Wednesday, August 3, 2011

3 months later...

Instead of posting each idea on it's own I am going to jumble it all up for you.  Life is busy.  There you go that is all there is to it.  Honestly, that is my sole reason for not posting a thing for the last 3 months despite all the chaos to tell.

-April-

Wine Tour only for the BFF


Mimosas in the morning in the limo, yes thank you


Fun fact about me: I despise wine so it was Ciroc and juice for me, good times for all



-May-

Preparing for the upcoming horseshow


Mother's Day Baseball game


Summertime fun at the Mad Hatter Party


-June-

Happy Birthday to me
The cake was made my dearest, The Man and JuJuBee


Birthday trip to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
Go Shooka, go Shooka!


T-Ball season starts


Lil' Miss turns 2



I should really work on my detailed stories but for now enjoy how quickly I through together the last 3 months.  My full time commitment is raising my girls and managing my home.  But my passion beyond my children has consumed my extra time as a film producer.  Sorry to my faithful followers for being forgotten.









Wordless Wednesday


She loves to dance but not to have her picture taken...ah me!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

"Mary's Cheesecake"

I found this on allrecipes.com and it is the best ever cheesecake...ever. I must share, please note this is not a recipe I developed only a recipe I feel in love with.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups graham cracker cumbs
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
32 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 pint heavy cream
2 Tbl all-purpose flour
7 eggs
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 sugar, and butter until well blended.  Press mixture into a 9 inch springfoam pan.

2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth.  In a separate bowl, combine cream, flour, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla.  Beat together, and then pour into cream cheese mixture.  Mix well.  Pour filling into prepared graham cracker crust.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 65 minutes. Turn off oven, and cool cake in oven for 30 minutes.  Prop door open and cool in oven for an additional 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely. Refrigerate for as long as possible before serving.

****Note: Filling made enough for 2 graham cracker store bought pie crusts****

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Teamwork and Presents

Spring is in the Air

Easter morning was celebrated at our house this year.  Well the morning got started late so what was planned for breakfast turned into a yummy brunch, the kind that sits with you all day.  I made french toast, fruit salad, eggs, and bacon.  We could have had more but the kids didn't sit still long enough to eat the little bit that was on their plate.  So while the grown ups ate the kids opened their easter baskets.


The girls and my sister found their own basket full of fun goodies.  There is a real challenge trying to stay away from filling a basket with candy and junkfood but I think we did well. I stuffed each with a sketch pad, fun flashlight, fruit snacks, and small pack of SweetTarts.  Not bad, right?



 


There was a rustle in the yard, it was the Easter Bunny.  The kids ran out to the yard with their baskets searching for eggs.  They found the decorated hardboiled eggs and 20 plastic eggs.





Inside the plastic eggs were puzzle pieces, an idea from Family Fun Magazine, from Pinkalious.  The girls had to open all their eggs and work together as a team to put complete the puzzle.  Once the puzzle is complete they got a special present.  Julianna was very pleased to get her own walkie-talkies, Amaya cheesed holding her new sippie cups, and baby sister was surprised to get an electronic microphone.


Family, food, fun.  Easter success!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Wordless Wednesday



Meeting Dinger at Mommy and Me Day hosted by Raley Field for the Sacramento Rivercats

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

My "Me Time" (inspired by a SocialMoms writing prompt)

A writing prompt by Social Moms blogging prompts as submitted by a member Chavon Smith, of A Jeweled Life.

What is "Me Time" for you? How do you spend it?

"Me Time", that peace and quiet when you can close your eyes and not worry about the world falling apart, yeah that time usually only happens when I take a shower, but only if I take one after the kids go to bed.  Or I can find some time at the gym while the kids are in the playcenter.

The latter is my most anticipated moment of the day as I have the option of a daily limit of 2 hours a day.  Sometimes it is interrupted to change a diaper or calm a fussy baby.  My time is spent working out with my headphones on, loudly and playing my favorite Pandora radio station, to tune out the world.  I have had the chance to begin reading again, not trashy gossip magazines or parenting magazines but full length novels :)

Although not necessarily the "Me Time" of choice at times, my time at our neighborhood family gym is a win for everyone.  Happy mommie, happy kids.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Fourth Birthday Party




A couple months before, Julianna and I browsed the internet for different party themes.  She was convinced she wanted to have a party at the house and I tried to sway her to anywhere but the our house.  I guess its easy when you are the little one enjoying life not stressing about cleaning the entire house.
The day belongs to her so we came to a compromise for a house party with a small guest list.  Julianna wanted a sleepover, again another compromise, "Pretend Sleepover".  I found a great inspiration blog post of a mom for her also daughter's fourth birthday party, tinyoranges.com. Julianna liked the site so much too you will find many similarities in our parties.

Invitations

After Julianna's last party invites went via email through Evite, I figured I could do better given the small guest list.  Now how to do it, photo cards seem the latest craze; and why not they are cute and customizable.  I search Costco Photo Center, Shutterfly, Snapfish, nothing wooed me.  I have a habit being very frugal at times and coupled with my attitude of why pay for something I can do on my mine lead me to fully designing my own photo cards on Photoshop Elements. I was able to further save money by printing on home photo printer.




Kids at table engaged in craft project

Based on the suggestion from TinyOranges.com, kid friendly seating, I found All-Star Rents and rented a single 6-foot long children's table along with 12 children's chairs.  They offer a $5 off coupon on your first rental when you sign up for their newsletter.  I found a set of 8 multi-colored paper lanterns for $7 on Amazon.com. Since Julianna wanted to paint lanterns I ordered 3 sets to use for decor and craft.  We hung 8 of the lanterns from ceiling with fishing line and used the remainder for the craft project.





Pizza

Homemade pizza dough was prepared and everyone was able to decorate their personal pizza. The kids loved it! In small bowls I put the spaghetti sauce for pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, chopped turkey bacon, sliced orange bell pepper, pepperoni, chopped spinach, and sliced olives.  And you can guess the most popular was cheese.  






Birthday Cake

Idea straight from TinyOranges blog, I loved the cupcakes and mini cake idea.  Well going with Julianna's favorite color purple, I asked Courtney, of cupcakesandwineblog.com, to create the cupcakes. She even flavored the frosting strawberry :) (I secretly adore her and her talents).  Nugget Market made the chocolate cake and continuing the polka dot them on the frosting.




We ended the evening with Dora the Explorer: Birthday episode with the kids snuggled in their sleeping bags on the floor.  It lasted maybe 5 minutes.  But it all turned out fantastic. The 3-hour party wrapped up by 8pm and my kids were off to bed just in time.



Goody Bags

Our parting gift was a box of soy chocolate milk, homemade blueberry muffin, and two NurtiGrain bars.  Some kids were surprised there was no candy, but seriously kids its bedtime.




I was meticulous in planning every detail days before so during the party I was cool and calm.  I had a minute-to-minute schedule of activities, adult helpers assigned tasks, and realistic mindset that nothing goes as planned.  

Kids don't really care if the cake frosting matches the tablecloth and it helps keeping it in mind that they are there to have a good time.  Luckily, that attitude is helpful in keeping the costs down ;)



I received no compensation from any of the mentioned companies or blogs and all opinions expressed are solely mine. I do, however, recommend the companies based on my experience.


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Birthday to the Man!


We celebrated another birthday Sunday night for the man of the house, Desserts and Drinks party. YUM!