Life of a Modern Mom

A Few New Sweet Recipes!

2012-01-24T14:16:00.003-05:00

Last week I tried this AMAZING new recipe for Carmelitos. We were having some friends over, and I was a bit nervous to make something I hadn't tried before, but they turned out fantastic! Seriously, SO yummy! And to make things even better... the just put a Biggby by Molly's preschool. So the next day I got to enjoy the last Carmelito and a Coffee!

We also have been loving these No Bake Energy Bites. They are a perfect snack when you are craving something sweet and filling, and since they are so rich, you only need one or two. Perfect!

DIY Scratch Off Cards!

2012-01-22T21:33:00.003-05:00

Today I made a few of these DIY scratch off tickets to try them out, and make sure I knew what I was doing. We are planning on making these at MLife, thinking it would be so fun for when kids are bored this Summer to get to scratch off a card and find a fun activity to do! I used this tutorial from ArtMind.

I made a winter one as a test, and love it so much, I am going to make a bunch of them tomorrow so we can use them this Winter. Here are a few of the activities I am putting on our Winter cards:
-Go Sledding
-Build a Snowman
-Snow Inside
-Bake Cookies
-Build a Blanket Fort
-Living Room "Movie Theater"
-Frozen Bubbles

-Paint

Vinyl Signs!

2012-01-20T18:03:00.004-05:00

Today at our Church's MLife group we made these great vinyl signs! It was such a fun craft, that I bought an extra set to take home and let Molly make. She had the best time painting the 2x12 board with pink paint. Then her favorite part was rubbing the vinyl letters on with a popsicle stick.

She was thrilled to get to paint and do this whole craft by herself. She was SO proud to put it on the dresser in her room and show her dad the second he got home. :)

New Year's Eve!

2012-01-01T18:17:00.006-05:00

This year we had a fun New Year's Eve celebration with the girls! We celebrated at 6pm, since that was midnight in Paris, and if you know Molly, you know she loves everything Paris!

This party was all about this girls, so Molly had the BEST time, doing everyone's hair and picking out all our outfits. (whoopsies, I forgot to get a picture of me with 20 clips in my hair ;) We all ended up in pink, but she loved being a fashion designer. This Paris dress Grandma gave her for Christmas was perfect!

We had noisemakers and party blowers to start off the celebration!

Molly was very excited to watch the countdown and fireworks at the Eiffel Tower live on the computer!

And Confetti Poppers from the dollar store were a big hit with the girls, and Dad. :)

We had sparkling Grape Juice to Toast the New Year!

Molly couldn't get enough...

Nora tried some...

But wasn't so sure. :)

Molly worked hard all afternoon making decorations. Here is the tablecloth she decorated with markers, stickers and balloons. She was very proud. I just taped a giant piece of white paper to our vinyl table cloth and sent her loose. :)

Indoor Smores for dessert were a big hit!

But the biggest hit of the night was playing glow in the dark hide and seek! We saw this idea over at one of my favorite blogs, Play at Home Mom. Here is a picture of some of the glow sticks hidden in Molly's room. Some in her shoes, under the doll bed, in her plastic drawers! The girls had the BEST time with this. (even though it was super hard to show in a picture)

I got a few glow sticks from the dollar store, and I picked up a ten pack of glow stick bracelets from the grocery store to hid through out the house. Then I let the girls find them as fast as they could and put them in a bucket in the kitchen. This was such a hit, we played for over an hour! Molly loved taking a turn hiding them too.

We had a fantastic time celebrating with Molly and Nora, and since they are only 4 and 1, it was nice to have them still in bed by 8. :)

Dec. Recap

2011-12-27T21:19:00.004-05:00

I thought I should probably do a quick recap of some of the fun we've been having in December. We had a VERY busy and FUN month. I've been busy with the girls, sewing projects (which I can start posting pics of now that all the gifts are given), parties and so much more, so I've kind of had a month disconnected from the computer, but I definitely got a lot done. :)

We had dance, school parties, family parties, Les Miserables, Wizard of Oz, Church Christmas programs, an amazing Jars of Clay Concert, Trans Syberian Orchestra, Christmas around the world at the gardens, crafts, playdates, and SO much more!!!

Here are a few of the pictures I already have uploaded. Now I'm off to download and order the picture from the last 4 days of parties. :)

Nora LOVED decorating the tree this year!

We went to Holland and Zeeland's Christmas parties. Here is Molly and her cousin Maisy at the parade!

Lots of great cookie decorating!

Molly actually playing the games at her Preschool Christmas party! For those of you who know Molly, this is a HUGE deal! She has lots of anxiety after everything, especially if things are a little different, so she NEVER plays any games at parties, or carnivals, etc. So this was SUCH an awesome day for us!

Doing a Christmas performance at dance class!

Nora enjoying the snow at Fredrick Meijer Gardens!

I took Molly to see the Wizard of Oz at the Civic Theater, her first real play, we had the best time!

Even being ridiculously busy, we still had time to be silly!

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T21:17:00.000-05:00

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

Recycled Wrapping!

2011-12-04T20:50:00.000-05:00

After making this TP roll wreath last year, I am always looking for places to use these fun TP roll flowers. Here is my take on recycled wrapping. It's a present wrapped in a paper grocery bag, (my trick to make the paper look nice since it's so thick, is to use double sided tape so you don't have big chucks of tape on the outside) then I wrapped a strip of burlap and ribbon around the top, (also secured with double sided tape) and then just used clear thread to tie the TP roll flower on top, and added a label. I think it is super cute, green, and thrifty.

Favorite Kids Christmas Crafts/Ideas Recap

2011-12-03T20:01:00.006-05:00

Here are some of our favorite kid ideas and crafts
from past Christmas posts.

Handmade Nativity Set

Christmas Light Fingerprint Bags

Popsicle Stick Sleds

Handprint and Footprint Reindeer

Bow Wreath Craft

Favorite Christmas Crafts Recap

2011-12-02T20:27:00.006-05:00

Here are a few of the most popular past Christmas craft posts from my blog, the Reindeer Rootbeer/Beer I made last year have exploded all over Pinterest! I am SO flattered and glad people love this fun, easy craft! (Clink on the links or pictures below for the original posts.)

Reindeer Rootbeer / Beer

Candy Cane Mittens

Personalized Bags

Ornament Wreath

For more of the fun projects we've done the past few years, check out my old Christmas posts HERE. And come back tomorrow for some of my favorite kids Christmas crafts from last year. :)

Menu Monday!

2011-11-14T10:48:00.002-05:00

Here are some of the yummy recipes we have planned for this week:

Monday- Leftover Taco Bake (YUM!)
Tuesday- Baked Southwest Eggrolls
Wednesday- Crockpot Baked Potatoes and salad
Thursday- Pepperoni Pizza Puffs (the kids LOVE these)
Friday- Crockpot Orange Chicken

For more great menu planning ideas head over to orgjunkie.com. And for my past menus check here.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-03T13:26:00.007-04:00

Yes, I know, Halloween was Monday...
But better late than never right. :)

Here is my little "Olivia."

And my "Minnie Mouse," hamming it up!

And Molly and her cousin getting ready to head out Trick or Treating!

They even got to help pass out candy at Grandma and Grandpas.

And Molly was SO proud of the ghost lunch she helped make to match her ghost shirt, that she asked if I would take a picture of it for my blog. So, I had to happily oblige. :)
(string cheese, hard boiled egg, marshmallows, green yogurt, carrots, and ranch dip)

Candy Jars!

2011-10-29T20:30:00.000-04:00

It's a little hard to see from the picture, but since I had out my glass etching stuff the other day, I had to etch these fun candy jars. :) I used cheap little jars from Hobby Lobby and etched C-A-N-D-Y on the fronts. I figured I can change the candy each season and keep using them. I'm thinking I can use red and green M&Ms for Christmas.

The letters look much darker in real life, but in this picture I think you can see the glass etching a little better. (Yup, Randal is going to start hiding the glass again, he's worried I may etch everything, it is SO addicting.)
This fun idea was inspired from Random Thoughts of a Supermom. Check out her fun jars! :)

Super QUICK and EASY Halloween snack!

2011-10-28T16:03:00.003-04:00

Somedays I am definitely more motivated to come up creative snacks and crafts, and other days I want something super easy, and quick but still fun! So... here is the QUICKEST and EASIEST Halloween treat ever. All you moms might think it's lame, but let me tell you, the kids LOVE it!

