Wednesday, November 14, 2012

So Im back...

So I am back now, I can't believe its been so long since I posted on here last.  Alot has changed, I took a full time job, my daughter started pre-school, my son started daycare full time.  I decided that full time work was just to much time away from my kids and there were some other issues that I am not going to get into here.  So now I am unemployed for the first time in 7 years, kinda scary but we'll be ok for a bit, but I do want to find another part time job because that worked well for our family for a long time.  Gave me time with the kids and time outside of the house with adult interaction! So cross your fingers for me that I find something soon!

Till I find something else I have decided to make myself an Unemployed To-Do List! Since Addison will still be in Pre-K and Ryan will be in daycare still 2 days a week I will have some time on my hands and I do not want to waste it!  (I don't want him to loose his spot in daycare completely, so I can start a job as soon as I find one and I think the interaction with other kids his age is good for him).

Here is my list and I will be adding to it as things come to mind!-

1.  FIND A JOB!!!  Obviously!
2.  Organize the kids toy storage areas and toy boxes
3.  Organize the Play Room
4.  Paint Kitchen and Hallway
5.  Stain bathroom door
6.  Scrapbook (haven't even finished our wedding album yet, at this rate Ryan will be graduating from college before I get to his)
7.  Do all my sewing projects.
8.  Go though the kids clothes and organize their closets again.
9.  Sell items on ebay that we no longer use or want.
10.  Clean out and organize the storage area in the basement and the laundry room
11.  Meal plan for the month
12.  Tag and Organize what we want to sell at the garage sale in the spring
13.  Organize my kitchen.
14.  Go though my stuff that is in storage at my moms and get rid of it
15.  Go horseback riding weekly!
16.  Keep up with this blog!

Im sure there is alot more but the above list is good enough for now!!!  Its actually kinda scary!!! 

Monday, July 2, 2012

Homemade Puff Paint

Did this a couple weeks ago with Addison on day 4 of a rainy week when she was bouncing off the walls!! We made homemade puff paint!  Only needs a few things, most of which you should have in your kitchen.

All you need is 1 cup of flour, into that mixed 3 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt and enough water to make it like a pancake batter.   

The we divided it into a muffin pan and added food coloring till we got the color we wanted.





Addison then painted on pieces of cardboard.


When she was done all we had to do was pop them in the
microwave for 25 to 45 seconds and they puffed!




Tuesday, June 5, 2012

First Canning of the Season

My first canning of the season was Strawberry Vanilla Jam! Actually that was the first thing I canned last year.  I did a small batch this year with a quart of strawberries that I bought at the store that we starting to get a little soft.  I got the recipe from this website, where I get almost all my canning recipes and instructions from! Love this site!  www.foodinjars.com

Hopefully there will be much more canning in the near future! I plan on doing much more than I did last year since I wont be pregnant this summer!


Monday, June 4, 2012

Planted our vegetable garden!

On Memorial Day, while my mom had the kids, Seth and I planted our vegetable garden! It was the hottest day of the year so far, over 90 degrees.  Luckily it went fast! Before we planted Seth used a rototiller he borrowed from the base to till up the garden.  It was a huge rototiller, we were to late to reserve one of the smaller ones!


Then we got to planting!


 We planted two types of tomatoes, two types of cucumbers, two types of string beans, bell peppers, watermelon and cantaloupe!  I also planted two little pots that are on our deck that have cherry tomatoes in them.  Hoping that this years garden goes as well as last years!!

Friday, May 25, 2012

First bonfire at our house!


We had our first bonfire at our house the other night. Addison got to stay up late and enjoy it to. It was a nice way to end a fun day with the kids! Ryan though was in bed by 7 and missed it!


Got a visit from the neighbors dog

Hopefully many more bonfires to come!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Valances in the kitchen

We have owned our home for almost 2 years, and in that time I never got around to getting valances up in the kitchen.  My mom and I bought fabric for it, but only made one and it never went up! So I decided to finally do something about it!!  There are 2 more windows done the same way as well.


This is the before


And the after!


This is the link to the page that I got the idra from Momtastic  No Sew Valances

Monday, May 7, 2012

We're in trouble! Ryan is starting to army crawl every where!

I found him under our kitchen table! But oh he's so cute!




