We thought we'd make it a family affair....

We have become a house full of Sickies.

Jack is recovering from a nasty ear infection...still totally congested and coughing.

Delaney has some crazy eye infection, along with a fever and cough.

I wasn't able to get a SINGLE smile from this gal today. Not one.

Look at those droopy eyes. Breaks my heart.

Bianca woke up this morning and came into the room holding her throat, wimpering and saying "Jack hurt me, Mama".  The poor girl was blaming Jack for her sore throat. Silly.

She took three naps today, and was tucked in bed fast asleep by 7:30 tonight.

I couldn't get her to eat ANYTHING today...even icecream and 7up couldn't sweeten the deal enough to get anything down her. 

I am suffering from the same thing Bianca is.  Hideous sore throat, fever, and totally drained. 

Daddy rescued the day when he came home from work.  We all perked up a little bit when he walked in the door.  Well, everyone except Delaney...

Scott thought a dance party would get the kids going a little.  I think the only person it going going was Scott.

He lulled Laney to sleep with his sweet air guitar.



having all 4 of us sick at once isn't the worst thing ever.  If I have to be sick, it's nice to have all the kiddos sick at the same time so they aren't running around the house wreaking havoc while I am dead on the couch :)

Here's to hoping things brighten up in the next day or two, but for now I am going to eat another popsicle and head to bed!

The Fancy Nancy Birthday Soiree...

The moments before our fabulous party were a little sketchy.  Bianca had a fancy dress to wear but protested it at the last minute, wanting to throw on her OWN outfit...

Being the conquered good mom that I am, I let the little darling change into whatever she wanted.  Afterall, it was HER party. 

The sour mood was quickly brightened by the arrival of her friends.  When they walked in the door, we gave them each a feather boa to top off their fancy ensembles. 

We began with glittery paper, foam hearts, and glitter pens...Anytime there is glitter glue involved, you know little girls are going to love it.

After reading the Fancy Nancy story book, we made made some fancy and tasty jewelry.  I thought about making real necklaces, but decided 3 and 4 year olds might have an easier time with bigger things to work with. {Um, and who wouldn't want to eat their creation after it's all over?!?}

Then came cake and presents.

That cake had some DELICIOUS buttercream  frosting on it.  Yeah, anytime you make buttercream frosting, it MUST have atleast two sticks of butter in it. Just sayin'.



I know the cake may not look too fancy, but in the middle it looked like this:

I'm pretty sure that having a fuscia and hotpink cake just SCREAMS fancy.

Opening presents was hilarious.  All the girls started out on the couch, and each time a gift was opened they would creep in a little closer. By the end, there was 7 little girls crowded front to back to get a good look at the loot. So adorable.

 {ok, take a look at my face...I think we can all guess who the real child was at the party} 



The decorations were so fun to put together.  You should have seen me in the party section at the Dollar Tree...like a kid in a candy store.  If you don't utilize the dollar store, you are definately missing out.

A few spools of tulle, tissue paper, some Mardi Gras beads, and 7 bucks can turn any ordinary room extraordinary!

 

And here are our adorable party guests.  It took about 40 shots to get them all looking in the same-ish direction...

Such beauties! 

The party was perfect.  Bianca was thrilled, our guests seemed to have a ball, and I got to act like a little kid for an hour. Win win. 

I can't wait for next year!

Can't hardly wait...

Bianca is turning 3 tomorrow and we decided to throw a little party for her.

I got the idea for a "Fancy Nancy" party. Yeah, pretty sure I am far more excited than she is.

Come Saturday, this house is going to be filled with 7 giddy three year olds dressed in their most exquisite ensembles, eating glittery cupcakes and grapes on frilly toothpicks (because EVERYTHING is fancier with a frilly toothpick),  drinking fancy punch with their pinkies up, and stringing Fruit Loops on a licorice rope to make a fancy necklace (remember, these are 3 year olds we are talking about here!) 

Stay tuned for the fabulous party details!

Getting away, and some Laney lovin'...

Every mama needs to get away for a minute.

Or 48 hours....

Two weeks ago my mom decided she needed to love on little Laney for a day or two.  What kind of daughter would I be if I didn't oblige a far-away Nana?  When the flight was booked, I called all the other gals and luckily Candise and Amber were able to make it out too. (we sure missed Kaytie and Chersten!)

We didn't do much in the 48 hours we were together.  Just the important things...

Like eat.

and laugh.

and eat.

and laugh.

and eat

yup, that pretty much covers it.

*****

Delaney was a little charmer.  She loves her Grandpa.

Even with some teething going on, this girl was all smiles.

Er, smiles and drool.

Most of these cute pics are taken in the kitchen...where we spent most of our time :)

The weekend was short, but we mananged to sneak in some patty-cake....

 Laney LOVED it.

Giggles all around!

Here are the four Harris beauties. Aren't we a good lookin' bunch?

As usual, the weekend was over much too quickly.  I think we need to have a these girls' weekends every few months. 

But next time, I think we need to meet in Hawaii.

*****

And I need to throw a BIG shout out to the Scotty Man who took care of Jack and Bianca for the weekend...when I came home everyone was still alive and the house was clean.  I call that a great success!

A great recipe...

Ingredients:

-  3 kids (we like toddlers and squishy babies, but any type will do)

-  1 retro air-popper and enough melted butter and salt to make mama happy 

-  slide show

Directions:

Step 1: Any fabulous recipe should start with a happy baby.  The blues eyes aren't necessary, but always add a kick. 

Step 2: Find a couple of willing toddlers to assist in the popping of the popcorn.  Note: microwave popcorn is acceptable, but kids go crazy over the air-popped...

Step 3: Be married to a tech-savvy hubby that hooks your TV up to your computer so you can watch a slide show of digiral pictures from the last 5 years on a big screen.  If it's 1988, you can wheel out your projector, screen, and boxes of slides. {Joking aside, that is one of my favorite things to do when going home to my parents house. anyone else?}

Step 4: Drench your popcorn in melted butter and salt, then sit and enjoy your toddlers watching all the pictures...every child LOVES to see themselves, especially up on the wall.  {Bianca had to point out EVERY single picture of herself...and Jack...and Delaney....and mom & dad.  There was a lot of pointing going on.}

 "Who's that, mom?"

 {one of the reasons I love the picture below is because you can actually see the adorable lisp Bianca has...can you tell?}

"Hey, that's me!"

Step 5:  finish the popcorn and the slide show, then check up on the happy baby, who has turned into the sleeping baby.  

See how easy that was!?! Only a few ingredients, and the best part is...it's nearly fool-proof.  success every time.

Give it a try!