February 28
So yesterday when I was shopping with my Mom, I had an idea for the plates for the missionary luncheon. I have seen it done somewhere else but I can't for the life of me remember where. You just take a plain plate and go around the edges with these flat backed marbles. I used E-6000 glue to adhere the marble pieces to the plate. It was so simple! It only took about 5 minutes to do the whole plate. This is definitely the kind of craftiness I could really get into :) So tell me what you think of the grouping, and try to picture it with my centerpiece from yesterday's post.
Okay I know the color stinks here, but you get the idea anyway :) Do you like the little zebra teacup, too? That was another Ross find. It was the last one too, and it only came as a set of four. I still need four more so I am going to be checking back this week. Praying I get very lucky!!!
February 27
My tooth was still bothering me today so I skipped out on church. I know, sorry excuse, especially since I did end up shopping with my mom this afternoon. Maybe I can justify it with my Lortab hangover :) haha! Just kidding! God knows my heart - stop judging me!
I completely love it! I have been eyeing it for quite a while and knowing that I am decorating a table for our church's upcoming missionary luncheon gave me the extra push I needed :) Do you love it, too? Well, sorry to say they are probably sold out! I got the last and only ones at Ross. I love that store!
So you wanna see what we got?
I completely love it! I have been eyeing it for quite a while and knowing that I am decorating a table for our church's upcoming missionary luncheon gave me the extra push I needed :) Do you love it, too? Well, sorry to say they are probably sold out! I got the last and only ones at Ross. I love that store!February 26
I had to have a tooth pulled today so unless you want a picture of my prescription for Lortab and me laid out like a drunk, because that's how Lortab makes me feel, I'll update tomorrow :)
Good news on the dieting front: Down 2.5 more pounds - most likely due to my avoiding food for the last two days because of said removed tooth :(
Hope you all had a better Saturday than me!
Good news on the dieting front: Down 2.5 more pounds - most likely due to my avoiding food for the last two days because of said removed tooth :(
Hope you all had a better Saturday than me!
February 25
I love the Olive Garden soups :) All of them, except the Minestrone, probably because I've never tried it.
My husband's cousin, April, posted a recipe on her blog here, for a copycat of their Zuppe Toscana, which is my absolute favorite!!!! We were hosting small group tonight so I thought I would finally get to try this out. This is her picture since I forgot to take one. Oops! I am starting to make forgetting to take pictures a habit....
My husband's cousin, April, posted a recipe on her blog here, for a copycat of their Zuppe Toscana, which is my absolute favorite!!!! We were hosting small group tonight so I thought I would finally get to try this out. This is her picture since I forgot to take one. Oops! I am starting to make forgetting to take pictures a habit....
Well, what are you waiting for? Go get the recipe and make some for your family! They'll love it!
February 24
My mom and I were talking last weekend, (when I was having one of my aforementioned mommy meltdowns) she told me that I needed a schedule. That's how the Duggars do it, she told me. In all honesty, I discovered that the real problem here is that it is completely and totally impossible for me to accomplish in a single day what needs to be done in my own strength. I really need to depend on God, and seek His wisdom and power to make it through the day. That's the real reason why the Duggar mom is so successful. You can tell she's trusting God, and not herself. So, I am committing to working on that schedule and making that schedule work :) Finishing my daily schedule was exciting. I never thought I could fit it all in, but on paper, it works out :) Yay! Now if only I can actually use it. I made time for me to spend time with God, work on the blog, exercise, do real office work (instead of sitting in front of my computer pretending to really work! haha) lesson time with the kids, make three meals a day and clean them up, two loads of laundry and even watch my DVR shows :) Sounds like a very orderly life, huh? Yeah, that's what I am hoping for :) Hopefully my extreme dislike of most authority and lack of current routine will not hinder that from happening! Haha!
So if this is the only way to do it - have 5 kids and NOT go insane, here's my last ditch effort!
Favorite Time of the Day: Naptime :) You must know me better than I thought.
So if this is the only way to do it - have 5 kids and NOT go insane, here's my last ditch effort!
February 22
So yesterday when Jonathan got home we went shopping for shoes for all the kids and some clothes for the babies. We have been having warmer weather finally and they were in desperate need of some springy clothes! I got them so much stuff, and since they are both walking, shoes were a must-have item :) Three pairs each, actually. Thier chubby little toes look so cute :) I love to watch them hobble around and learn to walk in their shoes. What do you think?
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| We got these shoes at Target, in brown and white :) The name of the shoes: Amber. Love it! |
February 21
Crystal Wilkerson, one of my favorite digital designers, gave away this free planner on her blog. I loved the idea, and that it was free, but I thought, I'll never print that. Until I did today :) Twice. Because I messed up the first copies. That's what I get for being cheap. haha! Go check it out here if you want it. It's beautifully designed and full of inspiratonal quotes and thought provoking messages, plus it's packed with organizational tools for balancing everything important in your life. I will post a picture of my planner when I finish putting it all together.
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| Crystal Wilkerson's 2011 Planner |
February 20
So the hubby left me home alone tonight :( Last night too, technically, if you count leaving at 1:30 a.m :) He went to the races with my dad and I am here by myself GASP! with the twins. I had arranged a sleepover buddy but then it didn't work out. So what's a scared momma supposed to do? Get the butcher knife (because I can't find the baseball bat and because I don't allow guns in my house), push the babies into my room(who are not afraid and sleeping soundly in their cribs!), get my six year old to come sleep with me, bring Gabby and her kennel upstairs, make sure I had plenty of drinks and snacks so I didn't have to go downstairs in the dark by myself and finally turn on all the lights downstairs, check every window and door lock and lock my bedroom door behind me. Yeah, Gulf Power loves us :) All that and I still had a hard time falling asleep, imagining all the bad things that could happen to us while I was here by myself. Everytime I heard a dog bark, or any kind of siren, or any sound of the house settling or the wind blowing, every speck of skin on me was covered with goosebumps. I was on pins and needles until I realized that all I needed to do was claim the victory over fear and pray myself to sleep under God's protection. That only took until 2:00 a.m. :) And guess what time my girls woke up? 5:11 a.m. --when it was still dark, Go figure!
