Christmas Hangover

This was taken the day after Christmas:

A bigger post soon, right now I am enjoying my time off with my family.

*YUM*

Lindsey and I spent all day baking on Saturday. Well she kinda got bored with it after a few hours and moved on to other things like cleaning her room, hmmm I would have rather baked than clean my room when I was eight. Gotta love it though, that is her Dad coming out in her. I did however get 90% of my baking finished and I am so happy about that. Last year I was a total slacker with the holiday baking. I think the only thing I managed to do was the Chex Mix and that is only because David and Lindsey would have made me ride on the hood of the car to Ohio. Chex Mix is a must with those two, forget everything else as long as there is homemade Chex Mix. I was 12 weeks pregnant this time last year, so I really was not up for much of anything except my head on a pillow. Anyway, this year I am on schedule with my decorating, my baking and pretty much all of my shopping, well my gifts are mostly handmade this year. So after....

2 batches of peppermint bark

Several batches Chocolate Kiss & Turtle Pretzels

2 batches of mint chocolate dipped oreos

3 batches of Chocolate gobs

3 batches of Chocolate chip cookies

3 batches of Chex Mix

3 batches of Sugar Cookies

I am almost finished. I still have a few things left to make, things that really can't be made until the day prior to consumption, but for the most part......*DONE*.

Just for fun

Lindsey and me, goofing with the camera:


And look at this *cutie*

*Love* the tootsies, so cute.

*Holiday craftiness*

Here are some of the things I have been working on:

This is the mantel in our Family Room, I painted the canvas *packages* two years ago and made the stockings that same year, obviously I had to make a fourth one this year, (I had saved some of the extra fabric just in case;) glad I did) The feather trees are new this year, very easy and inexpensive to make. I *love* how they turned out.

This is a wreath I made for Lindsey's bedroom door. Very stylish for a *sassy* eight year old.

These are our advent boxes/calendar, also new this year. Got the idea here and here. Lindsey is really enjoying opening up the boxes each day to see what *goodie* she and Mally have gotten. Not all are filled with actually goodies, some are filled with pieces of paper that list something we will do as a family that night, like *cuddle under a blanket and drink some hot cocoa* or *watch a Christmas DVD* or * put on your PJs climb in the car and go look at Christmas lights* with a to go cup of hot cocoa of course.

I am really excited about the holidays this year, so much to be thankful for. It has been a busy year and I am looking forward to slowing down a bit and spending it will my family. Yes, they are all coming to my home this year. Christmas Day will be spent with my Dad, looking forward to that too, it has been a pretty good year for getting our relationship back on track. I am happy about that, esp. for my girls sake.

Going out soon...

Our Christmas card:

O Christmas Tree(s)

OK, so I was talking to my Mom on the phone yesterday while waiting in carpool line at school and she was asking me how many Christmas trees I put up this year, so I mentally go through the house counting them and say twelve, then pause....and she busts out laughing. It was a total accident that I had put up twelve trees, and didn't realize it until I was talking with her. For those of you that know us, you will find this *hilarious*.

Sick-O x 4

We are re-cooping from a household cold epidemic. We are all drugged and ready to face the world again. More to come.... Some pictures to post too. YEAH!!!!

Getting Ready...

I love this time of the year, getting ready for Christmas, making lists etc. I *love* getting out all of my Christmas crafting books and magazines and getting a few new ones to add to the collection. I have several projects (gift tags, advent calendar, canvases etc...) in the works, trying to get those finished. I plan to get the decorations up this week sometime and I can't wait. I *love* it. I usually put up at least 3-4 Christmas trees throughout the house. Pictures to come later.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For this I am so Thankful:
Photo by Marci Lambert.

I survived....

OK, I survived the *birthday weekend* two parties later. We celebrate a whole weekend of Lindsey's birthday, well it usually consists of a party for her friends (a scrapbook party) then a family party which is our traditional spaghetti dinner. Why spaghetti? Well for starters it is one of Lindsey's favorites and the real reason...when we brought Lindsey home from the hospital, that scary six mile drive, the one where you are thinking OH MY GOSH we are responsible for this tiny miracle in the back seat and traffic should be stopped so no other cars can come close to us. Anyway when we pulled into the garage and opened our car doors all I could smell was my Step-Dads spaghetti and meatballs, *SO YUMMY*, he makes the best, hands down. That was the meal we had our first night home with our little sweetie. Every time I smell them it takes me back to that day when we walked into our home together as a *family of three*. Just to keep traditions going, it was the meal we had when we came home as a *family of four* too. Thanks Bob! Your Spaghetti and Meatballs ROCK!!!!

