Valentine's Day 2012

The girls had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday....lots of fun, sweets, and partying, which is what makes all kids happy, right? Here some pics of our festivities.

I saw this Valentine idea of Pinterest a while back and thought it was so cute and thought I'd give it a try. This was SO, SO super easy and cheap (about $2.50 for the prints and $2 for the suckers), and Mattie absolutely loved them. I was kinda thinking they were the cutest thing ever, and then I started seeing all this backlash on blogs and facebook about mom's who do too much on holidays to make themselves look better, and you should let your kid do their own valentine's, and blah blah blah. To all that chatter I say, this is the fun part of being a mom to me. Did Mattie hand make these all by herself? No. Did she help? Yes. When I told her the idea, did she love it, and then when she saw the finished product, did she say "best valentine's ever, mom!"? YES! So, whatever....we liked them. Mattie would hand out signed headshots of herself if it were up to her, so this was kind of a version of that.

On Sunday, we decorated a box for Mattie to take to school for all her Valentine's to go in. Lots of fun, and I let her pull out whatever she wanted to use from my craft stash, and I expected it to look pretty hodge-podgy, but she's got some decor ability about her, I think!

I had to take a picture of the card Mattie made for her teacher because I thought it was so sweet. We have been blessed with what is the absolute best Kindergarten teacher to ever walk the planet, and Mattie absolutely adores her:

The inside is what I thought was so precious, ha!:

These are the cookies I made for her class party...another Pinterest inspiration:

I ended up having to take Presley with me to Mattie's class party. Not my ideal situation, but it turned out OK. Mattie was so thrilled to have her there, and Presley felt like such a big girl. She begs me to take her in Mattie's school ALL the time, and she knows Mattie's teacher, so she felt like she was one of the students for an hour yesterday.

We finished our day with daddy bringing home balloons and candy for both girls, and we had a very routine, nothing-fancy dinner, BUT, I turned off the kitchen lights, and we lit candles on the table, so we had what Mattie calls a "Candle-Night Dinner". And daddy did bathtime even though it wasn't his turn, which is about the most romantic thing I could have asked for. Hope everyone enjoyed Valentine's Day!

Flashback Friday

I've seen this on a couple other blogs, and thought I'd do it too. These pictures are a "flashback" to 2008...nearly 4 years ago. This is Mattie as a 2yr old...she's about 27months here, which is about what Presley is now. I love looking back at pictures of Mattie and comparing them to Presley now. They are so different!

Big blue eyes!

Mattie had SO much more hair than Presley has. Presley's is just now reaching her shoulders, and at this point Mattie had already had several haircuts, and it was still down her back:

Happy little 2yr old!

I'm pretty sure no one even bothers clicking over here anymore since I am the world's most inconsistent and irregular blogger, but I'm going to do my best to jump back in to updating this ole blog regularly. I have wanted to post so many times, but just haven't done it for one of several reasons:

-My computer is old and slow, and sometimes does not cooperate with Blogger, and I end up frustrated when trying to post.

-It takes forever to upload pictures.

-I had a hugely, incredibly busy fall and Christmas season with sewing orders. A blessing...but just about every other area of my life was neglected during Nov. and Dec.

-My darling youngest child keeps me ON MY TOES all day long, and when she goes to bed at night, I collapse like I've just finished a marathon. Or in a manner I would assume one would collapse in if one were to finish a marathon.

-My precious first-born also keeps me busy, but mostly with activities, not with toddler shenanigans like her sister. We had a busy fall with that girl!

So, I thought I'd throw out a few pictures and a list, and go from there. Shall we?

THINGS I'M HAPPY ABOUT OR LOOKING FORWARD TO OR JUST THINGS IN GENERAL:

-Starting a new spring bible study at church. We are doing Beth Moore's newest, which is "James: Mercy Triumphs". Excited!

-Mattie turns 6 in March. Perhaps I shouldn't include it under this list...maybe I should start a new list called THINGS I CANNOT BELIEVE AND ALMOST REFUSE TO ACCEPT BECAUSE IF IT WERE UP TO ME SHE WOULD STAY 5 FOREVER. Because that's how I feel about that.

