Out of the Mouth of Bethany #12

The other night I was giving Bethany a bath. 99% of the time Raymond bathes her, but for some reason that night I did it. Here's the conversation that happened after she found some of my bath salts.

B - Mommy, can I have some of these?
Me - No, those are for Mommy.
B - For when you take a shower?
Me - For when I take a bath. Sometimes mommies take baths, too.
B - Oh. And Daddy washes you?

Ha! Raymond and I both cracked up at that one!

Fun Fridays - Things That Make Me Happy!

Why do flowers make me so happy? Seriously, as soon as I walk into my kitchen and see these beauties I smile! They are just cheap flowers from Wal-mart that I stuck in some juice glasses, but aren't they great?



And this time of year I LOOOOVE my tulips! Even Bethany knows tulips are mommy's favorite flower. So I had to get some today. Love 'em!



Of course, my kiddos make me happy, too! The other day, on the way to ballet class, we drove past our new Sonic and Bethany said, "Mommy, can we stop by Scott and White and get something on our way?" (For those of you who don't know - Scott and White is the hospital where Daddy works) . I said, "You mean Sonic?" "Yes, can we stop by Sonic and get something on our way?" It was almost funny enough for me to stop and get her something, but I didn't.

Landry is really trying to talk now! She said "please" tonight at dinner. Well, really she said, "meese," but I knew what she meant. :)

Bathroom Re-Do ***UPDATED***

So I have been inspired by The Nester to redo my bathroom. Well, maybe the
more appropriate term would be to "do" my bathroom. It's just one of those rooms that never got "done." It did take me a little more than 10 minutes, but I did a LOT of stuff! Each project only took about 10 minutes, though. It was incredibly easy. Made me wonder why I'd never gotten around to it in the 5 YEARS I've lived in this house.

Here's the before.



The first thing I did was clear the clutter. Most of it went in the trash. What I did keep went in the cabinets or behind this.



I made this "mistreatment" with fabric I've had for years that my mother-in-law gave me (thanks Kathye!), my sewing machine and some hot glue. I know, many of you are probably shuddering, but would you have known I hot glued it on if I hadn't said so?

After one quick (and cheap) run to Wal-Mart, I had my new knobs. They were the only thing I spent $$$ on for the entire redo. And they were from Wal-Mart, so I didn't break the bank. :) Everything else I already had - I just shopped my house!



Here's where it gets tricky for me. I'm not great with arranging things and making them look pretty. I really need some help. PLEASE give your opinions!!! Let me know which arrangements you like the best OR even better, give a different idea! Sometimes I get trapped and just can't come up with anything else. Here we go...







OR



OR








Now that I'm looking at the pictures, I don't really love any of the combinations I came up with. I need some opinions! And if you have any ideas of something that might look good, just mention it - I might have just that perfect thing stuffed away in a closet somewhere!

*******UPDATE********

Okay people - this is what I have now. I am much more happy with this than any arrangements from yesterday. I also added some window mistreatments from leftover fabric. Woohoo! Thoughts? Suggestions? Should I scrap it all and start over?

Or is it better with the basket and floral arrangement switched?

Sweets for the Sweet!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I've never been much of a Valentine's Day person. I don't decorate my house, I don't buy lavish gifts and I don't want lavish gifts bought for me. It just seems to be an over-commercialized holiday and has lost its meaning. So this year was a big year for me. I bought my first Valentine's Day decoration! Isn't it cute???





And even cuter with the little girl!



These are the only pics I could get of Landry in her "love" outfit. I know - probably none of you have ever seen her without a bow bigger than her face on her head, but I couldn't find her bow to save my life! Anyway, the outfit is cute, even if she does look like a boy. Looking at the outfit ON her, I realize I should have placed the letters higher. Next time I'll get it right. Maybe.







In keeping with my V-Day "bah-humbugness," I didn't want to buy anything for the hubby. Instead, while he was at work this morning, Bethany and I made him truffles (one of his very favorite things!!!). It was so fun for us and I'm sure he'll love them! Granted, he only gets half a batch because when I opened the oreo package to make the recipe, half of the oreos were missing. Who could have eaten them??? Here's a play by play of the truffle-making.

These are super-easy. Only 3 ingredients!!!



This is the way Bethany "helped" most of the time.



Crush the oreos finely. We did it with the food processor, but you can do it anyway you like!





Add cream cheese.





Mix well.



Roll into 1" balls and dip in melted chocolate.







The recipe calls for you to reserve some of the oreo crumbs to sprinkle on top of the truffles. We opted for Valentine sprinkles and icing!



Since this was a gift, we had to package it nicely. After scavenging through my kitchen I found this tin.



Cute? Yes. Valentine-y? No. So out came the paints! I pretty much let Bethany decorate it with just a little help from me.





I got these CUTE mini cupcake liners at Wal-Mart.







Here's the actual recipe if any of you want to make these bad boys. Warning - they are addictive! I told myself I'd only eat one, but I've eaten a few more than that!!!

Oreo Truffles
(from my friend Holly)

1 (1 lb, 2 oz b) pkg Oreos, divided
8 oz cream cheese - softened (I used the 1/3 less fat and they were still great!)
16 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate - melted

Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin; set aside for use later. Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs and place in bowl - add cream cheese and mix until well blended. Roll into 42 balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Dip balls in chocolate (use 2 forks to allow excess chocolate to run off) and place on wax paper covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Just Call Me Martha...

or Becky!!! Yes, my good friend Becky always has the neatest posts about her crafts and fun things that she makes. I do love to "craft," but rarely take the time to do so. I've been doing it a lot lately and it really is so fun! Here are a few of the things I've made.

I bought the pattern for these dresses on etsy and had my mom walk me through making Landry's. I pretty much made it "all by myself," with just a little help from her. After that I felt confident to make Bethany's completely on my own and I DID!!! Here are the end results:







I did cheat a little and ask my mom to make them some pants to go under the dresses since she had a pattern for them. Here's what they look like with the pants:





So while I was perusing random blogs the other day, I got the idea to applique some shirts for the girls for V-Day. I decided to use scraps I already had from Landry's dress and I used a shirt and onesie I already had. All in all, this project cost me $0.00. Love it!





Then I thought,"How cute would those pants that my mom made be with this shirt?????" The answer is VERY!





One more project and I promise I'll leave you alone! I got this idea off of a blog while Blog-surfing! It's called Imperfectly Beautiful and she has some wonderful cute ideas. Anyway, I think I'm going to give these to the girlees for Valentine's Day instead of candy or toys that they don't need.





Granted, mine don't look as good as the ones that inspired me, but I think they are good enough to hang in their rooms. I think this is the first time I've made something from "scratch," and it looks good enough to actually display in the house. Usually it ends up looking like a kindergartener brought it home and goes in the TRASH!!!

Thanks for sticking with me! I'll try to snap some pics of the girls actually wearing their new outfits soon!