A long time ago...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....X turned 5! How is it that I have a 5 year old now?! Where did the time go? My dude loves everything from Star Wars, to video games, super heroes to legos! He is all boy, loves soccer, chocolate cake, ham and cheese sandwiches and school! So to celebrate this awesome, funny, amazing guy, we had a Star Wars themed birthday party.

And what better way to start out this blog and every birthday, than with a fun cake! This one, I did this time instead of having my sister in law do it. I loved it! 

I have to give my husband props for this one. I made the cake, but he was in charge of the decorating. He found a pumpkin decorating kit online, and hence...Darth Cake was born.

Every Star Wars party needs some stormtroopers as well. Stormtrooper cupcakes at your service.

Look at these cute little guys! I love the marshmallow stormtrooper army. 

Black chips and salsa were a delicious salty treat to go with all the sweets. I also had pretzel sticks which I dipped in blue and green coating to make little pretzel light sabers. They were totally yummy and legit!

Light Saber bubbles....perfect for the coming spring!

A very happy daddy who loves Star Wars even more than his son.

 His sister had a blast at the park.

And so did this awesome birthday boy!!

Love!

Back to the food! Fruit sabers and strawberries with a delicious fruit dip.

And then we put it all together!

We were able to have the party at the park, but it was a tad windy. He had to blow out his candles on the ground, with the picnic table blocking some of the wind. We celebrated by doing a redo that night at home. :)

All in all, I think that this boy had a wonderful birthday! He played hard with his friends, ran all over the park and had some of his favorite: chocolate cake. I am so blessed to call this little guy mine!! Happy Birthday X! I hope you had a wonderful day. May the force be with you.

San Antonio

Its always nice to get away from kids, chores and being responsible. Sometimes when my husband has conferences, I tag along for fun and to do, well...nothing. I love it. I sleep in, I nap, read, or go sight seeing. This time, it was San Antonio!

I've been there before, but it was years ago and I don't really remember much of it. So it was like it was my first time all over again! The best part about this whole trip, aside from spending some quality time with my husband was THE FOOD! I love to eat. I am a picky eater, but I LOVE eating what I like. :) I don't remember all the places we went, but I do have some awesome pictures from some of the places. Next time I travel, I'll keep a journal, take pictures of all the food, and share. For now, these following pictures were of the best food we had while there!!

First, we have to start with one of the best pictures...the Alamo. It was beautiful and full of history. And you know...Remember and all. :)

The wax museum was across the street and since my son is so into super heroes, I had to take this picture for him. Avengers! Assemble!

The couple selfie because I just love this guy so much. I know, this is kind of mushy, keep scrolling.

 This was a delicious restaurant called Michelino's. It was an Italian restaurant on the riverwalk and was very good. This was the meat and cheese platter. It was pretty tasty!

I also had the minestrone soup. It was some of the best soup I have EVER had. So good!!

Philip had the seafood salad which he said was awesome!!

This was the view from Michelino's. It was Friday night, so the riverwalk was full of people. But a beautiful view!

We had some yummy Bar-b-que at County Line. The bread here was so good that I took some back to the hotel and had it for breakfast!!! 

This was probably one of my favorite places. Boudro's. We actually had a simple soup and salad, but it was OMG delicious!!! There was herbed goat cheese on this salad and a great vinaigrette. And the tortilla soup I had was so good, I almost wanted to ask for another bowl!

And last but not least, my all time favorite was Acenar. We had lunch here and it was SO good! I wanted to keep going back, but we decided to try other things. Next time we go, this will definitely be one of my first stops. And no, there is no food in this picture, but it was taken in the restaurant. The food here was so awesome, that when I got the food, I just started eating. It wasn't until I was half way done I realized I didn't take a picture. Oh well, just another reason I need to make this place a priority next time. 

We had a wonderful, relaxing trip and I am glad I got to get away with my sweetheart. I can't wait for our next adventure. But, I was sure happy to get back to my circus!! Until next time. 

A schedule to get things done...

A couple of years ago I wrote about our schedule and how I managed to keep our house clean, take care of my kids and stay sane at the same time. I had a good system that fit our family, but I was also adding another baby into the mix. I remember writing that I would inevitably, be changing it up. Sure enough, I did! My kids got older, our life got a little bit more hectic and then both started school. So what was once a great system for us has changed. Today, I get to share with you how we get everything done these days.

