Happy Easter!

This is part 2 to  happenings in this house that I posted on Saturday- with Easter there were just too many pictures to post in one day!

So . . here we go :-)

 On Saturday morning we dyed eggs with the kids.  Josh really loved putting the eggs in the dye and than taking them back out and putting them in the egg carton.  Nate, well, Nate just liked tasting the egg :-)

 Next, we headed to the Bunny Train.  Josh loves trains and was in awe of this one.  He loved riding it - both boys did.  I was amazed at how entertained they were for the 1 1/2 hour ride.  And, yes, the Easter bunny came through the train several times and they all got a gift too!  After the ride, we went to dinner at Joe's Chicago Pizza.  I had gotten a gift certificate from Restaurant.com so it was an awesome deal!! When we went to leave, things took an unexpected turn.

 Do you see that spot under our truck?  Well . . .that is gas.  Yep.  We tried to leave and the truck kept stalling.  I noticed that the people sitting in the restaurant kept looking at us funny (and I was kinda perturbed with them . .  ) when the guy at the table jumped up and came out to the truck rather quickly.  Darryl opened the door and as the guy was saying "You are leaking lots of fluid", I said "I smell gas, I'll grab the kids".  Our first move was getting both kids out of the car and getting them away from it.  Darryl got on the phone to the insurance company when the next thing happened.  A couple walked out of the restaurant and he said "Would you like me to fix that?"  Turns out, this guy is a mechanic and works on . . . .Trailblazers!!!!  So, he grabbed his car mat from his car to lay on and crawled under our truck.  He saw that the gas line had broken away from the tank and knew how to fix it . . . but was unable to get it together.  We were back at square one . . when Darryl called his brother-in-law.  Craig "happened" to be at a family members house only 5 minutes away.  Craig drove right over, pick up the kids and I and drove us back to his house so we could hang out with my sister-in-law.  Darryl arranged for a tow truck.  (Don't worry - there's more good stuff!)

There's my truck.  :-(  We had it towed to my brother-in-laws house.  Why?  Because he ones a Boat Machine shop and knows "everything" about cars.  He also has a hoist so they were able to put it up on the hoist and do the "quick" fix the other mechanic told us it would be - 20 minutes and it was done.  PLUS we had enough tow mileage that the towing didn't cost a penny.  When was the last time anyone had a car break down and it cost nothing to get it fixed??  Talk about being grateful!  There are other little things we are thankful for such as - that it happened in a parking lot and not driving down the expressway and that it happened with Darryl was driving; the truck is "my" vehicle so I drive it 90% of the time - the fact that it happened when it did is a God thing.  So, a story that could have been bad turned out really good!  Oh, and for those of you wondering if this could happen to you - the 1st mechanic told us what most likely happened - a year ago, we had to have work done on the fuel system due to a problem with the gas tank (the gas gauge thingy broke).  More than likely, when that was worked on it was not put back together correctly and, over time, it worked lose.  So it was the dealers error that caused this problem.  It shouldn't "just" happen.

Now for Easter Sunday :-)

 Happy Easter from our Family!  I'm pretty impressed with the fact that we actually got a picture with all 4 of us looking at the camera.

 Easter Baskets!  The energizer bunny (aka Nate) kept moving - he liked Josh's basket.  The both got microphones (those fun ones we all had as kids); chocolate bunnies, different kinds of bubbles, matchbox cars, T-shirts and, from Grandma, a beanie baby and fruit snacks!!!  They loved everything :-)

 We went outside for an Easter egg hunt - don't you love this picture hahahaha!! 

 Nate finally figured out what to do but . . .. Josh was more interested in his cars and carrying them in his basket (Did you notice that their baskets are a football and a baseball? )

 I tried all day to get a good photo in the Easter Outfits and I finally got one of each of them!!  I had hoped to get one of them together sitting in these little chairs but that was not happening.  That's ok - I'll take the individual shots :-)

So that was our Easter :-)  Don't you just love those little plaid shorts???  I was so happy that it was warm today and the sun was out for most of the day. 

