A Productive Saturday

My little chicks started spring break last Thursday and due to outstanding parent teacher conferences, no one is grounded so we decided to be productive this weekend. Saturday morning about 9:30 Tall Man went one way with our three little chicks and I went another way. My family headed to Lowe's to their Build and Grow Clinic for kids.

The days project was a Fortune Teller and from what I understand my little chicks did almost their whole project by themselves. The littlest one obviously needed some help from Daddy but did all her hammering on her own, getting her finger only once.

From what my Tall Man said the people at Lowe's were incredibly kind and helpful with all the kiddos. The little chicks left with aprons, safety goggles, a patch for completing their project and a fancy little fortune teller. They are so excited to go back and build something else in a couple of weeks.

I said I went in another direction Saturday morning. I picked up my sister and we headed to a Stampin' Up camp with my Dad's girlfriend, Sue. I had never been to a stamp camp so I was pretty excited. When I was a little girl Sue always had the coolest stamping stuff and she was very nice, letting my sister and I use all of her supplies when we visited on the weekends.

I was so into my stamping I didn't take any pictures while we were actually stamping. But I set up all my cards when I got home and snapped a few pictures to share with you.

There are some Thinking of You cards...

And birthday cards...

And a gift set of four different cards...

Here they are all together...

I was really intimidated by this card when I saw the example. I didn't know how to pull of the flower from squares thing. It was SO easy! I couldn't believe it.

This card is one of my favorites and my sister won the grand prize for the day, the Big Shot! It's the tool used to make the cards have that embossed pattern. Lucky girl! I told her she has to share with me though. =o)

Do you make your own cards? Or stamp other crafts? I thought this event was so fun I can't wait for the next one!!

Blessings.

Happy Anniversary Tall Man

Today the Tall Man and I celebrate eight years of marriage. It has been an awesome journey for us. This last weekend was no exception. My amazing Tall Man planned a night out to remember. First he arranged for our little chicks to spend the night with their Grandma and Aunt. After our girls headed out on their own adventure we got ready and went down to one of the local lakes and snapped a few pictures.

The sun started to go down and we decided to get going on our date night. This wasn't any date night. My Tall Man planned EVERYTHING on his own. It was all a surprise to me! We walked around some of our favorite stores (The Apple Store, Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn.) After wiping the drool from our chins it was 7 o'clock and time for dinner. Not only did he make dinner reservations for us but he reserved The Lovers Lane at The Melting Pot. We had our own private room with a table for two covered in rose petals. There was champagne, wine, music and lots of fondue! Yum!

Here we are at out table. It was the coolest thing, on the wall behind us was a verse from Song of Solomon "I have found the one whom my soul loves." Perfect.

Some how we managed to inhale our first and second courses (appetizer and salad) before taking any pictures of the food. This is our main course. There was duck, NY strip, Fillet Mignon, Ratatouille and goat cheese ravioli and shrimp. Oh and a bowl of potatoes, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms. And I can't forget the seven dipping sauces!

For dessert we ordered the Yin Yang fondue. A perfect mix of dark and white chocolate with strawberries, marshmallows, pound cake, brownies, bananas, rice krispie treats and cheese cake.

WOW!

It was an amazing evening spent just me and my Tall Man. I appreciate and love him more than he'll ever know. I look forward to spending all eternity by his side. Happy anniversary Tall Man!

Blessings.

Dirty or Clean? That is the Question.

Let me start this post by saying how absolutely wonderful my Tall Man is. He is an incredible help around the house. He helps with cooking, cleaning, laundry, pretty much everything. I couldn't ask for a more amazing man to share my life with.

With that said in the last eight and a half years I have probably heard the question "Are the dishes clean or dirty?" five hundred thousand gazillion times. I can not complain too much because when I hear that question it's because my Tall Man is going to either load or empty the dishwasher. SO sweet!

I never understood why a person couldn't just look in at the dishes and tell if they were clean or dirty. A while back I actually muttered that awful clean or dirty question. Mistake. After asking the question myself I was forced to find a clean/dirty dishwasher magnet. So the search began and this is what I found. A very cute free download over at Carina Gardner Studio.

I downloaded my free copy and printed it out immediately. Then I cut the red sign out and hot glued it to a juice lid. I put a coat of Mod Podge on top to protect it from potential splashes. After that was all dry I hot glued a small button magnet to the back.

And voila!

