Birthday Recap - Part 1

Whew. The shabby chic farm party has come and gone and I am wiped out. In fact, while the Mr. and Miss A are at church this am, I am home taking some "me" time..... Organizing pictures from the last couple of days and watching chick flicks on tv. Yesterday could not have gone any better. We had wonderful weather, Miss A loved playing with her friends and it was so much fun celebrating our little 2 year old! In the weeks leading up to this party, I was constantly on the lookout for pink, red and turquoise party supplies. These are pretty popular colors this time of year, so I had a pretty easy time finding all of the stuff that I needed. We held the party at a local farm. It was the best venue for a bunch of toddlers. They were able to feed animals, go on a tractor ride, ride a barrel train and basically just run all over the place. I don't know if I will ever host another kids party at our house again. :) Here are some "big picture" pictures..... tomorrow I will post some of the detail pictures.

More to come!

Children's Art

If you have little ones in your house, then you are constantly faced with the question - what do you with all of their art?!?! Keep? Display? Toss?

I am going to do all three.

I will keep the ones that are really special to me.

I will display all of it, on a rotating basis.

And I will toss it after a while.

And before you roll your eyes at me for tossing artwork created by my kid, just imagine how many masterpieces you would have if you saved every little scrap of construction paper your child gave you. It would probably be borderline hoarder.

In our game room I have created a gallery wall - it is composed of some Miss A art and some other framed prints. I really like how her stuff is incorporated in with the other stuff. It is important to display your child's artwork, and this way I can constantly display her stuff without having to tape things to my walls or kitchen cabinets. Eek.

I made little cork board strips and I have clips and thumb tacks on hand to attach the art.

She in constantly bringing home new projects, so the wall is constantly changing. Whenever I take down a piece of art, I take a picture of it and add it to a photo book.

I love sites lite Picaboo, Shutterfly and Snapfish. I am constantly making photo books, so this seemed like a logical thing to do with her art. I have not ordered one yet, but I am planning on making one book per year.

What do you do with your child's artwork?

Hey Good Lookin', Whatcha' Got Cookin

School mornings in our house are pretty hectic. Breakfast, bows, shoes, backpacks.... we are usually rushing out the door and I am always grabbing something to eat as I drive Miss A to school.

I made these breakfast cups today, hoping that we can all eat these and mornings will be a little less rushed. I am planning on freezing them and then pulling them out on an as needed basis.

Breakfast Cups

6 eggs

shredded cheddar cheese (I used about half of the block)

ham (or bacon, sausage, canadian bacon...) (used about half of what is below)

canned biscuits (2 cans of 10)

Scramble the eggs and allow them to cool for a couple of minutes. Mix with the shredded cheese and the chopped ham.

Use a rolling pin to roll out the individual biscuits and then stuff with the meat/egg/cheese filling. Do as best as you can to close the cups - I pulled each corner up and twisted it in the middle.

Line a muffin pan with liners and spray with cooking spray. Place each cup inside a liner.

Bake according to the biscuit directions. Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Kendra Scott Jewelery

I think we have all seen these fabulous Kendra Scott earrings around the blogosphere.... I keep seeing people wearing them and then last night I got to touch and feel a pair. (not heavy at all, I thought they might rip my ear hole out, but they seem very wearable.)

Well, I am in love with them.

But the hard part is choosing a color.

Yellow. White. Turquoise. Salmon. Mint green. Black. Silver. Gold.

Decisions, decisions! Do you have a pair of these earrings? If so, what color? Or, what color would you get?

And while we are talking about this lovely Kendra Scott Jewelery, take a look at these necklaces. Once again, I am in love with all of them. Good thing my birthday is coming up in June!

Happy Birthday Miss A!

Today is Miss A's 2nd birthday.

She has grown up into such a wonderful little girl in just 2 short years.

My little 9lb3oz (2 weeks early) bundle of joy....

... is now such a big girl!

All morning long I had a lump in my throat, thinking about her getting older. But then I realized that each and every stage is as good as the last. So, there is no point in being sad about her growing up. I am looking forward to everything to come, but not forgetting to be in the moment and cherish every single minute with this sweet girl.

Happy, happy birthday to YOU Miss A!

Fat Tuesday Randomness

Time for another random, numbered blog post.....

1. Since I have never had King Cake, I picked up a couple slices tonight at Whole Foods. Granted, this is no home made masterpiece like the one my friend Kate made, but it will do. I am not really sure how I should eat it. Do I heat it up? Eat it room temperature? Put butter on it? Help a Texas girl out. (We all know Texas is not really the South.....)

2. Tomorrow night kiddos can eat free at Chili's.

3. Have you tried e-mealz? I have never even heard of it until my friend told me about it a couple weeks ago.... I was looking around on the website this afternoon and I think it looks pretty neat. I have never really been a huge fan of meal plan sites like this, but I might give this one a shot. I love how it gives you a complete grocery list, plus you can customize the types of meals you want.

4. I don't think I have talked about Steve lately. His entire world has been turned upside down in the last year. Not only did we bring a huge lab into the mix, but there is a wild toddler chasing him around. I am sure he misses the days when it was just the two of us. Poor kitty.

5. Miss A turns 2 on Thursday! Wow. My girl is growing up so quickly.... she is an active ball of energy these days, talks all the time and is such a sweet and smart girl. Her party is not until the end of the month, but I am taking cupcakes to her class at school. Last year I made dozens of cupcakes, trying to get the just right recipe..... this year, I ordered them from the Target Bakery. They are moist, cute and perfect. Don't you love the big sprinkles?

Backyard SOS

Now that it is almost porch weather in Dallas, we need to get our backyard in tip top shape.

Ever since we moved into our house, we have been trying to tackle the mess that is the landscaping. The previous owners went completely over the top and covered every single square inch of the yard with something. There was practically zero grass, and the grass that was there is not in good shape. Pretty soon we are going to rip up everything in the backyard and re-sod and add just a couple of plants.

I think there are at least two things that are important for a good backyard porch - seating and outdoor lighting. Last year we bought a new patio set and this year we need to get some good lighting. My favorite is the lantern style.... we really don't have that much lighting out there now, so this will be a fairly easy project.

And after we get some new lighting, we need to get a swing set for Miss A, a new fence and some grass that is not DEAD!

Once we get all of this completed, I can guarantee that we will be living outside - at least until the temps start to boil.

CSN sponsored post

Report Card

Yesterday we took Jake to his first day of doggy daycare.



And hopefully it was not his last day. His report card was less than glowing and our pup was pretty antisocial.

PLAY - Sat it out
FRIENDS - Watched from the sidelines
NAP - Too excited to rest
FOOD - Eager for a meal at home
POTTY - Took a little coaxing
ALL DAY - Missed you

Jake was very nervous. We put him with the small dogs and he seemed to do ok, but he didn't really play with anyone.

I think this report card might almost be a failing grade - possibly a D?

But, even though Jake does not know how to play well with other dogs, there is one person that he knows how to play with.

Seeing the two of them together makes it so much easier to deal with all of his other crazy dog behavior. I would so much rather have this toddler loving dog that is sometimes wacked out nutzo versus a dog that is not good with children.