Weekend update with The Balice Palace

Let's get this party started!

climbing the hay stacks

Have balloon. Will travel.

Avery and Jake

how cute are they?!

riding on the cow train

Jakey and I riding the cow train with Avery and her mommy Jen
(maybe I shouldn't have brought the Coach purse to the farm?)

riding the "choo choo train"

hay stack fun

cupcake time

what frosting?

doesn't this thing go any faster, Daddy?

wagon ride

playing on the bus

driving the tractor

It was "eleventy billion" degrees this weekend, but we still managed to have some fun. On Saturday, we attended a 2nd birthday party for Jake's friend Lily, who is in our Thursday playgroup. The party happened to be at the same farm where Kyra & Dylan had their 2nd birthday party back in March. Jakey had a good time at K & D's party, but now that he is a little older, he enjoyed himself so much more! It was really hot, but it didn't phase Jake. He wanted to check out the animals (especially the cow), feed the goats, ride the trains, play on the stacks of hay, check out the tractor, ride in the wagons, etc. etc. You name it, he wanted to do it! He had a great time with his friend Avery - they are good buddies and always run to greet each other! It's really cute! Jake and I rode the cow train and the "choo choo train" with Avery and her mommy Jen. Jen is a former interior designer for the hospitality industry and has a really cute blog with a link to her Etsy shop where she sells her awesome handbags: http://www.jenandfranz.blogspot.com/ 

I have been wanting to take Jake to the local splash pad all summer, knowing that he would have a great time, but we just hadn't made it there until today! With the weather in the 90s, it seemed like the perfect day to check it out! For Jake, it was love at first splash! As soon as he saw it, he took off running and didn't slow down until we dragged him out of there kicking and screaming! He LOVES playing in the water! Can you tell from these photos?! Joe and I just sat back and watched Jake in action - it was so entertaining! He was so happy that he was squealing with excitement! Joe and I were the crotchety old people in the corner saying "why didn't they have splash pads when we were kids?" :)

As per the request of my friend Jen (you know, the one whose blog I pimped out earlier!), I've decided to start adding a garage sale feature to my blog. I will try to post my weekly buys, so y'all can see exactly what I purchase, and for how much. Should be a fun way to track my "saling" purchases! Those of you that check in just to see Jake updates can ignore these garage sale posts :) When I started this blog back in March of 2009, the main focus was on my pregnancy and our crazy journey into parenthood. Now I've decided to add a little bit more of me to the blog (more couponing, decorating, party planning and garage saling!) while still keeping it largely focused on our little man. I'm keeping the same url, but have changed the name of the blog to "The Balice Palace" instead of "Baby Balice Blog". As much as I love alliteration, the name no longer fits. Jake is hardly a baby anymore, and this way, I can write about the goings on of our whole household!

To start off this garage sale feature, I've decided to highlight my two best garage sale bargains to date. The first one is my awesome entryway piece. My friend Jen AKA "Bad Girl" (a different Jen from the one I previously mentioned - I know way too many people named Jennifer!) and I were garage saling a few years ago right after she moved into her current house. We both happened to be looking for an entryway piece (is it called a hall tree?) and she spotted it first. It was way back in the depths of the garage and we asked them how much and they said "15." We said "dollars?!" and they said yes! We couldn't believe our ears and we couldn't pay for it fast enough. Purchase first, fight it out later. We both wanted it but ultimately she decided that it would look better in my smaller entry and she would look for a longer, shorter piece for her house. Of course I asked her "are you sure?" a million times because she is the one who spotted it first! She insisted I take it. She'll never let me live it down though, and periodically asks me how "her entryway piece" is doing! :)

my $15 entryway bargain!

My second favorite garage sale bargain is this Pottery Barn style buffet table with 2 drawers and a lower shelf (everything was removed from the shelf once Jakey started crawling!) I bought this while we were in escrow on our current house. I was driving by our soon-to-be new house on my way to a nail appt. (back when I was still working and could afford to get my nails done all the time!) and I saw a garage sale sign on another street in our new neighborhood. It was 9:30am or so, and I thought to myself 'all the good stuff will be gone by now' but I drove by the sale anyway and spotted this table! I thought for sure it was already sold, but I got out of the car and asked them if it was taken and to my surprise and delight they said no! I asked how much and...drumroll please...they said $10! My lucky day! I bought it and had to call my Dad to come pick it up for me! At the time, my dinky little Rav4 was not going to be able to haul this baby home. Luckily, he was able to fit it into my mom's SUV and my parents stored it for us until we moved in a few weeks later! We always pass the house where it came from on our daily walks and I think to myself 'that's where my $10 table came from!'

my $10 buffet table!

 Last, but not least I want to share my latest obsession: my Moravian Star Light! This did not come from a garage sale and was much more expensive than my entryway piece and buffet table combined, but I have been wanting one for a long time, and we have needed more light in our family room since the day we moved in! They weren't big on recessed lighting when the house was built in 1975, and the previous owner was not big on doing many updates since the house was built. I thought this star light would be the perfect fixture for the corner of our family room, and after we bought our new couch, we decided to go for it and purchase a lamp as well. I searched high and low online, but could only find pendant star lights that have to be wired into the ceiling. We did not want to have to pay an electrician on top of the cost of the lamp, so we wanted one that could be plugged in. My mom finally asked her friend who can "find anything online" and she came through! My problem was not knowing that it was called a Moravian star. Now I'll never forget it! It arrived a few weeks ago and I couldn't be happier with my purchase! The glass is antiqued, so it lets just the right amount of light through. Love the ambiance, love the light! My Dad (our handyman!) hung it for us and it looks great in the family room! I heart Moravian stars.

My other new obsession is http://pinterest.com/

Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board of sorts where you can pin your favorite photos and repin others photos. It is used mainly for decorating ideas, style pages, crafting ideas, etc. For right now, I'm using it strictly for Halloween inspiration! Check it out and you just might get hooked too!