Leap Year

My birthday is on a leap year, which means my actual day (February 29th) comes once every 4 years. I'm not one for getting excited for my birthday on the off years. However, on a leap year, I'm giddy like a little kid. I'm turning 8 this year (32 in human years) so I've compiled a list of 32 things I'd like to accomplish by the next actual birthday:

1. Make a batch of french macarons.
2. Go on an overseas missions trip.
3. Have Baby #3.
4. Potty train Baby #3.
5. Run more half marathons.
6. Grow my hair out long. Not Crystal Gayle long, but long.
7. Start selling my artwork.
8. Make Thanksgiving dinner.
9. Keep both the inside and outside of my car clean for at least a week.
10. Memorize more of the Bible.
11. In my car, keep a couple of ziploc bags packed with essentials that I can hand out to homeless people I see on the street. It would have stuff like a bottled water, travel shampoo, and a toothbrush in it.
12. Take a tour of the Las Vegas Neon Museum.
13. Properly flip an omelette.
14. Learn to read music.
15. Start using eye cream at night. (sorry Mom, I'm still not doing it.)
16. Eat at French Laundry in Yountville, Ca.
17. Catch a ride on a Caribbean cruise.
18. Go to a Second Saturday in Sacramento.
19. Ride a hot air balloon. 
20. Jump on a giant trampoline.
21. Grow an herb garden.
22. Eat more deep fried whatever at the State Fair.
23. Get Michelle Obama arms. Dang girl!
24. Grow my blog following (hint hint)
25. Calendar times to call my friends who I don't see a lot. (and actually call them)
26. Yell in a library. 
27. Dance for no reason in a very public place.
28. Try every flavor of cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. I'm so close to accomplishing this one.
29. Not cringe when I tell people my age.
30. Go to a county fair.
31. Watch a sunrise and sunset in the same day.
32. Become famous, multi-platinum rapper. It could happen.

Little Mister, Will You Be My Valentine?

Tomorrow, Bryce and I will a making his valentine box for his upcoming class party.

As a kid, Valentine's Day parties were my favorite. Nothing was better than passing out valentines to all of my friends, then opening my box to see what was in store. I would quickly rummage through my valentines to see if the boy I had a crush on would sign his name, "From, Ryan" or "Love, Ryan". That was the ultimate question. Top it off with some white conversation hearts and red hots, and you've got quite the partaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Happy Valentines Day and I hope you receive a valentine signed, "Love".

Robot valentine craft- lisastorms.typepad.com
Captain America T-shirt- Old Navy
Bouncy ball valentine- thecraftingchicks.com
Super Suckers- zakkalife.blogspot.com
Puma- zappos.com

Check out, "Little Miss, Will You Be My Valentine?" . It is packed gift giving ideas for the little girls in your life!

Little Miss, Will You Be My Valentine?

Valentine's Day is almost here! It's the one day of the year that I can wear red and pink together and no one cares. If you're needing some inspiration for what to give a little girl for Valentines Day, look no further. Don't worry moms of boys, I didn't forget about you. (Check out "Little Mister, Will You Be My Valentine?) 

Happy Valentines Day. Go on, wear that red and pink together with pride!

Tablescape- hiphiphoorayblog.com
La La Loopsy- Target
Crayon hearts craft- marthastewart.com
Dress- Old Navy
Leggings- Jcrew
Spiral cookies- www.sprinklebakes.com

When Life Hands You Lemons...

As of late, I'm obsessed with lemons. My mom and a family friend own lemon trees, so I am reaping the benefits. With a couple bags full of lemons, what's a girl to do? I made a meal revolving around the lemon. I could be on "Iron Chef"!

For dinner, I marinated chicken breasts in a delicious marinade that I found from Simply Recipes. It included some of my favorite herbs like thyme and rosemary. Don't get me started on rosemary. I could write a separate blog entry just about that. (Hmmm, that's actually a good idea.)

For dessert, I made a batch of lime meltaway cookies (I adapted them for lemons). They are sublime. It has the crumble of a Mexican wedding cookie, the perfect tartness, and a coating of powdered sugar. What could be better?

All of that eating makes you thirsty, right? I finished the meal with a tall glass of lemonade. I found the best recipe from Allrecipes.com. This is not that powdered Country Time stuff. It was seriously the best lemonade I've ever had. It was super sweet and yet my mouth puckered at the same time. Yum!

I still have a lot of lemons leftover so here are a couple ideas of other uses for lemons (thanks to Rob Sapp and Granny):

• If the lemons are starting to get old and you can't use them immediately, squeeze them and freeze the juice in teaspoon or tablespoon increments. Remember to remove the seeds or it will taste bitter.
• You can freeze the rinds and zest them at a later time. 
• Put the rinds down the sink and run your garbage disposal. It acts as a freshener and deodorizer.
• Lemons can be dried and turned into potpourri. Simply put them in a bowl, in a dry place, and they will dehydrate over time without molding.

So whenever life hands you lemons, now you know what to do!

After making all of those recipes, I still have this many lemons left!

Pack It Up!

It's a new year so that means a new look for my blog. I hope you like it as much as I do. Okay, down to business. 

How long is too long to keep your Christmas decorations up? Some take them down the day after Christmas or New Years. I love Christmas lights and wish I could look at them all year round (my HOA says otherwise). Growing up, my family was forced to take down the tree around my birthday when I had a party at my house. Did I mention that my birthday is February 29th? Yeah, we were that family.

I loathe the idea of bringing all those dusty containers back in the house and trying to re-package everything to fit back in the boxes. Doesn't it feel sad to look around the house after everything has been put away? The house feels so cold and sterile. That, my friend, is the absence of Christmas cheer. 

Maybe I should load the house with red Valentines hearts and white doilies to fill the Christmas void. When in doubt, just move on to the next major holiday.

A Lesson Learned

There's a lesson that I'm still trying to learn when it comes to little kids: they do not need a lot of expensive toys for Christmas. How many of us have emptied out Toys R Us thinking that the kids will love all that stuff? Then when all of the presents are opened, they just want to play in the empty boxes, not with the toys! This morning, Gavin raided my drawers and played with some shampoo bottles that I got from a hotel. After all the toys he received yesterday, he wanted to play with those? I'm confused.

Christmas in the Bunbury home was nothing short of fantastic. My favorite part was watching the kids' excitement as the day progressed. It's true: Christmas is way more fun with kids! I hope you had an exceptional holiday.

From Our Family to Yours...