This is better! He's penned up in the pack and play! His grandma is already helping him stand in it!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Prepping our Veggie Garden

So today was a day with no kids here, my wonderful mom took them for day, so Seth and I decided to get lots done around the house, namely our veggie garden!  In just a few weeks we will finally be able to plant.  Last year was our first year doing a garden and it was 8 by 8, in the fall we expanded it to 8 by 24.  Today we had to get soil in the 2 new sections we added.

We started our day by going to Home Depot, and take a look at our very loaded down Envoy.  Not everything was for the garden, but most of it was.

Last fall after growing season was done we pulled out all the plants that were in there, then put in mulched leaves and covered it with black plastic for the winter. So this is what we started with this morning.


uncovered for the first time in almost 7 months


1st of two square yards of top soil that Seth went and got with our truck, it was loaded down!


Spreading all the dirt, humus and peat moss


All done!  We covered it back up with the black plastic till we are ready to plant, to keep weeds and grass from growing in it.  We will have to work it up a bit again when we plant because it will settle a little before we plant.





Friday, May 4, 2012

Plant update

Been a bit busy lately and have been sick so I haven't had a chance to blog in the past week or so.  Here is a picture of how our plants that we started just over 2 weeks ago are doing! They are well on their way!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Ryan's first time in a swing

Just wanted to share this picture of my little man on the swing set for the first time! He doesn't look to thrilled!  And of course Addison as well!

Monday, April 23, 2012

I love slow cooker meals 1- Chicken Dinner

Today we are forecasted to have a freak spring snow storm here in the Buffalo area, so I thought a nice hearty winter meal was in order.  I love any meal I can make in the slow cooker, during the colder months I am known to use it 3 or even 4 times a week, in the summer a little less because I use the grill more and I want lighter meals then and I want to keep all heat out of the kitchen!

Today with Addison's help we made slow cooker Chicken Dinner

You need

4 split chicken breasts
1 10 1/2 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 box to stuffing mix
1/3 cup milk
1 2/3 cup water


Place the chicken in the slow cooker


Mix the cream of chicken soup and milk



Addison likes to help me do that!


Pour over the chicken


Mix together the stuffing mix and the water.


Spoon that over the chicken and soup


Let cook on low for 8 to 10 hours


I like to serve it over mashed potatoes!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

I think my daughter needs a haircut


Our daughter was born with about 2 inches of thick hair on her head! She is almost 3 1/2 years old and we have never had her hair cut, I think it may be time though. Its starting to get very unruly and she hates having her hair brushed. But I know I will cry like a baby when it is cut! What do you think?



You can see Ryan behind her in the pack and play trying to escape!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Repurposing Formula Cans

Lately I have been on a crafting, organizing, decorating kick, basically my house has been driving me nuts!  My daughters art supplies are one of the things that bugs me the most! I had been looking for a cute way to store her things.  One day as I was taking out the recycling I realized that every week I am tossing out formula cans, they are the perfect size for all her markers, pens, crayons and some of my crafty stuff to! So the following is what I came up with. 

First you need a formula can (even a Quaker Oats, coffee or a similar can would work as well).


Then I take the label off, you don't have to but it gave Addison something to help mommy with!



Then you need to gather your supplies, I use 12 x 12 scrapbook paper, my paper cutter,
 and a glue gun.


Cut the paper to the size that you need, mine was about 7 1/4 inches.  So my first cut was 7 1/4" x 12.  I used a line of hot glue to secure it to the can, you could use any type of adhesive that you perfer, just make sure it holds strong.


That does not make it all the way around, so I use the remaining to cut the size
that I need to fill in the gap.  Glue that on and you're done!




The next part is optional, I like to add a strip of solid colored matching paper to it, that way I can label it with what its contents are, as you can see on some of the cans in the last picture.



Here's my lovely collection so far, I didn't get started till our son was 6 months old, I hate that I wasted so many formula cans before I came up with this!  The small one on the top is a coffee can.


I may try doing some with modge podge next time!




Thursday, April 19, 2012

Children conspiring against you?

Can a three year old and a 6 month old conspire against you?  It seems like mine just might be!! On pretty regular basis as soon as I get Addison down for a nap, within 5 minutes Ryan wakes up!

They look so innocent don't they?!

Beauty of Spring


One of the sure signs of spring here in Western New York are the blossoms on the trees! We happen to have a beautiful weeping cherry tree in our front yard.  It blossomed very early this year because of record breaking temps here in mid-March, we were worried we would not have any blossoms because we had a few freezes after it started to have buds.  But here it is, in all its beauty!  I will try and get another picture of it in the morning, when it looks even more beautiful!