Ghost Ornaments

The Ghost ornaments on the Halloween tree are simply a box of plain white Christmas ornaments. I drew on some faces using a black marker. Easy peasy! This would be a fun project for the kids to do but since mine are in school right now, I got to have all the fun!

Halloween Tree

Working on some Halloween decorating and was inspired by some Halloween themed trees that I have been drooling over on Pinterest. Mine are no way in comparison to those gorgeous trees but I wanted to make one anyway. With 3 kids, there's not a chance of putting breakable ornaments on our tree like those that I've seen. So this is what I came up with...

It's been awhile...

Wow it's really been that long since I blogged last? If I could only tear myself away from Facebook and Pinterest than I would have more time for blogging! LOVE Pinterest!!!! It's my new addiction! Maybe I can pin my own stuff! lol...

Cookie Swap Party

So Ladybug & I are hosting our first ever Cookie Swap party for her & her gymnastic teammates in a couple of weeks. We are so very excited!!! The invitations were created using Smilebox and we attached a cookie cutter to the invite with a pretty red & white polka dot ribbon. The girls that received them were absolutely thrilled. It just warms my heart to hear my daughter and her friends be silly & giggly with excitement! Can't wait until the party!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Hope you have a Blessed day with your loved ones!

I want pie!

First on my list of to-dos today was pie. Ladybug & I got up very early this morning to go get in line and get pies. This pie company called The Flying Saucer Pie Company has been in Houston a very long time. Every year for Thanksgiving, people stand in line to buy these pies for hours! Sometimes camping out overnight. They are that good!

I had the bright idea last night to go buy some instead of making them this year. The trip there from our house is about 30 minutes or so. We got closer to the place and the line was already about 7 blocks long. It was only 7:15am! The place opens at 7:00am. So Ladybug started whining and crying that she was NOT going to stand in that line. I'm like "c'mon sweetheart, I'll let you pick out any pie you want." She screamed back at me..."I'm not standing in line! Mom just make the pies OK!!!"...lol. So I have to make pies now.

I had to add ingredients for pies on my long list for the grocery store. But hey Ladybug was happy now. She got to buy a set of Barbie clothes from the toy aisle. That little turkey! Dare I ask her to go buy pies??? LOL...Next year for sure I'm going early and my pies!

A Sweet Pumpkin Treat

Well of course I had to use my new mini bundt pan that I bought on clearance last year! So I thought I would make the kid's teachers a yummy treat to say Happy Thanksgiving. I made a batch of pumpkin bread last night and used this pan...

They came out so beautiful and yummy and very cute!


All packaged up to be delivered by the kids in the morning!


...and those cute little circle tags? They were made by the beautiful & talented Ms. Linnette of Papaerglitter! Check out her freebies! http://www.paperglitter.blogspot.com/

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Here is a recipe you just gotta try! My family loves it! I found this recipe awhile back on the internet somewhere and knew I had to try it. The ingredient list is so small and the only thing I had to buy was the cake mix. It's very moist and light. I am always on the look out for recipes using pumkin and this one is certainly a keeper! I also like to think we get a nice big serving of vegetables with this recipe because of the pumpkin!!! It's a lovely compliment to the Fall weather. Enjoy!!!

• 1 box of Spice Cake mix


• 15 oz can of pumpkin pie filling...the one with the spices mixed in


• 3 eggs


• 1/2 cup water
  

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 pan with Baker's Joy. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and pour into prepared pan. Bake approx 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

This cake is so moist & yummy. It's hard to believe it only takes this to make. Serve with either whipped topping, a sprinkling of powdered sugar or make your own glaze. It's so good!

*Do not overbeat cake. This will make the cake dry. I usually mix my cakes by hand using a whisk. ENJOY!!! :)

My Cake Decorating

This is how far behind I was in my blogging that I never posted pictures of my buggy's birthday parties. Oh well! Here are pictures of their birthday cakes at least! lol...I've always made the kids cakes for their birthday parties because I think it's way cheaper than store bought and a little more personal. We always fun picking out the themes for their birthday. Sometimes as early as the day after their birthday that we start thinking about the next! Daddy thinks we are crazy. I'm sure we are!

March 2010

Yo Gabba Gabba birthday cake for Doodlebug's 2nd birthday party with matching goody bags.

August 2010

Pinkalicious Cupcakes for Ladybug's Pinkalicious 6th birthday party.

