Having girls

Can I just take a minute to express how much I love having two little girls?! I love the fact that they get excited to watch “Cupcake Wars” with me… I love that my little one asks when “Sweet Genius” is going to be on. I just love the fact that I have prissy little girls that love to get excited about the same things that excite me!

Legoland

Last year at this time, we were planning a trip to California, for a college graduation in the family. While out there we were lucky enough to be given tickets to visit Legoland from a family friend.

Let me tell you something: this was such. a. good. time! Me, my girls, & my MIL had an amazing time. I am not gushing because I was asked to, I just loved so many things about this place. The atmosphere was lovely, I had someone asking how our visit was going every single ride we went on. The ride operators asked if there was any way they could make our visit better, but my kids were already so happy! They got to “play in line” on every ride. There are coral areas with large legos in every. single. line.

The food was good, and when going to check out in line, the cashier was helping us to save money by getting the family deal plan. After, while visiting the bathroom, there were complimentary toiletries, I mean who does that?!

I know if you had asked my girls what their favorite part was, it would have been the pirate ships though.  While on the pirate ships, you can shoot your water guns at the other ships while everyone is moving on a track about the place. THEN, you get to get off the ride, walk around the side of the ride, and there are water squirt guns on the side to aim at the people still on the ride.  We were soaked, but it was all good, it was a hot day, and we were happy. :)

When it was closing time, was anyone rushing us out the door? Oh, absolutely not! We had time to take a few more pictures, like the one above.

We WILL be back. We truly enjoyed every moment.

Varner’s Greenhouse

I know when you think greenhouse it conjures up images like this…

Or like this one…

But.. how about this?

Maybe this in a tropical area, but in Indiana?

Fresh Pineapple anyone? I wish this would grow in my backyard!

I have saved the best for last, however. This is the reason I go to Varners…

 

These beauties are my beautiful girl’s favorite. They are so pretty!

Naturally Perfect Eggs

I talked the other week about “natural dyeing” our Easter eggs this year… ironically, a week later I stumbled upon an event at the St. Patrick’s Park locally. I was so ecstatic, I invited everyone I knew who had kids my kid’s age. Lucky for me one of my best friends & her son were able to go with us.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but at $5 per kid, it was nearly fee entertainment. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well the teacher had things planned out for the kids to do. There were color pages, and she had strips of pastel paper to make rings for the eggs to set on.

We got to make 6 different colors, so 6 different techniques. Here, all of them are pictured together. From top left: the first was dipped twice; turmeric & then red cabbage (gave us a greenish hue); the second was of course drawn with an amazing sun, then dipped in mashed blueberries; the third was colored quite literally with beets. Next row from left; soaked in grape juice (which left the egg quite sticky); the second on bottom row was boiled in turmeric water; the final egg, boiled in onion skins, was such a pretty brown, no really! The speckles were created from rice.

 

It was overall a long process, but we five had a lovely time. Like I said before the teacher was kind enough to have extra things for the kids to do, so they wouldn’t get bored. My girls loved showing their eggs off to their dad, and I was just as excited with the little carton as the kids were. Too Cute!

Porto’s Bakery

I was first introduced to this wonderful-in-everyway-place by my lovely sister in law. This introduction, unfortunately was over instagram. You see my SIL lives in LA. Once she finished USC (yes, extremely proud over here), she officially took the plunge of living the high life of a studio apartment *sarcasm indeed*. What is not sarcastic however, is that I am living vicariously through her. Who wouldn’t want to be young, with tons of fun friends, on your own, in Los Angeles? So when we went to visit this past summer my only wish was to go to this place. It’s obviously the closest I was going to get to being young and fun in LA, with children behind me. haha So off we went:

The architecture inside and out was so pretty. I wanted to take tons of pictures, then redecorate my house accordingly.

Tell me one thing in this case that me, my husband, and my two girls wouldn’t want to take home?! Every. single. thing. I wanted to buy and smuggle on the plane.

This is what my husband and I settled on: Tiramisu on the left and mochachino on the right. Mine is the right, good thing, cause it was the most delicious one! I could use one right now, this 1200 calorie diet I’ve been on needs to be blown up!

It’s around the corner!

Hey kids! It’s March tomorrow… Spring is right around the corner. I am dreaming about Spring, going to the greenhouse & planting the garden. My littlest girl can’t wait either. She’s been talking about “wearing short pants, & no more fat coat” LOL I’m right there with you baby, & so is the majority of the midwest.

So what are you planning to do first in lue of the sunshine & green leaves?

Happy Valentine’s Day 2013!

 

I wish you all a very loving & lovely day…

I am happy to announce that I am off to party it up with a bunch of Kindergarteners.

So? Are you loving my chocolate décor as much as I? I am beaming with pride for myself on this one! I don’t usually toot my own horn, but I’m lovin’ myself on this Valentine’s Day.

