YAY! IT'S SOCCER TIME!!!!

Yes, you heard me correctly!  I am so excited that spring soccer has started up!  I LOVE watching my girl play soccer, even if it is a bit difficult with a fussy 21 month old and a completely bored 8 year old. And I know I've complained in the past about soccer (ahem...here and here), but this is my girl playing, not the family dealing with Dad's obsession.  There is a big difference.

So EARLY (6:45 early) Saturday morning, we were packed in the car and headed to Sis's first game of the season.  This spring we are with an Academy team, so we have more intense practices and games where we are traveling quite a bit.

3 iPhones, 1 iPod, 1 DSi, 1 Kindle, 3 books, 2 yogurt sticks, 1 banana, 1 thermos full of Gingerbread coffee, 2 chairs, 1 jogging stroller, 2 blankets, and 3 kids later, we were on our way!!  This momma is prepared to entertain every way possible so I can watch the girl play soccer.

And oh how she played!

 I look at these pictures in amazement.

 She plays with such sureness and confidence.

 As if it's all second nature to her.

 And she's only 9.

The best part of the game came when she had a corner kick, was passed the ball back and kicked it perfectly to curve right into the goal.  It was amazing y'all.  It looked so perfect and planned.  I wanted to jump out of my skin I was so proud of her.  That has to be one of the best feelings in the world.  To see your child work so hard at something and then succeed.  It was awesome.

So yes, I welcome the soccer season - Brody starts this week too and soon we will have 2-3 games each weekend.

Hmm...wonder when the baby can start???

It's easy with an iPhone...

Guess who got an iPhone for Valentine's Day??  And I got it in a pretty special way.....

did ya' hear the sarcasm in my voice??

Super Sweet Hubby thought he was being clever - I had hinted all week that it might be difficult to get an iPhone b/c Verizon started selling them too.....

He **thought** he had one on hold for me at Bust Buy when he sent this. Uh no.

Let's just say, I worked really hard to get my Valentine's Gift.  

(I walked into the AT&T store...shhh.....don't tell him it was that easy....)

Nevertheless.....I got my new 4G iPhone (cue the squealing)!!  And it is WONDERFUL - so super fast - now if only I can get my mom to learn how to work the Facetime feature, we'd be set.....

As I was transferring all my "stuff" from my old to my new, I came across so many great pictures I had taken on the iPhone.  And it made me realize how lucky we are to grow up in an era where we can capture anything with our camera phones.  Or are we?

 my little hobbit....

 he loves his trains so much he just wanted to crawl in there with them and get stuck?

 what, don't all moms teach their kids to feed themselves by 18 months?

 he definitely didn't like the hair bow...

 and this my friends, is how we restrain our kids in the Darling house...

(I kid...I kid...)

 This is how we really do it...

 my own Boba Fett bobble head... how lucky am I?

 I'm stuck mom - 

wait, let me take a picture instead of helping you get out of the box.....

 yep- I took a picture before getting him down from the table.

 or helping him get his hand unstuck....

 and this was to document the nutritional value of a cup of "non-fat" yogurt

But then you have those super-sweet moments that you have been able to capture as well:

ah yes, what would we do without our iPhones to capture every single moment in our lives???

Were Gonna Be Famous!

Some of the best memories I have with my kiddos involve Disney. We have take 3 trips to the "World" with them, and we feel like that has been plenty.  We are not that family that goes 2-3 times every year - however, my heart does a little flutter when I think of my girlie meeting her favorite princess, or Brody getting kissed by Snow White, or having to bribe Sis on the roller coaster ($20 y'all!!) only to have her love it, or tearing up nightly at the Wishes fireworks show.  Ah yes, Disney tugs at my heart strings.

And so when I received a call last October from the Ad company in charge of their latest campaign, "Memories", and found out that they wanted to use some of my Disney footage they found from our last trip on Vimeo, I freaked out!!! Uh, feature my kids in a national commercial?  Uh yeah.

So I signed the tons of paperwork and uploaded my movie.

and waited.


and waited.


and Christmas came & went.


and I forgot all about it.

Until last Friday at 5 pm.  I got a phone call....y'all we are not only in 2 national airing commercials, we are also featured 5 times in the nightly Cinderella Castle show (WDW) and It's A Small World show (DL)!!  The commercials started airing this week and I caught this one during Good Morning America yesterday.  Try to see us - we are in 2 spots!!!

