So long July...Hello birthday season!!


June and July have come and gone, thankfully. They have been the hardest months we've had in a really long time. We've been emotionally drained and mentally broken, but the Lord is pulling us out of it and I trust that he has brighter days for us ahead. Many thanks to our family and close friends for keeping us in your prayers. Maybe in a future post I'll share more about these tough months for us, but for now, I'm glad to see these months come to an end. I welcome August and September with open arms & excited to start birthday season!

Of course, as you know, celebrating birthdays in our house is a BIG deal! My hubby's birthday and my birthday are on the way; as well for many of our friends and family. I'm giddy again to plan fun surprises and looking forward to some fun days ahead.

My littlest hero and I will be planning for some fun birthday surprises for our biggest hero, Daddy.
Jack received this super hero cape for his birthday,
but until just recently took interest in running around the house wearing it! Thank you Nana Byng! 

Do you have any fun birthday ideas to share?? I'd love to hear some of your suggestions for fun birthday surprises!

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my posts! xo, Natassja 



Planes, Trains & Automobiles Baby Shower!

This weekend I hosted, along with some other lovely ladies, a baby shower, for my beautiful pal, Alicia. She is expecting her second child, a sweet little boy to arrive in a few short weeks!
We put together a retro-toys theme baby shower, complete with real antique planes and trains that belonged to Daddy as a boy! I must say, everything came together beautifully and turned out out adorable!

A big thanks to Jamey at The Honey Bee Press for designing the adorable invitation and coordinating pennants you'll see for Alicia's Baby Shower! She was a pleasure to work with & I'm already planning the next party printables with her! Please check out her Etsy Shop!
The pennants were designed by The Honey Bee Press & I made the accordion fans to keep with the antique theme!
Stay tuned for a DIY tutorial for these later! 

Planes, Trains & Yummy Food! 

We served an array of sandwiches and finger foods 
& decadent desserts for taking home. 
Drinks aren't complete with out fun paper straws!
Around the food table we displayed Daddy's old childhood train set!  
Delicious desserts to enjoy or take home in my handmade treat bags! Tutorial for these to come! 
People loved seeing the antique toys displayed around the food table! 

Late Night Diaper Messages!

Guests wrote fun little notes to Mommy & Daddy 
for some laughs during late night diaper changes! 

Baby Names through the Decades! 

Starting with 1940's, and all the way to our current decade, guests wrote down their guesses for the top names of each decade. The person with the most correct, won! I gave a few hints to remind guests to think of popular movies, books of the Bible, and even nursery rhymes. 
Can you guess what boy name held the top spot for 4 decades in row? 
These answers came from Social Security Administration. Did you guess the most popular names correctly?

No pink bows today, bring on the blue!!!

Alicia's first born, my God-daughter, has been dressed with girly bows since she was born, now...it's time to enjoy a new baby in lots of BLUE and NY Yankees gear too!

A sweet afternoon with friends

We enjoyed a great afternoon with Alicia's family and friends. 
Now the countdown begins for Baby Dominic's arrival! 

As always, thank you for reading my posts!
 Stay tuned for the tutorials for the accordion fans & my wax paper treat bags!  
XO, Natassja 






Happy Half Birthday to my sweetie!

My sweet little guy arrived 2 weeks early when he was born, making his birthday, 5 days after Christmas! He was originally due, the middle of January, but he made an exciting entrance into our lives and has been our greatest blessing ever since!


I love celebrating birthdays in our house, and because my little boy will share his birthday with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I wanted to start a tradition of celebrating his half-birthday on June 30th! We held a tiny celebration {just us 3, Mommy, Daddy and Jack}with a special cupcake and balloons to give our handsome cutie some extra love. Who really needs a reason to give them extra love? We didn't, but we just wanted to treat him to something special to mark this special milestone! Our boy is 2 & a half! Woah.

A few of Jack's favorite things at 2.5 years old- 

  • Favorite snack, grapes 
  • Favorite toys at the moment, cars
  • Sometimes he goes by Capt. Hook, not Jack... LOL!
  • Favorite bedtime book, Just In Case You Ever Wonder, by Max Lucado. 
  • Loves singing, current favorite "Bah, Bah Black Sheep" 
  • Favorite thing to watch, current favorites, Veggie Tales, Monster's Inc, or Up

"When they're little, the days are long, but the years go by quick."


A sweet woman said this to me while I was trying to negotiate with Jack at the post office one day. She just smiled afterwards & sweetly tapped my shoulder. Her words stayed with me. We are so grateful to God for this smart and funny little boy, even during those failed attempts at negotiating good behavior! We are blessed beyond measure. 

As always, thanks for reading my posts. XO, Natassja 

Summer reading

We're in for a long hot summer here in Florida, but I've been finding ways to keep my little guy, busy and out of the summer heat!

                            
One of the things we started this Summer, along with our Story-time group at PBK, is a Summer Reading Challenge. Each week at story-time, we check off a new book from their in-store reading list and sometimes make a craft to go along with the story. To take this one step further for Jack, {and to give us another fun thing to do} we head over to the bookstore or library and I let Jack pick a new book he doesn't own for us to read together. He gets a kick out of picking the book, "all by himself!" and then we get a snack from Starbucks together!

It's a Win-Win! He's happy reading all his 'stories' & I'm happy with my Shaken-Ice Tea-Lemonade...yum!

Take a look at the PBK reading list & our own list growing weekly below... be sure to stay tuned for pictures of our story-time crafts and pictures of our bookstore dates on Instagram! :)

Jack's first pick, Dr. Seuss classic!

Jack's Summer Reading List so far:  

  1. Oh, the Places You'll Go! (B&N Exclusive Edition)
  2. First Dog
  3. The Grouchy Ladybug Board Book
  4. Do Pirates Take Baths?
We are adding to this list each week, so if you have suggestions for your favorite books to read, please share! Happy Summer to you all!

Thank you for reading! xoxo, Natassja