Best Birthday Ever

Yesterday I turned 25! It was a great birthday. Jake and I went out to dinner at my favorite celebration restaurant (meaning we only go there for special occasions because it's so stinkin; expensive!) Cheesecake Factory. It was as tasty as ever-and super fast. We had an appetizer, main dish, and dessert (cheesecake, of course!) and we were done in 45 minutes! Since it's in the mall, Jake's parents met us there and took both the kids for us-that way if Leah needed me, I'd be close. But both of them did just fine (heck, we were only away from them for 45 minutes!) and we had a great date together. Jake bought me some new glass liquid measuring cups and more cookie sheets (just what I asked for!) and this book:

I LOVE it! I'm pretty sure some of you in Jake's family already have this book and I could have just borrowed it, but I'm so glad I have my own because I want to make every cupcake in it! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to make cute, easy cupcakes. Jake's family celebrated my birthday last weekend and I got some cash from Jake's parents and lots of fun cards. We are going out with my family tonight for my birthday and for Mother's Day. As much as I love the gifts Jake gave me, my favorite gift was from my kids-with no help from Jake. Really! We were all sitting in bed and I was holding Leah on my lap, sitting her up and she was facing Isaac. He found that quite funny and was just sitting there 6 inches from her facing laughing his little head off. She kept smiling at him and that just added to his laughter. And then....Leah giggled!! For the first time! It was the best birthday gift ever! We tried to get her to do it again on video, but with no luck. Ahh, my kids make me so happy and so grateful to be a Mommy. Happy Birthday to me!

What a Deal!

One my roommates from my freshman year got this email from her cousin and posted it on her blog-it's a private blog so I'm just passing on the fantastic deal. Check it out-it's for real! *I have not confirmed the coupon codes at the bottom, but most of the stuff I looked at really is only $1!!!

Nordstrom is changing the logo on their makeup, so they're selling almost
everything for $1!!!

The make-up line e.l.f.(eyes- lips-face) has been bought out by Nordstrom
and will be re-packaged with the Nordstrom name on it.

They are getting rid of the entire make up in ELF packaging.. They are
selling everything for $1. You do have to pay shipping. They have
everything - powder, mascara, lipstick, a mineral line (100% natural),
brushes & cases, nail polish, lotions, you name it - it's there. The
website is :

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/shop.asp

When you check out there is a space for a coupon code. Use CAROLINA and save an additional $7.50 if your order is over $15.00.

If you don't want the above coupon code, you can enter 2SHIP for $2 shipping - I don't know what the minimum is on this...

Oh Yeah

I forgot...I also FINALLY finished my last few projects in the kids' room so I'll get pictures posted soon. (Isaac is sleeping right now otherwise I'd go take pictures and post them right away)

AND I went to the movies last night with my mom, my sister, her husband, and my sister in-law, oh-and Leah, too. We saw the Hannah Montana movie-SUPER CUTE! I know it is a little crazy that a group of adult women went to a G-rated movie intended for little girls, but it was fantastic and I highly recommend it!

New Poll

Our kitchen is technically an eat-in kitchen, but we also have a dining room with a nice dining table and chairs so we never eat in our kitchen. I've just been using that space as my craft area, but that will all be moving downstairs when the family room is finished. Therefore, we have to decide what to put in that space. Isaac has a big picnic table that is in the garage that we use when we're outside (pictured to the right). I had Jake's parents get it for him for Christmas with the intention of putting it in the kitchen. But now I realize it's one of the first things people will see when they come to our house (not that people ever really come to our house...) so I thought it might be nice to have something a little nicer...like the breakfast nook also pictured to the right. Someone is selling it on Craigslist for $125 (a good deal, I know! Oh, and if you want it now and buy it before me-shame on you!) :) Tell me what to do-please, I need help!

Pictures of Life

More often than not, I go longer than I intend to without posting. And this is just one of those times. So here's our life lately in pictures..

Little Miss Leah is just getting bigger every day and somehow also manages to get cuter every day!

Proof that Isaac agrees with the above statement. :)

We took advantage the nice weather yesterday and planted hostas and impatients in the front flower bed then added some wonderfully smelling cedar mulch. I know it doesn't look like much now, but they will grow...and hopefully better than all the full-sun flowers I planted 2 years ago before taking into account that our front yard gets very, very little sun once the leaves have grown in on our ginormous tree out front.

And here's what a tulip looks like when you try to transplant it. Not sure that you can transplant tulips-it was a loner in the middle of our big flower bed so we attempted to give it a more suitable home. Hmm...can you tell Jake and I are learn-as-you-go kind of people?

While outside enjoying that BEAUTIFUL weather yesterday Isaac decided to try on my garden gloves-he actually almost got them both on all by himself.

I was the purchasers of a fantastic deal on craigslist last week-a $45 plastic storage tower for only $10. Woohoo! It's really inspired a lot of organizing and cleaning out of my craft/sewing/scrapbooking stuff. Once it's all done, I'll take a picture to post.

Family Pictures

Jake's dad took family pictures for us a few weeks ago and I thought I'd post a few. Surprisingly, Isaac did much better with the pictures of just him and Leah than he did with the whole family...I was expecting the other way around. There's also a few of Leah in her blessing gown. Yes, I really did cut up my wedding dress...just the bottom hem and the row with the beading towards the bottom are from my dress, the rest is just fabric I bought at Jo-Ann. It ended up being much easier than I was anticipating. I ended up just sewing snaps on the back instead of doing buttonholes because I was too scared I'd mess it up and have to re-do the whole bodice.

This really is one of my favorites because it really is a perfect snapshot of Isaac-he is such a story-teller at times, though he only has a few words to tell those stories with. I just listen and respond as best I can. I love my boy!

We're Moving!!!!

No, not really, but that's what I say to myself every morning between 5 and 6am when Isaac is awakened by either the garbage truck at the pharmacy or the delivery truck at the grocery store right by our house. Don't know why it just started bothering him. We've lived here since before he was even born. Nonetheless, it's extremely irritating that he now sleeps worse than the baby most nights (by the way, she slept from 11:15 until around 7:00 and went back to sleep and is still snoozing away at 9:09!!! Oh, but most nights she wakes up sooner, but still just wakes up once a night). Poor Jake slept on the couch last night in hopes that he wouldn't hear Isaac and actually get a full night's sleep. If only...I went to bed with a horrible headache and Jake obviously wanted to let me stay in bed when Isaac woke up so he got up and went in to hold him for 30 seconds and lay him back down (which is all he needs when he wakes up like this...). I think he ended up going in there 3 times within a half hour or so. Ugh...some day he'll sleep all night all the time, right? No? Oh well-sleep is so overrated. :)