Royal Wedding Extravaganza

Here's to the Royal Wedding! I'm letting JA stay home from school tomorrow (it's just kindergarten, right?) for a Royal Wedding Extravaganza, complete with royal activities planned for the entire day. I made her an invitation that she will receive tomorrow morning. Then she has a coupon book with tickets that she can cash in throughout the day for eight different royal activities. She doesn't know exactly what I've got planned, but she knows something is going to happen. She just keeps skipping through the house asking for hints. I love that she is as excited as I am. (Of course, I realize that I encourage that excitement just a tad.)

Here's our list of activities and a link to the source of some of the royal fun!

• Baking scones


• Decorating a wedding cake


• Decorating fancy lady hats


• Coloring royal wedding sheets


• Doing royal pedicures


• Writing and illustrating a wedding book


• Creating wedding bouquets


• Coloring and cutting out paper dolls

Not one who misses a thing, JAtold me she wanted me to wake her up in the middle of the night so she could watch all the TV coverage of the wedding. Love that! So she and I will get a super early start in the morning. Maybe I should go to bed now?!

Welcome, March

We had a mini-celebration yesterday to welcome the first day of March. While the kids were at school, I had an uncontrollable urge to bake something. So I made cupcakes and let the kids decorate them for their after-school snack. They were beyond excited to see what our afternoon activity was!

I think they'll remember the first day of March for a while.

It's Fall, Y'all

I've always loved fall. It reminds me so much of when I was a little girl, and I have such good memories of that time. Plus, I love You've Got Mail and all the fall scenes in that movie. Freshly sharpened pencils, anyone?

So, here are a few pictures of fall at my house. These decorations will be up until Christmas kicks off sometime around Thanksgiving. Oh, I can't wait.

Did you know that I'll have a baby by then? (Any day now, actually.) But my plan is to send my older two children off to school, come home and soak up every single second of holiday goodness with my newborn. It brings tears to my eyes, thinking about it now. I can't wait to share Christmas with a new baby.

Until then, here's fall.

Aren't these pumpkin faces hilarious? My mother-in-law found the kits with a set of faces at the Dollar Spot at Target. My children were in heaven, having the best time decorating pumpkins. And I loved them because it was much easier than actually carving a pumpkin.

We're Real Party Animals Around Here

Mmmm, New Year's Eve. Isn't this supposed to be a night to "par-tay?" Yeah, well some party at my house.

It's 10:10pm. I'm not kidding you when I tell you that my husband is snoring. Yes, s-n-o-r-i-n-g. I'm dressed in old-as-dirt, mismatched flannel pajamas. My children are coughing up a lung in their sleep, feverish with strep throat.

I'm wide awake. And bored.

I suppose I could turn on the TV and ring in the new year with Ryan Seacrest and 10 million of my closest friends in Times Square.

I wonder if I can find some streamers and kazoos in my party stash and at midnight, host a celebration for one. Or better yet, jump on the bed, blowing the kazoos and send my snoring husband through the roof. I'm laughing even now at the possibilities.

Although, if I go that route, perhaps I should at least find some clean pajamas that match.

PS: I can think back on all the new years parties I've been to over the years and you know what my conclusion is? I'm getting old. Very old.

Hello, Fall.

It's official. It's fall at my house. Leaves are turning orange and red. I have James Taylor's October Road playing. I'm making chili.* Last week, I baked pumpkin muffins. And just now, I got out the Williams-Sonoma "Spiced Chestnut" hand lotion. It smells delicious.

I hope you're enjoying a taste of fall.

* On Saturday, I noticed a bag at my front door. I wasn't expecting a delivery of any kind, so this was interesting. Turns out, it's a bag full of green peppers. I'm talking like 23 of them. And they look home-grown. Not sure if the person delivering them meant to take them to another house, but I've chopped up two of the smaller ones for my chili. It's going to be delicious. In the meantime, if you're missing a bag full of peppers, let me know. They're at my house.

