An Awesome Deal!

So Target had a clearance toy deal this Summer and I seriously got such an amazing deal! I got all of this for about $60!! Crazy amazing deal. Thank you Target! These toys covered most all our birthday party invite gifts and I got an awesome start on Christmas shopping! Love it! Just had to share.

80’s Prom Party!!

*Oct 3rd*

What fun!!!! Some friends of ours invited us to this super “radicle” totally “awesome”,  “outstanding” party! We had a tubular (haha!) time. It was hilarious to see everyone all dressed up. Our hosts did an amazing job with decorations too. It was loads and loads of fun.

Jason and some of his buddies goofing around.

Look at those costumes!

My friend Tiffany and I…..Lookin’ good girly!Amanda and I. Funny gal!

My rock star 80’s hubby and his friend Sunny.

Haha!! Stroke that leather girl!

The pink girls. Love it!

Oh yeah we had a blast! Totally a night to remember! :0)

Thanks Sunny and Tiff for the invite!

NEW Camera!!!

6/5 - I got the best deal EVER! A woman was selling her brand new (well technically 6 month old but never really used) Canon Rebel SXI on Craigslist for $500 I offered her $350 and she took it! It looks brand new. It came with a really nice camera bag, 2 lenses, a 4gig  memory card and a bunch of other stuff. Unbelievable deal!!!! What’s even better is that we sold my old camera (Canon sx10) for $250 so we only paid $100 for my new camera!!! Seriously I can not even express how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new camera!!!!!! :o)

Another Cake Post

A friends son was turning 11 and she asked me to make his cake. The request was a LEGO cake. It was super short notice but I managed to throw this together. I think it turned out pretty cute! Although I wasn’t asking for any money she even paid me for the cake! My very first cake purchase! Thanks MJ!

Happy Birthday Anthony!

 

I Love Making Cakes!

I figured I would share some of my cake creations. 

A friend sent me the link to a blog and I thought it would be fun to enter their little giveaway. In addition to that I am actually making another neat cake tonight for my Mom's birthday that I would love to share too.

I've always been interested in making cakes. I started making them for my family members when I was about 10. However, it wasn't until I had children myself that I actually started really getting my hands dirty. I just recently started working with fondant which has been a blast! 

This was my very first fondant cake which I made for a baby shower:

The little guy sitting on top was by far the most challenging part. He sure is cute though, isn't he?

My second fondant creation was for my daughters 5th birthday party. Not perfect by any means, but I was still thrilled with how it came out.

For whatever reason I only took pictures of two sides instead of all three. The third side had another pretty bundle of flowers on it (seen to left in the picture above).

Some of my other cakes include:

Another baby shower cake for a friend.

This awesome dinosaur was for my sons 4th birthday party.

A fun pirate ship for my sons 5th birthday party.

This was a fun one! Wowsa was it work though! My sons 6th birthday cake for a camping themed party.

 I made all the decorations for the cake by hand. I used many different candies to construct the various different parts of this cake. TONS of work but oh so cute!

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Oh, and yes the bears are wearing clothes. Including but not limited to a life jacket and fanny pack. Hee, hee.

 And my last cake for today is a smiling little Dora for my daughter's 2nd birthday.

Thanks so much for taking the time to check my cakes out. They are far from perfect but I sure have had a lot of fun making them!

Some Serious Time Management..

I got this wonderful sewing machine from a mommy friend! I’ve been looking for a good working sewing machine for a while and just couldn’t pass this up. I’ve been super excited to use it for like months now…… :0)

 

I found these brand new Gap jeans for Jordan at once Upon a Child (a local children’s clothing store). Tags and everything still attached. They wanted $10 for them but I noticed that the seem was split so they knocked the price down to $5!! Woohoo!

I decided that these wonderful jeans would be my first sewing project as I have been trying to find something to sew on my new machine for far to long now.

The good news? The seem is fixed. Bravo.

The bad? It took me an hour and a half.

I mean seriously..how pathetic. I spend all this time getting everything set up, 35 minutes reading all the directions to sew for a whopping 30 seconds. And I’m serious it literally took me 30 seconds to sew the jeans.

