Spring Break 2011

I had another free photo book, so I filled it with pictures from our Spring Break trip to Corpus. Enjoy!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Just me and 47 of my closest friends

Sloane doesn't like to just go lay in bed and wait to fall asleep at night. You never know what you'll find in bed with her when she finally dozes off. This time, it was every stuffed animal and doll from her room. All 47 of 'em.

Why we have 47 stuffed animals and dolls in one room is another story. A quite disturbing story. Maybe they multiply while we sleep. In any regard, it's time for me to get to work! 

Father's Day Surprise--JEREMY DON'T READ YET

I hope Jeremy's not reading this! This is a book I made him for Father's Day, but the stinking thing took so long to put together that he hasn't received it yet. But, I'm posting it here because Shutterfly will give me $10 off my next order if I post it in my blog and send them a link to my page. So for a $10 discount, it's worth the risk of a ruined surprise!

[link removed]

Editor's note: The book arrived and he loved it! Thanks for all the nice comments!

For Sale

A Piggytail Posse. You are purchasing one box of three (3) ornery girls. Packaged and ready to ship. Sold as is to highest bidder. Or heck, the first bidder!


Disclaimer, because you never know these days: Just in case someone with no sense of humor is reading this, I am not actually selling a box of girls so don’t be callin’ the po-lice. ...You'll know it's real when a 7-year-old boy is included too.

Rain rain don’t go away

Reid got a new Paper Jamz guitar for his act in the talent show, so the girls got new umbrellas. Thank goodeness the drought subsided for a day so they could use them. And now they go everywhere we go.

It ain’t easy being green

Especially when you look like these poor froggies!
Thank you grandma-grandpa and grandpa for the froggy cookie cutter! We had fun making yummy cookies!


But it’s easy being pretty in pink! (These were taken the same day so I thought I’d tack them on. Thank you to Lisa for the bloomers!)
Elise at 10 1/2 mos

When you’re 3…

you start the day with celebratory froggy-shaped pb&j sandwiches…

followed by a celebratory sprinkle cookie (and enough pb&j around your mouth in case you get hungry again)…

which is followed by celebratory dinner of your choice—cheese pizza with black olives—of which you will just pick off and eat the olives…

followed by a round of self-applause when you blow out the candles…

on yet another celebratory cookie. 

It’s good to be the birthday girl.

A Butterfly-Munchin’ Princess Frog Party

Ever since her big sister’s birthday party back in January, Sloane has been busy planning her own. When asked what kind of birthday party she wanted, she always replied a Butterfly Party. Well, anyone who knows me knows that whenever I can, I try to override the kids’ theme choices with something more original and creative (read: something *I* feel like planning), but because Jeremy always gives me a hard time about that, I decided I would honor Sloane’s decision this year. So I began researching all things butterfly and set the plans in motion for a fluttering extravaganza.

I found some paisley stickers at the dollar store and loved their designs and colors, so I scanned them, arranged them, and they became the butterfly for my invitation.

Well, about 3 weeks before the party, Sloane suddenly started saying she wanted a frog party. You see, she’s had this thing for frogs ever since they started hopping onto our porch last summer, but by this time, it was too late in the game to change the plans. I mean, for once, I was actually ahead of schedule in my party plans! So I continued with butterflies. And where there’s butterflies, there’s usually flowers.

The flower garland was made from super easy templates found in Family Circle magazine (with tissue paper from dollar store). And this gigantic flower wall hanging proved to be just the right amount of busy work for Reid. The flower balls are whiffle balls covered with silk flowers and silk butterflies—all from, you guessed it, the dollar store! :)

Blair made this butterfly at school and let me use her little friend to greet everyone who fluttered in.

Her butterfly was the inspiration for a craft station where the kids could make their own coffee filter butterflies. In early test runs, we used markers to color designs on coffee filters, then sprayed the filters with water to make the colors run. After they dry, you cinch it in the middle with a clothes pin or pipe cleaner and voila, your butterfly is complete. However, setting out a spray bottle of water is just way too tempting for a house full of young kids, so we went with crayons and colored pencils instead. It still had the same effect.

So as I mentioned earlier, Sloane started saying she wanted a frog party… Not wanting to disappoint, Jeremy, our resident cake chef, decided he would incorporate a frog into a butterfly cake in any way he could. After much brainstorming, this is what he came up with: a cake with a butterfly…being eaten by a frog. 

This was his first time working with fondant icing, and we found that it’s very tricky to get it just right. But we were proud of this first effort and are excited to try to perfect it in all the many cakes to come.

(Yes, we have another child, but she was being grumpy and wouldn’t get in the family picture.)



At the end of the party, each guest left with a candy butterfly (snack bag filled with candy and cinched with a clothes pin).