Meet Miki Murphy!

Our long-awaited pug pup has come home today! Weighing in at a petite 4lbs 8oz, she's about a quarter of the size Shadow was when he came home to us! She's extremely cute and seems to be adjusting well. We actually decided to put a deposit down on her litter almost a year ago and are thrilled with the choice so far! She's a little snorty, but we're hoping she grows out of it and it isn't a problem. Either way, she's an absolute love and so smart!

Seamus seems to really be in love with her and Liam is definitely interesting in playing with her, but he shows a bit of his age when he tries as he has to be reminded regularly how to pet her and what not to do. Shadow seems a bit insecure with us, but is definitely fascinated by this little roly-poly we brought home. So far we're monitoring their time together, but as she gets bigger and they work out their roles I'm sure they'll be very good friends! Enjoy the pictures (sorry the second isn't the greatest quality, my camera has been acting up on my blackberry)!

On a side note, Liam is officially in hardcore potty training! I swear we say "Do you need to go potty?" every 3 seconds! So far he's doing pretty good. A few accidents, intentional in the beginning, but he seems to be past that for the most part. He has been wearing "big boy underwear" when we got out and so far NO accidents! He waits until he gets home and then goes and we have to RUSH to get him on the potty in time haha. I'm still aiming for the record Seamus set of 2.5 years old and completely potty trained. We'll see. We've got 2 months, which should be MORE than enough time, so I think we're gonna make it!

Oh, and I just remembered that Seamus starts school in about 2 weeks! He's excited and a bit nervous I think and I'm just super nervous haha. All the typical worries and fears with a boy I suppose. I'm just hoping it goes well and he loves it and they love him. If not, we'll find some place that does, but I feel pretty good about the fact that I think this place may be the right place.

Well, I think that's all for now! I'm sure we'll be updating soon with Seamus's school updates and of course Miki as she grows!

Happy 2nd Birthday Liam!

We've always felt strongly about really celebrating the boys' individual birthdays for the entire day when we can because after the horrible pregnancies and rough starts, we're really thankful that they're here, healthy and growing!

We spent the entire day celebrating Liam and enjoying time together as a family:) It was a great day! Seamus woke up and got to open his morning present of the day (we always let the boys have one present on their birthday in the morning so they don't have to wait all day long), went to Chuck E. Cheese where the boys spent hours playing in the tubes, scoring tickets at the games and having lunch! Then we brought the boys home and they CRASHED! After a semi-short nap, it was dinner time so we took the boys to get dinner out and then came home for cheesecake (Liam loves it) and presents!

All in all, it was a wonderful 2nd birthday for Liam:)

BabySteals.com is an amazing site! Check it out!

How to Train Your Dragon - 3D Dragon Cake and More!

PLEASE NOTE: For some reason Google got rid of the images :( For anyone still interested in viewing it I can't seem to find the originals, but here's one shot of it. If you have any questions about it please head over to my beauty blog (which is still active) and contact me through there: BeautyPopStop.com  Enjoy!

So, because the boys are born just over a month from each other we decided to celebrate the boys' birthdays with a joint birthday party with family (doing small separate celebrations on their actual birthdays with just us. Today went well, aside from the fact that both boys and Patrick got sick with some evil respiratory virus:( Unfortunately, that limited the guest list, but Grammy, the aunts and uncles, Nani and Papi were able to come! I had spent the last couple weeks planning the details - anal retentive as usual about everything. My favorite detail of the whole party was the main cake. I had had several different ideas for a theme or mixed themes, but finally landed on a "How to Train Your Dragon" theme after we went to see it when it came out and the boys loved it. Patrick and I managed to get a bunch of themed stuff from different party supplies stores (it was nutty how difficult it was to find stuff considering the fact that the movie just came out), but I was unable to find a cake mold or blog from someone who had done a 3D "Toothless" cake - the main dragon character in "How to Train Your Dragon". I finally decided I was going to take the mental image I had in my head and simply create it myself. I took my Wilton's Sit-up Bear cake mold and essentially cut and mold it into the silhouette I needed. I managed to do it over the course of several hours. I used a fabulous almond flavored ricotta biscuit recipe that I changed a bit to turn it into a dense cake. It took about 1.5 hrs to cook in the mold, but it did eventually come out of the mold perfectly! After finally get it out I let it sit in the fridge over night to settle a bit. I then cut it and pasted pieces on using the same lemon buttercream frosting I used to cover it after it was done. Once I had the silhouette I needed, I covered it with lemon buttercream so that once cut and the fondant was removed, it would taste like a normal cake. The lemon really compliments the ricotta/almond flavor.