September 2010

Super Mario cake for Lovebug's 8th birthday party. All the kids knew right away each of the characters and were really surprised that Lovebug's mom made it!

Appliqued Shirts

Started working on my Christmas shirts today. I make & sell them to friends and family. I do have an Etsy account but been too busy...or lazy... to post my goods there to sell. Here are the first two shirts made today. My little Elf has claimed this green shirt for her own!

...and then she was too busy playing with Daddy's new iPad to model this pink one! She's sooo fired!

Here are the Thanksgiving shirts I made. This turkey shirt was made using Ladybug's hands. It is my version of the one found on the page...http://www.themoodyfashionista.blogspot.com/.

This other turkey shirt is just one I made for my niece and have been selling them like hotcakes! Next year I'll have to start making them earlier and not wait til the last minute! Story of my life! But hey, sometimes I work better under pressure.

Where have I been?

Oh gosh where has the time gone??? Can't believe how extremely busy I have been since my last post. So long ago that I had to kinda re-do the blog page & background...sheesh! I really want to get back to my blogging. So much has gone by that I don't know where to start. Oh well I guess I'll just start from here...Ladybug and I along with the rest of her Daisy Troop were in a parade today. She was our Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. She was so cute. As we walked along the parade route, everyone was screaming for Thin Mint cookies! We had to scream back that cookie sales start January 8...promotion! That was the idea I had when we borrowed these cookie costumes from our councel. lol...I think it did the trick! Now I want Thin Mints!!! Can't wait.

Ladybug's Tooth Fairy Pillow

Ladybug has lost her first tooth this past Friday! YAY!!! She was so ready for this tooth to come out. Every time she talked it would jut out and the new tooth was already coming in right behind it.

So that night we were getting ready for bed and about to put the tooth under her pillow when Ladybug says "Wait Mom! I want a tooth fairy pillow." I think she was nervous about the possibility of the Tooth Fairy reaching under her pillow. She's our little scaredy cat.



So into my sewing room I go on Saturday. If I had more time, I would have gone to the store to find some fairy themed fabric. So we went through my stash of fabric and we picked these girly fabrics.


So here is my version of a Tooth Fairy Pillow! Ladybug was absolutely thrilled and I was very pleased with myself at how well it turned out. Ok so you know now I have to put these up on my Etsy! Up next will be a boy themed Tooth Fairy Pillow. :)

Happy Mother's Day

So Ladybug comes running in at 6:30am to wake Daddy. "Daddy, it's Mother's Day. Do I give Mommy my gift?" Followed by Lovebug whispering very loudly "What are we going to do?" Daddy tells them to go get dressed so they can all go to the store to get me a surprise & bring back breakfast. By this time Doodlebug awakens. Daddy asks him "Do you want to go too?" and he responds with a very high pitched squeal & a loud YESSSS!

So I'm laying in bed pretending to be asleep as they meet back in our bedroom dressed & ready to go. How can anyone sleep through all that ruckus? Ladybug says..."sssshhhh...we don't want Mommy to know we left." LOL ...Like I wouldn't know that they left when it suddenly got very QUIET!

They brought me flowers, McDonalds for breakfast, and gave me their cards they made at school. We went to church and then out for lunch. Came home and stayed in the rest of the day lounging in pajamas! It was a good day!!! :)