 Did you see us???
The adorable girl & her funny momma screaming on the ride at the beginning?
And the cute cute cute boy & his Daddy in the space rocket?

Isn't that awesome???

How about this one:
look for the cute boy & girl jumping in front of the castle at the beginning

those are my 2 cuties!!!

And if you really want to humor me, here is the Cinderalla Castle show.  It's a 10 min clip, but my kids could watch it over & over.  Look for us:

1:39 - Sissy in front of the castle in pink

2:12-2:17 - Matt & Brody in Rocket ship ride (Matt is wearing an orange visor)

5:35 - Matt in a red shirt, back to the screen on Thunder Mountain Railroad (very quick)

7:05 - Brody & Sissy playing big African drums

7:37 - Sissy & Me singing to the camera

Oh how I have been begging Matt to take us for a quick trip- I just want to see us in the show while it is still airing!!!  Anyone want to take us???  I have a few friends who are going for Spring Break and I am insanely jealous that they get to see this in person! 

I guess for now, I just will have to settle for seeing us on tv....... sigh......

I Love...

‘nuff said…

go have a happy valentine’s day….

Love is in the Air...

I wanted to make my loves something sweet for Valentine's day..... (plus I needed a quick dessert to take for a dessert swap), so I made a little Valentine's version of a s'mores bar...we shall call it the

S'mores Love Bar

just gather these simple ingredients....

melt some buttah....

 add some brown sugah.....

pour it over some crackahs....

 don't forget the chocolate....

mhhhh.....if only this was a "scratch-n-sniff" photo.....

 add your marshmalloes and valentiny M&Ms

 mmmmm....a s'mores love bar

 they didn't last long in this house y'all.

S’mores Love Bars

12 (5X2 1/2 inch) graham crackers

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 cups marshmallows

4 milk chocolate candy bars, broken into pieces

1.    Heat oven to 350°F.  Line 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan with foil leaving a 1-inch overhang on the ends.  Spray foil with cooking spray.  Place graham crackers onto foil so sides touch.

2.   Melt butter and brown sugar in medium saucepan over MEDIUM heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and mixture comes to a boil, about 5 minutes.   Pour evenly over crackers.

3.   Bake 5 to 6 minutes or until bubbly.

4.    Remove pan from oven; sprinkle with marshmallows and candy bar pieces.  Continue baking until marshmallows begin to soften, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Sprinkle with M&Ms (if desired).  Cool completely.  Lift form pan using foil.  Cut into bars. 

What's a Vlog?

One of these....

one of these things is not like the other....

one of these things doesn't belong...

can you tell which thing is not like the other?

before I finish my song?

It's Snow Fun!

Here is a little fun I had with a movie highlighting all the snow fun everyone across the US has had:

Snow! from Rebecca Darling on Vimeo.

No matter of you got 1/2 of an inch or 12, kids everywhere love the snow!
Doesn't this make you want to be a kid again???

Snow 2011

This past week we had crazy weather. It was 75 on Sunday, where I enjoyed my first farmer's tan of the season and a smattering of freckles across my face.  By Tuesday, it was in the 20's with a wind chill in the single digits.  We didn't leave the house.  And as I heard that all of my DFW friends on Facebook were enjoying "Ice days" at home, Bubba and I enjoyed a few "non-snow-snow-days" at home ourselves.  We played with trains endlessly, drank lots of coffee, read books, and didn't step one foot outside.  

But on Friday, we finally got a small taste of the "snowmagaddon" the rest of the country was enduring. So, we only got 3/4 of an inch ~ someone referred to it as a powdered-donut ~ it was enough to shut down life as we know it here in Central Texas and this family enjoyed a REAL snow day!!

 these kids were up early to see the "snow" that had fallen the night before

 and there it is - our "winter wonderland"

 doing the "no school dance" at 7 am

 out we went in our pjs and coats to play!

 bubba didn't know what to think of it - a true Texas boy

 these kids had big plans

 ~ snowball fights ~ 

~ snowmen ~ 

~ sledding~

~ snow forts ~

not so much....

 playing in the back yard will have to do!

 except this poor bubba boy HATED it!!

Good thing we live in Texas, where weather like this only comes around once every couple of years!!