Are you ready for this... just stick a Halloween Peep on the end of a sucker stick! That's it, my kids were thrilled (granted they were probably thrilled for the sugar, but still). :)

And, I avoided the sticky fingers this way! :)

Gotta love it!

ISPY Jar!

2011-10-25T19:12:00.005-04:00

I finally found a jar (in my basement stash of IKEA jars) to make up an ISPY game for Molly. I got this idea from Meet the Dubiens after seeing her idea on Pinterest.

And, of course I had to glass etch I-SPY onto the bottle. (yes, I still have my glass etching addiction, my husband was nervous when he saw me get the Armour Etch back out) ;)

Here are the random things we added to our jar. I printed a copy of this picture, laminated it, and added a ring to the corner so I could hook it to the metal on the top of the jar. I filled the jar with white rice, and then hot glued the top on for extra assurance it wouldn't open. Molly's favorite thing to search for are the letter beads to spell her name! :)

Outfit Organization!

2011-10-22T20:59:00.002-04:00

Here is our solution to helping Molly get ready in the morning and keeping mom sane. :) Molly always wants to pick her own outfit, but most of the time it doesn't work, (like shorts in the cold, etc.). So, instead I help her pick out all of her outfits for the week on Sunday, and she puts them into the drawers for the day she wants to wear them, complete with socks and undies, totally ready to go!

I cut out the days of the week with pink vinyl, and put them on the front of each drawer. Our set is actually 2 sets of 3 drawers stacked on top of each other.

Of course, when I got around to taking a picture, it was already the end of the week, so you only get to see one outfit. :)

This has been working SO good for us. Molly loves to help pick her outfits and have control of what day to wear each one. It also makes her getting ready on her own much easier, and I always know everything is clean and good to go. No more frantically searching for white legging before preschool. :)

Need a Smile!

2011-10-22T20:10:00.002-04:00

I haven't had a chance to post lately with lots of craziness going on over here, but I was busy with projects and have lots of great things to post soon! Here is something to make you smile in the mean time...

Yes, Molly is doing Sit and Be Fit, the exercise show for the elderly! HAHAHA! I heard the TV turn on while I was washing dishes, and figured I would tell her to turn it off when I was done. But then she came running into the kitchen asking to borrow a towel, so I figured something had spilled, but she told me nothing had. So I let her borrow a towel, and then dried off my hands to go see what had happened, and I found this..... She was SO into it, so of course, I had to run and grab the camera. :)

Pinkalicious Party!

2011-10-03T14:01:00.007-04:00

For Molly's 4th birthday, she wanted to have a Pinkalicious Party! She LOVES the Pinkalicious book series, and everything pink for that matter! So the Sat. after her birthday, we had family and family friends over for a Pinkalicious afternoon. :)

We had lots of Pinkalicious decorations, including Goldie, from Goldilicious on the table.

It ended up being a nice day, so I decorated the deck with these fun lights made from plastic cups!

I just love this craft! I saw it on Pinterest, it's from Better Homes and Gardens, you can see the how-to here. I just used white cups, a bunch of pink papers, double sided tape, and an exacto knife to cut an X in the top. It is so easy to pull the cups off and replace them with another color for other parties. :)

Pink water bottle labels, I just printed the picture and words onto pink paper, and used clear packaging tape to put them on water bottles.

Pink lemonade, like in Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink! Thanks to Rachelle for letting me borrow this awesome lemonade drink dispenser!

A super yummy PINK desert bar, complete with pink cookies, pink marshmellows, pink gumballs, pink chocolate wands, pink candy, and of course pink cupcakes!!!

The pink star wands are just melted pink chocolate in a star mold I got from Hobby Lobby. :)

I tried to make the cupcakes look exactly like the ones Pinkalicious eats in the book.

They are just strawberry cupcakes, in pink cupcake liners. Then I just put pink vanilla frosting on them, white sprinkles, red icing and a cherry on top!

Molly loved them!

And anyone who wanted to could decorate there own cupcake cookie. Here is Cassie, Molly and Shelby decorating. :)

We had all the guest wear pink. Here Molly and her cousin Maisy are showing off there pink. Molly decided she needed to wear her pink crown, because Pinkalicious wears a crown in the book!

And I made Molly's cousin Dominic a Pink-A-Boo shirt (just like Pinkalicious's brother Peter says when he turns pink) using Heat-Transfer paper.

We had crowns and wands for Molly and her cousins to decorate like Pinkalicious has in the book. Also, bubbles and Pinkalicious coloring pages to keep the kids busy!

Here is Nora modeling her crown. :)

And we had "Green" food for everyone to take when they left to cure a case of Pinkatitis!

In the book, if you eat to much pink you turn pink! So the only cure is to eat "Green" food.

We had a lot of fun! And are so grateful for everyone who came to celebrate with us! This is just a few of my 100 or so pictures of the party, lol, but since this post it getting a little picture heavy, I'll wrap it up here. :)

DIY Ballet Bar

2011-10-02T13:50:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago Molly started a preschool ballet class and LOVES it! She was very excited to practice, and is always dancing around the house doing plies! So we thought it would be great to get a ballet bar to practice with, especially since most of you know, Molly has huge balance issues after her surgery and we are loving that the bar helps give her balance. BUT, seriously, all the bars I found are WAY, WAY to expensive, especially since she may only do dance for a year or two!

So, here is the cheap alternative my husband made. It is working out perfect, and is super solid. He just went to the local hardware store, and bought a bunch of threaded metal pipe and connectors, then screwed them together! Easy Peasy! The top bar of ours is 4 foot, and the two side bars and 3 foot each.

Here is what the two bases look like, this makes it very sturdy. It's a T joint, 2 short straight pipes, the L joints ( I think, lol, I don't know all the correct terminology ) and then two 1 inch pipes and 2 circle bases.
We put the two 1 inch pipes before the bottom because that made it the correct height for Molly, but as she gets taller, we can change these to 2 or 3 inches each to raise the height.

Here is the happy ballerina practicing! She doesn't always have such a goofy smile, but she was not to thrilled about having to look at a camera when she was "supposed" to be practicing. :)

And there you go, that's how we put together our own ballet bar. I know that wasn't really a tutorial, but if you have any questions, please let me know. :)

Ever Have One of Those Days....

2011-09-27T19:55:00.000-04:00

...we do! Our afternoon was "One of Those..."

Needless to say, my children have both been sound asleep since 7:10, so they were TIRED!
Hopefully we all wake up on the right side of the bed tomorrow, and todays 4 year old shots don't affect Molly to much tomorrow!

But... even cranky they are still pretty cute! :)

Birthday Bedroom Balloons!

2011-09-26T15:40:00.003-04:00

For Molly's birthday I wanted to do something with balloons, since my girls LOVE balloons. First I thought I would blow up a bunch of balloons and fill the floor in her room with them, but then I rethought that idea, since I would probably end up policing the 1 year old all day not to play rough with them!

Then I saw this AWESOME idea (well surfing Pinterest) from A Girl and A Boy to thread a strand of balloons and hang them from the ceiling!!! LOVE!!!

I bought 3 packs of balloons at Walmart for .97 cents each, had my husband blow them up, (thanks babe) then just threaded them into three long strands. Instead of hanging them with thumbtacks, I used Command Decorating clips since Molly's walls are smooth and I wanted to be able to remove them. So Easy!

We actually did this well she was sleeping since she is such a heavy sleeper, and in the morning she was SO thrilled. Both her and Nora were laying in her room staring at the balloons all day! This will definitely be a new tradition!

Happy Birthday Miss Molly!!!

2011-09-23T16:13:00.005-04:00

Happy 4th Birthday to our amazing Molly!!!
I feel so blessed to be her mom, and so grateful for the miracle that helped her to reach 4!

I quick made this shirt for her to wear this morning, the same way I made these.
I just used pink flower fabric, Steam-A-Seam, and a white t-shirt. :)

She has felt very special today, and even got to pass out a birthday treat at school! Now we are heading to a birthday dinner of her choice with just mom and dad, she picked Chinese buffet, smart girl! :)

Pink Crayons!

2011-09-21T10:40:00.001-04:00

For Molly's birthday party with family this weekend, she choose to have a Pinkalicious Party. So, to go with the coloring pages I printed for her and her cousins to do, I wanted to have a box of all pink crayons!

But, since a custom box of crayons is $10.99, YIKES! I knew that wasn't going to happen in this stay at home moms budget! So, instead I bought 24 boxes of crayons when they were .20 cents each during the back to school sales, and switched the colors. Now I have 24 boxes of crayons, each with there own color! So instead of spending $263.76 for 24 custom boxes of crayons, I spent $4.80. :) Yeah, for a good deal!

