Mama + Mini Meow

Tomorrow is August. Autumn. August!

You've CAT to be KITTEN me right MEOW!

Nothing says Fall like black cats & a little leopard print! I can only do leopard print in small doses, accessories like scarves or hats are the perfect way to incorporate it into the Fall wardrobe. But cat ears? I can do cat ears all day long! Remember Harper's cat hat from last year?!

 If there's any chance this thing still fits, you can count on seeing it again this year.

This feline inspired edition of Mama + Mini is the cat's MEOW!

One | Two | Three |  Four | Five

Six | Seven | Eight | Nine

I need to find a way to make that leopard hat fit my head. Paired with those cat eye sunglasses? Just call me Thackary Binx.

You may be wondering why on earth there is a backpack in the roundup. 

Harper will be going to a little pre-pre-preschool "mama's morning out" program at our church this Fall! I took her to registration the other day where they proceeded to tell me that I should send her diapers, sippy & snacks along with her each day in her backpack.

IN HER BACKPACK?! She doesn't have a BACKPACK! She's a baby!!!

I was two seconds away from tears (kinda like when my mom put boots on her when she was three days old). Anyway, I know it will be good for her & she will get such a great interaction with other kids her age. It's only three hours, two days a week. What will a mama do with all that kid free time?! Maybe shop for cute backpacks? 

Whatever it is, I'm sure it will involve coffee.

Happy Almost August, meow! ;)

Our Weekend in Pictures

 We had such a busy weekend, all of us battling summer colds & working on a bunch of projects around the house. I have had a major cleaning/organizing itch lately, wanting everything to be ready for Fall decor in just a few weeks! We are almost finished with Harper's room, tackling a few projects in our master bedroom & somehow ended up knee deep in closet organization at the same time. How lame, right? (See more cleaning & organizing favorites here!)

Anyway, early this afternoon when the sun came out, we were able to put all of our projects on hold for a fun afternoon at the park & the picnic we have been wanting to have forever! :) This yellow striped blanket caught my eye a few weeks ago, it basically backflipped off the shelf & into my cart screaming PICNIC! I had no other choice but to buy it. Don't you hate when that happens?

 On the menu: Egg salad on sourdough, seasalted sunflower seeds, fresh fruit & kettle chips. We put the food in mason jars & paper boxes, then threw them in a cooler. Made for extra awesome cleanup with a toddler, I forgot how kick ass it is not to have to sweep after each meal! ;)

Only our kid would take a break from eating to smell her feet.

It was such a fun time, I can't wait for the weather to keep cooling down so we can do this more often! I can picture it now, trying to set up shop for a picnic at the pumpkin patch. I'm sure they won't mind! :)

I hope you all had lots of fun & maybe even a few tasty cocktails this weekend!
Monday, here we come! :)

Sources: 

Yellow Striped Blanket | Peach Onesie | Knuckle Ring

Denim Jacket | Nail Color

Christmas Vacation Drinking Game

Ladies & Gentleman, today is Christmas in July!

In the spirit of this festive occasion, I am so excited to share a Garvin Family Tradition with you today. I've mentioned before that we love making up drinking games to our favorite movies & this is the drinking game of all drinking games! We made this up in college & have been adding to it ever since. 

It's time to celebrate Christmas in July like a Garvin Griswold.

"JOY TO THE 'WOLD!"

The Garvin Family Official Christmas Vacation Drinking Game

What you will need for this game: an excessive amount of beer, a Santa hat & a single shot of your choice (preferably a lime jello shot topped with cat food).

Take One Drink Every Time:

• Ellen calls Clark "Sparky"
• Someone is wearing an ugly holiday sweater
• Clark does something awkward
• There is singing or music
• The swimming pool is referenced
• Clark is wearing a sports team article of clothing, unless of course, you are wearing a Chicago Blackhawks jersey, then that means you are a complete badass & you get to give drinks at each of those parts.

Additional Rules:

The entire group takes a drink whenever an advent calendar door is opened.

You must yell “Shitter’s Full!” any time you leave to use the restroom, otherwise you must finish your beer when you return.

First person to say “Get me somebody! And get me somebody while I'm waiting!” when Frank Shirley appears on screen for the first time chooses a person to finish their drink.

First person to stand up & fully complete the “knock on the door, peek in…” correctly WITH hand gestures during that scene gives two drinks.

