Best Nail Salon In Town

I discovered THE BEST nail salon in town recently. And would you believe, it was in my own front room. 

The story starts out a little something like this:

My friend Yvonne posted a picture on Facebook one day of the best mani/pedi she ever received. It was at the hand of her 5 year old son. I told her that he needed to come visit me stat. 

A few days later Yvonne asked me to watch her boys while she went to the dr. I agreed and thought nothing of it. I was switching a load of laundry when the boys showed up and as soon as Yvonne's 5 year old saw me, he said I brought stuff to do your nails. 

I smiled and said, "Oh, okay. Just give me a minute I gotta finish switching laundry." He decided he'd work on Ailey's nails until I was ready.

When I was ready, I had not only my friend's son going to work - but Ailey joined in as well. It felt super nice being pampered by 5 year olds. And I did feel slightly guilty for making them do such a simple task.

Seriously these kids are hired! I love their use of color and the excitement they have!

What Happens Next...

Aloha!

In an effort to spend more time as a family this summer, my mom wanted to do a few things out of the norm. She asked for a few ideas and had some herself. One idea that was pretty mutual between her and I was doing a murder party.

If you haven't heard of it before, don't get too excited. It's a game where you take on the role of a suspect whose friend/relative/aquaintance is found dead. A group of you are gathered together and you're trying to figure out who done it.

A couple Christmases ago, Eric's brother gave us a Murder Mystery game that had a Hawaiian Luau as the setting. Since we hadn't used it since we got it, we (I) decided it was the perfect one for the get together my mom wanted to do.

We decided we'd do a couples thing for the marrieds in my family. It worked out well. While we missed my older sister (she decided to move 3 hours away), the rest of us were able to find a date that worked wonderfully and we got together. I tried my best to create some sort of atmosphere of a Hawaiian luau, but seeing as how I've never been to Hawaii or to a real luau - I did my best.

I've got to say I absolutely loved what everyone came wearing and how everyone really lived up to their parts. If I was giving awards, my little sister would've won the costume award and my mom would've won the award for best actress.

My dad's character was a chief on the island, he'd lived on the island his whole life and really didn't like tourists. My mom was the wife of a rich guy and loved having money to spend and to show off.

My older brother was the epitome of a tourist who had just gotten of the ship or airplane (can't remember which) and his wife was a swimsuit model who had just finished up a shoot in France or somewhere and was taking a nice relaxing vacation in Hawaii.

My little sister was a local dancer and because the characters name was Leilani and her name is Kaeloni - it just fit. She got major points for braving the coconut shells. Her husband was a famous surfer who had since retired from the sport, but was still bringing in money doing random endorsements and running his own surf shop.

Eric's character was a scuba instructor and I was a local who was really into gardening.

We really did have a good night and my older kids kept the younger kids mostly entertained, so it really was just the adults. 

I'd love to tell you more of the story, but that would ruin the game for anyone who might be interested in playing it at a later date.

What Happens Next...

Father's Day

Father's Day was fast approaching and I wasn't sure what to do for Eric. Especially after he made Mother's Day so good for me. He's not really big on holidays and constantly tells me he doesn't really need anything, but that doesn't sit well with me. In my mind, he should be appreciated and shown that appreciation.

Part of Eric's 'issue' is that he feels there shouldn't be just one day set aside for certain things, but that you should appreciate the people in your life everyday and not just because the calendar and/or world says it's some sort of holiday. I can't blame him for that train of thought.

So I was thinking about what to do for him and all I could come up with were clothing ideas. Not real exciting, but I had a few things in mind that I wanted to do that I could personalize myself.

To start out with I needed to get a couple t-shirts. I talked with my friend, Yvonne who had been making some t-shirts with vinyl for the game store and other gifts to find out where she had found the best deal. She told me Hobby Lobby, so I headed out. I also grabbed the heat transfer vinyl that I would need. 

As chance would have it I also decided to get Eric an expansion to a game he had talked about wanting, but couldn't stomach buying it himself as he thought the price was a little bit much. I had no issues getting it for him. I stopped by the game store on my way home (during the day when Yvonne's husband wasn't at the store and so my surprise wouldn't be ruined) and found that Yvonne was actually working - which is rare. I got to see the gift she was working on for her husband and talked with her a bit and then bought what Eric had mentioned wanting.

Then I went about making the personalized shirts for Eric. But I ended up messing the first try up and I was really upset about it. Once again, Yvonne came to the rescue and she had just enough vinyl for me to fix my mistake. When I was done I had these two shirts completed...

Even after having the game and the two t's ready to go I still felt something was missing and so I decided to go with something Eric and I would both appreciate:

SOURCE

We had seen it in Disneyland and I'm not sure why, but Eric didn't buy it then. We saw a guy with it on at one of Lex's ballgames and I knew then that he needed it.

