Valentines Day and frustration

But not necessarily in that order... or together.



Let's start w/ frustration, shall we?


This little darling is a mess. All of the time... a full blown mess. Bless her heart, she is precious and sweet and loving and giving and willing to share, even when she is up to no good, which is a lot these days. She would make a perfect spy one day because she is quiet, calculating and quick.

Don't let the sweet smie fool you, trust me when I say, she gives a whole new meaning to crafty. Truly, she keeps me on my toes. I have to stay two steps ahead of her at all times, and when I don't, she ends up eating half a canister of sugar.... but that's another post.


Anyway, yesterday after she and her brother went down for a nap I let the trio stay up and make their valentines for their party on Monday. They worked so hard ad did a great job. After they cleaned up and laid down I started the treats to go w/ their valentines. Each one is taking a different valentine so they had different coordinating valentines treats for their friends.


Yes, it was right after lunch and they were pretty much wearing their PJ's

or underwear. Oh, and BBQ sauce. :) Busy day.

Monkey See's valentine treats were probably my favorites. I just loved how simple and cute they were. (and easy too). I made sure after everything was made I put it all away so that little hands couldn't get into them.

Fast forward to this morning. My laptop had run out of battery power while I was checking a shipping fee so I went to my office real quick to plug in and finish the email ( 3 minutes, tops).

When I walked back in the kitchen my littlest darling had scaled the counter tops, found Monkey See's valentine treats that were packaged in a box, opened it and was eating them. Of course she was sharing them with Bud, but still- she was eating them!! And poor Monkey See was beside himself, upset.

So now we have some half eaten valentine treats and the rest are a sticky mess covered in toddler finger prints. I only had enough for the class so their are no extras. And since they are made with a seasonal Christmas item, I can't make more because they are out of stock!!!

Frustration!

So it's back to the drawing board. But, my Monkey See will have something special to take, I will just have to wait and whip it up Sunday evening when there is less of a chance Daisy can get her grubby little paws on them!

============================

Now to the valentine section of this post... It seems with every holiday I'm a little late to the party and miss posting about my decor. Since this isn't a home decorating blog, I guess it's no big deal. But, my children love to decorate for holidays and I like to do that stuff too so I thought I'd show you a little of what we have done.
Now, in my b.c. years (before children), I didn't decorate for valentines day (except in my classroom) and I don't think I knew anyone else who did either. But as with a lot of things that were b.c., that has changed.

So here ya go... A little valentines day decor...

We also hung up some of the birds from Puddin's last party and made a melted crayon valentine bunting but, I didn't get any pictures of those.

ok- here's hoping I can get something as a replacement for my little guy before Monday morning!

And a frustration free weekend for all of us!
Happy Friday!

remember when...

I said I would "review" December for you after I loaded the pictures in my new computer?
Well, I finally got around to finishing that up. They are loaded... into 1 file...all 66,727 of them...1 file... no organization!!! AGH!! It's insane, but it's done, and for that I'm grateful!

So, instead of sharing December stuff, I thought I'd share a little of what's been going on here. (Realistically, it might be July before I ever get that file "organized" enough to use it!)

So, what have we been doing??

Well, here's a little bit of the action seen around here the past few days....

a little decorating for valentines day... felt hearts recycled from the bin. They were originally extra felt birds from Puddin's birthday party that I had cut, but didn't need. So, now they have new life as a little heart garland. They look really sweet when we have the fire going... the heat makes them flap like little birdies! (too cute-I know!)


practicing our heart making skills... so fun for the trio- not so much for the littlest of the littles. Mean old mommy wouldn't let them have scissors or eat glitter!

excitement!!!

A couple of sweet little Monkey's celebrated their half birthdays! This was very low key- due to the snow days and sickness. New shirts an cupcakes for school- Enough fun for everyone!

new product?? not sure yet.

This is a "Gotcha Bag!" I have so many friends adopting I thought how, if it were me, I'd like a little bag of goodies to take on the big "gotcha" day. I plan to fill these with fruit snacks, puffs, a couple of diapers, wipes, a book and a toy or two and give them at the upcoming showers.

On one side there is Scripture... the other has the name of the sweet little

bundle coming to their forever family.

a little valentine project for hubby and me....

when finished it's going in a tiny frame that has needed something for a while.

new dishwasher, still in the box. Why does it cost another $125 to install??? CRAZY!!

Or maybe the crazy part is me thinking I can do it for a fraction of the cost.

I guess we'll see!

But man, am I ever tired of washing dishes!

And, finally, mischief, of every kind. Daisy's latest obsession? Coloring her arms with markers.

My child has "sleeves"

Oh- and she busted her brother's nose yesterday.
He was bleeding!
She sure is cute, but man oh man, she's a precious little handful!

So, what have you been up to lately?