Now that both of my kids are in school, I have some more down time for me to get things done. But I also have more school activities than before that keep me going. Another big thing happened as well....my kids quit napping!! Yes, both of them!! I finally gave up and called it quits because it was more complicated during nap time than it was with them just skipping. My daughter was never a big day time sleeper. Even as a newborn, she stayed awake a lot and went to bed early sleeping through the night by 8 weeks. She loved being a part of things and staying wide awake. I would put her down for at least one nap a day, but most of the time she would just play in her crib. I was ok with that! Both of my kids would go to nap and just read books and play in their beds for a couple hours. I loved it because it gave me the much needed down time that I looked forward to each day. Then around 2 1/2, our daughter got a big girl bed. She did well with just playing in her room quietly, but then we potty trained. It seemed even if she went to the bathroom before nap time, during nap time, it was constant, "I need to go tee tee!" or "I need to go poo poo!" or "I need a drink of water!" which eventually turned back into "I need to go tee tee!" Seriously!! I got up more and went up and down the stairs during that time than any other time during the day! And how can you tell a little girl who is potty training that she really doesn't need to go? Eventually we got that kink worked out, but by then I had given up. Now we do quiet times during the day for an hour or so, where they go upstairs together and play quietly.

Needless to say, given all of that, I lost my down time which I needed to stay grounded. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids!!! I love them to the moon and back and so much more. They are my joy and everything, but oh my goodness do I sometimes need space! We are together ALOT! So here is what I finally came up with that is working for us now.

Monday: they go to school. then in the afternoon we do general clean up like dishes, a quick vacuum, and dusting.
Tuesday: this day has become our cleaning day! This is where the bulk of the work gets done. Laundry, cleaning bathrooms, general pick up and cleaning the kitchen. I also do yard work and other little things that need to get done around the house this day.
Wednesday: School, then in the afternoon, we pick up stuff, put things away, and keep the kitchen cleaned. In the Spring and Fall this night was reserved for soccer practice. So the majority of the afternoon is making sure everything's cleaned, put away, in order so we can eat, O can get a quick bath so everyone is ready for soccer practice. (My husbands the coach, so we all usually go)
Thursday: usually we do a play group in the morning, then we run errands if they need to be done that afternoon, and do a general clean up. Basically, general clean up means keeping things put in their place. I also let the kids run loose in the play rooms this day. I let them make whatever messes they want! We can always clean it up the next day. Hey, they need to be able to be kids and have some freedom. So we just try to keep all stuff put away and toys out of all the other rooms except the play room where they are free to destroy.
Friday: School in the morning, then in the afternoon, I do any laundry from the week, vacuum (we have two dogs, vacuuming is necessary twice a week!), sweeping, getting everything cleaned up and put away for the weekend, like school crafts, lunch boxes, back packs, shoes, soccer stuff, etc. This stuff can kind of get set aside because its used or looked at daily, so it doesn't get put away right then.

A couple side notes. I still treat being a stay at home mom like a job. I start when they get up or when we have to leave for school and I am off by 7 for sure. Most days its sooner. Other than cleaning after I cook...a little, I dedicate the evenings to them. Soon it'll be to help with homework or take them to a practice. But right now, its for snuggles, reading and a little downtime. On Monday and Wednesday while the kids are at school, I come home and take some time for me. Its usually a couple hours that I get to read, work out or watch a tv show uninterrupted. Fridays, the kids are in school for half days, so I usually do things around their school until they're out like go to Barnes and Noble and read! I love this quiet time. I think its essential for every stay at home parent to take some time for themselves. It gives you a sense of freedom and helps you remember what you like. Sometimes I think we can get lost in what are kids want to do, house work, their hobbies, etc., that we forget to do something we love. So while they're in school, I take advantage of it. I still love to run errands with my kids. We go to the grocery store and pretty much every other errand we need to run together. I save errands for that time! All of this makes sure that our weekends are free for whatever. And once a month is my deep clean day where I clean out cabinets, go through old toys and their closets, etc. Whichever day or days I need for this, I just make it happen.

Lately, our weekends consist of soccer, birthday parties, church and any errand the husband wants to run. We like to go to the park to play, walk our dogs, ride bikes or just have a day where we have family time inside and play games or watch movies (well the hubby and I do) and the kids just play and have fun. This is another time when I let them play with whatever. Get all the toys out, color and leave the pages out so we can look at them over and over...and over. Play playdoh and make a mess (I do clean this one up right away so I can make sure they put it away so it doesn't dry out), she gets all her barbies and princess out and he gets all his super heroes out and they usually end up in the others room since they always play together. Sunday night or, as a part of general clean up Monday afternoon, we can clean it ALL up together. And they do help with that. My kids have been awesome at chores and helping me out.