My pic of the day probably won't have any significance to you, but my little girls pushed these mixing bowls around the house for a solid hour and a half, chasing one another, giggling and laughing and squealing. It was so adorable and I never want to forget how much they enjoyed playing with them!
My pic of the day probably won't have any significance to you, but my little girls pushed these mixing bowls around the house for a solid hour and a half, chasing one another, giggling and laughing and squealing. It was so adorable and I never want to forget how much they enjoyed playing with them!
February 19
I love Saturdays! When my husband's not working. But since he is, I was determined to make the best of it anyway. My three big kids were begging to get out of the house and those two precious little babies love being outside anytime, anywhere. The weather we've been having this week is just perfect for taking the kids to the park. So the plan was to make some soup for Brandy, who is still sick with the flu, since Tuesday, go to the bank, get Tyler, give Brandy the soup, and take a Mickey D's picnic to the park and spend the afternoon taking amazing pictures of all the kiddos at the park. Sounds like a great plan, eh? Well it was, and it went fabulously as planned, until we came home and I realized that every single one of the 200+ pictures I took were horrible. I forgot to change my settings back from aperture priority, which I apparently know nothing about, to the auto setting. Grrrrr! The pictures are either completely blown out, or so dark you can't see anything. How does that even happen? Frustration, I tell ya! That causes major frustration. There were so many pictures that would have been perfect! Absolutely perfect. Oh well, it's a lesson learned. I can't bring myself to delete them. Surely something can be done! If you have any suggestions for how to fix them I am all ears :) Please share!
When I brought this one into PSE, and did a levels adjustment, this is the best I could get for Claire, but the background is still awful. I took them in JPEG format. Is there any hope?
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| Before |
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| After |
February 18
I just realized that I haven't been posting my Weight Watchers stuff lately. Oops! I had my first weigh in last week and I was down 2 1/2 pounds. Woohoo! Losing is always better than gaining, and that's the first loss I've seen in a while :)
So in my quest to continue to lose, and learn more healthy recipes, I have been searching for weight watchers blogs. I was so excited when I found the amazing skinnytaste blog. It's loaded with several yummy looking dishes, from salads, to soups, to desserts. One thing that I have been hearing a lot about lately is the idea of "sneaking" cauliflower into mashed potatoes. When I happened upon this recipe for potato soup (which I love in any form -- believe me, I have like 12 different recipes for potato soup!) I finally found the courage to try it. Much to my surprise, it was not only edible, but delicious :) Bonus!!! If it couldn't get any better, my kids, yes all five of them, asked for seconds. Of course I didn't use her recipe exactly, as that would be against my nature :) But I totally used the idea and recipe as a guideline. I will definitely be making this one again, so I am adding the recipe to this post. Hope you have a chance to try it out! If you do, I'd love to hear your results.
1 handful baby carrots
7. Pour the pureed mixture into a pot and add the cream that you made. Mix that all together and according to your preference for thick or thin soups, add remaining chicken broth. The more of that chicken broth you use, the lower the points :) Add garlic salt and pepper to taste.
8. Eat a bowl of this yummy soup and take time to appreciate that you just made something healthy and filling for yourself. Then share it with someone else :)
9. Clean up the ginormous disaster of a mess you just made! Sorry about that :) I'm a messy cook!
When I made this for me, I ended up with 5+ cups of soup. So, I counted it as 3 points plus value per 1 cup serving. I didn't add any bacon or cheese to mine, but that sure makes it look better :) If you want them in yours, just don't forget how many additional points that would be. This is Gina's picture. Doesn't this look heavenly? Yeah, I m going to reheat another bowl right now!
So in my quest to continue to lose, and learn more healthy recipes, I have been searching for weight watchers blogs. I was so excited when I found the amazing skinnytaste blog. It's loaded with several yummy looking dishes, from salads, to soups, to desserts. One thing that I have been hearing a lot about lately is the idea of "sneaking" cauliflower into mashed potatoes. When I happened upon this recipe for potato soup (which I love in any form -- believe me, I have like 12 different recipes for potato soup!) I finally found the courage to try it. Much to my surprise, it was not only edible, but delicious :) Bonus!!! If it couldn't get any better, my kids, yes all five of them, asked for seconds. Of course I didn't use her recipe exactly, as that would be against my nature :) But I totally used the idea and recipe as a guideline. I will definitely be making this one again, so I am adding the recipe to this post. Hope you have a chance to try it out! If you do, I'd love to hear your results.
Creamy "Potato" Soup
1 bag of ready to eat cauliflower pieces, steamed lightly
1 yellow potato, baked in the microwave (3 points plus value)
1/4 cup sour cream (2 points plus value) 2 chicken bouillon cubes
3 cups of water1 handful baby carrots
2 tablespoons margarine (4 points plus value)
1/8 cup flour (2 points plus value)
8 oz whole milk (4 points plus value)
1. Start making your chicken broth with the bouillon, water, and carrots. Let it boil while everything else is cooking.
2. Start steaming the cauliflower. You don't want them to be mushy, just tender.
3. Bake your potato in the microwave. I have this awesome little bag that I cook mine in. It's like a little pouch and it is amazing :) Cooks a potato in 6 minutes! Even in my tiny little microwave.
4. Get a small pan and slowly melt the butter in it. Add the flour, and then the milk, slowly and cooking on medium low so you don't scorch the milk. That smells terrible! haha! Stir until it thickens up quite a bit. You can just let it sit on very low heat while you prepare the rest of the soup.
5. Put your steamed cauliflower & carrots into a food processor along with the sour cream and about 1-2 ladlefuls of the chicken broth. (Just used a slotted spoon to get the carrots out of your chicken broth, They will not be super soft or mushy, but they will definitely not be crunchy either.) Puree until it's very smooth.
6. Add the potato, skin and all, and pulse just a couple of times. You want it to mix in, but you still want there to be small chunks of potato in the soup. 7. Pour the pureed mixture into a pot and add the cream that you made. Mix that all together and according to your preference for thick or thin soups, add remaining chicken broth. The more of that chicken broth you use, the lower the points :) Add garlic salt and pepper to taste.
