Sunday, January 31, 2010

Cute Aprons


Aren't these darling???
Janet has lot's of darling aprons
on her sight!
You really should go check it out!
What a great idea for Mother's day,
birthdays, or just because!!
I just had to share,
because they are darling,
and I grew up with Janet's kids!!
Small towns are awesome!
Anyway, go check it out and you won't be dissapointed!


Friday, January 29, 2010

Hoot n' Annies

I love these. They are also known as German Pancakes, but this is what we called them growing up. The kids love watching them raise high above the pan and get all fluffy.


Hoot n' Annies:

6 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cube butter
Preheat oven to 425. Melt butter in a 13x9 pan. Beat eggs until fluffy. Add milk. Add salt and flour. Beat until well blended. Pour into pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm with jam, powdered sugar, fresh fruit and coolwhip or syrup.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Saving Money on Baked Goods

Kids love baked goods from the bakery. I however, don't really care for the price. I can spend the same amount and make tons more of those yummy baked goodies. I love to bake and spend time in the kitchen, but I am really trying to cut back on the calories, so I don't like to bake, because I have a tendency to eat said treats, if they are homemade!

That's why I like to check out the quick sale racks when I go to the store. I take my goodies home and I freeze them. Today I scored 3 trays of cinnamon rolls for $0.99 cents a piece! Regularly priced $2.99 a tray.! They had the sell by date, marked for today, so really, they aren't a day old. These cinnamon rolls are being used for a Young Women activity this weekend, so I just popped them in the freezer, because I will need all of them at the same time.

My kids love glazed donuts. It's such a treat to get them when we go to the store. I also buy these on the quick sale rack. I bring them home, let the kids have one for a treat and then I package them into freezer bags in groups of 3 or 4 donuts. Lay them in the freezer, so they are flat and freeze them that way. That way when the kids want a donut, I pull out a package, pop one in the microwave for 30 seconds and wala, warm, yummy glazed donuts!! For $2.99, I get 4 packages of donuts!!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Mudslide

We made this for our New Begninnings this weekend. It was so good! I cheated on my diet and tried one bite from a corner that was left in the pan!! Everyone raved about it!
Crust:
1 C Flour
1 cube margarine
1 C chopped walnuts

Mix flour and butter like pie crust then add nuts.Press firmly into 13x9 pan, bake at 350 degrees for 20 min.

Middle Layer:
1 8oz. cream cheese
1 C cool whip
1 C Powdered sugar

Blend and spread over cooled crust

Top Layer:
1 (5.9 oz) pkg chocolate instant pudding
3 C milk

Blend and spread over middle layer.

Top w/ remaining cool whip & grate chocolate bar over the top.
Refrigerate 5 hours

Monday, January 25, 2010

File Folder Games

I'm on a file folder kick. I googled file folder games and tons of sights popped up, but I weeded through them and found some of the best one's available. Here are some great site's with free games.

File Folder Fun: Lot's available here! You can search by theme or by age.

Giggly Games: This link will take you to the freebie page, which has some awesome games. Including the one pictured above. They also have some great ones you can buy for cheap.

Child Care Land: This is a goldmine of goodies! Lots to choose from.

Check out this previous post, full of great links and ideas for recycling workbooks.


Saturday, January 23, 2010

Walmart: A necessary Evil

I hate going to Wal-mart. I hate it with a passion. I avoid it at all costs. It's not so much that I don't like shopping there, but I have yet to have a positive experience when shopping their with my children. It usually ends up that at least once if not twice during the shopping trip, a Wal-Mart employee will yell at my children, for being children. I've had them yelled at for touching toys, bouncing a glitter ball, for sitting quietly in the middle of the aisle's looking at books. You name it. It's like my kids have a sign that says, "Yell at me!" tattooed to their foreheads.

I don't know what it is, about that big blue sign. It's like a beacon to my children, that shouts to them, "Be naughty, run amuck! Cause chaos and make your mother look like the worst mom in the world!" I seriously mean that.

Take today for example. We had to go across town to a birthday party. I needed to pick up a few things from the grocery store, and since Wal-Mart just happened to be right there, I figured I would save myself some time and make one stop, because I was also looking for a few craft supplies.

So, if you can imagine, my 7-year-old, my 5-year-old and my *darling* 2-year-old proceed to be children. Bickering, crying for toys, "I want this, I want that." But for the most part, not to bad.

So we get up to the check out, which always brings the chorus of "I want a treat," and my 2-year-old is hanging out of the cart and pulling her brothers shirt over his head. I am trying to load bags into the cart and my 5-year-old is trying to help, by turning the bag station. The employee, who was a very nice older lady, asked him to stop. I told him to stop. I send J.D. to grab something off the end cap and he is taking forever. I ask Tyson to go find J.D., and he promptly starts yelling across the store for J.D. The chaos continues for a few more minutes, and Tyson touches the dang bag station again and the employee tells him, a little crossly, in my opinion, to stop.

