May Day - a "new" old Semi-Homemade tradition

Happy May Day! I grew up with a crafty mom and 3 siblings - probably safe to say, that's where I get my love for the semi-homemade lifestyle! I have lots of memories of waking up on May 1st to May Day baskets hanging from my door. They were never elaborate... in fact, they were so plain that the excitement was solely around how my mom made the day special - and not at all around a gift. And after we got up, we'd cut peonies from my dad's flower gardens and fill May day baskets for the neighbors. Ahhh, the simplicity of life then!

So, this year, my goal was to start that tradition with my kids. Except that you know what life has been like lately. So.... this project ended up being a little more SEMI-homemade than planned.... okay, alot more thrown together.... but I want to get the thought across, so this is all okay, I'm thinking. (How's that for justification?)

I started with 1 piece of construction paper (for G-man's basket) and one piece of scrapbook paper (for Big Sis's) -- these happened to be the only pieces of paper I could find in the house. I shaped them into cones and decorated with stickers (some I stole from Big Sis's endless sticker supply - some were left over from decorating G-man's helmet!)



During my quick diaper run at Target today, I picked up a couple items in the $ spot. In keeping with the tradition of filling May Day baskets with flowers, I grabbed a little plant kit and kid-sized spade. I already had a sunflower kit that I had planned to do with Big Sis - perfect to add! {May Day in Roman Catholic tradition, is a celebration of Mary's month, and often the Virgin Mary's head would be decorated with flowers. May baskets were small baskets of sweets and flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbor's doorsteps!}


For the "sweets," some tootsie rolls. And a few other "treats" - a Cinderella note pad and stickers for Big Sis, some sunglasses for G-man. All for less than $5.

Here's the final product - my semi-homemade May Day basket for Big Sis:

Oh, and notice I hung it with a big bow of tulle. I heart tulle! Seriously, I have it in every color and I use it weekly! For anything. That's a whole other topic in itself, my love of tulle. I'll enlighten you, don't you worry. Stay tuned for more on how to use it, where to get it (cheap and in a variety of colors!)

And here's how I left the basket tonight.... on her bedroom door, for her to find in the morning!

And just so you think I didn't leave out G-man! Here's his puppy dog-themed basket!

Have a Happy May Day, y'all!

School Bulletin - Swine Flu

Well, the swine flu is in TX. That just sounds disgusting. It's all over the news and I can't even get away from it here at work. Sounds like the consensus in the office is that it's inevitable that all school districts around here will be closing soon to protect the kiddos. Fort Worth already closed the entire district for 8 school days! We've called Mr. Fix-It's mom to see if she would be available to come down if the school closings are as contagious as the actual flu. Because with the delicate balance that both of us have at work right now... there's no way we could afford to miss 8 days while the kiddos are at home! Keep your fingers crossed we can get some family down to help if we need to! I want my kids as safe as can be.... but almost seems like they're being over-cautious right now... guess time will tell!

If you haven't been bombarded with all the info (lucky you!), this is what I received from the kiddos' school yesterday:

ATTENTION SCHOOL de KIDDOS STAFF AND PARENTS

The Department of Health and Human Services has alerted all schools regarding the Swine Flu Outbreak. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the symptoms and make note of the rules School de Kiddos has implemented to aid in the prevention of spreading this potentially hazardous virus. We appreciate your strict compliance during this time and request that you be forthcoming and communicate with our management staff should your child have fever during this period of time.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a list of symptoms for Swine Flu in humans: “The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.”

School de Kiddos requires that all children with a fever of 100.4* or above be picked up from school. Any child or staff member with fever must have a doctor’s note to return to school. Any positive test for swine flu must be reported to our management team so that we may keep the Semi-Homemade County Department of Health and Human Services informed.

We appreciate your compliance and hope that we can work together to prevent the spread of this hazardous virus. Thank you.

My Little Southern Lady

As I think back to my first mother's day, I can't help but smile. MY child was the most amazing thing ever, I thought she just hung the moon. And I still do. I like to call her my Little Southern Lady.... and on that day, my first mother's day, we celebrated her baptism.


My Little Southern Lady has all the characteristics of your average Southern gal...

She's got the drawl. She says things like:
Mom, let's have chill-ay (chili).