The house is a total disaster but who cares! I wasn't doing anything today!!! It will all still be there tomorrow. Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and that you got to do what you wanted to do.

~~~HUGS~~~

yucky bug

I know it's been awhile since last post, but that nasty yucky stomach virus has invaded our house! How do you tell a 2 year old that he can't have any milk or cheese or macaroni & cheese??? Can't have any of his favorites right now. Poor baby boy! So hard to tell him no when he is begging you "pease Mommy pease!"

yucky bug...yucky bug...go away...you have done your nasty deed for the last 4 days! Now scram!!!

Copycat Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole

So I got a call this week from the Hospitality Committee Chairperson from the kids' school that there was going to be a faculty breakfast to review the outcome of THE test...similiar to that of the TAKS test but called something else. I don't know what it's called because my kids don't take it til next year and it doesn't concern me right now. Anyway.... "Can you make a dish?" Sure! "Can you please also come and help set-up the breakfast by 7:45 am?" (UGH!) OK I'll be there. What to make? Something to feed 20 to 30 people. Egg dishes already covered & so was fruit & muffins & juice. I know! I'll make a HASHBROWN CASSEROLE. This dish is so yummy!!!! And so I made a BIG HONKING pan of it! hehe! This recipe I found online sometime last year. I first made it for the family for our Christmas Eve brunch. They said it was a keeper. It is a copycat recipe of the Cracker Barrel Restaurant Hashbrown Casserole. If you haven't tried this place you need to go. They have this great little gift shop in the front of the restaurant. It's country style cooking where they serve breakfast all day long and all dishes come with a side of this casserole. It is soooooo good! For dinner that night we had hashbrown casserole, eggs, ham steak & biscuits. Sorry but by that time I was tired and I wasn't gonna make gravy...if that's what you were thinking! We all ate til we were stuffed. May not be so good on the hips but delicious on the lips...LOL. You can find the recipe under My Recipes tab. YAY my first posting of a recipe! Enjoy it and let me know how you like it. :)

Momslovebugs

Here are my 3 beautiful little bugs!

Lovebug 8 ~Ladybug 6 ~Doodlebug 2 1/2

Why OLD MOTHER HEN & MOMSLOVEBUGS?

I often refer to myself as this OLD MOTHER HEN because I am an older mother. I'm 42...not that that's really old but some days it sure feels like it! I'm still not sure if the kids keep me young or making me old faster with all the running around I do with them & for them.

We thought our family was complete with the two older kids and living life merrily everyday. Happy 40th Birthday to me! I'm pregnant! You see...our first two "bugs" are adopted from Guatemala. After years of infertility & treaments, we chose the adoption route to start our family when doctors finally said there is nothing more we can do for you. Well we have all heard the stories of couples who start their families through adoption and then awhile later finding themselves pregnant. NEVER NEVER in a million years did we ever think that would happen to us.

So Doodlebug was born in March 2008. He just turned 2. Add I might add that the "terrible 2's" have officially begun. More on that later.

I have pet names for my kids...I call my 7 1/2 yr old son LOVEBUG. My 5 1/2 year old daughter is LADYBUG. And my 2 year old baby boy is DOODLEBUG. There you have it...MOMSLOVEBUGS. Photos are coming!!! I promise.

More tidbits

...I'm not a coffee drinker...I am a Diet Pepsi & Diet Dr. Pepper addict...I sometimes let my kids have sugared junk for breakfast on a school day...I know I know bad Mommy but it's the great big "THANK YOU MOMMY for letting us have that" which makes my day. We have to let them have a little fun right? Oh c'mon you know you've done that too! Well enough about me...OH and DOVE chocolate my fav! :)

I'm still trying to figure all the ins & outs of blogging and setting up my page and customizing it. Stop by anytime with your Diet Pepsi or if you prefer Diet Coke and we'll sit & chit chat awhile.

This is me!

I am a wife of 20 yrs...I am an older mom to 3 very active kids...Love to travel...Favorite vacation spot is Grand Cayman Islands...I like collecting recipes & cookbooks...I like trying new recipes & adding my own twist to things...I like planning parties...I taught myself to sew...still learning but I can sew simple projects...I love handcrafted things...I am a Daisy Girl Scout leader...I am the Kindergarten room mom for my daughter's class...I am a volunteer at my kid's school...I spend too much time on FaceBook...I try to be organized...We have been to Disney World 7 times in 5 years...I don't like being late...I am not a morning person...I don't do dishes everyday...Laundry sometimes doesn't get put away for a week...I really LOVE homemade desserts.

What the heck is a blog?

Ok so I finally decided to start a Blog. What the heck is a Blog? I thought to myself one day not that long ago. Everyone had one and I wanted one too. So I started researching to find out what was a "blog" and WOW was I awe struck! I found some amazing stories & recipes & pictures & sewing tutorials & patterns & craft ideas! I definitely wanted to have one too. But why? I have been told by some good friends of mine that I have interesting things to say. Really? I guess. Didn't know I was that interesting. I have always been a good listener & give out good advice....I think or so I have been told. My good friend recently called me from her cell phone from across the country and said "I had to call and get my "Elisa fix"...haha! And I have always heard that I have good ideas about things like parties, recipes, kids, decorating & whatever else there was. Are these really good ideas or just my opinion on the way I like things? Well you be the judge. I want to use my Blog...I like the sound of that...to share ideas & opinions about ALL those things! I have been reading alot of your blogs and have been inspired to start my own. THANK YOU! So here I am & here we go!!!