Cupcake Party

One of my favorite blogs, Kelly's Korner, is doing a children's birthday party celebration today! Moms all over will post a link to their own blog highlighting a birthday party that they put together for their child. I am picking the last birthday party I threw.. Brylee's Cupcake First Birthday Party in March. We had so much fun and it was a cupcake crazy celebration. There will be lots of links where you can get any of this you see so if you know someone looking to do a cupcake party.. send them my way! I have sooo many great sources to share :) Here is the link to all things cupcakes that I have blogged about. To see the orginal post about her birthday party with all details you can look here.

First off, invitations were designed by Autumn's Creek
Most decorations were bought from Birthday Express, one of my very favorite online party stores! Such great quality and designs!

Birthday banner, which I buy for every birthday party my kids have because I think it is a precious keepsake, is also from Birthday Express. I just purchased our 4th banner for Braelyn upcoming party..

Cupcakes: All regular size cupcake we made by Mommy and Aunt Kristie.. there were over a 100!
Cupcake Pops: The precious idea was taken from Bakerella, who can make anything into a cake pop.. she is amazing.. subscribe to her blog today for great ideas! You have to make these cupcake pops they are delicious and so, so cute! I stayed up way late the night before the party making about 50 of these :)
Giant Cupcake: The giant cupcake was made using a pan that I bought at Target (sold other places as well) but is made by Wilton's. It's a little bit tricky to get right without burning or under cooking so here is the secret: 250 degrees for a little over an hour.. don't ask questions.. just do it! You will thank me for the tip later! :)
Cupcake stands: Also made by Wilton's.. I still use them when I make cupcakes so it's a good purchase. :) Tutu and onesie with cupcake were bought on Etsy.com from Sweetie Pie Tutu's. I ordered it kind of late and she got it to me fast and it looked perfect! Brylee still plays in hers and it makes for great birthday pictures at the party!! Cupcake bow was made by Aunt Kristie so if you need one of those, let me know as well. If you ever see an adorable bow on one of my children, chances are Kristie made it and she would be glad to make one for your princess too! Just email me at mommyloftin@yahoo.com My other precious baby, Braelyn, really enjoyed the cupcake pops! She has a little bit of a sweet tooth :) Brylee opening presents with Daddy. How cute are they? :)All of these amazing pictures were taken by our favorite, super talented photographer and dear friend, Brooke Ogilvie, who came to capture Brylee's big day for us! Go check out her site at bophotography.squarespace.com and make an appointement with her! She is the best!!

I really hope enjoyed a look back on Brylee's cupcake party! I had so much fun putting it all together and I think even Jeff would admit that he was so tired of hearing about cupcakes for a while :)

Happy Birthday, Uncle Stinky!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Stinky!
Words could not express how much you mean to us. You have sat at doctors appointments, changed diapers and been thrown up on. You rushed to Abilene to see two newborn babies, gave medicine, babysat, rocked to sleep and spoiled two girls like crazy. You have sent tons of presents, called in to work to spend an extra day, hid Easter eggs and never missed a birthday party. You have comforted, cuddled, kissed away tears and wiped away boogers! :) There is nothing more I could ask for than friends who really love our precious babies, who would do anything in the world for them, and you and Kristie really do and for that we are extremely blessed! Braelyn and Happy adore you and they are the two luckiest girls in the world for having the best Uncle Stinky ever! We love you so, so much! I couldn't use all the great pictures we have of you but here are some of my favorites! :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

I know Chris probably isn't a frequent reader of my blog so Kristie, you can send him this way! Click on the collages to see them bigger :) And for the record, I only teared up about 10 times while finding pictures and thinking about all the fun memories ;-)

Braelyn's 3rd Birthday invitation..

