No Kids...No Husbands...No Worries...

I might just post that "title" on the door of my office/craft/storage/sewing/hide everything else/Tammy room!

I am being a blog slacker this week! March is really crazy in my world. Just the birthdays alone keep us pretty busy. We have my mom's, mine, LaLa's, my nephews, not to mention a few family friends as well. I have been hard at work this week getting ready to host some of my favorite people for a sleepover. Yes, a sleepover for grown women! We are leaving our kiddos, our husbands, and our worries behind to focus on having a great time. Isn't that fun? I am so excited. It has been a LONG time since I have had the opportunity to just relax and enjoy my friends...without interruptions. We have had a lot of work and family craziness going on, but I am ready to take a break from all of it and focus on friends and fun this weekend!


I will have lots of pictures and fun to share after Friday...

and a March giveaway is coming up soon...

It's a Pirate's Life for ME!

I think that I have become the fastest typer ever. seriously, ever. See what happened was...I had a kid. She started rolling then crawling and finally walking. After she became mobile, the computer time had to be quick. really quick. If you aren't quick, she (now they) would just crawl on and over me until they are on top of me blocking the view to the computer and randomly pushing buttons. In order to outsmart my kids and still have my outlet of this machine (my laptop), my fingers had to get FAST! That is also why I write completely what is in my head...without rereading and without spell checking! So, never look to closely to my postings!

Okay, well, I went with my mom (thanks for joining us in our chaos) today to get my girls hair cuts. Little Bit got her very first haircut! I will share more on that next week because you know there is always (always) a drama filled story or adventure when it comes to our world or any world with kids.

Now on to the or rather my focus of the moment! Da da da dum....PIRATES. Yes, I'm serious about this. You heard me correctly. PIRATES. I am quite focused or possibly obsessed with pirates.

I really, really enjoy celebrating and planning parties, but I especially go a little nutsy for my kids birthday parties. I try hard to thrifty in my planning and preparations. I learned long ago to make a budget and buy early and slowly or I would be one of those people with a three ring circus pulling up to her yard. My husband and I both believe in celebrating birthdays BIG and special. I think he might have had something else in his head in thinking that than big children birthday parties, but seriously, who really runs our world...this mama, of course. He just looks at the pictures on the blog and doesn't read all the words so he'll never know...just don't tell him!:)

In the goal of planning ahead for LaLa's fourth birthday in March, I began asking her (last winter. ok, maybe fall) what theme she wanted for her birthday. From what I understood, she had chosen a princess party. I had this envision of the disney princesses, a bibbity boppity boutique, a princess visitor, dress up time, and so on. Then, she changed her mind from theme to theme to theme to theme. It messes with my world when they do things like this. Then, I decided I wasn't going to ask her anymore and do what I wanted because why should I ask a three year old...Well, maybe because it is FOR her, but I thought maybe I could just CONVINCE her of my great idea. I thought...oh, grand, let's do princess and pirates. It incorporated two themes she mentioned. Plus, we could still keep my six months of princess planning. My unique little one said, "Oh, mama, that's great. My friends will love being princesses, but I think I'll be a pirate." She has stuck on being a pirate. I just can't stomach making tutu dresses for dozens of little girls and hiring teenagers to do cute hair dos and invite a princess to visit when my LaLa will not be participating. Instead, she would be the one with the eye patch and the sword hunting for treasure. As a result, I have given up my princess party...until hopefully, next year. I plan on starting trying to convince her for her fifth party theme to be princesses the day after her fourth birthday party.

All the information was to ask my bloggy friends if you have ideas. Since I have succombed to the requests of the birthday girl (probably as it should be!), I have searched for ideas...a lot. I have found some cute stuff...get this...at the dollar store (plates, decorations, eye patches, etc). I mainly need a cute birthday outfit for the birthday girl...her suggestions were a tutu, an eye patch, a "dook" rag (I think this is a "doo" rag...I'm not really ghetto...I'm not sure if that is even right. I asked her what she was talking about. She replied, "like daddy wears when he runs and bikes and what the pirate's crew wears"). By the way, she doesn't like the skull and cross bones. "They are spooky," she says. Totally limits a pirate theme. Hmmm...she sounds like a punk rocker pirate. I also need some cute activities (I really want a pirate or a parrot to come to my house. I know, I'm special). I am trying to think of some wonderfully cute invitations that I can copy create. Oh, I need a cute cake idea too! I usually make their cakes, but I am so thinking about cheating this year and buying one!

