A Spring Weekend

This weekend has been such a treat. It has been filled with relaxation, and much needed family time. It's tough when the weekdays and the weekends are busy. And that is what it's been lately. Here are some pics of our day on Friday at the University. It's pretty awesome to live so close, and enjoy the beautiful grounds and college peeps.

Bugs

Jac did such a great job flying a kite by herself. She actually did better than any of us.
She had the whole "motion/skill". It was pretty funny.

I love this picture. It makes me so happy.

My "sweet and not so good for you" favorties from Trader Joes

So I have been raised on Trader Joe's. And is also my "home" market of choice. I met one of my dearest friends there (she was a cashier at the time) and do happen to go in there way too many times within a week. I now know many of the workers that work at my Traders, and love shopping there, and trying new things. Every week I buy at least one thing that I have never tried, and almost always end up buying it the next week and the week after that. Let's just say that my grocery cart is almost always full. So I thought I would share with you some of my favorite things that are sweet, and not so healthy but, worth it! I will post sometime soon my favorite healthy things at Trader's but, since I have given up sweets and junk food for lent this is what I keep thinking about. It's been good for me to detox, as you will soon see by scrolling through this list I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

These are so good baked and dip them in marinara sauce. YUM!

Beer Bread Mix. This bread is amazing, and taste so good! Just mix in one can of beer, drizzle some butter, bake, and enjoy. Amazing!
Oh and I can eat the whole loaf, and have before.

This is Jac's favorite breakfast, and becoming one of mine too. You let the croissants sit out overnight and just pop them in the oven in the morning.
They are amazing, and taste homemade, really they do.

I put 2 cookie dough balls in a ramekin and cook them in the oven for just a little bit, so they are pazookie style. Then I pull them out of the oven top with vanilla bean ice cream and I have an amazing pazookie! Oh and also I just eat the cookie dough frozen.
You can't go wrong.

Bake in the oven, and top with berries and ice cream. Dangerous!

I love this cake with chocolate frosting but, my favorite is making it with homemade cream cheese frosting and then top with whole fresh blueberries. It is the best ever!

I am a "gummy" lover. It was only a matter of time till Trader's making
gummy treats.



My sister says that if she didn't have self control
she would eat all 4 that come in the box in the same sitting.
And I will admit they are very delicious!



Very thin cookies, amazing with tea or coffee, and very easy to eat 20 of them!

I love Trader Joe's!

Yesterday afternoon the girls and I were watching Strawberry Shortcake.
There is a scene where Huckleberry Finn sings a song to Strawberry Shortcake about how she is so beautiful on the inside and that is what matters, super cheesy but sweet. Well, I was watching Jac as he sang the song to Strawberry Shortcake and Jac looked all embarrassed and put her blankie over her head. She was smiling so big, and seemed very captured by their relationship. When the movie was over Jac said to me "Mom do you know why I get so embarrassed when I watch people in love like Huckleberry Finn and Strawberry Shortcake?
Its because its how I feel towards my prince (her best friend Hudson),
I think he is so special Mommy".

Butterfly Princess Party

This past Saturday we had Jac's Butterfly Princess Party. Last year, it was a Puppy Princess Party. This year was a bit easier, I guess. There were many, many, many babies and kiddos running or crawling around. And many parents trying to find their child, it was pretty funny. We played caterpillar limbo (Jac's friend Sammi won), and then wrapped the kids up in toilet paper to be in a cocoon (they didn't really like that game too much). Oh well. We had pizza (thank you Costco), really yummy salads (thank you Nita and Jewels), and very tasty sweets (thanks to me). It was a great time, and Jac felt loved and celebrated.

I made these using vintage clothes pins, scrapbook paper, and yarn. I am gonna keep them up in my kitchen, they make me happy.

I made these butterfly's using felt, vintage clothes pins, and thick yarn. These butterfly's were everywhere. On my mantel, on our chandelier in the dining room, and here on my hope wins piece. It was fun to have so many butterflies everywhere.

