Happy 1st Birthday Gracie!

I can't believe my baby is one today.

This can't be true.

I feel like it was just yesterday that I was being held hostage in the hospital trying to keep her in my belly for a few more weeks!

Thankfully, we were blessed with a perfectly healthy beautiful little girl.

Weighing in at 7 pounds 3 ounces.

Words cannot express how HAPPY Mia and Sophie were to finally meet you.

And HOLD you.

Love at first sight.

Our life is now complete because of you little Grace.

Thank you for joining our family and being the positive spirit you are.

From day one you have always had this wonderful aura surrounding you.

You light up any room that you enter!

Always so content.

Now you are a big girl.

You have officially started walking!

You are our little flower child.

You are always so happy!

And you are definitely Daddy's little girl!

We are so excited to continue to watch as you grow and learn about the world!

We love you CUPCAKE CUTIE Grazia Marie!

Winners Revealed!

Hooray for THREE winners of my Mini Monogrammed Buckets!

The three lucky ladies as decided by Random.Org are:

• Melissa from theperfecttrio

• Ali from Mama Manifesto

and

• Holly from mommy holly

Please contact me at HausofGirls@gmail.com and let me know what initial you'd like on your cute Mini Monogrammed Bucket! Also let me know if it will be for a boy or a girl :)

Thanks for everyone who entered and hope you'll follow along for more great giveaways and some upcoming fun and funky tips I can't wait to share.

Mia's Preschool Birthday Party Giveaway

Mia recently had her birthday celebration at school!

Since her birthday is in July we got to pick a day that she could celebrate at school with her friends.

We brought some mini dirt cake treats for everyone!

A flower, a worm, some dirt and pudding.



What could be better?




Mia LOVED helping me make these and felt so special to have her own fun day at school to celebrate her birthday.



I can't believe my little Mia will be 5 this summer......

and starting KINDERGARTEN in the fall.



How can time go by so fast?


If anyone is in need of a cute party favor idea for your child's next birthday celebration feel free to hop on over to my etsy shop to get your own personalized buckets!





They would be perfect to fill with candy or other goodies for your child to take in to school on their special birthday celebration day!






Or use in your child's bedroom to store all those RANDOM goodies you don't want laying on the floor! (This is what I do! Can you say POLLY POCKETS?!)



I LOVE using one in the baby's room to keep all her pacifiers in one place!

What would you use one of these monogrammed buckets for?

Please leave me a comment & I will draw THREE lucky winners next Thursday, May 28th to receive their very own MINI MONOGRAMMED BUCKETS

You can enter up to 4 times by :

• Leaving a Comment
• Following My Crazy Blog (Click on the Follow Me on My Blog)
• Twittering About My Giveaway (include your Twitter link)
• Posting About My Giveaway on Your Cute Blog (include your link)

Good luck!

A Bedroom Tour

Today I am giving a little tour of Mia's bedroom.

I love getting to peek inside the lives of other people,

so I decided to let everyone get a peek into ours.

I am pretty nosy by nature.

Maybe nosy isn't the best word....

I am INTERESTED in others' lives by nature.

If you are also, you will enjoy the tour of Mia's Horse Room!

(You may need some sunglasses, as the HOT PINK walls are bright.

Just a warning.)

Mia's cute NEW Horse Quilt and Sham.

I got it on BIDTOPIA.COM for $4.25.

Jealous?

I had to frame this picture Mia drew of me!

It is me with Gracie in my belly.

I LOVE the baby so much.

And check out my teeth!

I had to put this somewhere I would

be able to see everyday.

Mia hanging with one of her 50 horses.


Her cute FEET picture.
She was only about 3 weeks or so when this was taken.



Her wall arrangement.

I am NOT a decorator so if anyone has a better plan let me know.
Wasn't quite sure how to fit all three?!

One is her painting that she die when she was three.

I just LOVE it!

Also, a picture of her riding a beloved horse.