Buuut…I read to whole entire manual and for me that’s a serious accomplishment. Oh and I completed my first sewing project. ;o)

Our Bathroom Light/Fan Works!!!

3/11 - WOOHOO! I know…I know….silly. But after almost a year of the most hideous screeching sound every time the light was turned on this makes me very happy! I was not happy when I came home to this: But after everything was put back together and it looked and worked wonderfully I was thrilled! :o) So much nicer then the old one.

Embrace Life

I found this on a friends blog and had to share it. It brought tears to my eyes every time I've watched it.
Wear those seat belts people! <3

Meal Plan 5/6

Week 4/22/.-4/25

Thursday - Chicken Fajita Chili and  Cornbread.
Missed this one again- Trying this new cornbread recipe. I might switch back to my old one but for now this is what I plan on using. The chili is a combination of a bunch of different recipes that I have found online. I will post the recipe on here later.

Friday - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Saturday - Pizza

Sunday - Baked Ziti Salad and Bread sticks

Week 4/26-5/2

Monday - Chicken Caesar Pitas

Tuesday - Taco Soup

Wednesday - Barbeque Chicken Sandwiches and Veggies
Place 3-4 boneless chicken breasts in crockpot, they can be frozen, pour one bottle of barbeque sauce on the top, set the crockpot to high for 5 hours and thats it! Super easy!

Thursday - Beef & Rice Enchiladas with Pepper-Jack sauce

Friday - Kids Choice :o)

Saturday - Meat Loaf and Salad.

Sunday - Tuna Noodle Casserole with rolls

Stole This From a Friend's Blog...Funny!!

I so totally remember...haha!

You know you’re 9 months pregnant when…

• You can't roll over in bed without feeling like a whale.
• You constantly feel like you have to pee but get to the bathroom and you're disappointed that you peed so little when you thought you really had to go.
• when you spend more time in the bathroom than any other room in the house.
• your nesting instinct is really strong but you don't have the energy to do anything.
• You no longer care about having hairy legs.
• You cant paint your own toenails anymore.
• The only shoes you wear are ones that slide on.
• When everyone irritates you!
• Finding clothes to wear is a never ending battle, especially ones that cover the bottom half of your tummy.
• You let your 3 yr old go to bed without a bath because you don't feel like giving him one.
• your heartburn is more painful then the thought of labor.
• When you go through a roll of TP within 6 hours
• When even your maternity pants are too tight.
• ...you sincerely start sympathizing with bugs on the sidewalk that are overturned and flailing around to get upright.

Look What I Made!

And I LOOOOOVE it!

The best part? I didn't have to do hardly anything!

This was the first time I wore it. Since I have learned some other ways to wear it and love it even more!

The Guy in the Green Car....

So the other day I'm driving. Not going anywhere special just me and the three kids in my maroon mini van heading to the grocery store. Yes, that's right, I'm 25 and already I drive the "soccer Mom" vehicle. It's just like the other ones you see with the family stickers on the back. Dog, cat and kids included. You might be thinking what does my mini van have to do with anything? You'll understand why soon.