At any point in the movie, you can point to someone & yell "RUS!" If they do not respond with "Right here, dad" they must take a drink (max once per person, this could get excessive).

Anytime someone misquotes a line in the movie, they have to wear the Santa hat until it gets passed to the next person. When the movie is over, the last person wearing the Santa hat has to shotgun a beer & finish by saying “Ahh, It’s good, It’s good. It’s good.”

Whoever ISN’T up for watching Home Alone immediately after the movie ends has to take the SHOT! 

Please Note: The game is best enjoyed while wearing bathrobes, fur trapper hats & smoking cigars. EMBRACE YOUR INNER GRISWOLD!

Now rally up your friends, family or even Todd & Margo this evening & get your drink on! :)

Merry Christmas in July!

Halloween Style Preview!

You guys. Today is the day I have been waiting for. Baby Halloween outfits are starting to pop up & it makes me want to backflip into a tall glass of apple cider! I am drooling over all of the cute, graphic pieces for Fall & couldn't wait to share them with you!

I mean, does this not make you want to drop what you're doing & go trick-or-treating?! :)

Black Cat Hat | Boo Dress |  Orange Leggings | Black Flats

Boo Hat | Never Grow Up Onesie | Denim | Orange Laced Boots

 I could not get that Boo dress in my cart fast enough, Harper will surely be rocking this for the entire month of October! 

Here are a few of my favorite Halloween outfits from last year, so little, yet so festive!

I am so excited to see Harper enjoy the holidays this year, thinking about her loving Halloween & Christmas puts the biggest smile on my face. I live for making fun holiday memories for my family.

Also, you know that today is Christmas in July Eve right?! Clark W. Griswold is probably knee deep in a moose glass of eggnog right now & we all should be too.
Fa la la la laaaa! :)

Our Weekend in Pictures

 I will apologize in advance for the poor quality pictures, most were just taken on my iphone as we were on the go! 

This weekend we celebrated the rest of Brandon's birthday with a fun night out downtown. My brother watched Harper overnight so we could stay at The W. It was the first time we have both been away from her overnight so it was definitely a little scary, but good for all of us!

I was in love with the fun little outdoor patio & the view, totally my style! All of our friends came out to dinner with us & joined us as we bounced around to a few fun spots for drinks. Oh yes, we felt like college kids all over again!

 Blue Jersey Knot Dress from a local boutique (similar here & here) | Black Wedges

Sunday, we slept in. We slept in. It was glorious. Then we (me, brandon & our hangovers) hurried through a greasy brunch & were on our merry little way home to see this pretty little face.

She thought it was pretty unfair that we got to have so much fun & good food without her. We promised to make it up to her with a fun family adventure next weekend! ;)

 Swimsuit from Gap Outlet | Headband

Sunday night, things got really exciting when I decided to go through my closet to switch out some things out from Summer to Fall & came across a bunch of my old t-shirts. Most are ones that I wouldn't want to get rid of for sentimental reasons, so I thought I'd try my hand at turning them into bibs for Harp! I am pretty in love with the first one! This is a no-sew style (for those of you who can't even sew a button on to a shirt like me), all I did was cut around the collar & then in a bib shape in the front. I may end up cutting the back to add a clasp, because without the velcro or snap, this style would only be safe under supervision in a high chair.

I hope it holds up through the wash! :)

Happy Hump Day Eve!!

Hungry Hungry Harpo

We love food. I love cooking, trying new foods & especially love eating. And not just toast & Fritos. Feeding a toddler is much harder than I ever thought it would be, considering we aren't always eating at the same time as her. It can be hard to find a good balance of healthy foods, foods that she will like & things that are easy to make. 

Harper is just now getting to the stage where she's becoming a little bit picky, or rather she just wants to go play & not sit in her high chair to eat. That just means I have to be creative with meals & keep trying new things.

Here is a roundup of some of the meals that I make most often for Harper.

Toast & Fruit. We both eat this often for breakfast, I like to mix it up with lots of different fruits & sometimes add peanut butter or almond butter to our toast for a little protein.

Waffles or Pancakes with Fruit. I make pancakes maybe once every other week & freeze a few to pop them in the toaster for breakfast. We also eat whole wheat Kashi waffles that are quick & easy, always topped with strawberries or bananas.

Cereal & Fruit with Yogurt. Either Chex or Cheerios with blueberries, bananas, raspberries or strawberries make the perfect breakfast finger food for toddlers.

