A Cowgirl Birthday

I don't quite know how the Bean picked her party theme this year, to me boots and spurs don't quite mix with an inflatable bounce house.

But, its what she wanted so its what we did. Honestly, it turned out to be a pretty cute theme.
I didn't really want to go traditional cowgirl with red bandana print so I went floral instead. It all started with this free banner I found on pinterest (but of course.) I printed it along with the invitations and other decorations at office max for a very minimal price. I added doilies and some tissue paper tassels (there are all kind of tutorials for that.)

here's a screen shot of the invitation, you can find my free PDF here

See the tassels, cute for a "western" theme, right?

Then I came across some free printable wreaths and knew they were perfect for menu cards. Ok so honestly I caught a little flak over the actual need for my menu cards but I love the western names so I'm ok with that. we had

Cowboy Caviar

On the "Ranch" dip

Frontier fruit salad

Lil' Doggies (hot dogs we served for lunch)

Chow time chips

Queso

And an adult favorite "John Wayne Juice" which was a spiked Arnold Palmer

Party favors were very easy, my kids loved helping make them, and  the guests loved them. In sticking with the theme we created "happy trails mix," isn't pinterest the best? I just filled the bags taped over the top and punched a hole through the bag and the "happy trails mix" topper then tied it all together with twine.  We used multi grain cheerios, 1 bag unsalted pretzels, 1bag craisins, 1 bag M&Ms, and pre-made popcorn. It was way too much to fill the 20 favor bags so I just put the bowl out at the party and the kids ate it by the handful.

I made this welcome sign and stuck it to the front door. The door ended up just being left open (the perks of a February birthday in Houston, but it was still cute

Mostly everything was a printable from pinterest but I did buy a couple extra paper decorations and found the floral table cloth (Party City) that was a near perfect match to the floral on all the decorations.

I also like to put out pictures of the birthday girl so people who may not have known her all her life can see how she's grown.  The baby with the cowboy hat seemed very appropriate. 

Im not much on spending a lot on fancy cakes so lavender cupcakes and a glittery #7 worked perfectly.

I like to make sure to get a picture of each kid either posed or in action and include it in the envelope with the thank you notes. I think its a fun touch and its nice for the kids to have pictures with their friends. Here's this years Thank you note, the actual one had a picture Emma Bean in her cowgirl outfit instead of the bounce house.

You can download it free here 

And that's a wrap guys. The kids had a blast and it took my kids 2 days to sleep off the birthday party. I can honestly say I get the perks to having a party at a venue but doing it home every year turns out wonderfully, we can invite as many people as we want and I love when my house is full of friends, family, and laughter. 

Lastly, Happy Birthday Emma! 

7 years ago...

7 years ago today was just your average rainy Saturday for many. For me, it was a day I walked into a little white church and said the vows that would shape my life forever.

The day we married, we'd known each other a mere 5 months. I had no way of knowing yet that Chris and I stumbling into each other's lives was God's plan for us. Today, I'm sure it wasn't just blind luck to find a man I could truly share (not just spend) my life with. Since that day we've endured a few tears and laughed a million laughs. We've worked together to accomplish success, small victories and big ones. We've created a beautiful family and home. We've built a life together.  

On our anniversary I like to take a few min to look back at the pictures from our wedding to remind myself of all the small details (some of which I missed that day) and just how special it was to spend that amazing day with our family and friends. So in celebration of our anniversary this year, I wanted to share a few of my favorites. 

In the moment, on your wedding day you tend to over look the small stuff. I am so glad our photographer captured it all for me. The church was so perfect for my taste. It was like a fairy tale written in my sort of handwritting. It was old and beautiful with chippy paint, shiny antique silver, red velvet seat cushions and simple accents of white satin ribbon. 

The church seemed to make a perfect backdrop for every picture...

our friends and family made it a fabulous celebration.

My great group of friends from Tarleton, I spent most of my days there with these ladies. I lived with some and worked with others. I'm grateful the made they trip to support me on my wedding day and celebrate with us afterward.

