Our week via Instagram

I finally got a chance to use my little miracle blender!
Baby girl practicing her letters.
A is really into matching right now, I'm loving it! Obviously.
Nail experiments, I loved the fishtail idea. Thanks Pinterest!
Wonder Woman came back...
My backyard was taken over by a neighbors goats.
Random fun in Phoenix.

This week in Instagram.

We made scottish sweet buns.
I made posole (by myself) for the first time.
Not my mama's but it was pretty delicious.
My boys took adorable pictures.
G never takes pictures so the fact that he took these is kind of astonishing.
A conquered her fear of the Rock Mountain chocolate factory bears.
Also I made her a Mittens Fluff 'n' Stuff hat that she loves. (If you'd like one they're now available in my shop.
We've become a little Lalaloopsy obsessed..
We made cinnamon craisin bagels,
The Wonder Woman costume has been pulled out again, A and K had a push-up contest.
I had cute nails.
And lastly, my cuddle buddy was kind enough to take pictures with his make-up-less mama.

Hope you're all having wonderful weeks!

A perfect day.

I'm going to miss days like these.
I love you so much princess A.

Our week via Instagram

Tamales. Pizza. Princess nails. Random cuteness. Green eggs and ham. Parking lot paparazzi.

One little word.

By now I'm sure you're all familiar with the one little word concept going around. You really should check out her blog, but the general idea is this: Words have the power to move mountains. They can change your mind, your attitude, and ultimately your life. Choose your word or let it find you but once you have it, embrace it. "You live with it. You invite it into you life. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads. There are so many possibilities."

I had a hard time finding my word, 9 days late as you can see. There are so many words in the English language, how does one find you? At first, I thought breathe was my word. It kept coming up and it seemed to fit. As a stay at home mom of three young ones, it's important to step away from everyday situations, to take a breathe and revel in the fact that these little miracles are mine. We're only going to experience this once and we're doing it together. Sure, the temper tantrums, the hitting and fighting, the accidents can get frustrating, but those little smiles and I love you's make it worth it. Breathe is not my word, but I will make a conscious effort to let all the good soak in this year.

The word that I kept pushing away is the word I ended up choosing. reclaim. I'm a mommy, I truly believe it's what I was made to do. I never knew I could love anyone as much as I love my kids. You love them in good and in bad, it's unconditional.

But I'm not only a mother. I'm a woman, a ladyfriend, a daughter, make-up fanatic, a sister, a friend, a granddaughter, a cousin, a crafter, a designer, a blogger, an Etsy shop owner, a weightlifter, a nail polish junkie, and so many other things.

Being a mother is important, but it isn't all I am.

I feel like this year, more than in the past four, I've forgotten that. Being a good mother is so important to me that I let all other things fall away.

So 2013, you're mine. It's time to take back control, to work on my relationship with G, to work on friendships new and old, to reclaim an identity outside of being a mother.

Wish me luck! (:
And good luck with your words, I loves reading the stories of how people chose their words.

DIY Cotton Rounds

Hello lovelies! So, before we get too far into this let me warn you. This is my first crochet tutorial. I am so guilty of just making things up as I go and I can never follow patterns correctly. Clearly, it works out for me most of the time. (: But I tried to get this as accurate as possible, it's really pretty easy. Please let me know if you find anything confusing or any mistakes. If you're anything like me, you use way too many cotton balls or pads to remove eye makeup. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Amanda, cotton balls aren't very expensive. Plus cotton is a renewable resours, mostly." Okay, you're right. But wouldn't it be great if you could just throw them in the washer and have new ones in a couple of hours? I thought so too. (: This idea isn't completely mine, I originally saw a puff-stitch version on Pinterest. While those are so much cuter, I like my version because I feel like it exfoliates a little more and I think, over time, they'll hold their shape better than a looser stitch would. Anyway, let's get started, you'll need some cotton yarn (any color your heart desires), corresponding hook, and a pair of scissors. That's it, really!

You're going to start with a magic circle OR however you prefer to start your round. You just need to end up with 10 stitches in your first round. If you're following me, make your magic circle and chain two, make 9 half double crochets and pull to close.

Still there? I hope so. Now you can crochet this in rounds if you'd like, I made these in a continuous round. That just means instead of joining that 10th stitch you're going to make a half-double crochet in the next space. Half-double crochet in each space until you've reached the space where you would join, which will be at 20 stitches.

Smudged nail polish helps you crochet better.

In the next space you'll do 2 HDC, next space do 1 HDC. Repeat until you've done 30 stitches. Skip one space and slipstich into the next. Weave in ends and you've finished one cotton pad!

I hope this wasn't terribly confusing, if you have any questions feel free to ask. Don't know how to crochet but still want some awesome little scrubbies? They're now available in my shop. Have a great day and enjoy!If you have any suggestions on what we should make next feel free to leave me a comment!

2012 Recap

Oh hey world! I know, I've been a bad blogger-friend! But I promise, I have every intention of being around for 2013. So, let's start in January. G was away at academy so the kids and I got to spend some time in Arizona and Utah with family.

In February we did the Color Run in Vegas, so much fun! The kids were sick which was pretty lame but they still enjoyed themselves. Cant wait for the 2013 run!

No huge changes in March, just enjoyed the summer weather. Plenty of trips to Dairy Queen.

April brought easter, a serious love of "noodles and trees", and K's first haircut.

In May the boys turned 2, we were able to watch Gayla run a half-marathon, G graduated from academy, and A started drawing faces.

In June we found out that K is in fact afraid of something, the car wash. A starts writing letters, we got a new truck! R and K start identifying letters/things. I'm on month 2 of prep and start baking a lot of unnecessary treats just to smell them.. haha, joys of dieting!

July came and went too fast, nothing too exciting.

In August we found a splash pad! I had only seen one in St. George, I had no idea we had anything like that here. For those of you who dont know, it's basically a cement play area made of fountains for the kids to play in during the summer. The first time we saw it the kids were fully dressed but we couldn't pass it up, they had a blast! A keeps asking when we can go again, summer cannot come fast enough! The Lorax also came out this month, the kids loved it!

I turned 24 in September. Tia Gayla also has a birthday this month, they came to visit and brought the prettiest cake from Tammie Coe Cakes

October is my second favorite month, I'm so excited that my kids share my love for Halloween! We carved pumpkins but they enjoyed painting them a lot more. We were the Rugrats, of course G didn't join in on that fun. I was Deedee, A was Angelica, K was Chuckie, and R was Tommy.

In November I re-opened my Etsy shop

, Brave came out and A watched Wonder Woman for the first time. She's now obsessed with Archery and fighting for women's rights in general. (;

December is a super busy month for us! A turned 4 and had a Brave themed party and then of course, Christmas.

We had so many good times this year, can't wait to see what 2013 brings!