She's polite. She says "yes ma'am" if she thinks she might be in trouble or if she's trying to impress. ;)

She's got the 'look.' She loves to have her nails and toes painted pink. She insists on wearing dresses, even if she's sick and on her way to the dr. Over the weekend, she let me put sponge curlers in her hair!

She makes me and Mr. Fix-It so proud. Even the tough teachers say she's their best helper and the most compassionate friend. That she's polite and mature for a 3yo. That she acts older and sets a good example. And when I'm stressed (like I've been - sorry for yesterday's rant), these things make me relax a little and feel like I'm doing something right....

Here she is, being baptized in our church.


We had an entire weekend celebration! Everyone came in to town on Friday - family from both sides. Saturday we did some things together and ended with a big BBQ at our house, followed by a family bowling outing! Sunday, we had brunch before church and celebrated mother's day. Then off to her baptism. Everyone was anxious to get on the road afterwards, and we'd had a big breakfast, so we sent everyone home with goody bags of snacks and drinks for the road!

Here's the cutie in a semi-homemade baptismal photo shoot! ;)



Awww..... she was 5 months old, and that was 3 yrs ago. How time flies...

Thanks for being my sweet Little Southern Lady, Big Sis!

(Okay, gotta finish up at work and GET HOME!)

Who's with me?

Does it ever seem that when YOU are at your most crazy/busy (I'm talking about WISHING for 18 hour days! Dreaming about just sitting on the couch!).... that everyone around you is moving at a snail's pace? Agh!!! I just had a meeting added to my calendar for tomorrow at 8am.... Why is this important? Because that leaves my only "free time" this week as 4-5 on Fri. Seriously?! So you know what that means..... a big, new job + no desk time + several deadlines = alot of late nights. And Mr. Fix-It is now building in his THREE neighborhoods.... whew! As my grandma would say, when it rains, it pours!

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Meanwhile, everyone I know, barely know, work with, or overhear in the coffee line is on vacation. or on some sort of 'summer schedule.' or off to the spa. shoe shopping. relaxing. or otherwise not running at the freaky pace that we seem to be. And today, that's just pissing me off. Most days, I'd love to hear about your busy day of lounging or getting highlights on a leisurely afternoon - but today is NOT that day.

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I need to go for a long, long jog tonight. And I will. Because I was working last night instead of jogging and that just made me even more pissed. There's nothing like working alot and getting fatter.

Thank God for my sister.... Yesterday I got the funniest Dilbert card in the mail (don't think I don't realize how sad it is that the office humor is funny to me).... and a Sonic GC to keep me happy and sane as I try to work thru what has become an overwhelming work-personal life right now.
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I love my sister. And Sonic. And tonight, I'll be loving my Asics. I promise. And maybe.... let's hope.... tomorrow I can be back to my 'normal' self.

Bluebonnets and Texas....

Go together like little kids and picture day. Um, okay, maybe not.... So, the wind was FIERCE and kinda freaked G-man out.... Then add us, not-so-gently reminding Big Sis to STOP pulling her brother's head so that it was pointed at us (she likes to 'help,' what can we say?).... and you get 2 kiddos who look like this:

I had zero time (duh) to really look thru the pics and do any editing, but this was my early favorite... We've decided that the candids are the way to go with these 2 crazy munchkins. ;)

Here is daddy, getting some lovin'....

And me with my precious kiddos - I miss them so much today! And you, too, Mr. Fix-It!

We had THE most amazing weekend, the one I've just been craving to have..... no company, no travel, no plans - just us. We watched a movie at home, we stay-cationed to Puerto Rico in our own kitchen (pics, recipes and commentary to come!), we played outside, we took these pics, and we had a celebratory lunch in G-man's honor (flat head graduation, ha!) at Red Robin (I had never been there before - YUMMY!) It was so much fun, I wouldn't mind doing it again. Often.

Before & After - G-man's new noggin!

Ohigosh, you guys..... Mr. Fix-It and I could not have been prouder at baby G-man's graduation from Cranial Technologies! Spending yesterday afternoon and evening with a helmet-free baby was sooooo nice! And when he was first diagnosed with plagiocephaly, we just thought this day was so far into the future. But now it's here! Yea!

