I was so ready to kick my kiddos out of the kitchen this week. Then I remembered the quote I found in my cooking scrapbook from a good friend and changed my mind.
"When I was little, I always wanted to be in the kitchen, because it was warm, and that's where my mother was." -Dolly Parton
So, I made it fun and finally started the zebra print cupcakes I'd been wanting to do since I saw them in a book at Sam's club! Well, they were a bust. But the kids and I had a blast making them. They didn't turn out and I had to redo them tonight. It's been a hectic week(end) so I'm ready for Monday- time to relax. First things first:
Dora the Explorer eggs- love the commissary!
Mama's chefs in training.
Such a happy girl.
Always check your work!
Oh, I just love them!
My fabulous princess.
Cute as a button!
I found some of the coolest stuff when I started looking for more ways to branch out with them in the kitchen. We always seem to bake, but I really want to teach them OTHER things. So I was looking through ideas and recipes in random blogs and found a link for "Curious Chef" items!
Check this out: Curious Chef!
I mean, HOW COOL! Knives that cut fruits and veggies but not fingers. They come with other things (whisks, etc) that the kiddos already have from other places, friends or family members. There's a pizza making kit as well as boy and girl sets with aprons, etc. Most of the "cooking with kids" recipes I'm coming across are not the kind of recipes my kids would eat (or maybe that they'd eat, but I'M too picky to eat). I really need to work on branching out... I tried a salad with spinach leaves this afternoon and it was delish! I have no idea how I'd never had it in my salad before.
All that said... ideas for involving the kiddos in the kitchen? Recipes? I want to incorporate healthy foods- lots of fresh fruits and veggies!
Princess party planning was a success today! Helloooo hobby lobby 80% off and JoAnna's dollar section! I'm keeping the hobby lobby stuff on the DL till the party (it's just serving stuff, but it's GORGEOUS and very princess-y!)... but I took photos of the invitations and 2 of the favors. Oh, and the shirt I made her!
Tiara favors and the shirt I made. :)
Another favor and the invitations. :)
I have some other things planned, making the most of my time while I only have one kiddo to drag around. Keg really enjoyed his first day of vacation Bible school. Em and I had time to go to JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and Maurices! Tomorrow we're headed to a different hobby lobby, Party City and if we have time, Sam's club. SO many pictures to develop- I'm about 2 months behind! Since before K's birthday at least.
Got my new bed with zebra print/red sheets! I have no idea what to do with myself and all this ROOM. Kiddos are all snuggled up with me and everyone has plenty of space!
and the monkey likes to jump on the bed! haha.
Also had a girl's night. Cheeseburger in paradise followed by midnight harry potter! Loved it. I need to do that more often- big thanks to my cousin for keeping the kiddos for me. :)
My last blog was a LITTLE dark and twisty. Some of this might go there too, given recent events. But mostly I want to share my ideas for my princess' princess party! I am too blessed to stay dark and twisty... so there you have it.
First... WHAT is with the jurors on the Casey Anthony trial? Really? I can wrap my mind around their verdict and the reasoning- but I don't understand it. The witch killed her baby, and now she's gotten away with it. Even if she admits it now on national television, they can't touch her. Double jeopardy. I keept hearing that someone else will come after her because everyone hates her... but that doesn't make the vigilante any better than the baby killer herself. I hate that she's not rotting in jail, but what's coming to her on judgement day is far worse than anything that anyone on earth could do to her. Justice WILL be served for Caylee, even if it takes longer than we'd like to see.
Secondly... I found my military ID. I was majorly stressing. I cried on Saturday because of how badly the guard at the gate treated me without an ID. made me get in the "visitor" lane behind a dozen cars (I was picking up food for the reception and already almost late), ON a strict time schedule and then the guy in the "visitor" lane didn't even inspect my car!! UGH! On top of that, some units discipline the soldier if an ID is lost, I would have to make a report with the military police to get a new one. Major bad news bears. Where was it? I separated K and E's clothes into different baskets and stacked them with K's on the bottom. So when I dumped his laundry out in his room last night, my face on that shiny pink card was just smiling (smirking) at me. What a dummy. Ugh. I called everywhere I'd been here as well as out of town for wedding prep. Big thanks to my hubby for keeping calm and not getting mad at me, as well as keeping ME calm (as it was possible for me to be.) haha.
As for this princess party.. I have so many ideas and things I want to do and I can't decide where to start. For the Royal invitations... disney princess cards that say "Emily" in pretty pink with shiny tiara stickers for the envelopes. The cake...
