DEAR WEATHER { make up your mind }

Rainy days have gotten us into a bit of a funk lately. There isn't much to do other than lay around, watch some movies, & stare longingly outside. The thing that really stinks is it hasn't been completely rainy days - It starts out beautiful, than it storms like crazy. The next thing you know it is beautiful again, but now everything is wet. Even if you don't care, it isn't long lasted, within a few hours just as the ground is about to dry up it down pours again!






I know our weather is nothing compared to what some people are seeing around the country, & we have absolutely no reason to complain. I just wish that everyone could have some beautiful, safe days. I couldn't imagine being stuck in a basement/closet with my kids for hours while the tornado sirens are going off, or staying at a place with nothing of our own with the kids because our town is flooding. I hope all my readers who are going through something right now hang in there, It will hopefully be over soon & everyone can get their lives back on track. ♥



As for us, we'll keep checking to see in the rain stopped. Constantly.

Today, today looks pretty good though.

20 MINUTES OF SUNSHINE.

By the time I got out of work the other day, I was greeted by this;



How exciting is that?


I'll be honest, I was looking forward to basking in the sun with the children, but the cool rain is much needed to keep our grass looking fantastic! So, a couple days like this is something we need to get used to. They normally consist of movie after movie, game after game. However, this day we were blessed with a play date with my niece, Naomi!



My children got to see her longer than I did, since she was due to head home twenty minutes after I arrived at my parents house. That twenty minutes were covered with hugs & kisses, a series of camera snaps, & a whole lot of smiles. For only knowing this little girl since December, I am thrilled how comfortable she is with me. I am so thankful she is apart of our lives, & I have faith my girl will grow up having her as a best friend.

SUN, SAND, & FUN! { it's almost like we are at the beach }

The sun has risen, & my goodness it isn't going away! The days have literally been perfect; warm rays, a cool breeze, & laughter in the air. I couldn't be much more smitten with Spring as I am right this moment.



We've been playing hard lately, spending as much of our free time outside as we possibly can. Daycen has taken a liking to our backyard & the sandbox at my parents house. He could spend hours upon hours outside if we'd allow it. However, as the sun starts to set, the tolerance of Ripsi also begins to lower. Which, trust me, listening to her scream because she wants to go in & him scream because he doesn't want to almost cancels each other out. I'm sure our neighbors think we are the mean parents on the other side of the fence, but I'm okay with that.

I'm okay with it. Really. I am. I'm just not okay with the tremendous headache I get each day from a shrieking almost three year old everytime I want to go inside the house. Any suggestions on how to make this process easier? I'd love it.

Oh, and if anyone is curious what Ripsi does while Daycen throws sand all over. She models & enjoys every single minute of it! Well, until her tootsies get cold.


Double rolled Mauve Flowers from Smitten Heart. $7.50

BUBBLES ARE A BOYS BEST FRIEND, SHOES ARE A GIRLS.

The weather around here has had it's ups & downs lately, mainly downs but really who can complain when it isn't snow? However, some of our days lately have been beautiful! On those days, we rush to finish our breakfast & clean up our play area so we can spend the afternoon basking in the sunlight. We haven't really had the chance to purchase any outdoor toys, even though we have a yard of our own, so we make due with the small things. Things, such as a bubble blowing, siren roaring fire truck.



Twenty minutes out of the package and Daycen had the ladder riped off. Good thing, it didn't cause any damage to the bubble blowing mechanism! Otherwise, our beautiful afternoon would have turned to one filled with tears & a trip to Walgreens for another firetruck.



Daycen could spend hours upon hours playing with the bubbles, Ripsi on the other hand wasn't quite impressed. She didn't enjoy little water clouds floating in front of her face & popping. She didn't enjoy the loud noise that blared from the little truck. She prefered the finer things in life, like laying out of a blanket sporting her new shoes & enjoying the cool breeze.

Cool, cute shoes.


Baby Gap, Corsage Sandals $16.95


Can you say jealous? I sure am. Those are literally the cutest sandal I have ever laid my eyes upon, & the largest size they come in is 6-12 months! That surely won't fit my foot! & I consider my feet small! You'll be seeing these more, they literally go with everything in her closet - from dresses to jeans - from pinks to blacks. Ripsi doesn't complain about the strap between her toes, & actually enjoys to grab at the little flower detail when she is bored. Worth every cent! If your local, you might want to rush to the Baby Gap & grab yourself a pair before we buy them out!