Now that they are off in the mail, I can officially show you Braelyn's 3rd birthday party invitations made by yours truly! And her theme revealed: CANDY! Not Candyland (because I hate the ugly characters and peppermints lol), just simply candy with an emphasis on lollipops because I think they are pretty :) This was Braelyn's request.. she wanted a "candy party" and I loved the idea! So those are a replica of the invitations I sent out in the mail yesterday because we obviously do not live on Lollipop Lane so for safety reasons, I changed the address and omitted the time but you get the idea. Think lots of candy, candy shaped everything and a candy bar! These kids are going to be bouncing off the walls and I LOVE IT! Braelyn wanted the giant water slide that she had from last year and it is so much fun that I went with that idea as well. Her party is on the 26th and her birthday on the 27th so look forward to the post of party details in the next few weeks :)

Not Me! Monday

One of my favorite blogs is of MckMama at My Charming Kids. You might remember me asking for yall to pray for her son, Stellan, who was born with a heart condition, a while back. Anyways, her blog is too cute with so many great ideas and recipes :) One of my favorite things she does is Not Me! Monday's in which you can confess some things that you may or may done have done in your life. They are hilarious and she encourages all of her blog readers to continue posting Not Me! Mondays on their own blogs. Go read her post from last Monday to get the idea.. here. This one is my first so here goes.. :)
Last week, I definitely did not go purchase caffeinated, sugar packed beverages for my children who are on sugar free (mostly) diets just because they were grumpy and I was tired of listening to them whine. That is encouraging bad eating habits and loading them with high fructose corn syrup.. gasp! I would never do that!
My husband and I did not laugh our heads off, hiding behind a magazine, when my precious child said a curse word and then gain my composure back to talk to her about words that "we do not say"! I would never thinking cussing is funny especially not from the mouth of that sweet little face!
I did not indulge my afternoon snack craving with a spoon FULL of icing from the jar. No one ever eats icing straight on a spoon. That would be so unhealthy and imagine all the calories. That's just gross! I can't believe "some people" do that!

I certainly did not allow my eyes to fill with tears when my 15 month old was stuck with two shots at her check up last week. I am the mother of 2 and have witnessed many, many shots given to my children. I can handle it now and would simply comfort my baby without acting like a baby myself. And while we are talking about how I will not cry at appointments.. I did not crying rather hard when the dentist told me my 2 two year old had her first cavity. Most kids get cavities and I would not be upset over that.. certainly not so upset that the dental hygientist went out of her way to reassure me that I was a "great mom and great tooth brusher but all kids get cavitites"! I will not tear up over my children almost every day...

Did you like my "non-confessions" of what some moms do but certainly not me? I did laugh while writing them.. Hope you enjoy! Happy Monday! :)

10 Honest Truths

I have been tagged by Abby to post a few honest truths. Lets see if I can come up with ten that you don't already know...

The Rules:
1. Tell your readers 10 things that are true that they might not know
2. Tag 10 other bloggers to do the same.


1. I have thousands and thousands of pictures of my kids since they were born and have printed probably about 100 of them :( Don't worry they are saved to as many locations as possible but I just never want to mess with sending them to be printed. It overwhelms me to even think about starting the process!
2. I hear all the time "You don't look old enough to be a mom", "You don't look like you have had kids.. were they adopted?" or "How old were you when you had kids?". It's not flattering to me.. it usually makes me sad. :( I am NOT too young to be a mom! I was 22 when Braelyn was born and 24 when Brylee was born. I promise I carried them both in me for 9 months and gave birth to them lol And they are 20 months apart.. yes, I know that they are close in age. No, they weren't planned that close in age but yes, I am so glad they are. They are perfect playmates and I wouldn't have it any other way! And finally, no, I do not plan on having anymore! :)
3. My house is full of so many toys that the kids love but I actually cant stand all the toys! Nothing annoys me more than just little toys all over the house. I spend hours a day picking them all up and putting them back in the right place. We have a giant toy closet off of our living room with two toy boxes and I chunk it all back in there and it makes me feel better :)
4. I am a stay at home mom but yet I still long for the weekends because Jeff is home with me to share in the chaos. An extra set of hands with two kids is always a good thing!
5. We are in the process of redoing our hardwood floors so my entire living room is in our extra bedroom until next weekend. Seriously. It's that crazy. Once the floors are done and the living room is moved back then the extra bedroom will turn into Brylee's new room, which needs lots of work. I am dreading it all and partially excited to pick our PAINT! YAY!
6. I probably love Coca-Cola more than most people love their dogs. I even tried to quit drinking them during both pregnancies and couldn't do it.. I just cut back a lot. It's an addiction. My head hurts without one. I know I am addicted so from my sophomore year of high school till my freshman year of college I totally quit all caffeine. I know, crazy! I only drank water for almost 4 years and then when there is a coke machine in your dorm.. I gave up. I don't think I could ever do it again! Maybe I should try...
7. I also love tanning too much. I'm sure I will see the effects one day.. eek! :(
8. I could swim every day of my life and never get sick of it. I dont know why but I love being in the water so much! Lake, ocean, pool.. bring it on!
9. I love Texas and love living here but if there is one place I could move to today it would be Ouray, Colorado. Sign me up. I have been many, many times and it never gets old. It's heaven on Earth. Look it up on Google images :)
10. I really want to delete my Myspace account because I love Facebook so much more but I am scared LOL Help..

