MORE cupcakes.. :)

Are you tired of me talking about cupcakes yet? :) Well, I am going crazy with this cupcake themed first birthday party. I am addicted to online cupcake googling!! HAHA! So, today I found the crinkle cutters used to make the cupcake pops described in the blog below. If you are planning on trying them, then you need the mini cutters. Honestly, I didn't even look in stores so you might be able to find them there too. I ordered some from amazon.com that are made by Wilton's (you can buy them on Wilton's site or Amazon). They are scheduled to be delivered on Thursday (which happens to be mine and Jeff's anniversary) so I probably won't try them till next weekend. Also, I found this super cute website called All Things Cupcake It is too sweet! It is a giant resource to all things cupcake related on the internet. You can scroll through the billion posts or search by category (kids, baby, clothes, recipes, etc etc etc...). Go there when you have time.. I think I wasted an hour while the kids were napping just looking at all the cupcake goodies!!


Enough about that.. I am off to cook dinner and who knows.. maybe cupcakes :)

Hmm...

This has been one of those weeks where I am so stretching to think of some favorites things. I am feeling like crap (sorry!) today and I think I am getting the flu.. ugh! But there are a couple things I want to share because I don't want you to miss out on them..

Cupcake Pops.. These are made by the wonderful Bakerella, who has an awesome blog with great ideas! I am making these (with Kristie's help, of course) for Brylee's first birthday party. Don't they look delicious!? She has even been featured on Martha Stewart showing the world how to make them. The directions actually sound suprisingly easy so we'll see.. :) Here is the link to her blog.. How to make cupcake pops and here is all the cupcake pop ideas

Giant cupcake: I thought I had mentioned this on the blog before but I couldn't find it so.. here it is! The giant cupcake! The pan is made by Wilton's and I think it is so cute! I will, of course, be making this too for Brylee's party (it's all cupcake theme). I am thinking one just for her to dig into and then a couple more others to enjoy. I have already tried making it once and it was a disaster because it's so deep so the middle didn't cook very well and the outside was burning so.. I did a little online "how to make this cake" and I am going to try again today, hopefully. If you want to save money on shipping, I bought mine at our local Target, right off the shelf. I would look at Target first and if they don't have it there, you can buy it here online.. Wilton's Giant Cupcake. Either way, you have to have it! :)

Dittos for Kiddos: This is a huge all things kid related consignment sale that they do twice a year, here in Abilene. I went last night for the Midnight Madness (from 9 to midnight) and yes, it was madness. There was probably 500+ people searching through all the goodies! It really is good deals and they have some great stuff, especially if you are pregnant or have a little baby. Anyways, it is going on today and tomorrow at the Round Building at the Expo Center. Here is the website if you want more times and all that info.. Dittos for Kiddos If you get bored this weekend.. it's fun :)

Lastly, it is no secret that I am obssessed with bows for my princesses. If you have even seen Braelyn outside of my house without a bow on, you are one of few! lol In my defense, Braelyn loves the bows! If I fix her hair and forget to stick one in she will be quick to remind me "Mommy, I want a bow". :) So we have over 50 (whoops) and I bought two more at the Dittos for Kiddos sale, listed above. They are perfect! They are made from a boutique in Arizona called Mudpies and Pigtails. She has an etsy store so click here... Mudpies and Pigtails

Here are the ones sweet Braelyn and Brylee got..

Well hopefully those projects will keep you busy, at least through the weekend :) I am off to lay on the couch and feel sorry for myself for feeling like a dying animal lol

Have a blessed weekend! Blog in your boredom ;)

Happy- 11 months old

This was Brylee yesterday when she was 10 months old...

and here she is today at 11 months old! Can't you see the difference?!? ;)

Princess Happy is officially one month away from being one year old! Where does the time go? FYI for all you new moms, you have heard the first year goes fast many times but I do believe it goes even faster the second time around. Maybe because I was chasing two instead of one?

Brylee Faith at 11 months old..

