Party Pics!

UPdated Blog Layout

I updated my blog sidebar. Yay! New pics of the boys, a cloud of list topics, updated list of blogs I read (plus I fixed the links of a couple that changed). I added two of my new favorite blogs I found recently. The first one I found via Pinterest because of some really cool hair pics. That blog is The Small Things Blog. The other blog is called I Heart Organizing. Hoping to get some good ideas from that one. Check them out!  Yesterday Andy got about 2 years of pics off his fancy camera and put the on the computer so I'll have lots of pictures to post in the near future. Don't worry. I won't post 2 years worth ;) .

Pinterest Project #1

So yesterday I made a Menu Board! This was inspired from Pinterest. I bought a 12x12 frame at Hobby Lobby for $5. It was 1/2 price. I bought a sheet of scrapbook paper for $ .30. I bought 2 packs of scrapbook stickers for a total of $3.00. All together- $8.30! Not bad! The stickers are directly on the paper, so they are under the glass. I just used a dry erase marker to write the menu down. Up until now I used a document I created in word and printed it for menu planning but now I just erase! Saving paper and ink :) .  This helps with my 20 in 2012 post too. In case you are interested in any of the above recipes (other than the sloppy joes and pizza- haha) here are some links.
Pasta alla Vodka- was good last night but when re-heated for lunch today it wasn't very good. Boys thought it was spicy.
Bread with Carrabba's olive oil/spices- YUM - for special italian dinner occasions. (found through Pinterest)
Chicken Fingers
Roasted Green Beans- These were pretty good. would make again or just mix fresh green  beans in with roasted veggies. (found through Pinterest)

Stovetop mac & cheese - finally, an EASY homemade mac & cheese that my family likes! (found through Pinterest)

Veggies= weekly veggie tray

20 in 2012

So here is a list inspired by a blog I've found recently via Pinterest. Here are some goals for this year!

1. Get back into running -soon and keep running. I seem to start up and then quit again...I need a long term goal. I finished by C210K and then I quit running shortly after that. So I need a mileage goal for the year. I know some runners will completely laugh at this goal but I'm trying to be realistic. So 300 miles this year. As of now: 59.0 miles complete. I am having a major mental block here. Time to get my butt in gear. :) Just did my first day of C25K! I had two running buddies- Andy and Luke! I'm including biking, elliptical, and running...
2. Read my Jesus Calling daily devotional. I've been reading it already and it is so good.
3. I would love to buy a treadmill to help me with goal #1...
4. make bagels
5. work on decluttering the house
6. clean fridge
7. try to post on the blog once a week doing well so far!
8. begin a prayer journal inspired by the last book my small group read.
9. organize my recipes
10. get pictures of the boys made - it's  been a while
11. buy something from Etsy- I got this scarf I've been eyeing for months! It was on sale for $12.50 this past Wednesday on Facebook!!!
12. plan fun *free* activities to do with the boys. I am with them a lot but I want to intentionally plan some fun things to do such as: bike ride, park, arboretum, make a marble racer like this, paint the snow, hiking, etc.
13. take the boys camping. Now that Ty is 3 I'm ready to try again.
14. try to sell the desk and camper and get them out of the garage. We took these to an Auction House. Hopefully they will sell! They sold and we are so happy to have our garage back!
15. MONTHLY date nights - sometimes with a baby-sitter here and sometimes after the kids are in bed with take-out/movie.
January: hmmm don't remember if we went out to celebrate my birthday or had a date in January or not.
February: Valentine's take-out from PF Chang's
March: Fro-Jo's - super short date but it was just the two of us!
April: Campfire date- star gazing, talking &snuggling by the campfire mall date- shopping, iced coffee/pretzel sharing, 2 hours of just us :)
May: can't remember...
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:
16. get my Uggs cleaned. I've had them for about 4 years and they are a mess!
17. Make at least 3 2 1 Pinterest projects that are not recipes. I have already made several new recipes from pins! Project #1 Project #2 Project #3
18. Intentionally plan dinner/movie/shopping with my sister. We don't get to spend enough time together. We had our birthday lunch together this weekend! We went to see Hunger Games together! We took Ty & Silas to see Toy Story 3 Disney on Ice.
19. Finish Friends. Andy and I have been watching for the last year and we are on Season 8  9  10. So good. I could watch it everyday. After we finish I want to borrow the next season of The Closer from my parents.
20. Read Bringing Up Boys & The Strong Willed Child

I finished the list one time. But there was an error with Blogger...so I redid the last 8 and could only think of 6 of them! So I really wrote 22 goals but two of them are lost. :)

Happy Birthday, Luke!

