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Bastille Day donation

I tried to do a slideshow but it wouldn't come up on here so I had to post the pictures seperate. Back in July I donated a hair bow and pillowcase dress for a Bastille Day fundraiser hosted by Bonnie Ruth's restaurant in Frisco.

I can no longer get the fabric I used in the pillowcase dresses so I offered the auction winner 14 hair bows instead. She had no problem with that! lol Since I am wanting to start making bow holders (and name letters) in January when I open up Brown Bag Bows, he suggested that I make her one for being so understanding.

I'm sure she has an idea of what I'm making her since I asked her what her daughter's name was and what color her room was. She said that she had no theme to her room but she liked lime green and pink. So this is the bow holder I made her. The butterflies are 3-D and I put little sayings around it. Her daughter is around 3 (judging by the size dress she originally ordered). I am really happy with it and I hope she will be too!

I have 12 of the 14 hair bows made, but I still have a simple 1 layer black, white and I am throwing in a Christmas bow. I will updated this post later with the pic of those. So tell me what you think!

Here are the bows. The 1st one is teal and brown, then blue & white (I was thinking of school uniforms when I made this one), and a double layer red.

These are fun bows! The 1st is a watermelon bow (my faaaaavorite!!!!), the 2nd is a double layer pink, then a brown and pink (my signature bow).
These are more funky. We have a pink zebra bow, hot pink and leopard and a birthday bow (which is layered with polka dots, spikes with stars, and birthday cakes on the top ribbon).
Fall bows. The 1st one is just a beautiful bow (espeically in person), the 2nd is for October and the last is a Halloween bow with black cats and punpkins on it!

my ankle hurts!!!!!!!

ahhhhh my ankle hurts soooo bad today! A little background....I slipped and fell at Walmart on May 27 and fractured my right kneecap. So for 2 weeks I was stuck using a brace and crutches and putting all of my weight on my left ankle. Then after the 2 weeks were up I went down to 1 crutch and at 4 weeks I finally started walking normal. But, now when I walk or stand for too long, my ankle swells up and hurts like crazy!

Normally it swells up in front and back of the round bone on the outside of my ankle, but today it is one big swollen mass. My wonderful sis-in-law asked me if I was sure it just wasn't fat...thanks Nicole! lol

No, it's swollen and I need to see if I can go to the doctor soon to do something about it. I talked to him in June a few weeks after my kneecap broke and he said that he thought it would go away. Well it hasn't! Look, see for yourself how bad it is!

2 weeks!!!

Ok, really 15 days...but it's my 2 week anniversary of no soda's! The 12th was the last day I had a soda and I haven't had anything but water, tea, lemonade and milk since then! Aaron and I had iced tea for lunch and it was sooooo good! He still drinks soda but he won't around me because he knows that I crave it.

I like the idea of having one (especially a Pepsi, even though Sunkist was my drink)....but I picture how thick and syrupy it would be to drink it so I stay away! yuck!

Yesterday my mother-in-law said that it looked like I had lost some weight. I see it and feel it in my face. I alwyas lose weight in my face first, then my waist, and somewhere at the bottom of the list is my butt and thighs!! LOL

I do feel better since I quit and Aaron is really proud of me. The kids don't drink soda at all anymore either since I don't buy it. We are working on losing weight and eating healthy and so far it has been wonderful!

SO if you are looking to cut something unhealthy out of your life, think of the downsides of it. Whatever your vice is (food, alcohol, soda) and stay focused! You can do it! Seriously, if I can quit smoking and drinking soda, then you can do it too!!

trip to grandma Theresa's

Aaron's mom watched the girls for us today so Aaron and I could go do Papa John's stuff...we ended up going to his friend Reza's store that is opening at Preston and Belt Line in Dallas. Reza is a funny guy and the store is really nice.

But anyways, these are the bento's I packed for the girls to take over to grandma Theresa's. This is Sara's...a puppy shaped mustard sandwich (her fav), cheddar bunnies, raisins, cantaloupe (in the foil cupcake holder) and some cheese.
Emma had her usual "sushi sandwich" of ham and cream cheese, cheddar cheese in the foil cup, and applesauce in the little Hello Kitty container. Then a smaller container with chocolate bunnies and cantaloupe.
I was talking to someone at the lego group about bento's and how much healthier my kids eat now that I make them. And she mentioned portion control. It is a great way to control portions! And I realized that these pictures really make some of these lunches look really big! And it's not so. For those of you who have these same containers, you know how small they are.

Going on the above pic of Emma's lunch...I used 3 slices of bread today for the sushi, normally I use 2. On each slice is one slice of lunchmeat. Normally if I were to make a regular sandwich, I would put 3-4 slices of meat on it. The cheese looks like a lot, but really I cut a thick slice about the size of a saltime cracker. Then I cut it into strips and then little chunks. The kids think they are getting a bunch of cheese, when it's not.

As far as the fruit, today we had cantaloupe, a lot of times we have strawberries. That is usually about 3, maybe 4 strawberries and I cut them up little.

