The Big 5

Last week we had a big day in our house the little man turned FIVE!! I know I can’t believe it and you see the problem with this right? If he is five then I have gotten five years older ugh can that be right? lol!! The party theme was “army men” and the kids seemed to have such a great time.

We made this cute little thank you cards and included a pic of all the kids in their army gear.

Happy Birthday big boy you are getting so big and we are so proud of you!!

What? Me? Featured?

Yes that is right my last post right here was chosen to be featured over at Healthy mom for junk food kids. Yeay this is so exciting to me so go check it out it is listed under crafty ideas!!

Little Guy Craft Roundup

I wanted to share the latest kid crafts we have been doing in our house!!

I do not have my son in a traditional preschool but we do our own little learning time everyday at home. The week we did this project we were learning about seasons. I found the tree picture on the internet and we made his favorite edible finger paint to make the leaves. All you need is Kayro syrup food coloring!! And I love that it dries all shiny.

We had so much fun together making this little paper pumpkin. Here are some directions:

1. Cut the toilet paper roll in half. Cut a strip of orange construction paper that will wrap around the toilet paper roll completely and tape the paper into place.
2. Cut the orange construction paper vertically into strips that are approximately 1 inch wide. You will need 8 to 10 strips. Cut approximately 1 inch off of the length of each strip.
3. Work with one end of the toilet paper roll at a time. Stick a piece of scotch tape onto the end of one of the paper strips and tape it inside an end of the tp roll. Repeat with three more pieces of paper, so you have strips at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock.
4. Once you have the initial 4 strips down, add another 4 strips of paper so that they overlap the initial 4 diagonally (at 2, 5, 8, and 10 o'clock). See the picture at right.
5. Now you need to tape the other end of each strip into the other end of the tp roll. Do this just as you did before, only starting with the second set of strips first.

Once you have all of the orange strips of paper taped into place, cut a leaf out of green paper and tape it into the hole to complete your pumpkin.

And last but not least we gathered some leaves before they got all crunchy and cut the center out of a paper plate. Then you guessed it we busted out the hot glue gun and made this fun little wreath.

I love craft ideas for kids!! Do you have any family favorites??

Caramel Apple Bucket

For my marketing/gift delivery this month I had this great idea to fill a bucket with caramel flavored treats and apple flavored treats. Well needless to say on the budget I had for this it was harder than I had anticipated lol. It is hard to find bulk apple flavored treats that I didn’t have to have shipped and that didn’t cost a fortune. So I ended up with this instead……………….

Ok so not exactly what I had planned but not bad.

The Google Game

I was visiting one of my favorite blogs today HERE and Lisa had posted such a fun game. And because I found it so entertaining I get to bore you all with my version of the game lol.

The rules are to read the questions and then go to Google, do a search of images, and post the best image you see on the first page of images for these ten things:

(Aren’t you so excited ha ha!! Oh and as you can see I have a problem with committing to just one favorite lol)

1. My Favorite Beverage

2. My Hometown

3. My Favorite TV Show

    

4.My Occupation

5. My First Car

6. My Favorite Dish

7. Celebrity I have been told that I resemble

8. Celebrity Crush

9. Favorite Childhood Toy

10. Any Random Picture

So my challenge for you is to obviously play this game on your blog so that we can learn more about each other. And then come back and let me know you posted it so I can check it out. Now go and Google!!

Halloween Treat Bags

 

This is what I delivered for treats last year in October, they were pretty simple little bags filled with all my favorites!! Stay tuned to see what I am going to do this month for treats………….

The Less Frilly Apron

Somehow this is the only picture I have of this apron (hmmmm note to self make someone else model my projects lol). I used a pattern that I love although I altered it slightly from THIS apron that I made from the same pattern and created it to be less frilly. I also used a much thicker material so that splatters are less likely to leak through to your clothes, cause what’s the point of wearing it if that happens right!?

Do you like the less ruffled version better than the original one I made??

**On a side note I know I was not loving my first super ruffled apron but it has totally grown on me and I love love love it now. You can find the original pattern that I used HERE at my fave sewing blog.

Spooky Tree

I saw this fun idea on a few blogs so while we were camping last weekend the hot hubby found me the perfect branch for my project. 

I took a pot that I already had with a fake little tree in it and ripped it apart.

Then I took my fave can of black spray paint and coated them both really well.

And TADAH look at my spooky new tree.  I love how it turned out! Should I add anything else to it or leave it alone? What do you think?

