Spanx PSA

This is a public service announcement for all you Spanx lovers. Say you were having a party and at the last minute decided you needed a little help keeping your tummy in. And say you bought your pair of Spanx last year when you were 125 lbs and obviously suffering from some type of body dysmorphia because you thought you needed Spanx back then. Don't, and I repeat don't, make the mistake of cramming your now voluptous body into a teeny tiny pair of Spanx. If the Spanx are too small they do not help hide your tummy, instead everything you are trying to hide comes up and spills out over the top of your Spanx now giving the appearance of a very odd placed roll of fat around your middle section thus drawing attention to the very thing you were trying to hide.

I'm just sayin'.

Mad Hatter Tea Party!!!

We celebrated Ella's 4th birthday this past Saturday. Yes, our kids parties happen a couple weeks after their birthday. We made a decision awhile ago that because they share the same birthday that week would be reserved for a joint family party. We have been on a marathon of parties ever since. The weekend following the kids bday the kids had a couple different parties to go to. Spencer's party was held the next weekend and Ella just finally had her birthday party - only 3 weeks late :) The past couple of weeks have been a lot of fun - the kids really got into helping plan each others parties. BUT - Thank goodness we are done for awhile!

Ella was so excited for her party. For weeks she talked non-stop about "her girls" that were coming to her tea party. We never really got an answer who exactly these girls were as 90% of her friends are boys. Nevertheless, the party was a hit!

We interpreted the Mad Hatter theme loosely -

We started the party by having brunch with some of Ella's favorite treats:

Cake pops:




If you haven't tried Bakerella's cake pops Bakerella's cake pops you must immediately - they are worth every pound! I usually make the cupcake version but Ella wanted the cake lollipops.

Natalie agrees:



We had tags attached to toothpicks on the croissants that said "Eat Me," attached to the straws that said "Drink Me," and on our giant lollipop favors that said "Take Me."

After brunch, the kids decorated their Mad Hatter hats:






We then went to play croquet (I had a puzzle with picture clues for the kids to put together to find the croquet course, but the natives were getting restless so I decided not to get it out):




Spencer and Madison:

Sara:



After croquet we came back in for cake and presents. I realized we didn't have an actual teapot (except for toys) when I was planning the party so I made a teapot cake:





We finished the party by decorating royal princess frames and giant heart shaped sugar cookies to go.

Instead of party bags, we did lollipops. I forgot to take a picture at the party. This was set in our entry way full of lollipops with tags that said "Take Me."



I think the best part of the party was watching Ella's face. I decorated everything the night before while she was sleeping. She loves pink and everything girlie so when she came down in the morning her whole face lit right up. She didn't know I was making a teapot cake - you could literally see the amazement in her eyes when she saw it. For Ella, the whole day was full of wonder and magic. Exactly the way a birthday should be.

WFMW - Easy Hair Bow Instructions

I love making bows for Ella's hair. These are some of my favorite sites:

Posh n Pretty has the easiest instructions I have seen for basic bow making. Their free tutorials are great for getting the technique down for forming the bow. If you are new to bow making, I would start here. What they do not show is how to attach the bow to the clip but they are such a good resource for learning new bow techniques.

Girly Things has step-by-step free tutorials on bow making from start to finish. They also have tutorials on making cute bow holders and ribbon boards and they give advice on how to sell your bows. At the top of page is all of the links to the photo tutorials.

The Ribbon Retreat has some of the cutest tutorials for bows that I have seen, as well as how to make ruffled socks, ribbon covered barrettes, etc. All free on their site.

Honey Mommy has a free tutorial on making the cutest hair clips. You can see it here.

I need to take some pics of the bows I have made. Here are two very basic ones that she wore this past week:

(The part looks weird from this angle but cute head on!)


From the back:





I have added a new WFMW post that focuses on how to do cute hairstyles for little (and big!) girls. You can see it here: Easy Hairstyles for girls

Easy and fun bow tutorials are what is working for me this week, for more wonderful ideas visit Works for me Wednesday hosted by Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer.

My previous WFMW posts:

Sweet Spinach Bread
Library Bags
Letterboxing
Curling Ribbon
Safe Plastics
5 Ingredients or Less
Laundry Tip
DIY Lip Gloss
Tips for Clothes Shopping with girls
How to teach a child to swallow pills
Removing old stickers, adhesive, etc.