Next came the fun part! The fondant was an adventure. I've never actually worked with fondant like this before so I had no idea what to expect. I used the Wilton's ready-made pure white fondant because I had read it was easy to work with, even compared to homemade fondant. It took three or four rounds of adding and kneading coloring into the fondant to get a pure black, but it was worth it since the end result was lovely. The hardest part was covering the silhouette of the dragon. Unlike a simple round or square cake, my "Toothless" cake had legs, pointy ears, a tail, etc. I finally made it through after several tears and near hair-pulling incidents. Then came the small details like the eyes (yellow and black fondant I shaped myself), toenails, spikes and tail.
Then the wings . . . oh what a difficult detail! It was actually very difficult to not only shape the wings properly, but to attach them to the body and then bend them in a realistic way. I must have tried a million different positions. Finally, I got it. Then I had to duplicate the mirror image for the other side! Also difficult, but I eventually got it. Then, I created rocks using marble-looking fondant I created by mixing in a minimal amount of black food dye until it was swirled, but not thoroughly mixed. I took the rest of the buttercream frosting and dyed it grass-green, then spread it around "Toothless" and made it prick up like grass. All in all I really thought it came out well and the boys definitely liked it. I also made a delicious cheesecake with raspberries - almost all of which was eaten!

The boys had a great time. All in all, both the cake and party were successful!

Real Kids Shades on Sale for $6 Per Pair!

I thought I'd share this great find since I just bought two pairs.  MamaBargains.com is having a great sale on Real Kids Shades for $6 a piece!  I've heard great things about Real Kids Shades and I thought it was a great opportunity to give them a try.

You can see them here: http://www.mamabargains.com//

You have to hurry though, they're selling out and mamabargains.com only has their sales up for a limited time each.

Happy shopping!

Fun on a Friday!

So the boys and I were trying to occupy ourselves and Seamus and I suddenly noticed Liam trying to ride on Seamus' remote control motorcycle . . . which is VERY small.  He looked just like those full-grown men you see riding pocket rockets around haha.  Here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Spring Update! - March Recap

March - Flooding, Sun & the Park

So the weather (up until the last few days) has been a great deal warmer - thank goodness! Other than the crazy rain and flooding, which we've been fortunate enough to mostly avoid, the weather and weekends have been a much needed respite from the cold and snow of last month! We've actually had the chance in the last month to get out a great deal and visit a large park nearby with the boys and Shadow. The park is great, it's basically a huge field with several small sports fields in it, a very wide sidewalk all around its extremities and a little playground playset (though it's definitely for older kids not little ones as young as Liam - making it a little difficult since he loves it). Shadow is actually training really well and is beginning to learn to be off-leash! So far, only at the park, but our goal is to eventually train him so that he could be off-leash anywhere. The boys really enjoy being outside with Shadow and definitely appreciate the nicer weather. I recently switched my blackberry curve for the curve 2 and it takes great pictures as long as I don't use the zoom (as I did in this picture to the left, unfortunately).

Our lease is coming to an end at our current condo and that is definitely in the forefront of our minds. We love the area of Nashua we live in, but our current condo is smaller than what we really need. If you're at all familiar with renting in South Nashua you know it's expensive and that getting into a nice rental can be very competitive. It took us size months to find and get our current condo. We're definitely looking but as time passes and we get closer to the end of our lease we're trying to considering whether or not we can make our condo work for another year if nothing better presents itself. We always planned on this condo being a temporary, year-long fix to getting over the boarder and closer to Patrick's new position. I guess we'll see!
Shadow is now completely free in the condo except when we aren't home. We'd like to eventually teach him to be free in the house while we're not home (he's been potty trained since he was about 10 weeks old), but we're a little worried that he might get anxious and get into mischief since he's still just under a year old.

This picture here of Shadow in his bed was taken shortly after we bought him his new bed. He's gone through several since coming to us at 8 weeks. For some reason if they have fluff in them he destroys them and won't lie on them. So far the Kong bed (largest size they offer) has been a success. He definitely lies around the rest of the house, but when he's very tired or chewing on a toy/bone he's been finding his way more and more frequently to his new bed. Thank goodness because it wasn't exactly cheap!

Other than getting a stomach bug this week and Liam still having sleep issues (and needing to go see a sleep specialist) life has been pretty good. Patrick's still working at the same company and work for me has picked up a bit, though I'm having a really hard time not procrastinating! We're hoping to finally replace my long-lost car with a second car soon. Seamus starts school in Sept and obviously I would be the one to drive him. Also, it's just plain tough not to have a second car! I guess we'll see what the future holds and how things change in the next year. You just never know!
(The boys and Shadow spent one morning after breakfast chilling out on the floor. The boys were pretending to chew on bones like Shadow in this picture:))

Just a quick "catch-up" post!

I know it's been a while, but I realized I should probably update and post a pic or two. So the holidays have come and gone. They were wonderful and we were able to spend time with our extended families as well as our own little family. It was actually really fun this year because both boys were at an age where they could appreciate and enjoy everything going on (nobody freaked out on Christmas while opening presents this year!).

Patrick is still working at the same company, though he was promoted last year and now works in NH where we're currently living. I'm still working from home as a contract copywriter and recently received news that my first children's book will be published by a small publisher this year in the Spring or Fall. Launch date TBD based on the illustrator's schedule.

Seamus will hopefully be attending the preschool we have our eye on in the Fall and Liam will be home with Mommy alone in the mornings!

What else . . . Shadow has grown considerably. At 55lbs he definitely doesn't look like a puppy anymore, unfortunately his brain hasn't quite caught up with his size ;)

Anyway, here are a few pics to chew on until next time!

Always fun! And yes, that is a real snowman not a plastic one:) You'd be surprised how many people have asked!