Surviving Suburban Motherhood

Catch Up Part 3

2011-11-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

I also! Got to do bridal photos for my sister in law! (Posted these backwards but oh well!) We went to a local area that is just breath taking with the grapevines and the little chapel on the water. It was really beautiful!

Catch Up Part 2

2011-11-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

Still catching up! This fall my sister in law got married. Not only did I get to make the cake! I got to photograph her wedding! I had a blast taking photos of her special day! Enjoy a few!

Playing Catch Up

2011-11-27T18:49:00.000-08:00

I have been SO busy since my girls started school that I haven't posted on my blog since September! Crazy!! It has been a crazy year! My cake business has been doing well which super great but doesn't help with the busy-ness.

We took the girls camping this fall. I love camping. I grew up camping. This was the first time my girls have ever gone tent camping. Teeter LOVED it. She was totally in her element, and even though it was chilly, she slept like a rock! Bulbs on the other hand...woke up with terrible pink eye in both eyes. Doesn't make for the fun camping trip.

Smores!

My man!

Teeter

Messy faces and eating some supper!

A beautiful sunset

Teeter telling ghost stories

The Bulb

Bun in the Oven Baby Shower!

2011-11-27T18:35:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I threw a baby shower for my sweet sister in law. It was the most fun baby shower ever! It was a gender reveal shower. As the baker of the cake, I was told if she would be having a boy or a girl. The mommy-to-be and the guests did not know the sex of the baby. Gifts that aren't gender specific were brought to the shower by the guests such as diapers, wipes, nursing items, mattress, crib, etc. When I found out the sex of the baby I made the inside of the cake either blue or pink. When the mommy cut into the cake everyone found out together the sex of the baby. She had the best reaction! It was so, so wonderful to get to be a part of it!
Since the shower needed to be gender neutral, I went with a bun in the oven theme and used fall colors; red, brown, tan, and gold.

I ordered these forks off the internet, and used letter stamps to add the baby and the hearts

The cake

A tiny chocolate spatula on the cake

A Vintage oven for the cake

The spread

It's a boy!

The Mad Tea Party

2011-09-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated Bulb's 4th birthday. How is my baby already 4?! We celebrated with an amazing Mad Tea Party that I have been planning for most of the year. She can't stop talking about how awesome it was.

Paper lanterns and fans I found at Party City for only $2.99! Gave the room a great look for the mad tea party!

Center pieces! I found the giant tea cups and saucers at Hobby Lobby. I got two "small" ones and one huge cup. I put a dome of floral foam in each cup. The morning of the party I went to Kroger and bought 4 different looking inexpensive bouquets. I combine flowers from all the bouquets to make these mad, fun, adorable centerpieces. The dragon fly was found at Hobby Lobby also.

The huge centerpiece

The other "small" centerpiece

We rented 2 long children's tables, children's chairs and bright colored table covers. It was a huge hit! All the kids were able to sit together at the same time. Having a table their height was comfortable for them, and parents weren't having to help the kids in and out of their chairs. I got all different types of tea cups from a local antique store.

Some fun party decorations and suckers shaped like tea cups and tea pots. These were all found at Oriental Trading Co.

Adorable suckers

The birthday girl's tea cup. I made sure to purchase the most inexpensive tea cups I could find at the antique store, except for the birthday girl's. I let her pick out her own cup from the store.

I found these beautiful decorative bottles at Hobby Lobby. I didn't want all the tags to say drink me, so some of the tags had the ingredients that the White Queen says on the Johnny Depp version of Alice in Wonderland, as she is mixing the potion. And one of the tags has the name of the potion from the book.

I made mini top hats for all the kids to wear. This was a huge hit!

The special cake I made for my baby girl!

On the table we had some fun little snacks for the kids. Creme Puffs, cookies, apples, strawberries, grapes, and deli spirals.

The table set up

The sweet birthday girl

A fun little sign a threw together for decoration

I saw this tiny wooden door at Hobby Lobby and it got me thinking about Alice having to drink the potion to become small enough to fit through the door to get to Wonderland

The kids had so much fun! Not a single tea cup ended up broken. They had so much fun drinking apple and grape juice from them. The tea pots were found at Ross.

I found these fun tea pot craft foam frames at Oriental Trading Co. The kids had so much fun decorating them! We plan to send pictures of the kids in the thank you notes to put into their frames.

My gorgeous little baby love

Some of our sweet little guests showing off their top hats!

The party was a huge hit not only with the guests but with my Bulbie girl. She keeps telling Tuck and me thank you, over and over and over. She'll say "my party was so awesome!" It was a great time! Interested in having a mad tea party? I am happy to share any information from this party. I will also post a tutorial on how to make the mini top hats.

First Day of School

2011-08-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

My girls started school this past week. Mixed emotions, big time! Also, lots and lots of adjusting, getting used to the new schedule, and balancing work and the new schedule. Bulbs started private preschool, and Teeter started kindergarten. The first day of school, the girls were so excited! They looked adorable. Tuck and I took that day off work. We cleaned the house while the girls were at school, and I made a first day of school cake and a supper of all foods that the girls LOVE. Mac n cheese, chicken strips, french fries, and mixed veggies. It was an exciting and emotional day.

Teeter's first school lunch

Eating an awesome breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs

Teeter, ready to go

Pirate Party!

2011-07-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Teeter's 5th birthday party. She was dead set on having a pirate themed party, but I did not want the party to be all black and red and skulls. So I made the theme a little more beachy with pirates too. I found some girl pirate clipart here. Then I used photoshop to change up the colors a little bit. Her cake was a pirate's treasure chest. It look me hours and hours to make, but it turned out perfectly! I was very pleased. Everything was edible, from the hard candy jewels I poured myself to the wood made from fondant. Our kitchen table was set up as a pirate gear station which was a HUGE hit! I ordered a pirate hat kit from Oriental Trading. It came with 12 craft foam hats and hundreds of foam stickers. All the kids had an amazing time decorating their own pirate hats. I also ordered from Oriental Trading some big round gold clip on earrings and some skull rings. At the Dollar Tree I found some little plastic telescopes and compasses. I bought all different colored bandannas from Hobby Lobby, and bought grey, pink, and blue craft foam and cut out swords for each of the guests. For the swords, I found a clipart image that I liked the shape of. Put it into Word on a legal sized page and stretched it to fill the entire page. Then I printed it out and cut it out. I cut the handle off of the blade and traced each one on the coordinating colored craft foam. Then I simply glued the handle to the blade.

