Where My Wild Things Are...

Adelyn's Dinosaur Party

2013-12-08T18:55:00.001-08:00

So.... It was brought to my attention that I am a fat prego slacker and never posted the pics of Adelyn's 4th bday party. So here they are. I am still a slacker though and I'm just posting pics...

The Lorax Dinner Movie Night

2013-08-24T12:52:00.001-07:00

I have come to a conclusion about this movie. You either loved it or hated it. Everyone I spoke to about it found no gray area. Loved or hated. I am one that loved it. As far as movies that added to the length of the original text, this one did a pretty good job at keeping the core story there. This has always been one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories so I was pretty sure I was going to be disappointed with the film adaptation. However, I loved the corny musical style of it and it is a huge hit at our house. My one year old has never responded to a movie like this one. Dancing, clapping, cuteness...

Here's the meal.

I didn't want to bake an entire batch of cupcakes so I made muffins instead. The Truffela trees are made out of lollipop sticks and cotton candy. The flower is made out of leftover candy melt I had from making the Lorax mustaches.

Truffela fruit (grapes), Brown Barbaloots (chocolate teddy grahams) and their favorite snack marshmallows, humming fish (goldfish), humming fish in gluppity glup (goldfish spaghetti-o's), muckity muck (baked beans), The Onceler's money salad, and a tree stump (hamburger).

The barbaloots were so yummy...

and quite possible the cutest little Lorax ever. The mustaches are made from a candy mold I already had. Now I know that I did not accurately portray the Lorax's mustache (his is yellow). I only had orange on hand and after the morning I had there was no way on this planet I was taking these three wild things into the store for yellow candy-melts. Adelyn was very upset and quick to point out my error. Hence why she is not in a Lorax mustache picture. I couldn't be frustrated with her though, because deep down it intensely bothered me too, lol! So let us pretend it is yellow :)

30 the new 20?

2013-08-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

I recently turned 30 and found myself, one not usually weird-ed out by numbers, horrified. About a week prior, I started really dwelling on those crows feet. They run in my family and my dad always told me they were a badge of laughter but all of a sudden they just seemed like a badge of oldness... Three kids in four years has definitely not been kind to this bod, tiger stripes and all. Five years of only sleeping in two/three hour increments hasn't helped either. Things hang where they shouldn't, ache where they shouldn't and jiggle where they shouldn't. Feel the hyperventilating starting...

I started this journey into parenthood at 25. A good age I thought. I definitely didn't want to be a old mom. I was going to be young and hip. But I find myself five years later neither young nor hip. The only thing hip about me is my extreme hip pain, fail. I love my little wild things dearly but for the first time I really found myself daydreaming about being somewhere else, at a swim up bar perhaps, wine weekend with friends, a cruise... I would be tone and svelte and rested. Anywhere but here. My friends were going to take me out for sushi and Latin dancing to celebrate the beginning of a new decade. Something fun and new. Except when I went shopping to find something fun and new to wear it really hit me. I didn't even know where to shop. I entered this pregnancy period still on the young end of 20 and I am exiting this time warp in the next decade. Forever 21 is now a no go. When I entered in there with a stroller I felt like the record stopped and everyone started whispering. I really knew it was a lost cause when I had a strong urge to tell them to lower the volume of this God forsaken music and the girl trying to help me to pull her shorts down. Being called mam didn't help either.

I went up and down that mall twice and by the end of it I was practically in tears. I either felt too young for most stores but way too old for the others. I wanted to dress age appropriately but I didn't even know what that meant anymore. Nothing fit right, nothing felt right, nothing looked right. And then my two year old looked up at me and said, "Momma, can we go?" "Baby almost. Mommy has to find something to wear for this weekend." And my sweet little innocent vessel of truth responded, "But Momma! I like you just like that. You are a queen." And time stopped. I'm a queen. A symbol of graceful maturity and wisdom. Not old but seasoned. Why as a society do we have so much pressure to stay the princess? Yeah things might sit on her figure where God had originally intended but she lacks prestige and insight. I hugged her for a ridiculously long time. Which of course thoroughly annoyed her and time snapped back again. But I feel blessed for this lesson. My impressionable girls look to me as their queen. How am I leading them? To scrutinize and critique every inch of their body or to hold their head high thankful for the temple God has bestowed on them?

So, I am going to start a new trend. Thirty is the new 20. And so is 40 and 50 and 60... I think when I am 90 I am going to look in the mirror, unrecognizable, and still feel 20. Actually, after some thought, I am glad I'm 30. I've got a lot to show for it. Three beautifully healthy girls, a supportive loving husband, possibly the world's most patient fantastic dog, a roof over my head and a body, although aching, still able to run 2.5 miles 5 days a week.

And another perk? I got through my teen years without social media. Cause wow, that would have been a mess.

