Let them eat cake...

 this one of my favorite pictures of Blakey and Alani when they were much smaller....
one of my favorite things to do...well before the addition of lil' cupcake, which is funny that I call her "cupcake" in my blogs...but my favorite things to do, or was to do...was to bake!
Since "baking" my lil cupcake....I seem to have no spare time to do such lovely things like bake, or even put on make-up ha ha ha...

this was my "famous" (well famous in our house anyway)...chocolate cake, which Alani decorated with mini marshmallows in her very precious, then 3 year old self (she's now 6)...

When you have kids, and lots of them...much of your time is taken up with laundry...lots of laundry. Lots of dishes. Lots of cleaning. Lots of baths. Lots of picking up, cleaning up little messes. Lots of people going to the bathroom. Lots of hugs. Lots of love. Lots of filling their hearts up with love and making them feel special.

Life is short. It's an even shorter time that babies are babies and kids are little. Life is too short to loose your temper. Make moments special. Make everyone in your life know how much you love them. And if you have babies and kids...let them know you think they are the most amazing things in the world...

Laundry is waiting to be washed, waiting to be folded, waiting to be put in the dryer, to be put away...
there is a stray sock in my peripheral vision as I type this...
but the laundry I'm washing is the blankies that I wrap around my little ones so they feel "nice and cozy"...and "warmie" as Blakey says...
and the sock, as all baby socks do, is little cupcake's sock...
and I am so blessed to have little Blankies to wash and little socks, like pennies from heaven, that have fallen from chubby lil' feet to be sprinkled on the floor and know that this house is filled with love...
chocolate cake and my love flow from my computer to yours... your kandee

First trip to the hair salon...

Memorable day: our first time at a "real" kids salon to get Alani and Blake's hair cut! All their haircuts...have been by me, but I am not nearly as exciting as a "real salon for kids only" with toys and fun decoration...
we drove by SNIP-IT'S, the other day! And then the kids wanted to go to SNIP-IT's to get their hair snipped!
SNIP-IT'S is a chain of super cute kids only , hair salons! They have fun tv's you play games on while they cut and style hair, fun capes, fun decorations...it's like disneyland meets hair salon!

Blake said: "I want a snip-it!"....They were so excited to go...and we had everyone with us...even Nana and Grampa....we were like Paparazzi...me, my mom and my dad all with our phones out taking pictures of them getting their hair cut.

 Alani opted for a trim...it's was only $8.95!!! What a deal! They even have fun girl birthday parties, with princess clothes to dress up in and fun accessories and they do your hair- Alani said she wants to have a birthday party here!

(look at the pose he's doing! I have no idea how we can twist his leg like that! ha ha ha)
The hair stylist gave us 3 options for Blake's hair-
*"the going to college"- slicked to the side.
* "the going to college but in a band"-  combed forward but the front sticking up a bit"
* "the rockstar"- a bit more mohawk- fauxhawk
-he ofcourse went for the "rockstar" look...we even got him the yummy grape scented hair glue, to make sure we could replicate this rockin' style!
and the bonus- they asked if he would like to add blue hair spray to his hair....ofcourse he said yes...and no worried, it just washes out.

and the best part is...I didn't have to clean up, sweep up, vacuum up any hair...and the kids held perfectly still, were so excited before, during and after...
whoever came up with a kids-only hair salon that's fun is a genius...
huge hugs and good hair days, kandee

Our Sunday Best

 This is Blake is his most dapper of duds, coolest shoes, and must have hat...after church, after hot chocolate, after our lunch, but we ordered breakfast food, after a drive to gramma's...

incase you love these and want to buy: Hat- I can't remember where we got it actually, shirt and tie came together from Old Navy, Jeans are Levi's, and shoes -Old Navy again!

 and goodbye- he's outta here.

 Alani and I, and her great grama who bought this dress are all in love with the 1940's. Me and Alani got her a little vintage 40's dress for super cheap at an antique store a few weeks ago, she loved it, wore it to school and reported that FIVE people told her they liked her dress that day.
ABOVE: Alani's requested hair do. We call it "twisty sides".

 Alani and her new 40's dress that my Nana (her grand-nana) found for her and sent to us yesterday! We love it Nana! We would have paired this with saddle shoes, but we don't own any. Alani loves her PediPed patent leather Elizabeth boots!

what better way to spend the Sunday than swinging on a white fence and twirling in the grass or in Blaker's case...running as fast as you can all over the place.

1940's dresses and wishing we had saddle shoes..... kandee

Bath-tending

Welcome to our "Bath Cafe"....when I was asked, "what would you like to drink ma'am"...
by my 4 year old "heart melter", Blake...
I asked: "what do you have?"
Blake: "we have "yemonade, root beer floats, every drink you can think of!"

