V-Day Fun with Chocolate Dipped Marshmellows and Home Made Valentine grams

Happy Valentines Day!  Jim and I don't really 'celebrate' Valentines Day per say. I think it's a silly 'holliday'.  Yup, I'm one of those. I did get a new wedding ring coincidentally to replace my original one that I accidentally threw out in my scrubs when on call a couple of years ago. In my defense, it was late at night, I was 12 weeks pregnant with Mona and sick. It's so pretty, I love it! It's a LeVian 'chocolate' diamond... also coincidentally, totally nothing to do with Valentines Day. ;)

Valentines Day is however a pretty big deal when your in Kindergarten. Do you remember how fun it was to decorate a shoe box with tissue paper and glitter and big red construction paper hearts? Then wait in anticipation over getting Valentine cards and candy. Later, in like 3rd grade, maybe agonizing over how many V-Day heart shaped Lolli Pop 'Grams' you would or wouldn't get. The Drama. So glad I have 3 boys, less drama right? ;)

I was a little late in finding these super cute Valentine's cards at Picnic. I love this site. I use it for all of my food photography for my food blog and make cute cards for holidays like these. Again, I just made these today, so none got sent out to Grandparents or cousins this year. I'm a slacker.

But what a cute idea to send personalized cards to the fam and friends!

How cute are these little cards? You can totally personalize them and print them out,
cut them out and hand out to all your peeps!

The kids and I also made Chocolate dipped marshmallow's with Pink sprinkles, cuz everythings better with chocolate and sprinkles right?. Fun!

Using a pen, poke holes in a box top

Find some chocolate for dipping that is everywhere this time of year.
Microwave, stir, dip.

Chocolate is too healthy.

Using cookie sticks found at the craft store, have your little helpers poke, dip and sprinkle
their marshmallows. Do this over a plate so you can 're-use' the sprinkles and for easy clean up.

Save this idea for next year! ;) 

The Arizona Desert Through My Eyes. A Family Hike.



It's New Years Day. January 1st. A New Year. A fresh start. I can't say I'm all that excited as my life was  pretty darn good last year, the last several years as a matter of fact.

 Life is good, if you'll excuse the cliche'.

We went for a hike today in the White Mountain's, close by our home. All kids in tow.

Despite the rough start, my own attitude to blame mostly, we ended up having a marvelous day.

The Arizona desert was breathtaking. Beautiful. Perfect.

Please excuse, or don't, my emotional attachment to my home.

I am feeling very Artistic and so these pictures are from my heart.

In fact, I not only did not appreciate, but hated the desert until only recently.

Embarrassingly, I thought it ugly. Boring. Dry. Dead.

So not true. Forgive me.

These are pictures depicting the absolute beauty of the Arizona desert in the Winter,

 through my eyes.

Beautiful.

Enjoy.

Snow caping the mountins, a rarity here in Arizona.

The End of hike. Water Fall Trail. A trickle to tease us. We'll take what we can get here in the desert.

My sweet boys. Nolan and Jack.

If only a picture could capture feelings forever. I love my sweet family. And such a perfect day.

Rugged. Beautiful. Arizona.

Again, feeling Artistic. Work with me. Love Arizona.

Sweet, sweet Baby Mona Claire. Perfect baby through the whole hike. Look at those eyes.

Petroglyphs. Our heritage.  Enough to think about for a bit.

Only here can you find the comfort of home, of centuries of memories cut into stone. Forever depicting what was and what will be. Nature only can bring that to ones heart so steadily.

~Gwen

As if from a dream. Only close your eyes and you are home.

Yes, it is from my eyes only. My heart belongs to the Arizona desert. What I see.

Through my eyes. Rugged. Beautiful. Perfect.



Christmas Photo shoot at Saugaro Ranch Park: A look back at the year and what's to come.

I love this picture. I think it really captures each child's personality perfectly.

Nolan and Jack. Best buddies.... most of the time.

Jack is our little comedian. He is so witty and never fails to make me laugh out loud. He is always saying something that makes me think "Where on Earth did he get that?" He has more energy than any 10 kids his age and Nolan looks up to him and follows him everywhere, even to time out for bugging him. Jack is doing very well in Kindergarten and is in the 'top group' for academics. I was a bit worried that he would be to energetic and rowdy in school but his teacher just loves him to bits and says that while he is outspoken and goofy it's rarely out of turn or disruptive.

Britton is growing so tall so fast his skinny body can't keep up. He outgrows clothes faster than the season's can change. Having a teenager has been quite an experience. Challenging at times, worrying about his future, watching him grow into a young man. It's been a learning experience for Jim and I to say the least. How much space do you let him have, what to say in difficult situations, keeping our cool when you have to argue about the same thing for the millionth time when we are obviously not as smart as him. Feeling guilty because I usually don't keep my cool, don't say the right thing and feeling like I'm running out of time.
*sighhh. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I remind myself that he is a good kid, has good friends, makes good choices when it matters, gets good grades, has excellent goals and is working hard on them. Britton wants to be an Architect or Civil Engineer like my dad and is taking pretty tough IB, AP and honor courses in hopes to get a scholarship to a good college. I'm to young for this!

