Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Stuffed Penguin

How cute is this stuffed penguin from homemade by jill!  I love it!  I ended up making the little alligator taggie from the same site - and although it didn't turn out perfect, my little guy loves it.  That's all that matters, right?!  It was my first attempt at sewing & stuffing a little animal, so now I might dare attempt something else, like this penguin... 
my attempt at the alligator taggie animal...
Also, I just saw this on Homemade by Jill

Isn't it cute??  It's the Five Little Monkey's Swinging in a Tree poem/song (if you click on the Five Little Monkey's, it takes you to the FREE template).  Want to get sewing because I think both the penguin and these little finger puppets would be awesome 1st birthday gifts for my little guy!

Monday, July 18, 2011

I'm Alive!


Man - where does time go?  I've been so busy over the past couple of weeks, but I'm back!  I'll post about what we've been up to over the next few days or so, but for now...You gotta try these!


 
Mississippi Mud Brownies from Our Best Bites.  Go get the recipe & make them!  Delicious!!

I made them last night for Sunday dinner & they turned out YUMMY.  Everyone liked them.  Pretty easy to make & kinda fun to use the NEW "flat" marshmallows.  (You don't have to use the StackerMallows, but it does make it pretty easy!)


Also, I'm anxious to try their Grilled Chicken & Berry Salad with the Berry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

Final berry salad
Final Berry Vinaigrette

Happy Summer Cooking & EATING!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Happy 8th Birthday!

Happy 8th Birthday to this SWEET girl...


8 Reasons Why I LOVE Her:

1. She is the most unselfish person I know - she'll do ANYTHING for me!
2.  She can DANCE like there's no tomorrow...you should see her play JUST DANCE on the wii! She's got the moves!!
3.  She can carry on a conversation with anyone, any age, any time!  The only time she's not talking is when she's asleep.
4.   She can be a total girly GIRL one minute and then turn around and whip ya at a game of soccer or a foot race, etc.
5.  She could very well become a professional hula-hooper.  She can hula-hoop for an eternity without stopping!
6.  She always tries her hardest to CTR, and rarely makes a choice that would disappoint!
7.  She has the goofiest, toothless GRIN around, but never stops SMILING - ever!
and 
8.  She makes me feel like I've been somewhat successful as a mom & I love her to pieces!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Cute Ideas...

How perfect would these two treat ideas be for sharing while watching fireworks this Holiday weekend??  So easy and so cute!

Red Vines Bundles from Room to Inspire (link also found at eighteen25):

Ring Pops from lisa storms:
Blog_4th_ringpop

Wishing you all a SPECTACULAR 4th!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Summer Fun!

When I saw this idea on eighteen25, I knew it was PERFECT for my almost 8 year old daughter!  She is super creative and loves to be doing anything crafty.  I could fill an entire filing cabinet with the little notes and pictures she's constantly giving me.  Almost daily I find a little note or picture tucked somewhere.  Writing a PEN PAL would be the perfect summer activity for her!  She has several little friends that I know would love corresponding with her through the mail.  So, we will be creating some of these darling pen pal kits over the next few days...one to for Syd to keep, and a couple for the friends she'd like to correspond with.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Quick 4th of July Decoration!

Have you seen these FREE, patriotic subway art printables from eighteen25 and the Crafting Chicks?  They're perfect for the 4th of July!  You can print them any size (as big as 16x20 down to 3x5).  A 4x6 size in a little red frame would be perfect for a VT gift or for a late June birthday gift.  I printed one in an 8x10 size and put it in a frame on my mantle with my other patriotic decorations.  Easy! Quick! Cheap!  Love it!



Happy Decorating...

Monday, June 20, 2011

Delicious Week!

I tried several new recipes this past week and weekend, all of which were from Our Best Bites.  I either got the recipes from their cookbook or from their site...  All the recipes were fairly simple and soooo yummy!

Here are the ones I tried along with a couple of the recipes (all pictures are from their site):
Spicy Honey Chicken
Made this for my family for Sunday dinner.  Grilled it on the BBQ & served it with baked potatoes, fresh fruit, rolls w/jam, and steamed veggies.  It was delicious!  It's in the cookbook, not on their site...  So if you have the cookbook, you gotta try this recipe!  It won't disappoint.

Asian BBQ Chicken

This is such an easy recipe.  I got the chicken marinating in the morning and stuck it in the fridge for the day.  Then we grilled it on the BBQ that evening.  My kids LOVED this chicken.  They would eat it daily!!  It's similar to a teriyaki chicken, but BETTER.  My sister likes to use the leftover chicken to make a pizza with an Alfredo sauce instead of a tomato sauce.  Haven't tried that, but sounds good to me! 

Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches



This was sooo good & easy as well!  It's a crock pot recipe - my favorite!  The ingredients for this recipe sound kinda interesting, but  trust me, it is really YUMMY!  Try it!  We ate it as suggested on toasted rolls with provolone cheese the first night.  The next day we used the leftover shredded beef on fresh cooked flour tortillas with shredded cheddar cheese...it was amazing!  So good!!

Berry Cobbler
I made this for dessert for Father's Day.  It was a little work, and used several bowls (I hate doing dishes!).  Not hard by any means, just took a few minutes.  But soooo worth it!  It was the perfect dessert.  It tasted so good.  I made it with frozen blueberries and blackberries.  I also served it with French vanilla ice cream drizzled with a caramel/butter sauce I made.  It was heavenly.  Everyone loved it.