Happy Monday y'all!

Our weekend started off with a *BANG*

Adison's school carnival was scheduled for Friday evening, but then a spring storm decided to roll in with the threat of tornadoes.

Carnival cancelled, bummer.

The severe weather decided to hang out for a while and we ended up in the basement when the tornado sirens started going off.

All ended well though.

Saturday Adison had a soccer game, she did AMAZING!
It's always so gratifying as a parent to watch your child work had and improve.

The game ended in a tie, they don't technically keep score, but everyone else does.

Ha!

Afterwards we headed home, Adison and I worked on some puzzles.

It was a very relaxed day.

That evening a couple from our small group invited everyone over, we grilled, talked and the kids played.

It was a wonderful evening!

Sunday, whew, Sunday we ran some errands.

Not overly exciting, but necessary.

I started working on a crafting project.

When it's finished I'll share it with everyone.

Tonight we are going to the rescheduled carnival and one-mile fun run.

Poor Lee though, she is super bummed that she will miss ballet.

Many a tear were shed, oh well, she will have ballet next week.

If you live in the Topeka area, don't forget to enter the Disney Live giveaway!

Sesame Street Live Giveway- Topeka area show

There is no denying that there is a lot of Elmo love going on in our house.

In fact, for Abby's birthday I think that everything was Elmo related.

Toys, shirts, pajamas, you name it.

So, when the good people at Elmo Live contacted me about hosting a giveaway for their Topeka, KS show I was quick to jump on board.

The show is for "Elmo's Super Heroes", it's a larger-than-life, musical touring production featuring Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie and more. 

The tickets are for the shows on May 15 and 16th at the Topeka Performing Arts Center. On Tuesday, May 15th the show is at 7:00 PM. The May 16th shows are at 10:30 AM and 7:00 PM.

The giveaway is for a family 4-pack of ticket vouchers for the randomly selected winner.

For those that don't win the family 4-pack they are offering $3 off per ticket.

Use the code ERNIE online at ticketmaster.com to receive the special offer.

(Excludes Gold Circle & Sunny Seats. Not valid on previously purchased tickets. Cannot be combined with any other offer.)

To enter the giveaway:

You must be a follower of 3 Pink Cupcakes, let me know in the comment section.

To get an additional entry share in the comments section your favorite Sesame Street character.
You can have up to two entries, make sure that each entries are separate comments.

The giveaway closes on May 1st at Midnight Central Time.
Winner will be announced on Wednesday!

The Good, the Bad and the Funny

It's Thursday again, my how the days fly by.

We are on the eve of Friday, within reach of the weekend.

This week, as well as the last few weeks, was beyond busy.

Summer is in the near future and I am looking forward to having days with nothing to do besides sleep in and go swimming.

{ha ha, a girl can dream that it will all go so smoothly!}

The Good: I have been feeling my creativity trying to reach me. I now just need to decide on a new project to work on, I'm thinking something cupcake centered. I made the mistake of browsing Etsy for pink cupcakes and saw some really neat things. Currently I am looking at cupcake ribbon to make a bow for Abby, I found some cute ones now I just need to make a decision. This morning, after the older girls were at school Abby and I shared a cupcake as part of our breakfast, it was delicious. Ainsley knee isn't hurting her as much, she still has some sensitivity and limited movement, but considering where her stitches are I am beyond thrilled. K and I are still doing more outdoor work, I am trying to decide what to tackle this weekend, Adison is dying to paint something, so I am trying to come up with a project. I am really looking forward to going to the farmers market this weekend and Adison's soccer game.

The Bad: my heart is heavy for people that I know that are suffering. Sickness, miscarriages and other things, life is hard.

The Funny: the video quality is not the greatest, but I was able to get Abby on film saying "Focus" and "Privacy", I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do. I keep watching it just to laugh, what a goofy girl.

 

The fireplace thingy- finished!

This was the antique fireplace tool thingy that I pulled out from under our front porch.

Seriously.

It was in rough shape, rough.

But, I knew that it had some serious potential.

Well, potential to be used outside, not inside.

I started with a wire brush and scrubbed the thing to get all of the loose, rusted stuff off.

Then I scrubbed it some more.

And some more.

Then, I set next to one of the bushes and pondered what color I wanted to paint it.

I eventually settled on aqua {shocker!} but after a trip to Lowe's I discovered that they didn't have any Rustoleum in that color available.

While looking at all of the colors I finally decided on a beautiful apple green color and could not wait to get home and paint it.

Well, K was still working on the steps and it was super windy, I didn't want to risk ANY spray paint getting on the steps.

That would have spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Monday though, the wind had died down considerably, so after a trip to the gym and ANOTHER trip to Lowe's {sigh} I spray painted it.

{Sorry for the crummy picture}

I love that the paint brought out all of the pretty details on it.

It is so much more intricate and interesting that it originally appeared in all of it's rusty glory.

