Diaper Cake for Baby Shower. So Cute!

 A friend of mine was having a baby and a few of us got together and made diaper cakes for her.  This is a photo of the one I made.  It was sooo fun!  I'd never done this before.

I tried to put practical stuff that she would use, but still make it look as per-ty as I could...

When my friend called and asked me to come over and make diaper cakes for our other friend I was like sure!  Then she said "Costco has cases of diapers and then just get whatever theme you want...My sure went to "huh? REAL diapers? What?"  I thought she meant we were going to make cakes in the shape of diapers. Then I searched online for ideas and found out this is apparently a very common thing to make for baby showers... (I started to think how fun it would be to decorate one for bridal showers too and then I realized they probably don't need the "diapers"...well, maybe)

I need to get out more...

Anyone else never heard of diaper cakes?  Comfort me now people...  LIE if you must... Just kidding, you don't have to lie to make me feel better...

Unless you want to...

Then you can....  

Do you get out much?

~Ciao Bellas~

ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO HAVE GATHERINGS AT YOUR HOME {Parenting Advise}

Our youngest son had his monthly "Pow Wow" this weekend.  He has a few friends who come over and they camp out in our Meadow. 

Because it was hot outside, because Hunk LOVES doing it and because teenage boys are stinky and must be dipped in water.... Hunk took them all out knee boarding, wake boarding and his all time favorite.......THE TUBE.... 

Which FYI is no longer usable after the boys AND Hunk were done with it.

Once they were finished using up all their energy and destroying things they were STARVED...  Then they come to Momma.

And Momma said EASY PEASY PLEASE....  BBQ hot dogs, chips and watermelon.

BAM.  Dinner is served.

Which most of them stood in our little kitchen and ate......and made another.....and ate...........and made another......and ate..

Why did I buy paper plates again?

Ahhhhh.... That's why......someone actually used a plate......

Then the boys went outside where we had an outdoor movie set up...  Only they brought out the video games to play on the outdoor screen instead.

P.S.  Those are ROOT beer bottles NOT beer...  Momma don't roll like that

It was really funny.......

Maybe not so much to him......  But the hot sauce (Rooster sauce) on his hot dog was funny to all the other boys.  Including Hunk.  Maybe even ESPECIALLY to Hunk.

And actually it really was funny to him too.

AFTER his mouth calmed down.

And even before his mouth cooled off... He loves pulling pranks and he was a great sport about having one pulled on him.

I stopped snapping photos at this point and they took off to the Meadow to begin their camp out. 

I of course didn't get much sleep because (thank you Mr. Cell Phone) I couldn't sleep until I knew they were done going on their "hike" around the property and were "at camp" for the night.

Boys....

Oh, and while they were gone on thier hike my oldest (7th grade) daughter and Hunk headed up to their "campsite" and put their tent up on top of their camper.. 

They usually sneak up and scare them, but since the boys were gone, they had to do SOMETHING.

Morning came quickly.....

I woke up and started making this...........

And this.......

teenage boys are hungry after Pow Wow's

or before them

or during them

or

anytime

and

all times

 I heard them come down and went to see what they were doing....

ummmmmmm.....OK

Ah.  They are seeing if the projector works on my sons stomach.

It's a Rugrat Screen

sorry....silly things crack me up

Hello there teenage friend......

His reply.... "I smell bacon...... you so love us don't you?"

To which I responded "Yes, I do, now keep your paws off until it's ready or I will have to hurt you......after I have more coffee."

Did I mention all these Rugrats are on the wrestling team?  So they could pretty much make me look like a pretzel (all be it a very plump one) if they felt like it...... 

Instead....

They mind.

They love me.

They are good boys.

But I still needed more of this.....

To have the energy to finish more of this......

After going to bed at 2:30 am

Think they are hungry? (and tired)

Breakfast is ready boys...  Come and eat...

Then clean up your mess, pack your crap and go home....

Kidding!

In fact most of the boys stayed until after dinner...

Did I mind?

Nope......We want our home to be "the hang out" place for the kids.

We can keep track of them and their friends without them realizing we are watching

AND

they think we are cool and fun parents

(we so have them fooled)

It's a WIN WIN SITUATION.