My kids will bring laundry to the laundry room, put their dishes in the sink and dishwasher when I help them know when the dishes are clean, they pick up their rooms, they clean the play room, put their school stuff away (we have a school station at our house where all designated backpacks and school papers and crafts go. More on that another time). They help me cook, bring in groceries, put them away and so much more. So doing the general pick up daily doesn't take long because we all know where things go.

I hope this post helps some people to know that they can have fun, time to themselves, time to spare and still have a clean house. Make a schedule that fits you and be flexible with it because life can throw you a curve ball at anytime and your day will be thrown off (like O is home today because she has pink eye. That kind of threw my Wednesday out the window. But its ok, because I have all day tomorrow and Friday afternoon to get back on track). But most importantly take time to spend with your kids. I get to play with them almost every day after 5 and all weekend because I prioritize and can plan my day where everything gets done. I love being a stay at home mom. I love making the house chores and my kids lives an essential part of what I do daily. I like knowing what my day is going to consist of and the things I'll need to get done. It took some practice, but it was well worth it to get so much time dedicated to my two awesome kids and my husband....yes we still date and thats part of what those chore free, stress free weekends are for. Until next time...

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Love

I know it has been awhile since I last blogged, but after O's birthday, it seemed we had something every weekend through the new year. We had a wonderful end of 2015! We had a fun Thanksgiving with family, we hosted a beautiful Thanksgiving at our house with more family, saw Santa Clause, had fun class parties and then the kids were off for the holidays!

Thanksgiving and Christmas are probably my favorite holidays. And even though they are sometimes crazy, long and a lot of here and there, I still look forward to them every year. This year I had fun making things for other people and picking out gifts we knew would be perfect.

For starters, Happy Thanksgiving:

The kids had school parties and programs! We brought some delicious snowman cupcakes to O's class party.

She also got to play Mary in their Christmas card:

She didn't seem to like being Mary even though she bragged about it for weeks!! And pay no attention to the fact that she's about to drop baby Jesus. :/

Xander got to be wiseman #2 and had a line in his play: "I bring frankincense."

He loved it and wanted to be wiseman #2 all throughout Christmas. Including going to our nativity set and saying, "Now which one am I again?"

As for the projects I worked on, here are some of them. I love making peg people! So for my mother in law, I made a nativity set:

I made a back drop too (not pictured). I think it turned out well.

For my sweet daughter, I made her some princesses and a couple of princes too. 

Prince Charming, Cinderella, Ariel, Prince Eric, Aurora, Jasmine, Anna and Elsa

And for a fun stocking stuffer for my husband, I made him some Harry Potter ones:

Hagrid, Luna, Neville, Harry, Hermione, and Ron

No holiday is complete without cookies. And since there was kind of a Star Wars obsession going on in our house this season, we had to throw in some Star Wars cookies in with the Christmas ones. 

And per tradition, we needed Christmas jammies! This year the theme was Super Heroes. Is anyone surprised? Really? :) 

My Wonder Woman and The Flash

And since I brought up the whole Star Wars thing, of course we were there opening night. And as a surprise to my husband, I dressed up. (Star Wars is really his thing. Not mine. But I wanted to go at least once. He's been three times. I thought he would get a kick out of me dressing up since it would be the last thing he would expect that I do.)

He was excited!! Can you tell?

Can you believe that Christmas Eve was so warm that this is what we did that day??

My husband got a Star Wars Lego Millennium Falcon. (He's been hunting one and I found it on eBay!) And notice our little photo bomber in the back?

Christmas Eve evening, my husband and I did our tradition, which was watch Love Actually and Four Christmases while we play Santa. This year O got a doll house and X got Disney Infinity the Star Wars starter pack. Once again, surprised about the Star Wars? 

And even though, we have this awesome house, I had to get her a little pink Batman to go with it. I spy....pink Batman.

Christmas Eve: done playing Santa, finishing our second movie, tired, but excited for the morning! 

CHRISTMAS MORNING IS HERE!!!

This photo pretty much sums up our kids and this awesome day!

We paused for a selfie!

