Half Birthday

Today my little dude is 7 months old. I know it's cliche, but time really does fly. Each day The Hubs reminds me to live in the moment. Sometimes we spend so much time thinking about the future, we forget to appreciate what's happening right in front of us and sometimes what's in front of us goes so quickly.

But enough with the sentimental stuff, not really my thing, but this kid brings out some weird shit in me.

Last month, we celebrated 6 months of Little Dude's life with a party. I searched Pinterest and the regular ol interwebs for hours trying to make this the most adorable, quaint little party possible. The entire party was inspired by a wonderful post I found on Pinterest. Hank and Hunt shared some amazing ideas. I don't even come close to doing justice to the party this girl put on. Check it out.

Here's Little Dude waiting patiently for his family to arrive.

And the set up. I used the stairwell to the basement as my backdrop. Really for no other reason than that it was the only possible spot in the entire house to hang these friggin awesome circle thingies (i.e. construction paper hot glued on to coordinating ribbon)

The half cake...get it? Of course you do.

The Hubs decorated these Half Sized cupcakes (okay, so they're just mini cupcakes, but that doesn't go with the damn theme). If you ask me, the sprinkles really set these apart from any other mini, ahem, Half Sized cupcakes I've ever seen.

Little Dude enjoying some time with Grammy.

Those awesome little springy thingamajigs on his cake last about 2.8 seconds after this photo. Oops.

Because it was only a half birthday and the chances of Little Dude remembering any of it were slim, I didn't want to spend too much cheddah on the decorations, so I bought things from the dollar store and scoured my craft supplies to come up with everything you see. (longest run-on sentence ever? perhaps.) I bought boxed cake (to save time and my sanity...I get so nervous baking stuff from scratch. Not once has anything turned out edible). I bought tablecloths, plates, napkins, balloons, cups and straws from the DS and everything else I already had.

Such a sweet afternoon with the boy and the family. Ah, memories. Wonderful.

<3 dani

Just Eat It: Low Cal Cupcakes

I've stopped posting much about my weight loss progress. For a second there I fell off the wagon, but rest assured I'm back at it. Shedding pounds, feeling better and practicing patience. It's not easy. I struggle everyday, but little things, like this recipe certainly help.

My mother-in-law gave me this Weight Watchers Cupcake recipe: "if you're ever in the mood for something sweet...wink wink" I'm always in that kind of a mood. So, obviously I went straight to the store, bought a box of chocolate cake mix, a can of pumpkin and went to town.

If you make mini-cupcakes, which I suggest for portion control, these end up being about 60 calories each. Not too shabby.

1 box of cake mix (I used chocolate)
1 15oz can of pumpkin
1/4c water (you could add an egg white or two if you'd like)
set oven for 350 and follow box directions from there. 

I can't lie, they certainly aren't the real deal, but they don't suck. And it's better for you than the alternative, so I won't complain.

For dessert tonight, I crumbled one and mixed in some chopped strawberries. Yummers.

<3 dani