Haus of Girls

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Weekly Blog Hop!

I entered my first ever BLOG HOP!

How fun!

This week's topic is FAVORITE PHOTO.

I have WAY to many to pick from.... here are a few :)

(Sorry if this is illegal.)

One of my all time favorites.

Mia and Sophie in the Spring of 2007.

They were playing on the washer game and it looked like they were holding hands.

I had to snap this moment in time.

Ever since Sophie was born they have been the best of friends.

Another favorite.... Mia's first pitching experience.

Windmilling to Daddy up at his field.

And just for fun! Mia hiding from Santa UNDER the table.

WOW!

This week, on TUESDAY, 7/7/09, the theme is A FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPH. Post up one of your favorite photographs and a caption that tells the audience about it.

Click here to enter your link in the blog hop and view the entire list of entered links...

Monday, July 6, 2009

{My Little Firecrackers}

We had a WONDERFUL 4th of July!

Look at my FIRECRACKERS ready to go.... tattoos and all!

I made them these flip flops to wear!

Mommy and her girls POSE before leaving for the day.

We spent the day at my uncle's gorgeous property!

The girls didn't want to leave.

They loved this trampoline (one of two) overlooking the lake.

Gracie and Mommy

They even had a baby DEER!
How awesome is that?!
Mia and Sophie were obsessed with petting BAMBI.

How cute!

Sparkler time!

Mia's turn.

Thanks to my fabulous hubby, Steve, I got a few {Mommy and Girls} shots.

I NEVER get these because I am always the one with the camera!

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

I LOVE this holiday!

Who wouldn't?

Fireworks, BBQ & Family Fun!

Mia got her first ever pedicure yesterday.

You know I had to snap pictures.

They turned out so cute!

A BIG girl pose :)

I can't believe she will be 5 on Wednesday!!

Mom got a pedi also.

After our girl time bonding at the nail salon, we had some of my family over at our house for some dinner and fireworks!

Grandpa was giving Mia some of his FAMOUS hitting lessons.

Miss Gracie was walking around LOVING the sidewalk chalk and sparklers.

Mimo chilling with Meade on the deck.

MAGGIE is home!!!!!!!!

My girls were so happy.

Gracie loves her!

Mommy and Gracie

Sophie's first sparkler this year.

She was not real impressed.

Sophie warmed up as the night went on.

She loved the sparklers!

Hope everyone has a SMORES filled 4th of July shared with family and friends.

Happy Birthday America!

Monday, June 29, 2009

I Am No Martha Stewart....

but sometimes I do come up with fun, helpful ideas for the household.

That is what happens when you become a Mom.

You discover thing throughout your day that can help turn your home into a more functional place for adults AND kids.

A cohesive balance is always my goal.

My life right now is all about my girls. I have the REST of my life to have a totally clean, always ORGANIZED home with UN-MARKED WALLS, NO TRAIL of TOYS, Highchairs in the Way, Kids DRAWINGS displayed all over, and FINGERPRINTED everything!

My life, at the moment, is just perfect with all these things. So why not make the most of it and enjoy every minute! This is what I make a point to do each day.

So I have decided to randomly post some {NOT-SO-MARTHA-STEWART} tips I have created along my Mommy Journey. And, I would love it if you could chime in with any of your great ideas!

(I hate those Moms that HOARD all their good ideas and don't share!)

Because I am not NATURALLY creative or gifted in that sense, I need all the help I can get!

I am so envious of those of you who are BORN creative. Those of you who don't have to live the experience to create an idea, rather, the ideas just pops into your head.

You know who you are.

Although I am not claiming to be super creative or fancy, I would still love to share some fun HOUSEHOLD TIPS that I have invented along my way as a wife and Mommy. There are not many, but I will post them randomly in a series I like to call,

{I Am No Martha Stewart....}

Number One:
I quickly realized my TAPE that I was using to hang my girls' artwork on our stainless steel fridge was ruining it.

Annoying!

I can't have a fridge WITHOUT artwork.

It's never going to happen.

So this idea was born.

Just tape (along inside door) a long piece of cute ribbon and let it hang down the front.

Buy some tiny clothespins and clip your picture, artwork, etc (Steve's Half Marathon Number) to the ribbon and VOILA!

No more yucky sticky tape marks on the stainless steel that (I have learned first hand) does NOT come off!

Same concept, but on the cabinet.

So fun! And you don't have to stress about yucky TAPE marks all over the front of everything!

More tips to some soon....

And please let me know some of YOUR great tips!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Tiny Dancer

My first experience with dance class.

One word to describe it...

Interesting.

Mia LOVED it.

But you could DEFINITELY tell I didn't know what was going on.

(I only played sports growing up so I often found myself a little confused on the DANCE procedures and rules.)

Mia's teacher was so WONDERFUL and Mia learned SO much.

Now we are trying to decide if she will do it again next year...

When I look at these adorable pictures, I sure hope she does!

My little TINY DANCER Mia.

How cute are their costumes?!

I love AQUA!

I made all the bows for her dance class.... so fun!

Daddy and his girls after the show.

Mommy and the big girls.

Mia and Sophie posing post-performance.

Back-Stage coloring action shot.

My favorite picture from the day!

I love SUNNY, SQUINTY SMILES!

The final picture at the end of the SECOND recital.

Mia was TOO cute on stage and I had no idea what to expect out of my SUPER SHY girl.

She SMILED up on the stage all lit up with lights and acted like she's been dancing for years!

I loved that her dance was to the Lion King rendition of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight!"

Too cute for words.

Mia's first DANCE experience brought out the GIRLY side of me for sure and I will ALWAYS remember her twirls in the bright white lights up on that big wood stage.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Nap Time Project

This fleece blanket was a fun nap time project I did the other day.

It was meant to be a nap time project in the fall or winter, but I just now got around to it.

In the MIDDLE of SUMMER mind you.

Oh well, with how busy I am lately with all these birthday parties, I am lucky to have done it at all.

It was super easy and would have been even easier if my GHETTO scissors would have CUT like they are supposed to.

Mia LOVED it!

How to do it:

Buy 3 yards of two different prints of fleece.

(JoAnn's had a stellar sale!)

Cut both prints to match up evenly.

Then cut the fringe (both prints at once...(this is why you need good scissors) as you want each fringe to match up) along both borders to your desired width.

I choose a wider width to get it over with more quickly given the fact I was getting a BLISTER from my scissors and had 6 kids napping and had only a given amount of time to get it done.

And finally knot both prints together at each fringe. I tied them together twice on each fringe.

The fleece won't fray AND the knots will never come out.... even in the wash! How neat is that?

This is a super FUN, CHEAP and EASY way to make something for your kids that they are INTO at this time in their life. (They have ALL kinds of different characters and themes in this fleece! Sophie can't wait for me to make her a "Cooby Doo" blanket.)

Since whatever characters or things they are CRAZY ABOUT changes so fast, it's nice to not have to spend a lot of money when in two weeks they will LOVE something or someone NEW!

Mia obviously has a THING for horses that, I am guessing (& hoping since we did her entire BEDROOM in a horse them), will last a few years.

So I chose this cute HORSE print for her.

I NEVER see GIRLY horse prints, only brown, green, blue and all very WESTERN-ISH.

Which, don't get me wrong, is super cute.

But when I saw this girly version I had to get it for her.

She loves it so much and uses it on TOP of her awesome horse QUILT seen in THIS POST.

It is the best feeling in the world to MAKE something for my girls.

It means so much to them that I take time out of my CRAZY BUSY life to do something just for them.

They notice.

They remember.

Try this today! And leave me a comment and let me know how it goes.