Valentine Photoshoot with the Little

I love that she loves a photo Valentine.  We have so much on our plate this afternoon we ran out in the early morning light and snapped a few options.  Then she was off to school.  Hope she likes her Valentine as much as I do.  Sweet, simple and oh so easy. (It's the 1st one at the top)

Happy Valentine's Day

We did a little impromptu photo shoot so

I could make Amberly's Valentine cards for school. 

She was so cute and came up with the idea of 

I ♥ U all by herself.  

She told me what poses she wanted and planned out what she was going to wear.  

It was the easiest photo shoot ever!

I can't get over how my baby is no longer a baby.

Where did the time go?  Do I sound like an old lady?

I'm not...it's just that yesterday she was running around learning how to walk and 

saying things like "bustard" and "skam-ich".

Now she's planning out her Valentine cards and playing volleyball and making up nicknames for the boys she likes so they don't know who her and her friends are talking about.

 

I sure love this girl and am so lucky to call her mine.  

Happy Valentines Day from our house to yours ♥

P.S. Cassidy was too old and cool to have Valentines cards this year. (teenagers - wink)

More Valentines

I decided to practice my picture taking skills.  I haven't been using my camera as much as I should so I thought..."Hey, I'll offer free Valentines for people and in return I will get some great models!"  It worked.  Check them out:

My darling daughter who says she's too old to send out Valentines.  We will see chicky...we will see!

 

My friend Megan's cute kids.  They are not only adorable, they have darling names like Lilly, Stella and Izzy.  

Mindy's two youngest - Bree and Cole.  Her oldest two are in Jr. High and I guess that realy IS too big for Valentines!

Brooke brought here brood over.  She only has four but she brought the neighbor boy with her and I just had to take his picture too.  His Mom is going to get a special valentine this year that she didn't even know about! (he's the one posing there at the end)

Sammy lives around the corner and wanted in on the action.  She's a smart cookie because she will have the cutest valentines in her whole class!

There...I got some practice on lightroom, PS3 and my camera, the kids got a personalized valentine and all Mom's are happy.  It was a win,win,win!

♥♥thanks again eighteen25 for the cute valentines!♥♥

Be Mine Valentine

 

eighteen25 was so generous this year by making and posting free valentines on their blog.  I ♥ that blog.  

It's at the top of my favorites for sure.  Sunday I got my sick self out of bed and went outside for a little mini-shoot with Amberly.  She's so good at posing for pictures.  Seriously it took all of 10 minutes.

Now I'm having a hard time choosing which one I should have her send out.    

She favors the 2nd, I love the 1st.  I may have to print me up some of both♥  

P.S. Cassidy says she's too old for Valentines.  

PSHAW!  

I'm making her some and she can just hand them out to her special friends.  

6th grade is not too old!

Go check out eighteen25 for your free valentines

or

my favorite photog Ashley is doing Valentine Mini Sessions

tomorrow and Thursday

she will take the picture and make you a valentine!

(these pictures are MINE - please don't steal them♥)

Candy Shmandy

Can I just say - for a minute how sad I am that every major holiday has turned into a candy holiday?  Why does there have to be so much candy involved with everything we do?  I'm a little sick of it.  I have decided I am now an official Mom because I worry about the sugar intake of my children.
(I did before but man, after this holiday I have had an eye-opener)

I was so sad when I saw my kids go through their valentines and hardly read the cards.  They just read who gave it to them then riiipppp - off went the card in one pile (for the trash) and all the candy went into another pile (to eat). 

I remember getting valentines and saving them and showing my friends who gave me what card.  Care bears, wonder woman, cabbage patch, smurfs and barbie.  The boys gave star wars, gi joe and superman.  Those days are long gone and the candy is all the kids care about.  Sad!

This year I made little bag toppers and yes, I had the girls fill the bag with candy (5-6 pieces - 2 gummy bears, 1 gum ball, a sucker and a chocolate heart).  I am a hypocrite.  I just didn't remember from last year how much candy they would get.  

Next year?  I don't know what I'm going to do.
Easter?  The E-Bunny brings bathing suits and pool toys and sidewalk chalk and nail polish.
I have those glass jars on my counter.  What can I fill them with besides candy? 
I am so done with wrappers, and sugar and rotten teeth (I don't know if they have rotten teeth but after this weekend they probably do).

O.K. I'm done with my tangent. 
Sorry. 
Don't judge me. 
I'm just trying to figure life out.
I haven't yet.

