The Muniz Family

Pinterest Sunday

2012-02-13T08:34:00.000-08:00

It's that time again, Pinterest Sunday!

This Sunday we managed two Pinterest copies, a hair style and {drum-roll.......} another cupcake!

Sophie wore this cute 'do to church on Sunday, thanks to a "Pin" I saw on Pinterest. I see so many cute styles on there, most of which won't work on my curly locks so my kids are my guinea pigs {hair models, whatever}. So here is the "3 braided buns":

Oh, my Sophie-Loo is such a cutie, if I do say so myself!

And, as you may know, it's Girl Scout cookie time. So in honor of my family's favorite I bring you Samoa cupcakes. I have seen them all over Pinterest, but got my recipe of my friend Jenny's blog, Learn With Jenny.

If you haven't read her blog, you must! She is an amazing woman with an inspiring story. You can read about her story and her reason for baking cupcakes here.

And without further ado, the beautiful Samoa cupcakes:

If you know Samoas, then you know they are a shortbread cookie covered in caramel, coconut and chocolate. This recipe is a chocolate cupcake, with coconut extract, topped with homemade caramel butter cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce, and topped with toasted coconut. The girls had a great time helping with these, and toasted the coconut on their own!

Pinterest Wednesday

2012-02-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you and your little one are home sick all week? Pinterest Wednesday, of course!

This is a project that has been in the works for quite awhile. I wanted an antique sign for my kitchen. Tony and I searched antique shops but couldn't find just the right one. After looking at signs on Pinterest, I decided to make one! Here is a little tutorial on my "antique" diner sign.

First we had a board cut to size at Lowe's. The kids put it in the gravel front yard and stomped on it, rode their bikes over it, etc. I did not want it to look too new and pristine. Next step, Sophie painted the whole board charcoal gray. After the gray dried, we did 2 dry brush coats of an antique white:

{sorry about the photo, the background was really distracting!}

Next I printed all the text in the fonts and sizes I needed to fit my sign. I used a ball point pen and traced the letters onto the board, leaving an impression to follow for the hand painted letters.

In this photo you can see the impression. I put 2 coats of the red onto the words.

Here it is with the words all painted. It is still looking a little too clean and white for my taste. I sanded it all over a little, then did a color wash over the entire sign with the charcoal gray diluted in water.

I used some hardware from Lowe's to hang it on the soffit above my fridge. I really like how it turned out!

Proud Mama

2012-02-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would share some random proud mama moments from last month. {kinda braggie, I know!}

So from youngest to oldest we have:

Sophie participated in the Ward Traditional Academy talent show singing "Hard Knock Life" from Annie. This may not seem like a big deal, but she is a very introverted and shy child. She and her friends learned the song and some simple choreography and did such a good job. They performed twice, once during the day in front of the entire school, and once at night for families. Didn't they make some cute ragamuffin orphans?

Next up, Celeste:

I am proud of Celeste for re-entering the world of softball after her nasty break Thanksgiving 2010. She had not played in over a year, and since she was the only one with any pitching experience, she pitched the entire season. She picked her skills back up pretty quickly and was a real asset to her team. She even got over her initial fear of sliding after her break and had some good slides!

And Alexa:

{Senior yearbook ad I created}

Alexa amazes me everyday with the fabulous young lady she is becoming. So smart and responsible! So my proud moments are that we heard from U of A {accepted, offer of $5000/yr plus an I-Pad-random!}, ASU {accepted, offered $7500/yr Provost scholarship}, and she was accepted to Barrett Honors College at ASU. We still need to hear about a few scholarships and we should hear back from Scripps in April, so I will keep you posted.

As for Michael, he makes me proud daily when I see the hard working, kind, funny man he is becoming. He has helped us so much this last year in building our business, and I know Tony could not do it without his help! I wish I had a picture to share of him, covered from head to toe after chipping asphalt out of a huge silo. The things he does for us!

Perfect Birthday Trifecta

2012-01-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

So there is in Gilbert, AZ what is known as the "birthday trifecta" {thanks Susan!}. 3 amazing restaurants that give you a free meal on your birthday. I did not make it to all 3, but invented my own, perfect trifecta:

Free drink of choice from Starbucks, thanks to my new Iphone ap.

Free lunch at Liberty Market

My yummy, free caprese salad

and free dinner at Joe's BBQ

In between, my hubby spent the day with me. We went to some antique stores where we picked up a few items and went to the secret sale at Domestic Bliss and Found. Pure amazingness!

At lunch, Tony took this picture of me. So here I am on my 39th birthday:

It's not fabulous, but it's me. That sure is what I look like on any given day so...anyway. I was looking at the pictures on the camera after he took a few, and stated they were pretty good. He said "it was easy, look at the pretty material I had to work with". And before you go "Awwww" this was followed by the eyebrow raise and a smirk as if to say "I got this husband thing down, don't I". Goofball!

Birthday Weekend

2012-01-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

I had a fabulous birthday weekend thanks to my friend, Kimberly. Her family has a cabin in Forest lakes, a 3 hour drive from here. It was absolutely gorgeous!

We devised this plan when Kimberly found out Sophie has never been to the snow! She is truly an Arizona kid. And I'll tell you Forest lakes snow is SOOOO much more fun than Nebraska snow. We could play outside there for hours, it was perfect.

Tony and I shoveled a smooth path for the kids to sled and they loved it.

Sophie Sledding

Celeste Sledding

Kiddos' first snowman.

Our evenings were spent by the warm fire, eating yummy home made dinners, sipping wine and playing games with the kids.

Perfection.

OLW January Assignment

2012-01-19T17:14:00.000-08:00

I am still very excited about One Little Word for 2012. I just finished January's assignments and so far I love it! Each month there will be a video to watch, then assignments for journaling, photography, art work, you name it, to help us focus on our word for the year.

First, we were to use an 8.5X11 album with We R Memory Keeper 9 pocket page protectors and C-Line 4X6 peel and stick pockets. After that it was suggested to use items from your stash, but what fun is that? I wanted some products that I could use throughout the book, and would last the entire year (or years if I keep it up). Here is what I chose (all product from the best place on earth, ETC.):

Papers by October Afternoon, Farmhouse line, with Bazzill cardstocks in Dusk, Yukon Gold, Lagoon, and Sandbox.

Added in some fabrics and trims by Moda, Urban Cowgirl line.

And some K&Co Smash Book Products.

And here is my album for the year:

The class came with downloadable printwork, which I used in the cover's window.

The actual assignment is a title page (4X6 sleeve):

Backed with a current photo (I cheated and used one from last summer) with the downloaded photo overlay:

And our first 9 pocket page with 5 cards including our definition, thesaurus, why we chose the word, our intention with the word, and a quote with our word. The other four cards were freebies to do as we please:

I love the process so far, and am really happy with the way it looks, too. Can't wait to see what they have in store for February!

One Little Word

2012-01-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

For years I have been interested in One Little Word {olw} but have yet to participate. Well this is my year. I had pretty much decided to do it this year, but reading posts by two of my acquaintances sealed the deal.

So, unbeknownst to them, my inspirations to participate in olw this year were Jenny and Angie {you can click on their names to read about their word choices}. I love reading their blogs, and they inspire me for different reasons.

Jenny is truly amazing. She has such a great story, and her enthusiasm for life is inspiring. Her word suits her so well, "intentional". My take on this is- to really live life, not just go through the motions of daily routine. To be proactive, and not let life simply happen. What a great word!

And then there is Angie. She is so humble and introspective. She talks candidly about her struggles to stay true to herself and her beliefs. She chose "focus"as her 2012 word. My take on this is- to focus on what is important, prioritize and cut out all other distractions. Focus on what is important and let that guide you in the choices you make.

I love both their words. I love that they can apply them to many aspects of their lives. My word needed to do that for me too. So without further ado my OLW for 2012 is.....

Mindful.

To me this means for me to be mindful of what I say and do. Mindful of how I treat others. Mindful of what I eat. Mindful of what and who are really important to me. Mindful of choices I make in all aspects of my life. So this year I intend to be Mindful. Wish me luck!

Pinterest Sunday (and Monday, and Tuesday,Whew!)-Tiff's Wedding Gift

2012-01-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

This Pinterest Sunday I bring you another window...

{At least it is not another cupcake, ha!}

My coworker, Tiff, got married in Utah last month. She is just 19 and the cutest girl ever! She is having a reception here as well, so I wanted to make her something special. Her reception will be an outdoor, rustic theme and I think one of my old farmhouse windows will be perfect.

Here they are in all their pre decorated glory:

A little background, Tony and I saw them behind a hardware store in New Castle, OK while visiting Tony's sister. The store was closed because it was Sunday, so we got them when we went back a few months later. Tony's sister must have thought I was crazy when she saw 10 old dirty windows in the back of the truck!

They take some scraping to get the old paint off. I would like to leave some like this, this one had a nice turquoise color underneath all the other layers, but it did not match Tiff's colors of cinnamon brown, peach/ivory, and blush pink.