Mac & Cheese with green beans. I make mac in a mug, a healthy substitute for easy mac. I use 1/3 cup of water, 1/3 cup of Barilla Plus Macaroni Noodles & microwave for 6 minutes, stirring every two minutes. Then I add 1/4 cup of milk & 1/4 cup of finely shredded cheddar cheese & microwave for another 2 minutes. I steam fresh green beans, cut them into small pieces & add a splash of soy sauce, lemon juice & bread crumbs for flavor. Green beans are her favorite, but she also loves steamed broccoli.

Shredded turkey, avocado, pears & goldfish. I mix it up between turkey & chicken from the deli, or sometimes shredded chicken made from cooked chicken breasts.

Spaghetti, Fajitas or some sort of leftovers. Harper eats everything we eat, even spicy foods. Since she eats dinner at five & we don't eat until seven or eight, I just make small portions for her to eat the next day. She loves all sorts of pasta, casseroles, crockpot meals. Fajitas are her favorite though, seasoned chicken, green peppers & cheese served on a soft tortilla shell.

More meal ideas can be found in this post! :)

And of course, some of our other meal time favorites...

Momma Straw Cup. After trying possibly every sippy cup on the market, this one has quickly become our favorite. Harper has always loved straw cups over regular sippys. I love these because they don't leak & can withstand being hulk smashed to the ground on a regular basis. They also make them with handles for younger babies which I would definitely recommend since these might be a bit too hard to hold with their round shape.

Boon Spoon. We don't really use this anymore now that Harper is feeding herself, but we loved our squirt spoon for the longest time when she was younger! 

Boon Grass. We've been using this drying rack since day one, I am obsessed with it! This is also my go-to baby shower gift for new mamas! :)

Beaba Utensils. The best utensils out there for little hands learning to feed themselves, love all the colors too.

Silicone Bib. Another must-have for messy eaters. This saves so much food from going on the floor & all over the high chair, especially for things like pasta.

She is also officially transitioned off the bottle, we just sorta did it one night, gave her a sippy of milk before bed instead & she was totally fine with it. #likeaboss

Sometimes utensils don't cut it & we just have to shovel it in by the handful! ;) A throwback to my childhood, our whole family ALWAYS ate spaghetti with no silverware just for fun!

 I've also mentioned a few times that our highchair is from Ikea. While I wasn't so sure about it at first, I really do love it now. It's so easy to clean since there is no fabric or cushion creases & somehow the top has remained bright white after all the messes that have been made on it. I really think it's meant for older babies though since it doesn't provide much support if they aren't comfortable sitting up on their own yet.

I hope this is all helpful in giving you some new ideas for meals to make for your babes & some fun new products to try to make meal time a little bit easier! :)

Celebrating 28!

 Yesterday was my husband's birthday, he turned 28. So basically thirty, I tell him.

We kicked off the morning (aka. the ass crack of dawn, as you can see it's still basically dark out) with Mancakes. Pancakes & bacon, the manliest breakfast I could think of. I guess it would be more manly if it didn't have a sparkler on top, but he did get to light it with a blowtorch.

 Let's be honest, nobody wants their bacon cooked inside their pancakes, bacon is just too good. So I just stacked them & smothered them in syrup. This is stomach-ache-worthy, so beware.

Even though dad had to go to work, I thought we'd celebrate him by doing one of his favorite things with Harper, GOLF! She just got a new golf set that she is obsessed with, so rather than dragging it all around the house, we headed outside so she could practice her swing! ;) 

Bubble Shorts

True story, one of my first times golfing, I accidentally hit my ball towards another tee box where another group of golfers were standing. I loudly yelled, NINE! like a complete asshole because that's what hole they were on. Turns out, you yell "FOUR" no matter what, it has nothing to do with the number. My husband will never let me live that one down.

Quite possibly the cutest little golfer of all time.

Next up? Birthday treats. We decided to bake some lemon cupcakes, dad's favorite, to take to surprise him at his office.  I just used a box cake mix (gasp!), with homemade buttercream & topped them with blueberries.

  Zebra Dress | Headband

The cupcakes were a hit at the office but I think everyone enjoyed this scrumptious little lady even more.

 And we ended the evening with his favorite dinner, hot beef & gravy over mashed potatoes (we are SUCH midwesterners), ice cream cake & a few cold ones on the back porch. A solid celebration if you ask me! ;)

Glasses | String Lights


Happy Birthday, my love! We are the luckiest ladies in the world to call you ours!