• She is eating all table foods, has been for a couple months now. She was done with baby food at the first real taste of real food. lol
• She's cruising around on all the furniture and has taken steps but is not walking, yet :)
• She waves bye-bye, blows kissys, plays peek-a-boo
• She says "mama", "dada", "bye-bye", "hi", "baby (bu-bay)", "puppy (pu-pup)", "baba (bottle, of course), "papa" and "dis (which is this, when she wants to know "what's this" lol)".
• She is mimicking every little sound.. birds, barking dogs, the big kids talking or screaming and even thinks it's hilarious to copy our laughs. To say she is verbal, would be an understatement.
• She can point to where up and down are on command.. she raises and lowers her arms.
• Brylee is still loving her bottle with formula and I can guarantee you it will be a fight to get the "baba" away when she turns one.
• She is sleeping through the night (can you hear the angels singing Hallelujuah?). It only took her 9 months lol Her sister slept through the night at 7 weeks.. what a difference!
• She points at everything. My brother asks her "Happy, who is number 1?" and she raises her little finger! I'm hoping she will keep this till she turns one and she can respond when people ask her how old she is.. haha.

(on side note.. I get asked all the time why we named our baby Happy or where the name came from.. it is not her mommy and daddy given name! Her name is Brylee and Happy is a nickname gone bad.. haha. Really, that's what we call her but no, we did not name her that. If you wanna know the story.. ask) :)

Here are some of me and my girls.. on Happy's 11 month birthday :)

These are the 11 month princess today.. isn't she so cute!?

What a blessing little Miss Happy has been in our lives the past 11 months. I feel so blessed and I cannot wait to see what the future will bring for the precious angels of ours. Next month.. 1st birthday party.. woohoo! And in case you forgot how adorable her big sister was... here is Braelyn Grace :)

My little gymnast

My sweet 2 1/2 year old, Braelyn, started gymnastics last night in a "mommy and me" class and we had so much fun! They start with some stretching songs and games and then everyone breaks up to walk around. You go to different parts of the gym and do different things.. walk on beams, jump on trampolines, slide in the foam pit, swing over a trampoline and flip. Braelyn loved it all and she really did great. Her balance and ability was much higher than I was expecting.. especially considering she is tall and lanky (lol.. see below).

I was so proud and I am really looking forward to these Tuesday nights with Braelyn. I hope she has such good memories of playing with Mommy at gymnastics. I cannot believe that baby is old enough to go to gymnastics! Wasn't I just pregnant with her the other day??! sigh...

Tomorrow my other baby will be 11 months old (Mommy just had a panic attack) so look for an update then... :)

Beware of TOO MANY PICTURES!

That was your warning that this post has too many pictures! I have cautioned before that I take an annoying amount of pictures of my kids and I wasn't kidding. I would be annoyed if I were you too, I think, but I can't resist these little faces ;)

First off, last Friday I took all 3 of the little angels to the CIRCUS GATTI in Abilene. It was a blast! Even little Brylee sat through the two and a half hour performance. They loved it and so did I. Thankfully, Nick and Maher agreed to come along and wrangle kids with me. We had fun. The first collage is of the circus.. don't forget to click on the collages so you can see all the pictures :)

And this week.. we have already been to the park twice. Once on Monday and once today, different parks, of course. We are so lucky to live with a park right down the street and when the weather is nice the kids go all the time. In the summer, we go every night.. I know, spoiled brats! :) It was 75 yesterday and 90 today so parks beware, I'm bringing my crew! This was Monday at the park by our house. You can excuse my hair and no makeup.. it was early :)


Today we took the kids to Nelson Park by the Abilene Zoo. Such an awesome playgroud.. it's like a giant maze! The kids LOVE it and always have fun. They also have a couple big ponds with ducks. The kids and the ducks were not scared of each other at all and they got to hand feed them.. Braelyn even got bit (not bad, don't worry) a couple times. Braelyn, who inherited animal loving from her mother, thought the ducks were awesome.

