More Fall Crafts

My original craft was supposed to be mini pumpkin cakes. I bought a mini bundt cake pan and made mini chocolate cakes. They are deeeeelicious! The problem came when it was time to do the icing. I didn't like how the consistency changed once I added food coloring to dye the icing orange. I prefer to make my own icing [but use box cakes] because I can control how much sugar there is.  Anyway, here's my inspiration:

Since my orange icing didn't work out, here is my revised inspiration:

I really need to learn how to make colorful icing because I have plans for my boys' birthday party. I gotta get this together quick! Last year I made colorful icing that turned out great, so not sure how I messed this batch of icing up so badly. I'm taking them to my mom's group party tonight and will have to post pictures of them later.


Today's Fall Crawl craft takes us over to Meli Faif Life. Her blog (and daughter) is incredibly adorable! So check her out.

Yarn wreath.

Tutorial here. Yep, gonna try and make one of these too!


Have a great weekend Lovelies!

Fall Craft: Give Your Pumpkins Some Bling!

Today is my craft day for Marilyn's FALL CRAWL, woo hoo!

I have the simplest way to decorate pumpkins but make them somewhat jazzy.
Dun dun nuh nuh.............self adhesive rhinestones!

For ladies always on the go, tied up with work, school, work+school or babies....or maybe even the less skilled craftsman, this craft is for you.

What you'll need:
-decor pumpkins
-self-adhesive rhinestones (I got mine from Michael's; they have all several shapes)
-1/4 of creativity :-)

Bling pumpkins.

Orange potpourri in vase as well as bowl.

Small decor for hall/entry way.

One pumpkin did not make the photo. It was the tall pumpkin. I used the glittered, gray-looking circles for to make a spider web....buuuuutt, the Michael's I live near was out of  fake spiders. The plan is to glue the pumpkin. It just doesn't look right without the spider. I looked for this particular spider for a week, but everytime I go to the Michael's near me, they're out and I keep forgetting to just go to Hobby Lobby, probably because its further away too.

Anyway to complete the look, I suggest buying a bigger pumpkin and several packs of adhesive circles (glitter or clear rhinestones) and put them in the shape of spider web. Then glue a spider to the middle of the spider web and voila. It took me 20-30 minutes to put all of the 'bling' on the pumpkins.

I think my next pumpkin project, just in time for Halloween, will be this.....

Another easy project. Looks like what is needed are black pumpkins, or black spray paint, colorful felt fabric for the eyes and ears and a pumpkin cutting knife to cut the stems.

I hope you try one of these easy, decorative pumpkins projects.....and when you do, be sure to let me know!

Happy seasonal crafting!

Fall Crawl Updates!

I hope someone has gotten "crafty" or tried or added a new recipe from these inspirational fall season diy - do it yourself - projects! I know I have and will be posting my easy to do craft tomorrow.

I've been extremely busy the past few days with pre-school pictures, mom group playdates and making a collage for my son's preschool class. It was his homework. :-) Annnnddddd, my hubby went to the Monday night football game at the Cowboys stadium. We are NOT Cowboys fans, but we ARE Cowboys Stadium fans! Anyway, that has all kept me very busy entertaining and occupying the time of my 2 tots under 2.

So...back to some Fall Crawl craft/recipe updates:
Monday's visit was to Chez Mukweto. Her fall craft were tres (french = very) cool decorative yarn balls!

They're easy to do, so visit her page for the tutorial!

Tuesday's visit was to Food, Folks and Fun. The recipe up for the day was Pumpkin Whoopie Pies!

This looks like a cool kid's party dessert. Good ideas for moms!

Today's craft takes us to Kim & Lars. They give a step-by-step guide in making your own photo notecards. Click on their name and see for yourself!

Yummy Fall Cupcakes

Day 7 of the Fall Crawl brings us the cayoootest and most creative looking cupcakes ever.....that really represent the Fall season.
The recipe is brought by Kimba over at Kimba's Two Cents. All I have to say is "what a great idea!" They look really tasty too.  Check her out and save the recipe.

