Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Something so simple

We went to a birthday party for a friends little boy that turned 1 last week. In our goody bag that we brought home we got these glasses.


Who knew that something so cheap and simple could make hours of family fun. These glasses have been worn by every member of the family. They have made many laughs.


I often wish that we could do more things for our kids or that we could take them more places but what I beginning to figure out is that Jagger and Johnie are just as content at home as they are on an airplane or on the beach as long as our family is together.


The simple things make life amazing...they are to be cherished and remembered. I pray that God always grants me the ability to recognize these simple moments and see them as true blessings. 


Monday, July 30, 2012

Cousins

Our Internet has been out of order for over a week :( but it's back up now...I have allot of
 catching up to do!!!!

A couple of weeks ago Jagger's cousins came over to spend the night with him. These cousins are John's brothers sons. Will is exactly one year old than Jagger and Jayce will be 8 on August 13th.


Some of my fondest childhood memories are of times with my cousins. I love seeing them interact with each other. Of coarse they fight and of coarse they taddle but I know as they growing up together that they will be life long friends.


Jayce and Will have a sister, Bella, who is 3 months younger than Johnie girl. It will so great for all of the kids to grow up together. I am very glad that John and his brother have the relationship that they do and that our children can all grow up knowing each other.


We only live a few minutes from each other and spend allot of time together. I love cousins. And I am very excited for my children to create the same great memories that I have with my family.


My sister just found out last week that she is having a baby boy!!! She is due December 18th....here comes another boy cousin!!!!

How are you making memories this summer????


Monday, July 16, 2012

Dining Room Update



Thought I would share a dining room update. A few days ago I posted my dream dining room and I wanted to give a progress report.

I wanted to have a lighter feel in this room. I am trying to get rid of the black furniture for now. My tastes change constantly and I change rooms around all the time. I like to move furniture around to change the looks of rooms.



I have been painting. We went from blue to yellow.



Always has to do what mommy is doing.


This is what we have so far. Pretty simple...much brighter!


I have some beautiful curtains that should be here any day!!! Can't wait to get those hung up!


I still haven't done anything with my table yet. I figure a pretty vintage tablecloth will cover the black for now. I switched my black chairs out with a set of 4 that I got at a garage sale.



That's where we are so far....I'll keep you posted :)

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Yummys

I made some yummys over this last weekend that I thought I would share.

First up Chicken Salad. I am sure everyone is familiar with this but would you believe that I had never had it before. I loved it at a baby shower that I recently visited so I decided to try my hand at it.

Chicken Salad

2 Cups Shredded Chicken
1/4 C Whipping Cream
1/2 C English Walnuts
2 C Grapes
1 C Mayo
Sugar For Taste

So first off I am not much of a cook especially when it comes to meat...it takes too long...I kind of have an attention span issue. I bought pre-made chicken that came in chucks and then I just shredded it up myself.

I basically buy everything generic that I can also...not every ones style but defiantly mine.


The grapes get cut in half and put into the mix.






I added sugar to my mixture because I didn't splurge on the Hellman's mayo like I should have and the salad had a slight wang to it from the mayo that I chose. The sugar helped to mask that flavor. I do not have a pic of the final product :( but it was really yummy. Eat with crackers....yummo!

Next I made

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

3 Eggs Lightly Beaten
1 C Vegetable Oil
3 t Vanilla Extract
2 1/4 C White Sugar
2 C Shredded Zucchini
3 C All Purpose Flour
1 t Salt
1 t Baking Powder
1/4 t Baking Soda
1 T Ground Cinnamon
1 Pint Fresh Blueberries (I used frozen still tasted great!)

Guess I need to mention that my grandma and grandpa gave me lots of zucchini's so I had to get creative before they went bad. Just to give you an idea of how this all went down every time I make something (especially bake) Jag always wants to "make" with me as he calls it.


