Sweet Simplicity: July 2013

Wednesday, July 24

cookies!

I have a very strong love for chocolate chip cookies. The Great American Cookie Factory at the mall...oh my, I love that place. The double doozie is my cookie of choice: two chocolate chip cookies sandwiched in between icing. If you haven't had one before, you must!

I had ordered a dozen crab shaped sugar cookies for Jack's birthday party, but based on the number of people that were going to be at the party I felt that I needed more. I decided to make double doozies. The lady making the crab cookies made me an extra dozen cookies by mistake, so I ended up with plenty of cookies. The double doozies were the first to go though!

I wanted to make the double doozies match the theme, so I purchased red, white, navy and blue m&m's. I also wanted to make them the easiest way possible. We traveled three hours with all the party supplies and I knew that once we got to our hometown I wouldn't want to spend time making icing and cookies, on top of spending time with family and getting ready for the party. I also knew that I wouldn't have time to do a lot of prep before we left for our hometown.

I went the easy route and bought cookie dough and the icing. Did you know you could buy icing from Target's bakery?! It is delish! I baked the cookies for 5 minutes at the recommended temperature, took them out and put m&m's on the top. Then, put them back in the oven for 5 more minutes to continue baking.

After they had cooled I used an XL baking tip and put icing on the back of one cookie and added another cookie to make a sandwich. Easy peasy!

Jack's birthday party can be viewed here and here.

Monday, July 22

one year pictures

I arranged for Jack to have his one year pictures taken the week before he turned one by Julie Dawkins Photography. I wasn't sure if she would be able to get any good pictures of him, because he does not want to sit still, especially if we are outside. She was able to get some great shots of him despite me having to sit him down and run behind the camera, sit him down and...you get the point.

Saturday, July 20

Farmer's Market Fun

Jack and I went to a local farmer's market this morning. There aren't a lot of vendors and it typically isn't that crowded, which is a plus for us because of the stroller. The amount of people could have something to do with the fact that we go as soon as they open around 8 am. Jack loved looking at all the people and sampling the goods. Well, he loved sampling everything but the chocolate pudding sorbet. He spit it out and it ended up on his shirt, which you will be able to see in a picture below.

I bought an eggplant, peaches, flowers, and cold brewed coffee concentrate for Ty to make iced coffees. I love that they package it in a mason jar.

Sipping on a fresh fruit juice combo of mango, pineapple, and strawberry. Yum.

It was nice to get outside for a bit before the temperatures were unbearable.

Tuesday, July 16

#jackandmommyday

Ty's residency schedule can be grueling. He is such a hard worker and never complains. Me, on the other hand, I may complain about it. :) Some months are harder than others and I just miss him. He will work 24 days in a row this month and some of those days include 30+ hour shifts. In an effort to focus on fun and not missing Ty, I declared last Saturday "Jack & Mommy Day." Obviously, Jack could have cared less, but it was a way to distract myself.

Morning walk through the neighborhood

Jack's first sno cone!

He loved it!

A trip to buybuyBaby

Grocery shopping at Target wearing his new shoes and using his new snack cup

Keeping busy while I put away groceries

This is from Sunday morning. As soon as he was done nursing, he brought me his new shoes to put on. He walked around the house, occasionally stomping in them. I think it's safe to say he loves them.

I bought cherries at Target and Jack loves them.

This weekend Ty's mom and niece are coming to visit. Jack loves playing with Lillian! I think we are planning a trip to the pool and lots of playtime. It will be a fun time!

Saturday, July 13

First Birthday Party continued...

He enjoyed his cake!

Ty lifted him out to take him straight to the sink. Jack started flinging the icing and cake off his hands. :)

Watching the slideshow of Jack's first year

Mason and Wade

Lillian and Lucas

Ty's grandad, Connie and mom, Beverly

Ty's grandad Ernest and grandma Joyce

My dad

Sweet Emerson! (and his dad Jesse) :)

This picture is a little out of order, but as soon as the cousins arrived they swarmed around Jack. They were just so excited! It was too cute.

Another crowd shot

Ty did a great job cooking the seafood boil! My mom made Red Lobster's cheddar biscuits and they were delish. We also had strawberry lemonade, tea, glass coke bottles, watermelon, strawberries and blueberries. All of the food turned out so good!

There was homemade icecream courtesy of Beverly, but in the chaos of things we completely forgot about it. We remembered at the end of the night, but I was too stuffed to have any. I'm regretting that decision now. :)

Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of everyone. The party was pretty busy! We are so grateful to everyone that came to celebrate Jack's first birthday! It was a wonderful evening!

Monday, July 8

First Birthday Party

We celebrated Jack turning one this past weekend. Mine and Ty's immediate family all lives in one town (except for his youngest sister), so we decided it would be much easier for everyone to have Jack's birthday party there. We loaded up all of the party supplies and spent the weekend at home. It was a great celebration full of family and lots of love for our boy! Expect a ton of pictures to follow!

Since Jack was born around the Fourth of July I knew that I wanted to do red, white, and blue for this first birthday. We went with a crab theme and did a seafood boil.
I designed the invitations, address labels, and envelope liners.

Smash Cake

The cake and cupcakes came from Sam's. I added the ric rac border around the cake and made the bunting.

PB&J sandwiches for the kiddos

The buckets were filled with red or blue bubbles, a punching ball balloon, and red & blue glow sticks. I used the same label that is around the jar of straws around the bubbles. I forgot to take a picture of those.