Sunday, January 24, 2010

A New Journey...

Tomorrow I start a new journey.. I am going back to teaching high school. An emergency position came up and I got a call last week. Luckily, the school is nearby and I will be teaching Biology half the day and Anatomy and Physiology the other half. I haven't worked full-time out of the home since my oldest daughter was born and I'm not quite sure how to feel about it yet. I feel like this is what I'm meant to do, so I take comfort in that.

I will miss...


Our breakfast dates.


Taking and picking you up from school everyday and our little talks in the car.


Spending all day with you and our little naps while we watch "UP".

I LOVE YOU!

Well, here goes nothin'....

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Felt Playhouses

Ever blogstalk and find something incredible and think, "Wow, I wish I was that creative!" Happens to me all the time...

I was minding my own business and I'm not even sure how I stumbled across this blog, Homemade by Jill, but I'm so glad I did so I could see this amazing playhouse she made for her son:


Isn't that incredible? If that wasn't enough then I found this one on Shannon Makes Stuff:



If that isn't enough, I came across this Etsy store that sells all kinds of them like this:




Look at the other sides of this--to die for!


Cutest cafe!



I would love to make these for my girls for Christmas next year! So fun!

Monday, January 4, 2010

A Few Of My Favorite Things

Happy New Year! Wow, the holidays went by so fast as they always do!

We had a great holiday season and here are some of my favorite moments...


Family pictures downtown--Thanks JENNA!! (FOR A FABULOUS PHOTOGRAPHER CLICK HERE!)


Sledding with the kids in the driveway in Heber


Making rolls for the neighborhood



My little candy canes!!


Christmas Eve excitement!!


Christmas Morning


Playing with the girls new puppet theater Grandma X made for them!

Hope everyone's holidays were the best ever!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

The 10 Minute Christmas Dress!

I wanted to do this last minute project for so long and today was the perfect opportunity!



YES, THIS SERIOUSLY TAKES 10 MINUTES!

This is from the cutest blog called Trey & Lucy and click here for the instructions!



You can find these dish towels in the $1 bins at Target right now and all you need is ribbon and you're set!

Yes, yet another picture of Knocky with a lollipop in her hand!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Christmas Bella Skirt

I have been so excited about this sewing project I've been working on and it all paid off seeing my girls (Weezy and her cousin) wearing it on Friday! I got this pattern on You Can Make This and the pattern is called the Bella Twirl Skirt. I found a long sleeve pink shirt right now at Target for $5 and added the applique present. All of the fabric is from the Michael Miller holiday collections.






Best friends! I can't stand how cute they are together--LORIE PLEASE DON'T MOVE!!!

Here are some more possibilities to do with this pattern:



Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Is this still working?

Wow, I can't believe how much time flies! I can't stand it!

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season!
This is a long overdue Thanksgiving post but I wanted to make sure I remembered this for next year!

We were in charge of decorating the kiddie table and we decided to make this appetizer for the kiddos! You can get the instructions here from Family Fun! The kids (and adults) ate it all up and Weezy had so much fun making the kabobs.



The other thing I promised my mom I would write down is how I made the candy corn jell-o I have made the past couple of years. I wish I had a better picture but I forgot to take one before we went to my moms. It's basically 3 layers of jell-0 that are orange, yellow, and white to mimic a candy corn. This would also be fun to make for Halloween.

Note for next year: Put the yellow layer on the bottom with the yogurt, then orange so it looks more like a candy corn and the yellow shows up better.

Ingredients:

2 small packages of Orange flavor (or 1 large) Jello
2 small packages of Pineapple flavor (or 1 large) of Jello
1 8 oz yogurt
Whip cream

Directions:
Make pineapple flavor according to directions but instead of adding 2 cups of cold water, add 1 cup of cold water and 1 cup of yogurt and mix. (This year I did orange jello with orange cream yoplait on the bottom, but next year I think I will do the pineapple with lemon yogurt or vanilla first.) Let this set for at least 6 hours. Then mix the orange jello according to directions and carefully (and slowly!) pour on top of pineapple yogurt layer. Let set for another 6 hours. Right before serving, spread whip cream over the top! SO YUMMY! Adults loved this too!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

My Two Favorite Hero's



To my two favorite veterans on the planet--

You are the greatest heroes and I thank you both for your service to our country!

Grandpa A-- World War II--Bomber Tail Gunner

Daddy-- Vietnam--Helicopter pilot, Pointman

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Note to self...


Note to self: When you plan a trick-or-treating vacation to Disneyland
and have stayed up late many nights making costumes for your girls...


and are exhausted before you even get to Disneyland
and you get to Disneyland late at night for the trick-or-treat party...


