Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm a day late posting this but I thought I'd go ahead and post a few ideas so that you can use them next year.  You can never be too prepared right??  These are the cards that my girls passed out this year in class.  I had them press printed at the place I get my photos developed and they are 5x7 front and back.  They were super easy to put together because they are templates sold by Madison Ave Photography.  I think she created these maybe two  years ago?  Not sure f she still sells them but if she does go find yourselves the set.  They are too cute and they even come with booksmarks that you could make for the class to coordinate with the cards.  Fun!

Izzy and Emily both had parties in their classes yesterday and both of them were keeping it pretty simple with small snacks.  I was scrambling last minute to find something fun to send with Izzy to school.  Luckily I check out Jessica's post over at Little Pumpkin Grace, one of my favorite blogs, and she had posted an idea she found on pinterest.  Target was selling these cute bubbles with heart tops in all sorts of fun Valentine colors. Of course I couldn't find them at 4 pm the day before Valentine's Day!  I remembered seeing some white ones at Hobby Lobby before in the wedding section so we headed there and found a pack of 36 and on SALE!  Ding ding!

I printed these on cardstock, forgot to add a pretty colored border but no redoing that last minute, and I sewed on embroidery floss to the them.  Tied tubes of bubbles to the cards and we had an instant little inexpensive gift to go with the cards.

For Emily's class we bought inexpensive coloring books and I tied on packs of crayons.  I figured parents have enough of candy and it seems like we ended up with more sweets than Halloween!  I know I always appreciate a good book or coloring book to take with us to restaurants and in the car.

38 presents all ready to go! and it didn't take too much time to put together.

Of course Izzy didn't decide to tell me that she was allowed free dress day until 8 pm that night as she was going to bed.  I had already planned on having Emily wear a little deco jean set made long ago by ribbons and ruffle boutique that Izzy modeled and has since been passed down to Emily.  Some may say why make a new outfit, just send her to school but the guilt of sewing all these Valentine dresses for my customers and not for my own children ate at me.  I ended up making a coordinating outfit for Izzy.

Oh, and those of your who have been interested in lunches I did do a small themed lunch knowing she was going to have a big snack during their party that day.  Here it is.

I hope all of your had a special Valentine's day surrounded by those you love most!

This weekend we took a little drive over to San Antonio.  As with all road trips I am a little obsessed with the thought of what are we going to eat??  I hate stopping at gas stations for junk (you know the candy bars, bags of cheetohs, candy, etc.) or having to pull over at a Mickey D's and your choice is fried chicken nuggets or a sad looking burger that costs you a days worth of calories.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a health nut who doesn't appreciate a little McNugget every now and then but eating like that on road trips can just "mess you up" for the day.  I decided to go ahead and pack some bento boxes for the girls the night before so they'd have a big choice of things to eat while we drove.  I thought I'd share to give others some ideas of what might be some good traveling foods.

This first box was Izzy's.  I went ahead and labeled everything.  I promise those are carrots and not cheese puffs.  The banana chocolate chip muffins recipe is from skinnytaste.com.  I took Gina's chocolate chocolate chip banana muffin recipe, and omitted the cocoa powder and glaze, and made them mini sized.  The chocolate marshmallows are between the size of a large one and mini ones and are new from Kraft.  I thought the girls would love them but apparently they aren't quite as tempting as they look.  Maybe if I made them into rice krispy treats?   The turkey pepperoni with cream cheese bites are made from taking turkey pepperoni and spreading about half a teaspoon of low fat cream cheese and folding it over like a taco.  I wasn't sure if Izzy would like those but they were a hit which means I can add them to her list of lunch items.

Emily had a similar box but a smaller version.  She threw a fit over the fact that I snuck a piece of cheese into it. The girl claims to hate cheese and will only eat string cheese, yet loves everything I make when I sneek cheese into it.  You just can't say it's cheese!  She also got a cereal bar which I thought would make for a good breakfast on the run.

One of our stops in San Antonio was having lunch with Clay's grandmother, whom I absolutely love and call grandmommy.  My girls call her great grandmommy or sometime just "Great" for short, very fitting of a spectacular woman.  

Great has the most beautiful soul and is smarter and sharper than anyone you will ever meet.

Clay will probably hate me forever for putting this photo out there, he always does whenever I share a photo of him on the internet, but here he is with his sweet grandmother.

And here I am.  Her mink is fabulous isn't it?  Looking good Great!

Don't know what keeps your kids busy at restaurants but our Leapster Explorer sure has helped us out a lot recently.  This restaurant even had Etch a Sketch's for their tiny guests.  How fun!

The last part of out trip was attending a service for a dear friend's mother.  Rather than having a funeral or a memorial service it was called a Celebration of Life.  It is something they believed their mother would have wanted and I have to say it was a perfect tribute to her. After the service the celebration continued with a good spread of food and a wonderfully loud mariachi band.  I could just picture my friends' mother watching from above rejoicing in this celebration and being so joyous that her friends and family were celebrating the wonderful life she had.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Saturday Morning Cartoon

We received Kung Fu Panda 2 from Netflix yesterday and Clay and I plotted a little surprise this morning.  He went and picked up donuts from Shipley's and we had a little Saturday morning fun.