After scraping some more, I painted the window frame the cinnamon brown color.

It took me a while to find a font I liked that I printed to follow as a template for hand painting the song lyrics. I chose "Amazed" by Lonestar and it reads:

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side, Forever and Ever".

A little dry brushing so it does not look too neat.

And some finishing touches, photos from their wedding, little antique jars, and fresh flowers I matched to the bouquet in the photos:

I hope the bride and groom like it!

Christmakkah 2011

2011-12-30T10:49:00.000-08:00

If my memories is correct, my family has spent the last 15 Christmases at home. Some years with family in from out of town, some by ourselves. This year we met up with my sister and her family in CA. It was so fun!

Christmas eve we all splurged and stayed at the Hilton at Huntington Beach.

This is the lovely view from our balcony. We put our stockings out there for Santa to find, since we had no chimney!

We had Christmas eve dinner at BJ's in the little Huntington beach downtown area, where there was a total of 21 of us! We did a really fun white elephant gift exchange.

After dinner, drunk Santa pulled up on his motorcycle and handed out gifts for the kids. He thought Alexa was the mom, and was oblivious to the fact my sister's kids are jewish. Must be the first time they got gifts from Santa!

Christmas Day we had a yummy brunch at the hotel before heading to the beach for a bike ride. It took 2 double seaters, a four seater, and two beach cruisers for our group! We must have looked like an interesting crew!

After the ride, the kids swam in the ocean, then warmed up at the Hilton's heated pool and hot tub.

Then it was back to my brother-in-law's parents house for a "Christmas Dinner" (or the traditional 6th night of Hanukkah dinner, since they are Jewish!).

And here are a few pictures from the pier. All 7 cousins together for the first time in 2 1/2 years!

It was a merry, if unusual, Christmas!

Pinterest Sunday-Better Late Than Never

2011-12-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

I am really loving Pinterest Sundays. Sunday has long been our laundry and grocery shopping day, so it's nice to add in a little fun! I would really like to try more crafts/sewing/home decor, but cupcakes seemed to have topped the list of what we make. They're just so fun and easy.

From the amount of booze cupcakes I have made, one might start to think I have a little problem. I actually have an alcoholic drink only a few times a year, but for some reason the boozy cupcakes appeal to me! On the rare occasions I do drink, one of my favorite mixed drinks is a Colorado Bulldog (Kahlua, vodka, soda, creme). For this reason these "white Russian cupcakes with Kahlua buttercream" really appealed to me. I used the recipe, for the most part, but substituted peppermint mocha Kahlua for all the alcohol:

I may have had to sample some of the ingredients, strictly for quality control of course! Yum!

The recipe turned out well. It only made one dozen, which was probably good since only a few of us could eat them!

Aren't they lovely, sprinkled with a bit of the Trader Joe's Peppermint hot cocoa mix?

My friend Debbie made this super cute stand for me, how nice was that? And guess where she saw it? Pinterest, of course!

Pinterest Sunday- Secret Santa

2011-12-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

Every year at work we do a secret Santa gift exchange at our Christmas party. This year I got Jenny, and was so excited! She shares my love of all things shabby and I immediately knew what to make for her. What better than one of my old farmhouse windows I got last October in Oklahoma?!

Thanks to Pinterest, I was full of ideas. I wanted it to display photos, and I also wanted to incorporate fabric, as Jenny is one of our store's sewing extraordinaires! I started by painting the frame Swiss coffee, an off white color. It was still too light so I diluted my charcoal gray and gave it a little color wash to tone it down. Next I printed the words as a template and hand painted them to the window frame.

Then came the boy help. I wrapped peg board in fabric and Michael fastened it to the back of the window. He also helped me add the antique clips and handle for the photos to be displayed.

Thanks to Facebook, I was able to put actual pictures of all her children and grandchildren on it. I am sure she will change them out for better ones in the future, but for now I am so pleased with how it turned out!

Celeste asked me if I am going to make us one. Of course I plan to, but I have a few more I would like to do as gifts first!

Thanksgiving, a Pinterest Sunday, anmd Randomness

2011-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving came and went so fast. I had my parents in town, as well as my little brother. Did I get any pictures? Not a one. My camera did not even come out once. LOSER!

We also did not go around and say what we are thankful for. My kids think it is silly, and always say something like "apple pie". Here is what I would have said I am thankful for:

*my kids who make me proud, every single day

*my husband who works hard to support us and make a better life for us

*my family for all their support and unconditional love

*my mom for telling me my kids are great and that she loves being with us

*apple pie

And we are now 2 for 2 on Thanksgiving breaks. Literally two breaks in two years, last year with Celeste's ankle break, and this year Sophie broke her arm/wrist! She hurt it playing flag football in PE the last day of school. It did not get better all weekend, so xrays on Monday confirmed a break!

Also, my mom has liked reading about the fun things we do on Pinterest and wanted to have a Pinterest Sunday with us. She would have preferred a craft of some sort, but we did not want to make a run to the store so...Cupcakes it was!!! We settled on Raspberry Lemonade cupcakes due to it's simplicity and lack of exotic ingredients.

These pictures do not do them justice, the were really pretty. Light pink frosting and lighter red berries, but oh well!

I think they earned a "B" across the board. They were light and tasty, but did not have quite enough flavor.

And just because, a picture of some fried goat cheese, another Pinterest recipe. Celeste said, "I don't know if I will like it.." I replied, "it's cheese and it's fried, what's not to like?"...

Happy 14th Birthday Celeste!

2011-11-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

Celeste had not had a real birthday party for 3 years, so we figured we better go big for this one! We decide on Airworx a super fun indoor trampoline center. On Friday nights they have a DJ, so Friday 11-11-11 was going to be it!

We settled on a "theme" of neon, inspired by our highlighter t-shirt idea.

Our attempt at "highlighter" colored decor

and cake...

The goodies for each guest, white t-shirt, highlighter, and glow sticks.

We set up our own photo booth with props, and thanks to Alexa, got pictures of Celeste with each of her guests. The kids were all so willing to humor me in that. Here are just a few:

I am never sure with this age group what kids will find fun and what they will think is silly, but they LOVED the shirts. It was a frenzy of nearly 30 kids all over the room signing each others shirts.

Just outside our party room were the black-lights, and the shirts TOTALLY glowed. It worked so well some of the boys drew funny things on themselves with the highlighters! It was fun to see them all out there jumping and having fun with their matching white/glowing shirts.

Group shot, we may have missed a few....

And the birthday girl:

Happy 14th birthday Celeste!

Pinterest Sunday: Pillows, Pillows, Pillows!

2011-10-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

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!

Sweet 16

2011-10-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

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 Quinceañera 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!

Sophie's 9th Birthday!

2011-10-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

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!

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

2011-10-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

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!

Decorated

2011-10-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

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?

School Pictures

2011-10-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

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

Hair Flower: J Wag's doodads (available at Scrapbooks Etc.)

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.)

Antique Mall Finds

2011-09-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

It will be a while until our "finds" find their permanent homes in our home, so for now here is a sneak peek at what we got:

Old farmhouse paned windows. The yellow one will go "as is" to my bedroom and the white one may get a fresh, distressed coat of paint for my living room.

Tony's finds, old radio and phone extension. The tag on the phone says "non-working", DUH!

This shabby table will get a fabric covered foam seat and become a bench for my bedroom.

This little old school desk already found a home in the girls' room. We also picked up the little personal chalk board hanging on the wall.

I got this just because it was funny/cute to me. Published in 1951, I am sure it is ripe with misinformation {even the cover has a baby on its tummy, not what we are told to do these days}. I will have to read trough the section on breastfeeding, I am sure it will be hilarious!

These are going to be a bed side table in Alexa's room. Her room eventually will have a world traveler theme with her pictures of Europe, etc.

We also picked up an assortment of old kitchen gadgets (rolling pins, graters, apron, sifters. etc) that will be hung on the soffit above our kitchen cabinets.

The whole time we were keeping our eyes out for windows, old typewriters, and an old Singer. I described to Tony the black metal with gold writing of the Singer sewing machines that I like. We never saw one but Tony did find me this:

It's not a Singer, but it sure is pretty. Best part, we plugged in in and it works!

Mini Vacation Day 5

2011-09-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

The last day of our mini vacation we were in a hurry to get home, but we did stop at a few antique malls in Albuquerque and got some fun stuff.

We passed on a cool find, and are kinda kicking ourselves. It's my fault because I want to remodel our kitchen and get all new appliances. I have had old appliances for too long. I should have considered this option a little more. We found one of these:

In this shade of PINK!:

These photos are from the Internet, I did not get a picture of the one we saw.

We probably should have gotten it, it was really cool and actually even cuter than these. I didn't really think about the fact that we could have had it restored or even use it as a shell with a new range top etc. The best part is that Tony liked it and would have gotten it. Oh well! Live and learn.

