To Texas and Back

Hi Friends!

It's been awhile since I've posted, because we've been on a road trip to Texas!  It took us two overnight stays in hotels each way, but we managed to make the roughly 1400 mile trip without too much complaining or whining...at least from the kids, LOL!  The mini van's DVD really helped keep them occupied, I have no idea how my parents managed to drive me and my brother out west to Yellowstone before the days of iPods, Nitendo DS, etc.

One way we break up the driving is by planning fun stops along the way.  One of the things on my daughter's bucket list is to see a real live giant panda in person.  It's her favorite animal.  She's been talking about it for awhile, and I've been trying to explain to her that it would be hard to do since they aren't in very many zoos.  The only time I've seen one before was at the San Diego Zoo.

As I was doing research on what on what to do, I learned that the Memphis Zoo is one of only four US zoos to have one!  Memphis just happened to be on our route,so stopping was a definite must do!

We had an unexpected pit stop when we started spying the In-N-Out Burger signs around Dallas.  That's one of our favorite places, and I hadn't been to one since we moved out of the San Francisco Bay area...over ten years ago!  I think we were both excited to introduce this place to the kids.  My little guy won't eat burgers but he devoured a strawberry shake and the fries!  Our daughter loved the burger - no cheese or onions and was eager to stop for another round on the way back home.

We were lucky enough to stay with friends in Austin, but made some day trips to nearby things.  I felt like we were so close to the The Alamo that we just had to go see it.  I'm glad we did, I just think it's one of those historical places it's nice to say you've been too. It was surprisingly small, so plan to do more things while in San Antonio as it will only take a couple hours at most.  There are a surprisingly high number of touristy things around it, like wax museums, mirror mazes, etc.that I wasn't expecting.

We also went to the San Antonio River Walk, which is just lovely!  It's full of cute little stores and lots of great looking restaurants.  It really is much cooler down there too.  We thought it looked like a really neat place to come for date night.

However, we had seven kids in our groups so we didn't do much shopping, but we did take all the kids to The Rainforest Cafe.  Our friend's children had never been to one before and it was a big hit, air conditioned, with a build in show and lots of things to look at.  Plus no one cares if the kids get a little boisterous.

My husband is a physical chemist so he really enjoys science museums and the Hill County Science Mill is a real gem.  We were there on a quiet weekday and it wasn't very crowded.  The kids could all really enjoy all the hands exhibits and use them to their hearts content.  There were lots of interactive displays too.  The Lady Bird Lane Cafe is attached and this small farm to table restaurant delivers some surprisingly sophisticated eats, not your normal kids museum fare at all.

Speaking of food, my husband really wanted to try BBQ while in TX.  Our hosts were kind enough to watch the kids so we could escape for dinner at The Salt Lick.  I'm so glad we went, it was really cool to try Texas BBQ as I'm more used to pulled pork and Georgia style BBQ.  The sausage was soooo good and I really loved the sides, which are more vinegar based that cream.

I also went for a yummy Mexican lunch with my friend on our last afternoon there.  Brad stayed with all seven of the kids back at their house while we got away for four hours!

Another cool day trip we took that was a hit with all the kids was going to the Austin Zoo.  This one is a little different from your typical zoo because it's has a lot of rescue animals, including a surprising number of exotic ones.  We saw tigers, lions, and bears.  All of which, made we wonder about just who would ever think these would make good pets!  This deer was a lot tamer, but it represents a big moment for my daughter as she normally is too timid to feed animals from the hand.  Her normal thing is to throw the feed in their general direction.  This time she was brave enough to feed this sweet one and I loved seeing the interaction.

All too soon our week in Austin flew by and we were back on the road home.  But not without a stop in Dallas for...The American Girl Store!  My daughter really wants a Samantha doll for her birthday so we agreed to get her one if she'd forgo a big friend birthday party.  She's still going to have a couple friends sleepover, so she's not too deprived.

Our big stop on the way home was to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home in Missouri.  There's a bit of a running joke about this place.  We've driven near it a few times, since my husband used to have Grandparents in MO, and I asked to stop.  He kind of zoomed by the exit playfully.  A few miles down the road I was like, "I was serious!"  He thought I was joking, since he didn't really even know who Laura Ingalls Wilder was! I know, can you imagine not knowing about the author of the Little House books?!

