Day 46 - Toy

Here's my new toy!!! Bought it just in time for this photo of the day. I'm in love :)  It was actually kind of sad to see the old car go. Lots of memories and roadtrips logged in that thing. Time for a new start, though! We should be able to grow nicely into this car. It's huuuuge (and so powerful ;) compared to our old Explorer. Weeee!

Day 45 - Feet

The pitter patter of little feet
Leave behind something dear and sweet
A precious treasure for me to keep
The memories of your little feet.

I saw these little, but growing quickly, feetsies sticking out of Cara's blanket this morning. I still remember what her feet looked like the day she was born. What they looked like when she would grip onto your finger with her "monkey toes" as a baby. How excited she was when she was two and got her first pair of red, glittery Dorothy slippers to watch the "Bubble Movie" (Wizard of Oz) in. Now they're decorated with blue nail polish and are housed by Skechers and pink cowgirl boots..to name a couple. Our oldest baby is growing so fast, but I still love seeing her pretty pink feet while she sleeps.

Day 44 - Trash

'Tis trash day in the QC! I captured the excitement just for your enjoyment.. ;)

Day 43 - My Name

I was feeling quite accomplished after going to the gym today, so I decided to take a picture of my gym pass to document it. Today was the first time I let my potty training buddy go diaper-less to the gym. That was not such a big success. Good thing we get to try again tomorrow..and the next day..and the next. Hope it was a happy, healthy day for all! :D

Day 42 - Key

Keys from my Ry Ry's piano app on her tablet. She loooves that thing! We finally had to get her one so she would leave our phone apps alone ;)  I would have gone nuts over something like that when I was five. Kids these days and their gadgets.

Day 41 - Breakfast

This was the perfect breakfast to feed the kids when I was sick. They loved it, didn't complain and it couldn't have been easier!

Day 40 - An Animal

This is Avery and her "Baby Scully". He's such a sweet dog and Avery just loves him to death..almost literally sometimes. She is definitely an animal lover and sometimes can't contain her..enthusiasm for Scully! I thought this was a sweet picture of them :)

Day 39 - Moon

For some reason (Daddy..), this song, although not very appropriate, has become a Dean Family favorite. Reminds me of happy times rockin' out and dancing with the kids :) Please don't call CPS on us, we're good parents...Really..

Chorus:
Me and the moon stayed up all night;
I brought the whiskey! He brought the light!
Me and the moon stayed up all night;
I brought the whiskey! He brought the light!
A' quarter to three, we're feeling fine when the sun comes up I'm gonna miss my friend moonshine

Me & The Moon by Gaelic Storm

Day 38 - Kitchen Sink

This is where I spend many hours, slaving over dishes while watching the horses graze next to the barn :P

Day 37 - Delicious

I have to be honest..this was not my dinner. I scarfed down my insanely DELICIOUS dinner before remembering to take a photo of it. Bummer. Oh well, the kids had pizza, which is also considered to be delicious :)

Day 36 - Before and After

Happy Spring! I noticed a couple of little rosebuds blooming this morning and thought it would be appropriate for today's before and after photos! The last hints of Winter (top photo) are giving away to the blooms of Spring. It was a beautiful first day of Spring!

Day 35 - Funny

I'd like you to meet...Zoe! I was trying to get some pictures of her today, and this is what she gave me. Thanks, girl.  :P to you too!

Day 34 - Corner Of My Home

Welcome to the corner of our back yard patio ;)

Day 33 - Green

St. Patrick's Day mint chocolate chip cookies. So. Good.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
6 to 8 drops green food color
1 egg
1 cup creme de menthe baking chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, extract, food color and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks.

2. Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

Day 32 - Sunglasses

Our first child! Love my pup..love her even more with sunglasses on :)

Day 31 - Car

As I was sitting on the curb tonight, looking like a total creepster with a camera, I snapped this shot of a car's taillights as it was leaving a stop sign. Thought it was kind of cool :) Fun to play around with the camera!

St. Patty's Day Shamrock Wreath

So, I know this is a photo project blog, but I've been bitten by the crafting bug and want to share my first creation! This is so cute and fun to make right before St. Patty's Day! I found this wreath on another blog, http://www.alittletipsy.com, but had to post my adventure here after I made it :) Plenty of pictures, though!

For this, you will need:

• Large piece of styrofoam
• Two shades of green fabric (About a yard of each)
• Serrated knife
• Scissors
• White Glue
• Pen
• Hot glue gun
• Ribbon
• Heart template (My template was 6x6 inches for a 16" finished wreath)

Take both shades of green fabric and cut into 2x2 inch squares. I cut out a lot of squares to start with, then more later as needed.

Start out with a piece of Styrofoam. I found some leftover in the garage, so that worked out well. Otherwise, you can buy it from a craft store. Draw or print from the internet, a heart to use as your template for the shapes of your shamrock leaves. Trace around it with a pen or pencil on the styrofoam, then cut out with your knife. Repeat so that you end up with four hearts total. Make sure that all of the different hearts form a shamrock nicely and the sides can be glued together before moving on. Also, use your knife to carve out a stem, about 5-6 inches long.

     

Now you're ready to get gluing! Wrap a fabric square around the end of your pen, dab it in the white glue, and stick to the styrofoam using the pen to place it in a rose-like shape. I found it helpful to push lightly into the styrofoam to make it stay. 

