Between the Pages

Weekend stuff…

2012-02-11T17:39:00.001-07:00

We got the treats ready today for Lauren’s preschool friends for Valentine’s Day. Tomorrow we’ll work on baking the teacher’s gifts and we have a special project planned for the grandparents.

Lauren finally expressed some interest in using her art easel today, so I quickly pulled out all the markers and crayons she got for Christmas. This easel has been in her room since day one and she’s never given it a second glance. We also have paint and those spill proof cups, so I’m anxious to get those out next time.

Well, we are off to see the Muppet Movie this evening. It’s playing at the dollar theater and that price is right for me!

Chinese New Year Festival fun…

2012-01-30T10:22:00.001-07:00

It was a beautiful day on Saturday, a warm 75 degrees, for the annual Chinese New Year Festival at the Phoenix Cultural Center. It was great to get out and see families from our local FCC who we haven’t seen in quite a while. Our FCC group here in Phoenix has slowed WAY down over the past few years and it’s membership seems to have hit rock bottom as there are little to no waiting or returning from China families. The group used to host a Chinese New Year festival all it’s own, but now only has a booth at this Phx festival.

Here are the two little dance groups that FCC has left…

Here’s Lauren with her BFF, Lily, and twins Jenna and Jadyn. Aren’t they the cutest in their dance outfits??

They always have Koy for sale at the festival. Lauren thought they were pretty cool, but very stinky!

Of course, she had to ride all the kiddie rides. Here she is trying to be fearless holding her arms up, even though she’s seat belted in AND in a cage! Oh well, she was definitely having fun.

She loved the train and her personal favorite, the bounce house…

Then it was onto the glitter tattoos for a sparkly unicorn in blue. By the way, her favorite color is either blue or green, depending on which way the wind in blowing at the time.

After that, we were off to the Chinese craft booth to make some dragons. Lily made a Fire Dragon and Lauren’s is a Mountain Dragon, according to the very sweet Chinese women who helped the girls put their craft together.

At the festival, we also got to meet up with a family from our China travel group who just relocated here from Ohio. It was SO nice to see them again and I’m so happy to have them close by now! I think there’s a bit of a special connection between families who go through the China travel experience together.

Three years ago today…

2012-01-12T00:00:00.004-07:00

…we were handed the most precious baby girl and our lives changed forever in a flash. We went from not being parents to having an almost 2 year old at the blink of an eye. Those two weeks in China watching our new baby girl grieve for everything she’s ever known was the toughest thing ever. Her face in this picture shortly after we got her says it all….

Lauren has come so far in the past three years and we feel so very lucky to be her parents. She’s a cutie on the outside, but it’s her inner beauty that really shines like a bright light. She’s brought incredible joy to our lives in just the few years we’ve been together and we can’t wait to see what the future brings.

Here’s some random facts about my girl (in no particular order)…

she will be 5 years old in March and starts kindergarten this year
she loves her baths and could play in the tub forever
she’s very enthusiastic about learning new things
her smile lights up a room and she giggles and laughs all the time
she loves her friends and talks about them all the time
she melts my heart when she says “I love you”
she loves broccoli and will order it as a side with her kid’s meal
she always says “excuse me” at the proper times
she loves to sit on my lap and snuggle
she’s such a happy girl
her excitement is contagious
she’s constantly pulling up her socks
she's a brave girl and not afraid of the dark
she sleeps with six “friends” and they need to be lined up just perfectly before she goes to sleep
she likes to ride on her daddy’s shoulders
she loves chocolate ice cream with sprinkles from Dairy Queen
no matter how cold she gets, she won’t wear her robe or slippers
she gives the biggest, best hugs
she doesn’t like mac & cheese or chicken strips
her favorite color was blue, but now it’s green
she thinks hot cocoa with marshmallows is the best treat ever
she’s like a groupie to her cousin Josh and follows him around everywhere when she’s with them
she’s a champ at taking medication when she’s sick
she loves preschool and can’t wait to go every morning
her favorite shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Yo Gabba Gabba
she loves tomato soup and could eat it everyday
at bedtime after I read a book she always wants me to tell her a story
she must listen to her music in the car and knows exactly which song she wants to hear at any given time
if she thinks I’m not paying attention she says “mom, you need to focus”…too funny!
she’s not really into crayons and coloring books
she’s a grandma’s girl
she likes tacos with plenty of salsa
her favorite store is Target (imagine that) and she loves to go there and cruise the toy aisles
she’s full of joy and has an inner light all her own

And the New Year’s cleaning starts…

2012-01-02T19:32:00.001-07:00

Okay, I’ve earned some major relaxation time with my laptop tonight. I’ve been in the toy room ALL AFTERNOON doing a major clean-out. I don’t have a “before” picture, but imagine a scene from that Hoarders show and you might have some idea of the original condition. It started out me and Joe tackling the room together, but he had to leave a few hours in to go to work (poor thing) leaving me to finish up.

My motivation for finally getting this done after months of procrastination was wanting to get all the new toys from Christmas out of the living and family room, especially the huge Barbie house that had taken us residence on our living room coffee table.

Ahhhh…it’s like a breath of fresh air. We can actually walk into the room with out risking a broken ankle or worse!

Here’s her adorable little kitchen from last Christmas that she NEVER plays with unless maybe there is a friend over to play. I thought about selling it, but think I’ll keep it another year and if she still doesn’t touch it I’ll sell it before Christmas next year. Joe just hung the orange net thing from IKEA today and Lauren put a baby doll in each level…cute. It took me forever just to go through her books. This case was packed and I had a big overflow basket. I’m so proud that I cleaned it out to just these books and we have a big box for the next garage sale.

I like how the flower and ladybug lights glow cast a neat glow when the room is dark…they are great nightlights.

Here’s the aftermath minus the big box of books Joe already put in the garage. We pulled out two bags of junk for the garbage pile and four bags of toys to put aside for the next garage sale. Plus, I emptied those two big baskets…one had random junk (game and puzzle pieces, etc. ) and one was filled with books.

I feels VERY rewarding to finally get this done, but I’m totally exhausted and Lauren has asked me to play with her about 4 times just while typing this post! Paper dolls, here I come…

It was a great holiday!

2011-12-28T21:15:00.001-07:00

It’s hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone. It seems like one big whirlwind since December 1st!

Now to take all the decorations down (not my favorite part for sure) and figure out where to put all the new toys. I seriously need to get Lauren’s playroom organized starting with a massive clean-out, toy donation/sale and then some organization of what’s left. I ordered some vinyl so I can make labels for the slide out toy bins with my Cricut. I’ve been wanting to try cutting vinyl for a long time, but never get around to it.

Instead of posting a bunch of pics from the holiday, I’m just posting the video I put together. I’m trying to be good at making videos so Lauren has them when she’s older. I just downloaded Windows Live Essentials: Movie Maker and it’s SOOO easy to slap something together using all your pics and video snippets. They even improved on regular Window’s Movie Maker, which is what I used to use.

Teacher’s gifts…

2011-12-13T21:59:00.001-07:00

Well, I just finished up the holiday gifts for the three teachers at Lauren’s preschool. I’ve been having so much fun playing with subway art lately, that I decided to make something personalized for the teachers. I included their names, the school name and the classroom names along with all the other teacher related words. I used these totally fun and funky unfinished frames from Cut it Out. These frames are SO reasonable and the 5x7 size includes the glass. Perfect!

I found some cute flower stickers at Michael’s and coordinated the paint color and subway art to the flowers. I used CraftSmart acrylic paint in Apple Tart and used a varnish over the top to give it a sheen.

I hope the teachers appreciate home made gifts. Not quite as useful as a nice gift certificate to Starbucks, but at least there’s no calories involved!

Linking up at Embellishing Life and ">Somewhat Simple.

Holiday fun

2011-12-11T21:41:00.001-07:00

One of our local dairy farms has an annual holiday event they call “Joy to the Herd”. We met some friends there last weekend and Lauren had a blast. They take you on a tour of the farm including the milking facility and then they have a video on how the milk get processed at the distribution plant. After the tour, they drop you off at a big red barn where you meet Santa and Roxie, their cow mascot. Everyone gets a chocolate milk and they have crafts and face painting. Outside the barn, they have a big pile of snow and a snow slide for the kids. Lauren’s favorite part was the slide and throwing snowballs…remember, we don’t see snow around here!

Yesterday evening we went to an outdoor mall with a very festive Christmas feel. All the trees are lit up and they have carriage rides, Santa and a mini light show. They were having a special event last night and Lauren got to take a pony ride. At the end of night I asked what what she liked the best and this was it!

And here she is with the big man himself…she sure LOVES Santa!

Kickin off the season

2011-12-02T17:18:00.001-07:00

I finally got the house decorated for Christmas and the boxes put away. It’s a nice feeling to have this done so we can enjoy holiday crafting, baking and activities.

Lauren is SO excited this year and anxiously awaiting Santa Claus. I decided to start the Elf on the Shelf tradition this year and here’s our elf, Jingle. Lauren has been having a lot of fun already finding Jingle each morning. So far, he’s just been hanging out around the Christmas tree, but I’m sure he’ll be making his way into other rooms in the house soon. ;)

Last night a couple of friends and I made these countdown calendars with vinyl from Pick your Plum, which I’m totally addicted too. If you like to craft, get on their daily email list! We spray painted dollar store pizza pans, placed the vinyl on them and attached ribbon for hanging. Oh, and we hot glued a magnet onto a little star ornament to count the days down. Simple and cute.

Here’s our tree this year. We left the skinny tree in the box and used our nice, fluffy tree. Unfortunately, we had to do the lights ourselves on this one which is always a test in patience. We all get spoiled with the pre-lit trees. You can definitely tell that Lauren preferred to hang the ornaments along the bottom, as that area is well covered!

Our old front door wreath was a little tired looking, so I put this together for the front door. Hobby Lobby had all their Christmas ribbon on sale for 50% off and I thought this pattern was bright and cheery.

For my fellow Tarjay shoppers, check out the cute throw pillows they have on sale right now. Two of these Santa pillows jumped into my cart yesterday.

Every Little Miracle

2011-11-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

I heart this commercial...

Yo Gabba Gabba

2011-11-16T17:37:00.002-07:00

Check out what we scored!

