Random act of kindness

Dear Kind Older Man, Thank you so much for helping bagging my groceries today. It made my day! Taking two small children to the grocery store is a challenge normally. Adding huge lines and pricing issues could have been a disaster. You and your wife made the time pass so much faster by asking Carter about Thomas the Train and other things that interest 2.5 year old. I'm sure your grandchildren adore you. Thank you so much for your kindness!

Tinfoil Dinners

DH is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and I am pretty much a chicken and pasta kind of girl. Finding a meal that includes beef that I like is a little more of a challenge. Tinfoil dinners are one of the meals that I grew up with my mom making. They're pretty easy to make and something that even my two year old will eat.

Ingredients: Ground Beef (You can do this with chicken too if you like that better)

Carrots

Potatoes (I use red, but any works)

Cooking Spray

Butter

Tinfoil

Directions: Lay out tinfoil and spray with cooking spray. I usually use about 18 inches of tinfoil per serving. Cut up carrots and potatoes. Make beef into hamburger patties and place in the center of the tinfoil. Surround with potatoes and carrots.

Fold up tinfoil. Place on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven at 425 degrees. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Check the potatoes and carrots with a fork to see if they are fully cooked.

Homemade Baby Teething Biscuit

Jack has been teething like crazy lately. I always kind of wonder what's really in of the pre-packaged foods for kids, so I decided to try to make my own. There are tons of recipes online for teething biscuit. I decided to experiment with making my own.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice cereal

1 cup flour

1 cup applesauce
3 tablespoons oil

cold water (add as needed)

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients together.

Add applesauce and oil. Slowly add water as needed. It should form a very sticky dough.

Roll out on floured surface. Cut out using cookie cutters. I choose bunnies for Easter (although some of them look more like pigs than bunnies). Bake at 425 degrees for 12-13 minutes. You can tell they are done when the edges turn a golden brown.

Jack really seemed to enjoy munching on them. I will definitely be making them again.

Sassy Spring Message Board

As a mom of a baby and a toddler, I enjoy crafts that I can finish in less than one nap time. I tend to have crafting ADD, so projects that take longer may or may not every get completed. Projects that take about only minutes to complete are my dream.

Supplies needed:
Frame- Any size will do, but I used a 8" by 10"
Scrapbook paper (Mine is Amy Butler, which I purchased at Joann's)
Scissors
Pencil



Trace the insert from the frame on your scrapbook paper and cut it out. Stick scrapbook paper in frame and hang up. Enjoy! Mine will be hanging up in my kitchen to make my grocery list a whole lot cheerier. It would also make a great dorm room gift for any graduates in your life.

Amazing Blueberry Muffins

Tim and Carter made blueberry muffins while I was at work yesterday. There is pretty much nothing better than coming home to made from scratch baked good from 2/3 of my favorite guys. (I was amazed by the fact they were able to get this done while crabby teething Jack took a 20 minute nap.) The muffins were so good that they were pretty much gone by breakfast this morning. Since we still had a ton of blueberries left, we made another batch.

Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
a pinch of cinnamon


Directions
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2.Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top.
3. Mix white sugar and cinnamon. Use to top the muffins.
4.Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Jack is 6 months old !!!!

Okay, not until tomorrow at 11:55pm, but still. The past 6 months have gone by way too fast. Whoever said "The days are long, but the years are short," was so right. We've definately had our challenges in the past 6 months, including reflux, the stomach flu, and a cold that was starting to become croup. Jack's smiles have made them all worth it.
My favorite recent development is the relationship between Jack and Carter. Carter adores Jack (sometimes not gentlely enough) and Jack think Carter is hilarious. I am so excited to see their friendship grow as they get older. Jack just started sharing a room with Carter. Tim and I love to listen to them talk to each other on the baby moniter.
Jack is not quite sitting up on his own yet, but I think it will happen pretty soon. He's able to balance for a little while if we prop him up with his arms. He loves to roll. Front to back is easy, but back to front happens less often. Jack uses his legs to rotate himself on the floor, usually to get closer to toys or Carter.

Happy 6 month Birthday to my handsome little guy!

Christmas Card Slacker

I'll admit I'm a total slacker when it comes to getting holiday cards out. Last year we didn't them out until the week after Christmas. This year, I'm already ahead of the game because I've been scoping out the photo cards on Shutterfly There are so many cute designs to choose from. (It would probably help if I already had the picture taken too.)

So far this is one of the top contenders. I love the plaid and brown. It's Christmasy, but not cheesy.

I love the simplicity of this one too.

Or maybe something cute and modern like this one. Way too many choices!
I've had great luck ordering from Shutterfly in the past. They have many great gift ideas from

calenders and mugs . It's the perfect gift because who wouldn't want to get a gift with a picture of my adorable children on it. :)



I can't wait to make my final card choices once I get my pictures taken of the kids this weekend.