When he wasn't looking I snapped some pics of him cooking:


I'll post some party pics later. I have to get ready for work now.

Happy Birthday Lulu!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful *eight* year old!

*Apple* of my eye

Well, at least one of my eyes, the other is reserved for my little *cutie pie*.

This and That

Lindsey's birthday party is this weekend and I think I am ready. I spent this past weekend preparing. My Mom and Step-Father will be in town on Thursday as will my Grandmother. Lindsey's party for friends is Friday night and her family party is on Saturday; our traditional Spaghetti dinner.

Halloween was fun, we had a last minute costume change, but it all turned out OK. However, let me say this, I miss the days of Lindsey wanting to dress up as Minnie Mouse, Belle, Jasmine, Little Red Riding Hood, and a Cheerleader. This year she was an Aqua Fairy, still not sure about that one. It was a very tween like costume and to be quite honest, it was not a battle I wanted to fight at 3:30P on Halloween. I let her wear some black eye shadow and lipstick too. I had a weak moment people. Truthfully, she looked kinda cool. David didn't freak out as I thought he would, he just goes with the flow; another reason I *adore* him. I thought for sure when he got home from work and saw her he would just go into shock, but he didn't, he could see how excited Lindsey was with her costume choice....and so they went trick-or-treating and scored some good candy. Mallory and I hung out at the house and greeted trick-or-treaters.

OK so here is a picture of Lindsey in her costume....READY? Are you sure?

We lost the wings, just couldn't get them to cooperate:

My *Aqua Fairy* gotta love her!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Working~scrapping~being Mom

Work is busy right now. (I know I say this a lot but it really is.) Trying to finish up a project by weeks end. I spent a better part of the weekend programming at home(work) and the other part being a Mommy and wife. I am tired today.

I am co-room mother for Lindsey's class this year and we decided to put together these scrap albums for the children to scrap in throughout the year. So at the end of the school year they will have a nice keepsake to take home. I put together the album to get them started and they will add pages throughout the year. I took pictures of the children with the teacher for the cover and for the teachers album I took a picture of the class with her. I like how they turned out and I can't wait to see how the children will create their pages.

Second Grade Monkeys:




I am also finishing up Lindsey's birthday party invites. WOW she is going to be *eight*. *sniff, sniff*.

Mallory had her first taste of cereal over the weekend too. Just *Messy Cute*!

Art Calendar

Here is the finished *art calendar* I mentioned previously. I love how they turned out!

Cute Acrylic Albums

I have been seeing a lot of scrap albums using sheets of acrylic. Amazingly enough I found several sheets in my stash of stuff from a project I worked on a couple of years ago. I am going to play around with it some. They look like fun.

On another note here are a few more pictures from the weekend that I played around with in PSP.

*Fabulous* weekend

My Mother came in town for a surprise visit (a surprise for Lindsey) I love it when she is in town. We have such a good time hanging out. Saturday we decided to do some crafting, we made some really cool stuff. I also made an attempt at creating the *art calendar* I mentioned in my previous post. It was so much fun to make. I started one for myself, my Mother and of course Lindsey wanted a wall sized one too. They all turned out really cute. Pictures to follow later.

Sunday we took the girls out around town looking for cool places to photograph them. Lots of fun. Here are a couple of shots that I took, I have lots more but want to play around with them in Paint Shop Pro.

Check this out

OK, I stumbled across TracyU and her amazing art calendar journal tonight as I was reading an art blog. An *artful* twist on a daily calendar. Check it out. I am going to make one of these. It will definitely make me *happy* if I keep my daily *to do* list written on something like this. So awesome!

Dork'y

Yes I know this is a little on the *dork'y* side but I can be that way sometimes. These new Starbucks cups in our cafe' at work make me *happy* . I love the artwork on the bottom edge.

Reflecting back..

I was looking through some old photos and found these.

My how she has grown. I miss the *haircut* too. I love when we get to go to the beach. Hopefully we will get to make a trip next summer, Mallory will be walking by then. Should be fun!!! I need some beach photos with both of my girls.

