Hello Again

Hi friends!  I've been a busy lady lately with work, kids and life.  This weekend was a gorgeous one here in Houston and the family and I took full advantage.  Today we hit the tennis club for a little family match.  It was my 5 year old and me against daddy.  Of course daddy can play pro if we wanted, so the two against one still put us at a disadvantage.  But we tried! 

Here's our future Maria Sharapova if daddy has his way.  Ask him and his dream is to have his girls be the next Williams sisters.

She's definitely on trend with her neon Addidas tennis shirt.  She was hard to miss on the court today.

It's A Barbie Party!

The time has come for my oldest daughter's birthday party and this year we are having an all girl Barbie pajama party.  I am super excited because I've got Christi from P is For Party helping and the invites and party paper goods by Kelly from WH Hostess. 

Here's the invite

Oh, and did I mention we have Barbie coming?  Oh yes, the "real Barbie". 

I don't know who's more excited mommy or the birthday girl!

Merry Christmas

Hello friends.  I hope your holiday was blessed and restful.  I wanted to share with you our 2011 Christmas card.  I worked with Kelly Lyden from WH Hostess for a custom card this year.  She helped me create a double sided Christmas and birth announcement photo and I couldn't be more pleased.  My friend Melissa took the photo of my two sweet peas on the front. 

A Tennis Love Match

I recently started tennis lessons in an effort to spend more quality time with the family and add more cardio to shed some baby weight. I’ve never really been much of a tennis enthusiast, but my husband has his entire life and he’s really good.

About a month ago he started teaching our four year old how to play and I figured I better jump on the court too and learn or they’ll leave me behind in the stands.

After a few lessons it turns out I actually like tennis, a lot. So I figured if I was going to really try my hand at the game I needed the proper gear and headed to Tennis Express in Houston. I admit I was a bit intimidated to shop for a racket not really knowing much about the sport, but when I entered the store and saw all the cute and I mean super cute tennis dresses, skirts and accessories, all my inhibitions flew out the door.

What was this? A sport I could enjoy and get to wear super cute clothing too? Why didn’t I discover this years ago. Needless to say, now I am a tennis enthusiast too.

My absolute favorite tennis apparrel was Stella McCartney for Addidas.  The Tennis line is so fine.

And then in no particular order, Nike has some nice dresses and skirts as well.

As well as Addidas, Ralph Lauren and K-Swiss

Where does the time go?

Our baby girl Sloane is now 8 weeks old and growning way to fast in my opinion.  I feel like I blink and she's already twice the size she was when we brought her home.  She has been such a blessing and has fulfilled our lives in ways we never imagined.

She has given us many smiles to cherish and brighten our days. 

We've shared a few cries and quiet moments too.

But cuddling takes precedence over everything else. 

Needless to say, we love every sqaure inch of her. 

First Day of School Style

Today was a big day in our house.  My daughter started PreK and did an awesome job at drop off.  She was very brave, not one bit scared and eager to learn.

She also put a lot of thought into her first of school outfit.  As you can see she was feeling sassy! 

A little Monday Runway pose for you.

Here is the sweet smile I saw all morning long.




Making our way to school.  The bag is as big as she is.




This is her "come on mom" look.  She was done with the photos and ready to head out.

Make a wish!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday and we had a casual dinner at home just the four of us.  It's a tradition with our family that we bake a cake for each other and this year we made a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate icing.  It was delicious. 

Check out the action pic below.  The baby's face cracks me up. 

And Baby Makes Four

Hello friends! Well it was a rough road getting here but we are finally home and I'd like you all to meet our little Sloane Sidney she is the sweetest baby and we all feel so blessed to have her. Big sister is of course crazy excited and super inquisitive.

As I said above, it was a rough road getting to this point because I had to stay a week in the hospital due to C-section complications. Sloane was healthy and strong but I on the other hand had to have a second surgery and two blood transfusions. That's just the tip of iceberg too, but I won't bore you with hospital details.

In other updates, Sloane immediately slept through the night and we are very, very grateful. I am on the mend and love my belly bandit. It’s my new post surgery BFF. My personal review; it's a definite mommy-must-have for C-sections. It actually helps with the incision healing and my doctor recommended it too. As far as firmer tummy results, it has helped with the "jelly belly" feel which I don't have this time around. Don't expect over night results the product does recommend 6 weeks of wear for best results.

And Lastly the hubby really out did himself this time. For the birth of our daughter and our 10 year anniversary he surprised me with this.

Let's just say mommy was very happy ;)

iPad for Mommy

Happy Mother's Day to you all! I hope your weekend was filled with love and relaxation. We had a great weekend, half was a bit hectic, but the other half was extremely low key.

