favorite things from my kitchen...

i love making organic oatmeal with butter and brown sugar...
Alani used to call it "oat-la-moe"...
i love these little yellow bowls with the ruffley edges... (i got them at Home Goods, which is like a discount, fun-to-hunt-down-treasures store)
i love the little person's fingers that you see in this picture...

i love these bowls because they are all different colors...and they make me think they should be filled with ice cream! hee hee...(I have been in love with these bowls from Anthropologie for years...don't you just love the way the decorate their stores...it always amazes me what wonderful displays the can create out of like a glue gun and string...
they did a window display where they cut plastic water bottles into flowers, painted them pastel water color colors and then hung them so they filled the windows...amazing!)

 and i love when hot air balloons decorate the sky as we watch from the kitchen...eating our oatmeal.

and...my favorite things the kids said yesterday:

BLAKE (WHEN WE WENT ON A WALK) : isn't it a "boo-tee-ful" day outside?

ALANI (WHEN SEEING BLAKE'S NEW HAIRCUT): "come here little guy and let me look at you! Your hair looks so much cuter like that!"

yellow bowls and hot air balloons....kandee

Good Mornings!

this lil face is waiting with smiles the moment she's awake...she is my morning sunshine!

after an wardrobe change in to her Panda outfit! (she's looking at brother...Blake is always the first one to wake up..either her or Blake)

Blakey playing peek-a-boo with his morning messy hair! hee hee

There is nothing more precious than cuddling with your little ones and filling their hearts up with love first thing in the morning...to start their day of the best way possible!

we've finished breakfast and little people baths....now it's almost time for lunch! ha ha

bath towels and lunch plates...your kandee

Pretty in Pink...

nothing says "good morning" like the lil' smile from a baby....
this was little tiny....in her pink "gown"....

and this is her serious face! ha ha ha

and Blaker was all suited up to "be-tect (protect) me!" He had been on the hunt for his armor...good thing Nana knew where it was "hiding" in his closet. And off to save the world he went! I love this little man!

we're just missing an alani picture! ha ha

huge hugs...and lots of armor for your day, kandee

How to make a "Tie"-riffic shirt!

nothing says fun like a hot pink tie and polka dot pants!

when Alani was a baby and I didn't have any money to buy all the cute baby clothes I saw....
I made this shirt for her, and now little Dolly (aka Elyse and Cupcake) can wear it!

 How to make a tie shirt-
1. I cut up a pair of her outgrown pink pants for the hot pink "tie" fabric
2. made a little tie pattern out of paper & layed it on top of the pink fabric and cut the shape out
3. stitched it onto her little white shirt by hand with a needle and black thread (the messier the stitching the better!)
and voila!
custom made, super cute tie shirt!

have a fun "tie-rrific" day from me and little cupcake!
kandee

Cupcakes first laugh!

Today lil' Dolly (aka cucake....aka Elyse...aka lil lady....aka pumpkin pie....aka sweetheart...aka lil' tiny...)
is 9 weeks old!
and yesterday she laughed for the first time!!!

I was rocking her side to side in her blankie....and she laughed...or giggled....and it melted my heart!

(i love this face! ha ha ha! it just makes you smile!)
i yelled for my mom to get the phone to try to film  it...but ofcourse when you have the camera...nothing happens! ha ha ha

like when you see the funniest thing and your picture-taking-device is no where in sight! ha ha

off to spend my day trying to make her laugh again! ha ha ha
funny kandee

Making Faces...

Blakey trying to squish my face into different shapes! ha ha ha

We had to stop when the strength of his little hands...and finger nails were digging into my face! ha ha

my lil' "Sheriff" Blake...drinking the milk from his cereal bowl...
I love how he  says:
"seer-uh-ull" for cereal!
Oh how I treasure the mornings filled with lil' memories...like getting Blakey "seer-uh-ull"...and him telling me "you need to eat something mama"....

Blake the helper:
carried lil Cupcake's baby seat bouncer all the way from his room to my room...it's practically bigger than him...he said, "I'm helping mama!"....
my lil precious man....

and my little dolly....look at how fast her hand was waving....it's blurry! hee hee hee
every morning when I hear she's awake...as soon as I look at her and smile....she starts her morning smiles-at-mama to say "hello, I love you!".....

sending you huge smiles for your day from me and my little dolly....your kandee

Slumber Parties, Snow Storms and Cookies!