Can you spot them in jail in the collage below? :) Little Miss Happy is a swinger. She giggles the whole time. She might have even picked up her first mini-sunburn :( Whoops, I didn't know we were gonna have to bust out the sunscreen in February!!

Here is Miss Happy on the swing on Monday. Sorry about the ridculous wind noise.. West Texas winds are usually awful!

Five Favorite Fridays

Always a fun week at my house.. Here are five of my favorites :)

1. Huggies Lotion. How simple. My kids both have very dry skin and eczema so they are usually pretty bumpy, if not rashy. Last week I ran out of my favorite Johnson's and Johnson's pink lotion and had some Huggies Sensitive that someone had given me when I was pregnant. I have never used it but since you have to soak my kids at least twice a day and I was out, I used it. Perfection. Their skin has been so smooth, soft, silky, perfect for over a week now. Who knew? We have tried every lotion, cream, gel and antibiotic for this and nothing has helped. Huggies lotion.. so far, so good. We are going to use it till it quits working (hopefully that means forever).

2. Pam's Pets. I took the kids this morning for a little excursion to the local pet store just to get out of the house because I was bored. AND the bonus is I LOVE PET STORES and Pam's Pet Store is awesome. I might enjoy it more than they do (shh...). I made weekly trips there even before I had kids. They have huge aquarium rooms, every gerbil, snake, rat and bird plus that you could ever think of so it's fun. The down side was I forgot my camera so trusty Blackberry had to keep up and she can not do the job like my new camera but enjoy anyways...

3. If you're Happy and you know it.. I sing this song more than 30 times a day, really. The song is not about an emotion or feeling of being happy at our house, it's about Happy, my sweet baby. :) So, the big kids usually help me in singing to her things such as "If you're Happy and you know it you've got fat cheeks.." or "If you're Happy and you know it you're a princess" and so on and so on. It's hilarious and fun. It usually leads to Braelyn and Dylan with "Now sing Itsy Bitsy Spider or ABC's or Old MacDonald or Twinkle Twinkle." One song can turn into a one hour song session (like today) but it's always fun. One of my favorite thing is singing with the kids.. thankfully, they don't know I can't sing to save my life. Gotta love kids.. :)

4. Just a favorite picture :) Nothing in the world can compare... I am blessed.

5. And Happy 25th Birthday (yesterday) to my favorite friend, Kristie! I could never describe how much you mean to us. You are a loyal friend, a spoiling and fun aunt and my personal beautician :) You are loved by the Loftin's! Happy Birthday, sweetie!

Kristie with our "baby boy", Dozer

The Clean and The Dirty

Let's start with the dirty cause it is probably more entertaining. Braelyn, God love her and so do I, she loves to color. However, she has not quite grasped where we can color and where we can not. This has been going on since right before she turned 1. Let me share.. Yes, even though it drive me crazy, it still makes me laugh! She is the best!

on her face..

my hallway wall..

the back of our front door..

and the latest.. the top of her pretty toy box! WHEW! :)

My clean sweet Brylee enjoying a little bath!

Can you believe this child is about to ONE year old??! This time last year.. I was on bedrest! BOO!

Love is in the air <3

We had a wonderful Valentine's weekend. Saturday consisted of a Valentine's wedding, lunch at Roadhouse and dinner at Cracker Barrell. Yum! The kids also got to go play at The Jump Around on Sunday, even though they had just gone on Friday.. they can't get enough of that place.

Valentine's Day Collage
(click to see larger)
Can you spot my wild child, Happy, in one of her crazy moments? :)

Just another random collage from the week..
James taught Braelyn how to two-step! :)


How loved and blessed we are!

Courts ruled Autism not linked to vaccines..

