Wedding bliss!
Off to Jeff's brother, David, wedding to Lenessa. We will be in California for a week, so you may not see many blogs. Have a great week.

kinG!
So nice one of Jeff's patients sent him a king cake from New Orleans today for mardi gras. We loved it and ate it outside on the porch for dinner, since no one is allowed to mess up my spotless kitchen. Annie Kate got the baby as usual so she has good luck for a year.

what DiD you Do toDay?
this is the question i always hear from my husband Jeff. I know he means so well and wants to be interesed in my day, but sometimes in comparisson to what he does it seems so lame.
"hey Jeff what did you do today?" I ask.
"Well, I removed a mans nose, drilled small magnets in his face, reconstructed a new nose from the fatty tissue of his leg and then placed magnets in that so that he can put that over the hole where i removed his nose. then i ran 8 miles before going to my second job to work another 12 houurs" he humbly replies. and then he asks me what I did.
So I took a picture to show all what I did. I changed 11 of these. Thats it! no magnets, no running, no saving lives.

NoSe!
I hope to never forget this face. All three of my girls have made this funny nose face at this age (1 years old) oh I love this Sally Jane!

ThRow mE someThing miSter!
Happy Mardi Gras. today seems like just any other normal day here in Tennessee, but in New Orleans it the celebration of the year.
I am always a little hesitant of telling people how much we love Mardi Gras becasue they automatically think we help filmed "Girls gone Wild" So yes there are many way to celebrate Mardi Gras and ours had a "G" rating for sure... well most of the time.
I love thinking back to what memories we have of mardi gras season.
* Popyeyes Chicken for breakfast
* moonpies and peanuts for lunch
* the smell. not that I liked it but Mardi Gras had its own smell
* dragging bags of beads back to our car to sell on ebay to earn money for groceries
* ladders with seats on top
* being with good friends. The first year with Chris T and Jeff was priceless
* coming home and laying out our beads by color and size, we were so silly!
* not having a voice for two weeks because you scream so loud at the parades
That city gave so much to our family. We love New Orleans!
I hope ya'll have a great day and do something different to celebrate the day. My house is almost spotless so we are not cooking, decorating or really celbrating. Annie Kate took beads to the class today and the people i visit teach will get red beans and rice tonight but that is about it!

A wHite hoUse!
My day today seems to have a white house theme. Jeff got home from his trip to D.C. last night. He had a great time and said he was the "best in his row". After his conference he spent some time with a realtor and went to the ward we hope to move into.
He brought home the girls some key chains that have a picture of the white house on it. Before he got on the plane he told me to tell annie kate that he was bringing her something home from the white house. She got really excited. Then when i hung up the phone with Jeff she said to me, "I know that what he is bringing me is not really from the white house because everything in there belongs to the government" i was laughing so hard.

Today i am cleaning the house like mad and trying to make my house white. We hopefully put it on the market tomorrow. Jeff will be sleeping at the hosptial tonight, which is a total bummer because inside i am screaming ... I NEED A BREAK! but on the oustide i am happy homemaker wearing a monogrammed apron with a duster in my hand singing, "skip to my lou"

Confessional: I am also trying to stay low on the emotional scale because of the Bachelor tonight. I can't belive that i am admitting that i did watch this season, but i fell into peer pressure and did. ( i promised myself i would not watch again after the whole Matthew disaster) I just get too emotionally involved. But being he is at Vanderbilt, the girl i love is here in Nashville, i caved! So i hope that whatever happens tonight i can pull myself out of bed in the morning!

Best Mom Ever!
do you want to be the best mom ever?
This morning I made playdough for my primary class. (The lesson suggested making playdough so the kids could construct a small item that might have been used when Jesus was a boy)

So I asked annie kate if she wanted to help me make some play dough. She said, "What is this for?" before I could answer it was for my primary class, she gave me the biggest hug and said, "You are the best mom ever!"

I love my calling in the primary!
So if you want to be the best mom ever here is the receipe.. and who said being a good mom was hard?

2 Cups flour
1 cup salt
1 Tablespoon of oil
water
food coloring

pInk!
Had to share this awesome Pink website my friend Tasha A. emailed me. How cute is this bike! If you want to have some fun looking around and feel like you are in a pink mood. Enjoy!