Simplify Updates

Remember?  My theme word this year is to simplify . . . .I want that "laying on the beach" feeling every day.  Ok, maybe not every day but just in general.

Well, you can do a little review of my Simplify posts if you so please but I thought I would give you a few updates since we are now halfway through the month of April !!

1.  The Bathroom - there really isn't progress on this one but I had to share - one of my big plans a week or so ago when the kids were gone was to finish up all of the touch up painting when there were no little fingers to touch wet paint.  Well, I searched and searched for the paint I had picked up about 2 months ago to no avail.  I finally gave up and moved on to other projects.  Than on Friday I was working for 10-15 minutes spurts in the basement (Every time I rebooted the laundry I would squeeze in 10 minutes of picking stuff up) I found the paint sitting in plain site on my drafting table.  So the moral of the story - I guess I wasn't meant to do touch up painting yet!  I think one of these evenings after everyone else is in bed, I'll just work on that - the paint will dry over night and all will be good :-)

2. The kitchen is still a slow moving project.  I got nothing done this past week due to lots of other things going on but I hope to get the bottom cabinets completely done this week.

3. Closets - I did do deep cleaning in both of the boys room including cleaning out their dressers and closets and rearranging their rooms.  Our bedroom is in process.  I moved clothes around but am still in the midst of organizing everything.

4. Vacation Planning - we have actually cancelled our vacation that was planned at the end of May due to the new job but there are still some things I'd like to do on this such as putting together a vacation idea binder and making my master packing list.

5. Tot Time - so . .. this is what I REALLY wanted to show you!  It all started with needing to deep clean the dining room. 

Those are a couple of before pictures.  One of the big things I did was remove the leaf from the dining room table.  It makes a huge difference in the room.  We don't have people over often so for the summer, this is a great thing for us.  Once the birthday parties start in the fall through the holidays, the leaf is needed. 
Now, this is my solution to my Mommy Time supplies, the kids arts/crafts stuff, my current projects and our scrapbooking albums.  I love it.  I'm finally able to grab what I need for my current craft or scrapbooking project without running to the basement.  Plus, this stuff is no longer living on the dining room table - instead it has a place.  I'm already finding that I take time to work on these projects now that I just grab a basket.  I'm so thrilled with this idea!!

 Here's the full view of my new organizational "dream" - it solves so many issues for me plus, this is one piece of furniture that is now out of our bedroom!!!  I want to get a tall thin basket to put next to the shelf to house our "theme" books which will mostly come from the library. 

 On top of the bookshelf, I store my laminator.  I use this a lot for Mommy Time items so that they are durable.  I also love it for my to do lists - once laminated, I can write on them with a Sharpie and than use cleaner to wipe them off each week!  The very top shelf is my project shelf.  It only holds two baskets which means, I can only have two in process projects at a time.  That's good for me :-)  Right now, I have some Easter decor projects I want to make and also my CD project is still not completely done.  I also plan on sliding my books I'm reading for my book goal each quarter in between the baskets.

 The next two shelves house my Scrapbooks.  I have wanted for so long to have them out in the open instead of stuck in our bedroom where no one can see them.  I love looking through them and now, they are easy to grab! 

 The next shelve holds 6 shoebox size containers.  This is where I keep (will keep . .. since they are still empty) everything from my hot glue gun to paint for the kids, pipe cleaners, wiggly eyes and more.  Basic craft supplies for both Mommy time and craft time for me!  There is also room to slide in our plans for each week - I want to store the items in three ring binders to keep them easily organized.

 The bottom shelf holds two things.  First, that fantastic 3 piece storage container holds my current scrapbooking project.  The top bin is big enough to hold 12 x12 pages so it is perfect.  The bottom two bins will hold my markers, punches and little things like that.  The other side will hold two of the bigger bins.  One will hold crayons, paper, and coloring books for the boys.  And, I will also put our sensory bin there as well. 

Finally, excuse the cords, those are a work in progress, but notice my paper cutter - it fits perfectly in that little spot!

