The Grandma Visits Edition

It's been a week! For 10 days the kids and I were without Scott thanks to some out of town work obligations he had. To say we were excited to have him back home would be a gross understatement. However, we were so fortunate that most of those days were not spent without extra help. My mom flew in from Iowa for a hefty portion of the time Scott was away.

That leads me to our highlights from the past week.

1. GRANDMA!

We are so, so lucky to have our families come and visit us as often as they do. Living 1600 miles from family isn't easy, but the sure do everything they can to help us out when it's possible.

While Grandma was here...

2. PJ Day at School!

I remember these kinds of dress up days at school as a kid, and I loved them. I'm also pretty sure the jammies Marcus was sporting came from Grandma, so it seemed appropriate he wore them on PJ day.

3. DISNEY!

We made a Disney trip with Grandma in tow (and I'm kicking myself for not taking any photos of her with the kids there!). And my goodness, what a change from the last few times we'd been. Prior, Marcus had exactly zero interest in the park. This time? LOVED IT!! We went on more rides this past trip than the three trips before it - combined! My mom was a saint and rode rides with Marcus while I hung out with Julia, and then we would switch and she kept Julia entertained while I rode rides with the little man. Our main objective was to see the 60th Anniversary fireworks. But, OF COURSE it was too windy for those to happen, so we didn't see a single firework. Guess we'll just have to go back again soon!

4. Savoring the moments.

Because of the extra help of Grandma I was able to savor little moments with my kids that might have otherwise gone by the wayside in the hustle of simply trying to survive 10 days without Scott. One of those moments was holding Julia after she nursed. One minute she was giggling and cooing, the next she was dozing in my arms. These moments are fleeting, and I'm thankful I didn't miss such a soft and tender moment with my littlest.

5. THE WEEKEND! 
It's finally here! Have a good one!

Picture Perfect Project {{2}} - A Closer Look

Month two of the the Picture Perfect Project is upon us!

Admitedly I had a tough time finding inspiration for this month. I had zero ideas or direction and was at a loss for quite some time.

A trip to the water was just what I needed to inspire me.

The coast and beach are gorgeous, but it's rare that we ever take a good, close look at what's surrounding us.

One warm, sunny afternoon I brought my mom and kids to the water and did a bit of exploring. I wanted to capture all the little things that often are overlooked.

The big picture looked like this. 

But upon further inspection...

Sand in scalloped formation, made by the tide that rushed out.

Tiny coral of all colors under the sun dotted the sand.

Tube coral was found forever cemented in sea sediment.

I had no idea what these tiny volcanic creations were. But they were securely planted in the sediment, and look like something found on a far away planet.

A star fish was half exposed, and clung fiercely to a rock.

An open anemone was covered in tiny shells, coral, sand, and sea glass.

After a little poke of the finger, the anemone closed up.

The wavy arms of a green anemone, wide open, full color on display, surrounded by the purple hues of other sea plants left me in awe and wonder.

But this... A dried out urchin, perched within the tentacles of an anemone... By far my favorite find of all.

But the absolute, most precious sight? When I looked up from all the sea life under my lens...

Grandma and Marcus enjoying the salty, sweet air. 

Linking up with some lovely ladies for the second edition of the Picture Perfect Project.

An InLinkz Link-up

Julia || 6 Months

Sweet Baby Girl,

Where to even begin? It's so cliche, but I can't even wrap my mind around the idea that you are already six months old. A whole half year. It's gone so fast. Too fast. I'm tearing up just thinking about how quickly the time just slips through our fingers.

If we're being honest, this month was kind of a rough one for us all. I firmly believe you're teething, yet your teeth have zero interest in actually breaking through. You've been much more fussy than you've ever been, and often times seemed to have been uncomfortable or in pain. You couldn't escape a nasty cold your brother so kindly shared with you, so runny noses and icky coughs have been lingering.

