Leggings Love

I know 2 little girls that love/have an obsession with leggings/jeggings. M and K have decided that it is the only thing they will wear........Which is a bummer since they both have a closet full of clothes that are NOT leggings. Hannah doesn't care what she wears at 6 and didn't care what she wore at 5. When she went to Kindergarten I am pretty sure I thought she couldn't wear the same outfit twice because she has a lot of clothes and all different kinds---jeans, dresses, sweaters, T-shirts, turtlenecks and a few leggings. Now, they just hang in Kaylee's closet---maybe she will want to wear them when she goes to Kindergarten next year!!!!! Right now, she is good with wearing the same few outfits over and over and over............Macy is the same way.....For her I have to hide outfits because she will even search the dirty clothes basket!!!!! I recently got my first pair of leggings so I understand the comfort, but I haven't ignored the rest of my closet!!!!!!

So when I saw a tutorial for using old T-shirts and making dresses out of them I decided to try it. I didn't have my stitches on the outside and didn't use paint on the dresses--may add that at some point.

So glad I did because:

1. The girls love them

2. It was FREE----

I used 3 old/loved T-shirts from my closet, but I hit the jackpot when I went through my maternity bin!!!!!!!

The girls were so excited to hear the story about each T-shirt.

They were so easy, so I made some for the Spring. Plus didn't want to leave Whit out!!!!!!!!!!!

Up next...........cleaning out the girls' closets and using tanktops for the summer.

Life is Good when you can turn old into new!!!!!

A Little Something for ME!!!!!!!

At the start of each year Justin has kick off meetings for work so he is out of town a lot. For the last few weeks he has been in Florida and Atlanta. Two weeks of being gone was a lot for all of us.

I got through last week knowing I had a fun day planned for Saturday. My good friend, Erin, was also daddiless last week so we got together for a Mommy Day on Saturday. Earlier in the week we bought fabric to make a bag found on Pinterest. Saturday morning, I packed up my machine and supplies and headed to her house to sew.

I just love the bright colors---it will be perfect for a warm weather trip we both have in March. I think we will be pretty cute sitting in lounge chairs with our ruffle purses!!!!!

You'll notice the straps are different from the one in the pattern. Wasn't crazy about the webbing used..........So Erin, the super fast sewer that she is, made me a different strap since she was done with her purse and I was still working on mine!!!!!

This is the first time I have used grommets for purse straps, and I think I will be using them a lot in the future---Love the look of them!!!!

Life is Good when you have cute accessories for an upcoming trip!!!!!

Go Look!!!!!!!!

We have new game that has saved my sanity many times recently.

All 3 girls love it,

it can be set up easily,

they get to run around and

it keeps them entertained for awhile.

It's a hide and seek game to find the little monkey.

One person hides it anywhere in the house---need to make sure part of it is showing!!!!

Once it is hidden, the seekers draw cards with questions about its location:

Is it in a room with a TV, Is it in a room with a bed, etc.

(The great thing about the cards are the pictures on them, so it is easy for nonreaders)

The hider says "Yes" or "No"

The real fun begins when they draw a "Go Look" card---they run around frantically looking until the time is up

These are just a few of the cards

This game would be easy to make at home.

All you would need is:

An animal to hide,

cards with locations,

cards with "Go Look"

a Yes and No pile and

a timer--(or you could just count!!!)

Life is Good with games that get you moving!!!

Popcorn Cake

A few weeks ago, we had Hannah's Daisy friends over for lunch and to play. Her leader volunteered to bring Popcorn Cake for dessert..............I had never heard of it and wasn't sure what to expect. Turns out, I have been missing something wonderful!!!!!!

It's Sweet, Salty, Gooey and so very YUMMY!!!!!

Emeril's Popcorn Cake

1/4 cup vegetable oil

4 quarts(16 cups) plain, unsalted, unbuttered popcorn-

---I used 2 bags of Orville Redenbacher's Tender White Microwaveable. If you use microwaveable, be careful to weed out all the unpopped kernels....if you don't you will have a few unwanted crunchy surprises and maybe a trip to the dentist!!!!

