Masquerade

Well the miss had her daddy daughter dance this afternoon. We had quite the time trying to do her hair in an updo with curls. The curls I did didn't hold. I think it was due to the size of my curling iron and her hair being so fine.
So I made it work, and had her sport the tiara I wore on my wedding day, to hide the flawed 'do.
She did inform me when she got back from the dance that all the girls had curls in their hair except for her. :o(
But I told her that she was the only one in a princess crown, so that is much cooler than curls.
She had a wonderful time and made her daddy stay on the dance floor for most of the dance. But near the end, she befriended another little girl, and the two of them decided to dance the day away together.
And the miss and her daddy won the grand prize in the door prize drawings, so that was very exciting, indeed.
So here are some pics of the miss after getting ready for the dance.





That Masquerade mask, I made it for her, since it was a masquerade theme. It took a bagillion sequins and a couple of hours, but I think it came out beautifully.
I used This template and changed it to print at 85%.
Then I cut the mask out onto cardstock and decorated it.
Here are two more fun masquerade links for the kiddos:
Papier Mache mask for kids
and an online masquerade dress up game

A Four Year Old's Prayer

So the hubby was putting the kiddos to bed and while helping the mister fall asleep, he heard the miss yapping away in her room. He headed in there to tell her to keep it down, but then stopped when he realized what she was doing.
There she was, on her knees, perched on her pillow, staring out the window and praying.
He only caught the end of it, but our miss was praying for this:

Please help me to grow big, tall and strong so that I can ride on Indiana Jones ride. And please give me lots of doggies and I'll pick up their poop.

Wordless Wednesday

My Blogaversary (100 Things) Installment 4

71. I have a lot of old jingles stored in my memory, like some of the McDonald's ones from the 80's.

72. I destroy PC's, I do. So keep me away from yours. I am actually currently using one, because my Mac runs way too slowly. But, I do prefer Mac over PC, just so you know.

73. I would totally play on a powder puff football team. That would be so much fun. I can throw a spiral, but my aim is pretty off.

74. I can't wait to get the okay to work out from my midwife. Mainly because it would be a nice break from the kiddos and it's fun.

75. I HATE pickles.

76. I also HATE mustard.

77. I can't do most spicy foods, but I try to, for my hubby, who loves them. If we get Thai food, I stick with something mild though.

78. Peas are my favorite vegetable.

79. This is the scariest thing I have ever done.

80. I have never seen the Star Wars trilogies in full. I always fall asleep during them.

81. I'm bad with names, but I remember faces.

82. I am a total memorizer. I have my driver's license number, my telephone number from my childhood home in CT, my credit card number, expiration date and security code all memorized.
I have a bunch of other numbers memorized too....just wanted to share a few though.

83. I am a visual learner.

84. I only got A's and B's in school, except for my junior year, when I got a D in geometry. See, I told you, I am horrible at math.

84. I had always hated, HATED history, until I went away to school at Huntington College, now Huntington University. My history professor, Mr. Brautigum, rocked. And I enjoyed his class so much.

85. When I went away to school in Indiana, I didn't know anyone there, I hadn't even been to Indiana before. It was one of the best experiences of my life!!!!

86. Burger King French Fries are my favorite. I don't like McDonald's fries. (I write about food a lot on my 100 things, huh?) I love to eat, what can I say?

87. I would love to have a huge colonial style house someday, with a huge yard and a white picket fence.

88. I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to live in Long Island, New York.

89. New York city is my favorite city.

90. I really want my kids to attend the really nice k-12 private Christian school out here, but I don't think we'd ever be able to afford it.

91. I want to go to Uganda someday on a mission trip...actually I WILL go there someday.

92. I am going to have my kids go on mission trips as teenagers. I think they are very important!

93. I sing, "You Are My Sunshine", to my daughter at night, before she goes to bed.
I have done it since she was a baby.

94. I would love to own a horse someday.

95. I collect quotes. I have kept notebooks of my favorite quotes, since I was in high school.

96. I took a semester of ASL, and loved it. I wish I had taken even more semesters of it.

97. I have the movie, Aladdin, memorized.

98. When my kids scream and cry in the car, I can tune them out. When they scream and cry in the house, it drives me bonkers.