The party favor boxes were found at Hobby Lobby in the wedding section. They came with the stickers and ribbons. Tip on these: the packaging does not tell you how to print on these. If you go to Hobby Lobby's website there are templates for this brand as they made invites, favors, etc. The pirate punch was a fun idea I had. For her party invites, I did messages in a bottle. They are pictured below. I had a bunch of bottled left over and decided to print labels and fill them with strawberry lemonade.

For her dessert table, I found a template for popcorn cups here. I used the altered clipart I had purchased to decorate the popcorn cups. There is an amazing popcorn and candy shop in Downtown McKinney, TX. It's called Mom and PopCorn Company. Teeter picked out this purple candied popcorn which went perfectly with the rest of the party. We also had cookies, her cake, and Hershey's chocolate nuggets which I printed custom labels for. We also had these beautiful lollipops that I ordered from Hammond's.

Mississippi BBQ

2011-07-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

On our vacation, after leaving Vicksburg we decided we needed to try some Mississippi BBQ before we left the state. Oh my goodness! These were the best ribs I have ever had! All eight of us loved every bite. It was a little hole in the wall called Leatha's Bar-B-Que Inn in Hattiesburg, MS. You can check out there website here.

Ice Cream Crank Off

2011-07-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Downtown McKinney hosted their annual Ice Cream Crank Off. There were all kinds of rides and such and quite a few ice cream contestants. I truly wish I could tell you this ice creams were amazing and it was so hard to pick one to vote for, but that was not the case. We tasted only one that was remotely good, but the idea of the crank off is super fun. It is a newer event in McKinney and really needs some tweaking, but hopefully next year there will be some good entries and more organization. Either way, the girls had so much fun on the pony rides, merry-go-round, and airplanes.

P.S. Doesn't Bulbs look beautiful in the apple dress my aunt made for her?

Fourth of July Trifle

2011-07-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we went to my mom's house to swim and have some lunch. Since it was 4th of July weekend, I decided to take an Independence Day Trifle with us. It was fresh, light, delicious, and beautiful! I just had to photograph it, and they are some of my favorite food photos! Enjoy! I got the recipe here.

All images are copywritten images of Bree Harris

Vicksburg, MS

2011-07-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

For those that do not know...we drove to Disney World for our vacation. Yes, drove. 18 hours each way. With four children and four adults. It actually went much, much better then I had imagined it would with four small children. On our way to Florida we stopped in Vicksburg, Mississippi to see the Civil War site and drive the park. It was stunning. The history was rich, everything was so green, and the monuments were beautiful. All eight of us really enjoyed this stop.

All images are copywritten works of Bree Harris

Farmer's Market Summer Time

2011-07-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

Trying to catch up on some of my blogging this week! I am way behind! The farmer's market here in McKinney is in full bloom with summer fruits and veggies! I shared pictures of the beautiful tomatoes and such a couple months ago. These peaches are by far the best peaches I have ever had! So full of flavor and always perfectly ripe. We have so much fun going out to the market, and the girls always enjoy it as well. I love walking under the shade trees and listening to the blue grass bands while looking at and eating some of the most beautiful food I have ever seen.

All images are copywritten works of Bree Harris

Happy 6th Anniversary!

2011-05-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Today, Tuck and I celebrate our 6th anniversary! Last year part of my gift to him was this blog post. It has been my favorite post to date. And I received a lot of sweet emails and responses about that post. I often go back and look at it, and get all teary eyed.

I had a really hard time deciding what to post this year for our anniversary. I decided to share 6 reasons Tuck is the perfect man for me, on our 6th anniversary.

1. His smile lights up my life...

2. He thinks I'm funny...

3. He takes an active interest in anything I am doing, and tries to get involved too...

4. He is an amazing Daddy...

5. (Even after last year's post) I still get a number of pictures with unusual facial expressions...

6. We are in love just as much, if not more, then we were on this day 6 years ago...

Happy Anniversary my love! We have so much to look forward to in this next year, and I can't wait to experience it all with you! I love you.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderfully blessed Easter. We did! It was a wonderful weekend that flew by too fast!

Birthday Girl Giveaway

2011-04-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

Birthday Girl is giving away an awesome Lifestyle Craft Letterpress...oh I want!! :)

T-Ball

2011-04-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my sweet girls played their very first t-ball game. I was so proud of my girls. They played so well and looked so very tiny out there! It was so much fun to sit in the stand, cheer on my girls, and snap about 100 photos! In t-ball they don't keep score, but some of the people in the stands were whispering that they kept score and the Grits won! Hehehe shhhh...

The girls ready to go

Bowbas running out to head to bat

Bowbas at bat

Teeter's turn!

She did a great job!

She's running to 1st!

Bowbas hanging out in the dugout

Teeter Bees on 2nd!

Now 3rd!

Our little fan in the stands!

Teeter Bees after scoring a run!

Teeter Bees as catcher!

She was easily distracted...a t-ball catcher doesn't do a whole lot

Bowbas back to bat

She did it!

Teeter Bees back on 3rd getting ready to score another run!

Bowbas hanging out in left field

Victory!

McKinney Farmer's Market

2011-04-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

We love our town. It's a really nice place, and we have always enjoyed our downtown area. The downtown is always hosting fun, free events, and the shops and restaurants are more then enjoyable. Part of the downtown is a little place called Chestnut Square. It's and adorable square of old, historical houses and a chapel. The houses are not lived in like many historical markers are, but they are available for weddings and daily tours. In the center of the square there are a courtyard about half of it is bricked and the other half is not. On Saturday mornings from 8 am until noon they host an amazing Farmers Market of local produce, honey, meats, breads, etc. And during the market hours there is almost always a blue grass or folk band playing on the porch of one of the houses. It is one of my most favorite things about McKinney. Yesterday, I snapped a few pictures to share. Next time we go I will try to get some pictures of the houses and layout.