I ordered 2 root beer floats...one for me and one for Ellie Bellie (they were both pretend, we were not really gonna drink the bathwater beverages)...
They were the most delicious root beer bath floats we'd ever had!
We told Blake how amazing they were....what a great drink creator he was and thanked him so much!

He beamed and asked if we'd like another drink. We ordered another "round" of root beer floats.

It's a good thing they were imaginary, because we drank a lot of floats!

We love baths...we'll I myself am a "shower person"...but my little me's love baths.
Blake would take 3 baths a day if I had the energy to give him 3 baths a day...but I only have energy for 1 bath a day! ha ha ha ha

Clean and full of imaginary floats...kandee

Nighttime Cuteness: matching monkey feet

 All my kids are fans of the footie jammies...this is Blakey in his "jungle jammies" with monkeys on the feet....and little Ellie Bellie had her monkey jammies on too!

 It was hard to catch a non-blurry picture of Blakey or baby...since both of them move very, very, very fast....

 Both were all shiny and new smelling from their baths. And Alani is happily sleeping in her "pink leopard print" footie jammies, but was a little sad that the ones in her size don't have animals on the feet.

Best sound in the world....my little precious ones laughing and playing together. Jordan would not wear footie pajamas even if I found them in his size! ha ha ha Being 14 and taller than your mom, is a pretty clear sign that footie jammies won't be appreciated! ha ha ha

So for now, I'll enjoy my house full of animal-footsies!

love and monkey jammies, kandee

Look What We Found

Look what we found on our Sunday "Funtiquing" day....
what is "Fun-tiquing" you ask....
Well after church, then after our Mexican fiesta lunch, I wanted to go walk around our local antique store which always has the coolest treasures.
(I got my $5 dollar antique earrings I wore to the Emmy's there!)

But this is where I must mention that Jordan and his to other 14 year old friend were with us...
and it seems that most 14 year old boys are not fans of antique stores.
I promised them they would find cool treasures and think it was fun....
the did not get out of the car.

I again told them how fun it would be and that they needed to get out of the car.
Once inside, they were taking longer to look at everything than I was!

Among the treasures we saw (but did not buy)...were all the cool vintage Barbie doll carrying cases...
See the one above....it's a Barbie and Midge doll case!

this it was it looked like inside...it had little pink drawers and a little bar to hang their little, Barbie and Midge clothes on!

Then I saw a Miss Teen Barbie "Teen Age Fashion Model", Carrying case! So cute! All the cases were around $30-$45.

Don't worry Ken didn't miss out, we even saw a Ken doll, case too! Hey Ken had clothes, he just didn't go around in his plastic undies!

And among the things the boys liked: this old football helmet, a C3PO model from the 70's, these kinda scary looking dark, red glasses and goblets, old-fashioned razors that men used to shave their faces with, and a little travel hanger that folder up to look like it could fit on your pocket.

And when we left they said, "Can you believe we've been in here for an hour? It doesn't even feel like it?"

And they said, "who would of thought antiquing would be that much fun?!"

TO WHICH I REPLIED: "No, it was FUNTIQUING!"

and they actually all laughed....if you knew how hard it is to make 14 year old boys laugh...that's worth a little pat on my back!

Fun-tiquing  and happy Funday (it sounds better than Monday!)....your kandee

The most popular place to go with your baby in LA!

I love it when she makes this face!

I have discovered the "go to" place when you have a baby in LA-

The Grove -outdoor shopping wonderland...

(at the Farmer's Market on 3rd and Fairfax)

it is amazing and you don't even need to buy a thing!

There is music playing- Frank Sinatra style....water shows, a little bridge with fountain statues, cobblestone streets,a little trolley to ride on, and at Christmas time the bring in snow machines and make it snow in LA from the rootops!

It is one of my favorite places to just go walk around.

(lil pumkin' outing number 2 in a highchair...she loves it!)

BUT....I noticed the other day as we ate lunch there...that if you go during the day in the week it is THE SPOT to go if you have a baby.

I saw more moms, gramma's, strollers and babies in slings, carriers, all over the place...it was almost strange to see someone without a baby because there were babies and kids everywhere!

It was great.

 LUNCH: I don't know the name of the Italian place, but it's right next to the water fountains and the kids love to watch the fountain show...the best place to take kids to eat, because they are so busy watching everything going on! If you go- try the Butter Sage Spinach Ravioli- so good my mouth is watering right now.

Blakey sipping his yummy orange juice drink!