-I did some major cleaning out right after Christmas while my girls were at my in-laws and took a HUGE load to Goodwill. It was much needed and my home feels so much more un-cluttered. I have huge aspirations of keeping it that way, and doing even more de-cluttering in 2012.

-Around the time Mattie was 2, I started running. Not fast, and not incredibly far, but I did do it pretty regularly, and even got up early in the mornings to do it (!). I did a couple of local 5k's and it was something I enjoyed. Matthew runs too, and it was something that we enjoyed together, even though we never really ran together (if that makes sense). BUT, when I became pregnant with Presley, I stopped and I have never started back. I've made a few attempts, but never stuck with it. I am determined 2012 is the year I hit the streets again. I've been walking everyday this week, and I'm thinking of starting Couch to 5k next week. I've heard great things, and it would give me a program to follow rather than just running my heart out. So I'm thinking a spring 5K might be on my list of to-do's.

-Matthew and I are trying to do some healthy eating, and after 3 days, I'm already so over it! We had a bingeful Christmas and both of us basically ate or drank anything that came within reach the entire month of December, and I can't speak for him, but my jeans are not just snug, they're almost inappropriately tight. SO, I'm trying to stick with it. For the sake of those who have to see me in my jeans.

-Around Thanksgiving, or maybe a little before, we went from the status of "Potty Training" with Presley to "Potty Trained". It has been my experience with both girls that at some point, something just clicks with them, and the accidents and headaches of potty training suddenly cease, and they are all the sudden potty trained. I am so proud of her for being such an easy one to train, and oh the joys of not buying diapers or worrying about messes anymore. She is sleeping in pull-ups still, but we are going on week 3 of waking up dry, so I'm thinking I'm not buying anymore of those either. Glory!

-I went through a severe Pinterest addiction a few months ago, and I think I have finally leveled out to being a normal user. Seriously...it's too addicting! But I have done SO MANY projects I have found on there. Maybe I should share some here??

-I have seriously considered deleting my Facebook profile. If my business page wasn't connected to it, and I didn't have several groups that I'm a part of on there, I probably would. I feel like Facebook has made me feel differently, and in some cases negatively, about people that I would have liked otherwise had I not been subjected to their lame or ignorant or negative or self-inflating posts. Can anyone relate to that? Has anyone ever deleted their profile and survived? Do tell.

-Matthew and I have a no-gift policy for Christmas. We like to focus our energy, efforts, and dollars on our girls, and that is enough gift for both of us. This year, however, he surprised me (truly surprised me) with a Kindle. This mama reads a ton, and he knows I have lusted after the Kindle for a long time. I got the Kindle Touch and I love it! I was in the middle of a real book at Christmas that I just finished, so I have yet to actually use it, but I'm planning to start something new on the Kindle tonight.

-Tomorrow is my 11th anniversary. And the Razorbacks are playing in the Cotton Bowl tomorrow night, so I think I know how my anniversary will be spent : )

On to some pictures!

I looked for some Thanksgiving pictures, but it appears I didn't take a single picture at Thanksgiving. So on to Christmas!

As I said, I was insanely busy during Christmas with sewing orders, so I never got around to making my own children a Christmas dress, but I did whip up these quick little skirts to match their scotty dog sweaters and this is what they wore to our Christmas Eve service. Way cute!

I had big intentions of getting family pictures made this fall in order to have one for a Christmas card, and it just never happened. BUT I STILL WANTED MY CHRISTMAS CARD! So, I invested in a $12 tripod from Walmart, enlisted my mother to help (by pushing the shutter release button), and basically took them myself. We got about 150 throw-away shots, but I did get a few keepers and one good one for the card. Success!

Here are my girls being sweet:

My precious, blue-eyed baby:


My little mess of a child:

This was our card:

I did the girls shirts super quick right before we went to do these pictures from an idea I saw on...Pinterest! It's just ribbon ironed on in different lengths to look like a Christmas tree with a button on top. Super easy, super cheap because I already had all the ribbon and the tees, and we got so many compliments on these shirts.

I think that's all for now. I may try to post some more Christmas pictures tomorrow!