Mini Vacation Day 4

2011-09-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

Day four of our vacation was a little rocky.

Let's just say that a night of storms, lack of sleep, and a not so kind monthly visitor put me in a pretty grouchy mood.

There was a highlight though, meeting this little guy:

We stopped at Tony's sister's place in Oklahoma City and met the newest addition to the family, her grandson Santiago, 11 days old. He was such a sweet little guy. I had to get some pictures of his cute little baby parts. Glad I got a baby fix, it sure brightened my day.

Shopping at a fun books store and a fabulous dinner helped, too!

Mini Vacation Day 3

2011-09-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

Day 3 of our mini vacation was probably the most fun. We started our day just outside of Memphis, so we decided we had to see Graceland.

When we got there, we decided we did not have enough time to do the whole tour, but we did see it and his jets, and got some souvenirs for Tony's mom who is an Elvis fan.

After Graceland we stopped at the cutest town where they had an antique mall {I'll post my finds later} and farmers market:

It was a fun day of meandering across TN and Arkansas, taking our time and seeing the sites, shopping, and just being together.

Mini Vacation Day 2

2011-09-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

Day two of our little vacation we left Kingsport/Jonesborough {after a morning breakfast/business meeting} and headed towards Nashville.

We took our time and stopped at some flea market, antique, farmer's market, picker malls along the way. I will have to do a separate post about our "finds" as we stopped at a lot of places between TN and Albuquerque...Anyway...

One of the main reasons I wanted to do this little trip was to see my family in Nashville. About a year ago my family moved my Granny from CA to live with my uncle Jim and his family in TN. I was really glad they were all available on short notice to have dinner and visit with us.

Tony, me holding Addison (my cousin's daughter), Brennan held by my aunt Mary, cousin Vanessa, Sith and cousin Kelly, my Granny and uncle Jim. (Thanks to Vanessa's husband David for taking the picture!)

Me, my cousins and Granny

It was a nice visit. I am ashamed to say I had never met Kelly's husband, Sith, as it has been 20 years since I had seen Kelly! I had also never met either of Vanessa's kiddos. They were so cute, and reminded me how much energy little ones take, and how fast they grow! I was nice to get to know them again.

As you can see, I am a little taller than most of my family on my mom's side. When my Granny first saw me she said "have you always been this tall?". So funny!

We had to say our goodbyes and get on the road. We ended our day at a nice little campground just shy of Memphis {as we were advised by David to maybe not stay IN Memphis!}

Day 3 coming soon...

Mini Vacation, Day 1

2011-09-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

Having your own business can be tough. Tony has been having a lot of out of town jobs. However, it has it's perks, too. Recently he was in TN and I flew out to drive back with him. It was a fun mini vacation, free to us thanks to the business, love that!

I flew into Kingsport, TN and we headed straight to the job site for me to see:

This is the plant Tony and the boys disassembled in KS and reassembled in TN.

We stayed the night in Jonesborough, TN. It is a super cute town, and we stayed right in the heart of it's historic district:

This is the view from our room, a little one room school house, so cute!

And we ate dinner here, a cheesy little Mexican restaurant the boys ate at almost every night. Michael was amused by the sign with the American and Mexican hands, so I had to get a picture.

That's all for day one, more to come...

Pinterest Sundays

2011-09-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

My girls and I have had such a great time finding fun things to do on Pinterest, I have decided to make it a {semi}regular blog feature, Pinterest Sundays.

Without further ado, this week's Pinterest Sunday theme is......drum roll..........more cupcakes.

But not just any cupcakes, we went with a theme, COCKTAIL CUPCAKES! I can't take credit for this idea, I was inspired by my friend Toni and her post about Guinness Cupcakes she had in DC and then later made herself. We kicked it up a notch and made Guinness cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream ganache filling and Bailey's butter cream frosting. When I told our house-guest about them he said "car bomb cupcakes? Sounds awesome". OK, so I didn't know about the drink known as a car bomb-

"Pour half a pint of chilled Guinness into a beer mug and let it settle. Take a shot glass filled with 1/2 oz. of Irish whiskey on the bottom and 1/2 oz. of Irish cream on top. Drop the shot glass into the Guinness and chug."

The ganache was supposed to contain the whiskey, but we used more Bailey's instead:

Guinness car bomb cupcakes

I know what you are thinking, "you let your girls make/eat those?"

No way! We had a non alcoholic version for them, Shirley Temple cupcakes! These beauties are made with 7-up, grenadine, and maraschino cherry juice butter cream on top:

Shirley Temple cupcakes

Cheers!

Remembering 9/11/2001

2011-09-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

I am sure everyone remembers where they were when they first heard about the events on 9/11/2001. It was the first time in my lifetime that I was aware of not being at peace in the world.

I was a 28 year old, stay at home mom. Michael was 10 and in 5th grade. Alexa was 7 and in the 2nd grade. Celeste was almost 4 and I was expecting our fourth child {one that I lost a little over a month later}.

It was like any other school day morning, in that we never turn the TV on before school. Our little neighbor, Patrick, came to the door for a ride to school and said "someone just bombed the Pentagon". I thought he must have heard wrong. An attack on our country? On our soil? That just did not seem possible.

I took the kids to school as usual and immediately turned on the TV. I don't remember eating all day. I don't remember taking care of Celeste. I only remember those horrifying, life changing images. I was hysterical, sad, scared, traumatized, and I didn't even personally know anyone there. I have a hard time putting into words how it affected me. How scared I was to be bringing a child into the world that now would be at war.

I am now watching on TV, playback of the live coverage of that morning. It is bringing it all right back.

My heart goes out to everyone who lost someone that day.

My heart, and gratitude, goes out to those on flight 93 who sacrificed themselves to save others.

I think about how different our world is now. How my Sophie was not even born yet, and her entire lifetime our country has been at war.

I am remembering how that day forever changed us as Americans.

``If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate,'' said Sandy Dahl, the wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl.

Sunday-Our day of {Pinte}Rest

2011-09-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

I know what you are thinking, "another post about Pinterest", but Sundays around here are quickly becoming our day of Pinterest. We always do our weekly laundry and grocery shopping on Sunday, but...

Since discovering Pinterest, we have added some fun to our day! We loved our Mountain Dew cupcakes, so this past Sunday I assigned Celeste the job of finding another cupcake recipe to try. She chose "Nutella" cupcakes. And let me tell you, they made it impossible for me to stick with my no sugar plan! There was Nutella in the batter, then injected into the warm cupcakes, and also in the buttercreme frosting (the best part). They were AMAZING!

Sophie wanted to do a special project for her teacher, so we found a tutorial for this fun and cute project:

And I had a yard of jersey knit fabric from SAS that I got for $1.99 that needed to be a comfy skirt:

It's not so easy to photograph yourself, let me tell you!

Extreme close up! Now, if you see what looks like lint specs, it's not. This brown, creme, and mustard jersey fabric is GLITTERED! Hello $1.99 skirt!

If you want to know where I got all these great projects, recipes, ideas, etc...just click on my "Pinterest" link Here or on my sidebar where it says "follow me on Pinterest".

Pie In The Sky

2011-09-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

If you have been reading my blog you know that I HATE traditional school photos. I mean, I think my kids are cute, but maybe not too photogenic, and these photos were always HORRIBLE. The past few years I have been doing them myself, but this year I had the fabulous Amanda of Pie in the Sky photography take them. The girls had a blast with Amanda, she is so fun and creative. They enjoyed putting fun outfits together and doing interesting posses. I can not wait to see them, and share them on here. Here is a little behind the scenes:

Amanda sure knows how to get down, I think she'd do whatever it takes to get the shot!

And later, I took a few of my own:

Stay tuned, t-minus two weeks till we get the real thing from Amanda. Can't wait!

Pinterest=Crack

2011-08-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

My name is Lisa, and I am addicted to Pinterest.

Don't plan an intervention, I don't want any help :-)

If you haven't checked it out, it is amazing. So many ideas, inspiration, and beauty in one place. I love it.

Here is a recap of my Sunday:

Sophie: What are you doing?

Me: Pinning on Pinterest.

Sophie: What's that?

Me: The site I got the "sock bun curls" idea from

Sophie's sock bun curls

Sophie: Ooooh what's that?

Me: Melted crayon art.

Sophie: Can we make one?

Me: I guess.

Celeste: What are those?

Me: Mountain Dew cupcakes.

Celeste: Can we make them?

Me: I guess.

I guess it's not so bad. We had a pretty fun Sunday thanks to Pinterest. And now Sophie and Celeste are addicted too!

20 Reunion/Trip to NE/Epic blogger-scrapper FAIL EDIT

2011-08-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

Tony and I had a whirlwind mini-vacation to NE for my 20 year high school reunion. It was a lot of fun, and we fit a ton into a few days. My biggest upset though, is I did not get many pictures with my HS friends. I forgot my camera and am so bummed!

We flew into Omaha and were able to meet my dad and brother for lunch on Friday:

Here I am with Todd with his new Prius. It had been 8 and a half YEARS since I had seen him! I know, I suck!

Then it was on to Lincoln where I met some friends from junior high/HS for dinner. Here is a picture of us in 8th grade:

Robyn, Melissa, Melanie, Me, Christie, Kristi

Melissa, Laura, Robyn (Melissa and Robyn are in the 8th grade picture above)

The first 4 of us in the picture made it to dinner, and did any of us get a picture? NOPE!

Friday night we went to the reunion social where I caught up with a ton of people. It was so neat to see everyone and catch up. (No Pictures-booo)

Saturday morning was a tour of my High School, to see how much a 25 million dollar remodel can change a place. It was really weird to be in those halls again. Our tour was given by a class mate of mine, who has taught math there for 14 years now:

Senior hall

The "planters" which are now enclosed trophy cases.

Me in front of the new front entrance.

After the tour we met Tony's niece, Sarina, and her husband and son, for lunch.

Saturday night was the big reunion event at the Rococo Theater. There was live music, dinner, then a hypnotist. I had never seen one before and it was soooo good. He was hilarious and it totally worked. He had my classmates and their spouses doing some funny stuff.

One shot of me and Tony from that night

Professional shot of me and Tony

Me and the gals before fishbowls! Erika, Laura, Dawn, Me

After the official reunion we went to Duffy's bar for a fishbowl, bomb pop flavored.

Pictured from bottom left: Laura, Melissa, Laura, Me, Robin, Dawn.

Laura and Laura!

Sunday was all about Tony's family.

Tony, his mom, and her clones! Aunt Mary, Tony's mom, Tony, Aunt Carmen, Aunt Alice.

Tony and nephew Tino, lots of family resemblance there!

Nephew Miko, Tony, Nephew Joey (who we last saw at age 13, 15 years ago!)

Tony and his sister Sandy.

Me, Tino, Tony, Family friend Evelyn.

But the best part of my trip, the part that almost did not happen, was meeting up with my LLL lady friends, Monday morning before our flight:

Amber, Susan, Me.

I have known these ladies almost as long as my HS friends. I met them when Michael was a baby, 20 years ago. It was so nice to catch up, and I agree with Susan, that we picked up just like no time had passed. I really miss these gals, they are amazingly wonderful people and were a huge part of my life before moving to AZ.

My "Bug" is 20!!!!!

2011-07-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Michael was born at 10:03 pm, July 12, 1991 and at that moment my life was forever changed.

20 Years ago today, I became a mother.

I learned so much with him{I guess our firsts are always our guinea pigs, we learned by trial and error}. I learned how to take care of a baby, what unconditional love truly is, and what that word "bonding" you read in parenting magazines really feels like {I have always thought that word too small and insignificant for a feeling so huge your heart could burst!}. I developed true self esteem as a mother by watching my baby grow from me and me alone through nursing him. I was irreplaceable, the center of his whole world, and he was the center of mine. My life took a whole new path due to him, and I was forever changed.

newborn Michael

Michael- 1 month old

Today, Michael is growing into an amazing man. 20 years old, and no longer a teenager, no longer a child. He has a great work ethic, is sensitive, SO funny {he has a nearly photographic memory of movie/TV show lines, and breaks them out at the perfect times}, has a great smile {just not in front of a camera, dang it!}. He is still very shy and introverted, but is coming out of that in many ways. He even ran our business while Tony was gone for nearly two weeks, at 19 and running the crews, managing the projects, getting supplies and dealing face to face with the customers. And did I mention he is really smart? He has really excelled in his design classes (AutoCad). He even did a project, start to finish, by taking measurements at the job site, designing the item in AutoCad, and then using the drawing to fabricate the item {with his side-kick, Dennis} and installing it for the customer. I am so proud of the wonderful man he is becoming!

Michael on his 20th birthday, heading off to work in his "new" truck.

Oh, and why did I title this post My "bug"? Well, I have called Michael that since he was a tiny baby {along with peanut, monkey, and many others that did not stick}. Even at over 6 feet tall, and over 300 pounds, he is still my baby, still my Bug.

Celeste and Sophie's Room

2011-06-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

We've been working super hard on Celeste and Sophie's room for a couple of months now. I don't have any before pictures, but the goal was to get rid of their 2 beds, and get them a queen to share, get rid of Celeste's old dresser, and paint. Well, that turned into revamping the entire room, as one thing led to another {and another, and another...}. The room is almost done, all that is left is the crown molding, new door and knob, hanging all the cute frames, shelves, mirrors, etc that we bought, and getting a few more storage solutions {under bed bins maybe?}. Without further ado, here is a tour of their room:

The view walking in their door

turning left, the bed and Celeste's dresser...Sophie's dresser is the same and lives in the closet.

turning farther to the left, their closet with curtains, no doors

as you walk in, this wall is on your right {opposite wall as the bed}

and this wall is directly forward, the headboard, nightstand and desk are here (and on the white board on the desk is a chore schedule the girls devised to keep their new room looking great....we will see how long that lasts!)

Here are a couple of close ups:

hand made pillows

my happy girls

Their message to me reads "We love our new room" from Celeste, and "thank you Mommy" from Sophie.

Here is where we got all our cute stuff:

Blinds, Paint (Behr "Hidden Meadow" (green) and "Sea Life" (blue): Home Depot

Bed: Craig's list (new in box from a model home staging company)

Bedding, colorful cube cubbies/bins: Target

Lamps: Kirkland Home

Dresser, desk, nightstand, cube unit, closet curtains, curtain rods: Ikea

Flooring: Floor and Decor {Elliot and Priest}

Closet Banner, window curtains, lampshades, throw pillows: Hand made by me, all fabrics from Scrapbooks, Etc {of course!}

Sneak Peek

2011-06-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

We've been busy....more to come!

19 Years and Counting

2011-06-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

Tony and I just celebrated our 19th anniversary.

"That's not possible {you say} you guys look too young"....hehehe.

Seriously though, I can hardly believe it myself sometimes, but yes it was June 15, 1992, and yes, that was 19 YEARS AGO!

I thought I would share some photos of that day, but I think I will wait till next year, for our 20th. You'll just have to wait to see the big hair and mullets of the 90s!

Since it was a Wednesday, and we both worked, we did a relatively low key outing for dinner to celebrate. It might sound strange, but we went to a buffet at a casino. I went there with some friends to celebrate a birthday, and it was fabulous. The best I have ever been to and the whole time I thought "I need to take Tony here". It was perfect. They have such a variety of "boy food":

Prime rib, Caesar salad, chicken Parmesan, shrimp, etc.

And "girl food":

Caprese salad, artichoke heart salad, fresh marinated veggies, pasta salad, etc.

It has truly the fanciest foods I have ever seen on a buffet, including things we did not try, like 3 different salmons, grilled eel, and some fancy french cheeses that probably smell and taste like feet.

And the deserts were to die for....we tried 5: chocolate filled crepe (that they made right there, to order), raspberry cheesecake, carrot cake (so good, really dense/moist, and lots of spice), banana creme pie, and this fruit tart:

I really need to learn the art of food photography, as these pictures do not do the foods justice!

And did we have anyone take a picture of us? Nope, I'm such a bad photo/scrapbooker to not make sure that happened. But you all know what we look like anyway....

Movin' On Up

2011-06-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have heard me talk about it, you know one of the hardest days of the past year was when Tony's (now ex-)partner came to our door and said "I'm here to pick up the truck". That was the start of a very stressful (and exciting) time for us.

Well, fast forward 6 months, and I can say we had one of the BEST days in the past year, when I turned to my husband and said "no one can ever say 'I'm here to pick up the truck' again". And that is because our business just purchased our first service truck!

We found a great deal that we could not pass up, and drove to CA this past Thursday to pick it up. We paid cash, so not even a bank can come and get her, she's all ours!

And paired with the service trailer we purchased a few months ago, Tony is well equipped to handle quite a bit of work, so bring it on!

MVP, Oh Yeah!

2011-05-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

Last night was TPA's spring sports ceremony, and can you guess who got high school MVP for softball?

We were so surprised, and Alexa was honored to be chosen for this recognition. Her team had a great season, turning their record around from 5-12 last year {their first year moving up to 2A} to 12-6 this season, ranking them 2nd in our region and 11th heading into state. They even made it two games into the state tournament, losing their last game 11-10.

They have all worked so hard, their school's motto "work works" is so true for them. When you attend a school focused on academics, housed in an old church, with no fields, no gym, no facilities at all, you really have to work hard as a team. They practice at a public park and have no "home field" for home games. These girls are amazing, as are their coaches. 5 of our girls {including Alexa} were voted into first team all region, and our head coach got coach of the year. The Arizona Republic wrote a fabulous article about them for these reasons. Work works!

Coach Byant had some really nice things to say about why they chose Alexa for MVP, citing her dedication, hard work and improvement, leadership, positive attitude, and not least her great stats. She was in the top 3 players for her stats (batting averages, RBIs, etc.).

{Alexa with her MVP award and all region award}

I am so {irrationally brimming with tears}proud of this girl!

More Projects

2011-05-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

Due to the boredom of having my boys in KS, I have been filling my time with some home projects. I really liked how my reading nook turned out, and wanted to do more. I found a TV stand on sale at Ikea for $10, and thought it would be good for a bench by the front door. I have wanted, for some time, a place to sit and take off/store shoes. We will see how long it holds up for this purpose.

I covered three 20" pillows to serve as cushions with some more patterns of the same line of fabrics as my lamp/pillows. I may try to find a shallow basket or two to fit in the ledge to hide the shoes, but for now, I am liking it.

I also recovered the throw pillows on my couches, rearranged the furniture, and cleaned out/organized both large bookcases. Whew!

Now I am on the hunt for a cedar chest of some sort to store {out of sight} the girl's softball gear that tends to end up all over the living room. The more progress I make, the more I want to do!

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

So, my Mother's day was pretty low-key. The boys are in KS for work. The girls and I hung out, did errands, and visited my niece and her new baby. The girls swept and mopped the house while I took a nap. Then we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. All in all, a nice day...

Well, it was my niece, Desiree's first Mother's Day. I took some pictures of her little cutie, Izaiah, when he was 12 days old. I made a super easy announcement for her (seriously took like 10 minutes, love Photoshop!):

And here are a few {of the 100 pictures I took} that did not make it onto the announcement:

We printed them all for Desi, got a cute collage frame and filled it with our favorite 6, and took it to her along with 20 announcements and a Happy Mother's Day balloon {from Sophie}. It was nice to share her first mother's day with her.

Style Your Space

2011-04-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

I recently Took a fun e-course called Style Your Space , and it was fabulous!

I learned so much about displaying items, scale, balance, and composition, color, etc. etc. etc....

It inspired me to do something, but there is so much that needs attention in our home..so I started small....

One little old chair from Craig's list. I liked the color and shape of it, and it was comfy. It needed some TLC so I gave it a good scrub and got to decorating my space:

I started with decorating a lamp purchased at Kirkland Home for $15...what a bargain! I got my inspiration (OK, totally copied) from Heidi Lynn, one of our awesome teacher at the store. I know say it all the time, but Scrapbooks Etc has the best teachers, classes, fabrics, etc...if you've never been, you really need to go!

Then, Tony repainted my table he made me years ago, and I started setting up my space:

I sewed some super easy pillows to add to the chair:

and my reading nook was complete:

I love it! It was a small step, but I am inspired to continue and do more!

Just Keep Swimming

2011-04-13T23:26:00.000-07:00

I am often asked how things are going, with the start of the new business, our recent life changes, etc.

Almost daily I think of Dory and this cute scene from Finding Nemo.

"When Life gets you down, you know what you gotta do...just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming..."

I tend to focus on the negative, see the problems in things...but I'm working on it. I am definitely able to see the silver lining in all this too.

Things aren't great, but they're not too bad either.

Just keep swimming....my new Mantra...

[FRAMED]

2011-03-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

I have been completely addicted to [FRAMED], an amazing, online photography show. They post a new episode every Tuesday featuring a different photographer. It is really interesting and inspiring!

They have a contest for bloggers to post a "photo that tells a story".

Being a scrapbooker, I feel EVERY photo tells a story!

So, here's mine:

The story this photo tells me is one of blossoming, becoming, changing. My little girl is just between childhood and full on teenager. She is changing from a cute kid, to a beautiful young lady, right before my eyes.

If you are interested in [FRAMED] click this link or follow them on Facebook here or Twitter here.

The above picture was taken of Celeste before attending her friend's Batmitzva. Here is one of her in her dress for this night:

Celeste and her friends had a great time dancing the night away, at what turned out to be quite the party!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

2011-03-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Nylon Kites: $10.88 each

Extra string: $3.00

And afternoon at the park with the whole family: Priceless.

Sophie with her butterfly kite

OK, so Blogger automatically turned this photo, so now you can't see how high Celeste got her parrot kite.

All 3 kites at once.

And, FYI, we need to find a new park to fly them, as security informed us there is no kite flying at Tempe Town Lake because it is in the flight path of the airport, OOPS! He was nice enough to tell us as we were getting into our car, a weird end to a fabulous afternoon!

Dream Big

2011-03-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

It doesn't hurt to dream big, right?

Alexa wanted to check out a couple of schools on her radar for college.

They just so happen to be private colleges.

Really, really EXPENSIVE private colleges.

And, of course, they were amazing!

We took tours of Pomona and Scripps, both in the Claremont Consortium of colleges.

Scripps had one of the prettiest campuses I have ever seen. In fact it is Forbes rated #4 of college campuses! Every building was unique, the rooms were furnished like they belong in Europe, and the art, fountains, and plants around the campus were gorgeous!

Oh yeah, it's a damn good school too. Amazing courses, 10 to 1 student to faculty ratio, study abroad opportunities, and SO much more.

(Alexa at Scripps)

And then there's Pomona, the largest of the Claremont Colleges. It was equally as impressive and unique. They offer many of the same things as Scripps, on a slightly larger scale. Either of them would be amazing.

So, first step, apply. Step 2, (if accepted) figure out where to get the $53,000.00 a year tuition, room and board....

Oh well, it doesn't hurt to dream big, right?

Snowed In

2011-02-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

On our way home from Missouri we were hearing reports of a winter storm coming through. Travel was restricted from Albuquerque, through Amarillo, and to Oklahoma City and beyond. We made it into OK city on Tuesday, just before the storm, and were able to be "snowed in" with Tony's sister, Nanci:

Tony had not seen her in 8 years! Don't they look alike?

She lives in OK with her kiddos:

Cecelia

and Adrian.

Wednesday was really cold and snowy, with wind chills of -15 degrees. The freeway looked like this:

Thank goodness we were not traveling that day! Instead we were fed homemade enchiladas for lunch, homemade gorditas for dinner (believe me these are nothing like taco bell!), and entertained by Nanci's grandkids Alejandra:

And Audrina:

They instantly took to me, Tony, not so much!

and here is just a fun picture of me by a huge pile of snow, brrr!

By Thursday there were still warning of dangerously cold temperatures with the windchill, but the roads were clear so off we are on our way home again.

Red Velvet Art

2011-02-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

Tony has been gone since Jan 1st working in Missouri. I decided to fly to St. Louise to meet with the customer and drive home with Tony. One bonus, I could go to Red Velvet, located on Commercial street in an old part of Springfield, MO. It is owned by Elsie who's blog I have been reading for years. Her store is full of vintage dresses, art, handmade items, and a cupcake bakery. Well, we made it there:

Here I am just outside, but...

As you can see the open sign is not lit up and the hours say they are open Tuesday-Saturday...It was Monday...oh no!

I was so bummed! No trying on vintage dresses, none of Emma's (Elsie's sister) cupcakes or bubble tea, no fun shopping, and no Elsie! Such a bummer! But, just inside was Elsie working on a new display for the next day, and what does my {usually very shy} husband do? He waves her over and she opens for us! What a sweetheart. She chatted with us for a minute, and was so kind to pose for a picture. I got to take a quick peek into her store and it is ADORABLE! It was not quite the experience I was expecting, but how sweet of Tony to get me that opportunity to meet her:

If I am ever in MO again I will be sure to stop in during business hours, but I will never forget this experience.

Happy Birthday to............ME!

2011-01-26T16:59:00.000-08:00

I just celebrated my 38th birthday...that sounds really odd to me...

I feel like I should be younger...

Didn't I just turn 30?

Anyway, I had a great time. Last Friday my dear friends took me out to the Tempe Improv. It was so fun. The food was so so, the drink was STRONG, but the comedians were so funny. Really, really funny.

Tony is still in Missouri (or Misery, since it is 8 degrees there!) so we did not do much here. Michael's friend baked me a huge cupcake. Then I did use a Groupon that I bought last summer for a Mani, Pedi, Facial, and I even got my hair done:

I had to take a photo since the gal straightened my hair...it is never this straight, and probably won't be again!

Hopefully I will get to celebrate again when Tony gets home..man do we miss him!

She's 13!!!

2011-01-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Celeste turned 13 on November 9th. Another teenager, Whew, 3 under one roof! Here are some shots from her (belated) birthday photo shoot:

And here are some photos to show why the b-day shoot was so belated:

And without further ado, 13 things we love about our 13 year old:

1. She's athletic. It seems to come natural to her and even got MVP on her JH volleyball team, the first time ever playing that sport.