I flipped. This poor lady, who was trying to check me out as quickly as possible, got an earful of why I hate Wal-Mart. I told her that, although he was being naughty, it never failed for me to have a horrible experience in Wal-Mart, because they have employees who are not nice to children. I had a line full of older ladies, behind me. All Grandma's who are watching this whole thing go down. The poor cashier is stuttering her apologies, for something she didn't even really do.

And now I feel awful. The cashier was so nice and I totally unloaded on her! Every time I take my kids to Wal-Mart, I vow to never return. I prefer Target, their employees seem to be much more laid back and much nicer. I'm beginning to think it's worth hiring a babysitter, just so I can do my shopping. When I am a Grandma and in line, behind some poor women with a cart full of stuff and children running a muck. I will remember myself and I will step in and intervene and help. At least, I hope I will.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

What Should We Make?

It's been super rainy these past few day's. It's also kinda cold. We made these fun popsicle stick flowers. It's not a great picture, sorry!

I just put the craft stuff out and let them go to town and this is what they came up with. They used a punch and put a button in the cener. Each one is diffrent and each is super cute.

Let kids go wild and see where their imaginations will take them. They do the funnest things!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Giveaway's Worth Seeing

Go here, for two great giveaway's!! You've got a day or so to get entered, but don't wait! I haven't passed along giveaway's but I love this sight and want to give them some exposure! If your a Young Women Leader, this is a sight you must see!

The Great Chicken Experiment

Did you know that we have chickens? I think I blogged about it once. But I can't remember if it was here or on my family blog. Yes, I let my kids get chickens. I grew up in a farming community. Anybody ever heard of Marysvale, Utah? Well, it's full of cows and not many people. I was used to animals and I lived several years on a farm. I wanted my kids to have some responsibility when it came to animals. Not necessarily a pet, like a dog, but I loved the idea of chickens and of the possibility of getting some eggs out of the deal.

Well, I seem to have eggless chickens. I mean, we get about 6 to 10 eggs a week, but I should be getting several dozen a week. I have 5 chickens, so if they each are suppossed to lay an egg everyday or atleast every other day, you do the math. But my kids sure do love them, as you can see from the picture above.

Here they are when we started out. Sadly, 3 of our orginal 5 did not survive. One just disappeared, probably by a cat and 2 of them met tragedy at the hands of my 4-year-old and my 6-year-old neighbor boy. They were trying to teach them how to fly. It was a good lesson about life and death that was learned to 2 little boys.

All in all, it's been a positive experience. My kids love them. Atleast my younger two do. My 7-year-old grumbles about them, because it is mosty his responsibility to feed them and water them. My 5-year-old adores them. He runs out several times a day to check and see if there is any eggs. My 2-year-old likes to go out and sit in the pen with them and totes them around with her whenever possible. The poor chickens!
As Easter approaches and people start to sell baby chicks for Easter, it might not be a bad idea to think about. They are a lot of fun. Just make sure you get chickens that will lay eggs!


Monday, January 18, 2010

Free Printable Valentines

If your looking for creative Valentine's day idea's, go search the web. There are soooo many crafty people who are willing to share. Here are just a few.
Alpha Mom has a FANTASTIC list of fre Valentines that you can print!

I love owls. And I love Living Locurto! This is only one of the darling gems you'll find at her place!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Valentines Day Ideas of the Past

I just went back in our archives and we have some awesome Valentines Day Ideas in there! Go check out this link and it should pull up all our past Valentines day ideas! It's creeping up on us, you know? Can you believe it's already January 14th?

Thursday, January 14, 2010

I Love Hair Blogs

How many of you have mornings/weeks/or even months when you just don't have any ideas for cute hairdos for your little girls? I run out of ideas frequently and am always looking for good hair blogs. I have found one that I love! It is called The Wright Hair. She has two daughters and I use both ideas on both of my daughters. I have an older one with a lot of hair and a toddler that has such fine hair that it is hard to do anything.
I love Ambers blog because she makes it look so easy and gives step by step directions. I see ideas on her blog that I don't see anywhere else. I love it that other people have this wonderful talent and are able to teach people like me how to do hair.
Thanks Amber for your great blog. Please keep it up..
Do any of you have hair blogs that you like to go to?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Gospel ABC Book

I AM SO EXCITED! SO EXCITED! Look what I got in the mail today. Yes, that's me. I am a total geek, but I had to share the fact that I just got the Gospel ABC book I purchased from over at Pleasant Sunday! Karena, put in so much work and effort to make a beautiful Sunday book and I was lucky enough to be able to purchase one already made. Karena found out that due to a legal technicality, she can no longer sell the book, but there are still way's that you can get the book. Go check out her blog to find out how.

These are just 2 of the beautiful pages that the book includes! It's absolutely amazing!!

