r.i.p. marshmallow and oreo

some of you may have seen photos and have met our backyard bunnies marshmallow and oreo.
marshmallow, the sweet but shy male was saved and brought to our home about 9 years ago and had been jumping around and living happily in our backyard ever since.

marshmallow with his favorite treat, blueberries.

taking a little afternoon nap

oreo was brought to us about 5 or 6 years ago when a friend found her hopping around

 her front yard and couldn't find her family.

we were in maui at the time and got the call asking if we could take her.

so oreo was put in our backyard to meet marshmallow.

oreo's favorite treat in this whole wide world

she was pretty fond of my basil too

by the time we arrived home marshmallow and oreo were a couple.
no doubt.
they had a love that i had never personally witnessed animals having.
rabbits bond for life and there was no separating these two.

sadly last week they had both passed away within a day or two of each other. it was shocking and sad. i was unable to tell my littlest little until the end of her soccer tournament this week-end.
marshmallow and oreo basically belonged to her and she was very attached to them. most summer days you could find her with one or both bunnies in the hammock swinging with them and feeding them their favorite treats.

it was so difficult to tell her.
all week-end long i had a small knot in my stomach knowing i would soon be breaking her little heart. i just didn't want to see the change on her face and the sadness in her eyes but i knew i didn't want it to come from anyone else but me.
we spoke about how we gave marshmallow and oreo so much and how much longer and fuller they lived because of our home and our love. we decided we needed to continue to care for bunnies and give them a forever home the same we did for marsh and oreo.

after looking at and holding almost 100 bunnies or more we found our bunnies.

meet duke and twiggy.

my little sharing a quiet moment bonding with duke.

i know she felt all sorts of sadness mixed in with her new quickly forming love for

duke and twiggy. i know some say to wait before replacing a pet and some say do it right

away. we decided to listen to our hearts and knowing that there were babies out there

that needed us made it a very easy decision.

that little has some awesome hair!

my littlest little has the prettiest hair ever. sadly she doesn't realize it yet.

it really is the prettiest bright blonde with natural curls that have so much body and bounce.
she always wants it straight.
straight? who wants straight hair? i guess girls with curly hair want straight hair...

she is learning fast that the brush is not her friend, especially when her hair is dry.
the blow dryer ain't really no pal either.

her hair always looks best when it air dries in a bun and then gets let down naturally.
however, sometimes that brush will whisper sweet nothings to her. sadly she will hang out with the brush and soon the curls get a bit frizzy and then ya gotta avert the crisis at hand.


here is how we chalked her hair and gave her curls a bit more definition.

have you seen this chalk tool?
it looks like a flat iron but it has chalk plates and is just like using one too. supa' easy!

after chalking random pieces in purple and pink i pulled the front pieces back so i could get more underneath.

this curling iron is my favorite. your hair naturally thins towards the bottom so the curl should get smaller at the bottom too right?
it leaves the bigger curl and the volume towards the top of the head making a much prettier and natural curl.

almost done.
her hair is great because many of the pieces already have natural definition so i don't have to curl every strand.

the girls got mermaid hair.
fun color with no damage.

3 dolla make ya holla!

meet traylor.
traylor was short 3 bucks for something and needed to borrow it real quick.

it just so happened that this was during our 2 o'clock dance hour. well, more like dance moment, we never last a full hour which will be clear and obvious once you view this special aloha Friday video.

so what does one do? reach in her pocket and hand over three dolla's?
oh, no.
not with young mc's "bust a move" playing in the background.
dancing for dolla's!

go traylor go!

*apology in advance for my laughing, it's a bit hideous sounding but i really could not catch my breath at certain moments.

ya know, not that i make my friends, co-workers or anyone else work for a few dolla's but c'mon, when i have a clear and easy excuse to have a dance moment, oh, you can bet it's gonna happen! 


happy aloha friday my friends! 
wish us luck as the littlest little has a soccer tourney this week-end and we need to win (no really, it's a necessity!!) 
oh, check out my feature on the mrs. and the momma! 

s'more lovin

this totally crept up on me.
the love for anything s'mores that is.
i have no idea when it happened or how someone who 
never had love for marshmallows could fall so hard and so fast.

one of my grandmas favorite treats was just a plain old bag of marshmallows.
somewhere she is sending me marshmallow love and trust me, i am literally eatin it up grams!

some recipes are sorta "meh, whatev", but this one?
this one you try.
like now.

