Summertime Portraits 2015

My sister Jordan snapped some quick pics of us in June. 

I still need to get some of these framed. She did a great job! It was so hot and humid. I remember the kids kept getting close to bees. Asher wanted to run off and play. But we got some good ones. Thankfully Jordan is a patient Aunt. :) 

Violet is 8! I loved this dress on her. 

Zander is 4.5! My little handsome.

Asher is 2! This little guy has got his Mama's curly hair. 

Texas Bluebonnets

   We have been blessed to get see lots of beautiful bluebonnets this spring. 

There were so many on our weekend trip to Austin recently & a bunch close to our home.

 I had to take the kids for some pictures! 

(Austin, TX)

Violet

Zander

Asher

Back To School Pictures

It's that time again!

We started our third year of homeschool a month ago.Violet is a second grader. Zander is doing preschool activities when he is up for it. He'd much rather be playing with Hot Wheels or outside. And Asher spends a lot of time exploring and climbing. 

We took school pics in front of our chalkboard wall in the hallway. The kiddos had fun telling me their favorite things. 

We are excited for the new school year! 

Goodbye First Grade

First Grade Was Fantastic!

We are preparing for our third year of homeschooling. Violet will be a Second Grader! I have a few more supplies to buy & things to organize before we start. We are excited!

We used My Father's World for our first grade curriculum. This was our second year to use this company. I first discovered them at a homeschool book fair back when I was researching what to do for kindergarten. Their easy to follow lesson plans & biblical approach was appealing to me. I also liked that it's an all-in-one curriculum. 

Violet also went to a christian co-op once a week. I would drop her off at 9 and pick up at 2:20. That was a lot of fun for her. Her favorite part was lunch & recess! They also had a lot of holiday parties & themed dress up days. 

First Grade was a little more challenging since our youngest learned to walk this year. That brings up another thing I need to get ready.....busy bags. I've been looking up ideas on Pinterest to keep Asher & Zander entertained during school. I picked up a few workbooks for Zander this year. He's starting to be interested in schoolwork. Some days Zander would join in & listen while Violet did her work. That was nice! 

I'm proud of our girl! Homeschool brings a lot of joy to our family.

Violet, Fall 2013

Violet, May 2014

End Of The Year Questions for Violet

1. I love learning about....Butterflies, Plants & Turtles.
2. What's your favorite lunch? Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich.
3. What was your favorite book you read? A Perfect Time For Pandas (Magic Treehouse)
4. What are you good at? Drawing and Singing.
5. What's your favorite show? My Little Pony.
6. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Kid Doctor.

Easter 2014

Our little family on Easter morning. 

I bought the boys matching outfits to wear. Then couldn't find Asher's right before church. I think I cried because I couldn't find it. Then Matt found it hanging in Zander's closet. (oops!) But we made it to church. Then we had both sides of our family come to our house for lunch. It was a great day! 

As you can see, Asher is always on the move!

Life is pretty Sweet

My family is sound asleep & I have a rare quiet moment. Feeling really happy and content. 

Thankful for God's love and blessings. 

Look at this scrumptious little cutie! Asher's first time to "sit with the pumpkins".  

Those big, brown eyes melt my heart. 

 Violet is now a first grader. This is our second year of homeschooling. We love it! 

So grateful for this season in our life.

 Zander will be 3 next month! Feels like his baby phase went by too fast. 

He wants a Jake & The Neverland Pirates birthday :)

 Violet & Zander decided to pull out a box of old clothes. They said it was a bubble bath. 

Of course, Asher needed to join them! 

Matt, Asher & I on our date a few weeks ago ;)

Summer 2013 has begun!

We got some warm weather here in Tx this weekend. So, Daddy got them a play pool, sprinkler and a slip & slide. Fun stuff! 

I pretty much stay inside with baby Asher. He seems to have a heat rash around his neck. Poor little guy. His face is irritated too. Not sure if it's just newborn acne or what. All of my little people have sensitive skin. Checking in with his Dr. in the morning. 

Violet & Zander have been enjoying their outside time. Today Gigi & Bum brought them snow cones. 

We are looking forward to all the joys of SUMMER! 

Princess Cupcakes

One of the things Violet put on her Summer "bucket list" was to decorate cupcakes. So, we got to it yesterday! We used a Disney Princess baking kit that came with mini cupcake wrappers & sparkly sprinkles. It was given to her at Christmas but I forgot about it. Think it was from Walgreen's. The cake was fancied up Funfetti from the box. I followed the directions but added an extra egg, used milk instead of water & butter in place of oil. The frosting was Pink Vanilla Funfetti. We had a fun time baking together. She loves cooking and princess stuff!

Violet's cupcakes were scrumptious! 

Violet's 5th Birthday Party

 Our Violet turned 5 on July 7! She asked for a Luau Birthday. The picture on the top left is from her first luau party when she turned 1. You can really see how much she's grown! We held the party at our house. It was a great day and we're so glad our friends & family could join us. 

 As always I have my crafty family to help me throw a good party! Mom made all the food labels, shark watermelon & candy kabobs. Sister Jordan created the invitation below. (I left off all the location details for the blog) I took photos of Violet hula dancing and Jordan created some fun pictures to display at the party. I love how retro & fun they look! 

