Sunday is for Family

(Here are my sweet babies riding with Nanny, sporting their shades)

I love my kiddos more than anything in the world and Sunday is family day! The day when I share all the excitement of my motherhood moments of the week! This week, on a not so fun note, both kids had pink eye. Our 2 year 2 month old little Hulk Man (he truly prefers to be called Hulk Man Lightning Mcqueen Thomas, but for the survival of my typing finger, I decided to shorten it to Hulk Man – FYI) got it first and took it like a champ. Eye drop time was more like a match from the WWF (except real) but with Hubby’s help, we were usually victorious. Our little Princess got it next, and can we say, “DRAMA”!! She sat on the couch forcing a frown, and when I asked her what was wrong she said, “I have to have my face like this, because it hurts too much to be happy.” Doubt it not, she received plenty of consoling and pampering, and we maintained the princess lifestyle that she has grown accustomed to. Poor babies! And, poor Daddy, because it happened on my work week, he took the brunt of this fun!

Flipping to the sunnier side of things, Hulk Man has decided he’s ready for the potty! He’s been saying he wanted to use the potty a lot lately, but I think it’s been more of a chance to “feel” things out than to go to the potty. However, we went out to dinner this week, and he went with Daddy to the bathroom. My hubby came back with a smile plastered on his face. Hulk Man actually went peepee in the potty! Well, on the floor, he missed the potty completely, but the idea was there – the aim was off, but the idea was spot on! YEAH! So, our Pee/Poo Potty Patrol game has begun! We bought the Cars Pull-Ups, we got the Diego potty seat and I found Incredible Hulk undies – what more could a little guy need? Yesterday, he even said he had to go poopoo, and he sat for a while, said he was done, and than pooped in his Pull-Up. Once again, the idea was right on, even if the timing wasn’t! Can my life exist without Pampers and Desitin? Hopefully, I’m about to find out!

Bake some Cake Ideas

My kiddos and I were watching Food Network Challenge (a family favorite) and began discussing their birthday cakes. Now even though their birthdays are 8 and 9 months away, it did get my creative juices flowing, and I do love planning ahead . . .way ahead:) My son, who will turn 3, knew right away that he wanted a Cars cake, and my daughter, who will be turning 5 (WHAT???!) decided she might like a Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) cake. Here are a few ideas I found!

Here is a great tutorial on how to do a Cars cake from Make Fabulous Cakes! I'm definitely going to refer to her site when attempting my son's cake, and I only hope it will turn out as well as this one!!


For my daughter's cake, I wanted to do something a bit different than a cake using a Barbie doll, and I think the next couple of cakes are sparking some pretty good ideas. I saw this ruffle cake on Be Different . . . Act Normal (isn't that a great name?), and thought that it might be a great idea to do a three layer cake. The bottom layer could be similar to this ruffle cake (done by Nikole Herriot) but done in yellow (I would REALLY need to work on my piping technique FOR SURE to even get close to something this beautiful), followed by a middle layer done in shades of yellow and with fondant ribbons and a "diamond" pendant similar to the bodice portion of Belle's dress. Finally, for the top of the cake, I could make a princess crown. It would be lots of work, but I think it could turn out pretty darn cute!



Another Princess cake idea comes from Elisa (an amazing cake designer and regular on Food Network Challenge) at Confetti Cakes. I was thinking of doing the box in different shades of yellow, including a little Belle figurine, but instead of having the box closed, perhaps having it a bit more open so that you could look inside. And what would be hiding inside? A princess crown! I think my little princess would really love it!


Now this final cake idea is just about the CUTEST and most CREATIVE idea I've seen! It is from Bakerella, and it is a cake designed from a child's drawing! I love this idea!! And, even if it's not for one of my kiddos' birthdays, I am definitely going to have to give this genius idea a try! Check out Bakerella's tutorial on how to do this SUPER CUTE cake!





Now, I do realize that the chances of my kiddos still wanting the same kind of cakes months from now are slim to none, but just in case I WILL be READY:)!!

Here are a few examples of past birthday cakes that I did for my sweet babies!


For my daughter's first birthday, she had a teddy bear themed birthday, and I made two 3D teddy bear cakes, one little one for the birthday girl, and one larger one for everybody else.

For her second birthday, she was really into the Backyardigans, and Tasha was her favorite. I was 9 months pregnant with my son, so I came up with a very simple design - Tasha's dress with a Tasha stuffed animal on top! It was very easy to do . . . wish I could say the same about giving birth to my son; which happened 13 days later:)!


For the next birthday season, I created a Tinkerbell cake for my daughter and an underwater themed cake for my son's 1st birthday!



