6 Months

Guess who is officially 6 months old!!

This girl right here!!!

I can hardly believe that six months ago (2 days after Christmas to be exact) I was given the gift that is Ballerina. She brightens the whole family's day!

Roma Tomato Bruschetta

Roma Tomato Bruschetta. YUM! I made this for lunch today for my mother in law and myself and it was divine! I could have eaten the entire baguette by myself I'm sure!

Okay for the recipe...quick and easy!

Ingredients: 1/2 teaspoon of basil, 2 cups of Roma tomatoes (seeded and chopped), 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 1/3 cup of olive oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 loaf of French baguette, and salt & pepper to taste.

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine the tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar, salt, & pepper. Set aside.
3. Combine olive oil and garlic in a microwavable bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds.
4. Cut the bread into slightly angled 1/4 inch pieces. Brush with olive oil-garlic mixture and place on baking pan. Bake for 6-8 minutes of until golden brown.
5. Just before serving, drain excess liquid from tomatoes. Spoon tomato mixture evenly over bread slices and Enjoy!

Carole

Forest Party

I just recently looked through my past posts and realized that I didn't blog about Arizona's birthday or Bulldozer's! Shame on me! They both deserve their own posts so here is Arizona's. (Since her birthday came first.)

I am big on themed birthdays. We have a pretty spacious house so we host the birthdays here and I'm a frugal momma so I make most of the decorations and treats. Well Arizona requested a "forest" themed party. I have to admit....this stumped me. A forest party? She was very clear that she wanted no fairies, no magical mushrooms, just a forest. How on earth was I going to pull that off!?

I pondered and fretted over this for a few weeks until I finally just pulled everything together.

I used scrapbook paper in different greens and browns to make paper lanterns and lined them along the entryway and the hallway. They looked cool.

Instead of a full blown birthday cake, I asked my awesome friend Natalie to make owl shaped cake pops.

Finally, I used my Christmas tree pretzel molds to make her forest. We made about three dozen of these and she was pretty excited about it.

Carole

Summer Ice Pops

Well it turns out to be another 108 degree day. It would be nice to be able to let me kids go outside and play but unfortunately, I can't.

Anyways, in an attempt to beat the heat, I made summer ice pops for the kids yesterday. I cut up grapes and strawberries in tiny pieces and put them into our Popsicle molds.

Then I filled it with orange juice and froze it.

It made for a few very happy little campers!

Carole

Chop Chop Bread Salad

Sugar came home yesterday. I was so excited!! I hugged her for what seemed to be a lifetime. When things finally settled down, Sugar requested only one thing. That I make Chop Chop Bread Salad for dinner.

Now I don't pretend to be a culinary genius. When we first got married, we lived off tuna casserole and hot pockets. However, I have been paying close attention to Food Network. In fact, I owe many of my most loved meals to the brilliant minds of Food Network. Chop Chop Bread Salad is no exception. It come from the ingenuity of Guy Fieri and man, is it wonderful!! I have made a few changes due to my family's likings but it's basically his recipe!

First, gather your ingredients: 1-red bell pepper, 1-cucumber, grape tomatoes, sourdough bread, feta cheese, olive oil, minced garlic, minced basil, minced parsley, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and salt & pepper.

Step 1

Take your bread and slice it. Drizzle oil oil on the slices and sprinkle salt & pepper. Then grill both sides of the bread. Continue doing this with about 5-6 slices.

While that is going on....take care of step 2.

Step 2

Slice the grape tomatoes in half length wise, dice the bell pepper (seedless), peel and cut the cucumbers into quarters. Put it all into a bowl together.

Step 3

Add 2 tablespoons of the garlic and basil. You only need 1 teaspoon of parsley. After that you drizzle in 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar. Mix well and cool in fridge for 15 minutes.

Step 4

While that is cooling, take the grilled sourdough bread and chop it into 1 inch pieces. Then take the veggies out of the fridge and fold in crumbled feta cheese. I usually use 2 packages of Athenos Feta Cheese. It's super yummy. Finally, add the bread and mix well.

Carole

Sponge Bombs!!!

Oklahoma is soooo stinking hot!!! It has been up in the 105-110 degrees for weeks now. My kids are dying to go outside and play but due to the immense heat, I can only let them out for 10 minutes at a time.

Today I made Sponge Bombs!!
I bought some cheap packages of sponges from the Dollar tree. I cut each sponge into fourths.

I guess I could have stacked them one color on top of another and it would have worked out fine but I decided to be a bit more creative and stack them almost checkerboard like.
I took the sponges and tied them off in the middle. They turned out so well and the kids love them!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Happy Father's Day to the greatest husband in the world!! I love you!!

I wish Arizona was here to spend it with us! I posted this pic as his desktop wallpaper so he'd see it first thing when he turned his computer on.

I love my kids and my husband more than I could ever put into words!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY HONEY!!

Father's Day Ideas

In the short amount of time I have to make a post, I'm posting a couple of Father's Day ideas that we did last year! I'm very proud of my kids for coming up with these great ideas!!

Peanut came up with this idea from some website he visits. I helped him make it out of an old cereal box, some scrapbook stickers, and some plain copy paper. He's so proud!Peanut filled it with some stick figures of him and J. It is sooo cute!

This is what Arizona made for J. We bought some little blocks, she painted them blue and green, then I glued a photo of J with the kids to the top. Once it was dry, I carefully cut the picture to make a picture puzzle. Arizona added some bling to the outside of the puzzle at the last minute and I have to say...it made it look ten times better!