Anybody have any ideas?

Christmas Memories

This is the way my husband looked for all of Christmas Day...head behind the video camera...narrating the day! I'll appreciate it one day...right?! Aunt Julie is right there as well...with her camera...as usual!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! There has been no time for blogging with all of the wonderful festivities lately! We were so blessed to have lots of family and friends spend time with us this past week! This year was especially fun for me because LaLa is really getting old enough to understand Christmas. Every time we did something, she was so into the moment and the activity. The excitement is truly contagious. Robert and I were talking how there are some days and some times when you think back to how quiet and easy those day BC (before Children) were! It was a great time where we enjoyed traveling and being on the go! Our lives have definitely changed with two young kids, but we wouldn't change it for the world! Christmas is more special when you share it with children! They have this genuine excitement that you can't help to share!

Christmas afternoon when my family comes over...looks like morning all over again!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the best ever...yes, I say that every year! We spent Christmas Eve making cookies together, going on a drive to look at lights and sing songs, and getting ready for Santa's visit. We read The Night Before Christmas (which we had to read the reindeer names six times!) and the Christmas Story.

All of these wonderful presents...what was Little Bit's favorite? The candy canes, of course! She had one in each hand most of the morning! Once she discovered these in her stocking, LaLa had to open the rest of her gifts (I don't think either minded the 'sacrifice'!) Oh well, it's Christmas!

On Christmas morning, the girls were so cute sitting at the top of the stairs in their Christmas jammies waiting to come down to see what Santa left them! We had two special surprises! After we opened all of our presents, the girls found a special present hidden in another room! It was a baby care center that includes a bathtub, cabinets, a baby doll closet, high chair, and changing table! That's the best kind of surprise when you think all the presents have been opened...only to find one more! Wait, our door bell rang...who could it be? Yep, it was Santa! Although I thought (and inwardly laughed) I heard tires speed away...Santa must have traded his sleigh in for a white denali like my parents..hee hee! The thought of them running back to their truck and speeding away makes me laugh...hard! It's debatable though...because LaLa and Little Bit were certain Santa threw them down from the reindeer drawn sleigh right to their front door! Two wrapped pillow pets were the mysterious door step presents! LaLa really wanted one of these. That commercial certainly must have some sort of brainwashing secretly placed inside of it because I often have the jingle stuck in my head too!

"Pete and Repeat!" LaLa lounging with her Uncle BoBo (coined by the girls for my brother, Jimmy or Jimbo!). She is enjoying her Leapster that Robert's parents and Santa gave her! By the way, Mama enjoys these games too!

Little Bit waits patiently for Uncle Bobo to open the cookie monster that he and his girlfriend, Katie, bought her! Did you notice her cute, little Elmo slippers her Mimi and Gumpy gave her? She would keep them on 24-7 if she could! It's several days later and she has them on!

Okay, patience only lasts so long when you're one! Let me help you...BoBo...I need my cookie monster!

LaLa enjoying her new Lego table.

Robert, LaLa and I after LaLa's preschool play. What a cutie?!

LaLa at her Christmas Choir performance at Church. Whatever will we do when Little Bit gets as many activities as LaLa? Mama will definitely need more sleep by then!

Later that day, family came over to open presents and enjoy lunch. Mimi (my mom), LaLa and I even had the opportunity to sneak away and watch Alvin and the Chipmunks...the sequel! My three year old keeps singing Beonce's "All the single ladies...".  How am I going to explain that one at preschool!:) This seemed like a really busy holiday season. I think the older your children get...the more running and celebrating you do. It is a lot of fun...but really exhausting at times trying to juggle it all! So, after dance recitals, several weekends out of town, traveling, Preschool parties and activities, church parties, services, and activities, family and work parties, etc...I am glad to say that Christmas Day was a nice, relaxing day.
Now....to get Christmas decorations and all of these new, fun toys put away! Wish us luck!

