April Showers...

...bring friends and family together to celebrate a beautiful Bride -To-Be. I had the sheer pleasure of hostessing a bridal shower for my cousin Adam's fiancee', Christina this past Sunday. This 'job' put me smack dab in the middle of my element, PLANNING! Oh and that began two months ago; guest list, menu, cupcake menu, cleaning schedule, and on and on and on. Have I ever mentioned that I am a planner (and I secretly LOVE IT!)? So as the big day got closer, I hit up some close friends and neighbors, and gathered fun goodies to help decorate my yard and buffet table. Have I ever mentioned that I have the ABSOLUTE BEST FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS EVER!!! No really! They will volunteer at the drop of a hat to help with ANYTHING! They even show up the night before the big event and relax in our ever so small (but quaintly-cozy) kitchen and wait painstakingly while cupcakes are made and cooled and frosted, and THEN they help taste-test and help determine the nest cupcake of the three. Boy Oh Boy, the sacrifice! HEE HEE! Jas and I loved every second of it.

OK, back to the shower...My Aunt and Christina showed up around 2pm and helped me with the last minute touches before the ladies began to arrive. We had a great time! I love both of these women.

The gals began arriving around 3pm and snacked on a variety of veggies and fruits. Then after an hour of visiting we ate. Oh and how we ate. I had made a tomato-feta salad (mmmm), my mom made a delicious broccoli salad, and chicken ceasar salad sandwiches (my dearest thanks to the Barefoot Contessa for this one).

After we'd finished, we showered Christina with some wonderful and very thoughtful gifts. My favorite gift that she received was a pair of 'chic' rubber gloves, complete with a decorative band of zebra print. They were adorable...and they matched this other 'lacy number' that....let's just say, she won't be wearing while doing dishes. At least I hope not! "Christina, you can thank me later for NOT posting that picture...although, it IS beautiful! Both were gifts from the most vivacious guest, Debbie Haggin, who owns an unique boutique in Kent Commons called Marie Haggin Accessories. I am eager to pay her a visit.

I was excited to make a personalized gift for my newest cousin-to-be. I LOVE ANYTHING PERSONALIZED...and I hope Christina did, too. I did some research and found that their master bedroom colors will be a variety of shades of blue and "Hibbitt" is her soon-to-be last name. So

TA-DA! I really do hope she liked it.

We finished off the party with a trio of delicious cupcakes.

They were:

A Chocolate Covered Cherry Cupcake...










A White Cupcake (Christina's request) with a Raspberry-Lemon Frosting...








and A Banana Cupcake with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting....my personal favorite!





Oh they were good...and gave me an opportunity to use my cake decorating kit.

I can't express enough how thrilled I was to be able to throw this shower for such a dear woman, and I am so excited to officially welcome her to our CRAZY family in only a few short weeks.

Blog Post to highlight the, sure to be, beautiful reception, soon to follow.

Hope the weekend found you all outside and enjoying a little bit of the spring sunshine that we were Blessed with.

Quick Update...

WOW...whoever said 'Time Flies,' NAILED IT!! It seems as though each year our spring gets more and more busy; and this year is NO DIFFERENT! In the next few weeks we have: a parade, a bridal shower, a dear friends birthday, a HUGE 'junk' sale, maybe a fishing trip in Moses and all four of our birthdays. Not that I am complaining, cause I work best under stress,

but OH MY, this seems a bit excessive!

My favorite part of our days are the funny quips that Miss. A comes up with. This morning, while running errands, we went past Mickey D's and she came up with this one.

"Mom, I know why they call cheeseboogers, cheeseboogers." "Oh Yeah?! Why's that?" "Cause they have cheese and they're 'boogers.'" "Eww! A, that's gross!" "NO MOM!! NOT boogers from your nose, BOOGERS, like CHEESEBOOGERS!" I about drove off the rode. She Kills me!

Oh and here is where the fun begins (or continues heavily)! My dear friends and I started setting up our 10 X 10 for the FUNKY JUNK SISTERS Show. And my dear husband, Bless his heart is forfeiting his garage for the next 7 or so week so that we have a dry place to keep set up and arrange our fun findings!




And don't worry, we're going to have a Exclusive Friends and Family Pre-Sale, hopefully the weekend before the show! Should be a great time...OH just thinking of how much fun that weekend is going to be, really gets my adrenaline going. I am thinking of keeping a Starbucks Tally...So far, I'm in 1-Caramel Machiato,

...but I foreshadow that number rising quickly, especially, the closer we get to the show.

