Madagascar Live: Operation Vacation

  Sienna and I were singing and dancing all morning while we attended a preview for the new Madagascar Live: Operation Vacation show at Busch Gardens in the newly renovated Stanleyville Theater! As a Tampa native, Busch Gardens has always been my playground growing up and I couldn't be more excited to spend time there with the kiddos. My family has annual passes so to say that we frequent the park is an understatement.     Before the show started we enjoyed some breakfast...  

  and waited to hang out with Alex, Gloria, and friends...  

   then lights...camera...action!  

 

  The show was spectactular! It was full of energy with singing, dancing, and even a live band!! It kept us moving the whole time.  

 

  Of course a Madagascar Live show couldn't be complete without the hit song from the movie, I Like to Move It!  

 And bubbles poured down over the crowd as we said goodbye...

  Until next time Madagascar friends! We now have a new stop on our weekly Busch Gardens trip!   The show starts this weekend, May 18th, at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL! They are having special events going on all weekend including shows with animal expert, Jack Hanna! Click here for more information on Madagascar Live!   Thank you Busch Gardens for hosting a great event!                        *We were not compensated by Busch Gardens to write this feature*

Dried Mango Chips

I couldn't be more excited that mango season is finally here!! I love the juicy fruit and they always remind me of when we went on vacation to South Florida as a child because the family friends we visited always had huge mango trees in their back yard. For Christmas I decided to get Danny a food dehydrator as one of his gifts because he really takes pride in cooking and I knew he would love to make his own beef jerky. Now this gift really was meant for him, but I thought I would test it out with the mangoes I picked up from the local grocer the other day.  Mangoes are such a difficult fruit to slice because of the awkward shaped pit, but after figuring out a great method, I threw them in the dehydrator and turned it on to 115 degrees. Now, initially I was following this recipe and it stated that it needed to dehydrate for 24 hours. When I went to check on it about 6-7 hours later the mango slices we dry, thin, and crispy! I think (well now I know) I sliced them too thin, but they were great for mango chips!  Either way they were amazing! They were crispy when you bit into them, but melted in your mouth after! They were the perfect healthy snack to grab and were just like potato chips where you can't just have one :) Check out this recipe here for a complete guide on dehydrating mangoes! Do you know of any other fruits that are great in the dehydrator?

Best Week Ever!!!

This week has been soo amazing in soo many ways!! Let me start out by saying that Monday was my birthday and I turned the big 2-8!! This year was actually a freebie for me because I kept thinking all year that I was twenty-eight when I clearly wasn't...ha! (mom brain) But anywho, those who know me know that my birthday is usually a week long celebration and this year was none the less!

We started it off celebrating my birthday at an intimate dinner with good friends at the new Cooper's Hawk Winery. There's nothing better than great friends, great food, and great wine all jam packed into one night :)

Then on Wednesday morning we had an amazing opportunity to be featured on Fox 13's Good Day Tampa Bay to do a Mother's Day gift segment! Since I am a Tampa native it was truly an honor to be part of such a respected morning show! And what a great time we had doing the segment! 

Click here to view the clip! 

(Best if you watch from a computer and not a mobile device)

As if the day couldn't have gotten any better, Danny topped it as he accepted a job offer with a wonderful new company!! Needless to say, Wednesday was a day full of celebration. 

Now if we can rewind a little bit I have been dancing in my head (and in real life) all week because I will be attending my first blog conference next week and it's called ALT SUMMIT!!!! (in Oprah's screaming voice) haha!

source

Well, I won't actually be going to an Alt Summit blog conference, but they have created their first completely-online conference called Alt For Everyone <----yes that includes me!! This is absolutely perfect because I'm not in any shape to leave the kiddos behind just yet so virtual sounds fantastic! And to top it off one of my fav blogger Joy Cho will be the keynote speaker so I can only imagine how informative this experience will be!!

And now we are finishing off this fabulous week celebrating why we do what we do everyday! For our babies of course! I love my babies and am incredibly blessed to live the life I live with them.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Daniel's First Birthday Mustache Bash!

Last month we celebrated Daniel's first birthday! To celebrate we threw a little man, mustache bash at a local waterfront park!! 

Of course I went over the top with my dessert table...We had cake, cupcakes, s'more pops (which by the way are the most amazing thing that has every crossed my mouth), and we couldn't forget the little man cigars...

Yes...they are chocolate covered pretzel rods in these fabulous cigar boxes

 my mother-in-law found for me :)

Here is my little man in his outfit :)

and my little lady in her romper...

We even Macgyvered a photo booth in the shelter...

Thanks to Aunt Kelly & Shane and the rest of the fam, everything was executed wonderfully!

This is my favorite picture of Sienna helping Daniel blow out his candle...

He was not a big fan of his smash cupcake...

Here are some fun shots my bestie's dad, Felix, took of me, my besties, and their babies...

And of course we had to attempt a family shot in our photo booth...

 ha! That's as good as it gets :)


Cake was from the lovely Michelle & printables were from Sour Punch Studio

Summer of Rompers

I think it's safe to say Sienna will be spending most of her time this summer in rompers! I love them, she feels like a princess in them...everyone's happy :) Every girl needs a Chambray romper in their wardrobe...This cute little Nautica romper was given to her for Daniel's birthday :) Yes, she got a lot of gifts on top of all his gifts that she considers hers as well.

^^^This Cherokee romper was picked out for Daniel's mustache bash.^^^ Here are a couple of cute ones I've seen in the stores:

Diane von Furstenberg for Baby Gap

H&M

Old Navy

And what better to pair all these rompers with than a pair of gold Saltwater Sandals...

We just bought Sienna new ones because she outgrew her first pair! Mommy also has a matching pair in gold :) Mommy also just added these two rompers to her wardrobe: Target Target

Will you be taking part in the romper revolution this summer??