Ten Things to Smile About in May

1. #hb7 My trip to California! So Fun!





2. Kindergarten Field Day

 I was told that it was the best Kindergarten Field Day the school has had in some time and then I heard that the one for the rest of the school was very disorganized and not at all awesome like mine.

3. Mommy Friends

 I have been so fortunate to make several amazing friends this school year!

 4.  Spending time with Keith

We went on a date this month!  We saw Dark Shadows, ate Indian Food and went to a polish bar.

5.  Recreating a favorite California breakfast.

6. Flowers

7. Beer on the patio.

8. Thank you card from our Principal.

Even though she called Keith a honey badger.

9. Notebooks

Available at Staples

10. Hugging the Prom King.

He was in our wedding 8 years ago.  Now he's a man.

Linking up with......

Emmy Mom for Ten Things to Smile About

Impulsive Addict and Shawn for Talk To Us Tuesday

The Martha Stewart of Kindergarten

Hey friends! I can't believe it's Tuesday. I've been sick since Thursday afternoon and lost all track of time. I'm linking up with my friends Impulsive Addict and Seriously Shawn for Talk To Us Tuesday because I need to get this massive To-Do list off from my chest and I need some cheerleaders to get me through it.

First of all. Kindergarten is killing my family! Alex and I have both been sick for 6 days. He is finally going back to school today and I feel a little more human. We missed a friend's 6th birthday party and iKeith's Christmas party at the Denver Art Museum. Although...I think Keith isn't too upset about that because he can't take me anywhere without into some trouble. I think the party was probably pretty boring without me there.

The Kindergarten Holiday Party (but not a CHRISTMAS party) is on Friday.  I somehow volunteered to do the following.

• Purchase goodie bags
• Make cookies and frosting for the kids to decorate
• Make homemade Marshmallows and Hot Chocolate Balls for the goodie bag
• Photograph the party

I've been trying out recipes for weeks and sharing the results with the ladies on the party committee which earned me the label..... 

The Martha Stewart of Kindergarten.  

You know I love it! 

 I've got a few things done on my to-do list which I will include on this list and then immediately cross off because DAMN IT THAT FEELS GOOD!

• Make cookie dough
• Make Hot Chocolate Balls
• Make Marshmallows
• Make Cookies
• Make Frosting and frost 15 cookies
• Wrap book for party
• Get gifts for teachers and deliver them
• Assemble Marshmallow/Balls for goodies bags
• Deliver goodie bags and balls to Susan
• Mail packages
• Drink a bottle(s) of wine that my parents sent
• Attend PTA meeting

As if this all isn't enough for me to do......I am also taking care of Robert's cat every day for the rest of the month, because he had to fire his housekeeper because she borrowed his Keurig while he was out of town. 

I think I should open the wine now.

Friend Makin Monday: Spring Trends

Good Morning Friends!  I wrote up a post last night about the events of the last 72 hours of my life but then Amber asked for my help with Friend Makin Monday and since she used my idea I just had to play along.  So today, you are getting two posts for the price of one.  That's right!  For today only...this post is a bonus and you will not be billed for it.

The topic at hand is one that has been on my mind for about 3 months now.  Ever since I started my journey to lose weight...finally!  We'll...I'm here to report that I have lost 30 pounds.  YAY ME!  So now...I need new clothes. The question of the day is:

What are your thoughts on this year's Spring Trends?

The truth is....I'm having some trouble with the new trends because it feels like I'm back in high school with all of the fringe and neon! These two things will not last! They didn't last in 1986 and they won't last now.  Don't even get me started on the jumpsuit thing!  Bobbi and I tried on jumpsuits at Macy's and we looked like Elvis Impersonators! 

And the ruffles...so 2009.

I love this Bobo Embroidered Top from American Eagle Outfitters.  I'm a busy mom of Irish Twins so this is perfect with a pair a jeans to wear to a play date at the park.  Plus, it's RED and that's my new signature color!

My husband likes for me to dress like a stepford wife a little more conservative so this outfit from Ann Taylor would be a nice outfit for going out to dinner or to the PTA meetings that I plan on attending when my kids start school.

If I were going to embrace my inner Stepford Wife....I would wear this little number from Anthropologie.  

Let's talk about shoes.  I'm not a fan of the Gladiator look.  In fact, flats....are not my friend at all because they make my back hurt.  I'm kind of in love this this shoe from DSW.

And since you're forcing me to shop....let's select a handbag.  I have my eye on this lovely, lovely handbag and I know that soon...she will be mine!

EDITED: You know how some days you wake up and you can just feel that it's going to be an awesome day. You just have this feeling in your gut that something amazing is about to happen? It just happened.

OH MY HECK!!!! Martha Stewart is following me on TWITTER!! I. Die.

