Happy Valentine's Day (x2)

Happy Valentine's Day from the Cunninghams!

 

Apparently my creativity is as sleep deprived as the rest of me because I propped my kid up for nearly the same exact pose as last year (albeit with a new couch as an updated backdrop). And of course he proceeded to chew on the paper just like last year. Good to know that even though he may look like he's all grown up, he's still my little boy at heart (and at mouth, it would seem).  The teachers at day care are starting to call Asher 'the ladies man' because all the little girls like to give him hugs and kisses and he likes to give them back. What can I say? My son's a lover, not a fighter.

Valentine's Day 2012

Valentine's Day 2011

His fine motor skills have definitely improved, as demonstrated by his creative rolled paper ... cigar ...um, yeah, we'll go with cigar...

And rolled paper telescope...

He also proceeded to tear the paper up into itty bitty pieces. Lucky me.

The Birthday Boy

Okay, okay. I realize my son's birthday is in September and it is now February. I'm a bit behind on blogging if you haven't noticed (but the two people who do read my blog have noticed, because they told me as much). My (live) Christmas tree is still up so I'm behind on life in general, not just blogging, if that makes you feel better.

At any rate, the little man did indeed turn one. And yes, the Cunninghams still know how to throw a party (even if it was over by dinnertime).

There's the little man in outfit #1. Yes, I did make him two birthday shirts. I'll probably have to do the same for his 21st birthday, for similar reasons. 

Thanks to a group effort to purchase extra large balloons, party guests were greeted by a walk of big balloons and mums! I miss green grass.

Our ribbon and bunting wreath. The circle in the middle was easier to read in real life, wish I would have gotten a closer picture. Of course, I could always dig it out of the craft closet where I threw it after the party and take another pic, but that would be too easy.

When it came time for the big birthday cake bash, Asher liked to put just one finger in the frosting at a time. 

He finally got into it a little more!

Note the 2nd outfit change for the cake - this time, a onesie with the one and car in opposite colors.

Here's the spread!

Here's a semi-blurred close up of the food - we had fruit kabobs with car shaped watermelon, car cookies and car PB&J sandwiches - basically anything you could stick a car on or cut out with a car-shaped cookie cutter, we did.  The biggest hit, though, was the raspberry jello dessert cups (on the left). We usually only have this family recipe on holidays, but LC's brilliant idea was to put it in individual serving cups. Yum!

 Such a happy birthday boy! We are indeed blessed, each and every day!

Happy Anniversary, Part II

No, you didn't miss Part I to our Anniversary this year. I never wrote it. I'm so behind on postings, I never posted a follow up to our anniversary post from last year about the gift I made for Lawrence. It's already made it's appearance on the blog in background photos, but I thought you might still be interested in seeing it. Well, my friend Lacretia will be interested in seeing it. And I'm convinced she's the only one who reads this thing on a regular basis anyway, so here you go, L!

Last year was our fifth (!) wedding anniversary, but with a baby on the way and a basement in the middle of finishing, we decided we didn't want to spend a lot of money on gifts so I figured I would make something meaningful for Lawrence instead of buying something. After much deliberation, I decided to make some artwork for our livingroom with a quote from the lyrics of our first dance at our wedding reception (which incidently was Bon Jovi's "You Had Me From Hello").

I got some thin (1/4") wood vaneered plywood and had the friendly folks at Lowe's cut it down to 3'x4'. Then I took some 2" vinyl letters (note: I also bought 3" but they were way too big by the time I laid it all out) and spelled out the lyrics on the plywood once I had marked off the lines with painters tape. I did do a mock-up on the computer with a similar font so I could try to figure out the line breaks, but it ended up being trial and error as I decided to move around the break between two of the lines once the letters were all on.

After the letters were in place I took off the painters tape and took the whole thing outside to give it a coat of spray paint. Actually, I used two colors of spray paint, one darker blue and one lighter blue/aqua, to give it some variation. I could have given the whole thing a base coat first, but I wanted the wood grain to show through the letters.

Once it was dry, I pulled off the vinyl letters and TA DA.

I didn't give it a clear coat over it or finish off the edges with trim, but those are certainly some options if you're wanting to achieve a similar but different look.

It's found a home on the mantel and I love it. Better yet, Lawrence loves it, too. At least that's what he told me on our anniversary when I gave it to him.

A Cake Made for Wishing

For Lawrence's birthday he had been craving just plain old white cake, but I couldn't give him just a plain cake, so I decided to venture into the world of rainbow cakes. If you follow blogs, you'll have seen the idea pop up many times recently. If you don't follow blogs, you'll be blown away.

