Wordful Wednesday - I Sparkle!

Must be the 1/8th vampire in me. Actually it is the Lancome Glow Sensuelle that I bought at TJ Maxx and for some reason it is making me sparkle not tan. Maybe glittery skin is the new tan. Could it be b/c it came from TJ Maxx? Hmmm... All I was trying to do was stay out of the sun but this just isn't going to work out. My generation tanned. I think I have mentioned before my friends and I did the baby oil and iodine tanning "lotion". We were CRAZY! Does anyone use tanning oil anymore? Do they sell it? What does a spf of 4 do you when it is mixed with oil? Why is it though in the summer I can't stand to look at my white legs? Is sparkly skin better? It even got on my car seat (leather thankfully) so I have been sitting on a towel all day. I know there are some really great products out there but they are so darned expensive. Maybe one day I will splurge but for now just call me Whitey b/c this stuff has got to go.



It is sort of hard to tell in the shot that I took but you can see a few of the speckles of "tan" now on my legs.

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Willy Wonka (2010)

The studio that Piper takes dance class at does their year end recital a little bit different than others I have been to. They tell a story and this year the story was Willy Wonka. Last year was our first recital and I was stuck in the lobby nursing Ruby but this year I had a girlfriend watch her and Violet so that I was able to enjoy my daughter uninterrupted. All of the dancers did wonderfully and I was brought to tears a few times. Piper and her group were cotton candy. They have a student teacher that works along with the main teacher during the year and you can tell from this that all the girls are intently watching her.



Now if I can only figure out how to get the video off the camera and on here lol :)

CSN Stores $50 Giveaway!!

I am so excited about this giveaway. First off it is SO generous and second b/c it is sponsored by a really great company. When CSN asked me to do my initial giveaway a few months back I hadn't heard of them but my girlfriend did b/c she had ordered her trampoline enclosure from them and was very happy. Last month I ordered an awesome pair of shoes from them - they are so cute! CSN Stores really has everything! They have beautiful headboards. My favorite is the Tufted Border Headboard. It would fit in our bedroom so well.

They have swingsets too! My girls have been begging for a glider for our swingset but I just didn't know where to find one. Last night while searching CSN Stores I found this one which would be perfect!

It has been so hot down here that my flowers are barely surviving. I would love to get a pretty bird bath to put out front to bring some more color into our yard until my plants come back. Yep, CSN Stores has these too and I LOVE this one!



I think it would be hard for you to think of something they don't have :) What would you spend your $50 gift certificate on? Go visit CSN Stores then come back and leave me a comment telling me something you would love to buy yourself. Anyone can enter just please include a contact email in case you win. What you choose today doesn't have to be what you choose if you win. I would probably change my mind MANY times! This contest will end July 12 at 11:59pm ET. Contest open to US & Canadian residents only. Good Luck!

Relay for Life 2010

On June 4th the girls did the Kids Walk during the Relay for Life celebration. This is their 3rd year participating. The men and women that put the event together make it so much fun for families to attend. There is face painting, bounce houses, games, and good food. When you know that the money is going for such a great cause it is a little easier to spend it. It was HOT though. My friend Rachael had her kiddos walk with their church so Piper and Violet had friends there this year. A lot of ice cream was consumed by our group and I HAD to get the buffalo shrimp again that a team makes every year - so good! What a fun family evening!

Hanging in Ohio

Last year I took a trip to Ohio and Wisconsin and realized it was WAAAYYY to much to do in 1 trip :) This year the girls and I made the road trip to Ohio to visit Matt's family. We were gone 8 days from home. It was really busy but great. They visited with Megan, their Grandma and Grandpa, and played like crazy with their cousins. My sister in law Sam and I wore those girls out! Fun times and memories! I played a lot so there aren't many pictures.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Don't blink.

Unless you want to be heartbroken that your baby is suddenly a little girl. As much as I want to just hold her back and keep her a baby that is not what I am supposed to do. I am supposed to teach her to spread her wings and become the beautiful person that I know she will be. It is so hard though.

Piper came home from school a few months ago with a wild idea to get her ears pierced. Up until then I was adamant about making her wait until she was 8 b/c that was what I had to do. Then I started to realize just why I had to wait. My Great Grandmother, bless her heart, just didn't feel like dealing with it. I believe this b/c that thought crossed my mind as well. We went to Claire's a few times over the past few months and Piper has seen 2 little girls get their ears pierced and both of them cried like crazy but she still wanted to get her ears done. So when we walked into Claire's up in Ohio and there were 2 people working and her cousins were there for support she said "Let's do it!".

