two things for today

first thing

i am pretty sure this cute little pink donut has been popping up on many peoples blogs lately. that's because this past weekend we all went to a really fun blog conference where we were inspired, encouraged and blessed beyond belief. i met some new blog friends and some old blog friends and a good time was had by all. there were over 150 women (and one man), lots of sugar, great guest speakers and giant balloons as part of the decor, so you can imagine what a great time we all had.

second thing

ok, so i try to clean out my car at least once a week because for some reason my children think that my car is like an extension of their room or their closets for that matter. this week, (and this is not unusual) there were 6 pairs of shoes in my car. granted, one of the pairs was mine, but that's because we went to disneyland and my tootsies were killing me so bad, i had to take them off before i got home. but, the rest of them were the kiddo's. two for the little fella and three for the little miss. not only that i think i threw away approximately, 10 lollipop sticks. really, did my kids eat 10 lollipops between them and where was i when this was happening? i don't know, but i do know there's a new rule in our house (car), and that's you can't get in my car without wearing shoes and you can get out without wearing shoes. how about you do you have any car rules that will help keep the chaos out of my car?

if you're stopping by for the first time, glad you did and i hope you come again. it was really nice meeting you this past weekend.

xoxo,

christina

super excited!

i am super excited and amped today. first, the mister finished making our new dining room table. it's so nice to have a real size table to eat at and do our school work at. i (we) love it. take a look at all of my mister's hardwork...

second, it's blog sugar day and i am beyond excited. i can't wait to see some old friends and meet some new ones. hope to see or meet you there!

xoxo, christina

from trash to toys

this little fella found some scraps of wood in the mister's shop and put them to use as a race track for some of his hot wheels. who needs store bought toys when you can just dig in the trash to find some fun, right? sounds good to me. i'm all about creativity and natural resources, so i game. lets play...

in our backyard

the wildlife is abundant in our new backyard. since we have been here we have had a skunk and a rat in our backyard and as of yesterday, a huge black cat and red-tailed hawk. our poor chickens are being hunted! i have to admit though, that besides the cat and the rat, it's pretty cool. well, the skunk was cool because it didn't spray, but if it did, that would not have been cool. these backyard visitors are giving our suburban life a little taste of living in the country. so, of course when i looked out in the backyard and saw the hawk i ran to get my camera. (this is where the mister says we wouldn't make good farmers because usually the farmer doesn't stop to take a picture of his animals getting eatin!) Thankfully, the chickens were in their coop this morning. we usually have them out during the day, but we were going on an outing and put the girls away because there was a huge black cat (the one i mentioned before) in our backyard yesterday too! i'm not joking our poor chickens are being hunted. take a look...

when i first saw the hawk he was on the grass.

by the time i got the camera he had already jumped on top of the coop. he stayed there for a few minutes and then decided to fly over to our back wall.

i know these next few pictures are blurry, but i was pretty close to this big bird and just kept snapping pictures as i was kind of running away.

he was big. i'm not kidding. and beautiful!

he landed,

and let me get a ton of pictures of him.

like this one of all the beautiful patterns on his feathers

and then he flew away. thankfully without our chickens in those huge tallons.

so, now we are little afraid to let our chickens out in fear that he might just come back for breakfast, lunch or dinner. but, i guess that's the life of a farmer.

quick and easy tasty treat

this is a quick and easy tasty treat and if you make them you will want to eat....all of them! i am sure this has been done before. you may have even made them yourself. but, right now i think i am pretty much genius because of this little creation i made last night. actually i got the idea from a friends facebook status a few days ago. (thanks jen n.) she posted that she had just made something delicious using apples and trader joe's pizza dough. so, last night when my family was looking for a sweet treat i remembered her post. i didn't have any trader joe's pizza dough on hand, but i did have some pillsbury ready to bake croissants. i used those, two gala apples (peeled and sliced), a little bit of sugar and a little bit of cinnamon and came up with this...

deeeeeelicious! umm....these were so good that are plates quickly looked like this...

and the little misses plate didn't even have sugar left on it because she licked it all off.

sooooo good and so easy. all you have to do is:

roll out your dough, peel and slice your apples, mix a little bit of cinnamon with some sugar, place 2 apple slices on the dough, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, roll 'em up, sprinkle some more cinnamon and sugar, and bake @ 375 for 12 minutes.

there you go, go and try it!

what we are wearing today

ok, so i know it's been a super long time since my last post, but i just haven't been feeling it lately and if i'm not feeling it then i don't want to do it. i also, never do what we are wearing post because frankly, were just not that cool...until today. the little fella actually is the inspiration behind this post. today was the first day he picked out his own outfit. yes, he picked it out all by himself. it's definitely questionable, but it's his first, so we won't hold it against him and actually i kind of like it and his funky style. so here it goes...

(this is his model pose, seriously done all on his own)

he picked his red, white striped mickey mouse christmas jammie top with these plaid shorts. talk about mixing your patterns. but, then i realized the apple does not fall far from the tree...

me, the mama is wearing stripes with plaid too! yes, this was intentional. i know it may not be your thing, but lately for some reason i am liking this mix of patterns as long as they have complimentary colors. i know it's probably crazy and i will look back at this and say to myself, "really, that's what i picked out to wear for the day?" but, i'm liking it now and that's all that matters.

then, there's the little miss sporting the dress that me, the mama made for her in my sewing class and we both love it and she probably has the most style out of us all. owls and polka dots how could you resist?

one final look before we head out the door... if there was a thought bubble above his head it would read, "hot dog, i look good!"

here's the question, do you or would you let your kiddo out in their pj's?

on garebear: pajama shirt from disney, plaid shorts from milk and honey, shoes from saucony

on me, the mama: striped shirt from old navy, skirt and sandles mossimo from target

on avery: dress made with love from her mama, shoes from birkenstock

weekend project-mini front yard makeover

this past weekend the mister and i had a little project. we wanted to add a sitting area to our front yard. we were kind of going for the feeling of having a front porch with out the actual porch. so, i dug up the area in front of our living room window, ripped out two ugly "trash" bushes and the mister moved a couple of huge rocks, leveled the dirt and laid the flagstone. the flagstone was free from our friends eric + jana (thank you), the chairs were on clearance for $12 (remember) and the table was left here and i just gave it a quick coat of navy blue spray paint. overall, the total cost of our mini front yard makeover was approximately $29. not bad, and we both feel like it makes the house feel a little more cozy and welcoming. it's not complete though. i want to add a large potted tree or plant to cover up the fence and i also spray painted (i am in love with spray painting) some tin flower pots from ikea with red, to plant some more succulents. we are hoping that the natural baby tears that grow in this area will fill in soon and give it that last final touch.

just in case you were wondering, i am totally being inspired for colors by this shirt i found at the thrift store and this wedding i saw when i was looking at this guys blog and the ranch where they had it. love. oh and if you're looking at the wedding photos, scroll all the way down until you see the brides bouqet. it's awesome and something i think i am going to start collecting for my girls wedding. (that is if she gets married).