Baby Love – Day 6

This is my baby.  The sad thing is she’s not a baby anymore but lets be honest – she will always be my baby.  She’s sweet and snuggly and misses me terribly when we are apart.  She’s smart and always going – I have never seen a girl who skips everywhere!  She’s an old soul and is always surprising us with her wisdom.  I love her – always and forever♥ 

Love Week

In the spirit of Valentine's day, if you want to join me in posting all the things you love, it is a fun project.  My friend Anny (who's blog is private) is doing this fun thing and I just had to join.  Who doesn't love to love and post about it?  Please...it's a no brainer♥


DAY1 - COOKING
I love to cook.  I also love to eat out but lately I have been loving my cooking more than eating out.  Strange I know but it's true.  It gives me a sense of pride to cook for my family and know that I have this skill.  I have even started making bread.  I made bread years ago but stopped when I broke my beloved kitchen-aid.  Those things are not made for bread, cookies-yes, bread-no.  I had to make a tough decision and cookies won.  I now have a new Blend-Tec mixer that helps me make bread and cookies.  It's a win-win!  Bread takes practice but I'm willing to put in the effort.

Tonight I made sweet and sour chicken and rice.  It was a major hit so I'm sharing the recipe so you can be MOM-OF-THE-NIGHT like me (wink).
Sweet and Sour Sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. white vinegar
2/3 c. water
2 Tbsp. corn starch
4 Tbsp. ketchup
Mix all ing. together and cook till thick.

Sweet And Sour Chicken

sorry - I'm not a food photographer. 

It tasted much better than it looks!

Then I cooked some chicken in a skillet with salt, pepper and some soy sauce.  I I cut up the chicken into chunks, added chopped green bell peppers, chopped celery, sliced carrots, 1 can of pineapple chunks and some diced green onions.  Pour sauce over skillet and mix together.  Serve over rice.  De-lish!

Do you like my Japanese rice cooker?  

It's the best thing - I love it!!  

And I only use Calrose Rice - (Japanese rice)

I couldn't eat any other kind 

 Let's re-cap:

I love cooking and baking.  I love my new mixer.  I don't love making bread - yet, but I'm going to practice till I do.  I loved tonight's dinner and I love that everyone loved it too.  I love my rice cooker even though I can't read what it says since it's in Japanese and I love Calrose rice.  Oh and I love my friend Anny and think she's so fun for doing this love week thing!

Love Week - are you in?

More Valentine Stuff

I just couldn't help myself.

I know it's Top 10 Tuesday and I'm sure I will be doing a post........later.

After my very busy day (more on that as well)

but look at this!?!?

and this!

Could you just die it's so cute?

and the best part?

my scrapbooking crush shows you HoW to make those darling cake stands.

Oh yes she does!

Click here to see, learn, and be inspired.

Valentines Day is going to be fun this year♥♥♥

20 Days

Until Valentines Day.

I love this holiday.

It's one of my favorites.

Last year I missed it because I was having radiation therapy for dumb thyroid cancer.

LAME!

This year I am going to make up for it!

My husband and children will be getting spoiled with so much love they are going to be sick of me I'm sure♥

Wouldn't this be a cute gift?  It stamps your letters.  I love how I could make it say:

Tom + Cara 

Garden View Cottage

USA

you can buy them here

I wanted to make these last year with the girls but that fell thru.

 I was not up for crafting in the months of Jan & Feb.

I love this idea because you can use your old crayons

and boy do we have crayons coming out of our ears around here!

Wouldn't this be cute for my book club girlie's?

Martha always has the cutest ideas.

And most of them are do-able.

 Most, not all.

I can't forget Flower our cat.  Or should I say, my girls never let me forget Flower the Cat.  These are little sweater hearts filled with catnip.  She would love these!  I don't know if I would love a crazy cat?
(this BTW is NOT my cat - it must be one of Martha's)

I did these last year and will be doing them again.  The girls love giving something out to their friends.

I think I may have to send out Valentine cards to my family, Shabby Princess has such cute ones!

 Or I could do something like this. 

20 days people - 20 days.  I'm ready♥

xoxo

My Adventure

I'm not radioactive anymore!
  Yippeefor ME!!

Over Valentines weekend (of all the weekends) I had to take my I-131 pill. This is a radioactive form of Iodine that kills off any remaining cancerous thyroid tissue, cells and I'm sure other things that I wanted to keep. I had to be totally isolated for 4 days and then I had to stay 3-5 feet away from people for 10 days. Did I mention this was OVER VALENTINES WEEKEND???

The Dr. office gave me some ideas on how to stay away from the family. I chose to stay in a Hotel. Now I know this is a bit of a controversy but let me explain that no one was in danger and I was very careful the entire time I was gone.