Books! ABC Yoga

We have a small bookshelf in our living room, and although it is quite messy and cluttered, it is one of my favorite things in my house. It might not look the best, but it has a special place in my heart. It is shoved full of books, and they don’t make it back on the shelf in the most orderly fashion, but I could care less! This only means one thing, those books are getting plenty of LOVE.

When my oldest was around two, she would frequently pick books over toys, and a little later down the line, the same could be said about my younger daughter. This, to them, meant bonding time, and not alone time. Although it was tough sometimes, when they asked for a book to be read to them, I tried hard to sit down quickly there after to read it. We went to story time on my Wednesdays off work, and they still talk about it a year later.

So, when the Scholastic flyers started coming home, I was uber excited. The school has a great reading program in place, and so we read a minimum of 375 min. a month.

This past flyer I got a really cute book that I want to share with you. It combines our love of reading, and our need to get off the couch!

Here it is: The ABCs of Yoga for Kids… so stinkin cute. We had a blast doing these, and the poems are so good too. My girls were giggling even before I got on the ground with them.

I had my girls in hysterics while they were watching my do the “Frog”, they were belly laughing so hard, they couldn’t do their positions. It was loads of fun, and it was nice to notice I “did something” the next morning when I woke up. My arms got the bulk of the workout apparently. Nothing was overly stressful on the body, but holding each pose for 10 seconds must have been the kicker.

Pipe Dreams & Pipe Cleaners

*I need to first put a disclaimer on this about safety and such… help your children to make sure all sharp ends are away from eyes (obviously right?!)

When we were given pipe cleaners after story time at the library, my oldest daughter says “Let’s make glasses mommy” I thought, ‘hmmmm, why not?’

So when we went to the art festival this summer and there were pipe cleaners out on one of the craft tables, guess what was asked for once again?! Only this time it caught on! I saw many children asking there moms to make them as well. I was asked several times where we made them too. I was thinking in spirit of missing summer (again) I would share with you all my special memory.

What to do… love your 3 yr old!

The other day, I was commenting on how it warmed up around Indiana, with this came more flowers. Do you remember, I blogged about how happy I was to have these flowers again in the middle of fall?

Well, When I came home from work a few days ago, I got a BIG surprise! You know how little kids can be, right?! How they can destroy something so quickly, but do it with sooo much innocents?

I found all of these lovely flower heads on the ground lying around its plant. URgh!

Well.. when life gives you flowers with NO stems, make a flower arrangement anyway possible right?!

Not too bad I’d say ;)

Silly Phrases & Weird Pumpkins…

I know it has been wickedly {pun intended} long since I wrote last. I had “company” as my grandma use to say, in fact that is who it was. It’s always lovely to have grandmas around, & especially lots of fun for the little ones. Lots of spoiling went on this past week!

We got to “run the roads” & “get a bite to eat” ALL week long. Don’t you just love old people lingo :) Makes me feel warm & cozy inside when I hear these certain sayings. What about you, do your grandparents/elders have funny lingo that makes you smile every time?

My youngest got a big girl bed out of this visit, lucky little girl, but didn’t sleep in it till grandma left. She was busy cuddling with grandma every night.

While she was here we Finally. got to go to the pumpkin patch. My girls had a lot of fun in the short time we got to stay. We went on a Friday, so between being pressed for time, and the fact that it is getting super chilly here… we didn’t stay much past getting pumpkins.

Lovely pumpkins they are, though, don’t you think? Every year we have to do a “family” set of pumpkins. My dear husband makes fun with me every year, “Mommy has to get a weird pumpkin again”. One year it was a curly stem, the next year a white one, & this year? Mine is the green one… isn’t she a beauty? <3

Festivals & Fairs 2011

Do all of you enjoy festivals & fairs as we do? It’s been three weekends in a row for us now… and we have the opportunity for a fourth. I am not so sure though. They are my favorite summer activity after all, but it is getting quite repetitive. My favorite thing of all?

Shots like this…

These are the moments I will treasure for the rest of my life

My Maya

As I told you yesterday, I have been going through older pictures recently. I came across a lot of things I want to share with you. So here is today’s…

Is anyone else in love with this picture as much as I? There is an air to it that reminds me of the immigrants of Ellis Island. I adore the way that she just looks like a little doll baby. Yes that is my baby Maya.

Sorry for the Mess

Sorry for the hit and miss blogging... but we are planning a party over here people!

Lots of pictures to come on near-to-the-future-blogs :) I have my arms and hands full this week with lots of projects.

Here is one of my easier projects for this week. Chocolate dipped fortune cookies, yumm. For every 1 cup of chocolate, mix in one Tablespoon of Crisco. It makes the melting and dipping process so much easier. Also don't forget that double broiler, and don't let that water underneath come to a boil. I clumped up my first batch, but with these fail-proof tips, it was it was smooth chocolate thereafter.