2 Cups M&M's---

---you could use any kind of sweet, chocolaty candy--maybe what your kids bring home with their Valentines!!!!

1 Cup lightly salted peanuts----

---The girls aren't big fans of peanuts so I used crunched up pretzel sticks to get our salt in

1/2 Cup unsalted butter

1 lb. marshmallows-

-double check the weight on your bag because the regular sized big marshmallow bags are 10 oz

Grease a large tube or bundt pan with cooking spray---I didn't have a bundt pan for my first one and just used a 9 by 13 Pyrex and it was fine!!!!

Mix the popped corn with candies and nuts

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, oil and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When, melted, pour over the popcorn and stir until well mixed.

Spoon mixture into the pan and press firmly. Cover with foil to keep moist and let sit for at least 3-4 hours.

Life is Good when salty and sweet meet!!!!

Love Vases

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so we have been working on teacher gifts........

I saw an idea on Pinterest and thought it would be a fun way to show our teachers we love them.

I found vases at Michael's for $0.99, wrote LOVE on them--next time would use a white crayon, put hot glue over the the letters and painted everything white.

Since real flowers probably wouldn't do well getting to school in the cold, I made button flowers.

I used wrapped floral wire and cut it in half for each stem. Then, I just threaded the buttons through---some were layered on each other, some had a few buttons on the same stem spread out and some were single buttons.

Life is Good with gifts made with LOVE

She's Getting So Big

Last weekend was pretty big for Whitney..............

She started eating cereal!!!!!!

She seemed to like it!!!!!!

Why is it that I open my mouth when I want her to open hers?!?!?! I really had to concentrate on keeping it closed!!!!!

For the last 5 months Whitney has been sleeping in this,

but over the weekend she moved to her crib!!!!! She really liked this sleeper...........it was elevated like a bouncy seat, but had high sides so I wasn't worried about her falling out.

Here is the info if you are interested.

I could watch her sleep for hours!!!!!!!

Now.................If I could just get this sister............

and this sister................

to sleep in their own bed life would be wonderful after 9:00!!!!!

Life is Good when baby meets milestones!!!!

Duck Pin Bowling

Last week when Grandma was here we went to Pinheads and did Duck Pin Bowling.

They have a separate room with 4 smaller lanes and you use a smaller ball(about the size of a 3 pound softball). The girls loved it and didn't get bored with it. Since the lane is shorter and the ball weighs less we didn't have to wait for the ball to hit the pins like in regular bowling. If the ball did stop rolling, the lane wasn't greased so the girls could walk on it and give their ball a little extra boost. We also didn't have to rent shoes and it was $3 a person per game. Another nice feature is we could either have bumpers up or down for each bowler. We did bumpers for everyone this time, but next time may try to take them down for the big girls.

STRIKE!!!!!

Macy didn't want to play the second game, but once the other girls got started she changed her mind. Kaylee was nice enough to share her turns with her!!!!!

"We have 3 left!!!!!!"

Waiting.............

Life is Good with kid-sized games!!!

SNOW!!!!!

We finally have enough snow to go sledding and the girls couldn't be happier!!!!!! Lucky for them our neighbors have a great sledding hill.

Can you tell which girl is wearing the snow outfit I picked out

and who decided to choose their own?!?!?!

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Maybe by the end of winter Kaylee will be wearing the heart hat and mittens that match her coat and the brown snow pants that are a size 5............Hopefully, Macy will decide to wear snowpants and take the size 3 ones back from Kaylee!!!!!

No matter how they were dressed, they were having fun!!!!

Until she got her foot stuck!!!!!

Time to go in, warm up and watch a movie!!!!!!

Life is Good when you can play in the snow!!!!

And the WINNER is...........

With the help of my lovely assistant a winner of the giveaway was chosen.........

"I got 2!!!!!!"

So.....................two winners it is.........

Amy Hensley

and

Emily Baum

Ladies, just look at my Etsy site and send me a FB message of what you would like.........I will get it sent off to you ASAP!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who participated.

Life is Good with Giveaways

Never a Dull Moment with Macy!!!

I know what you are thinking.........2 posts in 1 day........

