Updated blog design

I've had a lot of people asking me about my new blog design so I thought it would be easier to do a post here to tell you how I made all the changes.  I used to love other people's blogs with BIG pictures, cute fonts, etc. and I finally took the time to figure out how to do it with the help of some great directions from a few friends.

New Background

I used to use hotbliggityblog for my backgrounds, but blogger has actually updated it's designs and has a lot of choices.  Log in to your blogger and click on the design tab.  Look for the NEW template designer tab.  I played around with this, but you'll see there are lots of different options for layouts and backgrounds.

Here's what I did:

1.  Click on background > back ground image and click around until you see something you like. 
2. After you've chosen one, click on the layout tab > body layout, and choose which one you like.  I picked the second one. 
3. A tip from my very tech savvy friend, Jen ...if you want XL pictures (see directions below), while on the layout tab choose > adjust width and you will see two sliders.  Move the top slider for the entire blog far right to the MAX of 1000 px.  If you don't do this and you choose to do XL pictures, they will bleed over into your sidebars.  For the sidebar slider I just left it at 260 px. 

XL Pictures

Let's all be honest with each other, the main reason most of us look at blogs is to see the pictures, right?  I longed for bigger pictures and I knew Jen had told me there was a lot of html code I could use to get bigger pictures, but I just didn't have time.  Well, now blogger has made it really easy to make your pictures really big.  If you haven't already adjust the width of your blog see the above directions (#3).  You had to do this first or they won't fit right.  Also, I couldn't get it to work with my hotbliggityblog.com background so that is why I switched to the blogger background.  However, yours might work, so if you love your background, just try doing #3 above first to see if the XL pictures will fit.  

These directions are from my friend ERIN .

i updated my post editor

here's how:

dashboard >
settings (should already be on basic tab) >

scroll to bottom 

choose "updated editor" in post editor

when you post pictures you will see new options for XL pics!

Note from CB - The picture uploading feature on the new "updated editor" is a little different and takes some getting used to.  Just a warning for those who don't like change.  However, after you get the hang of it it's much easier to use.  When moving pictures around in the post it's a little different, but you'll get the hang of it.  Plus, you can upload an unlimited amount of pictures to each post and when it is uploaded you can click on what size you want it to be (small, med, large and XL) and also add captions.

Cute Fonts for post titles

Warning - This is the most difficult, time consuming, and tedious change!

1. Go here and see which font you would like.  Download it to your computer. 
2. Follow the step-by-step directions found here .  Warning, there are LOTS of steps and a bunch of html code you have to manipulate.  It's a little intimidating, but if I can do it, you can too!

If you follow all the steps and do everything exactly right it should work.  Actually, her directions are supposed to change the post titles, date, and sidebar titles.  I got two out of the three.  For some reason my sidebar titles are still the old font, but I have NO clue how to get it to work so I'm just going with what I've got.

Happy Blogging!

Ballet Recital

Handley's summer ballet class is almost over.  She has enjoyed the class and today they had a recital.  Really, it was just an in-class demonstration of what they had been learning all summer long, but she was very excited that we would be in her class watching her dance.  Daddy and Gigi were both able to come, so that made it even more special.

There were only two of them in the class today, Handley and her friend Annabelle.  Several of the other girls were out of town today.  It made it nice though because they got individual attention and we were able to watch every move she made.

Here is a video of some of the things she did across the floor.  We were SO proud of her.  She listened to her teacher, Mrs. Kate, very well and followed directions perfectly.



This is the "dance" they did.

A fun day with girlfriends

Today we had a fun day with some of our girlfriends.  We went to Riverside Park in Roswell.  They have a "sprayground" area with lots o fountains for the kids to run through.  It was really crowded though, so we weren't sure if the girls has as much fun as we thought they would.  Plus, food isn't allowed inside the gates of the water area and all this crew wanted to do was eat.  We wrapped it up early and headed to lunch.  That made everyone happy.  All of us had fun eating and chatting with each other and the little girls had fun playing.  

The cafe was very eclectic with lots of fun things on the walls to look at.  Handley and Annabelle discovered the stuffed dogs that were hanging out under the bench with real leashes on them and started "walking" them around the restaurant.  The owner promised us she didn't mind and that they had them there for that purpose.  Handley's was so big that when I asked to take their picture, I couldn't even see her! 