Behind

2011-04-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on blogging! The cake business has been booming, real estate is beginning to show signs of life again, and my family has been going, going, going. Needless to say I am simply just trying to keep my head above water right now.
I am very excited about this weekend. It promises to be amazing! Tomorrow we are finally telling the kids that we are going to Disney World this summer! It's been a really long six and a half months of keeping it a secret. We have come up with a super fun way of telling the kids. We made our own Disney movie trailer that says their names and "you are going to Disney World" at the end. It's really neat and I promise to share that video on Monday!
Also, tomorrow the girls are playing their first t-ball game. Should be interest and fun. Practices have been hilarious and I am really interested to see how the game goes. I'm sure they will look adorable in their uniforms.
And and I hoping to get my trees and shrubs all trimmed up and the yard mowed down. Our poor willow tree went to sleep this winter and never woke back up. Something has killed it. All the branches are dry and snap right off. I was a little concerned last year that it was sick, but didn't get to have it checked in time. That tree provides that side of our house with a lot of shade so I am a little sad to see it go. On the bright side, we are going to get to lay sod down and plant some pretty azaleas or something along the house and basically make that part of the backyard the girls play area.

Dallas Blooms

2011-03-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Dallas Blooms at the Dallas Arboretum. We haven't been since Bowbas was only 6 or 7 months old. The last time we went, it was late in the season and all the tulips had already dropped their petals, but this year the flowers were beautiful! Bowbas was not in the mood to take pictures yesterday, but I managed to snag a couple cute ones of Teeter and some nice ones of the flowers.

Huge Balloons

2011-03-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

I cannot wait to order these huge balloons for the girls' birthday parties this year! How much fun are these? You can find them here. I am going to need a lot of helium!

Dino Tails

2011-03-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

I cannot wait to make these! Even though they look a little boyish, Teeter is SO into dinosaurs right now. In fact last night at supper, she talked for the entire 45 minutes about T Rex. It's so adorable when she says it because it is Tarex to her. Anyway, Tatertots and Jello posted a dino tail sewing tutorial the other day. To die for! I cannot wait to make these! My nephews might be getting some in the mail too! (And my ultra girly neice too if she wants one)

Siblings

2011-03-08T13:44:00.000-08:00

The Pioneer Woman did a photography assignment called Sisters. Where various people send in their beautiful pictures representing, in this case, sisters and at the end of the week she picks a winner. Looking at the pictures got me missing mine.

These are my siblings (and me). They. Are. Amazing. Period.

This picture is totally us. A reserved and quiet brother and the three crazy sisters.

Without these people in my life, I would not be who I am today.

Not to be cliche, but they complete me.

I love you guys so much!

Thanks for rocking!

*Janet Wisner took the photo of us.

Safety Wristbands

2011-03-03T14:11:00.000-08:00

In preparing for our big family vacation this summer, I decided that having something on the girls should they get lost would be a good idea. With one adult per child, I don't anticipate anyone getting separated from the group, however, I would rather be safe then sorry. It's a big place with lots of people.
I came across these silicone wristbands. They are similar to the Livestrong bands, but they're little so they will stay on a toddler's wrist. And they say Call My Dad! or Call My Mom! or If You Find Me Call...then it has whatever phone number you provide. Or you can come up with your own saying. For only $7 I was completely on board! They have a variety of colors to pick from and they look fun to little kids so they will want to wear them. You can find them here.

P.S. Today I got a sneak peak of the girls' Disney shirts before they shipped out. Don't you love them? If you missed the post about Hang to Dry you can find their shop here.

Adorable Cookies

2011-02-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

Look at these adorable cookies! You can find a variety of them here, and the ship all over!

Summer Vacation

2011-02-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

This summer we are taking the girls to the Happiest Place on Earth! They don't know yet. We would never hear the end of it, so we are waiting until much, much closer to the actual trip to tell them we are going. Our first full day there we will be having breakfast at Cinderella's castle with all the princesses. So my intial thought was to get them the dresses of their favorite princess to wear to the breakfast. The more I thought about it...Florida is really hot and humid. Even if we changed them into shorts and t-shirts after the meal we would still have to lug the dresses around Magic Kingdom all day and we plan to stay for fireworks. So I am strongly considering having these adorable t-shirts made for them! How cute are these!? They're custom, they can wear them with shorts, and they're half the cost of the Disney princess dresses at the Disney store! You can find these and a variety of other custom wear, here.

Ribbon Roses

2011-02-17T12:36:00.000-08:00

Aren't these beautiful?! You can buy them here for actually a really good price. And she's offering 15% off right now, but can anyone tell me how to make these? I would love to make some headbands with these fabric roses for my girls. I love the vintage flare that they have.

Valentine's Day & Fruit Stickers

2011-02-16T13:49:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been MIA! January and February were/have been super crazy busy with cake orders and what not. I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Tuck and I celebrated over the weekend, and I was honestly my favorite Valentine's weekend to date.

Friday, Tuck went home from work early. On his way home he stopped and bought glitter markers, glue sticks, stencils, construction paper, safety scissors, etc. Little did he know that if he would have opened our hall closet all those items and more were sitting their waiting for his use. Hello, have you ever met me?! But the fact that he went and bought all that really, really warmed my heart. Then he went home and helped the girls make Valentines for me. He cute huge hearts out of construction paper. The girls colored them and glued things on. They were the best Valentines ever! I LOVED them!

He also got me a big heart of Dove chocolates and a really sweet card that made me cry. I got him a heart of Ferrero Roca, his favorite, and a funny card. We both got the girls some candy and cards. Then we made Julia Child's Beouf Bourguignon, together. It turned out better then the first time I made it! Then we ate and played Skip-Bo together. It was the perfect Valentine's Day!

Look at these fruit stickers from Twig and Thistle. My girls would honestly love these more then candy!

Raffel

2011-01-26T12:02:00.000-08:00

Archangel Football is doing a raffel to raise funds for their team. They are raffeling off a bunch of great items including a $40 gift certificate to Breezie's Cakes! Grand Prize is a 42" TV. Raffel tickets are $5. For details go to http://www.archangelfootball.com/ click on Fundraisers and Donations.

Valentine's Necklaces

2011-01-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

One Charming Party has the cutest ideas, I swear! Look at these necklaces they have come up with for Valentine's Day. They are made of ribbon and gumballs. Who would have thought! I especially love the pink and white one. I can't wait to make some for the girls, they will love it! One Charming Party's website offers a how to so you can create these too!

Breezie's Cakes

2011-01-17T07:06:00.000-08:00

I try to keep business off my personal blog, but I wanted to share with everyone a Valentine's Day Special that I am running this year.

