Monthly Archives: April 2012

Yeehaw!

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Howdy folks!

Living in Texas lends itself to many “dressing western” days at school.

Seeing as I don’t particularly embrace boots and hats we often struggle to come up with an appropriate costume on those days. The boys have never been concerned, often refusing to even wear jeans on those days. Caroline, on the other hand, enjoys her school dress up days so I decided to do my best to outfit her appropriately.

An old dress up hat plus a ribbon was the first part of the ensemble.

Next I made her a skirt using the circle skirt tutorial from MADE.

Caroline and I wandered around the fabric store looking for some appropriate fabric. She refused the horse pattern (thank goodness!) and decided on this flower pattern.

To make this skirt, you have to make a quick pattern and then use it to cut out a circle of fabric. From there you adhere the elastic. Sewing on the elastic was the most difficult part for me though it won’t deter me from making another skirt.

The final piece of her outfit was a $3 shirt from a consignment shop.

Caroline is currently loving the book, Cindy Ellen, which is Cinderella with a western twist. She took this book to school to share saying, “I’m a cowgirl like Cindy Ellen.”

And no, she is not wearing boots.

It was 85 degrees that day and boots are not looked upon kindly on the playground.

Plus, this Louisiana momma can only do so much to encourage a Texas style.

Blue Hair Special in Target

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I was walking through Target the other day when I looked up and noticed I was about to pass two older women.

As I walked by, one of the women said, “I love your necklace dear.”

I responded with a thank you and went on my way.

But then I wondered…

Should I be concerned that a woman in her 80’s likes my necklace?

Does it mean my style is more like an elderly woman’s that I thought?

Would it change your opinion to know that this eighty year old woman was wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt, yellow jeans, and leopard print shoes?

I think it means I better ditch the black shorts and plain white t-shirt and dress more like the elderly.

They seem to have it going on these days 🙂

Angry Bird Cakes

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My boys recently had a combined birthday party and they requested an Angry Birds Cake.

Actually they requested a cake with angry bird lacrosse players who were shooting goals on opponents. It’s nice that they think so highly of my cake decorating skills but I said no. Instead we compromised with… 3 Angry Bird cakes.

Thanks to my good friend Duncan Hines the cakes were made in a jiffy.

I used one of my favorite baking tools…since I always have good results with it.

For the frosting layer, I went simple again by using frosting from a can. Place a desired amount of frosting in a bowl, add coloring, stir, and spread with an icing spatula.

Love, love, love this coloring. I always buy it at the cake shop (which has a retail section).

After frosting cakes, I always place them in the fridge to let the icing set a bit. I also drop the temperature in the house by about ten degrees since warm frosting is impossible to work with. (I place the cake in the fridge after each different color frosting is applied.)

To get the oval shape for the white bird I cut pieces of cake and added them to the circle cake. Putting frosting between the different sections helps hold them together.

Now onto the fancy frosting with an unfancy tool.

I like to use a metal icing tip and place it inside a ziplock bag which has a small hole cut out of the side. Simply place the icing into the bag, twist the bag, and start frosting.

For the larger sections of color I simply place the icing all over and then smooth with the spatula.

For the bird feathers I cut shapes out of black card stock and pushed them into the sides of the cake.

And for my most important tip…if you have a “helper,” be sure to provide her with her own cake and frosting bag.

Here she is actually frosting blueberry muffins since her decorated cake had already disappeared into her tummy and I needed some more time.

The final products – Red Bird, Green Pig, and White Bird.

Old

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Last weekend Caroline and I were at the playground during Alex’s lacrosse practice.

She was quite content to just swing and swing.

After awhile, two little girls walked up and got on the swings to her left.

Caroline proceeded to talk to them and they proceeded to ignore her.

One little girl told the other she was five.

The second little girl said, “Oh, I’m six.”

Caroline then said, “I’m fa-ree,” while holding up her three little fingers.

No response from them.

So I said, “Yes, Caroline. You are three.”

She ignored me and looked at the girls again.

With a flick of the wrist in my direction, she then said …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“And this is my mom. She’s not fa-ree. She’s old.”

 

Frommage

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I was driving home from piano lessons with my children in the car.

My six year old shouted, “Mom, I smell pizza.”

I had just silently farted.

Sure brings new meaning to the phrase, “cutting the cheese.”

 🙂

I love you because…

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One of  my Januaray goals was to hang the “I love you because” signs which I bought from Kiki Creates when she was having an “oops sale.”

The defect in the prints turned out to be the white rim around them. Eventually I will add a little black border to cover that up, but hey, they went up in January and it’s still not done so don’t hold your breath.

I bought cheap IKEA frames to display them on the wall (I think the frames were $3 for a pair).

the view coming down our stairs – everyone sits on the stairs to put their shoes on so I thought this would be the perfect spot.

Current and previous entries…

“you love to dress up”

“you love to have stories read to you”

“you love your brothers”

“your laugh is contagious”

“you have a passion for animals”

“you have found a love of reading”

“Your smile makes me smile”

“You love to listen to NPR with me”

“You are a wonderful big brother”

The kids immediately notice when a new reason has been posted so it’s fun to listen and watch them discuss it. Which reminds me, I need to go write something new right now.

*Here’s Kiki’s original post which inspired me to put these prints up in our house*

$11.90

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How would you spend $11.90 if you had it?

11 $1 items at McDonald’s?

4 pairs of socks?

 1 lunch with the ladies?

Here’s how my 3 year old spends $11.90 when I’m in the shower…

Next time I’m just going to take a sponge bath…think of all the money it will save me.

Florence

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Tomorrow I’m flying to California to see my sister who is also flying in for the weekend trip.

We are going to the Florence and the Machines concert on Saturday night.

While it’s exciting and a very needed trip, I have some serious concerns.

You see, the last concert I went to involved the performers singing the wheels on the bus and the audience eating goldfish crackers,  all the while sitting on picnic blankets.

My adult concert etiquette is just out of date.

So for this weekend I’m wondering….

What does one wear to a concert now a days?

Based on the newspaper stand magazines I’m thinking leopard stilettos and a mini skirts?

What time does a concert start?

It probably starts at eleven at night. That’s a good two hours past when I’m usually asleep, throw in the two hour time difference…oh boy, I might be in trouble.

Is this one of those concerts where everyone stands?

Since I’ll already be tired I was kind of hoping for one of those “sit on the sofa and put your feet up” kind of experiences. Maybe I’ll have to substitute some sensible shoes for the stilettos.

Regardless of what I wear (now my sister is worried – Please don’t show up in mom jeans!) or how late I’m up I know I’ll have a great time.

Hope your weekend is rockin’ too!