Wordless Wednesday!

Molly REALLY loves her new musical instruments!

For more great "Wordless Wednesday" pictures, visit 5minutesformom.

Hope Your Christmas Was Great!

I hope everyone had a great and blessed Christmas. We are definitely feeling very blessed and loved this holiday.

We have had a week filled with family parties and visiting with great friends from out of town. Although I have still been feeling really sick at some point each day (only about 7 weeks left!) and the ice and snow, we managed to make it to all of the services, parties and events we were hoping too. We have the best family and friends in the world, and we loved being able to celebrate Christmas with them.

We have also been VERY spoiled this year. Seriously! I have never felt so surprised.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures...

Watching Molly enjoy the parties and gifts was so much fun. 2 is such a fun age!

My friend Stacy surprised her with this AMAZING new bike. She hasn't got off it is days, seriously, after 3 hours I had to make her take a break for lunch. :)

Molly thought she better get out her tools to help Daddy put together her new table and chairs. Not sure the saw will help, but she loved "helping."

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful break.

Red Sled - stART Project

I know I'm a day late in posting my stART project, but I didn't want to miss a week. stART is such a great activity and I love getting to see what other books and projects familys are doing. To learn more about stART or to join in the fun, check out A Mommy's Adventures.


This week we choose to use the book, Red Sled by Patricia Thomas, for our stART project. To be honest, Molly liked this book WAY more than I did. It is nice, it is very short and each page is written in rhyming pairs, like "Still Hill" and "Far Star." This is a great book for when you are working on rhyming. We got this book from the library last week, and it is one Molly already has memorized and can say back to us.

For our project, I thought it would be fun to paint a red sled for our Christmas tree, like the red sled in the book. Molly loves painting, and I was very impressed with how much of the popsicle sticks she got covered in red paint.
I found a pattern for how to make a really easy sled out of popsicle sticks and hot glue over at The Creative Crate, I just didn't mod podge on paper, instead I let Molly paint it up red.

She is very excited everytime she sees her sled. She says "I made it all by myself." Very fun project this week.

Wordless Wednesday!

This is what I get when I ask Molly to please stand still so I can take a picture...


For more great "Wordless Wednesday" pictures, visit 5minutesformom.

Tip Tuesday! Reverse Applique

Over at Not So Idle Hands, is a GREAT tutorial on how to make a reverse applique shirt. As soon as I saw how adorable these shirts were, I knew I had to try and make one for Molly.

It was so much fun to make, it is so easy and turns out fantastic. It seriously only took me about 20 minutes start to finish. I even free handed my cutting, which I never dare do. Love it, head over and see how to make one.

I'm Featured!!! YEAH!!!

I am so thrilled that the snowman gift Molly and I made for her teacher was featured today on one of my absolute favorite blogs, ABC and 123. I get SO many wonderful ideas and activities from this amazing blog. Head over and check it out.

Menu Monday!

It's nice to have a somewhat normal week of meals again. Last week when my husband was out of town for work, I had an interesting time trying to plan meals for me and a two year old only. Needless to say, we did have a lot of PB and J and Mac and Cheese. At least Molly loved it. :)

Here's what we are planning this week:

Monday- Beef Taquitos (SO yummy)
Tuesday- "Healthified" Chicken Tortilla Casserole
Wednesday- Pig in the blankets
Thursday- Dijon Chicken
Friday- Out to eat night

For more great Menu Planning ideas, visit orgjunkie.com

Cookie Recipe - Spotlight Sunday

YUM YUM YUM!!! For the cookie exchange I go to, I decided to try a new recipe this year. Last week my husband was in Texas all week so I knew I needed an easier recipe if I wanted any chance of actually getting to make something.

I found this recipe from Pillsbury and it looked so good, and easy. And let me tell you, they were SO good and easy. :) Here is the recipe link, if you are in need of a new cookie recipe I definitely recommend. YUM YUM YUM!!!

Hand and Foot Reindeer - stART Project

For this weeks stART project, we read the Spot's Magical Christmas. Molly loves everything to do with dogs right now, so we have been enjoying the Spot books from the library. This book is a pretty long one for Spot, but she loved it.

In the book Spot meets two of Santa's reindeer and has to help them find Santa's missing sleigh before Christmas Eve. So, for our project, we made these hand and foot print reindeer that I saw on the blog Tired, Need Sleep. This was so much fun, Molly absolutly loved having her feet and hands traced, she thought it was the funniest thing ever. And of course, the highlight was gluing on the nose. :) Now if she could just remember they are reindeer, she keeps calling them her moose!