It's a diamond in the rough if I do say so myself.

And to think, it cost me less than $4 to achieve a fun addition to our yard and that was only for the spray paint.

1. Now I just have to decide what to do with it. Leave it as is or should I try to hang some little flower containers from the little arm things?

2. What else can I now spray paint this gorgeous shade of green???

busy busy busy

This weekend was cuh-razy busy.

Seriously.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the farmers market, they didn't have too much as it's pretty early in the season but we did snag some goodies.

Asparagus, green onions and some yummy spinach & feta whole wheat bread.

After that we headed home and surprise the girls because K's Mom and Dad came down for a visit.

They wanted to see Miss Adison play at her soccer game.

Guess what happened?!?!

She scored a goal!

She was so excited and we, her massive cheering section, were so happy for her.

My dad, brother, sister-in-law, niece, K's mom and dad as well as the five of us were there.

Talk about fun!

Lee and her two besties, Kailyn and Cameron.

After that we went out to lunch, came back to our house and chilled, then it was off to church.

I love church.

Love love love it.

K took this picture of these beautiful, viney flowers.

I have no idea what they are called, but I do know that they grow on a vine and are very pretty.

 This morning, we went out to Lowe's to tackle some projects.

K is working on our front porch, specifically the hand-rails.

Yippee!

Me, well, I didn't really need anything from Lowe's but love to go there.

My obsession current project is eradicating the vines from our backyard.

They were starting to take over and I just couldn't handle it anymore.

Plus, we have been extremely a little lax about doing yard work and there were some major things that needed to get done. 

I lifted up a rock in the backyard on Sunday and found this GIGANTIC earthworm.

It was seriously disgusting and was as large as my pinky.

Horrifying.

I screamed then ran to get K and the kiddos so they could take a look as well.

Last but not least, I found this antique fireplace tool holder thing under our front porch.

Yes, under the front porch.

I pulled it out and decided that it would be fun to paint and put it outside as a decoration in one of the flower beds.

I painted it today and can't wait to show you how good it looks!

How was your weekend?

It's been 6 years

Somehow 6 years have gone by.

6 years since we found out that our second child, Emma Grace, was gone.

6 years since receiving the news and learning a new way to cope and live.

I only carried her in my womb for 13 weeks, but she is mine and she is ours.

She is our child, she is a sibling to our daughters.

Her short life had significance, it made an impact.

Even if that impact was only meant for K and I, she made it.

We are changed, forever.

Looking back on these past 6 years I can say that we are changed for the better.

She changed us, grew us and made us better.

Baby girl, I love you so very much.

I think of you in Heaven with my Grandma, sitting on her lap while she rocks you to sleep.
We have hope, my dear, hope that we will see you one day.

I love you my precious angel baby.

The Good, the Bad and the Funny

Hello all!

Happy Thursday!

I feel like I haven't done a GBF in forever.

The Good: the weather, it has been so incredibly nice lately. We've had the doors open and have been outside every chance that we get. Adison got invited to a bible study by one of her friends at school, she was so excited to attend and had a lovely time. I have been doing some reading lately, I love to read and have made a point to spend some time doing it. It's amazing how much more time I feel like I have now that we don't have cable anymore. I'm going to workout tomorrow morning, I'm really ready to kick it into gear and get healthy!

The Bad: Miss Ainsley fell today when we were walking up to Adison's school. She tripped on a bumpy sidewalk then slid creating about an inch long gash in her knee. 

I carried her in to the school nurse who got it cleaned up and said that she thought we needed to take her in to probably get stitches. Poor Ainsley, it must have hurt so much and it was bleeding really bad. 

While they were stitching it up she kept crying I just want to go home! I want to see Abby! It broke my heart, but she was incredibly brave and her sisters were so supportive of her After seeing the stitches {she got four of them} she told me that they looked "weird" such an Ainsley statement to make.

The Funny: Abby is such a goofy kiddo, she says the silliest things. Her two favorites are: FOCUS! and she makes this silly noise and says PRIVACY! whenever we are changing her clothes or her diaper. She even puts her hand up like she is saying stop. I am going to try to get a video of her because it is just too funny for words.

Chalkboard Cabinets in use

I was thrilled with how the kitchen cabinets turned out.

I wasn't the only one though that was thrilled with the end results.

As soon as the 24 hour drying time was over the kids were beyond thrilled to be able to draw on the cabinets.

It was so exciting to see the thrill on their faces for doing something that would normally be considered a huge no-no. 

According to Ainsley, this is me.

I'm a princess, with a tiara WITH a diamond.

This is K, he's my prince.

I think it's hysterical that I look like the Jolly Green Giant compared to him.

I love the paint so much that K and I are thinking about all of the other things we could paint with it.

Chalkboard cabinets

 My kids love chalk.

I love it when my kids are happy.

