happy birthday, daddy!

Happy Happy Birthday Daddy!

It's hard to put into words how much we love you. 

We love your snuggles and cuddles, games of hide and seek {but really just hide}, bear hugs, tickle fests, rides to the car wash, and early morning dunkin donut or chick fil a breakfasts, teaching us to play golf, tennis, and soccer, lunch dates at your office, long walks in the wagon, fun times at the pool, helping you grill, your silly stories at bedtimes, and how you say our prayers...

But most of all we love how much you love us!

Love You Always Daddy{Daniel},

Your 3 Girls

summer, summer, summertime!

Summer started today, and that means the Fourth of July and Summer Parties are beginning as well!

Will you be having a 4th of July party? If so, I'm sure you have an All-American menu ready, a guest list in mind and the grill is already warming up. That’s a great start. Now it’s time to invite some folks over!

There is no better place to order your 4th of July party invitations than Tiny Prints. They are the leader in all things invitations. You can choose from over 100 summer designs, including some specifically for July 4^th.

These are not your run of the mill, off the shelf invitations, either. They are seriously classy…and you can customize everything.

The process could not be simpler:

1.    You choose from one of over 100 of their summer party invitation designs.

2.    You personalize them. Change the font, change the text colors, upload a picture, etc.

3.    You approve them and use promo code 15INVITES when you checkout to save 15% (ends midnight Pacific Time June 26).

4.    They send them for you (this only costs the price of a stamp).

5.    People come over to your house, blow some stuff up, everyone eats way too much food, and you end the night with a fantastic fireworks show!

6.    Everyone wants to come back next year. You are a local legend.

It’s time to order, so check them out today. Don’t forget the 15% off sale ends at midnight June 26.

Here are some of my favorites!

Hurry up, the sale ends June 26th!

cooking with caroline: big fat chocolate chip cookies

I recently found Nine and Sixteen from Grits, and have fallen in love. I love Tessa's recipes, her posts about redoing her house and decorating, and pictures of her sweet family. I think we'd definitely be friends if she lived in Atlanta...totally meant in a non-stalkerish way! :) And FYI, I've gotten many recipes from Grits as well. If you haven't checked out her new house, you should, Nicole's got great taste we well!

So anyway, Tessa blogged about chocolate chip cookies not too long ago, and you know I had to try them! I have quite a weakness for chocolate chip cookies, and anything sweet really. It's a bit of a problem, but I'm happy that Caroline seems to have the same sweet tooth as me!

Since I had everything in the pantry that we needed, Caroline and I decided to have a bake-fest after naps one day...this is when we always do our baking, it makes the witching hour easier b/c who isn't thrilled to make cookies and sweets?!

Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies {adapted from Nine and Sixteen}
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips -- I use Nestle
2 sticks unsalted butter, COLD
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed - I use dark brown sugar, I like the taste.
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla - I always put a little more
3 cups AP flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Using a mixer, beat the butter and both sugars until creamy. Don't overbeat. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until mixed together. In a separate bowl, stir together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add them into batter and STIR until just blended. Stir in chips. Place batter in fridge for 30 minutes to harden a bit.

Using ICE CREAM scoop, place cookie balls on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes...or brown around the edges. I know each stove is a little different.

Enjoy!

 Look at the Munchkin in the background! Ha, this makes me laugh!

 Look how giant they are!

 Sweet Yummy Goodness!

I think they past the taste test.

Finished off with a cold glass of milk in a princess cup, of course! 

bootcamp

I only wish I were writing about some awesome bootcamp workout I've been doing to get back into shape. Nope, we've been doing Moms On Call sleep bootcamp! If you've read this blog for any length of time, you probably know that I am a HUGE advocate of Moms On Call, and think their methods are fool proof and are absolutely the best way to get your kid{s} to sleep, how could I have a non-sleeper!?!

It seems Caroline manipulated us into thinking it was somehow normal for us to go into her room 389 times between the hours of 8-9 each night. WRONG! I knew this couldn't possibly be ok, but when Molly came along (14 months ago), we didn't want anything to wake her, including Caroline's evening antics. So, each time she called for us, we'd go, in fear of the littlest waking and having two crying babies on our hands. Fast forward 14 months, and we're still dealing with this issue. After an incredibly long night last week, I decided me and my friends at MOC needed to have a Pow-Wow, pronto!

Here's our situation, once Caroline's alseep, we are good {most of the time}, it was just taking an hour or more to get her there, which was ruining our evening, waking Molly up sometimes, and just plain terrible to endure. I spoke with a nurse on Saturday afternoon, and was instructed to begin a 2 week, no holds barge bootcamp to get her back to going to sleep correctly.