And now, instead of looking everywhere for a black crayon, or a red crayon, we just get out that box and have 24 to choose from. :)

Apple Rice Krispie Treats!

2011-09-19T18:22:00.003-04:00

Since today was the first day of school for Molly, we made these fun Apple Rice Krispie Treats for an evening snack!

We found the idea and recipe for these over at Gourmet Mom on-the-go. They use marshmellows, butter, cherry Jell-O, and Rice Krispies. Then you add a tootsie roll and green taffy for the tops. (to make the leaf, I just used a kitchen scissors to cut up a green air head) The Jell-O makes them SO yummy!!!

Molly was a HUGE fan!

And Nora loved getting sticky! Seriously these were super easy, and yummy! Even dad ate two!

1st Day of School!

2011-09-19T14:18:00.006-04:00

This morning was Molly's first day of 4 year old preschool! She was very excited! I think she is looking so much older that the first day of school last year! ( I tried to talk her out of the scarf, but this girl loves her accessories, lol! )

She literally ran up to the school, so couldn't wait! She has been asking everyday if it is time to go to preschool yet!

She was excited to find her locker, and see her teachers. She has the same teachers as last year, so she was happy!

And just because this silly girl can't pose for pictures with out doing funny poses...

I had to add these pictures, because they are cracking me up. I think she is teaching Nora how to be silly in pictures!

Crayon Wreath!

2011-09-18T15:02:00.000-04:00

To go along with our "Back to School" decorations, I made this fun crayon wreath!
I got this fun idea from Katie at A Listmaker's Life. :)

I got a foam wreath form from the dollar store and hot glued a green ribbon around it, then I just hot glued crayons onto the front, and used push pins to put a ribbon hanger on!

Wax Crayon Craft!

2011-09-16T14:07:00.000-04:00

With preschool starting next week (we are a little bit of a later start over here) for Molly, we are starting our back to school crafts to get ready for Monday!

We saw this fun craft over at Funny Days A to Z, and had to give it a try. First we hot glued crayons to the top of a white canvas.

Then we used a blow-dryer on the hot setting to start heating up the crayons.

Molly loved helping with this part, she was SO excited for them to start melting!

Here is what they looked like when they started melting! SO cool, but messy. I'm glad at the last minute I decided it would be a good idea to do this on the deck!

Once the crayons were heated up and started melting, the canvas filled up pretty fast.

Here is Molly's finished masterpiece, ours may not win any awards for looks, but it sure was fun!

Cheese Faces!

2011-09-15T14:59:00.000-04:00

We saw the idea to make these fun cheese head snacks from Family Fun. Ours are pretty simple, but the possibilities are endless! We used Wilton edible food markers for the faces. My girls definitely are quicker to eat something when they help make it, and it's fun!

Sock Monkey Birthday Cake!

2011-09-12T14:57:00.001-04:00

Here is the fun cake I made for my friends sons 1st birthday party! He had a sock monkey themed party with red and blue decorations. The party was SO adorable, and I was so honored that she asked me to make the cake. :) I got the idea for this cake from here.

Apple Hats!

2011-09-09T14:21:00.003-04:00

In the fall we love to head to the U-Pick orchard to pick apples, so when I saw this free pattern for this adorable knit apple hat, I just knew my girls would need them for this year. :)

But, since I lack knitting skills, I had my amazing Mother-In-Law whip these cute hats up. She is super quick; I printed her the pattern one day, and the next afternoon they were done. Seriously talented. :)

Here Nora is showing off how cute the hat turned out! (and how cute she is, but I may be a bit bias :)

Molly had the same hat, just a bit bigger. I thought about doing a green one too, but not sure that would still look like an apple.

We had a great morning picking apples!

Glow Stick Wands!!!

2011-09-07T21:17:00.004-04:00

I picked up these awesome glow stick wands I saw at the Dollar Store today, after the girls had so much fun playing with the glow sticks our friends brought along camping.

We took them out on the deck tonight, and the girls had SO much fun playing! Seriously, the easiest entertainment we've had in a long time. I just cracked them, shook them up, and handed them over... then sat back and watched them play! :)

Here Molly was stirring, doesn't it look cool!

Molly was trying to show Nora how to write her name, lol.

We had one...

...make that two happy girls.

All for $2, I think I will need to make another trip to the Dollar Store for these. :)

Googly Eye Fun!

2011-09-01T15:58:00.004-04:00

Molly asks to do a craft everyday, (don't know who she gets this from, lol) some days we have big, time consuming crafts, and others I need something super quick and easy... That is were this fun craft idea from Frugal Family Fun Blog (one of my absolute favorite blogs) was perfect!

We looked through magazines and picked out some fun pictures to cut and glue to a piece of cardstock. Then Molly added peel and stick googly eyes to the pictures to make them fun!

Seriously funny!!! (If you notice in the top picture, she even turned two into silly monsters, lol, that girl cracks me up!)

Blueberry Cream Cheese Mini Pies

2011-08-31T18:49:00.003-04:00

I have been drooling over this recipe I saw at Pillsbury.com for weeks, so Sunday morning I decided to give them a try. Let me just say... YUM!!!! They were SO good, except they TOOK FOREVER! Seriously, about half way through making them, I thought they should be filled with diamonds to make them worth all the time and effort I was putting into them. But... that being said, once they were done, all that effort was forgotten, because they were yum, yum, yummy. The cream cheese filling on the bottom was to die for! I would definitely make them again, when I have some time to kill. ;)

Menu Monday!

2011-08-29T14:15:00.002-04:00

Here is our Menu for the week, we've been pretty much having the same old thing lately, so I was definitely in the mood to try a couple new recipes. Click on the links to find the recipes. :)

Monday- Turkey Club Tortilla Roll-Ups
Tuesday- Weeknight Ravioli Bake
Wednesday- Taco Salad
Thursday- BLT's
Friday- Turkey Cheddar Dogs on the grill

For more great Menu Plan ideas, visit orgjunkie.com. Or for more of my old menu plans and links click HERE.

Dinosaur Train Movie Night!

2011-08-28T18:48:00.007-04:00

Last week PBS kids showed a special Dinosaur Train movie to start off their 2nd season. We have watched this fun show a few times, and since Nora loves dinosaurs right now, I thought it would be fun to have a Dinosaur Train themed night!

We spent a ton of time playing with Nora's toy dinosaurs and Molly's wooden train, making our own version of the dinosaur train. I think Molly yelled "Time Tunnel" about 100 times!

Nora had just as much fun playing with the train. :)

And Molly had the train packed full of dinosaurs to go to the big city. :)

We printed off some Dinosaur Train iron-ons to add to some t-shirts from my dollar store stash. Super cute, easy, instant Dinosaur Train PJs.

For dinner, (which I am so bummed I didn't get a picture of) we had Roast and Goldfish crackers for the carnivores, and salad for the herbivores. :)

OK, I almost didn't share this part, because you will all think we are CRAZY. But Molly's favorite episode of Dinosaur Train is "Tiny Poops." Were Tiny Pteranodon has to get comfortable going to the bathroom away from home, lol. So... here is our dinosaur poop, truffles. :) I don't think Molly stopped laughing for 10 minutes!

We enjoyed playing Dinosaur Train games at PBSkids.org.

Coloring Pictures!

And of course putting on our conductor hats (from our cousins adorable Thomas party)...

To watch the movie! Nora only made it about 10 minutes, but Molly loved it!

And for dessert, we made these birds nest chocolate treats to look like the Pteranodon nest. For the dinosaur eggs, we used yogurt covered peanuts. :)

Molly even added one different color M&M egg to her nest to look like Buddy's egg!

Menu Monday!

2011-08-22T22:00:00.000-04:00

We just got back from a great camping trip with friends, which made me realize just how much we needed a mini vacation! After the eating yummy camping and fire food, it's time to plan a normal menu again, here is what we are planning this week and the links :

Monday- Martha Stewart Roast
Tuesday- Grands Mini Pizzas
Wednesday- Cheesy Beef-Corn Chip Skillet (new one)
Thursday- Eat at Baseball Game
Friday- Homemade Pizza
Saturday- Potluck w/friends, I'm making KFC Coleslaw Clone

For more great Menu Planning ideas, visit orgjunkie.com or for more of my menu plans click HERE.

Another MRI Done!

