Daisy Chick Designs

A few fun and easy crafts!

2011-02-09T14:18:00.005-05:00

I have been meaning to post pictures of some crafts that I made a little while ago but haven't had the time to. The first one is a Valentine rosette ball that I just love. I have seen these in a few blogs and decided it was time to try them out. They were very easy to make and I was was so happy with how they turned out. All you need to make some of these are some Styrofoam balls, crepe paper and a glue gun. I used two different sized balls. I took a piece of crepe paper and cut it at about 18-24 inches depending on the size of the ball. Then I folded the top half down and just started rolling it up until I got to the end. I put a dab of hot glue to secure it and glued that pretty rosette onto the ball. You will want to smoosh them in and flare the edges out as you glue them on. They were so easy that even my nine year old son was rolling them for me and then I attached them! (They go much faster with a little help)!!The next project took less than a half hour and I made it while sitting in my van waiting for my son! Oh, and another bonus is that it cost less than $4 to make. SCORE!!!

All you need for this one is a Styrofoam circle(dollar store), push pins or safety pins and coffee filters. I went with the brown ones instead of white and just love the antique look.Take a filter and push your fingers in the middle making a cone shape around your hand, do the same thing with another one and stick a pin through the tip of both of them. Then push that into the foam. I did this all the way around the wreath and it came out very full. I used about 75 filters I think. Try it, you will love it!!

Bring the snow inside!!

2011-01-15T10:57:00.004-05:00

My kids were all sick this week again and that meant staying home from school. They had no energy to go out in the freshly fallen snow but kept asking to go out. It was also one of those days when your house looks like a toy tornado has gone through it. So I decided to grab a large plastic container and fill it with snow. I then called the boys to the kitchen table and they just looked at me like I had lost my mind. When I told them that they could play in it they were very happy! They got their gloves on and dug in, making snowmen, tunnels and Evan got out all of his winter animals and made a play area for them. The lid came in very handy and it served as another place to put the snow in.

It was good packing snow too so that really helped with making things and it didn't melt fast either. If you have younger kids, give it a try.

Transformed $10 gun cabinet... just look at her now!

2010-12-15T16:06:00.004-05:00

I actually finished this project quite awhile ago but just haven't been up to blogging lately! It is a cool way to re-do an ugly old gun cabinet. I have to give all of the idea credit to this blog. She inspired me to do it and I searched for months on Craigslist for a cheap gun cabinet and found this one for $10!! Sorry for the horrible pictures but as you can see from the window we have a lot of snow but NO sun! It makes for some pretty lousy photos.
Here are some lovely before shots:

Mine came with the glass still in the door so I decided to keep it. I just had to use a lot of wood filler on the door and drawer where the old locks were. We made the basket part similar to hers.We had most of the wood and the bead board left over from other projects so it really didn't cost me much to finish it. The hardest part of the whole thing was painting it. I decided to try spray paint and it didn't go well. I just couldn't get it to cover really well and it ended up bubbling up in some spots. It was worth a try but I think I will go back to good old latex and a brush for the rest of my furniture projects!

Keep checking good old Craigslist, you never know what good finds are out there!

Caramel apple fun

2010-10-11T10:56:00.006-04:00

We had our friends over and their kids to make caramel apples the other night. I haven't made these in years and it was fun!
Next time I would make my own caramel sauce instead of melting down the little packaged ones. They only took an hour to peel off all of the dumb plastic packaging!! They didn't melt right and the toppings wouldn't stick very good. Despite that, the kids had a good time making them and I know they liked eating them!

It was a fun night of carmel apples, popcorn and a movie!!

My house smells like apples!!!

2010-09-30T17:15:00.008-04:00

Wow, that was one long break I just had from blogging! The summer and start of school was really a little bit more crazy that I thought it was going to be. While I have been reading your blogs everyday, I haven't been keeping up on my own. So finally this week I decided to get back at this. To start it off I have spent the week learning how to can things. It's been years since I have done it and thanks to my neighbor Kate who asked to do it with me I have figured it out.

We took the boys apple picking the other day and it was a lot of fun. Of course they filled up those bags so quickly that we weren't actually there that long!

I have made applesauce many times but have never canned it so that was the first thing to try. It was very easy and came out great. I even made another batch of strawberry applesauce too that turned out to be my favorite. My kids request a lot of cinnamon in theirs so that is why it looks very dark! This is Aiden helping to peel the apples! He had so much fun but I think he ate more than he peeled!

Today I made apple butter. Again very easy but mine too forever to thicken and in the process made a mess of my stove, floor, range hood, etc. Next time I will use the slow cooker! The final result is so yummy though so it was worth the work! I hope that you are enjoying the fall and apple season too!

Where oh where did August go?????

2010-08-23T17:39:00.002-04:00

I think the title sums up things. I have been so busy this summer and it's been great. I really don't want to see fall this year even though I love the season. I am ready for school in a way to get back to some routines and the kids not killing each other all day. I am not ready for tired mornings, homework, major anxiety with my 1st grader who I know is not going to get on the bus until about week 2 of school....Not ready for gray days and bare trees, and no more flip flops and pool!
Well, it's coming and there is nothing that I can do to stop it! We better enjoy the last 2 weeks of summer and cram in all those little trips and adventures that I wanted to do with the kids. See you soon!!!

Odd Goodwill piece made over!

2010-07-23T10:27:00.004-04:00

I found this odd little shelf at Goodwill a few weeks ago for $3 and carried it all through the store trying to think of somewhere to use it. I figured for that price it just had to come home with me. So I tried it here and there with no luck! It was always too short or too small. I thought it would be great to store books on in my son's room but his picture books are so tall that they wouldn't fit. So, I decided to turn it into a towel holder for our bathroom. Here is the before picture:
After I knocked out the middle shelf and sanded it down I got out some old paint and gave it a new look. The only issue was the paint was a wall color so it's in a satin finish. I might try spraying it with a clear gloss spray paint when I get to the store. For now, I am happy with how it came out and it works great. Here is the after:

I have another project that I am starting today and I can 't wait to get going on it!!! You know when you see a piece of furniture that someone has taken apart and totally redone and you love it? Well, that is what I saw months ago and I finally found one to start on. Hopefully it won't take me weeks to complete it but it's summer with 3 boys at home!! That means getting very little accomplished everyday!

4th of July pics

2010-07-06T20:26:00.004-04:00

We spent a great day at the cottage that I spent all of my summers at. I have tried explaining it to my kids many times but they didn't really get it until they experienced it for themselves. We got to see a lot of family that we haven't seen in years so that was great. This is my mom's side of the family and since she has passed away I have really lost touch with everyone. My kids had a wonderful time!! Here are a few pics of the day....

This one should be last but I don't feel like moving them around!! Just another beautiful sunset over the lake. Aiden was very hesitant to get in the water because there were quite a few waves! After a while he was more daring and went in a little further.

This is Trevor using a raft that has a built in mask so that you can see what is in the water. They loved watching the fish under them!

Here are Karl and Evan taking the plunge together!