8. Eat a bowl of this yummy soup and take time to appreciate that you just made something healthy and filling for yourself. Then share it with someone else :)
9. Clean up the ginormous disaster of a mess you just made! Sorry about that :) I'm a messy cook!
When I made this for me, I ended up with 5+ cups of soup. So, I counted it as 3 points plus value per 1 cup serving. I didn't add any bacon or cheese to mine, but that sure makes it look better :) If you want them in yours, just don't forget how many additional points that would be. This is Gina's picture. Doesn't this look heavenly? Yeah, I m going to reheat another bowl right now!
February 17
Well today was a little better for the hormones :) Not quite the meltdown I had yesterday. I don't have a lot to share, though, so I will just post my picture of the day :) I love these little helpers!
February 16
So I had a mommy meltdown today. Again. :( I am sooo stressed out! Do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try you will never be able to do all those things that you are supposed to as a mom, wife, friend, christian, etc? You know what I mean, right? No matter how many times we sweep under the kitchen table there are still a pile of crumbs. No matter how many times I do all the laundry, another dirty pile was hiding somewhere (or when all the laundry's done, the sheets still need to be washed, desperately washed! haha!). No matter how hard you try to be nice to your husband and understand that he just worked a 12 hour day, too, you still unload on him the second he walks in the door about how hard it is to take care of 5 kids (maybe that's just me!) all day? No matter how many chances and/or bribery efforts you've tried to inspire them with, they act like you are expecting them to find a cure for a rare illness and all they really have to do is 10 math problems that you've shown them how to do 900+ times. How no matter how hard you try, you are always letting one of your friends down. How about no matter how early you get up or how much you prepare the night before, you are still always late. Is it just me? It is true what they say you know, "A mother's work never ends". I just wish someone would have told me how hard this was going to be...And just when you think you couldn't handle one more mess in this twenty four hour period, you walk upstairs to find 5 kids that act like they just ate a pound of sugar each, with a few random Christmas stamps and ink pads. That's when you give up and just laugh. Laugh at how ridiculously not upset you are that there is another mess to clean up. Laugh because the only thing in the whole world that could make these 5 kids any cuter are said Christmas stamps, all over their faces. 
Can you tell Kagen did not want me to take his picture? He thought he was in trouble. Again. That boy keeps me busy :)
Can you tell Kagen did not want me to take his picture? He thought he was in trouble. Again. That boy keeps me busy :) Template Tuesday!
Okay, well I felt really bad about leaving you with the picture of all of my receipts for a half a year of business expenses/income paperwork, so I decided to take a little break and work on the Template Tuesday from Jessica Sprague's Digi Lovely. Go download your copy and play along :) I dare you!
I used Echo Park's All I Want for Christmas Paper and some brushes from House of 3 to do this layout. I used a ton of different techniques here, most of which I learned from Photoshop Friday Tutorials. I made a lot of changes to the template, because I am not personally fond of the whole gradient look. I made it work for my style though. That's why I love templates -- they are so versatile. They give you an idea to build on, and you can modify it according to your needs and take away or add to, if you choose :) They also allow you to just simply copy and paste if that's all you want to do. I did this entire layout in less than an hour, which is amazing!!! It used to take me like three hours to do one simple layout, and paper scrapbooking -- forget it! That took days! Hope you like this better than the pic of my tax table :) See you tomorrow!
I used Echo Park's All I Want for Christmas Paper and some brushes from House of 3 to do this layout. I used a ton of different techniques here, most of which I learned from Photoshop Friday Tutorials. I made a lot of changes to the template, because I am not personally fond of the whole gradient look. I made it work for my style though. That's why I love templates -- they are so versatile. They give you an idea to build on, and you can modify it according to your needs and take away or add to, if you choose :) They also allow you to just simply copy and paste if that's all you want to do. I did this entire layout in less than an hour, which is amazing!!! It used to take me like three hours to do one simple layout, and paper scrapbooking -- forget it! That took days! Hope you like this better than the pic of my tax table :) See you tomorrow!
February 15
Okay I know you are sick of hearing about taxes, but I am still working on them :( See below for the real-life P365 pic of the day. What a disaster!
February 14
Happy Valentine's Day!
What did you do to celebrate? Me, you ask? TAXES, TAXES, and then some more TAXES! Boo! You would think an accountant would have been able to handle this but unfortunately, she screwed everything up and I am having to fix it all. On Valentine's Day. When I should be spending time with the ones I love.
The hubby worked until 8:30 tonight, but at least he's has a job and can work right now, so I am thankful for that! :) He managed to take a break long enough to bring me takeout lunch frm Shark Fin and he brought me some beautiful flowers, my favorite chocolate, and a couple of really nice cards -- one from him, and one "from the kids". The older kids were so excited to see me open the card and read what they had written, or scribbled :) Then Kagen asked if he could have one of my flowers. He's so cute!
My mom brought me and the kids a Valentine, too. I love that she still insists on doing something for all of the holidays even though we are all grown. As adults, we hardly ever get gifts anymore and it's nice to know that someone thought of you on a special day! She got me a mulled-cider scented Tyler Candle Company candle. It's the first thing you smell when you walk in my house now. I love it!
What did you do to celebrate? Me, you ask? TAXES, TAXES, and then some more TAXES! Boo! You would think an accountant would have been able to handle this but unfortunately, she screwed everything up and I am having to fix it all. On Valentine's Day. When I should be spending time with the ones I love.
The hubby worked until 8:30 tonight, but at least he's has a job and can work right now, so I am thankful for that! :) He managed to take a break long enough to bring me takeout lunch frm Shark Fin and he brought me some beautiful flowers, my favorite chocolate, and a couple of really nice cards -- one from him, and one "from the kids". The older kids were so excited to see me open the card and read what they had written, or scribbled :) Then Kagen asked if he could have one of my flowers. He's so cute!
My mom brought me and the kids a Valentine, too. I love that she still insists on doing something for all of the holidays even though we are all grown. As adults, we hardly ever get gifts anymore and it's nice to know that someone thought of you on a special day! She got me a mulled-cider scented Tyler Candle Company candle. It's the first thing you smell when you walk in my house now. I love it!