2011-08-16T15:32:00.003-04:00

It's been another 3 months already, so it was time for Molly to have her quarterly MRI. We spent today at the Childrens Hospital and then got to go from there to meet with her Neurosurgeon this afternoon. We are happy to report that things look stable, and Molly is cleared for another 3 months! Such an answer to prayers and a relief, I won't lie, I was very worried this time. Her Neurosurgeon said that there is a 2mm spot he wants to watch really closely that might be residual tumor, but that "nothing jumps out at him that would require immediate action." Molly will still need to have MRI's every 3 months for another year and a half at least, and then depending on how things look she can move to every 6 months. I am looking forward to when she will be old enough to have these tests with out needing sedation, it is definitely a long, stressful morning for Molly and all of us.

Today is also my husband and my 8th anniversary, so we are heading out for dinner to try and relax, and then I am ready to be done for the day! I think I could sleep for a week!

Rice Krispies Dipper Treats!

2011-08-13T13:55:00.003-04:00

Molly always LOVES to help me make a recipe, so when we saw this recipe for Rice Krispies Dipper Treats, we were very excited to give them a try!

They were very quick and easy to make, so Molly could help with every step, which is extra fun! After we dipped them in chocolate, she chose a jar of sprinkles to put on them.

Then we popped them in the fridge to harden up, and ended with this yummy treat!

Perfect for a morning snack the next day! I even made a few that weren't dipped in chocolate so Nora could walk around with one too! We will definitely be making these again soon! I'm thinking of all the fun holiday sprinkles we could use coming up. :)

Paint Chip Color Match!

2011-08-05T10:28:00.003-04:00

We made this fun color matching game out of paint chip cards and a binder ring! I found this fun idea over at Frugal Family Fun Blog back in May, and actually made one that day. :) I keep it in the diaper bag, and when Molly is getting tired or bored at the park, or running errands, I get it out and it's instant entertainment!

She uses the hole in each card, to hold over different objects and try to match the colors! So much fun, and challenging! Here she was matching brown leaves at the park. Molly had a great time running around trying to match all the colors, and Nora loved following her!

Pinkalicious Love

2011-08-04T16:15:00.002-04:00

(Nora 1 1/2, Molly 3 1/2)

I absolutely adore this picture of the girls! I really wanted a picture of Molly reading Pinkalicious to Nora to hang in her room, and it turned out SO much nicer than I imagined thanks to Saylor Moon Photography. :) LOVE it!

Miles for Hope 2011

2011-08-03T13:01:00.005-04:00

Saturday, July 23 our family, along with a great group of extended family and friends participated in a 5K run/1mile Family Fun Run with Miles For Hope to help raise money for brain tumor research, raising awareness of brain tumors and to help provide travel for brain cancer/tumor patients and there families. (if you want to read Molly's brain tumor story click HERE)

Team Molly! This great group of family and friends came out to walk/run with us!

Cousin Cassie and Aunt Beth ran the 5K, and Molly's Aunt Beth raised over $300 for Miles for Hope!

Molly's race number!

Our Survivor!

Molly and her Cousin Maisy!

After the race, any brain tumor survivors went up front and Molly got a backpack full of goodies. The three survivors were all children! We are definitely very lucky to have Molly still here and doing amazing! We feel very blessed!

Back to Posting!

2011-08-02T19:20:00.000-04:00

After a break from posting, I'm hoping to be back at it! We have been super busy enjoying the summer! I know these are a month or so late, but I had to share some cute pictures of the girlies from the 4th of July!

Yep, I couldn't help myself, I had to do matching dresses. :)

Nora is getting so old!

Finger Jello

2011-07-06T18:05:00.000-04:00

We love finger jello at our house, one of Molly's favorite things to do is pick a cookie cutter to use to cut out her finger jello, the ones in the picture are a castle and a foot. :) This is a super fun and easy snack, and great for kids parties. At my nieces birthday party a few of my friends asked for the recipe, so I thought I would share it here for anyone who wants to make some:

Mix:
-3 sm. boxes (3 oz) of your favorite flavor of Jello
-4 envelopes of knox
-1/2 cup sugar together in bowl

Add:
-4 cups of boiling water
Stir 2-3 minutes or until completely dissolved
-Add 1 cup of cold water and stir

Pour into a 9x13 pan, and refrigerate around 3 hours. Enjoy!

Dear Blog...

2011-06-27T15:37:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog,
Sorry you have been neglected... it's not personal, lol. I love you! I could use the excuse we've been super busy... which we have... but let's be honest, we are always super busy so that's not really a good excuse. :) I miss you tons, and am hoping I can get motivated and post again! On the busy summer days, I pretty much fall into bed the second the day is done, but I will try harder to make time for you. :)
Sincerely,
Kim!!

Molly's Summer Hair Cut

2011-05-31T20:20:00.002-04:00

Yup, this was the best picture I could get, she is such a stinker!!!
I know a few of my friends wanted to see Molly's haircut, we got 5 inches off! It is SO much easier, I had them cut it all to the same length in the back now. For the past year Molly has sort of had a giant comb over in the back, where her longer hair has covered the area underneath that had been shaved for surgery. And, as the hair in the back grew out, the top layer sort of dipped in and laid funny. But now, it is ALL the same, and lays great!!! YEAH!!!!

Rag Quilt!

2011-05-27T20:51:00.004-04:00

I was so excited with how this rag quilt for my girls turned out. Tuesday night after they went to bed, I got busy, and whipped this baby up. Seriously, they are SO fun and easy to make. All I had to pick up was the pink flannel I wanted to use on the back. The other squares are bits and pieces of leftover fabric from projects. Molly LOVES it, and hasn't stopped using it since Tuesday!

Here is a closer look at the fraying and the fabrics. The favorite fabric is definitely the pink minky, the girls love how soft it is. I used 9 inch squares, which made it really quick to cut the squares, and to sew up. If you have any questions about how I made my quilt, or how to make your own let me know. They are VERY fun to make, thanks for teaching me how Grandma. :)

Picture Recap!

2011-05-26T20:49:00.005-04:00

The last two weeks have been filled with busy fun, and also lots of wrapping things up for the year. Molly finished 3 year old preschool, gymnastics and Sunday School. She has learned so much this year, and I can hardly believe it is time for summer break already!

Randal has been in Texas for work this week, and we have definitely started celebrating summer vacation. We made it to Fredrick Meijer Gardens with great friends from preschool, went to the zoo with our cousins, and even made it to the Children's Museum today! Busy, but SO fun!

Here are a few pictures highlights. I don't have pics of everything, but I did catch a couple shots of the girls this week. :)

Here is Molly with her teacher on the last day of preschool. Molly painted a flower pot with chalkboard paint, and we put a Gerbra Daisy inside, and a Panera gift card. It was so hard to figure out a good teacher gift, what have you guys given or received?

Molly with Mrs. Janet, her amazing gymnastics teacher on the last day! I can't believe how much she has improved! Gymnastics has been great for Molly's balance and coordination issues. :)

Ms. Mary and Molly on the last day of Sunday School. Ms. Mary has been such a blessing, and we are so grateful she was a part of Molly's life this year!

The girls enjoying the kite festival with dad. It was SUCH a great day, and amazing whether! Molly and Nora loved watching all the different kite shows.

Sweet Nora playing in the water at Fredrick Meijer Gardens. We had the BEST time with our great preschool friends!

And with a few really warm days last week, we've been doing a lot of playing in the water!

Hum... I had to step in here and explain to Molly that Nora is not a puppy. However, Nora thought drinking out of a bucket would be great!

Menu Monday!

2011-05-16T23:03:00.002-04:00

After a busy week with Tulip Time and Molly's last week of Preschool, we are back to a more normal schedule this week. So I'm looking forward to having a few nights to all eat together. :) Here is what we are planning:

Monday- Leftovers
Tuesday- Quick Taco Salad - YUM
Wednesday- "Healthified" Chicken and Broccoli
Thursday- Taco Sloppy Joes - So easy!
Friday- Tortilla Bake - Favorite
Saturday- Niece's Birthday Party!!!

For more great Menu Plans, visit orgjunkie.com and you can see all my old Menu Plans HERE.

Dutch Costumes!

2011-05-10T21:57:00.003-04:00

The girls came to watch me Dutch Dance tonight and I got a chance to get some pictures of them in their Dutch Costumes. This is one of my busiest and favorite weeks of the year, it is Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan. LOVE it! Here, Here, and Here are some of my older posts from Tulip Time.

My 3 year old Dutch girl!

My 1 year old Dutch girl!

Molly was so proud to wear wooden shoes like mom. She even took them to show and tell at preschool.

Molly practicing her dance!

