Easter

"The Clinton Cousins"


Delaney and Isabelle after hunting eggs!


Isabelle looking for eggs!


Happy Easter from the Clinton Family!


Madeline


Sisters!


Eleanor

Counting down the days...

Until tax season is over for this year! I honestly haven't blogged at all lately due to the fact that it is tax season and I can honestly say it's been a tad rough this year with 4 kids. Some years are so easy on all of us and others are harder...this is one of the harder ones. Thinking back, the harder ones are usually the years that we have a new little one added into the mix. Don't get me wrong, the girls and I get into a routine here...home from school, snack and homework, a little playtime outside (or inside), I make dinner and feed Eleanor at the same time, big girls and I eat, bathtime, uniforms out for school the next day, get in bed...and then I usually clean up dinner dishes, and do any "chores" that haven't been finished earlier in the day, straighten up, make lunches and then finally sit down and catch up on all my shows that are DVR'ed that evening (or that I need to catch up on). Infact, as I write this I am watching "DWTS"...it's classical week.

Anyway, the girls and I are all so excited to have Sloan home in just 5, maybe 6 days (hoping no work on Saturday, but we will see). And I am so very thankful that Sloan has a job that he LOVES. As he says "if you are a tax accountant, you live for tax season". He truly does and does so well at his job and provides so well for our family. It truly is a blessing to him (and us) that he has such wonderful bosses and co-workers...thanks everyone at JPMS Cox.

Be looking for an "after tax season" post...the girls are planning something for him. Not sure what, but they keep telling me that we have to have a celebration when he gets home (as if he is not here and hasn't been here since the last week of January). Silly girls, but they are planning something "big"!

Valentine's Day recap...VERY late!

Someone discovered her sister's Ring Pop and before we knew it she had it in her mouth to give it a taste! She was so upset when Delaney and I took it away from her!!



This is my attempt at getting a cute Valentine's picture of the girls. Madeline turned on me and started pitching a fit, and Eleanor had had enough of wearing her hair bow and was trying to pull it off! I "heart" these girls!!!


Every year Sloan and I go out to dinner (or do something) with a group of friends for Valentine's Day(usually the day before
V-Day). This year was a tad different...it was just us and the Havens. The Carson's and Davis' didn't join us this year since Ashley C. was about to have their 3rd baby girl (Emily arrived on the 15th) and Haley D. was in Rwanda visiting her sister who is living there). Needless to say, Sloan and I, Wes & Jessamy had a nice dinner out at Capi's. The food was amazing!!

On Valentine's Day we have a tradition in our family of making "heart shaped pizzas" and having chocolate fondue with fruit and marshmallows for dessert. When I was a kid, my mom and dad had the tradition of making hear shaped pizzas with my brothers and I every year and let's just say it has stuck...I added the fondue part! The girls look forward to it every year and now that they are getting older they want to help more and more. It used to be just me making the pizzas, but this year everyone really got into making their own.

Madeline and I made homemade dough (I usually just buy the premade, Pillsbury, out of the can dough), so this was a real treat. I used the recipe for Pizza dough out of The Pioneer Women's cookbook (it's so yummy...will post the recipe in another blog post)! Maddie loved helping me measure out the ingredients, dump them in the mixer and then turn it on! She's a hoot and normally, I might not let her help me make this, but she had been into everything that day and this kept her out of trouble! Once the dough was mixed it was off to nap time and then we picked up the big girls at school...just like we do every day...naptime, then wake up to get Delaney and Isabelle.

When the girls and I got home we did homework and had a little snack, washed hands and then it was pizza making time!!! The girls LOVED making their own pizzas this year. Everyone took turns rolling out their own dough (I did have to help some which of course, did not go over well, to make sure it was rolled out enough to make a heart/cook properly). They all spread the sauce and helped pile on toppings. So we had 3 small hearts, one for each girl (minus Eleanor...you'll get some next year) and 1 big heart for Sloan and I to share. Everyone enjoyed their pizzas and even had left overs for the next day...yum!!







After cleaning up the kitchen (quickly) is was fondue time. Sloan, Delaney and I all loved it. Madeline sort of liked it. Isabelle...not so much! She kept telling me that the chocolate tasted yucky! She did eat the fruit and marshmallows...sans chocolate fondue. And honestly, it was my fault, I bought bittersweet chocolate instead of semi-sweet. I love bittersweet and actually had to dump the chocolate in the fondue pot to melt it before I ate the whole bag, but usually use semi-sweet for the girls sake (I think I should get some "mom points" for that one). It always fun to see what kind of combinations you can come up with of fruit/cookies/marshmallows to dip. YUMMY!!!!!!!!



Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day...uh, almost a month ago...I know, I know...I'm way behind! At least I got that cute Smilebox card posted on time!

"Shishy" aka...Fishy

I so wish I had a picture to go along with this post, but unfortunately, I do not! A few nights ago Madeline came out of the bathroom with a bag (actually a breastmilk storage bag...that I just happened to find a few extras of and passed on to a friend...and of course, before they got to that friend, they found their way to Madeline). Anyway, this bag was filled with water and there was something floating in it...a red something. We weren't quite sure of what it was and before Sloan and I could investigate to find out, she proudly holds up the bag and says, "Shishy"! We laughed so hard. I asked her where she got her "fish" and she said, "Belle, shishy"! Cue Isabelle walking into the living room...we asked her about it and she just laughed and finally admitted that she did put something in the bag and told Maddie it was a fish. Sloan and I still weren't sure what that something was and really wanted to get a good look at it, but Madeline would not let us...she just kept holding up the bag saying "shishy"...and then finally she breaks out with "Shishy, dead" (where on earth did she hear this???)...once again, Isabelle!!! Well, we finally got a good look at that "something" in the bag and Isabelle had wadded up a WikkiStick and stuck it in the bag with some water and handed it off to Madeline telling her it was a fish. Oh, brother!!!!!