I just read this article on MSN and breathed a sigh of relief.
PLEASE go READ IT!!
Click here to go read it OR here is the link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29160138?GT1=43001

The article is discussing that the courts have ruled that vaccines are not in any way a cause of autism. There were thousands of families waiting for a compensation that they will not recieve. Let me be honest, that part breaks my heart. I cannot imagine the pain of having to deal with a illness, ailment, disorder, disease with your child. I would, 100%, be the same way these parents are right now. I mean, come on, your child is hurting! I would be pointing fingers, just the same way.

On the other hand, this topic stirs up some anger for me. The result of people now refusing vaccines for their children is a rise among preventable diseases that are not being stopped because of people refusing the vaccines. I can now live in fear of my children, my nephew, my nieces, any child I know going to school and catching measles, mumps, rubella or even meningitis (and the list could go on). It is ridiculous. If there is any doubt of parents of possibly not choosing these vaccines for their children, I am PRAYING that they will listen to what the courts/doctors/specialists are saying: VACCINATE YOUR CHILDREN and ON TIME! Also, God forbid, these doctors are wrong and the vaccines do have a tiny chance of causing autism.. would you rather your child die of one of those horrible diseases listed above OR be autistic and alive?

I am praying for the people making these huge decisions. I am praying for the families involved in this lawsuit and all parents of autistic children. I know this is a controversial subject, I really want your input.. leave me a comment (even if I don't know.. I know you're out there, I can see you on my live traffic feed lol)

I definitely have a top 5 favorite things this week.. What an exciting week we have had.

1) While shopping in Dallas I got to engage in one of my loves: shopping for the girl’s jeans at Children’s Place. If you don’t shop there, find one now! They have the best jeans for long, skinny kids (example: mine). I can buy a size larger than they need because they have they wonderful elastic bands to tighten the waist. Moms with tall children are singing “Hallelujah” right now J They also have the jeans with elastic bands at Target and Old Navy (but not all styles so check them first). Children’s Place wins my vote though cause they have these super cute jeans with sparkles all over them. I have bought Braelyn some every year and Happy got her first pair last weekend. Hmm.. I love you, Children’s Place.

And Brylee got that shirt too.. it's appropriate! :)

2) One of my favorites is having a birthday TODAY! Happy Birthday, Ashley! I love you! You are finally 18! You are going to be a great mommy and Addison will be the luckiest baby in the world… Plus she will be related to me so, no doubt, she will love her life! ;)

3) Jeff found a dog on the side of the highway this week and it was so cute. It was a miniature dachshund. We seriously debated keeping it because it was so cute (but turned out to be kind of annoying.. Little dogs lick too much and reminded me of why we do not own one!). We decided the dog was not ours and even though the kids loved her, we called her real “mommy” to come pick her up. Her family was so thankful for us calling and giving her back that they even gave us a small reward. In the end, it paid to do the right thing. Lesson learned. It did, however, take quite a while to explain to Dylan and Braelyn what happened to the dog and why we had to give her back. Teaching the kids a good lesson and getting rewarded for doing the right thing.. That’s my number 3 favorite thing this week.

4) This one is not a paid advertisement.. Though it may look that way! I have ordered the girls birthday invitations twice now from autumns-creek.com. She seriously does an amazing job! I ordered Brylee’s from her this week and she already sent me a proof.. They turn out perfect every time. I love her work and would highly recommend her for any card needs.. Thank you’s, Christmas, Birthdays, Valentines, Halloween, Birth Announcements.. She does them all! She is on my blog list on the right side of this screen so go check out her blog. You will love it! I would give you a sneak-peek of Brylee’s invitation proof but I don’t want to spoil it for those who will be receiving one in the mail! Just pretend this one says Brylee... :)

Autumns-Creek.com

5) And in honor of Valentines Day..

Happy Valentine's Day to the loves of my life.. Braelyn, Brylee, Dylan, Alyssa, Lauryn and of course, JEFF! :) You are loved more than you will ever know... HUGS AND KISSYS!!