Manic Martha: Ziploc Ice Cream

Welcome to another exciting installment of Manic Martha hosted by Manic Mother! As you know, Martha has a reputation for being hard to work for and sometimes a little rude to people. What you may not understand is that being Martha Stewart is an incredible amount of work and being good at so many things is exhausting. I see a lot of the same qualities in another surly TV star and I can relate to both of these women. We are all talented, creative, perfectionists and downright beautiful.

Kate Gosselin was on Rachael Ray recently and she did a fun craft that I thought my kids would love. Because who doesn't LOVE ice cream? CLICK HERE to see Kate making ice cream.

Homemade Ice Cream

You'll need:

• 1 large Ziploc bag
• 1 small Ziploc bag
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 tablespoons rock salt (regular salt is OK if you can't find rock salt)
• Ice

Fill the large Ziploc bag halfway with ice and rock salt. In the small Ziploc bag, mix cream, sugar and vanilla. Place the small sealed bag into the larger bag and shake for 15 minutes. When finished, add toppings like cookie crumbs or M&Ms and enjoy!

Here we have our two bags ready to make ice cream....we are soooo excited!

The plan was to roll our bags around and pass them back and forth to each other, while singing songs for 15 minutes. Mallory was all ready to do it! Alex was *busy* outside and couldn't be bothered with us.
Here's Calvin singing patty cake while tossing his cream. We sang all kinds of songs and then Daddy ran out of ideas and started singing Army marching cadences. Mallory thought he was funny.
Alex heard all the singing and came in to see what we were up to. He took a 30 second turn at the bag and decided he wasn't cut out for making ice cream and went back to his *busy* work.

I would like to bring your attention to the GIANT oven mitt. These bags are so freakin cold when you are handling them that they will freeze your hands off. I couldn't take it! So...I'm not recommending this craft for any children (except the hard as nails Gosselin children) because it will give them frostbite.
Calvin tried the ice cream first and he said it was good....I'm gonna be honest here....I didn't like it. I could taste the salt that must have been coming through the bag and it had a overpowering vanilla taste.

Mallory LOVED it.

And wouldn't you know it...Alex came in after the ice cream was in the garbage and wanted to have some. So my hubby did what Jon Gosselin would do and he fed Alex ice cream out of the trash. *heavy sigh/eye roll*


Remember the fabric samples from the other day? My master bedroom is in desperate need of some decorating so I'm going to be making a duvet cover for our king sized bed! The patterned fabric will be made into throw pillows. Stay turned for the finished product!

before picture

AND NOW...for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

I am not pregnant.

The reason that ED has left The Bachelorette is because he is in love with me and we are running off together.

Just kidding.

I want you to win a $100 Visa Gift Card!

Click on the purple button to find out how!

**I will be blogging about The Bachelorette later this afternoon**

Martha Talked To Me on Twitter!

You all know that I'm obsessed crazy about Martha Stewart right? And I love to read her tweets on Twitter. When I see her adorable face pop up on TweetDeck I get all excited because she is obviously tweeting right TO ME! Unfortunately, she is so popular that she can't @ everyone that talks to her. If you look at her twitter stream you will see it is all her tweeting without responding. Just imagine @connieaw before all of her messages. K?

I little bit ago....she tweeted this:


I was shocked by this bit of information. Martha uses a crackberry and not an iPhone? How could this be? I just assumed that she was as cool and hip as me. I suddenly felt like I had one up on Martha and went strutting around my house carrying my iPhone like a Peacock fanning her tail feathers! So...I tweeted this:

Leave it to Martha to put me in my place. Now I feel like a simpleton and have a uncontrollable urge to run to Best Buy with my husband's credit card and make this right.

I just looked to see what a g10 is...it's a Canon camera. She can keep her g10 because I have a Canon Rebel that I like very much. I just need a Kindle.

Manic Martha: Cereal Postcards

It's time for another Manic Martha Moment with Manic Mother! Today I am pulling a craft idea from the archives. Last August, I became Manic and Panicked that the summer was passing us by and we hadn't done much of anything. I concocted something I called, Fun Extravaganza and we did fun crafts and activities for a couple of weeks until I burned myself out. LOL! Click HERE to see all of the stuff we did.

We love to send (and receive) Mail so I made some postcards from cereal and other boxes. Alex and Mallory colored on the back....we love sharing our artwork with our family!


All you need to do for this one is cut your cereal/pizza/snack boxes into 4 inch by 6 inch rectangles and with a Sharpie marker, draw a line down the center on the blank side. Draw a picture or write a message on the left hand side and the address of your recipient on the other side. And a post card stamp is only .28 cents!

By the way, did you know that postage went up 2 Cents yesterday? It now costs .44 cents to mail a letter!


I bought Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts last week. I like a lot of the ideas in the book but most of them fall under the category of things I'll probably never make. However, my taste in crafts tends to change every couple years and I always keep my Martha Books so I could end up making some of them. It also makes an excellent door stop!

EDITED: My sister spent the night with Jen Lancaster. Go HERE to check it out. I'm so jealous!!

