to dog, or not to dog...

I suppose I have 8 weeks to make up my mind!  I just got a call from my oldest brother and his schnauzer had puppies.  And we can have one.  Jenica and Kaitlyn LOVE my brothers dog Ruby!  They would be in heaven if we got one!  So he told me they had 3 puppies, all are spoken for and one, an all black male, is ours if we want.  I want it, the girls want it, but I'm sorta unsure.  I guess we will see how it goes!  He said we can come up and see the puppies...he said they are tiny...they fit in the palm of his hand.  I'd  love to see them that tiny.  So this picture isn't their dog...but it's what ours would look, since it's a black shnauzer!!

Pandas!

Well, I am exhausted!  I will post all the fun birthday details tomorrow, but I just had to show off all the cute stuff I have been making!  The girls are having a little combined friend party this year since I feel like Kiki is old enough now, and the have some of the same friends they like to play with.  Mostly that's Jenica's friends that Kaitlyn asks to play with also!  So I talked the kiddos into doing a Panda themed party!  I suppose this is my first "hybrid" project.  But here are the invitations I made using the Pandas from Mindy Terasawa's Pandemonium kit available from designer digitals (see link to left).  ANYWAYS...they are 4x4...I used a circle punch to make the little window w/ the panda behind, then the circle and scallop punch to make the pink around the little window and then i used some foamy things to make the green paper stick up off the card.  And of course the bow tops it off!  I LOVE THEM!  Thanks to Tamara for the c.u.t.e. idea and letting me borrow her punches!!  :)
Second project...Happy Birthday Panda Banner!!  I made 4x4 squares and printed them at costco on a 4x6 and trimmed them down, hole punched, and tied it all together with cute ribbon!  Another thing I love!  hehe  I'm just so pleased with myself and all my craftiness!  Ok, I used the pandemonium kit here also!
And this is what I am most proud of!!  The panda cake I made for Kiki today!!!
Don't you just LOVE IT?  I know I do!  I probably don't need to say it, but it's made to look like the panda from the pandemonium kit!  I looked for the bear cake pan yesterday, but had no luck!  So I used a circle pan and a bowl and then cut the bowl cake so it wasn't so deep to make the mouth/nose.  And the ears are cupcakes!  I made cupcakes too, but I will share those tomorrow!  Anyways, I made my own buttercream frosting and added baking cocoa to it (first time, it was delicious) and made the panda brown instead of black because 1.) walmart was sold out of the wilton black food dye and 2.) Black food dye is just NASTY!!!!  

Ok, I reeeeally need to get to bed!  I have an eventful day tomorrow too!  More later!!

Where does the time go???

Seriously!!  I am about to be the mother of a FOUR and SIX year old!  Seems like just yesterday they were tiny like this...maybe it's time for another baby!  

The next few weeks will be busy with birthdays in our family!  Kaitlyn's is this sunday, Jenica's is a week from sunday, and then Josh's birthday is 2 weeks from that sunday (I guess +1 day this year, because it is leap year...but it all usually happens within 3 exact weeks)!  The boy is going to be the big 3-0!  Whoa!  We're getting old!  Any ideas on what I should do for him?

Happy Valentines Day!

Look at these beautiful flowers my sweet husband brought home to me tonight!  They smell fabulous and are so so pretty!!  And here's my favorite part, that brought tears to my eyes:
There are 2 giant gerber daisies in with the dozen roses.  Why do these mean so much?   Because Josh brought me a potted gerber daisy plant on our first date, nearly 8 (EIGHT!!!) years ago!
And I did a little craft with the girls this afternoon as well!  It was fun!  We made these little valentine people...mine is the one on the left, Jenica's is the top right, Kaitlyn's is the bottom right!  Kaitlyn even cut hers out all by her self, put the eyes on, tapen on the arms, legs, hands, feet, and drew it a sweet little face!  I knew Jenica could do it, but Kaitlyn impressed me with her mad cutting skills!  :)

In other news...I am exhausted!  Last night was a verrrry long night!  We had a HUGE snow storm blow in, not so much snow I guess because the news said we only got 1-2 inches!  But the drifts were HUGE!  People were stranded...kids were stuck at schools, on buses...our power went out at about 4:30 yesterday.  I was worried about being home alone with the kiddos in the dark, and then my friends husband came and picked us up and we went to their house, and then we drove to the next neighborhood down to go to her sisters house because she had a gas fireplace...so we could keep warm!  Their power came on at 7:30, but power at home stayed out until nearly 1am.  So I'm glad we stayed over.  Poor Josh didn't even try to come home because it was so bad, so he slept at work!!  I think I'm heading to bed...yawn...