So because personalized & monogrammed stuff can be pretty pricy I decided to make my own :) I ordered a letter "b" from Uppercase Living, one of my fave companies, & my friend Lyn sells. I got a $5 frame from Christmas Tree Shop & a piece of paper from Michael's for about $2. All in all a great deal, I made my own personal picture that is so pretty & made by me :)

Seriously...

Remember these? My daughter still loves them & Once in a while she even rocks them! She's so cool :)

Fridays Are Good For Pizza!

A Pinktastic Pinkalicious Party!

My daughter loves the Pinkalicious book series, she loves tutus, wands, & of course PINK! I was so very excited to do a Pinkalicious party for her! I got many ideas from here. I love everything she did! I decided to go into the cupcake thing too since Pinkalicious turns pink from eating too many pink cupcakes! Also Mia is a little baker & loves cupcakes. She plays Cupcake Wars with her brother all the time :) So I got cupcake & pink stuff & made the decorations myself! I made the cupcakes & frosting because I wanted to use natural colors for the pink. I think it all came out awesome :) I loved having little giggling sweet girls all dressed in pink running around with wands & candy! We had a sign to have your picture taken with a pink wig in front of a Pinkalicious poster! Even all the moms did it too! They had a big art table with hundreds of pink accessories to create whatever they wanted! Everyone made the birthday girl something sparkly & pretty! 2 of her older friends & then the birthday girl herself all read a Pinkalicious book. Of course they got to decorate cupcakes too :) She got wonderful presents too! What a great time, everyone stayed late & sipped pomagranate soda, had Boursin & crackers & chatted & played! Here are a few of the over 100 pics taken :)

Little Laundry Helpers!

My kids are such great little helpers around the house; give them each a Swiffer duster & they are thrilled to dust! ( Which is great because I very much dislike dusting & I think it's pointless). Mia loves to help vacuum & she has her own "jurisdictions" as well as Eli who also has a few simple small things they are responsible for around the house as a part of our family. Well each day we do at least one load of laundry. It's neverending, a forever cycle (pun intended lol) I always had like, 19 piles around the living room of kitchen, bathroom, Mommy, Daddy...and so on for each child. So I thought of a way to get the kids involved & would be a better system. I already had these cute little baskets so I found a new home for the outdoor toys & under cabinet stuff in each box, cleaned them out & gave one to each of the older ones. When I take up a load of clothes, they pick thru for their own things first, put it in their own kid laundry baskets, put it away, then come back to each take a room & help but those away, then I fill the blue with Daddy's & the purple with Mommy's & the 2 babies clothes get taken in the big basket t their room, since they always have a lot! Works great! When the other 2 are older, they will all have their own baskets & they will be responsible for all their own stuff. Gives them a sense of independace sorting & putting away their own stuff & it's great to have the extra hands! Quoting one of my best friends Abbey "There is no cure for laziness, but a large family helps!"

Walking Together Every Step Of The Way!

I love my family :) Look at those shoes! How cute are they?

Cute Way To Reuse & Reduce!!!

Well I have been consciously trying for quite some time to make small changes in our home to reduce waste &save money. With a large family, I find I have to constantly find better cost efficient ways to feed, clothe & care for my family. Swapped cloth napkins for paper, cut down on paper plate use, recycled all my plastic stuff & swapped it for glass or another safe product. I use facecloths to wipe up the kids' faces & hands that are not old enough to go in the bathroom & do so themselves. Little things here & there. Here's my new thing I'm lovin'! Reusable sandwich & snack bags! What an awesome idea that seems to be catching on; I saw some at a few stores around my area lately. I actually bought the fairy one from a local store that was made by a mom in my area but proven safe. The others were bought on Reusies.com & Amazon. I reccomend both brands! We love them all & they are super easy to clean & wicked cute to use! I even got a cute argyle one for my hubby! :) Try them out, build up your collection & save a lot of plastic & money!!!!!! * By the way they are all safe :)