I honestly can't wait for Sunday to come, to see how well it entertains my 7-year-old!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Chocolate Chip Pancakes


A family favorite! Who doesn't love a little chocolate with their breakfast??

Monday, January 11, 2010

Cardboard Racetrack

I was over on the Mother Huddle the other day and saw this post, about recyclable crafting. Well, it inspired this racetrack! We all want to help the planet right?

This was the greatest Saturday afternoon project! The kids played with it for hours and were so excited. It made it worth the 2 hours it took me to cut out all the pieces and to put it all together.

I've seen this done with cereal boxes, and it's very cool. I only have a couple of open boxes of cereal, so........

I used boxes. This is just a few of the left over boxes I had after my Alison's Pantry order. I started cutting up pieces to make this track. I used a hot glue gun to attach all the pieces. I was going to use packing tape, but we couldn't find it.

The kids love the tunnel. The nice thing about this track is that it's a bit flexible so they can lift portions of it and make jumps and hills. I added guard rails on the corner's of the track and I added a few jumps in the corners. It's super flexible so the kids can make more jumps by putting more boxes or toys underneath it. The kids loved drawing flames and road lines on it, also.
The kids spent the afternoon making cars jump off the tunnel. I spent the afternoon in front of the jump trying to catch a really good picture of the cars as they came off. This one is so awesome and it's really the only good one I got. The kids thought it was hilarious to watch me dodge the cars as they came flying at my face!
The great thing, is that this track will last a long time and hopefully get a lot of playtime. It's also pretty easy to fold up and put in a closet or corner when you need the space.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Heart Strings

I promise, I have a super fun, fun post scheduled for Monday. I am still in the process of putting it together. I really am usually not such a downer. Today was a great day, and then in my blog hopping, I came across a story that literally had me sobbing and my heart aching.

We are all human and tragedy touches all of us at some time or another in our lives. It is hard not to be empathetic to one who experiences a loss. Especially the loss of a child. My heart hurts for this sweet family. I can't imagine their pain. They are strangers to me, and yet my heart mourns with them. Go read their story and then please, pray for them.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Tender Mercies

My blessings and providers of tender mercies

My day today is, not so good. Not terrible, horrible, or bad, but just no good. A yucky day. We all have those don't we? If you don't, please share your recipe for success. I think we could all use that recipe and would use it often.
It started out with a bad night. I have eczema on my hands in a horrible way. Six months and nothing I have tried has helped it. Well, something I did or ate yesterday broke them out in a whole new, horribly, itchy oozing rash. Sorry for the gorey details. So, needless to say, I didn't sleep last night. I was up in tears, trying not to scratch them and tossing on the couch.

And then this morning, my kids started fighting and it just escalated from there. I sent my poor 2nd grader off to school with a not so happy feeling in his heart, I'm sure. I might run down to the school, just to give him a hug, I feel so bad.

BIG SIGH! Life happens. I'm sure it won't be the last time I yell at my kids. But I am also trying to remember that they are just kids.

It's a good thing Heavenly Father loves me. I am so grateful for his tender mercies. He know what I need and what can help me. I am so grateful for that. I read this article this morning, and was in tears. We are indeed blessed and loved.

(I promise that at some point, we will get back to posting fun, happy stuff! Crafts and mommy things! I promise!! Don't give up on us!)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

It Has Potential....

Isn't this a glorious old window frame. I love the peeling paint, and it has an undetone of a aqua color to it. What to do, what to do? I have a lot of ideas. But want to know what you think. Any great idea's?

Monday, January 4, 2010

What is your Word??

I read an inspiring post, that hit home for me. It was written last year, in regards to New Years Resolutions. We all have resolutions don't we? I have atleast one that is the same, every year. LOSE WEIGHT! I lost 50 lbs. last year and it was AWESOME, but there is still work to be done there. But the idea of this post was to pick a word, that you wanted to define your year.

A word to define your year. There are so many to chose from. Some of the words I am tossing around are Believe, Faith, Hope, Love, Simplify, and Peace. Any one of those words would leave us inspired in our daily life, if we were to keep it in our thoughts constantly.

I have really had a hard time picking a word or phrase that fits me. I had an experience the other day, that helped me to decide what my phrae would be. I had the opportunity to attend the temple with the youth in our ward and one of the things they talked to the youth about was being still. How that we go to the temple and leave our phones and worldly cares behind, we can just be still and feel the spirit. I was quite emotional, as what was said, seemed to be directed right at me.

I thought about that all week and my phrase for this new year is "Be Still." Not just be still by attending the temple more often, but to allow myself time each day to Be Still. I go a millions miles a minute and so this will be hard for me, but I feel like I need that time to revive spiritualy and emotionally each day. Twenty minutes each day when I just sit and meditate, maybe read. My own time to be still.

We'll see how it goes. I hope I can implement that into my life. I think it will make me a better wife and a mother. I hope it does. There is alway's room for improvement. What is your word, that you would choose? Take some time to think about it and get back to me.....