Joe is a big fan of Van’s shoes and Lauren is a fan of Yo Gabba Gabba, so we have been drooling over the Foofa pair for her. We haven’t bought them because justifying $37 for toddler shoes she’ll have for one season, is a tuff sell for us. Well, Joe and Lauren were at a shopping center today and just happened to stop into the Van’s store at just the perfect time. The guy had just taken this sign out of the window display and Lauren was checking it out, so he asked if they wanted it. Next thing you know they are carrying this big foam core sign through the parking lot!

Imagine having this for your Yo Gabba birthday party. What an awesome photo op! Too bad this party theme isn’t at the top of Lauren’s list (she keeps changing between Olivia and Minnie Mouse).

Hmmm…I wonder how much this would fetch on Ebay to some Yo Gabba collector. They have sort of a cult following, you know!

Halloween Fun!

2011-11-02T19:13:00.003-07:00

I can’t believe October has already come and gone. It was a super fun month for us, and it sure did go by in a flash!

Last weekend Lauren and I headed out to the pumpkin patch to meet up with a friend.

The girls had a great time picking out their pumpkins and decorating them with foam stickers. Lauren especially liked the bounce house…not exactly typical Fall fun, but fun nonetheless.

Lauren has been bringing home some really cute projects from preschool this month. When I picked her up from school on one of my Mondays off, I noticed wire hangers sandwiched between orange sheets of tissue paper with glue all around the edges. They were sitting out to dry and I wondered what they were making. Well, they tore off the edges of the tissue to form a pumpkin…I thought this was a cute idea and one I might steal sometime.

This past Saturday Joe was off and we had a really nice day together, just the three of us. I put on a big pot of chili and then carved a pumpkin. Lauren wanted her pumpkin to have round eyes and a nose with a happy smile…

I wish I could give you a great recipe for the chili, but I kept it simple and used my favorite Coyote Country chili seasoning mix. It was SOOO good with shredded cheese on top and crackers.

Here’s my Little Red Riding Hood cutie pie! I bought this storybook months ago and we’ve been reading it at bed time. She loves it and knew right away what she wanted to be for Halloween. This costume was made by my Mom originally for my niece, Katie, who is now a senior in high school. I love that Lauren is wearing Katie’s costume from about 14 years ago! Maybe if Katie has a daughter some day she will wear it too.

The girls had a blast running from house to house and had no problem at all going right up to the door yelling “trick or treat”. Last year they were both still a little apprehensive. It was so much fun to see how excited they were and Lauren did a great job, after a little coaching, saying thank you to everyone. We only walked a few blocks, but the girls certainly got a nice stash of candy including a full sized Crunch bar that somehow disappeared out of Lauren’s pumpkin over night. ;)

San Diego Trip

2011-10-23T23:16:00.001-07:00

We just got back from a trip to San Diego this past Thursday. I had bought tickets for the Phineas and Ferb live show months ago and it just happened to fall on the day we were leaving to drive out to California, so we did the show and then hit the rode. Lauren loved the show!

We spent one of our days at Legoland in Carlsbad.

This was our first time there and Lauren loved it. The magic height seemed to be 36” for most rides, so she was able to ride pretty much everything. Most rides also had a second height scale to determine if the child could ride alone or had to ride with an adult. Lauren was able to ride a couple of things alone and she really enjoyed that. Here she is sporting her new driver’s license….

When all was said and done, we had a really nice day at Legoland. If you’ve never been, I think it’s worth a trip if you’re in the area. It’s certainly not Disney and you need to realize that going in and adjust your expectations accordingly. Also, I think it’s best for kids at least 36” in height up to about 8 years old. For the price of admission I would certainly rather do a Disney park, but the fact that Lauren could ride pretty much everything made it worth it for us.

We stayed with some friends of ours in a rental house on the beach. This is the first time we have stayed right on the beach and it was so nice to hear the waves…it’s such a calming sound to fall asleep to. This was the view from our sliding glass door.

This was Lauren’s first time at the beach and she had a great time playing in the sand and putting her feet in the water. I think next time we’ll go when it’s warm enough to actually get in the water and lay on the beach.

The best part about staying at the house was stepping right onto the sand from our door. We had a bonfire each night and Lauren had so much fun roasting marshmallows.

I love how plants and flowers thrive in the San Diego weather and we this beautiful little nursery. I would have loved to bring some things back, but they would just fry in our Arizona heat.

Just for the boat ride, we took the ferry from the Broadway Pier downtown to Coronado Island…

and here’s my girl and her mega-watt smile…

Fall is here!

2011-10-02T20:32:00.001-07:00

Since Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, I’ve got tons of great seasonal decor ideas on Pinterest. You can check them out here. It may not feel like Fall outside with our temperature still around 100 degrees, but at least it’s Fall inside.

Last weekend, I got motivated to do some crafting. Inspired by the pumpkin specimen art at My Blessed Life, I picked up a leaf paper punch with my Joann’s coupon, some burlap and an IKEA frame I had laying around and made this for the shelf above my TV…

I saw this Halloween Banner for sale at an Etsy shop and thought it was really cute, so I copied her idea and made this banner. I cut letters out on cardstock using my Cricut, removed the letters and used the paper as a stencil. I used a little round sponge for the orange polka dots. I’m thinking this is another crafting success!

Here’s a few shots of other Fall decor around the house…

What a great vacation!

2011-09-12T11:11:00.005-07:00

We are back from vacation and finally settled back in at home. As a little bonus Lauren and I picked up a cold on the trip.

The first part of the trip was in Orlando, FL for a reunion. There were nine families and ten kids in all. We have been all been friends via a Yahoo group since the beginning of our long wait and get together annually. We hope to stay connected for the duration and that our girls will be a support system for each other as they grow up.

Here’s our cuties after a swim in the beach towel cover-ups I made (Lauren is 2nd from the right in the 1st row)…

Here's a video of how we tried to keep their attention...

After a visit to the ice cream truck, they are all enjoying their Dora pops (Lauren is on the far left)…

Most of us stayed in one huge rental home in Lake Davenport, FL about 20 minutes west of the Disney resort. I LOVED that we all stayed together and hope we can do this for future reunions. It maximizes the amount of time we can all be together and it’s so much fun watching the girls play in their PJ’s before bed. They all got along so well together and had a ball.

We were doing one day at Disney while there, so we decided on Epcot Center since it’s the least like any thing we have in CA. Lauren just made the 40” height requirement for Test Track and Soarin and loved both rides.

Here she is joining in for the Pledge of Allegiance. Never mind that she’s using the wrong hand…she was so proud of herself nonetheless.

Here’s the girls for our infamous tutu picture (Lauren is 3rd on the left)…

and here’s our pic from last year. It will be fun to have a collection of these from over the years…

One night the girls had a little party and did themselves up with make-up and jewelry and matching princess nightgowns. Aren’t we the bomb? Check out Lauren’s blue eye shadow on her eyebrows!

Here's a little video of the girls playing Ring Around the Rosie...

I love this pic of Lauren with Mary Alice. It just seems to show how much fun the girls were having. Lauren seemed to really click with her and I think that’s cool since the girls are from the same orphanage.

This is the morning we were leaving the house to head to Jacksonville for the second part of our trip. The pic is missing two of us who were headed out already for the day.

In Jacksonville, we stayed with my Aunt and Uncle and visited with them and my three cousins and their 9 kids. Lauren had an absolute blast running around with her cousins and they were SO great with her. This pic was taken in the historic downtown in St. Augustine, the oldest city in the country founded by Ponce de Leon in 1513 when he landed in Florida. It was a beautiful day.

As you might have noticed from a few of the pics I posted, Lauren’s beloved Perry the platypus made the trip with us. You wouldn’t believe the strange looks we got at the airports and around town from non-parents who have no idea who Perry is. We were walking off the plane back home in Phx and the pilot asked…is that a platypus?? Why, yes it is. ;)

Vacation!

2011-08-28T23:38:00.001-07:00

I’m on vacation from work for two glorious weeks!!! Yes, you heard that right…TWO WEEKS! Can you tell I’m excited?? ;) Part of the time we’ll be on a trip and part of it I’ll be kicking back at home. When we get home from our trip (details to come later) I’m hoping to get some craft and sewing projects done. I’ve got so many things I want to make and just not enough time to do it.

This weekend, I spent a lot of time at home finishing up a project for my trip. I was sewing like crazy on Saturday morning, but I took a break when my mom stopped by with some donuts. It was 11am and Lauren was still in her jammies watching cartoons (ugh).

Lauren went straight for the one with frosting and covered with mini M&M’s. She picked off all the candy first…

Then went in for a bite…

Today was another sewing day to finish everything up and tonight I got my project all packaged up and ready to go! It’s a great feeling to be finished and I think everyone will love them…

Catching up…

2011-08-15T18:37:00.001-07:00

Lauren started her 2nd year of preschool last week and she loves it! She’s going four days a week now from 8:30am-12:30. It’s only because Joe isn’t working full-time right now that we’re able to have her in a curriculum based pre-school. If we were both full-time, she would be in daycare. As much as I miss not having two full incomes, sometimes it’s a blessing.

Today I was off work so I gave a half-hearted attempt at a bento lunch with what I had on hand. Certainly not Wendolonia, my bento idol!

My tomboy girl, who is starting to tolerate an occasional dress, wore this “ballerina” dress today. If I can convince her that it’s a “ballerina” dress, then half the battle is won right there. She loves to twirl!

Yes, she is holding Perry the platypus (if you’re a mom, you know who he is). No dolls for this tomboy. It’s Perry love in our house. When his leg is squeezed, he makes that strange platypus sound from the show…oh goody!

I’m working on a big assembly line style sewing project right now. No, it’s not beach robes like the one I made here, but they are made from beach towels. I’m making ten of them so I’ll be BUSY for a while and covered in little towel fuzzies until I’m done!

Hot Dog!

2011-08-07T19:23:00.001-07:00

Hot dog fans rejoice cause these are the yummiest dogs you’ll ever sink your teeth into! These bad boys are sonoran style dogs. I say bad boys because they can’t be much less than 1,000 calories each, so it’s definitely an every once in a while type food.

Here’s the low-down. You take a bolillo (Mexican sub roll) and toast it up. Then you add pinto beans, a fat hot dog (we used Hebrew National dinner franks from Costco) wrapped in bacon, shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes and sweet onions, salsa verde and mayo sauce. Then you take a big bite and go straight to hot dog heaven.

The salsa verde was SOOO good, so I’m sharing the recipe.

