Hunger Games Movie Premiere

You may remember I read the Hunger Games trilogy last year. It was awesome. Its my favorite book series I've read in a long time and probably right up there for favorite books.  The first book The Hunger Games was made into a movie and it came out last weekend.

I acted like a crazy teenager and stayed up till midnight the Thursday before the movie came out to see one of the first showings. I've actually never been to a movie "premiere" like that before, can you believe it? I was pretty excited and giddy like a middle schooler...which was a good thing because 99% of the people in the theater with us were middle school girls. Awesome. I haven't that old in a long time...side note, it was pretty amusing to see all the mini vans lined up outside the theater at 2am for their parents to pick them up. But moving on....

The movie was AWESOME!!! So awesome. Like unbelievably awesome. It was so great to see a book that I was so passionate about made into a movie. Since the book is set in a futuristic world it was neat to see how that could come to life. Also, the casting was amazing. Really great actors were cast in all the supporting roles as well as the main characters.

It was also neat to see the differences between the movie and the book. It was fun to see how the writer and director worked in a lot of the back story and internal monologue into the movie. Here is a great article that discusses the differences between the book and movie. Even though the movie took a different direction on a couple of things, I really enjoyed it. I cried, a lot (of course). But OMG I want to see it again! And I can't wait to see what the do for the next movies.

When THG (see, how trendy I am?) came out, it exploded! Sort of like Twilight. THG has been everywhere lately!! Its sort of annoying but at the same time I'm ok with it for 2 reasons. Number 1, I read the book before they were cool, and Number 2 I'm glad so many other people are getting to enjoy this book series!

So what did you think about the book? About the movie? I definitely think this is a case where its worthwhile to read the book and see the movie. Mostly because the book explains in more detail the story in the movie and has a slightly different take than the movie. So read it and go see it! :) Enjoy!!

Park Playday

We have been having the most gorgeous spring weather lately! Its like 20 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year. I love it! Its been so cute to put Steven in his little shorts and t-shirts. He just loves to be outside too.

So one evening this week we walked to a park near our house to take Steven there for the first time. He loved it!!! I swear he had the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face the entire time. There were other kids there and he loved that. He walks right up to them and giggles. Its pretty cute.

But he had the most fun climbing around on the equipment at the park. He loved exploring the new areas. Here he is with daddy practicing climbing. So cute!

By far Steven's favorite thing at the park was the slide. We went down with him a few times at first and he liked that a lot.

But I think we were too slow for him. He wanted to slide and slide. So we ended up setting him at the top of the kiddy slide and trying to catch him but the second we set him up there he scooched to the edge and boom! slide down on his own! He was so NOT scared. How adorable. As soon as we caught him at the bottom he whined and squirmed to do it again! This kid loves to slide!

After all the fun we had a little dinner picnic at the park. So fun! I hope we can do this again more if the weather holds out! Yay spring!!

First Birthday Party Inspiration

I really can't believe that I'm planning a first birthday party! It seems wayyyyy to early to be doing such a thing but my baby boy will be 1 in less than 2 months! UGH. Time goes by too fast when you have kids, its so true. But practically, I am in need of a place to organize all of my thoughts/ideas/plans for his party so I thought I'd do it here. Why not?

I've been all over the place about a theme. Its hard because Steven really isn't "into" anything yet. I mean he likes animals and music but those aren't really specific themese. I think this first party will be mommy's choice :) And we will save those things for themes for upcoming years parties when his tastes will be more obvious. So for now I think I settled on a pinwheel theme with green/blue colors.

We are going to have a backyard BBQ so it will just be really fun, casual and bright! I hope the pinwheel theme will display that. I think it will! And I'm excited. I don't think its super cheesy and kind of creative. Hopefully it will turn out as great as it looks in my head..ha ha!

I love everything about this party. Yes, please. If I had $200-$300 to spend on decorations I'd order all this stuff.

I also love her invitations, but again too expensive. Aren't they gorgeous?!

Ok now back to reality. I think I can DIY some of the things from this party above and make our party pretty neat! I'm pretty sure I can make pinwheels. Luckily the internet has a ton of instructions for how to make them here here and here. Woo hoo!

I think it would be fun to have a pinwheel wreath great guests as they enter our house. I think I can make this wreath (especially since there are instructions here ;) I'll do it with blue/green paper.

I know I'm going to DIY a brithday banner for sure. I really want to display the monthly photos we've been taking and I think I can handle making something like this. Where to hang it, I'm not sure....

 
I don't think I'll make a table runner but I think I will make some of these for decorations to have around. There's instructions here

Here are some printables I was thinking I might use:

http://www.drawpilgrim.com/category/birthday-month-2010/

http://www.dimpleprints.com/2011/05/07/pinwheel-party-inspiration-board/


Ok is that enough randomness! Lets get this party (planning) started!!