Well, we were supposed to go to our MOPS meeting, but I am not feeling 100% and didn't want to spread my germs to all the Mommies!!!!

So..........I am home on this cold day with my 2 smallest buddies!!!

Whitney is happy in her jumper and Macy has been cracking me up since she got up.......

(When you read these you have to imagine Macy in her cute little voice and doing all of her funny little eye movements!!!!)

Usually, she just comes downstairs when she wakes up, but this morning was a bit different:

"Mommy, come up here.........I need you...........(Once I got up there)..........Can you see me?!?!?! I am in my secret hideout!!!!!!!" She was under all the covers in MY bed! She fell asleep in my bed last night, I moved her to her bed and she came back at some point----She is like a human yo-yo at night.......back and forth between our bed and hers!!!!

At breakfast when I said she could have another mini powdered donut you would have thought she won the lottery.

When I asked her if she would be a good girl today since I didn't feel well she said, "Yeah, I won't be shy going into school today." I had to explain she didn't have school today. She then packed her swimsuit and makeup in her backpack to show Kaylee's teachers.

I had to wash off her milk mustache and she told me I wiped all of her make up off too---she had to reapply her chapstick!!!!

Every once in awhile out of the blue she will start talking about the dogs and kitties at Grandma Patti and Papa Scott's. This came up AGAIN on the way to school. She told me she didn't want Maddie--our dog-- to go inside their house again because last time she licked her hand. Then, she told me she didn't like the kitties because one scratched Hannah. She said they don't bother her if I hold her when we go from the car to the house so I need to be sure to hold her next time. That is how this discussion always ends----someone promising to hold her.

When we got home she went through all the DVDs and took out the ones she wanted to watch. She asked to take her stack downstairs..........I told her I wasn't going down and she would be by herself.........."My know, my don't care!!!!"........Guess she was excited to pick out her own movie and have some alone time!!!!!

Watching Strawberry Shortcake

Life is Good when you have Macy making you laugh!!!!

What's for Dinner?!?!

I have been cooking and I actually have been enjoying it!!!!!!!

No, it isn't a New Year's Resolution.....just a coincidence that I found this idea on Pinterest:

This weekly menu( an 8 x 10 frame with scrapbook paper----printed the days of the weeks on the paper) has helped me plan, so I haven't had to call Justin and see what we should do for dinner.

Finding easy recipes on Pinterest has helped ----especially all the crock pot ones!!!! It has made grocery shopping easier too----I did a whole week at a time........we have had to make a few changes to the days to accommodate life. In the 3 weeks we have been planning meals, I think only a container of mushrooms has gone bad.

Here are a few we have done:

P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps----so yummy....next time we would cut everything up the night before

Beef Stroganoff---Probably won't do again---the girls weren't huge fans, but I liked it

Crock Pot Chicken and Rice---So easy and everyone liked it!!!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup--Even better for lunch the next day!!!

Cilantro Lime Chicken--YUMMY--we ate it with tortillas and had a lot of leftovers

Chicken Noodle Soup--Girls loved it---I added a few more noodles since that is the part they like best

Cinnamon Rolls--not a huge fan--it was super easy, but the topping got really hard

Going to plan next week's menu this afternoon.....

.May send Justin and Whit to the grocery store on Saturday while I take the Bigs to Disney on Ice!!!!!

Life is Good when you plan ahead!!!!

5 Months

IS 5 MONTHS OLD!!!!!!!!

She is not a huge fan of........

her carseat,

sleeping through the night, or

chugging her bottle.

But when I see that smile with those dimples I don't mind..........

getting up in the night,

hearing her scream in the car,

or always having a bottle with 2 ounces left sitting around!!!!

I actually like my early mornings with just Whit...........sipping coffee, listening to her talk and watching something other than Disney channel!!!!! However, 4:30 two times in the last 5 days is a bit much!!!! On the bright side, I did see the whole Revenge episode by 5:30 this morning!!!! Hopefully, by my 6 month update she will always be sleeping in until at least 6:30!!!!

Macy at 5 months

Kaylee

Hannah

Life is Good!!!!