This recipe makes a bowl full of salsa, so you’ll have LOTS of left-over for chips, tacos, etc.

Salsa Verde

1 lb tomatillos, husked and washed
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
3 fresh serrano chilies, seeded
1 cup chopped sweet onion
2 cloves of garlic
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
sea salt to taste

Put the tomatillos in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and allow them to soak for 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat, drain and puree in a food processor. Add the cilantro, serranos, onion, garlic, sugar, and lime juice and pulse to combine. Season with salt to taste.

The mayo sauce is just 4 tablespoons of mayo and a little more than 1 tablespoon of hot sauce (Tabasco or equivalent) and juice of a little more than half a lime. This sauce would also be delicious on fish tacos.

Give it all a try…you won’t be sorry!

What a mess!

2011-08-02T18:26:00.001-07:00

This is enough to make a grown women cry…

Okay the room was a mess to begin with, but this is how it looked after Lauren disappeared and was suspiciously quite for a while. This was last night and it still looks like this now and probably will until I get the energy to do something about it. Ugh.

Bedroom finally done!

2011-07-29T17:46:00.002-07:00

A while back we got Lauren some “big girl” furniture at IKEA but we never really got her room done. Everything on the walls was still set up for her old furniture and her room has been a mess.

Today, we spent some time getting her room cleaned up and re-hung all her wall stuff. As you can see in the pics, she LOVES her big girl bed and Tinkerbell comforter set.

This vanity and chair work out perfectly as a little desk and it’s so cute. There are two top drawers and a big pencil drawer for stashing stuff. I’m thinking when she gets older she can use a laptop here and have a quiet spot for homework.

The picture that looks like it’s hung too low is actually a growth chart and I really LOVE it. It’s a painted canvas. I only have today’s height marked right now (39”) so I need to back track and fill in the rest.

This picture is one of the first we ever saw of our sweetie. We fell in love at first sight!

Beach Robe Done!

2011-07-18T15:53:00.002-07:00

I had a day off from work today, so I decided to be productive and sew the beach robe I cut out last weekend. The pattern was done very well and it came together perfectly, but it took me quite a while to pin and sew ALL that bias tape. That just may be the first and last project with lots of bias tape I’ll be doing in a long while.

It was well worth the time because Lauren seems to really like it and had no problem humoring me with a little modeling...

This robe, made from a Tarjay towel, is going to work out so much better at the pool than a big bulky beach towel that is usually falling off of her. She’ll be able to sit and eat her after swim class snack and be cozy and warm.

Beach Robe on the way and Disney disappointment…

2011-07-09T22:44:00.001-07:00

I decided to try the Beach Robe pattern that Dana from Made just put out. Lauren is always having a hard time keeping her towel on when she gets out of the pool and then she complains that she’s cool. This robe, made from a towel, will be the perfect solution! This evening I got it cut out. Time will tell if I’m motivated to sew it tomorrow or if we’re heading out to the pool.

Today we headed over to the Disney store for a Winnie the Pooh story-time, which was a promotion for the new movie coming out on Friday. By the way, we can’t wait to see Pooh’s new adventure!

I was disappointed with Disney today…and I’m a huge Disney fan, so that’s saying a lot. Not because of the storytime, cause that was very cute. Before storytime they handed out little plushes of Pooh, Eyore, and Owl to the kids waiting in line, then after storytime they collected them back! They handed them out like it was a little gift for attending storytime and let the kids hold on to them for a good half hour. Afterwards, they brought out the bags and back they went. I heard one little girl ask if she could keep her Pooh bear and the cast member said “only if your mom would like to buy you one”.

I think if they were going to take the plushes back, they should have said something like this as they handed them out…“our Hundred Acre Woods friends are going to visit while we read the story and you can hold on to one, but then they have to go back to the Woods afterwards”. Oh well, I left the store without buying something after that, and anyone who knows me knows that rarely happens. ;)

T-shirt cuteness and swimming…

2011-07-06T20:13:00.001-07:00

I saw this cute and super simple July 4th t-shirt on Tatertots & Jello and pinned it thinking I would make it one year, but I actually made one for this year. I pulled a white t-shirt out of Lauren’s closet and sewed some quilting fabric scraps on the front. I think it turned out so cute and she was proud to sport her flag for the day!

Lauren just started swimming lessons on Tuesday mornings. I was lucky enough to be off work on Tuesday so I could see her first lesson! Here’s a few pics. She loves the class and thinks Miss Kimberly is pretty cool.

Iced coffee…

2011-06-29T18:21:00.001-07:00

The Pioneer Women’s recent post on cold brewing coffee to make yummy iced coffee drinks at home totally motivated me to experiment with this. Every morning at work we head over to Starbucks and spend anywhere from $2.50 on iced coffee to $5 on iced espresso drinks. This costs $13 to $25 per week! Ugh…not good!

After some poking around on-line for the best system to use, I decided on the Toddy Cold Brew System. I figured the money I would save at Starbucks pays for this in two weeks and it seems easier than the process Pioneer Women describes in her post.

So, here’s how it works. Turn the brew basket upside down and place the plug in the hole…

It came with two of these filters…

The filter goes into the inset in the bottom of the brew basket…

Like this…

Then you fill it with 1lb of ground coffee and 9 cups of cold water (alternating coffee and water to saturate all the grounds). Cover it with plastic wrap and stick it in the frig for 12 hours.

I started it brewing yesterday when I got home from work and then this morning when I got up it was ready to go. At this point you just remove the plug from the bottom of the brew basket while holding it over the carafe and set the brewer right on top of the carafe. It fits perfectly and all the water dripped right through the filter without any grounds getting through. It took about 20 minutes or so.

What you’re left with is a carafe full of liquid gold! It’s a coffee concentrate so if you want regular strength coffee they say to add 1% liquid gold and 3% water or milk. I’m going to totally start experimenting with this and when I find the perfect combination of gold, cream, syrup, etc. I’ll let you all know! ;)

I anyone already uses this system and has a drink perfected, I would love to hear about it!

I Heart Shutterfly…

2011-06-26T11:40:00.001-07:00

I finally finished our 2009 photo book (I know, a little late) of our first year with Lauren. I decided to go with the 8” x 8” format for this book. I did our China travel book in 12” x 12” and not only did it cost a small fortune, but it’s pretty darn big. I designed most of my pages in Photofusion Scrapbook Essentials and uploaded them to Shutterfly as one big image on the page. I also created some of the pages directly in Shutterfly using their design software. It’s SO simple and fun to use.

I just got the finished book and we are SO happy with it. They do such an awesome job with the finishing and binding of the book. I love the look of their padded cover. Here’s a few pics…

My cover and all the pages below are done in Photofusion and uploaded…

You can see the entire photo book here…

Click here to view this photo book larger

Web surfing fun…

2011-06-25T09:20:00.001-07:00

I finally joined Pinterest and it’s so much fun. It’s like a bulletin board where you can “pin” things you find on the internet and want to remember for later. It’s like your bookmarks or favorites, but with pictures.

What’s great is that you can follow other users with similar styles or interests and find all kinds of fun stuff. Here’s a link to my boards. Happy Pinning!

Last weekend Lauren had a blast swimming with her cousins and I snapped a few pics…

She loves the slide and Katie was such a good sport with her sliding down again and again…

I just barely caught the top of her head in this pic! ;)

Love her Ni Hao Kai Lan heart shaped swim goggles…

Father’s Day Gifts…

2011-06-16T20:41:00.001-07:00

Luckily Joe doesn’t read my blog, so we can show off his Father’s Day gifts here. We ordered the free 8” x 10” stretched canvas that Canvas People was offering as a Father’s Day special. I paid shipping, which was about $14. I found it difficult to get my photo collage centered correctly on their template so that only the white border was wrapping. I ended up with lots of room on top and the bottom wrapping under. Oh well…Daddy won’t notice or care.

I had Lauren sign the back. It looks see-thru in the photo, but it’s not. I have it propped up and there is a light behind it. It’s actually very good quality and I would order from them again.

Daddy is also getting some grill stuff including a pizza pan (I’m dying to try pizza on the grill), hamburger press and seasonings all from Cost Plus World Market. I absolutely LOVE that store!

After shopping for Dad, Lauren spent some money from her piggy bank at Toys-R-Us and picked out this awesome set of Olivia’s whole family. The only thing missing is Perry, the dog. Olivia is holding Edwin, the cat. Can you tell we LOVE Olivia? ;)

Flip Flop Fun…

2011-06-07T21:38:00.001-07:00

This was a fun little project using flip flops and two packages of those long skinny balloons…both from Tarjay.

Just cut the balloons in half and tie them to the strap of the flip flop until it’s full. Give the balloons a trim so it looks in proportion with the shoes and you’re done. Lauren got a kick out of them and she wanted to wear them the very next day.

She tried to help me with the project and here’s her completed shoe. I think she gave it a good attempt all on her own. ;)

Sleep-over Success!

2011-06-05T19:13:00.001-07:00

Lauren’s reward for sleeping in her big girl bed at night for two full weeks was a sleep-over with her friend, Lily. She was SO excited to put the last sticker on her countdown calendar and collect her reward! She’s been planning what they would do at her sleep-over for weeks and finally the big day was here.

Goodies for the girls from the Tarjay dollar section (love it)…

Dinner of skillet lasagna on their new Dora plates and placemats…

Popcorn and a movie (Toy Story 2)…

Lauren wanted blue cupcake liners and Lily wanted green…

Notice Lauren’s finger is almost in the bowl? She can’t help herself!

I let them lick the bowl while cleaning up the dishes and they ended up covered in batter, but they had a great time. After this it was straight to the bathroom for clean-up and clothes in the washer!

Now THIS is how you eat a cupcake…Lily’s got it right!

This shot makes my heart melt…

They actually went to sleep about 15 minutes after lights out and stayed asleep all night with no problems at all. YES!

Lauren was very excited about making Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast, as you can see here…

A game of Cooties after breakfast…

Dressed and waiting for Nancy to pick up Lily…

Lauren had a fabulous time and talked about it for the rest of the day!

Crazy hair day

2011-05-23T17:35:00.001-07:00

This week is the last week of preschool. Lauren’s preschool follows the local school district calendar. They have a daily summer camp to keep the kids busy until school starts up again. We haven’t signed Lauren up for summer camp, because we are hoping to use the monthly preschool payment towards some speech therapy. Even though she has made some great strides with her speech in preschool, there are just some letters she is having real difficulty pronouncing and she gets really frustrated when she’s not understood. I don’t want her starting kindergarten next year dealing with that frustration.