Shopping List!
For those Saturday shoppers please add this to your list today. Tuesday is Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras! I thought i would just give a few ideas of things you can think about doing with your family for that day. We used to live in New Orleans and try to still do something fun that day to remember our time there.
*Make a New Orleans dinner. These boxed Red Beans and Rice are cheap and really quite good. And I think you should be able to find them at any grocery store. Maybe in Utah they are in the ethnic isle.
* Order a King Cake. Call your local bakery and see if they are making them for the holiday or you still have time to order on online. Gabminos is a great choice. They come with a little mini plastic baby. Whomever gets the piece with the baby will get good luck for the whole year, or be the king for next years mardi gras.
* Get some purple, yellow, green balloons for your mailbox. (mardi gras colors)
* do a little mardi gras research and teach your kids a few trivia facts over dinner
* any party store will have mardi gras supplies. you could give your kids a mardi gras necklace to wear to school.
*eat moon pies. they always throw these from the floats during the parades (youwill be shocked to find out that i don't actually like these, i know surprising. i wish they threw pink snowballs)
*make Beignets I think you should be able to find a box mix at your grocery store as well .
* or don't do anything and send a dontation to the red cross in honor of Katrina!
As for us we will probably do very little. we are leaving the next day for a week and putting our house on the market that day. So i won't be able to spread glitter all over the house and paste things on the door. So celebrate for us!

roManCe!
I just had to link you to my friends Michelle's blog today so you could see this book she made for a bridal shower. There are a few great quotes inside that are worth taking the time to go look at.
And even though my friends that read my blog don't comment on mine feel free to leave her a comment and tell her how much you like it.

AnNie KaTe 4 pRes!
Today Annie Kate (age 7) brought home some projects from school they she been working on for president's day. One of them was what they would do if they were president. I had to retype it for you the way she wrote it.

I would like to gro up to be the president because I would make sure evry one would go to Chrch. And evry one is going to be safe. And foly laws. Nevr mis a day of school oly if ther sik. And kep your hans in the widw or it will get hrte! (she must hear this on the bus) And war modist clos.

So sweet! I guess she is learning something at home

moMut!
Every morning my kids eat the same thing for breakfast. What a blessing because i don't have to think about it. Maple and Brown Sugar instant Oatmeal. But of course it has to be Quaker. I try to fool them with no name brand and it never works (they get that from Jeff).

Butwhat is so funny and why I wanted to post is so I would never forget is that Caroline calls oatmeal, "Momut" So when she wakes up and finds me in the morning she is repeating Momut over and over. it is so funny.

What do your kids eat for breakfast?

If you want to see what breakfast i used to eat as a kid, check out these old 70's breakfast commercials. oh the memories.

FaCes!
This is the funniest thing ever! Try it. I got this off of Michelle's Blog. You can go to the website My Heritage and put in a photo of yourself and it shows you what celebrity you look like.

What is so funny is that i have this sad and scary obsession with Patrick Dempsy. It has a history starting int he 80's. Jeff gives me a really hard time about it.
So when I do Jeff's face look who came up. Yes! Patrick Dempsey aka Dr. McDreamy (thanks Jill) it was as if I had won the lottery.

I am calling Jeff at the airport all giddy. Oh what a funny day. Not that I didn't appreciate Jeff before. But ohh la la!

Give it a try and then let me know how it goes for you.

wAll of quOtes!
I am cleaning up my house to put on the market and i have to take down my wall of quotes. So I thought I would take a picture of it to remember it. Any time i found a good quote, i would laminate it and hang it next to my washer and dryer. I even had a wash schedule of what to wash everyday.
So bye bye quote wall.
Jill asked what some of the quotes were so i added them to the comments. Hit comments to read some of the quotes.

EgGs!
I knew that once I started blogging about food it would consume me. I am a candy freak! I have given most of it up and now just love to admire the new latest and greatest without having to try. But Easter candy is a true weekness. Seeing the Cadbury eggs in store screaming at me to buy them today at the store was more than I could handle, Easter is a month away. My brother Bevan and I both have a serious addiction to them. One year after Easter Sam's had them for $2.00 for 48 eggs. I think I sent him 150 eggs in the mail.
On Easter morning after the hunt Heather (my older sister) and I would see how many Cadbury eggs we got. I can still remember the first year they came out. (shows how old i am) You could get them 5 for $1.00, they are now $.59 - $.75. (how embarassing I am sharing that I know this) We usally got two eggs each in our baskets. I used to steal my younger brothers eggs all the time. (sorry guys) But when we would eat them it would take heather and i about 20 minutes. just savoring each last bit.
I am sure my love for these will gross out the same people who don't eat the yummy pink snowballs. But I love them!

scrAps!
Last night we had our first sewing lesson for the patchwork bag i posted a week ago. It was really fun. We have 25 women doing it. It was fun seeing everyone's different fabrics. I was a little freaked out trying to type up the instructions. I know how to do it, i know how to tell someone to do it, but writing it down on paper was actually a little more difficult.
One of the gals typed up this awesome quote that is from a friendship quilt from the 1800's and brought some plastic so we can sew it in the inside of our bag. I love the quote so much thought i would share.