Look at how cute these blocks are!! Margee and I spent a good 15-20 minutes creating different words with them, and of course, they had coordinating pictures.

I'm not sure that I want to sell them now that I see all of the possibilities. But we'll see.

Hope you all had an INCREDIBLE Easter. We certainly did. Jas and I took A to her first 'Good Friday' service and she was truly touched by the message...which of course, touched her dad and I. Thanks again, Sherry for keeping an ear on Had so we could go. Easter morning, we woke to two girls laughing at an unnatural hour. So Jas took them for donuts so, that I could sleep in. Have I mentioned how BLESSED I am to have him as my hubb? Cause I am!!! A then came in and woke me up and said, "Mom the Easter Bunny didn't hide the eggs too well...cause I see them all." Again, she kills me. However, the Easter Bunny was thinking ahead and left A a note telling her that she could find 14 eggs and that she had to let Had find the other 10.
Then, off to Grandma and Grandpa's for another Egg Hunt with our Louisiana Cousins. Such cute boys! Then back home in time for a nap for Had and Jas and I did chores. WHEW!! Busy day, but OH SO FUN!

Alright, enough BLOGGING fun for me...I've got some more chores to get done.
I guess this wasn't as quick of an update as I thought...but when the words start flowing...Happy Spring to YOU ALL!!

When In Doubt...GO GREEN!

I am proud to consider myself a planner. There I said it...it's out there...and it's true (most of the time). Today, however, was the exception. St. Patrick's Day completely snuck up on me. I was the un-fun momma who didn't hide gold coins around the house from the leprechauns for the girls to find, no green milk for breakfast. Nope, nothing, zero, nada! Until around 2pm, when I decided that the girls and I were making cupcakes...and of course they had to be green and festive. Hmmm, what to do. I've got it! Thin Mint Cupcakes! Minty flavor and more importantly green frosting. One problem...Girl Scout Cookie season is over! Arggh. Oh, but wait, if memory serves me (and it sometimes does), my mom had a brand new pack of Thin Mints in her pantry. So off to grab A from preschool and then off to mom's to BEG FOR COOKIES. I had to promise to share some of our delicious wares, but she obliged.
Of course the whole point of this activity was so the girls could help...which they did happily.
A got to help whisk...



as did Had...and here is a picture of the 'boys' helping to clean up what Had flung everywhere.

(The boys love it when the girls help cook....guaranteed goodies)
I think the girls enjoy the baking time the most.

In the 20 minutes that the cupcakes took to bake...
Had danced on the table, enoyed an ice cream sandwich, and snuck some of the yummy green, minty deliciousness...I mean frosting.



A, meanwhile, took it upon herself to clean our beaters. She is always available for this most important job. Lucky me! And don't worry, I wash them again once she's done.
And TA-DA!! Here is our finished product.
They were as tasty and they looked. Even Jas, who informed me that Thin Mints are his least favorite Girl Scout Cookie, managed to choke one down. Now the big question is...how many will be left in the morning once he's left for work.
P.S. The Chocolate Cupcake Recipe came from The Farm Chicks Blog....and ssshhh, don't tell anyone, but the frosting came from a can. I just added some green tint and peppermint extract. But, again, don't tell...I have a reputation to keep up...(and I still had to get dinner ready).

Here We Grow...

Alright....A and I decided to take full advantage of the gorgeous sunshine we are having on this Pajama Monday. So while Had was napping, we decided to get our vry first crop planted. OK, by definition it's probably not exactly a crop but we did plant two rows of peas.

As we dug and raked over the dirt, we were greeted by a whole bunch of wormy friends (they weren't nearly as excited to see the sun as we were). But they'll do our garden good.

We then dug our trench and proceeded to gently place our 'pea sprouts' into their new home. A was ever so gentle doing this(if only I could convince her to treat her sister the same way).

And then once we decided that we had planted enough of them. We carefully covered them up, and now we are eagerly awaiting them to show thier little green faces . I can hardly wait....it seems as though there are a lot of recipes that are catching my eye that call for fresh spring peas.
And if fresh means from the garden...all the better.

Here is a picture of Carlos doing a little 'quality control,' although, since he is not convinced that he is in fact a cat and NOT A DOG, he may dig them up when we're not looking. Crazy Cat!

...and in case you're counting,

Spring will be here officially in ONE WEEK!

You've Gotta Try These...