25 Facts :)

I did one of these for my facebook and figured I mine as well do one here too.. ;)

1) I am the proud mommy of two sweet princesses. Braelyn and Brylee complete me.
2) No one can make me as mad as my husband does (well maybe my brother too) but I love him more everyday. I am thankful for him being an amazing husband AND daddy! My girls are so blessed.
3)I never wanted to have girls when I had kids. Really, thats a confession :) But NOW I can not picture it any other way. I have no idea what to do with BOYS! But my nephew, Dylan, is quickly teaching me ;)
4) The first year of each other month in my kids lives I write them a note telling them how much I love them and how they have changed that month. Braelyn has one from 1 month, 2 months, 3 months... etc and then each birthday after. Documenting their every move is very important to me.
5)I think my princesses should never leave the house without bows on their heads LOL It rarely ever happens too. I also make them wear matching outfits WAY too much.. annoying, I'm sure, but they look SO CUTE! :)
6)I had a really fun childhood. My mom was SUPER at planning trips and thinking of fun things to do. Did she ever tell us NO? I think not. ;)
7) Everything I do during the day is one giant routine and that makes me feel better. The order I give the kids baths, get them dressed, how I get ready.. everything.
8) I love tanning and I am terrified of the affects it has on me.
9) I LOVE staying in hotels!
10) I have two big dogs.. I think dogs are the bigger, the better.
11) I usually jump into things without thinking and then I am in way over my head..
12) I am scared of very few things.. I just assume nothing can hurt me that bad. Except height.. I HATE that!
13) I love planning my kids birthday parties. I get a lot of teasing cause I spend too much, do too much, take it overboard but I think they only get one birthday a year so I am going to make it the best possible (even if they can't remember it.. they will have the pictures of how great it was)
14) I love online shopping. It's addicting and annoying to wait for it to get here but I keep doing it cause they have more variety :)
15) I was born and raised in a big city but secretly love Abilene..
16) I went to private school my whole life... Elem. Middle. High. College! Culture shock in the real world? YES!
17) I just always assume people like me cause I like almost all people I meet. I can remember the first person who confronted me.. I was shocked! LOL
18) I remember every person I meet or even see. I have rarely met a stranger. I love people.
19) If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.. really.
20) My brother and I are exact opposites on most things. We disagree on everything but we love each other and are good friends (deep down somewhere lol).
21) I would rather spend the entire day with a kid than spend an hour with an adult. I don't dislike adults (once again, I love people) but children usually have better insight.
22) I think Braelyn is the funniest kid ever. The things she says.. I could write a book. Her crazy little sister is on the same path.. I love my life.
23) I have a pretty bad memory when it comes to my childhood. I only remember random moments.
24) I hate the thought that people grow up. I always look at my kids and think "Man, they don't know how good they have it now. They just get to play, eat, sleep, get lots of love and fun." I hate that one day they will have to grow up and face the real world. I want them to look back and think my mom and dad gave us the most fun childhood ever.. And Jeff and I really try to do that. We take them to everything fun.
25) It's hard for me to focus on my friends now that I have a family. I push people away without meaning too cause I feel like all time should be spent on Braelyn, Brylee and Jeff but I know outside support is important too so I am trying to be more aware of my "friend efforts".

Our television debut update

Well we successfully survived live television today with a 10 month old and a two year old :)

Brylee was so cute. She was blowing kisses to the camera man between commercial breaks and waving bye-bye. It was fun (and amazing to see how chaotic the newsroom really was!). During our segment she pulled her bow off her headband (they just slide off so you can switch bows) so I took the head band off and she threw the bow across the room while I was talking! It was too funny! We were all laughing! She is a wild child but we love her. A committee from KTAB news will be picking the winner on Friday and they will be mailing us a DVD of today's news so I can post it and send it to all of you (It's a good laugh, believe me!).

Thanks for all your support and for putting up with all my updates :) Haha! I will be sure to let you know who the winner is as soon as I get the call!!