February 13
Today we went to church, worked in the nursery for the late service and then picked up a bucket of chicken from KFC. Then we rushed 4 of our kids to my sister's house so that my husband and I could take Kalyn to the Winter Jam concert. We have always wanted to go and we were so excited that this year, Francesca Batistelli, Kalyn's most favorite singer ever, was supposed to be there. A couple of weeks ago, I downloaded a song from her website to put on Kalyn's ipod and I got an email from Francesca stating that she was going to be there, and she wanted to personally meet all her fans. Well, I read that email to Kalyn, hoping to get her excited about it, and totally not thinking about the possibility that we may not actually get to meet her. Oops!
We got there at about 3:30, and it was so packed! Lines of people around the building and down the road packed. We went to the shortest line we saw and prayed the whole time that we would be able to get in. We were so happy to hand the door man our $30 entrance fee, that we didn't care where we had to sit. We just wanted to be in! By the time we hiked up and down several sets of stairs and finally settled on a top row seat, I was really wishing I would have bought the megazoom lens. Oh well! This is probably the only time I would have to use it!
The concert was so good! I have only been to one other Christian concert in my entire life, and that was to see Jaci Velasquez at a church. There were several bands/singers there, and they each performed at least four songs. We got to hear some of their new music, and most of the groups were offering a GREAT discount on their music so we added to our CD collection, too :) I was exposed to a lot of different music that I would not typically listen to, and I enjoyed all of it. I did have to google the lyrics to a couple of the songs because the intensely loud music and headbanging was drowing them out. Haha! Who'd have thought the old hymn, "It is Well" could be a rock song! My father in law would not have liked that rendition!
Kalyn did not meet Francesca. I will save that meltdown story for another day :( You can thank me now. It was not pretty!
Does the flash in your photos make you look this washed out? If it doesn't, please share your tips!
The concert was so good! I have only been to one other Christian concert in my entire life, and that was to see Jaci Velasquez at a church. There were several bands/singers there, and they each performed at least four songs. We got to hear some of their new music, and most of the groups were offering a GREAT discount on their music so we added to our CD collection, too :) I was exposed to a lot of different music that I would not typically listen to, and I enjoyed all of it. I did have to google the lyrics to a couple of the songs because the intensely loud music and headbanging was drowing them out. Haha! Who'd have thought the old hymn, "It is Well" could be a rock song! My father in law would not have liked that rendition!
Kalyn did not meet Francesca. I will save that meltdown story for another day :( You can thank me now. It was not pretty!
I took a ton of pictures and videos of each artist. I am sure I was driving the people around me crazy!
Does the flash in your photos make you look this washed out? If it doesn't, please share your tips! WW Update: Do you really want to know? KFC Fried Chicken Breast, original recipe, with ALL of the skin, mashed potatoes and gravy, a handful or two of M&M's, six peices of Big Bol gum, two boxes of candy sticks, four girl scout cookies, a whopper loaded with everything plus cheese, french fries and a real non-diet soda, a couple of nachos and a handful of cheezits. Yeah, I am scared to weigh in tomorrow.
February 12
This was a super busy day for me! Jonathan worked all day, didn't even get home until 8:00 :( I had to take all 5 kiddos to drama tryouts where I thought we'd all hangout while Kalyn auditioned for about 20 minutes or so (like last time!) but, I was wrong. (As usual, I hardly ever remember to read the papers they send home with important information!) I had to drop her off for TWO hours, which wouldn't be a big deal if Jonathan had been keeping the other kids. But he wasn't. I surely wasn't about to run errands with all those kids. No way! I am not brave enough to try that again anytime soon. So, we called my mother. We went to her house for a little while until it was time to get Kalyn. Then we went back home and I cleaned and worked on business taxes/files for another three hours. My sister was generous enough to sit with the four little ones so that I could take Kalyn to a birthday party at the skating rink for an hour and a half, and then I came back home to clean and cook again. Yay! Dont you wish you could have done all that with me? Sounds like the funnest day ever, right? Not. so. much.
Kalyn did have a good time, once she got over the fact that I was a very cheap and poor substitute for her daddy, who is her "skater helper". Most of the kids at the party knew how to skate well, and she was, well, let's just say less than confident without her strong daddy to keep her up when she was about to fall. Or stop. Or attempt to move. I felt so badly for her, and I tried to encourage her to just walk slowly around the wall, and hold on until she felt comfortable enough to let go. Eventually she gained enough courage to do it. I watched her go all the way around the rink, twice, and she even made a new friend who was just learning, exactly the same as she was.
It made me think of how much easier it is to try something new when we have someone by our side, learning with us for the first time. It also made me thankful for the group of amazing women I have in my life who encourage me when I am afraid. They encourage me and remind me that God would not have me to be afraid, and even when I don't have one of them, standing by my side, I know that God is there, holding me up and keeping me from falling everyday. I also know that, sometimes, God lets me fall, just so that He can teach me how to get back up again. I pray that my children will not have many fears in their life, but when they do, I also pray that they will remember that God is their strength, and they can call upon Him in their time of need. I hope you know that, too.
Pic of the day:
Here she is braving it all on her own, with no side to hang onto :)
WW Update: I went over by like 15 points today. Too much food to list but A LOT of it can be blamed on the Key Lime Pie - 12 points per slice - that was left at my house on Friday night after small group. It's so hard to stay on track when you are busy! (and didn't plan ahead, and too lazy to cook, and just NEED something sweet!) I am losing a little bit everyday though, and I am happy that I am still within my planned points. I just had higher hopes of not using all the extra points. Maybe next week :)
Kalyn did have a good time, once she got over the fact that I was a very cheap and poor substitute for her daddy, who is her "skater helper". Most of the kids at the party knew how to skate well, and she was, well, let's just say less than confident without her strong daddy to keep her up when she was about to fall. Or stop. Or attempt to move. I felt so badly for her, and I tried to encourage her to just walk slowly around the wall, and hold on until she felt comfortable enough to let go. Eventually she gained enough courage to do it. I watched her go all the way around the rink, twice, and she even made a new friend who was just learning, exactly the same as she was.