Conversation heart cakes. Your choice of white cake, chocolate, or strawberry. Made with Satin Ice Fondant. Your choice of color and saying. For $10. This cake will serve between 4 and 8 but is perfect for 2! All Valentine orders must be received by Feb 6th. To order email at info@breeziescakes.com or call 214.385.3877. I was asked on facebook if I would ship these. Yes, but you must know I cannot guarantee that it will arrive undamaged. You can visit my business blog http://breeziescakes.blogspot.com/ for additional information about my cake business.

Snow Fun

2011-01-10T07:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we got about 6 inches of snow dumped on us. The girls were very excited and LOVED playing in it.

Happy New Year

2011-01-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had an amazing New Year! We had a wonderful time ringing in the new year with our friends and some wonderful food! My mom let me borrow her 3 compartment warming tray. So I made a bunch of finger foods so everyone could just snack throughout the evening. Everything turned out wonderfully and we ate all of it. I had mushroom quesdillas which were to die for!, sliders which also turned out way better than I had intended, mini crab cakes, boneless buffalo wings, and deli spirals. Tuck made his cheese dip and at midnight we served black eyed peas.
We played games and at midnight lit sparklers with the kids. It was a wonderful time! On Friday afternoon someone on their facebook said, "as goes New Year's Eve so goes the rest of the year...choose wisely." Love it! If the rest of my year goes the way NYE went, my year will be filled with good friends, my loving family, good food, good drinks, and a ton of fun! I can't wait to see what 2011 holds for me. A few things I have to look forward to...a family vacation in June and Teeter Bees starting kindergarten.

The Holidays Have Come and Gone

2010-12-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! Ours was wonderful and very blessed...but I'm kind of glad it's over. Maybe because of the very warm weather, it just hasn't felt like Christmas this year and it took away from my jolly-ness a little bit.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! The picture is me when I was a little thing. This picture makes my mom and my older sister happy inside. They just loved me in the big ole Santa head. My sister still cracks up about it!

I hope everyone has the most wonderful Christmas ever! I hope if you were blessed in 2010 that you paid it forward and blessed someone this holiday season. And remember not all blessings are in monetary form! I have had an amazing blessed 2010 and I have done my very best to bless others too.

I am so excited about Christmas this year.

The girls are really excited about Santa coming and I think he is bringing some wonderful things!

The girls made an awesome gift for Tuck this year! I'll have to wait to tell you what it is because he's a good hubby and reads my blog.

I did more handmade gifts this year, which is what I am good at so I can't wait to give them to their assigned recipients!

Teeter is excited because we hung a stocking this year for the dog and Santa has a few items to fill it with.

It's finally starting to cool off outside after it was a record breaking 85 degrees on Tuesday!

Me and my girls will be making cookies for Santa this evening!

My excitement just continues to increase!

AND! I'm bummed and excited all in the same breath about this part.

Carolers came to the house last night!! I was just saying last week how people don't carol these days and I wish they did. I have never seen carolers going door to door. I'm bummed about it...because I missed it! I know! I was at my company's Christmas dinner and I missed the carolers. Tuck said the girls were so excited! They loved every minute of all 4 songs they sang. Then the carolers gave the girls candy canes. Teeter Bees was so excited about it when I got home, she was telling me all about it. "And they gave us something. It was red and it was white and it was candy!!"

Merry Christmas everyone!

God bless

Gift Ideas

2010-12-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

I know Christmas is only a week away, but I wanted to share a gift idea that could be used for any occassion. My grandmother is a mother of 9. Yes, 9. They are all grown and have children of their own. She has 29 grand children to be exact. And now the grandchildren have started having children. So far she has 40 great grandchildren, and there are still 17 grandchildren that haven't started having children or are too young to have children. It's a big bunch! So I worked and got all the names together and put together a family tree of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. It is beautiful! I took it to Michael's craft store and had a custom frame made for it. It was really stunning, even the ladies working at the store were asking about it. I gave it to my grandmother, as her Christmas gift, when we went to see her at Thanksgiving. She really loved it.

Neighbor Gifts

2010-12-16T08:39:00.000-08:00

Last week the family and I had a great time making and handing out Christmas gifts to our neighbors.

We made lots of tasty treats!

Chocolate Peppermint Sandwiches

Fudge

Snowballs, Mexican Wedding Cakes, or Russian Tea Cakes whatever you like to call them

Biscotti

Cherry Almond Cookies

Peanut Clusters

We picked out a bunch of boxes and tins in all different shapes and sizes

We made little tags and put the sames of the treats on the back, so our neighbors would know what they were enjoying!

We filled up the boxes and tins

Tied a little ribbon around them with the tag in place

Loaded up our wagon

Bundled up the babies

And hand delivered treats to our neighbors. We picked the size of the box or tin based on the size of the family. The lady next door lives by her self, but the family directly behind us has six daughters. Different sizes for different families. It was so much fun! The girls loved it and the smiles on our neighbors' faces was completely worth it!

Yum

2010-12-15T14:08:00.000-08:00

Today we received a catalog in the mail for Allen Brothers, The Great Steakhouse Steaks.
Holy Moly! I've been drooling over these pictures all day. This Stuffed Pork Crown Roast particularly caught my eye. Even the pictures of the raw steaks look so good! You can see more of these beautiful cuts of meat at http://www.allenbrothers.com/

Pancake Molds

2010-12-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

I have really been wanting to get some pancake molds. I think Teeter Bees would LOVE to see a cow shaped pancake on her breakfast plate! How much fun are these? Williams Sonoma, of course, has the most adorable selection. I did find a few other places online that offer pancake shapers.

Farm Animals

Holiday Shapes

Perfect for Valentine's Day or an Anniversary

Posters About My Girls

2010-12-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

I made these for my girls. I want to have them printed on to little 10 x 10 canvases to hang in their new rooms or maybe their bathroom so guests can enjoy. Bowbas is not really bulbous, but her little round tummy landed her the nickname Colbis Bulbous that turned into Bowbas so bulbous had to be on her poster.

Eye Mask

2010-12-13T09:45:00.000-08:00

At night I sleep with an eye mask on. Nights when I don't sleep with one I seem to wake up a lot, but if I remember to put it on I sleep like a champ! There is no light to effect my rapid eye movement, it's soft, and wonderful! I am on my second one and it has seen it's better days. The elastic is starting to get stretched and it's just time to trade 'er in.
I have found these that just look Heavenly!

Fluffy and Soft!

Reminds me of Spring

Love!

I don't know what it is about this one, but I'm really in love with it!