So there I am just driving along with my windows rolled part of the way down listening to the radio. You know it's one of the very rare occasions where all the kids are quiet for like two seconds and the radio can actually be heard. I'm making my way to the freeway. Of course I chose to go to the store right at 5 o'clock when traffic is crazy. Well okay I'm dealing with it, as I am cursing myself the whole way for being so stupid. I stop at a red light and wait patiently impatiently for it to change. As I am sitting at the light I notice the person in front of me keeps messing with his rear view mirror. I really don't think twice about it. The light turns green and the car in front of me makes its way into the right lane. I'm stuck behind some idiot in a pickup truck doing 5MPH now. Great. I try to get over to the right lane but the car that was in front of me is now right next to me. Double great. I continue to try and get over but this guy is not moving along and is now staring and smiling at me at me. So I decide to slow down even more to try and get in behind this guy. Do you know what he does? He slows down so he stays right next to me! Grrr! This whole time he's continuing to smile at me. I'm starting to get really annoyed. Traffic is crazy and the kids are starting to make noise and bicker. Instantly I feel a headache coming. Finally I am able to get to the right lane. I get on the freeway and lose site of that stupid guy in the green car. Thank God. Well I lose site until he pulls right up next to me on the freeway that is! WTH? He's not slowing down or speeding up but staying right next to me again. He's very close to my van too. He's looking and smiling at me and even waves a few times. I'm totally ignoring him and am really irritated at this point. I slowed down a bit but he stays right next to me. So I sped up a bit. Same thing. He doesn't budge. Really obnoxious! The kids have not started to throw toys and books back and forth. The baby is whaling and I have a monster headache. I'm snapping disciplinary instructions at the kids and trying to drive at the same time. Yet, this idiot is still right next to me smiling and waving. I see my exit coming up. Finally! I flip my blinker and start to make my way further the the right. The guy in the green car follows me over. He then rolls down his window and start waving both his arms at me. At this point I start thinking "Oh, crap! What did I forget? Do I have something hanging out my door?" I figured maybe my gas cap was off or something lame like that. But oh no! He proceeds to yell his phone number out the window at me! Are you kidding me? For real? What a moron.

I just can not get over this. This guy acted completely crazy! I just don't understand what would make someone act like that. Risking peoples lives and looking like an idiot sure doesn't sound fun to me. Despite the fact that he put my life and my children's lives at risk with his idiotic driving but does he really think that screaming his number out a window will win a girl over? I mean seriously come on! 

Okay buddy a bit of advice.....If your going to risk lives acting all crazy at least pick someone who might be interested! Not a woman with 3 KIDS in her maroon MINI VAN!

Kelly’s Baby Shower

Yes, I know this was like forever ago but I have been awful about blogging lately. Better late then never…. :)

The lovely Mommy of honor :)I made this diaper cake and real cake for the shower :)         

What a fun time! Congrats on your new sweet little one Kelly. I know you know by now how much I love little Ryan! Thanks for letting us throw you a shower! Love you my wonderful friend!

Meal Plan - Week 3/4

Better late then never.....We missed a few days of meals the last two weeks and some were such a big hit we are having them again! It worked nicely to have an idea before the end of the day. It was fun to try some of the new recipes too.

Week 3/8/- 3/14
Monday - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Tuesday - Chicken Fajita Chili and  Cornbread.
Missed this one last week- Trying this new cornbread recipe. I might switch back to my old one but for now this is what I plan on using. The chili is a combination of a bunch of different recipes that I have found online. I will post the recipe on here later.

Wednesday - Loaded Veggie Lasagna x2

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Taco Salad
This was a HIT in our house. We all loved it and it was super easy.

Saturday - Baked Ziti Salad and Breadsticks

Sunday - Chicken Caesar Pitas

Week 2/15-2/21
Monday -  BLT's and Homemade Fries

Tuesday -  Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Wednesday - Barbeque Chicken Sandwiches and Veggies
Place 3-4 boneless chicken breasts in crockpot, they can be frozen, pour one bottle of barbeque sauce on the top, set the crockpot to high for 5 hours and thats it! Super easy!

Thursday - Pot Roast with veggies.

Friday - Chicken Quesadillas and Rice.

Saturday - Cheeseburger Quiche 
Never made this last week. 

Sunday - Meat Loaf and Salad.

I'm a Truly Authentic Mom

So well over a month ago recently a friend Kelly tagged me and I have been working on this ever since. Not only is it harder then you would think to come up with 5 Mommy facts but I have had to rewrite this 3 times! Blogger apparently hates me....

But without further adieu my 5 facts in no particular order...

1. I am a bit obsessed with taking pictures of my children. You would think after having three I would take less now. But no, if anything I take more now then when I first had Jordan. I want to remember all the small moments and I feel like I can really capture that with pictures. My Mother has a very small box that is filled with all the photos from our childhood. I want my kids to have a much bigger box.

2. I am far from perfect and I know it. I am always trying my best though. I try my best to be there for them in their happiest moments always trying to make myself a part of it. I try my best to feed them well. I try my best to always be involved in the little things that make up their days. I try my best to always give extra hugs and kisses and tell them I love them. I try my best to get down on their level and understand what makes them each their own unique individual child. I am always telling myself that I can not do more then I can do and as long as I am always trying my best everything will be great.