Happy kids = Happy mom

I have been in a DIY {do it yourself} mood lately.

As mentioned before, I ripped all of the wallpaper off of our kitchen walls on Easter evening.

While sick.

After the kids went to bed.

For fun.

Not normal, not me.

I've also been spending a lot of time outside working on projects and clearing things up.

In fact, I have ENJOYED doing it.

Again, not normal, not me.

We live in Kansas.

Think hot, humid, muggy.

Also cold, frigid, where have my toes gone to?
We do have four seasons, but Spring and Fall normally last about, well, two weeks.

The weather here is not forgiving.

Meaning that there is a large portion of the year that it is either way too hot or way too cold to go outside.

Combining my children's love for chalk with my DIY spirit, I decided to paint our kitchen cabinets with chalkboard paint.

We picked up the supplies on Sunday and by Sunday afternoon, after the cabinets were scrubbed down and dried, the paint was flying.

After seeing the lower cabinets with two coats of paint on last night K and I decided that we would only paint the lowers with the chalkboard paint.

Otherwise it was just way too dark for our kitchen.

Seeing as we also need to paint our kitchen walls I am planning on repainting the upper cabinets as well.

Why not, right?

I will post pictures, but I wanted to give the cabinets 24 hours to completely dry.

Plus I still need to put the hardware back on them.

We are all super excited to see how it turns out, fingers crossed it is a smashing success!

InstaFriday

Happy Friday my dears!
How was your week?
Mine was super busy and super fast.

What are your weekend plans?
Adison has her first soccer game of the season on Saturday and church on Saturday evening, I'm so excited!

Pictures, here are a few snapshots of our week.

Ainsley's preschool teacher, Mrs. B sent me this picture yesterday.

Lee was biting the heads off of her gummy worms.

What a little stinker :)

Abby insisted that I try on Lee's glasses the other morning and I HAD to take a pi-ture.

It's a good look, dontcha think?

 The funny thing though was that we got caught.

When Ainsley got home from school she looked through the pictures and we were busted.

Avocado.

My kids could probably each eat an entire avocado by themselves.

They all like it smashed up with a bit of salt and pepper.

Adison loves hers on top of a burrito, Lee likes to dip chips in it and Abby likes to eat it with a spoon.

Yum!

I mentioned a few days ago that Abby has been obsessed with taking pictures with my phone.

She took this one the other day while we were waiting for Ainsley to get off of the bus.

She says funny things like Just one more Mama! Okay?

Have a great weekend!!!

Finding those moments

I'm not going to lie, things have been tough lately.

The kiddos, well, lets just say that they have been...trying.

To say the least.

I can't even count how many times I have seen tears, heard crying, temper tantrums, jumping up and down while screaming.

Let's just say that it's been a lot.

I know that this is all typical age-related behavior.

My four year old and two year old just don't have the language necessary yet to express themselves the way they want and need to.

Keeping this in mind I have been trying extra hard to have grace and patience.

Praying multiple times for grace, for myself and for me to have with my children.

I learned a long time ago not to pray for patience, ha ha.

Anyways, I have been finding sweet moments of peace and joy lately.

Whether it be pulling weeds out of the front walk way or looking at a book together, the moments are there.

The day still may be trying, but the moments add up, even when between tantrums. 

I See Me! Review

I See Me! books are amazing!

The book that we received to review was My Very Own Fairy Tale.

The neat things about this book is that they spell out your child's first and last name and lists attributes that start with that letter.

The colors in the book are amazing and the pictures themselves are beautiful.

Ainsley loved looking through the book and identifying the next letter in her name.

The expression on her face to see if she would be named the fairy princess was enchanting.

After her first name was spelled out her excitement was palpable.

Then her last name was spelled out.

When we got to the end of the story and they said that Ainsley was to be crowned the fairy princess, goodness gracious, I don't think her smile could have gotten any larger.

I love my book, Mama!

At the end of the book they have a list of fairies in alphabetical order.

We, of course, had to pick out our favorites on each page.

There were so many beautiful ones to choose from.

It also stated that there were fairies hidden on each page, to flip back through to look for them.

Ainsley couldn't wait to search for each fairy and proudly point out where they were.

I am beyond thrilled with the quality of this book, it's a definite keepsake.

I See Me! has a referral program. If you use this link, you get $5 off of your purchase if you are a first time customer. http://www.iseeme.com/refer-a-friend-sign-in.html

You can also get 15% off of your order by entering the code "fairytale" at checkout. This expires on 4/30/2012.

From K:  This book is perfect for all those little princesses out there!!

Head on over and "like" I See Me! on Facebook, they do offer Facebook exclusives.  Here is that link http://www.facebook.com/ISeeMeBooks.

Follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/ISeeMe_Maia

They are also on Pintrest http://pinterest.com/iseemebooks/

Disclaimer: I See Me! did send me the book to review for free. All thoughts and opinions though are mine.