99. I love the smell of winter. Yes, winter has a smell.

100. Periwinkle is my favorite crayola crayon. It has been since I was 5 years old.

My Blogaversary (100 Things) Installment 3

51. I hate my hands. HATE THEM! They are dry a lot, because I wash my hands constantly, since I am cleaning a lot and changing diapers and wiping snot noses all day long.
I try to put lotion on them a lot throughout the day, but I usually forget to.
And they are veiney and, well, I just don't like them. :oP

52. I love Bath and Body Works' home fragrance thingies in Juniper Breeze. They make your house smell soooo good!

53. Roald Dahl is one of my favorite children's authors.

54. My absolute favorite candy is Ghiradelli chocolate with caramel filling. YUM.

55. I loove coffee ice cream

56. But I also love a million other flavors of ice cream too.

57. My kids only use MAM Pacifiers.

58. I went to the American Girl store in Chicago back when I attended college in Indiana. It was the one of the neatest stores I had ever been in, and I couldn't wait to have a little girl someday to take to that store. So, I will have to take the miss there someday. She has yet to be introduced to American Girl Dolls though.

59. My miss will never NEVER own a Bratz doll or anything affiliated with Bratz, because mommy says so!

60. My first car was a Dodge Neon. I HAD to have it, because it looked in the front like it was smiling. Yes, I was such a girl. THAT was the reason I purchased a particular car, because it smiled.

61. My next car was a purple Chevy Cavalier and that thing was a trooper. I didn't take care of it well at all. I never got its oil changed when I should have. I would drive it for a loooong time before getting the oil changed. It never once broke down on me.

62. I ran out of gas once on the freeway, because I am one of those people that will drive with the gas light on for quite awhile. Like for instance, I know I can make it from my house to my place of employment, which can be a 25-30 minute drive, while my gas light is on.
See, one shouldn't know these things.
I am lucky that I don't run out of gas more often.

63. I love, LOVE REAL SIMPLE magazine. I should really subscribe to it.
I also love Self magazine too.

64. I used to buy US weekly every single week. It was my addiction. I don't buy them anymore...haven't bought one in a loooooooooooooooooooooong while.

65. I can't paint my own nails to save my life. If I do, I always use glitter nail polish over the colored polish, because it hides all the places where I messed it up.

66. I don't get manicures anymore, because I don't have the time in my life, or the money, to keep up with it all the time.

67. I do, however, LOVE pedicures...and I need one in a bad way right now.

68. I cough when I am nervous. Anytime I had a performance, you could hear me in the wings coughing, before I headed onto stage.

69. I also have a really loud cough. Everyone in my family does. So, I blame my parents. :o)

70. I will not blow my nose in public. I will always go in the restroom to blow my nose. Because I am weird. :o)

My Blogaversary (100 Things) Installment 2

32. I am horrible at returning videos and library books on time. In fact, I probably owe the library money right now.
I really need to get better at that!

33. I love Vitamin Water's Vital-T. In fact, a friend of mine told me today that I need to go to Vital-Tholics anonymous.
I can down two in under 15 minutes. And would drink maybe 6 a day, if I had that many in my house at one time.

34. My friend, Tiff, has also gotten me hooked on Sweet Tea. And hers is mighty yummy!

35. I've gotten many compliments on my cooking and baking lately, and that makes me very happy! I looove to bake!

36. In the Bible, Paul's writings are my favorite.

37. I LOVE Beth Moore's Bible Studies. LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!

38. I say Jeez Oh Pete when I am angry, stressed or think something is silly. And I say it soooo many times in one day. I also say, Seriously???? a lot too.