Blakey dancing to the music with his balloon...we had tried to have lunch at the American Girl Cafe for Alani, but for reasons unknown to the employees, who informed us that the Cafe was closed... we then went to the above mentioned delicious Italian place, then headed for the Haagen-Dazs ice cream stand.

And saw another 50 or so moms with babies...even a girl pushing her dog in a baby stroller! ha ha ha

your fav baby toting girl named (I will still refer to myself as a girl, even when I'm 97).... kandee

Joan's on 3rd: Our first time in a real "restaurant" high chair!

 Our first time, and when I say "our"...you know I am speaking on behalf of little Cupcake (who's real name is ofcourse, not Cupcake), in a real restaurant high chair! (We sit on our high chair at home all the time- but out and about this was our first time!)
where: One of my favorite places to eat in LA, Joan's on 3rd. It's fun, you go order at the counter or shop for a baked treat of yummy food in their store, then you can go sit outside and consume all your delish treats!

 she loved it! And I was so excited to be able to eat without holding a bouncing-on-my-lap-baby, while I drop food all over my lap! ha ha ha

the little "animal" face peeking our from the left is Blaker's shirt...we love this shirt! Go muppets!

 we got cupcakes!

me and my littles....photo courtesy of mom, but you can see her purse dangling from her empty chair! Yummy lunch and hooray for restaurant-high chair success! If only I had remembered our little high chair cover...next time.

cupcakes and high chairs..... kandee

my cowboy...

this was my Blaker, 2 years ago....
he will be 4 in some days...
and it feels like it's gone by too fast...
as we picked out birthday plates and candles for him tonight, i fought back some tears...my precious lil' guy is getting so big so fast and I just want to treasure every moment, every cute word he says, and every precious lil' face he makes...
because I'm sure it will like in 10 minutes he will be taller than me...
and I was glad he was still little and I can still carry him into bed.
cowboy hats and birthday plates, kandee

pictures by my 2 favorite photographers...

 yesterday about 6:54pm-ish: alani took this picture of me and lil baby

mere seconds after that...I carefully supervised a hand off my phone between alani to Blaker's eager hands..who took the awesome picture above.
 

I love my lil precious people....
we then went to dinner at one of our favorite places...
the people know us by name...
the food is delicious and makes the best salad dressing ever...it's like a dessert.
me and blakey walked around with the baby outside..while everyone else finished eating.
-if you have a baby...you won't enjoy calm dinners out for a while...I'm used to inhaling my food then getting up to walk baby around or show her interesting things...and I love ever second of it.

I'll have years of calm dinners were I won't get to hold a bouncing baby....I will miss it and think my calm dinner is not as wonderful as these dinners with little precious voices asking lots of questions and tons of jumps from a little baby...

love and glad the restaurant was out of desserts...nothing to be tempted with...ha ha ha
sweet tooth la rou... kandee

Back-to-School Night & a VLOG video

 yes...Back-to-School night..you did see us tomorrow..which is now yesterday...

Alani in one of her fav outifts...hello kitty shirt and skirt with what we like to call "strawberry shortcake leggings"....if you know Strawberry Shortcake you know why.

Blakey's take on back-to-school night:
didn't really like the classroom part
wanted to go see the paper eagle in the entry way
wanted to keep going and getting cookies and lemonade from the cafeteria
like the book fair part....he got to pick out a book too: Star Wars Lego Sticker book
Alani got a princess cupcake cookbook & a Barbie Fashion story book and a giant "pointing-finger" pen

We went and got chinese food for dinner...the first time I managed all the kids and baby by myself at dinner...a man just looked at me as he walked out and said, "wow, you've got your hands full".....
"yes, yes sir-ree-bob, I do...ha ha ha ha

After I got everyone in jammies, brushed teeth, tucked people in bed, cuddled and loved everyone, nursed baby...edited a video, typed my blogs...yes it's now 3am and I'm typing this...don't tell my mom, she just told me about a young guy that had a stroke and said I need more sleep. I agree, but if I sleep I get nothing done in the day with all the kids....I have to burn the midnight oil... that whole "sleep when the baby sleeps things" doesn't work...if I did that I would never write blogs, edit videos, read any email, or get anything done...laundry...you get the idea.

oh yes!! so here's a NEW random vlog video for my poor little channel on youtube that I have NOT uploaded anything to in WAYYYY to long...it's www.youtube.com/thekandeejohnsonshow (go give it a hug with your eyes for me)....
please enjoy how I look and sound when I'm sick and my little baby love...oh she's so cute. Look how little she was in the intro and then now!


and don't worry....I am feeling wayyyy better now guys! Thanks for all the awesome remedies you guys posted on facebook!
Huge hugs love and giant pens from the book fair.... your kandee (who's going to bed now)

Mosquitos, The BEST Chicken Salad Recipe & Love Signs

As soon as I took this picture I felt a little sting-itch on my leg...I looked down and about 8 mosquitos trying attack my poor, innocent legs.

