A Bit Late....

Here are some holiday 08' pics



Admiring our tree!


Christmas Photoshoot Time-OMG!!! It is sooooo difficult trying to take pictures of a toddler. I needed a drink by the time I was done!



Waiting in line to meet Santa

Goofing off w/ daddy

Hey~this Santa thing may not be so bad after all!



At Nic's work party in the city!



X-mas morning! Santa brought a play kitchen!!!!!

What a difference a year makes!

December 08
Christmas 07



March 08

Here is Brett last year-we aren't sure if Brett will be frequenting Santa this year....the Easter bunny was a bit traumatizing! It's crazy what 3 months will do!

Homemade Gift Ideas

These are two ornaments that I made for gifts for Christmas. The puzzle frame is a great one for grandparents/family. I got a puzzle from the Dollar Tree and was able to make six frames out of it. I spray painted the pieces green. I had the buttons on hand and found some cute ribbon. I used felt on the back to glue the picture onto. After I spray painted the puzzle pieces, I found the size circle I wanted, traced it onto wax paper and used it as my template. I glued the pieces so they would overlap. Once the frame dried, I pulled it off the wax paper and glued my felt, buttons and bow onto the frame. Finally, I added a loop to hang from and wrote the year on the back....grandparents get mad if I forget to do this!







The second ornament I made was using a clear glass ornament(again from the Dollar Tree) and glitter. My favorite glitter is Martha Stewart...it is soooo fine and sparkly! I used the eraser tip from a pencil, dipped into glue and just repeated all over the ball. I had to do one side, let it dry and then do the other. Add some cute ribbon and viola! It took several days, since I did multiple colors. I love the look of it, very sparkly!

Costco is on my shitlist!!!

I am in a holiday funk and I don't like it! All thanks to the one place that I can't stay away from...(besides Target and Dollar Tree) COSTCO! It has to do with our Christmas tree. We decided to do the fake tree thing last year, Nic hates the hassle of dealing with real trees (wussy) and we figured that with Brett in the picture, a fake tree might not be a bad way to go for a few years;at least until we are out of the put-everything-in-your-mouth stage. We found a beautiful tree at Costco last year, pre-lit with white lights. We bought it and enjoyed it last year. Present day-we put it up this morning and the top portion of the tree wouldn't light up. After some digging around, Nic discovered that one of the lights had melted and the string of lights no longer worked! No problem I say, they still have them at Costco, and since Costco has a kick-ass return policy, there should be no problem, right? WRONG! We haul the tree back to SR Costco, return the tree, no problem there. They give us a cash card for the amount of 162 dollars;what the tree rang up as since we didn't have the receipt. Ok, so we head off to find our tree. The problem comes from the fact that they don't have the tree we want. They have the freakin 9 foot tree, which wouldn't even fit through our door! So, we head down to the RP target, thinking they might have the 7.5 foot one(the one we need!). We get down there, don't see it there either and decide to talk to Member Services. Apparently the 7.5 foot tree no longer exists. It comes with colored lights in a 7.5 feet and white lights in 9 feet. I DON"T WANT COLORED LIGHTS! Why, Why, Why would they stop carrying this? An average house has 8 feet ceilings, so the smaller tree is perfect. Luckily, Coscto cashed out our store credit and gave us the 168 cash, so we had some $$ to go look for a tree. Home Depot-crap, Wal-Mart-even crapier! We finally went to Lowes since we saw their flier and they advertised one for 148$-it looked decent enough(it wasn't no Costco one, that's for sure!) I decided that I GUESS I could live with it. They rang it up and waht do you know? It's on clearance(yeah, you heard me right) for 78 buckarros. So, I am feeling a tad bit better-more $$ for decorations. I am still majorly peeved at Coscto-I LOVED that tree. It looked SOOOOO real! But, now we have a new tree. I'll post pics soon. BTW-how crazy is it to have clearance on all X-mas items the first week in Dec?

Cute X-mas Gift!!!!

Everyone needs a cute notepad, right?
I found this cute idea online....no idea where, so please let me know if it was you!!! These are great little, dirt cheap (always a bonus) gifts that would be perfect for just about anyone! All it takes to make one is a 5x7 plastic frame(the kind that stands), some cute paper, some post-it notes and your favorite photo. Cut paper to fit into the frame, glue picture onto your paper. Then, insert it into the frame, so that the stand in the back of the frame is at the top where your post-its will go! Pop on the post-it notes and your ready to go! These would be super cute with those flower pens that you can make!!! Hope you like....

Vintage Brett

I took these pictures the other day of Brett. The outfit he has on is Nic's old outfit-my sister says it "very vintage". I guess it is. I love me some chuuby little legs! I need to find a pic of Nic wearing it!

I wasn't kidding!

Remember when I said that Thanksgiving wasn't my favorite holiday? I really don't have much to decorate the house, so therefore I am not a big Thanksgiving person. The food doesn't impress me all that much. I will say, however, that my wonderful husband made an "early" Thanksgiving dinner last week and it was delish. He made the turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie all by his lonely self....Brett and I were shopping. So, when we got home, all I had to do was throw together some stuffing and a broccoli dish and we were set!!!! I am very proud of him-how many guys would even WANT to attempt to make a pie? That's what I thought. My parents and sister and some friends came over for round 1 of the Thanksgiving dinners that we will be eating this holiday. I did come up with a cute centerpiece of our "dinner". It looks really neat when the candle is lit. I just took a few fake leaves and glued them together and then taped it to one of my hurricane vases ( I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE hurricane vases/holders!!!!)