Every girl loves zebra

Gingerbread House Tradition

2010-12-13T09:34:00.000-08:00

This is our 2nd annual gingerbread house decorating mini party with E & Mr. H. The girls of course love it! Last year I bought, at Michael's Craft Store, cookie cutters for gingerbread houses. One cutter is the roof pieces, one cutter is the wall pieces, and one cutter is the front and back pieces. They were adorable and turned out great, but they were so large that I had to do a batch of gingerbread for each house! It was too much. So this year I made one batch of gingerbread. I found a template online of the house I liked and printed it out. Then using my copier, I reduced the size of the template. They were perfect!
I added a fun little touch too! I used the wrong side of a piping tip and cut one circle dormer window out of each house. Then I crushed up an over sized green jolly rancher candy, put it in the cut out and baked the cookies again, until the candy was compeltely melted. The kids loved it! Suggestion: If you want to make the jolly rancher windows. I lined my cookie sheet with parchment paper so the melted candy wouldn't stick to or ruin my cookie sheet. I was able to peel the paper right off.

M.I.A

2010-12-13T09:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting. It's a busy time of year! Here are some pictures to update you a little on our busy-ness!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ready for Christmas festivities!

Bowbas assisting in the decorating of a giant gingerbread house

Teeter & E making Christmas ornaments

Teeter assisting in the gingerbread house as well!

Teeter was very excited to decorate our Christmas tree!

We went to Crump's Garden again this year. Becoming my favorite Christmas time tradition!

Teeter Bees at a petting zoo...which she of course loved!

Bowbas busted her head over after our visit with Santa. I won't show you the "before the bandaid photo." It was horrible!

We went to Santa's Village with E & Mr. H

Teeter Bees was the only one that wanted to try on the fire fighter gear!

Giant gingerbread house...again

We went to an Olivia party that featured these awesome Olivia party hats!

Valances

2010-11-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

Aren't these valances phenomenal? My aunt made them for my cousin. I love the fabric. I love the cut. They look amazing! That woman sure knows her way around a sewing machine!

She makes all kinds of wonderful things! She made these adorable dresses for my girls.

Don't you love the apple print? How cute to would this be to wear on the first day of school?

The Deer Lease

2010-11-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend my girls went with Tuck to the deer lease for the very first time. Tuck's sister and her son, and his dad "Poppa" were there as well. The girls had the time of their lives! Both of them are still talking about all the animals they saw, and things their Poppa was doing. Tuck got some great pictures to bring home to me.

Happy Veteran's Day

2010-11-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

Tell a Veteran and/or serviceman thank you today. It means more to them to hear that then you would expect. In my family we have to celebrate 2 days in a row Marine Corp birthday November 10th and Veteran's Day November 11th. They deserve it though.

If you don't know a veteran or service person, or would just like to send an extra special thank you out there. Go to http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html and send a thank you card to a serviceman.

Pros & Cons of Today

2010-11-10T14:06:00.000-08:00

Pro-This morning I found Bowbas laying in her bed awake. It was early, she was snuggly, and she just wasn't ready to leave her bed. It was adorable and lovey. The image has been running through my head all day. Happiness.
Con-I cannot hear out of my right ear. This cold I got 1 week ago today has spread to my ears. Ear infections cause me no pain and I (usually) do not know I have one until my ear drum ruptures. It is horrible. Well today I can't hear and I can feel alittle pressure so...to the doctor I must go.
Pro-The doctor's office is open until 7 pm so I can get meds and hopefully not have a rupture in the middle of the night
Con-It's very quiet and slow at work today causing me to have all the time in the world to think about my ear
Pro-I had lunch with my mom and it was yummy
Con-I am on day 7 of never ending coughing
Pro-I have yummy cough drops
Con-It will be dark outside by 5:30 pm
Pro-My family and I are going to enjoy some technology free time again tonight (night 2 rocked, FYI)

Hopefully tomorrow the ear pressure and cough will have calmed down, and the only con of my day will be that I can't snuggle in bed with my babies all day.

Tablecloth Fun!

2010-11-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

I just got an e-mail from my cousin's wife, and I just had to share!

Seriously? How stinkin' adorable is this tablecloth?

I know my girls would love this! You can find them here.

Technology Free Time

2010-11-09T11:51:00.000-08:00

I am recommending this to every family. The other night while we were eating dinner my two littles and my husband were so preoccupied with the TV. I put my foot down right then and there. Between my girls being little movie buffs, Tuck with his laptop games and xbox, and me trying to get their attention away from these things...finally giving up...and watching TV, I had enough. I told them right then and there every single night we will have a technology free time. We are starting out small. One hour with no TV, no cell phones, no computers, no video games, nada. One hour is not too much to ask. I am sure we go without technology for more than an hour, but only outside of the house...never at home. I feel like all 3 TV's are always on!
Last night was our first try at this technology free time, and it-was-awesome! We exceeded our 1 hour rule and went 2.5 hours with no technology. It was wonderful and the attitudes of everyone in the family was amazing! First, we played hide and seek in the house. Tuck and I would hide, and the girls would count to ten then look for us. When they found us, we would count and then "look" for them. Look is in quotes because they hid under the kitchen table every single time. We laughed and had so much fun! Then we ate dinner and no one was trying to peek over at the TV. Everyone was smiling the entire time at dinner. Then the babies took a bath and Tuck watched over them, while I folded and put away laundry. It was the first night in a long time that there wasn't a struggle with bedtime. No one cried that they were not ready for bed, and we didn't hear "Mama, I need to go potty" 300 million times after we tucked them into bed. It was the most wonderful evening, and I hope you will give it a try too! Our society has become very dependent on technology, especially with all the fun stuff that cell phones do these days. It seems like no one ever puts their cell phone down or turns the TV off. Tonight, we will be painting!

Another feature!

2010-11-08T07:38:00.000-08:00

Today Bowbas' giraffe party is the party of the day at Catch My Party! And Teeter Bees' elephant party is a featured party! Go check it out! If you click on the party there are details of how I did all the homemade projects and where I got inspiration from, and lots of pictures!

Christmas Wish List

2010-11-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

I always have a really hard time thinking of things I want for Christmas. My favorite part of the holidays is giving, the festivities, the food, the baking, and the look on girls' faces on Christmas morning. I'm not knocking receiving at all, but I love giving. I love the feeling that I get when someone realizes you really thought about them. With that said, I do not usually give giftcards.
Anyway...I thought of a couple things I might enjoy receiving this year. Surprise, surprise, they're all baking/cooking related.