They jumped off again and again for hours!

Oh, here is a birthday picture thrown in! The boys help me celebrate a few days ago!

Another try at getting Aiden to smile for the camera. This one didn't go so well!! :)

I hope that you had a great 4th of July!!!

What's the BUZZ around our house????

2010-06-30T18:56:00.004-04:00

So yesterday I decided to trim some of our bushes AGAIN. We have had so much rain in the past month that everything is growing like mad. Anyway, as I am cutting away I kept having those pesky June bug beetles fly in my hair and they were driving me nuts. I figured I had to just keep going or I was never going to get done. I started on another bush and cut cut cut and then I was swarmed by about 50 yellow jackets! I was still thinking that they were just the beetles(which never were actually beetles) and luckily I am a huge wimp and ran away. As I walked back over I realized that they were yellow jackets and spotted this...............

Yuck!! That's all I have to say :)

New look for the powder room!

2010-06-14T16:13:00.007-04:00

I decided to tear down the wallpaper in our powder room last week because it was driving me nuts. The kids kept picking at a spot and it was growing larger and larger! What a mess!!! That paper did not want to come down and it took me 3 days to completely remove all the sticky glue and paper. I swear we had glue and little bits of paper stuck to all of our feet and throughout the house for days.

This is what the bathroom looked like before:

Now, after(sorry for the bad pictures and colors, there is no natural light):

This room sits at the end of a hall and is always very dark. I need to turn on a hallway light just to show someone where it is! So, I wanted to do a paint color that was pretty light and bright. I found a towel at Target that I liked the colors in so I used that as my starting point. The bright blue color kind of scared me because normally I use the more dark and warm colors in my house. I had an issue with the paint though because when I put it on the walls in that dark space it looked awful. It was way too bright blue and I knew that I couldn't live with it that way. So after I dumped a bunch of white paint with it I came up with a color that I liked. We decided to put up bead board and go pretty high with it. I love that way that it turned out. It looks very clean and bright in there now. I still can't find a nice picture for the walls or something to take up the space so it's not finished yet. I have a knack for starting projects and not finishing them so I need to find something quick! I am also looking for some glass knobs for the cabinet because the old ones just blend right in. Overall I am pleased with how it came out and now will start on painting the hallways which REALLY need some love!

Kids in the park

2010-06-01T20:22:00.004-04:00

Here are a bunch of pictures from our day in the park. It was a hot Memorial Day here so we decided to go for a little hike and eat lunch at a beautiful park. Here is Aiden smelling some roses. I couldn't resist posting one of the rose pictures that I took. The smell of the bushes in that area was sooooooooo amazing! All I could think of was my great grandmother's house because growing up I spent a lot of time there and she had the most wonderful rose bushes. I would come home with bunches of them with the ends all wrapped in wet paper towels and then in foil!

The kids enjoying the little water fall. There were kids there who caught a turtle, frogs and a fish.

I had to throw this one in because Aiden cracked me up when I got home and saw this picture. He was hot and tired and wanted NO part of a family picture!

Hanging out on the bridge looking for frogs.

Oh 2 year old boys and cameras are not a good mix! I was thrilled to see we finally got a good one!

Hope that you enjoyed your Memorial Day!!

Making clay name tags for vegetables

2010-05-25T14:24:00.006-04:00

Here is a simple project that you can do alone or with your kids to dress up your vegetable garden a little. My son and I took out our left over clay and made up little name tags for the plants. I let him use some cookie cutters or just free hand the shape. Then I used a toothpick to make a hole and spell out the words. Then we baked them and gave them a quick shiny glaze coating and they were almost done. The next part was the hardest! Finding a wire hanger in my house is impossible these days. I took the last remaining two we had and cut them up to make a simple hook and placed them in the ground! It was that easy and he loved to help me out!
Linked up with Hope Studios, Tutorial Tuesday

Baseball cupcakes

2010-05-19T17:30:00.003-04:00

I made these baseball cupcakes for my son's team and they were a big hit! Thanks Jennifer at Hope Studios! She had these on her blog last year and I knew they were perfect for snack time. They really didn't take long at all to make and every once in a while it's nice to be able to make a fun treat for the kids. This time I used the red frosting in the tube from Wilton because I ran out of red coloring paste. Last time I just saved some of the left over white frosting and tinted that. I hope this helps for a good idea if you have to bring snack to your child's baseball game!

A night that went from bad to worse!!

2010-05-14T15:20:00.004-04:00

So have you ever had one of those days that just went from bad to worse? I am sure that we all have and when you are in the moment of those days, you are not a happy person! But, after it's all over and you look back at it you can laugh!! Well I had one of those days this week.

My husbands grandmother who speaks very little English was flying home the other day and I was the one who needed to pick her up. After some arranging with a great neighbor to watch my oldest child because he had baseball, the plan was to for me to arrive early with my other two and watch the planes for a little bit. Well anyone who flies knows that things don't always go according to plan. I was checking her flight online and saw that it was ahead of schedule so I left early and got there with plenty of time to spare(or so I thought)! I walked in and looked at the arrival screen to see that her plane had landed early but wasn't at the gate yet. So I asked an employee to make sure that I was in the right area for pickup and she assured me that I was. I took the boys to the window and we watched for her plane to come to the gate. We waited and waited and waited. 15, 20, 25 minutes had passed and no grandmother. The 2 year old was DONE with looking at the planes and I found another employee to double check again. This woman said the same thing and said that sometimes it takes a while for the planes to taxi to the gates and for the people to exit. I explained to her that this woman did not speak English and I NEEDED to get her right when she arrived. Again, she could have cared less about my situation and just said to wait. So we went back to the window, chased the 2 year old many times and tried to keep them occupied. By now I am a stressed out mess because according to the screen her plane had landed 50 minutes ago! So now I tell the boys that we are just going to walk the airport and I spoke to a 3rd person about the situation who said just to walk and look for her!

Now, our airport is small, only two concourses, and it was empty at this time of day. No reason for her to be delayed this long. I decide to head to baggage thinking maybe somehow she walked by us and is waiting down there. Nope, nobody down there. Then my 6 year old yells, there she is mommy! There she was, outside in the FREEZING cold with one of the porters on his cell phone trying to call a ride for her! She was so upset because she couldn't remember any phone numbers to call and really can't communicate that well. Of course she was more upset because she thought that something had happened to me and couldn't figure out where I was! It was awful to say the least. She was shivering and had stood for 1 hour in the cold waiting for me. Now why she was outside, we still don't know. The only thing that I could figure out was that she probably arrived at the same time as me and we passed each other. It all worked out in the end but I still feel sooooooo bad about it.

