Life Through My Camera Lens

Fabric Canvas Wall Art

2012-02-09T17:49:00.001-06:00

I've had my eye out for some sort of artwork to go over our fireplace, which is in our family/rec room. The wall is pretty large, so I scoured Etsy, Pinterest, tons of art websites and couldn't find anything that I liked that didn't cost hundreds of dollars. Finally, I found a picture on Google images from this site of some fabric-wrapped canvases and decided to give it a try. Here is the finished product

All I had to do is iron the fabric (I got mine from JoAnne's and Hobby Lobby), cut it to size, and use a hot glue gun to attach it to the canvases (which I got from Hobby Loby). I used some 3M picture hanging strips to hang them on the wall.

It took me about 3 hours to make them, and cost less than $100 for a HUGE wall display. Plus, they are easy to change out if I want to change the look, and it's easy to make some matching throw pillows for the couch!

{Recipe} Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

2012-02-08T09:04:00.000-06:00

The Polish-born girl in my LOVES this recipe. Not as good as the stuffed cabbage rolls my mom makes, but a good (and healthy!) alternative when I'm a thousand miles away from home. This was the first time I've made this, and it will definitely go in our rotation. C loved it! Another win from Skinnytaste!

Kalyn's Stuffed Cabbage Casserole
Makes 10 servings
Calories: 251 Fat: 11.3g Protein: 16.9g Carbs: 23.8 Fiber: 5.5g
Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef (95% lean)
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sweet Hungarian Paprika
1 1/2 heads green cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) petite dice tomatoes with juice
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups low-fat mozzarella cheese
salt and fresh ground black pepper (to taste)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a large glass casserole dish cooking spray.

Cook ground beef, set aside.

Using the same pan, add 1 tsp olive oil and cook onion until soft and staring to brown. Add garlic, thyme, and paprika. Cook 2 minutes more. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and ground beef. Simmer until slightly thickened (about 15-20 minutes).

While the meat mixture simmers, chop the cabbage into 1" pieces. Heat 1tsp olive oil in a frying pan, add cabbage and cook until the cabbage is wilted and about halfway done. Season with salt and pepper.

Once the meat mixture is thickened, add the 2 cups of cooked brown rice and stir.

Layer half the cabbage, half the meat mixture, remaining cabbage, and remaining meat mixture in the glass casserole dish. Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes.

Remove foil and sprinkle on cheese and bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to slightly brown. Enjoy!

Almost Four

2012-02-06T08:45:00.000-06:00

This girl

will be four years old in two weeks. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. She's changed so much even in the last few months, going from toddler to little girl. Love her to bits!

Santa Fe Chicken {4 Ways}

2012-02-03T08:33:00.000-06:00

The other day I posted a recipe we make often called Crockpot Santa Fe Chicken from Skinnytaste. You can see it here. When talking to some people about recipes, some of them mentioned they don't like leftovers. (Something I'll never understand, we like leftovers here and C and I both think some things taste better as leftovers!) The Santa Fe chicken recipe makes a pretty large batch, it lasted us for a few days. However, we didn't eat it the same way more than once, so it didn't feel like we were having the same thing! We had it:

1. Over brown rice as a "bowl"
2. In corn tortillas as tacos
3. In a quesadilla made with whole wheat tortillas
4. As tostadas made with toasted corn tortillas (I toasted the tortillas in a skillet sprayed with some olive oil spray)

So yummy and versatile! And the best thing? All of these meals were under 500 calories! Yummy, versatile, AND healthy - the food trifecta!

Valentine Craft (even boys will love!)

2012-02-02T17:03:00.001-06:00

I am the party mom for Nora's Valentine's day party at preschool, and one of the things I needed to do was come up with a game or craft for the kids. In the world of Pinterest and other websites, there were LOTS of cute ideas, but I ran into a problem. You see, Nora's class is all boys - there are 7 of them and she is the only girl. So while I found lots of cute ideas, I didn't think that the boys in her class would be interested in gluing hearts into the shape of a butterfly or making heart garland or any of the other craft ideas that I found online. I searched high and low and finally found a craft that I think will be a hit for her class on this website.

Here you have it - Valentine Dump Truck!