Hilton Head - Day 5 and 6

Friday was our first full day all together on the beach in the morning.  Robby and Justen, who both are not too fond of the sand, somehow managed to avoid being buried in the sand.  Instead, they spent a few hours walking up and down the beach with Handley looking for sand dollars.  Jen and I, who had been on the beach all week, had not seen a single one, but these two knew the trick.  We kept filling our bucket with them and at the end of the day had a total of 48!  That afternoon we soaked them in bleach and turned them from a dull brown to a beautiful bright white.  I have a few ideas of what do do with all of them and plan to make some Christmas ornaments out of a few to remember our trip.

That evening we went back to Shelter Cove Marina for a yummy seafood dinner and of course we had to go see, "that man that sings songs."  It started slow.  Handley and Harper were the only two kids on the stage for a little while, but they were perfectly content to play with the shells and make little piles on the steps.  It wasn't long before there were a lot of other kids surrounding the stage and taking part in the show.  At the end all the parents were encouraged to come down and dance with their kids, so we all put on our dancing shoes.

Saturday the guys decided to play golf just one last time.  While they were swinging the clubs, the girls enjoyed our last day on the beach.  Handley kept asking Jen and I to help her find more sand dollars.  Apparently, the lessons we'd gotten the day before didn't do much good, because we came up empty handed.  However, while playing in one of the tidal pools Handley looked up at Jen with wide eyes and exclaimed that she had found one!  She was so excited and we were so proud of her!

Handley's sand dollar

Our last night was spent at Shelter Cove. After dinner we let the kids run around on the stage since there was no show that night.  You can probably guess what entertained Harper...yep, the shells.  She spent at least half an hour making little piles all over the steps and bleachers.  Handley performed a few songs and dances before we loaded up on the shuttle for the last time.

flying high

Hilton Head - Day 3 and 4

After getting in late on Tuesday night, Robby would have loved to start his vacation by sleeping in on Wednesday morning.  That wasn't about to happen though.  Since we were all in the same hotel room as soon as the girls woke up they saw their Daddy and started squealing with excitement.  They'd been waiting for him to arrive and couldn't believe he had appeared while they were dreaming away.

Justen had to do a little work nearby that morning, so we introduced Robby to our routine, complete with the snow cone/ shaved ice after lunch and enjoyed our time in the sun.  That evening we made our way to the infamous Harbor Town for dinner.  Jen had been telling Handley about the light house that was there and she was happy to get to climb all 114 steps to the top of it with her Daddy.  In the meantime, Justen was happy to point out his favorite boats to Jen and Harper was happy to play with the crushed shells (used like gravel would be here on all the walkways and paths).

Tiny specs up there, Robby and Handley waving at us from the top of the light house. 

Showing off her sticker that said, "I climbed 114 steps to the top of the light house." 

There is a man who sings each night, under a giant oak tree.  He's been doing it for over 25 years or so.  It's geared towards kids, but adults enjoy the performance too. He doesn't begin until 8 PM, so we stayed for just a little while to check it out.  He was really funny, but talked too much to hold the interests of these little girls.  They had much more fun eating ice cream and running around like crazies since it was way past their bedtime. 

Thursday the guys got up way before we did to play a round of golf. The girls stuck to the beach, pool, snow cone, and nap routine before we all  headed to Salty Dog Cafe for dinner.  Now, we didn't actually get to eat inside the real Salty Dog Cafe because the wait was over 2 hours long.  We did, however, get to enjoy some food from the outdoor vendors and while enjoying the live music and crowds that surrounded us.  Highlights of this night included seeing the giant Macaws in one of the shops, a magic show, face painting for both girls (Harper's first time) and, of course, ice cream.

Showing off her pretty heart.  She's got the fake "cheese" face down to a science.

Handley chose a sea turtle for her face painting.

