Two Firsts!

Salt Dough Ornaments are a first in our family.  I am 34 years old and have never made them...that I can remember.  The recipe that I found online was very simple.  You really should try it.  This kids had a blast decorating them! 1/2 cup salt 1/2 cup water 1 cup flour I doubled the recipe just so that I made sure I had enough ornaments for the kids to decorate.  I didn't count, but I think it was the perfect amount.  Mix the above together and then knead together for about 7-10 minutes on a floured counter.  Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with cookie cutters.  I have some old fashioned cookie cutters that we used that worked perfectly.  Bake at 200 degrees for 4-6 hours or overnight.  You are just trying to get all the moisture out of them. We are going to be giving some these away so I let the kids draw on them with marker.  If you have polyurethane you can coat them in that to make sure that they last for years to come.  I didn't.  I'm not sure how long mine will last.  I'll have to get back with you on that one next year.

Make your own free scrapbook

My second first is, sharing our photos through a virtual scrapbook.  I'm not sure how this is going to work and, most importantly, if my readers are going to like it.  I LOVE taking pics of things that my kids do and can easily take a kabillion in one sitting.  Of course I want to show them all to you but posting them on a blog post can take forever and you know, just might not be very appealing to the eye.  So I opted to make a virtual scrapbook.  Hopefully you will click the link and check out the pics.  If you don't like it this way, please tell me and I'll go back to the old way of posting pics.  If you do like it, tell me that too.

I also like the fact that I am not only sharing my scrapbook pages with you, but when I create them, I can print them out and insert them into our "actual" scrapbook.  Maybe doing it this way will help me get caught up on my scrapbooking.  If I am only scrabooking a couple of things at a time to show you, it may not make the task seem so insurmountable.

Too Cute!

I'm going to brag a little...

I HAVE THE MOST ADORABLE BOY EVER!!!

Photo Challenge by Paper Mama

How fitting that the photo challenge by Paper Mama this week is "FALL".  Even though they are repeats here are my entries!

Head over and check out all the awesome entries!

My Week in Snapshots

 

My Handsome Man!

Parker picking flowers!

James and his buddy at Tongie Days!

James bobbing for apples!

Parker eating his first whole apple!

James eating donuts off a string with no hands!

Among all the summer fun we had this week, James had his first lemonade stand and he make a whopping $19!  It helps that I called all of the friends we knew to see if they could come and pay him a visit, otherwise he might have only made what I would have "bought" from him if you can technically call it that since I bought all of the product to begin with.  Nonetheless he had fun being able to go and spend some of his money on things that I "never" buy him...
After I shot my pictures this week I realized that my poor daughter likes to run from the camera unless she is all "put together". She escaped this week but not for long!


Speaking of Alysia, her poor staph infection is back. Poor girl got rid of it for about a week and a half and is fighting it again. Not a good thing for wanting to hang out at the pool with all of her friends. Apparantly she will be fighting this for a long time. I guess once you get it and it colonizes you basically have to keep it from coming back. Doctor says she has to take a bleach bath EVERY NIGHT for six weeks. Poor thing! One capful of bleach per gallon of water. Any idea how many gallons of water fit in a bathtub?!?! Approximately 25 gallons of water fill an average size tub halfway. So geusstimating that we would use about 30 gallons, that is 30 capfuls of bleach! Bless her poor soul - I hope that kills every bit if staph on her skin after the six weeks is up. So much for her lazy summer days at the pool!

Taking a Time Out

The good kind anyways.  Sweet Parker is soooo fascinated with being outside that every time he is inside he begs to go outside, almost like my dogs when they need to go out and pee.  They stand at the door and whine :)  He plays a game where he acts like he wants to let the doggies in but in reality he is trying to escape!  Good thing we have a fenced backyard, huh!

Here are some pics I shot of our most recent time out.  I took it as an opportunity to get some sun on my ghostly legs, and toes...

Here is sweet little Pooks talking singing to his "Nannie" on the phone.

  

Playing with Dixie!  First off let me remind you that she is only 5 months old and she's BIG, and she's not done growing!!  You see that six foot privacy fence all around our yard?!?  SHE KEEPS JUMPING IT!!  If we are out front and she hears us she will do anything to get out front with us, including climbing a privacy fence that's taller than me.  CRAZY....

I  had the hardest time keeping the ball out of Pooks' mouth...YUCK!

He came in and crashed....until next time - as soon as he wakes up!

