One Year Old!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Next stop - Kindergarten!

He graduated from Kid's Day Out last month. To Kindergarten and Beyond!

Cowboy Ben

I love my third boy and all his antics - he loves to dress up, devour green apples, and smile all day. Super love him.

Do I have something on my face?

Is there anything cuter than a baby with food on their face? I mean, I doubt she will appreciate this photo when she is, say, 16. But it is just too cute. What can I say? The girl is serious about her greens!

The Kindergarten Graduate

Hard to believe he's off to First Grade!

Budget Party Favors

Over the past few years, I have worked hard to reject the Insane Birthday Party Norm for Kids. Don't get me wrong, my kids and I both enjoy a good party. But over the years I have come to discover that at my kids' age (4, 5, & 6) it really doesn't take much to make them happy. Mine are totally happy that they see their friends and get a cupcake. =) And the amount of money that is spent on aforementioned Insane Birthday Party Norm is just crazy. That's just not in my budget. Nor do I want it to be.

So, since we have two birthdays in the same week in March, we did a little playdate birthday party in the backyard. We rented a jumper (which, on a weekday morning is REAL cheap) and invited their friends to come play. We also made our own cupcakes, offered fruit and vegetable snacks and everyone was happy! Thankfully the South Texas weather was awesome and we enjoyed a fun time outside to play with friends.

Last week my husband was trimming the backyard trees and I decided that I could use his scraps to make some birthday party favors. So, may I present to you the $.25 personalized party favor...

 If you have some tree scraps, paint, magnets, and a shred of artistic ability, you can make some too.  And kids will leave your party with something they can keep instead of a bag of sugary junk or choking hazards. Win for everyone! 

So, start planning your Anti-Insane Birthday Party now. You can start with the favors.

You're welcome. =)

Brothers = Best Friends

I love that my little boys are the best of friends. It warms my heart to see the sweetness of their brotherhood. Here they are perched on a bench watchin' the river go by. This is a happy place for them - outside and together. The best!

Baptism

Our girl got baptized this past Saturday and we had a big pink party day to celebrate. It was a really special day to celebrate her first sacrament. One of the things I love about the church is that each celebration is full of biblical symbolism and tradition. Call me an Old Soul, I guess. I love being a part of something that is thousands of years old. The priest was 30 minutes late, though, due to traffic, which served as a great reminder that we do, in fact, live in 2015. =) Thankfully it was a beautiful day and the extra time allowed the kids to run around on the church lawn before the ceremony. I dare say we couldn't have planned that any better!

We had a small celebration with friends and family in a private baptism ceremony at the church. It helped that it was not part of a longer Sunday mass. Keeping my three boys quiet for an entire mass is challenge enough, without adding a special celebration for their sister. Save the huge toot my three year old let out during the ceremony, all went well. I suppose such is life in a family with three boys! Anna did wonderfully during the ceremony. She didn't fuss the entire time and was happy in Daddy's arms. Then we had a quaint little party at home with friends, family, good food and buttercream white cupcakes - perfection!

Her dress was handmade in Rome, which made a very special gift from her godparents, Quincy and Wendy. Quincy is a friend from my Istanbul days and his wife, Wendy has become a very dear friend to me and our family. We felt so blessed to have them join us in this special part of Anna's life. 

Here are some photos from the day - enjoy!

 Her sweet little dress had lots of hand stitching and embroidery. I made her put it on a day later for a short portrait session.

 Sweet girl and her daddy.

 The back of the dress as she crawled away from her portrait session. 

  Lovely white bow - yay for girly stuff!

Baptism.

Nothing sweeter than the cross + white buttercream icing.

The party table.

 Her candle and a great reminder to "walk in the light as HE is in the light" (1 John 4:7)

What's a party without a favor? Again, I am an Old Soul. I went out on a limb and assumed that SOME people still read real books these days. ;)

Garlic

Yes, Garlic. So recently I read the 100 Days of Real Food (great book, by the way) and started making a few of the recipes at home. We have already made huge progress with what we eat at home, but I needed to add a few new things to my recipe rotation. Many of her recipes call for fresh garlic. I have a love/hate relationship with garlic. I love the taste and how it makes my cooking so much more yummy, but I HATE chopping it, peeling it, and basically getting it into my food. I can never get the smell off of my hands. I hate that. I decided to solve this problem by taking a break from fresh garlic and buying that nice little jar of already minced garlic. Perfect solution to my problem, right?

And then this happened...

Epic fail! Nothing like trying to avoid garlic smell by buying a jar of garlic and then proceeding to accidentally drop it on its way back to the fridge...requiring me to clean up ten times the amount of stinky garlic with my bare hands. Bleck!

Needless to say, looks like I am going to bed tonight with garlic scented fingernails.

Sweet Dreams!

Four to the Store

Sometimes I have moments of craziness. Like taking four to the store on a Saturday morning. Obvious I bribed them to participate in this fun little outing with a promise that they could wear whatever they wanted. They picked wisely and we rolled into our local grocery with three Superheroes and a girl baby superhero - the boys rationalized that this WAS in fact her costume and they made sure to tell any strangers who asked about it...