See the acorns? How cute!

First Day of Fall, Tumbling + Day 6

I didn't have a chance to welcome in Fall correctly! "Well Fall, we welcome you with open arms here in Texas!" I've only been here for a year now, but it seems fall in Texas is gonna be the most loveliest season here. Right now the weather is low to mid-80's and sometimes low 90's with a nice breeze and a shot of sun. I'm not complaining about the 90's because its not 100+!!!!

Unfortunately the wildfires have destroyed a ginormous amount of homes. I can't even imagine and thank God everyday for his protection of our family, home and things. There was a wildfire really close to us today as we left my oldest's tumbling class, but thankfully it was contained and didn't seem to destroy any homes nor the Primrose Preschool next to it. (Sidenote: we're trying to help him bring out his athletic ability. :-) Both of us parents are athletes, so the faster he's running and jumping, the more fun the park can be for us, ha ha. Its fun for him now. Anyway he has a severe case of the 'pigeon-toed--ness.')

Taken in May. Its not as bad now, but its not much better.

Since his feet are still pigeon-toed, it kinda gives him this funny run that he does to prevent tripping over his toes all the time. Its like he's high stepping when he's running and its the funniest thing ever. We can't help but laugh and so do our friends, but I just pray his ankles/feet/whatever straighten out better in the next few months so he can run and jump like he wants without being afraid of tripping over his toes. Our friends say their kid's seemed to straighten around the 2-yr mark, so that gives us 2.5 more months to go!

What we've learned is that toddler boys don't really like to pay attention and toddler girls do, lol. It. is. funny. He likes the class, but whenever he sees a ball, basketball, soccer ball or volleyball, he forgets about the class and throws the ball. Today, there were 2 volleyballs in his line of vision and he walked away from what the class was doing and threw those 2 balls over and over about 3 times and had Da da running. I was cracking up of course. Mainly because I wasn't the running after the balls. :-) Da da only let him do it 3 times but that kid was OVER those somersaults! tee hee hee

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Its Day 6 of the Fall Crawl and we're heading over to Tracy Cooks It Right for her pumpkin bread pudding. Doesn't that sound delicious?!? Check out her recipe from her healthy kitchen.

Hope you're enjoying the Fall weather wherever you are. :-0

Beeritas...

Last weekend, we ate some Mexican food, where else do go in Texas, right?
Anyway, we tried a new place called Don Taco's.
It was very reasonably priced and extremely delicious.
It's a very family oriented place because there were a million preteens there, making all kinds of chatter. The decor and 'feel' of the restaurant was more like a diner.
Well, we shared a beerita and it was the most delicious thing I have ever drank.....next to red wine of course. I found a couple pictures of it online.
I didn't take any pictures there because i thought it would be weird to take a picture of this alcoholic beverage with all kinds of 8 and 9 year old girls around. :-\

The reason that it was so delicious to me is because of the "bitter" taste from the Corona mixing with the sweetness from the margarita. The beer is turned upside down and so when you drink from the straw, you get the taste of both and it tastes like a carbonated margarita. Hmmm hmmm good. My hubby drank most of it and I did the driving. :-)

Clearly this is too much, but this is what it looks like.

Our serving size was like the first picture shown, but Snooki's drink gives a better display of what the drink is. You definitely only need one beer because of the beerita is already several drinks in one. No wonder Snooki's always a sloppy, drunken mess. Oh and beeritas are only made with Coronas. I definitely recommend this for your next going out drink.  

Try it and let me know what you think!




Next stops for the Fall Crawl:

Bella Vida by Letty (Wednesday)- Pumpkin Decorating Inspiration
Reading Confetti (Thursday) - Bird Treat Ornaments - fun craft to do with your kids
Dirt On The Rocks (Today) - Gotta check it out to find out!