Seriously, doing it that way makes it look like there is a lot more food there and we all know how much our eyes judge our hunger for us....there is a reason the saying goes "your eyes are bigger than your stomach". Well, not anymore. This has been great for the kids, especially Emma, since we do have concern about her weight.

Honestly, if the kids want to eat more cantaloupe or strawberries or apples and oranges, great! Once box of bunny crackers will last us 2 weeks, where we used to be lucky to have them last 2 days. So it has made a big difference to us.

And for anyone who wants to know, I get my "bunnies" from the Annie's brand. Here is a link to their site...http://www.annies.com You can get them at Sprouts, Central Market, Whole Foods, but the cheapest place I have found is Walmart. Seriously, go save $1!! They are only about $1.98 a box and they are in the organic food area. We also switched to using their macaroni and cheese to avoid any red or yellow dyes. The kids like it just the same and you can get it shaped liked bunnies or Arthur from the cartoon on PBS. They also have "spaghetti o's" which run about $1.29 a can, but it's worth it to keep the dyes away from the kids!

Anyway, good night everyone!!

bento snack for lego group

Ok so we had a lego group meetup today. I made these for the kids to eat on the way there, but instead Sara ate most of them while we were there ;)

From left to right, cheese sticks, chocolate bunnies, ham & cream cheese sandwiches on a dinner roll...grae smooshed fruit, chocolate bunnies, cheddar bunnies, and a lion shaped pb & j sandwich (there was a hole in the bread)...then a little bento of cheddar bunnies and cheese bites.
Sara ate all of the cheese and the cheddar bunnies out of everyone's box...lol

Emma's Monday Bento

Emma's lunch bento today was 2 little flower shaped cream cheese & turkey sandwiches, strawberries, greek pasta salad, cantaloupe and grape smooshed fruit.

Halloween fabric

My mom bought me some cute fabric to make Sara a couple of pillowcase dresses for October. This time I will be making them where 3/4 of the dress is one fabric and the bottom 1/4 is another. I also have some orange and purple rick rack to add to them. It should be pretty cute with some matching hairbows. I think that I will paint some canvas shoes with a Halloween theme (candy corn, pumpkins, bats, etc.) and add ribbon as shoelaces with some cute little socks.

bedtime snack

This is what I made for Aaron & Emma as a bedtime snack. Cucumbers, strawberries and cantaloupe in my new bento. I actually have a pic of the two of them tonight but Aaron won't let me post it. Meanie! lol

I WANT THIS FURNITURE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aaron found a website with this furniture on it last night. I want them soooo bad!! The couch is $1099 and the recliner is $799 and the video game rocker is $199 (so expensive)! Plus it would already match our nice black leather couches!!! It would be perfect for a gameroom.....come on, it's a Longhorn couch for pete's sake!!!! (killing me killing me)

Sara saw the pictures and said "Does daddy like this couch"? yes "Is it hook em horns"? yes "oh, daddys gonna love that chair" lol She is so cute!

new bento stuff

Me and my mom went to the 99 cent store last night (in Lewisville) and I found some cute little storage boxes to use in our lunches. The blue and orange boxes on the right are actually small, it's just hard to tell in the pic. And the green box is bigger than the blue and orange. The far left is a cute little box that I'm pretty excited about. It is the size of a sandwich box but it has a cup in the center. The lid is on in this first pic but off in the second picture.



This is so cute. It has a little built in cup with a lid (not in the picture) to hold dip and other little food fits around it!
I tried to photograph them, but it didn't come out very good.

playdate lunch*UPDATED*

The girls little friend Luke came over to play with them and I made them a bento lunch. Sara wasn't hungry so I just made one for Emma and Luke. The top one is Luke's and he has cheese bites, honey bunnies, pb & j puppy sandwich, cantaloupe and strawberries. Emma had the same thing except her butterfly sandwich is cream cheese and ham.
I really like the way strawberries photograph, the red is so pretty.

*UPDATE* Here is a picture of the girls little friend Luke...he said "take my picture take my picture"

the girls playing

My mom bought the girls a whole town's worth of little house playsets. It's actually really cute when you see them all together because they aren't all houses. There's stores and other "town" buildings too. So last night the girls were playing with them on our bed so I took some pictures of them.

girls lunch from yesterday

These are the girls bento lunches from yesterday. Anthony just wanted to eat a hot dog so pics of his lunch. The top pic is Emma's. We have leftover potato soup with paprika and cheese in the blue bento. The pink has oyster crackers for the soup, honey bunnies and banana nibbles. And the bottom has some ham & cream cheese "sushi sandwiches", cheese and grapes.


Sara's lunch was different. She had cut up hot dogs, grapes & cheese in the top bento. The bottom has raisins, carrot chips and a little Hello Kitty container of ranch dressing.

dinner last night

It was getting late last night and I needed to make something to eat, I decided potato soup it would be. I used the Bear Creek brand as a base and added 2 cans of sliced new potatoes, chopped up green onion and shredded cheddar cheese. On top I put some pepper and paprika. It was really good and cheesy. It was still a little plain though, so I need to find more things to spice it up with. Maybe some bacon. Anyways, this is what it looked like when it was ready!