Accept my friend this little pledge
Your love and friendship to engage
If e're we should be called to part
Let this be settled in your heart
That when this little piece you see
You ever will remember me.

*M.E.A., Woodstock, 1847

We will have a dinner in a few weeks when everyone is done with their bag to talk about the different squares and share the Minerva Teichert print and story that my mother in law gave me. I am excited.
The above bag is the new patchwork bag from Coach. Is it not awesome! too pricey for my blood but true eye candy for me!

SaLe! TN locals don't miss!
The other day i posted about how i was getting some items of clothing ready to take to a conisgment sale. Well I took in 60 pieces of clothing. Washed, ironed and tagged. It was an all day affair for sure. Tonight i went with a girlfriend to shop the presale. (The sale does not start until Friday) i got the deal of all deals.
They had a slew of brand new dresses from Mary James, all for $15.00. Smocked, handmade, children's corner patterns, some made with Liberty of London fabric. (Michelle O. & Sharon you would have gone crazy)
I got some great dresses for the girls. On days like this I love having all girls. (although i do wish i had a little boy to dress in those prince valiant, as Jeff would say, sissy clothes)
I also got a baptism dress for annie kate to actually be baptized in. It was brand new with the tags and the tag said $68.00 got it for $15. Woo hoo!!!
so for you locals here is the dates, times and address.

Kidstuff Consignment
This Thursday, friday and saturday 10:00 - 7:00
First Unity Church on Franklin Road. it is 1.8 miles north
of the old hickory and franklin road intersection. Going North it is on your left
any qustions about this year or the sale in the fall email tnwhite@bellsouth.net

Check it out!

The above dress is from Mulberry Street. I don't have one but love to look at them in the stores. I always think i am going to make one, but am holding out to find one at a garage sale.

PiNk SnoWbalLs
Here is my biggest temptation in life the Hostess Pink Snowball. I know 99% of the people that read this are going to think i am crazy. No one understands why I love these so much. And I can't understand why no one loves them like me.
After Jeff and I were married I had at least 10 people tell me how disgusting our wedding cake was. It even became a joke that I would run into people after a year and they would mention how foul my wedding cake was. Nice huh! I used a fondant to make it look beautiful but I guess it didn't taste so well.
When I found this photo of someone's wedding cake i thought "Why didn't I think of that!" I am sure that everyone would have disliked my wedding cake just as much, but hey I would have loved it. But back then I was not in love with the color Pink like i am now.
I have not had a pink snowball since January 8th. My goal is to go 6 months without. We will see how long I can go.

Life is funny, life's a mess
Sometimes a curse, sometimes a blessing
Don't worry 'bout a thing, don't worry 'bout it
Life gets sticky, life can bruise
Sometimes you win sometimes your losing
No matter what it brings
Don't worry 'bout a thing

This morning at the gym i listened to this song like 5 times on my ipod. I love this song. It is one of my favroites. The lyrics are awesome but with the music it speaks volumes to me.
It is called "Don't worry about a thing" by SheDaisy. It is worth a download from itunes. The video is wonderful too. And I must do a little bragging for those that know him, it was co- written by Jason Deere.

PreSidenTs DaY
Happy Presidents Day! I love this print of John F. Kennedy.

Today Annie Kate is home from school and I am sure she will be bored in about the next hour. I am getting about 30 items of clothing washed, ironed and tagged to get to a consignment sale by 6:00 pm. I am ready for a nap at 8:00 am, i was at the gym at 5:45 this morning. Talked to a realtor this morning about homes in D.C., trying to get our home on the market in the next week, Jeff is getting ready for his trip to D.C., he is speaking at a ENT conference this weekend along with a little house hunting and Jeff is on the last month of preparing for his boards in Chicago in April. His final test!
So i put this photo on today's post because Jeff and I will be assuming the above position regularly these next few weeks.
Have a great day celebrating the hardwork of our forefathers!
Don't worry this is actually one holiday in this house we don't go overboard on! Yet, talk to me next year i am sure i will have to come up with something living in D.C. Red white and blue dinner?