Now I had missed most of my son's baseball game and was debating to just scrap the idea of going. I was still upset and it was so cold and raining. I decided that since it was his 1st game that I really needed to go. I drove over to the school and tried to find a parking spot. Of course there were none at this point. I drove a little further and decided to park on the side street that I parked on last year. Then as many of you know, I loaded myself up with the chairs, toys, diaper bag, sweatshirts and walked across 2 fields to get to his. I watched the last 15 minutes of his game and was kind of glad to not have to wrestle a 2 year old anymore and go home. (Oh and I forgot the umbrella in the car too)!! So I pack everything back up and realize that I better carry my little guy because it's so late and he was pretty much done for the night. Now since my husband is a coach I still hadn't talked with him at all about what had happened and he couldn't help me carry anything because he has all of his stuff and was parked on the opposite side of the school. So we start walking and Aiden says that he has to go potty. I assure him that we will be home in a few minutes and there is no where to go there. Then I hear my name being called. It's a friend who I haven't seen in a while and our sons just played against each other. We chat for a few minutes and all of a sudden I feel my had that is holding my son on my hip being filled with pee! It went through my coat, all over my shirt, down my jeans and starting filling my left shoe! UGH!! Mind you I am still in full conversation with this woman. I quickly say that I need to get him home and start walking for the car. Trevor, my 8 year old is laughing at what just happened and I start laughing too at this point. What else can you do?? Aiden thinks it's hysterical that he just peed all over his mother and he isn't getting into trouble! Good times people!

Now we make our way back to the car soaking wet from pee and rain to find a nice parking ticket on my truck! Are you kidding me??? I just wanted to go home, shower and curl up on the couch! I was so spent by the time we got home.
After everything was done, I am glad that I could look back and laugh but man, that day was not one that I care to repeat anytime soon!!

Fake necktie onesie and holy jeans repair!

2010-05-03T15:05:00.006-04:00

Well here is a two in one post. First, I saw this great tutorial a while ago on how to turn a plain onesie into a one of a kind! I have just been waiting for someone to have a little baby boy so that I could try it out. It was so easy and took me only a few minutes to make. I wish I had seen these when I had 3 little boys but they just got to wear the plain white ones instead. The fabric wasn't my first choice but I kind of had to match the orange stitching on the onesie. Plus I had a 2 year old with me that really needed a nap!

Next thing is that anyone who knows those 3 boys knows that we have a serious problem with keeping the left knee of ANY pants from being ripped open. It really only takes a few wears and the knee goes. I have tried so many things and now the oldest doesn't want a patch on his anymore and they look terrible. Even the khaki church pants get worn so quickly and they barely wear them for a long time. Again I saw another smart blogger who has the same issue and they came up with this tutorial. Since I already had the Wonder Under sitting here from the necktie thing it worked out perfectly. It really took me about 5 minutes total and I saved another pair of otherwise brand new looking jeans from the "play" clothes pile. The hole is still there and as we all know that you pay big bucks now for jeans with holes in them already. This way the hole will not get any larger and lose those threads across that make it look better.

Now if someone can help with a fix for wind pants I would be SOOOOOO grateful. My son literally burns/melts the nylon when he slides on the gym floor at school. I have tried catching the rip early and sewing it but it just doesn't hold up. Plus they have that weird mesh lining in them which makes it awkward to sew through.

Well I hope I helped another parent out there today with a good fix for a common problem!!

Derby car

2010-04-15T08:27:00.006-04:00

The club that my son goes to at church participates in a derby car race and he has been waiting for the past few weeks to race. Last night he finally got the chance and it was really cool to see all of those boys so excited about what they had made. Here is a picture of his before we changed the wheels(they are nice and smooth now)!!My husband was going to race some other dads but decided to give his wooden block to my nephew who isn't in this group and has never done a derby race before. He was very excited to use the power tools and craft the car the way he wanted it. I didn't get a finished picture of his though :(

Evan is holding my nephews car here because he had to leave early. Here are a few more pictures from last night and Trevor with his trophy for the car that closest resembles a derby car and cool car design. He was thrilled!

Feeding the swans!

2010-04-07T15:21:00.004-04:00

Here are a few pictures of the kids feeding the huge swans that live near our house. My little guy had NO fear of them and couldn't figure out why they kept running from him when he got too close!

Here he is throwing rocks into the bayAnd Trevor searching for "fossils"!

Drawstring bag for Gogo's Crazy Bones

2010-03-30T15:26:00.005-04:00

I am not sure if the Gogo Crazy Bones craze has hit your children yet but it has mine. It's the "new" thing to collect and trade at school and on the bus. We have been down the Pokemon, Yugioh and Bakugan phase and now these have taken over all of those. Anyway, I kind of like these crazy little guys with all of their weird faces and colors but what I don't like it finding them everywhere! When you have a 2 year old around, things tend to go missing very easily. So today' s half hour craft was to make the boys their own little drawstring bags to keep them in. They are small enough to cram in their pockets if they want and hopefully this will put an end to stepping on them unexpectedly and killing your foot!

I just used 2 small pieces of scrap fabric that I had and did a simple drawstring bag. Basically a large rectangle that you fold the top and bottom's in and sew to make the slot for the string and then sew them up right sides together. That's really it! I used an extra shoe lace for the string and it was done.

Italian wedding soup and Artisan bread!!

2010-03-23T09:12:00.008-04:00

So yesterday was a very cold, gray and rainy day here so I thought it would be a perfect day to make homemade soup and artisan bread. The bread is from this amazingly simple recipe that works perfectly for our busy family. It gives you a delicious tasting hearth baked bread with VERY little work. Now I really like to make bread but I usually think of it around 4:00 when I am getting hungry and there is no way to make it then. This concept is take about 2 minutes and stir together water, salt, yeast and flour and let it sit in a bowl/bucket for about 2 hours. Then put it in the refrigerator! Yes I said that right. You leave it in there until you are ready to cut a hunk off and bake it! No kneading at all and no mess(which I love). It is almost too easy and too good because we can't stop eating it!

If you want the recipe I got it here. There is also a fool proof you tube video here that you can watch if you still have questions. TRY IT!! You won't be sorry you did. :D

I wanted some yummy soup to go with this bread so I decided on Italian wedding. My kids love it and I know they are getting a good meal. I start by making 1 inch meatballs

then brown them on all sides and remove from the pan.

Add in your carrots, onion and celery, cover and cook until softened.

Then add in your meatballs and a good quality chicken stock. I usually add in the large 32oz carton and then make about 2 cups of additional broth with water and chicken base because we like our with a bit more liquid. Then bring that to a boil and reduce the heat and simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Add in a bunch of escarole and return it to a simmer. Then add in your pasta and cook until it's tender. Add salt and pepper to taste and we always top it with some grated Parmesan cheese.

If you want the official recipe here it is:

Italian Wedding Soup

1 large egg

1/3 cup chopped parsley

1 lb. ground beef

2-3 Tbsp. seasoned bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. oil ( I use Wegmans basting oil)

finely chopped carrots, celery and onion or 1-2 8oz. bags of a Mirepoix mix

480z. chicken stock ( I don't recommend using thin chicken broth here, go for the quality tasting stock)

about 8oz. of chopped escarole

3/4 -1 cup of Acini Di Pepe pasta

salt & pepper

grated Parmesan cheese

Beaded Eggs

2010-03-16T16:07:00.007-04:00

Here is a fun little project that you can do with all of those plastic Easter eggs that you have lying around. Make them into pretty beaded eggs!

