Sister

Three Men...

... and a Little Lady.

These are some very proud big brothers! Can you tell?

Just as they should be, when you've got something this adorable laying around at home, 

just waiting to be snuggled with! Let me tell you about her:

Claire Emelia Gailey came into the world at 9:21 the evening of February 20th, 2013,

following a lengthy induction and an expired epidural.

Weighing in at 8 lbs. 8.2 oz.

At a petite 20 1/4 inches.

Perfect and healthy with all ten fingers and ten tiny beautiful toes...

... and oodles of soft brown hair.

She was blessed on Sunday, March 3rd, 2013.

She sleeps about as much as these photos would suggest... 

unless you stop by our house between midnight and 2:00 am. 

She is super easy-going. 

And yes, she already loves pink. Mommy says so.

"Claire, the moment I met you, I swear, I felt as if something somewhere had happened to me, which I couldn't see. And then, the moment I met you again, I knew in my heart that we were friends. It had to be so, it couldn't be no. But try, as hard as I might do, I don't know why, you get to me in a way I can't describe. Words mean so little when you look up and smile. I don't care what people say, to me you're more than a child. Oh Claire."

-Gilbert O'Sullivan

*A giant thank you goes out to the very talented Seth Halsey for the awesome photographs you undoubtedly just enjoyed. We are obviously thrilled with how they turned out! Thank you, again.*

Beautiful Day in the Morning!

After the rainforest, we stayed at an adorable little resort in La Push, and got up early the next day to make it for a little beach hike to the tide pools. It was SO cold, but oh, SO pretty!

Need I say more?

Mom thought of everything!! She brought kites for each of the kids and we flew them on the beach after climbing the rocks of the tide pools. You can just make out the kites...

Starfish in a natural occurring tide pool! So cool, even though I didn't want to touch them!

I must say that Andi and Ethan had the most fun with the waves! They played a little "Catch me if you can" game with the waves until Ethan got caught, big time! He spent the rest of the morning in VERY wet clothes...

Beautiful view with random family...

Even though I didn't post this while Josh was away from us at BOLC like I planned, it's still true!

We LOVE Daddy!!

City Pass: Day 2

Day 2 on our City Passes took us first to the Science Museum. The kids loved playing at all of the exhibits, and the butterfly habitat was a favorite of mine (sadly I didn't get any pictures...). Here's what we did get:

Honey, I shrunk the kids! Mason loved this oversized table. Notice how Andi was the only one who followed my creative instruction to, "Act like you're eating something!". We got to watch the movie from the poster in the background, and it was really cute! I think that if I didn't have three little monkeys of my own, I'd get an orangutan!

Seriously, I think that all of my toys at home must be too normal-sized for my kids to play with...

After the museum, we headed over to the famous, Pike's Market for fresh fish and flowers. A great place to buy both!!

Home of the flying fish!

City Pass: Day 1

My sister, Sami and her oldest daughter, Andi came up to Seattle from Texas to spend some time with Mom and us Gailey's! We did so many things with the City Pass tickets that Mom got us, I can't even remember all of it! Here's what I do remember, thanks to photographic evidence:

Our first morning was spent at the Seattle Aquarium. They got to touch things in the touch tanks, learn about tides, and were mesmerized by the sea otters and seals. It was so fun, even if Mason is scared of bath toys now...

After the aquarium, mom got us tickets to "Ride the Ducks"! It was actually our second time on the ducks, but it's always a treat! These are World War II vehicles that ride on both land and water. They start by giving you a tour os Seattle and end the tour in Union Lake, home of the "Sleepless in Seattle" house!

Next was a quick stop at the Space Needle!

(Mason's not asleep, just too grouchy to look at Grandma while she takes his picture...)

Nothing sweeter than a mother and daughter on vacation!

Our Duck tour guide told us that from the top of the Space Needle, the Music and Science Fiction Museum was designed to look like a broken guitar. Must be really abstract, 'cause I don't see it... do you?

What a fabulous way to and a day!

Like what you see?

Then head over to Very Jane and take a look at today's really awesome deal! Only $4.95! My sister, Sami, is being featured today on this super-cute site , so if you have been wanting some Welcome Vinyl for your home, hurry on over!!

Overboard.

Well, folks. It's that time again to link up with Sami over at Symmetry in Motion for this month's Symfully Sweet Saturday! Rest assured, I did not take this month's competition laying down. Allow me to fill you in:

To help keep the competition interesting, I had a strong desire to try my hand in the culinary section of my store of creativity. It began with these little beauties and evolved (I'm sorry... snowballed) from there. As you continue to read, you'll see I got way out of hand.


Yes, cupcakes. But not just any cupcake. Vanilla cupcakes with a Buttercream Candy Corn frosting. Wait. Did she just say "Buttercream Candy Corn"? Why yes, she did.



Who knew that they made such a thing? Turns out this cute little site makes just about everything. I even picked up some "Candy Apple" flavoring to spice up the Apple Spiced Cuppies I made last year.


That's all well and good, but how did they taste?



One reviewer had this to say, "Mom, you should make these again!" Need I say more?

Lest you think I forgot the inside. It didn't go as planned, I'll admit. It was supposed to be layers, like, well, Candy Corn. Ah well, I accept.

