Random Story and Freezer Paper

My love bought me a serger for Christmas and I was in shock. I could have sworn we agreed not to get each other big gifts, since the new tv was our gift to each other. I felt like a dork, only getting him jeans and stocking stuffers. :) He is a wonderful man!

Today in the car, Lilly told me she wanted to get married when she grew up. I said that would be okay if she could find a wonderful man that loved her like her Daddy loves me. It is amazing to be able to tell my girls how great of a man their Daddy is! Of course, after I told Lilly about her Dad, she told me she was going to get married when she got "o-dor, when I'm 6!" Ha! I said how about 26, and she said 6 was better. :)

I have several plans all ready to go for the serger, but have to learn how to thread it and use it first. That is kind of important. So until I get those projects going, I have a new slight obsession...FREEZER PAPER STENCILING!!

This stuff is awesome! I found a couple of plain t-shirts for the girls on sale, ordered some freezer paper online, and was all ready to go. Freezer paper is in the foil and sandwich bag aisle at the grocery store. However, I couldn't find any around here, so I just ordered some from Amazon.

You trace your design on the non-shiny side, cut out your design with an Xacto knife, iron it to the shirt, and paint away. The shiny side allows you to iron it to the fabric, creating a sealed edge that holds in the paint and limits seeping. Then when your paint dries, you just peal the freezer paper away and are left with the cute image you wanted. It is so much fun too! I went with an owl and a frog this time. Lilly wanted the frog off of her Carter's jammies, so I just traced it straight off the pj's.

Here are my stencils ironed onto the shirts. You just set your iron on high with NO steam.

It was hard to get a good picture of the colors, but the outside of the owl and the flowers is a petal pink color.
After the paint dried, I hand-painted the blushing pink cheeks on the frog and then used my FAVORITE fabric pen to draw the eyes and mouth.
I think they liked them!
There are tons more tutorials on freezer paper stenciling around the internet. Google it and have some fun!!

Princess Hooks and The Cold...

We always need more and more storage around here. We ADORE our little house, but were not anticipating having two little ones almost immediately after moving in. So, I found this cute little shelf at Hobby Lobby last week and the girls begged to get it. We hung up their backpacks, capes, crowns, and the other things they like to play with on a daily basis. It has been such a help.

It is also too cold to go outside. My poor girls are having a hard time understanding why they can't go outside when it is 36℉ and raining. Yesterday they spent a good 20 minutes gazing out the back door watching the rain.

But we enjoyed a lazy Sunday at home and are doing the same today. At least the girls have a constant snuggle bunny to play with....

The girls also discovered their love for Nutella. We got an off-brand and it tastes exactly the same. Just dip apple slices in it and my girls are in HEAVEN!!

We start swimming lessons tomorrow...can't wait for that adventure!!

Ballerinas in Training

My girls are so in love with ballet and gymnastics right now. They have the book on the Nutcracker Ballet and became slightly obsessed over Christmas. I was looking for swimsuits the other day and found all of these ballet/dance outfits that we got from their cousins. I was shocked to find the outfits fit since they are size 4/5. Such tall little goobers...

So I spent the rest of the afternoon dressing them, and re-dressing them, and re-dressing them. They wore every outfit for about an hour. :) I turned on music and let them dance away. They had a blast! Before these pictures, they were singing Jingle Bells while twirling and jumping. Lilly is wearing the purple...

Big hug for Mommy...

A lot of the pictures were slightly blurry, so I tried to edit them for fun. I can't get over how sweet these girls are...



They practiced gymnastics in their room...Lilly would prop her body up on the bar of the bed and try to hold her legs out behind her. She figured out how to do it first, so she showed Lexi how to do it.
She REALLY tried to help Lexi...good thing they flipped onto a bed when they went too far. :)
Strong Lilly...
Ballet kick...or karate?
Either way, I think they will have a fun time with all their lessons this summer.

Wordless Wednesday

One Reason I Love Texas...

