happy love day!

 

 Happy Valentine's Day!



I made the cutest Valentine's book of my kids this year and thought I would share...I am anxiosuly awaiting this book in the mail, I cannot wait to see how it turned out! I made the effort to take Valentine's pictures of the kids, and like many of the pictures I take of them, they end up sitting on my computer and no one sees them...so I took about an hour one night and put this together. I just love these 4 so much! Oh, they are crazy, busy and....well, crazy...but they are MINE and I love 'em all.



I hope everyone has a wonderful day with their sweeties. Graham and I have decided this year not to worry about gifts and stuff for eachother...we love each other all the time, so we're good! I'm glad we're keepin' it simple. Thanks for stopping by!



xoxox

gabby's valentine parfaits

I just wanted to quickly share Gabby's little treats that she and I made for her Valentine's party in her Kindergarten class this morning. She was such a great little helper, and they turned out so yummy and cute!! I found this pin on Pinterest (surprise!) and knew that this would be right up my alley...I like finding alternatives to cookies and cupcakes...nothin' wrong with either, but we all know how I feel about baking and decorating!

To make your own Valentine's Parfaits you will need:

-a cake mix

-cool whip

-vanilla pudding mix

-vanilla yogurt

-sprinkles

-plastic cups

Decorate plastic cups. Bake cake according to instructions on the box. Let cool completely. Scoop into bottom of cups. Mix together cool whip, pudding, and yogurt. (add food coloring if desired) Scoop into cup. Top off with with cool whip and sprinkles. Done!

Hope you like' em! I'll be making these again for sure!!

xoxo

happy heart day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Just wanted to share some photos I took of the kids last week. I love all these crazies so very much!! We'll be spending our Valentine's here at home together tonight...nothin' too special, just lots of kisses and lots of hugs...oh, and maybe some chocolate, too!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day spent with the ones you love....

xoxo,

valentine's decor & a birthday party

I gotta say, I love decorating for Valentine's Day...pink and red and hearts...oh, my! When I saw this banner by Rebecca from Simple as That, I got to work. It has been soooo long since I've properly scrapbooked or made much in the way of cute projects, so it was nice to get out some paper and scissors and cut and play. Thank you, Rebecca for the inspiration and the motivation!

After I finished this banner and hung it up I decided it was so cute that I made another one for our mantle and then I made yet another one for my sister...I just love the mix of the vintage book papers with the pink and red hearts...so so cute!! And believe it or not, I added some hearts to twigs to put on my mantle as well, and then I saw this post of Rebecca's...mine are purely decorative, but I love that she's using hers to write love notes to their family members...I'll have to keep that in mind for next year!!

We also had a little birthday party for Payton on the weekend, and since our house was already half-decorated, we went with a Valentine's theme for her party and I loved how it turned out!! It was sooooo easy to throw together since there's so much in the way of Valnetine's stuff in the stores right now. The girls did some v-day crafts and coloring, played human tic-tac-toe, decorated a valentine's frame and of course, had some heart-shaped cake.

So we're very much in the "Valentine's Spirit" around here...next up on the to-do list is the girls Valentine's to bring to school!

christmas around our home

Just a little peek at the Christmas decor around our home this year...

We decorated on Monday night and the girls were beyond excited to get all the Christmas stuff out. We kept it really simple this year, and I love how it turned out. I added some turquoise to the red ornaments we already had, and I decided this year to have the "kids tree" upstairs. Up until now I've always put the kids homemade and fun ornaments on the big tree, but it was getting to be too much...so I opted for the 2nd tree this year and I'm loving it so far. And so are the kiddies...colored lights and fun ornaments...what could be better?

We are very excited for Christmas to come and I still can't believe that it is December 1st already. Still sooooo much to do in this busy month, but at least I've got a start! Christmas cards are ready for me to send off, I've got a good start on my shopping, the decorations are up...it is going to be a fun month.

T :)

(And if you haven't done so in a while, head on over to my photo-a-day blog to see some more daily photos!)

easy easter decor

I thought I would share our "Easy Easter Decor" that we have in our home this year. It's amazing how decorating your kitchen table and hanging a cute little banner is just enough to bring a holiday into your home.

(tablecloth-Target, eggs-Superstore, turquoise vase and small bowls-Anthropoligie)

Like I said, I kept things super easy and simple. Bought some tulips from the grocery store and put them in a jar. Filled some cute vases with that fun fake grass and some store-bought easter eggs. Put it all together with a springy tablecloth and we're good to go!

I also made this adorable little "bunny bums" banner. I saw this banner floating around on Pinterest and knew that I had to make one of my own.

I simply drew my own bunny shape, cut them out of cute coordinating papers, glued some cotton balls as the bunny tails, and strung them all together with a ribbon. Done! I actually made these bunnies with my girls, too, but didn't take a picture of the process. They had fun tracing and cutting their bunnies from white cardstock, and then they went to town decorating their bunnies with stickers and felt markers. Kherington especially loved gluing the tails on her bunnies...a great little project for even the youngest kiddos!

So there ya go! A couple easy ideas that you can still do before Easter comes this weekend.

I'll be back soon with pictures of Kherington!

Tal xo

happy easter

A little look at our Easter weekend. It was awesome. We decorated cookies, decorated eggs, hunted for eggs, ate, ate and ate! It was just so nice to spend lots and lots of time with my little family. I love them so much!

I always love this time of year...I love spring and I am so ready to leave winter behind! I feel uplifted after this weekend, and I'm just so grateful for the Easter season and what it means to me and my family. We have so, so much good in our lives.

I don't want spring break to be over. Now that it's warming up and the snow is almost gone, I'm just ready for summer. So let's just skip the next couple months, and be done with school and lessons and schedules. Is anyone else with me?

If only it were that easy.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

xo Tal

some valentine loves...

It isn't Valentine's Day yet!! There's still some time to get busy makin' cute stuff for the ones you love. I've been super inspired by all that is going on over at House of Three, and the girls and I made similar valentine's from last year for them to give to all their friends...so so cute!



Just a quick post tonight, time to go watch all of my Thursday night TV! (wink)



T:)

(oh, and thanks so much for all the b-day well wishes! I'm actually a tad excited for my 30's...thanks everyone!!)