So now that I have re-entered the blogging world, I find myself peering through my friends Inspiration Pages and finding fun new blogs to follow (and I am automatically drawn to those posts that mention food in the title). OH, HOW I LOVE FOOD!!!

So here is where I give thanks to my dear friend and neighbor, Bri, for having a link to the blog:

A Hint of Honey. Oh the hours I have logged on this Blog perusing through a variety of different recipes trying to find, "THE ONE!" And then...it happened! I found it!

CARROT CAKE COOKIES (with frosting)!!!

And it gave me a reason to drag out my dear friend, Hazel.

She's my mixer, a gift from one of the dearest women I have ever met, Jason's Grandma Emily. Oh how I miss her. But she would love these cookies.

I decided that if I was going to bake something, that I would choose something that was on the healthy side. Hey! There was carrots (vegetable), whole wheat flour, raisins (fruit?)...just disregard the 2 sticks of butter and the 2 cups of sugar (not counting the frosting).

SEE...CARROTS!!! A whole 1 1/2 cups...totally healthy!!

They are incredible! I would strongly recommend you to try these...and by try these, I mean, make them...because ours are officially gone. I am getting ready to deliver a few to Bri and Phil. I figure since I would not have found this site without her, I at least owe her a few. I certainly hope they enjoy them as much as we have.

I think that I will make them again for Easter...the perfect not-to-heavy dessert following a great Easter Brunch.

PS...This is not my picture, its from A Hint of Honey...

We ate ours before I got a chance to get a picture. They were that good!

Oops! Forgot One!

Apparently, when I blogged about my hobbies and things that keep my creative side buzzin'; I forgot to mention creating beautiful jewelry. Although, I guess in all fairness, I had not made any jewelry at the time. But OH, that has all changed. After seeing a beautiful (but pricey) necklace online, I HAD to make my own. Lucky for me, my dear friend, Margee, is a veteran jewelry maker, and had all of the tools that I needed. So a quick trip to the bead store and a few hours at the table while Had was napping and A was at school, I, with the help of Margee, created this beauty of my own.

I even made the little bird's nest.

I really like how it is such a great combination of classic (pearls) and junky (metal). And it was a stretch for me, but I also really like how it's not symetrical...a stretch for me...but I am a work in progress.
And OH HOW I ADORE IT!!
I am hoping that this will be the first of many more unique pieces to come.

If One is Good...More is Better?!?

Since I am no longer teaching, I needed to find a new hobby to put my creative eneregies into. Instead of one hobby, I have found many that seem to grab my interest. These include:

Building Randoms - check out my adorable salvaged shed. Jas and I saved (tore down) an old garage in a neighboring town and then decided that it should be resurrected as a potting shed. Complete with recycled windows, doors and paver floor. Oh how I love this shed and I'll be blogging more about it.

Gardening - These are a few of my new lovelies that are just starting to reimerge from a long, soggy winter. Oh how I have missed my little friends and the joy that they bring me and my girls.

A is ALWAYS on the look out for new blooms any time we step outside. (She even pointed out to a friend the other day, "Look at our hellebores blooming!"). She is so obviously my girl (and for those who dont know, these are hellebores)!



Sewing - A hobby which I think my mom is secretly thrilled about. I started with A's starfish costume from scratch and it's grown from there. I have even tried making a few things with patterns (a novel idea). Here are a few of the aprons that I have delighted in making!! I love using bright and cheerful fabrics and what girl doesnt love wearing something fun while 'slaving' away in the kitchen.

Crafty Frames - A friend of mine taught me how to make these and I LOVE THEM! I can quickly change the look and feel of a room at the drop of a hat. I can change them per season and they make GREAT GIFTS!

Cooking and Baking - I began with a love of baking...however, I had to stop or I had to start saving more for new jeans, as mine were getting tight. Oh, but how I still love making beautiful and delicious cupcakes...if you ever need, I have quite the library of cupcake cookbooks. I have redirected my energies into cooking. Having two growing girls to feed, I do my best (although, I'm not perfect) to feed them mostly healthy foods. So far this is paying off, as both of my girls eat things that some adults won't touch. A and Had both LOVE TOMATOES. Truly! I can't wait for to get some into my garden. And with a 'Hunter Hubby,' I'm always on the lookout for new 'big game' recipes.

As I am passionate about each of my hobbies, I'm sure to be posting more about them all soon.


Here's to another great week!
God Bless You All.
Please pray for Luke and Caroline, as they are grieving the loss of a loved one and could use some.