A Party for Presley

About two months ago, maybe more, we began to talk to Presley about her upcoming birthday, telling her things like "you're going to be two!", "you're going to be a big girl!", "you're going to get to have a party!", all of which made her very excited. And at some point in those discussions, I asked Presley what kind of party she wanted to have, not really expecting her to understand what I meant or to have any idea how to answer. Well, she immediately answered "A CANDY party!", and she has stuck with that exclamation ever since. I tried to talk her into other ideas like a Mickey party, or an Olivia party, but she wasn't having it. We have talked about her candy party for months, and I have never seen a child this young so excited for THEIR own party. She talked for weeks about who all she wanted to be there, what all she wanted to have (candy, cakes, cupcakes, and more candy), and all this was done with pure excitement and joy. I really don't remember Mattie being that excited about her 2nd birthday party. But Presley was over the moon!

Truth be told, I toyed with the idea of not even doing a party. My thinking was that we did a fairly big party last year, and maybe we'd take a year off this year, and then do a party next year when she turns 3 and she could invite some friends. So much for that! I'm so glad we did go ahead and celebrate this sweet girl...she deserves it!

And just because I can't help looking and comparing how much difference a year makes, here she is at her 1st birthday.

These pictures are very out of order, but I'm not fixing it.

Here is Presley and her cutie pie friend Dylan:

Presley after blowing out her candles:

Miss Priss finally got some of her own dress up stuff so she can quit stealing sisters:

And she was blessed with two Furr-Real toy cats that purr and move when you pet them. She LOVES!

She was very uninterested in her presents...I kind of had to make her stop and open them all. Very unlike her sister who loses all ability to control herself around a pile of presents:

I caught her doing this several times....swiping candy off the table. The girl loves some candy!

Here is my little miss looking so grown. I made her little outfit and love how it looks on her:

This is the cheapest party I have ever put together, but it still turned out pretty cute. I spent around $25 all total for everything, including invites and postage. The biggest expense was the ingredients I bought to make the frosting for the cake and cupcakes.

I had planned to only make cupcakes, but the day before Presley kept talking about "my cake". I told her "you mean your cupcake", and she was not having it. She insisted on having a cake, so I had to throw this together last minute!

I found a lady on Etsy who designed these cupcake toppers and an invite for me for $8, and I printed them both out at home and made them. Too easy and gotta love CHEAP! And I have learned the secret to pretty cupcakes with nice, neat piped icing is to make your own icing. Much better and holds up much better to being piped on.

I displayed several of her pictures in frames I got at the dollar store and painted with paints I had:

And all the candy jars I had or bought at Goodwill, and all the candy came from The Dollar Tree:

The only thing I forgot was a present for Presley. Yes, I'm the mama who didn't take a present to her own child's birthday party!

It was so fun to do this party and see how happy it made Presley. Her favorite part was having all her family there in one spot. She talked for weeks about everybody coming, and everyday she'd talk and talk about it and name someone and ask me if they were coming..."Gigi coming to my pah-tay??" "Nana coming to my pah-tay?", and on and on and on....and she did this for WEEKS! So, I was thrilled that everyone got to be there. Except Mattie....she came down with fever and a sore throat the day before and was still running fever the day of, so I had to make her miss it. She was SO devestated....OH how she cried. She had looked forward to the party as much as Presley had and she had helped me plan and get ready for it, so I just hated for her to not go.

Seeing Presley have a party has got Mattie's mind working on what she wants her next party to be, and she has got some big ideas! Lord, give me strength!

iPhone Pics

We have been having the best summer, and although I haven't picked up my camera as much as I should, I do always have my iphone handy for pics, so I thought I'd post some of those. These are ALL out of order, and span from about May to Current, and are basically a bunch of randomness, but some cute ones too. Promise to update more often!

We went to to College Station, TX over 4th of July weekend to visit my brother and his family, and that Sunday we drove over (down?) to Houston to a baseball game. This was SO FUN! I'm not big on baseball, we are definitely a football family, but I have to say, I can't wait to do this again....we all loved it and had the best time!

Mattie at Minute Maid Park in Houston at Astros vs. Red Sox game...SO FUN!



