a few Owen videos

This post is for Avery. We loved the cards you made for us. Here's a few more videos of your buddy singing, jumping, and marching.   (He’s saying the “Little Zacchaeus” song when he’s talking about “you come down.”)

Pinned It, Did It Monday

Welcome to Pinned It, Did It Monday where I show you some of the things from Pinterest I actually did this week!I’m always on the lookout for cute, free hat patterns.  Love this gal’s website!

Source: Mickey and Minnie Mouse Hats from Repeat Crafter Me Me
My picture:  My review: such a cute hat and it was a VERY simple pattern!  Perfect for a Mickey Mouse baby shower I was attending. I’ve been on a recent kick to update my makeup a bit and buy some more “grown-up” products.  But I don’t really have the budget to overhaul everything.  Enter this site.

Source: Dupes from DrugStore Princess
My Review: Amazing site for finding cheaper versions of expensive makeup.  Used it to buy the eyelid primer pictured and a new lipstick this week.

Source: How to: Woven Scarf Knot by Side Walk Ready

My Review: a short video on how to tie this cute scarf.  I used it this week but didn’t get any pictures.

Sunday, January 27

They were looking so cute yesterday before church so I decided to snap some pictures. These were the best two I got.  Sigh.

I helped out in the nursery at church.  I just couldn’t get over how big my sweet little girl looked sitting having water and cheerios with the “big kids.”   

Smile – Monday is over

Want to read something hilarious, but so true?

10 (Mildly Shallow) Reasons to Breastfeed*

*be warned - cussing and picture of boob involved

the last week in pics and captions

Sweet girl has had a really bad case of eczema the last couple weeks. I've never had anything like this and Owen didn't either. But thanks to a doctor's visit and help from a couple friends who have kiddos with it, her skin is looking and feeling a ton better!

think I'll ever use a brush mom?

we babysat for the sweetest baby the last couple weeks - I wish I could show you how cute!

it took awhile for Ellie to warm up to the babe

Ellie's feather bow

looking so grown up!

 

Happy 9 Months Ellison!

This sweet thing is 3/4 of a year!  What?!  Her 1st birthday outfit may already be in production. :)  Here are her stats from her appointment this week:

Height – 2ft, 3in (56th percentile)

Weight – 17lb, 3 oz (21st percentile)

Head – 43.8cm (43rd percentile)

Owen was 4 more pounds than her at this point.  She seems pretty tiny to me!   But wow, what a big personality that is starting to shine through.  This age is so much fun as she’s learning all kinds of new things everyday!  She can pull herself up on pretty much anything.  She’s not quite scooting once pulled up, but I’m sure it will be soon.She still crawls for the most part by scooting and pulling herself with her arm.  But she’s starting to get up more on her hands and knees.Poor thing hasn’t been read nearly as much as Owen was, but I’m hoping she loves reading too.  Not just eating her books.She has 4 teeth now, the 2 bottom middle and 2 on the top (lateral incisors).She loves to get into everything.  Her favorites are Sophie’s cat food, the tampons under my sink, and her brother’s cars. Won’t bore you with sleep details as they’re the same.  And getting new teeth never makes sleep any better.   Her first love is me for sure, but then definitely her brother (and daddy is quickly becoming the one who can make her laugh the loudest). It’s so strange to have a little baby who SMILES!  Love that sweet sweet grin and her little left dimple.She still leaves her bows and hats on which I love since the girl is still bald as bald can be. We love you Ellison!  You are such a sweet spot in our lives.  :)

recipe organization

This was one of those projects I was going to blog about when it was done.  But now that I'm a little ways in, I’m realizing this is going to take quite a bit of time, as in, it may never get totally done.  So why not post about the process now?

In the quest for organizing more in each of my rooms this year, I wanted to get my recipes under control.  This is what they look like currently.  I have a fabulous recipe binder that my dear friend Sara made for me for my wedding.  It has all her favorite recipes and has been so helpful.  I was just shoving more of my recipes in the back but it was getting really full.  So then, the recipes just got thrown in a manila folder which had spaghetti sauce and cookie dough all over it.  Finding recipes that I needed: impossible.Enter: my mom.  This is how she organizes all her recipes.  I saw it last year and wanted it.  So she was super kind and bought me everything I need.  Tons of large index cards, 2 plastic tubs, and some labels.My goal is to get every recipe onto one of these 4x6 cards.  Either cut from a magazine, printed from the internet, or handwritten:Then I just file them under their correct labels like appetizers, chicken, cookies, fish, etc.  It makes the recipes very easy to find.  And I can pull all the recipes I'm using that week for dinners and make my grocery list!My mom has 2 or 3 of these tubs all done.  She writes right on the card any changes she did and how they liked it, etc.  Or just tosses the card if it gets a thumbs down.  Someday, all my recipes will be easy to find.  I’m trying to get a few done each week.  Slow going, but I already love the new system.  How do you organize all your yummy recipes?**ETA – Used a acid-free glue stick to put my recipes onto the index cards.  And Lindsey asked which categories I used so here’s my list.  I started with all the “basics” and then added as I came to a recipe that I didn’t know how to file.  So these may be different for you:

1. appetizers
2. beef
3. bread
4. breakfast
5. cakes
6. chicken
7. cookies
8. dessert
9. dips
10. fish
11. jello/pudding
12. Mexican
13. pasta
14. pork
15. pies
16. potatoes
17. rice
18. salad
19. snacks
20. soups
21. veggies

Pinned It, Did It Monday {recipe edition}

Welcome to a recipe edition of Pinned It, Did It Monday!  This post was requested by Gabe who is always on the lookout for good recipes.  These were all found this week as I was searching for “skinny” recipes.  That’s right folks, the diet has begun.  Have I told you that Kara (my sis-in-law-to-be) asked me to be a bridesmaid?!  That means I have 200 days to shed a few before donning the super cute dress she picked out.  So here’s to some healthier cooking.

Source:  Black Bean, Rice, and Veggie Salad from My Recipes
My picture:My review: This was fabulous!  Super light and delicious.  I ate mine just like a salad, but William wrapped his in a while wheat tortilla.   Cannot wait to make it again!For the rest of these, I completely forgot to take pictures of the foods.  So I’m just going to give you the links and promise that all of them will be added into our normal menu. 

Source: Banana Blueberry Muffins from Sally's Baking Addiction
My review:  I used white whole wheat flour and made the blueberry muffins.  They were great. I want to make a bunch for quick breakfast grabs.

Source: Crockpot Weight Watchers Zero Point Soup from Crockpot Weight Watchers Recipes
My review:  William didn’t love it, but it’s a weight watchers recipe and has 0 points.  So that means I love it.  And it was a crockpot recipe, which is nice on busy days.

Source: Top 20 Skinny Recipes for 2010 from Skinny Taste
My review: A nice list of 20 recipes.  I’ve made the Asian Glazed Drumsticks in the past and enjoyed them.  This week, I made the skinny chicken enchiladas.  While they definitely were the “skinny” version, I still really enjoyed them.