2. She's tough. Man did the last few months show that!

3. She's smart. TPA has been a challenge, but she managed an A on her history final, her hardest subject.

4. Celeste is our fashionista, and has her own fun, quirky sense of style.

5. She's artistic. Her latest, drawing/designing clothes.

6. She is creative.

7. She's cute...what can I say, I know I'm far from a partial observer..

8. Celeste is strong. She has muscle tone I can only dream of.

9. She's busy, not one to really sit around a lot, she's always on the go.

10. She's sweet....well a mix of sweet and sassy anyway.

11. She is funny; quietly, sarcastically, funny.

12. Celeste is a good shopper. Loves it and finds good deals, too.

13. A morning person...the ONLY one in this family...

Happy Birthday, Celeste!

If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say.....

2011-01-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed I have been sort of quiet lately, I was trying to follow the saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". But I guess I am ready now to share. The past 2 months have been really difficult for our family.

The Friday before Thanksgiving, Tony's prospective partner pulled out and left us with out a job (income, heath insurance, etc.). It was a surprise to us, and we were very unprepared! To top it off, Celeste severely broke her ankle on her growth plate the night before Thanksgiving, and is still in a cast. I had a really hard time with all this and have not been myself.

Tony decided that it is time for us to just start our own business. What better time then now? No partners, just us. So we immediately started the process, applying for the LLC, getting a RIDICULOUS amount of liability insurance, meeting with an accountant, etc, etc, etc. And you know what? I see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Our new company, Reliable Plant Maintenance received it's first check! What a happy day this was! It will still be a while before we pay back those who have helped us and actually have an income...and even longer before we will be able to hire full time employees, get heath insurance, etc. But I see a tiny pin prick of light, and I am moving towards it. Finally some lemonade from our lemons, you know?

An Attempt at Craftiness

2010-12-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

We have an annual Christmas party/gift exchange at work. This year I got Jenaye. She is 21, a total cutie, and really fun and fashionable. Intimidating much? Not really, I had a few ideas. After searching the web, and peeking at some great Etsy shops, I came up with an idea. Jenaye sells wonderful hair accessories, and her newest addition, lady ties. Men's ties that are repurposed for women to wear. I decided to upcycle some men's ties into belts for her. Also, I wanted to stitch some ties onto shirts as decorative collars. This was kind of a fail. My shirt looked less artsy/indie/chic and more 1960's stewardess:

Any one else thinking of the Orbit gum girl when they see it? Fabulous!

So plan "B", Celeste will keep the Orbit's gum shirt, and the purple shirt gets a belt, not a collar as originally planned. Here are her finished gifts:

I made little rosettes out of the tie tails I cut off to make the belts. This was actually a pretty fun little DIY project. Hope she likes it!

Halloween

2010-11-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a little behind for this post, this year seems to be just flying by! We had 2 Halloweens this year, since Halloween fell on a Sunday, many of our usual festivities were held Saturday night.

Alexa filled my shoes to help our Tempe La Leche League group with our 13th annual cake walk. They made over $700! Woo Hoo!

The little girls got dressed up to go Truck or Treating with our neighbors at their church:

Sophie put together a Hawaiian girl costume with a second had dress, flower and lei.

Celeste was a pirate with a store bought costume, a rarity in this household, but we needed something ASAP, as the day seemed to sneak up on me!

Sunday we went trick or treating, which we never get to do since we are always at the LLL cakewalk (which was Saturday). Sophie would say "Aloha, trick or treat". It was really cute, and of course we now have way too much candy!

For those of you who read my blog from out of state:

-Yes Sophie is wearing a sundress

-Yes it was like 80-90 degrees out

-No she didn't need a jacket, even after sundown

-Yes we trick-or-treated outdoors, in flip flops

I Love fall in AZ for this!

Happy 8 Years, Sophie!

2010-10-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

So, my {baby} Sophie turned 8 on Saturday! It is hard for me to believe, time moved so slow when I was home with little ones, and now the years are flying by. We went to Legends of the Guardians at the IMAX, then dinner at Claim Jumper with all 6 of us.

Sunday we went for Mojo fro-yo, and a little b-day photo shoot.

I stopped buying school pictures a few years ago {because, Hello?!? they ALWAYS suck!}. So we take our own once a year. I think one of these will do nicely!

And now 8 thing I love about my 8 year old:

1. She is so smart, and loves to read and write stories.

2. She is creative, always doing some sort of craft, and using all my good scrapbooking stuff....

3. She is hilarious, always saying or doing something to make us laugh.

4. She is caring, she really cares about people and animals.

5.She is sassy, which we all hope turns into a strong, independent adult.

6. She is artistic and loves to draw and paint.

7. She is energetic and loves to be busy.

8. She is loving, always giving hugs and wanting to cuddle.

So happy birthday to you, Sophie-lou!

Subzero Ice Cream Shop

2010-10-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

The girls and I had a fun night out thanks to This Cute Girl and her post about Subzero ice cream shop. It is a really cool concept, you choose your ice cream base (liquid), flavors and mix ins, then they use liquid nitrogen to flash freeze your concoction into ice cream!

Mixin' it up

Flash Freeze

A final mix

Still smoking a little...

This place really appealed to my inner nerd!

Sew-N-Go

2010-09-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

As all of you know, I have the best job in the world!

It has become more fun with the addition of our fabric department. We have the absolute prettiest fabric selection ever, and the best sewing classes. I recently took the Sew-N-Go and it was "sew" fun!

Here's the deal: It is $18 for the class, every first and third Tuesday 11am-3pm-ish. You come, pick a kit off the counter, and have a seat. When class starts, they show a sample of the project and hand out the pattern. Yes you heard right, supplies and pattern are included, and you sign up "blind" not knowing what the project is. Here was my first class:

The tote was so cute, I had to make 3. I mean I do have 3 girls, I had no other choice right? The fabulous teachers have extra kits for sale, and not to brag too much, I got all 3 done in class! This tote can be made any size determined by the size of squares you use. I might just start cutting squares out of my fabric scraps and sew them together when I have enough. I'm inspired, can't wait till next time!

Been Busy

2010-09-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy lately, but haven't we all? Celeste is playing both volleyball and fall softball, so we have a sport to go to everyday (but Sunday), and some days two! Whew!

But in my "spare time" I have been editing Alexa's Europe pictures. I first weeded the 1300+ down to 810. Now comes the editing. Her camera was not so good, so all her pictures have a slightly overcast look, even on days that were bright and sunny.

Here are some samples of her pictures, both before and after:

And fun effects:

And a few more pretty shots:

Back to School

2010-08-20T10:13:00.001-07:00

I am a little late in this post, but the kids are back in school (Aug. 9)!

Their first day back in school, a customer at work wished me a happy mother's day, too funny!

Celeste is in her first year at Tempe Preparatory Academy, in 7th grade, and Alexa is now a Junior there. Man does time go fast...

We have already had curriculum night at TPA, where I met all Celeste's teachers, and it was a really great night. Hearing them all speak reinforced to me just why we are so lucky to be at such an amazing school. Never have I seen a more qualified, dedicated, interesting group of teachers! I wish I could have met Alexa's teachers as well....

Sophie is still at Ward Traditional Academy, now in second grade.

{she looks a little goofy with the sun in her eyes, oops!}

So far, Sophie loves her teacher and her class, and we have had a much easier time getting up for school, never her favorite! So far, so good anyway.

Michael starts back at Mesa Community College this Monday with a full load of classes, and will still be working for Tony (part-time).

{Why did I ever think it would be easier when they were all in school?}

Summer Break

2010-08-07T16:49:00.001-07:00

I can not believe the girls start school in two days! We had a great summer. Most summers we have spent right here in AZ, with small 3-4 day mini vacations to southern CA. This year, we took a real family vacation, the first EVER! I got a passport book of national parks (which appealed to my inner nerd), and we were on our way.

First stop, the Grand Canyon. The kids and I have been in the past, but it was a first for Tony, and his niece Lizzy, who joined us:

Our next stop was supposed to be four corners, but it was closed and under construction. What the heck is that about? So we moved on to Mesa Verde, CO. I had never heard of it, but it was AMAZING! There were really neat ruins we hiked down to:

Then it was up through Utah, and Arches National park:

We made a pit stop in Denver, to see Tony's sister, Tammi (Lizzy's mom):

I love this picture of Michael, with Tammi, and Olivia, who is exactly one month younger than Michael. They were babies together, and now my "baby" towers over his aunt and cousin!

Our next stop was Wyoming, with 4 days to spend in Jackson, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone:

Grand Teton

The girls with a huge elk behind them.

One of the many buffalo we saw, this one was walking right by our car!

And the highlight of Sophie's trip, a beautiful horseback ride in the mountains of Wyoming. Sophie is in love with horses, and I was so glad she was able to do this!

After leaving Wyoming, we were not done yet! We traveled down through Utah, staying at Utah Lake, then Bryce Canyon National park.

We totalled 6 National Parks stamped in our passport book, in just over 2 weeks! We had so much fun driving around, camping in the RV, relaxing and being together.

She's Baaaack!

2010-07-09T22:32:00.001-07:00

So, Alexa is back and she had an AMAZING time.