We finally bit the bullet and started a little sleep training. The first week was rough (like reeeeally rough), and you were less than thrilled with the idea of going to bed around 7:00. However, after some work with the Ferber method, it rarely takes you longer than 5-15 minutes of crying and you're out. Generally, you'll sleep for 6-7 hours before you're up and ready for a quick nursing session. Six to seven hours sounds great, until it's realized that means it's still only about 1:30AM. After the early morning session you typically sleep till about 6:30. I'm patiently waiting for the day/night that you sleep right on through. Your naps continue to be all over the place, and rarely will you nap for more than a 45 minute stretch.

This is the first month we've been able to exclusively nurse, and I can't even express how much this thrills me! You tend to want to eat every 2-3 hours. We also introduced rice cereal, pureed carrots, and pureed peas this month. All of which you seemed eager to try. You'll eat the rice and peas, but the carrots you absolutely devour. I have a sneaky suspicion you're going to be my good eater.

You are rolling and pivoting like a pro. If I place you on your play mat you immediately flip to your tummy. You love reaching for your toys, and if you can get your hands on something (anything!) it immediately goes in to your mouth. You are doing mini push-ups and propping yourself up to see the world around you. We're still working on the whole sitting business. You're not much good at it, and don't seem too terribly interested in getting that skill mastered.

If you're placed in your bouncy/exersaucer thing you'll hang out for a handful of minutes, but it's by no means your favorite place to play.

Twinkle Twinkle is your jam, and on more than one occasion I've had to sing it over and over again to keep you calm.

Thankfully you're getting better about being in the car seat. You still object when initially placed in the seat, but typically you settle in and just enjoy the ride.

Marcus is your best buddy. He can make you smile and laugh like no one else. When you hear his voice you are immediately drawn to him. I love how much you love him, and he you.

Your smile is the best. When your smile is real big your get the cutest crinkle in your nose.

Sometimes, if we're really lucky, your smile will give way to that adorable little dimple that tends to hide. Your giggle is infectious, and is the sweetest sound around. When your dad comes home from work you immediately light up when you see him. My heart melts every time.

Little Dolly, you're pretty amazing. It's crazy to think you've been here six short months, yet it feels like you've been apart of our family forever. Thank you for being ours.

Happy Half Birthday, Peanut!

I love you to the moon and back. Twice.

Love,
Mommy

Stats
Height:: 27 inches (90th percentile)
Weight:: 14.05 pounds (25th percentile) - you're long and lean, little lady!
Teeth:: None
Clothes:: 6-9 month
Diapers:: Pampers Size 2
Nicknames: Jules (though Scott insist I not call her that - sorry, it's happening), Dolly, Peanut

Just for fun, a little side-by-side of both babes at 6 months:

Marcus was 28 inches long and 21 pounds (7 pounds more than Julia), and he already had two teeth!

Be My Valentine || Blogger Valentine Exchange

In less than a week we will be celebrating Valentine's Day?! Can you believe it? This month has positively flown by. To prep for the lovely holiday we have been trucking away, baking all the Valentine's goodies, crafting all the Valentine's crafts, and making all the Valentine's to send out for a bloggers Valentine swap.

There were grand plansto have Marcus help me with our Valentine's. But, in reality he helped slap on a bit of glue, added a few stickers, and he was pretty much good with the whole thing. Crafting just isn't his thing - and that's ok.

My inspiration for our Valentines came from wanting to incorporate mini flash lights and on-the-go s'mores. With those two things in mind, "You LIGHT Up Our Live S'MORE Than You'll Ever Know" was born. Putting together the actual Valentine was quite easy.

Here's what we needed to create and assemble each Valentine:

• Red card stock, or pre-made hearts
• A print of the saying
• Scissors 
• Glue
• Heart shaped paper punch
• Twine
• Mini flashlight 
• Festive washi tape
• Wilton brand cookie bags
• 2 Tbsp Valentine M&Ms/Valentine
• 2 Tbsp Teddy Grahams/Valentine 
• 2 Tbsp marshmallows/Valentine

Assembly:

• Cut out print of Lights/S'mores saying and glue to red card stock heart.
• Punch a hole near the top of the red heart, and add a small piece of washi tap to the heart (place washi tape where ever you think it looks best - I chose the upper left corner of the heart).
• Fill cookie bag with M&Ms, Teddy Grahams and Marshmallows (heaviest on bottom, lightest on top).
• Tie bag closed with twine, then slip the flashlight on to the twine.
• Loop twine through the hole punched in the red heart and loosely tie in a knot. The s'more, flashlight and heart should all be intertwined. 
• Waa-laa!

