Friday Favorites

We Made It Through The Week!!!!!

I am always so happy to get to Friday!  When John's alarm went off this morning, I looked at him and said "We made it to Friday!" I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.  The weeks are long...and those weekends go by so fast!  I plan on soaking up lots of family time this weekend! 

Today I am linking up and bringing you all of the things I loved this week! 

Lacie's Preschool Birthday Celebration

So Lacie's real birthday is August 19th but this week at school they celebrated all of the kids with summer birthdays.  Needless to say, Lacie was excited.  I volunteered to make Funfetti Cupcakes so that I could be sure they were safe for Lacie's peanut allergy! 

Now I graduated from the same preschool back in 1990, and I also have an August birthday!  So I got to do the same summer birthday celebration.  Of course I had to find a picture from it.  

Water Table Fun

Yesterday, I took out the water table for the first time.  Now we have a regular pool in our development, a small inflatable pool, a water slide slip and slide...but for some reason my girls have always loved this water table the best.  It kept them busy all afternoon.  Last summer Paisley was only 6 months old so this was her first time being able to play with the water table, and let me tell you she was loving life! 

A picture of B from two years ago playing at this same water table was also in my Time Hop, so of course I had to do this:

We have this water table by Step 2:

I've been thinking about getting a second water table for this summer, and these are the three I am looking at! I would love suggestions if anyone has a water table that they love!

Our Anniversary 

On Sunday, John and I celebrated 7 YEARS OF MARRIAGE!  We made it a great day with a date in the afternoon, a celebration for Blakely's half birthday, and a special dinner and dessert for the two of us after the kids were in bed!  We drank champagne out of our wedding toasting glasses and ate off of our wedding china!

Our Toasting Glasses:

Our China:

What are you loving this week?

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake

If you read Monday's Post, you know that Blakely's half birthday was on Sunday!  I always make some sort of a treat for everyone's half birthday...and Blakely wanted cake!  Vanilla...not chocolate.  I decided to try something new!  

This recipe is so easy - one extra ingredient turns simple cake mix into something special!  

VANILLA BEANS! 

It's also Cake Mix Recipe #63

Your Shopping List for the Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake:

• 1 box white cake mix
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup veggie oil
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 2 vanilla beanpods, divided
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp half and half

Now Let's Make the Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt pan with nonstick spray
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cake mix, oil, eggs, and water
3. Use the whisk attachment and beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the bowl, beat on medium speed for an additional minute and a half
4. Split open one of the vanilla bean pods and use the flat edge of a knife to scrape out the vanilla beans
5. Fold the vanilla beans into your batter
6. Pour batter evenly into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
7. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes before turning the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely
8. Once cake is cool, make the vanilla bean glaze
9. In a large mixing bowl, combine two cups of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of half and half and mix until it forms a thick glaze (you can adjust the amount of half and half depending on how thick or think you want the glaze)
10. Split open the remaining vanilla bean pod and scrape out the beans
11. Mix the vanilla beans into your glaze and drizzle glaze over cake 

I use this pan for all of my bundt cakes (and it's currently on sale):

I use this Stand Mixer:

Mommy Mondays: Blakely Hope's Half Birthday

Yesterday, our sweet BB turned three and a half!  It is a tradition in our house to always celebrate half birthdays!  I mean any reason to celebrate, right?!?!  Her half birthday also happens to fall on Our Wedding Anniversary!  So John and I went on a day date and then came home and sang "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and had cake with everyone!

Now they are both "half" ages!
Three and a Half
and
Four and a Half!


Three and a half is the age we have been telling Blakely she can get rid of the crib and have a big girl bed like Lacie (which really just means taking the front bars off the crib and replacing them with a guard rail.  We shall see how that transition goes...I'm one of those #cribforlife Mamas!


Three and a Half candles for the Half Birthday Girl!


Enjoying her sister's cake!

Paisley waiting patiently for her own piece of cake!


I made a collage of Blakely Hope on each of her half birthdays so far!  It's amazing how much change happens from year to year!



Come back later this week to get the recipe for this amazing Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake!
 

Friday Favorites

HAPPY FRIDAY!

and 

HAPPY MOTHER's DAY WEEKEND! 

Today I am linking up to share what I am LOVING this week! 

The Wet Brush

Maybe I've talked about it before, but over the last week or two I've had several conversations with Mamas of little girls.  If you have a daughter, you need this brush!  Heck you need it for yourself too!  It gets through tangles without tears!  You can find it at TARGET

Summer Nails 

It's time for fun, bright nail polish colors! Currently my fingers are Essie Miami Nice, which is one of my favorite Hot Pink colors! My toes are Essie All Access Pass!

Graze Boxes 

This is something John and I are both loving! Sign up for a subscription and a fun box with 8 little snacks shows up at your door once a week!

You can use this code to get a free box:

4KMMNNW5P

Tranquil Roll On

After my Day in the Life post, I got so many questions about the essential oils that I used throughout the day.  In fact, I promise that I will do a complete post about these oils and how they've changed my life!  However, this was too good not to share today! 

