Thank youuuuu Farmer's Market!

cantaloupe, mango, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, cilantro, FOUR lbs of pears, well over 10 lbs of produce for under $5, oh yeah! ♥

♥ new books!

Yey! ♥

the first package of Christmas goodies I ordered arrived today, sadly this isn't the first of my Christmas shopping, everyone who knows me, knows I start way too early :)

Project Feltboard-Complete!

Finished the girls' feltboard today! So excited, she LOVES it, & I love a good DIY where I can make a fun, CHEAP, project for them--and have it just how I want it, which means it can also coordinate with the rest of their stuff, perfect! :)




had fun making it & cutting out some little shapes for her, just in time to head out to the pool this afternoon! & a quick pic of homemade pretzels for a snack for our shows tonight! ♥

I feel some...

more projects in our future! :)

we've accomplished what feels like quite a few (wondeful)projects with the girls room & it felt so nice to have all the projects in my head...done. But, of course, that didn't last long, so more projects to come! Excited to finish these up during our time off! But for now, it's time for some snuggling & movies! ♥

Let ze vacay begin!!!!!! :D

hanging her artwork on her fridge :)

cute little mommy!


cute little dolly!


So excited for this time off with my family! Plenty of fun things planned & it will be nice to mix some doing NOTHING into the mix too. But mostly, I'm thankful that my hubby can enjoy more than two weeks off with us, we truly are blessed! ♥

"We're all smiles, we're all smiles, we're all smiles
Oh oh oh oh, I've never known it could be such fun, Darlin'
You oo oo oo, are a a are, you're the only one, who can take me there
We're all smiles, we're all smiles, we're all smiles" :)

Success!

Thursday deep cleaning went smoothly! ALL laundry is washed, folded & put away (until the girls wake up from naps and need changed :) ), bedrooms cleaned, toys sanitized, dishes done, floors clean, bathrooms clean! & fresh linens all around! :) & it will be nice to curl up into bed tonight and know that when I wake up it will be FRIDAY! & we will start a 16 day vacay!!!


Now I'm off to enjoy a peaceful naptime & get my workout on! Can't wait for the weekend!

Busy day!

Made my girlies some cute lil pancakes & a bunch extra to freeze!


then tackled my to do list, got everything around the house cleaned up & now I'm off to watch Big Brother with my love, good end to a busy day! ♥

Certain as the Sun ♥

busy day today! Needed to go get groceries & run errands, but we got everything done nice & quick and were able to come home & relax and play for a bit before nap time! Ava's latest favorite is Beauty & the Beast and Grandma insisted on buying her this adorable playset, and I don't think Ava has put "Chip" down since. She alwaysssss has one with her, lol. Including bedtime. Kids are oh so precious!

Back to reality.....

No more fairy tale land where no one has to work! For a week anyway ;) Because THIS weekend, Steve's mom gets here--and then we will start over again, lol. Steve has a few more days to work, then he will have two more weeks off, some of it for when his mom is visiting & then we are sealing it off with some time for just US! Super excited for the girls to get some more Grandma time--they will be so excited to have more visitors!

Other than that I will just be getting back into the swing of things this week! Don't you just love that refreshed & refined feeling you get after spending some good quality time with your loved ones? So happy & blessed to be in the place I am today, I truly could not ask for anything more. ♥

♥ ♥

Love that man of mine! ♥ added the rest to facebook! :)

sad that my fam left today! :( ♥ miss you guys already!

Date Niiiiiiiiight! ♥

Remember that time that the sun ate my eyes & half my face & made me look really creepy? Yeah, me too, but I was far too excited about a date night with my love to care, lol! Thanks to my mom & sisters babysitting, Steve & I got to enjoy a night alone! ♥

Shopping! ♥

tons of fun shopping with the fam today! :)

:)

Nice relaxing day at home! Need our rest for lots of shopping tomorrow! Yey! ♥

Oh boy.

Too many yummy things to show my family! Luckily there is plenty of people to share them with :)


& last one of our family pics from earlier this week--since I know some of you don't have facebook & the first one we have ever printed for our home, lol! How sad, but exciting!

Oh yeah!

Think I finally got chocolate chip cookies to our idea of perfection, they were SO good! Off for more fun with the fam tomorrow! :)

Beach & Sushi ♥

Today we took my mom & little sisters to our favorite sushi place before hitting the beach! It was a really fun--but long day, so just a couple pics for now, the rest I'll have to add to facebook later! :)

Fisheye

No playing with your food ;)

good, but busy day today! But we have a clean house, clean pool, clean cars, we're stocked up on groceries & our bellies are full of sushi! :) With plenty of time to spare to come home & enjoy some of that pool & play with some 'pretend' sushi! Now just relaxing for the night with my loves & anxiously awaiting my families arrival! ♥

Probably the only clouds in CA...

:) not a good pic, I should have paid more attention, lol! But I am loving my new nail stamps!

and got this lovely $50 giftcard for Sephora in the mail today! I am oh so very blessed ♥ can't wait to spend it :)


alright, after this...it might be pretty quiet on here for a bit, because my hubby has off for the next TEN days! :D & my Mom & little sissys will be here tomorrow! Can't wait to spend some time relaxing & enjoying the sun with my family! ♥

♥ linen Thursday!

something about some crisp clean white linens always makes me smile! Thursday is my 'deep clean' day, I do all the little extras around the house to get stuff out of the way before the weekend--but the linens are always my favorite part!

At night, climbing into that big fluff ball cloud down comforter is always enough to reward me after a long day of cleaning. :)

No seasoning packets allowed.

When we say 'homemade' in this house, we mean it. I don't say homemade if it involves anything from a seasoning packet...or a dough packet. I like to get down in the kitchen, get my hands dirty! :)My family has a hugeeeee love for pizza. But when we say homemade pizza, I'm in the kitchen with yeast, kneading the dough, letting it rise, making the sauce, shredding the cheese (don't get me going on preshredded cheese) & my sweet hubby is probably out back picking some fresh basil.

Why? Because it feels good. & we can. :)

Over the years I've realized I can do a lot of things, it just takes some time & research to switch over. So. I said byebye to ALL seasoning packets, yep you heard me, all of em :) & hello to this.


one side says taco seasoning...and the other says

because it is.

So you can take THAT ethoxyquin, msg, and way too much salt :)



do you want to make the switch?
try this site for some recipe ideas & play around with it till you find what you like best! :)
http://www.momadvice.com/food/create_your_own_mixes.aspx


http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/05/05/homemade-taco-seasoning-mix/

My Wild Things ♥

It is so precious watching the girls grow together & bond. I watch them grow closer as each day goes by & it truly brings me so much happiness. I am so thankful for the relationships I have with my sisters & it makes me happy to know that we have given that gift to each of them.

Today as I was picking up their latest mess in the living room--I heard them both giggling from their room and I go back and there is Ava dancing and jumping around to entertain Alexa. They were both crackinggggg up & it was just so precious that I had no desire to tell Ava to quit jumping on her couch or to quit screaming, lol. I told them they were my little wild things...and of course, Ava needed to be read wild things as soon as I mentioned it. And afterwards, she needed to read it back to us. As always ;) She LOVESSSS 'reading' & we love listening to her 'read', so it works out well :)

Spinach Lasagna Rolls!

Pretty Girls & Yummy Cookies!

YUM

♥ me some white peaches!