July 22, 2010
We tried this recipe this week and we were quite happy with the results. We made it with strawberries, but any type of fruit would be great. It would be a much healthier option than ice cream for adding fun flavors like Oreo cookies or something too. We used our indoor ice cream maker and it makes 1.5 quarts at a time. After pouring the mixture into the maker, I poured the leftovers into a couple of popsicle molds. In the end, the popsicles may have been my favorite way to eat it since it gets so hard from sitting in the freezer. I read reviews about it getting icy after being in the freezer, but we haven’t had that problem. It has a creamy texture and we can’t wait to try more flavors.
I love that it was fat free and tasty!
You will need:
2 cups fat-free plain yogurt
2 cups pureed fresh strawberries
1 (14 ounce) can fat free sweetened condensed milk
1 cup fat-free milk
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.
Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer two-thirds full and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.
Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze.
Allow to ripen in ice cream freezer or firm up in refrigerator freezer 2-4 hours before serving.
Remove from the freezer 30-45 minutes before serving. This is why the popsicles worked so well!
You gotta love AllRecipes.com!
So frozen yogurt is making my Friday magical….
What is making your week wonderful? What has added that spark of magic to your life recently? Link up here to show me or tell me in a comment!
No Comments »
July 20, 2010
For Jon’s birthday, we had family game night. We struggle with finding games that entertain us and the kids. We gave Katelyn this game for Christmas and got it out to play for the first time this weekend. We played again last night and everyone has a great time with this game.
Several versions of the game exist, including a regular version, a junior version and the 7+ version. We have the 7+ one to start with for the girls. Madison and Emily need help reading the cards, so we play on teams with them. Katelyn reads the cards without a problem and will be 7 soon. They all understand the concept of the game and enjoy playing. They each love taking their turn as judge.
The set up and play is easy. You begin by dealing out red cards(5 each). Then the judge turns over a green card. The green card has a descriptive word on it such as yummy or large. Then the players each choose a red card from their hand with a word or phrase that best fits what the judge will think fits the word on the green card. The judge collects the card from each player and shuffles them up so they do not know who gave what card. After reading the card aloud, the players can try to sway the judge into choosing their card. Once the judge chooses a winner, that player receives the green card. The judge position passes to the next person and the game continues. The game ends after someone collects 4 green cards.
We played until we felt like stopping and added up the cards the first time we played since Katelyn collected 4 cards pretty quickly. Last night, we played until someone won 4 and then sent the kids off to get ready for bed. I can see us playing this game for years, especially since there are different versions we can get as the girls get older.
We are in the market for more games like this…ones we enjoy playing with the kids, but aren’t too advanced for kids ages 4-7 to enjoy.
I’m looking at getting:
and 
Any opinions on either of these games or suggestions for others?
I want to get a few more to add to our collection before we go to the beach. I’m so afraid with all the rain lately, we will be at the beach with nothing to do. So if I go prepared with other entertainment, it will be beautiful and we won’t need them.
2 Comments »
July 16, 2010
The last two weeks have been crazy busy since it’s the middle of the summer. I neglected the My Magic Friday link party those days. Oops!
Back in the swing of things with this week.
This Friday is magical for me because I get to wake up with 4 little girls in my house. We have my sweet niece visiting us for a couple of days. It’s always fun to have “the cutest 2 year old in the world” (as Katelyn calls her) stay with us. She is a ball of fun and has the most infectious laughter you can imagine.
I’m also baking a cake for a baby shower my mom is throwing this weekend. It’s always a blessing to celebrate new life and baking a cake is a fun way to contribute. I’m excited about getting the cake finished today.
This weekend, we have a family visiting, a child’s birthday party and my husband’s birthday to celebrate. So it will be a busy, but wonderful weekend for us. I need to have my act together all day Friday so the weekend goes well.
That’s what’s making my Friday magical.
How about you? Tell or tell me about what is adding that spark to your life.
11 Comments »
July 14, 2010
Yes, you read that right. I have a home pregnancy plant. It’s quite a crazy thing.
The plant is a peace lily. I didn’t realize the special powers of this plant when I first received it.