For Halloween last year, Superheros were very popular at my house! My daugher really liked Spidergirl, but decided to go with Supergirl because she dug the red boots more than the black boots that went with the Spidergirl costume! My son was and still is a die hard Hulk fan . . . in fact, even now, he still makes us call him "Hulk Man" every once in a while!


For their birthdays, we just kept the theme going, and I made one all inclusive Superhero cake!

We had Spiderman, Batman, Supergirl or Superman, Wonder Woman, and of course, The Hulk represented!

I just LOVE making cakes and can't wait for my kiddo's birthday season to roll around! They truly are my biggest INSPIRATION!

So Bright You Gotta Wear Shades - It's a Giveaway

Just wanted to mention a great giveaway at Anthroholic! She is giving away a pair of Kinsie Nicoletta Sunglasses. Check out how cute these are!



Head on over to Anthroholic to check out the give away!

Today I visited at Craft Blog Central at Kid Giddy

Chalk it up

A while back, I decided to make a little craft table for my kiddos. I purchased an inexpensive wooden table and chair set from Micheals. After I assembled it, I painted the chairs and the bottom of the table with colors that I had left over from painting the kids' rooms. For the top of the table, I decided to use chalk board paint in the middle and then add a border using alphabet decals. I looked FOREVER for the decals, because I wanted each letter to have something that started with that letter included (for instance, I wanted the letter 'A' to also have an apple or alligator with it). I was able to find the decals on clearance at Lillian Vernon, and they were exactly what I had wanted. That made me super happy:) I also included my kid's names on their chairs with some stickers and then polyurethaned everything - well, except the chalkboard part. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, and my kids use it all the time!


I still have some chalkboard paint left over and wanted to find some other fun things to use it for, so . . .

I found some really great ideas at Two Hearts Together. And, I REALLY LOVE the flower pots done at Bedzine! I can't wait to make these, because I love growing herbs in my kitchen and have tons of little pots! Check out these cuties!

I'm sure you've seen these adorable coasters from Me and My Bucket! I think I will try to tackle them too, just because they are too darn cute not to!


I also love the idea of using Chalkboard contact paper (I found it for only $6.99 a roll at Resources for Reading) to make wall decals! Check out this cute idea from Little Birdie Secrets!


And, did you know they make Chalkboard Cloth???? It's about $12/yd. Wouldn't it be cute to make a purse and add a little of this fabric on a front pocket? Then you could keep your to-do list very close to you all day long! Oh my gosh, my brain is now in overdrive . . . I love it:)

Oh, and PS, you know Martha has some great chalkboard paint uses, and she takes it a step further and teaches you how to make chalkboard paint in different colors!

Today I'm linked up to:

Party Down

Today I've headed over to my first blog party. I'm just getting wild and crazy in my old age;)! Check out the fun at Someday Crafts! There are some extremely talented folks at this party, and I love all the great ideas. I posted my Pink Snowgirl Cake and am hoping that others are inspired or at least take the time to read my extremely detailed tutorial - LOL! I hope everyone has a great Whatever Goes Wednesday!

Sweet And Unique

I have a friend who makes the CUTEST dresses! Her name is Kristin, and she is a super talented Mommy of three who makes dresses, skirts, QUILTS, purses and even does beaded art! Her brand is called Sweet and Unique, and it is definitely BOTH! My daughter LOVES the dress that Kristin made for her and everytime she has worn it, we've gotten tons of compliments!

Here is my little princess in her dress! I love the color combination (Kristin will custom make it just for you, so you get to pick the fabric combination that you want. Kristin called this her "sunburst" color combo, and it's still my favorite!) and she does hand smocking which makes the dress stretchy, so when she can't wear it as a dress, it will make a great little tunic! I love any item of clothing that we can use for more than one year:) And, all her smocked dresses are only $35! Such a great deal for such an adorable dress!!! Here are more examples of Kristin's amazing work!

Here is Kristin's twirl skirt! What little girl wouldn't feel like a princess ballerina in this skirt?

She does pillowcase tops and dresses from $15-$25! Such a steal!!

I LOVE this QUILT! It is so amazing! (Kristin you MUST start a blog! I'd love to keep up with everything you do!!)

Here are some bags that she makes! I think the are so AMAZINGLY ADORABLE!! And, they have all kinds of pockets . . . would make an great diaper bag!

Here are some sling bags and wristlets!

For more examples of Kristin's sewing talents, click here!

Kristin also creates beaded art!

Here are some examples of serving utensils and coffee scoops!

Here's one more taste of her amazing and creative talents!

To see more of her beaded art click here!

If you'd like Kristin to make anything for you, shoot her an email at kristinchambers79@gmail.com and enjoy something Sweet and Unique made just for you or your little princess!

