Even though it's not V Day yet I whipped up a little festive breakfast for Blair over the weekend (and you better believe I ate that french toast too!). I love cutting her food into fun shapes using cookie cutters and the heart was a perfect fit for this occasion.

garland made by Erinn over at Strawberry Swing and Other Things

I love making holidays special for B and I hope one day she can do things like this for her own kids!

Valentine's Day is creeping up on us and since I'm always looking forward to the next holiday I got started making Blair's valentines last weekend. If you haven't noticed I live for this kind of crafty stuff.

I stumbled across some valentines that I loved on Pinterest. I dumbed mine down a bit by not stamping out each valentine (who has time for that?!) and printing them instead. I also skipped cutting out felt hearts and decided to draw mine. I purchased the plastic animals at Target (60 for $7) and kept the extra for Blair to play with. I saw similar ones at Michales but they were 12 for $10! Target for the win.

And while I'm sure Blair would love the $2.99 box of "Frozen" Valentines, I enjoy putting forth a little extra effort. I'm planning on putting some organic animal crackers from Costco in little treat bags to accompany them. The only bummer about these is that they can't be mailed in an envelope. :( Luckily we see a lot of our friends throughout the week at church, Bible study, the park, library etc. but there will still undoubtedly be some hand deliveries. These are the valentines we made last year here and here.

What about you? Are you crafting your valentines or saving yourself some time? I guarantee you if I had a newborn we would be doing boxed valentines 100%!

This weekend started out fabulously...with Whole 30 ending! I celebrated hard with a crumb donut, chai tea latte, and sweets upon sweets all weekend. Surprisingly my tummy didn't seem to mind at all. I'll be talking about what our diet will look like now later this week.

We also celebrated my brother's 21st birthday at a local BBQ restaurant that we all love. Their bread pudding had my name all over it! One of our favorite ways to spend our time is with our family (really!) so this was a double treat! I broke all the rules and even had a beer. :) My Dad turns 61 (62?) later this week so we let him tag along too. ;)

sweet little nephew

cousins! and blair's half up top knot i've been loving. :)

helping uncle jake make a wish

i love this picture of me and my Dad. we were all watching Blair play in the courtyard before we called it a night!

We didn't have big superbowl plans and ended up hanging out at home with my brother and his wife. Our game day snacks were quite elaborate...3 boxes of girl scout cookies. I'm not really into football. And by not really I mean not at all so I crafted with my sis-in-law for Blair's birthday bash while the boys talked shop.

I've been a crafting queen over here and have some fun Val Day things to show you this week along with some sneak peeks of the birthday bash decor! Get excited. :)

     Toddlers sure say the darndest things. For example the mini anatomy lesson I had to give Blair in the middle of Target the other day. We were waiting in the returns line, Blair in the shopping cart, when all of the sudden I feel her pushing on my chest. She continues to do so while saying,

"These are circles. They're like balls. I like them. Can I touch them?"

Uh, newsflash kid you are already helping yourself.

Next thing  I know is that she's got her shirt pulled up and is asking where hers are. I told her when she gets bigger she will have some. I then continued to tell her no more touching Mommy's chest because they are my privates (for lack of a better word). She then corrects me and says,

"No, your privates are right HERE" and reaches down to pat me in the crotch.

Awesome. Mini anatomy lesson completed in Target. Check.

Have any of you given any anatomy lessons to your littles lately? C'mon I know I'm not alone in this!

And here's an unrelated picture of my favorites...

Do you spy dirty baby?

Fertility Update: My next doctor appointment is February 12 and I couldn't be more stoked! He will be checking my thyroid, FSH, and LH levels more thoroughly. I've been reading a lot of articles regarding progesterone, thyroid levels etc. and really think I'm going to find my answer with this. I'm finally figuring out how to advocate for myself thanks to some help from a friend dealing with this too. And let me tell you having hope feels oh so good. Praising Him on the reg for giving me direction!

