i'm a lucky mama...

to call these 2 crazies mine...

Happy Thursday!

fruity curry chicken salad

This is one of my favorite recipes. I discovered it on allrecipes.com about a year and a half ago but I have changed a few  things to make it my own. I hardly ever make it when it's colder outside, just something about chicken salad seems more appealing in warmer, picnic type weather:) I promise this is delicious, still working on my food stylin' skills:)

Fruity Curry Chicken Salad

1-1.5 lbs cooked boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

4 green onions, chopped

1/3 cup red grapes, sliced in half lengthwise

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

1 golden delicious apple, peeled, cored, and chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/8 tsp black pepper

3/4 cup low-fat/light mayonnaise

Throw all of the ingredients into the bowl, stir well to combine. This really tastes even more delicious the next day when all the flavors have had time to get to know each other;) It tastes delicious on a bed of lettuce, on sandwich bread, or on crackers!

bark and daisy

We kinda finished up spring break with being lazy stay in our jammies all day bums. I did take the kids to Build a Bear on Sunday and they both made new friends:)

Aislynn named Kieran's dog Bark:) So cute:) Kieran kept trying to eat Bark's nose and feed him some of that fake ice cream cone.

Meet Daisy. Aislynn had to bring her to school today to show her to her friends and last night she fixed Daisy a dinner with all of her play vegetables:)

 

and a few other snaps from the weekend:

 Mr. Cool

 A Princess

and a little boy sleeping with "froffy" and "bank"...froggy and blanket;)

latest pages

I haven't been scrapping much this week. I have been watching this video over and over and over again to try to make my images as pretty as Erin's:) I am learning a lot and will hopefully have her editing style down within the next week or so?

But on to the layouts:

 Five and a Half...I had totally printed out these pictures to scrap using Echo Park Springtime...then the March My Scrapbook Nook Kit, but in the end, I thought Jillibean Soup Blossom Soup worked the best for these pictures:) Here are some close ups:

 Birthday Helper...this is one of those pages that you have had in your mind FOREVER! Aislynn loves helping people blow out the candles and I have been wanting to document that for awhile;)

 Taste Tester...I made this for the March Crate Paper Sketch Challenge. I think this is probably the furthest I have strayed from a sketch, but I *really* like how this page turned out, it is my favorite of the bunch. I am obsessed with the Studio Calico Mister Huey's white mist right now and I LOOOOOOVE the Crate Paper Toy Box collection. It has such a wonderful mix of colors and patterns and such a great vintage vibe:) Here are some close ups:

That is it for now, hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!!

staycation part 2

I am going to be so sad when Aislynn has to go back to school! We have had so much fun this week. We had debated going somewhere, but why go on a vacation for spring break when we live at the beach?! On Wednesday I took the kids on a picnic at Eden State Gardens. Aislynn was amazed at all of the azaleas blooming! Kieran was just happy to try to blow bubbles:)

 She kept wanting me to take pictures of her:)

 He wanted to blow bubbles so bad, he finally did one here:) He kept saying try...try...try...it was so cute:)

 love this:) Aren't those flowers beautiful?!

 Yesterday I took them to the park in the morning...which was a complete disaster. Kids throwing major fits, kids trying to eat rocks (I'll let you guess who did what!)...plus it was so so so hot...hard to believe it is this hot and it is not even April yet!

 Everyone was happy when we got home and we had popsicles.

 Thy kept tasting each others...

 and Kieran kept wanting to do cheers;)

 After Kieran's nap, we headed to the pool...

 and Aislynn showed us her biggest jumps ever;)

then we grabbed some burgers on the way to the beach and stayed there until sunset:)

So do some of these pictures look fuzzy/blurry to you? It is driving me crazy, I cannot figure it out!!! They look fine in photoshop and then look bad on here, grrrrr....I will figure it out soon hopefully.

Tomorrow I have a few layouts to share...I haven't been scrapping as much this week since A has been off.

greek chicken and tomato pasta

A week or so ago, my friend Shel showed me this link. I haven't even begun to check all of them out, but I saw some blogs that I definitely need to add to my favorites list. One of them is The Hungry Housewife, where I found this recipe. All of us loved this. Kieran wouldn't eat the pasta, which was weird...but this guy, sometimes something he won't eat one day-he gobbles up the next. This even tasted really good cold. Make it, you will not be sorry.

Greek Chicken and Tomato Pasta (from The Hungry Housewife)

1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3/4 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp olive oil

1.5 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 pint of cherry tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, minced

(she also had 3 oz. of kalamata olives, pitted and sliced here...but I don't like olives so I didn't add them!)

1 box of farfalle pasta

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

pepper, salt to taste

3.5 oz crumbled feta cheese

1. In a medium bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients, cover, and marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions.
3. In a large saute pan, on medium high heat, saute chicken until no longer pink (about 5-7 minutes), Remove from pan and cover with foil to keep warm.
4. In the same pan, over medium heat, add cherry tomatoes and saute until they begin to burst. If pan starts to dry out, add a bit of chicken stock/broth. Add garlic (and olives if you are using them) and saute for about one more minute. Add to chicken mixture in bowl and recover to keep warm.
5. In the same pan, over medium high heat, add butter and extra virgin olive oil along with your cooked/drained pasta. Add salt and pepper to taste and saute for a few minutes until some of the noodles begin to get crispy. Add the chicken and tomato mixture, toss, and sprinkle with the feta cheese...then serve! 

staycation

It is A's spring break and we are staying here, we told Aislynn it was called a staycation, so that is what she keeps saying we are on:) This is what we have been up to so far:

 making this project from Baby Center

 A was excited because she got to eat some popcorn:)

 She was also excited when she saw trees like this when we were driving yesterday:)

 Another editing question...what am I doing that my pictures look crystal clear and sharp when I am editing them, but when I post them on my blog they look a bit fuzzy?!

 Monday we met my sister for lunch in Rosemary Beach.

 Aislynn took the next 3 pictures:)

 morning snuggles...

 A built a "magic carpet" for them:)

 love love love:)

 we went to play in the fountains yesterday afternoon:)

Today we are planning to go a picnic:) Can't wait until summer when all the days will be this carefree;)