What the Girls Wore #99

Eden is at a really fun age, she's becoming sort of independent and lovely

We went to Grandma's house and the girls had a great time on the trampoline together.

Grandpa made cupcakes and Eden was a huge fan.  She devoured it, unlike how she daintily picked at her birthday cake.

Hanging out at bedtime.

We spent the morning at Prairie Winds Park and Eden was a bigger fan than we had anticipated.

Catie had a blast, as expected

Playing at the park, filling her bucket with rocks.

Eden discovered the foam chair that is just her size and is super excited.  She loves to plop down and relax.

More rocks in buckets

Eden and I at the farm

Catie and Daddy, hanging out.  Check out all the sticker on Catie's face and legs, they've been there for two days now... it may be time to do something about them.

Butterfield Acres

Fieldtrip day!  Catie's preschool went to Butterfield Acres, a local farm.

We milked a goat, though Eden was not a fan of the goats.  Catie wasn't interested in milking either but she did love the horses and the smaller goats.

We pet sheep

 And saw donkeys

Eden eventually warmed up to the goats

And they both loved the bunnies

The tractor ride was the biggest hit and it was a really nice day.  Yay for preschool.

First Day of Preschool

Some kids have a hard time leaving and going to preschool... my Catie is not one of those.  The Friday before school started we went to meet her teachers, as we pulled up to the school Catie climbed out of the car and called, "Okay, thanks for dropping me off!"

The actual first day of school came and went just as smoothly as I expected.

She was excited to be there and was so busy playing she couldn't be bothered to say good bye.

I loved her little ladybug backpack and she loves that she gets to take a snack with her each day.

She was so great that we celebrated with ice cream after her first day.

Love this girl.

Birthday Cake

I love birthday cake.  I especially love that my girl's aren't old enough to make many demands so I get to make the cake that I want to eat.  I let Catie choose the cake flavour, chocolate, and the frosting colour and the rest was up to me.

I should have taken a shot of the inside cause this was a pretty cake.  I baked it in a 9x13 pan, then cut it in half.  I cut each of those halves horizontally so I have 4 layers and I stacked them all up, adding a super yummy chocolate ganache between each one.

Chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, thick, pink buttercream frosting... perfect!

As each of her guests showed up to her birthday party Catie brought them over to see her cake, she was really pleased and everyone thought it was super delicious.

Birthday Shirt

Catie's birthday was coming up and a birthday shirt seemed to be in order.  She was super excited to be turning 4 and she loves this shirt.  She wore it three day sin a row and told everyone she saw that she was four.

The 4 is a reverse applique and it turned out super cute.

But really the important part is that the shirt wearer is thrilled.

Catie's 4th Birthday

She turned 4!  This seemed like an especially big milestones and Catie was extra excited.  She was more aware of her birthday than she has been in the past so we decided to go all out and throw her a party with friends and everything.

I'll start out with a birthday questionnaire.

She had 5 friends over and we started off with a little Don't Eat Pete.  There was some What Time is it Mr. Wolf?  We ate dinner, cake, opened gifts and Catie loved being the centre of all, loved showing all her friends around.

All her friends, eating dinner together.

Blowing out her 4 big candles.

I couldn't be more pleased with Catie, she's at a delightful age.
She's polite, kind, sweet and finally seems to be potty trained.  She loves school and gymnastics.  Her imagination is growing every day and she's an amazing big sister.

Gold Spray Painted Shells

Since I hung my gallery wall I've been wanting to add more gold to my house and finally came up with an awesome idea, to paint a sea shell.  I pitched the idea to Brad (I knew he'd care more about the shell than I do) and since it was a gift from his parents he wasn't too thrilled with the idea.  I dismissed it but once again my awesome Mom came through for me and gifted me three shells.  I figured three was a bit much unless I was going for a beach theme (which I'm not) so I only painted two.  They just turned out so incredible!

I apologize but I didn't take a picture of the star before, here's the shell though, pre paint.  It was a very nice shell, but just a shell, which is not my things.

I gave the shell 4 light coats and the star only took 2, in fact the bottom only needed 1.  These shells painted up so quick and perfectly that I think it was the most satisfying paint job I've ever done.

The star is so delicate, and these shells catch the light and shine like I didn't expect.

Before I painted I checked on Pinterest for the best gold spray paint and found this awesome blog post that took all the guess work out, she did all the hard work and this is her photo below.

I liked the Rust-Oleum best so that's what I used and I'd highly recommend it.

I put these both on my fireplace mantel and the only thing that would make them better is more gold!  I'm a little addicted.