The Year Ahead...May

The world's favorite season is the spring.
All things seem possible in May.
- Edwin Way Teale

April got away from me. I know many of you Mom's understand that your brain wants to shut down and go into denial when your baby turns three. It is completely hard to imagine that 1095 days have gone by and this baby is now turning into a BOY. And the BOY suddenly doesn't need a nap and wakes up at the crack of dawn and can escape from his cage crib.

The good news is that SPRING is always a time of renewal for me. The snow melts away and I expose my super white feet to the sun and I realize I desperately need a pedicure and some new sandals! May brings hope and promise and planting of flowers and seeds! It brings fresh vegetables, grilled food and children playing in the sprinklers!

This is going to be a great summer! I can already tell. There is a big family vacation to Wisconsin planned. We have the kids signed up for Parent/Child swimming lessons, I bought a summer pass to the Union Station Museum which includes free admission to a nature center and a Dinosaur Park. I have started leafing through all of my books and torn out magazine pages looking for fun crafts and ideas for lazy summer days.

Melissa at The Inspired Room has inspired me to work on my goals again and it all started with her list of 20 Little Happy Things. Here are mine....

1. Cold Brewed Coffee
2. The Kid's playing and laughing together
3 When the UPS man brings me packages
4. Magazines in the Mail
5. Tweets from Martha Stewart
6. A fresh Subway Sandwich
7. Snuggling up with my husband to watch TV
8. Dining with a friend that makes me laugh
9. Sipping Red Wine
10. Laughing with my sister
11. Shopping for adorable clothes and shoes for my daughter
12. Getting Comments on my blogs (yes...I have 4 now)
13. When my husband is inspired...he's working on a new project
14. The first tulips of the season
15. Driving my new truck...thanks Big Poppa
16. Sitting in the Sun
17. Pour Some Sugar On Me...just heard it Wednesday night
18. Curling up on the couch with a great book...Jen Lancaster is my favorite!
19. Dessert!
20. Thinking about the future with my husband and children....The Best Is Yet To Come!

My goals for this month are going to be pretty simple....I'm trying not to have two many balls in the air because when I do this I tend to drop all of them and they roll under the couch and it takes me a couple weeks to find them all.

Weight....I started a new blog to help me really focus on the task at hand. I feel like it is helping me make the changes that I need to make. I would really like to lose 10 pounds by the end of May when the swimming lessons start. I have a lot of work to do....

Cooking...I joined the Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks! I'm so excited to complete these challenges and learn more. I also bought a couple new cookbooks and I'm anxious to go through them and find new recipes.

Garden...Me and the kids have already started our Recession Garden and it will be in full swing once we get back from Denver next weekend!

The Kids...Now that summer is approaching I am making big plans! My goal is to see our friends for playdates a couple times a month, go to story time at the library, do crafts, go hiking and find all kinds of fun things for us to do.

Big Poppa...I have some plans in the works...can't really discuss them here since he occasionally reads the blog once in a while but I am getting some great ideas from Love Actually! Cher's blog is devoted to creative ideas for Romance on a budget. I have already gotten so many great ideas from her and the one that started it...send a sexy text to your hubby! I won't tell you what happened after I did this....I'll just saw it was GOOD!

Me Time...I am still struggling to make myself a priority. I feel guilty when I ask for time away from the house alone. Even though I NEED this time and everyone is in a better mood when we get this break. I must make time to exercise. I must have some alone time to regroup.

I'm looking forward to a great month! Head on over to The Inspired Room...she has a giveaway!

Dyeing Pasta

I'm thrilled that I now have an outlet for my wanna be Martha side of my personality! Manic Mother is hosting a weekly monthly post link up for us to explore our creative sides. Martha Stewart has been inspiring me for many years. I even have a little shrine next to my computer with my Homekeeping bible, my Cooking School book and the current issue of Martha Stewart Living. I often look to the picture I cut out of a magazine and think...What Would Martha Do? My posts will contain photos, kids crafts, some recipes and other fun things that I find to do. Just this morning I was inspired to make something!

My shrine to Martha....

I found this craft project last summer at Tutus and Turtles. My kids are ready to start really learning their colors and to count...Mallory can already count to 10! I tried to make enough of them so that we could do many projects with it. Click on the photos to make them bigger.

bags of green, blue, red, orange and purple pasta

Alex likes to line his up....

many different shapes to choose from

sort them by color, or not....

Dyeing Pasta

What you need:

food coloring
dried pasta (any kind)
lots of rubbing alcohol
ziploc freezer bags (to prevent leakage)

Directions:

1. Place noodles in ziploc freezer bags. Place bags on a plate or cookie sheet in case of leaks.
2. Completely cover the noodles with rubbing alcohol
3. Mix in food coloring, 5-6 squirts in each
4. Let the noodles sit to absorb color, as little as 30 minutes or overnight. The longer it sits the deeper the color.
5. Once desired color is reached, drain liquid (do not rinse) and dry noodles on cookie sheets.

Noodles can be used for sorting colors and shapes and making crafts. Let your imagination soar!