Football Snacks

Okay so last week I tried something new by creating a daily themed post and after all of that I just wasn’t feelin’ it….so back to the regularly scheduled programming I am sticking to my old ways of posting when I feel like it ha ha.

Here is my latest delivery/gift! I took this…….

and made this…..

I found these perfect trays at the dollar store (of all places) and the footballs from there too, and then filled it with fun snacks from target and Wal-Mart.   

Happy football season!!

Favorites Friday: Purple Pop

Call it whatever you like….pop, soda, coke…………I love it.

I usually don’t have much of a preference when it comes to my daily addiction I will grab whatever diet drink is in the fridge, although I am a huge fan of Diet Dr. Pepper. Then one day I was chatting on skype with one of my very best friends and I saw her drinking what looked like a Mountain Dew {so grossed out}. So of course I teased her about it and she pretty much told me don’t knock it until you try it. So of course because I want to be just like her (lol) I had to get one. It’s called ultra violet and I kid you not it tastes like a grape slushy. Thanks Bran for a new favorite in my fridge {wink wink}.

Have you tried one? Go get one and let me know what you think……I know Molly thinks it tastes like cough medicine (ha ha) so what do you think?

Thursday Book Club: The Lost Symbol

To know a little about me you have to understand that I loooove to read. I got hooked when I was younger and it has stuck with me my entire life. I am always reading something and I have a stack of waiting books in my cabinet and a “to read” list a mile long. I’m not a fast reader but it’s not a contest right {wink wink}. I am lucky to have several friends that share the love of reading with me and we have had so much fun sharing our passion for books on Good Reads where you can list what you are currently reading and rate the books you have read. You can also link up to your friends and compare your book lists.

Ok so enough babbling.  My current book obsession is Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol

From the author of books like Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, this is the next adventure of Robert Langdon. I am about 200 pages in and really like it so far. I have had to go back to the beginning and read some of the scientific explanations over again because I must not have read them carefully the first time (lol). I will update you on my opinion of the book when I am done and if you like books you really should check out Good Reads its so much fun. So your mission is pick up a book and start reading and then come tell me about it!!

Worship Wednesday: Livin’ Life Patino Style

Today is the first edition of my new fave post that I am calling Worship Wednesday! Very obviously this means I am introducing you to a blog that I stalk love and follow almost religiously.

CLICK HERE to be transported to the first blog I fell in love with when I entered the bloggy world. And just in case my word isn’t enough (shame on you ha ha) here are some teasers of what you will find.

She cooks, crafts, and creates amazing things for her family. I love her style, attitude and flair. Oh and check out her family pictures because she always has the best. I don’t know her personally but if we lived in the same town I am pretty sure we would be best friends lol.

Tuesday Attempt: Laptop Cover

So I had this little idea to make a laptop cover out of an old jacket that didn’t fit anymore and I actually like it. It’s certainly not something that I use daily but if I need to throw it in a bag to take it somewhere it works great!! I cut the zipper out and the hood and arms off and zig zag stitched it up the front and across the top.

And look I have cute little pockets for storage woot woot. 

Mealtime Monday: Sour Cream Enchiladas

We love to try new things and sometimes it totally flops lol. This actually was good the first time we made it but it needed a little something extra, so the second time around I topped it with homemade salsa mmmmmm so yummmo!  Here are the recipe’s for both and let me know if you try them or if you have a favorite chicken enchilada recipe!!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

Mix this together in a large bowl

In separate bowl mix

2 cups cooked chicken (cubed or shredded I used shredded)

2 cups of cheese

3 chopped green onions

1 cup on the above soup/sour cream mixture

Dip tortillas in soup/sour cream mix

place chicken filling in the tortilla and roll it up

place in greased 9x13 pan (you can fit about 8)

cover enchiladas with rest of the mixture and more cheese if you want

cover and bake at 325 for 30-45 minutes

 

Homemade Salsa

(I topped the enchiladas with this right before i served them and its great just as a dip as well)

28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

1/2 can green chili’s

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp red peppers

handful chopped green onion

handful chopped cilantro

combine ingredients in a blender and pulse till it’s the consistency you like

Did someone say pie?

Okay so this little gift wasn’t quite as simple as other projects that i have done but they were so well loved I just had to share. I am forever in debt to Costco they make my bulk gift/marketing shopping so much easier (and if you have ever had their peach or apple pie you know that it doesn’t disappoint). I filled the basket with a pie server, fork, plates, napkins, and (in case they were received by non pie lovers… what? I know who doesn’t love pie) I added caramel turtles and chocolate covered strawberries. I thought the red and black color combo was sooooo cute.