SunDay BeSt
A few years ago my girlfirend Krissi J. called me out of the blue. She was living in North Carolina and I in Tennessee (funny story her husband and Jeff grew up together and then ended up at Graduate School together in New Orleans) I had not talked to her in awhile but she called just to tell me that she discovered the ultimate shirt for Jeremy. It is was a non iron dress shirt from Brooks Brothers. She said I know it seems a little pricey but you will save moeny in the end. You will never have to dry clean it. It is truly wash and wear. I was happy to talk to her but didn't think much about going to get one of those shirts. Since Jeff wears the same outfit everyday I really didn't think it would matter. Oh was I wrong.
Last year my dad bought one of these shirts for Jeff as a gift. I wish I would have listened to Krissi sooner. It is the greatest dress shirt of all time. Truly wash and wear. Comes out of the dryer ironed. I even had it sitting in there over night and still come out perfect. Jeff calls it the ultimate Dad shirt. He can wear it to church and after holding at least one baby for three hours he has no wrinkles. (It makes a great Father's Day gift) Jeff doesn't care as much about the dry cleaning as he is just happy to wear a shirt all day and it looks like he just put it on. He now has two shirts and they are the only ones he wears. They are $75 but truly worth every penny! There are a ton of outlets out there and are worth looking for. Here is a link to popular clothing stores and their online coupons, free shipping and current sales going on. I linked it to the Brooks Brothers coupons.
I have learned my lesson that when Krissi J. calls to tell me something I will listen!

MoVie
I made a movie. Watch it!

HapPies
I have a girlfriend in Nashville who gives little gifts to her friend all the time and she calls them "Happies" They can be as simple as a pack of gum, cute kleenex, nifty keychain. I think she seriously has a stash at her house of box full of happies ready to give at a moments notice.
She is from Nashville and said that it is something that her grandma used to do for all of her friends.
So I decided to document some of the things that are simple yet fun that i either want to do or have already done for litle happies.
I thought it would be fun to start that tradition with my girls and giving them little things calling them happies and even making special tags for them, oh my mind is racing.
anyway here is a fun happy to get for your kids. they are $.99 at Target and you can get them online. They are a blinking toothbrush that blinks for 1 minute. Caroline uses hers in the dark. When it stops blinking you can stop brushing. The girls got them in their stockings. Sally Jane (10 months) loves to play with it. Anyway, it would be a fun gift for your kids or grandkids, or hey why not for yourself.
Fire Fly toothbrushes.

PhOtos
I can't beleive that i have not posted about Smugmug until now. Smugmug is this awesome website for photo sharing and photo storage. I love it! It is how i organize all of my photos and share then with my family and friends. We have used it for about 3 years now. My sister in law knows the father son team that started it and got me hooked.
I remember after a family reunion everyone was leaving and saying, "send me copies of the photos, send me the negatives" and of course we never did. Now after a family reunion two days after we get home everyone has posted their photos on their smugmug site and we can see them, print them or order copies. Since we feel so far away from family it has been an awesome way to stay in touch with what everyone is doing.
Smugmugs customer service is awesome! When i email a question i always get an answer back right way. love it love it!! What is so great too is you can lock your site so your friends and family have to use a password to get in or you can just email the link and your friends can look at your photos without having to log on or sign up for anything. It is less than $4.00 a month. You can even give it as a gift. You can even do a free 7 day trial
You can save $5.00 when you sign up if you used this coupon code 8Ngokedgv6XzM. This is kind of a cool insight on digital photo sharing, it is worth looking at.
Feel free to look at our family site.

FrieNds
For some reason tonight i got a litte weepy. I am blaming it on the olympics and the fact that Jeff is at work all night tonight. But I started thinking of a few things...
Two of my greatest friends are going off to college. They are both graduating from High School in a few months. I love these girls so much and they have become two great friends to me and they don't even know it, because to them i am just a youth leader from chruch. It has been exciting talking to them about going away to college. They have no idea how great it can be, and i have no way of really telling them.
My freshman year at BYU ('89) was one of the greatest years of my life, the year I got off my mission comes in at a close tie. It was a great year because I became there girl i never felt i could in high school, my testimony of my chruch became stronger, i went skiing for the first time, (thank you Emily & Jen what a horrible day for you) I met and fell in love with my husband ( or as he would say started stalking him) and I made some life long friends.
The above photo is of me, Michelle (bride) and Jill. This was the day after Michelle was married at her reception in SLC. I have never admited this but it was because of Michelle's wedding I used the colors Blue and White. I even had the guys wear polka dotted ties like Jill's dress. Michelle and I were roomates in S Hall in DT. She was from PA and I was from NM. To me she was the city mouse with all the style and I was the country mouse with NO style. She had the beautiful flowing hair and I straw with a perm (oh how scary) I just realized the other day that both Michelle and I fell in love our freshman year and married the man of our dreams. And we found them in class. Good thing I went to class that year.
In the past month I have reconnected with three of my freshman friends and it has been wonderful and made me feel young again. Jill, Jen and Michelle I love you girls.
COED Naked Rules!!!
And to Shalyce and Danielle I am going to miss you! Get ready for the time of your life!