For many more great stART projects, visit A Mommy's Adventures.

Wordless Wednesday!

Ha, Ha! Molly loves her scarf dress, but... so does the cat. :)

For more great "Wordless Wednesday" pictures, visit 5minutesformom.

Tip Tuesday! Great Teacher Gift Idea

All afternoon Molly and I have been crafting, crafting, crafting! I saw this adorable idea to make a snowman gift box out of a chinese food container over at Blue Cricket Design (this is an amazing blog, head over and check it out!). So we got to work and made this one for her Storytime teacher. We lined ours with tissue paper, and filled it with mini candy bars.

Molly is so excited to give it to her teacher, I'm just a little worried that the Storytime Christmas party is going to be canceled in the morning due to the winter storm we are getting right now. But I'm sure we can figure out someone who would like this gift. :)

Nativity Set - Spotlight Sunday!

This week I wanted to show off Molly's amazing Nativity Set! My Grandpa (Molly's Great Grandpa) cut out the pieces in wood, and then my talented Aunt Amy took the time to paint them for my daughter and my niece. I think they are fantastic!

I let Molly set them up on the dresser in her room, she is so excited to have something special of her own for Christmas in her room. She talks about them everyday, and I love how it gives me the opportunity to talk about it with her and tell her about why we celebrate Christmas.

Right now she loves the sheep.

I wish I was talented enough to make these!

She's going to enjoy them forever!

Now I am just in need of finding a really good book about The Christmas Story to read to a two year old. We have read a few from the library, but nothing like I had hoped. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

And thanks again for the hard work and great Nativity Set Grandpa and Amy, we LOVE it.

Blog Makeover!!!

As you can see, my blog is looking quite a bit different! I am so excited, I WON A PRE-MADE LAYOUT from one of my favorite sites, Leelou Blogs. Yes, I knew some Twilight Trivia about Chinchilla poop because I am just that cool, and won! :)

I am in love with the new header. And now I am realizing that my pictures and info need some serious updating. I also have switched to 3 columns. I hope everyone likes it, and just bear with me as I get everything arranged.

Seriously, if you haven't been to Leelou Blogs, head over and check it out. They have lots of free backgrounds to choose, as well as awesome pre-made layouts, custom layouts, invitations, and SO much more. The next thing on my list, a signature. :)

Frugal Friday - Free Christmas Music!

For the 25 days of December through Christmas, Amazon is giving away a new FREE Christmas MP3 download. I am really enjoying my Casting Crowns, Joy To The World.

Head over and check out what songs you can get for free. Happy Frugal Friday!!!

stART - Silver Bells

This Thursday for our stART project, I choose one of Molly's favorite library books from the week. She is very into books that are also songs right now, so she loved reading Silver Bells. The pictures are fun and she loved singing along.
For the craft project, we made bow wreaths. Almost ever picture in the book there is a wreath, so I thought it would be fun to make a few to decorate the house.

All I did was cut the center out of a paper plate, and then let Molly stick Christmas bows all the way around it.
For the finished wreaths, I just added a piece of magnet to the back so that we could hang them on the fridge.
For more great stART books and stories, head over to A Mommy's Adventures.

Wordless Wednesday!

Molly's exact words... "Take my picture mommy, I'm a pirate, arrr..."

For more great "Wordless Wednesday" pictures, (or almost wordless in my case) visit 5minutesformom.

Christmas Card Pictures!

I waited until the day before I was going to order my Christmas cards to try and get a good picture. I always think I'm going to do it way ahead, but for some reason I never do...

Here are the 2009 Christmas card pictures I finally managed to take. I just need to remember that I should never expect my young 2 year old to smile at the camera on command, ah!



And here are a few that didn't make the cut, but I love. I am still figuring out my new camera so it was fun to take 100 pictures and see what turned out... I even did some cropping, scary!

Hee, hee

I think she looks like me in this one.

Getting her feet tickled, I'll try anything for a smile at the camera. :)

Menu Monday!

Yum! I think all the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone, so it's time to start a new week of meals. Here is what I am planning for this week.

Monday- Leftovers, and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Tuesday- Grands Pizzas
Wednesday-Beef Taquitos
Thursday- Beefy Baked Ravioli
Friday- Out to eat

For more great Menu Planning ideas, visit orgjunkie.com.