1. A Kitchenaid Icecream Maker Attachment. How much fun would it be to make homemade icecream for my girls and their friends during the summer?

2. A tortilla press from Williams-Sonoma. I would LOVE to make homemade tortillas.

3. The Bakerlla Cake Pops Book. I have wanted this since before it came out. I had planned to go to her book signing here in Dallas, but it fell on the same day as Tuck's big night.

4. A kitchen torch. To make creme brulees and other yumminess

Gift Tags

2010-11-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

How adorable are these plantable gift tags? Perfect to put on your gifts for the holidays and it can double as part of the gift! Each tag, when planted, will grow wildflowers. I love it!

Featured!

2010-11-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

Guess what! I've been featured for the first time ever, and I am really excited about it! I am featured on Half Baked-The Cake Blog.

She featured Bowbas's birthday party. You can see my post about her giraffe party here. Thank you Half Baked for featuring my blog!

New Layout

2010-11-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

Check out the new layout! I am so excited about the new background, the new tabs, the new header, everything! I think it looks great! Do you like it?

Room Inspirations

2010-11-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

I am loving these yellow and pink rooms.

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-10-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Halloween weekend! Halloween is Teeter Bees' FAVORITE holiday, and we made sure that she got the most out of this weekend. Friday evening we went to Scare on the Square in downtown McKinney, Saturday her grandparents took her to Scare on the Square in downtown Celina, we painting and carved pumpkins today, and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood tonight (and handed out candy). My girl was in her zone. Whether she was handing out candy, dressing up, or getting candy she was so excited. She loved all the costumes, even the scary costumes. This year she was really good at trick-or-treating. Tuck and I didn't have to go to the doors with them, we just stood on the side walk with the wagon. She knocked on the door, and said trick-or-treat every single time and thank you! She didn't complain one time when we said it was time to come home. She was excited to start handing out candy. Bowbas had fun, but was a little more along for the ride. She thought it was a lot of work for candy. Teeter Bees loved dressing up in costumes so much that she wanted to make a costume for Piggy. We found items around the house to dress him up with, and cut a little mask out of paper and taped it on his face. On Friday Tuck and I even dressed up. She was SO excited!

Tuck, are we taking some aggression out on the pumpkins?

The Big Night

2010-10-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

Remember my Necklaces post? Trying to find a necklace to wear with my beautiful dress to Tuck's big award banquet. Here is a bad picture of the necklace I wore. The lighting in my bathroom was horrible! This necklace is actually white gold with two perfectly white cultured pearls and a couple little diamonds. It looked very nice!

Here we are. All dressed up and we actually had some place to go!

We had an amazing time! The hotel was right on the water. Such beautiful views. The food was amazing and the open bar...well who can complain about that? The company had a cheese and fruit table set up that was divine. Then waitresses were carrying around trays of prosciutto wrapped asparagus (yum!), coconut shrimp (yum!), mushroom tarts (double yum!), and jalapeno and cream cheese stuffed bacon wrapped chicken (double yum!).

When we were seated there was a fresh garden salad at each plate and each chair alternated Italian Cream Cake or a Red Velvet Cake filled with chocolate ganache, cherries, and cream cheese frosting. Yum! Our dressing choices for our salad were balsamic vinaigrette or ranch.

Then we were served a yummy plate of chicken AND steak with a sauce drizzled over the top, mashed new potatoes, and steamed yellow squash, zucchini, and peppers. Needless to say we were stuffed!

The hotel room they put us up in was beautiful and had the most comfortable bed!

It was wonderful evening, and my Tuck more than deserved the recognition. I am so proud of him and all his hard work!

Room Inspiration Search Continues

2010-10-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

I am still searching for room inspiration for my girls' rooms. They currently share a room and the other room is the "playroom." After much (much) consideration, debate, and numerous nights of taking hours to get them to settle down into bed, we decided it is time for separate rooms. The girls are not really going to be happy about it so we are trying to make it fun for them. We let each of the girls pick the color of their room from the many paint swatches I brought home.

Teeter Bees has picked a nice, soft, custard type yellow. I was surprised I had prepared myself for a purple of some kind.
And Bowbas has picked a soft, rosy, pink.

I want to design rooms that are still childish, but not so much that we have to re-decorate in a year or two.
For Teeter's room I was sort of thinking of maybe doing two small canvas paintings of cute little matyroshka dolls to hang over her bed. Sort of go with more primary color accents in her yellow room. But I am still on the fence. I think farm house dolls incorporated would be cute, but like I said I am still on the fence.
For Bowbas's room. I thought vintage Barbie of some type might be cute in a pink room or maybe just a pink girl's room with abstract art work or personal photos on the walls. I don't know. It's too many choices for me, and Tuck has no opinions on these things.
Thoughts? Inspirations? Suggestions?
Let's hear them!

Deposit Slip

2010-10-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

My kids have a while before they start loosing their baby teeth. I'm not even sure if Bowbas has all of her 2 year old teeth yet. However, I am in love with these Tooth Fairy deposit slips. So adorable and fun! You can get them here.

Vintage Video Camera

2010-10-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

A while back my Dad gave me an order 8 mm video projector and some old home movies. The projector is all dusty and old, but it works like a champ! I love the vintage quality of the movies and it was so much fun to watch the movies on the wall with the projector. I was inspired and bought a Kodak 8mm Windup Movie Camera. It is in perfect condition with a carrying case, all the original manuals and everything. I basically stole the camera. I paid $25 including shipping, and the same cameras in this condition are selling for between $100 and $200. Yay for me!

So I have had the camera from a while now. I love it and really want to use it! Does anyone know where I can find 8mm film for this type of movie camera? Stores? Online? Anywhere?

The Pumpkin Farm

2010-10-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

Last night the girls and I made some adorable jack-o-lantern cake pops to take to the pumpkin farm with us and share with their friends. I did most of the work, of course, but the girls had so much fun adding the green apple tic tacs for the stems and picking out fun jack-o-lantern faces for me to draw with an edible marker. They turned out great!

I packaged them with mini cellophane bags and ribbon for easy transportation, and put them in a bag with a take and toss cool pack to keep the chocolate from melting. They were a huge hit with the girls, their friends, and their parents, and the perfect addition to our day at the pumpkin farm in Celina. The girls had so much fun. The farm had so much to do, lots of good photo ops, tons of pumpkins, and really yummy grilled hot dogs! What a wonderful day with my little ladies and our favorite friends.