It made me think of how much easier it is to try something new when we have someone by our side, learning with us for the first time. It also made me thankful for the group of amazing women I have in my life who encourage me when I am afraid. They encourage me and remind me that God would not have me to be afraid, and even when I don't have one of them, standing by my side, I know that God is there, holding me up and keeping me from falling everyday. I also know that, sometimes, God lets me fall, just so that He can teach me how to get back up again. I pray that my children will not have many fears in their life, but when they do, I also pray that they will remember that God is their strength, and they can call upon Him in their time of need. I hope you know that, too.
Pic of the day:
WW Update: I went over by like 15 points today. Too much food to list but A LOT of it can be blamed on the Key Lime Pie - 12 points per slice - that was left at my house on Friday night after small group. It's so hard to stay on track when you are busy! (and didn't plan ahead, and too lazy to cook, and just NEED something sweet!) I am losing a little bit everyday though, and I am happy that I am still within my planned points. I just had higher hopes of not using all the extra points. Maybe next week :)
February 11
I had a wonderful blessing today. My friend Renee brought me a HUGE bag of clothes for the twins. She has twins also, who are about 9 or 10 months older than mine. They are getting so big! She has been a giver since the day I met her. She has handed-me-down all of her twins clothes, shoes, hairbows, feeding supplies, toys and loads of other stuff. I am so fortunate to have her help me out with the clothing expenses for these pretty little girls of mine. I wish we would have had more time together today and I could have taken pics of her little girls playing with mine :(
I did get to take a couple pics of another friends precious 2 month old baby. I really played with this in PSE tonight. I have never done anything like this, with textures, and photo masks and blending papers into the background. I have to say I love it! What do you think?
I did get to take a couple pics of another friends precious 2 month old baby. I really played with this in PSE tonight. I have never done anything like this, with textures, and photo masks and blending papers into the background. I have to say I love it! What do you think?
February 10
Today I am posting the digi layout I did for Jessica Sprague's Template Tuesday this week.
My girls are so stinking cute!
What do you think of the layout?
WW Update: Well, I probably shouldn't ever order pizza again until I reach my goal. I ate three pieces, and I almost had to force myself not to eat more. We were in such a hurry to get to our small group training session, and I had been out all afternoon with the kids so I didn't have time to eat according to plan. (Plus it smelled and tasted so good that it was torture!) Thank God for the extra points every week, and the activity points that I earned doing my two miles this morning.
My girls are so stinking cute!
WW Update: Well, I probably shouldn't ever order pizza again until I reach my goal. I ate three pieces, and I almost had to force myself not to eat more. We were in such a hurry to get to our small group training session, and I had been out all afternoon with the kids so I didn't have time to eat according to plan. (Plus it smelled and tasted so good that it was torture!) Thank God for the extra points every week, and the activity points that I earned doing my two miles this morning.
February 9
A couple of days ago, I got a wild hair to google my favorite candy from way back when. I found it on Amazon and EBay, and paid three times the price for shipping as I did for the candy. It came today and I was so excited to open it up. I used to get these penny candies at Barnes Supermarket in Molino when I was a little girl. They are called Big Bol and they are just candy coated gum. They are kinda high in points but they are worth it because they bring me back to a happy time and place :) What was your favorite candy as a child? I would love to hear about it!
Tonight we took pictures at church for Valentine's Day. I really liked this one of the boys so it's my pic of the day :)
Tonight we took pictures at church for Valentine's Day. I really liked this one of the boys so it's my pic of the day :)
I am late posting today's blog so I have no idea what I ate! I didn't keep track of it past today, since I was just keeping tracks on scraps of paper that I trashed when I cleaned my desk. (on Friday night when I actually wrote this blog :) haha!) Wednesdays are the busiest days of the week for me so I didn't get to work out either :(
February 8
Three hours at the accountant's office today. In addition to the two hours I spent there last night :( Still no answers and more mass confusion.
On a positive note, I did actually accomplish something tonight while Jonathan took the kids out to eat :) That's a brave man to take 5 kids under the age of 9 out to eat by himself! I would never take on that task! It's worse than Walmart with 5 kids, which is no fun either :) Been there. Too many times.
I absolutely fell in love with this pic of Claire that I posted yesterday, so when I checked out Jessica Sprague's Digi Lovely site for Template Tuesday's free template, I knew immediatley which photo I wanted to use. I am quite happy with how it turned out. All of the paper and embellishments came from Echo Park's A Walk in the Park Kit.
On the dieting homefront, I am happy to report that I did my two miles today, even though I was suffering through the entire thing. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but I am seriously SORE from just two days of exercise! Here's what I ate today:
Breakfast: 1/2 Clementine, Fresh Carrot & Apple Juice (2 points)
Lunch: Steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower & Baby Carrots with Alfredo Sauce for dipping (3pts.)
Chicken Lettuce Wraps (the recipe still needs some work, but I was closer this time!) (4 pts.)
Snack: Banana and 5 Gummy Bears (1 pt.)
Dinner: Spring Mix Salad with frozen strawberries and Vidalia Onion Dressing (4 pts.)
Again, I am left with 15 points! I am honestly not hungry, and I don't think that I should eat 15 points worth of candy! I am not 100% sure how I am going to lose weight with this new plan. Have any of you tried the new Weight Watchers Plan? Please share your tips if you having any! Looking forward to hearing from you :)
On a positive note, I did actually accomplish something tonight while Jonathan took the kids out to eat :) That's a brave man to take 5 kids under the age of 9 out to eat by himself! I would never take on that task! It's worse than Walmart with 5 kids, which is no fun either :) Been there. Too many times.
I absolutely fell in love with this pic of Claire that I posted yesterday, so when I checked out Jessica Sprague's Digi Lovely site for Template Tuesday's free template, I knew immediatley which photo I wanted to use. I am quite happy with how it turned out. All of the paper and embellishments came from Echo Park's A Walk in the Park Kit.