I am so excited that this project is well into the works.  I don't plan on filling the bins all at once but will now have a place for the things

Happenings in This House!

We had a wonderful week :-)  Here's the "story" in pictures!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Not happy - he had to walk by himself :-)

Still sound asleep at 9:30 AM.

Waiting for his dad to get him dressed for Church.


Monday, April 18, 2011

Yes, we got a small snow storm on Monday morning that gave us about 3 inches of snow . . my poor tulips.

 This little guy woke up at about 5:00 AM on Monday.  He fell asleep in the recliner at about 3:00 and slept until 5;30 when I woke him up to eat . . he was back down at 7:30 and slept all night.  I think he was tired LOL


Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

We went to the Butterfly Exhibit at a local Sculpture Park - the walk to the building was LONG and COLD!  Josh loved it though.

 The two little boys enjoyed the strollers (I don't post photos of the littlest munchkin on my blog out of privacy but you can see his little fingers back there LOL)

 We did see butterflies but he enjoyed walking with his hand on this rope more than anything.

 Watching a butterfly.

 We went to Culvers for "ries" afterwards . .. notice the Ketchup on the face?  His big brother introduced him to the joy of that "vegetable" today.

Ready to go!

Wednesday, April 22

We went to an Easter Egg hunt at the local ball field and, as you can tell from his facial expression - it is COLD. 

Josh got right into picking up those eggs!  It was a little difficult because there are alot of parents who push kids out of the way to get their kids to the eggs.  He did so good though!!  His basket was full by the time the eggs were gone :-)

After the hunt was done, I put Nate down and let him run - he loved it!  Granted the wind kept knocking him over.

Brothers playing in the field!  The so loved running around.  I think we need to just take them up to the ball fields and let them run.

 After Darryl got home, Josh went outside again and they played ball for a good 15-20 minutes. 

Thursday, April 21st

Nate loves to get inside things :-)  This basket is his latest "thing"

Friday, April 22

My friend, Jill, sent these adorable sunglasses with the munchkin today.  All three boys loved them - both Josh and Nate enjoyed putting them on and than walking around; laughing the whole time. 

 All three of my boys. 

This is a rare thing - this little guy is not super cuddly but he did not want his daddy to put him down tonight!


I have more pictures to post from Saturday but - this post is already long so I'll post thing and you'll get a bonus Happenings in this House on Sunday for Easter :-)  We had a great day with a very unexpected turn that could have been bad but turned out far better than we expected it to! (Hows that for a teaser! HA)

Creative Memories Spotlight - An Easter Break

My normal Creative Memories Spotlight segment is taking an Easter weekend break today :-)   But that doesn't mean you can't still shop!

Feel free to check out all of the great things on my Website - this is a great time of year to order and catch up on products!!  I really appreciate any business you send my way so even if you aren't into scrapbooking/card making, please pass my Website info onto all of your family and friends. 

Have a wonderful Easter Weekend!!

Easter Brunch Ideas

With Easter just a few days days away, I wanted to share a couple of recipes I've tried recently that would be great for an Easter Brunch (or anytime!).  I'll be honest, as I was cooking both of these items, the thought ran through my head that this meal was going to be a total flop . .. but, in the end, they were both good and the kids LOVED them.  (Isn't that all that really matters?) 

First up is something I can't even believe I even considered making - it is called Apple Cinnamon Croissant Bread Pudding.  Now, Darryl and I do not like Bread Pudding.  End of story.  So, why in the world did I try this?  Well, we do like Croissant's . . and Apples.  But, we were both very surprised to discover that we liked it!!  I viewed this more as the "egg" dish for our meal since, that is what it really is :-)

APPLE CINNAMON CROISSANT BREAD PUDDING
Serves 6-8
12-15 large Croissants, each sliced lengthwise with a bread knife into 3 long pieces
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
1 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup prepared caramel sauce for drizzling, optional

