Love is in the air

Kyle is one of those guys who thinks Valentine’s Day is a lame Hallmark holiday, but he “celebrates” it to appease me {what a guy}. This year {in the spirit of lowering my expectations}, I decided to try a few things with the kids to make it a day of celebrating love in a FUN way! I think we all had a good time, it was special, and it didn’t cost much at all.


Miss Ashlyn and I started our celebration a little early on Sunday afternoon with custom heart-felt manicures. Ash wanted red, pink AND fuchsia {why not?}, so we alternated the colors, then topped them off with hearts drawn on with a nail art pen. I painted my nails fuchsia and did 1 heart on my thumb :)

{I <3 this manicure!}

 Monday morning I had a special breakfast for the kids: Jell-O jigglers!

Of course, in my true impulsive way, I decided to make the jigglers the night before and had to use what I had on hand. Jigglers take 4 boxes. I had 2 Grape, 1 sugar-free Strawberry and 1 sugar-free Raspberry. Made for an interesting flavor…

{Darn his long name and our small plates!} 

{He said, "Yum! I wuv Jeww-O! Hey, how did the Jeww-O know my name??"}

I love making treat bags for the kids’ holiday parties–this one was no exception. And because my kids LOVE them, I slaved and included some pretty cute cake pops.

{another pic because they're just so cute}

{My little heartbreaker}

{Ashlyn's teacher painted hearts on the kids' faces--so cute!}

Regrettably, I didn’t get a pic with Kyle, but honestly, neither of us was looking too hot that morning. He did, however give me a nice card and a certificate for a mani/pedi/massage. Ahhh…can’t wait! I, being equally sweet, gave him this:

{card by upupcreative.com}

That evening I spent a romantic evening with some of my girls, watching the Bachelor. I made these bad boys especially for them!

{chocolate cake pops made with chocolate frosting and chocolate candy coating--for my chocolate loving Valentines!}

 {Cindy, Julie, Kristi}

{I think they liked them ;) }

Oh Happy Day!

Today {yes, this was previously posted on my Picture {un}Perfect Life blog back in February!}was my birthday and it was such a fun one! In the past I’ve had super high expectations for this once-a-year celebration. You know what happens when you have really high expectations? They almost never get met, then you’re left with disappointment. Not fun. This year I collaborated a bunch with God to lower my expectations and truly appreciate every little thing that came my way. And you know what? It was an incredible birthday! Seriously, the best. I started out last night enjoying some trash TV {The Bachelor} with my girlfriends. We had wine, fun and a lot of laughs. I even got an early gift of…comfort food! My girl C.Y. brought me a box of Wheat Thins {HA! refer to this post to "get it"} and another fave–a Starbucks gift card. Yum. I just love Monday nights with the girls. We “partied” until it was officially my birthday, then we went home to crash.

Friend and neighbor, Julie

This morning I got to sleep in a bit, then went downstairs to gifts from my fam. Ashlyn was more than happy to give me her sweet card {one that plays a song…which will inevitably become HER card to listen to over and over} that included a gift card to one of my favorite cheap/trendy stores.  Kyle had made me a card with a poem he had written about our last year {love his poems!} and another gift card. Yes! Ash informed me {stage whisper} that Maguire’s card contained a 3rd gift card. WOOHOO! However, Maguire was insistent that I not open his card until I was eating birthday cake. That’s what you’re supposed to do; that’s what he did.

After breakfast we got in the car and headed west a bit {but not before using part of my Starbucks card, of course} to join my mom, my friend Ang and her kids for our “usual”. Our “usual” is most parents’ nightmare. But we love it: Chuck E. Cheese’s! Honestly, where else can you go and, for under $25, enjoy lunch and 3-4 hours of adult conversation while your kids run around FULLY entertained? Ok, maybe there are a few other places, but we seriously love our regular CEC “dates”. We have found that Tuesday mornings are usually pretty dead around there. And we’ve been there so many times over the last 2 years that the managers know us by name. They now help us find the best coupon codes, sneak our kids extra tokens and tickets {Mac calls one manager “Sneaky Tony”}, bring special treats for them…it’s our own personal kid-friendly Cheers! And ok, I have to admit that Ang and I have a favorite game we like to play whenever we can sneak a few tokens ;) No cake was consumed {I’m trying to actually complement my working out by sort of watching what I eat}, but Maguire agreed to let me open my card {another musical one, of course} over my birthday pizza {I said “sort of” watching what I eat…}, especially since I was opening my gifts from Ang/Izzy/Jud.

So many favorites in this photo! <3

After a fun and full day at CEC, the kids and I headed back home just in time to pick up the house a bit before the babysitters came over. WARNING: you’re about to be totally jealous. Our two neighbor girls {ages 12 and 14}, who our kids adore, babysit FOR POINTS! Yep, for about half the year they don’t accept money for babysitting. Their church has a point system where the kids earn points by doing things like taking notes in church, shoveling {yes, we’ve been on the receiving end of that one too!}, babysitting, and other forms of helping. If the kids earn a certain number of points, the church will pay their way to summer camp in full. It’s awesome! So…after our super-sitters arrived, another friend dropped over to bring me yet another of my comfort food staples: Diet Dr. Pepper! Not only that, but a new tube of lip gloss. I’m a little more than slightly obsessed with lip gloss and I LOVE trying new stuff. Perfect little birthday surprises! Kyle and I headed to the mall to do a little bit of shopping before our dinner reservation. Once at the restaurant, we ran into not one, not two, but THREE sets of friends! Two sets were celebrating birthdays today as well. Kyle and I enjoyed a delicious dinner, I had some incredible wine and a cute little birthday dessert. And even better–we used our GROUPON {if you haven’t checked it out yet, you need to! Click here}, so it was half price! Oh, how I love saving money :)

Isn't it cute?!