Supplies:

plastic eggs
sead beads
white glue or tacky glue

Start by gluing the eggs closed so that they won't pop open while you are working on them or come apart once you have finished. The add some glue at one end and pour some beads on there smooshing them into place as you go. They look much better if they land on their sides instead of flat so you don't see the hole. As you can see from my pics, I got lazy at the end and didn't take the time to do this always!! Just work slowly all the way down the egg and then just let them dry. That's it!

I still have a few more to make so that my arrangement looks nice and full but I wanted to take a picture of what I had done so far. If you want another idea for all of those annoying little eggs that you find EVERYWHERE all over the house....... check out this post from last year!

Spring is close..... I can smell it in the air!!

2010-03-11T12:18:00.002-05:00

We have had sun for the past few days and today it's supposed to reach 60!! That's big news people! Well, for me it is anyway.
I have been neglecting my blog and my craft world for the past few weeks but I am getting back on track now. Check back in another day for a really cute classy Easter egg craft! I am still gathering the supplies but should have it ready soon.
Hope everyone is enjoying the snow melting away!!

Super Mario Brother's birthday party!!

2010-02-21T16:03:00.025-05:00

After weeks of planning and crafting, Evan's 6th birthday party finally took place. I was so happy when he first chose to do Super Mario Bros. but when I went to find stuff for it I couldn't find much!! So I had to create pretty much every game from scratch. It ended up being a lot of work but I really enjoyed every minute of it! The actual party with the kids makes me more nervous than doing the prep work! We started off thinking there would be around 5 or 6 kids and ended up with 13!

Bare with me because I am going to post quite a few pictures. I had a really hard time finding stuff so maybe this will help someone in the future if they decide to do this theme!. I didn't include a lot of "kid" pictures because I am not sure how the parents are with having their children featured in a blog!

These were some of the character's that I made out of foam board for decoration. They are about 3 feet tall and worked great as wall art!Here they are trying to cross Bowser's balance beam. I wasn't sure how this one would go but the kids found it challenging so they kept retrying it over and over until they crossed without falling!Here is a picture of the cake for the "adult/family" party that we did after the "kid/friend" party. Yes I did 2 parties in one day but I kind of liked having it all done in one day this time. I made the goombas, stars and the pipes out of fondant.This is a birthday banner with pictures from birth to 6 years on it. I have always wanted to make one and finally got around to doing it this year. I love the idea of seeing all the changes in the kids!These were the "kids" cupcakes. I had planned on making them into the mushrooms from the game but Evan didn't want me to so we came up with this idea from another site that I had looked at. The kids really liked getting their own guy. I made the cake stand a few nights before the party by just cutting out some plywood and using things that I had around the house for the center support. It came out cute and I like that I can use it now for future parties!I had to include my beautiful niece in the pictures! She was enjoying a red topped cupcake quite a bit!This was pin the nose/moustache on Mario! With having so many kids I again wasn't sure how this would go but they all did great and seemed to really like it.We hid 144 "Yoshi" eggs in our basement and had the kids go on an egg hunt. It took about 3 nights of coloring green dots onto white plastic eggs and filling them with coins and stars but they loved it!! This was a Mario Bingo game that I made. The kids used theire gold coins from the eggs to cover up the characters. I made up a picture of each character and laminated them for future use! That way I could pull the card out of a bag and hold it up in case someone didn't know the proper name. The kids(and adults) enjoyed playing this a lot!!This was what they did when they first arrived. We made paper mache "Yoshi" eggs that the kids could color in the spots. Then they each got a bag that I had traced a character on and they colored those in too. The bags were to be used to collect the small eggs from the hunt in and then to store the coins and pinata candy in along the way. The large eggs had party favors in them that they could take home and smash open. Of course they liked that part!! This was another game that we called knock the goomba off of his pipe. I sewed the goomba which came out a little funny looking but they kids didn't mind!! I gave them 3 rice filled fire balls to throw at it and I have to say I think this was the favorite game. My kids are still playing it now!I saw this one on another blog and decided to make this one as well. We used "Boo" for a bean bag toss. I ended up making cardboard supports on the back and placed it on the floor so it would be a little more challenging.These are the mushrooms that we gave away as prizes for some of the games. The kids and I sat down one Saturday morning and made these from clay. They had so much fun coming up with all different characters, So that is most of the party day pictures! Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions. I hope maybe this helps someone in the future throw a fun Super Mario Brother's party!

Egg allergy questions

2010-02-03T16:58:00.002-05:00

We just found out that the culprit for my 2 year old's constant eczema and horrible itching is eggs. I was actually having him tested for a Penicillin allergy that the Pediatricin thought he had and when I was there I asked them to test for some foods. Thankfully the Penicillin came back negative which is great but I am VERY annoyed that if I hadn't pushed to have him tested he would have gone his whole life thinking that he was. I am allergic and it's a pain when you need an antibiotic because it really limits what you can have.

Anyway, now I finally know why he scratches himself until he bleeds and constantly says " I'm itchy"! I have tried so many different creams and lotions and could never figure out why the eczema would be good some days and then be all over him the next. The obvious thing to do is to stop feeding him scrambled eggs and homemade french toast which are both a staple in our house. The problem is that box after box of food that I look at all have eggs listed on them. Now the great thing is that he hasn't had a serious reaction so I don't have to panick about everything that he eats but I need to eliminate it as much as possible. So, if anyone has any suggestions out there I would love to hear them!

A few craft projects/presents

2010-01-09T08:04:00.008-05:00

I was going to post these around Christmas time but I guess I forgot! The first one is a set of photo blocks that I discovered here. They turned out better than I thought they would so I was very happy with the end result. Aiden likes turning his all over to find the right heads and body parts of the people! I made the other set for my niece for a gift. The only change that I made was to add a second snap because I felt like it held together much better with 2. The second project was a photo tile that I found on someone's blog. I of course can't find it at the moment but I will try and post a link later to it. It was very easy to do and came out so cute. I made one for my in-laws that I forgot to take a picture of. Mine I wanted to do very plain colors to go with the sepia photo. You basically just find a smooth ceramic tile and mod podge your picture on there, do the same with a nice piece of scrap book paper and then add some sort of decoration in between. They also showed them on a heavy block piece of wood that had been stained and those didn't require the easel because they just stood up by themselves. Very easy and fast craft to do!

Boys in the snow!

2010-01-05T17:57:00.009-05:00

Evan having a little fun in the snow! I used to love finding any little hill to sled down in my yard!

Our slanted driveway can be such a pain for the kids in the summer. It really limits the kind of sports activity because of all the lost balls rolling down the street. But in the winter it makes a good slide!

Another picture. See I do venture outside in the cold sometimes! Although only for a few minutes to get a picture!!

Random thoughts.....

