The Michael Chronicles

A Pintrest Christmas, Part 3

2012-01-06T14:14:00.001-05:00

For years, I've wanted to get my Grandma one of these fabulous personalized cake pans from the Cake Pan Lady. Granny cooks A LOT and is always bringing one thing or another for this or than potluck. She's also often losing containers. But I put it off because the cake pan lady is a bit pricey!

Fast forward to this fall and I found a great idea for etching your own glass. I have a Cricut Cutting Machine and thought, "huh, I can do this." Thinking through my gift list, I figured a lot of my family actually cooks for parties and potlucks and away I went. I simply bought some nice glass containers with lids on them. I then cut out thier names using my Cricut Machine and vinyl material. I stuck the vinyl to the side of the glass, and then applied etching cream to the name stencil. Wait 2 or 3 minutes, wash it off, remove the vinyl stencil and wah lah! I loved how it turned out. Not perfect (getting my sisters FULL name straight turned out to a bit challenging on a round bowl...) but nice!

Christmas Morning and Santa's Footprints

2012-01-05T09:34:00.000-05:00

When I was about six years old I started catching on to the fact that Santa wasn't real. I'm not sure how I came to that conclusion, but I asked my Dad, and being my dad, he told me the truth. And I was fine with that harsh reality. As long as I still got the presents. Of course I went to school and shared it with my friends. My cousin Michelle's mother still hasn't forgiven me for killing the Christmas innocents in thier home (sorry Linda!) In light of that information, and in light of the fact that my oldest has been (so far) much like her mother, I figure we have, at most, another year or two of Magical Santa Belief. So we lived it up this year! We throughly enjoyed the starry eyed wonder all morning long!

Isabelle came downstairs in the middle of the night, jumped in bed and said, "Mom, Sants came! He left presents and footprints all over the living room!

I had cut out my own shoe print on a piece of paper and mixed flour and glitter and sifted onto the foot cutout all over the living room. Clever, right? Well, I am original, you know.

Along with eating all of our biscotti (we wanted to leave something unique for santa) and milk. Santa left a note for the girls. He also marked the packages with special North Pole Delivery Tags. How cool is Santa? Thankfully, no one noted that the wrapping paper was the same that Mommy used on all of our gifts to our family. Shew!

MY favorite gifts that we Santa got for them were these pesonalized plates from etsy. You design one to look like your child. I also got one for Abby and Jack. I love love love them. Grace was all like, "ahh..whatever...next." And Isabelle was all like, "Ahhh Braids! I don't wear braids, anymore! I wear ponytails. ONLY ponytails!" Oh well. They'll appreciate it when they're older. Hopefully. And you gotta love the "reality television" looks we were getting that morning. If they weren't small children I would describe these pictures as "hung over."

A good time was had by all and caos ensued!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-04T08:34:00.003-05:00

As is our Christmas tradition, we traveled north to my family's home and had several more family Christmas parties. My kids were in wrapping paper clouds of joy, as they piled up gifts, opened presents, and ohh and ahhed over toys and clothes. Isabelle got a dog that barks and whines whenever you pass it and it's almost better than a real dog (or BETTER, depending on who you ask!) And Grace got a rupunzel dress and long flowing blond wig. It's kinda cute, but mostly creepy. No matter, she loves it.

We just had fun hanging out with our famiy, giving the gifts we had searched long and hard to buy or make, and eating yummy Christmas food. I snuck roughly fifty percent of the presents away before they were looked at and hid them in our closet (good thing Isabelle doensn't yet read). Hope all you gift givers are okay with this. We will go ahead and get out one at a time, in the next few months, so they can really enjoy each one. Love you all!

A Pintrest Christmas, Part 2

2012-01-03T08:35:00.002-05:00

I saw this great idea on pintrest of hosting a scarf making party. I'm usually not one to overbook myself during the holidays, but I had no other Christmas Parties in the calender, so I scheduled this little Scarf Making Shindig. We only had a few kids there, but I made some cookies and hot chocolate and I bought some cheap fleece and cut out tons of circles! We made these very cute, no sew scarfs. Well, almost no sew...at the end you had to stitch a bit to close it on up!

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The Cupcakery

2011-12-31T19:47:00.000-05:00

I found a great Groupon like thing for a Cupcake decorating class recently. I then talked my friend Natalie into going with me! Natalie has taken some cake decorating classes in the past, so was looking forward to expanding her skills. I do a lot of cupcake making for my little chickens, so was looking forward to the same!