A friend of mine gave it to me when we had our first miscarriage. I though it was really sweet of Teresa and I enjoyed the bloom on the plant. After a bit of time, the plant stopped blooming. I had 2 more miscarriages. No blooms.
Early in the morning, on a cold New Year’s Eve, I found out I was pregnant again. Little Katelyn was baking. About a month later I realized that plant bloomed again. This was a bit odd. It didn’t bloom for two years. I figured it must like the new house or something. We moved from our apartment and bought our first home. So maybe it loved it’s new location. I didn’t think much more about it after that.
After Katelyn was born, the plant stopped blooming again. The leaves remained healthy and continued to grow and do well, but no white blooms ever appeared.
Fast forward about a year later. I was pregnant with Emily and as I was watering the plant, I noticed a bloom! It continued to bloom until I delivered her.
Then the blooms stopped again. It was strange. Each time the plant chose to bloom, nothing else changed. I watered it the same. It stayed in the same lighting. It was also different seasons when it bloomed, so it’s not like it only bloomed in the summer or the winter or something like that.
I had one more miscarriage between Emily and Madison. The plant didn’t bloom.
When I was newly pregnant with Madison, you guessed it, the plant began to bloom. It was the darnedest thing. It stopped blooming just before I had her.
Madison is now 4 years old.
It hasn’t bloomed again.
11 Comments »
July 11, 2010
I was looking for a rug to go under the table in the kitchen. I saw this one at Anthropologie and figured I could stalk the site until it went on some crazy discount so I could get it. Then I read the reviews. Not for high traffic areas, more of a throw rug, difficult to clean without tearing it up and shows dirt easily was what I got out of the reviews. Too bad. I liked it. Now I’m going to hunt for something that’s pretty and fits into our life. I’m thinking it will take me a bit of time since fitting into our life also means fitting into our budget.
In the morning, I’m taking Madison for her 4 year checkup. She’s getting several shots. I’ll do my best to not cry right along with her.
Then we are going out for ice cream. We won’t care that it’s only 9 am.
After ice cream, we will get comfy on the sofa with a quilt and a stack of library books.
Cuddle days are the best.
1 Comment »
July 7, 2010
I saw this idea in a catalog or magazine years ago and made this plate for our neighbors. I recently remembered a photobucket account and found some fun pictures in it from when the girls were young. This picture was in there too. So I figured I’d share the idea.
I purchased a box of clear dinner plates. I printed the poem out and placed it on the top of the plate. I flipped the plate over and painted on the bottom of the plate with glass paint. I didn’t want the paint to touch the food. This was years ago and they may have paint out now that is safe for use with food. I used the printed poem as a guide and carefully painted the words. I used a toothpick for better control. Then I painted the flowers along the border.
After painting the plate, I filled the plate with cookies and passed it to our neighbors.
The poem reads:
This plate shall have no owner
for its journey never ends.
It travels in the circle
of our family and our friends.
It carries love from home to home
for everyone to share.
The food that’s placed upon it
is filled with love and care.
So please enjoy what’s on this plate,
then fill it up again,
and pass along the love it holds
to family and your friends.
3 Comments »
July 5, 2010
A few years ago, we were having a party with lots of people, which also meant lots of wine glasses. My parents were hosting, but I was tasked with how to make wine charms so everyone could keep up with their own glass. For the life of me, I can’t remember the reason for the party because we continue to use these every time we get together. Everyone knows to dig for their charms. These also fit well over the neck of beer bottles.
To make them, we picked up a pack of do it yourself wine charm holders in the crafting section at Walmart. I’m sure they sell them other craft places too. Then we got a pack of the lettered beads that little girls use to make bracelets. I strung the beads onto the wine charms and they were an instant hit.
Several guests had short names, so I added heart beads to the name. Wait a second. The above picture is my grandmother’s wine charm with the added hearts. If I now remember correctly, it was her birthday party. That’s why I made the wine charms.Or maybe not.
For guests with the same name, I added a heart as a spacer and then their last initial.
These worked well because although you can make different wine charms for people with cute beads and pictures, eventually, someone is going to forget if they were the red flower or the red umbrella. From my experience, no matter how much wine the guests have, so far nobody has forgotten their name.
