Happy Fourth of July Eve!

Or as everyone else probably calls it, the Third of July. Regardless, I am celebrating.

We kicked off the holiday festivities with a red, white & blue breakfast. Mini star pancakes made just for tiny fingers. I made regular pancakes for the rest of us, then just made one big pancake & cut little stars out of it with a cookie cutter for Harp.

Unfortunately, breakfast is about as far as we're going to get with our Fourth of July plans right now because it won't stop raining! It has been torrential down pouring & flooding over here. 

Son of a BEE.

We just wanted to play outside!

It's raining, it's pouring. But we won't let the weekend be boring!

I refuse to let the rain ruin our fun. If we are stuck inside, we are planning a full on camp-out in the living room, complete with tents (we are going to have a full house), sleeping bags, music, movies & even s'mores in the fireplace!

There are tons of fun games to play inside too, we love playing Thirty One or Balderdash. Both of which can be turned into drinking games for the adults! ;)

All that really matters is this cute girl, who I'm sure will be happy with whatever we decide to do. 

 Headband

Wishing you all a Happy Fourth of July EVE!

More festive Fourth of July Inspiration can be found here & here. Enjoy!

Monday Randomness.

I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU to everyone for all of the sweet comments, emails & feedback. You all MAKE. OUR. DAY.
I am so grateful that you allow us to inspire you & make you laugh.
If we had more trees, I would invite you ALL over for a mama's night out, hanging in the hammocks & sipping festive beverages 'til the cows come home.

I mean, we would have one hell of a party.
There would be babies and Christmas lights and Thanksgiving dinner and Halloween costumes and drinks on drinks on drinks.
It would be BANANAS.




Ok. Back to reality.

I am excited to announce that I have officially cut back to part time at my "full time" job!!!
CUE THE FIREWORKS.
 I will still be working from home, but now able to spend more time being a mama. It has been CRAZY working full time with her home with me & daycare prices are just outrageous. So, after running some numbers, this made the most sense. Hopefully this means more time for fun things to share on the blog AND possibly even custom chalkboards one of these days.
 But for now, I'm just trying to survive the day without me & the kiddo both going stir crazy.

I'm sure you all know, Google Reader is going away. You can follow Little Baby Garvin on Bloglovin' or import your entire list of blogs into Feedly. If you are a mobile reader, you can also save the blog as a bookmark to your homescreen.

AND...
 These changes also prompted us to finally get a Facebook Page! I know, welcome to earth! I was a little hesitant, as you all know I have a hard enough time keeping up with emails/questions as is, but I'm hoping this will be a fun outlet to share new posts & chalkboards.

Also, for those of you who asked about the red velvet pancake recipe, I have added it to the Recipes Page of my blog. They are BEYOND. We have been making them for three years now & it has become one of my favorite traditions! :)

 

There are so many fun, creative things you can do with pancakes, so don't be afraid to go one step further & do them with the red velvet recipe! Top them with cream cheese, whipped cream or syrup. Cover them in blueberries, blackberries & strawberries. Cut them into star shapes or make pancake pops! :) The festive possibilities are endless!

And last but not least, there are a few new summer inspired prints listed in my etsy shop! Coupon code 30OFFCHALK is still valid for 30% off your purchase!

Fireworks, Anchors & Fourth of July... Oh My!

Fourth of July week is here, we are so excited for the highlight of the summer! We will be celebrating with a house full of guests, lots of drinks fun & summery shenanigans. Just how we like it! :)

In the spirit of the holiday weekend, what is more festive than anchors?! Well, dressing up as a bombpop probably is, but that is beside the point.
Here is a little collection of all things anchor... I am obsessed with the navy & coral combination! So very summery & nautical. I have had my eye on the grey terry floral anchor top for EVER... can not get over the cuteness.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

Harper & I rocked our matching anchors this weekend, just the beginning of our festive outfits for the week. Remember the amazing Santa pillows featured in my holiday house tour post? That same talented mama also makes these fun anchor tees & sells them in her etsy shop! Not only perfect for the fourth, but all summer long!! :)

Get a load of that ornery little grin. She is so full of sassy personality these days, where did it come from? It seems like way too soon for her to be such a little person.