Snow Days

We had a record breaking 12.5 inches of snow in Dallas this week! The kids and I had so much fun! Unfortunately, I had to work this week; however, I did in some good play time!

Here I am about to go to work having a friendly snowball fight with the kiddos! You can see our snowman in the background. I let my son pick out the eyes, and he decided on Ritz crackers, and my daughter chose the nose and mouth . . . oranges, of course (she's really into oranges lately). She did hit me with that snowball, but. . .

I pegged 'em back! We had tons of fun!

My little guy. He's favorite thing was definitely the snowball fight!

My sweet princess, who loved making the snowman!

Here's what I drove home to the next morning on my way home from work! And, the snow was still falling!

Here's a pic of part of the golf course near our house! The picture could not capture how beautiful everything looked!!

Here's the kiddos making snow angels on the second snow day! Plus, they didn't have to go to school, which made them pretty happy also:)!

It's Juicy

Here is my newest cake creation! It's a Juicy Purse for one of my co-worker's daughter who is turning 15, loves Juicy purses and loves pink. I was in a mad rush to get it done due to lots of snow (being stuck at work) and lack of time; therefore, some of the details are not as nice as I would like them, but I am proud of the way it turned out for my first cake purse! It was fairly simple to make. I used a 9 X 13" cake pan and than halved the cake and layered the halves using buttercream icing. I than covered the entire cake with pink fondant and added some brown fondant at the top of the cake. For the bow, I used a darker pink fondant, shaped the bow and let it dry for 24 hours. I traced the "Juicy" letters and than carved them out of fondant. For the ribbon on the top of the purse, I wrinkled some fondant to look like fabric and than added some graments around them that I painted gold. I made the strap out of brown fondant and added stitch marks (although, you cannot really see it in the picture). Finally, I added a little gold heart, painted it gold and added on a pink '15'! I hope she likes it! Happy Birthday J!

I love having my own personal architect, now I just wish I had enough money to utilize him!

I love being in awe of people's creativity or artwork, and I am constantly amazed by one artist in particular, my husband! He owns his own company, and he's a licensed architect, builder and realtor, and he builds the most beautiful homes, and I love watching his creative process - from idea, to sketch, to huge blue prints, to the actual building process and finally, the tangible masterpiece! Here is his latest creation; which was just chosen by a group of realtors as the host home to a very fancy party! Congrats, my love!! I am so proud of you!!

I LOVE me some SCIENCE

As I venture into another week of work, I thought it would be a good time to discuss organization! It is my job in the morning to get my 2 and 4 year olds up, fed, dressed, lunches made and out the door with clean teeth and faces (along with my hubby) within 45 minutes of arriving home from work. I was thinking of the one thing that really makes my mornings go smoothly, and it boiled down to one item in particular that I had purchased about 2 years ago from Lilly's Kids. They are the Weekday Closet Organizer, and I have one for both of the kiddos. Every Sunday, after laundry is done, I put the kiddos' school uniforms in this neat little contraption, and then for the rest of the week, it's a daily no brainer on where their uniforms are or which uniform to wear on that day! It's especially great when I have to work late and my hubby has to get the kiddos ready!

My list of 5 more things that help get the kiddos and hubby out the door on time include:

1. I keep a plastic place mat (which I purchased at Wal-Mart for about a dollar) near the front door for the kiddos to keep their school shoes on. The kiddos know when they come in from school to take off their shoes and put them on the mat, and that way, we never have to play the "where is my other shoe" game. It's also very easy and quick to pick up when company is coming over.

2. We keep and USE a hook by the door for my keys, so we don't have to play the "where did I put my keys" game.

3. I try to plan out the kids' lunches the weekend before and get everything I need at the store on Sunday (after coupons have been cut). Once I get home, I wash all the fruits and divide them up into single lunch servings before storing them in plastic containers. That way if I did not have time to make the lunch the night before, it's just grab and go.***Just a side note, I really hate using plastic bags or ziplock bags for the kids' lunches, so I really love sandwich containers, and I was able to find some really cute ones at Target for only $1, which I love even more!

4. My daughter has long hair, so in order to keep her clips in order, I purchased a large wooden letter from Hobby Lobby (on sale for $1.50) and used my hot glue gun to secure two long strands of ribbon to attach the clips to. It's cute, effective and inexpensive!

5. My final quick tip to get through the morning rush is no TV. I only get the 45 minutes to get them ready AND get in as many kisses, hugs and conversations as I can, so I don't want to waste any time competing with Dora for my kids' attention. Plus, it has been my observation that in the past, when TV was allowed, those ended up being the "late" mornings. So, the TV stays off, I stay sane and the kids arrive on time . . . there REALLY is a SCIENCE to it, and I love me some science:)!!