While I was booking my Hotel I was praying - "please let me get a good hotel, please let me get a good hotel". I use priceline and have always had excellent results with getting very nice high star hotels for very little money. Very little! This time was no exception. I was lucky to get a 3 1/2 star Hotel for cheap on this very busy weekend but when I looked at the pictures I was very disappointed. The Hotel was a Golf Resort and was older.....much older lets just say. I was picturing in my mind that I wanted to stay in a hotel similar to the one we stayed in in West Hollywood-pure luxury! No such luck. To say I was not looking forward to this weekend was a HUGE understatement!! And the hotel was just one of the factors!

So on Thursday I went to Scottsdale and was given my little tiny white pill in a little tiny clear glass vile with the yellow and black radioactive sticker on it and all I kept thinking was - this is wrong! So wrong! I don't want to do this, I don't want to do this! I am ingesting something so horrible into my body - what am I doing?????? Again, I said another prayer to help me get through this.

I then headed to the Hotel. When I got there I was still a little disappointed. It was pretty, but old and lets face it, I'm now spoiled in my hotel stays. When I got to my room there was a beautiful little table set up outside my door with roses, a card and a home made no iodine meal just for me from Monica. That made me feel a lot better and want to cry all at the same time! How sweet is she? When I got in and settled I realized the room wasn't that bad. It had a very nice, very comfortable bed, a sitting area with two reclining chairs and a little kitchen with a fridge, microwave, table and chairs. "Maybe this won't be so bad" I thought.

Over the next four days I realized how lonely living alone is. It's horrible!!! I felt so bad for my Mom who lived alone for five years before she died. My Grandma for 30 years!!! Maybe they liked it, I don't know but I vowed that anyone I knew who lived all alone was going to hear more from me!!! It's a weird feeling to not have to use your voice all day. When you do use your voice it sounds funny to you because it breaks the silence and then doesn't sound right. I always thought that I would be fine if I had to live alone. I'm an independent woman. I can be by myself just fine thank you! Well guess what? I have changed my tune! I always have told Tom that if he dies I'm NOT going to remarry - nope- no way! When I got home from this weekend alone one of the first things I said was....."I'm getting remarried if you ever die." Nice of me huh?

I did get several doorbell ditches from Mindy and Monica bringing me yummy food to fill my tummy. I also texted Crazy Mama -Julie the first night I was there letting her know what was up and the sweetie came right over and hung out with me all night~ We watched Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. I sucked on the sour candy she brought along with other Valentine goodies. She could come over because she's already been through this and doesn't have a thyroid. I couldn't hurt her so she dropped what she was doing and came. What a friend!
My other friend Kim came on Saturday night after calling her Dr. friend and getting the O.K. to come with instructions to not kiss me or let urine get in her eye. Yeah - I think that wouldn't be a problem! We had fun and even though we didn't go get take-out (*I wasn't feeling well) we had fun talking the night away!

I spent most of my days laying on the comfy bed watching T.V. or playing games on the computer. I did feel sick for most of the time even though the nurse said that wouldn't be the case. I would venture outside each day to sit in the sun and increase my vitamin D along with warming my bones. No one was around - I mean no one so I could sit at the pool (which was right outside my door) or on my patio and read or sleep without worrying about infecting people.
I then realized that I was blessed in getting this Hotel. Heavenly Father knows what I need more than I do. He blessed me with a Hotel that had little casitas, with no people around and access to the outside without having to go through hallways, elevators etc. I could sit outside without having to worry about people and safety. If I hadn't been able to go outside and get fresh air (I am a fresh air freak) I would have been so miserable. I was truly blessed.

By Monday I was more than ready to get home. Let me tell you! I was ready to put this horrible, boring, depressing situation behind me!! I woke up at 5:30 am and hopped right out of bed and got ready! I was checked out and in the car heading home by 7:30am. (Don't worry though - I cleaned the entire room before I left. the nurse told me how and I didn't leave one radioactive germ living - I promise!) I stopped off at Krispy Kream and picked up a dozen yummies and headed home to my sweet family! We were so excited to see each other. We opened cards, presents and shared the love that we have for each other and vowed to never be apart again! I'm so lucky to have my sweet family!!! Blessed is a better word. I am so very, very blessed!

My Angel

I have an Angel of my very own.
Two actually,
but only one Angel lets me take pictures of her whenever I want.
So for Valentines day I took my littlest Angel out on the town and took pictures of her.
She's so sweet to me!

Valentine Goodies

Aren't these the cutest. I'm so, so sorry I didn't get these posted BEFORE Valentines Day!! that way you could have downloaded them too for your goodies. Don't worry - these would be cute for any occasion because you add your own wording. You could use them for birthday parties, Easter treats, Visiting Teaching gifts, Thank You's. Be creative! Once you have downloaded them the possibilities are endless!