Even though your girls are the cutest things on the planet--
and it starts out OK, even though your youngest won't wear half her costume...


Murphy's law will work against you---
and within 10 minutes your kids will sour
and refuse to get out of the stroller and trick-or-treat...



Thank goodness for teacups the next day--it makes up for everything!!!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Halloween Decor 2009

It's been a while since my last post. October has flown by so fast!

I didn't do much different this year than I did last year (click here to see!)

But, I did finally get around to framing my Disneyland Haunted Mansion stretch portraits!!!!


I hung them in my dinning room and I want to leave them up all year now!


My sister Annie gave me this ghost to add to my collection:

The ghost reminds me of my little Knocky Knock...

Then my Halloween canisters from my new favorite store, Tai Pan:


I had all these ideas to post and now October is more than half over--oh well--there's always next year!!!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

HELP!


I'm probably never going to totally forgive my brother and sister-in-law for moving to Texas, but I do want her to have a new washer and dryer for their new house...

SO, do me a favor and post a comment on this post (click here) of her blog! LEAVE AS MANY AS YOU WANT just make sure they are not anonymous! The contest ends tomorrow (Friday 10/2/09) at midnight so you have plenty of time to leave 600 comments!!!

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Shirt Dress-- Free Tutorial!



HOW CUTE IS THIS???!!!

If you have one of these...



You can make this dress by cutting like this...



And ending up with this cute dress!


I came across a really cute blog today called MADE and I'll have to add this dress to the list of what I want to make. You can get this free tutorial by clicking here!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake




This past weekend, we celebrated my Mom's birthday. We had a great time playing bunco and playing the Beatles Rockband! I was the biggest loser in the bunco game and I couldn't have asked for a better prize:



My own "Office" white board. Priceless.

My mom said she wanted a chocolate orange cake and I found this recipe from one of my new favorite blogs, Joy The Baker, and the icing/glaze from FatFree Vegan Kitchen. It is soooooo good!

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups cake flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, left at room temperature for 30 minutes
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
zest of 1 large orange
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Icing Ingredients:

Chocolate Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
2 teaspoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1/8 tsp. if double strength)
--plus extra orange juice as needed

Orange Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon orange juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1/8 tsp. if double strength)
--plus extra orange juice as needed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan and set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add half of flour mixture, and mix until just blended. Add sour cream, mixing until just combined, then add remaining flour mixture and mix until smooth.

Divide the batter evenly into two bowls. In one bowl add the orange zest and orange extract and stir to combine. In the other bowl add sifted cocoa powder and chocolate chips and stir to combine.

First pour the orange batter into the buttered Bundt pan, spreading it evenly around the bottom of the pan.



Next, simply add the chocolate batter on top of the orange to cover. No swirling is necessary, although you can swirl the batters together if you like.






Bake until cake is springy to the touch and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove from oven and cool cake in the pan for 30 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

When the cake is cool, make the icings. For each icing, mix the ingredients in separate small bowls. One half teaspoon at a time, stir in enough extra orange juice to make a drizzling consistency.



Drizzle the chocolate icing over the cake, wait a few minutes for it to set, and then drizzle the orange icing.



Here's what the cake looks like on the inside...


I garnished the inside of the cake with orange slices that people could squeeze onto their slices if they wanted more of an orange flavor.

Enjoy!

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Office

What did I spend the weekend doing? Watching this:



Although hard to determine my favorite clip from this season of Dwight, this one is one of the top 3.



As always, if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. Do yourself the favor and watch the blooper reel too!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Chicken Alfredo Pot Pie



I saw this recipe for Mini Chicken Alfredo Pot Pies in a Pillsbury cookbook that just came out and it looked way too good to pass up! This is a great and EASY recipe to throw together for dinner and my kids LOVED it too!

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
4 cups Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers (from two 12 oz. bags)
1 jar (16 oz) Alfredo pasta sauce
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated garlic butter crescent rolls

Directions:
In a large saucepan, heat cooked chicken, thawed vegetables, pasta sauce and milk over medium heat. Stir occasionally until thoroughly heated. Pour into a 9 X 13 Pyrex and cover the top with crescent triangles and then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until rolls are golden brown.



ENJOY!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Edith Twirl Skirt


I decided to just go for it and try sewing my first "twirl skirt"!


I found it on the You Can Make This website and I can't wait to make another one! I found this material from my new favorite quilting store in Phoenix called "3 Dudes Quilting". The fabric was 40% off and it was the Moda "Pack Your Bags" line.


To buy and download the instructions, click here. This was a great and easy pattern to follow!

OK, I think it's time to start paying attention to my family and home again. I may be taking this sewing thing a little too far.