Great Week / Weekend!

I hope everyone really enjoyed there Thanksgiving and long weekend!

We had a busy but wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to Randal's family for lunch, squeezed in a nap for the 2 year old, and went to my family for dinner, and somehow stayed on track with the potty training through it all! We feel very blessed and have a lot to be Thankful for, it was a great day to celebrate.

I also braved shopping Friday, and now have ALL my Christmas shopping done, yeah! I head out each year with my mom and sister to get the great deals. It is so much fun, but man are my pregnant feet tired!

Today we went to get our Christmas tree and got in all set up, so fun. Pictures to come soon, I just have to figure out how to load them onto my computer from my.... NEW CAMERA. Yeah, I am so, so, so excited. My amazing husband got me a new camera for Christmas and decided I should get it the day before Thanksgiving so I could use it all holiday season, yeah! Much more later!

Hope you are all enjoying your long weekend!!!

Menu Monday!

It's Thanksgiving week! Yeah! I am super excited for all the fun family and food on Thursday. And then we go shopping and have Pizza Hut lunch buffet on Friday. Love traditions. :) Since I'm not cooking on Thursday or Friday, I did my meal plan for the weekend too.

Monday- Chicken Lasagna
Tuesday- "Healthified" Chicken Tortilla Casserole
Wednesday- Pig in the blankets
Thursday- Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday- Pizza Hut lunch buffet!
Saturday- Taco Soup
Sunday- Crockpot meatloaf

For more great Menu Planning ideas, visit orgjunkie.com

Frugal Friday

We have been super busy this week in "Potty Training Land," Molly decided she was too old for diapers on Tuesday, so I ran with it at started potty training even though I was hoping to hold off until January, after the holiday's. It is going pretty good, but man, it is tiring for MaMa! I am exhausted, lol, I have been hitting the bed at 8pm this week, even missing Law and Order SVU! WHOA!!!

Anyways, hopefully we will be back in the swing of things (and diaperless!) this coming week, but here is something to check out Monday and all next week!

BLACK FRIDAY AT AMAZON ALL WEEK!!!

Amazon is starting a week of Black Friday Deals on Monday, Nov. 23. They will be adding new, great deals all day, everyday next week. It's a must to checkout. I don't know if your like me, but I get all my shopping and wrapping done next week, and what I don't find in stores, Friday night I usually end up ordering from Amazon.com. They have free shipping if you spend $25 or over, which is SO nice. So head on over next week with me and see what great deals they have to offer!!!

Menu Monday!

Meals for the week. Can you tell I'm craving Mexican type food this week. Yum, Yum!

Monday- Tacos / Nachos
Tuesday- Quick Fix Beef Burrito Skillet
Wednesday- "Healthified" Chicken Tortilla Casserole
Thursday- Beef Taquitos
Friday- Beefy Baked Ravioli

For more great "Menu Planning" ideas, visit orgjunkie.com

Remodel is DONE! Now hunting STARTS!

I am so excited that we have finished painting and all the new carpet is in, and I LOVE it. It is so clean and new. I feel like such an adult, haha, getting something huge like carpet and being excited about it. Now I am just finishing putting everything back into all our rooms the way I want it, and then I'll get some pictures up of Molly's pink "Big Girl Room," and the new "Nursery."

But, as for right now, I will leave you with what is keeping us busy for the next few days. Hunting! My husband (and me back in the day) hunt, and Molly was enjoying getting "dressed to track deer," as she would say. :)

Frugal Friday

Preorder the new Harry Potter DVD for only $9.99 with free shipping... I am SO EXCITED!!!

Here is a great idea for Christmas gifts or if you are just as excited as me to get some of these movies when they come out.

Target and Walmart online are offering these top movies for only $9.99 with free shipping if you preorder them!!! What a sweet deal. Check out the Target deal here, and the Walmart deal here.

These are the DVD's in the special:
-Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
-Angels and Demons
-Night at the Museum 2
-Santa Buddies
-G Force
-Star Trek
-Four Christmases
-Julie & Julia
-Terminator Salvation
-My Sister's Keeper

I know! There are some great titles to check out. Hope you enjoy the frugal tip. :)

Christmas Wreath Craft!

As soon as I saw this idea over at one of my favorite craft blogs, Nannygoat, I rushed out to the dollar store and got busy. I think this turns out so great (other than my horrible picture taking, it is much cuter in real life). I still want to add a green ribbon or something at the top, but I'm not sure exactly how yet.