Each of my girls picked out which bag topper they wanted. Then I downloaded the packet, copied and pasted onto Photoshop, printed and Wha-La!!! Cute Valentine Bag toppers.
These are the ones Abby chose. They were sized for a small bag so I enlarged them and stapled to a sandwich bag filled with jelly hearts and a sucker! Abby filled all the bags - she's very good at little jobs like that. She filled Cassidy's bags too - such a good little sister she is! (Cassidy was at school already!)

Get your cute bag toppers
HERE @ Shabby Princess

I don't know about what happens at your house but at our house the Valentine Fairy comes most days before Valentine's Day. That is....if the girls have been good. The V-Day Fairy loads up at the $1 section of Target, Joann's and Dollar Tree then spreads the LOVE! This year I found two bigger bags at Marshall's and the girls used these instead of the little ones I've had for years. I tie the bags onto the backs of each chair and then we wait...............Boy do the girls get excited. It's fun to see their little faces in the morning. Thank heavens for Cassidy reminding me. There was many a morning that I had forgotten that she reminded me before Abby woke up! And yes.........The Fairy didn't come a few times because of naughty behavior!

Lots of Linkys

I was browsing some websites of photographers from Imaging USA that spoke to us and I just loved this slide show. It's a link to Allison Rogers Photography. She's somewhere in the south with big beautiful trees and neat old houses which I think gives her that funky fresh style of hers. I just loved her and her hubby Jeff. They were fun to listen to and they had great ideas. I thought I'd share for your looking pleasure.

I also wanted to post some links of different sites I have been perusing this weekend for Valentine ideas. I found a few and as soon as I find more I'll share the love.

Joys of Home Blog

Joy's of Home Blog 2

Crafty Chicks

(The Mother Load in Craftiness)
The Craft Cow

A cute mailbox idea for the kiddo's
for notes and treats
The Berry's Patch

That's it for now. Today I put up as much Valentine Day stuff as I could find. Abby informs me there is more in the attic. I don't go up there so we will have to wait for Dad to come home and help us. He's good like that. I am trying to come up with some creativity for the mantle. So far - nothing - nada- zilch. Anyone have ideas of where to find cheap yet totally stylish V-Day stuff?

AS soon as I can I'll post photo's. Happy Monday!

I just listened to my very full home voice mail. It was so full people couldn't leave any more messages. Now I need to go listen to my cell phone voive mail and am not looking forward to it. I think my favorite order of calling is:

1st - talk in person. I love to talk on the phone-if you know me you know this to be true.
2nd- texting. I used to not be a fan but with my new phone I am catching on. Still if the texting gets to be too long or I have too much to say - I stop texting and call. Again - if you know me you know this to be true.
3rd- voicemail. I hate it. I hate leaving a message - I hate listening to messages. Not sure why really, I just know it's way down on the list.
Are you getting ready for Valentines Day? I am getting excited. I already have scoured the $1 bins at Target and Joann's and gotten all my little presents for my girls from the Valentine Fairy.
Do you remember this post about the Valentine Banner we made last year? Or this post about my Valentine cards I made for the girls? I'm going to make these cards again because 1) they were so darn cute 2) they are at different schools this year and 3) I have an idea on how to make them even better! I am hoping to be feeling good enough to decorate the house this weekend. I have a few things to put up - wreath on the door, mantle to turn all mushy-gushy red and pink and I'm going to hang the Valentine bags on the back of the chairs so the Valentine Fairy can come. (she comes everyday untill V-day and leaves notes or presents in the bags). I know some people aren't fans of Valentines Day but I am one of the FANS for sure!!!♥♥♥♥

Jeez- I sure said Valentine a lot up there didn't I?

I remember seeing a lot of cute ideas last year for cards, presents, class craft ideas, class treats to make etc. I didn't save any of them and am now very sad! If you have any good sites or ideas send them over and I'll post them for all to share. That is if you want to share (wink)

I did check out Family Fun and they had a whole page of goodies. They are a great stand by for sure! They have something for every holiday, birthday, craft, game, whatever! Check the Valentine ideas HERE. The scrapbook sites have tons of great ideas that I might have to check out too. We are a crafty family over here so it's fun to get new ideas to share with the girls.

I'm going to go lay down for my morning rest. I was doing to much earlier in the week and had a BAD couple of days. BAD is in I WANT TO DIE BAD!!! I'm on the up now which is sooooo great. I will be keeping a low profile though for at least a few more days. I don't want to go back to the BAD state!!!!