We went to this quaint little Cupcakery
and had a blast learning how to make Santa hats and Christmas trees. It wasn't very high skill level, but interesting non the less. Their signature frosting is an almond butter cream, and it was really good. We all came home with six cupcakes decorated ourselves. And with interesting flavors like pistachio, gingerbread, and red velvet. Yum!

The Family Talent Pool

2011-12-29T11:32:00.001-05:00

Our first family Christmas party of the year was with the Payne side. Lucky for us, this year it was held in the general vicinity of our house. Usually we travel a couple of hours, but one of my dad's brothers lives near us and they hosted our annual Christmas get together this year. Oddly enough, several family members were sick or missing this year for various reasons and it didn't seem as loud and boisterous as usual. The food was delish, as usual, and the girls got presents that were very thoughtful.

I love spending time with my family and a highlight for me this year is the fact that my cousin Shannon, who is a very talented graphic artist, also started her own photography business. Seriously! To say I love good photography is an understatement. And Shannon has an eye for it AND lots of skill with photoshop. It's the little things that make me happy, really.

As you can see from the below shots, most of which are Shannon's. My favorite are the one with my dad and the grand kids and the one of my sweet Grace. Thanks Shannon! You can count on us as regular customers!

My Dad with Grace, Jack, Abby, and Isabelle

Kelsey, our the "Little Girl Whisperer" as we like to call her. Showing her own doll collection to my daughters and neice. She had them completely spell bound for hours.

Jenna, home from college, with Eian and Isabelle

My beautiful toothless Isabelle, currently down TWO teeth!

I love this shot of Sam, Eian, Jenna, and Kelsey.

And My favorite of Gracie. Do you love that big bow or what? I swore I never would, but I did. And I even though she could barely keep her head up with it on, I don't regret it one bit!

A Pintrest Christmas, Part 1

2011-12-19T17:12:00.001-05:00

I have been loving Pintrest. Have you been there? It is VERY addictive. I'm happy to say I'm not only finding cool things on there, but actually taking some time to do many of the things I have found. Let me highlight one or two today. Teacher gifts are always a trying task. What kind of gift do you get a teacher? I remember going to my friend Emily's house one year and seeing the BOX of stuff she brought home from her students. All of it she was thankful for, but I remember thinking, "How many apple knick knacks and scented candles can one person use?" So, we get target gift cards for our teachers, but so that I have something to put it in, I got these cute reusable travel mugs and made a Resuable Coffee Cozy to go with it. Although my first attempt didn't turn out half as cute as the one on the link...still, kinda cute. Hope they like it!

I also love to make wreaths. I often re-purpose old wreaths into new with stuff I have laying around the house. But I found this great wreath and pinned it! I bought one spool(is that how you say it?) of yarn and a about four sheets of inexpensive felt and wah-la...Christmas wreath!

Christmas Cheer

2011-12-14T20:07:00.001-05:00

Christmas is in full swing here at the Michael House. I have to say that I haven't felt stressed or overscheduled at all this Christmas season. I got my shopping done early and I have even been in full "crafty mode" and not too busy. So far we've had a Home Group Christmas Party, a School Christmas Play, and a Kid's Scarf Making Party at our house and still...we're all calm and totally enjoying the Christmas season!

One of our all time favorite things to do with our kids is putting up the Christmas tree. We always put on Christmas music and make hot cocoa, and take our time decorating the tree. Every year our kids get a new ornament that goes into thier own "box" of decorations. By the time they become adults and start thier own famlies, they will have a little box to start off thier own trees. We got our Christmas tree star on our honeymoon. And we even got an ornament at the Statue of Liberty where Conrad proposed to me! We have an ornament that has the story in it of when we were expecting Isabelle and told my family on Christmas Eve all about it. The girls LOVE hearing these stories! Most vacations or events are marked with an ornament.

Here are a few pictures of our Christmas Cheer! Enjoy!

All I Want for Christmas Is....

2011-12-13T12:33:00.001-05:00

Yes! Isabelle lost her first tooth! I can't believe my little girl lost her first tooth! I think I was just as excited to play the tooth fairy as she was excited to get a visit from the tooth fairy. She traded her tiny little tooth for $2 (that had a little extra glitter or "fairy dust" as my kids like to call it). Apparently $2 is the going rate for a tooth these days?!