2010-01-04T14:18:00.007-05:00

We had such a wonderful holiday spending a lot of time with family. My husband doesn't get a lot of time off so anytime we can have more than the weekend hanging out is a bonus. As many of you know I get the Winter blues pretty bad and since I haven't left the house in 4 days it's starting. We have sooooooooooo much snow and I just hate it. I know so many people can't understand why but it's just the way it is for me. These are some pretty lousy pics taken from the warmth of my house!!OK enough about the dumb weather. I spent most of the weekend cleaning and organizing. It felt so good to have all the Christmas stuff down and put away. My house always feels a little empty when it's all gone though. It's only because there is room to walk again!! Trying to stay tidy with a toddler is so hard. You would think I would get this concept by the third child but you tend to hope he will not demolish everything you put away just moments after you accomplish this! There were so many trying times this weekend where this happens and I find myself yelling the same things. Then I stopped to think about how much loss we heard about in just a few short days around here. A local little girl just 4 years old lost her fight with cancer. I have been following her story through a friend and that sweet girl touched so many lives with her story. My heart breaks for her family. I kept thinking as I would box stuff up, I wonder what they are doing right now? I am struggling to organize while my loud boys keep making messes and run through the house and they would probably give anything to hear that noise. Then another friend of the family died at only 20 this weekend of a freak heart problem. No notice and in the prime of his life. Again so sad. Another one was my cousins wife's mom lost her battle with cancer too. The situation reminds me so much of losing my mom and sister to that horrible stupid disease. I hate the word. I don't use it that often because it's like acid in my mouth. Time does heal and it has and I hope that these families will find some peace like I have. Some days are hard but I vowed to both of them long ago that I wouldn't let their sickness and death ruin my gift of life. God has taken and given me so much and I have to be thankful for that. You can't miss something that you never had and I would hate to have never had their presence in my life.

Well I told you that these were random thoughts from my last few days. Sorry to not have a real point here it's just what is on my mind.

I will leave you with one final snow picture. This is from one of our upstairs windows! My kids couldn't believe that the snow was more than half way covering the window. Brrrrrrr :D

Just a few Christmas crafts!

2009-12-15T10:34:00.006-05:00

I feel like I have been on craft overload lately! I am reading all of your blogs but neglecting my own pretty bad these days. I wanted to show just a few of the projects that I have been working on the past week.

First is the ornament wreath that has taken over blog land!! My version seems to look like a Hanukkah one but it matches my walls so I went with it!!

Next are some hemp cone shaped trees?? Did that make any sense? Well I got the idea here and they were very easy to make. I am giving this set as a gift so I hope she likes them.

I haven't finished making the round balls but I thought I would throw the few that I have done in there! I need to make a few more for after Christmas decorations! Sorry about the dark picture. Our camera broke and it takes about 10 shots to get one decent picture. We are looking for a new one but can't decide what to get. Any suggestions out there?? I would love a recomendation on one. As much as I would love an SLR we just can't afford it right now so I have been looking for a point and shoot with a larger zoom on it. Thanks!!

Swine flu and first lost tooth!

2009-11-23T09:06:00.006-05:00

I know that is a weird title but that is what is happening in our house lately. I have to say that this flu really kicked our butts around here. I am soooooo not one for jumping at a vaccine but I have to say that this time I wish I could have gotten it. It's hard enough to take care of your kids when they get sick but then when the care giver gets it, forget it!! I was hit so hard by this and I am slowly trying to crawl my way back to health. I just can't get over how much energy it took from me. I am praying for a MUCH better week and looking forward to spending some time with family. Despite feeling so crappy and weak we have a lot to be thankful for and I have to keep that in mind!

Onto a happier note, Evan lost his first tooth. He was so brave and let me pull it right out. Then he asked where he was going to put it? Now to back up a few years, when Trevor lost his first tooth I was on bedrest. I wanted to make him a pillow to put it in because that was what my mom had done for me but I couldn't get to my sewing machine. I am sure I probably could have thrown something together but it wouldn't have looked very good! My step-mother surprised him with one that she made for him. I thought that was very sweet of her and much appreciated. So now for Evan I felt I had to make him his own. I found this cute tooth design somewhere a long time ago and had it in my head. This is what mine came out looking like.

He was very happy to see that the toothfairy had come over night and brought him his own gold coin. Oh and on a sappy mother's note, when I was holding Evan's tiny little tooth in my hand I turned around to see the picture from his 1st birthday party. There he was covered in cake with the biggest smile on his face and there was that little tooth that I was so proud of. Sniff sniff, it goes by WAY too fast!

Sickness in the house :(

2009-11-13T09:19:00.003-05:00

So it's been a rough week in our house. The kids have all been sick and cranky. Evan has had the swine flu and I think passed it on to the other two now. I hope they are passed the worst of it but now it's the awful coughing that is sooooooo bad. Poor Trevor was up about 20 times last night coughing, drinking water, roaming the house, crying...... It wasn't a pretty sight. Then to make matters worse poor Karl got stuck at work until 2:00 in the morning. I am a tired momma this morning and really hoping that I don't get a call from the school to come and pick up her sick kid! He was so mad that I kept him home yesterday but I really wanted one more day to get his immune system back up a little before he went back to that gross germy place. The coughing going on in schools is unreal right now.
Well on a lighter note, I have been trying to organize a MUCH needed girls craft night. The sickness with all the families has really put a major dent in those plans but I must keep trying. I am starting to loose my mind being stuck in this house and it's only Novemeber people. This is NOT good!!
I have couple of crafts that I am itching to make and I will post some pictures as soon as I get going on them.
Hope all is well out there in blog land!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T14:26:00.006-05:00

Well we managed to get the trick or treating in despite the WIND and damp weather! Trevor decided to be an Evil Sorcerer this year

Evan wanted to be a Knight and he looked so cute in his costume! I made his shield out of cardboard, then paper mached it(is that word)? so that it got really hard. Then I was worried that he was so dark so I drilled lights all the way around it. It came out pretty cool and hopefully it will last for awhile so that they can play with it.

Aiden was the cutest little lion this year. I love the plush costumes on little guys! I didn't think that he would want to go out and walk this year but he LOVED it!! He kept running to all the houses and some he tried to go right inside! He was the only one to remember every time to say thank you too! I think cute costumes always get more candy too!

Now I have piles of candy everywhere! Aiden keeps sneaking lollipops when we aren't looking and I have eaten way too much chocolate. I have major issues with sweets so if you want some candy, come over and get this out of my house!!!!

Spaghetti & hotdogs = weird looking food for kids!

2009-10-29T11:47:00.004-04:00

Have you ever tried this weird looking food??? No, what is wrong with you? Just kidding, I think it's kind of gross but my kids LOVE it! It's very easy and takes only a few minutes to make and the best part is they can do it all by themselves!! Take some spaghetti and shove it through some cut up hot dogs. Boil some water and throw them in! You can top it with a little melted butter and Parmesan cheese if you want.

Delicious flatbread taco's!!!

