Weekend Wrap-Up...

This weekend, we enjoyed our intermission from sickness here in the SPH... sort of.

Tyler did not go to work Friday- he came home from work Thursday very sick with the same cold/cough/fever/body aches thing that everyone else has been fighting. When he gets sick, he gets sick. Are you husbands like that? He was burning up, delirious, and could hardly move. He probably slept 12+ hours and felt relatively refreshed when he woke up later on Friday.

Sassy was feeling better (or so we thought...), so I took the girls to story time at the library, Sassy returned to school, and we even took the girls to see Toy Story 3 at free movie night. I hadn't seen it yet, and yes, it made me a little misty-eyed at the end. What can I say?

In between all the fun, we did a little bit of this...



Yep, the return of medicine fish. Or dinosaur. Or dragon. Or whatever he may be. To us, he's medicine fish.

Poor Tink just couldn't kick this virus without her lungs taking a licking. We were optimistic that we would make it through a winter season without the darned nebulizer, but it wasn't in the cards for us. I feel blessed, though, that we made it this long without it! Tink in handling her treatments much better this year now that she is a bit older.



And, not without the help of books. Many, many books...



And awesome custom I-Spy bags made for us by Shannon, who is super talented and you should definitely check with her for neat things like this!



Tyler returned to work Saturday, and I took the girls to meet some friends at the Wichita Children's Theatre & Dance Center for their production of Cuddle Bears. The girls enjoyed some pizza and chatting with pals...



...and some cuddling with their own aminals...



... and a rousing performance of the show. Yeah, it was special, all right...



But, it was fun for the girls, and that's why we went. We returned home, had nap/quiet time, and then I dropped the girls off at the high school for a parents night out from 4-8 pm! Woo hoo!

Tyler met Tom, Lynzee, and I at Playa Azul for dinner and then we went to their house to play Scattergories and A-Z. It was really, really nice to have some adult time and conversation!

Sunday morning, it was back to being sick. Drat! Sassy woke up with a fever, and spent most of the day lounging around. We did some grocery shopping and some house cleaning, and that's about it. Oh, and Sassy painstakingly wrote out her valentine's cards for her classmates that she was to bring to her Valentine's Day party the next day (that was not to be, unfortunately...)



So, that was our weekend, in a nutshell. More about our Valentine's Day bust to come...

My Valentines.

For you see, each day I love you more
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
~Rosemonde Gerard

Unfortunate "Oversite" & Shame(less) Request...

Happy Saturday, friends!

My sweet friend Kendra brought it to my attention that it was probably completely unfair to share a picture of the tantalizing monkey bread the other day without sharing the recipe, as well. Duh. I would never do something that horrible to you all on purpose!



I pretty much follow the recipe on the back of the 4-pack of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits. Here we go...

Monkey Bread
4 cans Pillsbury Refrigerated Buttermilk Biscuits
1 cup sugar
2-3 t. cinnamon
1 stick butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup pecan pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray pan (if you have a bundt pan, use it. I don't so I use a 9x13). Sprinkle pecans on the bottom of the pan.

2. Mix cinnamon and sugar in a gallon sized ziploc bag. Cute each of the 40 biscuits into quarters. I use clean kitchen shears. Place pieces in ziploc bag and shake to cat with the cinnamon & sugar. Make sure all are well-coated (sometimes you have to manipulate the bag a bit). Place the coated biscuits in the pan, throwing away excess cinnamon & sugar mixture!

3. Melt the stick of butter in the microwave. Add brown sugar to melted butter and mix until a thick syrup forms. Pour evenly over the biscuits. Bake 35-45 minutes until cooked through and to the texture you prefer.

4. Let cool 5 minutes. Here's the vital mistake I made last week- I forgot this next step. Carefully flip the monkey bread upside down. This way all the ooey gooey sauce drizzles down and hits all the pieces. Like I said, vital. Enjoy!

Second order of business:

Remember when I introduced you all to my friend Mandy's shop, Dulu Designs? Well, Mandy is still working at growing her business, and she has created a facebook page. Right now, my very own Sassy is in the running to become Dulu's Next Top Model!

If she wins, she will get to model (& keep) 3 custom Dulu Designs, and she will win a mini photo shoot from a local photographer! So, here's where I need all of your help! For any of you on facebook, would you please consider liking Dulu Designs' facebook page and scrolling down to vote on this picture by liking it??



The photo with the most likes by February 19th will win, so long as they have at least 100 likes. Tall orders, but I think we can do it. Will you help? See, she's a little model in the making! Hee hee. Oh, and tell your spouses and friends to vote, too. We need all the help we can get. Thanks!

ooh la la... headband swap

One of my new favorite blogs this year is authored by Danielle over at Take Heart. I couldn't even tell you how I first stumbled upon her space, but I instantly became hooked. She is the kind of girl that I could definitely hang with in real life. Not only is her blog adorable, but she has impeccable style. This is the very reason that I knew, when she first posted about her headband swap, that I wanted to be a part! Surely, all of her followers were stylish, too. It was a no fail situation!

I was paired with Alison from aPearantly Sew. I chose a couple of headbands from one of our local favorites- JillyBean Designs- to send her. It was fun to wait for the arrival of my package- wouldn't you agree that it's always fun to know something fun is on its way for you in the mail? I think so.

I was thrilled with what Alison chose for me! I received two headbands and two hairpins, and the girls and I had a blast modeling them for the purposes of this wrap-up post!

Tink modeled the grey rosette elastic headband:

Sassy modeled the hairpins:

And I modeled the rigid multi-colored button headband:

Yeah for headband awesomeness!