Tangled Dinner Movie Night

2013-08-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

This is a favorite, no obsession, in our house. We literally have very serious intellectual discussions about how Adelyn's long hair makes her the pre-hair cut Rapunzel and Marcella's short hair makes her the post-hair cut Rapunzel. That discovery has saved us from many knock out fights over who is the real Rapunzel. They decided Elsie is the pet chameleon Pascal (poor thing gets no say), Chango is Maximus the horse, Daddy is Flynn Ryder and I get to be the horrible mean mommy/witch (Awesome...). Actually, it's surprising that it took this long for me to get around to doing a movie night on it. Daddy went back to teaching this week so my last minute idea/grocery shopping went bye bye. So, I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked for this one. But the girls loved it :)

What!!!! I have to eat dinner BEFORE the cookie!

Rapunzel angel hair chicken Alfredo pasta, cheese & grapes sun symbol & Mother knows best salad.

Snuggly Duckling lemon sugar cookies for dessert.

The Little Mermaid Dinner Movie Night

2013-08-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

I was officially devastated this week when my little girls watched The Little Mermaid this week for movie night and it DIDN'T hold their attention. DEVASTATED! Every video known to mankind holds their attention except my favorite. Typical. But dinner was cute :) I had the girls sort the m&m candies into colors. Then they got to decorate their own fishy cupcake :)

Tonight's delicacies were "crabby" apples, fishy fish swimming in "seaweed", and mermaid shells.

Fourth of July Fruit Flag and Sparklers

2013-07-31T11:40:00.001-07:00

I am happy to announce that for my birthday my wonderful husband bought me a new camera. Unfortunately, it was after I took these awful pics on my phone. So bare with me :) I am not known for my healthy snacks. I am in if for cuteness and that usually involves sugar and or cream cheese... So, I decided to expand my portfolio and attempt something cute and good for you. A novel concept I know. So I recreated the strawberry and blueberry American Flag I had pinned a few years ago and it was delicious and easy. But I had to put my own not good for you spin on it and added rice crispie treat stars :) With the left overs I made cute rice crispie treat sparklers. Everything is better on a stick!

It's so blurry it's hard to tell, but my sister Lauren is thoroughly enjoying playing with her food.

Bolt Dinner Movie Night

2013-07-31T11:30:00.001-07:00

Not gonna lie. My creative juices were not flowing on this one. Jason LOVES this movie and begged me to do it for Family Movie Night but I just was stumped. I had already done my hot dog "dog" for 101 Dalmatians. I was super tired (imagine that) this week and my brain had a thick coating of mommy fog so this one is kinda pathetic. In the movie the animals follow a Waffle House map to get back home. So, we had waffles and breakfast food for dinner. I felt disappointed with my efforts but my kids were ecstatic to eat breakfast for dinner. That's all that matters, right?

Hotel Transylvania Dinner Movie Night

2013-07-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

This movie is completely under appreciated. I laughed uncontrollably at several points in the movie and think it is adorable. My girls are strange and are OBSESSED with Halloween. So, I wasn't too concerned with a couple scary parts because for some reason they are terrified of their own shadow but mummies and vampires evoke no emotion... There are a plethora of kiddo Halloween foodie options so I just picked a few that I already had stuff on hand.

The ghosts are bananas with chocolate chip faces. I peeled oranges to make "pumpkins" with a gummy candy stem. The guacamole and chips were monster toenails and fungus (mmmm... yum... I love fungus). The hot dog mummies are made out of hot dog wrapped in crescent rolls with mustard eyes. Lastly, cheeseburger jack-o-lanterns. My kids are picky and don't like their cheese melted. Otherwise I would have melted these pumpkin faces a little over the hamburger. This was one of my favorite themed nights yet!

101 Dalmatians Dinner Movie Night

2013-07-31T11:02:00.000-07:00

This weeks viewing was 101 Dalmatians. I had pinned this cute hot dog "dog" a while ago and couldn't wait to find an excuse to try it out. I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here. She has a great video tutorial on how to make them. Work smart not hard... The peas I have no idea how they tie in I just couldn't come up with a creative veggie to go. The mash potatoes are the snow and the Oreos are black and white Cruella Deville cookies.

Any thoughts on themed veggies?

Elsie's Big Numero Uno Monster Bash

2013-06-03T18:58:00.001-07:00

Go big or go home, right? Everyone has an area in their life this applies to. Mine just happens to drive my husband crazy and exhilarate my toddlers to no end... parties. I LOVE planning kiddo parties. Starting months in advance, gathering ideas, making lists, hounding deals to get the most bang for my buck, crafting, thinking outside the box on how I can make what's going on in my head a reality on a tiny budget. The latest extravaganza was my sweet baby Elsie's big number one. My three year old Adelyn insisted on being my planning assistant and decided Our Little Monster must be the theme! This time around I really encouraged my big girls to get involved and they helped pick out the menu, make decor and come up with games. We did nothing but dream and talk about monsters for months and we loved it. Here's some pics...