This time he very nicely planned a detour so we could head over and tour the houses.  We had good timing to as we arrived shortly before a tour.  My daughter enjoyed as much as I did because she enjoys historical places.  The three year old, liked it about as much as any three year old would.

We've been back for a little over a week and have been enjoying days of laying around with nothing to do.  We like to start off the summer with a week of doing very little, so heading off to TX the very day school ended was a big departure from the norm for us.

That's our summer so far, is yours off to a good start?

January in Review

The first month of 2015 is in the history books and while it ended with 3 out of 4 in the family getting the flu, there were still some highlights.

Beginning with, ER making it to the ball drop on New Year's Eve for the second year in a row.  This time, the annual Lego building while waiting, centered around putting together a Friends set and not one of Daddy's.  ER watched a little of the Countdown, and thought Taylor Swift must have been very cold!

At our monthly Brownie meeting we completed the requirements for the Home Scientist Badge, and most of the girls selected making "Dinosaur Sn*t" as their favorite activity.  We were supposed to do this badge at a Council event planned through the Source but it got canceled from low registration, and while it wasn't that hard to do at home - wow was the kitchen a mess!  We also made ice cream in a bag, made raisins dance, made salt and pepper dance, and blew up a balloon without using our mouth.

I'm still getting monthly subscriptions, even though I haven't made the time to share & review them lately.  Here is my January Ipsy.  I'm enjoying the Pacifica eye shadow & the Velvet 59 lip gloss but I'll probably never use the eyeliner as I've decided liquid is too big of a hassle at this stage of my life.

ER went ice skating twice this month, a record considering how she'd only ever been once before in her entire life!  We went on a Friday off with a friend & then to lunch afterward.  Then later in the month our Brownie troop went ice skating together.

The meal of the month had to be Brad's Chicken Parmesan, it was so yummy that both kids asked for seconds!  Unheard of!!!  He based it off of a Betty Crocker recipe from a cookbook we got when we got married - that will be 15 years ago this summer.

As I mentioned, we did get hit pretty badly with the flu.  My little guy was the first to get it.  He was sick over the last weekend and then it lingered into the following week too.  He missed both his days of PreK-3 and was pretty sad about missing his friends and playing outside in the snow with them.

Then I came down with the flu the Thursday after he got it.  ER on Saturday, a few days after me and one week after her little brother.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that Brad doesn't get it too.

December in Review

Hello!  It's been awhile, hasn't it?  I meant to take a little break from blogging over the holidays and a week turned into, well you know...  Things were busy, a bit stressful, but also lots of fun.  In December our Elves on the Shelf came back.  That's Holly above, all tucked into her gift wrapping sleeping bag for a well deserved nap.  The magic continues to be real for both our eight and three year old.  ER even wrote out little signs for each one and had a welcome back note waiting for both.

My alumnae chapter of Kappa Delta Sorority had a Pinterest party for our December event.  We made cute ornaments out of clear bulbs, and it was fun to be surrounded by so much creativity!  I was really impressed by the Santa and Rudolph ones made by filling them with glitter and then adding paint details.

I also had farro for the first time, in a dish also made with butternut squash.  Now normally, I stay away from any form of winter squash and "weird" new grains aren't too high on my to try list, yes at times I am as adventurous as a toddler when it comes to eating!  Maybe it's true and bacon really does make everything better, but this was delicious and a big hit at the party.  I would never in a million years have predicted that!

One of the biggest things to happen at home, was that our basement project is finally finished!  Or at least close enough to begin moving our stuff in, organizing, and setting up my new crafting and office area.  I'm currently writing up this blog post in the new space.  I think the last cosmetic things to be done are adding the last of the flooring to the stairs and touch up painting on the stairway.

This was how it looked before we moved in all the furniture and bought a new sofa.  It's set up for the Christmas Craft Brownie meeting, that was scheduled to happen that night.

I'm the last remaining leader out of the original three of our troop.  I plan on stepping down this year, and our size has dwindled so now it's possible to do more elaborate things with the girls.  We decorated cupcakes, that's ER's wreath above, and also made waterless snowglobes, 5X7 handprint snowmen canvases, and plastic spoon snowmen pots.  It was a lot to fit in our two hours but the girls really loved the variety of projects.

I linked the projects we did to the pins on Pinterest that inspired them.