And Nora waving to EVERYONE, like usual. Her favorite thing to do. :)

The Will of God

2011-05-09T19:32:00.002-04:00

The Will of God (author unknown)

The Will of God will never take you
Where the Grace of God cannot keep you,
Where the Arms of God cannot support you,
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs
Where the power of God cannot endow you.

The Will of God will never take you,
Where the spirit of God cannot work through you
Where the Wisdom of God cannot teach you
Where the Army of God cannot protect you
Where the hands of God cannot mold you.

The will of God will never take you
Where the Love of God cannot enfold you,
Where the Mercies of God cannot sustain you
Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears
Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you

The will of God will never take you
Where the Comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
Where the word of God cannot feed you,
Where the Miracles of God cannot be done for you,
Where the Omnipresence of God cannot find you.

Over the past few weeks I have been having some crazy depression/anxiety issues and haven't been sleeping. So with Molly's MRI last week, it was just a hard time. But after reading this on my friend Lynette's blog, I felt a real sort of relief. I just really wanted to share it with all of you.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2011-05-08T19:58:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day...

To my Mom!

My Mother-in-law!

And my two beautiful girls who call me Mom!

And to all of the amazing women I know who are either mothers, hoping to be mothers, have a great mother in there lives, or a memory of there mom. Happy Mother's Day to you all!

Easter Recap

2011-04-26T13:26:00.005-04:00

This year we spent a great Easter celebrating with family. We went to church in Grand Rapids, and got to be there as my cousin Shelby made Profession of Faith. Then in the evening we went to my parents house for dinner and an egg hunt with my brother and my sister's family.

Here is Molly showing off her Easter dress!

And Nora! My camera is having some issues, boo, so these all didn't turn out.

The girls! :)

Egg Hunting at Grandpa and Grandma's!

Molly playing with her cousins!

One Year Ago!

2011-04-23T19:40:00.006-04:00

One year ago today was very different than today. One year ago we were in the hospital while Molly had brain surgery. It was definitely the hardest day of our lives. Serious highs and lows on an already anxious mind. But we made it through that day and the day after... and some how made it to a year! This week, no matter how much I tried not to think about it, I found myself looking back on everything, and being in awe of where we are today!

Molly is doing AMAZING! Today we had a special Molly day, Nora went to spend the morning with my mom, so Randal and I could take Molly out and about alone. We let her choose, and we ended up at the Children's Museum, then went out to lunch just the 3 of us. After that we went to pick up Nora, and the family went to ride the carousel and let her make a bunny at Build A Bear. Yup, today she got spoiled! I know, I know, but I think we do a pretty good job not treating her different or spoiling her most of the year, but today was special, and fun! She deserved it after the day she had a year ago.

And because no post is complete without a cute picture, here is Molly pretending to call her friends on my old broken cell, aka her phone! I should video tape these conversations, SO funny!

But Mom...

2011-04-21T13:54:00.002-04:00

"But Mom!!! I couldn't find Froggy Goes to the Doctor, so I had to take all my books out!"
(note the completely empty book shelf in the back) Nice Molly. :)

Puff Paint Chick Eggs!

2011-04-18T20:02:00.002-04:00

We had a bunch of plain colored plastic eggs laying around, so to "Cutify" them, we added a little bit of black and orange puff paint to make them look like chicks. Adorable! I was inspired to make these from a picture in the Oriental Trading Company catalog. So easy to make, Molly has been using puff paint to decorate all the pink eggs with purple polka dots! (a great way to use up the left over puff paint I have lying around from when I made Potter Puppet Pals)

More "Mini" Projects!

2011-04-13T16:08:00.007-04:00

Awhile back I didn't have any big activities with Molly to post, so I just posted of few of our "Mini" Projects. We do a few little time filler type activities everyday, I just never thought they were exciting enough for the blog, lol. But, after I posted, so many amazing moms were telling me (which I LOVE to hear) how much fun there kiddos were having with the marshmallows and toothpicks, so I thought it would be fun to try to post more of our quick little "Mini" projects and activities!

CARDBOARD BOX CAR - DRIVE THRU LUNCH
This weeks absolute favorite activity was making a car from an old box. An old classic, but still fun. Anytime Molly was looking for something to do, she got busy decorating her car with pictures, and stickers. She even added a plate for a steering wheel and a spot to put her keys!
Then the girls had more fun driving it around the house this week. Molly's favorite part was that I made them packed lunches in brown bags, and she got to "order" them from the "drive thru" for Nora and her. :) We even ended up coloring to bags to look like Happy Meals.

WINDOW CRAYONS
Another favorite in this house is Window Crayons, we found ours on sale at Target. I know I've posted about them before, and how much we love them. I know the mess scares people, but they really are totally washable and clean up so easy. Actually, half the fun of it is the next day I let Molly wash the windows to clean the crayon off, which she thinks is a ton of fun. (Hopefully she will still think cleaning windows is fun when she is older, but I'm not holding my breath, ha!)

Glass Etching!

2011-04-12T09:59:00.003-04:00

If you've ever been to my house, you know that anything I have that is glass, is probably etched! Glass etching is so easy and quick, but it took sometime for me to figure out how to get it right. Yup, quite a few craft fails! The biggest change I do from the directions, that makes SO much difference is: The instructions say to leave it on for 5 minutes and then rinse off. Instead, I use a foam brush and dab on a think layer of Armour Etch, and wait for 3 minutes, then I dab on another thick layer and wait 3 more minutes. Ucreate has a great tutorial I've used for glass etching here. Then I just rinse off! SO much better, it is all etched equally this way and looks great!

Over at A Girl and a Glue Gun awhile back I saw the great idea to etch your name onto the underside of your glass pans, so if you leave them somewhere, everyone will know whose they are. GENIUS! Seriously, if you've never been to her blog, you have to check it out. She is AWESOME, and so funny! I know I can totally relate to a glue gun addiction. :)

Fun Pregnancy Gift!

2011-04-09T23:12:00.004-04:00

What pregnant woman doesn't crave "Pickles and Ice Cream..."

I saw this adorable idea for a pregnancy gift over at The Appraiser's Wife, and since I know a lot of fun pregnant ladies, I just had to quick make up a few!

I put a $5 Ice Cream Gift card in an envelope, tied to a jar of pickles. Slapped a bow on the top, and voila! What I think is a fun little gift!

Playdough Letter Mats!

2011-04-05T10:40:00.005-04:00

I printed off these great Playdough Mats from Homeschool Creations on cardstock for Molly to work on. They have both letter and word mats you can print HERE. Then I just put them back to back (so they are double sided) and laminated them. I figured since someday Nora will use them too, this will help them hold up longer. Homeschool Creations put them in clear page sleeves so she can change them out. After I finish laminating them all, I am going to link them with a ring in the corner like I do to make our Birthday Card Books.

I was amazed how well Molly did on these mats, and how much time she spent playing with them! It is great to have such a fun way to reinforce working on letters, and to change up our normal playdough play!

Menu Monday!

2011-04-04T15:18:00.003-04:00

And back by popular demand, and since I know my sister and aunts get excited for my menus (lol), here in my Menu Plan for the week. :)

Monday- Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Tuesday- Salsa Chicken Wraps (new one)
Wednesday- Fun Taco Cups (Molly cooking tonight)
Thursday- Enchilada Casserole/Mexican Lasagna (new one)
Friday- Pizza for the family

For more great menu planning ideas, visit orgjunkie.com

Why I Blog...

2011-04-04T14:58:00.003-04:00

I've been missing from blogworld for awhile, but I definitely miss it, and after chatting with a great new friend last week I am ready to be back into blogging. I won't go into all the details of why I stopped for a bit, it just frustrates me, but basically I think that we all need to be nice. Seriously, being a mom is a hard enough job without other moms judging each other. Usually if I get a mean comment here or there, I just delete it and don't think anything of it, but when I started getting emails pointing out things I was doing wrong and insinuating it could have something to do with Molly's tumor (which is just uneducated and ridiculous), I needed a break. Seriously, why can't we all be nice, it is not our place to judge others, if you think you are a better parent or you don't like my ideas, that is fine, just don't do them. Sorry, that is my rant.

Basically, I just wanted to let you know why I blog. I LOVE blogworld, and get so many amazing ideas from other people blogs. So when we try out a great idea that worked well for us, or we loved, I blog to pass it on to others. I think it holds me accountable to actually do some of the ideas I find, and hopefully someone else will find the idea on my blog and love it to!

West Michigan Love!