Here's my little helper....I am not sure what this ridiculous face is but yes on Saturday morning there we we are on the kitchen counter in our Thomas the Train underwear "making" with mommy. He always gets his own utensils and smaller version of ingredients.


Shredding Zucchini gets old after awhile.



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 4 mini loaf pans. I don't have mini loaf pans so I made one regular bread pan and 12 muffins with this recipe.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini loaf pans.

Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn onto wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com



The final product minus one piece :)


And finally....

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 C All Purpose Flour
2 C White Sugar
3/4 C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 t Baking Soda
1 t Baking Powder
1/2 t Salt
1 t Ground Cinnamon
4 Eggs
1 1/2 C Vegetable Oil
3 C Grated Zucchini
3/4 C Chopped Walnuts



Again with the zucchini....



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 baking pan.

In a medium bowl stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil, mix well. Fold in the nuts and zucchini until they are evenly distributed. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake completely before frosting with your favorite frosting.

Recipe courtesy of allreceipes.com

I didn't get a final picture of this beautiful cake all I have to show you is this....


 
John really liked it!

Here's the icing that I put on it, this recipe is from my aunts secret vault....

Creamy Brownie Frosting

3 T Butter
3 T Hershey's Cocoa
1 T Light Corn Syrup Or Honey
1/2 t Vanilla
1 C Powdered Sugar
1-2 T Milk

Cream butter, cocoa, corn syrup and vanilla
Add powdered sugar and milk
Beat to spreading consistency

It's amazing!!! Enjoy!!!














Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Living Room Re-Do

I have been in a mix it up mood lately. I change my house around allot...no really - all the time. It is pretty rare to come to my house twice and everything to be the same. I love it, moving something and giving it a new life. I don't spend much money that way, I just try to pair different things together for a brand new look. I moved some things in the living room around last week and I thought that I would share.

I wanted to eliminate some of the black in my living room. I took all of my picture frames down and spray painted them off white. I also rearranged my apple crates to create a sort of shelf.

Before

After


I took my chicken coop out that I was using as a book shelf and re-purposed it in the playroom to as a TV stand.

Before

 

After


My mom and I made curtains out of burlap this past weekend. I love them! They cover the windows however they let enough light in that we can still enjoy our big windows.

Before


After


 I wanted to simplify the mantle a little. I think that the new picture fits the mantle much better.

Before


After


The whole room

Before


After
(Notice John is still located in the same spot :)


Have you changed anything around lately? Try it...it is very refreshing!!!


Monday, July 9, 2012

Dreaming....

I REALLY want to redo my dining room....

Here's what I am thinking :)



Stenciled concrete floors grey with white stencil



Yellow gold walls


Beautiful turquoise floral curtains


Rustic shabby chic off white table and chairs


Rustic china cabinet


 Can you feel it? Is that too much to ask ; )

I'll keep you posted on how this all works out for me.....a girl can dream can't she.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

DIY

Here is my second DIY from last week. On 4th of July I decided that my little Johnie needed a festive outfit for the days activities. Here's what I did.

First I wanted to make a headband. I wanted it to tie at the nape of her neck. I am not a sewer....like at all. I really want to be but I don't even own a sewing machine....that is on my wish list. So...I used a play apron that I had bought at a garage sale and cut it apart. The color worked great and it was already hemmed.



I ironed the piece after it was cut.



I used felt to make three flowers for the headband. They were all three the same size but you could always vary the sizes if you wanted.



Here she is! Front view...



Back view...I loved how it tied in the back.



So...I wasn't quite satisfied and decided I wanted to attempt a shirt also. I used the felt to cut out one star and three strips.



I sewed them on by hand with thick string. I like how that looks.



The complete outfit.


This is the only pic that I got with her wearing the shirt unfortunately she covered up the pretty but I promise it was on there!


Since the shirt was white it didn't make it past one party. Here is the outfit she wore to the next gathering.



Girls are so fun!!! My head is starting to dream about her first birthday that will be coming up in 2 months!!! I have lots of ideas!!!