Lucia's Pink Lemonade 1st Birthday

I envy all of these amazing party planners that I follow on Pinterest, like Kara and Amy. Seriously, what they do is an art! I tried my best to gather some inspiration for Lucia's first birthday party from their sites as well as some others. After all, what do I know about kids birthday parties? Nothing!

I decided to go with something "cute" and relatively simple: Pink Lemonade. I think everything turned out pretty cute and Lucia had a great time, but boy did I spend a pretty penny on pink and yellow stuff! Here are some pics:

The talented Jackie, of Cream and Cocoa Photography, shot these. Dress from Sweet B Clothing.

Pink ombre ruffle smash cake from Fantasy in Frosting and bunting from Rugrat Design.

Love love love her cake! Fantasy in Frosting.

I bought some relatively cheap flowers from the grocery store and threw in vasses with lemons. Voila!  

My favorites poster is from The Moulage Collection. I can't reccomend getting one of these enough!

Lucia showing off her sweet dance moved before her party :-)

I purchased a set of Pink Lemonade printables from Announcing You. This was a printable that I had blown up as a poster for the front porch.

1st Crockpot Dinner Attempt

Like many of you, I have pinned a gazillion "easy" recipes on Pinterest and, while behind the computer, I tell myself, "I'm gonna do this! Crock-pot meals are going to revolutionize my evenings and dinner for my family!" REALITY- I get to the grocery store and am overwhelmed by how many THINGS you actually have to buy, I hear Starbucks calling my name, and damn, I really just want to buy ice cream. I always talk myself out of making real, thoughtful meals before I even try. But this past Sunday was the exception.

Starting off slow, I decided to make 1 Crock-pot dinner. Unfortunately, I know myself all to well... aim low, haha! Anyway, I stumbled upon this awesome blog and recipe while cruising around Kroger, so I decided to give it a whirl. It sounded easy enough, and indeed it was!

ALL YOU NEED

Frozen chicken breast, 3 cans, 1 packet of taco seasoning, and cream cheese.

Done and Done!

(please follow links for actual recipe and instructions)

Sunday evening I decided to open the cans, throw it together, and put it all in the fridge. I'm probably the only person who would do this ahead of time, but I'm ALWAYS late to work in the morning, so 3-4 min is crucial!

I made sure to put everything together (even the taco seasoning packet) because I would for sure forget to add something!

Monday morning I put it all in the Crock-pot and set it on low for 7 hours. The original blog said to stir this every 2 hours, but I work all day, so I just hoped for the best. It all turned out great! Except, I may or may not have accidentally also cooked the chicken packaging pad that was stuck underneath the chicken. Ooops! Hey, it was frozen and I was tired. What do you want from me?! I'm happy to report that we all lived :-) We also have plenty of leftovers to enjoy.

I'm definitely keeping this one in my repertoire. (Who am I kidding... this is the first entry in said repertoire)

Happy Birthday to my Baby Girl!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Lucia! She is the most outgoing, beautiful, funny girl I know. I'm proud to be her mama <3
Look at what a difference a year makes. Wow!

 This morning she woke up to a room full of balloons and she loved it! I hope to do this every year

One Day at a Time

Ahhh! It's my first blog post and it's a downer :-(

Days like yesterday and today are always the hardest for me.  Monday's are usually a downer because I miss Lucia the most after spending the weekend with her, but yesterday was not only a Monday, but it was also the first day of my MBA program. It was a rude awakening as to what my life will be like for the next two years. I saw my daughter's beautiful face for a mere 20 minutes all day because I worked all day and then had class until after 10 pm. Today, same routine, but instead of class,  committee meeting from 7:00-9:00. Can we say mommy guilt?!

It's days like these that make me question why I'm going back to school and why I take on any new responsibilities, when I could be spending time at home with my family. This is a new balancing act that I'm not used to. In my mind, I know why I do these things, but my heart is really struggling. Its new territory for me to learn how to be the same Kristin I've always been, but now with the bigger, more important, responsibility of being a mom.

Here's to taking it one day at a time!