Category Archives: family

Florence & Santa Barbara

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Several weeks ago I flew out to California to attend the Florence and the Machines concert with my sister Kelly.

If you remember I had a slight concern about what people wear to concerts these days.

Here’s how we ended up looking…

Why, you ask, do I look like a 13 year old boy?

Because I assumed the weather channels prediction of 45 degree nights was wrong.

That’s why.

Turns out they were right.

My sleeveless sequined shirt was not going to cut it so we went to the Gap where I bought the stripped sweatshirt and then over to Nordstrom’s where I picked up these babies..

See, I knew comfy shoes would make an appearance.

I think things worked out in the end though because let’s just say my sequins would have been a little out of place.

The concert turned out to be amazing. It was held at the Santa Barbara Bowl, an outdoor amphitheater, which is nestled in the hills.

The opening act was Blood Orange – a one man synthesizing show. He was really good and has a very unique sound. I’ve been listening to him since the concert on You Tube.

And then Florence came on!

She was amazing – she sang and danced all around – a bit quirky, but lots of fun.

Seriously love every single one of her songs.

After a night of concert going what are two girls to do?

Why, go get facials at the Four Seasons, of course!

Uh huh. That’s how my sister rolls.

The Four freakin’ Seasons in Santa Barbara where Oprah lives!

And how do two girls who arrive at their appointment early and are told they do not have pool access spend the time?

At the pool of course!

This was the life I tell you.

I need to talk to my husband about getting us a second home out here:)

Thanks for a great trip Kelly!     

We’ll have to do it again.

Next  time I’ll treat you.     

How many stars do you think the LaQuinta gets?

Have a wonderful weekend!

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*

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!

Easter Synopsis Part 2

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Let’s see, where were we when we last left off…

7:24 am – Oldest Bunny decides to change attitude

7:27 am – Shoes are on and baskets are empty – let the games begin. First up, the front yard.

7:38 am – The backyard. Happiness overtakes sleepiness when candy bar is found.

7:39 am – “There’s even an egg up here!”

7:47 am – The examination begins.

This is the dumper. Each egg is opened and emptied into a pile.

The examiner. Each egg is opened. Looked at. And closed again. The candy will be removed at each eating session. This technique is quite frustrating to Momma Bunny when she’s searching for a quick treat in the pantry.

The Eater. Open an egg. Eat whatever’s inside – all of it – as fast as you can.

8:02 am – Yep, she’s still eating.

8:25 am – Momma Bunny jumps into the shower throwing Dad the kids outfits, yelling that they need to leave in 35 minutes if they are to get to the 9:15 service.

8:30 am – 8:55 am – Pleading, negotiating, threatening all take place.

9:14 am – Bunny family slides into pews two rows from the back.

9:17 am – Momma Bunny pulls out a pad of paper and a pen for Littlest Bunny to play with.

9:19 am – Momma Bunny is tracing Littlest Bunny’s hand for entertainment.

9:24 am – 30 pieces of paper later Littlest Bunny decides she needs a new distraction so Momma Bunny pulls out some magnets and paper clips.

9:26 am – The priest tells all of the children of the church to answer him this question, “Doesn’t the church look beautiful now with all of the flowers in it?”

Middle Bunny shouts out, “No!”

Momma Bunny quickly brings her hand to Middle Bunny’s mouth while Poppa Bunny gives him a stern look.

9:28 am – Oldest Bunny and Middle Bunny start arguing over who gets to hold the hymnal so Momma Bunny takes hers and gives it to the Middle Bunny. Momma Bunny and Poppa Bunny just stand now and move their mouths as if to show they have memorized every Easter song.

9:30 am – Littlest Bunny starts talking loudly. She is escorted to the front yard by Poppa Bunny for a prolonged botany lesson.

9:58 am – Church is over and Momma Bunny is ready to leave. Unfortunately, Littlest Bunny has been outside for the last 30 minutes watching the egg hunt being set up so there is no chance of that.

10:04 – Littlest Bunny mentally prepares for the challenge ahead.

10:05 – Middle Bunny and Oldest Bunny talk strategy with the Littlest Bunny for the hunt. There is talk of pushing and shoving if deemed necessary.

10:08 am – The hunt begins. Littlest Bunny is not keeping her eyes on the prize.  This frustrates Middle Bunny and Oldest Bunny who are doing their best to form a human wall discouraging other Bunnies from snatching eggs in the vicinity.

10:11 am – The victory walk.

10:14 am – Champions Easter egg hunters

10:30 am – Bunny family arrives home.

10:31 am – All designated Easter clothing has been stripped off and thrown to the ground by little bunnies.

10:32 am – Momma and Poppa Bunny tell the bunnies to go put some clothes on and stay upstairs. Momma and Poppa Bunny have designated this time as mandatory quiet time.

10:33 am – The Bunny children just laugh at their parents. They know their sugar high will last until right before dinnertime when all three will meltdown at the same time at the sight of their dinner.

Easter 2012 is deemed a success!

Easter Mess

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Two days ago we had tornadoes come through the Dallas Metroplex.

Around 2:00 the sky started to look ominous. My oldest was home sick so I went to see if I could get my six year old out of school a little early. I was told the school was on lock down due to the tornado threats; no children were being released. I went back home and watched the news coverage for the next hour, all the while listening to our city’s tornado sirens. I knew my six year old was safe in the school but it was quite nerve racking to not have him in my sight during this time.