At some point I decided what our reception needed was an impromptu karaoke session. When Chris in and I were in New York with some visiting friends, like a bunch of southern tourists, the group of us got up and sang I've Got Friends in Low Places. It seemed a fitting choice for the reception too and it made for one of my favorite memories from the that night.

Speaking of reception, it was held at a beautiful old mansion in Galveston. 

It's always fun to take a little stroll down memory lane and its nice to look back and remind yourself to celebrate each other. We're blessed to have those memories and the friends and family we made them with. Most of all I'm blessed to have found the perfect partner to spend my life with. So cheers to 7 years...

... and many, many more!

Football, Cheer, and School Oh My

I think you'd agree that Kindergarten is a big transition year for families and kids. There is so much to learn and so many people to meet. Its all about everybody finding their place and letting the little birds fly, finding balance and harmony.

Last year was definitely that but even toward the end I only knew a few people and being very pregnant through the surrogacy early in the school year gave me a bit of a hermit mentality. On top of that we were in a new area. I almost felt like I failed the kids a little and didn't get near as involved as I planned to being a stay home mom and all. One of the final days of school a mom and neighbor approached me. She said she'd noticed all the work we'd been doing on the front of the house and loved all our various holiday decorating. She informed me the PTA was looking for a co-chair for the teacher appreciation position on the PTA board. She insisted this was perfect for my creative skills, it was getting involved but the responsibilities were limited to one welcome back lunch for teachers at the beginning of the year and one week of teacher appreciation events later in the year.  So I took a leap of faith and climbed on board.  

Later this summer we decided to put the kids in a local football and cheerleading club. We thought it would be good for Eli to have some place to expend some of his endless energy and to learn about following a coach. We knew at 4 it was a bit much to expect him to be an all star but it was a good chance to let him get a feel for fundamentals and see if he the game.  See we're in Texas where football is big anyway and here in Katy, football is a way of life for those that play. We weren't sure about the commitment or about this being the right sport for him, putting your child in any contact sport is a little scary. Once little man's team was assigned we went to conditioning camps once a week to help him get acclimated to coaching, the game, the new faces, and of course the heat. I met our team mom and one of these events at which point she guilt tripped informed me we didn't have a cheer coach for the team and if nobody was willing to take the position Emma would be refunded the money or put on another team. I knew that I wanted our family to stay together and not be going all different directions, so reluctantly I agreed to do it. 

Yes, me, the cheer coach. Those facebook friends of mine already got their laughs in when I broke the news so I'll give you a few seconds to catch your breath and wipe the tears from your eyes... 

Luckily, I had another mom volunteer to be the cheer Team Mom and her daughter a 12 year old veteran cheerleader of 3 or 4 years volunteer to be my assistant coach. Who am I to turn down any form of help? 

Well it actually is working out really well and my team mom and assistant coach have proved to be very valuable assets. Between the 3 of us we've taught the 7 girl squad (ages 4-6) 8 cheers already. With football and cheer practicing the last few weeks, M/W and voluntary Fridays,they have gotten much further than I anticipated and its actually surprised me and been fun. Then, last Thursday was meet the teacher, last Friday I did my part to put on the teacher welcome back lunch then that evening was opening ceremonies for football/cheer. 

The theme this year is "With great knowledge comes great power." Superheros so we went with comic strip decor

the girls with my assistant Coach waiting the the bleachers

That's Emma smack in the middle, down on the field during the opening ceremony

Eli is the little guy in the front with the blue shoes

Then things started piling on, Saturday was our first scrimmage which turned into an event that took over most of the day and a major learning experience for both my squad and the football team.  We spent Sunday recouping and regrouping then started school Monday.

The football Coach forfeit practice (like my sporty lingo) for the first day of school so everyone could catch their breath. Then in a phone conversation he let me know practices would now stretch past the original end time of 7:15 to 8:00.  **Groan** But like I said, Katy is serious about its football. Luckily, when I got that call I was in the midst of making some freezer meals for quick and easy dinners this week. Looks like that will be a Sunday tradition through October (the end of football season for our little flag guys.) 