So after 98 of these:
Part of the regimen was that we had to bathe G daily. For 98 straight days (seriously, I think we only missed 2 days! And I know there are some mommas that bathe their kids everyday.... but man, it's alot of pressure to HAVE to do it everyday, esp with the kinda schedule y'all know we keep over here!) Anyway, after all those baths, we can finally skip a day here and there!

And after an ENTIRE bottle of this:

The helmet had to be cleaned nightly and then left to dry during that 1 hour G got to be helmet free.

WE ARE DONE!!!! Woo hoo! Okay, so on to the good stuff, the before and after pics!

Look how much he's grown up over the last 4 months (before pics on left/after on right)! And how much he's thinned out! Here's the front view.... His head is less wide, but this isn't the most obvious pic.

The way I understand it.... there's a standard deviation, a range, that's considered 'normal' for a child of his age/sex. The acceptable range is -2 to +2. G-man started at a +4.6 in Dec, and...... (drumroll, please!).... he's now at a +2.1!!!!! I was excited just to SEE the results, but something about having numbers to quantify it, made me all the happier (I know, too many years in retail!)

The back view.... again, less width, which was the goal! (And, um, okay... it's time for a haircut AGAIN!)

This pic shows HUGE change! Here you can really see just how flat our sweet boy's head really was. Now we have rounded out the back significantly, as well as the top... I mean, WOW! Look at the difference! What a sweet profile.... :)

View from the other side.

This top view shows he does still have a little of a flat spot in the same place that he originally did... on the right. BUT, you can really see here how he went from a really WIDE head to getting alot of lengthening and right at that perfect lenght-width ratio!

We had our doubts about this process (esp Mr. Fix-It, he'll be the first to tell you!), but we're so glad we did it. Now G will have a near perfect head for a lifetime (and don't misunderstand me - we didn't do this for purely cosmetic reasons - there were medical ones as well... I'm just not going into all those here!) And now it's all behind us.... well, except those payments... we'll be making those until he turns 2 next summer!!

Happy Graduation, sweet baby boy!

The art of saying no.....

Just how does one go about saying "no?" I just never seem to be able to do it, and I know that's a super uncommon trait of moms. ;)

But why is it on my mind now? Maybe because.... even though I told myself I wasn't going to participate in the bake sale at the kiddos' school this time..... I found myself making homemade cookies with Big Sis yesterday evening, after getting the email plea from school that they hadn't received enough baked goods for their fund raiser... So I baked a batch of those yummy oatmeal choc chip cookies.

And maybe because I'm so exhausted right now that I'm wondering how I can attend my 3:00 mtg, much less lead it. Because we've traveled 3 of the last 4 weekends and the whole Semi-Homemade fam is beyond worn out. Because I didn't say no. We haven't had a spare couple of hours since the first of February. Because I didn't say no. And there has been more than one occasion where we've forgotten show & tell, someone has not had clean clothes to wear, there has been nothing for dinner, and the house is embarassingly chaotic. Because at some point, I didn't say no.

I am looking forward to this weekend more than Christmas. We have NOTHING! I've been craving it. Being alone with just my hubby and 2 cutie kiddos. We're going to have family movie night one night (any suggestions, fellow mommies?).... We're going to have a Puerto Rican Staycation Sat night.... complete with a Puerto Rican dinner that we're cooking ourselves (I've GOT to start looking for recipes!) and fun, festive music. Who knows, maybe we'll throw on our swimsuits for fun (it DID hit 90 here yesterday, okay?) Ahhhhhh...... and did I mention we'll have a totally helmet-free G-man for all this fun? I could cry, I'm so excited. Or tired. Whichever.

Un-mom Mother's Day Gifts

Modern mother's day gifts..... to me it's an oxymoron..... or it's like saying I have "free time." It's something to dream about, but not expect... right?

I wanted to get together ALL the fun mom's day gift ideas I've found, but since the day is coming quickly (and my free time is super sparse lately!), I thought I'd give you my absolute faves of the moment - then follow up later with some additional ideas.

My absolute favorite mom's day gifts ever are the 2 necklaces I have from Julian & Co. They are IT for modern momma jewelry, in my opinion (for what that's worth!) I've ordered 3 necklaces from them (yes, both of mine, but don't let that take away from Mr. Fix-It's thoughtfulness... he just wanted to make sure they said exactly what I wanted them to!). I also ordered one for a friend of mine when her adoption was final - with her new son's name and adoption date on it. Let me just tell you - if you're looking for awesome customer service (yes, it still exists!), email Julian & Co. and let them work with you!

This is my newest necklace and current fav - I have one with Baby G-man's first & middle name on the front and all his birth info on the back. It's super cute!

This is new, but I'm liking it! (Almost looks like it could come in a little blue box, huh?) And it's similar to the Square Birth Necklace I have and adore with Big Sis's name & birth info on it.

Several of my most admired working momma friends swear by their momAgendas! And God knows, I could use some help getting organized.... hmmmm.... they come in tons of super cute colors (some of them BRIGHT! so they don't get lost in the sea of artwork, bills, and other things on your counter). I've heard great things about the Day Planners and gave the Kitchen Folio to Mrs. Everything and my sister Ellen when they hosted my baby shower last summer.

So, everyone I know that has the Chi is over-the-top in love with it.... it has changed their life... etc, etc. So, this is what my very own momma is getting for mother's day! (Gotta love! having 3 siblings to share costs with on holiday gifts for the parents!) We're getting ours from amazon. Duh. We got an amazing deal. AND free shipping.

Custom art is always so expensive, donchathink? But it doesn't have to be.... kiki & polly offer sketches from your photo and prices start at only $35 for an 8x10. Throw it in a cute (and cheap!) frame from Hobby Lobby or somewhere and you're done!

For lots more ideas.... visit the cool mom picks site!! Just click on the button below or on my sidebar!

And what am I hoping for this mother's day? A maid? Ridiculously healthy kiddos? I'll include that in a later rambling about the big day... as well as pics and memories from my very first mom's day in 2006!

A blog for you fellow Etsy Lovers!

Just how I didn't know about this blog is beyond me.... (and seriously, why didn't I think of that?!) It's a blog for all you Etsy Lovers and Sellers.... so, if you have a shop - or know someone who does - have them email Celeste to set up a give away and get lots of traffic. And if you're just an Etsy lover like me, head over there and enter all the giveaways. It's like they do the browsing for you. (Of course, we still have to check out the site for ourselves. We don't want them to have ALL the fun, now, do we?)

OH, and I'll be back as often as possible this week, after the Big Promotion. I'm wondering what I got myself into.... especially when I hear things like 'don't let the fear tactics affect you,' and 'you have immunity'...... did I apply for a spot on Survivor? Yikes!

But this Friday is a big day in the Semi-Homemade family..... G-man gets his helmet off! Watch for me to share his before and after pics with you, so you can see the amazing transformation! What a beautiful noggin on that crazy cute little boy!

Also, I've been gathering a bunch of fun non-mommish mother's day ideas! Great ideas for your own mommas or to hint to that hubby of yours, especially if you're like me and don't want to end up with a "mom jeans"-type mother's day gift!

Night Driving

I have tons of mommy friends that swear to me night driving is the best thing since being able to sleep thru the night. I have had my doubts and now I know why....

I am TOO tired for night driving. Or even night I'll-stay-awake-and-keep-the-driver-awake riding. While Mr. Fix-It drives the whole way here. (Thank you, babe!) My days are much too long to be on the road til 1am. But that's what time we got home. After I had to RUN out of my big meeting to make it to preschool orientation. 10 minutes late. But it was awesome. Great info from the teacher (who I never see because my kids are some of the last to be picked up - which is sad, I know, don't get me started...) And I met the parents of 2 girls who Big Sis talks about ALL THE TIME - "Sinny" (i.e. Sidney) and Samantha. Anyway, orientation ran 30 min late.... then we had to eat, pack and finally pulled out at 8:45. For our 4 hour drive.

Anyway, Big Sis does NOT sleep in the car... so why would the fact that it was past her bedtime change that? Um, yeah, it didn't. She slept for 2 1-hour stretches.... then whined and was upset the other 2 hours. Love that. Esp since, by then, I was a cranky momma. G-man rocked it though, and slept the whole way with one small exeption. Thank you, G-man!

And my kids never sleep later when they go to bed.... no! They're just totally sleep deprived the next day. Just ask Big Sis.... I hope both kiddos and Mr. Fix-It are able to take amazing naps this afternoon. While I'm sitting in a board meeting until 5. Oooh, better get going - it's time to get there! More from me later. We're heading to the OSU spring scrimmage tomorrow with both our kiddos and my sis and her munchkin - should be chaotic, hysterical and super orange.