Watermelon monster

Orange Dream Monster Cake Pops

Candied Monster Mouth Favors

Birthday Girl's Personal Monster Cake

Monster Cupcakes

Ham, Turkey and Cheese Monster Sandwiches

Monster Bones

Monster Toenails and Dip

Monster Cutlery Holder made out of a tissue box

Girls Monster Art and Handmade Birthday Sign

Sign for our bounce house

Pin the Eye on the Monster. The girls and I made the eye magnets

Monster Puzzles I found at Michaels on clearance

Make Your Own Monster Station with pre-cut eyes and teeth. This was Adelyn's idea :)

The favors. Clearance monster masks, bath toys for babies and notebook for our older kids.

First Year Birthday Banner

This guy was the girls favorite. Made him out of foam board and acrylic paints. They named him Gobie (see the nametag...) and the kiddos took pics with their face in his mouth.

Don't you just want to eat her up?!?!?!?!

However, our outdoor party was quickly thwarted the night before to Missouri Bipolar weather. We had to quickly improvise to an indoor venue (which included garage space because of our lengthy guest list) and Daddy surprised the girls with a Little Tykes Bounce House that could fit inside since our big rental was going to be a no go. They were ecstatic and since we are practically a daycare center I figured it was going to be a great investment on those rainy/cold days that have me daydreaming of being shipwrecked on an island completely isolated and loving it...

It's blurry because they refused to stop bouncing for a photo op...

The garage, however, really bothered me. I couldn't have my guests eating in a garage after all this careful planning! So I spent four hours with 150 balloons, ribbon and thumbtacks. All hung from the ceiling to disguise where we really were. A wave of color. Bright table cloths, corresponding galvanized tins with hand sanitizer, napkins and cutlery as center pieces. It was awesome and I have no pictures of it... You heard me. There are very few things that make me want to cry anymore and the fact that the party came and went and not one single pic was taken of that space makes me want to hurl... So if you attended and happened to snap a photo I will sing your praises forever. Until then I will have to fervently hold onto the memory and you will just have to trust me on it's awesomeness...

Land Before Time Dinner Movie Night

2013-06-03T18:57:00.001-07:00

This weeks movie of choice was...

Land Before Time. An oldie but a goodie. Perfect for my dinosaur obsessed girls right now! Pretty simple meal. Tyson dino chicken nuggets, salad for palm tree leaves and grass, carrot for the trunk, cheese sandwich stegosaurus with carrot legs.

Adelyn said this was her favorite one because she got to eat scary stuff. I guess that's important to a 3 year old. You know control, dominance, I'm in charge...

Rise of the Guardians Dinner Movie Night

2013-06-03T18:49:00.002-07:00

This past weeks movie was...

Rise of the Guardians. Very cute movie enjoyed by all :) For those of you who are not familiar with it Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost and the Sandman all have to defeat "fear" and "unbelieving" from taking over the world. So here is what we made.

Tooth Fairy teeth made out of apple slices, peanut butter and mini marshmallows.

Carrots and ranch in honor of the Easter Bunny.

Santa Claus pancakes made out of multigrain pancakes for the head, whip cream for the beard and hair, strawberries for the hat and nose, bananas and chocolate chips for the eyes.

and not pictured was ice cream for Jack Frost with ground graham cracker topping for the sandman.

Girls loved it. Nailed it.

Wreck It Ralph Dinner Movie Night

2013-05-10T08:31:00.001-07:00

Last week for our Friday night ritual we watched one of the hubs and I's fastly approaching favorites, Wreck It Ralph. This movie cracks me up. Maybe because I grew up with a lot of the games in the movie or I have the mentality of a five year old. That's still up for debate. Anyways...

The girls and I started by making our candy cars (The characters in the movie make a candy car). Of course this went over famously. The only problem was keeping them from eating their car before it was finished. I just used graham crackers, marshmallows, frosting and leftover Easter candy I had laying around the house.

What do you mean I can't just eat straight icing?!?!?!

Then we snacked on "Fix it Felix's hammers" (pretzels and cheese cubes).

The main course was Felix's favorite meal, pie... Mommy twist, pot pie. Not as fun but thematic.
(Didn't take a pic cause well... it was just a pot pie)
Dessert was their cars and our "Hero Medals" made from cookies and nerds licorice.

There you have it! Ton of fun. This week Winnie the Pooh...

Arrrrrr Pirates Friday Movie Night

2013-05-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

We have started a new tradition in our house, Friday Night Movie Night. It actually has sinister ulterior motives. To our girls it's a fun themed treat night. For Daddy and I, it is motivation to not spend money going out to eat, an excuse to sit down and secretly enjoy watching kids movies and a reward/incentive for the girls to be on their best all week. The hubby and I choose a movie of the week before I go to the grocery store so I can plan accordingly :) Our first choice was The Pirates movie.

Our girls have had this weird "boy-like" obsession with pirates because of their infatuation with Peter Pan. So, we figured a new pirates movie would be a good fit. I whipped up a pirate themed dinner to eat while we watched and the girls LOVED it. The plus was that it really was easy to make, wasn't expensive and our house was SILENT for 1 1/2 hours with stuffed mouths and zoned out movie PEACE :) Here was the menu...