Mama Drama Rule #93: Two rules for one!  Instead of dreading the putting up all of the holiday decorations, take an opportunity to enjoy and savor each item!

Create Cornucopias...

While searching the web, I had a difficult time finding cute stuff for thanksgiving theme. I couldn't believe that thanksgiving had fewer ideas surrounding fun food ideas than halloween and Christmas! Most of thanksgiving involves...food! I did come across one idea of using a sugar cone for mini cornucopias. I'm sad to say that my final pictures didn't come out! Note to self: make sure to push the camera card all the way into the slot before taking pictures! It was super easy...once I figured it out! So, let me save you some trouble and share what I was doing wrong!

This is the link where I started with my ideas. I wrapped some tan raffia around these and put veggies in them for LaLa's preschool feast. I plan on using them as place cards for our family's thanksgiving dinner. I will use the raffia again and write names on them with icing. Someone suggested placing runts candy inside of them! I'm a big fan of runts...so I think I may try that route, if I don't eat all the goodies before family gets to see the end result!

First, you need to steam the sugar cones. Now, in the instructions that I found online, it said to hold the cone over boiling water to let the steam do its magic. Let me point out that I tried that...and it resulted in much frustration. Avoid that! Use a steamer basket above your pot of boiling water. I cheated. My steamer basket was in the dishwasher...I simply used a colander and placed it over my boiling water. Let the sugar cone sit in the basket for several minutes until the cone becomes soft...not gooey. Soft and gooey are great technical terms! You'll know what I mean though!

Next, carefully tilt the end of the sugar cone up to look like a cornucopia. Make sure to sit the soft cones on wax paper or somewhere where they will not stick to the surface. They will harden quickly.

This is where I would add my wonderful final picture...if I had it! You could add all kinds of yummy items inside. It would be cute for a kid's table this thanksgiving too. My Little Bit and LaLa enjoyed eating the two that I broke before I realized that the steamer basket made the BIG difference! The raffia looked really cute too! Also, just so you know...the cones will be very hot when you are bending the ends. My kids just stood there giving me funny looks as I was manipulating these hot cones! At least it was entertaining to them!

Mama Drama Rule #76: Saying THANKS is so simple...yet so often forgotten! Remember to say thanks...especially to those that do so much and so often get forgotten!

Planning Thanksgiving Activities for Little Ones!

Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner and Parties for your family? We are also hosting Thanksgiving at our house so we are trying to think of some creative ideas to keep the little ones busy and build lots of memories! Right now, we are getting ready for LaLa's Preschool Party at school. Her school seems to celebrate big, which is a great deal of fun! Here are some ideas that we are working on for the preschool party. As we work on our items over the next week, I will add pictures, but hopefully, this will give you some ideas and some inspiration if you have your own parties coming up!

We are going to enjoy a feast! Yum. I know a lot of little ones do not eat some of these traditional foods, but it gives them a variety and an opportunity to try new things! I have tried to brainstorm ideas for fun ways to present the food...maybe in a different way from what they are used to, but it seems that most people SKIP right over Thanksgiving to Christmas! The only idea that I have came up with is "turkey kabobs" and putting the veggies in mini cornucopias!

Ideas for decorating: Indian corn, leaves (cut outs and real), pumpkins, gourds, cornucopias, pine cones, turkeys (of course), corn stalks, scarecrows, etc.

The kids can dress up like pilgrims or Indians. Our little class is dressing like Indians. LaLa's teacher "tea" dyed shirts. Have you ever heard of that? I had in my head "tie dyed" shirts, but no, it's not the same. She literally took boys undershirts (they come in a 5 pack for a few dollars) and dyed them a tan color using tea bags! We learn something every day in preschool...even this mama! Then, we are cutting the edges in fringes and threading beads on them.

Game Ideas: Turkey, turkey, stuffing (duck, duck, goose), BINGO (using Thanksgiving items and candy corn or acorns as markers), TURKEY says (I found the cutest turkey at Michael's for 6 dollars! I used my coupon and got it 50% off!), pin the wattle on the turkey,

Craft Ideas: Create a Pilgrim hat, Make an Indian headdress, build a turkey using a pumpkin, gourd, or large squash. making Indian jewrly using pasta (teaching opportunity for patterns!)

Table Setting: Make Placemats using kids' handprint as a turkey, make napkin rings,

Fun "Gift" ideas for your guests or your host(ess): The dollar tree actually has cute aprons right now. They also have matching rolling pins, whisks, serving plates, etc. What a cute opportunity to make a little basket! I collected a couple aprons to put an initial on them! Plus, they have cute packages of chef gear for little ones. It includes a chef hat and small apron! If you have "little helpers" on Thanksgiving, what a great, inexpensive way to make them feel special! I love the idea of my girls helping me in the kitchen creating dinner for our family, friends, and extended family; then, years and years later when they have their own families, I would love to continue that tradition! Of course, there is a great deal to do when preparing thanksgiving dinner (I usually cook 2-3 turkeys). Even the most creative mama can only get so much accomplished in the kitchen with two little girls! I plan on having some "special" crafts to keep them busy when I need my space in the kitchen. I am sure that the extra family and company will also keep them very busy!

Mama Drama Rule #72: A thankful heart and thankful actions are more important than thankful words!

Check back this weekend for our Movie Night REVIEW! The movie UP! came out this week on dvd! Our fun and our night was two thumps UP!

Getting ready for Fall Fun in Preschool!

LaLa's big preschool pumpkin party is coming up next week. Her little class has a lot of fun things planned. I thought I'd share because I know a lot of mamas, like me, may be planning for parties next week!

Here are some of our food ideas!

• Chicken nuggets
  hot dog mummies
  found at www.Familyfun.com
  fruit salad in orange jack o' lanterns



www.familyfun.com

• chips
• cheese cubes or maybe fun halloween shapes
• grapes
• chips and dip
• Swamp Juice- I think I am just going to get some juice that is green or something...and add some plastic bugs and some gummy worms, but this looks fun!

Here are some of our activity ideas! I'm adding some that I plan to do with my kids and their friends too. LaLa's preschool is a Christian school...so some of the games have to be altered to be non-"halloweenish" and to go along with a Jack o' lantern theme.

• pumpkin hot potato
• paint pumpkins
• pumpkin patch to pick their pumpkins
• parade to show off their class costumes (her teacher is a fireman and the kids are Dalmatians!)
• put together foam pumpkins-This might be fun to do blindfolded...to find the pieces you need for your pumpkin...and we want to include the Christian poem for Jack o'lanterns (I'll post it on another day)
• I'm embroidering cute bags from Oriental Trading Company & parents are sending in goodies.
• Pin the nose on the Jack o'lantern-I'm not sure about this quite yet. Where can I find a huge pumpkin picture?!
  

Other cute activities that I think would be fun!

• the black cat hunt (www.familyfun.com) - we just did a pumpkin hunt in Awana with our class from church. Our lesson was about how the Bible gives us directions & guides us. As a treat & to emphasize what directions and guide mean, we had a hunt that took us from location to location with directions and instructions to find a big basket of pumpkins for all the kids. The instructions had a lot of "hop" "skip" "smile" etc. from place to place that worked very well for 3 year olds...and even my little 1 year old following behind them!





