Week #5 Challenge - Organizing Photos

It is that time of week again - time for another weekly challenge!  Toni over at A Bowl Full of Lemons is really helping all of us reach those goals of organizing our homes.  So far we have:

1) Made a Home Management Binder (done!)

2) Created a Launch Pad (done!)

3) Made a Recipe Binder (done!)

4) Set up a Gift Wrap Station (in process!)

5) Organized Our Kitchens (in process!)

If you click on the link above and go to the right sidebar of her blog, you will find all of the weekly challenges given.  Just "click" on the one you are interested in and see all of the inspiration!

So, this weeks challenge is Organizing our Photos.  Ironically, I started on this a little on Saturday but decided to save it for the evenings since it is such a "mindless" activity.  So, yes, I'm taking this challenge and hoping to get at least the digital section completed this week! 

So, what do I use currently?  First, I just download all of my pictures from my camera to my laptop.  I pretty much stopped there as far as organization but I really like the idea that the guest blogger gave in today's challenge.  I've seen a similar idea on other blog sites as well.  Andrea really explained it well and gave clear pictures to show exactly what she does once a month.  From there, I normally upload photos into Snapfish for the sole purpose of ordering photos for my Father-in-law.  He requested printed photos about a year ago so, I try to print the best photos for him once a month or every other month.  From there, I also burn a CD of photos for my parents as my mom creates a scrapbook for the kids as well.  (Thanks mom!) Wait, there's more LOL  I also upload all of my pictures into Memory Manager from Creative Memories so that they are ready to scrapbook digitally and, finally, once they are in memory manager, I download a copy into my external hard drive.  I know, crazy, isnt' it? 

What I haven't liked is that I end up uploading/downloading a ton of pictures that either aren't good or that I will never use so I wanted to find a way to better manage my prints before I start uploading them places.  One of the things I plan on doing each month is creating a folder to save the photos for my FIL and for my parents so that I can just grab those instead of every single photo. 

Andrea also share the way that she organizes her photos for page layouts.  She gives some great ideas here as well.  Unlike her, I am a person who scrapbooks 90% of my photos and they must be in chronological order or it drives me insane.  As I've mentioned before one of my goals is to be current on all photos by the time I'm 40 (my lovely 40 x 40 list!). 

If you have been struggling with photos take time to read Toni's post - it might get your mind moving.  She also has a give away posted as well (which for once I'm not entering since I already sell Creative Memories items) 

I will post an update later this week to share what I've accomplished and I'll also share a little more of my goal for getting and staying current!!

A Blog Auction for the Boersma's Adoption

As I've mentioned a few times, my husband plays guitar in a group called Alive!.  It is a Christian group that travels to area Churches for full concerts as well as Praise and Worship Services.

Alive! Website

One of the singers, Jill, and her husband are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia.  Jill's sister, Betsy, is also in the group and has created a blog where she is hosting a blog auction to help raise funds for the adoption.  She has received so many items from gracious donors and now needs bidders!  The auction opens today and runs through March 12th, 2011.  You can check out the full list of items and place your bids by checking out Bring my Nephew Home.  I have posted a small sample of the items below but there is so much more than just these few items!

There are several hats and other baby items up for bid - I love this Sock Monkey Hat!

Lia Sophia Jewelry

Bow Holder

Concert Tickets

As I said, that is just a sneak peak - head over to the Auction Site and check out all of the items available. 

Happenings in the House!

We had a wonderful week with lots of little things thrown in for good meause - a new car, a family fun day, a little bit of the stomach flu (ok that isn't so wonderful LOL)!  So . .. here's some pictures from the Happenings in this House this past week.

 On Tuesday, we made a trip to the doctor for Nate to have a check-up.  Both boys loved playing in the sad little play house that is in the corner. 

 Than from there, we headed to the dealership to check on a car for Darryl . This is what he ended up getting - a 1995 Grand Am.  It is actually really nice and is in better condition than a lot of newer cars.  He's pretty happy with it (and so am I!)