A Picture for the Famiy in India

2011-12-11T14:16:00.003-05:00

When my good ole' southern grandfather met my husband for the first time, there was one question he couldn't wait to ask. How much to love my grandaughter? Nope. Do you intend to be a good provider for future great- grandchildren? Nope. The question burdening his mind was, "So, what do they hunt in India?" Conrad looked at him with kind of a confused look and finally answered, "Uhhhh nothing. There are too many people in India to hunt anything." I laughed later on and told him, "You should have just said, 'Tiger. In India we hunt tigers.'"

This Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law who is a champion shooter, brought a few of his favorite handguns over and a few family members went outside for some target shooting. Conrad was one of them...and I HAD to take pictures to show his mom back in India how well her son shoots. And he did pretty well!

Thankfulness

2011-12-01T11:34:00.002-05:00

As you can obviously see, there is a delayed response kind of thing happening here on the Michael Chronicles. Just last week I got around to posting about Halloween! Yikes. But lately, I have been thinking about Thanksgiving and well, being thankful. I thought I’d share it with you.

The last couple of years have been tough on me and on mine. Since this isn’t my online diary, I won’t be sharing with you the details of why, but suffice to say, it was one of the most difficult seasons of my life, possibly the most difficult. The circumstances haven’t improved, but we’ve just kind of adapted to a new normal.

During this time, it seemed like I was also under a weird barrage of attack. I broke my foot, my thyroid went berserk, and I had a general grumpy, exhausted, and irritable perspective that comes with those kind of physical issues. Yes, it was good times in the Michael household!

Things have gotten better. I’ll just tell you a few things. I feel so much better, I lost lots of baby weight plus thyroid issue weight gain (a personal goal that’s ALWAYS on my “list”). My thyroid is on the way to being under control.

As I took a step back from my life and examined where I’m at, I realized that I have met many of my life goals and I’m pretty much on track for where…no, who I wanted to be at this point in my life. I found and married an amazing person. He has been growing in the Lord so much and so quickly, I’m having a hard time keeping up! His focus on becoming the man God wants him to be has definitely ramped up our family’s spiritual life and challenged me to walk in God’s promises and to be who the Lord wants me to be!

We are serving in ministry together at our church. We love having the regular fellowship of our small group and the privilege of serving them. Honestly, every Friday afternoon, as I’m preparing for home group, I think, “I don’t have time! Why do we do this?” And every week, they remind me of how vital it is to fellowship and actually spend time together in the Word and in prayer and I’m so glad we do it! Really, Facebook is great, but it can’t compare to actual face to face time.

My kids. I think it goes without saying that I’m thankful for them. But, I think I still need to say it. There are so many families out there that are having a difficult time getting pregnant. And so many children without families. Wow, it’s very humbling to have ours here with us, safe and healthy. This first year of school has been a challenging one with Isabelle, but in hindsight, God was present, and so very faithful!

I have to say that throughout the last season of trials, the Peace never went away. If anything, it increased. Now, we have more peaceful circumstances, but the Peace is just the same. I have more understand of the scripture that talks about “peace that passes understanding.”

Another area of our lives that is a constant struggle is finance! It is a weird and challenging thing to live a balanced life in America these days. Life is very expensive and it seems like there is hardly ever enough money or time! Working part time is something I am extremely grateful for. I get the privilege of spending time at home with my kids and the privilege of appreciating that time when I’m at work. And it makes me love my job oh so much more for this balance! But it’s a bit of a strain, to say the least. So I’d like to say that I am thankful for my ambitious and hardworking husband who recently got a nice raise that has put us on the path to (as Dave Ramsey would say) financial freedom. We have a solid plan to pay off all our (mostly MY college) debt in the next two years. How long has THIS been on our goal sheet? Forever! Praise God!

And I have also felt like for the past couple of years I haven’t seen much spiritual growth in my life. It seemed like I was in survival mode, if you know what I mean? Just keep racing toward the goal. As long as I’m on the right track. I kept telling myself, keep your head down, focus on one foot in front of the other. You don’t have to be the fastest or the brightest, just keep moving toward the goal. And I kept on track. Often not well, and definitely not first, but I’m still running! Now I can look up a bit and consider the Prize and how I’d like to finish.

