Pokiedot: December 2013

It was a great year for music. In my humble little opinion, these are the best tracks released this year.

I cheated and chose six instead of five. I just couldn't kick any of them to the curb.

1. I Love You by Said The Whale: This song simply gets back to the basics of a great rock song. The retro feel is always a bonus for me. A+ all the way.

2. Closer by Tegan and Sara: I adore these two sisters from Canada. They really know how to keep it fresh. A perfectly concocted track with memories of the 80's. I can't say no to that.

3. Get Lucky by Daft Punk featuring Pharrell: It's about time someone grab Nile Rodgers and allow him to take everyone back to the delicious groovy sounds of Chic. I'm a huge Chic fan and a huge Daft Punk fan so the marriage of the two is a slice of heaven.

4. Neon Eyes (Into the Deep) by Saints of Valory: Moving melody. Beautiful vocals.

5. Pompeii by Bastille: My daughter requests this song every time I cue up the music in our den. She loves it and sings along. She's only three and she seriously has an ear for great tunes. The drums are killer and take center stage.

6. Follow My Feet by The Unlikely Candidates: Another moving track by a very promising new band. Catchy with great lyrics and a haunting melody.

What are your favorite songs from 2013?
Do share!

Yikes.
Looks like I've been snoozing on the blogging as of late.
I have three good reasons for that:

I'm currently growing a human being inside of me and I'm tired. And completely brainless most of the time.
My 3-year-old does not take naps anymore (thank you in advance for your condolences).
Managing to complete a load of laundry, scrub a toilet, and/or shower and dress for the day has taken precedence over lounging in cyberspace (refer to #2).

With that being said, I do still love to blog and I have a lot of posts piled up in my head. I'm just not sure how/if they'll ever touch ground.

But enough of me whining. Let's get on to the true meat of this post. Gender Reveal Parties! They really seem to be all the rage nowadays and I took my turn with throwing one a couple months ago.

I suppose it goes without saying that after the glowing attention thrown at the birth of a first born child there's not a whole lot of pomp and circumstance with subsequent babies. No showers, no new stuff, no endless spans of time to plan, decorate, reflect, glow. Heck, the kid won't even have a baby book filled out for him.

Therefore, there are very few options left when it comes to celebrating the upcoming birth of a second (or third, fourth, fifth...) child. This is where gender reveal parties make a big splash. They're a great excuse to celebrate, show off, and give your little bean a time to shine.

We decided to use homemade lottery cards to reveal the gender of our baby. I found the adorable idea on Pinterest and only made some minor modifications. So easy. So much fun. Great memories.

First I made some silly props using a mustache and lips. Guests selected a prop upon arrival depending on their guess.

These were very easy to make (granted I only had to make a couple dozen seeing that my party was small). I found the mustache and lips on Google images and used them as stencils. Black and red foam sheets were used along with skinny dowels and some Super Glue. A no-brainer.

Everyone posed with their props (or cried like my 3-year-old). The majority of guesses were for a boy ... how did they know???

Next came the actual reveal. This is the winning scratch off lottery card. I created these in Word and printed them onto card stock. See Pinterest link above for directions for making the scratch off paint. SO. DANG. EASY.

A little goody for guests to take home. Again, stolen from Pinterest like everything else.

Here we are! Soon the tides will shift and Marly and I will be outnumbered by males in our house (dog included). We are thrilled about our newest little guy and can't wait to meet him.

Gender reveals can be cute, fun, AND easy! Which is great for the prego hostess.

Have you thrown your own gender reveal party or attended one? What did you love about it? How did you/they make it special?

Please share!