New Glasses Are In...

Early this morning I got a phone call, Liliana's glasses had arrived.  We had just enough time to run over and pick them up before the big kids needed to be at school.  I left the choice up to Liliana, she rushed her siblings to the car informing me she wanted to get them before school.  Can we say Anxious?!
She wore them into the school yard and used them in class and noticed a huge difference.  I am so glad the teacher spoke up and suggested we get her eyes looked at. 
Liliana's nerves about what her peers would think of her faded quickly as most of her classmates complimented her on the new glasses. 

Supporting Marc And Petco...

About a month ago, Marc came to me and requested I make a fancy cake or 2 or 8 for his huge adoption event.  Normally, if you go to a Petco location on an adoption day, there is 1 maybe 2 non profit groups adopting out animals in need of a home.  Recently, Marc came up with the "brilliant idea" to have as many local groups as possible come to one of his store locations and have a "Mega Adoption" event.  One of his managers took it upon herself to begin the planning for this idea which soon became reality.  It is now going to be a district wide event held on different weekends for the coming months.  Today was the first Mega Adoption Event which I got roped into doing the cakes for.  Marc was nice and cut the cake count down from 8 to just 2.  1 cake was easy, I just had to pipe the participating adoption groups names all over it.  Cake 2 wasn't as easy.  Marc made me a wood stand to hold the Petco storefront vertically in place.  The sheet cake decorations actually didn't take long at all it was more the storefront that ate up my time. 
I didn't attend the event since I had to get Ava's cake done for her family party which was less than 24 hours away, but apparently everyone thought the cake looked really good (it was suppose to look like the actual store).  The adoption event was very successful.  12 animals were adopted! 
Liliana, Dillon, and Ava spent the day with Marc at the event petting and walking the dogs.  I received over a dozen phone calls BEGGING for permission to bring at least 1 of the cute Chow/Border Collie mix puppies home but I held strong!  No dogs in this household just yet.  With baby #6 on her way, I do not think adding a puppy to the mix will be very smart.  Maybe in a few years when the kids are a bit older! 
For those of you looking at add an animal to your family, please be sure to check out your local Petco adoption event dates!  They are rolling out tons and tons of mega events in the coming months!  You can also use petfinder.com to find your perfect match if you don't want to wait for an upcoming event!

Ava's First Field Trip...

Field Trip!!  Ava and her class were headed to Phoenix to enjoy a morning at Stuffington Bear Factory.  I was one of the lucky parents chosen to chaperone.  Ava was beyond excited.  She had never been on a field trip, never been on a bus, and never been to Stuffington Bear Factory.  With the morning full of "firsts" she didn't stop smiling for a single minute!

If you can't tell by the pictures, Ava had a blast!  She named her pretty red bear Rose, picked out pink and purple ribbon to tie around his neck, and brought him to the park where her class had a picnic lunch before returning to school.

Glasses For Liliana...

A couple days ago, Liliana came home from school and said "Mommy, Mrs. Coutts says I need my eyes checked because I can't see the board from the back of the classroom."  I made the call to our optometrist and got an appointment for early this morning.  After a 20 minute eye exam, Liliana and the Dr came over to me and said "yeahup we need glasses".  Liliana was very anxious to pick out a "cute" pair of glasses.  She tried on 11 pairs and settled on 3 different ones.  All were "geek sheek" style which shocked me.  I pegged her for a dainty thin frame lover but nope she wanted the thick bold looking frames!  After trying them on a few more times she settled on a leopard frame pair with small rhinestones on the sides.  She is very anxious for them to come in (should be here sometime early next week).  Good news is that she doesn't have to wear them all the time.  She needs them solely for distance.  She is very happy about that.  The thought of wearing glasses all the time made her very upset!  I didn't snap a picture in the frames she ended up buying but I did manage to get a picture of her and Rosalia in a pair when they tried some on before the appointment. 

Happy 35 Years To Marc...

Marc isn't into birthdays.  I signed him up for lots of freebies and he didn't take advantage of one single one!?!  He did take his dad up on going to the shooting range for the afternoon.  He also took me up on an offer to go eat at a local favorite of ours for dinner while his parent's watched the kiddos.  Ever since turning 30 he seems to have anxiety about each birthday that comes and goes.  I personally don't understand that anxiety.  I LOVE birthdays.  I look forward to mine each and every year and can't imagine not looking forward to one.  I do know there are plenty of people out there that get a little nervous and uneasy about birthdays and Marc happens to be one of those people! 

