The Great Sunflower Project!

I have recently been giving an honest effort to doing more things "Green."

I try to save energy where I can! I purchase "green" cleaning products! I try to use less disposable items! I recycle every week, and have adopted the concept of loving things homemade!

I also really enjoy participating in projects/events that help the environment!

So I'm a tree-hugger...So What! LOL!

Today I signed up to participate in The Great Sunflower Project!

When you sign up they send you free sunflower seeds to plant in your garden! Thats step 1!

Then you tell them about your garden!

Lastly, observe your beautiful sunflowers on the date they specify or a sunny weekend and tell them how long it takes 5 bees to visit your sunflowers!

By doing this I am helping to pollinate our planet and giving scientists helpful data about these important pollinators!

If you have ever seen

Bee Movie you get a rough idea why pollination is so important!

If you would like to participate click the link to find out more!

Spring Treats!

Today I decided to have a baking day with Miss Bella! I figured since easter was coming up we would whip up some spring themed treats!

First we made Peeps in a nest! They were Bella's favorite thing that we made today!

The nests were shredded wheat mixed with melted chocolate, and a peep placed on top!

So Cute!

Then we made a carrot cheesecake w/cream cheese icing and fondant carrots!

This was soooo yummy, but kind of weird!

It has all of the flavor of carrot cake, but its cheesecake!

So anyway...our baking day was a success!

Last Saturday!

This last Saturday was sooo busy for us that I completely spaced Earth Hour which I really wanted to be a part of! At about 11:30PM that night I remembered that we were supposed to switch off the lights at 8:30PM!

I was so bummed! Oh well.

We had a pretty good day though! We woke up and got ready for the day. Then at about 2pm we were off to get the girls Easter pictures taken! OMG! Seriously the most stressful drawn out ordeal of my life!!!

We made an appointment at Olan Mills, and arrived right on time! Unfortunately for us, they were NOT on time! When we arrived they were in the middle of taking pictures of two little kids and then they had to photograph a family of 16 people! So we waited for like an hour before it was finally our turn. Grrr!

The lady asked me if I had any coupons or a package in mind, and I told her that I wanted the advertised Easter portrait package which was like $15. She then proceded to tell me that I needed a coupon from the front of the store which I would have to get one day prior to my appointment! What?! Thanks for NOT telling me that on the phone when I asked about it!Trying to keep my cool after waiting a whole hour just to hear that, I asked, "Well ok, What other packages do you have?" Apparently they don't have any packages under $80! Ridiculous!

So we went to Walmart instead! Aunt Theresa, if you're reading this...I'm sorry! We had to go to Walmart! ;o) LOL!

Finally at 5:oopm the girls were all done taking their pictures! I told you...Drawn out! I am happy to say that they took the cutest pictures EVER! I can't wait to get them back!

After all of that we went to dinner at Shogun's Japanese Grill! YAY! My favorite!

Then we went home to rest, or so I thought!

Turns out, Robby decided to throw me a big surprise birthday party! I was surprised! LOL! It was alot of fun! This was the reason that I missed Earth hour, but thats ok it was worth it!

Thanks Babe!!!

Unplugged Friday!

On Friday I took on Kimba's Unplug Challenge! For our family that meant No TV & No Computer!

I use the computer frequently throughout the day! I check emails, myspace, update my blog, download things, search for fun ideas to do with the girls, etc.! What I didn't realize was that by doing those things I was wasting soooo much quality time and energy! Not to mention how much time is wasted in front of the TV after Robby gets home!

I went cold turkey on Friday, which was alot harder than I thought! I think that there is a sort of high I get when I have an unread message or comment! Its like Christmas! I can't wait to find out who its from, what they said, etc. It sounds silly but I seriously felt like an addict wanting to get my technological fix for the day!

Instead, I completely rearranged my priorities! Keep in mind there are alot of these things that I normally do everyday, but on Friday I made sure to take my time and give the important things my undivided attention! No Distractions!

I woke up early and made pancakes (Bella's favorite) and rice cereal with carrots for Lilly Bean! Then we got all showered and ready for the day! I found out later that day that Lilly is allergic to carrots just like Bella was when she was a baby. She got a rash just like Bella used to so no more carrots for a while! :o)

While Lilly napped and Bella cleaned her room ;o), I got to cleaning the house! I turned on some music to stay motivated which turned into Bella and I dancing like crazy in the living room! We got a little distracted but in a good way! Hey its exercise right?! So when I reached the point where my sides hurt and I couldn't breath, I turned off the music and got back to the house work!

Then came lunch time! We ate, and then Bella and I played "Pass the Pigs." We had a blast! She won and then it was nap time! No nap for me though! I got everything ready for dinner that night! We had steaks with a bacon/mushroom/A-1 sauce and twice baked mashed potato casserole!