The Easter Bunny knows me so well...

Y'all, isn't the Easter Bunny the sweetest thing? I mean, he knows me so well.... And seriously, it was like Christmas morning if you saw all the stuff he brought for the kids. (And I want to give myself some credit... I usually go totally overboard for holidays, but with this damn recession, I didn't. And I tried to influence what the grandmothers bought, too, so that the kids got clothes!)

So, y'all know by now how easy I am to please. Seriously, if you ever want something from me, a Sonic gift card is all it takes to get in my good graces. (Wait, now I'm wondering... just what does the Easter Bunny want from me?!) ;)

I also got one of the Sweet Potato Queens novels. We all know I have no time to read.... but this author is SO funny that I'll find time somehow, even if it's in the wee hours of night. Start with The SPQ's Book of Love and God Save the SPQs - if you love Southern girly humor (and who doesn't?), you'll love, love these books!

And somehow the Easter Bunny must have known that after a seriously long obsession with foamy soap from Bath and Body Works... the recession has reduced us to using foam Dial or some other sort of soap that I most likely bought for super cheap at CVS. Because he got me some. Watch out, Mr. Fix-It, I might be in love with the Big Bunny by this point...

Oh, and one other thing of note. The Maclaren stroller organizer. I think it's totally lame that you don't just GET a cup holder with that hefty price tag. And honestly, if we would have been living in the recession then like we are now... I wouldn't even have asked for that stroller, even though it was a gift! But that's beside the point... the stroller IS orange, so... :)

We did continue with our tradition of the Easter Bunny bringing new swim suits for the kids. Neither of which are online (geez!) so I had to take a couple quick shots of them.

Won't Big Sis be too cute in the halter tankini? We got her a one piece for her 3rd birthday when we went to Great Wolf Lodge for her Semi-Homemade Birthday Party.

And because we're throwing G-man a pirate themed first birthday this summer at the beach club, he got these pirate trunks and matching hat!

He got quite a few pirate items, including this cute foam book.

Now..... I've got to run. We've got our HUGE LINE REVIEW today (yikes!)! And this morning Mr. Fix-It and I decided that we'd better head to OK tonight, instead of tomorrow morning as planned, because of the severe weather forecasted for tomorrow. So.... picture a re-do of the whirlwind that was the time we left for OK 3 wks ago. I haven't packed and had to throw in a load of laundry this morning on my way out the door. Work will run late for both of us tonight, so we'll be racing to see who can get the kids before daycare closes. And I hope that we can make it to my parents' house not long after midnight. You can say it, we are crazy. I know. But we have a fun weekend ahead - more on that later!

OMG! Check out Pioneer Woman's Photo Book Giveaway!!

Gotta go to bed, but had to share this quickly! 50 winners will each win 5 photo books from Snapfish - how cool is that?!

The Semi-Homemade Family

Just wanted to share pics of my cute kiddos and their cute daddy on Easter morning!

Once again.... my attempts at an outdoor picture were ruined yet again. This time by rain. Which started before we left for church. And didn't end until we were 2-3 hours into our 6 hour drive home!



How cute are my men??

Look what we had to do tonight...

Okay, so G-man has been on breathing treatments since the day after Christmas (with a two week exception in January). For the last couple months, we've just been doing the preventative meds... but tonight we had to bring in the real stuff. Poor g.... he got a cough sometime over the weekend and we've been watching it closely - we know how it can go from okay to dangerous in the blink of an eye. Tonight he was wheezing when I picked him up at school.

I'm hoping that since we know the drill, we can prevent my 3rd trip to the pediatrician in less than a week....

It's no wonder that one of the baby's favorite toys is empty! medicine bottles. They're everywhere the eye can see!

Working Momma has Big News!

So, for some big news and one of the reasons I was feeling stressed/whiney yesterday..... I'VE BEEN PROMOTED!!

And while I'm really trying hard to see only the good in it, the truth is, this is less than the great news it would seem to be. Now, before I sound like one of those 'glass half empty' types, let me explain....

