Fit for a Princess

The kids were invited to their dear friend Kamryn's princess & cupcake party to celebrate her 5th birthday. Ms G went upstairs to get herself assembled in her Belle dress and Dawson (her constant shadow) followed behind her. Much to our surprise he presented downstairs in her 2 piece cheerleader outfit. Sidenote worthy of mention ... he has a favorite princess dress that his Daddy put up high, very HIGH so as not to tempt Dawson into dressing like a princess any longer.

I know I am his Mommy which makes me a little biased, but come on doesn't he make a pretty princess? Um, I mean handsome prince!

This is the face we got when Daddy put his foot down and insisted he not leave the house dressed like this. Guess who won out? The little man. I took video of him twirling and grinning from ear to ear which I am sure he will hate me for in the future.



It isn't often that I get geniune natural smiles from Gabi when I break out the camera so I was so pleased to get not one, but several which capture my little beauty.

The girls had access to every fancy fixing known to mankind to add to their cupcakes. It was quite a sight seeing the concoctions they were putting together. Here is Gabrielle intent on piling as much goodness onto hers as possible.

And then relishing in the glorious sugar high!

CFL Daddy/Daughter date night #2

Travis adopted a new monthly ritual of scheduling a special monthly date night with the little miss in his life. This month's date was a no brainer. The good folks of Chick-fil-A took care of all the work. This girl loves any reason to wear a dress, so getting dolled up for a date with Daddy was a high priority to her. She picked out a new sundress & her "rosie toe" shoes. I had purchased her the new hair bow the evening prior which just so happened to match perfectly. Gabrielle (for reasons unknown) does not choose to eat the delic' food at CFL so she relished every sip of her milk shake. If I were in Travis's shoes I would have been happy to have a cheap date :)

She is definitely a Daddy's girl!


If anyone has ideas for great daddy/daughter date excursions I would appreciate your suggestions.

Disney on Ice

This was Gabrielle's 2nd year to attend Disney on Ice at the Sprint Center. This was MY 1st time experiencing the joys of the magic that happens on ice alongside her. I purchased tickets months early for myself, Gabrielle & Mema to see Disney on Ice - Worlds of Fantasy on opening night. (We were accompanied by our good friends the Anderson crew). I loved the look of excitement on Gabi's face when I finally revealed to her what the evenings plans were - see top left photo with her hands on knees and BIG cheesy smile!
Mickey, Minnie & gang opened the show, followed by CARS, The Little Mermaid, Lion King and Tinkerbell. We were fortunate to enjoy the Disney Princess Preshow which featured the newest princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog (she was breathtaking, a natural beauty as seen in the photo below) as well as Cinderella. They had all the beautiful ball gowns on display for the children to view. Gabrielle's favorite was Belle's gown from Beauty and the Beast.

My only regret was not having the rest of the family with us. Dawson would have been in awe over Mickey and the whole CARS segment. Until next year he can enjoy the dozens of photos I snapped.

1st Day of Spring

Spring greeted us this year in true Kansas fashion.
10 inches of fresh, fluffy white stuff!
I love Dawson's expression as he tries to figure out what to make of the snow.

Making snow angels

Going in for a kiss ...

A little eskimo kiss to warm up the soul

This one just makes me smile!

We enjoyed playing out in the snow for as long as our fingers and toes allowed (which I am sure did not exceed 30 minutes) before heading in to warm back up. 48 hours later the temperatures reached the mid sixties and there was no sign of getting the snow.

Coupon Passion

I have been a couponer for as long as I can remember.
Some times more dedicated to it than others.
But, I was going about it all wrong!
I have learned a new refined couponing process over the past 6+ months that has worked for me and I am convinced can & will work for anyone who puts forth the effort.
It DOES take organization, time AND dedication.
With that said, I profess this is something I am a little over zealous about. Call it a passion of sorts if you will.
I would love to help any of you get started, refine your current process, answer ?'s, share couponing finds and free deals, etc.
Leave any questions or list specifics topics you would like to see me post about in the comments.

Here is just one dealio in my quest for cheap training pants for little man.
He is 100% pee trained and 0% shooey (poo) trained. Go figure!
I purchased two packages of Pampers Training Pants (Pull-Ups) - 46 total count - for an out of pocket total of $7.23 (this total includes a $.99 green bag tag purchase - ask me about this if you are clueless what it is).
Here is the breakdown:
$8.97 per package x 2 = $17.94
minus $6 in coupons - $2 CVS printable & (2) $2 manufacturers coupons
I applied $7 ECB from last weeks purchases to my "order" paying $7.23
I earned an add'll $6 ECB to apply towards my next purchase
With all that said I ended up "paying" $.13 per pull-up.

Fairy Tale Village

A couple of weekends back we took a family day outing to the Fairy Tale Village display at Crown Center. Think tight spaces and lots'o'people. Not a good venue for picture taking. I have a deep desire to one day take the time to learn lighting and the features on my camera. Until I take/make that time this is what I get for picture quality :)
Both kids enjoyed the castle and Sleeping Beauty the best.
I love Dawson's little reflection showing on the glass.

What can I say about this picture?
I guess I just snapped at the right moment!
Kinda cute how it mimics the pig.

I really wish I would have had the opportunity to snap this photo from the entrance (too much foot traffic to do so) so you can see the 7 dwarfs lined up. I am glad however that Dawson, who is a mini me of his grandpa Dallas, is sitting next to Grumpy. G'pa Dallas was called that on many occasion :)

Dawson stealing a quick turn in Papa Bear's chair

"Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?"
"Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all."

BIG mistake of the day ... not having Plain Jane clothing business cards readily available. I had literally a half a dozen people or more stop me and ask about Gabrielle's pants. Um, I am thinking referral profit here peeps :)
And one last picture
Ms. G in Cinderella's coach.
We are planning to visit the exhibit again before its closing at the end of April.

Wacky Wednesday

Playing a little blog catch up ...
Wednesday the 3rd was declared Wacky Wednesday at Gabi's preschool. Anything went.
Gabrielle had fun mixing up her clothing and accessories but what she really wanted attention focused on was having her hair WACKY! She picked out striped leggings with mismatched knee socks pulled up in tall fashion, mismatched rain shoes - one boot & one critter shoe, a long sleeved purple tee with a bright multi colored tank layered over it with multiple lei necklaces. I parted her hair and put several knotted pony tails down the center section then pulled the sides into pony tails which I connected at the back into one large pony. Her look was polished off with lipstick and eye liner funny art on her face. She loved it!! I nearly forgot to snap a picture of her but caught her attention as she was walking to her carpool waiting in the drive.

This was her reaction.

Wacky! I love this girl!