For mother's day we didn't do much, just a wonderful brunch and a lazy Sunday. I did however receive a very fun present from the family. I must admit the gift was personally requested, but with good intentions in mind. The hubs and my munchkin gave me a new iPad2.

You see I typically don't request presents for such occasions as Valentine’s Day, Mother's Day, birthdays, etc. I always feel so silly asking for anything when it's always the thought that counts. But this go around I have life changing motivations that caused me to be so bold. So, very casually one day I just happened to mention that if my husband was wondering what to get me for mother's day an iPad2 would be greatly appreciated.

Naturally my electronic request received no pushback. Anything, fun, cool and electronic is always a great investment according to my husband. I wonder if an expensive designer handbag would have received the same welcome. I think not.

When I made my bold request I also included a list of Top 10 Reasons I need an iPad2. I use the word need loosely, because do we really need any of the material things we have? No. So here they are…


1. I am about to take maternity leave in 7 weeks and an iPad would be very handy during nursing time.

2. My husband and I can stop fighting over the laptop. Although I presume we’ll probably argue over the iPad too.

3. My four year old has been requesting an iTouch and she is not getting a new iTouch any time soon. Hopefully monitored playtime with the iPad will appease her.

4. We don’t have a TV in our vehicles, so this will provide hours of entertainment for my children during long road trips.

5. It will also come in handy during doctor’s visits and even at restaurants with my daughter. I don’t normally condone computers, TVs or video games during such times, but sometimes you just want them to be still and quiet.

6. When my husband and I travel we can Scype the kids and see their beautiful faces when we get homesick.

7. When my daughter starts pre-K next year she will have computer lab time, including working with ipads. Yes they already have ipads in schools. This will at least give her some advance practice.

8. I can also use the iPad for work! It will come in handy during client meetings.

9. Welcome to the twenty-first century Walton family. We don’t own iPhones or Apple computers. Even the grandparents have iPhones.

10. I am hoping with the convenience of the iPad I will post more to this blog. Lucky you (I say with great sarcasm.)!

P.S. I also got the new orange Smart cover. I really wanted the pink, but I decided it’s probably best to not emasculate my husband masculinity when he’s using it in public. I am such a thoughtful wife.

Roller Skating Birthday Party Success!

My daughter's roller skating and ice cream social birthday party was this past weekend and thankfully it was a success. I wish I took more pictures of the details, but time slipped away.

My goal was to try and hide a bit of the gaudy roller skating decor that is standard with all roller rinks and keep it sweet, girly and pretty. All of this on a budget and time crunch. There were several bumps in the road (for example, favors didn't arrive in time and no time to sew pretty fabric details), but all-in-all I couldn't have been more please. And most importantly, my daughter had a blast.

Below are the details on where I found the decorations and made it all happen fast and cheap.

I covered the horrific plastic tablecloths the roller rink supplied with brown bulletin board paper I found at a teacher supply store. The paper is very thick and rolls out smoothly with no wrinkles. A big roll was $15 and was more than enough to cover three large cafeteria style tables.


The place settings were just standard party supplies paper plates, but I hand rolled the plastic wear the night before to save time setting up. The edible waffle bowls were from Walmart (and I tried several grocery stores and Walmart was the only one who had them) 10 for $2. The old fashion paper ice cream parlor hats were from Praire Moon Beverage Shop and they were the only pre-order thing that arrived on time.

To keep the details simple, easy and give the decor a cohesive design I wrapped the water bottles, whip cream cans and made the table signs all from a book of scrapbook paper I had on hand. I found all the scrapbook paper and the ceramic white square table stands at Michaels craft store.


And my silver lining in all the chaos were the ice cream straw cups I found last minute at Arnie's Party Supply in Houston. It was total luck that I found them the day before and so many for so cheap since my original favors were held hostage by UPS.



The brand is Krazy Straws and you can order them online here. 


I have to give a huge THANK YOU to my friends Danielle and Rachel.  They both with their families helped me pull it all together and setup in lighting speed before the party began.  Thank you ladies for all the help, you helped keep me sane so I could actually enjoy the special day.

Locks of Love

My daughter was blessed with a full head of hair from the first day of life. She never lost a hair or rubbed a bald spot and so her hair grew and grew and grew. We've had several haircuts and this last time we decided together, yes Jacquelyn and mommy, to grow it out for Locks of Love.

When I explained to her that growing her hair long and donating it to Locks of Love meant a special child who was sick would get her beautiful hair for a wig, she was on board 100%. Finally the day came after what seemed like months waiting for those last few inches to grow.

Here are few before and after pictures, I think I was more emotional about the cut then she was.

At home before we left.

So much hair to donate.