She is independent. She is curious. She is silly.

And she is strangely obsessed with puppies.

 Dot Romper. Headband. Wagon.

Hope you are all ready for a fun week of red, white & blue! You know there are already fireworks going off in our heads over here.
Happy Sunday to you all!

Fourth of July Festiveness

Fourth of July is just one week away, so we are kicking off the festivities early with a little celebration. Rather than popping the champagne, we decided to BOMBPOP THE CHAMPAGNE! :)

 Tell me this isn't the most festive beverage you have ever laid eyes on?! We plan to serve these up next week just in time for fireworks, but couldn't wait to test them out & share them with you all! This may also be the easiest drink to make, just a little of your favorite champagne topped off with an upside down bomb pop & garnished with a sparkler.

Stemless Glasses. Wood Tray.

Bomb pops are my JAM. They are nostalgia on a stick.
They take me straight back to the front step of my great aunt Barbara's Brooklyn apartment, where I would sit in my swimsuit as a little girl after playing in a "johnny pump" with red, white & blue running all down my face. I can hear her voice & the music of the ice cream truck playing in my head each time I eat one. These make me happy for so many reasons.

Along with these tasty drinks, some other fun ideas for the Fourth of July that we would love to incorporate into our weekend include...

Our favorite 4th of July tradition, Red Velvet Pancakes topped with whipped cream & blueberries.

A festive cookout, complete with BBQ chicken & corn on the cob.

Water balloons & yard games.

A campfire, s'mores & sparklers.

And last but not least, I am obsessed with having a SNOW CONE BAR, dying over this snow cone maker & these festive cone paper cups.

For more ideas & outfits, you can check out this Patriotic Memorial Day post, our Red, White & Blue breakfast & sangria OR 4th of July Swimwear post! :)

And can we just take one second to look back at last year's 4th of July baby Harper? Holy rolly polly cuteness.

Headband. Denim Ruffle Bloomers (similar here).

Doesn't she remind you of a little s'mores marshmallow?! How festive of her.

Our Weekend in Pictures

Just another weekend recap...

Polka Dot Romper.

On Friday, I got the urge to make Harper some onesies. It has been so hot here, so while I let her run around in diapers most of the time, I was hoping for something a little more appropriate for when we go out in public. I grabbed a few of her white onesies, dyed them with a charcoal/black dye in the sink & stitched on a few flowers that I had in my craft box.

 Clearly she was impressed.

Saturday, we spent the afternoon at the pool. Out of nowhere there ended up being live music & a cookout thrown by our neighborhood, so I'd say it counted as a full on pool party.

 Harper was killin' it in her shades & one shoulder suit.

Black Ruffle Bikini Top & Bottoms.

And of course, she deejayed for us from her wagon on the way home.

Radio Flyer Wagon.

 Sunday, we took it easy & rounded out the weekend with a fire & s'mores.

Happy Camper Sweatshirt. Knuckle Rings.

 Nothing says summer nights like ooey-gooey marshmallows sandwiched between half a candy bar & some graham crackers. I couldn't help but make it a double.

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Mama + Mini Blueberry Style

Happy second day of summer! It's obviously been summer in my mind for months already, all part of living where it gets too hot too fast. I get way ahead of myself with seasons too, August 1 marks the first day of Fall in my mind (August, Autumn, same thing), so summertime is really running out on my watch!

One of my favorite summer color combos right now is navy & lilac, how can you resist all of this cuteness?! You all know I love mixing & matching my swimsuit pieces as well, so these are the perfect colors for it! Especially since there is a mini style to match! :)

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. 

Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

Harper seems to love these colors as well. So much that she now smashes blueberries on her high chair tray whenever she eats them & rubs them all over her face like war paint.
And I'm weirdly okay with it.