Continue doing this, randomly placing the different shades of green, until the heart is covered. Glue the pieces close together to achieve a dense look and feel. For the stem, I chose to use only dark fabric squares in order for it to stand out from the rest of the shamrock.

Heart/Leaf

     

        Stem

The sides of the hearts should have the styrofoam still exposed for hot gluing the pieces together.

Once all five pieces are covered, take the hot glue gun and carefully glue the exposed sides together to create the shamrock. Extra fabric pieces may be needed to fill in any gaps. I also trimmed some parts of the fabric to enhance the shape. Once dry and to your liking, take your ribbon and glue around the edges of the entire shamrock to cover the white styrofoam. Much prettier that way! Next, add the ribbon to hang it with. Hot glue the ends of a piece of ribbon to the back of the shamrock to create the loop for hanging. The last step is to add some sort of personal touch. I made a bow for mine, but add anything you'd like..or keep it as is! :) 

Day 30 - Clouds..Or Lack Thereof

Naturally, on the day I need to take a photo of clouds (one of my favorite things to take pictures of!), there isn't a single one to be found. I checked aaallllll throughout the day. On my last trip to seek out any type of accumulation of water particles in the sky, I was still unlucky, but found a substitute. Not a cloud, but pretty!

Day 29 - A Sign

This last minute photo was taken tonight at the exit of our neighborhood. Had a very busy day with the kids and crafting! Not a lot of signage involved there. Enjoy my best sign photo ;P

Day 28 - Fork

This photo, to me, represents the ending to a very productive and interesting first day of spring break. This post-dinner picture was taken as the kids were climbing up the stairs with Daddy to go get tucked into bed. Those kids are the funniest, sweetest, craziest, cutest, grumpiest, most wonderful people on the planet..but bedtime is never an unwelcome thing for mommy ;) Today was full of things like deep cleaning our upstairs (to be continued tomorrow), potty training the lil man (doing well!), chasing down a fire-bellied toad through the family room to be returned to it's little toad home (still don't know who let it out), and ended with a long chat with the mum :)  Definitely not dull, but a good day, indeed!  

Day 27 - Someone I Talked To Today

I usually make a habit of talking to ALL of my kids every day ;), however, today I spent an especially nice time with my little Avery. She was in a very good mood, decided to help me clean up without me even needing to ask (wow), and was just very calm. I sat down and talked to her while she played legos and the other three kids played outside. She showed me all of the things she was making and I made a point of letting her know how special she is. She's one of the middle kids in the family, so I think it's important to do that. I told her how smart she is, beautiful, sweet, and helpful. Doing my best to produce strong, brilliant women from our household!

Day 26 - Loud

Opening day for Queen Creek Heat Softball!!! Talk about loud! Music, hundreds of excited kids, bounce houses, and...my screaming girls! They have got to be the loudest little people ever ;)  Fun times with our family <3

Day 25 - Red

Found these beautiful red flowers while enjoying an evening out with the family :)

Day 24 - Window

A window with a beautiful view :)  Love my baby Bug. Love that she's doing homework.

Day 23 - Something I Wore

Today I'm wearing very exclusive pieces from my workout collection ;)  I get the kids dressed in their school uniforms every weekday morning, then I throw my uniform on..workout clothes. The gym is really my only "me" time during the day, therefore, it is a very loved and welcomed torture session :D

Day 22 - 5pm

5pm is a pretty busy time in our house. We have daddy coming home from work, homework being done (or at least attempting to be done), dinner, and the two little ones playing together..loudly. It's definitely the busiest time of day, but tonight I decided to take a timeout for a few minutes to sit out by the pool and snap some shots of the palm trees being rustled by the wind. It would have been very peaceful if it weren't for my 2 year old standing behind the pool gate, throwing rocks into the pool :P

Day 21 - Smile :)

One of my favorite smiles in the world belongs to this guy <3  He cracks me up with his little personality and his craziness! He'll be my baby forever. Even when he has his own babies someday. Hope you had a reason to smile today! :)

Day 20 - Bedside

Bedside..so ready to be in the bed. Goodnight!

Day 19 - My Neighborhood

It's tough to take a picture of your neighborhood when in another state ;)  Here's one I took yesterday of my childhood hometown, Hungtington Beach, CA. Brings back memories of living there, going to Bullwinkles, the skating rink, school..the list can go on and on! Fun to stop by your old neighborhood once in a while and remember the past.

Day 18 - Fruit

Citrus
Lovely
Enjoyable
Mouthwatering
Enticing
Nutritious
Tangy
Incredible
Nummy
Excellent

Day 17 - Up

My lil cowboy climbing up into the saddle :)

Day 16 - Something I'm Listening To

The sound of waves crashing on rocks has to be one of the most relaxing things to listen to. The extra day in 2012 was definitely not wasted! I spent it by celebrating my anniversary with my husband of 8 years :)  We got married on February 29, 2004. This was only our second "real" anniversary..something to be celebrated!  Time goes by so fast, but so much has changed. Four perfect little babies were born, however, they were not present today (thank goodness for grandparents!;)

It was a beautiful day in San Diego. We strolled through the shops and people-watched, then sat and had a picnic dinner on the grass next to the water and just soaked up the sounds and sights! Perfection <3