2009-10-22T11:36:00.005-04:00

I don't know if any of you get the magazine Taste of Home but it usually has a few really good recipes in there that become family favorites for us. Well last night I tried a new one and all it took was one bite to seal the deal for all of us. It's called flatbread tacos with ranch sour cream and it was sent in by Jennifer Eggebraaten.

This is her recipe:

1 cup sour cream

2 tsp. ranch salad dressing mix

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 envelope taco seasoning

1 Tbsp. hot pepper sauce

1 tube(16.3 oz.) large refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

Optional toppings: shredded cheese, lettuce, sliced olives

In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, dressing mix and lemon juice; chill until serving.

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add beans, tomatoes, taco seasoning and pepper sauce; heat through.

Meanwhile, roll out biscuits into a 6 inch circle. In a small non-stick skillet over medium heat, cook each for 30-60 seconds on each side or until golden brown; keep warm.

To serve, spread each flatbread with ranch sour cream; top each with meat mixture and sprinkle on toppings.

The only thing that I changed was I didn't add the beans or hot sauce because the first time I try recipes I try and make them pretty bland for little kids! They are very filling and the biscuits are soooooooo yummy. I had a hard time rolling them out without sticking to stuff so I just flattened them with my hands and fingers. Very easy and oh so very good!!

She suggested that you make the stuff ahead of time and keep the meat warm in a crock pot, put the sauce in a squirt bottle and have the toppings already chopped up for a party. I think I will try this next party!

Fun nature scene craft for kids

2009-10-17T09:01:00.005-04:00

I saw something like this in a magazine recently and thought it would be a great craft to make with my son. He has a HUGE container of animals that we are always trying to find interesting places to play with them. Sometimes it's blocks in the shape of cages that quickly get broken up by the little brother, UGH! So when I saw this I thought it would be perfect. It took less than a haf hour to make and we had lot's of fun doing it together. The only part that I wouldn't let him do was the hot glue because one set of burned fingers in the house is enough!
All you need is cardboard, pinecones, glue and paint/moss if you want to add that in there too.

So what do you think????

MMMMMM Apple pie!!

2009-10-14T20:25:00.006-04:00

Okay, enough already about the fall baking but I can't stop! It's like the weather gets cold and I get a green light to bake and eat sweets. Probably not a good thing but oh well. I hate cold weather so this helps!! Here is tonights dessert before it was baked... and after..... gotta go and take a bite!!

Quick and easy Halloween hanger

2009-10-12T16:05:00.007-04:00

I finally dragged out some Halloween decorations today at the boys request! I have done the fall decorating thing but neglected the spiders, witches, spooky eyes etc. So I wanted to hang up my welcome witch and just had the tarnished gold door hanger.

Well this wasn't going to work

so I got out a piece of scrapbook paper and glued it onto the hanger and in less than 2 minutes had a cute door hanger.I just love simple quick fixes like that!

Fall baking is in the air!!!

2009-10-07T18:18:00.002-04:00

It's that time of year again that somehow gives me the green light to bake! I shouldn't be eating all of this stuff but how do you not?? The other night I made an apple pie that didn't last more than a day. My middle son stuck his head in the fridge one morning and said, hey where did the pie go? Um, yeah don't go to bed child because mommy likes late night sweets eating when there are no children around to bug me!
Then I just made a banana bread because that same child insisted that I NOT throw out the 2 rotting bananas that were sitting on the counter. So while he was at school I slaved for him and made him his bread. Which I have to say he has only eaten one time, ugh! Later that night I had to do something with the huge apples that were glaring at me so I baked an apple crisp. YUMMY! See it was so good that it didn't last long enough to take any pictures. So you will just have to use your imagination!!
Happy baking people!!

A new Fall look for the mantel!!

2009-09-24T09:58:00.009-04:00

I am a summer lover, always have been and always will be. Well this year the weather was awful. It was really depressing for someone whoe suffers from that dumb seasonal depression disorder! I so look forward to the hot days and it not getting dark until 9:00 and most of all SUN!!!! Well that didn't really happen so I am trying to embrace fall this year! I looked around the house and thought things needed a fresh look. I have a mantel that is large and very boring to look at but we just aren't ready to take on that project yet so I have to work with it for now. This is what I put together so far.

I am still trying to find something to balance out the one side but haven't found what I was looking for yet. Well, I take that back... Hobby Lobby has some beautiful fall things but I refuse to pay that much for their stuff. I love that store but unless it's on a good sale they are way over priced. So here are a few more pics from around the house.

As for tonight....... hot apple pie. Maybe I will take a picture if it doesn't get eaten up too quickly. YUM!

Fall door wreath

2009-09-23T14:01:00.008-04:00

Hello again, it's been waaayyyy too long I know! Summer came and went and I guess I have been so busy doing other things that I forgot about my blog. I have still been reading so many of yours though so thanks!!

Well I have been working on some projects that I wanted to share with anyone that is reading this. One is a very ugly fall wreath that was in the garage sale box and then I decided to rescue it. I always read so many blogs where people take these ugly things and redo them into something cute. I of course always say, I would have never thought of doing that!! I just don't have an eye for that kind of thing. Anyway, here is the before pic...
here is the after....

It's not anything great but a whole lot better than what it was before. All it took was a bag of leaves from the dollar store and some burned fingers from the hot glue gun!

I have a few more projects that I will post later today. Yes I said later, can you believe 2 posts in one day????

Time goes so quickly!!

2009-06-28T19:04:00.002-04:00

I can't believe how fast the past 2 months have gone. All winter long I pray for the days to hurry up and pass so that spring and summer can arrive. Then it hits and I remember how busy these days can get!! I have definitely found that I work better under pressure. If I don't have some sort of project going on then I get really lazy and let everything slide. Lately I have had a few too many projects though! The boys finished school and then Vacation Bible School started which I am helping in everyday. Our church has a huge program with almost 700 kids! It's great but man is it a lot of work. Especially getting everyone out the door by 8:00 every morning! Like clock work my little guy got sick with that hand foot and mouth virus. No fun! I feel so bad for him because he has those awful sores all over his feet and mouth. Luckily I will have some help with him tomorrow because I don't think the church nursery would appreciate him being there!

I have also been working on refinishing an old desk for the boys to color at. I sanded it down last week and have been trying to paint it in between all of the cotton wood blowing around and the constant rain!! i hope it comes out good in the end. We made a small bench for the kids to sit at and take their shoes on and off. I have been wanted to do that for the past 5 years! It's almost done and I will post some pics of the final outcome.
Also I am thrilled to have some family arriving tomorrow from Virginia. It will be a great 2 weeks with everyone together. That's all for now.....

Where did I go???

2009-06-09T09:15:00.005-04:00

Well it's been a really long time since I have sat down here to post anything. I worked my tail off on that big toy order and got all 105 bags done a week earlier than I thought! Now I have no ambition to make any more for a while!!

We had a nice visit from our Canadian family for the Greek festival that was in town here. My kids really enjoyed going to that and spending time with their cousins. We wished you guys lived closer!