I'm kind of thinking of doing something like this in whatever flavor of cake that's different from the main cake.
Which will look like... THIS!
I have a friend who's an AMAZING baker/cake artist! I could not be more excited! If I could pull it off... I'd incoporate it:
HOOOOOWWWWW beautiful is this??
I have the background from last year... so I could TOTALLY pull off something like this if my hubby was okay with it.
Suggestions? Ideas? Websites?
I'm getting so excited. I have a feeling after this birthday, I'll have NO say in her party themes. I also need to find her a gorgeous dress and track down as many play dress up dresses as I possibly can for the party itself.
In a time when nothing is more certain than change, the commitment of two people to one another has become difficult and rare. Yet, by its scarcity, the beauty and value of this exchange have only been enhanced. ~Robert Sexton
What a whirlwind week! Great times with my little family and my daddy got married to a sweet, wonderful woman. I have to be honest, my husband is what's gotten me through this past week and a half. I generally try not to rely on him for every single thing that stresses me, but it just comes natural when he becomes the only really dependable person in your life. Had some major freak outs- military ID missing, which means being treated like trash trying to get on post, making me late for my hair appt. Emily being cranky for the entire thing. Stressing about little details that in the end, didn't matter but felt frustrating when it was one thing after another. Blah. The wedding (and rehearsal) went off without a hitch, everything and everyone was gorgeous, my kids made me proud and walked right down that aisle without a fit or a complaint (even though I was concerned because neither of them care for large crowds). I got busted vandalizing the get-a-way car with chalk and "just married" decals. lol. I'm so happy for them and am excited to move forward as a combined family. :)
Before the rehearsal dinner.
Hair!
Daddy took little man shopping- he cleans up pretty good. :)
bubbles!
my handsome ring bearer and gorgeous flower girl.
before the wedding. :)
reception food!
cropped for identity purposes- but this is post-reception.
On the flipside of that, I love them (my family) and will miss them. But I want to move. We miss my love and I accept military life, but he is my home and that's where we all belong. He made a really good point this weekend that while my life would change, it really wouldn't. What's the point in hanging around for friends and/or family who don't spend time with you anyway? (Some, not all. I have to give credit where it's due) "Oh, I'm going to miss you so much" is pretty empty when effort to make up for future lost time is a one-sided thing. I, personally, have other things to do. When someone or something is a priority, you MAKE time for it. I haven't spent as much time with a few family members as I'd like. It's going to be really hard to leave my grandparents and some of my cousins. Everyone has a life... and what you do with the time you're given does show what's important to you. As an adult, I can still make the effort to keep in touch and I think it will be fine. But what about the years that will be missed with my kids? And the years that have already been missed just by lack of effort (or caring). Eventually the military will take us somewhere else... and it's going to be hard to sympathize with people missing them when I -know- there were missed opportunities. Something or someone else was more important. So, it's time to start making the most of the time I have here... but I'm still wishing and praying to be somewhere else. Guess we'll see. But instead of stressing over the bad, I'm thankful for the support system we've had and for the people who are constantly there for all 3 of us. If you have -one- true friend, you're blessed. I have a few more than that. :)
Hmmm... what else? Hubby got us a pool! We got a great deal and the public pool prices here are INSANE. So, buy a pool for a really great price, get swimming AND I will never pay for tanning again during the spring/summer/early fall! That thing paid for itself. (I'm darker after my 2nd day in that thing tha nafter a whole 2 weeks at Celsius!) And it makes my babies happy (and so tired, thank you J!) so I'm looking forward to making time fly by the pool. Ready for our next visit to Texas (I was ready to hop in the car with him and get out of here, but there are things to be done). Hopefully we'll be spending our anniversary there!
Happy day-late 4th of July! Favorite holiday but obviously with my pyro padre on his honeymoon and my hubby back in TX, it was just me and the little man. My princess is NOT a fan of fireworks (but loves fire itself, go figure). I think it's the noise. Anyway... we had some fun the night before and did a few on the day itself... Kface made mama and daddy proud, for sure! Held his own sparklers and even a Roman candle!