Fall Crawl Day 2

My area is a lot more 'vanilla'- meaning plain and boring than I expected. The closest Sally Beauty Supply near me have been out of the salon effects for quite some time and I finally asked if they would ever get any more shipments of the effects in and the store manager said probably not. Boo. They must not be too popular, however she said to check back closer to Halloween. Sooooo since I didn't want to find out how talented I am not by painting on my own zebra stripes (so much for DIY nails), I just decided to rock the crackled look. I tried it and I didn't like it. Hmmm, maybe I should try Ulta for the zebra print. Now, why didn't I think of that when I was there last week?

Today's FALL CRAWL stop today is with Kellie at www.happybabychronicles.com and its a yummy southern Virginian meatloaf recipe. Perfect for the Fall weather. I haven't made a meatloaf in forever so I am gonna be saving this recipe to try it out.
When you stop by, tell who sent ya and jot down the recipe!

Day 1 of FALL CRAWL

Fall is almost here and its time to get crafty!!! I'm definitely not the most crafty person in the world, but I surely can decorate some already put-together crafts! He he. Anyway, I've decided (some time ago) that my tots will be a reason for me to get crafty. I've always wanted to be the kind of mom that decorates the home for every holiday and makes cute party sweets. I haven't started doing this just yet but I think now is a good time to start, especially with all the inspiration I've been seeing. Enter in....Marilyn over at The ArtsyGirl Connection. She is a very artsy lady with all kinds of beautiful things on her blog so check her out, here. Today is the first day of her FALL CRAWL, where she will be showcasing the crafts, recipes and other fall diy projects form various bloggers for the rest of the month. I'm excited to be apart of it and to get some cool ideas for the seasons to come (with a mere change of the colors :-)).

Today's craft is from Marilyn herself! She made the cutest little paper pumpkins (pictorial included)! These are a must-do, but maybe everything will be. :-)

Sunday Funday

Well.....only on Sundays





And maybe a few Mondays.




Oh and damn those Thursday games.




At least he's not married to college football too!

Trials of A New Mommy - So Much For Showing Him Who's Boss!

A blogger that I also follow on twitter, Nik (BEAUTIFUL HAIR) mentioned going to the post office goes from errand to event with 2 kids, so I figured it was a perfect time to document why I will NEVER go to the post office again with my two boys for another year. I probably didn't post about this because although it was funny, I was pretty upset and traumatized.

A lot of my friends are either getting married or having babies and since we moved to Texas, its not as easy to travel to some of these showers....therefore I mail the gifts. Wellllllll, this summer as you know from this post, I was having a hard time keeping my toddler entertained and because of that, sometimes he would skip his afternoon nap.

What I learned this afternoon is tha naps are VITAL! So anyway, he didn't have a nap and y 3:00pm, it was clear that he would sing and babble for 2 more hours if I continued to leave him in his room. Instead, I needed to mail two different packages out for a friend's daughter's birthday and for the shower of another friend. I get to the post office and our post office is rather small and has 3 sets of double doors with no automatic open. Great. So I push the stroller through each door by holding the doors open with my foot, but Drew decides NOT to follow me. I should've turned around and went back to the car then seeing that he was not in the mood to obey, but for some reason I didn't want to be defeated.

While I'm trying to write addresses on labels and put clothes and toys in two different sized boxes, Drew is running to the double [glass]] doors and putting his face and hands on the door. People are walking in and out of the post office of course too. So I have to leave the baby at the little work bench and grab his hand/arm back to the workbench about 15-20 times with him yelling at EACH step, no lie. Still, I didn't leave. I continued to work on my packages while stopping every minute and a half to two minutes to pull my oldest boy back to me. Each times, saying in a stern and deepened voice, "Stay with mommy!"  I''m getting looks by the workers that either say, "I've been there," or "That little girl can't control her kids." Lol....since I am a short mommy, I think people prejudge me thinking I'm from the MTV Show 16 & Pregnant. In ole conservative Texas, I wanna wear a shirt that reads, "Don't ask...I'm knockin on 30." :-) Anyhoo, waht easily could have been a 10 minute deal took me THIRTY minutes! I said my little short prayers, I damn-near yanked his arm out of socket when grabbing him (times 17, 18 and 19) and not once did he get the message. Finally I got my packages taped after one of the workers came over and helped me and I left without waiting in line to mail them.