If you're happy & you know it, clap your hands!

Have a great weekend, friends! :)

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15 & 16 Month Favorites

Age:16 Months
Stats: 25 lbs. (80th percentile), 31 inches (60th percentile)
Clothes: Wearing size 12-18 month mostly, although I have to roll up pant legs since they're a little long. Lucky for us it is summer right now, she can wear a broad range of sizes in dresses, like this cute one below!

Bubble Dress

Favorite Foods: Strawberries, Watermelon, Chicken, Bananas & Pasta

Favorite Words: Nana (banana), Pup-pup and Puppy (obsessed with animals, all of which are referred to as puppies) & Shut (demands that we shut all doors & cabinets if they are left open).

 

Favorite Activities: Wagon Rides (we love love love our Radio Flyer Wagon, especially for walks to the pool, where it doubles as a beach bag & cooler!). Playing with straws/cups, I got a set of four small plastic cups in the dollar section of Target along with a big box of neon colored straws. We organize them by color & then she goes to town moving them all around, putting them in & out of the cups. This entertains her for longer than most of her other toys, especially as a good high chair activity. Reading. Coloring on the chalkboard wall. Watching Noggin videos, puppy videos & Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (and sometimes CMT). Climbing on the couch & chairs. Hiding in her teepee. Eating popsicles.

Least Favorite Activities: Diaper changes & anything that involves her laying/being still.

Favorite Things

Brown Bear, Brown Bear. She has always loved this book, but the colors, words & pictures must really set it apart. She always picks this book & even kisses the kids faces on the last page.

B. One Two Squeeze Blocks. We always come back to these, she is just now at the stage where she can really stack them or line them up on the window sill. She also likes to carry them around on a book like a tray, no clue why.

Beaba Utensils. The only ones she can grip well. We are teaching her to use a spoon/fork right now, it is a hot mess of course, but totally cute. Also, she's a lefty! :)

Elastic Hair Ties. You can really find these just about anywhere, I have tons of them & Harper LOVES to wear them as bracelets. She puts them all on her arms & takes them off a million times. Once she sees me wearing them in my hair or on my wrist, she instantly wants to play with them.

Shapes Puzzle. We just got this & she loves playing with it! It is so fun teaching her colors & shapes and watching her try to put them in the right spots. I keep this toy put away & only get it out when we are going to play together with it, otherwise it would just disappear among the rest of her things. A fun, cute learning toy for sure!

Brush Buddies Cow Toothbrush. Harper is obsessed with brushing her teeth. I like this toothbrush because it has a lid & the bristles are soft. Plus she loves to see the end pop up before she gets to use it.

Water Table. This is a must for toddlers, endless entertainment. It's messy but well worth it if you plan to spend any time outside! :)

Signature Moves: Fake laughing, smelling her feet & blowing kisses at everyone. She also still has killer dance moves, she does the shoulder lean like a boss.
 

Mom's Proudest Moment: Not noticing when she started chugging my iced coffee at the park. Well done, mama. #strawninja

Dad's Proudest Moment: Dad let her face-plant roll off the couch when he turned to look at the TV. While she seemed to think it was funny, she later shoved both of her fingers up his nose & made it bleed. Payback's a bitch.

Although we all know this moment takes the cake for us being parents of the year.

Bubble Dress
 
Other Milestones: Harper can fully understand sentences & things that we say. It BLOWS. MY. MIND. When I say "Go get your baby doll, it is in the stroller!" She jumps up, runs to her stroller & brings it back, yelling "bah-bee!" Either she is saying baby, or she named her baby, Bobby.

She sleeps like a champ, 8pm-8am with one two hour nap in the middle of the day. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night chatting to herself, but always falls back to sleep on her own.

She runs, pretty much skips & can almost do a somersault.
AND she knows where her nose is. Total genius.

 PS. I know I said it last time, but this is definitely our favorite age so far! :)