Muffin Tin Monday

(Back row left to right: Popcorn, peanut butter candy apple, half croissant, black grapes; middle row left to right: yogurt, strawberries, honeydew melon, ham; front row left to right: black grapes, ham, peanut butter candy apple, popcorn)

This definitely is not a new idea, but it is such a fun one! Muffin Tin Monday has added spice to our boring lunches. I divide up the tins, the 6 on the left are Ella's and the 6 on the right are Spencer's. There is something special about eating food this way. We usually do it at lunch time, but it is great to do breakfast foods, or snacks that are left out for grazers. It also is a good way to use up leftovers from the previous week. I do my grocery shopping on Tuesday so Monday works nicely for this. I'm not sure why but I can also sneak in foods that they won't usually eat and they will try it most of the time. Maybe the smaller portions look less intimidating?

A house full of boys

This year Spencer chose to have a sleepover for his birthday party. I pushed really hard for an alternate location, i.e. laser tag, bowling, Tae Kwon Do, or anywhere I could pay someone to do the party for me . . . but to no avail :). We had a family party on his actual b-day and then waited to do his party on August 15th so we could take the boys to see The Clone Wars on opening night.

It was a lot of fun planning the party with Spencer. He definitely is growing up. Balloons and decorations were out as they are no longer "cool." We had the boys come early so we could order pizza before the movie. It was funny, we didn't tell any of them to bring their Nintendo DS but within 15 minutes of arriving all the boys had them out and were playing. After the movie, the boys spent the night playing Wii and DS, building Lego ships, playing air hockey (Spencer got a table top version for his bday), and EATING. I had no idea how many root beer floats 10-year-old boys can consume. It was so much fun watching the boys have such a good time.

I wish I had taken more pictures on the sly. It is hard with 10 year olds - I definitely wanted more pictures, but I knew having your mom come in the room with a camera is definitely embarrassing. Here are a few while opening gifts:



(Quick side note: One of Spencer's friends gave him Wii Ski. It is so much fun for the kids, even Ella loves it - just in case anyone is looking for any more Wii Games :))





I still can't believe he is 10. I definitely miss my "little boy," but am very excited to see the person he is becoming.

A little late to the party . . .

I have loved seeing the different photo mosaic memes. Here's mine:



The pictures answer these questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. Where would you go on your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. Choose one word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name?

HOW IT'S DONE:

Answer each of the questions.
* Surf over to Flickr (set up an account if you don’t have one — it's quick and easy) and type your answers (one at a time) into the search bar.
* From the choice of pictures shown only on the front page, click on the one that moves you.
* Once the page with your picture opens, copy the URL.
* Surf over to the Mosaic Maker, set up your mosaic, and paste your URLs.
* Click "Create!"
* Post on your own blog, etc. (and I dare you to try and figure out what all of my answers were ;)

WFMW - Removing old stickers, adhesive, etc.

This is so awesome. If you have any old stickers that aren't coming off easily, just dab mayonnaise all over them - leave 30 minutes - and wipe the suckers off. The mayonnaise does all the work for you.

So far this has worked on:

- Old adhesive left on the window by the previous owners of our house.
- Stickers my kids have put on doors, walls, etc.
- Sticker that my son put on his Gameboy a couple years ago.

I haven't found anywhere this hasn't worked.

I saw this tip on some BBC cleaning show. They used it on a dresser that was completely covered in stickers 30+ years ago. The stickers wiped right off like magic.

Easy household cleaning solutions are working for me this week. Shannon from Rocks in My Dryer is taking a break from WFMW for awhile. You can check out past WFMW ideas here Works for me Wednesday.

My previous WFMW posts:

Sweet Spinach Bread
Library Bags
Letterboxing
Curling Ribbon
Safe Plastics
5 Ingredients or Less
Laundry Tip
DIY Lip Gloss
Tips for Clothes Shopping with girls
How to teach a child to swallow pills

Come letterboxing with us . . .

We have had so much fun letterboxing this summer. I really think it is the perfect family activity - free, fun, and educational. If you are not sure what letterboxing is, I talk about it here and here.

This past Friday my friend Irene planned our excursion up in Warrenton, VA. The local library provided clues to some boxes they had hid.

Our first stop was the Old Jail. Here is the clue we were given:

Commit a crime? Now do some time visiting this ‘old’ place
Behind the bars you may hear cars while climbing a scary staircase
Built in 1808 to house the inmate, now only memories dwell
But if walls could talk of times gone by, oh the stories they’d tell.
Usually open from 10 to 4 except for the first in the week
Within the walls you should find the treasure of which you seek
Through the front door you are greeted then to the right you will see
A room full of war memorabilia used to help keep men free
If you go straight through the courtyard, you’ll enter the part that is ‘new’
You are close to the prize now so pay attention to the next clue
Up a steep ladder, like that of a ship is the maximum security cell
Behind the door, in a cage, you’ll bid your journey a fond farewell!

