1060 Bliss

Yesterday (Sunday) was the kind of day I wish we could have everyday. We started off the day early with breakfast out and a trip to our favorite park.

The weather was amazing. Perfect for long sleeves and a light scarf, but no jacket necessary.

The little man wore his cowboy hat most of the morning, including the car ride.

In the afternoon we enjoyed some time relaxing, took a nice family run (just a short 3K) and then ended the day with dinner cooked on the grill and a fun Halloween craft project.

(more on the craft project later - it's a fun one!)

Backing up for a minute. On thursday this was delivered to my door.

Probably the best thing that has ever landed on my doorstep.

It's my first DSLR and it's even more fun than I thought it would be. I've been dreaming about it forever and I finally (still not sure how!) convinced the husband to buy one. I don't even know how to use it yet. I've really only taken pictures in auto mode, but even then they are one thousand times better than my little nikon point and shoot.

Ok back to the weekend. Friday started off with a homemade pumpkin spiced latte

and then an all day craft-a-thon.

Because of course when you get a new camera the first thing you do is bust out your sewing supplies and sew a camera strap cover and a new bag for all your camera gear that will also double as a purse.

No, you don't do that? Is it just me?

Oh and I played with the camera quite a bit too!

Saturday I crafted some more, we played at the park and watched a lot of football!

The weekend ended with 2 finished projects (bag and ruffled camera strap)

and a batch of homemade chocolate pudding.

It doesn't get much better than that!

So that's our fun weekend recap.

Here are a few more of my favorite pics from the new camera.

romaine lettuce in our garden

mexican sage

hope your weekend was wonderful too!

I'm sure there is a rule among bloggers regarding the maximum number of pictures you can add to one post. And I am also sure that I am about to violate that rule. In my defence, he's my only child and it is the only 2nd birthday he will ever have. So there! :)

Seriously though, I was reading a post the other day from Jami Nato and she pointed out that as mothers we are the memory keepers. I've been thinking about it a lot ever since and wondering if I have let too many beautiful memories pass me by without documenting them. I mean re-finishing furniture and tablescaping is so fun, but really nothing is more fun to me than this little guy. He is truly the best and when I'm old and losing my mind I want to look back on this blog and see him growing and changing and learning and playing. So, I promise to continue to post about my furniture makeovers and tablescapes, but there will probably be more posts about real life with my little man too. I hope you enjoy both!

OK, now here we go. His second birthday extravaganza!

We didn't do a big party this year. He's going through a stage where he doesn't really like big crowds and lots of noise and a lot of attention on him. So I felt it would be more fun for him if we just celebrated with the three of us.

It started early that morning with the opening of gifts, of course! It was almost like Christmas in September.

Of course, he ran straight for the balloons first (this kid LOVES balloons). And you will notice throughout the pictures that he did not let those balloon strings leave his hands the entire morning.

He loved the tunnel Grammie & Grandpy sent him!

Again, refusing to let the balloons go, he pulled all 5 balloons with him through the tunnel every single time.

Two words : static cling

His favorite book of all time (Peek-a-boo Who). This is the third copy we have bought. He treats this book the way some kids treat their lovey or blankie. So as you can imagine, after a while of being carried everywhere and read 1000 times a day a book starts to fall apart. Hence the third copy.

He held his balloons all the way through breakfast too, but I didn't take pictures.

Later that morning we headed to his friend Margaret's birthday party.

It was a farm theme and he had the best time running around playing with tractors and checking out chickens. It was really the perfect party for toddlers!

Cute cowboy hats that they had for favors!

They also had a bounce house - the little man was in heaven!

We do not have a dog, so when he sees a dog he's always really excited, but sort of a little unsure all at the same time. Give him five minutes to get comfortable though and he is best friends with any dog who will have him. He adored these dogs to the point that he was pretty much claiming them as his and not allowing the other kids near them.

After a little nap and lunch we celebrated with a birthday cookie. Two years old and this is his first cookie ever. And it wasn't any regular old cookie either. From scratch, gluten-free chocolate chip pecan cookie sandwiches with Justin's chocolate almond butter in the middle. (you'll thank me for that link).

I know the decorating is a little lacking, but decorating with nut butter was a tad more difficult than regular frosting. Luckily the little man didn't seem to mind my lame decor.

He was a little hesitant at first (this cookie business being new to him and all).