I'm all about that

and

I'm all about cheese

(sorry, I'm in a mood)

Moral of the post.... Encourage your kids to have their friends come over.  Try to make a fun environment that will encourage them to WANT to come over. 

This allows you to get to know their friends, see how they behave, influence them in the proper ways to behave and we have really been blessed by many of the children who come and go through our home.

I have a list of kids that I'm honored enough to have call me "Momma"

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ciao Bellas~

~Momma~

P.S.  Another easy peasy dinner to make for a group is "crockpot chili verdi" or for breakfast if you don't want to do bacon and pancakes do "breakfast burritos"  Whatever you do make it easy on yourself.  Teenagers will eat anything.

ORGANIZE WITH A CALENDAR {FOR THE CEO OF YOUR HOUSEHOLD}

This is part of an on-going series LBDDiaries and I are doing on keeping our Inner Aloha/Peaceful Life


Now that school is back in for most of us our lives have started getting busier again.  Gone are the kicked back summer days.  This doesn't mean we have to lose our "Aloha".  I refuse for it to mean this so I have been putting a lot of time into researching how to control the chaos.

One thing I have found VERY helpful is my calendar.  LOVE LOVE LOVE my calendar.  It is called "Mom's Family Desk Planner and it's by Sandra Boynton.  You can purchase them at several locations and online but I recently found them at Costco.  It's a 17 month school year planner so there is room to write things for the following school year during the current school year.  This has proven to be WONDERFUL.

Of course there is always your calender on your phone which works well and you can set alerts. I use this as well.  I like it because I almost always have my phone with me but I still love my desk planner.  I put it in my purse and that way I always have it with me.

At the beginning of the school year all the junk mail IMPORTANT papers come home and while I'm filling out what I need to fill out and send back to school I grab my calendar and I write down all the events that are on the school calendar.  "No school days", "Early release days", etc.  Then each week when the "Bulletin" comes home I again grab my calendar and write down all the dates/times of upcoming events they are announcing.

What is great about the Mom's Family Desk Planner is there is one column for MOM and one for the RUGRATS.  So I can see at a glance which column it is written in and know if it is something for me or something the rugrats are doing. 

I don't know if it is because I have my own special space and with rugrats that is hard to come by so I just get so excited (even if it is only a column on a calendar) but it's mine....all mine..... ahhhhhhhhhhh.......MINE!  Ok, sorry..

AND for the family to have an easy look they also make it in a big wall calendar.  Now this one has more columns.......everyone gets their very own column (unless you have more than a family of five, which I do but now one of my Rugrats is out on his own so I don't have to split a column between two of the children anymore) so you can record their activity in their own column and you can see at a glance who has something that day. 

At the top of the calendar there is a blank space that you can fill in your Rugrat's name and the very first column is for MOM... that's because we are the CEO of our households and we must always come first. HA....It was worth a try.....

Now remember if you do not take the time to write the appointments and events down in your calendar IT WON'T WORK.  Or if you do what I have been guilty of and you don't look at the calendar to see what you have coming up IT WON'T WORK.

I look at my calendar every night after dinner.  Why do this instead of just looking at it in the morning?  Because when I wake up and see that my calendar says "Bring 2 dozen cookies to Rugrat's class" I don't want to have CHAOS sirens going off that morning.  I want them going off the night before. 

But what I do to TRY (key word) to avoid the CHAOS even more is.......

Example:

Susie needs 2 dozen cookies taken to class on Tuesday.  On Monday's date my calendar will say "Susie needs cookies taken to class tomorrow"  AND when I find out I need to do this, along with writing on my calendar, it gets written on my grocery list (future post coming on menu planning/grocery list/budget) so when I need to make the cookies on Monday it doesn't become "A WHOLE THING" as I like to say because i don't have the ingredients to make them and now I have to make a special trip to the store, etc.  .  

Calendars are so important.  Businesses use them all the time.  Why?  Because they have to keep track off all the appointments and jobs they have going on.  Who would expect them to remember all of this information without a calendar?  Nobody would.

Well as the CEO's of our household we have a lot to keep track of and who would expect us to remember it all without a calendar?  Nobody would, EXCEPT ourselves.....