Today was crazy hair day at school and luckily it’s my regular day off work so I was able to get her ready for the day. Daddy is NOT good with the hair clips or barrettes, so typically during the day Lauren doesn’t sport any hair accessories. We just decided today to go crazy with little tiny pigtails and she seemed happy with it.

The past week…

2011-05-09T19:48:00.001-07:00

Last week was Teacher’s Appreciation Week, so we made some chocolate covered strawberries for Lauren’s pre-school teachers. If you need ideas for next year, make note of this one because the teachers loved them.

On Saturday we went to a 4th birthday party at a place called Toy Town. It’s an indoor place with a bunch of little play houses…grocery store, pizza shop, fire station, etc. The kids had a ball…

Lauren loved gassing her car up at the auto shop…

By the way, keep an eye on the Tarjay dollar section for these cute bags. I love to give gifts in these reusable little bags…

First swim of the season at my brother’s place. Lauren had tons of fun with her cousins and uncle in the hot-tub. It was a little too cold in the pool still, but that won’t last long.

I found Lauren with my camera the other day and this turned up on my card. Hey, at least she takes a good pic even though the subject matter is kind of iffy…

For those still waiting…

2011-05-08T10:36:00.001-07:00

I would like to acknowledge my friends who are still waiting for their children and going through yet another Mother’s Day with empty arms. It’s so difficult to get through this day with just the dream of what’s to come. It feels like there’s a big empty spot in your heart and a lump in your throat as you watch friends and family with children enjoying the day. My heart goes out to you all and I’m thinking of you today. Believe me when I say that the waiting makes it all the more sweeter when your day finally comes, and it WILL come!

For those of you lucky enough to have your sweeties at home, Happy Mother’s Day to you!

When I woke up today I was greeted by my sweetie with a great big smile on her face wishing me Happy Mother’s Day. She just melts my heart. She gave me this adorable bookmark she make in preschool…

along with a card and framed picture of the two of us. The frame was painted and decorated at school. I thanked her and held her tight thinking of just how lucky I am.

Joe also gave me this beautiful necklace and I LOVE it!

Easter weekend…

2011-04-25T14:10:00.001-07:00

Lauren was up to see that the Easter bunny ate the carrots we left out for him and she was so excited going through the items in her basket. She couldn’t imagine how the Easter bunny got into the house since he didn’t ring the door bell. ;) It’s so much fun to see the holidays through her eyes!

Before everyone got here for dinner, she collected all the eggs hidden in the backyard. She gets so excited for everything and I love that!

Dinner was at our place this year, so we were busy most of the weekend getting ready for the dinner, but we got to relax some on Sunday night and watch the Amazing Race. All in all, it was a great holiday weekend.

Easter egg fun…

2011-04-23T23:31:00.001-07:00

Easter Crafting II…

2011-04-19T20:56:00.001-07:00

We continued on with our Easter crafting when I got home from work today. I loved the moss covered initial I saw over at Antsi-Pants, so I decided to borrow the idea for our front door.

I ended up with a totally not as cute version, but I guess it will due for the holiday. After Easter, I’m stripping off the ribbons and tulip and changing them out for a more rustic look like the twine and birdie Chessa used. I love that. Also, I think my “R” needs a little trim. ;)

Lauren and I made a super simple Easter egg garland. We poked holes on either end of little plastic eggs and threaded some ribbon through. Something we could do together, which makes this simple craft perfect for us.

Easter Crafting…

2011-04-18T20:00:00.001-07:00

I saw the cutest little Easter craft on Simply Modern Mom the other day and thought it might be something Lauren and I could do together. I traced a bunch of the eggs onto yellow construction paper and let her loose with the safety scissors.

She LOVES to cut things out. She thinks it’s the coolest thing ever right now.

I cut out the little chickie beaks and feet and she helped me glue them on. I ended up stitching them since she was kind of loosing interest at that point. We was having more fun eating the M&M’s I was stuffing in.

I think they turned out pretty cute. The rugged cutting and funky eye placement add to the charm. We’ll place one by each place setting for Easter dinner.

Tomorrow it’s Easter egg garland.

Star of the Week

2011-04-12T19:38:00.001-07:00

The kids in Lauren’s preschool class take turns being the “Star” of the week. They have a list of questions to answer and get to display a poster of photos in class.

Here’s how she answered her questions:

Favorite game: Tag
Favorite song: Patty Cake (huh, wouldn’t really classify that as a song. My favorite is Moon, Moon, Moon by Laurie Berkner. We sing that at bedtime. Does anyone know this one? It’s very sweet.)
Favorite activity: Riding my scooter and bike (in that exact order)
My nickname is: Honey Bunny
My favorite color: Blue
My favorite animal: Elephants and doggies (she wants two big doggies, one black and one brown)
My favorite food is: Pancakes and hotdogs (not together though)
My family includes: Mommy, Daddy and Lucy in heaven

Weeknight dinner goodness…

2011-04-07T19:29:00.001-07:00

Pioneer Women beef with snow peas for dinner tonight. Try it sometime, you’ll like it. Plus it’s super easy and quick for a weeknight.

Plus Lauren eats it all up…

New hair do…

2011-04-06T17:55:00.001-07:00

We just got back from the salon and we’re goofing off taking pics in the mirror of Lauren’s new short hair cut and momma’s new color. I love her new look. Her fine, thin hair is much bouncier this way!

Birthday party success!

2011-03-27T18:56:00.003-07:00

I think the kids had a great time yesterday at the party and everything went really well. Thank goodness for the beautiful weather, since all of the activities were out in the backyard. Lauren had a ball with all her friends there and a few kids from her preschool…14 kids total.

I put together a little video of the fun…

Birthday coming right up

2011-03-21T20:36:00.001-07:00

This Friday is my baby girl’s 4th birthday! Can you believe she’ll be four already? Before I know it, she will be starting kindergarten.

This Saturday is her party and she’s SO excited this year. I think you can guess from the decor I’ve been working on what the theme is.

She can’t wait to wear her cowgirl outfit, including these adorable boots from Tarjay dot com.

It’s been quite a bit of work putting everything together for the party and we’re not done yet, but watching Lauren have a super fun day is what it’s all about. I’m looking forward to the weekend…especially Sunday when we can relax! ;)

Not having fun at all…

2011-03-14T17:16:00.001-07:00

Here it is Monday and I have the day off and what am I doing but torturing myself my recovering the cushions on these chairs. I know…they aren’t even nice chairs or anything I would ever pick out today, but it’s what we have at our kitchen table and they are here to stay for a while longer. The original 16 year old cushions are filthy and getting dirtier by the second with a three year old in the house.

I picked up some home decor fabric and waala, a vast improvement! I’ll tell you though, getting all that fabric wrapped and stapled around the old cushions so it’s not wrinkled and bulging is NO EASY FEAT and no fun at all. I think my chair covered days are over.

Here’s a pick I snapped of Lauren at the play center. I just think her face looks so sweet in this…

Wedding pics…

2011-03-06T21:32:00.001-07:00

Our niece’s wedding was beautiful and she made an absolutely gorgeous bride. Here she is getting the final touches done on her hair and make-up and with a couple of her brides maids.

The hair stylist curled the back of Lauren’s hair. It was really cute…

Christa’s dress was simple and elegant. Her mom found those beautiful sparkly hair pins, which totally made the look.

Jessica, Christa’s sister, was the maid of honor…

Here’s the happy couple after the ceremony…

and Lauren with the bridal party…

I love this fun picture of the girls horsing around…

If only Lauren would have actually walked down the aisle during the ceremony! We spent a good hour practicing at the hotel room while all the girls got ready and she was fine. She did great until we were lined up in the church lobby, the doors opened and the music started. Once reality set in that she was going to have to walk down without me, the water works started and I couldn’t get her to stop in the short time we had while the first three girls walked down. I ended up carrying her down the aisle while she cried and clung onto me. All the time I’m throwing the rose petals for her. I figured Christa paid good money to walk down the aisle with pretty rose petals and she was going to darn well get them! Let’s just say thank God the wedding wasn’t video taped because we were quite the sight!

It was a beautiful day and everything went off without any major glitches. We are so happy for Christa and Brent and wish them much love and a long and happy marriage.

A few pics…

2011-03-01T19:39:00.001-07:00

Don’t they make a beautiful daddy & daughter duo? Love these pics.

Had a cooking night with a couple of friends on Sunday for the Academy Awards and we attempted eggrolls. We used this recipe from the Steamy Kitchen. It was much easier than we thought and they were pretty yummy. The only thing we would do differently next time is to use more filling than she recommends so it’s more filling than wrapper when you take a bite.

Yesterday my delivery came in from Oriental Trading Co with supplies for Lauren’s birthday party. She was so excited she pulled the box in and dragged it all the way down the hall for me to open. She immediately popped one of the hats on and went into full cowgirl mode. She is so excited about her party later this month and talks about it almost every day.

Valentine’s day and a birthday party…

2011-02-21T20:26:00.001-07:00

Just a few pics I never posted from Valentine’s Day. Lauren came home from preschool with this handprint card…

and a necklace she made for me. She was so proud of it and I LOVED it. These are the little moments I’ve been waiting SO long for.

I bought these cute froggy kits from Oriental Trading Company for Lauren’s class. The teachers assembled them ahead of time for the kids to collect their valentines in. I think they were a hit!

We got super messy baking Valentine’s cookies…

and they turned out great. I finally found a good recipe for sugar cookie icing that dries to the touch so they can be stacked. It actually tastes really yummy too. You can find it here.

It was Lauren’s BFF’s birthday party on Saturday and it was a ladybug theme. We put my new Cricut to work for these cute decorations for the stairway…

and fireplace mantel.

The kids all got ladybug headbands, loot bags and nets for “catching” bugs.

Here’s Lauren with the birthday girl…

They loved the beanbag game putting spots on the ladybug…

the ladybug hunt was a big hit...

and they also painted spots on ladybug painted river rocks. So cute!

Last, but not least, the thank you bags full of ladybug fun.

Nancy, you did a GREAT job with the party and the kids had a blast!

Lauren’s birthday is next month and it’s a cowgirl theme, so it’s time to start hitting it hard with the planning and decorations. If anyone has any really cute ideas for a western theme, I’d love to hear them.

Chinese New Year fun…

2011-02-15T02:18:00.001-07:00

The Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix holds an annual event to celebrate the New Year. Lauren and I met some friends there on Sunday and had a great day. It was a beautiful 80 degrees and the sun was shining.

The pretty jacket Lauren is wearing is the same one she wore in China for the dress-up pics with the entire travel group. I can’t believe it still fits, although a lot shorter, two years later!

New toy on the way!

2011-02-01T20:35:00.001-07:00

I just ordered a Cricut Expression (12”x12”) craft cutter and I can’t wait to get my hands on it! For those of you who couldn’t care less about crafting and have no idea what a Cricut is, this little beauty cuts shapes, designs and fonts in paper, vinyl and fabric (although that’s a lot trickier). It’s been been around for years, but I finally decided I can’t live another day without one. ;)

For those of you who have one, what do you use yours for? Having a little one at home, I can think of tons of projects I will use this for and had plenty of times over the past couple of years that I wished I had one. Also, printing on vinyl opens up tons of possibilities for projects and gifts.

I just downloaded the demo version of the Make the Cut software over the weekend and it’s a lot of fun to play with. Since I don’t want to be tied to only using the Cricut cartridges, I’m planning on using this a lot to print fonts I already have on my computer and convert images to cut with the Cricut. Does anyone use this software already? If so, how do you like it?

Shopping day…

2011-01-23T19:28:00.001-07:00

We went out for a little shopping adventure today. Here we are at the start of the day before Lauren went a few rounds in the play center. The knees and bottom of those white leggings weren’t white for long! By the way, I love this Naartjie dress on her and I love the casual look of cotton dresses with leggings underneath.

We hit Target at just the right time since they just put out all their spring shoes. I know this because that is the ONLY time they have size 9.5 or 10 in the women’s shoes. I got the two pairs on the left from Target. The adorable pair on the right is Payless. I only go in Payless for Lauren’s shoes, but just happened to wander over to the women’s section today and got lucky with these.

Target shoe cuteness…

Payless super shoe cuteness…

Here’s Lauren’s new shoes. The two on the right are from Target and the cute pink ones are Payless…

We couldn’t pass up this adorable swim suit for only $12 for our blue lovin girl. She wanted to try it on as soon as we got home.

We also picked up this bright, eyelet swim suit cover-up. They also have it in white, but I figured that was an accident waiting to happen.

Also, Target had a selection of their Circo brand shirts, skirts and leggings for $3.50 each. What an awesome deal! I love these for play clothes and for preschool. If she spills paint or something else that doesn’t come out, it’s not that big of a deal at that price.

Kid friendly recipe…

2011-01-18T10:53:00.001-07:00

I didn’t put together a menu plan this week for Menu Plan Monday, because I’m basically making whatever will help clean out my refrigerator and pantry. They are bursting at the seams and are ready for a total overhaul. Ughh…I hate that!

Last night I made skillet lasagna again since I had leftover ingredients from last week. This recipe is yummy and so simple since everything, including the lasagna noodles, cook in the same large skillet. Also, Lauren loves it and eats every bite. Here’s the recipe…

Skillet Lasagna

1 24oz jar of marinara
2 1/2 cups water
8 oz lasagna noodles
1lb Italian sausage or one tube of breakfast sausage
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 oz parmesan cheese
2 tbsp fresh or dried parsley
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 tsp coarse ground black pepper

Brown sausage and garlic in a large skillet. Remove and put aside for later.
Combine sauce and water in the skillet. Cover and bring to a boil.
Break lasagna noodles into 3rds or smaller and add to skillet. Stir them into sauce, cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 16-18 min. or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally.
While noodles cook, grate parmesan cheese and chop parsley, putting aside 1 tbsp for garnish. Combine all cheeses, 1 tbsp of parsley and pepper.
When noodles are ready, add sausage back into the skillet and stir. Scoop cheese mixture over noodles, cover and simmer until cheese is melted and heated through. Sprinkle with remaining parsley before serving.

Enjoy!

Family Day 2 Year Anniversary…

2011-01-11T20:16:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow marks two years as a family of three!

Here we are the day we met our girl…

It’s been amazing watching her blossom and grow over the past two years and it’s surprising how fast it goes! I wish time would have moved this fast while we were waiting!

Lauren has come so very far since that first day. She’s smart, funny, beautiful, inquisitive, loves to learn, outgoing, fearless and her smile can light up a room! Sometimes I wonder what we did to deserve such a wonderful gift and we appreciate each and every day with her.

Menu Plan Monday #2 and a Great Soup Recipe

2011-01-09T19:24:00.014-07:00

It's my second week of menu planning and grocery shopping with a list of ingredients and I've got to say that it's much less stressful when you actually have a plan. I used to go to the store with a list of things we were out of and only a vague idea of what I could make for dinner during the week. It's so freeing to know that I have everything I need to make a week's worth of great dinners and not have to worry about what's for dinner when I come home from work. Here's my plan for this week, along with a couple of links for recipes. Also, I'm linking up at Menu Plan Monday.

Monday Sausage & Tortellini w/Pesto
Tuesday Chicken Chili
Wednesday Weekly play date
Thursday Skillet Lasagna
Friday Beef with Snow Peas

Now for the great soup recipe. Tonight I made this big pot of total yumminess...

It's Spicy Tuscan Soup from a Tasty Kitchen contributor. It's a copy cat of the Olive Garden's sausage/potato soup and it's wonderful! If you like the Olive Garden soup, you will love this. Serve with a crusty loaf of bread and you'll be in heaven.

Weekend fun…

2011-01-08T17:57:00.001-07:00

Today we met a couple of friends for lunch, shopping and some time at the play center.

Lauren had a great time with Lily…

We are so lucky to have such good friends and I’m so glad Lauren has a close connection with other little girls from China. I think that will be really important to her as she gets older. Thanks, Nancy & Heather, for such a nice day.

Ginger cookie recipe and IKEA…

2011-01-06T19:38:00.001-07:00

I just remembered today that I promised the ginger cookie recipe from Christmas and never delivered, so here it is…

Ginger Cookies

Sift together:
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Blend together in a bowl:
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg

Add sifted, dry ingredients and blend. Mixture will be a little stiff. Roll into small balls, roll in sugar, place on cookie sheet and flatten with the bottom of a glass. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until crackly and lightly browned.

These cookies melt in your mouth and I like them plain, but a drizzle of vanilla glaze adds a nice touch. I make a mixture of powdered sugar, milk, butter, vanilla and a dash of salt. Here’s a good recipe, but you need to thin it down a bit and make about half this much.

Okay, the next time you’re at IKEA, BUY ONE OF THESE in the kitchen utensil area. It’s like $1.99 or something like that.

You pop in two little batteries, warm some milk, add your favorite flavor of International Cafe, insert the whipper thingy and you have frothy, yummy Starbucks style goodness in a cup! This might be just the thing we were looking for at the office to shake our pricey morning Starbucks habit!

If anyone has any yummy ideas for a Starbucks mocha or caramel macchiato taste-alike, I would love your recipe. I’ve tried many different things and it’s just not the same.

In sticking to my menu plan for the week, I made Shrimp Pad Thai tonight and it was yummy. I’ll post the recipe tomorrow night or over the weekend. Tomorrow night, chicken tacos.

Menu plan for the week…

2011-01-03T20:20:00.003-07:00

One of my resolutions for the new year is to sit down each week and make a dinner plan and grocery list. I’m hoping it will help us cut way down on eating out, save some money, try some new recipes and eat a whole lot better.

To make me more accountable, I’m going to post my weekly menu plan here along with recipes when I have a success. I’ll spare you all from the bad ones.

Here’s this week’s plan along with a rice recipe that will be a new staple in our house. I'm also linking to Menu Plan Monday, where you will find TONS of great menu ideas.

Today	Fish Tacos (sautéed tilapia on white corn tortillas and shredded red cabbage topped with cilantro lime sour cream sauce) Cilantro Lime Rice (recipe below)
Tuesday	Party
Wednesday	Weekly play date for me and Lauren
Thursday	Pad Thai Noodles with Shrimp
Friday	Chicken Tacos

Cilantro Lime Rice
In a blender or food processor, combine 1 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves, 1/2 cup packed fresh parsley leaves, 1/4 chopped white onion, 2 garlic cloves, season with kosher salt and ground pepper. Blend until combined, add 1 and 3/4 cups of water and blend until combined.

In a medium saucepan, heat a little olive oil, add 1 cup long-grain white rice and stir to coat. All herb mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook about 15 min. Turn heat to low, squeeze in the juice from half or a whole lime and fluff with a fork. Serves 4.

Menu Boards…

2011-01-02T17:22:00.002-07:00

Today was a crafting day. My friend, Christine, and I decided to make menu boards since we’ve always admired them on Kim’s blog at A Girl and a Glue Gun. We took her idea and ran with it today.

We picked up 12” x 12” frames, acrylic paint and a roll of magnet tape at Hobby Lobby; some scrapbook paper for the backgrounds from Joann’s; metal sheeting at Home Depot; and I ordered the clear, acrylic calendar sheets from Oriental Trading Company. I also downloaded a cute digital scrapbooking kit for the lettering and flowers.

We painted our frames a creamy vanilla color, then brown over that so we could sand them a little to make them rustic. Then we inserted the clear calendar, scrapbook background, metal sheeting and cardboard frame backer. I used my digital kit to print out the months and flowers (for the first pic). We used a craft punch to cut out the little magnetic menu items. We left most of them blank for now to fill in later.

This one is mine. I’m planning on displaying it on this cookbook easel….

This one is Christine’s. She’s going to put magnets on the back and display it on her refrigerator…

I'm linking up at Somewhat Simple's Strut your Stuff Thursday...

While we made our menu boards, Lauren made some yummy Play Dough cinnamon rolls…

A Great Christmas Morning…

2010-12-25T12:04:00.001-07:00

For Daddy (parents of little ones know who this is)…

All topped off with The Best French Toast Ever recipe from A Soft Place to Land. I went to two grocery stores to find thick sliced bread and they were both out. One of the ladies in the bakery suggested using King’s Hawaiian bread, which I’ve never had. It turned out SOOO yummy. Thick sliced cinnamon raisin bread would be wonderful too. Kimba, thanks for sharing your yummy recipe!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T00:09:00.001-07:00

I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends and make some beautiful memories to treasure forever.

Here’s our little sweetie right before we left for Grandma and Grandpa’s for Christmas Eve. Her smile lights up a room!

She LOVES her new Go Go Puppy. I would say that was the hit of the evening for her. After we got home we set out cookies and milk for Santa. Lauren had to do a little taste test to be sure they were good enough. ;)

Cookie tins done…

2010-12-20T20:40:00.001-07:00

These yummy ginger cookies are packaged up in my cookie tins this year. If anyone is a fan of ginger and molasses, let me know and I’ll post the recipe. They melt in your mouth and with a drizzle of icing…yum!

The great gingerbread house debacle

2010-12-19T11:45:00.001-07:00

It started out innocently enough. Lauren and I set everything up to assemble our Tarjay gingerbread house kit. We put the house together just as instructed using the icing bag they give you in the kit and waited 15 minutes for the icing to set just as they tell you.

While the icing was setting, we opened all the candy and put it in little bowls for easy access. By the way, this kit says it has LOTS of candy…ah, NOT!

Once we started decorating the roof, it started to slowly separate. That’s okay, I thought, and just added more icing and held it together for awhile. We finished decorating, with me holding that ~~damn~~ darn roof on the entire time. As we were sprinkling our coconut “snow” around the house, the roof was slowly slipping until it slide right off! It was a sad sight.

That’s okay, I grabbed my E6000 industrial strength craft glue, slapped some on and put the roof back in place. Here’s a look at our ~~pathetic~~ modest little house.

I had my back turned as I was cleaning up at the sink and when I turned out here’s what we had…

Yup, pretty much total collapse. Even the front and back pieces are drooping down. That’s it…I’ve had it! It’s now just sitting like this…I needed to walk away from it. Lauren looked over and said…awwwww. Maybe once it’s totally dry, I’ll take out the hot glue gun and see if it can be saved at all.

Next year, I’m gluing the entire base of the house together first and letting it thoroughly dry before we go anywhere near it with icing and candy!

2010-12-18T08:08:00.007-07:00

We're back from our Disneyland trip and we had a blast! The first morning was a little shaky with Joe and me just getting over being sick, but we were both fine by mid-morning that first day.

Lauren's favorite thing was visiting Mickey and Minnie in their houses in Toontown. She LOVED seeing all the characters and it was so much fun watching her give them all big hugs. Our favorite thing was just watching Lauren have so much fun...she was jumping up and down with excitement and loved going on the rides. She even went on the Haunted Mansion, which was totally transformed for Christmas, and the Matterhorn and loved them both. It was very cool to see the Disney parks all decked out for Christmas and the lighting of the castle was beautiful.

I put together a video of our trip, which pretty much sums it all up. Warning...it's a little over 7 minutes long. Also, you can watch the video in full screen mode by clicking on the bottom right icon in the viewer (the one that looks like four arrows).

Upcoming wedding plans…

2010-12-04T23:07:00.001-07:00

Our niece, Christa, is getting married this coming March and she asked if Lauren would be the flower girl. YES, OF COURSE was my response! Christa, and her sister Jessica, were junior bridesmaids when Joe and I got married, so I think it’s extra cool that Lauren will be part of her wedding party!

This morning we met up at David’s Bridal to pick out a dress. Lauren had only tried on a few before we decided on this simple, little beauty with flowers around the neckline and a balloon hem. I can’t wait to see her all dressed up in this with her hair done carrying a little satin basket filled with rose petals. She’s going to be so darn cute! Christa, it’s going to be such a beautiful wedding…we all can’t wait! Thank you so much for including Lauren in your party, it means so much to us.

Fun stuff…

2010-12-04T08:22:00.001-07:00

If you’re fans of Charlie and Lola in your household, pick this adorable DVD up next time you head out to Tarjay. It was only $5.99 and has a Christmas episode plus six others!

The Christmas episode is very cute. It follows them as they open the doors on their Advent calendar and Lola’s letter to Father Christmas gets mixed up with another card and not sent off. They have a little adventure making sure that her letter is received in time for Christmas. Lauren just loves it and is watching it right now. We watched it last night for the first time and she asked for it again first thing this morning.

There are no fancy Advent calendars around her this year. I have all the supplies for a Pottery Barn Kids inspired x-mas tree calendar, but it will have to wait for next year. Instead, this one from Tarjay will have to do…

I’m guessing Lauren likes it anyway, since I found it later propped up on top of her kitchen…

We also picked this up, inspired by M3’s post. So after I actually get our tree up and the house decorated, then this will be next. Ughh…I’m so behind this year!

We have a house guest…

2010-11-29T18:41:00.001-07:00

for the week and his name is Virgil. He’s the mascot at Lauren’s pre-school and he’s spending a week at home with each child. He comes along with a journal to record his antics, including pics.

As you can see from the hanging thread that used to be his mouth, Virgil has been around the block a few times. I think we are the six or seventh family to host him. I hope he survives his time with us…time will tell. ;)

Here’s a few pics from Thanksgiving at grandma and grandpa’s house (Joe’s parents). She loves her “Unca Ed” and had a great time with cousin Jessica, who we haven’t seen in over a year. She just finished up a 10 year stint in the Navy.

Counting my blessings

2010-11-25T07:30:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope you can slow down a little today and take some time to count the many blessings in your life. Sometimes in the daily whirlwind of life, we get stuck on some of the ugly stuff. Today we get to focus on the positive and leave that stuff behind!

This year we are heading to my in-laws for dinner. I’m making the Pioneer Women’s Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Apples. It’s the recipe she used when she was on Throwdown last week with Bobby Flay. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. After dinner, we’re off to my side of the family at my brother’s place.

This evening it’s time to plan my strategy for Black Friday shopping. Yes, I’m one of those crazy people who get up before the sun to stand in line at Kohl’s and Target. It’s a holiday tradition and it wouldn’t seem like the start of the Christmas season without it!

Speaking of blessings, here’s one of mine. We made pumpkin bars on Monday night and I brought them into the office this week. She LOVES to help me bake and I spent many years dreaming of a baking assistant! ;)

Not a sight you see everyday…

2010-11-16T21:28:00.001-07:00

It was quite a surprise to see Hello Kitty as large as life as we drove back to the office from lunch. Apparently, it’s Sanrio’s 50th Anniversary and they have teamed up with Target for a little road show. Of course I parked and headed over to check it out.

Can you see the Hello Kitty head rests in this truck…

Bet you’d get lots of stares in this Smart Car…

They had lots of 50th Anniversary goodies for sale, but nothing I had to have. Lauren could really care less about Hello Kitty at this point, although I think she’s darn cute.

So, what do you think?

2010-11-14T18:31:00.001-07:00

I saw some totally adorable headbands at a boutique recently. They were more than I would usually spend on a hair accessory, so I decided to try and make one myself. I didn’t have any cute fabric scraps on hand, so I picked up a few coordinating fat quarters at Joann’s for a total of $5. I have enough left-over to make something else too or a few more headbands.

Here’s how it looks on. Keep in mind that I was working with a moving target who really wanted nothing to do with trying this on. I’m thinking with an actual matching outfit and a hairbrush, it will look much cuter.

So, what do you think? Totally not as cute as the original, but still cute nonetheless. M3, I think Ro & Ree would look oh so adorable in these!

Clean out time…

2010-11-14T08:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I did the dreaded clothes clean-out in Lauren’s room. I pulled everything out of the closet and drawers and went through each item to make three piles: Goodwill, garage sale and might still fit next summer. Wow, what a chore! I found that it’s a bit of an emotional drain to go through everything. There were some items that I had a hard time putting in the Goodwill and garage sale piles. I still had some things in the closet that she wore in China and things I had purchased back when she was only a dream to me that now have been worn and no longer fit….sigh. I have to admit that a few of the things I couldn’t part with went into the box for next year even though I know they won’t fit next year. ;)

Last night I told Lauren that it’s time to put Mickey in his pocket and she ran over to the calendar to put the second one in. It’s very cool to see her enjoying this after all my hard work.

I told her that we’ll put a Mickey in every night and when the last one is in its pocket then it’s time to go visit Mickey Mouse where he lives at Disneyland. She asked…and Goofy too? Yes, baby, Goofy too.

Countdown to Mickey

2010-11-09T19:57:00.004-07:00

Julie, you guessed right...it's a countdown calendar! We are planning a trip to Disneyland next month and I thought it would be fun for Lauren to countdown by putting a Mickey on the calendar every day until we leave. I thought this might help build some excitement for the trip and help teach her the concept of time, which at this age she has no concept of whatsoever.

This project turned out to be more time consuming than I thought with cutting out all the little numbers and letters, but I figure we’ll get quite a few years of use out of it and I’ll pass it down to Lauren to share with her kids someday.

The finished calendar measures about 31” x 22” and each little pocket is a 2.5” square. The pocket at the bottom of the calendar stores all the Mickey heads when not in use.

The Mickey heads are cut from glitter felt so they stand out nicely and I sized the pockets so Mickey’s ears would stick out.

The squares and the jumbo rick rack border are machine sewed and the letters and numbers are glued on with Aleene’s Super Fabric textile adhesive. Love this stuff. Easier and faster to use than a glue gun and it’s a super permanent bond on fabric, especially felt. Of course, it takes longer to dry than a glue gun, but that wasn’t a problem for this project.

All in all, I’m very happy with the finished calendar and I’m looking forward to Lauren having fun with it.

I'm linking up at the Sugar Bee for Take a Look Tuesday...

and Strut your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple...

Lauren and her bunny, Hoppy, were casualties one night as I spent a little too much time working on my project.

More crafting

2010-11-04T17:39:00.001-07:00

Okay, I just snuck in a little crafting and got my felt numbers cut out. Lots of them! First the Mickey heads and now numbers…hmmm…what can it be?

Sometimes I find it frustrating trying to get fun things like crafts done with my full-time work schedule. I have it do it in little bits and pieces unless I have a weekend with big chunks of free time. I SO envy those who work part-time or not at all. Oh, the things I could do!

Can you guess?

2010-11-03T19:11:00.001-07:00

I just finished cutting out 30 sparkly felt Mickey heads. It’s the first step in my latest crafty project. Can anyone guess what I’m making?

Oh, and by the way, these particular left-over Halloween candies are resident evil. Have you tried them? If you haven’t, then I suggest you don’t let them in your house. Especially a whole bag of them! ;)

It was a great Halloween

2010-11-01T18:08:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we hosted a pumpkin carving party at our house. It was such a fun party to plan for and I think everyone had a great time, especially the kids.

We had some good food and lots of treats. My home-made chocolate cupcakes topped with a tombstone and “bone” (pretzel and marshmallow dipped in chocolate) were a big hit.

The chocolate pretzel witch fingers were a favorite with the kids…

I cut out some sparkly felt bats and strung them up over the kitchen island…

and we had LOTS of tools for carving pumpkins thanks to my friend, Jennifer, who used to host an annual party…

The weather was perfect, so we had the backyard set up for the pumpkin carving…

I had a candy bar set up so guests could fill their own favor bags on the way out…

Last night we had a couple of friends over. We had pizza (thanks Heather & Damon) and then got the girls dressed in their costumes. I love this picture of Lauren with her BFF, Lily. They are SO cute together. My friend Nancy, Lily’s mom, made that beautiful princess and the frog costume (notice the froggy backpack?).

It took the girls a few houses to get the hang of the trick or treating gig, but after they felt comfortable with it they were off and running from house to house. We could barely keep up with them!

Once we got home, the buckets were dumped and faces were stuffed with candy. It reminded me of Halloween as kids when my brother and I would sort out our candy and make trades…those were the days!

Preschool Halloween Party at the Park…

2010-10-24T07:37:00.001-07:00

Cupcakes for the party. Bat rings and cool skeleton platter from Tarjay. By the way, I LOVE Tarjay and hate Wally World. Actually, I love the People of Walmart website and I’m always at the ready to snap a photo I can submit. It would make my day to contribute to their Wally World wacky tribute!

It turned out to be a beautiful day yesterday…the weather was perfect. Here’s some pics of Tinkerbell at her preschool Halloween party…

My oldest niece, Katie, surprised us and showed up at the park and Lauren loved playing with her.

How cute are these wings and shoes with the Tink pom-pom!

Random stuff…

2010-10-22T21:10:00.002-07:00

If you’re anything like me, you have stacks of tutorials you’ve printed from blogs cluttering up your computer room. I finally picked up a couple of binders and page dividers from Wally World and made up some cute binder covers. I feel so much better now. :)

I’m a Starbucks junkie, but couldn’t help but order a free sample from Nescafe to compare the new instant coffee sticks.

The people at Taster’s Choice don’t mess around when it comes to free samples! Check this out. Six samples and a coupon. Get yours here.

I haven’t tried it yet, but will very soon.

Well, tomorrow Lauren’s pre-school is hosting a Halloween party at the park so the kids can get together in their costumes. The weather is FINALLY getting nice here in AZ, so it should be a beautiful day. I’ll post pics tomorrow.

Not quite bento

2010-10-18T22:00:00.001-07:00

Okay, so here’s this full-time working momma’s version of a preschool bento lunch…

…and Lauren is perfectly happy with it.

She doesn’t know what she’s missing yet. I’m so jealous of all those moms who put together really cool bento lunches. Sadly, that’s just not me right now. I found a great source for bento supplies here and maybe I’ll actually order a few things…we’ll see.

Good food and some crafting…

2010-10-16T23:44:00.002-07:00

Today I had a few friends over for an impromptu cooking night and the food turned out great. We made a huge antipasto salad with a yummy tomato-based vinaigrette and the Pioneer Women’s baked lemon pasta. Both recipes were fantastic. We’ll be having the leftover pasta with grilled chicken tomorrow night for sure.

After dinner I got some help on a project for my pumpkin carving party later this month. A box of canning jars from Wally World, candles, candy corn and supplies from around the house…

…and waala, cuteness for the party tables. What do you think?

While we were crafting away, Ruby just made herself at home.

PS...no, we didn't adopt a new furbaby. Ruby is my friend's dog who was over for a visit. Lauren loves to play with her.

New shops…

2010-10-15T22:03:00.001-07:00

A couple of friends of mine have new shops set up on the web and I wanted to give them a quick plug.

Click here for Stephe’s Designs on Cafe Press. Stephe can customize a design for you and have it printed on lots of different items. She’s super flexible, does great work and can work magic in Photoshop.

Click here for Cactus Bloom Designs. Michele makes beautiful embroidered note cards and really cool 3-D photo boxes, among other things. If you need a card for someone special, check these out.

Totally unrelated, but a pic of Lauren that truly captures her sweet, fun personality. Her smile melts my heart and lights up a room!

Baby Shower!

2010-10-10T08:42:00.002-07:00

Yesterday my friend Nancy and I hosted a baby shower at my place for Heather, Damon and their new son Finn. They have been waiting and waiting for a China adoption and decided last year to adopt domestically. In July they got a call that a baby boy was just born and waiting for them. Suddenly and in an instant they became a family of three!

It was such a pleasure to finally be able to plan a shower for Heather after all these years of waiting!

Here’s our home-baked chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting…yum! I made the little cupcake toppers using a digital scrapbook kit.

We hung a laundry line and filled it with little outfits and socks for Finn.

Nancy made a zebra print hooded towel…

Love this onesie…

Lemon Rosemary Chex Mix. It’s pretty yummy.

Congrats to the newest family in our China adoption group! It was such a nice afternoon of celebrating with you!

It’s beginning to “look” like Fall

2010-10-02T10:47:00.001-07:00

There is something horribly wrong with the fact that we’re sweating bullets decorating the front of our house for Fall. It’s 108 degrees out there today in good ole Arizona, but at least I’m ready for Fall (my favorite time of the year).

Okay, now I’m off to take a much needed shower…

Preschool Update (lots of pics)

2010-09-26T11:41:00.001-07:00

Lauren has been in preschool for two weeks now and is doing great. She seems to really like it and we have noticed that she is more chatty and is playing on her own a little more now. Here’s a pic one of the teachers sent me on her first day after I texted asking how she was doing. That smile on her face said it all and made me feel so much better. She had no tears the first day or any day yet for that matter. Preschool is going to be SO good for her and I’m so glad we decided to enroll her.

After her first day of school we treated her to Build a Bear. She wanted to make a kitty and picked Chococat, one of Hello Kitty’s friends.

As you can see, she was VERY happy about her selection.

Even though Chococat is really a boy in the Hello Kitty world, Lauren selected a pink outfit complete with little Sketchers shoes. Sorry, kitty, I hope you don’t develop a complex.

I thought kitty needed some jammies to change into at night, so I surprised Lauren with these when she put on her jammies. She loved changing Shadow’s (kitty’s new name) outfit.

After her first week at preschool, here’s all the projects we collected. I especially like the little collection of items all grouped by 4…macaroni, buttons, pom poms…very cute.

It looks like she had an especially good day!

Last week we had a couple of friends over and the girls decorated some slice and bake sugar cookies. They were so concentrated on how they placed their spinkles and they REALLY piled it on.

The cookies actually turned out really cute and we enjoyed them with some milk.

Then we beaded some necklaces and bracelets. Gotta practice those fine motor skills!

Two cuties…

First Day of Preschool!

2010-09-13T10:56:00.001-07:00

Today I dropped my baby off for her very first day at the Village Preschool. I was so excited for her to start because I know how good this is going to be for her. She’ll learn how to socialize more with other kids, share, take turns and be a little independent from mommy and daddy. I also think her language skills will blossom.

Now, even though I know how great it will be, that doesn’t mean it was easy! Actually, she did fine at drop off and I was the nervous one. When I dropped her off, we put her lunch box in her cubby and I showed her where the potty is (very important since she’s wearing big girl panties). I gave her a big hug and kiss, told her I’d pick her up right after lunch and off I went. There were no tears, but I felt SO strange leaving her there and driving home alone.

Here she was last night making a PB&J for her lunch box. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Joyce for her adorable LL Bean personalized lunch box from our vacation to Maine. Also, I found this cute Ariel bento style box on clearance for $2.99 at the Disney store yesterday. Can’t beat that!

I can’t wait to pick her up from school and find out how her morning went. Since I’m off work today, I promised her a special trip to Build a Bear this afternoon. We stop in there a lot, but she’s never made anything and I know she really wants a kitty cat. :)

On another subject, we had a great weekend with a couple of bloggy friends who were in town. Julie & Tess (4 1/2 yrs old) and Lisa & Tate (2 yrs old) were here. Lauren had such a great time with the girls.

Here they are picking out toppings for their own personal pizzas.

Lisa and Tate stayed at our place. The girls had their ups and downs while playing together, but overall they had a really good time.

Here’s the three girls burning off some energy at the mall play center...

and Lauren and Tess horsing around at Pottery Barn Kids…

We had an awesome weekend and have already started what I hope will be a great first week of school for Lauren.

Had a great vacation...

2010-09-01T19:08:00.006-07:00

We just got back from a 10 day vacation back east yesterday. We spent the first couple of days in New Hampshire with a group of familes we got to know at the beginning of our adoption wait. We've been having yearly reunions and this is the third one I've been able to make. It was SO great seeing everyone again and meeting thier kiddos! The rest of the trip was spent in Maine with my dad and step-mom. We stayed in Freeport, at my dad's camp in central Maine near Baxter State Park, in Bar Harbor and in Portland. It was a great trip and we saw some beautiful sights, especially at Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor.

I put together a video of favorite trip pics and video snippets. If you have 10 minutes and don't think you'll die of boredom, go ahead and check it out. To view it full screen sized, click the last link on the bar under the video with the four arrows.

Time for a post, I guess…

2010-08-12T21:31:00.001-07:00

I just realized I haven’t posted in a few weeks. I’m usually good for at least one post a week, but I just haven’t felt like it lately. I think I’m in a bit of a rut right now and I’m SO looking forward to vacation!!

I’ve just been feeling like I need a break from my regular routine. I’m up on weekdays by 5:30am (Joe and Lauren still sound asleep), to work by 7am, home by 6pm (Joe already at work and Lauren with grandma), then dinner, clean-up, cuddle and playtime with Lauren, maybe a half hour to do something before putting Lauren to bed, then drop from exhaustion before Joe gets home from work. Then repeat…over and over and over.