After all was said and done we attended 7 Christmases! This was with my family, extended family, his family part 1, our little family at home, his extended family, his family part 2 and my dad. It was magical, exciting, fun, and we are so blessed! But this is how I felt when I did the math and realized within a week and a half, when all was said and done, we would have been to 7 get togethers!

This is my, "ok....here we go" face!

So Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is put away, a happy new year was celebrated and now we are back into the swing of things. The kids started school today, Philip's back out there working and I am back to my usual routine. Its nice to have a schedule and be back on it. Now to start planning a birthday party for an almost 5 year old!! I hope you all had great holidays and until next time...

Wonder Woman's 3rd birthday

This is one of my favorite times of the year!! I love birthday parties! I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I do, but I absolutely love planning my kids parties. This year I asked my daughter what kind of party she wanted and she said, without skipping a beat, "Wonder Woman!" She is her father's child after all. So another super hero party was done and it was WONDERful! Lets start with the amazing cupcakes we did this year. 

As always, we order from my amazing sister in law! www.arayofcakes.com. She does such a great job every time!

And what Wonder Woman little girl could have a party without a tiara just for her. This was her cupcake!

I didn't have a cupcake stand and I couldn't find one that fit my needs, so I got creative. I went to the dollar store, bought a small vase, and then decorated a piece of paper that I cut to fit inside! And ta-da!! A make-shift cupcake stand to display the birthday girls cupcake!

My sister in law, aside from her delicious cakes and cupcakes, also makes cake balls! And let me tell you, they are my favorite! She has many flavors and flavors of the month. The mint chocolate chip and the chocolate chip cookie dough are a couple of my all time fave's!

And because I am a sucker for themes, I had to have POPcorn. You know like in the old comic cartoons where it says, "POW" or "KABOOM". So we had "POP"corn. I know...I'm so clever, right?

I needed to have something else sweet for people to snack on, so I decided to make my homemade sugar cookies! (Recipe at the bottom of this blog). These are so delicious and the perfect cookie because they keep their shape when you use cookie cutters. I made red, white and blue star cookies with sprinkles on the blue and the white ones. 

And since I had the star cookie cutter out, why not cut the watermelon I had into star shapes as well? 

For favors, I wrapped some of the cookies I had up with a tag that said, "Thank you for coming! I hope you had a WONDERful time!" I do love my themes. 

Throw a veggie platter at the end of the table and this was her table! Popcorn, cookies, cake balls, watermelon and veggies with dip! And cupcakes to finish off this beautiful day at the park. 

I wasn't sure if it was going to rain or not, but it turned out to have sunshine and warmth so the kids to go run and play at the park. I was so proud of my little 3 year old! I love that amongst every theme she could have picked, she wanted something different and fun! O is coming into her own. She has a vibrant personality, is independent, funny, charming, beautiful and has the best curls around! Happy birthday, Wonder Girl! I love having you in my life!

Sugar Cookies (I make these every Christmas because they are great for cookie cutters!)

2 sticks softened butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350

Beat the butter with granulated sugar until well combined and creamy. Then, with the mixer on low, add the confectioners sugar until incorporated. Turn the mixer on high and beat until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks and the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients a cup at a time until its all mixed well. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. 

Use a tablespoon to get dough and roll into balls then place on a baking sheet. Flatten them down some. Sprinkle with sugar or sprinkles prior to baking. Or, flour a surface, roll dough into a flat sheet about 1/4 inch thick. Cut shapes out and place on cookie sheet. Depending on size, bake 12-15 minutes until slightly golden. 

Manners

Manners are important. They are important for kids to learn, important for us to remember and important for general behavior in society. I have seen a great decline in manners over the years and it breaks my heart! Kids are not as respectful and kind, and parents seem to make more and more excuses for their kids to make it ok that they aren't. Its not ok in our house and my kids will learn that you have to respect authority in public and be kind to others even if you don't agree, like it or think others deserve it.