While I was done with gifts, Tanis had one that he wanted to give Eric and my dad that he had seen on Nerdy Nummies. It was super simple and I knew we could do it in a matter of minutes. So I took Tanis to the store, telling Eric we had to get stuff for something Tanis wanted to do for my dad. When Eric was gone we actually went about making Tanis' gifts for them.

It was filled with Eric's favorite candy when we gave it to him. The idea was for him to take it to work and keep it filled himself, but instead he left it home. It took my dad a bit to get the whole 'Grandpa's stache' pun, but he appreciated it as did Eric. Especially knowing it was Tanis' idea.

There's so much more I wish I could've given Eric and he deserves more than what I'm able to give. He is a terrific dad and does so much for his kids. He is there for them in every way there is and he finds ways to spend time with them one on one. Thanks for being the best Dad, Eric!

What Happens Next...

#11

Lex turned 11 this year and had all sorts of celebrations. 

Eric's been doing a little D&D campaign with his buddy, his two boys and Tanis and Lex. They play on Thursdays and Lex's birthday just happened to fall on a Thursday. We asked Lex if he still wanted to do D&D or if he'd rather do something else. He decided he wanted to do D&D. He also wanted to wait for his cake for when his friends were there.

We started off the night by letting him open his tide over present (his real present was delayed by a day, UGH!)...

{...Yes, I used leftover Christmas wrap. I'm cheap that way...}

{...He's about as happy as I expected him to be. It was just a plastic container after all...}

{...This little dude was happy to celebrate anything at all...}

So after the D&D group arrived and before they got down to business, we sang Happy Birthday and did the whole cake thing. Eric's mom had run across a baseball glove cupcake cake on Facebook (Yes, she's on FB - it's fun) and showed it to me. Knowing it wasn't what Lex wanted to theme his 'real' birthday party around, I decided it was a good way to celebrate on his birthday. For whatever reason though - the first time in my entire life of baking cupcakes - I had a couple that didn't turn out and so I was a bit short on the number needed for the ball glove. I made do and Lex wasn't any the wiser and still liked his cake.

The next morning, his birthday present came and because he already knew what it was, I let him open the box as soon as they got it in the house.

{...See, still excited to celebrate whatever...}

Then it was time to think PARTY. Because Eric had taken Lex to see Jurassic World, Lex wanted that kind of party. I did my best to oblige, but I'm not too terribly creative, so it was what it was. We started out with invites.

We planned his party for a Saturday afternoon, knowing we had two ballgames in the morning. Lex's game was at 11 and because the game ahead of them ended late, they started late. That meant I had to leave the game early to go prep the house and do some final work to prepare for the party.

Eric took the other kids off to do something so I was able to throw a party without our kids adding to the fun. I planned a few fun games outdoors that had a 'dinosaur' theme to it. The boys had lots of fun playing those games, but because I was doing the party solo, I didn't take any pictures.

Then it was time for gifts, as per Lex's request.

And of course, no party is complete without the cake. So for the cupcakes for his party, I 'tried' to do some dinosaur terrain type cupcakes. They didn't turn out as great as they looked in my head (Nothing really ever does), but Lex was still pleased and enjoyed them. I just liked that it was easy. 

Happy Birthday, dude. I hope this was a great birthday and one you'll always remember. We love you!

What Happens Next...

Not So Tiny Dancer

After her experience with cheer last year, Shaylyn decided she didn't really want to do it again. While she enjoyed the cheer part of it and that kind of thing, the director wasn't someone Shaylyn wanted to deal with if she had any choice. I couldn't blame her and was kind of glad she opted not to do it. (It was a time drain)

However, her and her best friend Mikayla still wanted to do something. So after looking around they decided on dance. They got a bit lucky as the dance studio we decided on also offered a cheer type class - so they weren't missing out really. They'd still learn fancy tricks, but it'd be with a nicer person and it wouldn't take up so much of their lives.

So they took a Jazz dance class as well as the cheer/tumbling class. They enjoyed it a lot and were super excited for their recital. I was super excited that the recital was close by and the costume prices weren't outrageous.

Thankfully, I was on top of my game and remembered to tell Eric's mom when the recital was. She decided to make a day of it and came to the boys games in the morning and then hung around and came to the recital that night. She was a lifesaver. Eric had to work at the game store that night and had to leave the recital early, which would've left me alone with the 5 other kids, but with Eric's mom around - it was so much easier.

So for those of you that missed the recital, but maybe want to see her dances, the video is below. The 1st dance was from her cheer/tumbling class the 2nd was her Jazz and the final one was part of the finale. I was slightly frustrated at my angle during her Jazz routine as Shaylyn gets blocked, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it.

Afterwards, I made sure to get some cute shots of my dancer and her best friends, cause they are pretty inseperable.

What Happens Next...