I was incredibly pleased with how our little Valentine's turned out, and I hope our recipients were, too!

Perhaps the most fun part of this exchange was going to the mailbox every day with Marcus to see if any goodies had arrived for him. He was tickled when a few parcels of mail were in our box each day. We have little patience, so we opened the Valentines as they arrived. 

Currently, all the Valentines are on display, hanging from our hutch in our kitchen. I simply strung some yarn across the top of the hutch and attached each Valentine with fun little clothes pins.

To see more details of all the fabulous Valentine's we received be sure to check out the ladies who particpated in this year's Valentine swap:

Tawnya, Scarlett, & Bodhi @ All of Life's Little Adventures

Jen & Hattie @ And Hattie Makes Three

Ashley, Waverly, & Avalon @ Being Brickner

Jess & Abbie @ Being Mrs. Beer

Elizabeth & Mason @ Chasin' Mason

Liz & Jude @ Ellie and Addie

Crystal & Mason @ Hall Around Texas

Desiree, Marcus, & Julia @ Macke Monologues

Natalie & Blair @ Nat Your Average Girl

Sara, Mac, & Mim @ Running From the Law

Jess, Cameron, & Louise @ Scott Family of Maine

Jessica, Cameron, & Emerson @ Secrets of a Stay at Home Mom

Sarah, Brantley, & Holden @ Seeing All Sides

Karli, Kaye, & Sawyer @ September Farm

Chrissy & Elin @ Simple Joys Blog

Courtney & Aria | Sweet Turtle Soup

Meghan & Noah @ The Adventure Starts Here

Stephanie & Connor | Wife Mommy Me

Whitney, Kinsey, & Brielana @ Work It Mommy

You can also check out all the goodies on InstaGram by searching #valentineblogswap2016!

What's on the agenda for your Valentines this year?

M & J Monday

The two little cupids have completely stolen my heart.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Happy Monday!

Friday Stitch Fix Five.... HUNDRED!!

This is a bit different than the typical Friday post...

I'm skipping my normal highlights this week and getting right down one great. big. freaking amazing. highlight.

For Valentine's Day I've teamed up with a host of other bloggers and Stitch Fix lovers to give away a $500 gift card to Stitch Fix!! Pretty sweet, right? Entering to win is super simple. Just follow the Rafflecopter prompts below.

If you've been a Stitch Fixer for a some time this will surely come in handy for your upcoming boxes!

If you aren't part of the Stitch Fix family (why not?!) a $500 gift card would be THE best way to get started! If you haven't signed up for Stitch Fix yet, no worries. Head HERE to create your style profile. Making your profile is free, and you can decide when you want your first fix shipped. If the $20 styling fee is what is holding you back just think of it this way: that $20 is the gas used to and from the mall, along with the Starbucks you'd grab while shopping. Plus, you can schedule your fixes for as frequent, or infrequent, as you'd like. It all evens out, see!

Happy (early) Valentine's Day, and good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

These Are My Confessions

Anyone else now have that Usher song stuck in their head?
Bueller...
Bueller...
Nope? Just me? Umm, 'kay.

Moving along.

It's been a second since I've done a little confessing, so I thought now would be as good a time as any to get a few things off my chest.

Here goes...

1. Marcus is in the phase of asking, "Why?" All. The. Time. I love his curiosity. But, holy hell, it's exhausting. I quickly learned that if I give really long, detailed, over-his-head explanations of things he'll just say, "Oh, ok." And he will forget to ask another, "Why?" for at least five minutes.

2. We're slowly introducing Julia to 'solid' foods. Rice cereal is on the menu, and I just kind of feed it to her when ever I remember to make it. I've waited much longer with Julia than I did with Marcus to begin this process. Feeding two kids real meals means more work, and right now just getting a plate in front of Marcus can be a chore. Julia might be two before she has any other real food. I'm kidding. Sort of.

