Happy Birthday Kylie

13 years ago my life changed.  I never knew what having my first daughter would do to me.  I have been blessed in so many ways....  Kylie is beautiful, smart, athletic.  She has one of the tenderest hearts I know.  I could go on and on.  She has become a teenager now and everyday I am so proud to call her my daughter. 

Happy Birthday Emily

I can hardly believe my baby girl is "10."  Where has all the time gone???  I'm so proud of Emily she lights up our lives.  She had her teacher conference yesterday an got all "A's."  Way to go girl!  She is a super star soccer player and can't wait to start basketball.

We have a scavenger hunt birthday party planned for the weekend, or almost planned, I still have a lot of details to get finished up on but it should be a blast.  Happy Birthday Emily!

Mother's Day!

Mothers Day was great, we cooked out and everyone came over to my house.  It was pretty chilly out so we had to eat inside, bummer!  We dipped strawberries for dessert, oh so yummy!  The kids couldn't get enough.  Emily brought me peonies from a friend's yard and Todd helped the girls get me a hanging basket for the yard.
On Saturday this is what my mom and I did...

and this is who gave us our pedicures....It was so relaxing. They did a great job massaging our legs and feet. We had quite the set up in the garage.  We drank coffee and listened to some music and enjoyed each others company.  We decided we should do this once a week.  I'm sure the girls would go along with it. 

L-O-V-E

Last Sunday while Todd was away watching the Super Bowl the girls and I decided to make Valentines. In the past we have used store bought boring Valentines cards, it's what the girls wanted. It seems since my girls have been in school it's a big thing to have candy attached to the card.  When I was in school you just got the paper valentine and that was it.  Times they have changed!  Anyway I found these cute and super easy cards for Emily.  I tried to link back to where the original came from hope I got that right. The blog was 24-7-365.  I asked my Sis-in-law Laura to add the text to the picture I had taken of Emily and then she ordered them for me from Wal-mart. I picked them up the next evening.  So fun!  I used those mat stacks from the goodwill to add sturdiness to the back of the picture they were just what I needed and I didn't even know it when I bought them.  I hole punched the picture and added the sucker.  I think Emily's class will just love these. 

I was excited at the way these turned out I think they are just so unique!

Kylie is in 5th grade now and instead of Valentines parties they do some sort of community service project that day.  She made just a few of these for her close friends.  I found the dot candy at Walgreens. These were fast and fun to make too.  Perfect for kids that are just crazy over cell phones right now.  She added a text message to the inside. Something like U R Gr8! 

Today I got busy making the cupcakes for Emily's class party too. I think they turned out pretty and can't wait to see the kids enjoy them. I just love going to the parties at school and helping out.  The kids are so much fun to watch and interact with.

Shop Till We Drop!

My mom and I have always loved to shop. We are good together.  You know some people you go shopping with they are get in and get out with what they want kinda people. Others, like us, we love to look and touch and just hang out, take our time.

  This past Saturday I left the girls with Todd, he took them to work and they got to talk on the intercom and play office, chat with all the guys. The guys buy them junk food and so on. They love going to work with him.  So I picked up my mom and we headed to Wichita.  We ended up going to 3 different goodwill stores. If you don't shop at goodwill your missing out.  You just never know what you might come across and we love that.  I always find the cutest t-shirts for the girls.  Kylie is into the Aeropostle baby t's and I bet over the past year I have found her about 12.  In perfect condition and just her size and get this, for $0.99.  Do you know how much those t's are new?  Wowzie!  I found these frames that I can cover with paper and make them super cute!  I look for the "Life is Good" t's.  It's kind of a game between my mom and I who will find one first.  So far I'm the winner.  This past trip I found this great jacket from GAP for $3.99.  Anyway what can I say I'm a bargain shopper and who doesn't love a great bargain.   The paper pack I found for $1.49 there were 3 on the shelf, I picked up all 3 and will show you later this week what I ended up using it for.

We also went to Target and I found a new purse which is all I was really after anyway.  We had a wonderful day together.  We had time to talk in the car and just relax. We really treasure the time we get to spend together.


The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.

Favorite Things 2010

I decided to join in on the fun over at Elephant Juice, Laura listed her current favorite things and is asking everyone else to do the same.  It's so much to see what everyone is enjoying, who knows you might find something new you love. 

I tried and tried to find a template for my photos similar to Laura's but I was not successful I guess when you really have no photo editing software it's nearly impossible.  I just decided to jump in and do it the way I know how, very simply.  I really need some lessons Laura....
So here they are some of my favorite things of 2010.  I grabbed my camera this morning and walked around the house finding all the things that make me happy and it didn't take long.  In no paticular order some of the things I have really enjoyed over the past few months are:

• Cuties or tiny oranges, you know the ones sold in the mess bag at the grocery store they are small and super easy to peel, sometimes I'll eat 2 or 3 at a time. Love these!!!  This picture is of large oranges you can see one of the little ones underneath  they were all out of cuties last time I was at the store. The big ones are so not as fun to eat.

• Burt's Bees Lavender complexion mist.  I love the smell of this stuff.  You just hold it out and give a quick mist on your face or you can mix it with your cream moisturizer.  It is wonderful, so nice in the dry winter months. It's all natural and comes in a cute little aluminum can with a sprayer.

