LOVE and Cupcakes

Yesterday we had a very successful home study, we are THAT much closer thanks be to God. Some of you may be thinking the same thing people ask me sometimes "I thought they were yours already?" My response? They are ours. They were ours before our Father was fearfully and wonderfully forming them, He had a plan even then. We are just working out way through the legal hoops :)

I'm constantly overwhelmed with adoration for them. I'm forever in awe that God has chosen us for this task. I'm completely in LOVE with my life.

Speaking of LOVE, we are expecting guests this weekend from my sister and her new fiancee! This has been a very quick engagement and the wedding is THIS Monday, yes Valentine's Day! We are very happy for them and our little cupcakes are excited to have a new uncle to welcome into our family.

Speaking of cupcakes...

These onesies are the product of my first hand sewing job since my sewing class in high school (that I was AWFUL at by the way). I've carefully considered practicing on mom's machine to see if I'll be asking for a new sewing machine next Christmas. We'll see if motherhood has domesticated me to that level. I'm not holding my breath.

Now let's end this back on a LOVE note.

One thing I absolutely LOVE is music, almost all kinds with a few exceptions (see: trance, house, ska, screamo...) There's always a song in my head and last night when I blissfully went to sleep (yes I'm THAT happy!) this song stayed in my mind. Enjoy and I hope you have a Friday you LOVE!

Snow Days Ice Days

Ah. So after four days of snow, ice and no school, a weekend, and just two more days of work we find ourselves again comfortably nested in the confines of our home today due to icy conditions. I'm totally okay with this, especially because it gives me time for my girls, a little laundry, some crafting projects, and...this! Here is a pictorial list of what our snow days consist(ed) of...

1) Enjoy The Snow Time

Daddy and Mila

Heavy snowfall for these parts, couldn't differentiate between the lawn, sidewalks, and street!

Lola's first snow angel

2) Cold Weather Eating Time

Cookwell and Company make a BOMB chili, just add your choice of ground beef or turkey and voila! You can find these for less than $8 at H-E-B, your choice of red or green.

3) Play Time

Family campout

Joey, Romo and the girls enjoying a day of lounging in the living room. We pulled out one of the guest room mattresses and "camped." We laid around, ate, watched movies, and played all day.

Blue Steel

Our little drooler

The girls loved pulling out the toys and listening to some fun children's praise and worship. I held on to all of the music I used as a Sunday school teacher and the girls had fun moving to the music. Lola may turn out to follow momma's family tradition and be a musician. I love music and my faith, integrating the two into my girls' lives now is an honor.

4) Chill Time

Lola enjoying extra time with mommy and daddy

The good life

5) Bundle Up By The Fire When The Heat Goes Out Time

Thank goodness for these!

6) Sleepy Time

Fried Pickles

I'm in the middle of a real life version of the icecapades. 

I'm going on SNOW DAY THREE! That's right, snow days. We've been cooped up in the house, doing a little work, but mostly play. The most amusing part? Facebook. Yes, Facebook. It doesn't matter how many friends you have, almost everyone is guaranteed to have at least 40 friends actively online ready to chat if you're where I'm from because there's nothing else to do it seems. If the posts aren't about cabin fever, rolling blackouts, or how happy/mad/glad they are about the closings and road conditions, then they're sharing about food.

Yes, food.

Stews, roasts, hot chocolates and every other wintery weather foods you can think of. I contemplated making some brownies or cookies, and even pulled out my big pretzel making kit (LOVE) but tonight, I decided on fried pickles. (I made some pretty awesome beef stew last night)

Not exactly a wintery food winner, but if you love fried pickles like I do, it doesn't matter the season or wind chill.

Need a simple recipe? Here you go!

(my adapted version of Hooter's recipe for their famous fried pickles from my favorite ex-Hooter's cook)

Ingredients

Pickles, preferably thick sliced dills, Vlasic makes great dill chips

Flour

Garlic Powder

Salt

Pepper

Seasoning Salt

Oil/Fryer

Pat pickles dry

Have your flour seasoned and ready to go! My Hooter's source never mentioned using season salt but I found that it's not too bad for fried pickles. I would say half a tsp or so of each spice give or take your preference, I don't measure...

Flour your pickles and place in your fryer. I prefer my Fry Daddy but any deep fryer or pan will work as long as the pickles are submerged in the oil.

Fry until a light golden brown.

Remove from oil and place on some paper towels to soak up the massive amounts of grease (hey, never said this was healthy!)

There you go! Fried pickles, super easy, but very tasty. Enjoy :)

Work in Progress...

Without having much time to prepare for our girls, getting together a nursery has been a challenge. Finances are tight, and my preferences are limited. I never envisioned a Pepto pink room, and pastels and I don't get a long. This made finding bedding especially difficult so instead of forcing something, my mom started quilting some pieces for the nursery. We picked out the fabric last week and I can't wait to see the results.

So we have bedding in the works, now for the rest.

My taste is eclectic. I love art, and aged pieces of furniture and accents. I'm drawn to traditionally Mexican pieces, pottery, pictures, and other knick-knacks. This preference slowly started to work it's way into my ideas for a nursery. I've limited myself by not giving myself the option to paint. There isn't an ounce of paint used on our walls anywhere in this house other than the standard bright white which I'm okay with (the walls and ceiling support it). Textured walls almost immediately cancel out options for decals too. 

So it all comes down to a frugal woman and her ideas. Here we go:

These letters were purchased from Hobby Lobby for about 99¢ per small letter and $1.99 for the two large letters. I painted them espresso and then Modge Podged scrapbook paper over them. I hot glued the ribbon to the back and decided to hang them from an extra set of curtain rods I couldn't use. 

These crosses below are ones I've owned for years but their natural stone color wouldn't work for what I wanted so I painted them brighter with some acrylic paint. The paintings were made in about 4 hours and serve as not only as a decor but a little tribute to my favorite artist Frida Kahlo. They were fun to paint and I look forward to making more.

Lola's sassy Frida. The blouse and curtains are extra scrapbook paper leftover from the letters. The daisy is  glued down as well.

Mila's sweet Frida also has decoupaged curtains and blouse as well as actual ribbons in her hair.

This dress was actually my dress once. It was a gift from my grandpa from one of his numerous trips to Mexico. I wanted a smaller black frame but stuck with one I already owned. I may change it later. My love for sentimental items plays a lot of influence in how I want my home as well. 

These last two photos are actually from my hallway but show my love for sentimental things. The blue bird is a small piece I've always remembered in my grandmother's home growing up, the hankerchief belonged to her as well. The plaque that reads "Dios Es Amor," or God is Love was handmade from the students of LABI, or, Latin American Bible Institute in Texas which has a long standing history with our family and my grandfather's role in the Assemblies of God. He aided in starting one of their first churches in our region. I also have my grandfather's cane displayed next to the plaque.

Right now I am happy with how the nursery is coming along and look forward to many years of collecting items that will grow with them and become treasured pieces in their home the way my family as passed down pieces to me.