The good: I'll now have a Senior in front of my title. Honestly, I've never been a title whore, especially not since I became a working momma, so it's not that important to me. But nice, I guess, especially for the recognition. I also got a raise! And we all know how hard that is to come by in this economy. Especially in retail. Geez.

Now, the less than good.... (See, I didn't say 'the bad'.... that has to count for something, right?)
So, let me explain a little.... each 'team' is set up with 3 different organizations, all which are a system of checks and balances. Each team has 2 leaders, but when it comes down to it, the ultimate responsibility is on one person. Let's call her the President. That makes me - the other leader - the Vice Pres. We should keep the team working towards a common goal, working a strategy within our finanical boundaries, etc, etc.
The new Pres I'm going to work with has a reputation for being hard to work with - it's no secret. Her people will say upfront that they don't feel valued. I'll be her 3rd VP in less than 2 years - and both the girls before me left because of her. I'm being put on this team because I have a way of being direct, of instilling discipline and process, all the while being friendly and easy to get along with. I'm influential. At least this is what the higher ups (both mine and the boss of this new Pres) have told me.

Do you feel the pressure? The stress? Did I mention that this is a highly visible business with lots of (bigwig) eyes watching it? OMG, somebody take my blood pressure....

Oh, and the team complains there is no work/life balance. This is probably #1 on my list of most sensitive topics as a working mommy. I must have work/life balance; I insist on it. I know I'll have to put in long hours at first, but then 50 hrs/wk is my absolute limit. That doesn't even take into account the 7 hrs/wk commute I have. But again, this is another reason I've been put on this team. My time is valuable. I will not waste it. Being efficient, finding faster ways to do things, cutting out things that aren't working - that is what I do. But it'll take some time to get the ball rolling...

This job isn't my dream job.... maybe at some point I'll be able to discuss that later - it would be an entirely New Life Plan and I need to read up on that way of thinking. But for now, I'm happy to be promoted and I'm going to try to roll with the new situation.

And another reason I was so whiney yesterday? I hadn't jogged in 9 DAYS! I only jogged a couple of miles last night, but what a stress reliever! Remind me of that the next time I try to skip my workout. Time will be tight as I'm transitioning into my new job, but I must find the time to jog! Oh, and maybe another reason? As relaxing as our Easter weekend was, that drive to my inlaws is 6 hrs each way! Getting home at 7pm on a Sunday is a quick way to stress a working momma out! Especially this one, who usually uses Sun to do a million loads of laundry, cook 2 dinners, and get everything ready for a busy week!

More on our Easter later. And don't worry, I won't bother you with every little detail. Maybe just a semi-homemade activity or 2. And some fun Easter basket goodies and a couple pics.

Oh, and those file folders at the top of this rambling? I'm just kidding. Kind of. I do like my boss though. I was just looking thru fun office products (at Spoon Sisters, click on the pic if you must have them). ;) And then I found this one and it might just apply....

You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all....

Y'all. I'm grumpy. And I seriously never wake up grumpy. (Now, before you classify me in that group of really annoying women who is perky all the time, please know this... at some point in my day, as early as my commute or even occasionally in the parking lot of daycare, someone makes me grumpy. I just don't wake up that way.)

Anyway, I'm not going to say much because if I did, it would just sound whiney. About how tired I am that I'm so incredibly busy that on some days I literally don't have time to pee. That - even though I know there are tons of other busy moms out there just like me - it seems like there's no way anyone could be as busy as I am. That no one starts their day by 5:30 and doesn't finish til 11 and is at a dead run the whole time. Oops, guess I did say that. Just slipped out.

And that picture? That's from the LAST time Big Sis had strep throat. Which she has again. At least that's my diagnosis.... we're leaving in 5 minutes to have it confirmed by a professional. Mr. Fix-It is attending a big time meeting this morning, then coming home at lunch so I can get some work in and attend an important meeting, too. From 3-5. Sigh.

At least my sickie is being super sweet and has been my reason to smile this morning. She just said.... Momma, I love you SOOO much. You're the best mommy to me. Awww.....

40 hours and counting....

That's how many hours I had already worked by the time I left the office at 2:30 today to take Big Sis to her 3 yr well appt at the pedatrician. Yes, the one I thought I could 'skip.' Turns out that when your daycare is being audited by the state they need all the necessary paperwork. By tomorrow. Sigh. I wonder how much it'll cost us for them to tell us that she's tall (duh), that her BMI is low and that she's hit every developmental milestone for her age and then some.

