February

Alright so I'm basically just going to throw up a bunch of photos and label them giving a brief explanation of what has been going on.  Here we go!  

 I decided to cover the lampshade of a lamp we had with the same material I lined one of the nightstands with.

Here it is just drying by the fire... la-dee-da...

 Oh no!  I melted all my work!  So sad, but my sweet husband still thought it looked awesome and said it just gave it texture!  Bless his heart.  You can see the lamp at the bedside below.

 Here Mercedes is found "planning" in her planner.  :)

 Here Mercedes is testing out a little bike.  (We later got a bike for her for her birthday).

 This is the cat Mercedes watches for every time we go on a walk down the street.

 Playing in the rain...

I decided it was time for another furniture project so I found this nice little side table for $20 on craigslist.  It is in excellent condition, and has such great lines!  PERFECT for distressing.

Before...

And after!

 I'm actually trying to sell this one, we'll see what happens!

Two weeks ago I decided it was time to even out Mercedes' hair.  As much as I loved and adored her little baby locks it was becoming a little wild looking and hard to work with.

 So off went her uneven ends!

In the middle of cutting it off I had his immediate feeling like I was going to cry!  But then that feeling quickly went away and relief came as I saw how nice and even her hair would be.  And not to mention much easier to take care of.

 Below is an example of Mercedes' desire to dress like a princess 24/7.  This girl would live in poofy frou frou dresses all day every day if I let her.  I have a hard time getting her to take off her Sunday dresses after church on Sundays.

 As a reward for getting Mercedes' little chore chart done throughout the week I take Mercedes to "The Fountains" shopping center and we ride the little train and do other fun things there.  On this certain occasion we walked into the pet store and found a bunch of bunnies!

 See this little white bunny below?  This one melted my heart!  Just look at its' ears!  Flopped right down like a little stuffed animal.

I have a special place in my heart for bunnies.

After finding the bunnies we walked to Whole Foods Market and there was an orchestra set up in the front of the store.  They even played some Les Mis music!  It was awesome.

 Here Mercedes is sitting on a rock while we listen to the Orchestra play.

 Above, a little mid-morning date.

Below, Mercedes is playing on a little hill on the outskirts of the Library playground.

 Here Mercedes is tromping through brush on a walk.

 I found these adorable little things at H&M and HAD to get them for Mercedes for her birthday.  I am so obsessed with this style...  And especially for little girls.

 Us being goofy in the kitchen while baking.

 This is one of my absolute most favorite faces Mercedes makes.  I just crack up every time!

This last weekend we celebrated Mercedes's birthday.  She is now THREE!  We cannot believe it.  For several months she told me she wanted a rainbow birthday and a rainbow m&m number three cake.  We saw the cake on pinterest and so that was the plan... up until about two weeks ago.  Then it was to be in her own words, a "bike party."

 I melted white chocolate and drizzled it into the shape of bikes for the cake.  Also something I saw on pinterest.

 Then I found some free printouts online and put them in frames.  I used the flag banner she had in her room and put little bicycles on them

 Ta da!

 Then I made a bike picture for "Pin the bike seat on the bike."

For nursery the tradition has been that whenever someone has a birthday they bring something like cupcakes, etc., to nursery.  So we made cake pops!  Actually, brownie pops.  They're so easy to make, and so fun to eat.

For the cake, I used confetti cake mix and stacked one tier on top of another.

I covered it in a butter cream frosting and then prepared the fondant.  Several days before, I made this fondant from the most simple recipe.  All it is made out of is marshmallows and powdered sugar, and then some food coloring and almond extract.  It turned out awesome and very tasty.

Below is the end result!

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Mercedes or the party but my father-in-law took a bunch so I just have to get the pictures from him.  Maybe I'll do a future post on that.

Now here are some more photos of one of Mercedes' favorite pass times.

 One of my favorite things about this time is seeing how high the static can make her hair go.

 This girl also LOVES the merry-go-round.  She'll stand in front of me and we'll spin together as fast as we can go.

 My mom got Mercedes a little bead kit for her birthday and yesterday she sat on the living room floor and intently worked on a string of beads.  I loved watching how into it she was.  Yay for crafts and projects!

 Yesterday Taylor dropped us off at the Mall while he went to a class and Mercedes went into Pottery Barn Kids for the first time.  I think she was in love.  And to be honest, so was I!

 See this cute little pink phone?  I thought it was so adorable.  And then I found out it is a REAL phone!  Just miniature and pink...  I think I would not mind having one of those, even if I am grown up.

Well there's a quick (or maybe not so quick) recap of the last month.  Hope you are all well!