We keep these charms together in a bag in the kitchen. At gatherings there, we get them out and use them again and again. For new guests, we also keep extra supplies and make a new one with their name on it.
These would also make cute party favors to send home with guests.
For parties without alcohol or wine glasses, you can string these to the top of soda cans or carefully punch a hole in the top of a plastic cup.
I link to these parties.
7 Comments »
July 1, 2010
What a great sale the Disney Store has going on right now! I stocked up on some fun stuff for the girls. I’m going to have to put some of it away for Christmas. I also got some for gifts. I like having some toys on hand for those birthday parties that you get invited to on short notice.
They are having their Twice Upon a Year Sale.
Also, right now Get FREE Shipping on your entire order at DisneyStore.com with Promo Code: FREESHIP
I’m going to go back and look at the pins again too. I think it would be fun to get some for the girls to trade with other people when we go to WDW. Jon doesn’t think that sounds like much fun, but I do and hopefully the girls will!
I’m not exactly sure how it all works though. I didn’t buy the pins yet because I don’t know what kind to get. Do I get them ones they don’t necessarily like so that they will be happy about trading them? Or do I just stick with what they love and so they will be happy even if they don’t trade? I don’t want them to have ones the love, want to trade, but not want to give any of them up.
So…advice?
2 Comments »
June 30, 2010
I’m so excited about making some new clothes for the girls. Emily starts kindergarten this fall and that means she joins Katelyn at the elementary school. The school has a dress code that includes wearing a collared shirt or dress. I always thought that the dresses or jumpers had to be the same color as the dress code for bottoms (khaki, navy or denim), but last year I learned that a dress can be any of the approved shirt colors. Score! So I found this cute Jump Rope Dress Pattern from Oliver + S that fits our needs perfectly! I’m starting with this view in navy for Katelyn.
I’ve never put in a collar and I’ve only done raglan sleeves, so I figured this was a good place to start with the patterns. Katelyn also picked out this one, so that works for me! I’m making it short sleeved since they start back school in Aug and it will be hot! Mom got some pink corduroy fabric for me last week that will be so cute with this pattern too. I have one dress cut out, so I will start sewing soon!
For Madison (who can wear whatever she wants to at preschool) is getting this Birthday Party Dress style for some new clothes. I have some cute fabric that will make darling dresses for her with this pattern.
Now I just need to get my work done so I can carve out some sewing time!
No Comments »
June 25, 2010
I’m moving my linky party to Friday and I’m changing the name. I’m assuming that doesn’t bother anyone since it’s not like it was the happenin’ party to begin with. Maybe moving to Friday will help participation and maybe it won’t, but it’s my party and I can move it if I want to.
So, for my first Magic Friday party, I’m going to talk about my kitchen. I’m about to start on a bit of a redo in there. When we bought our house I knew exactly how I wanted it to look. I went bold in the kitchen and I loved it. It’s been 7 years and I’m over it. I need a change. I painted them to match my polish pottery dishes. I still love the dishes, but the walls need to go.
This is the color of the walls in the kitchen right now.
I spent the last month or so convincing Jon that he will like a turquoise kitchen. He’s not sold on the idea yet. I’m going for a coastal flair to our house and I want to lighten it up. We will still have ugly floors, but I will have to ignore them for a bit longer. The budget only calls for a can of paint so far! This is going to by my new color palette. Jon hasn’t said yes, but he hasn’t said no either, so I’m going with it.
If he comes home from work and the kitchen is completely different, it won’t be the first time something like that has happened to him! Once he left for work and the dining room was, well, a dining room. When he came home that evening for dinner, the dining room furniture was in the breakfast room and the dining room was a playroom. It would be nice if that’s the only time it’s happened to him, but it’s not.
So I’m excited about my new wall color and I have plans to paint the light in the dining room red and put it in the kitchen too. Let me tell you that Jon’s quite excited about that too…well, one day he will be. Probably.
So my change in paint for the kitchen is what is making my Friday magical. How about you?
