Tag Archives: day

Leap!

Leapin’ Lizards!

Where did January go?

February is here and we get one extra day this year…yay!

It may still be the shortest month of the year, but it’s already proving to be a busy one with the Superbowl {go Pats!}, after school enrichment classes, a visit from Gramma, Valentine’s Day, the 100th day of school, Holden’s 5th birthday, Art Night and who knows what else…

Following along with Erin and April this month and doing a photo-a-day the February way! Follow the fun prompts, snap a pic and share ~ it’ll be fun ~ won’t you join in with me? I must admit that I am stressin’ about #10….sun flare. Going to have to read up on how to capture that one ~ ha!

Here was my entry for today ~ RED:

{down to our last grounds of this stuff from the holidays…wah!}

I’ll be posting these daily on Instagram ~ come find me and follow along: aaspiras

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Wednesdays are great days for bow ties, don’tcha think?

Followed this super duper easy tutorial over at The Vanilla Tulip!

So fun.

Here is a better idea of the fabric color….{along with a cheesy grin!}

{I had the green polka dot fabric from Christmas ~ was supposed to go atop mason jars filled with yellow pepper relish for the neighbors…oops! Sorry neighbors. Hope the New Year’s sugar cookie bars made up for it! XO}

I think a little green bow tie bunting for across the mantel mirror would be cute for St. Patrick’s Day ~ time to bust out several more of these cuties.

Would also make cute boy’s bow ties for Easter and matching girl’s hair clips.

Or clip onto the top of a birthday gift….

Thanks again for the inspiration, Ashley!

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Today is also Day 1 of Valentine stocking stuffers…

{Valentine jammies all washed and ready to wear}

And by Valentine jammies, I mean girly “pirate” {skull & cross bones} ones for Elliott that have hearts for eyes ~ that’s Valentine’s enough for me. Picked them up recently at Target for 70% off. Picked up Holden’s from last year post-cupid at Old Navy for el cheapo, too. That’s how I roll.

They will not be getting {extravagant} goodies every day…maybe a simple fruit roll one day, a dollar store coloring book another day, etc. The new jams were just to kick off February and get into the Valentine’s spirit!

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Hope your {leap} into February has been a good one!

What are you going to do with the extra day given to us this month?

The Stockings Were {Still} Hung…

I hated taking down the stockings from the fireplace after Christmas.

While I was out scouring the sales on holiday goodness, I thought about finding some red {or pink. or white.} stockings and transforming them into Valentine’s Day stockings.

I picked up a sparkly “E” ornament at Kohl’s and an equally, if not more sparkly, “H” pin at Target since I knew I wanted to include the kiddos’ initials.

While picking up some more paint chips at Home Depot, I spotted these felt stockings for 2 bucks a piece. I LOVED the scalloped detail on them, but needed the embroidered snowflakes to melt away. Enter Joann’s and a few Valentiney quarter yards of fabric and the flakes disappeared!

I adore the way they turned out…

Several red & pink hued paint chips and some twine and you have your V-day bunting…

I wasn’t very good with advent over the holidays so it’s my goal to make up for it and have a little something special tucked in these stockings from February 1st to the 14th ~ I also wanted to find a little Valentine Fairy of sorts and have her move around the house like our Elf on the Shelf, Ferb. They have been asking about him lately…..

Checking {the big P} for some ideas for fun classmate goodies.

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Having a couple stockings and a wreath still gracing our mantel makes the absence of the holidays a little sweeter!

Happy Day!

XO

Linking up over at What I Whipped Up Wednesday @ Sugar and Dots!

And come get some fantastic Valentine’s Day mantel inspiration by clicking on the button below…

Home Stories A2Z

Dear Monday

Dear Monday,

I {heart} you because…

you are the prelude to a new week filled with endless possibilities!

{via}

Found this darling FREE printable on Pinterest {of course!} and fell in love.

Grab an old 8X10 frame and print out this bad boy ~ looks fine on regular old printer paper, but I used photo paper.

I think it’ll be cute to place one in each of the kids’ rooms and one downstairs to remind the ones I love WHY I {heart} them.

{and a good way to reward good behavior for the little ones!}

Something fun leading up to Valentine’s Day…

…and everyday for that matter.

Here’s to a great week!

XO

Transformer Starts With {T}

Today was Holden’s preschool picture day.

I had visions of spikey hairs, a nice crisp cotton button-up shirt with dark jeans and his new Chuck Taylors.

He had other ideas…

His favorite {Rock N Roll} shirt ~ Ross

Plaid cargo shorts ~ Old Navy

Outer space socks ~ Ross

Plaid slip-ons ~ Crazy 8

Spikey hairs ~ got2b glued

At least I got my spikey hairs ~ 25% ain’t bad!

This little one is growing up…

Next school pics will be sometime around May in his cap and gown.

Scary, I know.

Life needs to s-l-o-w down.

Is was also Share Day ~ letter of the week is {T}.

Transformer starts with {T}!

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THURSDAY also starts with {T} ~ hope yours is a happy one!

XOXO

28

Well Hello and Happy Monday!

I just realized that I haven’t really been posting much on the weekends…not my intention, but I guess it’s OK because that means that we’ve been busy and still enjoying summer even though school is definitely in full swing again.