My Instructions {MOC's methods are copyrighted, so I'll paraphrase}:
*I've turned the lock on her bedroom door around, and honestly have been meaning to do this, b/c I have a fear of her locking herself in her room and me not being able to get in.
*Her nap time is now from 1-3p or 1:30-3:30, giving her more time in the afternoon to tire before bedtime.
*We were having an issue of her waking up, wanting to go potty. Nighttime is not the time, hence the reason she wears a diaper, so she has nothing to drink after 6pm.
*We have stopped her "shows" before 7p, so her brain is not as stimulated, enabling her to calm down easier. We now have quiet playtime -- puzzles, boardgames, etc.
*We listen to quiet music while we get ready for bed and read our few books before the sound machine comes on.
*Our bedtime routine is the EXACT same each night, so she knows what to expect. We don't change the number of books, and after the last one, it's prayers, hugs, and kisses, and we are OUT of the room, despite her pleas for "one more" and an open door.
*The door is closed from 8p-7a for her safety, period. I lock it while we are awake and she's crying so she can't get out, but on my way to bed, I check on her and leave the door unlocked, although still closed.

Well we just went through night 4, and friends, there is hope! She still cries at the fact that her door is closing and we are leaving, but she cried for 5 minutes last night, not 50! Hooray! She is also not waking up in the middle of the night, and in her bed until her moon turns orange at 7am. Should Molly wake up, we are not going in to get her. We are trying to teach both girls to ignore the other's cries should they hear them, none of which has happened so far, thankfully!

Once again, I am thankful for the women at Moms On Call, who have saved my sanity, evenings, and gotten us all back on track! We are once again enjoying our dinner and time together as opposed to listening to the pleas of our sweet 3 year old. I am hoping the next week and a half continues to improve and we are on our way to "normal" bedtimes for good again!

I was in NO way compensated for this post, just letting you know of a group of Moms and Nurses who are lifesavers! 

yet another...picture dump!

You just can't beat a good picture post these days! Gets you all caught up and doesn't require much work on my part!

I have GOT to get better about taking pictures with my camera! It's just so easy to take them with my phone, and with it being summer and us being around water more, I'm nervous about taking my phone every where. Its on my to-do list though!

As I was looking through my Southern Living, I noticed one of the authors has the same name as my Caroline! Different Mackenzie spelling, but still! Fun to know there's another Caroline Mackenzie out there. 

In the same SL, I also came across these adorable tumblers from anothropologie. Wouldn't they be perfect for a baby shower or Sunday brunch with punch in them? Love! I also really like these as well, anything to make drinking more fun. :) 

We had some sick kiddos around our house over the weekend. What a bad weekend to be sick. Molly had high fever and yucky nose, Caroline ate some bad CFA hashbrowns and had an upset tummy. It didn't stop us from having some fun in the sun at our house though! Caroline will never turn down a popscicle, or any sweet for that matter! Molly was not interested, she wanted to splash in the pool instead.

My little guppy, er...barnacle, finished swim lessons this week! This week was by far her best week! Isn't that how it always is? She normally has 3 floaties on her back back and she swam with 1.5 and also used none at all some too! She is much more confident swimming, which in turn makes me more confident as well!

Be Still My Heart. I LOVE these two more and more each day. Especially now that they actually recognize that the other is in the room and will play together. 

This is how I'd like most afternoons to look these days...us, spending the witching hour (4-6p) at the pool! I was a little nervous about going up there with both girls alone, but it was much easier then I expected! M played with the toys or in her float most of the time, and C swam until she got blisters on the bottoms of her toes! I also allowed them to eat dinner up there, let's be real...this was a treat for them AND me! Plus, you can't beat a $3 kids pizza that they devoured in 2.5seconds! Yay for summertime at the pool!

Caroline and Molly's cousins, Charlie and Megan, are in town from Dallas for about 10 days! To say Caroline is excited to be getting to play with them is an understatement! The three oldest, there are 5 under 5, are finally at the age where they can play together. It's only been a day, but its been lots of fun already! This week and our week at the beach is sure to bring lots of memories!

Do you remember the Easter Egg Tree I displayed at Caroline's birthday party? Well, my Dad actually made it, and has opened up an Etsy shop with some other items too! He's super talented! He finds branches and other natural items, then paints them as animals and other characters. He plans on making a Halloween and Christmas tree like the one above. All of them will be made to order. If you're interested, please contact him via his etsy shop, or contact me! 

We are headed to pick up one of Daniel's birthday gifts today, so if my princesses are on their best behavior, I may just let them go to Legoland and then throw lots of coins in the fountains. As I saw one of my friends post on facebook this week...Summer Mommy's Back! ;)

Have a great weekend friends!