my baby shower!

this past sunday was my baby shower that my amazing mom and sister threw for me!

it was awesome to see everyone and i had so much fun!

pretty much every detail was handmade which made it even better!

from the invitation:

to all of the desserts:

we made cake pops, brownie bites, and mini cheesecakes

cupcakes with homemade icing

adorable toppers from thebustbudgetingmama's etsy shop

and cupcake wrappers available on our etsy shop

chocolate covered pretzels (another adventure....fyi-you don't need to use non-stick spray on the candy mold!)

they made adorable diaper cakes!

and one of the games was to guess how many diapers it took to make both cakes!

it took 137-which should last us a few weeks! and the winner (rich's cousin) guessed 134! super close!!

they hung a clothes line to decorate and put all new clothes on it! soo cute!

we got soo many awesome gifts! and soo many clothes! he will be a well dressed little boy!

my sister made those letters that spell out his name and we'll hang them in the nursery behind his crib!

and you can't forget the favors....also homemade and filled with my grandma's homemade candy!

we played lots of fun shower games and ate really good food and had a great day!!

thanks again everyone!!

now we just to have to find somewhere to put everything!





the waiting game!

I guess we finished the nursery too early.....we have 60 days left until our due date and nothing to do with our free time!  there is of course a HUGE list of things we want to do around the house, but we're waiting until i'm more able to help him with everything!

in the mean time we just lay around the house and watch tv/movies with our crazy dog!

she thinks she's a cat and will squeeze herself anywhere she thinks she'll fit! but she's too cute to say no to! can't wait to see how she acts when all of our attention is on Cole.

and exciting news....my baby shower is this weekend!  i can't wait to see everyone!

my mom let me help a LITTLE bit with making stuff so i have a sneak peak:

cupcake wrappers! we also just started an etsy shop with lots more adorable cupcake wrappers for any event!  check it out....pieceofcupcake!

have a great weekend!!



pregnant photo ideas...

so we were thinking about getting pictures taken together before Cole is born.

somehow rich came across this blog today with some very interesting pregnant couple pictures!  none that we are planning on copying though! 

they are taken from the pregnant chicken blog.  the comments under them, as usual, make them even funnier!

"Karen, seeing as you're pregnant, let's put you at the top of the family photo where the air is thinner. Karen? Karen?!?!"

I can appreciate what they were trying to do here but if your Christmas photo looks like it should have a "becka, becka, bow wow" soundtrack playing in the background, then you may want to reconsider the card.

I can't decide whether I like the garbage bag dress, the swamp or his black socks in the water better.

"That's it, Steve. A little further back, a little further. Now crouch down. Perfect!" I think the ex-boyfriend may have been the photographer in this one.

This reminds me of a picnic. A good idea in theory but an uncomfortable mess in practice.

Words can't describe this photo. Oh wait a minute, they can!

Okay, part of me doesn't have a problem with this photo but the toe shoes are the real kicker. Ha kicker!

"It's going to be a good year, Laura. A very Goodyear indeed."

At first I thought "Nothing symbolizes maternity better than a watermelon and a gun" and then I thought "Actually, nothing *does* symbolize maternity better than a watermelon and a gun". Bravo Mad'am.

Like the previous Christmas card, if it looks skeezy when nobody is pregnant, then a baby bump ain't saving it so don't do it. A helpful holiday tip we can all tuck in our pockets.



"If I'm holding the baby then why do I still feel fat?"



Why do I feel like this woman was talked into this? I could see her thinking, "I'm just too tired to argue plus the kids won't be able to take off because hockey equipment will slow them down and I'll hold their heads. I'm sure it will look fine."

theres a few more on there that werent very PG, but funny...check them out here.

have a great day!

~ Christina ~

nursery part 4!

so this weekend we did the final step to finishing the nursery!  all we need now is furniture and decorations!

a few weeks ago, before we painted, we sanded the hardwood floors.  now it was finally time to finish them

this is the first project i wasnt allowed to help with at all, so i relaxed on the couch all weekend!

he still had to sand around the edges where the random orbit sander couldn't get reach:

before:

we used minwax high-build polyurethane (super stinky!)

the last floor we finished had to be stained, so we were really hoping this one wouldnt need stained; it took forever and it was a pain in the butt! so he tested a corner and we let we dry for 6 hours and decided it looked pretty good without stain! yay!!

he used a lambs skin pad to spread on the poly

after first coat:

we let it dry over night then he lightly sanded with 220 grit sand paper, swept and mopped it up (just with warm water to get the dust up)

then on to coat 2:

and it's all done!! soo exciting!

total time: 2 days

2 hours of work but lots of dry time

total cost: $41

poly: $33

lambs skin pad: $8

sandpaper: free (left over from last floor project!)

we're so excited it's done! ready to hang shelves and decorate, as soon as the furniture comes in!

30 weeks preggo, only 10 to go!

have a great week!!

~ Christina ~



home & garden show!

so we're going to the Pittsburgh Home & Garden show for the first time tonight and I'm SUPER excited about it! (click the link and you can get a $3 off coupon from them)

like i need more home project ideas put in my head....

but i really want to find some ideas to make our tiny yard prettier!

also....since the weather is still pretty crappy and we might be stuck in the house again this weekend....here's a pretty awesome Michael's coupon.  Go get something fun to make!  i might try to make candles this weekend while hubby works on the nursery hardwood floors!

nursery part 3

we're only 11 weeks away from baby time and now one step closer to being ready.

this weekend's project was painting and hanging the chair rail.

the nursery is 143 square feet so we went to Lowe's and bought already primed chair rail, 2  12ft pieces and 2  8ft pieces:

we used our mitre saw to cut the ends at a 45 degree angle.

once they were all cut we used the same dark blue from the walls and painted all the chair rail.

we used a 3/8 nap roller so that it got into all the grooves of the rail.

it took 2 coats since it was such a dark color and we let it dry over night.

the walls before the chair rail:

he used the level to make sure they were all perfect and a nail gun to hang them

he had to finish off the nails with a hammer.

and....all done....

clearly our last step is the floors...maybe next weekend...

here's our little guy at 28 weeks...

total cost: $67

chair rail: $55

paint supplies: $12

paint:  used left over from the walls

total time: about 4 hours spread out over 2 days (+ drying time)

lessons learned:

measure twice, cut once!!