Yesterday my friend, Bethanie came over to visit and meet lil Cupcake (our beloved nickname for her)..

and then it started snowing like a blizzard! look at the snow...when it snows it always makes me want to make hot chocolate and bake cookies!

You could hardly see...it was snowing like crazy.....there were storm warnings for part of the highways...so Bethanie decided to have a slumber party at my house! YAY!

My mom made us a yummy dinner...we even baked chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies!!!

(pretend there is a yummy picture of the cookies that we totally ate here...ha ha)

and here was our tiniest slumber party-girl! hee hee
Now I'm trying to see if Bethanie will let me do her make-up for a video! yay!

Bethanie trimmed up my hair, since I went a little crazy chopping layers....now it's shorter and more choppy looking....she dazzled my moms hair too! yay!

CUTE BLAKEY SAYING Of the day:
blake said "what are you talkin' bout Rick?!?"...
ME: "who's Rick?"
Blaker: "YOU!"
ha ha ha ha.......

snowballs and cookie dough, Rick (ha ha ha)

This is how I blog:

with a baby sleeping on my lap
and typing with one hand...
ha ha ha
if women used to work in fields with their babies on their backs...
I can work with mine on my lap!
And what an amazing way to work!

WORK ETHIC:
It takes me hours to edit a video...so when I film the video it type my blog, it's when the kids are sleeping, or my mom is watching them for a few minutes so I can film or type a blog...
then I stay up late in the night editing when they are asleep.

The other night I was up til 2:30 am editing a video, then Blakey woke up, then that woke up little cupcake when he came in to wake me up...then I feed her, then Alani comes in, because she can't sleep...so when I finally went to sleep it was about 4:30am...then we had to get up at 5am to take the kids to the dentist to leave the house at 6!
whoa boy!
A mama's job is NEVER done! ha ha ha
IT's a 28 hour a day job! ha ha ha, well at least if feel like 28 hours! ha ha ha
I refuse to be tired...ha ha ha...
love your kandee

Love Letters...

I will save this forever.....

it reads: I love you mom...you are the best.

from my precious Alani....
her big blue eyes twinkle with sparkly wonder....
she did a make-up video with me as her model....
it is AMAZING!

and later she wrote this note of warning:

it says: Blak (blake, her lil brother..my precious lil man)

Keep Out....Forever!

ha ha ha ha
and I love that she wrote it on her Hello Kitty paper!

on a side note: I am writing this at 1:37am...because we have to get up and leave the house by 6am to go to the dentist that's over an hour away, for a super-ridiculously-early appointment...
off to try to sleep before lil' cupcake wakes up....
one tired mama...your kandee

Tutu cute!

 Look at this precious big baby that turned 8 weeks old in San Francisco

(i always think I spell the "francisco part wrong...all the "s" sounds..ha ha)

Alani in her tutu in San Francisco...
 alani said as we were leaving downtown SF, "I sure am gonna' miss this city!"....she's so precious, I said, "me too!"

(on the phone trying to get us on the road for home)
San Francisco is such a cool city...it is so fun to people watch there...so many people have such really cool, individual style...I loved it!
(we are safely home now...)
we weren't able to drive home because of severe road conditions ~ over 4 feet of snow fell on the roads over the weekend...
I never get upset over things like that..you don't know that if you had tried to drive, you could've been in an accident or something awful~
so we made the best of our "new plan"....
and enjoyed some extra walking around SF...
we even had a beautiful break in the rain storm...
the sun came out and shined on the city...

 (can you see the little star on top of the tall building on the left..it twirled around...how fun is a giant twirling star on top of a building!?)

see on the right side...the big red LEvi's tab in the window...that is the big Levi's flagship store (that's where I got to meet everyone! I just wanted to show everyone that didn't get to see how huge that store is!)...they even sold the super old style jeans like they made in the 30's and 50's....I've never even seen them before!

