Monday, January 31, 2011

weekend snapshots

 Aislynn and I made these chocolate chip cookies.
 the weekly shot of our living room...not quite as messy as the last one:)
 She wanted to make valentine's, so we pulled out scraps, stamps, heart punches...
 and after writing her name on about 5, she wanted to stop and do it another day:)
 saw this post on Susan Weinroth's blog and totally copied it. Aislynn loves her "gallery!"
 We had some beautiful weather this weekend so we headed to Watercolor to take a walk.
 Miss Twirly Skirt:)


 r2d2 loved running around like a crazy boy, err robot:)
 Sunday we finger painted. Wow...Kieran isn't quite ready for it:)
 He mostly would stick his hands in the paint, then wipe his hands on his clothes.

 Aislynn was mad that Kieran kept mixing the colors:)
 Yay, he got it, lol!




Needless to say...he went straight into the bath after this.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

20 months

 
 He was 20 months on Friday. Crazy....in 4 months he will be 2. Waaaaah, no, lol!! I am not going to list everything, but here are some of my favorites about Kieran at 20 months:
  • He pretends to count...if we say one, he says "one, two...FI!!!" Which is five.He gets really excited about five, lol. He is starting to kinda learn his colors...he knows blue good. He sometimes gets red. He is also learning so many letters. He likes pointing out "o" the best:) I would say he probably recognizes over 50% but less than 75% if them. I LOVE this stage where they just soak up everything like a sponge!
  • He is sooooo friendly:) He loves to say hi and "talk" to anyone. He also likes to point to Mama, Dada, and Nana and tells complete strangers who we are:)
  • Loves his baths, playing with his trains, blocks, and puzzles
  • His favorites foods are cookies, carrots, bananas, kiwis, and "prepas" or pretzels. He also loves milk and anytime you are in the kitchen he requests it
  • He says a lot of words, but my favorites are when he says okay or if you ask him a question and he says "YEAH" very enthusiastically. He also says "ha you" for love you when we tuck him in at night:)
  • He definitely thrives in the routine...he loves telling me what we are going to do next: When we are walking out to the car from dropping A off at school, he says "ho" for home. Then when we get home he says "dada...ca" because he knows we are going to make Daddy coffee:) When he wakes up from his nap he always says "Nana!!!!" because he knows Aislynn will be home from school. I love it!
  • He was resisting naps, so I started rocking him to sleep for his naps. He still goes down without me rocking him at night so I don't mind doing it for naps. I kinda like it. Love singing to him and looking into his eyes as they slowly droop, then shut and his breathing gets long and deep as he falls into dreamworld:) Cheesy, I know...but I am clinging to baby stage as long as I can , ha ha:)
  • He is such a ham to...especially at dinner. It's like the Kieran show or something, love his silly silly personality!!
***
I made a couple layouts last week:
 
I used Creative Scrappers sketch #131 for this one.
My February Scrapbook Nook kit came yesterday so I am hoping to steal some time tonight to play with it:)

Friday, January 28, 2011

updated shepard's pie+some exciting news!!!

This is one of those recipes that I don't make that often, then when I do I wonder why because it is so yummy and easy to make...plus I like all-in-one type dinners:) I am not sure where I got this recipe (Mom, from you??) but I know I got it while I was doing weight watchers. Sorry if the picture does not look appetizing...still working on my food stylist skills;)

Updated Shepard's Pie

1 lb ground beef (I used ground turkey here because that is what was on hand!)
1 1/4 lbs red potatoes
4 cups frozen mixed veggies, thawed
3 cloves of garlic
3/4 cup sour cream (I didn't have enough, so I used some greek yogurt)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp all purpose flour
3/4 cup reduced sodium beef broth
2 tbsp ketchup
your family's favorite seasoning (we used Emeril's Essence for this)

1. Cover potatoes and garlic with water in saucepan, bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes, or until very tender. Drain. Return to saucepan with sour cream and 1/4 cup cheese. Mash to desired consistency.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season and brown meat in large nonstick skillet. Stir in flour, cook for 1 minute. Add vegetables, broth, and ketchup, continue cooking for 5 minutes. Check here if you need to add more seasoning or not.
3. Spoon meat mixture into 8x8 baking dish. Cover with mashed potatoes, bake 18 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of cheese and bake an additional 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.
4. Enjoy this yummy goodness:)
***
In other VERY exciting news...I made round 2 of the design team call at My Scrapbook Nook. I am so super excited and honored to be on the list with some of the names that made it!! Let the fun begin!!!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

valentine's day wreath

After our yummy gumdrop wreath we made during Christmas, Aislynn wanted to do one for Valentine's Day, so this is what we came up with:
Here's how we made it:

1. Gather your supplies: glue (we used tacky glue, but I think a hot glue gun would work great, if not better), a wood floral wreath, ribbon, and valentine's day candy (We used conversation hearts and jubilee hearts. We also bought gobstopper hearts, but they didn't work to well-make sure you use candy with a flat back.).
2. Tie the ribbon around the wreath so that you can hang it.
3. Eat some candy:)
4. Place a dot of glue on the wreath and place a piece of candy on the glue...hold it down to make sure it stays put. Continue until the entire wreath is covered.
5. Let dry overnight. Hang it up! Ta dah!

On a side note...NONE of the conversation hearts in our bag said hug me or kiss me...weird, huh?

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

some pages to share!