Dallas Trip

We had such a fun weekend getting away from Abilene for a couple days. We went shopping in Dallas (way too much shopping!!), ice skating at the Galleria and really enjoyed spending time with some good friends. Don't forget to click on the collages to see all the pictures bigger ;)

Here is just random pics from the little trip..
Happy poured out all the cheerios.. whoops!

Ice skating at the Galleria..
I'm not sure if Braelyn has ever been happier! She smiled and giggled the whole time. It was so much fun to see her really enjoying herself. Thanks to Uncle Stinky and Chris.. she could ice skate ;)

This is one happy little Braelyn..

Some random pictures with the girls outside of Razzoo's.. what a cute little pond they have ;)

We are so blessed to have such good friends to share with us in the fun and friends who really love our princesses and would do anything in the world for them.. they are spoiled by many!

Baby Contest Update

We still have not found out how the "top baby" will be chosen. They are interviewing one baby each day thru Thursday and the winner will be picked on Friday. It is possible that they may let us vote after all babies have been presented but I am not sure at this time. What I do know is that Brylee's TV debut day is Wednesday, February 11th! We are very excited (and I am VERY nervous about live television) and praying that our little baby will be a good, smiley mood :) If you are in Abilene watch for Brylee on KTAB's 5 o'clock new (possible replayed at 6 and 10, as well). If you are not in Abilene, I am praying that they will post the video online but if they do not, we will have someone taping it so we can show it off :)

Top 4!!

Today they picked the top 4 and Brylee made it! Yay! I am not sure how you vote for the top 4 yet.. there is not a poll posted, as of right now. She will be on the local news sometime this week and I will let you know when after they contact me. You might be able to view it online.. I will find out for sure so everyone who does not live in Abilene can see too! I am guessing they may not post a poll till the top 4 babies go on the news to convince everyone that they are the cutest :)
Here is the link to see top 4.. it's cute. They posted names by the pictures now. http://bigcountryhomepage. com/content/contest/cutest_baby

Thanks for your votes and support. Once again, we have the best family and friends in the world.Thanks for rallying behind our little princess! :)

Top WHAT?!?

I've got nothing this week.. so I'm stretching here :)

My five-ish favs: Hmm..

1) Baby Contest: It really has been so much fun having Brylee in this silly baby contest. We have rallied our troops all week to go vote for our baby princess and since we have the best friends and family in the world, it has been a blast. So fun seeing your little baby on the Internet. Here is the ad for the baby contest on the BigCountryHomepage.. By the way, these babies in the top ten are really cute so competition has been tough.

2. Tanning: I started tanning again, praise Jesus! :) I haven't tanned in almost three (?) years so I finally paid for a month this week. I am excited about not being pasty white anymore and I promise not to over do it.. like this guy :)

3. HEALTHY BABIES: I posted last week about Brylee's double ear infection and the shots she was having to do. This week she had a check up and ears were clear! Hallelujah! Braelyn has also been WELL for almost a month now.. I am thanking the latest surgery and removal of adenoids for that. There is nothing in the world like having two healthy babies (even if it only lasts a little while) after them having been sick so long.

4. ONE MONTH, as of yesterday, until mine and Jeff's third anniversary. What a three years it has been.. post on that to come soon :) Here we are Summer 2005 when we first started dating. Can we say young, skinny and tan? Where did those days go? :)

5. Baby princesses: Jeff's cousin, Ashley, just found out her firstborn will be a little girl. This makes 7 in a row in his side of the family (Ashley, Savannah, Alyssa, Braelyn, Lauryn and Brylee) and 5 in a row on my side of the family (McKinley, Braelyn, Brylee and Meredith)! WOW! Needless to say, we love little girls and so thrilled over Little Miss Addison's arrival in June. She will be one gorgeous, spoiled and loved little girl :) Wish I had one of Ashley's ultrasounds to post here but I don't :(

Sorry I have nothing exciting this week. It's been a slow week, which at our house is sometimes a blessing. I promise a good weekend update though.. we've got a good one planned ;)