We made it through safely...and now we are back home...missing the fun things in the city....fun stores, restaurants, seeing all the different ways people dress, the beautiful buildings and really steep streets with trolley cars...so fun!

I love San Francisco...
I've had so much the last 2 weeks...seeing my sister in LA, then SF...
now back to being home where I hardly ever leave my house again! ha ha ha ha

off to do laundry and cleaned the kitchen already! woo hoo! huge hugs and love...kandee

Cute thing from Blake:

I asked if he wanted some Mac n' cheese for lunch...
he replies, "awww no, but thanks for askin'"
ha ha

A San Francisco Treat!

Nothing says San Francisco like trolley cars (or maybe the Golden Gate bridge)...
since...we were unable to drive home because of the crazy snow storm in the mountains and warnings of road closure...
we went to walk around Union Square....
and Alani who was amazed by the giant Macy's...
made a request for us to go there...
and we needed to buy her a new pair of socks!

the view of union square...

funny to think about a storm going on just a couple hour drive away on such a beautiful day in the bay!

the big 8 week old, herself....asleep in my arms...the best feeling in the world...cuddling a dreaming little one!

with tired feet...we headed back up some steep hills...what a work out pushing a stroller too!

we spent the evening playing... "american idol"...Alani would pretend she was all different contestants...my favorite contestant named she came up with, were Dace and Trash.
Trash sang really badly...ha ha ha
and then she asked, "so, am I going to Hollywood?", after she would sing...we were laughing so hard...
especially when Nana (aka my mom)..sang really badly...it was hilarious!

Another laughing moment, at dinner, when the waiter asked Alani how old she thought he was and she guessed "61!"
...he told us he was 35! ha ha ha

huge love from one tired mama...your kandee

Look who's 8 weeks old today!

8 weeks old! We're getting so big and fancy!

she likes celebrating her 8 weeks in San Francisco...hee hee

Alani showing lil Cupcake (aka Elyce, ha ha)...her tinkerbell umbrella...she loved it!
Yesterday, while I had to go film things and get to meet everyone at the Levi's store (which was so amazing: click my other blog to see.. www.kandeej.com)...
I would take breaks and run back to the hotel which was right down the street...where my mom was watching the baby...feed baby and hug everyone...
go back....run back for a break..run back to store...run back to hotel....I got a work out!

Now we're off to go get some breakfast...for some hungry lil people....
love from the city by the bay...your kandee

Walking in San Francisco with my girls...

Walking down the street in San Francisco with my littliest girl in my arms...and my big girl on my side!
Me and Alani loved the glitter on the sidewalks!

My favorite thing:
yesterday when Alani said: "I can't wait to go to London with you this weekend!"...ha ha ha
but she meant San Francisco. ha ha ha

Alani peeking in the little window box scenes at the Tiffany & Co. store! There were little clouds and this beautiful light shining on little lockets...

me and little cupcake all snuggly in her blankie and mama's arms...the best place in the world to be...
we tried the Moby wrap tonight... and she wasn't too happy in it...so back to the best place ever....
just plain ol' mama's arms! ha ha ha


from the city of trolley cars, rice-a-roni, Ghirardeli, and Alcatraz...ha ha ha....your kandee

What's Inside My Diaper Bag

Since Baby is so tiny and it's winter (so I need to bring bigger blankies) I use a bag that is a bit bigger than a normal diaper bag..this is actually a Hello Kitty Carry-On Bag,

(you know me and Hello Kitty! My middle name should've been Sanrio!)

that I am using as a diaper bag until she get s little bigger and we don't need to many extra blankies and diapers and clothes!

So sit back and have fun seeing all the goodies in my diaper bag. As a mom of 4, I've finally figured out what you need and what you don't!
And you can bet your diaper cream, that I have anti-bacterial wipes in there! ha ha ha

sidenote: the diaper cream is hard to find but it's amazing..it's BUM BUM balm by DIMPLESKINS, it's from Canada and is zinc free, animal cruelty free, and diaper cloth friendly...i love this stuff...not one rash ever!

and diaper bag wonders more amazing than Mary Poppin's carpet bag..."what!?! how'd she fit a lamp and rocking chair on there?!?"...

diaper bags that are really luggage..(ha ha ha)....your friend kandee