On the dieting homefront, I am happy to report that I did my two miles today, even though I was suffering through the entire thing. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but I am seriously SORE from just two days of exercise! Here's what I ate today:
Breakfast: 1/2 Clementine, Fresh Carrot & Apple Juice (2 points)
Lunch: Steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower & Baby Carrots with Alfredo Sauce for dipping (3pts.)
Chicken Lettuce Wraps (the recipe still needs some work, but I was closer this time!) (4 pts.)
Snack: Banana and 5 Gummy Bears (1 pt.)
Dinner: Spring Mix Salad with frozen strawberries and Vidalia Onion Dressing (4 pts.)
Again, I am left with 15 points! I am honestly not hungry, and I don't think that I should eat 15 points worth of candy! I am not 100% sure how I am going to lose weight with this new plan. Have any of you tried the new Weight Watchers Plan? Please share your tips if you having any! Looking forward to hearing from you :)
February 7
Before I did anything else this morning, I exercised. Woo hoo! Way to start of the day :) Nothing like sweating a little (okay, a lot!) to get your energy level up and help you be ready to face the day. I started out with Denise Austin's Boot Camp, which lasted about 10 minutes, when I could already feel my muscles start to ache. Pathetic I know. On to the old standby, Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds. I really love how simple that workout is, especially for someone like me who gets winded going up my own stairs. (Only like 13 steps!)
I am going to try to post my daily food journal so that I have a record to refer back to, so feel free to skip over this part if you are still reading and are completely uninterested :) I will not be offended :)
Breakfast: 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese (2 pts.) 1/2 banana
Lunch: Soup made from Spring Salad Mix lettuces, Mushrooms and Onion & chicken broth
1 cup Raw Mixed Vegetables with 2 T. Ranch Dip (2 pts.)
Treat: 22 Gummy Bears (5 points)
Dinner: Birds Eye Voila Meal - Chicken Parmesan 1 cup (6 pts)
Sauteed Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes, Onions and Mushrooms with butter & steak sauce (8 pts)
Dessert: 1/4 cup Plain M&M's (6 points)
Okay, so, I know that 11 points were for complete junk, but I did drink all of my water for today, and ate all 5 servings of fruit & veggies. I think this new plan is awesome since I get the same amount of points that I used to get when I was nursing :) I am a little concerned that I will not be able to lose any weight because of that, too. And 49 extra points? WOW! Looking forward to eating those points. I should save them for Shark Fin!
Today's pic of the day is of my fruit and veggie drawers :) I hope that these will be empty by the end of the week :) And I also hope that bag of M&M's is still almost full. haha!
I am going to try to post my daily food journal so that I have a record to refer back to, so feel free to skip over this part if you are still reading and are completely uninterested :) I will not be offended :)
Breakfast: 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese (2 pts.) 1/2 banana
Lunch: Soup made from Spring Salad Mix lettuces, Mushrooms and Onion & chicken broth
1 cup Raw Mixed Vegetables with 2 T. Ranch Dip (2 pts.)
Treat: 22 Gummy Bears (5 points)
Dinner: Birds Eye Voila Meal - Chicken Parmesan 1 cup (6 pts)
Sauteed Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes, Onions and Mushrooms with butter & steak sauce (8 pts)
Dessert: 1/4 cup Plain M&M's (6 points)
Okay, so, I know that 11 points were for complete junk, but I did drink all of my water for today, and ate all 5 servings of fruit & veggies. I think this new plan is awesome since I get the same amount of points that I used to get when I was nursing :) I am a little concerned that I will not be able to lose any weight because of that, too. And 49 extra points? WOW! Looking forward to eating those points. I should save them for Shark Fin!
February 6
I am so blessed to go to a church that is interested in reaching people. I was witness to over 100 people getting saved today and over 20 people getting baptized. Now, this doesn't happen every Sunday, but there hardly comes a Sunday that someone doesn't get saved or baptized, or has made the decision to join our church. We had Evangelist Tim Lee, a Vietnam vet, who lost both of his legs share his incredible testimony. It is exciting to be a part of a growing church and to see the lives of everyday people impacted for Jesus.
Today we went out to our favorite restaurant again (Shark Fin) and had some yummy chicken wraps. I discovered that there were water chesnuts in them. I have never noticed that before. I bought all of the stuff to try making them again. Looking forward to coming up with a version that is comparable to theirs :)
Unfortunately, since I have been so stressed out lately about our tax situation (mainly just not knowing what our tax situation actually is) I have been eating like crazy! Seriously, eating like crazy. Like gaining 6 pounds in one week. Not good when you carry your weight where your babies used to live :( So, to lessen the muffin top and hopefully avoid the most horrible question in the whole wide world -- "Are you expecting again?, when you are not expecting again, I am back on my Weight Watchers Plan. Starting tomorrow because I don't know how many points to count for Shark Fin! hahaha!
Pic of the day:
My sweet husband who happily rubbed my badly-in-need-of-a-pedicure feet all during the Superbowl :) He's so good to me :)
Today we went out to our favorite restaurant again (Shark Fin) and had some yummy chicken wraps. I discovered that there were water chesnuts in them. I have never noticed that before. I bought all of the stuff to try making them again. Looking forward to coming up with a version that is comparable to theirs :)
Unfortunately, since I have been so stressed out lately about our tax situation (mainly just not knowing what our tax situation actually is) I have been eating like crazy! Seriously, eating like crazy. Like gaining 6 pounds in one week. Not good when you carry your weight where your babies used to live :( So, to lessen the muffin top and hopefully avoid the most horrible question in the whole wide world -- "Are you expecting again?, when you are not expecting again, I am back on my Weight Watchers Plan. Starting tomorrow because I don't know how many points to count for Shark Fin! hahaha!
Pic of the day:
My sweet husband who happily rubbed my badly-in-need-of-a-pedicure feet all during the Superbowl :) He's so good to me :)
February 5
Today was just kind of a lazy, rainy day where we spent most of the day inside. I wanted to get out and take some pictures but it just never happened. We finally got out around dinner time. We had to return a lens that I was having problems with and then we went to Barnes & Noble to look for a better manual for my camera. On the way home we went through three different drive thrus to pick up dinner because no one wanted to eat the same thing. What an exciting Saturday, right? Not so much!
