Life is a Gift

Bath Painting

2012-01-21T19:28:00.000-08:00

Little sisters always want to be like their big sisters......
...I hope Kennedy always enjoys showing her sister new tricks!

Here they are blowing bubbles together!

I made some "bath paint" with soap, water and food coloring. Then I let them go to town painting the bathtub. Kennedy definitely enjoyed it more than Quinn, but that was to be expected!

Thanks for stopping by today!!!!

Polar Express Party

2012-01-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

As I said in one of my last posts, we have been doing MANY fun things found on Pinterest. When the idea to host a Polar Express Party popped into my head, I had only given myself less than 2 weeks to pull it off. So I went straight to Pinterest and searched for fun stuff! If you want to see my Pinterest board about Polar Express, you can find it HERE.:

As with any shindig or holiday, Kennedy wanted to help "decorate." So we had 4 signs to make sure everyone knew they were at the correct place and that they could find the basement theater. :) Love that girl.

Being that I am who I am, we just HAD to do a craft. Well, not just one craft....THREE crafts. Yup. TEN kids on my kitchen floor with paint, glue, buttons....FUN I tell ya! Thank goodness for my mom friends that get their hands dirty and helped out!

Poor Quinn....she wishes she could make a craft too...

It doesn't look too bad afterward, right?! I just put a vinyl tablecloth down and taped it in place. It is so nice to just roll up the mess and toss it when they are finished.

These were 2 of the crafts. Each child was a given a bag as they entered the house. It contained all the items they needed for the crafts, plus their Golden Ticket and a Silver Bell just like from Santa's sleigh and the movie. For the first craft, each kid got a bulb ornament. I had previously written their name and 2011 on the bottom. I then put brown paint on a plate and walked around so each child could dip their thumb in it. They stamped their thumb on the ornament once or twice (or ten+ times!) and we let it dry. While they watched the movie I drew in eyes, antlers and painted red Rudolph noses on each. The popsicle tree took the most time. Kennedy and I pre-painted the sticks and I cut them to the correct lengths. I basically showed them a model and said "Figure it out - make a tree and decorate it!" It was funny to see them try to put the pieces together and then glue them. Decorating is always a blast, too!

This was the last craft. Each child got a rectangular piece of foam. I drew what was supposed to be a Christmas light wire on each piece. On a plate, I had poured various colors of paint. I walked around and let the kids dip their thumbs in the paint of their choice and press their thumbs to make the lights.

Aren't my sweeties cute in their matching jammies?! You know you must wear jammies to a Polar Express Party! They wear them in the movie!!!

Next up....SNACK TIME!
I made some homemade hot cocoa in the crock pot...not so good. But we still had a hot cocoa bar with yummies to put in the cocoa. I made a cookie dough dip from Pinterest...yuck. But the kids loved the marshmallow pops, the oranges, the snack mix and eating marshmallows plain. After the snacks it was movie time!!! I was so tired by then I forgot to take photos of them actually watching the movie! Oh well!

And I can't forget! I had printed out a game for the kids to take home and play with their families but I had run out of time to laminate them. Yes. I own a laminating machine. Go ahead. Call me a dork. Anyway, my dear mommy friend Janet laminated them while I finished their Rudolph ornaments. Phew! That party was a lot of work! But totally worth it all. And Kennedy wants to do it all over again next December! Will it be a new tradition? Check back next December to find out!

Family Weekend

2012-01-15T17:52:00.000-08:00

Awwww......cousins!
We had a houseful this weekend! My Uncle Tom from Texas came to visit along with my mom, her husband, my brother, his wife and their sweet girl, Marin. Oh, and Mom brought their dog, Roxie, too!

There was quite a bit of time spent lounging (and quite a few naps - babies and adults alike).....

But most of the time it was us watching the kids play and play and play! There were toys strewn everywhere, sippy cups all around, snack cups dumped here and there, dogs jumping and sneaking in for attention and lots of smiles and giggles!

Thank you to Tom for all these photos....I am too tired to upload and sort through mine! So another post may be coming !

It is so fun now that both Marin and Quinn are old enough to walk/run and play together. Marin is completely taken with Kennedy, or "Key" as she calls her!

Thanks to all my family that made the trip to KC for a visit! We love you bunches!!!!

A Pinterest Menu

2012-01-12T11:44:00.000-08:00

If you haven't joined Pinterest yet, you are missing out!
I joined maybe 6-7 months ago and it is a favorite spot on the 'net! I check in at least 2x a week!

Basically it is a giant corkboard online! I used to try to bookmark sites that I liked or ideas that I saw online. But I had hundreds of things bookmarked and forgot about them all. With Pinterest, I can categorize my boards and "pin" things to them. It is truly a genius idea!

One thing I have been using Pinterest for is new recipes. I am NOT a fan of cooking. At all. And I need all the help (and practice) I can get. So I wanted to share with you all some things we have tried here in our home that came from Pinterest, or that I pinned myself!

If you want to follow me on Pinterest you can do so here:Danielle's Pinterest

Let's get started!

Rainbow Cake. We made these for Quinn's 1st Birthday Party! It was a rainbow theme! They are easy and super fun to make!

Baked Potato Soup. This is a crock pot recipe...which I love. ALL of use gave this two thumbs up! It is VERY thick, so I think I will add either more broth or some milk next time. But yummy!

Sweet & Sour chicken. This was fabulous...lots better than I expected!!!