39. My daughter has also started to say, SERIOUSLY?!?!?!, often, because of me. When the mister is doing something that she doesn't like, she'll say, come on now, seriously!

40. The Matterhorn is my favorite ride at Disneyland.

41. I've been to the Grand Canyon more times than I can count on one hand. That's what happens when you spend a lot of your childhood in Arizona and have relatives visit you from out of state.
I never did hike down it or anything. Maybe that would have made it more enjoyable.

42. I've only gone camping, like real camping, one time. I really want to go more often. And I hope that once our kids are a tad bit older, we can make a yearly camping trip tradition.

43. I pronounce, syrup, Sear-up. Apparently that makes me strange. My hubby and his family all say it as Sir-up. How do you say it?

44. I make tons of typos, if you hadn't already noticed. And I spell things wrong all of the time....but I know better. So, I usually read my posts over and over again to hopefully find all of my dumb mistakes.

45. I love the Cosby show. I would love to own all of the seasons of it. I think I have season 1 on DVD. I want to be as awesome of a parent as Bill Cosby's character was on that show.

46. I had two pet bunnies as a kid, Floppy and Snowball. I used to hold Snowball in my arms while I would swing on our swing set. It probably scared her to death.

47. I am horrible at math. I am looking forward to when my kids start needing help with their math homework, because I'll get to learn it all over again with them. Maybe after assisting them over the years, I'll become a math wiz. One can hope.

48. I am NOT a bath person. I looove showers and find them to be more relaxing. I think it's because I have a hard time just sitting still. I get bored in a bath.

49. So far, based on what I have tasted, I don't like wine!

50. I love white flesh peaches. They are the yummiest fruit EVER!

My Blogaversary - Installment 1

So, I didn't even realize it until my nice comment....but it's my 2 year blogaversary. And in typical Blogaversary fashion, I am here to do my 100 things.
Although, it will be broken up into several posts over the weekend, because with three little kiddos, one of whom is only 3 weeks old, I don't have the ability to write out all 100 at once.
And hey, maybe it's easier to read when it's all broken up.

So, here goes...

1. I almost died when I was born, and was born via emergency c-section.

2. I started reading when I was 3 years old, thanks to an awesome in home daycare that my parents had put me in.

3. I started taking tap and ballet when I was 3 years old. I took them both for 7 years. I LOVED tap dancing. LOVED IT!!
I took a tap class when I went away to college and realized how much I had missed it.
I plan on taking an adult tap class in the fall at my daughter's dance studio, if we can fit it into our budget.

4. I, as part of the Phoenix Girl's Chorus, sang on stage once with Pat Boone and Florence Henderson, the Brady Bunch mom. I had no clue who Pat Boone was, but it was kinda cool meeting Florence Henderson. We all sang the Brady Bunch theme song to her. I am pretty sure she wanted us to stop though.

5. Growing up, I had several celebrity crushes....there was Chad Allen, but I think it was because a friend of mine was obsessed with him, and I wanted to be cool like her. However, I did LOVE the show, Our House, that he was in. Then, there was Joey from New Kids On The Block. Boy did I ever love that guy.
Jared Leto, from My So Called Life, was next.... It was his eyes....they were gorgeous. Then, in high school, I had a thing for Christian Bale and Val Kilmer. After that, my celebrity crush phase died down.

6. E.T. was the first movie that I ever saw in the theaters.

7. Neverending Story and The Dark Crystal were two of my favorite movies as a kid.

8. Debbie Gibson's Electric Youth perfume, was the first perfume I ever bought and wore. I think that I was in 5th grade.

9. Wham! Make It Big, was the first cassette tape that I ever owned...which was followed by Debbie Gibson's, Electric Youth.

10. I did run full speed into a sliding glass door, that was so clean, I thought it was open, when I was nine years old.

11. My grandfather was born in a Sioux Indian tribe. So, I have some Native American in me. I hope to someday go to South Dakota with the kiddos, so they can learn about that part of their ancestry.