Baby Steven's First Year...Ten Months

Double digits, little buddy! Its incredible to think we've come this far already. I know I say it every month but time really has flown by since you were born. You are blossoming into a such a little personality this month. You are so different than how you were just a month ago! It really is incredible to watch you grow up. (that shiner on your face is due to one of your recent attempts to walk!!)

This month, you have completely mastered crawling. You can crawl anywhere you want now and you can get around pretty well too! You much prefer walking around to crawling though. You will pull up on anything within your reach (furniture, pets, mom's leg...anything!).

You will walk along holding onto everything too. You especially love to walk around holding onto our fingers. You will get a good pace going if something motivates you like chasing Zeus (one of your favorite passtimes).

You are really rocking your walker too. You will go up and down the hallway, in the bedrooms, in the kitchen, for a long time. Its so cute to see your little legs working so hard using that walker! Too cute.

You even improvised this month using the laundry basket as a walker. You loved it! ha

You are talking like crazy this month! You already have a few words! You now can say, "mama" "dada" "bye bye" and "boo"!! CRAZINESS. You're almost always babbling to yourself and usually when we talk to you, you repeat the tone and syllables we use. Its nuts. I can't believe you are already learning words and talking so much. Makes sense though, with a chatterbox as your mama ;)

You are communicating a lot besides your talking. You're trying to learn to wave and you have a sideways finger-curling thing you do that is your version of "waving". You're also able to point to things you want. You find a way to get your point across, that's for sure! You are also master of "high fives" and love it when someone gives you a chance to show your high five skills!

You're little personality comes out all the time now. You love to be silly and giggle. If adults around you are talking and laughing you will laugh right along like you are in on the joke...hilarious. You love to be tickled and giggle every time. You are really into sharing now and will offer us bites of your food or to pretend to chomp on your bath toys all the time. You just think its hilarious when we pretend to eat whatever you've offered us.

Another aspect of your personality that we've seen a ton this month is your stubbornness. If you try to do something that is unsafe and we redirect you, you will go right back to what we said not to do! We have to redirect you several times and you usually end up getting frustrated and whining/crying. This behavior also makes sense coming from such a hard-headed daddy (and possibly mom ;).

We've had some really nice days this month and you love getting out for a walk or to play outside. You just look around like its your job, taking in all the scenery as we pass by. We've even had a nice enough day to play at the park! You loved that.

You have completely mastered your sippy cup this month. You are an old pro using it now. You also have gotten really good at picking up small food like cheerios and peas. I'm impressed by your ability to pick up that skill so quickly. You have sort of become a more pickier eater this month, perhaps the novelty of food has worn off on you. I'm hoping your love for all fruits and veggie will come back soon but for now you love apples and grilled cheese.  You are still pretty cool with broccoli and love all breakfast foods. Luckily you'll usually eat a healthy fruit/veggie puree at each meal so that's good. But you are growing at a great rate and still are humongous for your age (upwards of 90th% for height and weight) so we aren't worried.

You still love bath time and can play in there for a long time. We do a bath each night because now that you are moving around you can get pretty dirty!! But you don't mind at all.

You had a chance to get in some quality cousin time this month when Willow came to Grandma and Grandpa's for a visit. You ended up enjoying your time with Willow but were a little skeptical at first....

She had more than enough love to give though! :)

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Baby boy this month has been so crazy with the amount of growing you have done! You started out not so sure about crawling and mastered that in a couple of days. Then a few days later you are pulling up and getting around holding onto things. Its crazy to see how fast you are learning to get around. You are learning words so quickly too, we are going to have a chatterbox on our hands in no time! You love to snuggle, give high fives, take baths, wave hello and bye bye, laugh, play outside and just be a rough and tumble boy!! You're such a joy to your daddy and I everyday and we are so blessed to have you! We love you so much!!

Playlist Numero Tres

I really didn't realize how much I like hearing new songs. It seems like every few weeks I have enough new favorites to fill this post. 

This one is so sweet. I love Jason Mraz. I have his previous 2 CDs and I'll hopefully get to buy this one when it comes out. Here is the first single. I also realized recently that I like slower music with good lyrics. This song is beautiful and the words are too.

Sarah Barellis is one of my favorite musicians. She is really amazing. Her songs are great, her lyrics are awesome. I have 2 of her CDs and can listen to them pretty much start to finish. That's a big deal for me to like a whole CD. Anyway, here is a song off her first CD. Its a really good song!

We are going to get a little country for a minute here ;) Hunter Hayes is a new artist and isn't he such a cutie? I like the unique quality of his voice and this song is really catchy. I hope you enjoy it too!

Now back to my rock roots....lol. This is an awesome, awesome song. Its got a beautiful guitar intro and a great melody. The lyrics are really great too. About 2/3 of the way through they start screaming, hard rock style. I don't enjoy that part so much but the beginning and middle of this song are worth the listen.

Anything jamming on your playlist lately???