 Ummm .. Just Josh :-) LOL

 If you have followed me for long, you will start to see a pattern with this boy and his PJ's.  I think I know what he is going to be when he grows up.  Can you guess?  I say a life guard - he likes to take his clothes shirt off.  What where you thinking??

 Darryl had an audience while he shaved on Thursday morning.  Than, Josh got to use aftershave and brush his teeth with dad.  He was pretty excited to be part of the whole process.

 Before you go any further in this post - take a real good look at those baby curls; all of that adorable fine sweet hair . . . .mullet and all.

Because . . .. Nate got his first haircut on Thursday. And he D.I.D. N.O.T like it LOL  Wow.  He was screaming so hard he broke into a sweat. And so did we !!!  I was singing all kinds of songs and Darryl was clapping his hands but it was all to no avail.

 How sad is that super adorable face???

 And there's the new haircut - such a little boy!!

 Our next stop on our family day was the Golden Coral for lunch - it was a buffet place that Darryl had wanted to try.  Josh loved it because he got to pick out his own food. 

 Nate decided he loves onion rings LOL

 Than we finally made it to the Children's museum for the first time and the boys loved it.  We were there for well over two hours and they weren't ready to go!

 Josh wasn't into fishing but he used the fishing poles and wood blocks as drums.  We were pretty impressed and he went from one log to the next keeping perfect rhythm.

 And, of course, he found the train set.

 This was one of Nate's favorites - it is like a giant Light-n-Bright.  He did great at putting the pegs into the wall too.

 He also liked the elevator. 

 How Cute is that kid???

 Hahaha - we were "sneezing" and knocking down the towers we built.  I laughed so hard at Josh which made him laugh even harder.

And I'll end with this one . .. this is how I found him this morning . . .the pattern continues :-)

Hope you all had a wonderful week too :-)

Creative Memories Spotlight

In this weeks spotlight I want to show you a few of the bundles that are available right now.  This is a great way to get the product that you want for a lesser price. 

Bundles of Joy - Little Boy

The first bundle includes this new "Baby Boy" 12x12 album.  If you purchase this album along with 2 packs of white pages and 2 packs of page protectors, the cost is only $62.00.  The retail price of those items would be $83.00. 

The second bundle is a great addition to the above scrapbook or for any scrapbook you are working on now!

The Rugged Baby Boy Arrival pack and . .. .

The Rugged Baby Boy Celebrate Additions can be purchased together for $18.00 and you will also get the Sky Blue Dual-Tip Pen for Free.  This bundle would retail for $21.75. 

Personally, I am so glad that they have come out with some new boy items that are a little more "rugged" looking.  I prefer the more muted colors.  Both of the above Addition packs are also available digitally for both the PC and MAC Versions of the Creative Memories Digital Software.

Bundles of Joy - Little Girls

There is also a bundle deal with the new Baby Girl album as well - again, purchase the album, 2 sets of white pages and 2 sets of page protectors for $62.00 (regular retail is $83.00)

And there are also two Baby Girl Additions Packs that, when bundled, includes the Pink Dual-Tip Pen free for $18.00 (A $21.75 value)

The Fabulous Baby Girl Arrival Pack and . . .

and the Fabulous Baby Girl Celebrate Pack

Both of these packs are also available for the PC and MAC digitally to use with the Creative Memories Software.

The Nancy O'Dell Hummingbird Hope Bundle


This pack includes:  The Hummingbird 12x12 Hope Album; 12x12 page protectors; Hummingbird 12x12 paper and photo mat pack; Hummingbird Tape Runner; Black Duel-Tip Pen and Expressions of Life Vellum Accents.  The price of this bundle is $84.25 (valued at $92.25)

You can access these products as well as all of the other Creative Memories Products through my personal Website.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Thank you and have a creative day :-)

Savings Angel

If you aren't interested in coupon savings feel free to skip this post :-)

This week, my goal was to try and eat what we had at home and keep the grocery bill low.  I didn't do as well as I would like and I noticed some flaws in my "system" but this is a learning process.  If I don't take specific time each week and really work on the menu/grocery list/coupons, than it doesn't go well at the store.  This week, because my mentality was to use stuff up at home, I didn't pay attention to the other items so much and in the end, it kinda backfired on me.   My total bill was around $80.00 and I was hoping for more of about $50.00 . . .but I still saved money with SavingsAngel.  The picture above shows items that would have cost $26.04 but I paid $14.78.  Most of the items are things we will use up this week, actually, so those are really good savings. 