 Rainbow cakes just make me happy. It's like biting into the end of the rainbow- I feel like every piece should come with it's very own granted wish! Luckily, it made Lawrence happy, too! Happy Birthday, honey!

I had some leftover cake batter, so I decided to try my hand at rainbow cupcakes, too. Now these I hadn't seen on any blog, I just thought it would be a cute idea and I have to admit, I LOVE how they turned out! I put a little skittle rainbow on the top of each one and dropped them off at the neighbor kids' houses.

I didn't measure them out or bake them in layers or anything, just one spoonful of colored batter at a time, making sure I went all the way to the edges with each layer.

Here's what my kitchen looked like during the process, just in case you were wondering. I think I left one or two bowls still in the cupboard. But it was worth it!

Happy Valentine's Day

In anticipation of Valentine's day, I tried to capture Asher with a little valentine so I could share it with some of our loved ones. The end result was really cute, if I do say so myself (admittedly, I am a little biased)...

However, the outtakes for the photo session were just as "cute", albeit not as useful in sending happy valentine's wishes to our friends and family.  But good for a laugh or two, for sure.

 Mmmm... yummy.... almost like a conversation heart, I'm sure.

(note: the red lace circle the heart was mounted on did not last long! He's getting quite the grabby grip on him!)

 Peek A Boo!

AKA "I don't want you taking any more photos of me, mom!"

And finally "I'm not having fun with this anymore, mom! Really! Are we done yet?"

I'm just not sure child acting is in his future. He tires way too easily (in my humble, shutter-happy opinion) of the camera. Perhaps he will get better in month 5. It's good to have goals.

Christmas Video

Here I was thinking it would be great if we could get Christmas cards out this year and then this family goes and does THIS and I just think to myself, what’s the point if we can’t even come close to being this cool? And turns out they've been that cool for years. We're way behind.

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day to my dad, my stepdad, and all the other men and women who have served or are serving for our country. Thanks, Pops!

Cheeky Monkey

Happy Halloween! One of our neighbors gave us a little monkey costume for Halloween, and he was the cutest little monkey around if I do say so myself! 

Check out those cute little feet!

He was so bundled with a full outfit under the monkey suit but it actually helped him to fill out the costume!

He was somewhat unimpressed by the whole affair - obviously he hasn't caught Lawrence's love for all things costumes and Halloween yet!

The whole family at our neighbor's Halloween party!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Five years ago we became Mr. & Mrs.! We've been through a lot the past five years - we've moved states (twice!), added two dogs to the mix, changed jobs (twice!), expanded our family (by welcoming my stepmom, Lawrence's birth family, two neices and a nephew, AND a baby on the way), lost some loved ones, and entered into our third decade of life. Through it all I'd say we've held up pretty well (pics below to prove it), and our relationship is all the stronger for it.

I don't know how I got so lucky, but I did. I love you, baby! Happy Anniversary!

July 3, 2005

July 3, 2010

Happy Father's Day

Lawrence and I are fortunate to have a lot of father figures in our lives in every form you can imagine (father, step-father, adopted father, birth father) and each of them bring something unique and special to our family. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, but a special shout out to my dad, Jim!

I love you, Pops!

I made GRASS!

This must have been how the first caveman felt who made fire. I'm sure of it. I feel like running out into the street and shouting it into the air for all to hear (however I think our neighbors would be doubtful since we haven't made *any* grass in the front yard to speak of... yet). I potted a little potful of grass and an egg carton full and both are sprouting beautifully just in time for Easter. I had them in the kitchen getting a bit of morning light each day but this morning Lawrence surprised me by putting the pot on my desk which was a happy little Good Friday surprise. However, I'm finding it a bit distracting because all I want to do is reach out and spin the pinwheel.

Doesn't it just scream "Wheeeeeeee.... spring is here!"? Maybe you have to see it in person to get the full effect... (Bailey doesn't seem too impressed in the background)

PS- the gass is doing double duty also because it's wheat grass, so once we're done looking at we can juice it. Bottoms up!

Forget the Easter Bunny...

I want a baby polar bear in my Easter basket. Don't you agree?

Christmas Recap!

Yes, I know that it's February. But it's still white outside (as evidenced by nearly every entry in 2010) and I'm still playing Christmas carols inside, so it's only appropriate that I share my Christmas highlights with you now. We celebrated our first Christmas in our new house this year with just a small group of family and friends, but it was nice and casual and low-key, like all great holidays should be (except for Valentine's day and Anniversaries, of course- those should have all the bells and whistles...hint, hint, hint!).

