nora squealed with delight every time she saw an egg finally got the hang of carrying her basket around toward the end.

What did you do for Easter?

Hope you're all having a great week and are still celebrating that Christ is risen!

+, Lauren Aiken

A Pat the Bunny Birthday Party

Last Saturday we celebrated Nora's 1st birthday at our house. Most of our extended family was able to make it, with the exception of Auntie V (we missed you!!). We started the morning with a family brunch, Nora opened her gifts, and then we had a few friends over for cake! 

I wanted to make Nora's party special but also wanted to keep a really small budget. Turning one is a big deal! There is much to celebrate in Nora's first year or life, and she is blessed to have many people who love her dearly. At the same time, the party is a fleeting moment - and one she will not remember. 

Since I'm terrible at making decisions, it always helps me to make a list of priorities. 

These were my goals for her party:

1. Everyone has fun and our family shares a meal together. Our families came over mid-morning for brunch. The menu included baked eggs, hash brown casserole, ham, croissants, banana bread, and a yogurt parfait bar. A few friends came over in the afternoon for dessert, and Nora got to share her new toys with her friends :).
2. A theme that represents Nora at this stage of life. I really wanted to choose something that represented Nora's current likes and interests. Pat the Bunny turned out to be absolutely perfect! Nora loves reading books, she has been really into the touch and feel books, and just in the last month started loving on her stuffed animals. Plus, Pat the Bunny was a classic in our house growing up, and my mom had kept my stuffed white bunny (I didn't know until after I settled on the theme). 
3. Pretty photos to remember the day. Cue the DIY projects! Just a few little details can make for some pretty photos. I spray painted a couple Goodwilled frames and gathered a couple others from around our house, made a pom pom banner with old yarn, and another simple banner with Nora's name for our mantle. I used this tutorial for the tissue paper banner. It took only 3 pieces of tissue paper and about 20 minutes tops! The cake toppers are handmade too.
4. Something handmade to keep. I ended up making Nora's dress, mainly because I had something in mind and couldn't find anything close to what I was looking for in stores. It ended up being my favorite thing about her party even though it was too big for her. It's one of those simple pillowcase dresses that you see all over Pinterest. Instead of cinching the neckline, I added honeycomb smocking on the front and back. I watched a youtube tutorial for the smocking (it's actually very simple) and looked at about 4 different tutorials for the dress and did my own thing. 

Nora's party turned out just how I envisioned, which doesn't happen often. It was such a joy filled day, and we are so thankful for everyone who came to celebrate with us! I had been sick for a couple weeks and had also found out I had strep throat just a couple days before the party. By God's grace, a few people helped me with some last minute things, everything got done, and I was running on enough adrenaline Saturday morning that I felt well for most of the day. 

Ok, enough talking about the party, here are the photos of the day!

my sweet one year old! 

4 generations, with Grannie Weir

Nora's aunts and uncles (minus Victoria)

Daddy and Mommy 

Grammy and Gramps

Grandma and Grandaddy 

a little more decor

showing off her new walking skills

and of course a photo shoot

the brunch spread (ignore the red room, please)

 opening gifts 

playing with friends

and the CAKE!! 

We had the best time celebrating YOU, sweet girl!  

+, Lauren Aiken

Baby Nora: 11 Months

Nora's birthday is tomorrow, and I can hardly believe it. I've been majorly slacking with getting out the real camera to take photos, so all I have this month (really, last month) are a bunch of iPhone pics. Right after Nora turned 11 months, she and I took a trip to Indiana for the Persimmon Festival. Nora saw her first parade (and waved at most of the people walking by), went on a hayride, picked out her first pumpkin, ate persimmon pudding, and loved seeing her family in Indiana :). 

We stopped at our favorite local store Appleacres and snapped a few fall photos. They turned out to be a couple of my favorite photos of her to date! Nora was loving the pumpkins!

So for a quick update on Nora: 

Meal time has been the biggest change this month. Nora is eating everything that we do now, which makes it so simple! She is beginning to show some dislikes, but they are usually random (i.e. one day she will devour an entire banana, and the next day only eat a few bites). Her favorites this month are pears, strawberries, and pizza! We are starting to wean and are down to nursing 4 times a day - morning, after each nap, and before bed.

She hasn't gotten any new teeth (still 4 on top and 3 on the bottom). I'm pretty sure she's gotten quite a bit taller compared to the last few months, so I'm eager to see what her growth is at her 1 year checkup this week. 

Nothing much has changed as far as sleep habits go. On occasion we go through a few days of 2 or 4am wake ups and then back to sleeping through the night again. I'm not sure what that's about, but it happens infrequently enough that it isn't an issue. 

Nora is busy as ever. She is always on the move now, unless we are reading books together or she is eating. She's pretty independent and is content playing on her own for decent stretches of time. We've also been having a lot of play dates lately, and she equally loves her friend time. 

Thank you all for following Nora's first year with us! It has been fun to document her growth and development month by month, even though I've been super late most of the time and have missed a ton of things, I'm sure!

Matt and I are both currently sick, so I'm praying that we feel better tomorrow for Nora's birthday. Our families are coming to visit and celebrate with us this weekend, and we cannot wait to see everyone. Stay tuned for a recap :).

+, Lauren Aiken