2011-03-27T18:20:00.003-04:00

We love living in West Michigan, so I was excited to share this video of Holland. Check it out! We can't wait for Tulip Time (and yes, I am a dutch dancer, heehee), and the beaches this summer. :)

Microphone Makeover!

2011-03-18T13:41:00.004-04:00

BEFORE
Everyone has one of these fun Echo Microphones lying around, but it was definitely time for a makeover! Sugar Bee Crafts had the best idea, she spray painted hers silver to make it much more fabulous!

AFTER
Here is what we did to ours. I was so excited to spray it silver, and then my amazing husband had the brilliant idea to spray the top black to look like a real microphone! I LOVE it!

And so does Molly!!! The American Idol Wii game will definitely be played here tonight. :)

Rainbow Pancakes!

2011-03-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
The girls loved these fun rainbow pancakes we made this morning, and I am still in love with the fun colors. YUM! I saw this great idea over at The Idea Room a few months ago, and thought today was a perfect day to give it a try.

I just made up a batch of pancake mix, and then split it up into six bowls, and used food coloring to color each one a different color of the rainbow. Then just poured it onto the griddle and made up some colorful pancakes. I think the batter even looks pretty!

Molly was SO excited to have a red pancake!

Even Nora joined in the fun and polished off a nice green one. :)

Rainbow Fleece Scarf!

2011-03-16T14:17:00.003-04:00

When I saw this great idea over at Childmade, I got right on it... I mean, how could I not with such fun colors! I should have known I would get frustrated, since my sewing machine has issues with zig zag stitches, but I toughed it out to make this beauty for Miss Molly! The sewing job isn't getting any awards, lol, but if you had a good machine it would be pretty easy.

Check out this great tutorial for making one of your own. She even makes an adorable pot of gold for one end of the scarf! I was mad at my sewing machine by then, so Molly got 2 clouds. :)

TP Roll Shamrocks!

2011-03-15T18:41:00.002-04:00

I was thinking today I needed a few decorations for St. Patrick's Day, and after finding this awesome idea over at Childmade, I quick made up a few Shamrocks. Each shamrock only used one TP roll, some hot glue, and a little leftover green spray paint. Head over here for a great tutorial. We all know I love toilet paper roll crafts, check out this wreath I made if you want another fun TP roll craft! :)

Custom Tracer Pages!

2011-03-14T20:29:00.004-04:00

I love the program at Kidzone were you can make your own free custom tracer pages! Here is the link we used to make a fun St. Patrick's day one this week. It is so nice because you can pick the words and font you want and it makes them into a tracer page. Since Molly is working on her name at preschool right now, I make most of her sheets at home with just her name to trace so she gets lots of practice.

Clipboard Craft!

2011-03-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

At our last MOPS meeting we made these fun modge podged clipboards. I found this great tutorial from Organize and Decorate Everything on how to make these decorative clipboards. I love how they turned out, I did learn that the thicker scrapbook paper works much better for this project.

And, I was excited to find some magnetic hooks so I can hang these on the side of our new refrigerator (yup, it finally broke for the last time, errr.) But it is nice to have a fridge that doesn't fill up with water. :)

Picking Glasses!

2011-03-08T13:34:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Molly had another appointment with the Pediatric Ophthalmologist. The appointment was long but went really good (thank you so much to our great friends for watching Nora, she had a blast). The doctor was happy that Molly's turn stopped getting worse (she is checked every 6 weeks). She wants Molly to wear glasses for 6 months to see if it will help with her depth perception, strengthening her eyes and her mild near sightedness. In 6 weeks, she will go back and find out if they want to use a patch with the glasses too. We are hoping this helps, it is definitely worth a try before we have to do surgery to fix some of the issues her brain tumor had on her eyes. Molly was very excited to pick out pink glasses this afternoon, and was sad when she couldn't take them home today. :)

Menu Monday!

2011-03-07T19:15:00.002-05:00

Here is what we are planning for the week! Hope you all have some good meals planned, I'm thinking it's time for me to find some new recipe ideas. :)

Monday- Enchilada Casserole (I use 1/2 the cheese)
Tuesday- Beef Taquitos
Wednesday- Fiesta Chicken Pasta (favorite)
Thursday- Leftovers
Friday-Homemade Pizza

For more great Menu Planning ideas, visit orgjunkie.com

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

2011-03-02T19:21:00.002-05:00

Today for Dr. Seuss' Birthday, we really didn't do anything huge, but we had a TON of fun with the little things. Molly loved watching the Cat in the Hat on PBS this morning after breakfast. We read ALL of our Dr. Seuss books (even the pale green pants one I don't like, ha), and then most of our activities and games today were Dr. Seuss themed. We found a bunch of great printable worksheets, games and coloring pages from ABC and 123's great links, Seussville, and enjoyed these fun online Cat in the Hat games from PBS Kids.

MRI Tomorrow!

2011-02-24T19:49:00.003-05:00

Alrighty, it's that time again! Molly has another MRI tomorrow morning at the Children's Hospital. (For those of you who don't know, Molly had a life threatening brain tumor and had a successful surgery last April . Now she has to have MRI's every 3 months. If you want to read her story go HERE.)

So we are getting anxious for tomorrow, and praying for strength and that everything goes well. We won't get to meet with the doctor to find out how it went until next Tuesday, so I am worried this is going to be a very long weekend.

But today Molly was great! She was very excited to give her friend a birthday card she made ALL by herself, she wouldn't even let me help write on it. Then she made her bed ALL by herself, this is a new trend I am liking. :) And she even got to paint artwork for the basement toy room!

I picked a 2 pack of canvas up at Hobby Lobby a few months back for Molly to paint for the toy room. They have 2 packs for just under $6, and if you print off a coupon even cheaper! Molly was thrilled to paint these to hang up.

Mustache Fun!

2011-02-24T10:15:00.002-05:00

I am so behind on reading everyone's e-mail and blogs, I promise I will catch up soon! But in the meantime... If you need a smile like me... enjoy our chocolate mustache fun!!!

Yup, even Nora looks good in a mustache!

Miss Molly!

I didn't know my friend Stacy, and sister Beth had mustaches :) !

And just because I am that type of person... I couldn't leave out the cats!

Hee, Hee, Hee!

Mario Party!

2011-02-20T17:58:00.005-05:00

This past weekend was Randal's 30th birthday!!! So Friday night we had a Mario party, Randal has always been a huge Nintendo and Mario fan, so it was a ton of fun!

After some borrowing from family, we were able to set up 4 TV's with video games to play. We had 2 Wii's set up and our old Game Cube and Super Nintendo. It was so fun to have it so everyone could play.

Game Cube and Super Nintendo stations!

Our friends Brad and Autumn brought this fun Mario puzzle. Here is the group of us that put it together, haha! Who knew puzzles were so fun!

I printed these question mark blocks on cardstock and laminated them to use as coasters.

Super easy Mario star cupcakes. I just used store frosting and cut fondant stars for the tops, then just used my food writer pens to draw on the eyes.

And warp tubes filled with fireballs. I just spray painted two sections of PVC pipe green to look like the tubes in Mario.

And no Mario party would be complete without chocolate Mario and Luigi mustaches for everyone!!!

And a LOT of Wii karaoke! My ears will never be the same!

This party was SO much fun! Randal had a great time, and I think all his Nintendo loving friends did too.

The girls slept over at my parents, but before they left Molly had to tryout the Super Nintendo!

And Nora had to model these fun Goomba hats, my mother-in-law knitted for the party! I think we need a family picture wearing these! I saw the idea for these here.

I saw the fun ideas for mustaches and warp pipes from this amazing party at Grey Grey Designs.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Party!

2011-02-12T18:14:00.005-05:00

For Nora's 1st Birthday party we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme. Molly loves "reading" this book to Nora, so we thought this would be a great party idea.

We found this fun Very Hungry Caterpillar tablecloth at Target, and little favor bags. I just put crayons, a coloring page I printed from online, a few suckers, stickers and a green bead necklace inside each bag for the girls and there cousins.

One of my favorite details was the water bottle labels. I don't know why, but I love water bottle labels, and they are SO easy to make. I just printed a picture I liked, cut them, and used clear packaging tape to put them on the bottles. I also had pop and green punch.

Here is the cake I made, I think adding the gumballs around the edge was so fun, and goes with the dot theme in the book. I saw the idea for this over at Cake Walk.

Tons of yummy food, not super theme oriented, but easy and cute on Hungry Caterpillar plates.

And we couldn't forget the apples, oranges, pears, plums and strawberries, like the caterpillar eats through in the book!