You can check our Alison's blog and shop by clicking below...

Thanks, Alison...

We ♥ our new hair accessories!

Just Another Crazy Snow Day...

Just as I had predicted, several more inches of snow, blustery winds, and frigid temperatures forced area school to cancel yesterday... yet again.

I faced the nasty weather head-on Tuesday night and went in to help Miss Debbie set up the book fair. Lynzee and I were slated to work the book fair preview yesterday morning. We make breakfast treats for all the primary teachers and help them select books to put in their donation request piles before book fair begins. Well, the book fair preview breakfast went to the wayside as we learned school was cancelled just before 10 pm Tuesday evening. Which left only one logical solution for yesterday morning here in the SPH...



...we rocked the monkey bread here, instead.

Tink was less than thrilled during the waiting period that comes along with monkey bread territory- the time between when the ooey gooey deliciousness comes out of the oven and the time it is actually cool enough to enjoy... I eventually sped the process along by throwing the girls portions in the freezer for a few minutes.



Look a what a little foodie photog I am inspiring!



Shortly after breakfast, we declared an SPH state of emergency and decided that pajamas for the remainder of the day were a necessity! We had a movie marathon in the basement...



We deemed it naturally appropriate to watch Ice Age and Happy Feet. Each of us (myself included) brought a blankie and a guy to the basement, and the three of us cuddled on the couch watching said movies until lunch time. Divine!



I was able to get some of my work done during quiet time, and the girls were surprisingly cooperative about laying down and/or playing quietly in the bedrooms. Tyler headed home from work early because he had awoken to a flat tire, subsequently took my car to work, and wanted to get home early enough to get everything fixed before it became too dark outside. He finished up pretty quickly, and by the time Tink woke up, we were ready to head into uncharted territory and try something completely new for us. I began to gather the necessary supplies...



Any guesses??? Snow ice cream, of course! I'm wondering if this is a Kansas thing or a new-development-within-the-last-15-years thing or a I-live-under-a-rock thing, because I grew up in Chicago (i.e. lots of snow) and had never heard of making ice cream out of snow before. Ever. I digress. We followed this recipe. Sassy was so excited to head outside!



It was remarkably beautiful outside- the sun was beginning to set and the snow was blanketed and undisturbed across the yard. So pretty.



Ty and the girls got to work, taking turns measuring out cups of clean snow and dumping it into the bowl...



The scooped and dumped and scooped and dumped, counting out loud the number of cups they were at to keep track...



After they reached the amount of snow necessary for our recipe, the girls took advantage of being all bundled up for a few minutes and played out in the snow. Tink was about the cutest thing ever, running circles, admiring her tracks, and testing the effects of gravity...



Meanwhile, I couldn't get over how pretty the scenery was, hence the 4,282 pictures.



Sassy showed me how she had mastered the art of blowing snow...



Even Charlie and Bumper wanted in on the action...



Finally, we headed inside to finish our ice cream mission...



After we got out of all of our outdoor winter clothes, the mixing commenced.



The girls gave it a go...



...and then waited patiently while Daddy finished the mixing...



They were quite pleased with their results!



Truth be told, I had no intention of trying it. The entire concept falls somewhere in my brain between that's disgusting and that cannot be good for you. I was a total snow ice cream skeptic, but it actually looked really good. So, I went for it...



I was a-mazed at how real the consistency was. It fell somewhere between soft serve and regular ice cream, and it was exceptionally creamy. Now, I am confident that the type of snow that falls is a vital determining factor on how successful your snow ice cream will be. Because, you know, I am a snow ice cream expert.

Try it sometime! I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Keeping Busy...

After all the snow and stuck-inside days we've had lately, I was going to take any opportunity that presented itself to get OUT of the house this past weekend. Considering we are in the middle of a snow day today, I am very grateful we did!

Tyler worked Saturday during the day, so Nana and I took the girls up to Wichita for the morning. First stop- The Donut Whole! Nana had never been there, and the girls were excited to show off one of their favorite spots. We enjoyed samplings of Buttermilk, Homer J, Thick Mint, English Toffee, Key Lime Pie and Peach Cobbler donuts and took the rest home for Daddy & Graycop to enjoy!



Next stop- Botanica for their FREE family fun fair. We were greeted with a bag of goodies and a wooden birdhouse to take home and decorate. It was a bit cold and snowy for us to enjoy many of the outdoor displays they have to offer, but the commons room was filled with craft and activity stations to enjoy. We ran into tons of friends, both from PAT and our mommy group.

We made beaded caterpillars:




We made newspaper hats:



We colored:



We planted marigold seeds:



We made Valentine's Day cards for the local Meals on Wheels:



We strung nibble necklaces & bracelets:



We made silly "grass heads":




We had some popcorn & juice, packed up the car, and headed home for some much needed rest before the Daddy/Daughter Dance. ♥

The Cure for Snowy Morning Blues...

Well, folks, we are getting more snow. Ugh. The accumulation is actually quite impressive for this area, and it keeps on coming. Sassy is at preschool now, but all after-school activities (and work for me) have been cancelled. If they call school out tomorrow, it will be the 5th snow day this year, and the second consecutive week of no MDO. Only time will tell.

Early this morning, I begged my Dad to drive me to Walmart {because I am a driving-in-the-snow wimp} to get supplies for the Grins & Squiggles that wasn't to be. While I was there, I picked up a few things to keep the girls and I entertained this morning. Here is a glimpse of our morning in pictures:













I am so blessed to have these two little monkeys to lift my spirits every day. So silly, so sweet, and sure to put a smile on my face...

...which I very well may need in the hours to come. Wish us luck!