I hope everyone is enjoying the start of Spring now that it's finally arrived.

WILLOW SPRINGS GARDEN'S SPRING FESTIVAL 2011

The Spring Festival has come! My goodness was it chilly & windy the entire time we were there! I had a feeling that the weather was going to try & put a damper on our festivities like it does every year. However, it held off until later in the evening when we were all snuggled up inside.

Once we got there, we headed inside the townhouse & the coloring fest began! Both Daycen & his cousin Naomi scribbled their spring themed pictures like crazy!



After awhile of sitting inside the kids refused to color. All they wanted to do was go outside & be with the animals! I'm not such a fan of standing in the cold, but I would do anything to make my kids happy. So, there I was, bundled in my peacoat, snapping pictures of them interacting. Most of the smaller petting zoo animals were locked up in their cages under warming lights, so they were just a "watch & look" sort of experience.



Which is exactly where Daycen stood most of the time, in front of the little ducklings.



Even though the wind was brisk, laughter filled us & kept us warm. The cloudy atmosphere gave a nice cast to our photographs. I would have loved to stay out there all day and snap away like crazy if I wasn't afraid of the little ones catching a cold. (Who wants one of those in Spring anyways? I sure wouldn't!)



Since Ripsi was so little, I decided I would try to let her in on the action. I moved her closer to the animal pen & the little goat stepped forward. They stared at each other. Suddenly his head poked out from between the rails & he attempted to snatch the butterfly rattle as was playing with. However, she was just far enough away he couldn't reach it. Oh, but did he try! I was afraid he was going to get his head stuck!



Despite the cold, we had a FANTASTIC time at the festival. We cannot wait for the Fourth of July festivities that will be going on at Willow Springs Garden. Hope that everyone else can make it out for that one! There wasn't very many people that showed for the Spring one because of the weather.

HOPING YOU HAD A FANTASTIC MOTHER'S DAY!

Yesterday went so fast for us. One minute, we were just waking up the next it was seriously the middle of the afternoon. I can't even tell you how quickly the day went around our little house, but we sure did get a lot done! We visited Grandma's & Great Grandma's, we searched for sales at Target, went to the park, grabbed a bite to eat, rented some movies from Blockbuster & spent the night cuddling before jumping into our nightly rituals!

I got to spend the day with my two beautiful children! How lucky am I?





I also learned a valuable lesson. Do not take pictures laying down, they do not turn out very flattering! However, we all were together, so it was quite an accomplishment!



I hope everyone had a FANTASTIC, WONDERFUL, LOVING Mother's Day!

INTRODUCING THE NEWEST MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY. {making baby squash puree}

We graciously welcomed The Baby Bullet into our home to help transition our little Ripsi into the process of starting on solid foods! I'll have to tell you, we LOVE our bullet despite the fact that we were shorted a short cup & a batch tray (which, we called, it's on backorder & should be coming... soon?) Our steamer is also on backorder, so we've been taking the longer route to produce wonderfully tasting treats for our little girl.

The doctor recommended that when baby sister was ready, that we start with the yellow vegetable family. So, we headed to the grocery store & selected a medium sized yellow squash that came to 98 cents. We took it home and got to work slicing it into 1/4 inches slices.



While doing our cutting, we started a pot of boiling water on the stove. When it was time, we added our steamer basket (Can you tell me why these things has NO instructions on them? Am I just supposed to KNOW how to use them? I was informed, I don't know how to steam properly, but it worked perfectly fine & I wouldn't change a thing I did. Even the placement of my steamer basket. I urge you to attempt to shove that metal thing into one of Rachael Ray's pots, good luck, it's a tight squeeze.)



After about 7-10 minutes of steaming, our squash pieces were very tender & slightly beginning to lose their shape. It was just about time to move them over to the baby bullet. We just made a pit stop in between to feed some to Daycen who thought they were fantastic!



Once in the bullet, I added 1/4 cup of water & began to blend.

Blend. Blend. Blend. Blend.



Once completely smooth & pureed, I poured a small amount into a tiny bowl for Ripsi & filled three other storage cups full. If we would have purchased this amount in stores, it would have costed us $2.10! We saved $1.12 today by making it ourselves! The best thing about the Baby Bullet storage cups is the made on date! You just need to remember to change it - which is going to take some practice for me.



