Hope life is treating you well...

Hi guys!  How have you all been?  I feel sometimes this conversation we are having is a little one sided. ;)  How was your Mother's Day?  Brad's brother and his wife, my beautiful and sweet as pie sister-in-law Jen, came and stayed with us for a few days.  Amara adores Auntie Jen because she spoils her rotten with hair pieces, shoes, jewelry, clothes and tutus galore!  Every day Amara came toddling out of Aunt Jenny's room with a new outfit on (sometimes twice a day) and matching accessories.  It was quite fun:)

Aunt Jenny also got Amara a beautiful little dolly which she took to right away.  I am so blessed to have married into such a loving, supportive and generous family.  Jen, you're wonderful, we love you and miss you so much!

Amara continues to be enthralled with water.  She loves the tub, she loves the rain, she loves the pool and she loves the splash park.  What I love is that she just goes for it, she doesn't even bother to throw a glance back in my direction.  As fast as her little legs can get her there she is out in that water!  She's brave and unintimidated.  She knows what she wants and what she doesn't and she's not the least bit ambivalent.  On the playground she often generates comments like, she's so active, she's a climber, she's like a little boy!  I'm always chasing after her, apologizing when she appropriates other kids' food/bike/ball and spotting her so she doesn't fall when climbing on ladders/fences/other children.  Sometimes I think it would be nice to sit and talk to other Moms while my child plays nicely at my feet, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  She is exhausting and I love her for it.

I cannot get over this precious swimsuit and swim cap that was generously sent to Amara in a care package from the ever so lovely Rebecca from Obsessed with Polka Dots.  Amara is so blessed to have wonderful people love her and I am blessed to have met such sweet friends.

Our Memorial Day weekend was made up of blueberry pancakes, the water park, a redneck party (epic party at my new dentist/new friend's place!), burgers, beach balls, motorcycle riding/fixing and lots of coffee.  Right now, it's way passed my bedtime so I have gotta go to sleep. Brad, if you're reading this, you may be taking morning shift tomorrow. (He is sitting right next to me on the couch asking me if I am ready for bed yet:)

I hope you all had a great weekend, talk to you soon!

A Birthday Party for Miss Amara Dielle

Amara's birthday party was a wonderful day.   It was lovely to celebrate her first whole year of life with my Mom and the new friends we've made here in Austin.  Amara, however, wasn't feeling all that wonderful. That whole week of her turning one (and ever since) was rough.  Learning to walk, breaking teeth, discovering she is a whole person separate from her Momma and growing bigger by the minute is hard on a little one.  That morning, she was pretty cranky and kept hitting her hand to her poor little teething mouth.  When she woke from her second nap, she was greeted by lots of happy faces but didn't quite know what to make of it all!  She was a little groggy at her party, maybe she thought she was still sleeping and this was all a crazy dream:)

One of the best things about the that day was meeting my new and already dear friend Hollye and her lil' blue eyed beauty.  Hollye is an incredibly talented photographer who just moved her small family to Austin too.  We have so much in common it's kind of freaky.  We had been talking for a couple of months before we met at Amara's party.  See, the Chrismans, our wedding photographers,  also did Hollye's wedding.  Being the awesome friends and people they are, they introduced us via email a couple of months ago because they knew that both of us made/were making the move to Austin without any family or friends. Just how sweet is Hollye?  She brought her camera to take pictures of Amara's day as a gift to her!  I love her photos, it was the greatest present possible.  Her daughter is just a couple weeks older than Amara and they have become fast friends too!

I made chocolate cupcakes and these delicious almond shortbread cookies (the things this woman does with cookies is like, insane).  I dipped them in white chocolate, adding some coconut oil to make it dippable; the coconut flavor actually tasted awesome with the almond.  To make the messages, I used this World Market cookie cutter set which was a lot of fun for me:)  I also made a two tier strawberry and vanilla cake using my absolutely favorite strawberry frosting from the always amazing Sweetapolita.  I stamped out "Amara my Sweet" fondant letters with these cutters and sprayed and glittered them gold.  For Amara's cake, I had always wanted to try my hand at edible gold leaf and this was the perfect chance:)  I cut a heart out of fondant and foiled it using this tutorial as my guide.  Gold leaf is so delicate and tricky to work with, I'm glad I tempered my ambition by only using it on a small portion and not applying it directly to a cake.  I had a safety net because if I screwed up I could just cut out another heart.  Although, I had to be careful with making sure I had enough sheets of gold for my screw ups!  I LOVE the look of gold on cake.  

Or gold on anything.

We didn't quite know what to do with the cake at first.  She was much more concerned with whether or not I got some. 

With a little help, eventually we got the hang of it!  And we had our fill.

Brad, my Mom and I made these DIY crowns from this awesome blog I found through Pinterest.  I made a couple different flower headbands for Amara, neither of which she was interested in wearing.   

It was a sweet, sweet day ❤

Thank you to Hollye of Hollye Schumacher Photography for the beautifully captured memories!

Just living

We've been living a lot of life lately.  After a week of birthday festivities and an extended visit from Mima, we have been out enjoying the 85+ degree weather Austin has graciously provided.  There is just so much to do in this city!  Gorgeous parks, delicious food trucks (everywhere), great pools (have yet to take a dip though) and super chill people.  We are loving it.  

One of the greatest things that has happened lately is that Amara and I met new friends!  We became fast friends with another Momma and her little girl who is the same age as Amara. As soon as I saw her metallic gold zebra rug I knew we were going to get along just fine;)  We've hung out 4 times in the last week and I am so grateful for this friendship already!

We are in the process of finding a nanny/sitter so Brad and I can enjoy more date nights and I can get my butt in gear and finally go to that kickboxing class I vowed to join back in January.  

I hear a little girl waking up from her morning nap... time to get this 92 degree day started!

A few party pics...

We had Amara's birthday party on Saturday and it was a blast!  Here are just a few Instagram photos, more to come!

I made two cakes, a two tiered strawberry and vanilla for guests and gold leaf heart cake for Amara to "smash".  There wasn't a lot of smashing going on though, she didn't know what to do with it!  

I can't even believe she is one already.  She wanted to show Momma how grown up she was for her party and started walking last week!  She is sprouting four top teeth too... And just like that, she's a big girl:)

Enjoying that toothless grin while it lasts

Amara is 10 months already and has 4 teeth peeking out from underneath those pinky gums. But while they wait to poke through, I'll keep enjoying all those beautiful little gummy smiles...

Like the one that happens when she sees Daddy for the first time each morning.

Or the one that happens when I find her hiding underneath the kitchen table.

And the one that shows up after we share a kiss in between her crib bars.

Ahhh...I love it more than anything.