When Robby got home he grilled the steaks on the BBQ, and then we all sat down together at the table...even Lilly! I was proud of us we rarely all sit together at dinner time anymore since Robby has been preparing to go to the field!

After dinner Bella wanted Daddy to play "Pass the Pigs." So we all played together...Daddy won! Then we cleaned up and got ready for bed! I have to say that it was so nice to get to bed at a decent hour instead of staying up late on the computer or watching late night TV!

So, by unplugging we had a great day together! Not only that but we conserved electricity which is always a plus! Robby even enjoyed not having the distractions, which surprised me since he loves to watch TV! Its kinda of sad how our technology can rob us of so much! We might do this once or twice a week! It was alot of fun!!!

Earth Hour!

Saturday March 28th from 8:30-9:30PM is Earth Hour.

If you would like to be a part of this event go to the link above, or simply turn off your lights for one hour on Saturday!

Your light switch is your vote!

Watch the Vote Earth Video here or click the link above to learn more.

Our Earth is worth saving! Vote Earth!

The Pepperlings...Unplugged!

On this Friday the 27th, I'm going unplugged! That means No Blogging, Myspace, Email, or Computer PERIOD!!! For our family that also means NO TV!!! NO DISTRACTIONS!
I too often find myself distracted from things that matter due to our extremely addictive technology!
So on Friday I'm getting my priorities in order and paying attention to things that matter most!!! I'll be blogging about what I did while I was unable to stare at my television or surf the net like a mindless zombie later!!! :o)
If you have been feeling the need to get things done or pay more attention to something other than your computer, TV, Blackberry,etc, then join me and take Kimba's Unplug Challenge!
Click the button above to learn more!

Gettin Crafty!!!

In my boredom lately I have decided to start a few crafty projects!

I am soooo excited with how they turned out and I have like a zillion more ideas that I can't wait to start!

My first project was scrabble tile pendants! I didn't think this one up on my own but I designed these myself and they turned out great!

Crazy how they went from these...

...To these!

(Don't mind the blurry pics :o) )

My second project was a baby outfit worn by my beautiful model in the post below! LOL!

It was a hat, shirt, and shoes made completely out of one of Robby's old t-shirts.

Yay for recycling!!!

I just added some ribbon n elastic for the shoes, and...

Ta-Da!

It looks so cute on Lilly!!!

6 Months Old!

Lilly Anna Banana was 6 months old as of the 15th!

I can't believe how big she is getting! She weighs 17 lbs, almost double what she weighed 6months ago when she was born!

She doesnt have her first tooth yet, but has been chompin on her teether like crazy today! Its coming...or I guess I should say they are coming. I felt her gums and I think the bottom two might be coming in at the same time!

Lilly has been working on her "n" sounds! So now she says "Hi," "Da-Da," and "Nananananana." LOL!

I think she secretly crawls when I'm not looking! She can make it from one side of the room to the other...I'm just not sure how she does it! HaHa!

She is in love with her new Jump-a-roo!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Lilly Bean!

The Comic Strip!

On Saturday Robby took me out for a little pre-birthday celebration because he is going to be in the field on my actual birthday:o( It was a ton of fun though!!!

First we went to dinner at Shoguns Japanese Grill! Yummm! I missed that place! Soooo Good!!!

After dinner we went to "The Comic Strip." It's a comedy club here in El Paso.

I had never been to a comedy club before, so I didnt know what to expect. We ordered our tickets online and paid $3 extra for reserved tickets, so we rolled VIP all night! LOL!

We had a table reserved for us very close to the front in the center section...Awesome!


The opener was Jerry Rocha, who was very funny!

Then came Christopher Titus, who used to have his own sitcom on FOX, "Titus." He performed his new comedy entitled, "Love is Evol."

We had such a great time! i can't wait to go back!

St. Patrick's Day!

We had so much fun yesterday on St. Patrick's Day! The girls are still sick! Poor babies! We couldn't do anything too exciting, so to get into the holiday spirit we dressed up in green and got creative with our food! Bella had a ton of fun painting her breakfast and using her "Lucky Leprechaun Dust."

For Breakfast we had:

RAINBOW TOAST &

POT O' GOLD SCRAMBLED EGGS

To make this we painted rainbows on white bread. No worries...The "paint" is just milk with some food coloring in it! :o)Then we popped it in the toaster!

The Pot o' Gold eggs are just regular scrambled eggs and I made green juice to go with it!

Ta-Da!

Bella had green apples w/ "Lucky Leprechaun Dust" for her snack

They were her favorite thing of the day!

For Lunch we had:

GREEN MAC 'N CHEESE

And...For Dinner we had:

STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

Mmmmmm!