I got my wish, she took lots of pictures (over 1300). I still have to really look at them, sort and edit them. That will be a big job!

In the mean time, here are a few (unedited) from each country.

First stop, England:

The London eye, which they did not get to go on due to a mechanical issue, bummer!

On to France:

At the Louvre, Eiffel tower and

at the top of the Eiffel tower.

Next stop Belgium:

Alexa at the Belgium chocolatier.

And then, the Netherlands:

Shoe and cheese factory.

Then Germany, where she had her home stay:

This is their backyard. She attended a day of high school with her home stay sister, Sarah. Her home stay was one of her favorite parts of her trip.

And last was the country she liked the most, Switzerland:

This was pre-white water rafting, which she said was a blast.

And they saw SNOW!!!! So fun for a group from AZ:

Alexa enjoyed every minute of her trip, saw so much, and made some really good friends. It truly was the trip of a lifetime!

Summer Projects

2010-06-25T22:46:00.001-07:00

The girls and I have been trying to keep ourselves busy with fun projects this summer. We love the kid's scrapbooking classes at my work http://scrapbooks-etc.com/2009/ and the girls wanted some cute/crafty aprons to wear to class, so:

We came up with these. I love how they turned out. The patterns are from the book "retro aprons for kids", and the girls chose all their own fabrics and trims (all from Scrapbooks, Etc of coarse!). They really reflect their tastes and personalities.

Then it was on to more projects. Not only do we have amazing quilting fabrics, but we also have cotton flannels that I have been craving! I finally got some and made little "cuddle" quilts for the girls (inspired by the talented Heidi Lynn http://blog.totallyheidilynn.com/2010/06/05/tpc-june/). I die cut all the pieces with our quilter's dies, and they went together so fast. Celeste did a lot of the sewing on hers.

Celeste chose her own fabrics (above) from Riley Blake, Amy Butler, Michael Miller, Moda...

And I chose Sophie's fabric from Amy Butler with the beautiful Michael Miller floral on the back

And....

She really loves it!

FINALLY!

2010-06-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

After 8 months of fundraising/preparation and a 22 hour delayed flight Alexa is FINALLY off to Europe!

With passport ready

And all checked in

we met up with friends (Payton Swaim)

and said our goodbyes

Then, Alexa headed upstairs to pass through security and onto a plane to take her on the trip of a lifetime. FINALLY!

18 Years

2010-06-15T15:31:00.001-07:00

18 years ago, today, Tony and I married in the Silver Bells wedding chapel in Reno, NV. Kind of cheesy, I know. But, already having a child (Michael was 11 months old) made the whole "large wedding, white dress," thing seem unnecessary. But why Reno? Why Silver Bells? In 1970 while in college, my parents eloped to Reno and married in the Silver Bells wedding chapel. They married there, because my mom's brother eloped and married there. And a few years later, my mother's younger brother married in Reno as well. It was kind of a family tradition, I guess we are not all the big wedding type!

I got 2 anniversary celebrations this year. Saturday night Tony and I went to dinner and a movie:

Then Sunday night we went to the Brazilian BBQ with Michael and Mercy, and then Michael treated us all to a movie (what a guy!).

So, happy anniversary to my husband, my friend, and father of my beautiful children. You always make me smile, we laugh everyday day, and I can not imagine a life without you. Here's to the next 18 years!

The Worst

2010-06-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

Alexa Was supposed to leave for Europe last night on her much anticipated trip but, thanks to British Airways and a mechanical issue with the plane (yikes!), her flight has been delayed for nearly 24 hours. Seriously bad luck for all these kids, and we hope to see her off later today. I hope to post some good Bon Voyage photos tonight.....

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

We spent Memorial weekend at "the cinders" by sunset crater, near Flagstaff. We camped and went riding, and I have no pictures of the camp, nor riding. Oh well! Here's what I do have:

The kids, plus Michael's girlfriend Mercy, and our friend's son. You can kind of tell how pretty it was there.

Michael and Mercy

OK, one riding picture of Tony.

On our way home we stopped by these ruins. It was really cool!

And Mercy took this picture of the 6 of us together:

Not looking our best after 3 days of camping, but it'll do! Then reality hit as we drove down from the cool weather to arrive in the valley and a reading of 107 degrees!

Time Management Math

2010-05-02T13:34:00.001-07:00

This store

+ this class

+ this fabric ("Martinique" by Moda)

= why I have had no time to blog/read/scrap!

But the results were well worth losing a month of my life!

Long arm quilting done by Louise Haley:

Really????????

2010-04-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

OK, Arizona, you've gone too far!!!!!

Our legislature has passed a bill that allows law enforcement officers to arrest people based on "reasonable suspicion" of being illegally in this country. We are not talking about immigrants from Sweden or Canada, etc. We are talking about Mexicans.

Let me walk you through this: How do you have "reasonable suspicion" that someone is illegally here? If my husband, or son, and I are walking down the street, on what basis will law enforcement officers determine our legitimacy? Well, my guys are brown. Bottom line. They can be stopped, questioned, and if they can not produce ID at the time, arrested. For what? Being brown. They will pay a fee for being arrested, for being brown. Will I be randomly asked to produce ID by an officer? Ever? Doubtful, because I am not brown. Can you tell I am pissed?!? Our state is infringing on our civil rights here, and yes I am pissed.

Our Governor has a chance now to review this and veto it. Here's to hoping she will do the right thing. Yes illegal immigration is a problem in AZ, as in all the border states. But, taking away the civil rights of American citizens is unacceptable. Having a law allowing discrimination based on ethnicity is an outrage, and a huge step backward.

Does anyone in America want to have to always carry ID to be produced at anytime to prove we have the right to be here? Why is it OK to require this of only those with brown skin and a Mexican ancestry? I will begrudgingly ask that my guys always carry their IDs to avoid such an issue, not that I think it will ever actually happen, but what if? And, in the mean time I must voice that I am ashamed of AZ, it's lawmakers, and it's citizens if we stand by and allow this to happen.

Ren Fair

2010-04-09T10:32:00.001-07:00

I want to start by saying (yet again) thank you to all our friends and family who have been supporting our fundraising for Alexa's trip, and to let you know that HER TRIP IS NOW PAID FOR! That's right, 100% paid off! We are now focusing our efforts on the smaller task of spending money and items needed for her trip, but that seems small potatoes now!

Our last fundraising effort was a booth at her school's Renaissance Fair. We sold our hair accessories, jewelry, and small purses:

Alexa was at a softball tournament which left me and the little girls to man the booth, and have some fun:

We really had a great time and made a little over $100. Added to the $700 from our crop, and our first payment from the Fry's card donation, we had all we needed for her April payment. Boy did that feel good!

Crop Till You Drop= Success!!!!!

2010-03-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

I have to give a big shout out to all my friends that made our crop fundraiser a huge success. The room was totally cute, and we had 39 croppers to fill it! The food was great, goody bags were full of fun stuff, and the prizes were AMAZING! And all of the above were DONATED by our wonderful friends and co workers.

Everyone seemed to have a great time,

And the girls made $457 EACH for their trip! Alexa made just over $700 total that night with her sales included. WOW!

I really can not express enough how much it meant to me to have such support in this. I must have the best friends in the whole world!

Star of the Week

2010-03-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

Sophie was FINALLY star of the week in her class. They had all the names in the bowl at the beginning of the year and drew a name for each week. She was second to last. So nearly 3/4 of the way into the school year it was her turn. She told me it was the best week because Monday she got to bring in her poster:

And, yes, she made it herself, with limited help from me (I cut out her name and printed pictures for her).

Tuesday: Mommy came to class to volunteer

Wednesday: she had pizza lunch with her teacher as a reward with some other students

Thursday: no uniform day her class earned

Friday: she got to bring in a box of items for show and tell and it was a half day!

Not a bad week for a first grader!

Checking the Mail

2010-02-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Who likes checking the mail? There's hardly anything fun in there, as no one seems to send actual letters anymore. It's all junk mail, ads, and of course, bills. What fun is that? Until recently I hated checking the mail! But here is what our mail has looked like lately:

Beautiful, handmade card from my aunt Barbara, for Alexa's sweet sixteen.

{Photo Removed}

Sweet, sentimental card from Baba, with a VERY generous 16th birthday gift of money for Alexa's Europe trip. That was a fun one to open!

And-

These. Everyday. Since turning 16, or coincidentally(?) we have been getting SEVERAL OF THESE EVERYDAY! This batch of 5 came all in one day. I am not exaggerating, everyday we get more. I wonder if this happens with every TPA student? Michael got a few, but nothing like this. And she's only a sophomore. Sheesh! It's sure fun to see who is soliciting her though!

{I could get used to opening mail like this}

Sweet Sixteen

2010-02-17T09:52:00.000-08:00

I can not believe my baby girl is sixteen years old today!