Can you guess which on my girls was most excited?

Yep!  Emily has a super sweet tooth and if notice she had a sprinkles in the first picture and a nut covered here...she's begging for a third.  Don't worry, we don't usually let her do this otherwise she might become a donut.

Snuggling up with Daddy, especially during the scary parts.

I LOVE our new aqua colored console we got for Christmas!!!  Makes movie watching so much more fun.

This just might become a Saturday morning tradition!

Red Day!

Emily has been celebrating Valentine's Day at school all week.  I love how Miss Tina and Miss Judy will take a whole month to celebrate a holiday.  Makes it more for for the kiddos.  Tuesday was pink day and today was red, next Tuesday is white.  I made her lace cuffed shirt from a polka dot Target tee last year and some wide lace.  It's our version of the MJC shiver.  Got to have some color options right?

After school today I picked her up and she had her snack in the backyard before big sister came home.

Is there anything more tempting than a soft sugar cookie that's iced???  Maybe one in the shape of a heart and pink for a little girl.  I save all my Frappucino bottles to give the girls milk in.  There's something about drinking milk out of a glass bottle that makes it taste soooo good!

Tasty...

Mom, I LOVE this cookie!

That smile is thanks enough my little sweet pea. XOXO

Back in the Saddle Again

Being sick this past month I took a long break from sewing and putting anything in my store.  I'm finally back in my studio sewing a couple dresses every day this past week.  Not much else to share today so I'll just leave you with the pictures of the upcycles!  And sorry to tell you but they have all sold.  I have some terrific customers!

Dance Off!

A typical afternoon at our house is walking with Emily up to school to pick up Izzy.  On our way home Izzy talks about her day and tells me about all the things they did and the trouble that the OTHER kids got in.  Yes, she is that kid.  When we got home today the girls decided to put on their rainboots and enjoy their after school snacks outside.

Filling up their empty tummies.

One of the best times of the day when sisters get to share laughs after missing each other all day.

and sometimes I can even catch them doing this...sisterly love, believe me when I say it's not always there.  Look at Emily watching to see if I'm getting any of this.

And after filling their bellies the fun begins with a little dance off.  We like to call Izzy "Elaine" from Seinfeld.  Can you see why? ;)

And let me tell you this girl has got some smooth moves.  Music is on and she is always on beat with rhythm to boot.

After school fun.  This is just a little part of why being a stay-at-home mom is one of the most rewarding jobs in the world.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe I've neglected my little blog for 9 months.  Honestly, I figured no one was reading but I have had people ask about it a few times over the past few months.  I decided to *try* and pick up blogging again if not to let others know what's going on with the girls and our every day fun but for myself as a diary of our year.

So let me catch you up...
Izzy is currently in Pre-K at the local elementary school and we love the fact that it is full-time and that we can walk very easily to and from school.  She seems to be enjoying it and I LOVE hearing all the stories of her day when she comes home.  Plus, as sad as it sounds the little walk to school and back is my 15 minutes of very, very low aerobic exercise I get each day. ;)

Here's a picture of her at school last fall during their Thanksgiving day parade.

Emily is in pre-school 2 days and week and she loves the art projects.  We have quite the collection of art work building on our counter and walls.  Don't be surprised if you get some art work from the girls in the mail soon.  They have an interest in mailing things to others so every time they draw something lately they announce who is piece is for and that we will be mailing it.

Here's a peek at some art work by Izzy.

I myself have been slow in the sewing department.  I've visited the doctor a number of times and finally figured out that I have mono.  Not fun.  Best thing to do is rest they say, so that is what I'm doing.  Lots and lots of rest.  The sore throat is the worst part but on top of it I have had a horrible cough.  I am praying that this all passes quickly!  However, I have to say that the rest has given me so much more time with my family and I am enjoying it SO much!

We did take a trip recently to Seattle.  This was a business trip for Clay but a little vacation time for the girls and myself. The girls and I had so much fun running around downtown and they were so good!

Here they are posing with the pig at Pike's Market which we visited 3 times!  Must do's at the market include: SAMPLING all the cheese, smoked salmon, jellies, etc., eating the little fried donuts, seeing the flying fish (of course), finding all the pigs, seeing the original Starbucks (though I have to say the fascination was not quite there for me).  

Emily eating some delicious pizza at Di Laurentiis.  Look at that sauce all over those sweet cheeks! *kiss kiss*

And around the market place you MUST stop by Kukurazu for all their flavored popcorns and Fran's chocolates.  Both are TDF!

And of course I had to take the girls to the Seattle Aquarium.  We've been before but my girls LOVE the aquarium.  I am convinced that Izzy will be a marine biologist or something when she grows up.

 And the best part of our trip was visiting with lots of old friends.  We got to see Clay's childhood friend and his sweet wife, two of my cousins along with their families, my aunt, a few of my old friends (strangely enough most are all Texas transplants), our good friend Kevin from our Buffalo days.  The above picture is of the girls and the adorable kids of a some old friends we visited.

So I know this was a long and random post but I hoping to be more disciplined in the blogging department for the sake of keeping everyone updated. :)  Leave a comment if you read this and maybe give me some encouragement? Ha ha!