This Saturday was my last and final baby shower (I really am done with 4 kids!). It was utterly perfect and babycakies and I felt quite loved. The celebration was a simple, yet fancy picnic surrounded by my closest friends and centered around something I love… cupcakes! Actually, I love all sweets, but this particular party was a cupcake decorating party. It was fun to see everyone decorate their cupcakes and try to win for the prettiest and the ugliest. Let me tell you that some of these gals got pretty creative with some ugly cupcakes. There were so many details that were lovingly infused into the whole celebration. I really do have the bestest friends!

Danni and Linda are pretty amazing together when they plan something, then throw in my mom, well, you just know it is gonna be great! To make sure they had all their bases covered and knowing how nerdy about pictures I am, they made sure to have my close friend Owen, who is a photographer, take pictures and then they know how much I love video, they had Jenny video.

This photo was taken by True. She has been asking to take more pictures lately.

It’s mid-month and September is coming around fast! My baby is a-comin’ so I am trying to get things squared away before the month changes. Subscribers and site visits are growing with each passing day and sponsorship is a good way to get your shop or blog out there! I love vintage, shopping, crafting, and deliciously healthy food, so if you love any of those things, it may just be a perfect fit. If interested, just shoot me an email at mycakies(at)gmail(dot)com and I will get you the rate and info sheet. Grab your spot now!

Welcome fellow blogger Morgan who pens the blog Mama loves Papa.

She has got 3 boys and a little baby girl. It could be the opposite version of me, if I were to have a little boy, but we will find out soon enough won’t we?! She features the stylings of little ones in “Small Style“, she does “30 Items for 30 Days“, and just shares her various family adventures. Go on and check out Mama loves Papa and you may have another blog to add to your probably already long list!

Also, welcome to the blogging world Rae from An Eclectic Heap.

Rae’s (I want her red embroidered dress) delightful blog focuses on vintage, diy, vegan cooking, and daily life. Sounds like all the good things a good blog is made of! She frequently features outfits, tutorials, and delicious recipes. Also, she will be opening a shop with the darling name, Scarlet Cake Artistry. I can’t wait to see what goes inside!

Make sure to check out both Mama loves Papa and An Eclectic Heap!!!

Another week gone. Crazy! That means another week closer to baby. We are so excited. We actually thought we had a baby name this week (at least closer to one), but then we aren’t sure again. The girls and I prayed together for some things this morning and one of them was for a baby name. God will answer that prayer in his due time.

Tomorrow will be fun as these two creative gals are way too kind and loving and are throwing me a baby shower, though I insisted they didn’t need to. I am excited though cause when these two get their heads together (and throw in some other amazing heads) it always turns out amazing. Have you seen the last one they threw me? Yeah. Told you, amazing.

This week’s learned and links…

– Dressing this ginormous belly is getting really hard.

– My BFF is raising money for her classroom library. You can help out here (even a buck helps!), and the great thing is Lakeshore will match it if she reaches 300 buckaroos! Come on and give to a classroom in need!

– If you can, you should go to this sale. So many pretties! I have already taken a peek (and maybe bought a couple things)…

– Being at a teaching/homeschool conference made me miss being in the classroom, but I still would much rather be home.

– Ben and I really want to work on life on life with others and not be so us family consumed. We are kinda slow moving people though, but we pray God will direct us.

– It is important to create a vision statement to aid in our direction as a homeschooling family. Currently a work in progress…

– This thought haunted me from last week’s message… What things excite me? Am I as eager and excited to plan and do good works to bless our neighbors as the thing(s) that really excite me? The answer is no. I honestly get more excited about family time, shoes, vintage pretties, and shopping in general. Oh man…

What things have you been learning lately?

I leave for the day to go to a homeschool conference and this is what happens when Ben plays Mr. Mom.

When I came back the girls said they wanted me to go to work and for Papi stay home! Popsicles, getting wet in the backyard, a water gun fight… well, who could blame them?! I am very glad that Ben got to have this special afternoon with his girls.

What kind of funny things do you come home to when your hubs plays Mr. Mom?

Once Ben came home from work, everyone got their camp gear on, we set up the tent (one that Ben’s mom and dad used to use), lit up the grill and put out the tree trunks and logs (all brought over by my BFF), pulled out the hotdogs and buns, laid out the blankets, grabbed some sleeping bags, and was ready to celebrate our Bravey turning 4 with a backyard “Camp Out”!

We all just had fun relaxing outside (okay, I did stress a little as I was getting things ready and may have been a bit short with Ben). Ben got some bubbles and flashlights for the girls to play with, we roasted hot dogs, made smores, sang “Happy Birthday”, gave Brave some presents, and everything was fine and dandy. I think it was just what our four year old wanted!

Since we were camping out, I wanted a smores-ish cake and came across a recipe for this Chocolate-Graham Cracker Refrigerator Cake. It was pretty yummilicious and so easy to make! It doesn’t really taste like smores, but it did its job nonetheless and as long as the birthday girl loves it, well that is good enough for me.

I must disclose that I had no intention of camping outside at all. This giant belly of mine makes me use the restroom so often, that I wasn’t going to sleep outside. No siree. I need easy access to the bathroom. Soul wasn’t going to sleep outside either because she doesn’t know how to sleep with us and only knows how to sleep in her crib. We were the wimps and slept inside.

Ben and the big girls really did go to sleep outside. I bid them goodnight around 10:30, but True and Brave were already zonked in the tent when Ben went to bed. They started the night outside, but they came in the house around 2 in the morning because Ben had a crick in has neck (which took a week to resolve) and our neighbor’s dog’s barking kept them from sleeping anyway, so in the house they went! Oh well… we tried.

Our Brave is a special girl and we wanted to make sure to give her a special fourth birthday! We thank God for giving her to us and are so blessed by her constant sweet and loving spirit. We love you Bravey!!!