Since my son was 2 years old, we started saying that the one thing we are always is respectful and kind. We taught him to say no thank you if he didn't want to do something and imprinted in him the importance of always saying thank you and your welcome. (keep in mind, just because he says no thank you, doesn't always get him out of doing something. Sometimes, they have to do it even though they were nice about saying no.) Our kids have opinions about people, activities and things, just as every other kid does. My husband and I were to a point where we were trying to figure out, how do you make them be respectful if the other person is in the wrong or if they don't want to participate? For instance, X had an issue with people he didn't see often, like relatives from out of town. When they would come to visit, we would say, "go hug so and so" and he would scream and cry about it. I thought, why are we making him hug everyone? He's more of an introvert, and it takes him time to get used to people. By the end of the evening, he would hug everyone, gladly!! So how do we, as parents, teach our kids different options to these scenarios? We decided, ok, you don't have to hug them if you don't want to, BUT you will be respectful and kind in the process. So we taught him to politely say, no thank you. We want our kids to have opinions and we want them to be able to express themselves thats in line with their personalities, but we don't want them to be rude!

I could not be more proud of my kids and the progress that we've made in this. We still have instances where we are sad or upset about something, which is completely normal, healthy and part of growing up. However, within feeling all the emotions we have in those circumstances, we need to be polite. We say no thank you or express our feelings without yelling, crying or being upset. We aren't always perfect and as our 4 year old is coming into his 5's, he has learned to have an attitude and say things like, "I'm frustrated" or "I'm mad at so and so because..." This weekend he got mad at his grandma because she wouldn't let him have dessert until he finished his dinner even though I had given him permission. There was miscommunication and he was quite upset and mad at his grandma. After we told him to be kind, use his words and talk to her about it, he did. And he managed to tell her how he felt about it, in a kind, but firm tone; and they were able to work it out. I was proud of him because there are times that even I don't want to calmly discuss things.

And then there's my wonderful husband who has started to teach our son what being a gentleman is. He holds the doors for us now and lets his sister and I go first. My husband felt it was super important to teach him how to be a gentleman now. He also wants to teach his daughter how a gentleman should treat her, so that they both grow to know how to treat others better, and how they should expect to be treated. I want my daughter to know that you are worth something! And a man needs to treat you that way. And I want my son to grow up knowing he is worth something. That as he treats women with respect, he deserves to be treated like the man he is worth.

All of this is so important; and it all starts now at this young age. Our children need to learn to respect us, even when they're mad at us. They need to know how to treat policeman, teachers, aunts, uncles, grandparents even if they don't like the rules. They will be better people for it. They will treat others well and in turn, we hope that they get the respect and the kindness they deserve. I know that as they grow and get older, reach teen years and adulthood, that this method will change as our kids develop who they are. But I hope, that my husband and I, can at least get the foundation instilled in them to treat others the way you want to be treated, to be respectful and kind even in hard times, and to stand up for yourself in a healthy way when you need to. We are constantly learning too and we will never stop trying to be the best parents and people we can be. I hope that we can always be examples for them and as a result, they grow up to be people in this world that make a difference, no matter how big or small. And I feel like all this starts with a child who has manners.

School started!

School started!! I have had a lot of very mixed emotions about it since it all began. I've been excited, sad, anxious, lonely, happy and proud. And its all kind of mixed up in one big pile of crazy. This is the first year where I don't have a kid with me. I actually have a few days a week where I am alone and I guess can get things done. I say that, but as of right now, I am not sure what to get done.

O started the 2 1/2 year old preschool class and I swear, didn't even really look back. She did hug me and then off she went to have fun. She was actually a little sad when I first got there to pick her up. What a sweet, little independent child I have. Thats where the excited, sad, anxious, happy and proud part came in. She has already learned so much and wants to go back every day! Thank goodness I still get her a couple times a week.

As for X, he was so ready to start, he knew his teacher and most of his friends names before his first day. He gets to start so many new things this year and he can't wait. I love how far he has come from the little boy who cried for nearly 6 weeks straight every time I dropped him off at MDO, to this confident, mature 4 1/2 year old who strode into class without thinking twice.

As for me, well, I need a hobby. Any suggestions? I'm open for ideas. :) I enjoy doing errands with my kids and we really do everything together, so the thought of running a bunch of errands without them just doesn't seem like much fun. So, I'd like to start doing something fun. I plan on working out while they're in school and I do want to read a little more, but I've always been crafty and would really like to do something along those lines.

Anyway, we are finally starting to get into the full swing of things and I couldn't be more proud of those two. I hope that they learn more than I could have ever thought to teach them (which they will given teaching little ones is SO not for me) and that they make friends, play hard and love school! X is even starting to read which is amazing and I love seeing the progress!! **Sigh** I just love my little loves growing up. (But I'd be ok if they stopped just a little...every now and again, just for me.)