Eat Cake.

I have a philosophy.  Everyone should eat cake on their birthday.  If you have friends who need a cake on their birthday, make them one!  (Or, have your kids do it like I did!)

My sweet friend is WAY into birthdays.  She goes all out for her kids and friends.  Being that she's the only girl in her family, we wanted to make sure she had cake on her birthday.  Not-to-mention it gave us a fun afternoon activity!

 

Warning:  no matter what I say, my girls lick their fingers when decorating cupcakes.  Please try to forget this if you ever receive a cake from us!

Each girl was given 3 cupcakes, because I only had a container that could hold six.  Believe me, we didn't need all the extra cupcakes sitting around here; but we enjoyed them!

Glitter Glam 2012

 It came once again... Glitter Glam 2012!  It is such a sweet event put on by a local church as an outreach.  The girls buy tickets specific to their costume choices.  My girls chose to be "butterfly fairies."  Next they get pampered.  They wait in line at different stations to have their make-up done, their hair done, their nails done... they do crafts, eat dinner, listen to a message, and then have a fashion show!

The fashion show is where the parents show-up and they walk on stage to show-off their hair and make-up.  It's adorable!

This year we went to sushi with dear friends while their 10-year-old daughter stayed with our big girls the whole night.

It's a late night for the girls. But, it's worth it!

Last year, we bought tickets and were all set to go.  I can't remember what happened, but let's just say there was some sort of attitude going on that morning.  We had to return the tickets.  The girls were devastated.  Mom and Dad were devastated!  A year seemed like it would never come; but it did!  Here are my tired, but adorable butterfly fairies:

Sidewalk Paints

 It's that time of year, again!  Time to do our crafts outside!

 One of our favorites that I've posted about often is sidewalk paints.

Just in case you need to know... equal parts water and cornstarch mixed with food coloring.

Ready, set, paint!

 Look at that hair!!!

This time around, the fun wasn't so much in painting the sidewalk as it was in painting themselves!

Toothfairy Visit

 She was brushing her teeth with her daddy... It was the night before Grandma and Grandpa were coming to visit for Easter.  Then I heard the excited, "Mommy, mommy!"  It came out -- her first loose tooth!

 I ran for the camera.  I had to capture the proudest smile ever!

 She couldn't stop looking at it.  I was beginning to wonder if she'd ever relax enough to fall asleep for the Toothfairy to come!  It would be her 11th visit to our house; but the first time for Miss Natalie!

Name that tune:  "Show me that smile, again!"  Any other Kirk Cameron fans out there?  BTW, I take full credit for him becoming a Christian.  I prayed for him to become one or else I knew I couldn't marry him -- ha!  Really, it's true!

We're so excited for you, Natalie!!!  Your new smile is beeeee-autiful!

Breakfast Change-Up

 It's no secret we love breakfast around here!  Just like with any other meal, however, I am always looking for some fun and new recipes to try.  That's why I am so thankful for Pinterest.  There are so many different breakfast bar recipes out there, I have devoted an entire board to them!  So far we have tried 4 different ones.  The "cookies," (as shown above), were the least favorite since they had zero sweetener in them.  With 3 bananas and applesauce, however, I found them quite sweet and delicious;  I shall be making them again for myself!  The oatmeal muffins, shown below, were a HUGE hit!  To find  these 2 recipes and more, you can visit my Breakfast bar board here.

My Boy... 5 Months Old!

It's true.  My boy is 5 months old today.  You'd think by the 4th child I would realize that time flies and not ask this question, but I must... where has the time gone?  As the evenings are getting longer and the air is getting warmer, we often find ourselves out in the backyard in the evening.  I'm so thankful that this boy can go in the swing now; and, he likes it... and, his sister actually lets him, (so she can push as hard as she can; luckily that's not too hard!)

One difference I see in my boy now is that he is less likely to fall asleep in my arms.  He actually prefers his crib, and takes long naps in there.  This is a good thing when we're home.  It is a bad thing when we have to be out.  We often stand by this window and watch the chickens.  If he is ever fussy, this is where I take him and he calms right down.  He loves the chicken window!

 This sister is so great with him.  5 months later, and she still asks to hold him everyday.  She knows just what to do to make him laugh, and gets so excited when he does!

Then there's this sister... oh, how I love this picture! It says it all.  Truly, they love each other dearly!  Let's just pray the boy makes it to 6 months with both eyes in tact and his arm still in its socket!

A Little Project!

Remember these planks?  They were the old boards to a falling-apart-storage-bench left here by the previous owners.  They almost ended up in the trash -- almost!  That is, until I decided to recycle them into a little art for our bedroom inspired by Pinterest.

My husband was so good... he got right to cleaning and sanding them for me right away.  He even glued them together and then fastened them to a board.  And, there they sat in my room... just waiting for a little inspiration!

I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to put my orange magnet board on the top.  I loved the contrast of the shiny orange with the old wood.  I also knew that I wanted to paint some sort of word(s) on the bottom... but what?  The problem wasn't not finding words, but finding too many and having trouble deciding.

My inspiration came on Easter morning.  I leaned over to my husband and whispered, "This is it!"  I was pointing to my bulletin.  Our pastor is beginning a series called, "The Blessed Life."  I loved the graphic and the word "blessed."  That pretty much sums up how I feel; blessed!  I was so excited, I got to painting right away!

And, here it is on our wall:

Egg Hunt 2012

I'll never forget my first time taking Allison to a public Easter egg hunt.  I was definitely way more excited than her, since she was too young to even know what was going on!  But, it was a milestone -- something I was so excited to do as a mom; take my kid to their first Easter egg hunt!

The kids were divided up by age.  That seemed fair and appropriate.  I figured some of the eggs would be less hidden for the little ones.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered the eggs weren't hidden at all!  It was a big grassy field marked off by age.  When the whistle blew, it was a mad scramble to fill your bucket with as many eggs as possible.  Allison just stood there.  I picked one up for her. It had a hard candy inside that she was too young for.  The next thing I knew, all the eggs were gone and it was over.  Say wha--??  We only got one egg!

All that to say, I am not a fan of public egg hunts, and was thrilled when a sweet friend invited us over for an egg hunt and potluck lunch.  She began by showing the kids the Bible.  She pointed out that if we never open our Bibles, we will never find the treasures inside just like if we never opened our Easter eggs -- so clever, and so true!

Next, we went outside for the hunt.  he egs were not just scattered on the grass, but carefully hidden; way more fun!

Allison spotted one egg way up high.  She was so proud, as she remembered her Papa's story of climbing a tree to find the big golden egg!

We were blessed to have Grandma with us.

Lunch time!!

Oh, sweet boy!  Next year you can run around, too!

I'm sure you're drooling over the cake pops.  I did, too!  Yes, they were just as yummy as they looked!