Ice Fest & Birthdays

We've had some amazing things going on since my last post. Earlier this month, we went to Ice Fest in downtown Chambersburg, a yearly tradition for our family since moving here 2 years ago. It's a great little festival that has food and drink and lots of ice sculptures. Many of the downtown businesses sponsor the sculptures and it's so much fun seeing all the creativity! I lost count of how many we saw but it spans the main square and a block on either side. There was even an ice slide that kids could sled down. Although it was ridiculously cold, we all had a really great time!

(I'll update later with some more pictures once I get them off my camera.)

The weekend after Ice Fest was Love Bug's baby dedication at church and her first birthday party. The dedication was amazing and made me realize just how much our little girl is loved. We had so many friends and family take part in her special day! When Little Love was a baby, my mom crocheted an amazing christening gown for her dedication. I'm so thankful it was able to fit Trinity as well! It was an incredible blessing to share that with both of my children and is a beautiful piece of our family that will be passed down for many generations. :-) 

Our loving family all praying over Trinity

After church, we all went back to our house for a light lunch, partying, presents, and cake. I was so anxious to see what she was going to do with the cake! I think she was a little overwhelmed at all the attention she was getting but she fared well and had a great time. 

The beginning of the party

Friends and Family ♥

The bag was as big as her!

Beautiful and YUMMY cake!

It took about 10 minutes to get her hands fully in it.

It took her about 15 minutes to finally get it all over her face!

With the blessing of her doctor, Love Bug has now started drinking whole milk and is weening off formula. She's eating a lot more solid food and is really enjoying feeding herself. She especially loves Cheerios and bananas. When she was an infant, she absolutely hated peas--with a passion--but since trying some not-pureed ones this past weekend, LOVES them! Score! This week we're going to start introducing our dinners blended so her palette will be more acclimated and diverse. I'm so incredibly thankful that my in-laws got us the Baby Bullet for our baby shower. It is one of the most used appliances in our kitchen and been such a blessing with preparing healthy, nutritious meals for Love Bug. 

She's really starting to talk, A LOT! She's learned some new words including woof, bye-bye, and please. It's amazing to me what she says and understands at her age! She just started picking up her toy phone and saying hi to it although hasn't quite mastered the art of getting it to her ear. She mostly just hits herself in the forehead with it. LoL! 

So in a few of my other posts I talk about having issues with my pocket diapers not fitting Love Bug really well. I found that it's mostly the Bum Genius brand and have decided to stop using them for now. I'm not really a fan of Aplix (a type of Velcro) anyway because it's too easy for her to get undone. Plus, since the laundry tabs are worn out, the Aplix gets a TON of lint build-up. Anyway... we've decided to go back to using pre-folds and covers. I was a little bummed at first but honestly can't for the life of me remember why we ever switched! I absolutely love that she NEVER leaks and hardly ever gets a rash! We got 5 Thirsties Duo Snap Wraps and I couldn't be happier. 

Speaking of cloth diapers... I finally got to order the PUL fabric, FOE, snap press, and snaps to make Harrison's diaper covers. I decided to make fitted covers meaning I'll be making around 4 sets of covers until he's potty trained. The first set will fit him from birth until about 10-12 pounds, depending on his shaping. I'm a little nervous since I'm such a novice sewer but there's nothing like a little practice to get better! I'll be posting more about it on my crafting blog, including pictures of the PUL fabric once I get it. 

One of the other exciting things that happened this month was being able to consistently feel Harrison kicking and hearing his heartbeat for the first time. ♥ I had a check-up this past week and Harrison is growing perfectly. :-) I just can't believe that in 16 weeks or less we will be holding another little bundle of joy! God is so amazing and has tremendously blessed our family!

Well that's about all I have for now so until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Date day & Ice Fest

Today was great--those three little words sum it all up. It started out with Andy and I catching up on Fringe which is a totally awesome show and if you haven't watched it yet, you should because it's just that amazing. Afterwards, we went through more boxes in the rec room and I got most of the upstairs bedroom/craft room/second office together. The only thing left in there is to actually move my computer and papers in and put the bed together once I find the hardware. That last one is a little short coming at the moment because I seriously have NO clue where I put it! After we spent time cleaning, we went to see No Strings Attached which was hilarious! I love Ashton Kutcher! To me, he's one of those actors like Adam Sandler and Jim Carey--no matter what movie you see with them in it, you know it's going to be funny/good. Well, I was definitely not disappointed with No Strings Attached (Natalie Portman was awesome too!). So to finish off our "date day" we went to Perkins for dinner. Yes, I realize that Perkins isn't really a "date" type establishment; however, we are both doing Take Shape for Life and Perkins is one of the only restaurants that will allow us to substitute salads for a side without complaining or adding extra charges. They're super nice like that! I typically get an omelet whenever we eat there but tonight I got lemon pepper salmon that was just plain awesome! Anyway... We came home and continued to do more organizing/cleaning in the rec room. Andy is determined to get the room finished by the end of this weekend in order to be ready for the Super Bowl party next weekend thus, all the work being done in the rec room. Speaking of organizing...

Since we don't have nearly the kitchen space in this house as our last house, Andy had a fantastic idea. It's something small but made me very happy. We only have 2 drawers in our entire kitchen, one large and one very small. The large one currently houses most of our silverware and cookware like spatulas, knives, etc. The unfortunate thing is the drawer just isn't large enough to house everything. I had the idea of purchasing a caddy to sit on the counter but Andy came up with an even more creative idea that doesn't use counter space. Here's what he did:

That basket used to hang outside with flowers in it and was white. While he was washing it he noticed that the white paint started coming off. Honestly though, I like it better this way. It's more rustic/vintage looking. :-) We hung it on the side of the cabinet closet to the sink using a Command hook which holds up to 3 lbs. I'm definitely happy he had this idea!

So back to out day... After dinner we stopped by downtown Chambersburg for the annual Ice Fest. It. Was. Awesome! There were about 55 sculptures in all and I took pictures of each although a few came out blurry. I apologize now for the quality. These were all taken on my phone because my camera was not-so-smartly sitting on my couch!

I <3 his ability to be goofy!

My custom made ring ;-)

The symbol of love

Touchdown!!!!

The key to my heart...

Our 7th Lombardi trophy! Go Steelers!!!

All that was missing was Kris & her tiara

Pretty sunflower

I just love the intricacy and detail on each piece. The pictures definitely don't do them justice so if you have time tomorrow to check it out, you totally should. Just as a side note... Be sure to dress warmly! I froze my behind off because we didn't plan to go, so all I had on was a thin long-sleeved tee, a fleece vest, and a scarf. Needless to say.. It was COLD!!

It's getting late so I'm heading to bed. Until next time... Much love & blessings!

♥Courtney♥