Pink & Green Swap SNEAK PEEK!

I'm still pretty new to Blog Swaps, this is my 3rd. I did an apron swap hosted by Sarah and Artsy Mama's Sweet & Sinister Swap. I was itching for a swap when I saw Sarah at Gypsy Mermaid Life posted about a swap, I knew I wanted to join in.

My lovely partner is Rebecca at Our Back Porch. She has been great to talk to and I also hope we stay in touch! Take a minute and check out her awesome blog. :) I thought I would share a couple sneak peeks of her package I am getting ready to send out.

I hope you like everything!

Sunday Savings

I stopped at CVS this morning, and look what I got for $4.52 out of pocket! My total savings were $80.38. And I earned $14 in Extra Care Bucks. This is how I did it:

2 Roc face washes @ 3.99 each

4 Roc face scrubs @ 5.99 each

2 All Small & Mighty 7.49 (B1G1 Free)

1 Softsoap dispenser @ 7.99

1 Softsoap refill @ 3.99

Used:

$5 off a $25 purchase CVS coupon

6 coupons for $3 off a Roc item

2 coupons for $2 off All Small & Mighty

2 CVS coupons for $2 off Softsoap

$17.89 in Extra Care Bucks.

I didnt earn MORE ECB's than I started with, but I still think I did pretty good!!

I won!

A couple weeks ago, I entered a blog giveaway at a blog called Holly's Street. And I won! How cute is this pillow?! And it's huge! 24x24. I was wanting to change out my couch pillows, this will give me a start.

And I also won these adorable little candles!

Thanks again!!

Luau Time!

Yesterday was Layla's Luau party. She was SO excited all morning and kept asking how much longer. Finally, it was time. :)

Daddy built a limbo, complete with bamboo that had been growing in our yard when we moved in.

Of course, we had to have leis...

The kitchen table:

Here is how I did the chocolate flowers I made:



And our Hula Girl cake! I think she turned out okay. I was a little lazy though, and borrowed a bikini top from Barbie & used Prima flowers (paper!) for those flowers around her waist! I just taped some flowers I found at the party store around my cake plate.


Nonnie made cupcakes & we added some paper umbrellas.

Check out this outfit!!

We dont have a pool and decided not to rent a bounce house, so I tried to come up with ideas from things we had. I found this sidewalk chalk paint recipe and figured they could use this giant easel she got last year.

Dirty boy...

Time for some limbo!

Which later turned into the boys raising the bar and trying to see who could jump over it. Blake thought it would be better just to plow through it, lol. No pictures though... I was recording it.

Time for cake!

Make a wish sweetie!

Got to have presents! (I scored that Didj for $9.97!)

And since Morgan didnt really have anything to tropical looking to wear for the occasion, I made her a little headband to wear. Sorry it's a little blurry!

Layla's actual birthday is today. It's to hard to believe it's been 5 years. Time sure does fly. I love you baby, I mean, BIG GIRL! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Party Prep

Layla's party is in 2 days! I'm trying to get as much ready beforehand as I can. I'm getting the cake baked today and plan on spending tomorrow cleaning the house and decorating the cake. We're going to attempt a hula girl using one of those pans that come with the barbie-type doll. I am hoping it turns out okay! I took a couple classes, but am still an ameatur when it comes to cakes! You can see the one I did for Layla's Hannah Montana party here and Blake's Totally Gross Party here.

Since we're going with the Luau theme, I wanted to make some Hibiscus flower lollipops. I've never done the molded candies before, but they were pretty easy! I just used the Wilton Candy Melts.

Here they are packaged up for the goody buckets. I'm putting some in there, and some in a bucket on display.

I also made some little flip-flops to put in little bowls on the table.

Instead of goody bags, we're doing goody buckets.

And here are our soapsicles all packaged up!

My next post will be after the party, have a great weekend!

Easter Pics & a Tag

I apologize in advance for my not-so-great photos. I NEED A NEW CAMERA!

Anyway... on to the photos. Morgan's basket:

Blake's:

Layla's:


Layla was *SO* excited this year for Easter! I think more than she was for Christmas. I hard a hard time deciding what the bunny should bring this year, but I think he did okay.

On to the egg hunt! All I heard all morning was egg talk. They were both looking out the windows trying to decide whether or not the Easter bunny had hidden any eggs.

Morgan & her giant duck from Nonnie.

Going through the goods so far...

The only shot I got of the two of them together.

About this dress... instead of buying Morgan an Easter dress, we used one of Layla's. When she (Layla) was born, her grandparents bought two dresses when they picked out her coming home dress. She never wore this one, so we thought it would be cute for Morgan to wear it.

All that fun can be pretty tiring...

I've been tagged by Rebecca at Our Back Porch!

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:

• Layla's Birthday Party this weekend
• Maybe going to the beach this summer
• Going back to Disney
• Seeing my babies grow up
• Getting a horse one day
• NEW CAMERA!!
• Going back to school (kind of)
• Going back to Virginia

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

• Went to the Dr
• Picked up Morgan's portraits at Sears
• Put together the goody buckets for the party
• Wrapped Layla's presents
• Vacuumed the house
• Went to Publix
• Read blogs
• Talked to a friend on the phone

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

• Win the lottery!
• Quit my job
• Be a SAHM
• Find more time for crafting
• Figure out how to keep the house clutter-free!
• Be less picky of an eater
• Go back in time and spend more time with my mom before she died
• Travel more

8 Things I Am Currently Watching:

• Deadliest Catch (new season starts tonight!)
• In the Motherhood
• Lost
• 30 Rock
• My Name is Earl
• The Office
• Axmen
• Gilmore Girls (Love this show!!)

I know not everyone likes to be tagged, so I wont pick names. I'll just tag everyone! If you want to participate, feel free!

Egg Time!

While I never bothered getting out any Easter decorations this year(I kept saying to myself that I needed to get them out, then it was a week to go and I figured, why bother?), there was no way we could go without coloring eggs. Thanks to our super producing flock of "vultures", we didnt need to buy eggs this year. It's kind of hard to tell in the photo, but there are white, blue & brown eggs in this pot.

They started out with these bright, colorful eggs. But it wasnt long before they started mixing colors, and we ended up with mostly green or orangish-colored eggs. They had fun though.

I usually just get the regular old Paas dye. I think it works the best and makes the prettiest colors. But this year, I figured they were old enough to really decorate the eggs, so I picked up a kit at Walmart that looked like gold-leafing. They really enjoyed this! They should have included more glue in the kit, and I can only imagine the drama that would insue had I let the kids apply the glue themselves (VERY sticky), but overall, I think it was good.

I hope you have a Happy Easter!!