In addition to a great Christmas, we were blessed with receiving many fabulous gifts! Here's a recap of my top 5 favorite gifts:

1) AAA Membership from my dad - we've already used it three times this past month! Twice for my car and once for the discount on a car rental. As a side note, this is the best "practical" gift I think we've every gotten and although it's not very glamorous, it's fabulous to know that we have it for the next year, especially with all my trips back and forth to Denver. I think the story about me running out of gas on the interstate in the middle of nowhere Nebraska this last year helped dad to put this at the top of the list!

2) A dual controlled heating blanket from Donna and Bernardo - how did we EVER live without this? Ahhh.... just thinking about it almost makes up for the piles of snow outside of my window. Do you know how much a difference a toasty bed makes to get into every night?

3) Our annual Swarovski Christmas Ornament from Marty and Patti - this was a tradition they started our first year of marriage and it's a wonderful tradition and so much fun to open and put on our tree each year! We now have 5 beautiful crystal ornaments and they catch the twinkle lights just right on the tree!

4) A Story People sculpture from my mom - Lawrence and I have always loved Story People and I got my mom hooked on them, too. The artist is originally from Iowa and is super quirky with fun, childish drawings and random, wise sayings. The even better part? The sculpture fits perfectly in our little hallway niche that I was stressed about finding something for. And I can see it from my desk right now. It's like it was made for our little house.

5) A carton of mandarin oranges from my Aunt Janet- this was actually our first Christmas gift and it arrived in early December and what a lovely little gift of California sunshine it was. Doesn't this just look like a tasty box of happy?

Okay, I know I just said five but I'd be remiss if I also didn't mention the fabulous Smash T-shirt I got from Lawrence, the amazing printer from my dad and Sarina (it prints wirelessly AND double-sided... be still my heart!), and the generous check from my mom to go towards our basement remodel. More than any gift, we are fortunate to have so many family and friends who love us and who we are able to love and share the holidays with, both near and far. Just one more reason why I love Christmas!

PS- there are 316 days until Christmas 2010... Just in case you were wondering! Let the paper chains begin!

Help Yourself

What's that, little squirrel? You're hungry? Need to fatten up for winter? Oh, well let us help you out with that! After all, Halloween is over and I'm so anxious to get on with Christmas that Lawrence will probably think that I paid you to come and distroy our front door display.  But no, you did it for free.

I'm really glad that you didn't let the location of the pumpkins deter you in any way. In fact, with this little guy you just decided to up and move it to the center of our leaf-filled yard. Very resourceful!

Oh, and when the good stuff was just a little too out of reach, you just dove right in and decided to eat from the inside out. Genius, really. Why eat through the tough stuff when you've already created an opening even the fattest of squirrel could fit through?

And it's great to see you all sharing together, too. I mean, after all, there is enough to go around, at least for another hour or two at the rate you're going.

Feast away, my little furry friends. Christmas is right around the corner!

Sold!

In the Menards ad this week there is a Fog Machine for $17.77! Now, I don't know how much these babies typically go for (and gosh, I wouldn't want to over-exert myself by doing a quick google search to find out) but this seems like a heck of a deal! I'm thinking the Cunningham Casa NEEDS one for Halloween. (Yes, dad, I do recall our many "talks" about wants versus needs, and this definitely falls into the needs category. Duh.) How great would our house look on Halloween night if we had fog coming out the front door? Wouldn't we be the hit of the neighborhood? Don't you think that's the perfect way to ring in our first Halloween in our new house?

Now, I know you're probably thinking to yourself, don't you guys think your house looks scary enough with the half-finished landscaping circles around the trees and the barren ground? Well, yes, that does help the ambiance but a fog machine would put it over the top.

Maybe we should get TWO!

Boo!

I was searching through pictures this morning on our camera and ran across our great group costumes of Halloween 2008 and I realized- we have less than two months to figure out this year's costume creations, folks!!! Any ideas? I'm sure Lawrence would love another reason to dress in drag- he had such great luck with those heels all night!

Springtime, we're ready...

Despite the *lovely* weather we have experienced lately, the Cunningham house is fully embracing springtime and the upcoming Easter holiday. I'm hoping that the wreath on the door will encourage the warm weather to visit soon and stay for a while.

We raided my grandma's old holiday ornaments to put together our very first Easter tree! (Sidenote: L didn't even know what an Easter tree was! What kind of a Catholic is he?!? I'm pretty sure even baby J had an Easter tree... well, I guess it wasn't Easter at that point... I'm sure he had a springtime tree, then, at least...) We got the branch from a fallen limb in our front yard. I suppose that's one advantage to having trees that look like they haven't been trimmed since the Eisenhower administration- plenty of fallen limbs to go around! More on that in another post...

Happy Easter, happy spring!