It's a weird thing, blogging. I find myself squished between the "writers" and the "reviewers". I'll never be that girl that writes poetic words or harbors dreams of a book someday, but I hope that I'm not simply giving you a list of things we did and calling it writing. This is a space where I accumulate words -- for myself sometimes, but mostly so that my children will be able to read the story of their youth -- so they will know who their parents were outside of discipline and daily chores -- and to preserve the memories and moments that might otherwise slip through the cracks. For those of you who are visiting because of the vlog link-up, thanks so much for coming by. I hope you aren't turned off by the definite "mommy blog" vibe going on over here and I want to say thank you for ...
Let’s CELEBRATE Valentine’s Day!
Click HERE to read all about the tea party on Celebrate Magazine's website today!! If you are a magazine hoarder like me, you might have seen this issue of Celebrate when it hit newsstands early last month. Before starting her own photography business last fall, my sister Kamin was a photographer for Hoffman Media, a magazine publisher here in Birmingham. Ella has had the pleasure of modeling for her on several occasions, but Sophie was still a little tot and never got the chance. Until just after her birthday last year. Kamin and Lucy, a stylist at Hoffman, came and spent the day with us, along with some of Sophie's best buddies. They magically transformed the playroom into the CUTEST Valentine's Day tea party and Sophie was center stage. As if the party and the photography weren't ...
January by the Numbers
After designing the back of our Christmas card this year, I decided that I was in love with the infographic and that it needed to make a monthly appearance on the blog. January isn't the most exciting month, so I'm hoping other months will be more interesting to read, but either way - it was really fun to put together! The other thing I really wanted to attempt this year was a "photo a day" challenge. I attempted to do this the last several years, but inevitably I managed to skip a day along the way. I jumped on the hashtag bandwagon and since our theme for this year is "make things happen", I thought #tazandbellyhappen was perfect for 2015. I'm pleasantly surprised to say that I managed to take a photo every day and I'm hoping I can continue to remember to continue that trend the rest ...
Hung the Moon
Dear Husband, I'm tempted to write you a mushy, gushy letter to celebrate your birthday (because I know how much you adore the perfectly written sonnet), but since we speak in musical lyrics most of the time anyway I figured this was far more appropriate. It's hard to believe we've been celebrating your birthday together for 18 years. We officially span half of your life together, old man. I have never been more thankful for you than I am today. Happy Birthday (tomorrow). As far as your three girls are concerned, you hung the moon. xoxo, Margarita My boy in my favorite button down and a beanie? Yes, please. I like the way you hung the moon, uh huh. Well, I just like being close to you, uh huh. When you're gone I feel so blue, uh huh. Yeah, I like the way you hung the moon uh ...
Gender Neutral DIY Valentines Printables
After talking to my sister and a few of my other boy-mom friends, I decided to share a few more quick ideas for your Valentine this year. These don't require a tutorial, they are gender neutral and easy to put together! Just click on the links below each photo for the free download. {I used mustache whistles from the party aisle at Hobby Lobby, but I spotted stick-on mustaches, stickers & tattoos that would also work perfectly!} Mustache Valentine's Printable {These nerdy glasses are also a party aisle find, but would be just as cute with sunglasses!} Eyeglasses Valentine's Printable {The craft store was full of fun, novelty pencils, but I saw them even cheaper -- and cuter, too -- in the dollar spot at Target this week!} Novelty Pencil Valentine's Printable {If you ...
Weekend Perfection
Do you ever have those weekends where everything is perfect? (Except for that time you cuss at the vacuum cleaner for falling over a lot.) You know the ones. Where you dread going to bed on Sunday evening because your cup is full and your people have been extra special adorable. (Except that one time where a certain daughter pretty much told you that you were a terrible person and so was she.). Yeah, that weekend. We had one of those. We went to the circus on Saturday morning. I know that people have various reasons for not attending and I'll probably catch all kids of flack for ignoring the animal rights activists on the sidewalk (like the one who handed me a gruesome flyer and said "Enjoy the show!"), but my girls love it and so we take them. Every year. By my calculations, this ...
Tutu Lollipop Valentines Tutorial
Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might mean that I earn a small commission on any purchases made. Your support of this blog is always appreciated! Next up on our tour of Valentine's are these lollipops with miniature crepe paper tutus. I loved our ballerina themed cards for the dance studio last year, but I wanted to try something a little more dimensional this year. I scoured Pinterest for ideas on how to make the mini tutus, but the closest I could find were cupcake toppers without a tutorial. It took some trial and error, but we came up with a couple of fun ways to make these work! Supplies needed: printable file | lollipops | crepe paper rolls | needle and thread | hot glue gun | scissors | ...
Ring Pop Valentine’s Tutorial
Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might mean that I earn a small commission on any purchases made. Your support of this blog is always appreciated! One of the things I wanted to do more of in 2015 is to share step-by-step tutorials with printable design files, so you can create some of our fun crafts yourself! Usually the girls are full of ideas and know exactly what they want to share with their classmates. Maybe it's because we started talking about it so early in the year, but they were pretty open to ideas this time around. I scoured Hobby Lobby as soon as their Valentine's Day goodies were on the shelves and found some really cute ring pops that the girls loved. They are a little smaller than ...