This is the caterpillar for the "caterpillar limbo". I used a noodle (for swimming), put pieces of paper in it, and stuck pipe cleaners in for legs.

The party treats

Vanilla bean cupcakes with pretzel butterflies on top

Butterfly iced and sprinkled sugar cookies.
I am kind of obsessed with sprinkles these days.

Buggie being "Buggie".
My mom bought her that yellow bathing suit at Old Navy.

Jac and her best buddy/prince HUDSON

This is Buggie and her best buddy/prince MIAH, with Jac

And this is me with my prince JON. He's the best.

My girls and I.
Buggie has been doing this smile more and more, it's so fake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAC JAC, YOUR 5 YEARS OLD!

San Diego

Every February we head down to San Diego with Jon's family for a couple of days. They spend a whole week down there, and we come for as much as we can. They rent a house right on the strand, and find it to be quite a treat. The weather was perfect, and we had a great time. We even made it to Sea World (it happened to be the day after the tragedy in Orlando). Our kids love spending time with their cousins, and being able to get sandy, wet, and build sand castles.

We left San Diego on Fri and had Jac's BUTTERFLY PRINCESS PARTY the next day. We celebrated her 5th bday! I can't believe I have a 5 year old. I will post those pics hopefully tomm.

You can't really tell in this picture but, Buggie is getting the cutest freckles all over her nose and cheeks. When I was growing up my dad called freckles "angel kisses".



This is Jac and her cousin Ellie.

36

So Jon turned 36 on February 11th. I can't believe my husband is 36! This was a birthday that I really wanted to make sure we "celebrated". It's been such a hard year and Jon continues to rise up and keep going in the midst of a lot of responsibility, pressure, and stress. And in the midst of all that has happened this year there is also much to be celebrated, and that is what we did! We invited some of our most dearest friends and had a party! And most of you know I have a MAJOR sweet tooth, so when we decided we were going to have a party I knew just what I wanted to make for a birthday cake. It's from Bakerella (there is a link on my blog) and it's a 12 layer cake! It was actually quite easy just time consuming but, who cares it was worth it! And not to brag but, it turned out so good! You should make it too. So now Jon is 36, I am 30, Jac turns 5 in 2 days, and Buggie is on her way to 4. NUTS!

The recipe suggest using disposable cake pans. Makes it much easier to clean!

Pancakes is my favorite meal in the entire world, and this cake looked like the cake of my dreams! A pancake cake (almost) but even better!

Jon loves the movie WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. So I put some of the characters on top of the finished cake. It was cute, and WILD! Tee hee.

Did you just hear the Hallelujah chorus after you saw this picture?

Yummy food, and great conversations, a great night.

Now i am trying to figure out another occasion that I can make that cake. Mmmmmmm. Ciao.

Lately

This month is flying by! There is alot to celebrate in the month of February for us. Jon's and Jac's Birthday, and of course Valentines day. And I will post pics of both of those events later. But, did want to share with you some of my most recent pics.

My sister took the girls and I to a place in the South Bay called Aerials. You do all these different exercises using fabric (heavy silk) to hold your body in certain positions. Very interesting, and takes quite a bit of upper body. My sister who is in incredible shape (also a pilates instructor) did great, I on the other hand (not known to be very coordinated) didn't do so well. It was pretty comical. But, my girls did great. Let's just say that Jac takes after my sister, and Buggie tended to take after me with this particular form of exercise. Tee hee.

My sister and Buggie. Not the best picture of Meggy but, who cares. She's a beauty.

Buggy swinging away

Jac in her cocoon

Jac

Chrissy and I sipping some wine and having happy hour with the fam. A much needed break.

My sister took this picture and told us to pretend and do the "not smile" look that all the stars do on the red carpet. Well, turns out both Chris and I still smile even when were not trying to smile. I guess that's not a bad thing.

Jac in all her glory. Such a nut.

We do daily walks or rides to the University almost every day. It makes it easy since we only live 3 doors down. It's pretty fun.

This is a labyrinth at the University that the girls love. It's basically a maze but, sometimes has some wacky peeps doing meditation stuff.

Fun Times in February!