Hilton Head Island - Day 1 and 2

Jen and I left for Hilton Head with the girls, just after traffic died down on Monday morning.  The drive was surprisingly short, only 4 1/2 hours, not including our extended stop for lunch at Cracker Barrel.  When we arrived at the hotel we got checked in and quickly realized that the room we had been assigned was a smoking room.  I called the front desk and let them know that was not acceptable for us, especially since we had two kids and one preggo - Jen, not me :-), so we gathered all of our stuff and moved rooms.  We were excited to check out the resort so we went to start exploring.  The hotel was really nice.  It had a large courtyard, two pools, a playground, and a nice private area of beach.   By this time, we were all getting hungry so we went in search of one of the hotel's restaurants only to find that a water pipe had burst, flooding several of the restaurants.  In an effort to  repair the problem they had shut down ALL of the running water for the entire hotel! It was dinner time so we jumped on the shuttle from our hotel to Shelter Cove Marina so we could get a quick dinner and get back to the hotel.  Harper, who hadn't napped that day, was getting harder to handle and while at Shelter Cove, Handley was running and fell.  She scraped both knees and one elbow pretty bad.  It seemed that our vacation was not off to a good start.  When we arrived back at the hotel we got one piece of good news, the water was back on which meant I could bathe the girls and get them to bed just in time for Jen and I to hover near the TV at 8 PM and watch the final episode of The Bachelorette.  Since we were all sharing a room that first night we heard every other word or so over the noise of the sound machine, but after both girls were sound asleep we turned it up a little and enjoyed every second of it before falling asleep that night.  I'd like to say that was the end of our bad day, but no one seemed to sleep well that first night.  First, Harper was up, then Handley, and then both of them decided to have a giggling slumber party around 2 AM!  All I could do was laugh at them, but I was so worried about waking Jen that I tried my hardest to get them back to sleep. Handley drifted off after I threatened her about not being about to swim unless she slept and finally, about an hour and a half later, Harper and I did the same. 

At Shelter Cove the first night. 

When we woke up on Tuesday, I just kept thinking that it had to get better and thankfully, it did.  We set the routine that we would follow all week long.  Breakfast, swimsuits/sunscreen, beach, pool, lunch - poolside, more swimming, snow cones - poolside, naps for the girls, reading on the porch for me, dress for dinner, dinner, baths, bed.

Tuesday afternoon the girls and I checked-in to what would be our room for the rest of the week and got ready for our another trip back to Shelter Cove.  Tuesdays are apparently the night to be there.  They have face painting, jumpy things, fire works, all sorts of street vendors, and a wonderful entertainer named Shannon Tanner that sings kids songs.  All the kids gather on the stage and on the crushed shells (which, by the way, Harper was absolutely fascinated with ALL WEEK LONG) and dance and sang along with him.  Handley named him, "that man who sings songs" and wanted to go see him every single night. :-)

I loved this picture of Harper on the stage surrounded by all of the bigger kids.  She was fearless and kept walking away from me to go up on the stage.  She was having a ball!

A few funny comments made my Handley that second day that are worth noting:

In the restroom she announced loudly, "My pee-pee looks like a sprinkler."

At Shelter Cove, while waiting for the fireworks she saw a kid who was obviously not happy to be in the stroller and whispered to Jen and I, "That kid is freaking out."

Thankfully, that night everyone slept much better.  Justen and Robby arrived just before 1 AM, after working all day Tuesday, but were happy to officially be on vacation.

We're BACK!!!

We just got back from a WONDERFUL vacation to Hilton Head.  Everyone told us it was a great place for kids and they couldn't have been more right.  I felt like everywhere we went was family friendly and geared towards kids.  There were singers that performed kids programs, magic shows, face painting, and more!  I feel like the time our family spent together there was so special.  We laughed a lot, had so much fun together, and the girls stayed up late each night.  That was made up with very long naps each day and Robby and I felt like we got to really relax and enjoy ourselves too.  We went with our best friends, Jen and Justen.  Jen is a saint and I don't know what I would have done without her there to help me until Robby got in town.  Also, while the guys were off golfing, she made it possible for us to get ourselves (and all of our stuff) down to the beach.  Robby was happy to have a partner in crime who would rather play golf than sit on the beach, so he and Justen kept each other entertained.   This morning when we woke up the first thing Handley said was, "I don't want to go home."  She and Harper both loved our beach vacation.  I had intended on blogging each day while we were there, but the wireless internet was really expensive, so that didn't happen.  I have so many stories to share and even more pictures, so I'll be blogging lots this week about our trip.  For now though, here are just a few pictures.