She wanted me to hold her hand while we were getting them done. Afterwards there were a few tears but only about 10 seconds worth.



I realized that I don't have a picture of how proud she is with her new earrings so I had to take a quickie today :)



It will be the first thing she shows you. She looks in the mirror much more often now. She reminds me that it is time for me to clean them and turn them. It's starting. Where did my baby go?

Blog Vacay & A Giveaway!!

The girls and I are going away for a week and will have very limited internet access so no blogging. I will be skipping my team up this week which bums me out but I won't have photoshop when I am there either.

I do have some super fun news though! CSN Stores asked me to do ANOTHER giveaway on my blog. This time I am not going to be choosing the prize though - YOU ARE!! Details after I recuperate from this road trip :)

Later!

Crafty Tuesday - Happy Mother's Day

Yep, I started to do this project back then. By starting I mean receiving the pretty pink one from Piper's preschool Mother's Day celebration and getting the idea to make 2 more. Then it took awhile to buy the canvas b/c they weren't on sale and you know I am not paying full price for them. When I got the canvases home they sat for a bit waiting for me to dig out the paint from the basement. Violet was easy but our little Ruby - she kept her fist clenched so what was a mama to do? Her feet that's what! These have been done and "drying" on my desk until today when I pulled out my glue gun and completed the 1 month long craft project and glued on some ribbon to hang them. This could be a record even for me. Now, let's see how long it takes to get them hung :)



Left to right
Ruby, Violet, & Piper

And tell me the name of the game that you play

Aren't kids amazing? They come up with these games that no one but them understand. They change the rules constantly, it tickles me. With having little girls we have lots and lots of parties. Tea, birthday, some times they just party to party. We get out the crackers or cookies and they will hang in that playroom for at least an hour preparing. Sweet. One of their favorite activities is still blowing bubbles. I didn't know it until we got them out this spring. I thought that they might be over it but they are not. We had so much fun playing the other night and seeing who could blow the biggest bubbles. I can see Piper, Ruby, and myself in the bubble. Where oh where was our Violet? It could have been a family shot lol :)



We have also been swimming in a little blow up pool a lot! Little Ruby plays with the water table more than the pool but she has been getting more and more curious about it. The girls will go out and play in it all day if I would let them. I can't get anything inside the house done with them out there though so I can't let them stay out ALL DAY but let's just say the house is messy right now.



The other night a house down the cove from us was having a party. Band and everything. We stayed up late and danced on our deck to the music. Friday was a very good day. No yelling, just smiling and enjoying the girls. I love those days ♥

HUNBABA Mei Tai Baby Carrier Guest Giveawayy

I would love to win this one! I have such a thing for birds at the moment! LOVE!

HUNBABA Mei Tai Baby Carrier Guest Giveawayy

Team Up Thursday - Mirror

I took quite a few shots this week and although many of them turned out much nicer than my last minute shot I didn't love them for the theme. Our Violet loves to gaze at herself in the mirror. I guess it is a little girl thing. She makes faces, sings, and applies lots and lots of lip gloss. Now I know this is not inherited from me b/c I can go a whole day without looking in the mirror and then see the horror that was me all.day.long :) When I saw Angie's shot I smiled b/c it was one of my ideas but I didn't do anything but think. Every time I thought about the theme I thought about my rear view mirror and then I would start singing Meatloaf (although not his finest but I somehow still know it). I love seeing shots of where she lives, so pretty :)




Check out more Team Up Thursdays at Melody's and Megan's.

Wordful Wednesday - Out of the mouth's of babes

The things that our kids say are so funny at the time but life comes at you and then you forget. Lately the girls have said a few cute things that I sort of want to remember so here it goes.

When they pick out something to wear and it is the same color they call themselves copy cats. When I was growing up a copy cat wasn't necessarily a good thing but to our 3 & 4 year old it is.

Violet loves when I paint her toes different colors. She calls it mixmatched. It also is fun for her to wear mixmatched shoes. Our girls are really fashion forward aren't they?

Lately, Piper and Violet run in circles around the living room. Somedays they are running a 5k or somedays they crank it up a notch and run a 10k. That tickles me :)

Lastly, my current coffee addiction has rubbed off on them. When we leave the house they ask me if I am stopping for an iced coffee. It makes me laugh b/c normally I say no but then they put that idea in my mind and I have to think about it. I doubt myself all the time and I doubted myself that I could make a really good iced coffee. Well, I should learn to try things more b/c the concoction that I made last night was delish! Perfect for hanging outside after supper with my favorite ladies. They were cooling down with the water table and I was caffeinating myself :) Hubs got home from work and asked if it was spiked. You know, I didn't even think about that...