Home made mini deep dish pizzas. We made these when Kennedy had a sleep over and each girl

put on her own toppings. It was a hit!!!

Crock pot pizza soup. Originally made this to take to my father-in-law. He raved about it and I loved it! So I made it again and Jeff loved it! Kennedy, not so much...but she is quite picky.

Chicken parmesan. It sounded so good. But none of us cared for it. Pretty blah.

These looked good but weren't anything special at all.

Breakfast casserole in the crock pot. YUMMO! Easy and good!

Apple Crisp. We all gobbled this one up! A go-to for sure!

Caramel apple cake with apple cider frosting. I was beyond excited to try this one. But it wasn't good. The frosting ruined it.

Mini Corn Dogs! Jeff and I liked this. Kennedy says she likes the long corn dogs better. But we will be making it again!

Chicken and dumplings in crock pot. Jeff LOVES chicken and dumplings so I was eager to try it and see what he said. His vote was a big YES!!!!

Sugar cookie dough dip. Sounds delish! But it wasn't. Yuck.

I hope to share another Pinterest post soon! We have done lots of fun activities that were found on Pinterest! Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Recap #2

2012-01-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

You can find the first half of our Christmas celebrations at this post! After our Christmas morning in our jammies, we headed to Mema's house for our traditional Cornish Hen Feast!!!! YUM!! Aren't you jealous?!

The kids did a great job of eating and then playing before the present opening began!

And isn't my elf a cutie?!


And of course Miss Q and Miss Z were adorable in their holiday outfits! But now it is on to the GIFTS!

I just LOVE these photos! Mema gave each family a Wii for Christmas! Check out the look on EVERYONE'S faces!!!


Yeah, HUGE HIT FOR SURE! We have been playing Wii a ton over the break! I think once school begins again we may need to put a time limit in place!

Christmas Recap #1

2012-01-02T21:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas was pretty low key this year....I guess that is what the sickies will do. Jeff, Quinn and I all passed around a flu bug. So, the pictures are pretty ho-hum and I didn't take many. Bummer. Just felt too yucky.

Christmas Eve was at our home with Jeff's sisters' family, Papa Lou, Aunt Barb, Cousin Michael and Great Papa Henry. This was the night I felt the worst...I didn't even eat dinner.
Here is Great Papa with Barbe and Zia...sleeping.

Jeff and Quinn watching others open gifts.

Lou got a photo of his mom and aunt...such a treasure.

Both Jeff and Lou got Cotton Bowl t-shirts. Go Cats!

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The next morning was just the four of us at home. It was such a change from last year for Quinn. She wasn't sitting up alone yet but this year she actually opened her own gifts!

This series of photos reminds me so much of Kennedy when she had her 2nd Christmas. Papa Doug and Grandma Jodie got them ride on toys and both girls were thrilled!

Pretty cute, huh?

This is Kennedy opening her BIG gift from Santa. A Nintendo DS! Wonder if she liked it?

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas! The rest of our Christmas photos will be in the next post!

Frugal Living Challenge

2011-12-31T14:35:00.000-08:00

Just found this wonderful challenge on another blog!! Check it out!

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I consider myself, my husband, and my children to be fairly frugal people, and sometimes I admit we take it too far; for example, our couch has a hole in it and we still refuse to buy a new one, I used my old running shoes until the soles were bare, and our truck has 140,000+ miles on it but he still runs like a charm.

In no way am I recommending this to others. Nor am I saying that you have to live with holes in your furniture! However, I will suggest that there are many other ways to scale back spending and live a more frugal lifestyle.

Join me in a 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge!
Why attempt a frugal living challenge?

First, because living frugally allows for you to spend less than you earn. And the benefits from this are endless. You can use the difference to: get caught up on late payments, pay off debt, save, and potentially invest.
Second, because the less you spend, the less is required for you to earn. The benefits of this one mean: you and/or your spouse have the potential to work less, you obtain freedom from a wage, you may have the opportunity to pursue your true passions, and you may be able to retire early.

Frugal living is not suppressive! Quite the opposite, it means breaking free of the chains that bind us to unfulfilled lives.
It means spending more time with the people that mean the most. It’s having conversations, reading for leisure, growing in knowledge, enjoying nature, doing things that you think are fun, exercising, being a slave to no one, and focusing on what truly is important. The good life is waiting!
So…together let’s see how many people we can get to commit to living frugally for 23 days!
We could change the tide of society! Or, at least encourage each other along the journey. Obviously, there is a broad array of things that could happen!
The Ground Rules:
You are not committing to the implementation of all 23 ideas for living frugally. I should admit that I do most, but not all, of the tips that will be recommended and discussed. My commitment to you is to be honest with you as we move along.
I ask no more from you that I ask of myself.
Simply commit to the process and to openness.
Be willing to change, take baby steps, or jump on the path of frugality for the first time! Where ever you are on the journey, don’t be afraid to join in. We will challenge ourselves to:

Redefine “enough”
Learn how to use a 30-day list
Stop the impulse buys
Grow a garden
Cook ahead
And much more…

Let’s do this!

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Anybody want to join me?!?! Its a great way to start a new year!

Christmas Cards

2011-12-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

I had a little trouble deciding on Christmas cards this year! I loved so many designs! Since we send soooo many, I made various cards! The photos of the girls at the waterfall were taken by me. The photos of the girls in their purple dresses were taken by Christina Lundeen. Enjoy!!!

For Unto Us Religious Christmas Card

To view our unique Christmas card designs, click here.