~ Hot dog octopus: Just slice the bottom 3/4 of the hot dog into "tentacles"
~ Raman noodle ocean: Raman noodles (minus the rediculous sodium flavor pack) with blue food
   coloring
~ Blueberry canonballs
~ Hard boiled egg pirates ship: Hard boiled egg cut in half. The sail is made out of a pretzel and
   triangular shaped cheese slice
~ Ocean jello dessert: Blue jello with Swedish fish

This week is Wreck-it Ralph! Post and pics to come soon.

"Watch This!"

2013-04-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

We have entered one of the many predictable and common phases in the younger years this week. Almost as equally annoying as the "why" phase is the "watch me" period. Everything suddenly warrants immediate attention. Mom! This is very important! MOM. MOM. MOM. WATCH ME! and then a twirl or a small booty shake or blinking or some mundane common not so extraordinary event follows. I found myself super agitated by these two words this week. Short, irritable and rushed. I would follow with one or two of my own two word responses, "One minute" or "Not now." The things I have to get done are important. This floor isn't going to mop itself. This dinner isn't going to make itself. These medical bills aren't going to get sorted and paid by themselves. I would return to my tasks bugged that I can never seem to get anything accomplished from start to finish with little ones constantly interrupting me for a "watch me" nose blow.

And then I woke up. I woke up from this busy mundane not so important job called 21st century super distracted mom. It was Marcella that shook me awake. She was being as loud and rambunctious as ever and desperately wanted me to look away from my phone to "watch me" on the swing. "Just let me finish this email!" and out of the corner of my eye I saw her sadly look down and her life flashed before my eyes. Maybe a second or two of what has already passed but an entirety of what will be here in the blink of an eye. Boyfriends, prom, driving, hating me, loving me again, college, marriage, grandkids... It was at that moment that I decided my routine and priorities had to change. There should be nothing more important to me than soaking in these precious moments where my children are truly and passionately proud of what they are doing. It's a guarantee that life is going to start to rob them of that simplistic confidence. Because to Marcella, being able to wiggle her legs on that swing was just if not more important to her than me paying the bills on time. I realize that my children need to learn patience and the importance of not interrupting but I realized that I need to learn the practice of listening. If I don't listen and pay attention now, when they really genuinely want me to, they aren't going to want to when their "watch me's" could be very self destructive later on.

It brings tears to my eyes reflecting on how many moments I have already lost to a text message, a Facebook post or (I can't believe I'm saying this...) Pinterest. I have earnestly been praying that my eyes and heart find a renewed interest and childlike longing for the simple "watch me's". So, if you can't reach me, I'm probably soaking in the latest couch jumping competition or bunny hopping/galloping thingy my girls are so proud of recently. Because the bills, floor and dinner can wait. My kids growing won't.

Stain Glass Toddler Art

2013-03-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

We are doing an upcoming Easter party at our church and I wanted to give my activities a trial run before attempting them with 30 two and three year olds; so we could troubleshoot ahead of time. Since we have had ample time being trapped during this bipolar spring it wasn't hard to find an opening in our schedule...

We are not a family that bans the Easter bunny or any other of the fun traditions surrounding Easter but we do try to to make extra effort to ensure the real reason for the season is apparent to our children. When perusing Pinterest I came across this fun stain glass cross craft. I already had all the supplies on hand, so we tried this one first. We placed a sheet of contact paper sticky side up and taped the top and bottom to ensure it didn't curl up or move on my ocd toddlers. This was the hardest part. It kept wanting to curl over and stick on itself so you had to work quick. Taping the top first and then slowly peeling the paper as you went worked the best. I had pre-cut a cross outline out of black construction paper and carefully placed it on the contact paper starting at the top and working my way down to try and minimize bubbling. I had assorted tissue paper cut out in squares (because I am anal about the uniform look of it) but you could easily have your kids cut it or tear it. Then it was free reign for the little ones. I made sure to explain that once they set the tissue on the sticky part it was permanent and would be impossible to move. You know, to try and minimize the epic meltdowns that could occur if a tissue square could not be relocated and it was a two year old life or death situation... They were very serious about distributing their tissue colors evenly throughout their cross. I tried to explain to keep it inside the cross but that was too limiting. They wanted it everywhere. Doesn't matter though because you cut off the extra anyway. This took 30 minutes! That's like 3 hours toddler time! It was AWESOME! Mainly because it required very little supervision or help from me. So, I was free to do fun mom stuff like clean the kitchen undisturbed while they were tackling it. Once they were finished, I took a second piece of contact paper and placed it on top of the first sticky side down and ran the straight edge of my scissor over it to get out any bubbles. Then trimmed around the outline of the cross.