We also did our own crafting, ER made the mini wreath, she got to go crazy picking out glittery floral decor for it and had a grand ol' time.  LB made the craft stick glittered snowflake in preschool and was very proud of his surprise gift.  He also made trees, like these, but never quite finished them. Both of them made the annual gingerbread house with Daddy.

We spent a lot of quality time with family and friends: holiday parties, special outings, play dates over break, and out of town visitors.  The kids were glad one special guy in red came by, and as usual between Santa, the Grandparents, and us...the kids had no shortage of presents.

I hope your Christmas and holiday season was a full of happy memories, as ours was!

Halloween Happenings: Recap 2014

We had a memorable Halloween!  It was bitterly cold with freezing winds and light dusting of SNOW!  The kids were all bundled up but even the bad weather didn't deter them from heading out, at least for a bit, to fill up their treat buckets with candy!

Winter coats and layers were a must.  My eight year old daughter has two pairs of pants and three layers on underneath her dress.  My three year old only went around the block but he actually has pajamas on too - footed blanket sleeper with another layer on under that!  It's a good thing that this year's costumes both had plenty of room.

Since the weather on Halloween night wasn't that pleasant, I'm glad we took them to a few extra events throughout the month.  It was also cold the night we went to Greenfield Village for Haunted Nights but not nearly as bad.  The kids are still layers underneath their fireman and renaissance princess outfits.

They got good use out of the costumes, as they also wore them for a Girl Scout Dance, Party at the Fire Station, and at each of their schools.

October is always busy but so much fun.  The little guy and I went to a new pumpkin patch last year on a field trip and it was fun to take the my husband and daughter there on one of the nice October weekends.

Carving pumpkins just gets more fun each year, as the kids get older and more into it.  My daughter drew on the girly face, complete with lipstick and winged eyeliner!  My husband got fancier than usual and cut a Lego head in the other.  We also used this nice kit of Mr. Potatohead like pieces that you just push into the pumpkin to create animal faces.  My son had a blast with those.

Halloween day was very hectic, so I'm glad my son's preschool party was the day before.  He only goes on Tues/Thurs.  I went and helped him paint a mini pumpkin, he was especially keen on using the glitter all by himself.  We also had treats and he got the world's biggest ghost sugar cookie on a stick so he was pretty excited.

On Halloween I helped in my daughter's third grade classroom in the morning.  I was assigned to the pumpkin decorating table.  They also assembled paper skeletons, made toilet paper roll creatures, and did games.  Then I rushed over to meet my family for lunch.  Then we hurried back over to school for the parade.  The little guy was much better behaved than I expected.  He was enthralled by all the kids in their costumes walking by.

Then it was home to finish making dinner, greeting our friends who usually join us, and trying to eat a quick meal before our town's 5:30 - 7:30 trick or treating hours.  I think we had the fewest kiddos show up for candy than ever before, no doubt due to the cold weather.  I think most were done by 6:30 or soon after.  Even though they didn't get to as many houses as they might have liked, all the kids ended up with full buckets of candy so I'd say it was still a successful night!

Hope your Halloween was full of memories too!  I'm linking up to the Mom Creative's Annual Halloween Link-Up :)

A Gorgeous Sew Fierce Long Sleeve Peasant Dress & Chunky Necklace

My daughter absolutely LOVED the holiday dress I got for her last year from Sew Fierce.  So much that she wanted to keep wearing it long after Christmas had come and gone.  It's so comfortable and easy to put on, with no buttons or zippers to deal with, and it looks equally lovely with or without the sash.

As we planned her fall wardrobe, ER was quick to remind me she really wanted a new long sleeved peasant style dress.  It took just a few messages back and forth with Sew Fierce owner Steph and we were all set up for a new custom made dress.  It just arrived and it is gorgeous!

The long sleeved peasant style has so many pretty details, from the sash to the ruffled hem.

Isn't the fabric Steph picked for us stunning?  It's so pretty and pink, just like E wanted, but a more sophisticated pink that reflects how my little girl is turning into a little lady.  The colors are so rich and vibrant.  When Steph sent me a photo of a swatch to look at, I knew E would flip for it.

Steph also makes the ultimate little girl accessory - chunky necklaces!  They are such a fun statement look.  Youthful, kitchy, with sparkle and glamour, they are what every girly girl loves.  When I surprised E with it, she squealed with delight when she saw the shiny beads and the My Little Pony on it. 

