on spring cleaning and BIRTHDAYS!

diptych: spring evening

Why does this time of year always seem to sneak up on me? My littlest turns 3 on Friday and then almost 2 weeks later, my oldest turns 6. You know what that means–CRUNCH TIME for party planning. The party will be smack dab in the middle of both birthdays. At what age do you think they’ll start hating me for forcing them to share a birthday party?

It will be the first time my son invites kiddos from his school to a party. His last day of Kindergarten falls ON HIS BIRTHDAY! So…we’re all pretty excited. The RSVP is now a lost art form, so I’m actually flying in the dark when it comes to preparing for the kids that show up. I’m going to be making extra everything and if NO ONE shows (oh gosh..) then I’m taking the party to THEM on that last day. Basically, WE WILL PARTY.

I’m spending the next week and a half-ish getting my house in order. I figured I should make a list of all the rooms that need to be cleaned/decorated/whatever and then check them off day by day. I can tackle one room a day, right? That’s totally reasonable! Kind of sad, but there are some rooms in our home that have yet to be really decorated properly. I just hope that once I get a room in order no one messes it up before the party. I’m going to have to be on high alert til then.

Wish me luck! I’m going to need it on the day I have to clean the boys’ room. GAHJFKLAJFLFKDJ! THE HORROR!

Feliz dia de las Madres!

I’ll be spending it with these dudes:

127.365: the one who started it all

the bestest

Nathan woke me up before 8 by throwing his card at me and yelling, “Happy Mother’s day!” I got up and made a quiche and sliced some strawberries. We’ll be visiting my MIL later this afternoon for dinner & dessert (I’m making a lemon berry trifle complete with homemade lemon curd! yum).

Have a good one!

up-cycled glass >> vase

Bought your madre some flowers (or a shoot of lucky bamboo) for Mother’s Day (TOMORROW!!!)? Don’t have a pretty vase for them? Here’s a quick and painless vase DIY.

happy frappy vases

You know what those are? FRAPPUCCINO containers! The ones you buy at the drug store when you’re craving Starbucks, though you KNOW they aren’t even close to the real stuff…those! Jason bought me a pack before he left to Vegas (because he’s smarrrrt!) last time and I think I drank all of them in one day. Ooops! I lost one of the containers to smashage AKA the elbow bump to my kitchen floor.

Put them opening down on some newspaper and SPRAY PAINT the heck out of ’em. Actually, put on a light base coat and let it dry for a few minutes THEN spray paint the heck out of them. Let them chill out for a few more minutes until the paint is no longer sticky/wet and then transfer them to a place to dry overnight. Make sure to inspect the vase for any lighter spots and touch those up before letting it rest.

The results are pretty spectacular–they look like colored milk bottles! Spray painting glass containers is nothing new, but I think the frappuccino containers have a beautiful curvy shape! SO…if you need a little vase for your mama’s Mother’s Day flowers, I suggest heading out and picking up a faux-frappuccino at your local drug/convenience store. I used spray paints I had on hand. You don’t need very much!

It’s Saturday, though, so you better get started! ;)

the unedibles

diptych: echeveria

More photos taken in my backyard (technically, these are on the patio)! Aren’t you lucky!

These are my little succulents. The ones that sit on a bench on my patio, which gets sunny in the late afternoon/early evening. It gets sun almost all day at the end of summer and NO sun during the winter. I have liked figuring these little things out about my house. We’re approaching our 1 year anniversary of living here. That’s kind of amazing.

the succulent bench

pachyveria


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Excuse my bloggy/Twitter absence…I’m in the midst of planning a party for my boys. I’ve procrastinated for too long and there is less than a month to prepare. Their birthdays are two weeks apart, so as long as they’re littles, they will have a shared birthday party. It would be acceptable to put up a birthday banner/decorations for the first birthday and leave them up those two weeks, right?? I want it to be colorful and super FUN.

I heart this giraffe face!

It’s Pet Week over at I Heart Faces. This isn’t my pet (they didn’t even let us touch it!) but that’s ok.

giraffe: up close

Obviously, we had a trip to the zoo! Visiting the Houston Zoo has been an Easter tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Since becoming an adult and having kiddos of my own, I’ve been allowed to skip it a few years. We missed Nate’s first AND second because he was sick those years! I thought he was coming up with a new Easter tradition, but he was 100% for his third and had a blast. We missed another since then, but THIS year…we bought a membership and will definitely go as much as we can.

ESPECIALLY FOR THESE GUYS. Getting up close and personal with these giraffes was awesome! My boys fed them lettuce while I snapped away. I have more photos on Flickr, but THIS ONE…it stuck out at me for some reason. I just realllly like it.

See more cute pet faces at I Heart Faces!