They're cute anyway, right?

Even with these cute little cuppies in the holster, I could not be done. It might have been all the candy corn coursing through my veins over the last week, but I could not stop. Hmm... cupcakes mean birthdays. Birthdays mean parties. At least, in my world, it does. What next?



Aw. Now that's a cute little handmade box of Candy Corn. Oh, wait...

Keep turning...


Ah, gee! Now that's just darling! It's a treat and an invitation?! You say I get an invitation to the party of the year as well as an ounce of Candy Corn?! Where do I sign?

I'm sorry. Your mouth is so full of delicious treats that I cannot understand you. Come again? Oh! You say that the positively sinful sweetness of my cupcakes has made you thirsty? May I offer you refreshment...?

And since no party would be complete without an edible parting gift, I present:



Party Favors a la Brooks: The Candy Corn Cake Pop. Original recipe, courtesy of the baking diva herself: Bakerella. Design and yummy execution: yours truly.

Does life get any sweeter than this? I submit not.

Just the Two of Us

So, I've gotten to do a lot of fun things lately. I blame my awesome husband for enabling me to do things that very well may turn into addictions. Let's be honest, though. They already were addictions. Card-Making and now (thanks to Maggie and Monica...) Spa Weekends. My sister, Sami, saw my post about my spa weekend in April and was green with envy. She decided that we ought to have one in the fall. Through much twisting of my arm, she was able to get me to agree and when she flew in on Thursday, we were ready to get our relaxation on!

Since I was a good blogger and took an insane amount of pictures, I will share my weekend with you in pictures.

We began our weekend on Friday morning at the Outlets. We got some really cute clothes, but this photo showcases one of my favorite moments in the day: shopping for sunglasses. I am borderline retarded when it comes to choosing eyewear so Sami was able to help my decision along. Isn't she fashionable?? I really like the shop-lifting safety advocate in the background.

We then headed to the hotel to check in and get gussied up for dinner/Girls Night Out. Too bad no one but us showed up. Ah, well. At least I had a hot date! Sami was a good sport and let me do her makeup... ain't she pritty??

Not sure why my teeth look orange in this picture. Please ignore that...

All dressed up and ready to go in our new outfits from White House Black Market. You don't have to say it, we know we're dead-sexy.

And no better place to eat than Lucille's Bar-B-Que! Yummy!

I can still smell the warm biscuits and apple butter.

My new hat from Charlotte Russe. It was too cute to pass up. Now if only I could figure out when and where it is appropriate to wear ridiculously adorable hats...?

Our hotel was pretty nice. Forget for a moment that it's basically like the Labyrinth on the inside, and it was awesome. We did meet a lot of nice guys willing to help us find our way. Either we looked pretty cute, or they were really drunk. At least we found our way. And the guy that touched Sami's neck was at least a 6. Not too shabby... Oh, yeah, the picture. Our room actually had a doorbell! Talk about fancy! Here is Sami, demonstrating exactly how cool we thought that it was.

I'm a sucker for a nice bathroom. This one ranks in the top 5 I've ever been in 'cause it had a chandelier. I know... I'm tough to impress.

Our room also had a balcony! It might not be much to you, but I've never stayed in a room that had one, so it must be elite. It didn't matter that recent precipitation left a good 2 inches of water on it and since we don't smoke, it was practically useless. It was still there.

The view from the balcony. It might mostly just be tree-top view, but it was MY tree-top view! Oh, and you see the little sliver of pool?? Pool-side, baby! Like I said, elite.

And on to the main event! We got to the spa around noon and enjoyed a 50-minute couples massage. Obviously, I don't have any pictures of that, but here's the before shot of our feet. Pretty snazzy footwear, eh? Spa regulation sandals. Beats the disposable flip-flops we were wearing after our pedicures. I nearly killed myself on them. Turns out, they're really slick!

Us in our paraffin-boot glory. Flattering, I know. Each thing that they put on our feet smelled better than the last. By the time they were brushing the bottom of my feet with a pumpkin pie scented mask, I wanted to eat my own feet.

During our pedicures, there was a wedding being set up. It began while we were waiting for our polish to dry and since the procession was being serenaded by a famous singer from a Christian rock band called Stryper, the ladies at the spa couldn't resist flinging open the doors and inviting us to watch the strangers wed from the main entrance in our bathrobes. This is the only picture I got (which isn't great) before security shut me down. Strange considering that the attending security guard and I go way back...

While we were getting ready to exit the spa, we noticed several people using a strange machine on which they would stand while the machine would shake them. Since I've decided to try to be more flexible and try things I otherwise wouldn't, I decided "What the hay?". It's called TurboSonic and apparently it detoxifies one's body by taking it through various degrees of shaking. According to the digital reader on the machine, in the ten minutes I was on it, I burned 150 calories. I'm pretty sure that would have to be from the laughing and not from the shaking though I'll reserve judgement until I see some scientific data from an independent researcher. Mostly, all it did for me is shake me to the point of nearly peeing.

Sami, trying to figure out the miracle machine.

The result. I miss you already , Green Valley Ranch Resort. Miss you already.

Oh, and you too, Sami.