Once back at my car, I'm scolding him with all kinds of attitude and I put him in the car first with my baby in the stroller next to me. To show him attitude even more, I roll my eyes, throw my keys between his legs and shut the door...hoping that he'll see just how mad I am. Literally, one second goes by and I hear *click.* WTF. He locked the door on me. So much for me showing him who's boss. A guy, mid-30's, pulled up next to me and asked if I was locked out. Me: "Yeah, my kid locked me out." Him: "You want me to call the police? Since your seats are leather and its 100+ degrees out, it'll get hot quick." Me: "Welllll......yes, thanks." (knowing/hoping that since he loves to press buttons, he'll eventually push the unlock button). He calls the police and while he is explaining the situation, I'm hearing *click click* over and over again and I'm yanking the door handle (you know like when you're pulling a joke on someone with the lock button?). Finally around the 10th yank and 5 whole and HOT minutes, I get lucky. That was the unlock button. The guy hangs up and says to me, "I understand, I have 3 kids." I smile and say "thanks again" open the door, get my keys and finish putting the boys in their seats and of course blab and laugh about this on the phone. Once home, Drew is knocked out.

::big, slow and frustrated sigh::

Now, I go to the post office only when my 20-month old is at his part-time preschool. Mommy learned her lesson.

Identity Crisis much? Lol

Ok, so I think I've played around with the look of my blog enough. Ha ha. I'm having identity crisis issues....nah, I just get bored quickly I guess. Not to mention, when I was working, I did a lot of computer design....well CAD - computer aided design - so I guess I'm missing that type of work. Anyway, the hubby did great this weekend with football watching and fantasy football stuff. It didn't get too crazy in the house. He remembered where he was all day...which was NOT at any stadiums...but at home. I say all in all it was a good Sunday, aside from remembering 9-11-01. Everytime I think about 9-11, I remember the shock and try not to cry....though that can be hard.

This weekend, the hubby had a surprise for me, which I was not excited about at all. Luckily it turned out to be all that I needed. An hour long massage with the best masseuse known to man. I left there and felt so weird, because I didn't have any more tightness in my shoulders or back. She was a smooth $70, so I'm not sure how often I will be going to her....but I will be going back (I'm thinking every couple of months). I recommend everyone get a professional massage more often when feeling stressed. IT REALLY DOES HELP! My boothang's awesome. :-)

I also looked at some youtube videos and watch Meechy Monroe's video on her gorgeous, signature twist out. I tried it....didn't use the right product for holding and had another HAIR FAIL. I may try it again tomorrow or try a different style.

We Will Forever Remember....

.....the day that changed and took so many lives in America.

Blue lights coming from the World Trade Center fountains.

Earning Some Stars To My Stripes & Postpartum Nutrition

I really earned my "mommy" title this morning!
In a little over an hour: I brushed teeth, fed my toddler and my baby, packed lunch, changed the biggest blowout I have ever seen BEFORE the school dropoff, dropped off my toddler at school, then gave my stinky baby a bath...oh and cleaned two runny snot-filled noses with a nasal syringe. Goodness!
Yes, I'm adding a couple stars to my stripes. :-)

I've been really busy doing....I don't really even know. Between dealing with my toddler's part-time preschool, doing play dates, joining a MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) group and catching up on my recorded shows, I haven't had any time to blog.