Let's see what else has been going on here.... Trying to find some sort of warm weather has been frustrating. You kind of never know what to wear because you add clothes in the morning and then take some off mid day and then put them back on later! Oh and I can't forget spending the evening in our local Urgent Care with my 7 year old. We thought we would do something fun and take the boys out on a bike trail near our house and he took a nasty fall. Cut up his arms pretty bad and had to get some stitches. He already popped a stitch open today too, ugh! BOYS!!

My middle son "graduated" from preschool which was very cute. I can't believe that he is going on the bus in a few months and off to kindergarten.

Things have been busy but over all very good! Only one more full week of school and then I feel like summer can actually begin.

Well I can hear the youngest child dumping lot's of toys out in the next room so that is my clue to wrap this post up. :D

I spy bags!!!

2009-05-01T10:35:00.007-04:00

Sorry that I have MIA for a little while now. We were gone all last week having a great time in Virginia. Then it took a week to recover and get back into the swing of things around here.

I have to tell you that I am so excited about a possible order that I just heard about. I have been making those I spy bags for my son's speech therapist and it's been a good little business. She has been using them as gifts and many of the therapists have ordered ones to use with their "kids". We have custom designed some of them to fit certain kids speech needs like a whole bag full of "S" words and so on. The other thing that we have found is they are great for children with Autism. They really enjoy the sensory part of them being able to move the soft fleece around and find the hidden treasures inside.

Well I was thrilled when I heard that the owner of the speech center wants 100 of them!! Here I had just started making them for kids to keep them entertained at doctor visits, car rides, shopping trips, etc.

I need to get these on my Etsy site too. They are a fun little toy to keep on hand and make great gifts!

Having fun in Virginia

2009-04-23T22:33:00.002-04:00

We have been having a great time this week with our family in Virginia. The kids are enjoying all of the attention from the older cousins! So far we have gone to the National Zoo which was great, DC a few times, the Air and Space museum and lots of good quality family time! Tomorrow we are off to Luray Caverns and then the Baltimore Aquarium. Since I forgot my camera cord you will have to wait a few more days for some pics!
Check back in........

Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway!!

2009-04-14T11:24:00.004-04:00

I know another link and giveaway but I just had to share this one with you. I am really wanting the mama pendant because that is what my kids call me.

Kimba, over at A Soft Place to Land, is graciously hosting a giveaway of a $50 giftcard from Lisa Leonard Designs. Head on over to their blogs and check out her beautiful work.

Wow, check this out!!!

2009-04-13T16:12:00.002-04:00

Check out this link, you will not regret it! Thanks Jennifer for letting me know about it. It's nice to see something a little unexpected and inspirational for a change

Mmmmm, Greek Easter bread a.k.a. tsourekia

2009-04-06T18:58:00.008-04:00

So I got to spend my day helping to make these delicious little breads today!They are soooooo good and I love when my mother in-law comes over to help me make them! It starts off like this...

then a little rising....more rising after you twist them upthen bake up to these yummy rolls.

Hungry yet???

Easy personalized canvas bag

2009-04-02T11:12:00.007-04:00

I have been looking for a large canvas bag for my boys that they could cram all of their stuff in when we go places. I wasn't looking to spend $15 for a plain one and I came across a great bargain the other day. You have to love The Christmas Tree Store! I don't go that often but when I do I always come out with some great finds. These were two of mine this week.

The best part is they are huge, good quality and only cost $3.99! I found some coordinating fabric that I thought would look good on them and proceeded to cut out my kids initial. I used Heat and Bond adhesive from Jo-Ann's to stick the fabric to the bag. It didn't take me long to turn them into these
Now there is no way they can get them confused and fight over who's is who. Oh but wait, my kids never do that, they always share all their stuff don't yours????

Another Giveaway!!!

2009-03-31T10:57:00.002-04:00

Over at The Meanest Mom's blog, she is giving away a swimsuit. Come on, we all need to have one. Ours might be buried in that bottom dresser drawer just waiting to see some sun light right now but it's there if the need arises. Well maybe, if I ever get this body in some sort of shape I will put one on again! Go over to her spot and check things out. You won't be dissapointed!

Messy house give away!!!

2009-03-26T21:19:00.002-04:00

Hey go and check out Jennifer at Hope Studios and enter her messy house give away. She suffers like the rest of us with trying to maintain a house and kids and somedays it's overwhelming! She is giving away a great sign that she made that says, Boring women have clean houses. Good luck!!!

Plastic Easter eggs revamped!

2009-03-24T19:18:00.007-04:00

Do you have a large plastic bag full of all those colorful Easter eggs or is that just me???
Well this year I decided to try and do something with a few of them. I had all of this extra scrapbooking paper and my trusty bottle of Mod Podge so this is what I turned them into....

Hand made cute beach/tote bag!

2009-03-15T11:25:00.007-04:00

It started like this.......
I have been needing a large bag for a while now and have never gotten around to buying one. I am always carrying library books or kids stuff etc... and need something large(but cute too of course)!I saw this great tutorial here a few weeks ago and loved the Orla Kiely print. This is made from 2 sets of dish towels! I spent all day yesterday sewing up this bag and I have to say it was worth the time.

So there it is, tell me what you think!!!

I Spy Bag

2009-03-11T20:12:00.004-04:00

I've been wanting to make one of those I spy bags for kids for a while now and finally got around to it today. We have been having major printer issues so I had to wait for ANOTHER print head to arrive from Kodak until I could use it.

I will definitely say that this was a good trial bag. I will have to make some changes to make these for anyone else in the future! It's okay for my kids though and they had fun playing with it. I ended up just using some fabric that I had here and it bled through the iron on paper. Next time I will not use that or use a solid colored fabric. What can I say, you don't know until you try!

And on another note, if Spring doesn't get here SOON and get rid of all of the sickness in my house, I think I might seriously loose my mind. Just thought that I would tell you all what I was thinking about at the moment. :D

Skull and Cross Bones Patch

2009-03-02T21:32:00.005-05:00

Well I don't know if you can tell that this is a skull and cross bones design but that is what it was intended to be! My boys blow through the knee of ALL of their pants. I am at the point now of having a large pile of clothes that are considered "play" pants because of this. I tried this patch and my son loved it.

First I found a skull image just using Google and printed it and cut it out. Then I traced the outline over the large hole in the jeans and cut it out. Then I cut up some old camouflage shorts into a square larger than the hole. Placed some strips of fusible web around the edges and ironed it into place from the inside of the jeans. Then I sewed it on all around the design edges. You could use floss here as well and do it by hand too. I used a heavier thread and a small stitch on my machine and just went slow and it has held up well. Now onto the rest of the pile!!!

Hubby's Birthday Celebration

2009-03-01T20:35:00.008-05:00

Today was my husband's birthday and it didn't start off the best but ended up a great day. We woke up to realizing that the house was freezing and the furnace wasn't working. Luckily the heating guys came fairly quickly and took care of the problem and got us all toasty again!