And a cute painted canvas that a Mom of one of

Steve's baseball players made us.
So sweet!

Now, her most FAV item in her room, her RUNNING HORSES.

Can you say ebay?
Only $5!

I put her desk under the dresser where her bed is supposed to go to save some space.

I covered a pin board in Horse Print fabric and she went crazy over it!
She loves to pin random things up there that she saves.
And she saves a lot of random things these days.

And finally, one of my favorite pictures of her reaching through a fence to pet a horse.

This was an outing when Gracie was only a few weeks old and of course while getting

ready to go, Mia decided to try to do some front rolls.

Unfortunately she pulled some neck muscles trying to roll

and could only look one way the entire day!

It was miserable.

But luckily this guy cheered her up!

She says she is going to be a VET-RA-NARIN when she grows up.

This is what I always said I wanted to be (see she really is my clone!) so I would love to see her make her dream come true!

Thanks for stopping by for a little Horse Bedroom Tour!

More rooms to come!

"I've Given My Life to Sports....

And In Return, Sports Have Given Me A Life.

A Beautiful Life."

I watched the video below and it could have been me talking.

She reminds me so much of myself (minus the Olympic Gold Medals!)

What she says reminds me so much of MY family.

Me and my three sisters.

Softball tournaments were OUR summer vacations.

We knew that we had to work hard to be the BEST we could at softball.

To go to college for free.

Our parents couldn't pay for four girls to go to college.

We knew this and worked hard everyday from age 8 until 21 playing the game we loved.

My dad played professional baseball and we wanted to follow in his footsteps and be great at whatever we chose to do.

Me and my sisters all went to college for free.

My twin sisters played professionally for the Chicago Bandits with Jennie Finch who is in this video.

(Look who they got to hang out with because they were celebrity softball players! Can you say DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!)

Our youngest sister Maggie played on the USA Junior Olympic Team and will hopefully play on the USA Olympic team with Jennie Finch (the girl in this video) one day.

I hope you will watch the video and enjoy what kind of life sports can give people and what it gave our family!

(Please scroll down and hit PAUSE on the music so you can hear the video. And it's much better full screen if you want to enlarge it and watch! ENJOY!)

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A SIMPLE Mother's Day

Most mom's might like a new outfit or purse for Mother's Day.

Or maybe some shiny new jewelry.

Not me.

What did I ask for this Mother's Day?

A VEGETABLE GARDEN!

That's right.

I am a simple kind of girl.

I don't care about THINGS that much.

At least not for myself.

I could care less if I have something cute or new.

I would rather use that money and buy something for the family or the girls.

So this year I wanted homegrown veggies all summer long.

What is better than that?

Here are some fun pictures from the day before Mother's Day 2009.

Sophie loved digging in the dirt.

What a helper!
Taking the dirt to the wheelbarrow with such grace.


Mia and Sophie helping clear out our garden area.

Look at them go!

What's that I hear.... the ICE CREAM MAN!!!!

They HAD to take a "break" to get a treat.



The girls' first purchase from the ice cream man in our new neighborhood!

SPONGE BOB Pops!

I asked Sophie to hold it up for a picture and she literally held it UP.

Having a chat garden side.

The girls helping Daddy plant away.

Before picture

After picture.

I love my garden!
Thank you so much Steve, Mia, Sophie and Gracie

Here are a few pics of what my Mother's Day morning looked like.

Mia hit for awhile.

Sophie shagged.

I love action shots!

Mia was so in to playing Frisbee with Dad.

She thought she was a professional "thrower."

After our morning fun we headed to my Grandma V's for a fun filled afternoon with family.

It was a great Mother's Day.

Filled with family.

My girls

(Of course! How could I not be with my girls on Mother's Day!)

Simple.

Just the way I like things.

The night ended early (amazing for us!) yet the girls still passed out in the car.

They were so exhausted from such a fun day!