Another favorite was the outfits I made for the girls. I found Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric at fabrics.com and used a coupon to get it quite a few months back. SO fun! Then I used the Kwik Sew pattern 3775 to make it yesterday. I love that this pattern goes from size 12 month to about 4t, so it works for both my girls.

Here is a back shot of the dress. Instead of using buttons like the pattern called for I used snaps, since I am afraid of making button holes, ;) and snaps are so easy with little ones.

And I couldn't forget Molly, so I made her up this easy skirt, and then just printed a caterpillar on heat transfer paper and ironed it onto one of her white long sleeve T-shirts.

Nora was spoiled by her family and friends who came to the party! We are so happy they could celebrate our sweet 1 year old with us!

And to top it off, she got to dig into her own cake. :)

Happy Birthday Nora!

2011-02-11T23:50:00.001-05:00

Happy 1st Birthday Nora!!!

We love you SO much!

Valentine's Bags!

2011-02-11T07:19:00.004-05:00

I am obsessed with putting vinyl words on reusable bags! I found these cute cloth Valentine's bags for $1, with a painted heart on the front. So I just cut the names of Molly's teachers out of white vinyl, and put them on the front! (Just like these Christmas ones) SO easy! Then I just put a bag of candy in them, for a fun Valentine's gift.

Valentine's Peanut Butter Blossoms!

2011-02-07T21:03:00.002-05:00

Everybody loves Peanut Butter Blossoms, so when I saw this great idea to make a Valentine's version from eighteen25, they were immediately added to the to do list. I think they turned out adorable, and taste great! We used the Reese's Peanut Butter hearts for the tops. This batch we made to deliver to someone else, but I'm thinking tomorrow we will have to make another to have around the house. YUM!

Valentine's Sign!

2011-02-06T20:18:00.000-05:00

I needed a Valentine's sign for my sign post. So I found this adorable heart boarder sign on sale at Hobby Lobby, and then just added the pink Be Mine vinyl to the center. So easy, and cheap!

Here is the before of the sign. Happy Valentine's!

Family Rules Subway Art!

2011-02-04T13:22:00.000-05:00

I've been seeing Subway Art decor everywhere and really like it. But it is so hard for me to be random, and I never feel happy with all of the random words. So, when I saw this AWESOME family rules subway art at Sassy Sanctuary, I was so excited! I love everything about it! Then I was even more excited that she has 6 different styles of them all made up with different backgrounds for you to download for free! I know, YEAH! I just saved it to the USB drive and headed to Office Max, they printed it on 12x12 cardstock for me for $1.49. Then, I found this 12x12 black frame for $4.99 at Meijers. Love it!!!

Molly's Valentine's!

2011-02-03T18:36:00.001-05:00

I saw this adorable idea for Valentine's 2 years ago over at 24-7-365 and LOVED it. So, I bookmarked it and saved it until Molly was old enough to pass out Valentine's. When she brought the letter home from preschool saying they were exchanging "mail" for Valentine's we got right to work!

Molly chose to wear pink (big surprise, heehee), and the pink suckers. I added the words in picasa, and then just had them printed off on cardstock for pretty cheap at office max, 3 to a page. I used an exacto knife to cut the slits and then taped the sucker on the back. SO FUN! Molly loves them and can't wait to pass them out to her friends!

Digging Out, Pajama Day!

2011-02-02T18:01:00.004-05:00

While Randal was busy digging us out from the snow, the girls and I stayed in and enjoyed a pajama day! We took full advantage of not having to go anywhere, Nora's doctors appointment was even rescheduled! So, we put dinner in the crock-pot so I wouldn't have to stop and cook and got busy having a day of play! We built forts, danced, played barbies, crafted, built towers, baked muffins, and so much more. Here are a few of the girls highlights...

Molly worked really hard decorating her kazoo. We found an easy tutorial on how to make kazoos at UCreate With Kids.

Then we had a ton of fun playing with them the rest of the day!

Another big hit of the day was playing with snow in the sink. After we came in from playing outside, Molly really wanted to go back out. So instead, I compromised and filled the sink with snow to play in. She thought it was the coolest thing ever, and spent almost an hour "cooking" with the snow!

I just threw a bunch of random cups, bowls, scoops and kitchen utensils in the snow, and let her get busy playing!

Nora's favorite part of the day was crawling over all the pillow mountains while we were building forts. She had more fun hiding in them, and climbing up and down, over and around!

Blizzard 2011

2011-02-02T10:34:00.003-05:00

After 3 hours of snowblowing this morning, we still have this left at the bottom of the driveway! I'm thinking we are staying home today...

Molly was begging to go play outside all morning, so once there was a little bit of a path in the driveway, I took the girls out to get some pictures so they can remember how deep the snow was. Molly thought it was so cool that the snow went up to her eyes, lol!

Hope everyone in West Michigan is staying off the roads today!

Homemade Bowling Set!

2011-01-29T23:20:00.000-05:00

We have been having SO much fun bowling today with the new bowling set I made for the girls. In October I saw this great idea over at The Terrys, to make a homemade bowling set using Gerber Puffs Containers! I thought this was such a great idea, and got busy saving up puffs containers and recruiting old containers from friends!I was so excited to finally have 10 containers! Then I just peeled off the wrappers and washed them out. After they were clean and dry, I filled them with crinkled up heavy paper to give them added weight and hot glued the lids one. To give them the red lines to make them look more like bowling pins, I just used a red sharpie to trace the three grooves in the containers.

Molly is getting pretty good at knocking the pins down, and Nora is enjoying crawling into them. :) How fun are these! Head over to The Terrys to see her great idea!

Giraffe Cake!

2011-01-29T20:50:00.000-05:00

OK, I promise this is the last cake for awhile. I think I found another hobby, hee hee, as if I need another one! I am LOVING cake decorating, it is so fun. I made this giraffe cake today for my friends birthday. We got together for dinner to celebrate tonight. She loves giraffes and used to collect them.

Practice Cake!

2011-01-27T15:02:00.002-05:00

My awesome cousin Alicia is letting my Aunt Amy and me make the small cake they are going to cut at their wedding! Seriously! We are SO excited!!! Here is the practice cake we made today. The pink flowers are not the ones that will be on the cake, they were leftovers I had from the card table house, and are just on there to get an idea what real flowers would look like. The blue ribbon is her wedding color, and the beautiful cake stand was my Grandma Weebers.

Sippy Cup Cutification!

2011-01-26T20:12:00.003-05:00

After I saw this great idea to design your own sippy cup from Sew Can Do, I just knew I had to make one for Nora. So I printed off my coupon and headed to Hobby Lobby. It was SO easy to make, and I am in LOVE with the possibilities. Here is the paper I put in for February. :)

"Almost" Wordless Wednesday!

2011-01-26T09:55:00.002-05:00

It was Molly's turn to be the "Superstar" this week at preschool. She was SO excited to take her pictures and stars to school to show her teachers and her friends. And yes... I was "that" mom who took her camera to school to get a picture. :)

For more great Wordless Wednesday pictures, visit 5minutesformom.

Nora's Nightlight!

2011-01-25T10:56:00.003-05:00

I have a million little projects and crafts I've been doing around the house, so you may get sick of these posts, but I was excited to share a few of the things I've made.

Even though the picture isn't great, I LOVE the night light I made for Nora. I used my Michael's coupon and picked up a Design-Your-Own Nightlight kit. The front of it is sticky, so I just peeled the paper off and stuck this black and white polka dot fabric (to match Nora's room) onto it, then I just trimmed the excess fabric (all but a half inch) and wrapped it around the back. I did hot glue the edges just to be sure it laid nice. Much cuter than the old yellow night light she was using.

Hot Chocolate Gift!

2011-01-23T21:34:00.003-05:00

With the thermometer reading -15 degrees this morning, it was the perfect time to make some hot chocolate. Which reminded me of this fun gift we received. It is homemade hot chocolate in a nice disposable travel mug. It was in a clear bag tied shut with a ribbon.

Here is the fun disposable mug filled with homemade hot chocolate, you can get these by the plastic/styrofoam cups at the grocery store.

Then inside the cup in a plastic bag was the hot chocolate, so you just need to pour out the mix and add hot water. YUM!

"Mini" Projects

2011-01-19T14:06:00.004-05:00

Here are a few of Molly's favorite "Mini" projects from the past few days. These are the random fun things we come up with to do when we only have a spare 20 minutes or so to fill. They are simple, but keep her entertained and busy!

Toothpick Marshmallow Houses
This has been a favorite lately, she is always asking if she can build something with marshmallows. We have a lot of "houses" decorating the kitchen!