Aaron's lunch

Aaron forgot to bring home his lunch box yesterday from work so I made him take his lunch in one of the girls poufy bags. He asked if I could just put his lunch in a grocery sack...lol

So here is his lunch, another wrap like yesterdays, greek pasta salad (pasta, olive oil, feta cheese, mini tomatoes, black olives & cucumbers), a red plum, grapes, raisins and honey bunnies.
Now while I was making the greek salad last night Aaron kept trying to steal some and I told him no because it was going in lunches for the next 2 days. So after I took the picture of his lunch Sara asked me if she could take my picture and I told her yes....instead she took a picture of Daddy eating Mommy's greek salad!!! My little Sara Bear caught him in the act!! He was so busted all he could do was laugh! She didn't have the flash on, but you can still make out what he's doing. LOL

kids lunches

We are done with school for today. This was a really short day for the kids which works out better for me because I have laundry to hang up. In 15 minutes the girls are laying down for a rest. No tv. Anthony isn't going to rest, he is going to work on his History Pocket. They finished their school work just in time for Word World. I really like that show.

So here are their lunches. Emma had chocolate bunnies, heart shaped piece of muenster cheese, FruitaBu apple roll-up, cream cheese and turkey "sushi", string cheese and strawberries. She loved every bit of it and I gave all of them an organic sucker(http://www.yummyearth.com) as an extra treat.

Anthony basically had the same thing. His fruit rollup was grape and he didn't have strawberries or the heart cheese.

Sara is a bit tired today and just wanted cheese. Boy she got a lot of cheese. It is cut into tiny little chunks though. Chocolate bunnies, grapes and strawberries which she gave to Emma). I am really glad that my kids love fruit so much! The treats I have for them aren't sugar free but they are sweetened with organic cane juice rather than high fructose corn syrup, sugar or artificial sweetener. All of their treats are organic and I make sure that I give them a lot of fruit. All of our breakfast stuff is all natural or organic too! We have cereal, oatmeal, whole wheat pancakes, banana waffles, whole wheat flax waffles and eggs enriched with omega 3.

As far as drinks go we have water water water! We also have milk, Simply Orange OJ, limeade and lemonade. There is a little grape juice here for Anthony. I have some Kern's Strawberry Banana Nectar-ahhhhhh!!!!! That stuff is awesome!!!!!!!!!! I used to drink it when I lived out in California in my very early 20's. The only place I can find it here is at the Tom Thumb on 3040 and (Valley?/Edmonds?). I can never remember which of those that street is....I think it's Valley. Anyway, go try it!! The sell it in single cans less than a dollar each (I think)...so worth it!!

I think back to when the kids were in school and how they ate at the cafeteria everyday...all that junk! I think that school are making baby steps towards healthier meals but it still has a long ways to go. I am just really glad that my kids are able to be at home with me and I know what they are putting into their bodies. I love that I know what they are learning too...that is pretty cool. The other daywe were driving down 121 and we were passing Teacher's Tools and Anthony asked me if I had ever been in there and I told him that it had been awhile and I wanted to go back in there....so he put his hand on my shoulder, smiled at me and said "I'd expect that a teacher would want to go in there"....isn't that sweet? He is such a cutie!!

Hello Kitty Bento

Ok this is just too cute! I would never spend this much time making a bento but I had to share!

Food...mmmmmm

For dinner last night I decided to make King Ranch Casserole. Now I have always had it with Velveeta and the tortillas were mixed up with everything else. I did it more of a lasagna layered style with shredded cheddar cheese.

This is how I made it....I boiled and cut up 3 frozen chicken breasts, then mixed the chicken together with 1 family size can of Cream of chicken soup (you are supposed to put in 1 can of cream of chicken and 1 cream of mushroom, but we don't like mushrooms), then a little of the chicken broth, 1/2 chopped onion and 1 can of ro-tel. Then I cut up corn tortilla's and put them at the bottom of a buttered casserole dish, then I added 1/2 of the chicken/soup mix, then cheese, then more tortillas, soup mix and cheese. Put it in the oven at 350 for like 45-60 minutes (I took it out when the cheese looked the way it does in the pic). It was great. I only wish that I would have put more tortillas in it and I will next time.

I remembered to take a picture of Aaron's lunch last night before I went to bed. For him I have a wrap that is cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, slice of muenster, clice of colby jack, and southwest turkey. The wrap is one of those Mission Tortilla's Plus that is "Heart Healthy". Right above the wrap is string cheese, then we have a fruit cup with strawberries, grapes and underneath is cantaloupe. Then a Fruitabu Smooshed Fruit roll-up, some cheddar bunnies, chocolate bunnies and a little macaroni salad. The fruit looks good...mmmmm lol

The kids are watching one of the Land Before Time movies, which is neat because we are finishing up our Dinosaur unit this week....but it's cutting into school time!! We got the kids up early this morning so that they will go to bed early! We took them swimming last night with the hopes that it would wear them out but it didn't work! lol

Poor Sara hasn't taken napes since she was about 2 so I think it is best for the girls to lay down after we do school. Only for an hour and then they can get up and have lunch. Later I will take them swimming before dinner. That's the plan for the day anyways!!