14 days of V-Day Fun – Coming TODAY!

So, I have a FUN series starting TODAY, here on the blog..
It will keep going until Valentine’s day (The 14th) and I’m really excited about it..



This series was totally inspired by this post from Laurie at Gallamore West. Check it out!

And I would like to thank Marina of Penny Lane Designs for making the AMAZING graphic for me!!

I will be back in a bit with the first post! :)

Our family just got bigger!

Yep, you read that right! :) As of Sunday, our family got bigger.. By 4 paws!

I’d like you to meet Trouty..
 
Isn’t he the sweetest thing?? He is such a good kitten! His favorite things to do are sleeping on the couch and chasing his tail around – which the girls think is HILARIOUS! :)

And did I mention how cute he is? Ahh..
 
If you’re wondering where we got his name from, then you obviously don’t watch Glee, and you should. :)

Talk to you soon!

Edited to add: SORRY if you subscribe to my blog via Google Reader, I accidentally published a post that was not meant to be (yet).

Our weekend..

Hello blog readers! I hope you have had a great weekend.. Ours was packed with fun!

Saturday Micheal was out with his brother and the Jeep club that they belong to, so I decided that the girls and I needed to have get out of the house as well for some girl time. :)

First we went to Target..
And of course, you can’t go to Target without stopping at Starbucks for some cake pops, apple juice (for the girls) and a vanilla bean frappucino (for me)! :) It’s like breaking the law if you don’t! ;)
 
This picture cracks me up! She is so my child.. Whenever I was young (and to this day) I would be perfectly happy going to the store and getting something as simple as a notebook and some pens.. Her choice of the day was two rolls of bright colored wrapping paper from the dollar spot at Target. :)

Our next stop was my fav store ever! Hob Lob (as I like to call it).. 
And our last store of the day was JoAnn’s. :)
 
Of course, after all of that hard work shopping, we had to get something to eat, right? Right :)

Oh, how I love Chic Fil A! It is always a treat for us when we go there, since we don’t have one in our town!

Wanna see what I bought between the three stores?

 
FUN stuff!! :)

Saturday night, Micheal and I put the girls to bed and stayed up way too late so I could get caught up on this.. 

Anyone out there a Gleek? Love, love, LOVE that show!! :) I still have one show to watch tonight, to be fully caught up and I hear it is REALLY good!

This (Sunday) morning we slept in and then headed to a festival that was going on in our town..

After spending two (!) hours at the festival, we took the girls out for ice cream. :) 

We still have ONE more thing planned before the weekend is over, but that will be a post of it’s own. :)

Talk to you soon!

Bloglovin'. :)

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My fav meal..

Yes, I know.. I have been doing a lot of food related posts lately. I am working on a somewhat big crafty project, but I won’t be able to share until the beginning of Feb. So for today, you get a recipe. ;)

So.. I have two favorite meals, one Micheal makes (which I’ll have to see if he will share with you at a later date), and one I make.. Today I am sharing the one that I make, and that is Kielbasa with peppers, onions and tomatoes over rice. It is so, so, SO good!

Ready for a pic?

Droooool.. :)

Kielbasa and vegetables over rice

Here is what you’ll need to make it:
-1 package of Kielbasa (or smoked sausage)
-1 onion
-1 green bell pepper
-1 tomato
-1 bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s bbq sauce
-1 package boil in bag rice

Directions:
1- Chop up kielbasa and cook in a small amount of oil until brown.
2- Chop up vegetables and add in to pan with sausage.
(NOTE: I usually cut the green pepper, add it in. Then cut the onion, add it in. And then do the tomato last. If you put the tomato in first, it tends to pretty much disappear on you. :))
3- Add in bbq sauce, just enough to coat.
4- Cook your rice in seperate pot.
5- When the vegetables are cooked to your liking, the dish is done!
6- Put a “bed” of rice on plate(s) and top with sausage/vegetables. Enjoy!

I got the recipe for this from my Uncle Bob. Once while visiting my Uncle Bob and Aunt Carol in Indiana, my Uncle made this dish and I fell in love with it. I was probably in Middle school at the time so my Grandma would make this for me whenever I came to her house.. Then when I moved out on my own I started making it for myself, Micheal and the girls. It’s also a good dish to make if you’re having company over!

Okay well I am wrapping this post up. We just put the girls to bed so I am going to go into my craft area and make something that I’ve been itching to make for a while now. I will be back soon to share it with you! :)

Thanks so much for coming to my blog! Feel free to comment.. I love hearing from you!

Movie suggestions..

So I am not really big into movies, but I wanted to tell you about a couple of movies that we have watched recently that were really good!

The first one, is a really great movie for the whole family to watch:

Mr. Popper’s Penguins


The girls liked it because of the penguins and Micheal and I loved it because of Jim Carrey. I LOVE movies that the four of us can sit down and watch together. :)

And my other recommendation is one for the Moms and Dads (or any adult)..

Crazy Stupid Love

Seriously, the trailer doesn’t even come close to doing this movie justice! It is so, so funny and NOT predictable like most movies are these days. Plus, can you really go wrong with Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling AND Kevin Bacon in one movie?? I think not! :) This is my new fav movie! And Micheal loved it as well.