I participated in the virtual crop at My Scrapbook Nook last weekend, and I got a TON of pages done!! It was so much fun and I got some pages done that I may never have completed due to the challenge prompts. I ran out of 12x12 kraft paper so I had to get extra creative:) Here are the projects I completed:
The challenge for this one was to scrap a group picture and include the year in the title. I scrapped this picture of me and my brothers and sister at Thanksgiving in 2009. Can I tell you I love that Martha Stewart heart punch??!
 The challenge for this layout was to use up some older stash. I used some Basic Grey Sultry, remember that? When I was looking through all of my papers this weekend I realized I have too many and if I haven't used them yet, I needs to purge some...so I think I am going to do a giveaway soon when I finish going through my stuff:)
 The challenge for this one was to use a vintage picture and use the words treasure or timeless in the title. I used this picture from Halloween 1989 and journaled about how my Mom always made all or most of our costumes:)
 For this challenge, we had to scraplift a member of My Scrapbook Nook. I lifted this layout by Ginger Williams.
 This layout was for a challenge to scrap a piece of your family history. I used this picture of Brynne, my Mom, my Great Grandma, my Grandma, and me. Man...do you remember those couches guys?!
  The challenge for this one was to scrap one of your family's favorite places. It was a toss up between this and Disney, but I went with Eastern Lake. I am pretty sure if you have been reading my blog for awhile, you will remember seeing some posts about Eastern Lake:)
 For this one we had to make a name tag...Aislynn wants me to make one for her, hee hee:)
 For this one, we had to scrap about a home or a place that has impacted us or feels like home. I used this picture (sent to me by James that was taken with his phone-thanks man!) and journaled about my Mom's house.
 The challenge for this page was to not use any patterned paper-eek! I used some background stamps and watermark ink to make my own patterned paper with cardstock. Oh how I love this picture of A:)
 For this one, we had to scrap how many people were in our family, plus add some texture. I used the crochet flower for texture and this turned out to be one of my favorite pages to date! I love it!!
 This was to scrap something strange or quirky that someone in your family does, so I picked how Kieran only likes to have one sock on:)
 These challenge for this one was What's in a name so I scrapped how we picked out Kieran's name and what it means.
 The challenge for this page was to make a project with a monogram. I did this one with K:)
 This one was to use "wood" or trees and I used woodgrain paper. I like the design a lot for this one...simple and clean:)
 The challenge for this one was to interview a family member. I scrapped the questions I asked A on her 5th birthday.
 And this one was to scrap a page using a song title with the word family in it for the title. I used a song by the Ramones, but the lyrics aren't so happy:( Good thing we just had to use the title:)
Guess what? I won the grand prize for participating in the crop!! I am so super excited because it is 2 entire collections by Cosmo Cricket and it's their stuff that is just coming out...not even available to buy yet, woo hoo!! I am so grateful!!

Sooooo, that is it! I think I am scrapped out for awhile, ha ha. Actually I am supposed to be getting a birthday package of scrap goodies today, so maybe not;)

Monday, January 24, 2011

hi!

Wow, compared to the week before, this week was a failure at blogging:) Oh well...it was also a failure at laundry, keeping up with the dishes, maintaining a fairly toy free path through the house, and taking pictures. It was not a failure at scrapbooking though:) The crop at My Scrapbook Nook was a success and I have a ton of pages to share sometime, but for now I must tackle Laundry Mountain.
But since I hate to post without a picture, here is one from this weekend:
 Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

a loose tooth

Some one discovered a loose tooth the other day:) Any guesses on when it will fall out?
I'm participating in an online crop at My Scrapbook Nook that runs until the 23rd if any of my scrappy friends want to join me:)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

a long weekend

*click on the image to get a closer look*
1. trains 2. waaaaaay too much chapstick 3. loving this idea to take a picture in the same spot one day a week. I think it will be neat to see how the shelves (still in disarray after Christmas was taken down) change, what toys are being played with, what coats, pool bags, etc. are hanging by the door. 4. Ponyville 5. Working on this craft/science project that didn't quite turn out 6. we still had fun mixing colors though 7. the almost finished product 8. bubbles 9. fun in the tub together 10. bubbles+trains...double the fun! 11. love love this picture, a new fave 12. the second week of a new tradition...special sunday breakfast...any amazing waffle recipes? tried 2 and they weren't *amazing* 13. super aislynn 14. crazy bed head, he needs another haircut 15. reading stories on "beds" Aislynn made for them 16. staying in our jammies waaaaay late in the day:) 17. yup, more trains 18. running running in Watercolor 19. love this picture Shaun took of us, nice job hon! 20. my sweet crazy boy 21. my sweet crazy girl 22. we had a race or two, but she kicked my butt and still kept on going 23. giggles 24. super sad and mad that we had to leave his 2 rocks (one for each hand) behind 25. A has been reading his stories before his nap lately:) 26. painting 27. she painted an oompa loompa for Shaun because they watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and he always teases her about the oompa loompas and sings the song 28. a yummy salad because I have GOT to lose some of this holiday weight...just gotta get past the first few days of being hungry:)

Hope you had as good a long weekend as we did:)

Monday, January 17, 2011

a rush of mojo

Went on a little scrapping rush this weekend...after all that sewing and baking for the holidays, it is nice to return to scrapping:)
 Just a page to document how Kieran says "moo" for any animal he doesn't know what sound it makes.
 The picture is kinda wonky, but for those who were wondering, the banner was cut from this patterned paper:)
 Thanks Shel for the Candy Land goodies-perfect for this page! I used my 1" square punch here to try and recreate the game board!
 Just a page about how much K loves cookies...
 finally getting to scrapping these pictures from not last Halloween, but the one before.
A quick Disney page with some of my favorite moments and pictures!
Hope everyone is having a great long weekend!