• Soy Lifestyle Candle, I hadn't burned candles for awhile until I picked this one up for myself while out Christmas shopping I thing I got it at Gordmans for like $7.99.  It is Sandalwood Vanilla scented and it is so strong. I love that about it because the scent is just heavenly. It's almost gone and I will surely pick up another one of these next time I see one, maybe in a fun springy scent.   

• All You magazine,  I usually pick up one of these each month but just ordered a subscription for a bit cheaper.  This magazine is so full of good coupons it usually pays for itself.  I like to have magazines around to keep in the car while waiting to pick up the kids or I will lay in bed at night and read a bit. 

• Maxwell House Vanilla Bean Latte.  This is a new coffee house drink that gets frothy when you add the hot water and stir.  It is super yummy.  Every once in a while I will splurge and go out to the local coffee shop but usually I make my own coffee at home. A drink like this at the coffee shop may cost $4.00 or so and that makes me crazy!  I don't drink this everyday, maybe once a week.  It's a little sweet for early in the morning, but very tasty. My daughter Emily got a taste of it one day and now I have to keep it hidden, she sees it and wants me to make her a mug full, the last thing she needs is coffee!  This big brown mug I got a few trips back at the Goodwill store. I love it, it's perfect to wrap your hands around when they are cold. 

• My heated mattress pad.  Oh my, I could not be without this in the winter. I hate getting into bed when the sheets are cold.  My girls will go in sometime during the evening and turn it on.  We usually all snuggle in our bed 30 min. or so before they have to go to their own beds at 9.  It's one of our favorite times of day we will watch food network, funniest videos or just talk. Sometimes daddy joins us but not always. His favorite part of the deal is he does not have to have his side on at all it has dual controls.  So cozy....

• My family photos!  I have so enjoyed these photos we had taken by my talented sister-in-law Laura. We had these taken back in November I think, I have them all over the house. I gave my family some for Christmas also. There is nothing more precious than capturing a certain time in the life of your family I will cherish these for many years.  I'm not kidding my sister-in-law is talented if you need photos taken check her out here.

• My recipe book collection is something I have loved for a long time.  I have quite a few Gooseberry Patch books and I have gotten probably all but 2 at garage sales. Isn't that crazy I would not sell these at a garage sale, they are too cute!  My Pioneer Woman cookbook is the latest and I love it too. Reading it has been fun. I have also tried quite a few of the recipes and have not been dissappointed. She is very funny too!  I have a few little handmade recipes books, Winter Favorites, muffins, etc. Laura has given me these for Christmas the past few years.  They are so cute and I treasure them.

• This necklace I picked up at Wal-mart I think.  I thought it was really cute and looks great with a black sweater, it's pretty bulky compared to the jewelry I usually wear but I love it and It's fun for special occasions.

• I also picked up these cool storage boxes at Wal-mart.  They are perfect for storing things that normally are just laying around.  These two I have stored some Cricut cartridges and books, and crochet needles and the yarn I use to make dish towels.  They stack neatly and make things look more organized in my craft space.

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  Lastly my MP3 player, it is nothing fancy but holds all my cd's.  Sometimes I wear it around while cleaning house or hook it up to the little speakers while doing crafts.  I love that all the songs on all the songs are played randomly.  My husband came home with an IPod touch for Christmas and I gently told him that I didn't need something so fancy this cheaper small MP3 works just fine. We took it back,  I haven't done it yet but I will upgrade to a bigger 8GB because this 4GB is full up!  I told you I'm a simple girl!

So there you have it some of my favorite things for 2010 so far.  This post was a challenge as I neared the end my laptop just shut off. Thanks goodness for blogger saving the post every so often or I would have cried.  It took me forever to get it going again I think maybe it was overheating it's not used to all this action. 

Jump on over to Laura's blog and join in the fun.  I really enjoyed thinking about all the things I love. 

It's a snow day!

at 5:37 this morning I got a text from our local radio station that school was closed today.  I was excited and the girls even more so. They were counting on it last night as Todd and I were trying to get them to go to sleep.

  We got to be lazy and eat breakfast, then Laura texted and said Barrett was asking about us so we decided to go over and play with them for awhile.  I hauled my laptop over and talked Valentine cards with Laura while the kids ran around the house and giggled and had a blast.  We were there almost  two hours maybe and the car was covered with fluffly powdery snow. We ended up going to Wal-mart afterwards, Emily had a gift card still and wanted to buy a new game for her DSi.  When we left there it was scary, the parking lot was snow covered and I almost ran over the man gathering carts, he beat my back window with his fist to let me know he was there I almost peed my pants. This snow was getting deep and it was hard to keep the windshield cleared I was never so thankful to not have very far to drive. 

We've been cozy in the house ever since and I finally decided to work my blog over it was getting VERY dusty! I had the biggest plans in January to blog regularly. It didn't happen but today somehow I got inspired and I hope I can get on a roll.  Over the past few months I could have blogged more but I was busy with both girls birthdays, Thanksgiving with all my family, a wonderful Christmas,  lots of odd jobs, working at the school, and sadly we had to move my sweet grandma Betty to a nursing home. Grandmas alzheimers is really taking its toll. My poor grandpa is so lonely at home without her, my mom and I have tried to go with him pretty regularly to visit her. It is not easy.  

Tonight we are invited to go to our neighbors for supper and laughs so glad we can just walk.