3. Grocery carts. Can people just put those back in the cart returns? It drives me BONKERS when carts are all over a parking lot.

4. I'll be the first to admit I'm no grammar guru, but my eyes basically bleed when people don't know how to properly use 'to,' 'too,' and 'two.' This is basic stuff, people. BASIC. (If you're unsure how to use the correct form of each word head here for a quick grammar lesson.) I also have a hard time reading the incorrect forms of 'their,' 'there,' and 'they're,' and 'your,' and 'you're.' Don't even get me started on when people mispronounce supposedly (there's no "V" in that word!), or wash (there's no "R" in that word!).

5. Twitter. It's not my favorite social media outlet, and I don't really understand why so many people love it so much. I'll take the 'Gram (desireemacke) or Snapchat (desireemacke) over Twitter any day.

6. Scott's been gone for a few days due to work obligations. To keep my sanity in tact I've been putting the kids to bed 30-45 minutes earlier than normal. Good thing they don't know how to tell time.

7. Though Scott is gone, and I miss him terribly, I love that I have free reign over the remote at night. We have differing opinions on 'good' television shows. Give me all the Bachelor (guiltiest pleasure of them all!), give me all the Making a Murderer (I just couldn't get Scott into the show), give me all the Chicago Fire.

8. I love Disneyland so much more than my kids (at least more than Marcus, Julia really has no idea what's going on), and I'm ok with that. I still squeal with delight when we see Mickey. Marcus is pretty much over it all, and basically just goes to Disney for the Mickey Mouse ice cream bars.

Phew. There you have it, my confessions.

What are your confessions?

Red Velvet Cookie Cake

As Valentine's Day nears - a holiday Scott and I don't really celebrate, mind you - I've been searching high and low for all the crafts, all the goodies, and all the clothes. While I fully believe it's a Hallmark holiday and don't do a whole lot in the way of celebrating with Scott, I do want to make the day, and days leading up to it, a little more special for Marcus and Julia.

So, this weekend while Scott was away working Marcus and I found all sorts of things to do to pass the time (Julia hung out - literally - during all our shananagains).  When I landed on this cookie cake recipe I knew I had a winner. What's not to love about the marriage of a cookie and a cake in the form of red velvet goodness? And, Marcus was very keen on helping me with each step of the baking process.

The cookie cake is a breeze to make. It is positively rich and the the frosting is superb. It's basically perfection for the red and pink holiday just around the corner.

print recipe

Red Velvet Cookie Cake

by Desiree Macke February-2-2016

The marriage of a cake and cookie with decadent red velvet.

Ingredients

• 1 box Red Velvet Cake Mix
• 1/2 stick softened Butter
• 2 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 cup White Chocolate Chips
• FROSTING
• 4 oz. softened Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup softened Butter
• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon Half and Half
• Sprinkles

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9” cake pan with foil (be sure the foil comes out over the side of the pan) and spray with cooking spray. The foil will allow for easy removal of the cookie once it is fully cooled.Using a stand or a hand mixer, beat butter until smooth. Add cake mix, eggs, and vanilla and beat until dough forms and no lumps remain. Stir in white chocolate chips. Press cookie dough into prepared pan. Bake for 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with just a hint of red.Allow cookie to cool completely before removing from the pan. Use the foil to simply pull the cookie out.To make the frosting: beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until the frosting comes together. Mix in vanilla and half and half.Pipe frosting onto cookie using your favorite tip. Add sprinkles

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 45 mins Yield: One 9" cookie

After it was all said and done Marcus got first dibs on the first slice. Too bad he's not as enthusiastic about eating other foods, like, say, his dinner. Nevertheless, it was a fun, tasty, and Valentine-appropriate way to pass our afternoon.

If you're headed to any Valentine parties I'd highly recommend bringing this along. It's super easy and quick to whip up. And, did I mention it's delicious?

Joining some of my favorite ladies for the Foodie for a Year linkup.

Recipe inspiration

M & J Monday

You are my sunshine. 

My only sunshine.

You make me happy when skies are gray.

You'll never know dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away.

Happy Monday!