Big brothers rock

When I was growing up my best friend had a big brother and oh boy was I envious of her, he was big and strong and looked out for her and he was funny. Me I had a little brother who was annoying, and whiney and needy. (Not really but compared to the big brothers he was)
Ben is the big brother I always wanted and he takes his role seriously. He is exactly how I envisioned my big brother would be. He looks out for Reagan, he makes her laugh, he's nice to her friends and he's a great role model.
We have just started Spring Break and the anticipation of the Easter bunny is upon us. Reagan doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny and that's ok BUT there's a part of her that is leary that he might exist. Her friends tell her he's like Santa and sees everything you do in the days leading up to Easter which has Reagan in a tail spin, it doesn't matter what she believes or what we tell her, there is a part of her that is fearful that he might be real. The idea that some creepy bunny ( and lets face it every Easter Bunny I've seen is creepy) could be walking around the house at night looking in at her while she sleeps has her totally on edge, so Ben being the awesome big brother he is told Reagan that from now until Easter she can sleep in his room and she is totally ok with that. She has always slept with him Christmas Eve for the very reason that she hates the idea of Santa walking into her room while she sleeps and she knows that she is safe, her brother's room is a safe haven from all mythical beings. If Santa, the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny are going to be on the prowl she's going to be in his room and I love that about him, he could quite easily make fun of her, tease her and give her nightmares but no he ensures she's going to feel safe and gives up his bed.
Tomorrow I'm sure he'll take her book, tweak her hair, pull a chair away from her as she sits down, he'll do something to irk her and she will scream "Ben I hate you" to which he will laugh and take off but I guarantee the last thing that'll come out of her mouth tomorrow night before she goes to sleep is "Night, I love you Ben" and he will respond with "I love you too Reagan" and with that she will drift off into a sweet slumber knowing that with her big brother there to protect her no harm will come of her while she sleeps.

I'm addicted

Well maybe addicted is a strong term because I can live without them if I REALLY have to, but oh my word I love these things, they are a perfect for when you crave chocolate but want something juicy too. Gummy bears covered in chocolate, really does it get a whole lot better ? The only problem ? They're so stinking hard to find. My first box I paid almost $4 for at the movie theatre *EEK* and I was hooked, the next time I went they were gone *BOO* then I found them at the Dollar Tree *EEK* and they stayed there for a long time and I would buy them on a regular basis and then all of a sudden GONE, they no longer have them, can't tell me if they'll ever have more * BOO, BOO triple BOO* but then on Saturday we were in Big Lots and my wonderful, awesome daughter of the year found the very last box and she bought them for her Mommy and now I'm savoring and hoping that if I only eat one a day they should last me until I find them again.
Anyone know where they sell these all year round ?

Dress A Girl Around The World Update

I figured you all deserved an update as to how this was going. Despite no comments on my posts regarding this (Not gonna lie I was a little disappointed about that) I have had many people contact me privately who have either donated funds for me to go and purchase the fabric and supplies to make  dresses in their name, donated money to "Use as you see fit" ,  have donated fabric or have sent fabric to me, as of today it looks like about  40 little girls will be blessed :)
 Thankyou all so much  for your generosity you are all such a blessing.
This  picture  is just a glimpse of what I'll be tackling this weekend as you can see the March 31st deadline that I had put on this is going to be extended as I wait on some fabric that has been mailed and more money donated needs to be spent and hey I'm only one person and that's a lot of dresses to sew, that pink fabric alone will yield about 6 dresses :)

Thanks again, I'll update again next week.

A cake decorator, I am not

I am sooooo not a cake decorator, I'm more of a 'Frost By Numbers' kinda gal, you know stick a star shaped nozzle on a piping bag and fill in the indents on the cake left from the pan, so when I read the directions on what to do I take them quite literal, I may question in my mind but then will go on to shrug my shoulders and think to myself "Well Mr Wilton said to do it this way".