Have any new projects completed? Want to show off some new shoes? Whatever adds magic to your day, let me see it!
When you are done linking here, head over to Minky{Moo} and show her your stuff! We are hosting this blog party together. So go strut your stuff with Minky too.
2 Comments »
June 24, 2010
These blocks are finally seeing the light of day. They have been waiting for me to get to them since I painted the peg people. I saw several places online that sell them or where people made them for their kids. Some people call them story dice. I probably call them both.
We have plans to go out to dinner with two other families. Seven kids hanging out with adults who like to talk may get easily bored. So I figured this was a great time to make these blocks so we can take them with us to dinner for the kids. The girls have been having a blast playing with them and helped me think of more pictures to add to more blocks.
I picked up these little wooden blocks at Micheal’s. They are about an inch. Some people paint images on them, mod podge images or stamp them. I was too impatient for that. I just drew the pictures with a pen and covered them with a bit of varnish to protect them. They are very simple designs, since those blocks are little! I also sanded to blocks a bit to dull the corners. I need to make a little bag to keep them in now.
Story blocks are pretty self explanatory, but there are several different ways to play. You can play alone or in a group. Each person can take a block or one person can have them all, it’s up to you. To play, just throw the blocks out and tell a story based on the pictures that land face up. If you are taking turns, each person tells their portion of the story and the next player adds onto the story based on their picture.
Here are some other sites with ideas of how to make them for further inspiration.
The Toby Show
Stitch/Craft
There are also several cute options on etsy if you just want to buy some!
Linking to 
19 Comments »
June 23, 2010
This morning after a whirlwind trip to Publix (where got 5 gallons of milk for just over $1 and free blueberries!!), I took the girls to the summer movie. We have always enjoyed going to these weekly shows each summer. Usually mom comes with us, but she’s off visiting with her friends and having some fun. Since this summer has been filled with illness and we’ve been busy otherwise, this was our first trip for the year. We enjoyed watching Shrek 3, eating popcorn and sipping on a drink for $3 each. Can’t beat that deal, especially since it’s a great way to get out of the house and out of the heat!
Don’t forget to check you local movie theaters for summer movies for the little ones!
No Comments »
June 21, 2010
My niece, Sofie, loves to chalk. When she’s here she grabs some chalk and wants to use it all over the house. My sister said she will hide chalk at home to have access to it whenever she wants. We gave her a lap size chalk desk for Christmas and it just wasn’t quite big enough for the ultimate chalking experience.
I found this cute chalkboard when out junkin’ one day. I just knew I had to have it. After I got it, I realized it was a PB Kids easel! Score! It was in rough shape and needed a bit of TLC, so I set out to refinish it for Sofie’s birthday. Her party was this weekend and she was quite happy with her new chalkboard!
Here’s how it looked when I found it.
I wanted to make it more girly looking. My sister loves Amy Butler fabric, so I figured I’d spiff it up with some Amy Butler scrapbook paper decoupaged to the tray. It was my first time using Mod Podge and I hope I did it correctly and it doesn’t fall off later. I also got chalkboard paint and repainted the chalkboard. I made it pink!
I forgot to snap a picture of it before we left for the birthday party, so here it is after Sofie got started chalking. It’s the first thing she opened and she wanted to chalk between opening gifts. She was cute!
I took some fabric and fleece (felt may have worked better) and layered it to make an eraser. Then I attached it to a ribbon with a magnet on the back of the chalkboard so my sister can remove it to wash it.
To coordinate the eraser and the tray, I made some paper flowers to go at the top.
Here’s the birthday girl trying it out for the first time. I can’t believe she’s 2 already!
9 Comments »
June 20, 2010
When I grocery shop with all three of our girls (ages 6, 5 and 4), I leave the store feeling like this:
During the school year, I shop while they are in school or when I just have one with me at a time, maybe two, but I avoid taking all three with me to the grocery store. My kids seem to lose their minds when they get in there. I’m guessing by the looks of the other moms in the store and after talking with my friends, my kids are not abnormal with this behavior. Normal or not, it drives me insane!