We started at the Old Jail in Warrenton which is 200 years old. Yes, Spencer is not happy his picture is being taken. And yes, Ella is wearing two different colored shoes. According to her, it makes her look "happy." I brought both matching shoes in the car in case she changed her mind, but she was happy and I didn't feel like pushing the matching thing.

Irene read the clue and we headed into the jail. We stopped in the museum where they had a lot of fascinating articles (including a Confederate soldiers uniform) - Spencer was drawn to looking at the guns. The kids got to see the old kitchen and try out some of the "appliances" from 200 years ago.

Here are some pictures of the jail itself:



After climbing a really steep staircase into the maximum security area, the kids found the letterbox behind the door. How neat to think that most people touring the prison have no idea what is hidden there.


Stamping the books:

After the jail we followed another set of clues:

Built to house books in ’23, a gift for the town, plus you and me
The lower level the Red Cross did rent, while above hundreds of books were lent
Expanded for children in ’65, this endeavor continued to thrive
A fire marred a painting found there, a dark stain remains just under his hair
A building of history with a rich past, its’ love of reading continues to last
Today books still can be found in ‘the Cellar’ down under the ground.
Look all around you, pay attention and open your eyes
If you spy the numbers 1-9-2-3, you are very close to your prize
Half a brick circle lies on one side, the second half on the other
One lays in sun the other in shade, the opposite of its brother
Look to the right, don't step on plants and find what you see in the 'well'
Take out the box to finish your task, keep quiet and do not tell.

The kids had fun running around the building to find the numbers and then figuring out which 'well' it was hidden in :



Our final letterboxing stop was the Warrenton Cemetery. This was the hardest one for us to find. Here is the clue we were given:

Gray stones mark a pit of bones, ghosts may offer up some groans
Some reside since years gone by, some new space do occupy
All were once alive and well, all have stories they can tell
Don’t be scared just have a look and add this place to your logbook.
See some stones buffed to a gloss; keep your eye pealed for the Sheppard cross
Lizzie and Thomas Bruce are near, in 1933 they both came here
Nearby are two markers old, white stone, smooth and cold
So old dates can’t be read, but shade from a tree bathes their head
Amanda Lunceford is the name, the box lies near for you to claim.

We started to look around the cemetery and quickly realized that this was going to be a lot more difficult than the past clues. We decided to head to the main entrance and start from there. In the middle of the cemetery, we spotted this:

It is a monument to the Confederate Soldiers. I always forget that I live in the South - so it was kind of shocking. Apparently, 600 Confederate soldiers are buried here who died in the 1st and 2nd battle of Manassas. Their graves used to be marked by wood, but in 1863 the Union soldiers pulled up the markers and used them as firewood. The soldiers remained buried in anonymity until 1982 when a man started searching for the gravesite of his Confederate ancestor. He found missing records from Warrenton field hospitals that were misfiled in the National Archives and was able to identify 520 of the soldiers buried here. Their names are inscribed on a wall surrounding the monument.

We also saw the gravestone of John Singleton Mosby (complete with a Confederate flag placed on top). He was known as the "Gray Ghost" of the Confederacy.


I asked Josh and Ella to smile and got these super cheesy grins - I had to ask them to please STOP smiling :)



We finally gave up looking for the letterbox and decided to come back later. While walking to the car, I happened to notice a gravestone with the name on it that we were looking for. We were so happy to spot it:



One of the clues said to look for a "Shepard's cross." Irene and I took that to mean an actual Shepherd's cross but it turned out to be a cross with the name "Shepard" on it:



I love this picture of the kids. It looks like Ella is in charge which is her FAVORITE place to be:



I love the different places that Letterboxing takes us . . . all in all, it was a GREAT day!

Summer FUN

Spencer and Ella have been taking private swimming lessons 4-5 times a week for most of the summer. They each get their own half hour lesson. I am way impressed with how much more they learn on a one on one basis than in a group. I wish Kiley wasn't leaving for BYU Idaho - she's been wonderful!!!


This was Ella's first time having swimming lessons. Within two weeks she was swimming on her own underwater. My favorite part of watching her has been her "thumbs-up." The girl has no fear. There were a couple times in the beginning when she would be on the kickboard by herself in the middle of the pool and flip over. Kiley would get to her really quickly (while my heart stopped) and when she would pull Ella up out of the water, Ella's hand would come up first giving the "thumbs up" sign and then she would come up grinning from ear to ear.






Spencer last took lessons two years ago (I was too sick last summer). He was really nervous the first day of class but surprised me by jumping right in and swimming. He learned quickly that Kiley would not back down to his bargaining and impressed me with his willingness to try new things. He learned new swimming styles (my favorite was watching him do the breaststroke) and got to be pretty good at swimming the length of the pool.