I'm a bit intimidated by the year coming up and trying to figure out when I'll have time to squeeze in jogging, dinner, and sleep. But I no longer have any doubt about a lack of being involved and it was wonderful to go into school this year and see so many now familiar faces. Old friends, team mates, neighbors, PTA members, I even knew some of the teachers.  We've taken a place in the community, made new friends, our kids are part of a great school and they're happy...it's home. 

A Backyard Hangout

Doesn't this time of year just make you want to spend every moment outside? It does for me and now that we finally have our lives back from the wicked allergies this year threw at us, I intend to get some fresh are and sunshine.
Last winter we got rid of our kid's Little Tikes house in favor of my new garden.  They'd just outgrown it even though they still liked playing in it. But my garden really is cool and I'm obsessed with it and composting.

After pinteresting tons of ideas...
like the pallet playhouse

this is not my child so I felt she should remain anonymous 

or this great treeless tree house

I could just see a cracked skull from falling of the top or swinging into the house

I decided that maybe I needed something simpler, maybe less permanent and lets be honest, cheaper.

So I turned to Ana White and found the $20 tent. It literally took  $4 worth of screws, I already had enough 2x2x8 boards and a couple of old sheets. Score! 

I worked on it for about 3 hours this morning and here is what I came up with 

The tent "door" can be open 

or closed for a little more shade

you can see it closed a little better from this angle.

I gave it a few touches like a solar lantern, every camp needs a lantern right?

And pinwheels from their Easter baskets, which have had aprx. 10 homes since Easter. 

It really is a hit, he is one happy "camper!"

Ok for my mods off Ana White's plan...

I used 8ft pieces of lumber, its what I had and I wanted as few cuts as possible. You should just stick to her plan, those 2x2's were a beast to work with. 

As for the fabric, I used a king sheet and a twin sheet.  I sewed them together end to end and made the corners line up in the back. Does that make sense? 

then I just draped them over the top along my stitch and tucked them in at the bottom and around the sides. The king sheet allowed for a bit of a door.  I didn't want to attach it because I wanted it to be super easy to take off and on so that I didn't kill the grass leaving it covered all summer. 

Also I plan on using at as a greenhouse over my garden this winter and just wrapping it in plastic. We have a small yard, multi-functional is a plus.

Insert greenhouse tent over top and the perfect place for my hanging baskets to weather the winter. 

Ok so thats it, it really is simple guys. Make one and feel free to ask if you have any questions. 

Sick and Tired

That's the best way to put it, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.  My family has been fighting illness since November. That's 5 months y'all!
It started the week before Thanksgiving when Chris has a 3 week long battle with allergies that finally turned into a sinus infection and he was able to get antibiotics to knock it out. Next up was allergies that turned into a trip to the minor emergency clinic for Emma and her ruptured ear drum, antibiotics and ear drops for her. Somewhere overlapping that was Eli with a nose running like a broken sink, something like 7 boxes of tissues, and a swollen lymph node. That took two rounds of antibiotics, eye drops and nose drops then it finally went away about two weeks after Christmas. After that there was another earache for Emma and everyone was handed a sore throat and a couple bouts of coughs we controlled with OTC meds (until we didn't.) Chris' crud turned more serious and he was dosed with a Z-pac. Another serious double ear infection for Emma which she has antibiotics for, about two weeks ago. That brings us to now, we all have congestion and sore throats that we can't seem to kick.
I'm so over it!
I've decided that I'm taking a stand. I'm the type of parent that believes "take 'em to the Dr. and get the meds. Knock it out and be done." But, I've never fought this kinds of ongoing battle and all the meds just aren't doing the trick. To be honest, I'm starting to feel a little guilty about pumping my kids for of medicine all the time. My "get the antibiotics" approach was fine before because we were never a sick family and I was rarely giving them.
I've decided the offense isn't enough and its time for team defense to enter the game. I've been doing a ton of research and here is my plan of attack:
Added mattress protectors to all the beds
Wash all the pillows in hot water every two weeks
Vacuum at least twice a week
Claratin through April (its always been a rough month for them)
Vitamins, everyone!

