Monday, October 31, 2011

Pinterest Sunday: Pillows, Pillows, Pillows!

 Well, 3 pillows to be exact. My friend Robin wanted some pillows for her bedroom from this fabulous Joel Dewberry fabric, Aviary 2 (the same fabric I chose for my bedroom too!). She enlisted Jamie and me to help her, as she is sewing challenged!

Jamie got hers done in 2 seconds flat, me, not so much! I have had the fabrics for weeks now and finally had a Sunday free to sew. Here is what I came up with:
 14" pillow

 16" pillow
and an 18" pillow

And here are all three:


Between the 2 Jamie made, and my 3 I have some fun ideas for my room, when and if I ever get around to it!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Sweet 16

Last weekend Tony, Sophie and I traveled to Oklahoma for our niece Cecilia's sweet 16 party. It was so nice to see family and be there for her special day.
Isn't Cecilia gorgeous?

Tony's sister Nanci did an amazing job with the whole event. I had never been to a Quince before. Here is a brief description:
A QuinceaƱera is the Hispanic tradition of celebrating
a young girl's coming of age - her 15th birthday.
Today's celebrations embrace religious customs, and the virtues of family and
social responsibility. The Quinceanera tradition celebrates the young girl
(la Quinceanera), and recognizes her journey from childhood to maturity.
The customs highlight God, family, friends, music, food, and dance.

Interestingly, many families today are merging their Hispanic and American
heritages by choosing to celebrate a Sweet Sixteen. For their Sweet 16 party,
the families do the full-blown quinceanera traditions – the religious ceremony,
the reception, the tiara with the number 16, and more.
 
It started with a mass in her honor. I am sure it was very spiritual and important and all that, but I was lost because
A) I am not Catholic and
B) it was all in Spanish
 
Next came the fun part, the paaartay!
The hall was decorated with a masquerade theme all in purple, green and gold. Nanci and her friend(s) did a great job:

 One of Sophie's favorite parts was the doll with a matching dress to Ceci's

Cute picture of Tony and his Mama:

  The group did a super cute, choreographed waltz, my pictures do not do it justice:

There was dinner and then more ceremony at the hall including honoring the com padres (Tony was one), and then the DJ took over and the party started.
And here is Sophie with her cousin, she thought Ceci looked like a princess. I hope she doesn't get any ideas about a quince for herself!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Sophie's 9th Birthday!

We celebrated Sophie's 9th birthday at "As You Wish" pottery painting. It was perfect for her, our little crafter!

We had a whole painter/artist theme, from the invites (shaped as pallets with circle punched colors for the paints), to the cake from Hollie's Hot Cakes :

It slid in the box on transport, sorry Hollie! The pictures do not quite do it justice. It was also delicious. The birthday girl wanted vanilla with strawberry filling. Hollie makes her cakes FROM SCRATCH! One of our party guests said "that was the best cake I have ever had in my whole life". Pretty good review from an 8 year old!
Our goodies for the guests were paint tins with a set of paints and some "paint splattered" (sprinkles) Funfetti cake pops:
Each child got to choose a piece along with colored glazes. It was a good age for this type of party, they all had a good attention span for it.
 
Especially the birthday girl:
 What attention to detail!

After painting we did cake and ice cream then presents!


 We get to pick up all their fired pieces on Tuesday, can't wait to see them. Happy Birthday Sophie!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Pinterest Sunday? Well...sort of...

Pinterest Sunday was interrupted this week by an impromptu camping/riding trip to the desert. Our plan was to make a test run of cake pops, and if they turned out well, make them for Sophie's upcoming birthday party. We did finally make them on Monday. Our flavor choice was Funfetti cake mixed with home made butter-cream frosting. We coated some with chocolate and some with white chocolate.


 We each got to try one, and decided they were good enough to use for Sophie's party. Everyone was bummed I would not let them eat anymore, so we made a second batch, red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting:

They were a hit!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Decorated

 I finally got a day with Tony home to do some "honey-dos". He was able to install an over the range microwave, new (programmable) thermostat, and do the trim and decorations for the girls' walls:



And here are some pictures, just for fun, of Alexa dressed up for decades day, for her school's spirit week leading up to homecoming:



 And in rare form for Alexa, she let me actually take pictures of her. They had to still wear their school uniform skirts, and could only dress up from the waist up. I think she did such a good job with her costume. Can you guess what decade seniors had?

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

School Pictures

I love how my girl's school pictures turned out! Thanks to Amanda from Pie in the Sky Photography we have some unique, fun, not your run of the mill school pictures.

Sophie, 8 years old, 3rd grade:




Outfit details:
Shirt and tie : JC Penny's
Skirt: Justice
Shoes: Target
Glasses: Alexa's ;-)

Celeste, 13 years old, 8th grade:





 Outfit details:
Dress: Ruche
Shoes: Mom's closet :-)

And a couple of them together:

 Outfit details:
Celeste's shoes: Target
Sophie's shirt and shorts: JC Penny's
Sophie's Necklace: Forever 21
Sophie's hair flower: J Wag's Doodads (scrapbooks, etc.)