It was very simple to make - I used poster board for the back (because regular paper wouldn't be able to support the box of conversation hearts), drew a shape of a truck free-hand onto a piece of cardboard and then traced it onto red construction paper, cut out black circles for the wheels (I used felt here because I have a bunch at home, but you could use black construction paper). I glued everything on with a glue stick and then added the candy. (I left the lifesavers in the wrappers because I figured the kids would like to be able to eat them)

I'm excited to make them with her class next week!

Lunch with Mia

2012-02-01T08:38:00.000-06:00

Just thought I'd share some photos I snapped of Mia the other day at lunch. She is such a ham!

p.s. whole wheat Goldfish bread is a genius invention!

{Recipe} Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

2012-01-31T09:03:00.000-06:00

This recipe is one I've been making for over a year, and it is a HUGE family favorite. My husband, my 1-year-old and my 3-year-old can not get enough! This recipe is a hit with me because it is a crock pot recipe so that means I put it on in the morning and dinner is done by evening, and also because I found it on Skinnytaste.com which means it is healthy! It makes a lot, so we usually eat it one day over brown rice and another day as a taco filling. I can't decide which I like better they are both so good! You can top it with anything you want - my favorite toppings are reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, light sour cream, sliced avocado, and chopped scallions. YUM!

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

Makes 8 1-cup servings
Calories: 190 Fat: 1.5g Carbs: 23.1 Protein: 21g Fiber: 5.6g

1.5 lbs chicken breast
14.4 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
15 oz can black beans
8 oz frozen corn
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
14.4 oz can fat-free chicken broth
3 chopped green onions
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
salt (to taste)

Add all ingredients to crock pot, laying chicken on top. Sprinkle chicken with salt. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Before serving, shred chicken.

Missoni-inspired baby blanket {Crochet}

2012-01-26T09:38:00.000-06:00

I saw Missoni-inspired pattern on this bog and wanted to give it a try. It didn't take long and the pattern was pretty simple to follow. I did add a border to it and the trickiest part was figuring out how to make two of the ends square, but once I figured it out in my head it was easy to put it into practice. This blanket is going to go to my new nephew, and I've already started another girly-colored one. Several of my friends are having babies this spring/summer so I better get going on making more!

Here is the pattern from Vickie Howell's site:

Materials
8 balls Stitch.Rock.Love Sheep(ish) for Caron (70% Acrylic/30% Wool ; 167 yds/153 m) yarn in colors: (A) Magenta(ish), (B) Chartreuse(ish), (C) Pumpkin(ish), (D) Robin’s Egg(ish), (E) Black(ish), (F) Taupe(ish), (G) Red(ish), (H) Turquoise(ish)

Size US J hook (or size needed to obtain gauge)
Tapestry Needle

Finished Size
39” x 36” (97 1/2” x 90 cm)

Gauge
13 sts x 6 rows= 4” (10 cm) in patt stitch

Special Stitch:
3DCtog: Decrease 3 stitches in to one by double-crocheting them together.

NOTE: To make a larger version, increase stitches by multiples of 14 sts + 1. Don't forget to add an additional 3 for your foundation chain!

Directions
With Color A, Ch 130.

Row 1(RS): DC in 4th ch from hook, * DC in each of 5 ch, 3DCtog over next 3 ch, DC in each of 5 ch, [DC, ch, DC] in next ch, repeat from *, ending with 2 DC in last ch. Turn.

Row 2: 3ch, DC in front loop of first DC, * DC in front loop of each of 5 dc, 3DCtog, over front loops of next 3 DC, DC in front loop of each of 5 DC, [DC, ch, DC] in ch sp, repeat from *, ending with 2 DC in 3rd of 3 ch. Turn.

Row 3: As for Row 2, but working in the BACK loops of stitches. Repeat Rows 2 & 3 until blanket measures 36” (90 cm) and switching to Colors B, C, D, E, F, G & H every 4 rows for the first half of blanket, and every 2 rows for the 2nd half, ending with 4 rows of Color A. Use Color Stripe Chart as a guide.

Tie off.

{Recipe} Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup

2012-01-20T09:32:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite websites to get healthy recipes from is Skinnytaste.com. I've made several things from her site and they've all turned out great and have become in our normal meal rotation. I love how she has the nutritional information broken out which helps with my tracking! This recipe was a hit and perfect on a cold snowy day like we had last week.

Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup

Makes 6 1.5 cup servings
Calories: 261 Fat: 6.6g Protein: 25.4g Carbs: 29.9g Fiber: 6.7g

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cloves minced garlic
3 cups low sodium fat-free chicken broth
8 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 tsp chipotle chili in adobo sauce
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen corn
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 lb chicken breasts
1/4 cup chopped green onions
3/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

Directions:

Saute onion and garlic in a skillet with the olive oil until soft. Add chicken broth, tomato sauce, and chipotle sauce and bring to a boil. Add cilantro and pour mixture into a crockpot.

Add beans, diced tomatoes, corn, cumin, oregano and stir. Add chicken breasts, cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Before serving, shred chicken. Top with cheese, sour cream, green onions, crushed tortilla chips, avocado, or whatever suits your fancy!

{Recipe} Ground Beef Stroganoff

2012-01-18T09:37:00.000-06:00

*I have recipes stored all over, so I thought my blog would be a good place to post some of our favorites that we want to keep in our rotation along with the nutritional information. That way I only have one place to look and I know they won't disappear*

As a family we limit the amount of processed foods we eat, so when I found this recipe for stroganoff that didn't call for a can of creamed soup, I decided to give it a try. Everyone love this and asked for more, even my 3 and 1 year olds! It was easy to make, healthy, and yummy, a recipe trifecta! You can put it over any pasta - we usually do whole wheat but I had some whole grain bowties we used this time. Next time I think we'll do it over whole wheat elbow macaroni!

Ingredients:

1lb extra lean ground beef (96/4)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 cup 1% milk
2 cups fat free low sodium beef broth
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/8 cup fat free plain yogurt

Directions:

In a large sauté pan, brown the ground beef and onion until done. Stir in the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, beef broth, and flour. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Add the liquid to the sauté pan and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. While sauce is simmering, cook noodles of choice.

Servings: 4

Nutritional info (sauce only): Calories: 239 Carbohydrates: 19g Fiber: 2g Fat: 5g Protein: 21g

Daddy/Daughter Date

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

C took Nora to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D this weekend. Nora has been looking forward to this (and the Tangled short film that they played at the showing) since before Christmas! She was so excited to get dressed up in her Belle dress and go see the movie with her "Beast". She got her own popcorn and drink and thought she was big stuff!

I love this picture of them right before they left. I didn't notice that Nora was holding C's hand until I uploaded the photo. That right there shows how much she loves her daddy and how much she loves spending time with him!

I'm so happy that my girls have such a great dad and I have such a wonderful husband. We are truly blessed!

Snow {Finally!}

2012-01-13T13:17:00.002-06:00

For the last couple of months, Nora has been asking when it would snow. She had a list of things she wanted to do when it did: build a snowman, throw snowballs, sled, and make snow angels. We've had an unusually mild December/January up until this point with only one other time we had any snow, which didn't accumulate much. She was very disappointed that the 1" of snow on the ground the last time it snowed wasn't enough to do the things on her list.

Last night, we finally got snow. When Nora got up this morning she looked out the window and was so excited. She could barely eat her breakfast fast enough and then we went outside.

We did a little sledding

Threw some snowballs

Made snow angels

And made a snowman (complete with a fake carrot nose Nora got out of her play food)

(The snowman was a little tricky because the snow was very dry and wouldn't form very well, but we made do!)

They stayed outside and played for an hour and then came inside to warm up under a blanket with a snack and a movie.

They should sleep well at nap time today!

Year in Review: 2011 in pictures

2012-01-01T12:38:00.001-06:00

I got this idea from my friend Drea at The Maiden Metallurgist and thought it was cute!

Here is 2011 in pictures. It was fun looking back each month!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Happy New Year everyone! I love fresh starts and I know 2012 is going to be a great year! One of my resolutions is to take more pictures (which I have slacked on since we have been busy working on the house) and to blog more.

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2012!

Christmas!