Us. We left PK with Mimi which was a VERY wise decision:
We went to a mall in College Station that had a pet store where you could hold the puppies....basically a little girls paradise. Mattie fell in love with several that day. It looks fake, but this is a real puppy she's holding:

My girls were HORRIBLE on our trip to TX. It's about a 5 1/2hr drive, and we left at naptime hoping that would sleep most of the trip...they were awake and whining THE ENTIRE TIME....until about 30 minutes before we got there, and they both fell sound asleep. My nerves were absolutely shot!

In early June, we made our family beach trip to the Gulf Coast. I'll post more pictures hopefully, but this was Presley at the beach....she would stay at the beach or pool as long as you wanted her to, as long as she had a snack handy. She's eating her favorite, cheese doritos, here:

This pic is from vacation too. My precious nephew went with us, and Matthew being the good sport he is, let the kiddos bury him in the sand. Someone (I won't say who) added the "feminine chest", which is hard to make out in the picture, but really.....who would do that?! (it was me)

Presley is always running away from me! I have been very aware that this is probably her last summer to wear these little bubble suits, so I have been putting her in them as much as possible, because I LOVE to see those baby legs!

Mattie and I....at a restaurant while on vacation:

Gaming nerds! Many times while my nephew was visiting, we had to tell the kids to "put the devices down and GO PLAY!"

This has been a popular activity this spring/summer....going for a 4wheeler ride with daddy:

I am so addicted to "Smocked Auctions" on Facebook. It is SO ADDICTIVE....precious smocked clothing for very reasonable prices, but it's sold "auction style", so you have to be a quick bidder. I got this little turtle dress for PK back in May

Mattie's preschool class went on several field trips the last week of school, and I went on several of them with her. Here we are at the fire station:

Mattie has just about completely given up her nap, which is good since she's going to kindergarten in a few weeks. Some days I make her take one (like today) when I KNOW she needs it, but most days I let her play or watch a movie during that time. And every now and then, she will accidentally fall asleep while playing. This time she happened to be dressed up as Sleeping Beauty, ha!

Sweet friends:

Presley in pigtails....she's saying "Ti-Tuh doh?", which translates to "Where'd sister go?"

This is Presley wearing a gown that belonged to Mattie. It's a little girl's size 4, and Mattie had just been wearing it up until the week before, although it was quite short, so I decided to try it on PK....and it fit. There's been several things I've been able to move straight from Mattie's drawer/closet to Presley's, even though there's 3 1/2yrs difference.

Mattie's first lemonade stand with her neighbor friends:

Presley had a VERY nasty fall a while back:

If ever there were a daddy's girl, Mattie is it....this was one night during the NFL draft, and Mattie watched with daddy as long as she could before falling asleep:

This is from May, I think....I worked so hard and planted all these gorgeous planters, and for a while my porch looked great. All that's living at this point is the sweet potato vine : ( I don't think anything can survive South Arkansas heat!

A while back I found this paper and when I asked Mattie about what it was, she casually told me she was drawing naked people and "booties". Lord, PLEASE do not let her do this at school! I don't think I would survive that embarrassment.

Sometimes I just have to cage them:

Mothers of young girls, please listen to me now: never, EVER, give your child bangs. Because there will come a time when you and she will want to grow those bangs out, and it will be the most frustrating, exhausting experience of your life, and you will end up with a child that looks like this in pictures...this will forever be remembered as "The Summer Mattie Grew Her Bangs Out":

Presley is a rocking baby. She went through a phase where she was over it, but we are back to rocking before bed every night, and I will admit, I absolutely love it. We don't rock long, just long enough to sing a few songs, but oh my, is that not the sweetest time? Typically I'm the bedtime rocker, but lately Presley has decided she will wield her toddler power and make bedtime rocking demands....usually Mommy, but sometimes Daddy. And one night last week...she requested Sister. And while my instinct was to not allow it, I let them, and Mattie rocked baby sister for a good 10 minutes in the dark, while singing to her, and Presley laid completely still. It was the sweetest thing...so I had to ruin it by turning on the light and snapping a picture:

My little teenager fell asleep listening to the "Tangled" soundtrack on my iPod before bed...all wrapped up in her blankie.

This horse swimsuit belonged to Mattie when she was a baby. It's a size 18m, which Presley has outgrown, but it's SO cute, I had to see it on her one time. It's hard to tell, but it's denim colored and has a fringe on the sides of the legs. It gave her just the slightest "muffin top" : )