Post-partum Nutrition Renewal

Okay, so since I had two babies back to back, I really just couldn't wait to be able to eat what I wanted, meaning not so healthy. When pregnant, I made sure to eat balanced meals and sweets several times a week and not everyday. Well, now that I'm not pregnant nor nursing I have been eating sweets (sweets=anything with chocolate) every single day. I mean, I pop semi-sweet chocolate chips like skittles. So today I have made a pact with myself that I will not be eating anymore 'sweets' for a whole month. Whenever I want something sugary to eat, I'll make sure it is something natural and fresh...blueberries and strawberries.
Um, should I make this 2 weeks instead of a whole month? Okay, okay. I think I'll still keep it at a month, but there will be exceptions like if I'm at a football party or kids birthday party. But when I'm at home or doing day-to-day errands, no chocolate for me.

I plan to eat more protein and green stuff....that'd be vegetables. Although my metabolism is naturally high [still], I'm not as young and healthy as I was 8-10 years ago and its time to get the healthy part back. Maybe we'll head to the farmers market this weekend and buy some fresh veggies. Its time I really started doing everything I can do to get back to my former healthy state. After all, we women are the cheerleaders for the rest of the family so we migh as well 'cheerlead' by example.

What My Hair Is Doing....

I have had 2 twist-out FAILS and 1 braid-out FAIL. Its been a bad couple of weeks hair style-wise. Right now my hair is pulled back into a low bun, even though I was supposed to have given up ponytail styles. I'm totally at a loss right now. I didn't take any pictures because, well, whenever I take my hair down in the morning, I'm always on the way somewhere and then have to rush to recover it in some way.

I've also learned that my hair hates coconut oil. Great. That's always great to learn after you've bought the ginormous $13 container. Ugh. Coconut oil makes my hair/ends feel really crispy and dry. I feel like I still have crsipy and frizzy ends even though I deep conditioned after it. I did a little research and learned that other ladies with that experience claim to be protein sensitive. I've never felt that I had any issues with protein before so this is definitely new and something I will be paying more attention to. 


Has anyone ever had this problem? If so, how long did it take you to finally feel like you've regained moisture? What do you do to make your ends SMOOTH?

Waiting for Fall Weather, Pumpkin Patch & A New Protective Hairstyle

Where Is Fall....Better Yet, Where Are the Fall Temperatures?

Soooo.....where the heck is the 80 degree weather? Its going on 2.5 straight months of triple digit heat. Can I get low 90's at least? Sigh. I have never sweated this much in my life! I grew up in the Midwest and moved there back after college. I couldn't wait to leave though, and go to a state where I wouldn't have to deal with 12" snow. When my oldest was born, it snowed 13" and that snow didn't go anywhere for about a month. Nuh huh. Goodbye to that. Well now I'm in Texas and in triple digit heat. The Texas sun HAS to be a different sun that shines on the rest of the US of A, lol. I'm just sayin'. At the beginning of summer, my son would walk down the driveway with me to check the mail and his cheeks would be red!


I can't wait for fall so I can walk/jog outside, have a comfortable play date and picnic at the park and have a great background for times of random picture-taking. I actually like wearing long-sleeved shirts and sweaters with shorts and in chillier temps, knee-length shorts. There's no need for air conditioning nor heat. We can leave the windows up in the house and ride with the windows down in the SUV. :-)  Football parties, Halloween and pumpkin patches are fun too!

Train ride boarding. The train just circled the pumpkin patch.

Train ride exit to the pumpkin patch.

His first pumpkin.

It came to me while writing this that the four seasons in Texas are still worth the move in spite of this brutal summer because winter weather is like fall too. (with snow and ice just here and there) I'm getting more and more excited as we speak! I can't wait to be able to spend a lot more time outside.





My New Favorite Protective Style

I've found a new protective style that I absolutely LOVE!!!! I saw it in this CurlyNikki post and though it is easier when done on long hair or straightened hair (straightened via rollerset or curlformers), I still managed with my neck length shrinkage twistout. This style awesome for me because it has a sleek and classy look and doesn't cause any tension on my edges like a bun would.

Back view from the best angle.

Back view from a different angle.

Front view.

What is your favorite season and why? How has your summer been? Do you have a favorite protective style?