As a last ditch effort to not skip taking pictures today. I grabbed these flowers from a vase and gave them to the three little ones and started snapping. Chloe kept pushing them away. She was not interested at all. Kagen helped Claire, who, on the other hand, was very interested in picking off every single individual petal from the flower. It was really cute. If only I could have captured each of the different stages, I would have picked those pics for my pic of the day. I am trying out all of these different settings on the camera and keep screwing up the focus. I should really read that manual I bought tonight. :)
This pic turned out really cute though so I am happy with it!
As a last ditch effort to not skip taking pictures today. I grabbed these flowers from a vase and gave them to the three little ones and started snapping. Chloe kept pushing them away. She was not interested at all. Kagen helped Claire, who, on the other hand, was very interested in picking off every single individual petal from the flower. It was really cute. If only I could have captured each of the different stages, I would have picked those pics for my pic of the day. I am trying out all of these different settings on the camera and keep screwing up the focus. I should really read that manual I bought tonight. :)
This pic turned out really cute though so I am happy with it!
Bento Lunchboxes
Have you ever heard of such? They are the cutest little things I have ever seen. Head on over to EverythingMom for a ton of really cute ideas. Since I homeschool my kids, I don't see myself every packing a lunch like this for my kids, but I am definitely taking away a menu plan from this amazing list of resources. It's so hard for me to plan meals that fit within our budget and provide the proper nutrition for my kids. But, I am going to try harder to make better meals, starting with these stinkin adorable lunches! This site is chock full of great ideas. I am about to add her to my bloggy roll so you'll always know where to find such inspiration!
Have a great Saturday :)
February 4
Another wonderful day. This is the life I could get used to :) Slept in until almost 9:00 this morning. That never happens! (Even yesterday!) It was just me and the babies until the nanny came at 11:00, and I didn't even have to clean house again! Without the older ones here to mess it back up before I rolled out the bed, it remained as clean as it was when I went to bed last night, which happened to be very late since I watched every single show I had saved on the DVR! Yeah, I think I already blogged about the negative effects of doing that...oh well :) I ironed my clothes, straightened my hair, even put on makeup for the second time this week.
When the nanny came, I left to run my errands with no kids. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I went to the grocery store, shopping at Kohls, went to the bank (without having to ask for FIVE suckers and feel like I needed to pay an extra banking fee just for asking!) and a couple of other random things on the to-do list. I came home at 4:00, and my house was clean. Why can't every day be like this? (Minus the horrible accountant issue that I had this morning and I don't want to talk about so I am acting like it never happened so that I don't focus on how mad I was for about an hour until I realized it was my own stupid fault for trusting someone to be honest and ethical and I can think of 900 other negative things to say but I am going to pretend that it never happened and stop ranting now!)
So tonight we had small group. We didn't get our video and the only other couple that's un-officially, yet officially, signed up was working and sick. And we even had a guest. We did eat good though. I made an awesome pot roast with mashed potatoes and for dessert, homemade snickerdoodles. Well, they were homemade with my stick of butter and one egg and the mix. That still counts, right? They were perfection and I ate like 12 of them. I should never buy those again. Just sayin' I can not be trusted near the homemade snickerdoodles. We made the best of it anyway, and we watched Facing the Giants. And even after seeing it at least three times before, I still cried like 29 times. Seriously!?
Well I am tired now and turning off the chatterbox now :) Aren't you so happy to be done reading this now? One more thing - the picture of the day. Oh wait, nevermind. Hope you didn't get too excited. I forgot to take one. Goodnight :) See you tomorrow!
When the nanny came, I left to run my errands with no kids. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I went to the grocery store, shopping at Kohls, went to the bank (without having to ask for FIVE suckers and feel like I needed to pay an extra banking fee just for asking!) and a couple of other random things on the to-do list. I came home at 4:00, and my house was clean. Why can't every day be like this? (Minus the horrible accountant issue that I had this morning and I don't want to talk about so I am acting like it never happened so that I don't focus on how mad I was for about an hour until I realized it was my own stupid fault for trusting someone to be honest and ethical and I can think of 900 other negative things to say but I am going to pretend that it never happened and stop ranting now!)
So tonight we had small group. We didn't get our video and the only other couple that's un-officially, yet officially, signed up was working and sick. And we even had a guest. We did eat good though. I made an awesome pot roast with mashed potatoes and for dessert, homemade snickerdoodles. Well, they were homemade with my stick of butter and one egg and the mix. That still counts, right? They were perfection and I ate like 12 of them. I should never buy those again. Just sayin' I can not be trusted near the homemade snickerdoodles. We made the best of it anyway, and we watched Facing the Giants. And even after seeing it at least three times before, I still cried like 29 times. Seriously!?
Well I am tired now and turning off the chatterbox now :) Aren't you so happy to be done reading this now? One more thing - the picture of the day. Oh wait, nevermind. Hope you didn't get too excited. I forgot to take one. Goodnight :) See you tomorrow!
February 3
Today was a rare and fabulous day! I got to sleep in, clean the house, catch up on laundry, managed to complete two days worth of schoolwork in one day (with no yelling or threatening involved) and made Taco Soup for my uncle and my parents :) I am feeling very accomplished today. I wonder if it may have had anything to do with only having the twins here with me from 4:00 on, and a hubby who had to work late. So peaceful and quiet, definitely not the norm. It was great and I enjoyed it completely. Now, if only I could talk the inlaws into keeping the older ones every week...A girl can dream, right? haha!
When I realized that I had been so lost in my peace and quiet that I forgot to take any pictures, I grabbed my camera and gave the babies a sucker. They were so happy to get these! It was an adorable, sticky sweet mess :) They mainly sat on the rug in front of the refrigerator and talked to me in the baby jibberish while I was catching up on my favorite blogs. Love their blue eyes!
When I realized that I had been so lost in my peace and quiet that I forgot to take any pictures, I grabbed my camera and gave the babies a sucker. They were so happy to get these! It was an adorable, sticky sweet mess :) They mainly sat on the rug in front of the refrigerator and talked to me in the baby jibberish while I was catching up on my favorite blogs. Love their blue eyes!