Tuesday was Reagan's turn to take snack into school, I remembered mid morning on Monday, I had already done my grocery shop for the week and did not want to venture out again so I started blog surfing for some inspiration and came upon these little darlings, cute huh ? First off I couldn't figure out why only 16 cupcakes when a box mix states it will make 24 on the box and I've always gotten 24 out of it, and I needed 22 and I wasn't going to start on another box of mix just for 6 more cakes. Well I don't know what happens to batter when you divide it into 6 bowls and add food coloring but the amount decreases, it's true, crazy but true, yet if you divide it into 3 bowls you're good to go, if you don't believe me try it, it's weird. So my cupcakes only ended up with 3 colors, but the kids didn't know and what you don't know won't kill you (usually). Then I got creative, I hate the taste of cake mix from a box it's just kind of 'icky' so once the cakes cooled all the way I poked holes in the top and poured orange jello onto them and let it soak in, creative huh ? Then I put them in the fridge AND FORGOT ABOUT THEM until 1hr before they were due to school Tuesday morning, "S%^& " Open up the pantry no canned frosting, look for powdered sugar, didn't have enough. Panic set in and so I started blog surfing again and I found this blog where Supermom had made these same cakes ... though she'd only made 16 so they had the perfect 6 colors, WHATEVER !!! She gave all the directions and then 'frosted' CoolWhip on top, oh they looked so cute and guess what ? I had Cool Whip, So I took it from my freezer, waited for it to thaw a bit and then started 'frosting' , OMG, what a disaster, 'SuperMom' failed to add that she had to have added something to her CoolWhip to make it stay or she cheated and used Cool Whip from a can to get the perfect swirl because let me tell you, CoolWhip from a tub is not the consistency to frost with, even if you get a perfect swirl it will quickly drip and become a gloopy mess even if you put them in the refrigerator immediately... don't believe me ? Take a peek at this gloopy mess and yes the pic sucks I was rushing like a mad woman, freaking as to what to do as 22 kidlets were waiting on Ms Penny's snack and no all the cakes aren't there because after too many attempts I realised this was a big time FAIL

So I snapped a quick pic and hauled some serious butt to the 'Mart, where I sprinted down the aisles like a crazy woman and snatched up a much coveted can of Redi Whip and ran to the school where I entered the classroom and exclaimed " Who wants  messy cup cakes ?" and up shot a dozen hands eager to please Ms Penny. I LOVE those sweet 6 and 7 year olds, they're so forgiving, so around I went handing out 'Messy cupcakes' with the teacher on my tail prettying them up with the Redi whip and Reagan adding a shower of sprinkles and all was well in the world again. So take it from me, if you want to frost something w/ Cool Whip and keep it looking pretty BUY A CAN and squirt those swirls, they won't let you down.

Grandad's words

Growing up just down the street from my Grandparents meant spending many many hours with them. Some of my fondest memories are sweeping Grandad's garden path, watering the gardens by dunking the watering can into the water butt and filling it up with rain water, trimming his hedges with scissors, really anything that had to do with gardening. I vividly remember him shaking his head when he would see neighbors going crazy planting gardens in early spring and saying "Ne'er cast a clout 'til May be out" He would just click his tongue and continue with his pottering and once again I am reminded of him and his ways and his sayings as we experience a crazy, crazy Spring here.
Last week it hit 80 degrees, it was warm and sunny, fingers were getting itchy and thoughts of fresh produce growing in the garden came to mind, the desire to run out and plant vegetable seeds and flowers was at the fore front of my mind, but I refrained, Grandad's words echoing around and around in my head and boy am I glad I did, look what we woke up to today. Yep, I think I'll heed Grandad's words and won't start planting "'Til May be out"

This is what happens...

 When I tell Reagan I want to take pictures of her new haircut. Love this girl, she cracks us up on a daily basis.

Dress #2 and a thankyou

Many thanks to those of you who have both donated money and fabric. As of right now 14 little girls will blessed with new dresses.
If there are still some of you out there who would like to help then please either leave a comment here or send me an email.