I think they turned out great! We hung them on the back window and the March snow blindness in the background really helped bring out the colors :)

He is Risen Treat

2013-03-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

Since my last post on my plague diseased family a couple weeks ago, I am sad to say we are still fighting some sickness. Whatever we got, got us good. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. The littlest one came down with it right in the middle of our spring break vacation that ended up not being very relaxing. After a trip to urgent care, a freak snow storm in March and power outages to our rental, we called it for what it was and came home a few days early. So that means folks my toddlers have been in a house with me continuously for, count them, four weeks now... I really don't feel like I need to elaborate on the insanity that has been my life. They have developed a very odd love/hate relationship and become incredible wrestlers who scream and cry when they are together but scream and cry when you separate them. I think the only one who needs to truly separate is me. Unfortunately, St. Louis is now being pummeled with it's own freak spring break snow storm. So, I am pretty sure that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

I've have always been pretty good about coming up with stuff on the spot creatively speaking but I think I have exhausted all of the tricks up my sleeve. Adelyn is ALWAYS begging me "let's do a little craft Mommy," (Yes I have created a monstrous version of little me who idolizes holidays and anything DIY) and I needed something new. Amen for Pinterest. Last year we were in tank tops and shorts planting jelly beans outside, swimming and outdoor Easter egg hunts. This year we are sledding... (Literally the same week last year... oh how I love the lack of monotony in Missouri weather)

Therefore, we brought our spring activity inside. We have been discussing the story of palm Sunday and the forth coming events of Jesus' last days. Adelyn has always really liked the Resurrection rolls and story. So, I decided to tackle the story with a different edible craft (edible is the only route to go with Marcella. If she can't eat it, she isn't interested.)

I had seen this done with chocolate doughnuts but I'm not a huge fan of chocolate pastries so our stone tomb is "limestone". The girls constructed the whole thing, eating along the way, while I read the Easter story. The ground is two graham crackers sandwiched with peanut butter with green icing grass. A partially sliced glazed doughnut is the tomb and an Oreo is the stone that rolled away. The "He is risen" signs were leftover stickers on toothpicks I had laying around.

Adelyn was satisfied for 30 minutes! That's impressive. It was a success :) Now for what to do for the other 11 hours they are going to be awake today...

Wash Your Hands or Don't. I Don't Care...

2013-03-08T11:46:00.000-08:00

Envision this... Right now I am typing this in the same pajamas I have had on for days, Kleenex twisted and shoved up my nostrils, and a three year old asleep on my lap who feels like she is on fire with snot running down onto my leg and I don't care. That pretty much catches you up to where I am right now mentally.

For the past two weeks, yes that's right TWO, our household has been a germ infested nasty bucket that I can't wait to pour the heck out. It all started last Monday when my eldest woke up from a nap with a very obvious gunked pink eye. After a frantic call to her pediatrician (I know how contagious it can be and with three three and unders it was imperative to act quickly) I had him phone in some drops. I don't know if you have ever had the pleasure of trying to put eye drops into a toddler but if not we will compare it to trying to wrestle a raging bull/rolling crocodile/wild stallion type animal and then once you finally get it tied down you must now hold it still enough to drop something into it's eye FOUR times a day... Get it. No you don't. It's worse cause toddlers can tell you how much they hate you for it when you do it. Then naturally a day later my two year old gets it... Fun x 2.

Two days later, I finally breathe thinking we past the contagious window and we are finally done. But I get a sore throat. Then Daddy gets a sore throat and then my two year old gets a fever and boogers and a cough and yelling and screaming and tired and won't sleep, three year old gets congestion and I want to die and then... Daddy gets pink eye... I now went from taking care of three children to four. (I love my husband dearly but like my Mama wisely told me once... Men don't have it in their make-up to handle sickness. Understatement). My husband and I got diagnosed with strep and then our fever ridden two year got diagnosed with a severe sinus infection and viral something or other.

Okay so after 11 days I finally think we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Until today my three year old gets a fever and now they are telling me she has possible walking pneumonia. I quit. Throwing in the towel. My hands are literally bleeding from over washing. My house has been Lysol bombed and wiped and wiped again and we still are all sick. $350 in 7 days on co-pays and prescriptions and that's with good insurance. I know it could be worse but I'm drowning... in snot. That's all I got. No cute crafts, no good recipes. Just snot.

Valentine's Day Par-tay

2013-02-15T19:17:00.001-08:00

Threw a little shindig for my mom's group this week. A pink and red explosion. It was a lot of fun, food was good and the kiddos sugared up. I am now too exhausted to think to write anything intelligible. So here are some pics and that is all...

sugar cookies with Kool-aide dyed and flavored cream cheese frosting

Horrible pic but "Whooo do you love?... Owl always love you" The girls made these.

Candymelt mustaches and lips

orange cinnamon roll hearts

pb&j heart sandwiches

Strawberry sandwich cookies and red velvet cupcakes

Dark cocoa raspberry candy hearts and m&ms

Valentine puppy chow

Hot dog hearts with spaghetti and cheddar arrows

heart shaped watermelon and heart shaped strawberries

We decorated frames with doilies/tissue paper and I had pre-printed pics of the kids with their daddies

glitter plates and heart decorated water bottles

adorable

glitter heart banner, valentine's mailboxes with chalkboard labels

My Marcella doing what she does best... being adorable, talking and eating.

kiss me mama

The motley crew

mmmmmmwhaaaaaaa!