Here she is as a baby, awwww:

And since she hates her picture taken, here she is with some of her school friends when they went to see another classmate perform in the musical "13":

Alexa has grown into a smart, responsible, helpful, funny, athletic, beautiful, wonderful young lady. We are so proud of her and can't wait to see what fabulous things life has in store for her.

Happy Birthday, Lexi!

Cute Bags (Round 2)

2010-02-13T11:06:00.001-08:00

I am having so much fun with this free, downloadable pattern from www.madebyrae.blogspot.com

Here are the latest round of bags:

With fabric Yo-Yos:

With removable flower clip:

And with removable torn fabric flower clips:

I have been asked by a few people "why so many bags, if you are not selling them?". Well, the amount of fabric I purchased for the width of the pattern pieces of each color was enough to cut out 3 sets. I chose 4 color combinations for me and my 3 girls, so, Ta-Da!, I now have 12 bags! They will make really great birthday gifts to have on hand. I could pay the licencing fee and sell them. Thoughts?

Baked by Joanna

2010-02-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

Check out my friend's blog for a fun give away!

http://bakedbyjoanna.blogspot.com/2010/02/cupcake-lollipop-giveaway.html

Feeling Creative

2010-02-08T15:50:00.000-08:00

Scrapbooks Etc (my fabulous place of employment) decided to start carrying fabric. Not just any fabrics, but the most beautiful designer quilting fabrics EVER. I decided I had to have some, so I found a cute little project online, called the Buttercup bag, on www.madebyrae.blogspot.com. It is a free pattern (if used for your personal use, not to sell) and I have made 6 of them! It takes a just a little bit of fabric and time. I have fabric for 2 more color combos. The girls have really liked them!

I added fabric Yo Yos to these:

And removable flower clips to these:

So fun and easy!

Ridin'

2010-01-30T20:18:00.001-08:00

We had an awesome day today. It was my first Saturday off in I don't know how long, so we took the quads out for a spin. Believe it or not, with all the riders in my family, this was my very first time riding a quad!

OK, so I do kinda look like a dork, but it was pretty fun. I felt like I was being pretty brave and riding fast, but Tony informed me I was not going that fast.

Celeste sure was! She even caught some air:

She's pretty brave. She definitely takes after her daddy on that one. Here he is doing some donuts:

Sophie is more like her mommy, pretty cautious and nervous on her own:

She was getting more comfortable towards the end.

And one more of Celeste. She would have kept riding all day had we let her:

I think she may be ready to hit the dunes next Halloween with her daddy!

Long Time, No Blog

2010-01-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

I can not believe it has been over a month since I blogged! I always feel so busy around the holidays. This year we (I) scaled way back on Christmas related busy-ness. We did not do our usual Christmas goody baking for neighbors and friends. I also did not do a Christmas card/letter, but may still get a new year one out, who knows?!?! I had less shopping to do as well because everyone but Sophie got cell phones as one of their gifts, and we did a family gift for the family we exchange gifts with, as opposed to 7 individual gifts. Alexa helped with all the shopping and wrapping, as she was not getting presents due to her Europe trip. We were able to surprise her with some trip related items (watch and travel alarm clock thanks to my friend Denise, and a small point and shoot digital camera from Santa).

Sophie would not see Santa for pictures, but was willing to sit with the grinch ( as long as Celeste promised to sit between them)!

Christmas morning before the kids got up:

And after:

New Years Eve day we spent at the zoo with friends. They had fake snow and a sparkling cider toast at noon. It was really fun and it had been so long since we had been there.

And, for the first time ever. Tony and I had no kids on new year's eve! We were supposed to go to a party, but it got cancelled. We went to a fabulous restaurant in down town Tempe called House of Tricks. I have been there a few times with lady friends. It is NOT a "Tony" type of place, fancy food, usually small-ish portions, etc. He agreed to go, even with my warnings. And you know what? It was GREAT! Tony ordered prime rib from the new year's specials menu, and it was the best we have had in a long time, and it was huge! Tony renamed that special menu the " fat guy" menu. They said they must have seen him coming. We ate Ceasar salad with olive croutons, spring salad with cranberries, pecans and goat cheese fondue, roasted yellow tomato soup with artichoke, vegetable lasagna with portabella mushrooms and squash puree, and wood fired prime rib with wilted spinach, mashed fondant potatoes with shitaki mushroom glaze. Tony even ate the spinach. AMAZING!

Fundraising Update and Shoutouts!

2009-12-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

Alexa and I have been fundraising like crazy to make her trip happen as painlessly as possible! Here is an update of what we have been up to:

OCTOBER:

-sold old SU! stamps sets to Pat, Megan, and Barbara (who included an extra $20)

-Sold hair clips to Alexa's friends (thanks Jenaye for the ideas and being so cool about us doing this!)

-Sold hair clips at a McClintock game (thanks Judy)

-Halloween Carnival through city of Tempe Parks and Rec

NOVEMBER:

-$30.00 from Robin and Denice's Pampered Chef Party (thanks Robin!)

-Amazing Amber got $42 in clips, and counting, Thanks!

-Sold clips to Denice, Robin, and Amber for $55 (thanks Denice for the extra 'tip')

-Alexa did a market research study for $75

-Alexa babysitting for Kimberly, who pays really well! Thanks!

-Selling suckers at Tempe Paintball and at New Moon Premier, thanks to my wonderful bosses who let me get them at cost from them!

UPCOMING:

-more suckers to sell

-more hair clips to sell

-4 dates to do gift wrapping at Barnes and Noble for tips

-remember, Alexa is a fabulous babysitter!

-Amber and Joanna have offered their amazing talents to help, I just need to figure out how to utilize them (raffle?)

If I forgot anyone, I am so sorry. We have been so busy with all this! And a shoutout to Alexa, who is forgoing all Christmas and 16th birthday presents to allow us to put $ toward her trip. And, for getting the free phone that she will be using for the next 2 years, instead of a cool phone. Your "sacrifices" will for sure help!

We're Ready!!!!!!!

2009-11-18T11:35:00.001-08:00

We're so ready for the premier of New Moon. Alexa and I will be going to the midnight showing this Thursday. We got our tickets about two months ago and have both reread the book:

We've got our New Moon gear, Alexa got an official T-shirt and I have a special Twilight watch and necklace:

{Thanks Doodleedoo}

And we will attempt to sell suckers as fundraising for Alexa's trip:

So as I said, we are totally ready to see this movie!

And, go team Jacob!

Birthday Fun

2009-11-11T21:40:00.001-08:00

Celeste just turned 12 years old. It is hard to believe that our little girl is almost a teenager! We spent Sunday celebrating her birthday. We started out in downtown Tempe to walk around and enjoy the weather. Of course I had to do a photo shoot while we were there. Here are 2 of my favorites:

While downtown we went to Coldstone for a birthday treat:

We finished our night by going to dinner at Logans Roadhouse. That was a good time, and another rare instance that all 6 of us were together. These days that is a gift in itself. Happy Birthday girlie!

Halloween

2009-11-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

Every Halloween my family and I help do a cake walk at the Tempe Halloween Festival. It is an awesome event put on by the city as an alternative to trick or treating. It also provides a fundraising opportunity as all of the booths are run by non profit organizations. This was our La Leche League group's 12 time doing the cake walk there. We really enjoy it. This year Alexa ran a booth for her P2P trip and made $113.00. Goooo Alexa!!! I was so busy the whole night that I did not get any pictures of our booths or the event, but here are the little girls in their costumes {they are the only ones that dress up anymore :-( }.

Sophie was a zombie. Yes that's her real hair. We love making our own costumes from items we find at the Goodwill. Sophie's dress was Celeste's from her vampire costume two years ago. Alexa provided the hair and makeup:

Celeste also got her dress at the Goodwill and went as a masquerade lady. She made the mask herself:

A Beary Fun Birthday

2009-10-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we did a Build-a-Bear birthday party to celebrate Sophie's 7th birthday. She said to us that it was her first birthday party....well although not technically true {she had first and second birthday parties} it probably seemed so! The child was far overdue for a celebration.

The Invites:

I could not find a bear die cut, so Sophie and I did some old fashioned paper piecing!

The Goodies:

These were the most amazing rainbow sugar cookie-cupcakes, made by "Baked by Joanna", her blog is on my sidebar. Since we were at the Build-a-Bear store we could not do cake, so we sent the kiddos home with these yummies! Even the bear faces were edible.

The Party:

Making a wish on her bear's heart.

Hailey and Sophie, BFFs.

Happy Birthday Sophie!

Let The Fun{draising} Begin!!!!

2009-10-16T14:40:00.000-07:00

Alexa and I have been busy this fall break making hair accessories for sale to fund raise for her people to people tuition. We made some to match the TPA school uniform, some with her school colors, some for ASU, and some black and silver for homecoming. Interested in any, just leave a comment or email/call me or Alexa!

And how could I post today without mentioning that it is Sophie's 7th birthday!!!

I can't believe my baby is 7, happy birthday baby!

And now we are off to see "Where The Wild Things Are" in celebration.