Documenting Who Your Kids Are
Becky Higgins Blog has some great ideas to help with scrapbooking your real life and today she posted about ways to document what your kids say. With 5 kids, there are lots of times that something funny happened and I wish I had written in down so I wouldn't have forgot by now :) Surely you moms can relate. The idea here is that you sit your child down and interview them. It's one on one time, which every child craves and needs to feel special. I am making this a part of our homeschool time today. Hope you'll try it soon, too!
Curly Q...I (heart) U
I made this layout tonight. (Or, should I say this morning since it's technically I-only-have-quiet-time-in-the-wee-hours-of-the-morning time!) I love it! I forgot to go back and edit the pictures. Oops! I like to edit them after I have finished the layout to make sure that they go well with the colors in the layout. Kinda weird, I know, but I'd rather play with paper :) It's more fun since I don't have a lot of confidence (translation = knowledge) in correctly editing them. It's a learning process!
Just in case you are interested, all of my supplies used on this layout came from my favorite digiscrap designer, Crystal Wilkerson, who is going to be opening her own digi shop soon! I am super excited about it :) Oh yeah, back to the subject at hand -- I used her 5x7 templates for the photo layout and various elements and papers from her Oh Boy Collection.
Just in case you are interested, all of my supplies used on this layout came from my favorite digiscrap designer, Crystal Wilkerson, who is going to be opening her own digi shop soon! I am super excited about it :) Oh yeah, back to the subject at hand -- I used her 5x7 templates for the photo layout and various elements and papers from her Oh Boy Collection.
February 2
Looks like an early spring according to the groundhog, but according to the weather outside I couldn't more strongly disagree!
After a wonderful morning at Bible Study, I came home and made this delicious Russian Chicken and Rice. When my friend Sara gave me this recipe, I have to admit, I thought to myself, "That sounds disgusting!" but she made it and brought me some to try out. It was love at first taste. It immediately became one of our go-to-recipes for a quick and simple dinner. The kids love it!
Try it out and let me know what you think!
Russian Chicken and Rice
*I didn't put an amount for the chicken and rice because you can just make as much as you need for your family. I used three chicken breasts and 2 1/2 cups of uncooked rice and had a ton of leftover sauce, even using it as topping for the rice. You could easily cook 5-6 pieces of chicken and still have enough sauce. Just try it once, and you'll know whether or not you need to make more or less for your family.
Bon Appetit!
After a wonderful morning at Bible Study, I came home and made this delicious Russian Chicken and Rice. When my friend Sara gave me this recipe, I have to admit, I thought to myself, "That sounds disgusting!" but she made it and brought me some to try out. It was love at first taste. It immediately became one of our go-to-recipes for a quick and simple dinner. The kids love it!
Try it out and let me know what you think!
Russian Chicken and Rice
1 packet of dry onion soup mix
1 small bottle of Wishbone Russian Dressing
1 small jar of Apricot Preserves
Chicken Breasts*
1 small bottle of Wishbone Russian Dressing
1 small jar of Apricot Preserves
Chicken Breasts*
Rice*
This is so easy - open the onion soup mix, apricot preserves and dressing and dump on top of the chicken. You can cook this in the crockpot or in your oven if you need it to be done quicker. Today I used frozen chicken breasts and baked it in the oven for about 1 1/2-2 hours at 300 degrees. The last time I made it I did it in the crockpot on low for 8 hours. It's great either way :) Don't forget to make the rice before serving, like I did today! haha! Also, don't add too much water to your instant rice because it will turn to mush. I did this today, too. Too much time on the computer today I guess. Anyways, hope you get to try it and I hope you love it as much as we do.
Bon Appetit!
February 1
Woohoo! I made it through the first month of P365 with posts and pictures for everyday :) Even though I am not paper scrapbooking as much as I'd like, I still feel good about what I am doing here digitally. Documenting our everyday life with pictures. Nothing fancy but its mine and I did it. For 31 days in a row so far!
Today I have a recipe to post :) I made these Banana Cream Cheese muffins to take with me to Bible Study tomorrow. They are making my kitchen smell so yummy! Definitely not WW friendly :(
Banana Cream Cheese Muffins:
Beat together 3/4 cup butter and 8 oz. cream cheese and 1 t. vanilla. Gradually add in 2 cups of sugar and then 2 large eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, combine/sift together 3 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon each of baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add this mixture gradually to the sugar and cream cheese mixture. Finally, stir in 4 very ripe bananas and 1 cup of toasted pecans.
Spoon batter into muffin tins (or 2 greased and floured loaf pans) and bake until golden brown on the edges and a toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting Recipe:
1 stick of butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1 t. vanilla extract
2 lb. bag sugar
Cream together cheese, butter and vanilla extract and gradually add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.
Let me know if you try these! They are sooo yummy!
My pic of the day is a layout that I did with a free template from Digilovely.com for Template Tuesday. I couldn't decide if I liked the color photos or black and white better so I did both.
Which do you like better?
Today I have a recipe to post :) I made these Banana Cream Cheese muffins to take with me to Bible Study tomorrow. They are making my kitchen smell so yummy! Definitely not WW friendly :(
Banana Cream Cheese Muffins:
Beat together 3/4 cup butter and 8 oz. cream cheese and 1 t. vanilla. Gradually add in 2 cups of sugar and then 2 large eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, combine/sift together 3 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon each of baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add this mixture gradually to the sugar and cream cheese mixture. Finally, stir in 4 very ripe bananas and 1 cup of toasted pecans.
Spoon batter into muffin tins (or 2 greased and floured loaf pans) and bake until golden brown on the edges and a toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting Recipe:
1 stick of butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1 t. vanilla extract
2 lb. bag sugar
Cream together cheese, butter and vanilla extract and gradually add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.
Let me know if you try these! They are sooo yummy!
My pic of the day is a layout that I did with a free template from Digilovely.com for Template Tuesday. I couldn't decide if I liked the color photos or black and white better so I did both.
Which do you like better?
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