I hope youenjoy the rest of the beautiful day.  Upon coming in I realized it was cooler outside than inside with all the windows open, therefore our lovely AC has made it's first appearance of the year.  I held out longer than some people around here but couldn't anymore.  Cooking dinner at the hottest time of the day was becoming unbearable.

Need Photog Help - I have your answer!

If you are like me and love taking pictures but don't quite know all the bells and whistles in order to go into manual mode...you know where you tell the camera what to do instead of you thinking it has a brain...The Idea Room has some GREAT posts by Kristen Duke where she shares a LOT of information.

I hope you get as much out of it as I did.  Now I just need to jot down some notes and carry them with me all of the time.  There is no way I can remember all that stuff!

LOTS of recent pics!

I'm pretty far behind in my scrapbooking but here are some recent pictures for you.

A free slideshow design by Smilebox

Where's My Gummi Bear?

There it is!!  In that chandelier.....WHAT??  How cool is that?  I looks amazing but I sure wouldn't want to dust it.  According to the website it takes about two months to complete and holds 5000 gummi bears!  They are only going to make 10 so you better hurry over and get yours!  Or not.....  It's neat to look at though.

So maybe that's not your style and you want something a little more traditional.  Here you go!

Oh to feel the gummis underneath my feet.  Awwwww..........

On a more serious note for all you gummi lovers out there, for only $30 here is a five pound gummi bear equal to 1400 small gummies.  I might be getting one of these for my dear hubby for Father's Day.  It's just cool to have around. 

His gummy bear would match my one pound sugar daddy!!

I hope this made your Friday sweet!  I know it did mine...

Spring Has Sprung - "I Think" (easy craft)

It's spring according to the almanac but the view outside my window doesn't show such.

Two days ago it was a beautiful 62 degrees and warm enough to say it was spring.  Today...can't get above freezing. YUCK!!

I'm not going to let it stop me from bringing spring indoors though.  I am ready and if I have to force it then by golly, that's what I'm going to do.  I made my own grass......out of rice, green food coloring, and vinegar.

Take a 2 lb bag of rice, 1 T of vinegar and some green food coloring and mix it all together.  Spread on a cookie sheet over some paper towels and bake at 200 degrees for about 20-30 minutes until it is all dry.

Now you have green grass even if there isn't any outside!!  Now some flowers to liven up my dining room windows!

HAPPY SPRING!!  I hope yours is warmer than mine!

Post-It Holders

I finally got around to making the post-it holders that I talked about the other day and I think they turned out pretty cute for just stuff I had hanging around the house.  James wants to take two of them to give to his teachers for Valentine's Day and I thought about making them a little Valentiney but I opted not to simply because I wanted them versatile year round.

The best part was they they were super easy to make!  What do you think??

The Best Biscuits EVER!!

I have been in search of a biscuit recipe for several months now.  I personally know that Pillsbury Grands fits all my criteria but m y dear hubby was wanting me to make some homemade ones.  His dream is to one day open a cafe so he wanted a biscuit recipe that was the most delicious ever.

I tried about six different recipes and they never turned out quite the way I wanted.  They were either too hard, tasted like flour too much, or simply wasn't the consistency I was going for.  Every recipe spins off of a pretty basic recipe but some call for buttermilk, some do not, some call for self rising flour, some do not.  I wanted something that was SIMPLE. 

I got this recipe from my mother in laws sister and I have to say that these "Ange Biscuits" are simply divine.  They are fluffy and YUMMY!!!  The recipe does call for buttermilk which I didn't have.  If you don't have buttermilk you can take 2 cups of whole milk and add 2 T of vinegar.  Make sure this is at room temperature.  This makes it work best for some reason.  I put the milk in the microwave for about 40 seconds and then added the vinegar.  This will take the chill out of it in order to be close to room temperature.

ANGEL BISCUITS

1 envelope yeast
2 T. lukewarm water
5 c. flour
1 t. soda
3 t. baking powder
3 T. honey
1 t. salt
1 cup shortening
2 cups buttermilk

Dissolve yeast in water. Sift dry ingredients. Cut shortening into dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and honey, then yeast. Stir until flour is dampened. Knead on floured board 1/2 minute. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes. No rising is necessary. Dough can be refrigerated and used as needed for a week.
 
Good Luck!!  I hope you enjoy!!

Lego Creations

James' creation from his Christmas gifts. This is one boy toy that I can get into. I love helping him build these things. He is far better at playing with them though; I don't have near the imagination that he does.