{5 | new mind blowing things}

1. Tractor driving.

This is obviously not a new thing on the farm.

However, it is to Beckam.

Once he sat on that tractor seat for the first time, he knew he belonged.

I breed farmers.

It's in their blood.

And good golly they are cute.

2. Samoas.

Come on Girl Scouts.

Do you really have to make such a delicious cookie?

My farmer can't resist himself.

Yes. Those are cases, I repeat, CASES of Girl Scout cookies.

Good grief.

Brody tasted his first Samoa the other day. 

His mind was definitely blown.

He asks for a "purple" cookie on the daily now.

{The box that they come in is purple.}

3. Swings and slides.

This, my friends, has been a long time coming.

A while back I was desperate to get Brody to go to sleep all by himself, like a big boy.

The only bribe that seemed to interest him was a playground set.

Most nights he would still insist that he would rather have mommy than swings and slides...

he won.

"Big boys want their mommy's," he would say.

That is just the sweetest, most heartbreaking thing you'll ever hear from your child.

At the start of the new year, I got tough, and we had a new bedtime routine.

Long story short, he now goes to sleep all by himself.

And now, we have this monstrosity in our backyard.

I think he'd say it was worth it.

The building process was fun too.

I've never seen a kid so excited to open up boxes of lumber in all my life. 

4. Kitchen Aid mashed potatoes.

Has anyone else done this!?

Probably.

It's new to me though.

I couldn't find my masher the other night,

and after trying a fork {fail} I decided to toss the boiled taters in the kitchen aid and whiz them up.

Mind. Blown.

They were whipped to perfection.

With the help of some salt, butter, and milk obviously.

5. Scooter.

My hubby brought home this treasure the other day.

When he first told me about it on the phone I immediately thought it'd be a cute little vespa of sorts.

Wrong.

A motorized razor scooter.

I was disappointed before I took that baby for a spin.

She's got a little bit of pick up and go.

It's been mind blowing around here for sure.

Have a terrific weekend!

{beckam - 9 months}

This little boy...

I mean, come on.

These pictures physically hurt my heart.

I know that I am biased, but he is just too cute.

Beckam turned 9 months old on Saturday. 

This last month he has turned into a whole new baby.

For starters, he is Mr. Mobile. 

Crawling has commenced...

his own, very special, type of crawling. 

He mixes it up quite frequently, but one of his favorite crawls can be seen in the second to last photo.

One leg forward, one leg back, crawl with your hands, scoot on your bum.

It's special. And cute.

He also has a speed crawl.

He hasn't quite mastered the "typical" hands and knees movement,

so it's more like speed worm.

He does this when he is going to something that he knows he's not supposed to.

My favorite part is that he looks back to see if I'm watching, and if I don't give him eye contact, 

he squeals and makes a break for it.

He's ornery.

He is pulling himself up on anything and everything.

Checking out what this world is all about.

Even though he has stopped choking on puffs,

he still can't get enough of them. 

He's like Hungry Hungry Hippo.

As soon as I place them on the table, 

he swipes up as many as his little fat hands can grab.

He usually keeps about five of them hoarded in his left hand while he eats with his right.

Trying to feed him pureed baby food has gotten a little bit trickier.

He likes to feed himself,

but his utensil skills are definitely subpar, as should be expected.

So, it's my job. Imagine that.

His cat like quickness usually ends up hitting the spoon and spilling the food on the table. 

If I don't have a napkin ready, he sees this as a perfect opportunity to use the table as some bongos.

Messy.

I've gotten pretty good at distracting him with singing.

Or high pitch noises. 

He gets intrigued and I can shove a spoonful of goodness in his mouth.

Our meal times would be fun to watch.

He is very chatty still.

It sounds like he is speaking sentences.

In his own fun language.

He has lots of sounds down, except "M".

He's been saying Dada for awhile.

And it even sounds like he says Brody sometimes.

But getting him to say Mama is not going to happen.

He thinks it is hilarious when I try to coach him on it too.

In time.

My little Mr. Baby has his bottom two teeth.

You can catch a little glimpse of them in the very top photo.

Based on the amount of drool that he produces, 

I wouldn't be surprised if more were coming soon.

Gosh, I love this kid.

The happiest little guy around.

(five | parties}

I like to plan parties. 

A lot. 

And I've got a few under my belt now.

So, I thought I would share with you some of my fave parties to date.

 1. Mustache Bash

This was a big ol' party I threw when Brody turned one and Ryan turned 30.

We also did a super fun photo booth.

Nothing but the best for my men!

2. Baby shower + dirty 30 + cookie dough cupcakes

The only thing at this party I was responsible for was those cupcakes.

And I want one in my mouth. 

Right now.

3. Third Annual Harvest Party

Every year I throw a harvest party for our community.

This last year I added a caramel apple bar to the mix.

I wasn't mad about it.

4. Vintage Bicycle Party

I was responsible for absolutely none of this party.

I may have helped assemble and take pics, but the rest was my handy sis-in-law.