I quickly told the kids...hurry...let's go back to the car because of the mosquitos everywhere....
what I thought would be a fun bike ride for the kids...me with baby in her sling... she was fully covered and didn't get one bite....
me on the other hand:
on my neck, legs, arms-, I think they mosquitos liked me the most. You're welcome mosquitos, for the fine dining you had compliments of myself.
I was slapping mosquitos the whole way back as we all sped to the car....to load up the bikes.

this picture I actually took without knowing...while I was speed walking back to the car...(fun little treat while I was uploading my iphone pics)

Blakey my precious, sweetheart, says, "Mama, thanks for taking us on a bike ride."....
I felt so bad, they barely peddled for 4 minutes before the Mosquitos attacked!

I made chicken salad sandwiches for dinner.

My WORLD's BEST (or at least my kids think so) CHICKEN SALAD RECIPE:

Shred a Rotisserie Chicken into bowl

1/2 cup seedless grapes (organic is how we roll)

1/2 cup, thinly sliced celery

a bunch of sea salt

several twist of Organic Smoked Pepper from my lil' peppermill

about a 1/2 cup or maybe it was a full cup of Mayo (I use the organic no soy kind)

2 Tablespoons or so of Honey Mustard

1 Tablespoon of Golden Sweet Vinegar

mix it all up

Place on yummy bread and decorate with a layer of spinach leaves

(maybe I should do a proper recipe post with pictures and exact measurements..ha ha ha)

After being the bath machine...giving everyone a bath, brushing teeth, finding pajamas that everyone agreed on, then I gave little tiny (baby Cupcake) a bathy, got water glasses for everyone, tucked everyone in, gave hugs and kisses and told them all how precious they are to me and how much I love them...

I nursed little tiny, she fell asleep....

I was exhausted....

but I needed to stay up and try to fix some things on my blog and type my blogs....

(the only time a mama can work)

and I finished, or said, "I'll finish tomorrow" at about 2am...

Mama's never get to rest...

But my babies are worth every single tired muscle and sleepless nights...

I wish I could tell every mama...to cherish, savor and enjoy every precious moment with your babies.

Your house won't always be messy, you won't always have a trail of toys in your house, and soon you will be able to get everything done...

rejoice in muddy handprints and little lego structures...

right now there is a little shoe on the living room floor...

and I love the little foot that it fits so much...

I'm glad it's out to remind me what a treasure I have in my babies and all the little things...

a perfectly neat house is sometimes missing the little love signs that a child lives there...

like a little shoe left out...

or Blakey's Rody on the porch that we had to wash off...

Someone once told me:

"What a mother sees as a messy house, is sometimes the most joyous sight....because someday you will wish you could see legos and dolls and bikes laying about, but they will be too big for those things and you will miss that."

Itching my mosquito bite on my neck...and smiling at the little car and shoe that Blakey left out...

kandee

Dinner with my 3 of my favorite people!

Last night i went out to dinner with 3 of my favorite people:

Alani, Blake and Elyse

(Jordan had plans with a friend so he was missing in action)

We had a lovely dinner...

they had frozen hot chocolates and grilled cheese

I had Butternut Squash soup (which I shared with Alani)

while I held baby on my lap...

I attempted to eat and spill my salad and curry chicken salad all over me

(ha ha ha ha)

We shared a creme brulee

(one of my favorites!!!)

and the kids got gi-normous chocolate chip cookies for the road.

 Before we got Blaker in his jammies he showed Ellie-Belly his "monster" schoolbus...
he said, "she likes school buses!"

 Blakey put the "amazing elf" slippers my sister made me for Christmas, on...I didn't know he had gone and gotten them...but I cracked up when I saw him!

I had a wonderful dinner with my little people...

and they received the nicest compliment, that they were the most well behaved children.

They smiled and giggled, said thank you, and happily carried their little bags with the cookies and to-go cups of their left over frozen hot chocolates to the car.

you have to cherish special moments as a mom...

so you don't go bonkers when you discover a huge mess they've made

or they are fighting with each other all day!

ha ha ha

elf slippers and creme brulee, kandee

Cute (of funny) DIY Part Princess Hat

 While I was cleaning the kitchen, Alani decorated little Ellie-Belly (certified name, Elyse) with the latest in party hats. Simply take 2 left over princess birthday party cups and place them on someon's head.
I like how they look very Disney, like Mickey Mouse ears!

this was her face when she wasn't sure she about her new hat or hats...
I hope these pictures bring some smile to your day!
cup hats, Kandee