I have to tell you I am 100% obsessed with my harem pants. They are like glorified sweats (elastic waist band and all) but much more chic. I got mine from CAbi last fall at an outlet and haven't take them off since. Well, not counting this week when Blair got Disney princess glitter chapstick all over the thigh. Dang it. But you get what I'm saying...I live in them! Below are some ways to style them and reasons why you should go and grab a pair! Oh, and excuse my unmade bed and pasty arms. I have a toddler annnnnnd it's winter.

by far my fave look!

date night

i love this look because it looks like a jumper which i'm all about!

playground chic

Here is why you need a pair...

1. They are as comfy as yoga pants but cuter
2. Elastic waist band...enough said
3. They can be worn with heels, wedges, flats, and converse
4. Although your hubby/bf will hate them I assure you your girlfriends will swoon
5. They make you look dressed when you're not

BTW Whole 30 ends Saturday for me and I will 100% be celebrating with a big. FAT. donut. I've read that for some people the benefits of Whole 30 don't kick in until day 45 or 60. No thank you. While I didn't lose any weight (major bummer) I wasn't really doing it for that anyway. M and I plan to continue with it but with the exception of having a cheat day or meal a week. That way I won't be so miserable deprived. ;)

     I wasn't kidding when I said it was the week of the baby showers! I helped host a baby shower for Matt's cousin, Ilene, this weekend at my home. She is due with her first baby, a girl, in March. To make sure the mom-to-be liked the style of the shower I made sure to ask how she was decorating her nursery. She's going with a blue shabby chic floral style for her sweet girl so I mimicked that. For some reason I had an impossible time finding fabric that really evoked a shabby chic feel. Target has a brand that nails the look but I wasn't about to buy a comforter only to cut it to shreds... I made do with some other blue vintagey floral fabric. Take a look!

The cake was brought by another hostess...too cute!

These girls are sisters and due (both with girls) the same week!

The mom-to-be and me

     I'm always one for re-using items that I have already made and I was able to do that for Ilene's shower. The fabric backdrop was used for Blair's 2nd birthday last year. I just removed the pink fabric and cut/tied on the blue instead. I also own a lot of burlap which was perfect for the table decor. The tissue garland was also created for Blair's 2nd birthday. Again, I removed the pink which created a more neutral look.
     Here's the most awesome part of all...the flowers were from the shower I attended the previous day! (Gasp!) The hostess happened to be my friend so I asked her if I could pay for half the flowers and use them for my shower. No point in me running around town trying to find the right flowers to create my own arrangements, right? I meant what I said...this year I am trying to stress less and man did that help! It was also great to co-host a shower with Ilene's Aunts and divvy up the responsibility. Happy Wednesday!

I mentioned on Instagram (@natyouraveragegirl) that I had a weekend full of baby showers. On Saturday I attended one for my dear friend, Natalie, who is due with baby boy # 2 February 14! The ladies who threw the breakfast shower did a beautiful job. My pictures aren't the best because of how the sun was coming in (it was 80 degrees!) at that time of day but you get the idea.

Beautiful flowers made the shower extra special. SO much better than store bought!

Guests wrote their names on these wooden circles.

I re-purposed this "baby boy" sign from a this previous shower I threw...winning!

The flowers were STUNNING!

The most adorable/perfect drink dispensers.

"Oh Baby" making a re-appearance! (Now who has Britney Spears stuck in their head? You're Welcome.)

Paper airplanes also came out to play again. My motto...save EVERYTHING!

The beautiful Mama-to-Be in the middle...even though you can't even tell!

The best advice I have for people who like to throw parties is to save everything and re-purpose it! I was able to pull out some generic boy baby shower decor from my "party closet" which took me practically no time. And that kind of decorating really fits into my "stress less" and "say no" philosophy I'm taking on this year. ;) Easy and still cute! No point in re-inventing the wheel twice! I do like to use bits and pieces from other party decor over again but let's be honest...I wouldn't be caught dead throwing the same party theme twice....party faux pas! I'm too Type A for that. ;)