7:00

Ahhh, the clock method. It's genius. Pure genius.

Saturday morning, both children woke up around 6:15. And started calling out for me. I went into their rooms, reminded them that they needed to wait until 7:00. Neither child was too excited about this. I went back to bed. Wes and I just laughed at ourselves as we listened to them hollering in the monitors. Humor makes everything better, right? We decided to go into their rooms a few minutes before 7 and have a New Year's Eve countdown. They were allowed to get up right when the clocks switched to 7:00. Day One - a small success.

Sunday morning, Jack woke up at 6:45 or so. Started calling out. I went into his room and told him to can it until 7:00. Nicely, of course. At 7:00, Wes went into his room and I went to check on Jordan Ann. Still sleeping, but woke up when I walked into the room. She and I even cuddled in her bed for a few minutes before Bulldozer Jack steamrolled us with sugar. So fun! Day Two - an even better success.

Monday morning, Jordan Ann woke up at 6:55. Started with her 6-syllable-momma. Wes was in the shower, so I didn't have his peer pressure to go into her room before 7:00. I waited. And at 7:00, she got up. We went to get Jack at 7:00, who had been quiet all along! Day Three - perfect.

But what made today so wonderful? Jordan Ann woke up with a dry pullup!! We have been talking about this for weeks now, trying to convice her to stay dry. We are even dangling a mighty fine carrot out there - a new bike. Today she finally did it. And boy is she proud of herself!

So tonight after swimming lessons, we are off to get JA new princess bicycle and "hamlet". (Helmet for those of you who don't understand kid-speak.)

Just a couple but major accomplishments around our household.

this is why i voted 10 times

I watched American Idol on Tuesday, as I always do. Then I proceeded to sit there and hit redial over and over and over. I got through 10 times.

Can I tell you how much I love Kris Allen? From the very beginning, I thought there was something different about him. (Plus, he's from the South and I have a tendency to cheer for my fellow Southerners.)

And then today, I read this post on Kelly's Korner and watched a You Tube video of Kris leading in worship at his home church in Conway, AR!! This makes me like him even more!

If you don't click to read the post yourself (but I hope you do!), let me tell you the best part...

Apparently, Kris told his mom that "he needed one more week because he was witnessing to Adam and needed a little more time with him." I have chills.

I truly believe this: Almost 100 million votes were cast in this finale and Kris turned up the winner, because our sovereign God saw fit to bless HIS child in an abundant way.

Now I feel like it's my honor to begin praying for him, his new wife, their marriage and their witness. What an opportunity they have! My prayer is that they will be strengthened as a result of this recognition. And also, that the seed that Kris Allen planted in the heart of Adam Lambert won't be wasted. Won't you pray for these lives, too?

I fell asleep last night before the report came on, but on Bill O'Reilly last night, he was reporting on American Idol in his Culture Wars segment. I'll see if I can find the link to this story, as I think it relates to the "WHY" on Kris Allen's win on American Idol.

God's at work here. Don't you feel it?

the pinata

Wes and I had such fun making this pinata for Jordan Ann's party. But I think the kids had more fun trying to break it. The instructions we were following told us to use 4-5 layers of newspaper. We were tired after three. Imagine how hard it would have been with all 5 layers!

We ended up having to cut into the bottom so the bigger boys could finally break into it. Out poured the goodies. I think everyone ended up taking home something fun from the pinata.

I know you can buy these at party stores everywhere, but if you need one for your own party, try making one. It was really easy and although it probably would have been something JA would enjoy, we worked on it at night after she was in bed already. Each morning when she woke up, she was excited to see how the pinata had transformed overnight. Maybe next year she can get her hands dirty and help with it.

Crazy for Cupcakes

It's official. She's four. The Cupcake party that she asked for the day after she turned three and that I've been thinking about ever since was so much fun!

We had cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes on Saturday morning. With our friends over to play, we had the best time celebrating Jordan Ann's birthday.