thE VerY LiTtle giRl
This book is one of our family favorties. I checked out at a library when we were living in New Orleans. I searched for about 6 months to find it and found a used copy online. It is a wonderful little book and would make the perfect baby gift for a mother who has a little girl and is having a little boy. The back of the book says,

Smaller than a rosebush
Smaller than a kitchen stool
She was "the very little girl"
But then something happened.

and the end of the book she becomes a big sister to her little brother. The illustration is by Ninon. I tried to do a little research on them but came up with nothing. But the drawing in this book are incredible. The only colors used are black, white, lime green and pink. (you know i am going crazy)
I found one an an auction right now for $3.75. Great deal. Someone is also selling one on ebay for $50.00. But it would be a fun book to look up next time you go to the library and even more fun to track down for a friend who has a little girl who is going to have a boy. ( I bought it for that reason for us but no boys in our house, just girls.

PoEtry....
I had to share with you this new line of fabrics by April Cornell. I was at our local quilt shop The Quilting Squares and they had a square made out of these fabrics. It was beautiful! They will be getting the whole line in next week. So for you locals you will want to check it out.

My friend Tasha A. emailed me about this awesome fabric store in Pennsylvania: Zook's Fabrics is located in the quaint, historic town of Intercourse, PA. Here is their website Zandsfabarics. I love looking at fabrics and this website makes it really easy.

SisTers SaSSy satcHel

I am posting a new project I am teaching and thought if anyone is interested I would be happy to forward on the instructions.
A group of women from my church about 35, are getting together to make this Sisters bag.
Each friend brings one square of a fabric that represents them. in our case 35 squares. Then you exchange them and sew the bag.
Then after everyone has finished the bag you tell the story as to why you picked the fabric you did. so it is a secret until the bags are finished.
This is a bag a made with fabric that i used while living here in Nashville. It is my tribute to Nashville bag. The fabrics you see are from, annie kate's preschool blanket, Sally janes outfit we brought her home from the hospital in, dresses i made for the girls etc. You could easily make this bag on your own with just an array of fabrics. My inspiration bag was a anniversary by by Coach.
If you are interested in me forwarding you intructions and supply list email me and i will be happy to do that for you. kristi.cutler@comcast.net

LitTle GiRl
My faith again is restored in keeping my 7 year old a 7 year old.
In November Costco had sold a set these toys by Hasbro in a set of 5. The are called The Littlest Pets They are these funny looking bobble head animals. They each have a magnet on the bottom of the foot. They all come with something that when the magnet touches their feeding bowl the little lid pops up. You can even put them on your fridge or a chalk board. They are just cute. They have a wonderful website where you can name your animal and print out a birth certificate. The website has so many fun games and coloring pages.
So we started with this set from Costco and all of our cute neighbor girls got one too. The girls have just loved it. They play with them all the time. The each put a different color dot on the bottom of all their animals so at the end of the day they know whos is whos. (great idea given to me by my sister in law Melissa)
What I love about these toys. Is there is no skanky clothes they wear. they don't come with little mini cell phones or ipods, they have sweet little names, they are just pets!
I was losing faith that there were toys left for Ak to play with that she would just love, but these have fit the bill.
So I am at Target the other day and the isle is bare. I ask the friendly lady in the red shirt when are you getting more in. She tells me the demand for these of late have shot through the roof! The company can't make them fast enough.. Oh no, do you know what these words do to a Buchanan? We have some freaking collecting blood disorder (but ya'll will be happy to know that my dad has sold all of his skis!) So I am trying to control myself, usally when i hear the words hard to find, it makes me want it more. I did take a peek on ebay and of course they are selling for twice the price, business opportunity?? Anyway if you are looking for a great girls birthday gift check them out.

