Cinco de Mayo & Mother's Day!

Annie asked me to help her be crafty for Mother's Day this year so we decided that we would get together on Cinco de Mayo and spend the evening dipping chips in salsa, watching the kids run around and plastering their hand & foot prints into cement for the grandmas.  I love Mexican food so Annie had me hovering around the table with the chips & dip.  I could have just eaten this for dinner.  I'm not hard to please.

But she didn't stop there.  She made Mexican rice from scratch and some really yummy tacos.  

We enjoyed our dinner while the kids enjoyed milk, juice, oranges & puffs.

I decided that I would make cement stepping stones for the grandmas for Mother's Day.  They are $19.99 at Michael's and with my 45% off coupon, I scored them for $11.  

The kit includes everything you need, minus the mixing bucket.  I thought it should be pretty easy.  We started by mixing water into the cement powder.

Then we poured it into the plastic mold that was provided.  I could have done this on my own but it was VERY helpful to have Annie there to help me by holding the bucket while I scraped it into the mold.  Plus I was working with cement in a dress, okay?  Not the smartest, I know.  We placed an old pizza box under the mold for easier transportation and to prevent any cement spillage onto the floor.

Then I pressed the stones into the cement in whatever design I wanted.  I wasn't very creative with this but I knew I wanted to write in it and I wasn't sure how much room that would take so I made sure to leave plenty of space.  I had a TON of leftover stones.  They give you enough to cover the entire thing.

I made one for Nana & one for Grandma.

After about 30 minutes we dumped Deuce's foot & hand into the cement and wrote names & the date.  I was totally bummed at this point because the water was running into the spaces that had just been carved, covering them up completely.  I kept starting over by spreading out my cement again and then re-writing the words.  I told Annie this project was a big F.A.I.L.  But she attempted to convince me otherwise so I just let them sit and I moved on.  By the way, I could not have gotten Deuce's hand & foot print without her.  It was impossible to hold him and do that by myself!  Lo & behold, they turned out great!  Here they are about 36 hours after we started.  I cleaned them off with a toothbrush and used a flat head screwdriver to get into the crevices to make them more legible.  I then set them in the rain to kind of rinse them (hence the dark shades).  I'm not even gonna lie, I left them outside by mistake and it rained but it was a good thing.  If I were making them again, I might rinse them with a hose.  It cleans off all of the cement flakes.

You can actually see the hand & foot print better than the pictures show.  And the longer they sit outside, and the more rain that hits them, the stones will clean off and will shine brighter.  Both Nana & Grandma really enjoyed them.  Nana put hers in her flower bed by the entrance to her house, along with the blue hydrangea we bought her.

Annie decided to make clay molds for Aja's grandparents.  They turned out so cute and she was able to use some of the leftover stones from my cement project.  First she rolled out the clay onto the tray with the roller provided.

Then she stuck Aja's hand and foot in them and added the stones.  She also wrote Aja's name & the date on them.  Then she baked them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, I think, which hardened the clay and solidified the prints.  The cool thing about these kits is that the other side of the tray has a slot for inserting a photo.  So Annie had photos of Aja printed and she inserted them after doing the baking.  They turned out great and she said the grandmas LOVED them.  And I think she had a good time being crafty too.  We are already planning Father's Day stuff, lol!

Meanwhile, the kids played & played & played.

Wanna go for a ride?

Mommy, we can't both fit!!!!!

Fine Deuce, if you're gonna cry about it, I'll just push you.

For Mother's Day we went down to my mom's house {after I got a beautiful tennis bracelet from the hubs that matches my engagement ring and my watch} and had dinner down there.  It was a nice relaxing afternoon.

Me = pasty hot mess = bad picture of mommy.  But cute of baby.
{TJ asked me the day before if I was going to get "brown" like him and Deuce this year.  I told him he was lucky he had a little help from his daddy in that department and that I had to go to the beach first.}

He was clapping for Mother's Day. Love.

Nana & her babies.  All 3.
{Check out auntie's headband...}

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