Bloody Art

2013-01-29T07:50:00.002-08:00

I am so excited about my recent DIY project at our house. The girls have reached an age where they are begging me to do their own art and I have no where to display it. We are not your hoity toity refrigerator people who have a clutter free facade. No that surface is covered with all kinds of projects from art school, mom's group. etc... But I wanted a place where I could really show off the ones I really like. At the same time, I have been contemplating what I wanted to hang on the bare wall in my dining area. Nothing against it, but I am not fond of store bought art on the walls in my house. I would rather litter my walls with personal family photos and my kids glorious use of color. So, I woke up one sleep deprived morning with the epiphany of combining the two. How smarts I am :)

I had a few projects in mind that I had pinned on Pinterest but none of them individually really excited me. Therefore, true to Angel-a nature, I took the best of all of them and attempted to combine them all to suit my personal taste. And I have to say, I am pretty thrilled at how they turned out. Plus, the hubby really liked them too (which isn't always easy to do!). I wanted a magnetic, framed board that could really show case their work without looking cheap and cheesy. I am on a tight budget, so I could never have possibly afforded to buy three large ornate frames that I envisioned for the space. I kept my eye out and scored in the Michael's clearance section. I found three large backless frames (wrong color) for only $5 each!!! They were ugly but nothing a can of semi-gloss black spray paint couldn't fix. I sprayed them black and headed to Lowe's for some sheet metal for the magnetic board. Only cost me $10! I needed to cut them to size. The guy warned me that sheet metal is really sharp when cut. "I know, I know..." I said rolling my eyes. I'm not careless. And that is where the blood comes in. That guy wasn't kidding. I got out Jason's tin sheers and started cutting. I by-passed the gloves because they made for clumsy handling but that was just plain dumb. That sucker sliced all the way practically to the bone effortlessly. Almost like a paper cut. Barely felt it when I did it but that didn't last for long! Yowzers! Needless to say, Jason finished cutting them while I nursed my wound with a butterfly band-aide.

Once cut and with gloves on... I painted the metal my kitchen color to coordinate the two rooms. I then inserted them into the frame and staple gunned them in place. I then purchased three white wooden craft letters from Michael's ($6 total) and glued a magnet to the back and voila! perfect way to display the girls art! The whole project cost me $31! That's cheaper than one regularly priced frame! I absolutely LOVE how they turned out and they are quickly becoming my favorite things in the house.

As far as the artwork they created here, all I had them do was paint two half sheets (one red, one pink) and make lines on a third with a green marker. They took a wadded paper towel and used it to paint on the blue for the background. Once dried I cut the red and pink pages into hearts and the marker page into strips for the "stems". I then helped the girls glue them on. They love using the glue stick.

I love the proud little faces that excitedly display their masterpieces for everyone to see at our house!

Craft Stick Snowflakes

2013-01-14T11:56:00.001-08:00

Recap of the last month of my life... horrifically busy. As I am sure all of your Decembers were. Ours was intensified by a two week venture to California. That's right. Half way across the country with three, three and unders. I had been dreading the seven hour travel day since we had purchased tickets months ago. However, I am going to have to boast a little. My monsters did remarkably well. With the aid of a dual dvd player and usually off limit candies (don't judge this bribing mommy) we survived as did the rest of the plane. I had thought about bringing treat bags for those surrounding us (including ear plugs) but decided against it since it was just one more thing to get through security. Thankfully, they were unnecessary.

In all actuality, the plane was the easy part. The two weeks of no naps, a baby who refused to sleep in the crib provided for us there, wonderfully bad for you food, weird half Cali half Missouri time change thingy and absolutely no structure was the hard part. They kept it together pretty well until mid-week two where it became evidently clear that toddlers, although great at creating it, do not bode well for chaos. Looking back at it now, we did some pretty awesome stuff while visiting though. Got to catch up with lots of friends and family we hadn't seen in way too long, Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Aquarium of the Pacific, trips to the beach, shopping, eating, eating and more eating. Don't get me wrong, FANTASTIC vacation, but man was I glad to be back home to the normal chaos that is my house.

So, in the days to returning to normalcy, I decided to lay low until our precious structure reappeared. However, the girls were bored within minutes... So, I came up with this wintertime craft to occupy them so they didn't destroy our house in the plethora of downtime they had. Winter is hard on toddlers. And mommies. And furniture...

I had the girls paint 24 craft sticks each white. That part was glorious. It took them, no joke, a half hour of concentrating silence to master that first step. Great thing about washable tempera paint is it dries pretty quick. So by the time they were finished painting, the first ones were already dry for the next step. We laid out our pattern on the table to make sure we had enough pieces and began gluing them with Elmar's glue. My kids love to glue so I let them. However, once they went down for their nap they had to be reinforced with a hot glue gun. I hot glued some ribbon on top and viola! A pretty non-Christmas winter decoration. The girls were pretty proud and I have to say they came out pretty cool.

They are pretty big since I only had jumbo size sticks on hand. So, I hung them in the kids play area in our basement. I kind of am digging how their inconsistent paint job makes them look rustic. Which, being my toddlers, I am pretty sure they meant to do that...

My December Baby...

2012-12-13T20:10:00.001-08:00

This past week my second born turned two. Not sure why but this time around I am a gushy mess. I'm usually not a sentimental crier but this week I have been a blubbering fool. Maybe I had more time to ohh and ahh over my first one and the milestones were exciting rather than a realization that they are just a point of no return. Or maybe it's because she has always been a lover by nature and all of a sudden kisses are sticky and hugging takes away precious playtime. Whatever the reason, I'm a mess.

So like always, I poured myself into a project for therapy. This time it was Marcella's Charlie Brown Christmas themed birthday party. Following in her sister's footsteps, she is very opinionated and thorough about her party details. When asked what she would like to eat, without skipping a beat she answered, "cake, hot dogs, macaroni & cheese, and pizza." Well the party was a morning affair and I wasn't sure any of these things would be appetizing at 9:30 a.m. but true to toddler nature, cake, hot dogs, mac & cheese and pizza are always a viable option. So I got a little creative...

Her invite:

The spread:

small "pig pen and linus' pigs in a blanket"

"Shermie's pizza cupcakes"

"marci's mac and cheese" and "Woodstock's pretzel nest"

"Sally's snowflake cake"

"Peppermint Patty's peppermint patties"

"Snoopy's puppy chow"

"Lucy's shiny yet yummy Christmas trees"

I made "Charlie Brown" water bottles with yellow duck tape and black ricrac.

The kiddos made Christmas trees out of upside down waffle cones, frosting and m&ms and was happy at how well they turned out. Not a lot of mess and it really kept their attention!

Then we beat the Snoopy pinata I made to death...

For favors, I was lucky enough to find some Peanuts themed goodies in the dollar section at Target. Also, my local grocery store's bakery had some cute Snoopy and Woodstock individually wrapped cookies! Perfect. I also made the kids individual personalized Charlie Brown coloring books. I found some large Peanuts coloring books at the dollar store. I took ten pages, stapled them in construction paper and then used the same picture I used for Marcella's invite to photoshop each kid into it for a personal touch.

(Sorry this pic stinks!)

I think it turned out cute and Marcella was sooooo excited to have a day dedicated to her favorite topic of discussion :)

It Only Takes a Second...

2012-11-19T12:07:00.001-08:00

I feel like I haven't had a second to breathe in two months. All my own doing of course. Jason has pleaded with me to try from here on out not to have every second of our life planned out and micromanaged. Can't blame him. I admit this time around I did overdo it. So instead of trying to sum up a million and a half events in the last month here is my picture montage to three holiday parties I threw, countless trips to the pumpkin patch and autumn crafts galore...

Glorious, wasn't it? So the last week I have been in bum mode to try and recuperate from the craziness and we have been doing a whole lot of nothing at home. Not one to handle being couped up very easily, I was getting cabin fever and so were the girls (It's going to be a LONG winter...). So, I kicked them outside with the hopes of helping the hubs out with the yard work and letting nature and their imaginations wear them out.

I decided to start with my least liked but most important yard job, poop scooping. Our 100 pound chocolate lab is an excrement producing machine. The only positive spin I can put on it is they are large and easy to spot... Now, we are not fancy scoopers with claw tools and such. We are cheap and ghetto with a plastic bag as a glove and a bag as a receptacle. Gross, yes. Necessary, unfortunately yes. As I begin to gather the awesome dog food bi-products, I daydream about when the girls will be old enough to punish with this chore, when the first series of unfortunate events takes place. Our con-caved crab sandbox has become a perfect harness for dirty rainwater and leaves. Naturally, an incredible place for a three and just about two year old to jump ankle deep into pneumonia inducing h2o. I temporarily place my poo gathering gear down to shoo away the non listening toddlers, dump the nasty and assess how to most efficiently remove their bottom halves so I don't get the worst mom of the year award for letting them play in the cold with soaking clothes on. Although the thought is definitely entertained as these little boogers are hard to catch. But while I ponder this for a second, apparently too long, the wind picks up and my lovely helper Marcella Jane, runs to pick up the plastic bag that the blustery wind is blowing away. The poo glove plastic bag... "Momma! Momma! This almost got a way. I saved it for you!" I couldn't yell at her, she was just trying to help but I started gagging as she hands me the bag with "dirt" all over her hands.

Saying a prayer under my breath, I gather the two sopping wet and one now poo covered kiddos and strip them down, outside of course. I get Marcella sanitized while Adelyn waits patiently half naked on my back porch. I get them clothed again. Whew! It wasn't that bad. Feeling puffed up on mom awesomeness, I feel confident to resume my awesome SAHM duties (with a new poop glove) and let the girls explore like all good moms let their kids do. Then it happens. It only took a second for the the next series of unfortunate events to unfold. Like I mentioned before, we held three parties last month and since Jason and I really don't drink too often, the last round of canned beers hadn't made it back inside. They still were in the cooler out back. The cooler my kids just discovered opens. This is what I saw unfold...

Adelyn screaming, "Mom! Mom! Help! It's exploded everywhere," while holding a bud light can spewing out month old fermenting hops everywhere. On her sister, on herself, everywhere. Meanwhile, Marcella is pretending to drink one (closed thank God) while yelling, "MMMMM yummy mommy daddy drinks!" My yelling is futile and apparently inaudible since it does nothing to stop the situation. They think it's hilarious as I come running in already catching whiffs of my beer drenched monsters and knowing they are engaging in something I desperately don't want them to. And that is when the last event takes place, I trip and fall slow motion in a pile of fresh Chango present. Marcella sets her beer down, walks over and says, "Mommy you k? YUCK! You smelly!"

So are you Marcella. So are you. Worlds worst mom award.

P.S. the beer is no longer in the cooler. Making sure the cooler is empty now is on top of my outside to do list. Sorry poop cleaning, you are now second.

Change

2012-10-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

So I had one of those deep moments today. Well, that's the spin I'm putting on it because it sounds fancier than the reality of sleep deprived, brain dead daydreaming. Anywho... as I was raking the plethora of never sitting still leaves in my backyard that seemed to be growing as I was raking, I was contemplating something my papa had laid on me several times in my life. "The only things guaranteed in life are death and taxes." There were other magnificent ones that were regulars in his circulatory advice like, "Never look up with your mouth open..." But the guarantee one was floating around in the void that is my mommy brain today. And it dawned on me that if I had the opportunity again, which I so desperately wish I did, I would have playfully challenged his statement. I think he left one out. The only things guaranteed are death, tax, and change. Everything changes. You know all that glitters is gold and stuff... As I desperately tried to get my two "helpers" to keep the piles of leaves I had collected in their proper receptacles instead of dumping them once they were full, watching the wind spread them out again and taking turns climbing in and letting the other roll them around, I realized how much they have changed.

Not even big picture stuff, but just since yesterday! All of a sudden Marcella has a neck and is out talking Adelyn. Adelyn is using my own logic against me and wants nail polish for Christmas rather than Little People. Elsie has already been in this world for five months and is more than twice her original weight... You get it. That pan out sappy mom moment. But wait for it... I take it further. Look how much Jason and I have changed. Seven moves and three kids in four years, two states, buying a house, a lot of weight gained/lost and gained and lost again, loss, career changes, desire changes, priority changes. You get it. All of a sudden I was really sad. I don't like all the change. I want this moment to freeze in time no matter how much it is driving me crazy. I put the girls down for their nap defeated. They are growing faster than I could have ever imagined and I just want the world to stand still. But then like a kick in the pants, Adelyn wakes up from her usual two hour nap after just an hour. Yuck, change! I, defeated, walk down to get her and she sits up and says, "Mommy? I just couldn't sleep any more cause I was thinking about your feet." "Um, ok...?" "Yeah Mom. Your toes need to be painted and my hands and feet need it too." So, I bite and we go up stairs just her and I, which doesn't happen very often, and pick out some nail polish. As I was sitting on my bedroom floor, conversing with my three year old going on 15, I realize how much I kind of like this change. I was surprised how many firm opinions she had about my hands and feet, how the color we were picking out needed to be a color that Daddy would like so I could be pretty for him, how it was imperative that I put "toppings" or to the lay person "a top coat" on once they were dry.

I sat and really listened to her, which let's cut the bs and admit that we all have learned to a degree to tune out a large majority of what our toddlers are rambling on about, and I was thoroughly enjoying what she was saying. Now I was tearing up about how happy I was that I was around to see these changes. I was feeling an overwhelming urge to hug my baby and never let go, but as I did a "change" slapped me back into reality. I couldn't hug her anymore while her nails were drying... :)

Tommy Wants Wingies...

2012-10-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

We live in a wonderful sports town. But, unfortunately, with three kiddos and no cable we don't really have the opportunities anymore to enjoy the sports bar atmosphere with the masses. So, it being red October here with a baseball game on tonight, the hubby and I decided to put the munchkins to bed, tune in to the game on the radio, play scrabble and devour homemade wings. And they were delicious and so far so is the game. Kind of a fun at home date night. Thought I'd share the spicy part of the evening...

Wings (My camera is broken. So, this is as good of a pic as your gonna get...)

Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken wings
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
2 ounces goat cheese
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil.

Step 2: In a large bowl, combine the wings, olive oil, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper.

Step 3: Place the wings onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, using metal tongs to turn them and then bake for another 25-30 minutes.

Step 4: To make the dipping sauce, combine the roasted red pepper, goat cheese, sour cream and salt in the bowl of a food processor until emulsified.

Serve wings immediately with dipping sauce.

Definitely different than any other wing I have had and that's not a bad thing! Pretty darn good if I say so myself. Will be making these little guys again. Maybe soon if the NHL can figure themselves out...