Alex's Sesame Street Birthday

Sitting on top of mommy and daddy's gift

Alex's 1st birthday party was this past Saturday and everything went well. We went with a Sesame Street theme since he likes the show and the characters. Sesame Street streamers, napkins, cake, candy buckets...everything! There was a lot of food and the cake was amazing. He had been fussy earlier in the day because of his allergies, but once his cousins showed up he was in a better mood. I could tell he was tired but he stayed up for the cake and presents. I hope he had a great time. I know he won't remember his first birthday so I made sure to take plenty of photos and videos.

I really wanted his birthday cake to be special and not just one from the grocery store or right out the cake catalog. I searched on Google for ideas and found some that I liked but ultimately decided to design it myself. The left photo was what I came up with in Paint. I bought the little Sesame Street toys from various places...ebay, Toys 'r' Us and Big Lots. I ordered the gum paste stars from Sweet Touch Decor on Etsy and the cake was made by the same place that made our wedding cake, La Casa De Los Pasteles. The cake was delicious and just how I envisioned it to be. The top layer was chocolate and the bottom was vanilla...and no fondant! I think it turned out great!

Alex's 1st birthday

I woke up early on his birthday and thought about how quickly a year went by since having my son. It feels like it was just yesterday but still a blur because it went by so fast. I laid in bed looking through all the photos I had of him on my phone all the way from when he was born. He's growing up too fast for me. I feel kind of regretful that the wedding happened this year because I was so stressed out about that and I should have put all focus on him instead of the wedding because he's only this young once. But I'm so thankful that he is a healthy, happy baby. Now I have more time to really cherish every moment with him. I love him so much!

Alex's first Halloween

...as the Hulk! We went trick-or-treating last night. Baby was just sitting back in the stroller relaxing while I had to maneuver his stroller on uneven bumpy sidewalks, carrying his basket full of candies on one arm while in heels. But it was fun and we got compliments on our costumes and lots of candies so it was well worth it!

Witch, Jason and baby Hulk!

Halloween green witch makeup

Face and eyes:
Mix green and white face paint color together to get a light green color - apply all over face and neck.
Apply a bright shimmery lime green eyeshadow all over face and neck to set the face paint.
Use a dark forest green eyeshadow to contour nose, cheek bones.
Use a bright shimmery yellow eyeshadow to highlight under eye area, cheeks, chin, bridge of nose and forehead
Apply a shimmery olive green eyeshadow to the eye lids.
Apply matte black eyeshadow to contour eyeshadow crease and use as bottom liner.
Line eyes with black eyeliner.
Use the same black eyeliner to draw eyebrows and fill them in.
Apply fake 'spider' eyelashes to eyes.

Lips:
I filled in my lips with a silver eyeshadow pencil
I used a dark violet eyeshadow to as lip liner
I brushed silver eyeshadow on lips

Product used:
Mehron green and white face paint
Wet n Wild I Dream of Greenie eyeshadow trio (the lightest lime green shade)
elf Disney Villains Maleficent book Fauna eyeshadow (dark forest green color)
MAC Gorgeous Gold eyeshadow
MAC Carbon eyeshadow
Avon black eyeliner
elf spider lashes
Duo eyelash glue

11 months old

My son turned 11 months old this past weekend. He is growing up so fast, I can remember when he was just a infant but that seems like yesterday (I know, so cheesy). Now he is so active, he doesn't want to be carried or held anymore (but only when he wants to) and he's talking and playing a lot more. Now we are trying to get him to start learning to walk but he's being lazy in that area. I guess that's okay for now, because they keep telling me that once he learns to walk he will be everywhere and harder to keep up!

Rundown of my wedding day attire

This is my Wtoo/Watters ivory lace ballgown. It is gorgeousssss! I wish there was a time or event where it is socially acceptable to wear your wedding gown again haha. This wasn't my first wedding gown though. Before I stumbled upon this one, I had ordered a dress from Simply Bridal. It was not what I expected and I was very unhappy with it. You can read about it here. So I returned that dress and searched for the dress. I found it at Sunday's Bridal. It is everything I wanted in a wedding dress: lace, ivory, sweetheart neckline and ballgown style. I feel it's a classic style so years from now maybe my daughter might want to wear it.

To go with the dress, I also wore a lace key-hole back bolero. It matched the dress perfectly! Even better is that I got it for free from Tulip Bridal's contest! I saved $80! I purchased my veil from ebay from another bride for $75. It is a David's Bridal 2-tier scalloped edge fingertip veil. The beading on this is really pretty. And last, my shoes are Olivia by Calvin Klein. I got these on ebay for $45.

So...
wedding dress - $550
bolero - free
veil - $75
shoes - $45
Total : $670

Easy fried rice

Ingredients:

• 1 lb bag of frozen chopped peas and carrots
• 4 Chinese sausage links (lop chong), sliced in half and thinly chopped
• 6 eggs
• cooked white rice
• 1 clove minced garlic
• chopped green onions
• soy sauce

Directions:

1.  Prepare rice: I made 4 cups or rice in the rice cooker. While I let the rice cook, I prepared the sausages and chopped onions and minced garlic.
2. Scramble eggs in a pan. Set aside in a bowl and chop into smaller pieces.
3. Add oil to a large pan and cook the sausages for a few minutes.
4. Add some oil to pan and add minced garlic and onions. Stir around for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add in the chopped peas and carrots. Stir until veggies are cooked.
6. Add a little more oil to pan (if needed).  Add in the white rice and stir.  Mix the veggies and sausages into the white rice.
7. Add soy sauce to taste and stir all ingredients for a few more minutes.