Most of the strangers smiled and gave me the knowing "I have been there" looks. 

Of course, the secret to making this strategy work is to make it in and out of the store in about 27 minutes flat. Watch out, Y'all, here comes the crazy circus with a giant overloaded two-kid cart! =)

Three cheers for a happy Saturday morning ending!

I suppose that Henry is now technically the Second Oldest kid, but he still photographs like a Middle Kid, don't you think? =)

Merry Christmas

Wishing you joy this season!

I love you Mommy

There are many days that my job as a mommy of four very small children feels thankless and demanding. Not to mention that I feel like the Team Captain in a daily professional Bum Wiping Contest.

Then there's days like today when my oldest kid hands me this:

If you are a mom of young little people, hang on! Someday they will be able to draw you pictures and write you notes - and you will hardly remember the sleepless nights, endless time outs, and bottom wiping.

I promise. =)

We got stuff growin' out back.

 Here's our kale. Yes we are trendy like that.

 This is our speckled lettuce. It bolted a bit but made for a perfect close up shot.

 My succulents are my favorite.

 The have the most interesting shapes and texture. And they require virtually NO care or water. This, Y'all, is the perfect thing to grow out back!

He came, He saw, He conquered.

Now, if only this reptile could FOR REAL conquer the mess in my children's room, it would be awesome. =)

Little Pink Bundle

So, we changed it up a bit last week....

added a little pink bundle to our crew!

Oh, how we love her.

Anna Kathryn, welcome to the world!  

We love you and all your sweetness.  

Your brothers think you hung the moon (already!)

 and we love getting to know you.

So glad God gave us you!

The New Spokesman for Kale

He's cute, huh?

The Beach

Look at my boys and their Daddy at the beach.  

Precious!

Thrifty Holiday Tip

Okay, I know that I am like, a couple of months late on this but these days I sort of have to roll with the free time I've been given to blog.  These few moments TODAY is the time I have to write this post. =)  Hopefully you can pin it, file it, or print and cram it away somewhere for next holiday season.  Cause you are gonna want to hang on to this one...

I really, really love to have fresh greenery in my home.  Of course, it costs an arm and a leg to have a house continually full of fresh flowers.  The best is when my husband provides them for me.  At Christmas, it is so nice to have live Christmas greenery everywhere.  I love the color and and the smell and the way it just fills the house with something festive looking....

...but have you ever gone to purchase some real live garland - as much as you need to decorate everything in your house - and real wreaths for your door?  It is no wonder most of America settles for the artificial kind they purchase once every 10 years or so, because the real stuff is expensive.  Like, bust your Christmas budget expensive.  So, the past couple of years I have discovered a fantastic way to get real greenery for FREE.  Yep, free!

Here's how:  The past two years I have shown up at my local Lowe's store on the Sunday after Black Friday weekend.  Many people go out that weekend and buy their real tree from the Christmas tree lot.  As you know, when you pick out your tree, they trim it up for you and get it all ready to send home.  Know what they typically do with all those trimmings?  Toss them in the garbage!  Yep, they fill entire grocery carts full and wheel them out to the dumpster.  So, all you have to do is show up and ask if you can have them.  They will most likely give them to you and save themselves the trouble of wheeling them out to the dumpster.  This year, I even got some from my local large grocery store with a garden center that sells trees.  Same story - they were happy for me to have them instead of having to go to the trouble of throwing them away.

So, here are the reasons you should try this strategy:
1.  It is free.  And everyone loves something beautiful that is free.
2.  It is responsible.  Lately, my husband and I have been working on being more responsible consumers and using our money wisely (come to think of it, this is probably why I don't receive fresh flowers as much!!).  So, rescuing something from the garbage is way more responsible than paying for something that will get old, fade, and has to be put in storage after the holidays.
3.  It gives you a chance to be creative!  I purchased grapevine wreaths (large and small) and grapevine floral wire at my local craft store for less than $15.  Then, I got to create my own wreaths and garland using my own hands...for less than the cost of ONE small live wreath at the store. There is something very rewarding about that.

Now, this post would be insanely long if I made it a "how to" post.  Basically, you are probably only still reading this post if you have an interest in this sort of crafty-crafty stuff anyway.  You will need greenery, floral shears, grapevine wreaths, grapevine floral wire, and any embellishments you may want to add to your decor.  I buy the embellishments at my craft store and reuse them every year - those tiny red berry accents don't take up much space in storage. =)

Here are a few pics of what you can create with your salvaged greenery...

Family Photos

Hard to believe how big these little guys are getting!

Alex is 5 and so big now....and he looks just like Daddy.

Ben is 2 and still the easiest kid to ever grace our family.

 Henry is 3 and is my most expressive child - oh my, the number of his facial expressions!

 This year Mommy is actually in the family photo - a true Christmas miracle!

 Big Brothers.

 All Three.

 Just before the wrestling match began!

Merry Christmas to all!  From our family to yours.

My Boys

So thankful that I get to be Mommy to these little boys...  

It's my favorite and best assignment in life.