2011-12-28T00:09:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas here at our house! Nora is just now starting to understand the whole Santa thing, and when we checked on her before we went to bed she was half in her bed/half hanging on the floor on top of the covers. Christmas morning we asked why she had gotten out of bed and she told us she was looking out the window for Santa. It is so fun to see things again through the eyes of a child - I wish they stayed little forever!

The girls were really into opening presents this year, even Mia. She kept picking up presents and asking "eeaa?" (Mia?) and if it wasn't for her she would pick up another and ask the same thing. :)

They were both MORE than spoiled and loved everything! Here are some pictures (I didn't get many they were moving too fast!)

Merry Christmas From Our Family To Yours!

2011-12-23T11:32:00.002-06:00

25 Days of Random Acts of Kindness: The First 10 Days

2011-12-10T20:31:00.001-06:00

I read about a lady who did 30 random acts of kindness on her 30th birthday and I thought it was such a neat idea. This year (and hopefully in the years to come with the help of the girls) I decided to do 25 Days of Random Acts of Kindess for the 25 days of Christmas. I've had a lot of fun doing these, and it is nice to see how genuinely appreciative people are. I hope it spurred those people to do kind things to others! Here are the first 10 days

25 Days of Random Kindness Day 1: Left Chocolate Chip cookies in the mailbox for our mailman!

‎25 Days of Random Kindness Day 2: Paid for the car behind me in the drive-thru this morning!

25 Days of Random Kindness Day 3: Emptied the change out of my purse and put it in the Salvation Army bucket!

25 Days of Random Kindness Day 4: Picked out a name from the Giving Tree at the mall and purchased the items on it!

‎25 Days of Random Kindness Day 5: Shared my Meijer discount with a friend!

25 Days of Random Kindness Day 6: After dropping Katie Baird off at the airport (boo!) we stopped by the hotel Columbo had his meeting at and left a surprise not on his car from his 3 girls!

25 Days of Random Kindness Day 7: Gave my shopping cart to a lady fumbling around for a quarter at Aldi, and then left a stack of quarters by the rest of the carts.

‎25 Days of Random Kindness Day 8: Sent emails/letters off to old friends who I've been meaning to get in touch with for ages!

25 Days of Random Kindness Day 9: Stopped by Arby's to get the girls some apple slices this afternoon while running errands. They gave me a coupon book for my next visit, so I drove around and handed it to a gentleman walking in to have lunch.

25 Days of Random Kindness Day 10: Helped Nora write a Merry Christmas note to her dance teacher to go along with the dance keychain we got her for Christmas, which was hand-made by a local mom.

Cupcakes!!!

2011-11-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

Nora has been so excited to have Fancy come visit (her grandma, whose name is Nancy and after reading a Fancy Nancy book the name stuck!) One of the reasons she was excited was because she wanted to take Fancy to go get cupcakes. There is a really cute bakery close by so yesterday (despite the rain), we decided to get cupcakes. The shop is called Designer Desserts and not only do they have yummy cupcakes, the actual shop is AMAZINGLY cute! Here are some pictures of the girls enjoying the cupcake shop

Catch Up: Halloween

2011-11-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

Playing catch up! Here are pictures from Halloween. The girls had an awesome time and luckily the weather was nice.

Mia can't say "Trick or Treat but in true Mia fashion she completely communicated it without saying a word like she does everything else! She would take a piece of candy out of her pumpkin, point to it, drop it in, and then hold up her pumpkin to the person handing out candy. It was so cute!

Enjoy!

And here is a picture from Nora's class - a princess among princes!

House Reveal: Kitchen

2011-11-15T08:30:00.000-06:00

We have another room in our house completed thanks to my dad coming out for a few days and doing some crown molding on top of our cabinets! Here is our kitchen before

And the afters:

The things we changed were : new appliances, new countertops, ceramic tile on the floor, backsplash, painted the cabinets, hardware on cabinets, crown molding above cabinets, new sink and faucet, new light fixtures. Whew. That was a lot of work, but all worth it!

Happy Veteran's Day!

2011-11-11T15:37:00.001-06:00

Nora wanted to wish everyone (especially her daddy!) a Happy Veteran's Day!

A month? {and pigtails}

2011-10-24T17:42:00.000-05:00

I was just nudged by a friend who told me that its been a month since my last post. Can that even be right? Where has the time gone?