SNOW CREAM

This month has been a busy one. It was set aside as my Mary Month. Not familiar with that term?? Check out Jmom- she is way more articulate than I am! While I have been able to be more of a Mary and less of a Martha, lets face it, life with 5 littles is still a busy one!

We have also had a lot of snow- I mean a lot for our area!
2 weeks ago we had 4- 5 inches on the ground!! Last night left a dusting, just an inch or so, but enough to close the schools. And considering most of my babes have been sick, we didn't mind another snow day!

So while the weather outside looks a little like this,

from last nights snowfall... taken at lunch time today

We have been doing a little of this,

Bud and Daisy LOVED their first batch of homemade Snow Cream!

So, while I'm no where near a Pioneer Woman, I thought I'd still share my favorite snow cream recipe for those of you interested. It is YUM-YUM Good!!

SNOW CREAM

1 cup sugar

1-2 tbsp vanilla

2 cups of milk

4-6 cups of clean, WHITE snow ;)

Now, just mix it all up really quickly, top it with sprinkles and serve it to your littles!

EASY-PEASY!

Happy New Year!

*** Business News*** Puddin Pop Designs is still "closed" until Feb 1, 2011. I'm taking a "vacation" and having myself a "Mary" month of rest. If you need to place an order before Feb. 1st you can, I just will not be sewing until that date. Orders will be filled based on the date they were received. Thanks so much for understanding! If you ordered this Christmas season and want to submit your pictures to be shared just email them to me and I'll be sure to feature them as soon as I can!
************************************************************************************

Ok- so I have barely made it in time for a New Years Day post- but barely is better than not at all! So, here I am with so very much to say and share, but once again- never enough time! I do hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas and has been overwhelmed by blessings this holiday season- I know I have.

I have enjoyed this Christmas with my husband and sweet, every growing, littles so much! Simply put- it has been magical for all of us. I plan to share some of the highlights over the next few days (can you believe I plan to post again.. more than once or twice a month?! HA!) As we "speak" I am downloading 600+ pictures onto the computer! Yikes- now don't hyperventilate. I won't share all of them. Maybe I'll restrain myself and just share 1/2 of them!! hehe!

In other news.... not only will I be hitting some of the Christmas 2010 highlights, but I will also be sharing some changes on the blog front for Puddin Pop Designs. Change is hard. I'm a little nervous... but it will be good.

Other random news... today is my Momma's birthday- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!!!
We just got home from visiting her and finally have all of our little Flowers tucked snuggly in their beds. *sigh* It's a good feeling. I discovered something about myself on the drive home- I really like the sound of snoring, deep breathing children. :) I think my stepdad might have to agree. Bless his heart! All of these littles running in circles around his not so childproof home make him a bit nervous! I'm sure he's probably sleeping as well as my children are right about now!

We had lots of adventures this past month!

And misadventures too! Did you know it's possible to be sprayed by a dog...like "skunk" sprayed?? Well, it is! Just wait until I share that one!

For now- Happy New Year! Love to all!

My Valentine, Puddin

Today was Puddin's Valentine's Day party at her preschool.

She has been so excited all week. Every day she asks if it's Valentine's day yet.

So last night we made valentines for her friends

(home made Valentines for each of her friends with

cute little stickers by Autumn Leah)

and a sweet little treat too.

cotton candy "ice cream cone" found here

We fixed up something special for her teachers,



"Owl be your valentine" found here
(remember when I mentioned what a great site it was?!?)

and I made her a special dress for her party today.

She was ready to go!

(her new bucket bag full of goodies!)

We snapped a few pictures and she was off!

She insisted on braids and the Monkey's insisted on being in the picture!

Watching her excitement was so much fun!!!

After school we read through all of her valentines as she

gobbled up the chocolates lickety split!

The Monkeys were curious about her excitement and just kept watching her with puzzled little looks. (It really was very cute... she was very, very excited about her day!)

She even saved a special bag of candy from her party for her daddy. Watching her make a point to give him something worth so much value to her was really special.

Have I mentioned how much I love my Puddin?

I love her so much.

She' a pretty special kid.

Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

Snow days of the present... for real this time!

This week we had a snow day. 5 snow days. FOR REAL!!
We had good ole fashioned snow- it was awesome!!!
It has been a super long time since I have seen snow like this and the kids had a ball.
But- because they had all been sick and were newly recovered, the first day i didn't really want them out in it. It was really, really cold.
So we decided to wait until Saturday to venture out. By Saturday that thick, fluffy, perfect to build a snowman snow, was now covered in a sheet of ice. OOPS!
So we went sledding instead.
Yahoo! They had so much fun!

After wards we had hot chocolate and cookies and later, after hubby went out and gathered some ice free snow, we made snow cream! It was sooo good! The kids loved it!

Preschool was closed until Thursday so we had lots of quality at home time enjoying the beauty of the snow. It was great!