The day before serving, generously butter a deep 2-quart baking dish. Line the bottom and sides of the dish with some of the croissant slices, starting with the bottom and cutting and trimming the croissants as needed. Leave a little edge of croissant extending above the rim of the dish to support the pudding as it puffs.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, ½ cup sugar and vanilla. Pour half of the milk mixture into the center of the bread-lined dish. Top with a layer of the apples slices and the raisins, and then cover with a layer of croissant slices. Repeat until the dish is filled, ending with a layer of the croissants. Set the dish on a plate to catch any overflow, the pour the remaining milk mixture over the top. In a small bowl, stir together the cinnamon, nutmeg and remaining ½ cup of sugar; sprinkle over the top, then dot the top with butter. Cover and refrigerate until all the liquid is absorbed, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350'. Uncover the dish and place in oven. Bake until top is browned and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
In a bowl, whip the cream until it starts to thicken.
Serve warm and spoon some of the lightly whipped cream over each serving or in a bowl alongside

When I saw this come out of the oven, I was not impressed LOL  So we had to taste it before I even took a picture!  It really was very good.  I did a few things different from the recipe.  One, I cut it in half and made it in an 8 x 8 pan.  I knew there was no way we would eat a full size recipe of this bread pudding.  Also, I couldn't find the big croissants rolls so I just baked up a tube of Pillsbury croissants.  Because of that, mine wasn't as "bready" as it would have been - I couldn't cut the rolls in thirds meaning that my layers were a little "weak" :-)  As I said, the boys loved this - they even had it for lunch the day after.

The second recipe was our "meat" dish and was the Sausage and Apple Braid.  This was very good and very easy to make - the flavor will be determined by the type of sausage you use, so make sure and use your favorite. 

SAUSAGE AND APPLE BRAID Serves 6 to 8
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry dough, thawed, but chilled
10 ounces pork sausage
1 egg beaten
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 onion, very finely chopped
2 small apples, grated
¾ cup dried herb stuffing mix
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
2/3 cup grated cheese, Cheddar, Gruyere or Swiss
Beaten egg for brushing
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Preheat oven to 400'. Roll out pastry to an 18'x 14' rectangle and place onto a greased cookie sheet. In a large bowl, mix sausage, 1 beaten egg, pepper, onion, apples, stuffing mix, parsley and cheese. Spoon filling down center of pastry, leaving about 2 ½-inches of pastry at top and bottom and 4 inches on each side of filling. Brush edges of pastry with beaten egg and fold the top and bottom of pastry over the filling. Make 3-inch cuts at ½-inch intervals down each side of pastry. Fold 1 strip over filling from alternate sides until filling is completely enclosed. Crush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven 30 minutes, until golden. Serve hot or cold.

Place the sausage mix in the middle of the pastry sheet and mold the ends of the dough around the meat.

Cut slits in the dough on each side and than bring them up over the meat - almost like braiding.

Mine got a little squished at the end but you get the idea. 

The finished product - isn't it pretty?

A couple of things I learned when I made this recipe.  One, don't forget to put the cheese in !! ha!  After I had braided the dough I realized I had forgotten it so I unbraided it and just put the cheese on top.  Two, the recipe calls for 10 oz of sausage, I just threw in the whole roll which is 16 oz . .. it will have to cook about 15 minutes longer if you do this in order for the meat to be done.  I would also recommend letting it cool for a bit - it firms up a little more and is actually better when it is cool.

Fitblogger Challange

I came across this sit through a couple of other blogs and thought about the challenge.  Basically, set a goal for yourself to be more active, eat better, or whatever works for you except specific weight loss amounts. Each week you can pick a new goal or continue work on just one.  There is a weekly drawing for a MyTrack - which tracks calories, movement and calorie burn.  I love to win things and this would be great tool to have to use too!