This week was Meijer's "buy 10 get the 11th item free" week.  There are pros and cons to this sale.  I feel like I HAVE to buy 10 things or it isn't worth the 11th item but more times than not I ended up with one item over OR one item under because I grabbed the wrong item (Did that tonight!)  There are some great deals to be had but you have to check the original prices.  I picked up some of those Handi-Snacks (Cheese and Crackers) for $1.00 a piece and they normally run $2.17 but they also had a few other things for $1.00 that were either $1.00 normally OR were less than $1.00. 

Throw in all of the above with the fact that it is pouring outside, my sidewalk has water covering it that covered the tops of my shoes, my garage is becoming a swimming pool, and I really didn't want to go to the store tonight and I'll chalk this one up as a "better luck next week" kind of week :-)  I must add that I wish this rain was snow - when there is still 6-8 inches of snow in my yard, the last thing I want is rain because the only place for it to go is my sidewalk, garage, or please no . . my basement (none yet!!) Sorry all of you snow haters but this rain is a nightmare right now.  It needed to wait until the snow melted :-( 

So on that note - I'll enjoy my Chocolate Haagen-Dazs Ice cream I got for a buck ( a whole whoppin' 3.6 oz!) and relax for a few before hitting the hay!!

Chicken Pot Pie and Country Cinnamon Swirl Bread

We had a yummy dinner so I wanted to share the recipes with you!

I found this great recipe for Chicken Pot Pie over at Superchikk, one of the fun blogs I follow!  I love that it is easy, quick to throw together and easy to freeze :-)

Chicken Pot Pie
2 Pie crusts
1 egg (for egg wash)
1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, peas, green beans) (You can also use canned Veg-All or toss in whatever you have in the fridge/freezer)
1/2 – 1 cup Southern Style Hash Browns (I just dump these in until I think there’s enough)
1-2 chicken breasts (or whatever kind of chicken/turkey you want to use). I usually cut the chicken into small chunks and sauté with minced garlic and pepper. You can leave it raw in small pieces and bake it in the pot pie, but you have to be sure it gets thoroughly cooked. I’ve never had trouble with it, I just prefer to cook it ahead of time when I can.
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup (or so) sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste; any other seasonings desired

To prepare:
Cook the chicken with garlic and pepper.
Dump soup & sour cream in a bowl and stir together. Add salt, pepper and any other seasoning desired.
Add frozen veggies, potatoes and chicken, stir until all combined. The mixture should be thick.
Place bottom crust in pan; Brush egg wash on the inside of the bottom pie crust.
Dump the veggie mixture into the crust and smooth.
Roll out the top crust. Brush egg wash on one side, place the egg wash side down on the pot pie.
Cut off excess crust, crimp pie crust as desired. Brush egg wash on the top of the crust. Cut slits to vent.
(I put a foil ring around the edge so it doesn’t brown too quickly)
Bake at 375 for 45 min – 1 hour, until crust is golden and the insides are bubbly

Yummy!  We all enjoyed this alot!

The finished pie before it was cut

My Notes:
This is great just as it is!!  I actually used to leftover pieces of KFC chicken (two breast pieces) and it was perfect!!

And this great recipe for Country Cinnamon Swirl Bread comes from AllRecipes.com. 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, 1 cup sugar and egg until blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to egg mixture alternately with buttermilk. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and remaining sugar.

2. Pour a third of the batter into a greased 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pan; sprinkle with a third of the cinnamon-sugar. Repeat layers twice. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely

My Notes:  This is so easy and so yummy!  My kids just love it!!

I'm linking up with Comfy in the Kitchen!

Tot School (and a giveaway to check out!)