I made the cupcake cake using the best pan from Williams-Sonoma. Those adorable cupcake bites came from the Bakerella website. (Unbelievable, that lady.)

The most fun, though, was the pinata. I'll post pictures of that tomorrow.

Thank you, friends, for coming. And if you weren't here, we missed you! We'll do it again next year. :)

Smocking, Paper-Mache and a Turtle

We're getting ready for a cupcake party around here! Starting with the outfit. Because everyone knows you need a new dress for a party. But due to the fact that it's almost 90 degrees outside and we're having an outside party, my original plan of JA wearing the pink dress I smocked was a little unrealistic.

So out came plan B. Last Friday, I decided to start smocking a cupcake outfit for the occasion. I've been at it nonstop. (You can ask my husband and laundry basket!!)

I finished it just a few minutes ago. I can't tell you the sense of accomplishment when I took the smocking threads out, saw the finished product and tried it on JA. It's just what I wanted.

Onto the next project. Wes is even helping on this one. We're making a cupcake pinata. (I realize that right now, it looks like E.T. But eventually, it's going to resemble a cupcake.)

Not sure what the birthday girl is going to think about this one, but at least we'll have some little boys at the party to smash it. If that doesn't work, I've given Wes permission to get out his golf clubs.

Last but not least, this little guy heard we were planning a party. I don't think he's a welcome guest at all. (Yes, that's the ENTRY to my garage.)

Choo Choo Cookies

I wanted to give something other than toys for the party favors for Jack's party. (Besides, what mother would want her kids coming home with a train whistle? You can thank me later.)

I really wanted to give Thomas the Train trains as party favors but have you looked at the price of them? Times the number of children at our party. Equals not in my party budget.

So I settled for train cookies. I had a ball making these, figuring out how to make royal icing that hardens this century and then bagging them up cute.

My children loved the broken ones. So did my husband. Oh, who am I kidding? I loved them, too.

I'm No "Ace of Cakes".

Are you familiar with that show on The Food Network? I've watched it a couple of times and thought to myself, "what's the big deal?" Yeah, well. I now have a new-found respect for people who bake and decorate beautiful cakes.

I decided to try my hand at it for Jack's party. While shopping online for plates and napkins, I found this cute train pan. I read about it, looked at the pictures and thought I would add it to my cart and see what I could do.

I wanted to do something for his party that was different than the typical cake that matches the napkins or cupcakes (saving that for his sister's cupcake party). So a train cake it would be.

I wrote last week that I had a cake dress rehearsal to see how it would turn out. So glad I did. I ended up making several adjustments and figured out that I was decorating the cake backwards. (Only I would do that!) So decorating the cake for the real deal went much smoother.

I think the most fun was mixing all the icing colors. I felt like I was playing with grown up playdoh.

I wish I had taken pictures of the process for you. But honestly, I was so nervous, that I didn't have the forethought to do so. Instead, here's the finished product.

My Dear Boy is Two

Yesterday was Jack's big day! He's two years old and I can hardly believe it. Where is the time going? (I feel old just saying that line!)

We had such a fun train birthday party yesterday afternoon. The weather was perfect, windy, but nice. All our friends came. Everyone took turns riding the train and the kids played. I know mine had a ball.

I successfully baked and decorated a train cake. And didn't trip as I walked it from the dining room (where it was hiding from my nosey children) to the back patio for the party. I think I held my breath the entire time. I'll post details about baking the cake in a separate post.

Jack has a love affair with balloons. So today after his two year checkup at the doctor, we played outside together and he carried balloons around and had a blast doing it. Who knew balloons were so fun?

(I have uploaded 170 photos from yesterday's party. Needless to say, I'm dying to share them. I'm creating a photo album on the Kodak Gallery like I used to (for those of you who weren't in the loop back then, I used to email pics out once a month for more than 2 years!). So, leave a comment and let me know if you want to see them. Otherwise, I won't bore you with all these pics!)

Happy birthday, my sweet little boy!