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

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!!!

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.....

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

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

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!

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

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!