Tranquil Roll On is a blend of oils by Young Living that I've been using for a few months!  It is a calming blend and helps promote sleep!  It contains Lavender, Cedarwood, and Roman Chamomile Essential Oils.  I swear my sleep has never been better.  Well the other night I got into bed and realized I had forgotten to put it on (I apply it behind my ears, on the back of my neck, and on my wrists).  Well I was being lazy and didn't feel like getting out of bed.  Over the next 90 minutes, I was restless and finally woke up completely and decided to go get it.  After applying I got back into bed and slept like a rock the rest of the night.  Oh and the proof is in my Fitbit sleep tracker!  You can clearly see the difference before and after using Tranquil! 

If you want to know more about oils, feel free to comment or email me: lifeisbetterinpink@yahoo.com

What are you loving this week?

#hiloskyeveryday2016 Weeks 16, 17, and 18

Day 105 - We love our Thursday Morning Playdates! 

Day 106 - when you really want to smile for a picture...but the sun is in your eyes! 

Day 107 - Starbucks Stop before a friend's birthday party! 

Day 108 - enjoying some beautiful spring weather at the park! #bigmiddlelittle 

Day 109 - #sisters #bestfriends 

Day 110 - these three sweet girls were excited to wear their Kentucky Derby Shirts that John got them last year! 

Day 111 - My newest Starbucks You Are Here Mug from my Father In Law's trip to San Diego! 

Day 112 - She's still the QUEEN BEE!  #queenb #moveoverbeyonce

Day 113 - I love watching my three girls love each other!  Also, when I looked at this picture...I flashed forward to Lacie as a teenager.  She's starting to look so old! 

Day 114 - John and his Graze Box! 

Day 115 - enjoying some Sunday Afternoon Sunshine! 

Day 116 - Out of all three girls, Blakely loves being outside the most! 

Day 117 - These two love love love matching! #sisters 

Day 118 - We're in trouble because Paisley can climb on the couch all by herself....

 Day 119 - Lacie had a random Thursday off from school, so she got to come to our weekly playdate! 

Day 120 - troublemaker!

Day 121 - First Day back at Sesame Place for the 2016 season!

Day 122 - a little Daddy/Daughter Love!

Day 123 - Nothing better in the whole wide world than this smile first thing in the morning!

Day 124 - #sisters

Day 125 - Blakely drew a picture of me!  She was so proud of herself!  She spent a lot of time working on my curly hair lol.

Let's Talk - Hair and Makeup

Today I am linking up with the Mamas over at Momfessionals and A Little Bit of Everything to bring you a post talking about Hair and Makeup!  A little bit about what I use and what my routine is! 

Hair

So basically I wear my hair three ways:

Down and Curly

Down and Straight

Up in a "Mom Bun"

Can you guess which style I sport most often....?!?!

Curly

This is my natural hair!  When I was little, I had wavy hair.  The older I got, the curlier it got!  My sister has the same hair.  I spent many many days in high school straightening my hair with a flat iron.  At some point I realized it would be easier to just embrace the curl!  

My favorite product for curly hair is Miss Jessie's Pillow Soft Curls!  I love love love this stuff!  It smells great, leaves my curls defined but not crunchy....and YOU CAN FIND IT AT TARGET!

Straight

Sometimes (although much less often now) I do like my hair to be straight!  When I straighten my hair I will typically let it air dry most of the way and then blow dry it completely dry.  Then I use the flat iron and apply a tiny bit of Morrocan Oil to keep it smooth! 

My straightening iron is a T3 Single Pass 1-inch.  I used to have a Chi Iron all through my college years, but when that died I decided to try a new brand.  I've been really really happy with my T3!

After I'm done straightening it, I smooth a bit of MoroccanOil on the ends!

Mom Bun

To create my super fancy mom bun, I gather all of my crazy hair on the top of my head and secure with whatever elastic band I happen to be wearing on my wrist that day!  I spray it with John Frieda Sheer Blonde Hairspray (also found at Target)!

Wavy

On very very very rare occasions, I will straighten my hair and then use a curling iron to make it wavy.  I say rare because this style is the most labor intensive.  I will blow dry my hair straight-ish and then use a big barrel curling iron to make waves!
Just like my flat iron, I have a T3 curling iron!

Make-Up

On a daily basis my makeup routine is this:
TINTED MOISTURIZER!
Yup, that's it.  I'm pretty simple.
I love all Clinique products because my skin is sensitive so I get theirs often.

I also like Nars and Laura Mercier

In a pinch, I just grab an inexpensive one at Wegmans, like L'Oreal!

I've also been loving one from The Honest Company's Honest Beauty Line but it's a bit thicker and has more of a foundation type coverage!

When I went to do the whole make up thing I typically just add blush, mascara, eye shadow, and lip gloss or stain!
Currently I'm using:
MAC False Lash Extreme
Nars Blush Brozer
Urban Decay Naked Eye Palate
Clinique Long Wear Lip Gloss

Future Let's Talk Link Ups: