I wasn't sure what to title this post because there are a lot of random things in it, so I left it blank! First off Sammy had "hat day" at school. Isn't he too cute????

I have been doing some sewing for the summer. Mainly for the girls. I'll have to show those later, but I had some leftover fabric and made this set for Sam......... ( by the way you Dothanites, Hobby Lobby opens Feb 7. I'm SUPER EXCITED!!!!!)

This is what my girls have been doing lately......

I took SK for her 2 year checkup the other day(well more like a 2yr, 9 months checkup). She was a whopping 38 lbs. and 38 in! That's like the 98% in weight! She is just like her mama, she loves to eat!

Speaking of eating.........

I had been making a good bit of Anleigh's food, but the produce prices are pricy this time of year. She really likes eating babyfood, so I plan on keeping her on it for another couple of months. I caught a Buy one Get one sale at Publix this week and cleaned the shelves! This is about 70 jars. Maybe it will last her a few weeks

Today has been a rainy, dreary day, so we made playdough. I have tried before and it turned out sticky and yucky. but I saw this TUTORIAL and it was so simple and turned out awesome!!!!

We add colors, giltter and almond extract.

If you have kids or grands you gotta try this. They will LOVE it! The boys sat and played with it for an hour and a half after we made it!

I'm leaving you with a picture that spells : M.I.S.C.H.I.E.F. !!!!!!

Snowman soup

This week is pack full of Christmas festivities. Most are the kids church and class parties. Today the boys and I spent some time in the kitchen baking some homemade chocolate chip cookies to go in the goody bags for all their teachers at church. We've counted a total of 15 teacher between the 4 kids! Thank God for them and the work they do with all our children!



So, I found this cute idea for teacher gifts. It's called snowman soup. ingredients include: hot chocolate packets, marshmallows, peppermint sticks, and Hershey kisses.





We put 2 packs of hot choc. in a clear gift bag and in a plastic sandwich bag put a handful of mmellows, kisses, and 2 peppermint stick. and a couple of cookies in a separate sandwich bag. And then put them all in the clear gift bag with the hot. choc. Tied it with ribbon and add this tag........

(Click HERE to download PDF file)






I've been meaning to show ya'll the door hanger that Carrie Baggett made for me. We are in Sunday school together. She has a ton of other cute things on her website Creations by Carrie . Check it out!




I'll leave you with this little picture of sweet peace........

randomness

So, most of you probable know what these are, but for the ones who don't, these are Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Our church has a goal of 100 boxes by this Sunday. So if you haven't done your's yet, GET TO IT! It's a great way to do something for someone else this Christmas ( and it's pretty fun shopping for them!)

Speaking of doing for someone else, the boys made their teachers some cupcakes yesterday afternoon. I found this simple recipe( pictured below). I've never used pumpkin much, but these were tasty. I thing they would be better with some pecans and choc. chips in them. We'll try that next time!

I found these cute wrappers HERE

The boys are having Thanksgiving "dinner" at school next week. They are supposed to dress as pilgrims or indians. I figured indians would be the easiest and my family are Poarch Creek Indians. The boys couldn't quite grasp how their Papa was half indian, because he doesn't wear clothes like these.......

They BETTER wear these, I've put alot of work into them!

Anleigh has one more milestone behind her........

Her face says it all. That's pretty much what she thought about it!

This was some of my homemade rice cereal, I think it was too grainy. I've been making some avocado, banana, and sweet tator baby food today. I'll let you know how that worked out later.

Rolling over for lemon chicken

This is what we had for dinner tonight. Lemon chicken. It was AWESOME!! I got the recipe from this months issue of Southern Living. You can find it HERE. Try it!!! (I took a pic of the magazine because mine was not as pretty as theirs!)
Now to the rolling over part.........
1.)



2.)




3.)!!!!!!!

She finally did it! (she's also seriously working on some toothers)


I have a new favorite drink.......


I picked up one of these by the gatorade section at wallyworld the other day. I love Lipton's green tea, but this is organic and cheaper:$1.00. I'm not sure why, but thought I'd share that!

Because I was feeling good about the house being somewhat clean this past weekend, I decided to sew up a little something.....

It's a top for SK. I plan on making some pants to match this week. During all my traveling the past few weeks I pasted some great fabric stores. So, of course I didn't come home empty handed!

I'm not sure when I'll get around to all this sewing??? It may be next fall!

Goals

Hey, thought I'd show you guys the cupcakes we made for Sam to take to his missions friends class Weds. night in honor of his Bday. I remember having these cone cupcakes at my 4th grade Christmas party. I've never tried making them, but it was easy and turned out pretty cute! All the kids thought they were real ice cream and licked them! You set the cones in a mini muffin pan and fill them with batter about 3/4 of the way full and bake them as the cake mix directs. They taste really good too!




On a completely opposite subject, I have had a strong desire to start exercising lately. So, today I decided to go buy some workout clothes.(I can use any reason to shop!)

I have gain about 55 pounds since me and Doug got married. (10 years ago August 5)
I have had 4 babies in the past 5.5 years. I have been pregnant or breastfeeding for the past 6.5 years straight and still have a year or so of nursing to go.
I want to be a good example for my girls and for them to be proud of me and not embarrassed. I would love to go shopping and enjoy trying on jeans!! ( Sorry if I sound like a frustrated fat girl{maybe I am!!!!})
So, when the boys start school in a few weeks I'm going to try to start by walking every morning. Either before they get up or take the girls in the stroller after they go to school.
I played softball in college and we had a gruelling workout schedule. During that time I said I'd never exercise again. I would love to have my coach screaming at me again if I could be in that kind of shape again!
Anyway, I'm telling you all of this so maybe I can be accountable to you on this blog. If I go awhile without mentioning anything about weight or exercise, please ask me how it's going!

Lil' Chefs

Are my kids the only ones who walk around the house constantly saying, " I'm hungry!"? It's usually right after a nutritious, delicious meal that I slaved over and they did touch any of it! I came up with a couple of things they could prepare themselves hoping they would eat it since they made it!

These aren't too nutritious, but they are fun to make.

First, we made muffin pizzas using a mini muffin pan. Ingredients included: a can of biscuits, pizza or spaghetti sauce, shredded cheese, and whatever other toppings you may like (we used some cooked ground beef).



I separated each individual biscuit into 3 thinner layers. Then the kids pressed the dough in the muffin cups.


Add a small amount of sauce, sprinkled some cheese and toppings. Then cooked as the biscuit can instructs and .......

The kids ate every one of these and wanted more!!
Next, is a pig in a blanket on steroids! It's simple, a can of crescent rolls and a pack of turkey dogs.



I separated the rolls and the kids rolled the dogs up in them. Then we cooked them according to the roll's direction. My kids love to dip, so we served mustard and ketsup on the side.

I know these are some sophisticated recipes, but I thought maybe your kiddies would like to try them. Enjoy!

Anleigh thinks they're great!!!!

Celebrate!

This week is filled with so many things, Sk's Bday, ball practice, Easter musicals, egg hunt.... I try not to let the kids focus on the "attractive" things of Easter( easter bunny, candy, eggs) The boys are getting old enough to understand more about the death and resurrection of our Lord. I came across this great activity to help them understand it better. I got this off of another blog I like to read. You have the kids help make cookies and each step and ingredient has a symbol and verse that relates to Easter. I'll let you know how it turns out!
Click here for the recipe and directions if you'd like to try it too.
On another note,a while ago, I was at a event wth several craft vendors and saw one who was selling these cute things to hang on your front door.


They were selling for $45-50!!!! I thought I'd try to make my own version of one. The ones they were selling were made of a thin wood, I used a sheet of $5 foam board.
Used a decorative cross hanging in my kitchen and traced it onto a piece of projection paper, borrowed a projector, traced it, cut it out with a box cutter, painted it and whala.... Now I want to make one for every holiday!!!!
(you can't tell on the pic, but the white also has a 'lil bling bling sparkle on it!)

Oh yeah, I forgot to show you the finished product of the kid's planting project from the last post. Hopefully, they will grow and fill out, if we can remember to water them!!!!

Big sis, lil' sis

One great thing about having another little girl is I have everything I need for a little girl! Half of my own closet has baby girl clothes hanging in it and there also a huge tub of stuff in the bottom of SK's closet, so we're set. But I think about how sweet it would be to have a few matching outfits for my girls. I had yesterday afternoon free, so I decided to get a start on it. I had bought this tan/white seersucker on clearance last summer with intentions to make the boy's shorts. But I saw a dress made out of the same fabric in last summer's Kelly's Kids catalog matched with a dark chocolate color(really cute!) So I made the girls' jumpers. I still need to figure out what kind of buttons would look best, and plan on maybe monogramming them in the same chocolate color as the ricrack.



Speaking of CHOCOLATE!!!!! We recently had a new neighbor move in next door and I thought we might could introduce ourselves with these! Sometimes I feel really bad, here I am a minister's wife and don't really know my neighbors. I should get to know and show God's love to them because I'm a Christian and God shows me His love daily and I should share it. And out of God's own Word he tells us to love our neighbor!!!!