Now here I sit, so grateful, a heart full of love and toasty warm in my University of Michigan Snuggie {another gift}… Amazing how when we lower our expectations, they’re almost always exceeded!  As my mom says, We need to raise our expectations of God and lower our expectations of people. People will let you down, but God never will.  Right on, Mama; right on…

Practically Perfect In Every Way

Ashlyn has been very into the movie Mary Poppins lately. While on a trip with my mom to visit cousins out in CA, she was first exposed to this cinematic masterpiece. Then my mom gave Ash the “digitally remastered” DVD for Christmas. I love hearing her sing “Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go dowwwwwn, the medicine go dow-own, medicine go down!” and attempt to sing “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. Brings back so many fun memories from my childhood. In a day and age when Hannah Montana, iCarly, Wizards of Waverly Place and the like are so prevalent in the lives of these young girls {I don’t necessarily have anything against these shows, but I just don’t think they’re age-appropriate for Ashlyn, being that she’s only 5 years old!}, it’s refreshing to have her be so enthralled with the classics. One of her other faves is Heidi {you know, an adorable Shirley Temple crying, “Grandfather! Grandfather!”}. That one was one of my mom’s favorites. Turns out, two generations later, it’s still a hit! Ash even cries at the same part {when that evil woman smashes Heidi’s “snow-storm”, sniff-sniff} my mom did.


Kyle and I are working hard at preserving her innocence and teaching her about God in these early, impressionable years of her life. She’s a sweet girl, a rule-follower, with a huge compassionate heart who loves to tell “secrets” about how much she loves you. She takes “love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, strength and mind” very seriously. Her mantra is “love God and love others” and she’s not afraid to tell people!
Today she struck me in a few different ways:
1} The girl has a passion for dance and lives to “dance for Jesus”. It’s a beautiful thing to watch!

{Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.} Jer. 31:13

2} She’s a sensitive girl and, while sometimes it may be trying to my patience {wailing, “Moooommm! He looked at me in a mean waaaaaayyyy!”}, sometimes it’s a result of how deeply and compassionately she feels, usually about other people. For instance, yesterday her friend Emily decided that maybe ballet wasn’t her thing. She was too shy/nervous to be in the class. Ash looked crushed, climbed into my lap and sobbed. She so badly wanted her friend to be in her class and she felt bad that Emily was scared and nervous. Sweet girl…


3} She is getting way too old! After dinner Kyle and Ashlyn sat at the kitchen table and worked on her Bible Club homework together. I took over when he headed up stairs to help Maguire get ready for bed. Something about the way she looked {maybe it was the ponytail?}, the way she was concentrating and holding the pencil made her look so old! After her Bible Club homework, we moved on to her kindergarten homework. I can’t believe that we’re so close to full-blown homework! I hope I can keep up…

{my grown up little girl - she loves to learn!}

A snowy little photo sesh

After Christmas, my mom had a photographer come to her house to do a little photo shoot with the 3 grandkids.  During the shoot I kept thinking it would be a miracle if anything turned out!  Fortunately Stephanie, the photog, knew what she was doing and got some pretty cute shots anyway.  Here are some of my faves:

 This is Maguire's hat, but of course he wouldn't wear it--booger!

 Mimia and her grandkids!

 Love Oliver's eyes here!

 Yes, I bribed them with cake pops.  And I thought were were done with the photo shoot, so I gave Mac his...and it immediately turned his mouth blue.  Oops!  Good thing for snow to wash it off :)

 No, I wasn't prepared to be IN any of the pics...

Thanks, Mom!  What fun photos!  We'll have to do it again soon :)

When Daddy's away...

...we like to have drive-in picnics in the living room.  Why cook a real meal when you can drive through McDonald's and eat it on the floor?  The kids think it's the coolest thing to spread blankets on the living room floor with our food, pop in a DVD and enjoy hanging out together.  I think it's pretty fun too :)

A ROCKIN' Good time!

Maguire will be a drummer.  I don't think this is a biased opinion, just fact.  He has a full-sized drum kit and every time he has an opportunity to make a wish list, he asks for more "stuff" for his kit.  Cymbals, cow bells {more cow bell!}, more cymbals, wood blocks, a stool, different cymbals, new sticks, etc.  Much like his dad, he can't go more than 30 minutes without busting out a beat whether it's on a table with his hands/fingers or it's using his mouth for some funky beatboxing.  The kid's got rhythm and he's slightly obsessed.  Fortunately for him, Kyle's got plenty of outlets and connections to indulge his creative endeavors.  For his 4th birthday, thanks to one of Kyle's best friends & his wife, we were able to throw Maguire the coolest party a music-loving kid could ask for!  DV is in a number {currently 3, perhaps?} of rock bands and also leads worship at a local church.  He's super talented & plays drums {has given Mac a few mini-lessons}, guitar, sings and now has a recording studio in his home.  His sweet wife, EV is an awesome photographer.  We invaded their home with 7 boys, 4 dads and 1 Papa to rock it out and record a song the Kyle had written for the occasion.  DV recorded, EV took photos.  The kids had a blast...and so did the adults :)  What music-loving guy wouldn't dream of recording?  The final version of the song hasn't yet been released, but I've heard a rumor that it's getting close :)  Maguire LOVED his party and we LOVED celebrating him! 

Maguire is determined, silly, snuggly, smart, a total daddy's boy, athletic, strong-willed, non-stop-talker, inquisitive, energetic, loves trucks, loves drums, loves sports, loves riding his bike, loves kisses {even though he loves to pretend he doesn't ;) }, loves sugar, loves his family and loves Jesus.  And we LOVE him!