This month we’re taking two glorious weeks off work and heading back east. First stop is New Hampshire for a reunion with a fantastic group of adoption friends, including two families from our China trip. After the reunion, it’s off to Maine to see my dad and step-mom. We’ll be stopping (or should I say, shopping) in Freeport, the home of LL Bean, staying at an adorable bed & breakfast in Bar Harbor, and then a night in Portland, Maine on the harbor. In between all that, we’ll be spending a few days relaxing at their lake cabin. I think this is just what the doctor ordered!!

My dad hasn’t seen Lauren since last March and we had only been home for a few months. He is going to be SO surprised at how much she has changed in the past year and a half! She’s blossomed into such a beautiful and smart little girl. Grandpa is definitely going to be charmed by her.

Anyone else find themselves in a rut lately and ready to change things up a bit? Any advice you could share on how you got out of the funk?

Good-bye dear girl…

2010-07-19T21:03:00.001-07:00

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, and his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

We feel we were worthy of her unconditional love this morning when we made the decision to say good-bye and take her pain away. Lucy was diagnosed with bone cancer in her right rear leg almost a year ago. She’s so stubborn and such a tuff girl, she fought it off all this time. For the past month or so she bravely carried that leg and went right on with things the best she could, but we knew by her behavior that she was in daily pain. We didn’t want that for her anymore.

It’s been such a sad day today. Our hearts are broken and we already miss her like crazy. Lauren has asked about her a few times today and we have tried our best to explain that we had to let her go to doggie heaven so she can run and play there like she couldn’t do here.

Good-bye, dear Lucy, we love you so much. You were a constant source of light in our house for many years and we will always remember you.

Blog Publishing

2010-07-16T20:55:00.001-07:00

I promised to tell you about a cool program for publishing to your blog without even going into Blogger. It’s called Windows Live Writer and you can download it here.

Once you download the program, you will enter your Google user name and password and let it know which blog you want to publish to. Once you do that it will recognize how your blog is formatted and give you the perfect amount of writing space to fit your blog. Uploading photos is a snap and you no longer need to worry about the order of uploading, like in Blogger. You can resize your photos quickly without messing in the HTML coding and also crop them and add effects. Also, like any Windows program, you can always “undo” something with a click of a button before you save it. Also, you can tilt your photo, like I did below, make it look like a Polaroid and easily add a watermark selecting from a gazillion different font choices.

As you’re typing your post, you can just drag and drop the photos to different locations. Oh, you can add tables, insert a photo album, insert a map of a location…the list goes on. I think you get the message…it’s just SOOOO much easier than Blogger.

Oh, and if you create your first post in Writer and then get this error message when you try to publish: “The remote server returned an error: (403) forbidden", then do the following. I don’t know why it works, but it does. Don’t question the computer Gods.

1. Go to http://picasaweb.google.com.

2. Log in using the same Google account you use to post to Blogger.

3. Create an empty album called "Windows Live Writer" (without the quotation marks).

Now go back and try to publish. Works like a charm! Have fun and come back and thank me later! ;)

PS…thanks again, M3, for introducing me to Writer!

PSS…Writer is supposed to work with Windows Live, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, SharePoint, Community Server, and many more.

Reunion Trip…

2010-07-11T21:14:00.002-07:00

We are just back from our bloggy reunion to Park City, Utah and I wanted to post some of my favorite pics. I first met up with these wonderful ladies back in August 2006 and this time I got to meet Catherine and sweet little Hannah too. It was so great to see everyone again and meet all the kiddos.

Our trip had it’s ups and downs. We got in on Thursday afternoon and had a great night hanging out with everyone at the house. Friday we had a fun day at Park City Mountain Resort, followed by dinner and relaxing at the house while the kids played. Friday night I didn’t get any sleep and spent most of the night in the bathroom with the stomach flu. You get the picture…it was NO fun. By mid-day on Saturday we had two kids sick and another mom feeling queasy. So Saturday turned out to be sort of a bust, but we had a great time up until then. Now on to the pics…

Here’s Lauren mesmerized by the iPad. Wow, that thing is super cool and can keep kids entertained for days! It has tons of apps for kids and you can download movies too. I’m sure it would make a long car or plane ride seem much faster.

It was so much fun to finally meet little Ro & Ree after watching all their antics on M3’s blog. They are the sweetest little girls and Lauren seemed to really look up to them.

Here’s Lauren with Eliza, Sollie, and Maisie. Eliza is so sweet…she asked me my name about 5 times and then after that, EVERY time she talked to me she said my name first…very cute. Sollie is super cute and full of energy. I don’t how how Tiffany does it with both kids as a single momma, but she does an amazing job with them. Maisie is a little gymnast. She was proudly showing us her backflips and is getting ready for a gymnastics competition soon. She is also as smart as a whip and a real cutie pie to boot.

I love this pic of little Sollie. Just look at those gorgeous eyes of his…

Also love this pic of Tate. She is as cute as a button and very chatty in her sweet little voice.

Here’s Lauren with Hannah, who was so cute running about at the house trying to keep up with the bigger kids.

It’s amazing how much entertainment can come from mixing bowls, spoons and measuring cups…

Here’s our attempt at a “red couch” photo in age order from right to left.

Here we are trying to re-create our photo from the 2006 trip…

and now add in the kiddos…

Maisie and Lauren had fun “rock climbing” at a nearby park. I think they both have a good sense of adventure…

Here we are at the Park City Mountain Resort. Skiing in the winter and rides in the summer….

We’re next up for the alpine slide…

It was a long ride up to the top of the mountain…

and then winding all the way down…

on this little slide. It was SO much fun!

Just some random cuteness…

M3 took the girls for a walk and snapped this totally cute pic. LOVE it!

All in all, we had a great trip and it was so much fun to see everyone! I’m looking forward to years ahead of get togethers like this and watching all the kiddos grow up! Julie, I missed seeing you and Tess and look forward to seeing you on your next trip to Phoenix.

By the way, if anyone is wondering why my pics look so much bigger than the usual tiny pics that Blogger uploads, it's a slick Windows program that M3 showed us. You actually create your post there and publish straight to your Blog. Let me know if you'd like the info. It's SO much easier than Blogger posting!

Heading out for a trip...

2010-07-07T16:17:00.011-07:00

Tomorrow morning Lauren and I are taking off for an extended weekend trip to hang out with some bloggy friends in Park City, Utah. Here's the great ladies we'll be seeing...

Lisa and Tate
Tiffany, Eliza and Soloman
Lisa and Maisie
M3, Ro and Ree
Catherine and Hannah

It should be a blast since we're all staying together in a 6 bedroom rental house. There will be 6 of us and 8 kiddos...think we stand a chance? ;)

We bought Lauren her own small rolling suitcase from Target complete with a cupcake name tag holder. Last night I told her I was going to start packing and she ran into her room and rolled it on out. Then I said we need to pack our clothes and off she ran back to her room. She came back with a bunch of stuff from her bottom clothes rack that are all too big and shoved them into her suitcase. All done, she announced. It was so cute.

Holiday weekend...

2010-07-05T23:35:00.006-07:00

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! We started out Saturday by taking Lauren to her very first movie. We saw Toy Story 3. Here she is proudly holding her tickets...

We had breakfast out right before the movie, so we didn't hit the snackbar. I did bring some Red Vines though. A movie wouldn't be complete without them. She did great during the movie and sat through the whole thing. We purposely went to a regular showing and not 3-D. I thought that would be way too much for her right now.

Saturday evening we met some friends and their kids for dinner and ice cream. We all had a really nice time and the kids got along so well together. Sindy, I wish we didn't live so far from you guys!

We didn't do much this year on the 4th. We actually had kind of a lazy day, which totally worked for me. We did throw some burgers on the grill and had a nice dinner just the three of us. We didn't feel like dealing with the heat this year for fireworks, so we copped out and watched the display over the Hudson River in NY on TV. Actually, with all the lights off in the room it was really pretty and they had some fireworks I've never seen before.

Just some pics...

2010-06-28T19:47:00.009-07:00

Some pics from the last couple of weeks. Lauren and I spent a weekend up at a friend's cabin. It was nice to get out of the heat, if only for a couple of days. Thanks Kim for a great weekend!

She loves her ice cream with sprinkles...

Sometimes I look at a pic and think she looks so much older. Where does the time go?

On Saturday we went to the Disney Store and they were having a fun promotional for Toy Story 3. All the kids got a name badge sticker and bandana. They had little stations set up around the store for different activities to earn more stickers.

Is it just me, or does the Jessie character have a creepy looking face? ;)

Liking her dress...

2010-06-17T05:52:00.004-07:00

As promised, here's a few shots of Little Miss in her twirly dress. We were on our way out, so taking the backpack off for this pic was not an option...

We got Lucy smiling too in this one...

This is supposed to be an action shot of her twirling, but in another life when I'm an actual photographer you would know that...

Feeling accomplished...

2010-06-13T16:24:00.008-07:00

I bought this pattern and fabric back in March and I finally made the dress.

The neckline seemed a little plain to me with just the elastic, so I made a little flower. I think it turned out pretty cute. Lauren calls it her twirly dress.

She's napping right now, but I'll get a pic of her wearing it later.

Next project is a bag for me. I bought Vanessa's pattern for this cute little number. Here's my fun summer fabric...

Weekend fun...

2010-06-07T19:16:00.009-07:00

Joe was out of town and Lauren and I had a great weekend just the two of us. Actually, it wasn't really the two of us because we had plans the entire weekend. On Saturday it was off for a pedi, then lunch, then a birthday party at the Little Gym for Katie, who just turned 3. Sindy, thanks for inviting us, we had a great time and it was so nice to see everyone.

On Sunday morning we met a few friends for bowling. I can't believe they actually had toddler sized bowling shoes...they were so cute. Lauren had a blast rolling the 6 lb bowling ball down the alley. Thank God for bumpers or every one of them would have been gutter balls! One of her rolls took FOREVER to get down the alley, with Lauren standing there the whole time waiting for it, and then at the very end the ball dumped off to the side without touching any pins. Lauren turned around with the saddest look and walked back with her head and shoulders drouping down. It was too funny. We had a group of guys on the next lane who got a big kick out of her reaction.

Here's a quick video of her bowling technique. She just grabs the ball and runs with it...

After bowling it was off for the first swim of the season. It was so hot on Sunday and the water felt great!

Monday	Sausage & Tortellini w/Pesto
Tuesday	Chicken Chili
Wednesday	Weekly play date
Thursday	Skillet Lasagna
Friday	Beef with Snow Peas