I have a quite a bit of updating to do, but no time to do it! I promise to update more often (including our family pictures and a trip to the pumpkin patch) so stay tuned!

I will leave you with Mia's first pigtails!!! It only took 19 months!

(taken with my cell phone camera)

And to just for a trip down memory lane, here is Nora with her first pigtails at 23 months - I guess Mia has 4 months on her sister in that department!

Still here...

2011-09-29T21:15:00.000-05:00

We're still here and doing fine! I haven't had a chance to blog much because we have been very busy! The house is of course keeping us busy - our big project currently is painting the exterior. We are trying to get it done before it gets too cold, but this week the weather has not cooperated - we've been having to paint between rainstorms. Hopefully this weekend is nicer so we can finish it up! We chose the color Sharkskin by Benjamin Moore which is a grey with greenish undertones. I love it!

I'll share some more before and afters soon. There are little things that need to be done in the rest of the rooms - for example, the kitchen is complete except for the hardware on the cabinets...the master bedroom I still need to stencil the accent wall, and the bathroom I'm waiting for some artwork. These are all things that can be completed in cooler weather, so the exterior painting project has been our priority. Can't wait to share some more pictures though!

The girls have also been keeping us busy. Nora has preschool on M/W/F, AWANA on Wednesday nights, I am in a bible study on Tuesday mornings, and Nora has swim class on T/Th afternoons. And she has dance/gymnastics class on Saturday mornings. I've thought about trying to cut something out, but she loves all of her activities. I think I'm going to try to find a swim class that is only 1 day a week as opposed to 2. Mia is sad when we drop Nora off at her classes, but she loves the one-on-one time she has with mommy! She also is doing great in the kids club at the Y while I workout during Nora's preschool time, and she loves the kids room at the church during bible study. We take a trip to the library after the gym while we're waiting for Nora on some days and other days we run errands or go grocery shopping which is much easier with only one child!

Here are some recent pictures of the girls - I have more but they are still on my camera!

Enjoy!

House Reveal: Living Room

2011-09-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

The living room is another room we have completed. This room is one of my favorites! Here is what we started with

And what it looks like today:

There will eventually be a TV on the entertainment stand, but that is the last thing we need to add to the room. What all we did: put in new closet door, removed carpet and put down Pergo floors, painted trim and window, painted walls and decorated. The room turned out exactly the way I wanted - I love it!

Nora's first day of school!

2011-09-07T15:17:00.000-05:00

Today was Nora's first day of preschool! She woke up very excited to go, scarfed down her breakfast, and couldn't wait to put her backpack on. I dropped her off and she kissed me and said bye, and walked into her room. She has been waiting for this day for a long time, but I can't believe my little girl is a pre-schooler now! I did shed a few tears, but not as many as I thought I would. Nora goes to preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for 2.5 hours. It is a Christian preschool, and there are 10 kids in her class. Surprisingly, she is the only girl! (The teacher did tell me today that there is another girl touring the preschool tomorrow, so fingers crossed she decides to go there!!) There is nothing wrong with her being friends with boys, but it seems like most of my friends have little boys, so she has plenty of boy friends, I was excited for her to finally have little girl friends. She didn't mind at all though, and she will be around little girls in her other activities (AWANA, dance, church, and swim lessons) so that is good.

While she is in school it is nice to be able to take Mia to the YMCA childcare and get a workout in, and then spend some one-on-one time with Mia. Today we went to the library! By the time 11:15 rolled around, I was ready to go get Nora though. She ran out and gave me a big hug and told me she had a lot of fun. Yay for a successful first day!

Here is my big girl

She was worn out, so after we got home and had lunch, she went down for a nap without a peep!

House Reveal: Mia's Room

2011-09-07T09:33:00.001-05:00

Here are the before pictures of Mia's room

And the afters:

We did the same things in Mia's room as we did in Nora's - painted trim and windows, put in new closet and room door, painted walls, and decorated. Mia loves her room - she points at the mermaid whenever we put her down in her crib.

She really loves her reading nook (shelves made out of IKEA spice racks for $3.99 each!) and I love how both the girls sit in there and read books together

It is really nice for Mia to have her own space, and I'm sure she'll only grow to love it even more as she gets older!