P.S. Yes these are store-bought cookies, {need lots of time people!} from Aldi, who knew they sold things like fortune cookies there?!

Maya's Clubhouse

Maya is/was in love with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so it wasn't even an option on what we were doing for her second birthday. I know that is a predictable theme, but hey we make our kids happy, right? I have to say first off, there is something to be said about a store bought cake, leaves me more time to pay attention to details. I really did like this cake, store bought or otherwise. The summery theme, Minnie sunbathing & Mickey surfing, cute huh?

I made a few printable things for the party. As you can see here, the Minnie's Raspberry Lemonade & Mickey's Berry Punch, were a hit.. due to the cute signs? hmmmm I wonder :)

Lucky for my kids, I work at a label company, so water labels were made with all Clubhouse characters included. I also included all the characters in the banner with the coordinating balloons. I cut Maya's name out of cardboard and wrapped them in tin foil as well. It glistened in the sun, which you can't really tell here unfortunately. The top right photo is of treat bags, I just happen to stumble upon red and blue ones on a clearance rack one day. I of course had to buy Mickey Ears for every kid. They all looked so sweet in them :) The Clubhouse banner was suppose to go above our entry gate to our back yard, but it was a rainy day, so we had the party in the garage. I still love the styrofoam Mickey head.

Perfect ending to a perfect day/party... Glow bracelets and necklaces. The fireflies were out and the glow jewelry was too! This is the best thing about having a summer party. Lots of fun outside, even into the dust hour.

Maya's Tribune

When I posted Alisa's first invitation, I felt I only give you a "teaser" view, so... here I am with "Maya's Tribune", Alisa's was called "Alisa's Times". The top image of this invite is the back and face of a "booklet". When I created Alisa's invitation 17 months prior, I said "never again!", but as all you moms know what you do for one of your children you would and do do for all :) I changed it up a little in the middle of the booklet. For Alisa's I did all her "firsts", for Maya's I did "a year", and did a little recap for each month. As for the table of contents and Maya's favorite things {my spin on Oprah's favorite things}, I did the same in Alisa's. So now you are asking about the lovely cartoon drawings to the left? That is my husband's page, complete with his hand drawings. He also did a page in the "Alisa's Times" booklet invite I made.

I have to say I am uber proud of how these booklets turned out, and I am hoping my children cherish them as they get older. They were both worth all the time and effort put into them!

Ni Hao, Maya

In about three months, my little baby is going to be three years old! I know, you might be asking yourself... Did she not just post Maya's 1st birthday yesterday? Well I am playing catch up my dears :) But the other day my little princess let me in on a little secret: She wanted a Kai-Lan party for her birthday. So I did a little investigation today. Here is the inspirational board I came up with.

I, of course, had a little help from my friends {they might not realize they are my friends, but whatever, lol}. First of all, these beautiful lanterns in all colors and sizes. They can all be found on Luna Bazaar website. The cartoon picture can be found by a simple google search.. I may have to snag it for "the perfect invitation". As for this cute paper mache Kai-Lan sun, it was found over at Sometimes She Sleeps Blog. She also has other ideas for a Kai-Lan party. Now on to these cute red flowers. These were actually on top of what looks to be triffles... yummm. I just adore those flowers though, I think I would love to put them on top of cupcakes. Maybe even red velvet cupcakes. If you want to see the rest of this cute party, head over to the home party planner. She is also featured with this party on one of my favorite websites: the hostess blog. She features the best parties. Last but surely not least, Sushi! Okay, not real sushi, and believe me, I can not wait to make this stuff. It is actually rice krispie treats with some yummy gummies. For a full tutorial on how to make these beauties go to What Makes Us Click. I am sure that I will come up with more ideas between now and then for this party, my mind works overtime on the subject of "parties". So till then....

Maya's First Birthday

For Maya's 1st birthday, we had an outdoor affair. Considering the weather

outside at the moment, I hope this post will be a refreshing reminder that

Spring is right around the corner... right?

Maya indulged in lots of friends & presents! Luckily, she had

her big sisters help to open all those gifts.

We went for an outdoor garden theme, but mainly it was

all about the "purple" once we found her cute dress. :)

Purple cupcakes were my highlight for the party. It was

my fun spin on "red velvet" cupcakes. They had silver bottoms, &

white icing so that it was a wonderful surprise to bite in and find Purple.

This is my husbands work! Isn't it so cute? We have the garden

theme best represented here. There is a fish, frog, bee, bunny, butterfly, &

even a mushroom. I love it! It was Maya's smash cake.

Overall it was a perfect day out, & a perfect 1st birthday for Maya :)