But as you all know, birthdays last all week in our house, so the festivities aren't over yet!

House Tour: One Year Later

 Hard to believe we have been living in our house for just over a year now! It is very rare that it isn't decked out for some sort of holiday, so I thought this would be a perfect time to do an updated house tour before it gets covered in pumpkins & Christmas lights in the upcoming months.

It's very apparent after looking at these pictures that I am obviously afraid of color. Neutral much? I'm so lame. 

But that fear of color clearly translates into me going out of my way to hide disguise the bucketloads of kids toys that lurk around every corner. I like to have a space that is kid friendly, without looking like we live in a primary colored plastic playground.

The living & dining room, in the front of the house, was one of the hardest rooms to decorate. Obviously by the looks of giant blank wall, it still is. We wanted this room to be totally kid proofed (this is the room that we had completely baby gated when Harper was younger).
We filled the room with a pair of durable chairs, a thrifted dining room table & Ikea dining room chairs with washable slipcovers. We hung some pendant lights, bamboo blinds & a large mirror in the dining room. The mirror was just a cheap Home Goods mirror, meant to be hung vertically, but was just the right size for our space.
Still planning to switch out the chandelier over the table for something a little more modern, maybe like this filament chandelier, but like a fourth of the price? :) Changing light fixtures makes the biggest difference in updating a space, my husband would know, he has changed eleven since we've moved in. Eeek.

Pendant Lights | Chalkboard Basket | Navy Chairs | Dining Room Chairs | Teepee

Fur Pillows from Target last year (similar here)

 Harper's teepee & a large basket house most of her toys, as well as small tubs that we slide under each of the two chairs.

This random framed artwork was a watercolor painting that I made when I was TWO. My grandparents saved it for me & gave it to me as a gift when I got my first apartment. It is one of my favorite things in the whole house. And such a fun idea for something you can do with your own kids!

We applied these childproofing corner pads to our dining room table, upside down though so they wouldn't look as awful. These have been a savior for all the times that Harp slams into them when running laps.

A few mason jars filled with crayons make for a fun playroom feel for a simple dining room table centerpiece. I know, I'll be kicking myself in the ass the day Harper turns one of the white slipcovers into a canvas. Wait for it.

Entryway Chandelier | Square Chalkboard Basket | Bench from Home Goods (similar here & here)

The entryway is pretty bare when there are no holidays, but this is Harper's favorite room to play in. We keep another basket in here for some more of her toys, which are usually neatly lined up on this bench. It is totally her little play table.

 In the family room, I finally found an oversized matte frame at the PB Outlet that will be hung on the staircase wall. I'm sure it will look totally too small, but I just can't decide on anything else.

 And for the console, booze on top, toys in the bottom. This bar tray will only get to stick around for a few more weeks, as Harper inches closer & closer to reaching it.

I was a little nervous about Harper's Anywhere Chair being white, but so far so good!

I leave this felt garland hung on the mantle year round. I love how festive it feels even when there isn't a holiday. I can hardly wait to hang my Fall garland soon!!

If you look closely here, you can see "Bobby the baby" getting a wagon ride down the hallway. 

Oh hey, the toast tray! :)

And our super bare breakfast nook just looks sad when there are no holidays. I'm not sure I've ever taken a picture of the chalkboard bare, but it won't last long. Fall/Halloween prints are coming soon!

And of course, the coffee station. Where we clearly love coffee so much that we need two coffee pots. And yes, I totally bought that bag of coffee just for the packaging. And because it matched my straws.

I promise our house isn't always this clean either. It only lasts for a few minutes before Hurricane Harper goes through it. Upstairs to come soon! :)

Hope you've enjoyed the tour! Here's a little Doodle Bug cuteness too, just for fun.

Dot One Piece | Headband

Sources

Pendant Lights | Chalkboard Basket | Navy Chairs | Dining Room Chairs | Teepee

Entryway Chandelier | Square Chalkboard Basket | Bench from Home Goods (similar here & here) 

B. Toys Activity Cube | Radio Flyer Walker Wagon

Fur Pillows from Target last year (similar here) 

 Toast Tray | Boon Grass Drying Rack | High Chair

I tried to link everything that has been asked about before, if there is something that I left off, please ask in the comments & I will be sure to update or reply! :)