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Hmmm Coffee

I am an addict and have been forever. There are mornings when I am that person who would prefer not to talk until I had a cup of coffee in me. Being of a mama of 3 girls that just doesn't happen in my life. Yesterday was a huge day here at the zoo. I used a giftcard and spent more than $10 on a coffee machine. My friend shared her love for the Cuisinart 12 cup coffee maker so I sucked it up and headed to Williams Sonoma to buy one. The lady who greeted us at the door asked what I was looking for and when I said a coffee pot just about pulled us to the back of the store to show us the latest and greatest that just came in. It came with a $279.00 price tag. Now I love my coffee but come on - for that it better pour the cup and wash it :) I told her exactly what I was looking for and she told me that it was a "low end" coffee pot that would only last me 1-1.5 years. Not loving their sales tactics at this point I told her that my previous coffee pot from Walmart lasted almost 10 years. She realized I was not that woman who was going to drop a bundle and probably that if she kept slamming the coffee pot I was interested in would lose my sale entirely so miraculously she then started to love it a little more. I am now the proud owner of the most expensive coffee pot I have ever owned. It looks so slick in our kitchen. Love it!



As a coffee drinker you would think that I would try all the different sorts of coffee drinks out there but I don't. I drink coffee black. Every once and again I might get a skinny mocha from a coffee shop but spending the $4 on that KILLS me! Yes, I am cheap like that. Well, the other day I met another mama at a new park near our home and she hands me an iced coffee. Up until then I have steered clear of them b/c the sound of cold coffee didn't appeal to me. Why did she have to buy me that coffee? Why does Dunkin Donuts have them on sale right now for $.99? Thankfully this sale can't last forever b/c I could go broke with these. Another friend mentioned how much fat was probably in them - you know I never thought about that. See, plain black coffee is the way to go!

Team Up Thursday - Signs

I never really did baby signing. Although I should have b/c I was always amazed at the little babes signing away with my inferior child just grunting for everything she wanted. The girls do know some now though. Well 2, more and love. Ruby doesn't know either of those yet but I am sure by the time she is almost 5 she will as well :) I feel like this week Angie and I should be at a Grateful Dead concert with all of our peace and love. Fond memories :)



Check out more Team Up Thursdays at Melody's and Megan's.

365 Project

I am horribly behind on that 365 project. I have pictures up until I was really sick a few weeks back and then I missed a few more days but haven't got around to loading what I do have on it. I think that my life is a bit too crazy right now with the little ones to add the pressure of HAVING to get my camera out EVERYDAY so I deleted the blog but all the pictures are on this one now. If I decide to do it again I won't have a special blog b/c that was stressful enough as it was but I will post on here and probably weekly not daily b/c again -stress. More power to those that are queens of multitasking, that is not me :) I do feel like I let myself down though. It is like a resolution that failed :(

Why do we want what we don't have?

Most of the time we just deal with it and move on and other days mama helps out. Piper has wanted something lately thought that she used to have but no longer does. Curls. Last night I took a braid out of her hair and the result was a kinky little section. She loved it and asked if I could braid her whole head. This little one slept in 2 pretty tightly braided french braids last night to achieve the look she desired. I think it is pretty cute myself. She keeps asking me if her curls are still there.



I blogged 2x today so that I could enter in this really great contest for a camera strap. I love a funky camera strap and *Shey* [B] has a ruffle one that is calling my name! So, if you have a blog or use flicker head to Life With My 3 Boybarians and link up - it's a random drawing btw!

We want Britney!

It rained and daddy had to work yesterday so the girls and I organized their playroom. AGAIN. I will probably post about that project next week though b/c I want to hang up their map and I still need a picture to cover the hole where their old mirror used to hang :)

After we ate dinner we asked what they wanted to do. "Play the Wii!!" Weird b/c we haven't even had it out for a few months. That was one of those things that was a great idea when I bought it but we aren't a gaming family. One of the girls favorite games is Just Dance. Matt can beat us all laying down and I can't beat anyone even standing up and trying. Ruby loves it when the girls dance and normally wants a controller but our 3rd one was out of batteries so she was happy with the case. Piper and Violet are wearing matching Princess & The Frog pj's that I scored at the thrift store I go to for $1 each. It is getting more expensive but I figured they would love them and they did. Violet hasn't seen the movie yet but she still loves any princess. These girls make me smile a lot!



I kept thinking that I MUST have posted about Ruby's love of the Wii before but I can't find it right now, if I have chalk it up to old age :)