Now it's YOUR turn..

I tag:

1. Shanna

2. Brenna

3. Liz

4. Julie

5. Ashley

6. Colleen

7. Chaney

8. Sam

9. Landrea

10. Lauryn

Think of some good ones, girls :)

Happy- 15 months old

Miss Happy had her 15 month check up yesterday and she did great!
She got two shots (no, we do not delay any vaccinations.. see my post here for my thoughts) and just whined a little bit until I picked her up and hugged her :)

She was 22 pounds and 31 3/4 inches long. Just perfect!

She is running everywhere and wants to know what everything is.. "what's that?"

She is a feisty little baby and keeps me on my toes. She knows exactly what she wants at all times! My "wild child" but we love her so!

Brylee is very advanced verbally (see her list of words already!!) below.
She knows where her eyes, ears and nose are and really likes to poke on peoples faces to tell them where there nose is :)

Brylee loves to climb on top of everything.. you cant let her out of your sight long or she will be on top of the table, as seen here)

Based on her abilities, her pediatrician thought she was "extremely intelligent" and that at this rate her vocabulary would double by 18 months.

We are so proud and had to brag on her just a little bit! This blog also helps me keep up with my babies growth so you can ignore this post unless you are Brylee's aunts, uncles, grandparents or cousins :) Haha!

Brylee's words:
Uh-oh
ball
mine
mama
dada
dylan
james
chris
drink

milk
no
dont
ready, set, go
what's that?
bye bye
hi
cowboy
cheese
please
thank you
sit down
baby
kiss
puppy
fish
daddy

(I know there is more so I will add them as I think of them..)

Enough Rope

If you keep up with my exciting (okay, I know it's boring.. haha) blog, then you probably have picked up on the fact that I use this as not only a way to document my perfect, precious childrens every move but also to share things on my heart. I'm not sure what the point of it is (maybe I should take up preaching lol) but somewhere through the past 25 years packed with many great trials and tribulations, I felt like I have something to share.. that God had given me something to say sometimes. Actually, I think He uses us all. We all have "something to say" sometimes.

So hear I go again.. sorry..
My brother played this song for me a couple of weeks ago and it really has been on my heart since then. Go watch the YouTube video and ignore that Chris Knight, the singer, might have the world's worst (or best) southern drawl :) Listen to the words..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGXtkSyFAg

I really don't want to post all the lyrics because you need to hear the lyrics sang and listen to the tune but the part that hits home to me says:

Well I’m thankful for the things I have,

And all the things I don’t.

And I’ve got dreams that will come true,

And I’ve got some that won’t.

Most the time I just walk the line wherever it goes.

‘Cuz you can’t hang yourself if you ain’t got enough rope.

I am really am thankful that I don't have everything and I really am thankful for what I do have. This might be one time when it is okay to be mediocre. I want the same for my kids. I want them to know desire and longing but I also want them to be taken care of and comfortable enough to thrive. Aside from the fact that I really dont like that he uses the example of "hanging yourself" but it does prove the point. I won't explain more because I think the song speaks for itself so go listen..

((stepping off my soapbox once again))

:)