Let's give up trying to fly by the seat of our pants and then beat ourselves up when we "forget" things.  Let's take the 10 minutes to sit down and put things on our calendar's as they come in.  It will save a lot more than 10 minutes in the long run. 

***I have found a great time to fill out my calendar is when I'm sitting and waiting for my rugrats to finish guitar lessons or soccer practice or wrestling practice.  Instead of sitting and thinking I have so much to do it's a great idea to fill in your calendar or start making that to do list.

To see the previous Aloha post click here "organize & reduce stress".......For more information on our Aloha journey be sure to go visit LBDDiaries and drink up a cup of her wisdom.

Ciao Bellas~

MOMMA

Admitting Addiction .....to......Karen Kingsbury Books

They say admitting an addiction is half the battle....... I confess "I'm ADDICTED TO KAREN KINGSBURY BOOKS".......

She has many series with "The Baxter Family". I'm addicted to the Baxter family... I feel like I know them..... I want to invite them over for BBQ's and maybe even Margarita Night.... They are my Soap Opera.....

Her books suck me in and spit me out at the book store where I can get my next fix...... I promise to seek help..... as soon as she retires I'll make an appointment for counseling. I PROMISE.....

Her books are Fiction and her storylines are about normal day to day struggles and joys that we can all relate to. They are an easy read. They make me laugh out loud and they make me cry, sometimes at the same time.....YES, this is possible, not always possible to do without snot bubbles coming out of your nose, but I'm no saying that has happened to me...but Kleenex by the bed, JUST IN CASE....might not be a bad idea........And did I mention......I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!?!

A few years ago I sent an email to her (http://www.karenkingsbury.com/) asking if she was able to come speak at a small Christian school in California. We were having a fundraising dinner. She called me back PERSONALLY. After I picked myself up off of the floor (not expecting her to take the time to call herself) I had a nice chat with her. We talked about her children, her hubby, her books and of course her schedule. I was so excited about what a genuine sweet person she was that it made me enjoy her books even more. and I didn't think that was possible

I love it when people who are talented yet down to earth and loving, kind people "make it"! To me that is just THE BEST!

OH, she also writes little blurbs that her readers have emailed her about how her books have affected them and I was jumping around (yes, a BIT like a crazy person, I can admit this, I know you all read my Vail post, so this is of no surprise) when I saw a quote from an email I sent her with my name next to it in her book......

For some reason I wasn't getting anyone asking for my autographs after that...I didn't understand...but I've dealt with that now. I've moved past it. I've lowered my expectations. I've moved on.....I'm Ok. I SAID I'm OK..... Gosh, do you need to make such a big deal out of it........Really? You do? If you really want I can sign your copy. All you had to do was ask..... Begging is NOT necessary. I am busy though so it may take a couple weeks.....please be patient.......

Seriously though.......Karen Kingsbury............. you will love her books.......

I'm just sayin'

Ciao Bellas~

Tip of the Week

Have a "Family Night" once a week. Ours is Thursday nights. Everything Thursday night everyone is required to be home. It alternates each week as to who's turn it is to be head of the family night. We rotate from youngest to oldest. If it is your turn you pick what meal we eat for dinner and which board game we play. It is best NOT to do a movie because we have found playing the board game we do a lot more talking with each other. We sometimes invite my parents over and the kids really get a kick out of that also. The kids look forward to it very much and they always remember when it is Thursday night. Sometimes it ends up being a late night and we occasionally will stress because of school the next day but if it goes too late I let them sleep in and I drive them to school the next day so they don't have to be up as early to catch the bus. Family night is very important to us and the only regret I have in regards to family night is that we didn't start it sooner, when my boys were younger. The boys are now 18 and 15 and they love family night. I picture my children being out on their own and married and still coming over for family night. One can only hope! Try it.....you will LOVE IT!

Tip of the Week

When sitting down at the table for dinner our family has a tradition of "Best and Worst". We go around the table and everyone (including Momma and Dad) gets to share what was the BEST part of their day (and why) and what was the WORST part of their day (and why). Everyone has to sit quietly and listen and wait for their turn.

This is not only great for learning patience, listening skills, learning more about thier siblings (and our children) but everyone enjoys sharing and we as parents often learn things that maybe our children never would have shared with us!

Try it out and let me know whatcha think!