We love all our Sew Fierce Boutique creations.  They are truly high quality heirloom outfits that are so so much nicer than anything you can buy at the store.  Steph has always been wonderful to work with, so much so that we've become friends and not just etsy seller and fan :)  I can't rave enough about her, and know that you'll all love her beautifully detailed work, go check her out!

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FYI: Steph recently launched her new Betsy design.  It's so pretty with it's lace sleeves.  Seriously, you have to go check it out, she's even got adorable Halloween dresses in that style! 

13 Years - Happy Anniversary!

Here's a rare picture of just the two of us as we get ready to head out for date night to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary with a night out on the town without the kids.  Thirteen years is a long time and yet at times it seems like the time has gone by in a blink of an eye.  We've lived in three states and three time zones, had two kids, and countless adventures and I know many more priceless memories are in store for us.  It's been wonderful traveling this path together with you Brad, love so so much!

Teen Beach Movie, Premiering Friday July 19th & Family Movie Night Fun

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, I received Disney Channel "Teen Beach Movie" products in exchange for a post about the film.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love summer!  Schedules are relaxed and there's time to have fun together as family.  We let our daughter's strict 8 o'clock bedtime slide and a great way to end a hot busy day is with cuddles on the couch, popcorn, and a great movie on the TV.  Already on our schedule, is to enjoy the Disney Channel's premier of "Teen Beach Movie" on Friday July 19 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

This breezy surf-rock musical comedy is going to be perfect for our family to watch together, the video clip previews have already got us excited to dance and sing along.  The movie has a really cute premise: When teen surfing sweethearts Brady and McKenzie surf their way into a classic beach party movie, "Wet Side Story," they find themselves caught in the middle of the two groups vying for control of their beach's hangout.  It's a beach side movie as only Disney can do it, complete with spontaneous song and dance!  As Brady and Mack try to get back home, they inadvertently change the movie's romantic storyline when handsome surfer Tanner falls for McKenzie and biker girl Lela falls for Brady. 

Both the surfers and bikers are stylized with a retro cool look, adding to the old school vibe of the film.  It's a modern twist on classics such as "Gidget," or "Grease," with a message for kids and tweens about the importance of believing in yourself and following your true identity along with positive themes like self-expression, friendship and youth empowerment.  I am glad to have an option for good wholesome entertainment for my soon to seven year old daughter.

Teen Beach Movie is ideal for a family movie night and to get in the mood we threw a beach themed night!  It was complete with decorations and snacks to make our time spent together even more memorable.  To make planning super easy, right now there is a "Teen Beach Movie" party kit at DisneyChannel.com/TeenBeachMovie!

You'll find everything you need there from banners, to food ideas, crafts, and more.  Please excuse the crinkles in part of our banner, my almost two year old got a little excited over all the decorations and couldn't resist playing with it.  He was really, really, into this special family time and it was great to do it all without leaving home!

We decided to get into the mood, using some of the party ideas from the "Teen Beach Movie" site.  Starting with a "Surf's Up!" banner we downloaded and printed and a cool blow up "Teen Beach Movie" surf board sent to me for writing this post.  While ours themed, another beach blow up were certainly add the right touch to your party decorations.  A stack of inter tubes artfully arranged would look great!

The Teen Beach Movie Party Kit makes it super easy to throw a themed event and leave you with plenty of time for fun!   I was really tempted to go all out with the food but my daughter just wanted fruit and "sammies" aka sandwiches.  I had to remind myself movie night doesn't have to be complicated, what she is going to remember is the time we spend wit her and not how long it took Mommy to make decorations!

Then we laid out our favorite beach towels to get into the beach party mood and popped in one of our favorite Disney DVDs into our player, Jake and the Neverland Pirates to substitute for "Teen Beach Movie" this time. 

Time to dig into some yummy snacks, using the Premier Food Labels and Party Board Surf Boards to carry on our theme. Easy peasy and both kiddos were crazy about the little surf boards. The little signs punched up the level of excitement over the snacks and every day food became extra special.

We had so much fun, here are some more pictures of the silliness to be had!  The photo props and popcorn buckets were sent to me in my kit along with E's bracelet and temporary tattoos but it's easy to get a couple things like leis or inexpensive sunglasses to wear for your beach themed family movie night!

Here is a little video showing more of our family movie night, enjoy!

Our night felt like just a warm up for the big event on Friday, July 19th!  We hope you'll tune it too!