43rd Anniversary

Wednesday is my parents' 43rd anniversary. I can't even imagine being married for 43 years. What an amazing achievement. Anyway, the kids chose a cake they wanted me to make for the anniversary...complete with their decorating skills.

All I did was bake and ice the cake and they did the rest. Thank you so much to another blogger who made one...and now for the life of me, I cannot find her blog. As soon as I find it, I will definitely give her the credit. Ugh, I hate that.

But here is our masterpiece of the day!






PS!! I found the blog I got it from!!! She has the BEST ideas...and she's from Texas, so you have to love that. Go check out her blog! Now! No wait, NOW!!!

Date night with Kathy Griffin...

This weekend my husband and I spent some quality time together in Houston, and although we were gone only 24 hours, it seems like 3 days. We had a fantastic time.

On Saturday afternoon, we loaded up the children into the car, grabbed their backpacks full of clothes and toys, and dropped them off for an slumber party at their grandparents' house. We were quickly on the road, and after losing 30 pounds and happily knowing I would not be on my diet this weekend, I was ready for a Burger King stop. We had cheeseburgers on the way to the hotel, the Crowne Plaza in downtown Houston. We checked in and took a quiet nap. It's the little things in life! We got dressed for dinner (and I got a chance to wear my gorgeous new heels...
.)and went to Brazos restaurant, ready to eat something new and exciting. Josh likes to eat the same popular standbys, but I am a little more adventurous.

So we ordered calamari for Josh and fried goat cheese with walnuts, cranberries, and candied figs. Holy hell, that was delicious. Then Josh ordered a NY strip steak and I had shrimp and crab capallini.
TO DIE FOR! After full tummy and a glass of wine we were headed to the theater district. We got there a little too early, so we hung out at the bar of a local Italian restaurant. While we were waiting, and old friend texted me asking if we were going to the Kathy Griffin show as well. It turns out we were going to the 6:30 show and they were going to the 9:30 show. We agreed to meet up for drinks in between and catch up.

So into the theater we go, waiting patiently for Kathy to come on stage. We had really good seats on the floor about half way back. She was completely hilarious, and I would definitely pay to see her again ASAP. Afterward, we met up with our friend for drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe and hung out until their show started. Realizing that we do not get out much and needed to take advantage of this time alone, we decided to go see a movie....The Other Guys with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. You KNOW how I love a Wahlberg!!! HILARIOUS. We will be buying it as soon as it comes out on DVD. We rolled into the hotel around 1 am and set out our breakfast requests.

8:22 came very early this morning to get our breakfast. I am not used to being up so late anymore. But it is a beautiful thing to be able to enjoy breakfast in bed in peace and quiet.

Such a wonderful weekend and I am sooooo glad we made time for this.

Cream cheese and strawberry jam goodness...

Oh beautiful day. I got this idea from HERE to make this braid...oh boy!

This is a super easy recipe, very quick, and people will think you spent all day in the kitchen working on this one. I like cream cheese, so I really loaded up the center with it. It could be made bigger, smaller, thinner, or thicker, and you could put any flavor jam or preserve on the top of this. Strawberry just happens to be my favorite.

So here is the series...





Too bad I can't eat any of it, since I am still on my diet. Hopefully one to two more months and I will be done....hence the no cheating :)

It's that time again...

BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!!!!! It's the most wonderful time of the year...said very tongue in cheek. But really, school is such a God-send for Caleb as he just CRAVES the routines that I just cannot constantly provide for him. Jansen adjusts in any situation so I am really looking forward to his first year in the big KINDERGARTEN.

On to back to school shopping, of which, I did very little of. We bought pre-made school supply packages for each kid in May and are anxiously awaiting their arrival. :) We are incredibly fortunate to have extended family (Nana, Mimi, and great grandmother MeeMaw) who provide both of our kids with clothing a few times out of the year, school time being one of them. So this year, I only had to buy shoes and backpacks, and given the choice, Caleb decided to stick with last year's Super Mario backpack. They both have lunchkits and containers that are still in great condition after last school year. JOY!

So, Caleb's 2010-2011 begins with the following....

And Jansen's begins with...
Counting down the days until school and the hectic schedule begins....school, soccer, piano, PTO. BRING IT ON!!!

PS....Mommy got a little present as well...SQUEEEEEEEE

T-shirt playdate

A homeschooling friend of mine hosts a creative playdate each Wednesday afternoon and invites a bunch of other moms and kids to join the fun. Some of the activities have included jewelry making, cake decorating, painting, crescent pizzas and games, and today...T-shirt decorating.

The kids really enjoyed this because it really wasn't messy. Caleb does NOT enjoy getting dirty in any way, shape, or form. My friend found some really cool transfer papers that the kids drew all over using oil crayons. Once they finished their artwork, the adults just ironed it on and they turned out great! It doesn't have that bubbly iron-on look...it just looks screen printed onto the shirts. My boys gave it two thumbs up.

Here is us working on our masterpieces

And here is their works of art

And here are the kids' finished pieces (including my two boys on the far left, front and back row)

I even made one for a bib for my friend's daughter.

This is just an easy, fun, non-messy activitiy even for little kids. We could make shirts, bibs, aprons, hand towels, hats, tote bags, pot holders....the possibilities are endless!

Mad organizational skills....

Most of you know that I have zero organizational skills...well, less than zero. But honestly, doesn't having at least one thing really neatly organized make you feel like you cleaned the whole house?? Maybe that is just me.

I am often frazzled about trying to find things. I put a piece of paper down in a place that I am sure to find it later, only to have it disappear into the chaos. This simply won't work for school for the kids next month. Storage needs to be created for the projects, homework, parent signature pages, and last but not least, all my PTO paperwork and plans. Goal for this week: organize one thing each day.

Day one: the kitchen junk drawer. You know you have one too. All the ribbon, tape, scissors, batteries, to do lists, greeting cards just get relegated to this drawer and soon you can't open it for fear the contents might explode out and cut up your face. Maybe that is just me as well.

So anyway, here is the before of our junk drawer: (Que creepy Twighlight Zone music)

Almost an hour later (yep, I said an hour) this is the after:

Admittedly, I am kind of a drawer slob. Almost ever drawer in our house just has crap thrown into it, because that is just not high on priority list. Ranks up there with cleaning out my refrigerator. I am not going to do it. No apologies. :)

The Greatest Show on Earth!!!!!!!

Yesterday Josh and I braved the masses of haggard parents being dragged by sugared children to attend THE CIRCUS. ZING, ZANG, ZOOM!!! We arrived early so that we could all get a behind the scenes look at the animals and trainers, and what do you think was Jansen's favorite part? "I like the elephants, and he pooped and peed." Yep, that is what my 5 year-old remembered over all. Caleb laughed harder than I have ever heard him....the clowns were fantastic. So here was the lowdown. Circus tickets: $105. Light-up sword: $20. Bag of cotton candy with souvenier hat: $12. TWO sno cones with souvenier cups: $24. Taking two bites of said sno cone and spilling it: PRICELESS. Very worth our time and moolah! The kids loved it.