Right before the haircut.  She looks excited; or could that be nervous energy?

Haircut in action.  She was such a good sport the entire time.

The After at the salon.

The after at home.  After I took a round brush to it.

This is her My Hair Rocks! pose.

She says sometimes she misses her long hair, but she's happy she could help someone else.  I am so proud of my snuggleboo!

Skate Party Update

Busy Busy is the name of the game in our house.  Today here's an update on Jacquelyn's roller skating birthday party.  You can see the original post here. In the interest of time and money I decided to use some supplies I already had on hand, for example fabrics for the tablescapes. 

Here's what we have so far.

Table runner fabric is Watermelon Stripe by Michael Miller fabrics and I have yards and yards of it on hand. 

I also have this pretty pink and brown dot I'll throw in somewhere probably for the favor table.

I ordered the invitations and coordinating pieces via Tiny Prints.  I wanted to have custom ones made, but again, time and money.  By the way, do you know how hard it is to find standard roller skating invitations that aren't super cheesy?

Here are the favor gift tags.

And here are the Thank You cards, front and back.

I am still planning on these cute ice cream dishes for the favors.

And plan to fill them with these Jelly Belly ice cream flavored Jelly Beans.

Ice Cream Social & Skate Party

My daughter's 4th birthday party is right around the corner so I am making plans for her big day.  This year we are having her first roller skating party and it's bound to be tons of fun.  I put together a quick inspiration board so I could gather all my thoughts.  Here's a peak.

Shopping List:

Apron: Carolyn's Kitchen

Favors: Oriental Trading

Paper Hats: Prairie Moon

Table Runners: Premier Print Fabrics

Ice cream Parlor Pics via

The Cat's Meow

Happy Halloween!

Banana Bread with a Side of Sweet Summer Feet

Okay, maybe not with the feet.  Yesterday I went to get a mani pedi and brought my daughter along for her very first professional paint job.  She love it and was such angel the entire time and of ourse she had to get a painted flower.  Best $5 I've ever spent.

Then after a day of work and personal errands we headed home to bake; one of my duaghter's favorite past times.  We baked a Banana Bread recipe from the Barefoot Contessa and it was delicious.  Try it for yourself.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
• 1 cup small-diced walnuts
• 1 cup granola
• Granola and walnuts optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't over mix.

Fold the walnuts and granola into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

A Little Mommy and Me Time at the Roller Rink

We've been back from vacation one week and things are back in full swing.  I've been working long days all week and the inevitable mommy guilt bit me hard this week.  Jacquelyn has been such a trooper so today we took the morning off to have some fun.

We met some friends at the nearby roller rink for Preschool Skate and my little munchkin impressed me big time.   She did so awesome for her first time on skates. 

Here she is figuring out her skating legs on carpet.

Of course she fell down a couple of times at first. 

But in no time she was up and moving.  I love the skatemates you can rent too; worth every penny.

If we keep this up I may have to invest in these, with the pink pom pom of course!

Big Girl Room Inspriation

I think it's safe to say I love this room.  It's so perfect for a little girl transitioning to her tween room.  I need to squirrel this one away for furture reference.

Photo via Pinkwallpaper.blogspot.com by way of Stylecourt.

Oh by the way...

While I was on my Twilight sabatical from my blog I also ran the Houston Half Marathon on Sunday, January 17.  That's right 13.1 miles and it was awesome!  This was my second year in a row to run the event and it's always a blast.  Here are a few pics from this year. 

This year I ran with my friend Christ Stout and it was so much fun to have a buddy along for ride.  We were so happy to see our family cheering us on.

This picture cracks me up.  It looks like we are walking, but we are actually running.  Last year I ran in shorts and froze my but off.  Yes I was actually freezing when I was running 13.1 miles!  This year I went for the pants. 

Here we are passing the family at mile 9 and looking strong.

We finished strong running the entire distance in 2 hours and 27 minutes, not too bad.  That's 9 minutes shaved off last year's time for me.

And here's a link to my race day photos via Brightroom Event Photography.  Enjoy!

Best Cookbook for Kids

One of my favorite guilty pleasures in life is baking with my daughter. She loves to help and loves to bake. We bake often and most if not all of the recipes come from The Cake Mix Bible.  We're not fancy pants here when it comes to cooking.  We just like it to be fun and yummy and this book is the perfect cookbook for kids and their parents.

Why? Well simply put, it's really hard to mess up a dessert from this book and the recipes are easy and cheap. Every recipe contains one common ingredient a cake mix box of some flavor. I let my daughter, dump, measure and poor the ingredients (with my assistance of course) into the mix and help decorate the dessert when done.

Try it for yourself, I promise you'll form many wonderful memories over baked goods.