Feeding the sheep

E feeding a longhorn

Mr. H

Bowbas

Fun in the pumpkins. I loved all the different types they had laying around.

Pumpkins as far as the eye could see

Sweet Bowbas enjoying the day

Tractor time with Teeter Bees!

Bowbas' turn

The farm was beautiful!

Is this one big enough?

Yummy hot dogs!

So excited about cake pops!

Mr. H wasted no time on his!

Love this picture!

And this one too!

This truck was adorable!

Can you see the excitement on Teeter's face? The hayride was the highlight of her day.

Sweet girl, having a blast!

Mr. H is a big Pooh Bear fan.

A Mini Halloween Party

2010-10-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I was working on a Minnie Mouse Cake order. My girls' friend E and H were over to watch movies, play, and eat pizza. No one got any playing done because everyone wanted to help make the cake. Of course on paying orders there is no help allowed from the little ones. So I promised we would get the kids back together and decorate some Halloween cakes. We decided it would be fun to turn it into a mini Halloween party and let the kids wear the costumes. It's nice to at least attempt to get your moneies worth on the Halloween costumes. The kids all looked adorable and everyone had an amazing time!

Too Cute for Teeth!

2010-09-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! So were are preparing to turn the girls' beds from toddler beds into full size beds. It is very exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time. No longer toddler beds? Does that mean you are grown up? But exciting because we get to redo the room and make them girlie and fun! So I have been searching the net for inspirations. I was on Etsy and found these adorable tooth pillows! Oh my goodness! How could you not fall in love with these? It is girlie, wonderful, and has the perfect place to store your tooth for the tooth fairy which also doubles and the perfect place for the tooth fairy to leave her treasures. What a wonderful and unique idea! I am totally smitten with these! (Yes, I know I over use exclamation points, but I do not care!!)

You can find these here.

Halloween Cupcakes with the Babies

2010-09-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

I am sure I have already mentioned how excited Teeter is about Halloween. She asks every morning if it is Halloween yet. The Pottery Barn Kids catalogue came in the mail on Thursday and she has been carrying it around, and showing everyone the treat bucket she wants to get. I promised her that we would make Pillsbury's Halloween Funfetti cupcakes over the weekend. And that we did. Both girls go to help pour in something, water, oil, eggs, or the mix. And they both got to stir the sprinkles into the batter with the Williams-Sonoma Halloween spatulas I bought a few weeks ago. They took turns helping me dip the batter with an ice cream scoop and put the batter into the cupcake papers. And of course they helped frost and sprinkle the tops when the cupcakes were done cooling. They had so much fun! It was really fun for me because I got to enjoy my babies while Tuck took pictures. I am always behind the camera so it was really nice to be on the other end of things and still have photos for memories.
My babies really love helping ~~mom~~ Momma (Teeter will correct you on that really fast! It is not Mom or Mommy it is Momma!) in the kitchen and I really had a blast! I think I will teach them how to make cookies next weekend. They will be so excited! And their favorite friend is coming over in two weeks to decorate Halloween cakes with us!

Yay for cupcakes

2010-09-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

The cupcakes I shipped to California made it there in perfect condition! My little niece is very excited for her slumber party tonight and I am super excited to ship more cupcakes out to them!! I will post step by step instructions for shipping cupcakes very soon! I would like to send them some Halloween cupcakes so I will photograph the steps and share! Cupcakes for everyone!

Halloween Cupcakes

2010-09-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

My Teeter Bees is so excited about Halloween she can't stand it, so I decorated a couple of cupcakes for her and Bowbas that were Halloween themed and put them in some adorable Halloween tin buckets. They were a huge hit!

Oil Assistance

2010-09-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Please remember to donate to the Gulf relief efforts. It is easy to forget that fishermen and wildlife are still suffering since the oil flow has stopped. My mom always says "charity begins at home..." this is our home. We hop to for other countries in need (which is a good thing), we need to remember to help our own too.

You can find these photos are more here. And you can donate or learn how to help here, here, and here.

Necklaces

2010-09-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

At the end of October, Tuck has a big night that he's been excited about all year! He will be recognized for all his hard work over the last five years. For the event I got this gorgeous Antonio Melani dress. Sorry for the poor photo quality...it's the best one I could find. But you still get the drift.

So now I am looking for some jewelry to wear with it. Here is what I have found so far. What do you think?

How about a splash of color?

Ok. Lets hear those necklace thoughts!

First Trip to the Dentist

2010-09-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

This was going to be a Wordless Wednesday post...but I thought I should explain that in one of the pictures Teeter Bees looks alittle scared. She was not afriad of the dentist at all! Both girls did great! I was so proud! In the photo she is laying on the table and there were tv's hanging above the kids. She was watching Lion King which she has not seen before. She was very into that movie and I think it was at the part where Scar was doing something not nice. Hehehe. Enjoy!

Getting ready to go (of course Bowbas moved and blurred herself in the picture)

Not scared just lovin' the movie

Waiting for Teeter to finish her Xrays

She looks so big...

Shipping Cupcakes

2010-09-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Next week I am going to attempt something...scary! I am going to ship cupcakes to my sister in California. The cupcakes are for my niece's birthday party. When they were in town and my little niece was admiring my cakes, I could rapidly see the disappointment on her face as she realized I would not be able to create one for her. I knew I had to find a way to get a Breezie's treat out to her. Why should my little nieces and nephews miss out on my tasty goodness just because they live exactly 1,300 miles from me?
I knew there was no way to ship a big fancy cake. It would never make it there, but cupcakes I think will be do-able. I have researched and researched, and I am feeling pretty good about getting the cupcakes out there safely. Ok I am terrified! I will be honest! What kid wants to open a box of destroyed cupcakes that were once beautiful? But here are some precautions that I am taking, that the other websites did not do. If the other ladies were successful without these precautions, then I am pretty sure mine will make it there successfully!
I am doing fondant cupcakes. These other blogs talk about how they freeze and ship cupcakes with a big dollop of frosting like the picture above. Hello, the frosting will thaw after an hour or two and I do not like to freeze my cupcakes...it dries them out big time!
My plan is to fill the cupcakes with the frosting I would normally use and then a light coat of frosting on top to hold the fondant in place.
I am going to use Satin Ice because it tastes much better than most fondants and these are for little girls.
These will be super duper wrapped in some major plastic wrap to keep fresh as long as possible, and then shipped 2nd day guarantee.
I wanted to overnight but good grief it is very expensive!
My niece is having a slumber party with make overs and a fashion show so the cupcakes will coordinate with that theme. I am also sending her some adorable pajamas to wear at her slumber party!
I'll let you know how it goes and if it is a success I will give you step by step instructions so you can share your tasty goodness with your loved ones abroad.