3.  I loved being pregnant. Even those moments when I was uncomfortable, when I couldn't get any sleep, every inch of my body ached, and through all the pain associated with three completely natural births, I still loved every moment of it all.

4. I understand that being a mother is the most important thing I can do right now. I pray all the time that I will be a good mom. I love being a mommy. I've always wanted to be one even when I was a child. I try and enjoy every moment no matter how trying or upsetting or wild it is.

5. I am always worrying like crazy, specifically that I'm not doing a good enough job for my kids. I worry I'm unconsciously causing some unseen damage that will come out later in some adult therapy sessions. But I am fully aware that the fact that I worry is because more than anything in this world, I want to be the best mom for my wonderful babies and raise them to be happy, healthy, responsible, loving, caring, generous adults. I believe that although I try not to worry since it really does stress me out, it's actually a good thing. Because every time I worry, I try a little bit harder the next day.

And I think that definitely makes me a Truly Authentic Mom.

So to keep the fun going I tag:

Erin
Tara
Gretchen
Hanan

Happy 4th Birthday Mommy and Me!

As many of you know I organize The Mommy and Me Meetup Group. I started the group up 4 years ago TODAY!! :) It's such an awesome group! We have had over 2400 meetups and have more then 70 members! I've made some awesome friends because of the group! Actually all my close friends I have gained from the group. :) The group has been a life saver for me! It's a place I know I can always go to get questions answered, find something fun to do for the day or enjoy a quiet (or loud :P) evening with the girls! It's such an AWESOME group!

It's amazing to me how fast 4 years has gone by. I started the group thinking "Ok, let's give this a try. It'll probably be a flop, but it's worth a shot." Boy, was I wrong and in the most wonderful way! What a great group it's become! It's taken a ton of time and energy from me but it's so been worth it. I have had the chance to "work" with some great ladies along the way and with their help have really turned this into something that everyone can be extremely proud of. It makes me feel so good knowing that I have built something up from nothing and it's turned into something so great! 

Happy 4th Birthday Mommy and Me!!

Meal Plan - Week 1/2

One of my New Years Resolutions was to start a dinner meal plan. I'm just getting to it now. Hey...better late then never! It's something that I think will destress me a bit. I plan on making some meals and freezing them too. I am always scrambling to find something for dinner and hope this helps make the dinner process a bit easier for me. Since Jay isn't home 3 nights a week I found that I have been cooking dinner less and less so this hopefully will get me back in the habit.

I plan on posting 2 weeks worth of meal plans at a time, getting all the nonperishable items every 2 weeks and hopefully freezing a few extra meals every couple weeks as well. That way I should have a good backup for those busier days. So that's my plan! :o) Here I go....

Week 2/15/- 2/21
Monday - Sheperd's Pie
This is a yummy one. I've kind of tweaked it a bit for our family but this is what I based it off of.

Tuesday - Taco Casserole x2 (my frozen meal for the week).
Going to try this for the first time. Found it from one of the blogs I follow.

Wednesday - Steak, Potatoes and Salad. 
Once again found this on the blog I follow above.

Thursday - Spaghetti and Meatballs with Salad and French Bread.

Friday - Chili and Cornbread.
Trying this new cornbread recipe. I might switch back to my old one but for now this is what I plan on using. The chili is a combination of a bunch of different recipes that I have found online. I will post the recipe on here later.

Saturday - Pot Roast with veggies.

Sunday - Fajitas
Basic steak fajitas with green/yellow/red peppers and I've added avocado and a bit of salsa for a twist. 

Week 2/22-2/28
Monday -  Taco Salad
Trying this since I thought it sounded yummy!

Tuesday - Chicken Parm x2 (My frozen meal)

Wednesday -Meat Loaf

Thursday - Hot dogs and Pasta Salad.


Friday - Pizza
Making my own dough! Doing a veggie, chicken, onion pizza and another that the kids get to pick toppings for.


Saturday - Cheeseburger Quiche

Sunday - Chicken Salad Family Recipe - Lots of yummy veggies and chicken. 

Inconsiderate People....

Oh how I can't stand them! 

Just a few examples:

I'm patiently waiting in line to return a couple of things at one of the nearby clothing stores while my daughter and A (little girl I babysit) touch everything in sight and make lovely messes. Messes that I pick up of course, because I'm considerate like that. There are two cashiers both seemed to be busy ringing up the items of the customers in front of me. As I stand there I realize only one of them is actually ringing things up. The other is chatting with the gals friend that was buying the things the other cashier is ringing up. Now normally how long can one cashier take to ring up 15 items? You wouldn't think very long. Wrong! First the chatty lady realizes her baby that is sitting in the cart has completely soaked through his diaper. Instead of stopping her mouth and taking care of the kid she picks him up and starts showing the other woman who was trying to find her wallet to get her credit card to pay for the items...which she needs rung up in two separate transactions I might add. They both start examining the poor kid and his diaper instead of just taking care of it and moving on. At about this point Joshua starts crying. The kids are still touching everything, the people waiting in line behind me are giving me nasty looks and I'm starting to get irritated and stressed out. Finally they stop the diaper talk, find the credit card and pay for the first purchase. The cashier hands her the first bag and starts to ring up the second set of items. The woman looks at the receipt and says "these pants are supposed to be $15 how come they rang up more?" So the cashier stops and goes and checks the price. Comes back and says that she looked at the wrong sign. The woman decides she doesn't want the pants. Are you kidding me?! The whole time the other cashier and other woman are still talking, my son is still crying, and the girls are now starting to run up and down the isle. The nasty looks are still coming with the added "why don't you control your children" looks thrown in. Blah, blah, blah the woman and cashier are still chatting. The second purchase is finally rung up and pants are in the process of getting refunded when a man walks up completly cutting everyone else in line. This gets Miss Blabby cashiers attention as he asks to speak with the manager. She responds that "shes not in but can she help him with something?" You have got to be joking?! I have been standing in line almost 10 minutes by now! The baby is still crying despite my efforts to quiet him, I'm near breaking point and she helps him??? You would think I would have been smart and just walked away at some point but nooooooo after all that I needed my $11.64! GRRR! 

If that doesn't prove my point....

We are in the mall this afternoon. The urge hits and dispite my disgust and near phobia of public restrooms I make my way in that direction. I approach the door of the Family restroom and find that it is "occupied". I have the stroller/carseat combo, two girls and myself, there is no way we are all fitting in the regular bathroom stall so I wait. And wait. And wait. By about minute 7 I start to think "this person better have 5 kids, what the heck is taking so long?" I seriously need to pee, Abigail is complaining because she wants to go play already and A is trying to make as many phone calls as she can on the pay phone despite my repeated instruction to not touch the phones. Finally the doors open. I expect to see a herd of kids run out but oh nooo! One lady walks out. Nobody else. Just one middle aged lady who apparently felt the need to take up the entire FAMILY bathroom for absolutely no reason! Okay fine, maybe she had a reason. Who knows. All I can tell you is it better have been a bad case of diarrhea!

I like to consider myself one of the few people that actually think about other people. Some might say thats a flaw but I like to think of it as an incredibly good quality. I do have to say that it's gotten me hurt many a time but at least I know I'm taking the high road.....

Now perhaps it is wrong to hate strongly dislike the ones who cross my path but come on! Think people! Use those brains once in a while. That really is why God provided them for you. So don't let them go to waste, kick those puppies on!

I Can Knit!

So I feel like I am getting a jump start on my old age but I don't care because I LOVE it! Knitting is so fun and in a way very therapeutic. I feel like while I do it I can just kind of zone out and focus on thinking (or not thinking) about the stuff running through my head. I also love seeing my work in progress and finishing my first project felt so good! I started working on this scarf and it only took me a few weeks to finish it.  

Jason was kind enough to act as my scarf model. :P

Goofball! But doesn't that look like an awfully warm scarf!?

I made this scarf for my brothers girlfriend, Katie. This was her Christmas gift. I love the cute little box! Now back to knitting....:P