I've chosen the men's multi for Chris, Flinstones Multi with immune support for the Kids, and B12 for myself. 

Stay vigilant with filters (a/c and vacuum)
Purify the indoor air with plants

I had no idea until I started researching just how much the right house plants, and the right amount can do for you. One thing I read is that organic pollutants can be 2 to 5x higher indoors than outdoors -EPA website. Thats crazy to me, but I never knew. So we would go about our business, say mow the grass. Emma's eyes get itchy, so I send her inside (to my more polluted house) to fight her allergies. How does that work? Obviously, its not, well not yet.
Plants can zap 90% of VOC's from your home. 90%!  Isn't that crazy. Once I started reading more on it I decided this was a serious defense barrier for our family. Some common household VOC's. I linked up what I have read about them in case you want to know more (be fairly warned it's kind of scary to read about.)

• Acetone
• Benzene
• Ethylene glycol
• Formaldehyde
• Methylene chloride
• Perchloroethylene
• Toluene
• Xylene
• 1,3-butadiene

 Like I said, reading about these pollutants can be kind of scary. I'm not all into scare tactics and it is my belief that exposure to these as a VOC is probably in very small amounts.  I doubt that I'm going to go into cardiac arrest at any given moment due to the air pollutants in my house but I am certain they aren't playing nice so I'm giving them the boot.
Earlier I told you the right house plants will fight your battles for you. Remember they will eliminate a whopping 90% of all that nasty stuff listed? OK so there are tons of lists and I picked my first four based on my green thumb and their location.
I picked lavender for my kitchen, I have failed at every attempt to grow it outdoors so why not the kitchen window. I love lavender and if I can grow it I will be so happy. Try French Lavender, it grows best indoors. Here is a list of air purifying herbs and another with more specific details.
I bought an aloe plant for Chris' office. It filters benzene and formaldehyde, but my main purpose is that it needs very little water. Im hoping I can remember to remind him to water it once a week or so.
I bought ferns for the kids bedrooms. I know I can grow these well and the lighting is good for them in there. Plus I read really great things about them filtering a lot of air more quickly.
I have yet to buy for the rest of my house, I need a little more research. Im looking into smaller plants to be kept in darker places...bathrooms and such. I really love the Peace Lily and it seems to be a super plant, also highly poisonous to people and pets. So there is a lot to find out before I reach my goal of plants in every room but we're on the way!

Are you fighting these same battles or have you fought them in the past? Please comment here with tips and tricks to share with other sufferers... thanks

The Gerbils

As some of you may know Emma received gerbils for her birthday this year (hey, they're better than a cat - no offense to you cat people, we're not.) After going through several ridiculous names they settled on

"Chewy" :

aptly named

And Eli's is "Bubbles" (that was Penny's name when we got her and they never forgot it)

Bubble is much sweeter and more calm when you hold him but he hides a lot in the cage. Chewy is a spaz. Both kids say he's bitten them but he hasn't shown any inclination to bite me and I never saw any marks. When you hold him he is a mess, constantly on a mission to get down and explore. If he happens to get away from you he's hard to catch. 

Anyway we have to be super careful when we have "gerbil time" to have the dogs locked away.  We've got two terriers:

Poppy

one of them being a rat terrier.

Penny

 As you can imagine they have a high prey drive around the little guys. We don't typically have the cage on the ground unless the door is shut and we are going to play with the gerbils. However, its pretty funny to watch and the gerbils, well Chewy, is surprisingly brave. 

very sneaky

is that the crazy eye or what

"I promise, I just want to see whats in the bowl...that's it."

All and all they are pretty entertaining. We like watching them and surprisingly I even like holding little Bubbles.