Although he doesn't look forward to his birthday... just like the children we still celebrate it!  Happy Birthday to Marc!  Although he thinks he's an old fart he's only 35 years young this year!

Happy 6th Birthday Ava...

Today Ava turned 6 years old. Today is Monday. Today she was so excited when she woke up, to go to school, have her birthday celebrated in school with friends, and share a special birthday treat.

Today she stayed home because she was still sick.  I tried to make her day special despite being so bummed about not going to school.  She requested "AVA" chocolate pancakes with syrup.  She requested a burger and fries for lunch.  She requested pasta with garlic bread for dinner.  She enjoyed her breakfast, her lunch came from a local favorite spot of ours Joe's Farm Grill, and she enjoyed 2 platefuls of pasta and garlic bread!  Papa and Uncle Jarrod came over in the late afternoon for cupcakes and presents.  Considering the day started out with tears and the question "Why can't I go to school I feel better?", Ava had a very fun day home celebrating her birthday.  Tomorrow she gets to bring her "dancer tutu cupcakes" to school to share with her classmates and the teacher assured me she would get her birthday specials as well! 

Sewing Projects...

With my new found LOVE for pinterest has come a long list of items to sew.  My recent projects included items to use up all my scrap fabric.  The bin is full and I really need to use some of it up before I start anymore big projects.  Some of my latest small scrap completions include...

Tooth Fairy pillows

Fabric blocks for the little kids to play with

Fabric flower clips for the girl's hair

Fabric ABS's for the kids to play with

Baprons!!  It's a cross between an apron and bib!
Rosalia enjoys wearing them and the best part... she can't get them off!

Another Funny Sleeping Spot...

Tonight, Garrison grabbed the comfy Yankees blanket and curled up inside an empty laundry basket he dragged out of the laundry room and fell asleep! 

Thought This Was Funny...

2 Handed Pot Holder...

Lately, I spend a lot of time on Pinterest.  For those of you that don't know what it is... you MUST check it out.  It's basically a site where you can type in just about anything in the search bar and it pulls up hundreds of ideas for that particular search. 
One of my searches has been for new sewing projects.  I came across a free pattern and tutorial for a 2 handed pot holder.  I managed to whip up 3 of these in just under an hour.  It's definitely a pattern I plan to keep for the future. 

Rosalia Thinks She's Older Than She Is...

Rosalia wants to be a big kid!  Tonight while Liliana and Dillon were playing an XBox game, Rosalia grabbed Marc's spare remote and sat down right next to them.  She sat there contently as if she really believed she was playing the game along with them!

They Love Their Milk...

I have never seen two kids gulp down a sippy cup of milk so fast.  These two not only LOVE their milk they can suck down a cup and NEED a refill ASAP.  The habit is to ask for a cup full then disappear while it goes into their bellies.  This morning they both grabbed their cups from me and decided to gulp it down while lounging in the ball pit. 

Garrison's Party With The Family...

For those of you that have been reading this blog since I started it, you'll notice we have some "traditions" when it comes to birthdays... the kids ALWAYS have a small celebration on their actual birthday which usually includes Grandma and Papa Simpson coming over.  Birthday freebies are "cashed in" and balloons representing how old the child has turned are given in addition to presents.  The birthday child picks the meals for the day which everyone in the family eats!The weekend before or after the birthday is when we invite the rest of the family over for the actual "party"!  We do NOT do kid parties for many reasons which I won't even bother going into. 

With all that said, today was Garrison's special day with the family!  He requested a Lightning McQueen cake and was very excited to see it.  He talked about his cake for weeks!  I decided to make him a cake which had all of the characters from the movie surrounding the two tiers and made a Cars sign for the very top.  Nothing too fancy but it certainly took longer than I had planned!  I used sugar sheets for the characters and they gave me a heck of a time when using in my cricut machine!  It was worth every minute to make because when Garrison woke up this morning to see his cake... let's just say his smile melted my heart!

When we have the family over I usually pick a meal that is somewhat easy to prepare so that we can all just enjoy visiting with each other.  Today's meal of choice was lasagna.  I was able to prepare everything ahead of time which is always nice. 
Garrison had quite the fun day spending time with all the family!  We are so very thankful to have such wonderful people so close by to celebrate these special occasions with us!