Roughly an hour after school should have let out, the school starting releasing students. I picked up my son who enthusiastically told of being stuck in the teacher’s bathroom for an hour with his class. (In my mind, his teacher should receive Teacher of the Year for being in a bathroom for an hour with twenty-two kindergarteners – can you even imagine?)

So… because of the storm…our night activities were cancelled…so….we were able to do two Easter “crafts.”

First off, dying Easter eggs (and yes, Caroline does not have clothes on, it’s cleaner this way for everyone).

Notice the fingers…that’s what happens when your technique for dying the eggs is completely hands on.

Once the eggs were dried, it was time to decorate with stickers.

Just because it was time didn’t mean it actually occurred.

Apparently, peeling your eggs was more fun (I’m looking at it from the perspective that it was a scientific learning experience).

My six year old said, “Oh yuck! These smell like rotten cheese! No, wait. They smell like rotten ham!”

Just for the record, he has never been served either one of those options.

For our second craft of the night, I thought it would be fun to create some No Bake Chocolate Egg Nests which I saw on the Chef in Training blog.

This is what we were going for…

but this is what we ended up with…

but we sure had fun making them…

although I’m not sure if anyone but Mom really completed any nests…

since they were too busy “cleaning up.”

Easter Mess

=’s

Easter Fun

Spring Break is Over

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Spring break is over today but we had a busy week doing a lot of kid chosen activities.

*First haircut

*Went to see the movie “Tin Tin”

* Trip to the zoo

*IKEA trip for lunch and closet supplies (OK, so not all trips were kid chosen)

* 3 days of half day soccer camp

*Having a friend over to play

*Dinner & Painting Class for Mom with her friends

* Watching 3 Netflix movies

* Eating green St. Patrick’s Day pancakes

* Making Rainbow cupcakes

* Lunch date for mom and dad (Believe me when I say the kids enjoyed this one too)

*Everyone in family to see “Big Miracle” movie (Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski movie about saving three whales – comes highly recommended from our family)

* Dinner at In & Out

Yes, it was a good break.

But if any one of my three wake up tomorrow morning sick and can’t go to school, I will not be pleased.

Mary Poppins Party Activities

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In order to celebrate my daughter’s 3rd birthday – Mary Poppins style – we came up with a few related activities that 3 year olds would enjoy.

First up, drawing on cardboard with chalk (relates to Bert and him drawing chalk pictures in the movie).

Next up, a Mary Poppins bean bag toss. We have used these boards for many many parties. We just take off the old pictures or glue right over them with the new themed pictures.

Third, racing around with stick horses (relates to the carousel horses and when they race in the movie).

These were a huge hit. I’m putting together a tutorial on how I made these.

Next, pin the bow tie on the penguin (come on, do I really need to tell you what part of the story this is from?)

Lastly and the biggest hit of the party, chimney play! (these are supposed to be the chimneys that the chimney sweeps pop in and out of when they sing “Chim Chimney Cha-roo.”)

We bought five large cardboard boxes and two small boxes for about $6.00. My husband then connected them all and cut holes on the top in order to give the small boxes a place to sit. In order to make the entire thing stable, he screwed 3 pieces of wood together in the shape of a “C,” and then put it at the beginning of the box and then another one at the end. The 3 pieces of wood touched three sides of the structure – the bottom space where the kids crawled through didn’t have a piece of wood. 

Traffic jam

Even the big kids got in on the action.

Caroline had a good time popping through the top of the structure yelling, “Cha-roo!”

So those were our Mary Poppins party activities – I also bought sugar cubes in hopes of doing a relay race with a “spoonful of sugar,” but decided against it at the last moment. Another activity we didn’t use a bunch of musical instruments I had gathered. I thought the kids could play in a band like the one that plays while Mary Poppins receives her prize for winning the horse race.

Altogether I spent about $60 on the entire party. I would have spent about $40 had I planned ahead and used coupons to purchase many of the items. Oh well, I like to think I do my best work at the last moment.

Soon I’ll share her cake and the decorations.

For Mary Poppins hat instruction go here.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

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I knew this would happen.

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone in our house lost some hair.

Apparently my daughter has inherited the need to cut hair when she sees it.

My love of hair dressing started with Barbies.

Every Barbie I owned had short hair after several visits to my salon.

I was years ahead of G.I. Jane.

Then there were my sisters.

Poor innocent victims of my obsession.

My sister Amanda had a head full of curls. Anything I did to her hair really went unnoticed.

This was not the case with Kelly and her thin straight hair.

She would climb up on the chair and let me cut away.

She let this go one for years.

Until she was in 4th grade.

That year I took it a little too far.

Or, a little more accurately, a little too short.

With fourth grade class pictures looming the next day I set about cutting Kelly’s hair. There was no give like Amanada’s hair. I think her bangs were roughly two inches long when I finished them. Not good when there is four inches of space to fill.

I found Caroline’s handy work one day during naptime. Since naptime is now quiet playtime I just let her be when I heard doors being opened and closed. Apparently, she found the scissors in the craft room and went to town.

I really can’t be angry.

I mean, after all, you can’t fight DNA.