First up, I wanted to share a great link where you can download some free books to help with beginning reading.  Looking at them, they are more than just for reading - you can use them with the beginner talkers to help them identify objects and learn new words.  Right now both of my boys love to imitate things - Nate does more sounds and Josh does more words but either way they both are learning from all of the things we say!  So, check out this link and download the free books :-)  Check out All about spelling for these free downloads.

This is just one of the two stories you can download.

Second, I wanted to share a few things from our week.  I don't have pictures of us playing anything only because I keep forgetting to get the camera out in the middle of our stuff.  I do have pictures of our stuff though :-)

This was my first time making a Tot Book.  I had to studied the picture 1+1+1=1 for quite awhile trying to figure out exactly how she made that lap book.  The pictures made it look bigger than it really was but after reading the instructions, staring at the picture for what seemed like forever, and just using my brain, I figured it out :-)  I thought I would share some pictures of what I did and also what I learned for next time.  The first Lap Book that I made was based on Nemo.

 This first step was the hardest for me - I finally figured out that you had to cut a regular letter size file folder in half.  (See how that 1/2 looks almost like a whole file folder - or is it just me???)

 Than, I overlapped them and used packing tape to hook them together.  By doing this, the outside flaps will fold over each other.

 You can get all of the printouts shown here from the 1+1+1=1.  I printed out each of the pages on card stock and laminated them.  Above are the Numbers with Nemo pages.  I stapled them together on the edges and than used packing tape to adhere the back page to the file folder.

 This is my finished book - I just printed that picture from Google Images. 

 Now, I put my two file folders backwards so it opens to the right first . .. oops!  The Names I did slightly different than pictured on the above mentioned site.  She had stapled them together but my weak stapler could not handle that much thickness so instead I used my trusty key rings and hooked the pages together that way.  I actually used Velcro on the last page to adhere it to the file folder that way we can actually pull it out of the book if we want to. 

 The left side has Nemo's Colors and Nemo's ABC's.  I love the accordion style folder. 

The finished "Numbers with Nemo" section.

The biggest thing I learned was that I should print the pages on standard typing paper, not card stock.  The lamination makes them strong enough to handle but not so thick for the items that need to be folded.  Also, double sided tape is a MUST for these books.  It holds things together well without folding tape over.  I did wonder if Rubber cement might hold the books to the file folder better  . . .so I might pick some up and experiment with it just to see how it works.

I love these little lap books because there are so many things for little eyes to look at!  Josh was very interested in this as I was putting it together and he recognized the characters from his favorite movie :-)

This is another activity that Josh has enjoyed - he loves to say the letters.  These come from the St Patrick's Day packet from Musings of Me.  I love that the cards are the size of 1/2 sheet of a paper.  I think I'm going to pick up some small Velcro circles so that Josh can match the shamrocks to the cards and stick them on.  He likes Velcro :-)



I also put this file folder game together that you can find at Christian Preschool Printables.  The true purpose of this game, matching odd and even numbers, is something that my kids are quite ready yet but, I like that he can do number recognition.  These games are awesome because they are so easy to put together.  Just print the pages from the site. I than laminated them and adhered them to the file folder with double-sided tape.

I used a snack size baggy adhered with Velcro to hold the gold coins.  I think I may print a second set of coins so that he can match numbers to numbers for now but we'll see :-) 

So, that's what we are working on so far.  As I knew would happen we haven't gotten through a lot this week due to being gone one day and the flu hitting my little guy on Wednesday but he has enjoyed some time with these activities.  I will try to do better with getting some "action" photos next week!!

Also, one of my favorite blogs, Musings of Me is hosting a CSN store giveaway for a gift certificate!  I've checked out the stores and there is a ton of things that you could get :-)  So check out her site and add your comments for a chance to win (Notice I put this at the end of my post . . .I hate making my odds go down LOL)   Really, check out her site - it is awesome!!

One last misc piece of info - did you know that the ABC song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star have the same melody?  Go ahead, sing them, you know you want to? LOL Seriously - I did not know that until today; to make it worse - Mr. Music aka as my husband didn't believe me when I told him so we each had to sing one of the songs at the same time. . .. hahahaha