Sometimes Texas weather gets on my nerves. Is it winter or summer, seriously?! Other times, I enjoy the warm days that pop up in between super cold days and just try to soak up the sunshine before it gets cold again. This has never been more true for me since having children. They need to be outside. I can always bundle them up, but a short-sleeve day is sooooooooo nice! This year, a few days before Christmas, we hit 87℉ for a high. It was glorious and crazy! We played outside for hours. I think the whole neighborhood was outside. I ended up putting hats and sunglasses on the girls because their foreheads were beginning to turn pink. :)

This was around 10 am in the car...fabulous, right?

The girls were able to play with our next door neighbors...some of their favorite kids in the world. We actually had two young elementary school boys willing to play with toddlers. It was really sweet. Lilly and Lexi got to play football and basketball. We really do have the best neighbors and are so happy to have that. It is such a blessing!

Lilly admiring Pete's bike...

Lexi running with the football...
Lexi...

See, we didn't even need shoes...

The next day was a little cooler, but still required some shading for the face...

Then after being a cold Christmas, it warmed up a little again. The girls took advantage of the weather and got in some soccer time with Daddy.

Lexi above, Lilly below...Eric was a goalie, so Lilly is learning the art from him.

Today it is cold again. Is it any wonder why we all get sick down here? :) So we are off to play and enjoy the fresh air as best we can. Have a great day and Happy New Year!!

A Beautiful Christmas!

I took a brief blog hiatus, since we were all pretty sick the past week. We ended up catching what has been floating around central Texas. My poor babies got sick on Christmas Eve. We still had a great time though. Even when you feel bad, there is nothing better than cuddling with your sweet family. We watched several good movies while we were crashed out on the couch and took plenty of naps.

The first thing we did on Christmas Eve was spread the "Magical Christmas Dust" from Nana Epps. The girls are always excited when glitter is involved. :)

Lilly carefully read the instructions first...

Then we spread it all over the front yard. It was forecast to storm all day, so we put it out in the morning before the rain started.
Lexi was having fun pretending she saw reindeer across the street. It was actually a horse swing...
There is always time for a hug...
On Christmas morning, we were SO excited to get up and celebrate Jesus' birthday. The girls remembered that there were presents under the tree and went nuts...they even missed the stocking hanging on the front door.
Eric and I got them tricycles. Pink and purple ones, to be exact.
There was a little drama when the girls realized they didn't know how to pedal them yet, and they didn't feel good enough to try. I love this picture of Lexi. It was sort of her mood all day. :)
Eric made us a beautiful, warm fire to snuggle by.
And I was actually able to persuade my sweeties to get dressed and pose for a sister picture. Yea! They are pretty fond of their Fur Real Friend puppies too...
Lilly named hers Chocolate, and Lexi's puppy is Spots.

After a nice nap, the girls played "kitchen" for a while.

They LOVE their kitchen and have so much play food. I made them aprons for Christmas, and then Nana and Papa Epps and our friend, Casey, got them aprons as well. I installed a hook next to the kitchen for all the cooking accessories. They are in kitchen heaven.
Our view on Christmas...Eric and I enjoyed watching them play together.
We think Sneezy had the best day of all...
Daddy and Lilly...
Then the day after Christmas, some more wonderful family came through town. When I first met Eric, he was living with these precious little girls. They are all growing up too fast. The girls LOVE their cousins. Lexi jumped right in between them for tons of attention...
All our girls...we wish they weren't about to move to Hawaii, but at least we can go visit, right??

They also brought their sweet, HUGE dog, Maximus (aka, Max!). You think Sneezy and Max are the best of friends now? They were adorable running around the backyard together. Max is bigger than my husband!
I had to include this picture too, because this is the way Max sits on the couch. He sits down with his bottom on the cushion and keeps his front feet on the floor. I love it! He is a sweet, sweet boy!
I will try to blog more regularly now that I don't feel like I'm dying of a cold. :) We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!! God bless you!!

Mammals

We have been talking about critters a lot lately. The girls seem to soak up information and remember all sorts of crazy things. So this morning, Lexi surprised me with her little tidbit of knowledge.

We had talked all about the characteristics of mammals last week. So Lexi comes running up to me, lifts her shirt, and says, "Mommy, I have nipples on my belly, cause I'm a manimal!" Aka, mammal...

I can't get enough of these silly girls!!