• Race to Sweep the pumpkins (www.familyfun.com) -I think I am going to do this for the kids at our thanksgiving meal. It looks like fun!
• Mash the Pumpkins-my girls would LOVE this. I found it on Melissa Hester's blog (look at my blog links on the right) It's basically hammering golf tees into pumpkins with kid hammers. What's the point? You get to hammer...need I say more? The trick is finding the hammers...the wooden ones with the tool box (Melissa & Doug) were at School Box for about 10 dollars, but maybe you could have enough at home and with other parents that you wouldn't have to buy them.
• A friend of mine has a little girl whose preschool class is doing an "orange party"...I know a lot of places do this too to avoid the halloween aspect. Well, upon searching for ideas for her, I found and thought of several, making t-shirts (orange of course & 2 for 5 at Michaels or trick or treat orange bags & only 1 dollar at Michaels as well!), eating orange foods, scavenger or treasure hunt for orange things, putting their hands into mystery bags of orange things...and guessing what it could be. Examples include carrots, oranges cut, etc.

By the Way, all or most of these ideas were found at wonderful sites like www.familyfun.com (this is my all time favorite site and magazine!) and www.parents.com. Be prepared to spend lots of time and have your brain go in overload at the possibilities! I'd love to hear some of your ideas...and yes, I will probably steal!:)

Mama Drama Rule #62: Don't reinvent the wheel! This is my philosophy for the week!:)

An Extra Special Dinner! A Wiggle Party

*This is my first attempt at a collage for blogger...so hopefully, I will get better at it!

We take any excuse for a party that we can in our house. We've had an extra hard time getting back to reality and on track this week, and we really missed our girls over our little vacation...so we really thought it would be fun to have an impromptu dinner party for our little family.

Have you ever heard of the Wiggles? Well, if you haven't, be glad because those little songs are catchy and stick in your head! And, after a while, the blue wiggle, Anthony, even starts to look kinda cute! My husband jokes about my secret love affair for Anthony. It's a joke, of course! My Little Bit is also becoming a big fan. She will stop in her tracks if she hears the wiggles on tv or the cd player. We often play music while we cook or during the day (to avoid too much tv time) and the Wiggles are definitely my girls' number one pick!

Our SPROUT station has been counting down until the "Wiggly Waffles" started on their station, which incorporates the Wiggles hosting a two hourish breakfast time with wiggling, learning, singing, and dancing. It is all my LaLa has talked about for weeks. "Mommy, will the wiggles come on tomorrow?" "Mommy, do you think the wiggles can just come to our house for dinner? We could have wiggly waffles. That's their favorites!" The last comment inspired my dinner party idea!

LaLa, Little Bit, and I made waffles. I knew I had a waffle maker for a good reason! We made fruit salad...yummy, yummy! Fruit salad was a great dish if you have little hands that want to help! We had bacon...remember all that free bacon! I also had sausage cocktails that I cut the ends to be Henry the Octopus...my husband and LaLa ate ALL of these before we even started dinner! We also had Rosy tea to drink and hash brown casserole (from the song, Hot Potato, Hot Potato!). LaLa and I had extra programs from a wiggles concert that we glued to scrapbook paper for place mats and we found balloons left over from a recent birthday party that were perfect wiggly colors.

It was a lot of fun! After dinner, LaLa said, "Now, it's time for a Wiggly Dance Party!" And, that is exactly what we did! We went in the living room and danced with the wiggles...even Little Bit! It's crazy how a throw together party made such a memory...to all of us! Honestly, even Hubby and I had a blast! It certainly perked up our week! My sweet hubby took pictures of our wiggly party because he said "Tammy, this is too cool. You have to blog it!" So, thanks to Robert, I have pictures to share! Blogging is becoming a family affair!

Mama Drama Rule #26: Make even the smallest things in your children's lives a memory. It doesn't have to be time consuming or expensive...just a little different than the usual and extra special! I know even now as an adult those are the things that I remember most!

Per Request...I'm adding an addendum to this post! Here's some simple ideas for your next extra special dinner. I'd love to hear yours or hear your little one's response to these! It seems to be a list kind of week!

1. make a meal into a smiley face

2. use cookie cutters for sandwiches or cheese slices

3. Decorate with a bouquet of flowers you pick out together or some balloons

4. Dress up for a "tea" party

5. make dinner a theme (turn pancakes into waffles for Easter) (turn dinner into a jack-o-lantern face!) (dora party with a map to dinner...roll up tortilla shells as 'the map', make a path...with vegies and sing dora's song, etc)

6. if all else fails...google an idea!