Yesterday was Luke's 6th birthday! He woke up to a 1 hour delay at school. (unfortunately none of them slept extra...they were up earlier than normal beginning at 4:45. They were officially up at 6. WHY?) He had donuts for breakfast and opened a Lego, dot to dot book (he loves those), the movie Despicable Me, and a green sweater before school. I was thankful for the delay because I still needed to ice his cupcakes to take to school. He wanted the same as Wilson, white cupcakes with chocolate icing and sprinkles. I just used the same recipes from Wilson's birthday post. He had a great day at school and chose O'Charleys for dinner. He wanted their rolls & chicken fingers! Today is the boys' party at an indoor gymnastics place. It has a foam pit & lots of trampolines. They are so excited!

I baked two more cakes last night. One chocolate to make cake pops & one vanilla for Wilson's police badge cake. The cake pops are DONE and now we just need to decorate the badge. I saw these candy eyeballs at Walmart and Luke and I thought they would be cute on the cake pops. This is what I ended up doing with them. Treat bags for the party are ready!

Luke lost his first tooth Thursday night! He was so excited. The tooth fairy came for a visit.

Luke has been busy- this morning was his first basketball game! He is playing Upward and I am so pleased with everything about it- nice coach, well organized, nice uniform, etc. Go Pumas!!

Happy Birthday, Wilson!

Yesterday Wilson turned 8 years old. EIGHT. I can't believe it! Time truly flies as a grown up. He is getting so tall & strong. I think he is rather handsome as well ;) . He had waffles, turkey bacon, & turkey sausage for breakfast. He opened his birthday gifts from us, a Canine Police Lego & The Lego Book. If you know a Lego lover I highly recommend the book. It is really neat. In the afternoon we had family over to honor Wilson, Caroline, & Luke with cake and icecream. Their 3 birthdays fall within one week. Wilson wanted pizza for dinner so we headed to Puccini's and then did some shopping afterwards. Mimi & Poppy surprised Wilson & Luke with a Wii for their birthdays! So we took them out and bought it last night.  They were so excited. This morning they woke up early to play the Wii. It was almost like Christmas all over! Next weekend Wilson & Luke are having a party with some of their friends.

Back in the Kitchen

So I have been really struggling with menu planning lately. I finally told myself enough was enough and I had to make a full week's menu. Hopefully it will continue. It takes a long time to plan the whole week and make the grocery list.  Pinterest (my new favorite thing) has given me a few new recipes to try. Pinterest = love. I have so many ideas for things! It is a great resource. I still have my favorite food blogs of course.  Here are three new ones this week that are worth mentioning!

Creamy Chicken Taquitos from Annie's Eats. I really liked these. Wilson & Luke did not...but I really feel like they should have! It has ingredients in it that they like. Oh well. I'll make these again. I did double the recipe and ended up with about 20 taquitos I think. I wanted leftovers! I also made my favorite salsa from Pioneer Woman to dip these in. Yum!

Last night I made Wilson's birthday cupcakes for him to take to school. He wanted white cupcakes with chocolate icing. I chose the vanilla cake recipe found here and hershey's perfectly chocolate icing here. I took 1 bite of a cupcake and it was good. Andy tasted the cupcake with icing and said it was really good. Wilson told me this afternoon that his friends loved the cupcakes.

I'll be making cupcakes again next week for Luke to take to school. He hasn't decided what kind he wants yet. The cakes for their friend party next week are: Wilson- police badge cake...Andy is in charge of this one! Luke wants cake pops just like last year.

The roast I was supposed to put in the crockpot tonight is still in the freezer...so the kitchen is closed tonight! oops!