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Today marks day 28 of my 30 Day Shred.

I have to say that I have been MUCH better this time around. I did take a couple days off due to my knee bothering me, but I did something in lieu of the DVD those days ~ either biking or walking the big loop in our development at night. I love that the DVD is only 30 minutes and I really try to give it my all and make the most of the half hour with Jill and her girls. Also, I’ve been using 4 pound hand weights and I can probably go up to 5 pounders. Today the kids did it with me and used the Handy Manny plastic tools as their hand weights…yes, Squeeze, Pat, Felipe and Dusty joined in on today’s shred ~ WHATEVER works.

I feel great, though and can tell a difference, but I certainly need to tighten up the eating. I was doing great with that for the first two and a half weeks and then got a little lazy.

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Speaking of eating better, I have a couple healthy recipes to share since the last couple were far from it…

Spicy Honey Lime flank steak and this quinoa salad from Pinterest {thanks Erma for pinning it!}…

I marinated the flank steak in 1/4 cup honey, the juice of 3 limes, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 minced garlic cloves and 1 tbsp Sriracha for about an hour and a half, flipping from time to time. Jay grilled for about 6 minutes on each side. Will make great salads and sandwiches throughout the week.

I also made Giada’s gazpacho last week…

It’s verrry healthy if you don’t put anything on it! She topped it with some polenta croutons which looked amazing. I, however, threw on some cheese & garlic croutons from my pantry. Would also be nice with a little dollop of light sour cream and some crushed tortilla chips.

The perfect summer soup since it’s served cold and has a nice refreshing kick to it.

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LOVE this pic of Holden and me taken this weekend at the concert in the park…

{yes, I am fully clothed and no, Holdy is not drugged}

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This week is a jumble of the new school schedule, homework {already!}, pool time {if they behave!}, park play date, dance class and two birthday parties this weekend.

Never a dull moment.

Hope your week is off to a successful start!

Last

This little fetus had his first day of his {last} year of preschool today…

Man, five years has never gone so fast.

I remember September 28, 2006 like it was yesterday…

And in 5 years from now when he’s starting 4th grade, today will seem like it was just yesterday, too…

Elliott sent him off with good luck hugs.

Lots to learn this year in pre-K…

…and Miss Sandi will show him the way.

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The LAST thing I want to feel is that I hurried away these days…

These days of short order meals.

Water on the bathroom floor.

Lego explosions.

Sassy back talking.

Repeating things 18 times.

Yadda. Yadda. Yah.

So I will sit back and {try} to LOVE these days before a whole new set of challenges arise.

Sometimes you need to stand back and reflect to truly appreciate where you are.

And I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Confidence

We officially have a first grader…

She confidently stood in line, marched into class, found her seat and welcomed her first day of the 2011-2012 school year.

Thanks to Lolo & Lola for the new school duds ~ she looked adorable!

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One down, one to go…Holden starts tomorrow.

Kick

It’s almost that time…

Kickoffs, punt returns, interferences, whistle blows, touchdowns…

{men in padded spandex}

This dip is a must for your NFL Sundays.

Jalapeño Popper Dip

I spied this recently and knew it was the perfect thing to bring to summer family game night down the street last night. I almost halved the recipe because a pound of cream cheese seemed like a lot, but I’m glad I went ahead and made a full batch. This is one of those appetizers where everyone parks themselves in front of and can’t leave. We even learned that it is delicious slathered on top of a burger!

All the tastes of jalapeño poppers, but in dip form. There are several variations out there, but I chose to follow this one.

I cut the mayo to 1/2 cup and cheddar cheese to 1 cup, used 2 fresh jalapeños and 1/2 cup chopped jarred jalapeños, doubled the fresh garlic and used 1/2 cup regular bread crumbs and 1/2 cup panko {only because I wanted to use up the last of my regular bread crumbs}. I’m certain you could use reduced fat cream cheese and turkey bacon to be a little on the healthier side and not notice a difference….I used center cut bacon since it’s a little leaner. Next time, for added kick and heat, I may substitute pepper jack for the cheddar.

Will most def add this to the {crowd pleaser} recipes.

The perfect dip to kick off football season with!

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{Off to get my butt kicked on day 20 of the 30 Day Shred}

Coming up next…a HEALTHY recipe: gazpacho.

Happy Sunday!

Refreshing

Holden’s summer camp theme this week was {Winter In July}.

{there he is in the lime green shirt}

Thanks to my friend, Sandra, who alerted me that this pic was on our local paper’s on-line alert. Unfortunately they got his name wrong in the little write up.

But how refreshing does this look….snow cones anyone?

Happy Friday!

Jill

Wondering why I never mentioned my girl, Jillian, after this?

{via}

Well, that’s because I was a loser and did the video here and there for like a week….it was more like the {30 Day DEAD} for me.

Of course I came up with all sorts of excuses that I had to get ready for vacation, blah blah blah, but now that I spent 2 weeks eating everything under the sun, I must turn this on for the next 29 days and DO IT!

I know it works because my girlfriend Lisa looks amazing!

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Need some fresh, new summer salad ideas? Head on over here today where I shared my Asian Chop Chop salad and see what other salad inspirations you can find.

Happy Wednesday!