Berlin is 8 mos!

BERLIN is 8 MONTHS OLD! 

Wow that went really, really fast:(

 I know I totally went picture CRAZY, but she has this CUTE outfit from pinkbowtique.com/ with a bunch of cute headbands!  I couldn't decide on only 1!  I get so many compliments on her bows/headbands/flowers...so check out there website if you get a chance! 

 She just got her first tooth on the bottom...it's so "snaggly" and cute!  Do those two words even make sense in the same sentence?  Ha ha!

 She's sitting, crawling, and pulling herself up EVERYWHERE! 

 Her cute little personality coming out:)

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE this outfit!  The ruffles on the bum are adoreable!!!

The socks are too cute too!  So I had to include her chubby little footsies!

Awwww, I'm Loved...

 I woke up this morning...went downstairs to make sure the kids were eating breakfast and all ready for school...when I came back I found this little note on top of my neatly made bed:)  It was sweet...and yes, I paid it forward!   

Happy Valentines Day!

I decided to make some yummy "lovey" treats today, giving me an excuse to use my new mini cake stand! 

I made these using...
1 cube of butter melted
1 pkg mini marshmallows
6-7C  Rice Crispy cereal

After the ingredients were combined and taken off the stove, I added the festive little pink heart marshmallows in too!  They looked so pretty and pink...but I couldn't stop there...

SO I dipped each one in melted Ghiradelli chocolate and sprinkled each with M&M's and sprinkles:)

 

A Royal Party!

Haven turned 3 on the 1st, and everyone got a "Royal Invitation!"  It was so cute and everyone was supposed to come dressed up as royalty...the kids were super excited!

My mom was in town, so we all got to have a "royally sweet" time;)

Happy Birthday Haven!

Seattle was sooo excited!!

Drake...really digging the pizza!

The cupcakes were so yummy and looked awesome!!!

VT Handout for February!

I've been super busy with my new job and am still trying to find the right balance for everything and person in my life!  I do have some blogging to catch up on, so I will take care of that sometime soon!  For now, my super awesome mom's in town, and I'm taking full advantage of all the perks that go along with that!!

One of the things I've been TRYING not to slack off on is my VT, and it helps even more when I can "copy" off other people's hard work...especially when they are such cute ideas!!!  So with that said, if you are like most of us, and haven't gotten around to your VT for February yet, check out my friend Teresa's blog!  She's super talented and this month she had a talented "guest author", Pam, share her super cute VT handout idea:) 
She has links to all the patterns (keys, wallet, purse, purse instructions, and quotes) that you can just print, right from your computer.  Thank you Teresa!!!

Chocolate Lava Cups

I was really in the mood for some "Lava Cups"...atleast that's what I call them.  I couldn't find a recipe off at hand, so I decided to start with my favorite 3 ingredients...Chocolate Cake Mix, Chocolate Jello, and Chocolate!  How can you go wrong, right? 

I mixed the pudding in with the cake mix and baked the cake like the directions called for...then I made up the "ganache" type filling for the middle.  I melted 1 box of the Baker's Semi Sweet squares over medium heat with 1/4-1/2 cup heavy whipping cream until it all melted together and became creamy.  Then I poured it into a bowl and stuck it into the fridge for a half hour or so.

When the chocolate was hard enough, I scooped it out with a tablespoon and dropped it in the middle of my little cupcakes...(I used a mini cheesecake tin).

I baked them at 350 for the lenght it said on the box...which I think was about 20-22 minutes.  Then I took them out of the pans to cool for just a few minutes, while I heated up the remaining chocolate in the microwave.  (Make sure you heat it slowly...otherwise it will scorch)  After it was all melted, I placed a Lavacup and a scoop of ice cream on everyone's plate...then topped with melted chocolate!  I see I was overly excited to eat it...so I guess I left out the shot of the ice cream.  I guess if you want to see what it looks like, you'll have to try it out for yourself!  What a bummer;)

So if you're in the mood for something chocolatey...this definitely does the trick!

The day AFTER Phoenix's big Tornado Warning...(Back Blogged)

Normally, it's during the "Monsoon" that we get to go play in our parks, er, lakes!  Last night's storm was pretty crazy around here!  In fact, I'm not sure what was crazier...the Tornado Warning, or the fact that EVERY SINGLE one of my shows was interrupted every 5 minutes or so, letting us know how much rain had fallen...still think it was under 3" btw:)  So I thought before the sun dries up the park, I would let the girls try out their "rain boots" that I got for a few dollars at Target!  They were so EXCITED!  It's such a beautiful day!!!

As you can see, Seattle lost a shoe...but believe it or not she came home dry! 

Just another reason that...I LOVE PHOENIX!

A Lovely Day at the Phoenix Zoo...

My friend Charilla and her daughter, Madison invited us out to the zoo today! So I took my oldest 3 girls.  It was PERFECT weather and we had so much fun:)

These stingrays were like little puppies! I couldn't believe how "friendly" they were! Madison got to touch two different ones! I've never seen any stingrays that were so willing to come to the sides to be pet!

The girls came home and told Boston they got to sit on real elephants...I'm not sure what finally gave it away that it was only rock?  Ha ha!  It did have him going for a minute or two though...

I had to take a picture of the goats...in Patterson, CA where we used to live, there would always be a wood sign at the end of Las Palmas saying, "Chivos for Sale".  After months of passing it, Phil asked what "Chivos" were, I just assumed EVERYONE knew what "chivos" were! It was so funny to me for some reason!  SO now whenever we see goats...we call them "chivos"!

I think this is what would happen if you crossed a Brahma bull and a chivo! 

Brooklyn thought this was pretty sweet..."but a little gross too"

Niki and Madison...with Our Madison and Paris

She was so excited to see the farm animals!  It was cute!

Charilla found a brave little squirrel that apparently liked Cheeze It's!

I guess he had a REALLY hard day...he definitely didn't have time for a bath!

"Jacob" smelled my Chex Mix and came to check us out!

This bird was some type of Condor...all I have to say is scary! Hopefully they hunt ALL 11 species of Rattlesnakes that apparently reside around here!!

Whenever I see the Girraffes...I always think of Melvin from Madagascar! 

I think I should see about purchasing one of these guys to bring to my parents house! (Ant Eater)

Madison-"Mommy, why does that monkey have a red bum bum?" 
Me-"Because he didn't listen to his mommy and she smacked his booty with the wooden spoon."

Madison's Reaction- Eyes wide open, jaw about hitting the floor...PRICELESS! I didn't even set her straight!  That should make for some interesting conversation on a field trip some day!