I had my Big Financial Meeting at work today (the monthly one that I run), and lots of big changes came out of it that I wasn't expecting. So... I'll be leaving my house at 5:30am tomorrow (I don't even want to think about what time I'll be getting up!) so that I can hope to finish up by noon so we can leave town.

Oh, yeah, and that's IF the whole state of Oklahoma hasn't caught fire. Have y'all heard of this? I talked to my mom and sis earlier and it sounds bad. They've been asked to evacuate.... It's all over the news, but if you haven't heard anything, you can click here. Keep them all in your prayers - my family and lots of close friends live across the state and it sounds like this is far reaching. Very scary.


Good thing we have this to make us smile. This picture is from a week or so ago (you can tell because it's pre rocker hair cut) and Gman is getting oh so close to crawling. Which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. I've GOT to start baby proofing!!

Okay, gotta go. I've got 3 loads of laundry to do AND get us all packed up and ready to go. Mr. Fix-It is having a well deserved break (I say that because he's had the kiddos alone every night this week while I've been working my butt off.) He's at a going away party for one of the guys that was laid off. And all I know is that he walked out the door this evening with his Rock Band. ;) I won't be waiting up.

Semi-Homemade Easter Card

The plan: to take my sweet, happy, well rested kiddos to a nearby park (complete with a pond, gazebo, flowers) on a sunny, warm Sunday to take Easter pictures. Then, while those sweet kids napped, I'd leisurely pull together the cutest Easter card you've ever seen.

The reality: Sunday was cold and as windy as the Land of Oz. There was no way we'd be able to get a decent picture outside and Big Sis would have frozen in her sweet seersucker dress. So... Big Sis wasn't happy because she had caught wind of the plan to be outside and was sad it had gotten squashed. As for G-man... After being fine with being off schedule all day on Sat (at the 5k, Egg Hunt, hair cut, etc), he wanted to change his schedule when Sunday rolled around. And be mad about it. Hence, we took the pictures of a sleepy G baby and his irritated Sister inside in our dining room. And in the midst of a mile long to-do list, I threw together a card in 5 minutes so I could mark something off that long list.
(Don't ya love photoshop? I mean, fancy it is not, BUT at least it's custom!)

So, I present you.... this year's semi-homemade Easter card...

The Semi-Homemade Family wishes you a blessed Easter!

And here's to hoping that we score some much improved pics on the actual day! After putting in 80 hrs at the office by noon on Fri, I'll be escaping so that we can head to my inlaws in Pawhuska, OK (ever heard of it?) I'm lucky to have THE best inlaws who make visiting fun and RELAXING. Ahh, I can almost hear the sound of nothing to do already... I love that.

~~~Oh, and if you're looking for another fun and easy Easter craft to do with your kiddos, check out this DIY Chick & Bunny Treat Holders!

Semi-Home Easter Craft

Dear Target,
Thanks for catering to us semi-homemade moms. This was so easy, so fun, and so cheap (on sale for $7)! And from the second I saw this bunny house kit (complete with EVERYTHING you need!), I knew it had Big Sis written all over it!
Kisses, a semi-homemade mom

..... Now, I'm sure all you crafty mommas could bake up your own cookies... then sort thru your pantry to find the right mix of sprinkles, candy and frosting.... but then it wouldn't be semi-homemade, right? Show offs ;) .....

Here's Big Sis - she was so excited! (I put down those sticky place mats that you take to restaurants - they're a lifesaver for easy/easiER clean up!)

While Big Sis worked on decorating the roof with frosting and sprinkles...

I worked on putting the foundation of the house. Mr. Fix-It would be so proud!

Here you can get a feel for our overall... ahem... design. ;) Big Sis had a method to her madness - 1 jelly bean on the roof, 1 in her mouth... then another 1 in her mouth if I wasn't looking.

Big Sis was adding the candy ducks and bunnies to the frosting 'yard' and 'pond' I added in front of the house.

Here's a picture of our final product. Honestly, the other side was alot cuter, but Big Sis insisted I write her name, her brother's name, and mommy and daddy to the other side of the roof. And I didn't have time to photoshop out the names!