So ThoUghtFUl
What a great day. tired for sure. Jeff came home today from a 36 hours shift. I think he was up all night, he never tells me. (why does that guy not know how to complain he has the best example living with him) The girls were so excited to see him. Sally Jane just jumped in his arms.
My pancake strawberry breakfast did not go so well, CB wanted a hot dog and AK wanted instant oatmeal. oh well. Caroline helped me make dinner today. So cute! She was cracking me up! I have photos on our smugmug (why have i not blogged them yet?) We made these chicken dumplings, you know the receipe with the shredded chicken and cream cheese wrapped in pastry. I figured out how to make them in the shape of a heart. See photos
This year i did something different when i decorated the door with hearts i usually just use die cuts of hearts and paste them all over the door. But this year i didn't have my die cut machine so i was forced to cut them by hand. (Silly me!) so i printed some on the computer and in each heart i put little sayings and inside jokes we have in our family. It was really fun. Especially when jeff got home he was laughing. Our neighbors came over and was reading them too. (Can i just say i think my neighbors must think i am crazy with all of my holiday extravaganza. )
Caroline delivered the rest of her popcorn valentines.
The missionaries from our church came over for dinner. It was yummy and fun. Our new tradition this year was to go around the table and start with one member of the family and say something you love about them. Of course we just laughed so hard we could barely get through it. One of the missionaires said he can't imagine Jeff and I being serious. interesting. Anyway so dinner was yum. the elders left. and jeff pulls out the greatest most thoughtful gift. He gave the girls each a bottle of perfumeIt was a small bottle of three scents one for each girl. He told them that they can wear them on special occasions. Like Sunday, David Wedding, when Annie Kate gets baptized etc. But mom is in charge of them and you have to have her come and put it on . The box inthe above photo was the gift. It was really sweet and the girls were really excited.
So as my friend Kelly Hollingsworth's mom would say, "Marry a great man and teach him to be incredible" Jeff has come a long way from buying bears holding hearts at walgreens to sweet little bottles of perfume for his girls. love that guy. and i will keep what he gave me a secret.
I did get a yummy gift from my friend Paige C. a yummy PINK and green bucket with valentine placemats from PBK.

What did you do for valentines day? JORDAN this means you! my friend who has been holding out on me with some great ideas! so busted. hit the word comment!

i lOve yOu!
Today is one of the greatest days of the year for me. I love holidays! I think I get this from my mom. She made all the holidays in our house so much fun. I remember our Birthdays lasting at least a week. (that was probably me making it last a week) I can still rememeber a Valentine breakfast my mom did for Heather and I when we lived in the Las Alturas house. I could only have been 5. Family traditions is what i believe makes life so wonderful and memorable. (and boy do i have some good ones coming up for St. Patricks day and Easter)
So today i love remembering those that I love, especially my girls and my husband. Oh la la i am so lucky to have Jeff.
So far it has been an exciting day. I will take photos of the rest of the day and put them on later, but till then. Don't forget to tell all the people that you love, that you love them!!
speaking of love, is this mirror not so cute. If you look close you can see the eye embossed in the leather, so when you pull it out is says I love you. You can get of these snazzy mirrors from kate spade.

Be MinE
Yea. We finished Annie Kate's Valentines today. Good thing the snow storm hit so we could spend the day doing them. The best part about making them was talking with annie kate about all the kids in her class. She told me so many stories as whe talked about each child. I suggest to try this one year, having the your child say someting special about each student in the class. I learned a lot about her class and heard some new fun stories about her year. We gave each child a set of Valentines "mushies" the hit at her elementary. I can't wait to blog about that one. We got those in the Hot Spot at Target, where everything is $1.00.

Red & WhiTte
This ball of string is one of my favorite things I have. I have it tied on everything for Valentines day. I am amazed at how often I use it. As I was using it to tie things together and getting ready for the morning for the girls i thought I would put it on my blog so you could get some too. You may recognize this from your local deli, they use it to tie meat. It comes in Blue and White and Green and White. You can get it from T.W. Evans in Rhode Island. I think it was $15 for the entire bolt. Or your local Viking store will have it in blue and white. I have that too and use it often. Especially around the 4th of July. Back to my Valentine fairy work!

Last miNute!
Here is a great last minute Valentines Day idea. Tomorrow at all Krispy Kreme Donut shops their traditional glazed donuts are going to be heart shaped. What a cheap and fun thing to bring to your office at work, the front office at your kids school or to your neighbors and don't forget your kids bus driver! I think I am going to run some up to the Jeff's clinic tomorrow. They also have the ones seen in the above photo that are frosted and sprinkled and Yea PINK!