Quick Weekend

Wow, the weekend is over. I do wish they were longer, I can't seem to get everything I want to do crammed into two days any more. Saturday was spent taking Lindsey to a birthday party and later in the evening a sleepover. I tell ya her social life makes mine look sad. But in all honesty I do not mind, I had time to do *things*, fly by the seat of my pants if you will, before I had the girls. It's their time now and as long as David and I get some time to go out once in a while then I am OK with that.

I got to create some *stuff* over the weekend, in between laundry and other house stuff. For the birthday party Lindsey went to I created this tag, so much fun to make.

I will be making more of these. A quick fix when I can't sit down very long to actually scrap a whole page. I also made Lindsey's teacher a little goodie for Halloween, I didn't get around to taking a picture yet. Will do that before Lindsey takes it to her tomorrow. I also started working on a collage/painting for my office at work. I really need to brighten the gray walls up some, if I have to be there then I need it to be a happy place for me to dwell.

We also had some major milestones reached over the weekend. First and foremost, Lindsey has had this *habit* since she was a toddler, I will not say what it is/was just that it has been a source of frustration for David and I to get her to stop. Nothing major but she is after all almost eight and it is time. I am EXTREMELY *happy* to report that she has made it two days, without ********. YOU GO GIRL. Lindsey also had her first *real* sewing lesson on a *real* sewing machine. She did VERY well. (it is in her blood) A fifth generation seamstress. By the end of the day she was threading her own needle. My Mother and Grandmother will be so excited.

Here she is sewing on my old sewing machine (now hers):

Mallory is doing great, she is getting to where she can roll over one way from her back to her stomach then from her stomach to her back again. She is also talking up a storm and laughing like everything is funny. She is going to be a talker for sure. She is trying so hard to sit up too, I know that is a few months away, but man she is trying so hard. She is going to be a mover and a shaker I can already tell.

Lindsey and I also got our *BOO* stuff together. I always try to do a theme and I like for it to be something that families can do together. Like last year we did cookie baskets with sugar cookie mix, a can of icing, sprinkles, and a decorating bag, something you can do together as a family. This year I went with a *Family Dinner* theme I put a chili mix, a Cajun cornbread mix, a Halloween dish towel, some Halloween cups and napkins and a couple of sweets for the children in paint cans that I altered. I try not to put stuff in the baskets that will annoy parents, like how many coloring books and crayons does one child need or candy since they will no doubt have way more than they will ever eat Halloween night. I let Lindsey pick who she wants to *boo* . When I first started this (2003 when we moved into the neighborhood) I had read about it on the Internet and thought it would be a fun way to meet the neighbors on our street, but it has since spread into the neighborhood. It is fun to drive through and see who has been *booed*. Now Lindsey likes to venture out away from our street and pick new people to *boo*. She gets a kick out of putting the stuff out, ringing the doorbell and running to get in the car before anyone sees her. I get a good laugh watching her. Anyway here is the finished product and the poem.

The Neighborhood Phantom

(you can change the name so it reads the name of your neighborhood i.e. The Normandy Meadows Phantom)

The Phantom haunts you happily from now through Halloween,and was delivered by a friend who (hopefully) was not seen.

The spirit of the neighborhood has come to wish you well,someone, somewhere, selected you to receive this happy spell.

You must display the Phantom on your door so all can spy that you're already haunted by this happy little guy.

Then fix 3 sacks with goodies like the one given to you, ring someone's bell and leave a bag and make them happy, too!

Happy Halloween!

Fill the gift bag with Halloween goodies such as pencils, silly putty, candy, juice boxes, candles, homemade pumpkin bread, or a seasonal dish towel. Put the Phantom and the poem in the goody bag, ring someones doorbell and run!

* You may only want to do this with families that you know in your neighborhood.

What the heck?

OK. I must say that I am extremely disappointed in the results of our city election. The incumbent has won yet again, meanwhile our city will surely suffer through a few more years of his non-sense. I am a little upset to say the least. I will just leave it at that.

In other news, the girls are really keeping me busy. They are passing *the crud*, as I like to call it, back and forth to one another. I am scared to slow down to much for fear that *the crud* will catch me, as it tends to do. Mallory, the poor thing, is dealing with baby eczema so she has been wearing mittens for the last few days to keep her from scratching up her face. Lots more going on too, but will not go into all that. Anybody else want to toss something my way to see how much I can handle? All while trying to work a full time job mind you (with some major deadlines). I always manage to make it all work and this should not be any different. I am looking forward to the weekend, will most likely being doing some storyboard writing this to get caught up.

I have been working on some things and will post pictures of those soon.