So, you ask... Did she like it? Was it worth it?

YES! She loved it!





She ate every last bit of squash that was in that little bowl... and than, like it was a Thanksgiving dinner she passed out on the couch, her belly full of delicious flavors.

A TASTY TREAT.

Holy beautiful out today, everyone! It's a wonderful 61 degrees outside today. It's got to be one of the best days we've had in awhile! We awoke this morning, got into our summer clothing & headed out for a day in the sun. Our first destination was a tiny local owned ice cream shop a few blocks down the road. Our sights were set on vanilla ice cream & frozen slush puppy drinks.



We ordered our refreshing snack & sat outside on the bright red benches for nearly forty-five minutes. Enjoying the simple pleasures of summer right around the corner. Despite being too little to eat the ice cream - baby sister was just thrilled to get out of the house, out of our yard, out of the familiar to experience the world around her.

She even studied her brother on his ice cream eating skills & attempted to perfect the technique so that when the time comes, she'd be ready. Ready for a small strawberry cone.

APRIL 2011 {project 365}

April has been as confused as March; one day the sun is shining & we are running around in skirts & shorts - the next we have our hats & coats on trudging through inches of snow. We took full advantage of each day, going out when it's warm, and cozying up & crafting together when it's cold. Daycen even came within a few inches of Ripsi - talk about cozy!! Overall, April wasn't so terrible.

Here is a few of our memorable April posts;
1. SPRING HAVE YOU FINALLY ARRIVED?
2. OUR FIRST TRIP TO THE PARK {spring 2011}
3. THE HUNT IS ON...
4. EMBRACING THE IDEA THAT SPRING MIGHT BE HERE!
5. EASTER 2011
6. THE BIG FIVE! {has it really been that long?}

larger version of our 365 photographs

APRIL showers (of snow?) bring MAY flowers?! We dearly hope so!

CRAFTING FOR CARMEN.

I'd like everyone to meet Carmen. She is one of the strongest & bravest little girls I have ever came in contact with. This little girl has been fighting since the day she was born to just survive.



Carmen was born with a congenital heart defect called double inlet left ventricle. She needed open heart surgery when she was only 26 days old. The surgery was a success but the night of her surgery she went into cardiac arrest. She received CPR for 151 minutes before being placed on life support. Carmen's brain didnt receive adequate oxygen during the 151 minutes of CPR which caused her to have significant brain damage. Her doctors claimed that 90% of her brain had died due to the lack of oxygen. Her doctors said she would not survive this injury, but she did. Due to the brain damage, Carmen cannot sit alone, crawl, walk, talk, or even eat anything by mouth. She receives all her nutrition through a surgically placed feeding tube in her stomach. She suffers from seizures daily. She cannot control movement of her arms and legs. Her neurologist diagnosed her with cerebral palsy by the time she was 9 months old.

There is hope for Carmen today. There is a doctor that treats cerebral palsy patients with stem cells from umbilical cord blood. This therapy is not covered by insurance and can cost up to 24 thousand dollars, depending on the prescribed therapy. This therapy could enable Carmen to walk, talk, crawl, and play like other kids her age. Unfortunately, her parents cannot afford the 24k. So, together some wonderful boutiques have put together an auction to help raise the money!

CARMEN'S AUCTION can be found here. The auction closes on May 8th, so please, open your hearts to this little girl!





We have created three pieces specially for this auction; one girl's bib, one boy's bib, & one headband. All proceeds will be going to Carmen, & shipping is on us! I would be thrilled if everyone at least clicked over & check out the boutique items up for auction, a lot of wonderful ladies put in a lot of hard work to create these items.


Zebra Bib with double hot pink ruffles, soft faux fur backing & velcro closure.
Starting bid $3 Click to head over & bid on this item!


Dog Love boy bib in blues & browns with soft light blue chenille backing & velcro closure.
Starting bid $3 Click to head over & bid on this item!


Two large fuchsia flowers embellished with pearls headband, sizing newborn to adult
Starting bid $3 Click to head over & bid on this item!


Let's work together & get Carmen the stem cell therapy she needs! The younger the child, the better the outcome! She needs this now, let's give her the best third birthday present ever! Once again, here is the link to the auction, & big thanks to Pretty Little Princess for hosting this auction! CARMEN'S AUCTION