SnoW?
Today i got this wonderful wake up call from Annie Kate's school at 5:30 am telling me there would be no school today because of the snow. I was so excited to see a winter wonderland outside when i looked out the window, yet this is what i saw. Oh the love of Tennessee! Maryland got 21 inches of snow on Saturday night and they are probably going to school today. My kids are not going to know what to do with all that snow when we move. So i had to take a photo to document my fun snow day. We will spend the day finishing Annie Kate's valentines and maybe go to the park later when it warms up to 70!

PillOw
Without permission ( I am sure she would not mind) I am posting my friend Heather's (Heather from high school, I have so many Heather's in my life) valentines pillows that she made for her family. Oh My! Heather you did a wonderful job! I love the paisley fabric. Love the pom pom trim. They look great!

3 HeArts
How can i not put this photo on today's blog? Today was the third year in a row that Annie Kate has worn this Valentines dress. 2 years ago Caroline was wearing the dress that Sally Jane is wearing. Want to peek? For some reason I can not find last years photo. I will keep looking.
Of course I am getting so excited for Valentines day. I am on the countdown only one day left to get ready. I hope this year you will do something different that you have not done before.

SewIng.
For my sewing friends and friends that want to learn how to sew or are just getting started. Run to the store and buy this magazine. I saw it last night at my grocery store or here is a link to buy it. It is a simple resource for everything in sewing. How to buy a machine, read a pattern, interfacing, thread, needles, fabrics, bobbins... it is wonderful. For you experts who know all this buy it anyway, so when you have all your friends wanting to know what kind of machine to buy you can use this as a resource. It has a few projects in there that are simple and surprisingly not that bad (it seems to me sewing magazines have the cheeziest projects) I was really impressed with how simply they made it to read this magazine and actually learn something. If you look at the link you can see the list of projects that they have in this issue. It is worth every penny!

ShoPPing
One night I went grocery shopping with my girlfriend. Something I have never done before but I highly suggest it. I realized what a rut I was in buying the same things all the time. I don't like to try a lot of new things because if they are gross I feel like I just wasted my money. So it was so interesting to see what she bought for her family. One of the things she bought were these frozen pancakes, by Dewaffelbakkers. A company out of Arkansas. They were $2.72 for 24 pancakes. They come wrapped in sets of threes so you don't ever get freezer burn. You heat them up in your microwave. They are a european style pancake. They don't become soggy or chewy like other pancakes. They taste hommade. They are the perfect Saturday morning breakfast with the kids, but without all the mess. If your grocery store does not have them, request them. Most grocery stores will start carrying a new item if they don't have what you want. I had one store order a box of this awesome pasta sauce (Sal & Judy's) from New Orleans after we moved to TN.
So try something new do your grocery shopping with a friend.

February 15, 2006 Today i just got a phone call from the owner of the pancake company thanking me for linking them to my blog. I love them even more now!

FoR HiM
If you have not yet found a Valentines gift for the man in your life I have a suggestion. I got this for Jeff for his birthday. It is a after shave balm. Poor Jeff was not blessed with the best skin, it gets irritated so easily. Why we have never thought of using a form of after shave before, I just don't know. But him using this has changed his skin so much. It is a very sublte scent. (Jeff is not really a cologne type of guy) I know that I am going to get a ton of grief when you find out how much it is, it is on the pricey side. But a perfect splurge for V-day or B-day.
You can check out the L'Occitan website they are offering free shipping right now. For you locals they have a new L'Occitan store in Green Hills mall. You might be familiar with their products because Delta airlines uses them in their bathrooms. My sister in law's gave me a tube of their lotion for my birthday a few years ago. Best lotion ever!!!!! I am almost out but have had it for about 3 years. oh it is luxury!

Pj's.
My daughter has the greatest principal! She is this young, spunky woman that loves kids. I know this may describe every principal that you have had, but not me! I was always afraid of my principals. What is funny is after Jeff and I visited her new elementary school in Maryland we told her that principal gave us a tour of the school and that he was really nice. She asked me why the prinicpal was a man. kind of funny.
At the Christmas assembly this year she did the awesome christmas song in sign language. She was totally jammin out. It was incredible.
Well, this week Ms. C. told the kids that if they wear their Pj's inside out and backwards that it will snow. (how cute is that) So every night this week Annie Kate has worn her pj's inside out and backwards with the hopes that it will snow.
What a cute tradition for all of us in the south, proably not us fun for you that get snow all the time.
Above is this cute nightgown from Gymboree. And it is Gymbucks right now for you gymboree shoppers.