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Layer

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 4 tbsp. sugar
• pinch of salt

Cupcakes

• 1 pkg. duncan dines devil's food cake mix
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 2 cups marshmallow fluff
• 2 cans duncan hines frosting creations frosting starter
• 2 packets duncan hines frosting creations chocolate marshmallow flavor mix
• 2 tbsp. graham cracker crumbs
• 24 mini-marshmallows

Baking Instructions

1. preheat oven to 350°F. place cupcake liners in muffin pans. grease liners.
2. mix graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar and salt in small bowl.
3. Place 3-4 tsp. of the graham cracker mixture in bottom of each cupcake liner. flatten graham crust in liners.
4. bake for 4-5 minutes until graham cracker layer is golden. let cool.
5. prepare cake batter as directed on package. scoop cake batter on top of graham cracker crust, filling cupcake liner no more than two-thirds full.
6. bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcakes comes out clean.
7. let cupcakes cool for 5 minutes, then turn out of pans to finish cooling.
8. cut a cone-shaped piece from middle of cupcake. do not cut through graham cracker layer.
9. put marshmallow fluff in a piping bag or plastic bag with the corner cut off and squeeze fluff into hollow of cupcake.
10. pour 1 packet of duncan hines frosting creations chocolate marshmallow flavor mix into 1 can of duncan hines frosting creations frosting starter. stir until evenly blended. repeat with second can and packet only if you need it. i say the more frosting the better but you can judge that :).
11. frost cupcakes with the chocolate marshmallow frosting you just created.
12. sprinkle tops of cupcakes with extra graham cracker crumbs and garnish with a mini-marshmallow.

harlem shakin pahukoa style

sometimes mondays suck.
sometimes someone shows you a video of their family harlem shakin and twerking and then it doesn't suck so bad anymore....

lemme see your harlem shake

caught the love bug!

in honor of love day this video will surely show you that sometimes love never dies, even 62 years later.....





happy valentines day to you and your lovahhhh!
go catch the bug!

she's wearin' glasses yo!

timing has a way of sometimes just being absolutely perfect doesn't it?

like recently when my biggest little, my littlest little and me, mama of the littles all needed new eye glasses at the same time. well, that is not the perfect part at all. that parts coming.

being a mama means you take care of them first. you go out spend all kinds of crazy money first on the frames then on the prescription then on all the add-ons.
finally you say hello to your $650 eye glass receipt, crinkle it up, use it as a tissue as you silently weep in the corner.

i mean, come on! new glasses is a ticket to maui!!! 
yes, i do compare most pricey things that i would rather not spend my skins on to what i could be doing on maui.
ok, sorry, back to the subject at hand.

i decided i would wait a month and then go drop another ridiculous amount of cash on my glasses. but guess what happened? timing.

enter perfect part!!

i received an offer from firmoo to review a new pair of their eye glasses!
i quickly logged on and checked them out. i was completely impressed with their selection and how kind and helpful they were.
it was actually a fun process too because you get to upload a pic of yourself and then literally try glasses on.



here are a few of the firmoo frames i "tried on".

i really contemplated having y'all choose for me but i simply was way too excited to wait. sawrrry, that woulda been fun huh? next time, i promise!

i loved all these but i ended up choosing the first pair. i still may get all brave and stuff and buy that 3rd pair with the white and geometric side print. cool right?!

for a girl who has worn contacts strictly for over 7 years now these glasses were a much needed break for my eyes. they are really lightweight which is nice because i wear them all day long without any issue.

if you are looking to switch to glasses, need a new pair or are a first time eye glass wearer you should absolutely check out firmoo.
another plus is that the pricing is really great (no crying in the corner using your receipt as a tissue here) and they ship extremely fast.
for an instant gratification girl like myself this part is very very important.

so whaddya think?
here are a few pics from the week:

oliver likes them!

i've been on a bender

usually it's baking but lately it's been crafting.

it happened again this last week-end.

i can't stop

i don't care

at least i am admitting it

step one: check

i saw these plastic animals at jo-anns for $2.50 each and although i no longer have littles that would play with these 
i just really liked them.

i bought them and brought them home where they have sat for almost 2 months waiting for me to 

cut them in half, paint them, and hang them on the wall like the prize that they are.

my littlest little totally caught the d.i.y. gene so she 
has fast become my sidekick.

we bought these plaques at michaels for 2 bucks and put a coat of gloss white on them.

my animals after they were cut in half. 
the lion is clearly quite pissed.

they all got a coat of silver and the lion got gold-because he thinks he's special, must be a leo thing...

gorilla glue is where its at, i used it last here.

after letting them sit for a day or 7 (hey, girl gets busy!)

they get to hang on the wall now....

the rhino and the elephant are in my littlest littles room where they happily hold her jewelry

the lion is in my sons room. 
he refused to go in a girls room. 
this lion and i are about to go rounds here.

he's still pissed too....

oh well.
happy monday y'all!!!

