joy jars

My mom gave me a Joy Jar so that I can spread joy to someone else. I was really excited. If you don't know about Joy Jars yet you can get more info here. I can't wait to decide who to give it to and what to fill it with. And, don't forget that when you purchase a Joy Jar you are also blessing another child with joy.

i'm in love

I was just searching etsy for something and came across these Crocheted Mug Cozies....I am sorry but I am in love with them, even the Apply Cozies too! I want one bad. You can see them here.

decorate

You don't have to have a lot of money to decorate the house for your child's birthday. One single roll of crepe paper was my best friend last night! All it takes is some time and lots of love. I want my kids to wake up and feel instantly special on their birthday every year, no matter how much or how little we have.

birthday treats

It's birthday week people! My baby boy turns 6 years old on Wednesday (I can't believe it). I have a new tradition I started earlier this year. When it's your birthday week you get to pick whatever cereal you want and have fun snacks all week long. So let's just say that they get a free pass for junk food for their birthday.

I have said this before, I am not a crazy healthy mommy (you would know this by looking at me or eating out with me). When we go out, we eat. My kids have juice when we eat out and we go to In-N-Out and pizza more than we should. But, our food at home is good food. I watch the sugar in our cereals, only wheat bread, no juice and lots of healthy snacks. I try and cook our meals during the week and keep fruits and veggies at hand. I don't think any of this will ever change.

So, birthday week is kind of awesome for the kids. I love that it really teaches them that junk food is a treat and I love how happy they are getting these treats when I come home from the store. Brody has been waiting all year to have a juice box and the spreadable cheese and crackers the other kids have for snack at school. Dang, I'm excited for him! But I also love that when I asked him what he wanted, he didn't give me crazy requests like candy bars. So I had fun surprising him with Cheetos and Oreos to snack on all week too.

my fav favors

I am kicking myself for not taking a picture, but my friend Eva does the best thing for favors for her daughter's birthday every year. She gets a cute wagon and fills it with a bunch of boxes of fun favors in it like bubbles, bouncy balls, stencils, necklaces, rings, sidewalk chalk, and fruit snacks. The wagon also has brown bags and each kids get to make their own favor bag before they leave. My kids love it and Eva doesn't have to worry about packing each favor bag ahead of time. This can be very affordable with Oriental Trading Company.

great deal

I'm sorry if I already posted this, but it's too good not to pass up! If you eat at a Denny's here in Southern California before June 30th you can get a free child ticket (with paid adult ticket) to Legoland with the purchase of any entree and Coca-Cola beverage. That is a great deal for a family like us!

coming up

Do you need to update your wardrobe? Guess what hits next Wednesday, May 25th?

It's the Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale for Women and Kids. Get there early and enjoy!

super gorgeous

Life would be a lot less colorful without etsy. My baby girl was a flower girl in a wedding over the weekend and the colors of the wedding were blue and white. I wanted her to have a really beautiful headpiece and I found this one on etsy at RCC Couture. Gorgeous right? We are so lucky to have such an easy avenue to beautiful handmade pieces!

all i wanted

The only thing I wanted for my birthday was this cookbook, Gwyneth Paltrow's My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness. I have loved her since the movie Sliding Doors and even more when she named her daughter Apple. I love how bold she is and all the different avenues she lets life take her in. So far I have read the forward and browsed the recipes. I already love it. I love what the book stands for. I love that my hubby made sure that it was all wrapped up for me on my birthday morning, even though he had something else in mind.

got them

The things we do for our kids! Brody loves his slip-on black Converse but he wore out his old ones like it's no one's business. They barely sell them anywhere so I spent an hour calling and looking online at a million places and I finally found them. It was a little out of the way but glad to finally have them in our hands. Phew!

cuties

We use to love eating Cuties when my friend would bring them on a playdate, but I never use to buy them. Now we buy them weekly and cannot get enough of them. All three of my kids devour them and they are so easy to peel and take places. Plus they are super sweet, kid sized and don't have seeds. Would would we do without Cuties?

all i wanted

I'm not kidding when I say that all I wanted for Mother's Day is the new cute monogrammed Anthropologie mug. I got it and drank tea out of last night. It made me so happy. Only $8 at Anthropologie stores or online. I can think of some other letters that might go well in my house too.

for the grandmas

We had fun making Mother's Day crafts for the grandmas this year! Here is what was included:

As seen in preschool classes around the world, but we did these ourselves.

Each child drew a picture of grandma in the box and then answered

questions thought up by me. The grandmas were very happy

when the kids guessed they were 2.5 and 22 years old! So cute!

Watercolor paintings for the grandmas

We also painted rocks for their gardens

Nothing really crazy, everything was super simple and kept their attention span. But lots of love was involved.

reading

I always can tell when life starts to get easier after having a baby. In my case it was about 16 months this time. I can always tell because I am able to start reading again. Sure, I can't read daily but I can actually start a book and finish it in a week or so. I love that (although I miss having a newborn baby around).

What I am reading right now:

What I just finished reading:

lucky me

My sweet friend Vanessa made this E for me! It was such a wonderful surprise. I don't know all of the details on how to make it but I do know it included a store-bought letter, scrapbook paper, some kind of clear coat, cute ribbons and a homemade fabric flower. I absolutely love it and I think gifts like these are really the bees-knees.

baseball treats

Here is what I made for B's t-ball team. It's a rice krispie treat, cut out with a cookie cutter, frosted with vanilla frosting and I added the striping with red gel. Super easy! I will be duplicating this for soccer season with some black gel. Yummy!