Two AWSOME websites!!

I have discovered two crazy websites/blogs. The first one is right up my ally!!! If you know me at all, then you will know that the Dollar Tree is a weekly stop for me...sometimes more! How cool is this site? http://dollarstorecrafts.com (Yes, I realize that some of it is crap, but it's still cool!)

Second, there is this crazy-fun site called Wordle....I can spend hours on here creating stuff!!! Check it out! http://www.wordle.net/

Click here to see my holiday wordle

The Holidays Are Approaching!!!!!

I LOVE this website-great ideas for everything. Check it out...they are doing a bunch of giveaways!!! Be sure to check out the fabulous holiday gift-guide. All of these women(moms) create fantastic products! Please check them out. I have found so many great gift ideas!!!

2008 Holiday Mom-preneur Shop-a-thon!



This is a great site for some stocking stuffers for kids and general decoration ideas!! She has great giveaways as well!!! I always check her site out daily!

Bye Bye Halloween, Hello Holidays!

I took down the Halloween decor yesterday....I'm sad. I am "trying" to save $$$ and do a cheap-ish Thanksgiving decor so that I can really enjoy Christmas decorations. I will post what I have done for Thanksgiving when I finish. So, I heard yesterday that Starbucks has started THE red cups! It must be the holidays!!! I don't know why I get so excited over a stupid cup. Something about it totally gets me in the holiday mood. Maybe it's the cup and the drink that is inside it-A FF peppermint mocha. Yum!!! I am sitting here drinking one that I concocted at home to satisfy me for now-1 pack of SF hot choc, 1 spoonful of instant coffee, 1 spoonful of Ovaltine (makes it nice and rich), and a TBSP of Coffeemate's Peppermint creamer. I have to say, it's not bad for a knock-off!!! Here are some Halloween night pics ( I was a doctor)Enjoy!

October Pics

I just wanted to share some cute October pictures of the Little Man!









This is a video from when we were at the pumpkin patch...I think it is hilarious that he had such a hard time walking!!!

It smells like Fall in here!

I just made Pumpkin Spice Muffins and the whole house smells yummy! These are a cinch to make and "healthy" too! (It is a WW recipe)

1 box of spice cake mix
1 can of pumpkin (16oz)
1 cup of water
1 cup of chocolate chips (I crush up into pieces for more) (optional)
Dash of pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Mix all together and bake according to mix. I do 24 muffins, but this would make a great cake also!

What is going on?!

So Brett will be 1 1/2 years on Nov 1st. God. We are into full blown toddler-hood. We have the meltdowns, the occasional tratrums and the pickiness when it comes to eating; something that I have never dealt with before with Brett. But, there is another thing. Something that has driven Nic and I CRAZY this past month. I have no clue why he is doing it, but I am about to loose my mind. Awakefullness. Is that even a word? Well, in our household it is! I thought the first couple of nights I could blame his waking up at 2AM due to molars-he is getting two on top the exact same time. So I tried Tyelonol. Didn't work. Then I went to my moms message board and begged for help. They told me to try Mortrain-it lasts longer than Tyelnol I guess. Worked one night. They also suggested teething tablets. Again, one night it worked. Now, Brett will usually wake up around 2ish, sometimes crying,sometimes laughing. I hate to pick him up because then he will get the message that it is OK to wake mommy and daddy up all the time. We have tried the "cry-it-out method, only to have Brett crying hysterically, along with myself. I have taken him the the doctors only to find out that nothing is wrong. It is a total hit-or-miss. One night will be good, followed by 2 night s of hell. I should add, when he does wake up and doesn't go back to sleep right away, he wants to play and NOTHING will make him go to sleep. I have had nights where it is 4AM and he finally decides to sleep. I just can't for the life of me understand what is going through his cute little brain. he has NEVER EVER had sleep issues before. It started at 17 months and we are almost into 18. Mommy can't take much more!!!! But, all in all, he is a blessing to our lives. I mean, who can resist this adorable face? (Well, I can at 2AM)

Sooo yummy!

So I wanted to post a quick recipe....if you like buffalo wings then you will love this! And even better-it's a crockpot dish!

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

4 frozen chicken breasts
1/2-3/4 cup of Franks Buffalo Sauce (depending on how hot you like it.)
2 TBS vinegar
2 TBS butter

DIRECTIONS:
Place breasts in crockpot and cover with wet stuff. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred approx. 30 minutes before cooking time is over. Cook on low for an additional 30 minutes to soak up the sauce.


I make a wrap using a tortilla, shredded lettuce, cheese and a light blue cheese dressing. So good! Nic makes nachos out of it....he's a little anti blue cheese stuff!

Oh Halloween, How I Love You So!!!

So, today is the day! October 13, 2008! I have been thinking about creating a blog for Brett....no wait a minute...I want to do one about the crafty stuff I create....but then again, I wanted to do one for compiling recipes....shit! Too many things going on inside my head! So, I have decided to do a hodge podge of things. I may be rambling on about something that I want to make, or a new recipe I tried or a cute Brett moment(well, OK, they are ALL cute Brett moments!) I thought for my first post I would show how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Halloween! I really wish it were more than a day long....I want to have my house decorated more than a month. But then again, I can't wait for X-mas either. Can we just forget Turkey Day? I'm really NOT a fan of Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong, I love having a day off from work (when I worked), getting together with my family but as far as the food goes-it just doesn't do anything for me! I know, I am crazy!