linkin!
with molly!!
throwback thursday 

sorry i'm not sorry

sorry i'm not sorry
that i ate conversation hearts for dinner last night. 
(i was left without any supervision....and yes, i ripped the bag open like that...im weak, please dont judge.)

sorry i'm not sorry 
that this target employee left their scanner unattended and that i played with it until she came back. (maybe somebody should be a bit more responsible with her scanners.)

sorry i'm not sorry
that i made the cat wear a cup on his head as punishment for sitting on the dining table. 
(not really a punishment but he KNOWS how cats aren't allowed to sit on eating surfaces-gag!!)

sorry i'm not sorry
that i spoke to the stranger at the park although i know better
(she had hula hoops, and a boom box and she was dancing...thank you)

sorry i'm not sorry
that i forced my nephew oliver to take photos with me even though he is terrified of cameras
(what? he lived!)

sorry i'm not sorry
that i didnt feed my son for 2 days after this rude remark!
(well, more like 2 minutes-does bruce willis even have a sister? i would think she'd be pretty, he kinda is)

sorry i'm not sorry
that i was the gang leader in eating almost every square inch of this cheesy sourdough pull apart bread
(curses to cheese, whose evil plan was it to make it melt like such a champ?!)

sorry i'm not sorry 
that this was the end result...
(oh, wait...nope, still not sorry)

but what i'm really not sorry about is that it's aloha friday and i will be gettin my dance on like lionel richie...

all night loooong.

**if you didn't go enter the 12 months of free advertising from 30 fabulous bloggers, 
uh, now would be the time, clocks a tickin' people!!
some lucky blogger is gonna win!!!

linking up today with these beautiful girlies:

 

project runway up in here!

before i even start typing anything else i must say thank you to all my new followers.

i didn't expect to ever have over 100.

i'm being truthful.

i didn't know much when i started blogging.

i did it because i liked it and a very good

friend urged me to do it.

thank you erin.

now i'm having so much fun. loving and stalking and drooling over so many posts and blogs out there.

i do remember when i started and i had 8 followers for what seemed like weeks. 5 were my family members and 
i actually signed my assistant up and then later 
told him he was following.

i really did.

somehow, someway, i just hit 500.

i know to many who have thousands it's no biggie.

to me, it is.

i am thankful,

i am grateful

and i just want you to know that.

now lets' make some fun sweatshirts yo!

me and my little

p.s. after we took this photo i realized we both kinda had the same hair-did.

good thing she wasn't wearing her glasses or i would have looked like one of those mom's that dresses her kid up in matching mommy and me outfits. 



ok, here is what ya do.

select your sweatshirts and jersey material.

jersey material won't ravel so go with jersey!

maybe the most important step is to select an assistant.

you never know when you might need help.

choose one better than mine-

mine keep curling up and falling asleep on the job.

even after being fired and kicked off the table 4 times he still was helpful...kinda.

i made one sweatshirt for me and 1 for my littlest little.

truthfully, i thought i would mess up so buying 2 sweatshirts was my 'b' plan.

for me i bought 1/4 yard of black jersey material

for her I bought 1/4 yard of pinkish grey jersey.

buy as little as they will allow or better yet,

 use an old t-shirt if you can- you need barely any material at all.

i had no real design idea for mine. 

i just planned on following the neckline til i got bored or it looked right??

whatever that meant, i was sure i would figure it out as i went...

you want to start by turning the sweatshirt inside out,

 and using a pencil or a fabric marker start to mark where you wanna cut.

you gotta make the tiniest little cuts

like this:

then cut a strip of your jersey about 2" wide.

don't worry about cutting really straight or making it pretty, 

jersey folds into itself so it

really won't matter.

love projects that you don't have to make perfect (people then think you are a craft genius...shhh, please keep up this façade, I've worked hard at it...)

start by weaving your jersey into the first hole tying it off inside like shown then just keep weaving.

i tried to count the cuts so that I would end up being able to finish each row on the inside-out side of the sweatshirt. did that even make sense??

basically you don't want to be tying a knot on the front of your sweatshirt.

  or maybe you do? it could be cute.

i love how my sweatshirt turned out. i ended up leaving the remaining strip of my jersey out and tying it in a bow.

for my littlest littles shirt I wanted to make a heart (because now i was all confident that i would be a huge international clothing designer.... so i went big, naturally)

i did make a template (obviously not that confident)

once the template was where i wanted the heart to be, i traced it with a pencil

then just followed the same idea

i kinda impressed myself that it really actually looks like a heart.

if you are a new follower please leave me your blog address so that i can come return the love. i really do visit everyone if i know your blog address. :) thanks again, much love!!