HaiR
This is by far my favorite hair product of all time. Bumble & Bumble thickening spray. My hair is quite straight, ok who are we kidding it is straw! I use it to give it some kind of body. Since I can't find any hairdresser that will give me a perm (oh how I miss the 80's) I spray it on wet and then spray it on again when drying it. It is a little pricey at about $19. a 8oz bottle. But mine lasts about 8 months. (i write in black marker the date I buy things so I can tell how long they last, I do this with my laundry detergent too) And I use a lot of it and I have a ton of hair. The last time I bought it i also bought the thickening creme which is yummy too. I make up for it by buying the cheapest shampoo possible. (costco two huge pump bottles at $5.00)
I highly reccomend it.
*what is your favorite hair product?*

GirlfRiends!
Last night I went to a Stampin Up! party. I had so much fun. I got some great ideas. I didn't think there would be anything I could really use since i don't stamp cards or scrapbook. I do almost everything on the computer. But I discovered this awesome ink that can be put on plastic, wood or ceramic or really anything and is permanent. It is called Stazon My mind is racing with ideas. Our demonstrator showed us some cool ceramic coasters made with it.
So I got that and some cool border stamps. take a peek. But the best was just being with some great girlfriends with incredible values. I walked away from there feeling so refreshed and proud of what I do, loving my kids more. So to my friends thanks.

Annie Kate was home sick today so we worked on her Valentines. I got yet another great idea from my friend Sonja D. (she is the one who came up with the idea for the pillows) One year she had her daughter write something special about each student in the class. So today we designed these cards and then she came up with something unique about each student. It was so fun. (and yes annie had a big part in it. I didn't pick to do them in yellow and pink, although it cam out quite cute)
We designed them with my new favorite program, Scrapbook Factory. We printed them on HP presentation paper (if you have never used this before it is awesome) then ran it through the xyron sticker machine and mounted it on chipboard. Fonts used. Mr. Giggles, Beef Broccli, Beautiful, American Classic found at Two Peas in a Bucket.
We punched two holes to string some ribbon through so they could hang it on something like a hook or their door.
I know I probably should have saved this for my Valentines post but I thought it was such a fun idea for kids i wanted to share before so you could do it too.
Enjoy!

ProJect.
Here is a project that we did for enrichment and i did it with Annie Kate's girl scout troop.
I bought the tins at Specialty Bottle
The flat glass stones you can find at any craft store. I found these at the dollar store.
The magnets i found at wal-mart or again at any craft store.
The paper is just from any scrapbook store. But the paper is what makes all the difference. I would buy paper that was made to be put together. Same color scheme but different print.
Glue on a glue that dries Clear! This is important. The trick we did with younger girls is to cut the paper in to 2"x2" squares then glue to the stone, let dry and then cut the paper away from the stone. It gives an exact fit! Glue magnet on the back with a super strong glue. EB6000 hot glue will not work.
I made a label to go on top of the metal can. You could put any cute design on that. I then tied it shut wth cute pink and green ribbon. (i got this idea from Jordan B.)
Here is a link to my craft page to see details. photos
Have fun!

These shoes have become quite a topic of conversation around our home for the past few months. "Everyone" at Annie Kate's school has a pair. She has been going crazy to buy some. She saved her money for a few weeks, but then would find something else that she wanted more and it would go on and on. I wasn't willing to buy her some for three reasons. 1. Everyone had them and 2. they were $30. 3. we had just bought her a pair of shoes that were great too. Now don't get me wrong I have spent that much for shoes in the past, but there was just something about $30 for these rubber shoes. And it was winter, if it had been summer i am sure i would have been swayed easier.
So today I am at Wal-mart and what do they have but Croc knock offs, for $8.82. Woo Hoo!

I had to pick up Annie Kate from school early because she is sick and they have a huge spread of Scarlet Fever going on. We get home and I show her the shoes! The once sick little girl is jumping all around, puts on the shoes (believe it or not i didn't get pink, i got lime green) and gives me a big $30 smile for her $8.82 shoes!

This is one of our favorite books right now. It is by our favorite duo, Don & Audrey Wood. (The red ripe strawberry and the big hungry bear).
It is such a cute book. The whole book has activities for your hands. Over the past few weeks this has become one of our new bedtime traditions (It takes us forever to go to bed because we have so many, i'll save that for another blog)
It is so cute at the end all the piggies (fingers) touch to give a big piggie kiss. All morning Caroline has been going around giving piggie kisses to everyone.
Our Christmas this year had a piggie theme, we got hooked on this book, the girls all got pig pajamas, stuffed sleeping bag pigs, and cute flashlight pigs from the Omans.
So my three little girls are my three little pigs, in the nicest sense of terms of course. And we love pigs because they are PINK!