Productive weekend

All in all we/I had a productive weekend. I had several monogramming orders to complete and I am happy to say that I am caught up. I also listed a couple of my buckets on etsy. I am anxious to see how that goes. I also listed a couple of things on ebay, just trying to purge some unneeded items. I have several other things to list on etsy and ebay so I will be working on that this week. I need to start planning Lindsey's birthday party too, I am hoping for something low key and at the house. Will see how that goes.

Time Management...Second Grade style

OK...the one thing that I dread most in the afternoons is getting all of Lindsey's "To Dos" completed. I feel like an army drill Sargent barking out orders and confirming if things got done or not and I knew with a new baby I might overlook something. So at the beginning of the school year I created these "Time Management" cards for Lindsey. I used scraps of card stock, clip art and stickers to create the cards and then laminated them. They hang on hooks in the kitchen near where she does her homework and as she completes a card she moves it to the "completed" hook. She has until 8:30P to complete the stack of cards. On each card I gave suggestions on times to complete the task. It seems to be working well. Now all I have to say is have you started your cards or how many cards have you completed? Much easier for the both of us.

The *cards*

Scrapbooking

Below are pictures of a Paper Bag Mini Album Lindsey and I made last year for her best friend's birthday. It turned out really cute and was really fun to make.

New recipe

I have been looking for quick and easy recipes that don't take too many ingredients and a lot of time to prepare, because the afternoon rush can be overwhelming at times (esp. on Tuesdays and Thursdays). I have this thing that I must prepare a nice meal for my family every night, it is not something I want to wimp out on, like serving cereal or pb&j or whatever you can find in the pantry, not that there is anything wrong with that, I just feel like dinner time needs to be at the table and it needs to be something I have prepared. Well all of that to say that I found this recipe on Martha Stewart's Everyday Food website while browsing for recipes to try. It was really quick and easy and super *yummy*. And it can be prepared with one hand, meaning a baby in one arm and making dinner with the other. Some how Mally's feeding time happened at the same time I was trying to get dinner ready. Anyway we all got to eat a nice meal last night.


BAKED ZITI
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 ounces ziti rigate (ridged) or other short pasta
1 cup part-skim ricotta
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
1 jar (24 to 26 ounces) best-quality tomato sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions; drain and reserve.
2. In a small bowl, combine ricotta, egg, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and half the mozzarella; season with salt and pepper.
3. In the bottom of a shallow 2-quart casserole dish, spread half the tomato sauce. Top with ziti, then ricotta mixture and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and remaining mozzarella. Place casserole on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until top is browned and sauce is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

I served it with a garden salad for David and I and Lindsey had pears.

So what's for dinner tonight? Not sure yet.

Holy Cow...

Where did September go? It has been a whirlwind month, lots going on. Lots of stuff going on with the girls. Lots of decisions being made. Some things that took us by surprise. But we are still trucking along. Hubby and I quietly celebrated our 8 year anniversary yesterday. I thank God everyday and I mean *everyday* that he sent me David. I can't imagine what my life would be like without him.

It is officially Fall, but where is the Fall weather? I am waiting.

YUMMY Saturday dinner

Chicken Cobbler has become one of our favorite dishes. It was in the January 2006 issue of Southern Living magazine or on page 41 of the 2006 annual recipe cookbook.

Chicken Cobbler

6 tablespoons melted butter, divided
4 cups cubed sourdough rolls
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 medium-size sweet onions, sliced
1 (8-ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup white wine or 1 cup of Chicken Broth
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup drained and chopped jarred roasted red bell peppers
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken

Preparation
Toss 4 tablespoons melted butter with next 3 ingredients; set aside.
Sauté onions in remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat 15 minutes or until golden brown. Add mushrooms, and sauté 5 minutes.
Stir in wine or broth and next 3 ingredients; cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until bubbly. Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 9-inch square baking dish; top evenly with bread mixture.
Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

This is sooo good and even better the next day.

Altered Books and Art Journals

Been playing around with creating an altered book/art journal, so much fun. No rules just pure *playing*. I love it, esp. after working all day where rules are key. Oh and it is so inexpensive, you can use a wide variety of things you have around the house or in my case scraps of past crafting/scrapbook supplies.

Here it is so far, I still have several pages to go.



I am making this for my Mom and Step-Dad. I didn't really plan to it just went that direction. I hope to have it completed in time for their anniversary in October. Oh my gosh that is only a month away. Where does the time go?