Finally, Sugar made this totally cute tape measure for J out of a macaroni & cheese box, and some black & yellow paper. On the inside yellow tape, she wrote "I love you thiiiiiis much!" How cute is that!?

I'll probably post this year's Father's Day ideas on Monday. Until then...craft on everybody!!

Fourth of July Wreath

So since it's almost July, I went ahead and finished my patriotic wreath in honor of the fourth of July. It didn't take much to do since I haven't got the funds or the time for a lavish one. I went to Hobby Lobby where they were selling Fourth of July items at 40% off and picked up a white garland with tiny flags all over it. Originally it cost $4.99 but at 40% off, I got it for $2.99. Yay!

So I took a Styrofoam wreath that I had on hand and wrapped the garland around it until it was sufficiently covered. I could have left it like that but it looked a little plain so I dug through my craft closet and came up with 3 patriotic pinwheels. So I broke them off the stick, put some hot glue on the end and stuck it into the Styrofoam. It turned out way better than I could have imagined!!

Take A Photo Tuesday!

This is my first "Take A Photo Tuesday"!!

Doesn't Bulldozer look like Toad from the Super Mario Bros.? Please excuse the yogurt all over his shirt. Apparently banana creme pie yogurt is too good to eat with just a spoon.

T-Shirt Rose Headband

I've been going through my kids' old clothes. And boy, do they have a ton! I normally take the kids clothes to the local children's shelter because they could use all the help they can get. But occassionally they have items that have stains on them. (Mostly thanks to the school's Super Nachos day.)

So yesterday I decided to take one of Sugar's stained shirts and try something that I've been seeing popping up on many crafty mom blogs. Some t-shirt flowers. I admit that this isn't the best picture I've taken. But give me a break, it's not easy to take a picture with one hand while your other one is holding a fussy baby. :)

I managed to make my Sugar two separate headbands. She's currently at her dad's house for a few weeks so she hasn't seen them yet but I'm sure she'll be excited! I know I'm excited about them!!

Story Aprons

So it has been way too hot in Oklahoma to do a lot outside. It was 102 degrees today. Whoa! It's not even July yet and I'm toasted! So lately we've been doing activities inside and cleaning as well. (I somehow tricked my kids into making cleaning a game. Shhh! Don't tell them.)

Today we made story aprons. I love story aprons. I tell me kids early in the day that we're doing them so that they can pick the perfect book and get to reading. They read the books while I cut aprons out of poster boards.

When they finish the book, I give them a piece of paper and instruct them to draw 5-7 characters or important items that are in the story. Afterwards, I cut their drawings out and let them glue their items/characters on Popsicle sticks. While that is drying, I staple a piece of paper at the bottom of their apron for them to write the title of their story with the author. Above the paper, they are to draw a picture of the story's setting.

When they are all done, I place holes at the top and string some yarn to that they can wear it around their neck as an actual apron. Then daddy and I sit down and watch their production. They use their Popsicle stick characters and items to retell the story against their apron setting. The stapled piece of paper with the title written on it serves as a pocket for their Popsicle sticks to be stored.

And how adorable are my little storytellers?!

Goals for the month of June

Monthly Goals List

1.   Take a picture of my kids every day for the month of June for our Summer 2011 scrapbook. So far this has been the easiest to do because my entire brood is so photogenic!

2.  Try not to cry when I take Sugar to her dad’s for 2 weeks. I love my Sugar and I’m glad that she gets to spend time with her dad, stepmom, and little sisters but I miss her terribly when she’s gone. It’ll be a long 16 days.

3.  Scrub my house like I did when I was in the military. Yes, I was in the military and I use to scrub until there were no water spots on the faucets or dust in the corners. That was before kids and I’ve fallen behind my cleaning routine ever since the sickness swept through our home.

4.  Organize the mountain of books I’ve got. I’m studying to be an elementary school teacher so when I find books in yard sales or Goodwill, I stock up for my future classroom library. Unfortunately this has gotten out of hand and books are taking over my house. In truth, I think I may be addicted.

5.  Make an attempt at tackling the craft closet. My craft closet is ridiculous. Partly because the mountain of books are in there as well but really, I think if my husband took a peek in there, he’d have a heart attack.

Update on my May goals

So it's officially June and in May I made a list of monthly goals. Let's see where I stand on my goals.

Monthly Goals List

1.   Finish Peanut’s dresser!!!! Haha. Nope. It’s still in limboland.

2.  Make Ballerina some new rattles. Well, I managed to make her the cow rattle (see post for details) so that’s a start.

3.  Work on paintings for next year’s Arts for All festival. This goal was incredibly dumb. Like I would have time for that. Although I did get some sketches done.

4.  Ballerina needs new bows. Fail….miserably.

5.  Make summer totes for the kids to take to the lake. I bought summer totes from the dollar store. Yay!

6.  Come up with summer activities for the kids. Done! And “Summer Lovin’ “ has been a huge hit despite the sickness in my home.

7. Organize my lesson plans Fail…again

8.  Organize my craft area (THIS IS A MUST!!!) I love how this goal was a “MUST” but I made absolutely no effort to actually do it. LOL!

9.  Find a good recipe for asparagus. PASS!!! I accomplished this one with vigor and excitement. My family love the dish!

I think when I post June's goals, I will take into mind the fact that I have summer classes going on and five kids to chase after. I keep striving to be an overachiever and end up being somewhat mediocre. What is a mom to do?!?

I'll post this evening with June's goals after I ponder them for a while.

Carole