No more asking if the dishwasher is clean or dirty. That is of course if everyone uses the magnet the way it was intended to be used.

Blessings.

Linking to: Just A Girl, House of Hepworths

Decorating the Tree

Decorating the Christmas tree is such a huge tradition in most homes this time of year. I remember years as a child when decorating at our home was not like most homes. Remember I lived in this house until I was in the third grade. We had six people living in this farm house. There was no indoor bathroom, only cold water running off the mountain that had been plumbed to the kitchen sink and a wood stove was our only source of heat. The house wasn't big, but it worked. I remember a Christmas where we decorated a laundry basket instead of a tree, there just wasn't enough room for a big tree.Once my mom, step-dad, sister and I moved into a different home on the property we started going out onto our property on horseback looking for the "perfect" tree. Those were fun years!

Now that I live in suburbia, my Tall Man pulls on some slippers and a sweatshirt and goes to the garage to pull our tree down from the rafters. Not as adventurous but it works for us. Set up this year was a little different because we were given a bigger tree from some family so it was the first time assembling the 7.5 foot tall tree. I have to admit I sat on the couch and supervised while Tall Man and the little chicks put the tree together. It went much quicker than I expected.

As you know the lights go on first then time for the ornaments. Our tree has no theme, it hasn't for probably six or seven years now. Each of our girls get at least one new ornament each year, times that by three girls time nine years... that's a whole lot of princess ornaments! So our "non-theme" is a whole lotta little girl with a touch of mom and dad. Here are my favorites...

You may have noticed I like monograms.

Here are my girls new ornaments from my mom.

This is one of my favorite home made ornaments.

My oldest chick made this at AWANA one year.

A favorite given to us from some friends a couple years ago.

And of course a little something for the Tall Man.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and happy decorating!

Blessings.

A Princesses Night to Remember

Over the last eight weeks I have been helping a handful of members from our church put together A Princesses Night to Remember. A formal dance designed for fatherly figures and their princesses. Last Saturday was the big night. And it was a hit!

I was at the church at 10:30 Saturday morning, helped set up until 2 p.m.. Went home bathed my chicks, dried, curled and straightened hair and helped with princess dresses. Then it was back to the church for a few final touches and to welcome Daddy's and their daughters.

I am so happy with the way the dance turned out I wanted to share it with you. It wasn't fantastic lighting (candles and dimmed lights) and I do not have a fancy camera so please forgive the not so perfect pictures.

We'll start with a few shots from Saturday morning. I enlisted my Tall Man and little chicks to help.

My oldest and her friend wrapping small rocks in tissue paper to keep our balloons from floating away. Brilliant and cheap way to keep your balloons in place!

This one was too busy playing princess to help.

And here is how the room looked when the guests arrived...

White carriage and chandelier centerpieces borrowed from a member of the congregation.

Of course a punch fountain.

We had bouquets of balloons lining the entry way of the church.

We realized after several balloons had been filled we didn't have anything to hold them down. So the children's pastor recommended rocks wrapped in tissue paper.

Brilliant man.

Here are my three little chicks ready for the dance.

Oh and we can't forget MoJo sitting so pretty for the picture.

Daddy brought them each a long stem red rose. Mommy got the rest of the dozen. =o)

A friend and fellow helper took a picture of the family for me. I'm thinking we should have waited to make our Christmas cards.

And of course I had to get one of just me and my Tall Man.

To respect the privacy of all the Daddy's and daughters I won't share the candid photo's I took throughout the night. But here's a blurry glimpse at the packed dance floor.

If you have little girls have they ever been to dance like this with their Daddy? If not, I highly recommend it! It was definitely a night to remember for both Daddy and their princesses.

Blessings.

Happy Birthday Tall Man!!

Today is my Tall Man's birthday and I want the whole world, or at least all 44 of my followers, to know what an amazing man he is!

I love my husband because he is an incredible family man. Family comes first to him and that is an admirable quality.

Here he is having Tinkerbell tea with our girls on Christmas morning.

I love him because he makes me laugh! He always has something funny to say or do. And we are a bathroom humor kind of family so it's not always what you might consider appropriate, but it makes me laugh all the same.

Sizing up the pumpkins.

"Sliding into third."

He's also pretty easy on the eyes if I do say so myself.

So, happy birthday Tall Man! You are an amazing man of God. I respect and adore you for your love of faith, family and life in general. Thank you for all you do! I love you more than you'll ever know.

Blessings.