Giraffe Birthday Party

2010-09-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

My little Bowbas celebrated her 3rd birthday this past weekend. Everything turned out great!! Her theme was giraffes. Everything was handmade by the Momma including the adorable turquoise cake stands. I made a huge C out of floral foam and silk flowers for her centerpiece and it was adorable! Enjoy!!

Jellybean bags

Chocolate dipped pretzel rods

Bunting

Chocolate dipped marshmallows

Cake 1

Cake 2

Cupcakes

Water bottles with custom labels

Sandwich Tray (from Market Street)

The birthday girl! Her awesome bow was make by Rock'n Ribbons

The birthday Bowbas checking out her dessert spread!

Teapots

2010-08-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Aren't teapots adorable and friendly? I am not a tea drinker, but these cute teapots make me what to convert.

Beyond the Baby Book

2010-08-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Are you religious about filling out your kid's baby books? I am. Everything in my girls' books are filled out except the first day of school pages and Bowbas's 3rd and 4th birthday party pages. Once a month from 3 months to 24 months I would make notes in the back of the book. "Took first steps this month! Loves to watch Dora and eat Gerber Puffs...." After 24 months I would make notes of bigger things like "Finally potty trained!!" Once their books started filling up and I realized I wouldn't be able to make notes in the baby books forever, I decided there needed to be something else were their toddler through school aged year memories could be documented.
I started journals for both my girls. I try to write in them at least once a month. Some months I just jot down new things that are going on with them. Other entries include details of road trips, birthdays, holidays, etc. When I started this...good grief 2 years ago! Is my Teeter Bees really 4 already? I wasn't sure what my purpose was, but last month Tuck and I read through the girls' baby books and journals. We laughed and we cried. We laughed at little memories like Bowbas's first sentence "shud da door" and we cried at the scary times like Teeter being rushed to the ER with a severe allergic reaction to an ant bite.
We looked at each other and realized that these are our daughter's lives right here in writing. I have created something that they will be able to look at when they have kids. They can remember all the fun and exciting things we did like going to Crump's Garden to see thousands of beautiful poinsettias or getting to enjoy 3 Easter egg hunts in one weekend! And they can remember how Mama and Daddy took care of them during scary times like ant bites and breath holding spells.
Do you document your kiddos? How?

Cookie Cutters

2010-08-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for something like this for years! A make your own cookie cutter kit! I know this sounds like unnecessary work when cookie cutters are only a few dollars, but sometimes I get ideas for different things that there just isn't a cookie cutter of. Occasionally I come up with an awesome idea for cupcake toppers or cake decor that would be alot easier with a cutter, but you just can't find out.
Bake it Pretty has a make your own cookie cutter kit! Check it out!

Lets Get Organized

2010-08-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, before school there was generally a knock-down-drag-out between clothes and at least one of the four of us kids. We never picked out what we were going to wear the day before, and it was always "I have nothing to wear!" as we stood in front of a closet full of clothes. Our mom NEVER let the laundry pile up, so we literally always had clean clothes. Well I found this awesome organizer at onestepahead.com

What a great idea! When we start school next year I plan on buying two of these! One for each of my girls. We can pick out the week's wardrobe on Sunday and be set for the week! I think this organizer is a great idea for any family with school aged kids.

Wordless Wednesday: Texas State Capitol Edition

2010-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Easy on the Ears

2010-08-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

I love music. All kinds of music. I absolutely love music and is easy to listen to. Music that you can lay in bed, listen, and feel peaceful to. Music that you can have in the background of a "perfect at home" kind of day. I've stummbled across Timmy Curran. His first album Citsuca is a short 6 track, acoustic, easy to listen to album. You kind find it on itunes for $5.

Mommy Tips

2010-08-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, kids revolved around their parents' lives. These days our lives revolve around our kids. While this is a good thing, I notice more and more mommies that forget about themselves. More often than not this leads to some form of break down.
It's ok to think about you!
You are not being selfish!
So here is my Mommy Tip for the day...

Create a bucket list.
Add to it always...
Add things that you do alone...

Add things that you do with your kids...

Add things that you do with just your spouse...

Add things that you can do at home...

Add things that you have to get out and do...

Add things that are easy on your pocket book and easy to accomplish...

Like taking a cooking class with your girl friends

But also add things that you might have to save up to do...

And do them!
Don't create your list and leaving it hanging on the wall, get out there do it!

If you need help thinking of things to add you your list, here are some helpful hints...
-Pick up the book 1,000 Things to See Before Your Die
There is a world version and a US/Canada version. I own both...
-Ask your kids for some ideas of things they might like to do with you
-Look into events happening where you live. Our downtown is constantly hosting family friendly events.
-Think of things you have always wanted to do, and be ok with getting out of your comfort zone.
-Get a passport. You'd be surprised how just getting your passport will really make you want to go somewhere!

Here are a just a few things off of my bucket list...
-Go to Prague with Tuck
-Take the girls to Disney
-Remodel our bathrooms
-Landscape my backyard into a magical place with smells and colors to die for
-Take a photography class
-Be the best mom and wife I can possibly be, every single day

Here are a few items I have accomplished off my bucket list...
-Go on a cruise with Tuck
-Enter into a cake competition
-Pay off our credit card debt
-Take Teeter to ride an elephant
-Make a quilt (I made 2!)
-Create a magical Christmas for my girls (it snowed and everything!)
-Create my family tree (and it's beautiful!)
so on..

What's on your list?

If These Walls Could Speak...

2010-07-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

What do you think about vinyl wall decals? Love 'em or hate 'em? These are from Decor Designs, an Etsy shop. I really like the dandelions. They feel calm and I would love to have these in a sitting room. A nice big comfy chair or two (so Tuck or a friend could join me) and these dandelions on the wall. I feel peaceful just talking about it. I would relax with a book and just enjoy the quiet with some dandelions.

If you're really creative and a good artist, my friend Kayla painted these trees on her daughter's wall! Saved herself a bundle and it looks great!

So what do you think? Love the vinyl decals or not?

Wordless Wednesday: Library Edition

2010-07-28T11:49:00.000-07:00