Yarn Hearts
I saw this fun activity in the new Family Fun magazine, and thought it looked fun and easy. However... Cornstarch Glue!!! Not sure if anyone has made it before and has some tips for me, but it was definitely a major FAIL! So, to save to project, we just dipped foot long pieces of yarn in Elmers glue and laid them inside a cookie cutter on wax paper. Then let is dry for a day. It was super messy, but I think that made Molly like it even more!

Easy Bake Oven
I don't know how Molly got it in her head that she wanted an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas, but it was all she said if anyone asked her what was on her list. She was lucky enough that her Grandma got her one! Now, anytime we need an activity that is sure to make her SO happy, the Easy Bake Oven comes out.

Family Pictures

2011-01-14T21:59:00.004-05:00

This past year was a whirlwind of emotions, and some day's were harder to get through than others; I can't imagine what it would have been like without our amazing family and friends to lean on. During this year, I am so happy to have made an amazing new friend, Lynette, who was going through an extremely rough year of her own. She is an inspiration to me in so many ways, and I feel very blessed to call her a friend. She is also and amazing photographer, and volunteered to take our families pictures this fall. Here are a few of my favorites, she did amazing, I usually don't post pictures of myself, but I am so happy with these! Here is her photography website, if you live in West Michigan, check it out.

This is my absolute favorite ever! I love the fall background!

I think this one is so real, it reminds me of us!

This one of Molly is so pretty!

Here is the first one a little closer, since it is hard to see on the computer.

There are a ton more that we love, but this is just a quick preview of my favorites. We have never had a family picture taken before, so these pictures mean the world to me, and I will treasure them forever.

Snow Paint!

2011-01-13T22:34:00.002-05:00

Molly had lots of fun today painting the snow around our house. She had a spray bottle of blue and a spray bottle of red (water w/food color) to use. She had so much fun playing outside for a LONG time, and fell asleep tonight the second she hit the pillow!

We saw this fun idea over at The Idea Room, super easy and hours of fun!

Happy 102nd Birthday Great Grandma!

2011-01-12T20:08:00.003-05:00

Today is my Great Grandma's 102nd birthday! This picture is from our Christmas party this year. She just loved Nora, and Nora loved talking and smiling to her. I am so happy my girls get to see there Great Great Grandma!

What We've Been Up To...

2011-01-11T21:13:00.005-05:00

Life has definitely not slowed down over here. We are BUSY, but having lots of fun along the way. Randal has off of work this week, so we are using every minute. I have been trying to get caught up on a ton of projects and get the house ORGANIZED. So far so good. :) Here is a few of the things We've Been Up To...

I made a practice cake for Nora's birthday. We are having a very hungry caterpillar party, and I wanted to try and see if I could make the cake. Since I had never tried fondant before, practice was needed. It was super fun, stay tuned for her real cake in Feb. I have a lot more I want to do to her cake. :)

Molly has been crafting like crazy. She LOVES to craft! I wonder who she gets that from...

Nora is crawling all over the place, and pulling up on EVERYTHING, even her sister! She is loving eating real food, and can't get enough chicken and pancakes! I can hardly believe she will be one in a month!

And Molly just gets older every time I look at her! She is doing great in preschool and gymnastics. Later this month she will have another MRI. We will also be meeting with the pediatric ophthalmologist about her eye surgery.

Car Emergency Kit!

2011-01-09T20:33:00.002-05:00

Lately we have been noticing our car kit is extremely lacking, we are out of Kleenex and band-aids, and when we got out the flashlight the other day, the batteries were leaking acid. Needless to say, since it was -4 degrees today, it was the perfect time to redo the Emergency Car Kit in case we ever need it.

Here is what we put in ours:
-Band-aids
-Peroxide
-Kleenex
-General First-aid Kit
-Matches
-Disposable Camera
-Hand Sanitizer
-Towel
-Flashlight/Batteries
-Hat and Gloves
-Dry Socks
-Duct Tape
-Multi-tool and Knife
-Blanket
-Organic Fruit Leather
-Hand Warmers
-Notepad and Pencil
-10 $1 bills
-Chapstick
-Plastic bag
-Sunscreen
-Poncho
-Bungee Cords
-Jumper Cables
-Tire Gauge
-Glow Stick

I got the idea to put it in a clear container and label it with my silhouette from Life In The Thrifty Lane. Thanks for the GREAT idea. :)

Snowman Pops!

2011-01-05T21:27:00.004-05:00

We made these fun snowman pops for a party. They were so yummy. I saw this idea and instructions over at The Idea Room, seriously, she has AMAZING ideas! I didn't get a picture of them before, so I quick snapped one before they were all gone. They didn't all look as evil as this one, heehee. Most of them I had the mini chocolate chips upside down, but in the end I just got lazy! I did end up using the oreo cakesters, since the popsicle sticks I had kept breaking the oreos.

Menu Monday!

2011-01-03T19:09:00.003-05:00

With the start of the new year, I am working hard to try to get organized again. So, I've planned a few new recipes for the week to hopefully add the the recipe box and make meal planning easier. :) Here is what we are having...

Monday- Better-than-Ever Cheesy Meat Lasagna
Tuesday- Simple & Creamy Tortellini Alfredo
Wednesay- Leftovers
Thursday- Easy Italian Pasta Bake
Friday- Homemade Pizza night

For more great menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com.

The Year In Review 2010

2010-12-31T22:22:00.013-05:00

2010 was definitely a crazy, amazing, wonderful, awful, scary, long, short... basically a year filled with every emotion imaginable. I can honestly say I am beyond ready to leave 2010 behind and start fresh with 2011. Here is a quick, condensed review of our year. I picked 1 major thing that happened each month. It was so hard to pick from the hundreds of pictures we took this year, but these are a bit of our highlights!

JANUARY
This month was filled with lots of playing, swimming lessons, preschool open houses, and finishing getting ready for a new baby. Little did we know what the year had in store for us.

FEBRUARY
February we were SO happy to welcome Nora Jo into our family. We are so blessed!

MARCH
In March we ended up in the hospital with Nora for 3 days due to a fever. This was a crazy month, Nora was sick and Molly was starting to show more symptoms of something being wrong.

APRIL
April was the hardest month of our lives. Molly fainted again, and since we had all ready been to so many doctors to try to figure out what was going on, they sent us for an MRI, which found a lime size life threatening brain tumor. (see the story here) The month was filled with the PICU, brain surgery, and recovery.

MAY
We are SO amazed we are home from the hospital. Molly couldn't be happier to be away from the doctors and hospital and LOVES being back in her pink room. We are relieved to have all 4 of us under the same roof.

JUNE
In June we were pretty busy. But one of the most memorable and important parts of the month is having Nora baptized.

JULY
In July Molly's doctors appointments were finally starting to die down... and then she fell and broke her arm. She was rocking a pink cast the rest of the hot summer.

AUGUST
In August we went camping with family. We usually go on a few camping trips, but with the crazy year this was our only trip. Nora loved camping, and Molly always loves being outside!

SEPTEMBER
This was the busiest and truly humbling month. Molly started preschool twice a week, and turned 3! (We can hardly explain how amazing her being here for those things was). We also were blessed with the amazing support of family, friends and the community, as they held Molly's Miracle "Fun"draiser. We are so lucky to have so much love and support!

OCTOBER
What can I say, Fall is my favorite time off year. We made it to all the fun October activities in West Michigan. And on Halloween, I think I had the cutest Pirate and Parrot ever!

NOVEMBER
Thanksgiving was great this year, filled with family and a lot to be thankful for!

DECEMBER
Hard to believe this was Nora's first Christmas. It feels like she has always been a part of our family, and we can't image life without our girls.

Hope everyone has a great end to the year, and hope and faith for a great 2011

Hope Your Christmas Was Merry!

2010-12-27T21:18:00.004-05:00

Hope your Christmas was filled with love, family, health
(even though you can see Nora's cold in this picture)...

Happiness, Joy, Miracles...
(We are SO grateful for Molly's Miracle this year)

Coziness, Grace and Peace!
(Nora loves her new cozy pillow)

Candy Cane Mittens!

2010-12-22T18:02:00.002-05:00

After my Mother-in-law made Candy Corn mittens for my girls this fall, I just knew I needed some Candy Cane ones for this winter. Seriously adorable! We are so lucky she loves knitting for my girls.

Molly modeling her new Candy Cane mittens!

And a little pair for sweet Nora. Poor girl has the worst cold right now! Hoping and praying she gets better before this weekend.