Mona Claire has been walking for a couple of months and never wants to stop now. She is the sweetest baby and being the only girl and the youngest is quite spoiled. I'm having a blast buying girlie things and dressing her.

Nolie Polie is still mommy's baby cakes. Look at that sweet smile! Nolan has the sweetest little personality and is very insightful, serious, bright and sensitive. He is the most well mannered 4 year old I've ever come across. I love his sweet little voice and cute little smile. Nolan has been practicing pre-school at home with mommy and can't wait to start Kindergarten next year. He just loves going to Jack's school and seeing all the big kids.

Button for my Foodie Blog!

Look what I just made to show off my foodie blog! A cute little button designed by me! If you want to learn how, hop over to Musings of a Housewife for a simple tutorial.

But first, check out my foodie blog for tips, tricks, recipes and more for a healthier lifestyle!

Halloween 2010

Halloween is much anticipated in our home. The boys love any excuse to dress up as their favorite characters and look forward to walking around the neighborhood with their friends. This year all three of the little kids were feeling sick and so we made a short outing down the block and then came home with cranky kids in tow. The one bonus to it all was that Jack and Nolan sat outside with daddy to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters and were having so much fun that they volunteered to give up their candy as well! Yay!

There is some debate as to what exactly Britton was dressed up as. Captain Goober is my vote. ;-)

In an effort to not buy any new costumes this year, we talked Nolan into wearing his Yoda costume from a couple of years ago by finding this cool Light Saber... is that what they're called?

Mona thought the boys were pretty hilarious!

 Battle Between Good vs. Evil. Use the Force!

Jack ~ Storm Trooper

Oh my gosh, I was laughing till my sides hurt when I
saw this picture!

This is Nolan's  "YODA Battle Pose"

 Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen!!!?

I made Mona these cute little Kitty Cat ears.
I saw some for sale on etsy.com for $20 and thought
I could make these. Total cost, $3.29 to make. I will post a quick tutorial very soon!

Picnic at Our Favorite Park

We like to mix things up a bit around here and try to find new parks to go play at.

Luckily, there are plenty of parks in all the different neighborhoods in our area.

We've been to this park a few times and the kids just love it. They call it the "Tree House Park"

because of the huge, 3 level play structure with a super cool lookout on top.

Can you see my little monkeys way up there?

Nolan and Jack

Loaded with our yummy sandwhiches on Rye bread, we headed for a picnic in the park.

Jack

Check out the cute bat tattoo.

Look who can cruise around the park now!

Mona Claire

Hmmmm, should I do it? Naa, maybe next time.

Jack contemplates following a "big kid" climb down the pole.

See Ya!



I Blurbed my Blog into a Book!

This was so much fun! I turned the first two years of my blog into a memory keepsake for our family. It was easy to download the entire blog to blurb.com. Even the front and back cover are pictures that Jim and I took.. totally personalized and cool. I download a bunch of free digital scrapbook papers and embellishments from scrapbook.com and customized our book. This is an ingenious way to record your families vacations, holidays and everyday happenings as your kids grow! Check out my book!

Remembering Every Moment by Gwen Wilson

Make Your Own Book

Baby Bootcamp!

After months of worrying... what mom doesn't? And weeks of what we very affectionately call "Baby Boot camp", Mona Claire is finally crawling!! Yay!
* Bells and whistles, firecrackers galore!

 At 12 months old and with no sign of crawling, Mona's pediatrician recommended she be seen by a physical therapist ( I think I posted earlier with the details). After what seemed like a long wait and several interviews and evaluations, we were assigned a wonderful baby physical therapist, Jen. She has worked wonders in a very short time with Mona who is now very proud of herself and in fact, quite a little show off! ;-) We are thrilled that she is crawling around, exploring the house and very happy to be into everything!

 Thanks for all of the great work, tips and advice Jen!

Mona is so very proud of herself and such a little cheeseball

for the camera!

 Ready, Set, Go Mona, Go!



Easy Lunch Boxes

Have you noticed how many great blogs there are out there with cool giveaways? I've put my name in for a handful of them and never heard anything. Maybe I should have checked back more often, I don't know. My attention span isn't what it used to be. Recently I came across a great blog called Barefoot by the Sea. This mommy has a great blog featuring fun giveaways, mostly for mommies and kiddos. I put my name in for these cool divided lunch containers and a nice size lunch cooler from sponsor, Easy Lunchboxes, and guess what? I WON! I received my set of 4 divided lunch containers and cooler in just a week and have been sending them to school with Jack and taking them to work with me. I love that these are heavy duty and reusable so they will save all the money and waste from sandwich baggies. Each container fits a big sandwich and two good size sides/snacks. The portioned containers are generously sized and 3 of them fit into the cooler, perfect for a picnic or trip to the zoo! Excellent! I encourage you to visit Easy Lunchbox website and see all of the products which were the inspiration from a mom who knows. Also, if you're into winning great stuff, check out Barefoot by the Sea blog.