Not too long after that the girls took showers/baths and Madeline about fell out when her "shishy" fell out of the bag in the tub and was about to go down the drain. Luckily, Mommy saved the "shishy" right before it was gone forever. After bath time we managed to convince Madeline it really was NOT a "shishy", or even a "dead shishy".

I guess if you have to have a fish, that was the "best case scenario". My silly girls...how Sloan and I love them so. There truly is never a dull moment around here...and if there is, something is wrong...and you better investigate quick cause someone is usually "up to no good".

Customize your own picture collage

Spa Party...

After much debate, and long talks, Isabelle finally decided to have a Spa Party for her 6th birthday! She is our "high-maintenance, girly girl" and she went round and round on what she wanted. For a few weeks it was going to be a Princess Party, until one day she told one of my best friends, Leah, that "mommy and daddy don't have enough money to decorate the house like I want it" (OUCH!)! Leah asked her what exactly she meant by that and she said, "Well, I want it to look like a castle all over the place and that would just be too expensive." Leah and I got a good laugh out of that one and we thought of several (CHEAP) things we could do to make it look like a castle...of course, only a FEW were up to Isabelle's standards...apparently, she wasn't kidding when she said she wanted the WHOLE house to look like a castle!! Then it got changed to a tea party and the more and more we talked about that, she decided that just wasn't exactly what she wanted to do(now you know why I usually do her party and Delaney's together and I usually decide what we are going to do)! One afternoon I was tossing around ideas with her and the spa idea came out...she LOVED it and we ran with that.

The girls came in their pj's all ready for a night of relaxation and pampering! They all played until everyone got here and us moms sat in the living room and visited and honestly, had a hard time getting the party started since I had plugged a lavender air freshener in and had "spa" music playing in the background, but we finally did and had a blast!! The girls started by all doing a facial (face mask, which Isabelle said HAD to be green with "pickles for the eyes"...she meant cucumbers). After that we tried to divide them into smaller groups (which didn't really work other than the 3 oldest girls hung out together) and made "Candy Lipgloss" (vaseline that we poured Fun Dip powder in and mixed it up), Sugar Scrub (they got to choose their own scent as well...vanilla or peppermint extract, orange, lemon or grapefruit extract), then we did manis/pedis(we really just painted fingers and toes) had cake and fruit(because according to my 6 year old, that's what you eat at a spa)! It was such a fun night and I'm sure it will come back into circulation at some point with all these birthday parties for 4 girls!

Turn on some spa music, sit back, relax and enjoy the pics of "Isabelle's Spa"!!

The party table!

Isabelle's spa lady cake! Super easy to make, although I could not have done it without Leah's help! She came over Friday to help me set up and work on the cake...I got behind (what's new) and so she literally decorated it while I cleaned up the kitchen around her!

"Spa food"...according to a 6 year old!

Personalized wash cloths (I had left over puff paint from Isabelle's 100th day project for school and decided to "monogram" them for each girl), headbands and GREEN face mask!

Isabelle told Leah she wanted a sign with her name on it...and Leah made it happen thanks to her Cricut!

Some of the girls relaxing at the spa! I personally, LOVE Madeline in this pic...she had to be just like the big girls!

The birthday girl with her face mask!

Maddie eating the Fun Dip after we made lip gloss out of it. She kept eating the packets, I think she had 4 that whole day.

Isabelle making her sugar scrub!

Delaney eating Fun Dip!

Grandma got suckered into painting stripes of multiple colors on Isabelle's nails!

Cute Madeline waiting her turn to get her toes painted!

Isabelle and Miss Kristin!!

Selah got to stay and spend the night! The girls were so excited to have their first sleepover here at our house. These girls have such a sweet friendship...we LOVE our Selah!!!!

Hollywood Movie Party

This year for Delaney's 8th birthday, she wanted a movie party. The more and more "research" I did on it...looking at blogs, websites, etc. I found a lot of cute ideas. Delaney loved all of them. We had the girls dress in the pj's and come "ready to walk the red carpet"! We served popcorn, movie candy, and mini-cokes (as Delaney called them). We watched Ramona and Beezus and then had cake and opened presents. All the girls even got to pretend they were famous movie stars and "stamp" their hands into the "cement" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!! The girls had a blast and it was an easy party to pull off (gotta love those)!

Movie stars stamping hand prints in the "cement". I spray painted 11x14 cake boards with a gray spray paint and then stuck a star with their name on it and outlined it in gold glitter glue. The girls had fun making these and they got to take them home as one of the party favors.

Delaney walking the red carpet! The girls loved this!

All the girls on the red carpet (cheap red tablecloths we stuck down on our walkway)!

Striking a pose for the "paparazzi"!!!

Necklaces and "diamond" rings are a must for famous movie stars!!

The party favor...a box of movie theater candy!

The "concession stand". We set everything up on our island and let the girls help themselves. I gave them each a top or bottom of a blouse box to hold all their goodies!

The "Hollywood Walk of Fame"!

Delaney's fun confetti cake! She found this on a website and had to have it!

Getting ready to blow out the candles!

Delaney with her handprint!

Isabelle with her handprint!

Look who woke up from a nap! Eleanor wanted to join the party as well!

Madeline playing in the "leftover" jewels the day after the party!!