A Fairy Princess Party ~ It's Mama's Party Too!

We love birthday parties in our family! Well, maybe I love birthday parties the most…or at least as much as my children! I feel like my girls’ birthday parties are a celebration that they are in my life, that they are a blessing for being born, and an opportunity to celebrate everyone that has helped me raise and impact the lives of my children.

We ended up doing an enchanted fairy princess garden theme. Sounds too much for a one year olds party…but it turned out absolutely wonderful!

My goal with birthday parties is to do as many “memory makers” as possible. I think that the little things are what matter most! We were definitely on a strict budget this year, but it still managed to be special, unique and memorable. Please feel free to “steal” any ideas! I often see ideas out there and tweak them just enough to fit our needs! The concept for any mama is to work smarter not harder!

I have found that birthday celebrations are even more relaxing and special if parents of the other children don’t have to be super vigilant of their kids. So, I try to make sure that I have enough activities to keep every age of kid busy and enthusiastic. This means putting out exersaucers or extra high chairs or pack and plays and such so even the parent can talk and eat in peace. After all, I want them to enjoy the party as much as the kiddos! I also make sure that everything is childproof to ensure that they can roam freely. Also, enlist someone to help you! My mama was a great deal of help..see, we need our mamas at any age!

I love having dinner for our guests so it gives everyone an excuse to relax and enjoy a meal on us! I usually make my girls cakes, but I caved this time and bought her birthday cake. (I made her cake for her actual birthday, which relieved a small bit of the guilt!) I got a great deal! The petit fors (2 dozen), the cupcakes (I had to make the fondant frilly flower petals ~found on http://www.wilton.com/), and the three-tiered cake for under 100 dollars! It took a lot of looking and asking everyone for advice! I even got laughed at from two bakeries when I presented my “ideas” and my budget!

Top TEN Things that I loved that I will definitely do again and recommend…

1. Bought “take and toss” store brand sippy cups and made “paper wraps” with scrapbook paper with the kids’ names on them.
2. Fondant-It’s grown up play dough! I need so much more practice, but it was a blast!
3. Petit Fors-they were a hit! I just thought they were sweet and tiny like my Little Bit, but had many, many comments on them!
4. Made my girls’ outfits. I saved a lot of money going this route!
5. Had someone write down who gave what so I don’t have to remember and can send a personal thank you.
6. Had someone else take pictures for me!
7. Had a wonderful family member dress up as a fairy to “play” with the kids and “decorate” them with tattoos and face painting. So many teenagers that love kids would love to do this for just a little bit of “bribery”!
8. Had an easy buffet of food that didn’t take much fussing over, was inexpensive to serve a lot of people. (Teriyaki Chicken breasts served with pineapple rings, baked potato bar, an iceberg salad, veggie and fruit tray
9. Had easy toddler food for little ones-with all the gerber snacks, peas, carrots, diced potatoes
10. Had lots of pictures of the year & tried to include pictures of the guests with the birthday girl throughout the year. I had pictures and music on the television scrolling through (just learned that I can use my husband’s WII for this! At least it has I use that I can enjoy now!). I had pictures from her first day and every month of her first life. It was so reminiscent for me to see how much my baby had grown! Pictures are an easy and cheap decoration that can be saved and used later for photo albums and scrapbooks!
    
11. One more, I can’t help myself! I actually got all the plates, plastic ware and decorations from the DOLLAR STORE! If you shop around long enough at different stores, you will inevitably find something you’ll love…or at least can change it just enough to make it perfect…but cheap!
    
    Your children’s birthdays are just as much for you as they are from them! I would even go as far as to say we mamas deserve a present too. After all, it was us who provided them with transport into this world, and it’s us who loves them day by day. So, celebrate!

Mama Drama Rule #11: Kiss your little one and make memories that they’ll never forget! With a little bit of planning and a lot of hard work, you can be frugal and create an unforgettable day!