 My sister Jaley made coconut Shark cupcakes and strawberry Sun cupcakes. She makes a mean cake! Jaley and her friend Eric now have a cake/sweets company on Facebook called Sweet Ginger. 

 I kept the food simple. I made ham & cheese sandcastle sandwiches, Caramelized Maui Onion Dip with kettle chips, Pork Egg rolls and goldfish. My mother in law thought I bought the egg rolls. That was my second time making them. I made the filling & rolled them the day before the party. Dad fried them as guest were arriving. They really are the bomb! 

 I made a photo booth by hot gluing blue streamers to twine and then hung it on my fence. My mom printed out the props and I spray glued to heavy poster board and then used a box cutter to cut them out. I took photos of the guest with my iphone. Shhh, I plan to print them out and mail them with a thank you card.  

Love this photo of my second cousin Rosie with Violet. Adorable! 

 Matt and I got her the 4 wheeler. Not really sure what it's called. Violet says "4-mobile", ha! She loved taking her friends for a spin. 

So funny that Violet picked Shark cupcakes and a Shark pinata! Zander hitting away...cutie!

 She got these moves from watching Lilo & Stitch. One of her favorites. 

 We love you so much Violet! You are a creative, smart little girl with a sensitive heart. Thank you for being YOU. Your the best first daughter! 

Love, Mommy & Daddy

Linking up with these fun parties!

Delightful Order Blog

Liz Marie Blog

CinemaScope

Snapped a few pics with my daughter Violet this past weekend. She's such a doll!

I touched these pictures up with the CinemaScope action on picnik. It's one of my favorites! Well, picnik is closing or moving to google+. Stuff I don't understand yet. My husband got me photoshop elements for Christmas but I don't have the hang of it yet.

Oh, what shall I do?! LOL. I need to get my artsy family to give me photoshop lessons.

First Ballet Class

(Click to Enlarge)

Violet started her "Princess Ballerina Camp" class today! This was her first class to take well besides swim lessons. She was super excited to wear ballet shoes and a bun. I love how excited she looks meeting her teacher. She had a crowd come to watch her first practice. It was me, Matt, Zander, my mom & sister Jordan. All the little girls were so cute! Violet was grinning from ear to ear the whole time. When we got home she told me I need to practice the moves with her. Such a sweetie! Can't wait for next week.

Enjoy this short clip of their warm up to princess music!

Some Christmas Pics

My little ones are just too cute! I took some pictures of them all dressed up for our Christmas cards. Only 6 days until Christmas!

Little Handprint Owl

Violet holding her Owl project! We found this adorable idea via pinterest. The Owl tutorial is on Jill Dubien's blog. She has so many cute finger paint kid crafts. Awesome blog to check out! If I can find a frame to fit this into I will hang it in Violet's bedroom at the new house. She wants her new room to be pink & orange. So, this will work!

Walking Chicken

Last night we had a rotisserie chicken for dinner. Violet loves chicken. One of her favorite foods. Well, she obviously hasn't put 2 and 2 together yet. Here was our dinner conversation...

Violet eyes the whole chicken that has not been cut yet. Guess she's never seen it that way before.

Violet~Eww, gross. That looks like a walking chicken! I don't want to eat that.

Me~You like chicken and have eaten this kind before.

Violet~Well, only big people eat walking chickens like on Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs.

I know I should have explained where chicken comes from. We have done that before and she just laughs like were kidding. It's all gross when you think about it and so I don't. Because I like chicken and hamburgers. She just turned 4. If she ever decides to become a vegetarian I will support her decision. I don't blame her, the chicken guy on that movie creeps me out too!

A Princess and Knight Party

We all had a great time at Violet's 4th birthday party! Everything was made by me, my mom and sister Jordan. The theme was very princessy. Can ya tell?! My girl loves PINK.

Here are the invites that Jordan created and I had printed at Walgreens up the street.

The 6 layer Princess Cake made by Mom. That was some work! Halfway through we joked that we should have given in and bought the Barbie head cake from Target.

But it turned out so pretty and tasted great! We copied this cake from a blog but I can't remember which one. Someone send me a link please!

Violet woke up to see a bounce house in the backyard. I'm not sure who had more fun in that..the kids or us big kids!

My mom made her outfit. We were inspired by this outfit from BellaGraceCreations.
The table all set up. I forgot to fix those falling streamers on the right. Mom sewed the streamers together to get a more frilly look.

I found the sweet pink polka dot fabric at Hobby Lobby 40% off.

The flowered up "4" was made using this tutorial from Prudent Baby. I couldn't wait to start this project. Very cheap to do and took less than an hour. The Princess Violet cake toppers were made by Jordan. That was one of Violet's favorites from the party.

Cupcake Push Pops!

Pink Lemonade and Tea.

Princess Pom Pom Wands. These were fun to make. I have leftover tulle maybe I will make a tutorial.

Glow in the Dark Swords found at Target. My mom made all the labels.

Candy Kabobs! These were a big hit. You can find them on Etsy. Jordan and my mom surprised us with them. They said the trick was to spray the sucker stick first with cooking spray before sliding on the candies to prevent a gooey mess.
We served lots of food. I didn't get pretty pics of it all but there was cheese & crackers, fruit, popcorn chicken, Ina's Chicken Salad, Spinach Artichoke Dip, Chips & Salsa, cookies and cake!

Thanks for stopping by to see Violet's party!