Now here we are in the middle of summer and no school days anywhere around us for me to shop alone. I will usually go in the evening when my husband is at home with them or I make my mom go with me.
My husband was about to leave for a two week trip and I needed to do some serious grocery shopping before he left because I didn’t want to have to take the girls to the store with me. Two nights before he left, I planned to go by myself. Turns out, I ended up with an ear infection and missed my opportunity to shop kidless.
So I had to take all three to the store. I was shopping for two weeks and I needed a plan to get in and out with my sanity intact. I put on my thinking cap and came up with this plan. I’m pleased to say it worked like a charm and I left with all three kids, my entire list complete and all my hair in place. That’s quite a feat!
Here’s how you can do it too:
1. Grab a sale flyer from the store. This makes it easy to see what is on sale at a glance and you will need it for step 3.
2. Make an organized list by aisle in the store. There can be no wandering around thinking about what you may need to pick up. This will also help you avoid the unnecessary backtracking for something you forgot in the store. That way once you get past the cookie aisle, you won’t have to go back! I also got my coupons ready and in an envelope. I will normally just have a few ready and get out the rest as I’m shopping along.
3. Make a list for your children. I used the sale flyer from the store and cut out pictures of items we were buying that day. This helps you kids visually see what items they are looking for and it becomes a game of i-spy. I stapled the images on an index card. I made one for each child, organized by sections of the store. One had this card, another one had produce and some groceries and the last one had frozen and cold items.
4. Bribe your children to behave. Mine will do anything for fruit snacks, so I promised them fruit snacks when we got finished, if they behaved. You are free to skip this step if you don’t agree with bribing kids!
5. Take a kid sized shopping cart to the store. We tossed the Little Tikes shopping cart into the van and off we went to go shop.
6. Allow one child to shop at a time with their list and shopping cart. I placed the other two into the two kid sized shopping cart and entertained them with the free cookie from the store and sample foods. Next time I will take some coloring books and crayons or something else to entertain them while they are not shopping. The child shopping took their time searching for the items on their list and when they found them, they placed it in the little shopping cart. I picked up the other things on my list as we went along. Once their list was complete, we put the food into the big cart and switched out kids.
This plan worked like a charm! I got comments from people all over the store and one mom stopped me to say she thought about taking a little cart with her, but was too nervous about. Once she saw us, she said she was going to try next time.
To shop this way took much more time since I had to plan stuff out before we left and kids searching for stuff can be a bit slow, but in the end everyone had fun. I no longer fear grocery shopping with three little girls! I’m passing along our experience in case anyone else needs some tips.
If you have more than 3 kids or your kids are too old to sit in the cart, you need more help that I’m qualified to give! Good luck…and share some tips with me. 
6 Comments »
June 18, 2010
Yesterday, I took all three girls to TJMaxx. I love shopping around that store. I about cried the day I realized they closed here in town. Seriously. I pulled up one day to shop and it was gone. Locked up and everything was gone. I called Jon in Iraq to whine about it! So, you see I love TJMaxx, HomeGoods, etc.
While we were there yesterday, the girls just couldn’t behave. I haven’t seen them this unruly in a store in a long time. I was ready to lasso them with some discount ties and attach them to the shopping cart. I had two in the cart, but they kept trying to stand up and get out and the child left loose was too busy touching everything in the store at least 3 times to be able to listen to me.
I had a return and wanted to spend the store credit while we were there since I don’t get there often. Apparently, that was too much to ask. I picked out what I wanted and headed to the checkout. As we stood there waiting for our turn, the older woman at the register directly in front of us turned around and said she understood what I was going through. She had 3 girls and 2 boys!
Then this woman reminded me that children are a blessing. It’s amazing how you receive that message just when you need it most.
I was telling this story to a friend of mine later that day and we decided that when my children are driving me up the wall, I’ll call her and she will remind me that these little beings are blessings. Their time in my home is fleeting. They are precious gifts to treasure.
When hers are driving her crazy, she will call me and I will remind her.
Each night when I see them sleeping, I can still see that tiny baby face I once spent hours gazing at when they were itty bitty. They make me want to pick them up and snuggle. Some nights I can’t resist.
No Comments »