5. Farm Party

This glorious party for two of my farmers was only 2 weeks ago.

And maybe one of my favorites yet.

I mean, check out that photo mural of Brody and Ryan.

Go check out each of the links to see more details from each party.

And pin, pin away! :)

{three}

It seems surreal that I have a three year old. 

But, boy do I love it. 

We are so blessed to have this sweet little man in our lives.

I swear he is just like his daddy.

Obsessed with farming and tractors.

Stubborn.

Tidy.

They even both stick out their bottom jaw when they are wrestling/playing rough. 

That can't be taught folks, it's inherited.     

Along with his love for tractors, 

he has an obsession with Lightning McQueen.

In fact, he thinks HE is Lightning McQueen sometimes.

He "starts his engine" and revs all around the house/yard.

I'm Ms. Sally, Ryan is Doc, and Beckam is Guido... in case you were wondering.

Before he starts racing, he kicks the ground like a bull does.

I didn't understand what he was doing, until one day he said with contempt,

"Mommy, make your mark!"

Then I realized that when they say "on your mark, get set, go!",

he literally thought you should make a mark in the ground. 

He, like his mama, loves to paint.

He mostly just paints circles on paper though.

They're pivots. 

In every color of the rainbow. :)

Between his grandma and me, we own every John Deere puzzle made.

He loves them, and spends lots of time, almost daily, completing them all by himself.

I don't know about you, but I certainly couldn't have completed a 60 piece puzzle at age 2 or 3.

He really loves his baby brother.

At least, I think he does.

I question that love when I see him purposefully step on Beckam's hands,

or head bang him forcefully.

But when I hear him talk to Beckam sweetly, and take him toys when he's whiny,

I know that it is a deep love.

He tries hard to be patient with him, and almost daily melts my hear 

by the words he says to him and the hugs and kisses given.

It literally seems like Brody was JUST the baby of the house. 

Three years goes by way. too. fast. 

Brody, 

I love you so much, it hurts. 

You'll always be my baby.

           

           

{combine cake tutorial}

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I made this John Deere Combine cake for my hubby's birthday.

I found an absolutely amazing tutorial on how to do it, and I wanted to share it with you today.

Lora from A Quiet Life in a Loud House, was kind enough to let me use her words and pictures since I was THE worst at documenting my process.

This is her tutorial:

 {with snippets from me in parenthesis - hope that doesn't make it too confusing}

--------------------------------------------------------

So I started with a quarter sheet cake. {I was nervous about making mistakes… so I used a half sheet. There was definitely extra.} I cut a piece of wood about 5x8 inches. I covered it with foil. Then I cut 2 slabs of cake that size as well, and piled them on top, with icing in between. 

Then I picked an end to be the back, and rounded the edges.

I cut a wedge shaped piece of cake to be the cab, and attached it with icing and shish-kabob skewers. 

I also made a hopper like a rectangle with a bowl hollowed out inside. 

Then I covered the whole thing in green stars {disclaimer… Lora is amazing! You will notice on my combine cake, that there are no stars. Not even one. I was incapable. I had to just pipe lines of frosting on.}

Here is a close-up of the cab, after I iced the top, but before I did the windows. Notice how the hopper is right up to the cab on top.

I poked in a bendy straw to be the auger. I cut the bent part a little shorter. I used a smooth tip to pipe icing on all around it. {Again, I am not that talented… I used the same icing tip as the rest of the cake… the icing sticks quite well to the straw.}

I dipped my finger in corn starch to pat the icing smooth. The corn starch just soaks in.

I put on the toy combine head. I attached a ding dong with frosting for the front wheels, and chocolate covered donettes for the back wheels, and a little yellow icing for details. Candy corn in the hopper.

Gray for the windows, lined in black.

Done!

---------------------------------------

SO, based off of that incredible tutorial, I made this:

Maybe not quite as cute... but it certainly was a hit, regardless.

Now, it's your turn! 

I know you can do it.

{a farm party}

February 9 and 10 are kind of a big deal around the farm. 

Two of my farmers have their birthday's.

Brody turned THREE! 

{Which needs an entire post of it's own.}

I showed him pictures of cakes before his birthday to get an idea of what he would like. 

After scouring Pinterest and finding lots of amazing cakes, he was less than impressed.

He was adamant about wanting the SAME cake that he had last year.

My hubby on the other hand...

he's been a little bummed that his birthday gets overshadowed by the little man's.

SO, he requested a combine cake. 

Boom. Done. 

I had so much fun putting together this little farm party for my boys.

Enjoy...

{that barn was a birthday gift to Brody... honestly I bought it mostly for decoration.. 

turns out he is in love with it.}

{overall central... takes me straight back to fourth grade}

{as party favors, we gave away little farm themed wooden puzzles that you can paint yourself, 

and a mason jar full of animal crackers}

I will be posting a tutorial or two about how I made some of the items. 

Stay tuned.

AND Happy Birthday to two of my favorite farmers.