I decided I'd try this challenge because one of my 40 x 40 goals is to reach my goal weight and another is to walk on the treadmill 4 days a week for three months.  I debate putting fitness challenges up as posts though, because some times friends like to be the "fitness police" and point out when you aren't eating right or question your work out habits.  Personally, I think whatever I'm doing is up to me and I'm the one that needs to make those choices . . .but one of the requirements of this challenge is to post about it :-) 

What is my first goal for this challenge?  It doesn't have anything to do with either of the two goals stated above, really, but it will help me get healthier and start progress toward those items.  I love Pepsi.  Not Coke, Mt. Dew, Root Beer or any other soda.  Don't get me wrong, I'll drink some of those (Mt. Dew = yuck!) but I LOVE Pepsi.  There is nothing better than an ice cold Pepsi when you are really thirsty.  So, my goal for this first week is to break my Pepsi habit :-)  So from Sunday-Saturday my goal is no Pepsi.  Period.  I know that if I can go one week without any; without drinking it at lunch, or grabbing a can half way through the morning . . or afternoon . .. or late at night than I can slowly add some back in throughout the week - limiting it to only certain times.  So, no, I'm not looking to totally eliminate it from my diet because, again, I love it, but it needs to become more of a treat than my normal, all day drink!  Now, I know if you remove one thing, you need to replace it with something or you will fail.  So, I have a few drinks in my fridge to help me with that "flavor" buster.  One, is sweet tea.  Summer is coming so there is nothing better than some ice cold sweet tea.  The other is some flavors of Crystal Light.  Ok, I realize that water is the best option but I need flavor and just adding lemon, peach or cucumber to water doesn't do it for me. 

Are you up for the challenge? Than just click "here" and join the Blog Challenge.

Mommy Time - New Ideas, New Plans, and a Confession

"Much more remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to get anything done."

Don't you love that? LOL  Well, that is my confession!!!  I had grand plans for April with Easter at the end of the month.  We had 4 full weeks to get tons of Easter ideas done including Resurrection eggs (which sat in my truck for over a week before I remember to bring them in - good thing they aren't real!) books with an art project to go with each one including decorating some cute pots and plants but . . .well . . .actually . . .nothing has happened.  We've sang our same songs, read whatever book the kids pull and Josh has drawn on paper like he always does.  I see so many fantastic ideas and I want to do them all . . .that doesn't work!  My excuse is that my printer is not working well and I cannot buy a new one so I can't print all those great lessons.  That's my story and I'm sticking too it HA!

Well, recently, I was given some "off the hook" advice through a blog post.  See, if you read blogs about "Tot Time" or "Mommy School" or whatever you want to call working with your kids . .. they all read like super mom.  Those moms sound like they spend hours every day playing and working with their kids.  I've always wondered how they do it and than I learned, they are faking !! :-)  Ok, maybe not - but I think that life is not as it appears.  One of the blogs that I love to get ideas from is 1+1+1=1. She creates such awesome projects and tools for kids.  When I have made things from her site (like Lap Books) they have been a huge hit with Josh. 

She recently did a post on her daily schedule with her three kids.  When I read it, I actually breathed a sigh of relief and realized that I am trying to hard! (I know, so hard to believe for those of you that know me!)  She gave a detailed look Behind the Scenes of their day.  One of the things I loved is that she was real about the time during the day that she did what she has to do from cleaning to reading blogs.  Don't worry, I'm not falling into my old trap of "I can do that bigger and better" but, rather, I'm thinking about the top things I want to accomplish each day with my kids and I'm slowly building our schedule around that instead.  Summer is coming - I want all of us to spend a lot of time outside so I'm thinking of some simple things we can do outside from sidewalk chalk to bubbles.  I've finished up a project in my dining room that has to do with housing supplies and I'm excited about that because now, the things are right there.  Each of the boys will have their own crayon box (so when Nate eats his crayons, Josh won't be offended LOL)  and we'll have all the supplies we need to do some crafts. 

Are you having trouble planning your day - check out that post from 1+1+1=1 and feel encouraged.  I'm actually looking forward to the summer knowing that I can get some things done and not just flounder from day to day !

I look forward to next Thursday (when I do my Mommy School posts) when I plan to have the basics of our schedule written up and our plans for some time in May!