I had planned on cooking and having my mother in-law over for dinner but the boys decided they would rather go to her house to eat. So, I cooked over her house and Karl's brother's family came and we had a nice night together. His mother went all out on the decoration's.... Yes I know he isn't 5 but it was cute and the kids liked it!!She made some delicious Greek chicken and lemon soup called Avgolemono. I need to learn how to make this! I watched her so next time I will write it down and let you all know the recipe to try it.

We had 3 desserts to choose from. Well I guess nobody really chose just one but kind of tried a little of each of them. I think we almost set the smoke alarm off with all the candles though! And this is my "little" nephew who I had to ask tonight to shrink a few inches because he is aproaching my height and that just makes me feel really old!!
Well off to hit the couch now and relax!

My little monsters "monsters"......

2009-02-28T20:02:00.005-05:00

I saw this idea on a favorite blog of mine, Little Birdie Secrects it's alive! kids drawings brought to life . She did such a great job with her tutorial that there is no need for me to do it again.

My kids love to draw strange creatures so I figured I would give this a try today. Here are the pics as promised.

They are a little weird looking but the kids liked them so I guess that is all that counts! Now we just have to come up with some good names for them and maybe make one more for the little guy in the house. He was very happy going through all of mommy's sewing stuff and the bag of polyfill!

Friday night happenings

2009-02-28T08:47:00.005-05:00

So what do you do when you are sick of winter and don't feel like going out anywhere on a Friday night with the kids? We had make your own pizza's and movie night. I've been trying to make a good pizza dough for weeks now. I think last night's was my favorite so far. The kids did the traditional red sauce and pepperoni but I wanted something different for ours. I ended up doing a white pizza with spinach, chicken, sauteed mushrooms, garlic, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It turned out very yummy so this one will have to become a keeper.Then the kids sat down to watch Barnyard 2. I didn't see it but they said it was a good movie.
After the kids went to bed I started working on bringing some of their "artwork" to life. Check back later today to see if I can find some time to finish that project and post some pics. Have a great Saturday!

"What, I didn't do anything"

2009-02-24T16:13:00.003-05:00

So I forgot to blog about this last week so I thought that I would share this story now for a little laugh. My 7 year old, got that he's 7 not 3..... came downstairs about 5 minutes before the bus was coming one morning missing a 2 inch chunk of hair over his eyes. Now that is 2 inches straight up not across! I stood there looking at him wondering what the heck had happened upsairs in the couple of minutes that he had been gone. Did the words go and brush your teeth somehow get confused into give yourself a really bad hair cut??? Now when I asked the child what did you do, he looked right at me and said, what, I didn't do anything???
Hmm, really then where is the hair that was on your head 3 minutes ago?? After a little song and dance on his part he finally said it was bothering me and in my eyes so I decided to cut it off. Now I really wished that I had taken a picture but seeing that I some how had to get over my initail shock and try and fix this before the bus was beeping outside I decided to grab the scissors instead of the camera. Needless to say, I couldn't fix it and he ended up getting a short bang haircut.
Children, I will never figure them out!

5 year old Pirate Birthday Party!!

2009-02-22T20:33:00.007-05:00

my little pirate

Phew! The party that seemed like it would never happen finally came and went! The kids all had a great time and I'm glad that we switched it to this weekend so thatall the kids could come. There were lots of pirate crafts including:

a pirate windsock

an eye patch, sword and mini telescope.

Cannon ball popping, hooking pretzels on their "cup" hand hooks, pin the flag on the treasure chest, tattoos, scull bandanas and a good old treasure hunt to finish things off. The cake was enjoyed also! Here is a picture of the big ship
I was very happy to have my sister in-law and her husband and kids join us all the way from Canada too. It made the day extra special for us! We had a great time, but now the dreaded clean up must begin. Well, maybe it can wait until tomorrow. I think another piece of cake is calling my name........

Last day of school break!!

2009-02-20T15:13:00.010-05:00

It's Friday!! I know, I know I shouldn't be a little happy that it's the last day of school break but I am. It's hard to occupy kids 24/7 when it's so lousy outside and you already have major cabin fever. We woke up to snow and it's been non stop here all day so far. I finally got the boys to go outside and play and I think they are so "over" winter. They resorted to trying to use the swing set instead! Luckily they are headed for a great day of snow tubing tomorrow and I hope they have a great time.
As for myself, I sat inside folding laundry and eating some yummy left over chicken wing dip! I'll include the recipe if anyone out there is craving that now, enjoy!

Chicken Wing Dip
24 ounces chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 (12 ounce) bottle hot sauce (use whole bottle or just half, if desired)
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (16 ounce) bottle bleu cheese salad dressing (or can use ranch or 8 oz blue cheese and ranch)
2/3 cup chopped celery
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese or monterey jack and cheddar cheese blend
Directions
1. Preaheat oven top 350.
2. In a large bowl, mix shredded chicken, celery and cheese.
3. In a saucepan over med-low heat, combine cream cheese and salad dressing and stir until smooth. Stir in bottle of hot sauce ( don't have to use entire bottle if you want it milder). Pour heated mixture into bowl with chicken mixture. Stir to mix well.
4. Pour into a 13" x 9" baking pan. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until bubbly----make sure top doesn't get browned. Let stand for 10 minutes. Serve warm OR cold-----tastes best warm--- with celery or tortillia chips/crackers.

Pirate Goody Bags

2009-02-19T13:44:00.000-05:00

So I decided this year that since I had a bunch of flannel scull fabric that I would make my own goody bags for my son's party. I filled them with a bunch of "pirate loot" and put a tag on them with everyone's pirate name. I hope they go over well and can be used to store lots of things in the future! Let me know what you think

Oh and another little note.... school break week is not the time to hit the grocery store. Trying to navigate through the aisles with 3 kids all hanging off of the already heavy and over loaded cart while dodging other mom's with their 3 and 4 kids is not a pretty site!!

Birthday at the Museum

2009-02-18T15:13:00.000-05:00

Today is my middle son's birthday. We were all ready to have a pirate party for him last Sunday until it got cancelled a half hour before it began. We had so many kids get sick at the last minute from this nasty cold that is going around that we decided to reschedule. So today we headed off to the museum for some fun. Being that it is February break here it was packed with kids and a little nuts. The kids had fun anyway and it was a good change of pace from being trapped inside all week.

Tonight we will probably continue eating the left over pirate ship cake(that I now have to re-do for this weekend) and call it a day!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Finally starting this!

2009-02-16T20:49:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally decided to start a blog! I have been enjoying reading many great blogs for so long now and thought it was time to do one of my own.
I am a stay at home mom with three boys. Life is never dull or boring and our house is always very loud!! Boys are very interesting to say the least. There always seems to be lots of chaos but I wouldn't trade my life for anything! Although less fighting and constant bickering would be great!!
I love crafting and have recently dusted off the sewing machine and have begun sewing up a storm again. It feels like such an accomplishment to create something with your own two hands and take pride in it. My kids love when I can whip them up something from scratch and it's a great way to teach them that you don't always have to buy everything.
I hope you enjoy reading this and can maybe get a little laugh at our daily experiences or maybe a craft idea along the way.