Any craft with a hot glue gun I love! This was so easy and cheap. I used smaller ornaments for mine, I ended up with $5 worth from the local dollar tree. And yes, it is hanging on a bar in my laundry room! Don't worry, after Thanksgiving it will find a nice home on a door for the Christmas season. I can't wait.

Let me know if you make one, I would LOVE to see it. :)

Menu Monday!

Here are the meals I am going to attempt to make this week. We don't have much room in the kitchen until Thursday/Friday, so I am trying to have some easy things planned so I'm not to tempted just to pick something up.

Monday- Burgers on the grill and fries.
Tuesday- Stromboli
Wednesday- "Healthified" Chicken and Broccoli
Thursday- Taco Soup, from freezer
Friday- Friends over to help move furniture, pizza.

For more great Menu Planning ideas, visit orgjunkie.com

Ahhhh! We Are Under Construction Still!!!

I'm not gone, don't worry... but I am losing it. We are doing some work on our house this week. Other than painting, painting, painting, all of our bedrooms and the hallway are getting NEW carpet, and the bathroom floor is getting redone. YEAH!

I am so excited, but....

That means that we are living out of our living room, yup, all our bedroom furniture and possessions now reside in our kitchen and the three of us (the 2 year old included) are sleeping in the living room. LOL, this has been interesting to say the least. The past few days, we haven't got much sleep, but hopefully Thursday we will have our house back to normal with new paint and carpet. :) Wish me luck that I'll survive until then.

This is what all of our bedrooms look like at the moment. Thanks to our great friends and family we moved everything and pulled up all the carpet last week.

Yeah, this is my kitchen and dinning room. All of the furniture and stuff in ALL of our bedrooms now lives in here. See my computer desk??? I don't either, lol.

Our families current sleeping arrangement, yeah, we are all going to sleep when the two year old does. It's crazy over here... put will be SO worth it soon. :)

Here's a preview. My new WHITE sink. The old one was maroon with no stopper, yuck. Thanks to my wonderful husband and brother in-law we already have the bathroom almost done.

I can't wait to get done with the construction and enjoy my new carpet and paint. Tomorrow Molly's room is getting painted pink, I am so excited to see how it looks. :)

Menu Monday!

Here are some of the meals I have planned for this week. A couple new recipes in the mix again.

Monday- Easy Grands Pepperoni Pizzas
Tuesday- Taco Sloppy Joes
Wednesday- Crock Pot Meatloaf (new one)
Thursday- Friends over to help pull carpet, Pizza Night
Friday- Weeknight Ravioli Bake (new one)

For more great Menu Plans visit, orgjunkie.com

Frugal Friday, Sew Something Saturday, and Spotlight Sunday in ONE!!!!

I'm so happy that this project if finally done. I picked up a puppet stage at a "Kids Closet Sale" a month ago for only $5. I was so excited that I got such a good deal, but it definitely needed some work. Here is the picture of the "Newly Redone" Stage... :)
I painted it with black chalkboard paint so the kids can write there names or what play they are doing on it. LOVE chalkboard paint, it is so fun. I also sewed some cute black curtains with colored polka dots for it.

They look much more colorful and cuter on the puppet stage. :)

Now... Here is what it looked like before...

But I can't leave you with that, so one more picture of the after, just because I am so excited...

Toddler Time Thursday! stART Project

Over at A Mommy's Adventures they do a weekly project link that I've been so excited to join. A Story + Art = A Great stART. You combine a story you read with a fun art project.

This week we read, Clifford's The Big Leaf Pile. ( I can't for the life of me figure out how to add underline on here?) Molly loves this Clifford book, and the leaves in our backyard are piling up so this was the perfect week to focus on it.

After we read the book, we headed outside to gather up a bag of leaves, which as you can see are not hard to find in our yard.

Then I traced a picture of a tree onto white paper and Molly got busy coloring it brown.

And then we simply glued our leaves to the top of the tree. This went really well, we have been working on gluing. She always wants to glue something on, and then take it back off. But we managed to keep the leaves on the tree today. :)

And Ta Da! Here is the tree Molly made.

To celebrate we decided to play in a pile of leaves just like Clifford.

I know it may not be the most creative art project, but we had a blast making it. For some great creative stART projects, head over to A Mommy's Adventures.