Danish and Muffin Basket

This gift was super easy!! I packed it with Danish and Muffins from Costco in this summery basket and I lined the basket with a raw edged cloth. Then I raided my scrap paper stash and made the simple tag. These smelled like heaven in my car I wanted to lick all of them (don’t worry I didn’t lol).

Craft SOS

Ok crafty friends I need your help. I have this beautiful cake stand that sits in my kitchen day after day empty…………

Now you see the problem huh?

I bake cookies and other treats but either we eat them super fast or they sit in this cute little guy and are forgotten about until they look like some sort of science project lol. So I am begging looking for a way to craft it up and add something cute  to it so that it doesn’t look so naked and sad all the time. Any suggestions??

And the winner is…..

Thanks to Grandma’s Herbs and random.org we have a winner and it is lucky number 4. Thant’s you Missy!!! Congratulations

Please contact me via email and we will get you your prize.

My First Giveaway

Yeay here it is my very fist giveaway!!! Thanks to the amazing company Grandma’s Herbs I am able to give away this great cold and flu package. And the timing couldn’t be more perfect with the soon approaching flu season and the rapid spread of germs with the kiddos headed back to school. I am certainly not a health nut and judging from the frosting I just ate off my cake that is blindingly clear but I have tried many of the products from this company and I am always impressed with how well they work for me.

This is the description of the product  I am giving away straight from the Grandma’s Herbs website……

We all get hit at sometime with the unpleasant symptoms of the cold and/or flu. Grandma's Herbs has created this package to bring relief and aid to those suffering. These 3 products used together fight the infection, clear up sinuses and boost the immune system. This is a popular and powerful package! Contains 1 Bottle Each Of: Nature's Biotic, Respiratory Relief, Immune Enhancer.

Here is how to play visit www.grandmasherbs.com and pick out the two things you would love to have in your cupboard, then come back here and leave me a comment about what two you would pick. Please make sure I have a way to get in touch with you if you win. It’s as easy as that!!

The contest will end at midnight (MST) on 9/7/09 and the winner will be chosen at random. Good luck and play nice!!

Repurposed Spice Rack

Have you ever heard of freecycle? It is this amazing community of people who are giving away something for free! I placed a wanted post for a hanging spice rack and guess what? Someone responded and gave me this………

Isn’t it sooooo cute? I was itching to attack it with spray paint and turn it into a place to store some of my smaller scrapbooking supplies.   I am thrilled with how it turned out, thank you freecycle!!! Now I just have to bribe my hottie husband to hang it for me {wink wink}

Bread Basket

Yep it's that time of the month again! Time to shower a few offices with treats! This month my husband had a great suggestion, specialty bread baskets.

I went to a local bakery and filled these baskets with Cinnamon raisin bread, muffins, and scones. Then I went to Costco and got individual butter's and jam's. Last but not least I found some "wheat like" stalks as a little decoration. I think they turned out so cute and the offices were so excited to receive them.

Huckleberry Pickin'

That's right it's huckleberry season woot woot!! I know it doesn't look like we picked very many but if you have ever done this yourself you know that these are like little nuggets of gold and take forever to pick. So after 5 hours of picking this is what we came home with. We took them home and washed them and picked out all the stems and then stuck them in the freezer. We love to put them in our pancakes and waffles mmmmmmmm.

The Goose Girl

I generally use my blog as a way to share the crafty things that I have been up to but something that I love with equal passion is reading, so I am introducing my own little book reviews starting with this one. The Goose Girl. I loved this book it was an easy read with characters that you can't help but fall for. The author Shannon Hale did an amazing job of creating a story that sucks you in. My friend Janna bought me my first book (The Princess Academy) by this author so a big thanks to her for my new addiction. Let me know if you read it and what your thoughts are!!

Camping Omelet

I learned such a fun new trick for cooking an omelet this weekend while we were camping. All you need is boiling water, a FREEZER Ziploc bag, eggs, and whatever else you would put in your omelet. Crack open two eggs inside your freezer bag (only two any more than that and it won't work). Add other ingredients such as peppers, onions, cheese, ham.....etc. Seal the bag and moosh together then drop it into the boiling water for 13 min (or until no longer runny). And waahlaah you have a fluffy perfect omelet. Isn't that the funnest idea? Maybe this is old news and I am just catching up with the times lol, but I couldn't wait to share. Let me know if you try this and how it turns out!!