A few Advents days...

One of our Advents in December is to make shrinky dinks.

I love to see what the kids come up with.

Making the Gingerbread house.

For a family night in December, I had the kids cut out an angel ornament and right a message on the angel, a gift they'd give to Jesus.

I love Cole's : I will listen to my Mom and Dad but I might forget but I'll try.  Ha Ha

and Sadie's:  She drew pictures of her sharing her toys with MaryJane.

It was fun to see the thing the kids came up with.

Christmas Tree

Once again we headed to our favorite tree lot to pick our tree!

I was so thrilled to run into one of my favorite bloggers whom I've never met before!  Stephanie at Simply Radiant.  She is so creative! I can't believe I didn't get a pic with her.  My camera was hanging around my neck the whole time I blabbed to her.  I bet she was a little overwhelmed having a complete stranger call her whole family by their first names.  Oh I was so blogstruck! Ha Ha!

Thanks for being so nice Stephanie!

We had the hardest time picking a tree out for our tiny specific space in our home this year.

But don't you worry, we found one.  Small enough to...

FIT IN OUR CAR!!!  All the way home I wasn't feeling good about it! TOO small!

After debating on the tree while we sipped our hot cocco, I couldn't take it,  I took it back.

I'm so happy I did.  This tree was my favorite of all time of the Tall and Skinny!

Quick and Easy Breadsticks!

A few weeks ago, I found myself the BEST and QUICK breadsticks here.  You can't go wrong with these!  A dream for any carb lover! ;)  I've always wanted a quick recipe because every time I make a soup that would be great with breadsticks, by the time I think of it, I don't have enough time to let them rise an hour.....NOT ANYMORE!  I can't wait to share the 6 ingredients!

Ingredients: 

2 1/4 c. Warm Water

2 T. Yeast

3 T. Sugar

Mix and let dissolve

1 T. Salt 

2 T. Oil

4-5 cups Flour (I'd like to try half whole wheat and half white flour)

Combine with yeast mixture

Bake @ 400 for 10 min.

Press into a greased jelly roll pan (cookie sheet)

This batch fits in a regular sized pan but I like to freeze half of it for later and use my favorite quarter sized pan

which makes about 12 breadsticks.

Cut dough in pan using a knife or pizza cutter and brush with melted butter, garlic salt, parmesan cheese and dry parsley.  Or use my favorite from Costco:

I wait to turn on the oven til after I have prepared them so they can rise just a bit while the oven is warming.  But not necessary.  

Bake and enjoy nice fluffy Breadsticks!

You won't be disappointed!  They get devoured!  I'd like to try them with cinnamon and sugar too. Mmmmmm. Bad girl.  

Thanksgiving 2009

I'm so sad to say that I was the WORST picture taker on Thanksgiving!  I must have been playn' too much Fat Dog. Thanks to my cousins Jamie and Ryan who had our entire family over, we had a great time!!

The Martha Stewart Pistachio Cheese ball I made.

Jamie and Ryan's cute little girl Aubrey lovin' the turkey apple.

They had a huge rock climbing wall there which was so fun!  Cole LOVED it and it didn't take him long to get to the top, several times.  His favorite part was repelling and pushing away from the wall.  I was so proud of myself, I was able to get up to the top too.  Too bad the harness is so unattractive on I wouldn't dare post that picture.

MaryJane, my loot carrier, thought she owned all of Aubrey's princess'.

My mom showing off her mad trampoline skills.  :)

The Candy Bar game and the only pic of our fabulous hostess, Jamie (up top)

Thanksgiving is not the same without the fish pod.  A childhood tradition.

Thanks again Gardners for a the fun holiday!  We had so much fun!

Disney On Ice

came to Salt Lake in November and I look the girls with a friend.

Sadie loved dressing up as Belle.

(MaryJane, Sadie and Grace)
I woke MaryJane up from her nap to take her and just threw on her favorite dress that she wears DAILY!!

The girls had a blast! Such a great show!  Every princess was there!  I'm so happy I got to take them!

Halloween 2009!

Finally getting around to posting it...

Grandma stopped by for a quick visit and the bride was done with pictures

 READY to trick or treat! 

Cole's dream come true!  General Grevious (from star wars).  

He couldn't have been happier!

The Bride... Oh the Bride!

Sadie so badly wanted to be a Bride!  Luckily I found her dress and vail at the wonderful 

T.J Maxx!  I did make her cape to help keep her warm.  She refused to wear a long sleeved shirt underneath. (girls!)

When I had brought home her costume from the store, she had worn it for two days.  I wanted to preserve it til Halloween got closer and hung it in the closet.  Out of sight out of mind.  Well, when she had found it the next day, she was just beside herself. 

 She did not like that I put it in there and with the help of her dad wrote me a long letter letting me, "why would you put my wedding dress in the closet mommy?  I dream in bed everyday to wear my wedding dress! It really breaks my heart when you put it in there.  Everyday I dream about my wedding dress!"  

Oh Sadie, I hope your dreams come true!  You crack me up!

My new costume cape!  I'm not a huge fan of dressing up(or posting pics of just me) so I made this cape to become my yearly staple.  Festive!

My sweet little lioness...loved playing peek-a-boo with the tree!  

Posing like her sister Sadie.  HA!

I made this lion costume for Cole when he was this age.  

Sadie's worn it and now it's MaryJane's turn!

 I got the idea from an old October issue of Parents Magazine.

Can't get enough of her at this age!  She LOVED Halloween and ran from door to door with the kids!  She even out beat Sadie!

A Sweet and Easy Treat...

My friend Jessica introduced us to this yummy sticky popcorn!  We love it for family movie night!  It is soooooo good that I couldn't resist sharing the yumminess!

1 bag popped microwave popcorn 

1 cube butter - melted in saucepan

1/2c. brown sugar

2 Cups mini marshmallows

Melt butter, sugar and marshmallows in sauce pan and pour over popcorn.  

Tip:  go through the popcorn and get out all the unpopped kernels before pouring the mixture on.

Enjoy!

Ode to Mod Podge

I got a little Mod Podge crazy and discovered a few new things.  I needed to house all the kids craft supplies in our new computer hutch and decided to spice up these drawers from Ikea with a little paper and Mod Podge.

I love all of the different finishes you can use.  Glossy, Matte, Fabric, Glitter, Glow in the Dark and many more! 

The finished project...

fits perfectly. 

Oh and I was so happy to use my little label maker to itemize all the drawers.  My kids use it everyday!  It is so fun to see them use their creativity and imagination with all the fun supplies in there!  Markers, Colored Pencils, Stickers, Glue, Scissors, and Beads.

This is where I used the Fabric Mod Podge.  A Perfect addition to my new kitchen! ;)

I've also glittered pumpkins like Martha Stewart.  They are way easy and festive! 

Checkout this great blog for more Mod Podge fun!

Halloween Family Night 09

Its always fun to get together with the cousins before Halloween so we can all see each others costumes! 

My parents showed up as the Telletubies!  

The best entertainment...watching the kids trying the eat that doughnut on a string!

Thanks everyone for a great time!

The Pumpkin Patch

Kevin arrived home just in time for all these fall festivities to begin!  

Our first family outing was the pumpkin patch! 

MaryJane is so lovable toward her family members.  Many priceless moments not caught on camera.  Luckily I caught this one.

It's irresistible to take a ton of pictures at Enges Garden!

Chad and Ling's Reception...

was in early October.  A few pics.  It was so great to see all the family.  

Trying to get all caught up. :)