12. When I was 11, I had to get stitches after literally running into a pole that was in the middle of one of the aisles inside of Pets Mart.

13. When I was 10, I won a bicycle at a Halloween Costume Contest held by the nearby Fry's Grocery Store. I barely used it though, because it was a boy's BMX bike. Oh, and I was dressed as a Scarecrow.

14. In High School, my two absolute favorite cds were Counting Crows, August and Everything After, and Mariah Carey's Daydream.

15. As a young teen, I remember begging my parents to let me audition for the new Mickey Mouse Club. I loved that show and wanted to be a part of it soooo badly. I never did get to audition, even though they held some in my home state.

16. I never got asked to any dances in High School. So the ones that I did attend, I went to stag, with a few girlfriends, who also weren't asked to any dances.
I did, however, go to Senior Prom with my high school sweetheart, who I also ended up marrying. :o)

17. My hubby and I met our Senior Year of High School. We met chatting online on AOL. Yes, it's true. We then talked on the phone a couple of times and then met. We became "official" after our first date.
It was weird, the night that we first met, because we had no idea what the other really looked like and stuff. But not only were we attracted to each other's personalities, but once we met for the first time, we realized we were both very attracted to each other physically, as well.

18. Our first date was at TGIFriday's. We both ordered the fettuccine Alfredo, and he had to leave the table halfway through to respond to a page from his friend, Chris. The page that would let him off the hook, if the Internet chick ended up being crazy. But, luckily, he told his friend that all was wonderful.

19. We met in December of 1996.

20. We dated for almost three years, but then I broke up with him.

21. We got back together in 2001 and married in 2002.

22. Okay, I guess I have to get back to random things, huh? I was in a car accident, while on my permit. I was driving, and my mom was in the car with me. It was totally my fault, and the wreck happened on the busy street right behind our house. My dad had been in the living room, and heard the crash, so he called 911. He then went outside to make sure people were okay, and then he saw his car totaled.
We were all okay, so were the people in the car that I had hit.

23. I was in another wreck, when I was 16, but it WASN'T my fault.

24. I have yet to crash a car since....so that's good!!!

25. When I was in High School, if you had asked me what it was that I wanted to do for a career, I would have told you that I wanted to work with child cancer patients in a hospital as their nurse or therapist.
I would still love to do that someday. :o)

26. In college, I became very interested in autism, and decided to pursue Psychology, in hopes to work with autistic kids someday. I have yet to finish school. But it would still be awesome to work with autistic kids someday. :o)

27. My favorite foods are most anything Italian and mashed potatoes. I am a starch girl. :o)

28. I also love baked sweet potatoes. Potatoes in general, are my comfort food.

29. The first book that I ever read on my own, was The Spooky Old Tree. I now LOVE reading it to my kiddos.

30. I can't draw to save my life.

31. I also whistle horribly.

Italian Hot Dish (TRY IT!)

I like to try two new recipes a week, if I can, because I'd like to have tons of recipes to choose from each week, instead of the same ol' same ol'.
The hubby and I are eating healthier due to mainly his cholesterol, and because it's good to eat healthy, yo!
Now, I looove Italian food. He isn't as big of a fan of it as I am, and a lot of it isn't the healthiest.
But last night I made a new pasta dish that I found a recipe for online, and I must say, it was very yummy. And the kids ate it all up too, which is saying a lot.
And, my hubby ate like thirds or fourths and even mentioned that he isn't a big pasta fan, but THIS is Good!!!

So, give it a try.

Here's the recipe

Jenny McCarthy Rocks

So, I totally missed Autism Awareness Day on April 2nd. Normally I think I would have remembered, given that I am very passionate about autism, but I forgot, I did. But with good reason, I have a tiny baby boy. :o)

Anyway, Jenny McCarthy was on Larry King Live on April 2nd, and she was awesome. I encourage you to watch all of the clips linked below, get informed, if you aren't already.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7