It's been awhile, I know. Truthfully, I'm writing this so I can procrastinate moving my bedroom furniture around (making room for the new bed, hooray!). Let's see... what's happened since last time? Well- we went to "A day out with Thomas" the train for K's birthday gift from his Nana & Papa. We left at 9:30 p.m. on that same day to head to TX and arrived at 8:30 a.m. I'd been up 26 hours and crashed HARD. I think I napped more in that day than I had for the collective 6 months before it. We had a good week... went to the beach, spent tons of time in the pool and just enjoyed family time. Before I get ahead of myself, I'll throw in some photos from THAT. :)
It was a good 8 days. The drive back was really long, but considering we had 6 children, was alright. We've stayed pretty busy since getting ready for a wedding in the family. My princess is the flower girl and little man is the ring bearer. And I'm a bridesmaid! It's wedding week so things are crazy here... I can't wait. :) I need to start preparing the house, etc because we also have my hubby for a long weekend! 4th of July is my favorite holiday (yeah, yeah... I'm a pyro) so it's happy faces all around.
What else? I've been kicking butt at the gym with my bff and am down 6 lbs! A lot of that also has to do with portion control and less caffeine (I have toddlers, it'll be awhile before I can completely give it up). Hmm... what am I missing? I found a home for our 3rd Jack russell that I was struggling with and from what I hear, he's adjusting well. It was difficult but it was the right decision.
"Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest... It's about who came, and never left your side."
I don't make temporary relationships. I make them for life. My husband, my kids, my family. Even the close friends I have are more like family. So when you just bail without a word on someone who's like family, I can't respect that. How much worse is it when someone IS family and you abandon them? I can't imagine deliberately avoiding them. Then one day you wake up and just decide you -deserve- the opportunity to be part of that family without ever acknowledging your deliberate absence? I'm all about forgiveness, but no one is entitled to a relationship that others have -worked- for. You have to BE in it... it's a constant effort. I don't need people in my life who don't need me in theirs. There are others far more worth that time and effort. Moving forward, thankful for my family and my friends. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing support system. :)
Ohhhhhh! And I had my hair fixed for the wedding. She just trimmed by bangs and did high and lowlights... but I've NEVER loved my hair more! :)
... She lives. Not really too busy, just not really inspired. April wasn't the best month of my life, May flew by with our little man turning 4. His party was a HUGE hit, but I didn't end up having the time or desire to mess with fondant when the time came. I always order a big cake and get stuck with tons of extra. Not conducive to my health goals.. at all. It worked out perfectly- perfect amount of finger foods, ice cream and cake!
Pictures from the birthday bash:
It was great fun and our little man was so happy. We are so blessed with great family and friends. The bounce house was the biggest hit, I think. A must for our future parties! Already reserved the one for our September Princess party. :)
Yesterday was dreadful. Awful. Horrible. My charming son decided he would paint a small spot on his wall and brand new dresser with purple nail polish in the five minutes it took me to run downstairs, switch over laundry and shuffle around a few boxes. How did he even manage to get a hold of it? My sweet, ornery daughter stole it from the bathroom and left it in a common area. Normally K knows better and would NEVER do anything like this- I'm sure he just felt creative and didn't want to ask me for the art set he doesn't really remember he has. Yikes. So I went into my kitchen to cool off because I was extremely frustrated and my dog brought me -another- present to the back porch. I'm not sure how his mind works or why he wants to bring me what he seems to think is "food", but I was in a position that I had to be the one to deal with it and I definitely was already ready to pull my hair. Then the kids napped late and didn't want to go to sleep. Thankfully, today was better. MUCH better.
So I went a little crazy... got a pedicure and chopped off 5 inches of my hair in one week. haha. I haven't had short hair in a couple of years (not this short) and I haven't had a pedi since I was pregnant with my son. Time flies and all that jazz.
Before hair:
After hair!
I wasn't sure at first. From the first picture, which I LOOOVE, I'm sad about it being gone. But summer is coming and life is crazy so the short hair is just better right now. I fully intend to start growing it out later in the year and through the winter. Plus, am I the only one who's hubbs has said "It looks great honey, but what did they do to it?" haha. Not every time, but I fell into a pattern with the same style and cut and I can't blame him for not being able to see the difference in the past.
In other news, I've started the spin classes again. Loving them and definitely planning to start doing them more regularly! I hurt my shoulder so it's been difficult to push myself in other parts of the gym, but I'm working through it so I'm not -too- disappointed.
What are everyone's plans for mother's day as a mom yourself or in honor of your mom/stepmom/grandmother/sister?
Finally throwing our garage sale together this weekend and I couldn't be more excited to purge my life of all this excess STUFF! We have 3 toddler beds (one of which is a Thomas the train that retails for $275 at toys r us!), toddler clothes, adult clothes, kitchen stuff, household stuff, a little bit of furniture. 3 different families are participating so it should be great! =D
Oh how I wish I could say 'Happy mid-week'. Is it really only tuesday?