That concludes my movie recommendations for now.. Is there a movie you’ve seen recently and thought it was amazing? I’d love to hear about it! :)

THE best banana bread EVER! ..Not exaggerating

Let me start off by saying, I do not like anything.. ANYTHING banana! But this banana bread is one of my f-a-v things to bake (and eat!). It is so, so good. I usually make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas to give out to family and friends, but I ran out of time so I decided that January 11th at 10 PM was a good occasion! ;)

This recipe is not my own.. I got it from my friend.. You might know her..

Yep, Martha Stewart. :) Okay, so we aren’t really friends.. But if we were, I would hug her every day for sharing this recipe with the world. It is THAT good, people!

I was going to take pictures of the process while I was making my bread, but let’s face it.. It isn’t rocket science. Plus it was late at night and I just really wanted it to be done so I could eat some. ;)

Here is a picture I took to show you what it looks like when done:


Note: The recipe says that one batch will make just one loaf, but I split the batter between two of these “EZ foil loaf pans” (Found at Walmart or any grocery store). So, just keep that in mind.

Here is what you’ll need to make this amazing banana bread:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan.

Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

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One thing I want to add, before I go.. If anyone is in need of baking soda, call me!



LOL.. Apparently every time I bake, I buy a box of baking soda, thinking that I don’t have any at home! Does anyone else do that? Or am I the only one losing their mind at the age of 24..? :)

Alright, I am done talking. Now.. Go make some!

The past few days..

I haven’t posted anything in a few days, so I wanted to show you what we’ve been up to..

Somebody got a new bike..
 

She was just a tad bit excited.. :)
 

She asked me if she could ride her bike (by herself) to school when she’s 5.. Ha! :)
 

 

The child loves to be outside.

Oops, got carried away with pictures of Abby on her bike.. Ha.

Here is one of my silly, crazy haired girl. :)

Seriously, that picture sums up Lauren’s personality! I love it.

Anyway, this weekend was rare, in that we got to have Micheal home for the entire weekend. He usually works 6-7 days a week so we were excited, to say the least!!

Sunday we went out to breakfast at our fav local restaurant. :)

Told you she is silly. ;)




On Monday Micheal went back to work (boo!). The girls and I went to the new DD/BR that opened up (only a few minutes from our house!) Yay for Strawberry milkshakes and chocolate chip muffins!

Yesterday and today have been lazy days. I’ve got a migraine that I can’t seem to shake. I am hoping to do some baking tonight, but we will see!

Thanks for checking in with me today! Don’t forget to link up your crafty projects here!

Tuesday Time Out linky party (Guest Hosting)

Today I'm hosting Tuesday Time Out with

Melanie from Reasons To Skip The Housework

If you link up here or there, you'll be on both linky lists!

Please link to your post - not your main blog address.

Have fun!

{If you're feeling friendly, you can add the TTO button to your party list.}



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Pre-blog creations: Part 2

I’m back today to share part 2 of my creations from before I had a blog! :)

Here we go..

Etched glass flower vase. Tutorial found here.
 

Tie and initial baby onesies. All I did was adhere fabric to Heat n Bond, cut out tie/letter by hand and stitch..


Two cards of mine that were published in CARDS magazine..
 

Pillowcase dress. PDF and video tutorial found here.
 

T-shirt dresses. Didn’t use a tutorial for this.. Might make one and post it at a later date.
PS- This picture makes me want to cry because my “babies” were still babies back then!!
 
Baby name banner. All supplies used were from Papertrey Ink. Picture taken by me. :)
 
Aaaand that concludes this little mini series of my pre-blog creations!

Thanks you for coming by to my blog today. It truly means a lot to me. :)

Yay!

I was just looking through posts in my Google Reader and saw that I was featured on Sugar Bee Crafts!!

I am so excited! This is my first time being featured.. 

You can check out the post here. :)

A special thanks to Janel (who was in charge of picking features this week) and Mandy for hosting TALT!

Pre-blog creations: Part 1

Before I had a blog, whenever I made something, I would always take pictures of the things I made and post them on Facebook. So, I thought I would share those pictures with you. There are quite a few, so I am going to split them up between two posts. :) These were also from my pre-DSLR days so the picture quality is ehh..

Without further ado..

Seriously adorable felt flowers. Tutorial found here.


I was addicted to making these.. Padded camera straps. Tutorial found here.
Framed turkey hand. Came up with this idea myself. :) All it is is scrapbook paper, I traced Abby’s hand, then cut it out and adhered to a sheet of kraft cardstock. Stamped her initials under it with the year and framed it!


A newborn dress for my Niece.. Using a sewing pattern I bought at Walmart. Don’t know the exact name..
 

Crinkly baby toy. Tutorial found here.

Custom baby wipes case. Tutorial found here.


Chocolate covered Oreo’s on a stick. Tutorial here. Credit to Neisa Baker for helping me with these! ;)

That’s all for today.. I will be back on Thursday with more of my pre-blog creations. :)

Proud Mom moment

My 3 year old, Lauren drew her first people today! :)

And here she is, proudly showing off her masterpiece:

She can’t wait to show Daddy when he gets home from work. :)

Ah, I love being a Mom!