I guess that’s what I’m doing now. Considering the Prize. Contemplating the Price. Making a plan for finishing well. Looking back and being thankful.

A Visit from the Millers

2011-12-01T10:49:00.003-05:00

My Bestie, Rachel and her family came to visit this month. It was so good to get together! Not to mention, we have officially multiplied and our two families cannot fit into a mini van to go anywhere! We had a great time getting our two girls and two boys acquainted. It took baby Sam a while to warm up to me, but he did...by the VERY end. He was offering his sweet kisses instead of me stealing them! I would come near and ask him for a kiss and he would shake his head vigarously and say "no...no....no!" Our kids got along pretty well, and the day after they left, Grace woke up in her bed, let out a nice big wail, and cried, 'I miss my friend Abe!"

We only get to see each other every few years, since they live closer to Conrad's family in India than they do to us! But whenever we get together, we easily pick up where we left off! Love you guys!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-29T17:51:00.001-05:00

We had a fun time trick or treating this year. The girls were dressed up as...uhhh well, something with wings and a tu tu. That's really all that is neccessary for a small girl. I put glitter in thier hair and they were happy as clams!

We went to the mall to trick or treat a few days before and the highlight was defindatley the Jessica McClintock store, where all of the teenage sales girls were dressed in JM formals, handing out candy. My girls were like, "ohhhh Princesses!" It makes me just a little bit apprehensive about how over the top crazy they may be if we ever make it to Disney World!

On Trick or Treat Night we went out to our neighborhood and the girls got huge amounts of candy. Seriously, they still have half a bucket each, a month later. Our friends from church, came over and brought thier little ones to go with us. They have a little girl, Zoe, who is just about Grace's age, and a little baby girl, who was dressed up as a sweet little bear. But she wasn't too into the candy thing this year!

Fall Fun

2011-11-21T12:28:00.004-05:00

We have thorughly exausted all of the beautiful Autumn days in Ohio. The leaves changed and stayed lovely for weeks...seemed like more than usual. Now we are entering the dark, naked, days of winter, but I can't complain because we sure had a wonderful Indian Summer!

One of our favorite things to do is the Pumpkin Patch. No Fall is complete without a visit to one! We played in the hay barn, pet animals, went through hay mazes, and took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins. Fun Stuff! Not much to say, but lot's of pictures!

First Day of School: Take Two

2011-11-21T11:42:00.004-05:00

Well, things certainly have been interesting here at the Michael House. As some of you might have read, Isabelle started school at our local Christian school in August. Things were not easy. She spent most nights in total meltdown mode and that lasted over two months! She is a pretty young five year old, but we thought holding her back for another year of preschool wouldn't be a good idea for her either. To make a long story short, after several conversations with her teacher, we decided to put her in public school. Our Public school Kindergarten only goes every other day, as opposed to the Christian school that was all day, every day. The conseseus was the five days a week was too much for where she was at.

When I bought our house (before it was "ours" it was just mine) I wasn't thinking of school districts, and come to find out, when we had children, our elementary school is...ummm..scary. At least, is sure seemed that way. It's in a pretty undesirable part of town, and it's not even in our town, but in Columbus proper. We called all around to try to get her admitted to other elementary schools in the district, but every one was FULL! Finally, we went and visited our home elementary. We met with the principal. Found out the school is nearly half internationals, or English as a second language students. They have students from Somolia, Latin American, Lithuania, China, and Russia, to name a few. They speak over 17 different languages and have 44 different nationalities...at THIS midwestern elementary school. The call in the United Nations of Elementary Schools.

Well, in spite of our best efforts, we have felt like a pin ball in a game. Every time we try to go this way with our kids education, we get knocked over to the other side. Apparently, this is where God wants us. I can't say that I am surprised. I have always had a love of different cultures and nations. And I'm kind of excited to see where this leads!

Isabelle started school there about three weeks ago and it has been a 180 degree turn. She loves school. She loves to learn. Everything got immediately better. One thing that we suspect could have been a stresser was the fact that Isabelle was the only kid with brown skin in her class at the Christian school. She started saying things like, "I wish I weren't so brown!"(Or "I wish my skin was blonde!") In this school, she's certainly only one of many shades and colors. We love that!

Now, Thanksgiving is officially upon us and we are gearing up for a busy Christmas season. Thanks for keeping in touch with us. We love you!

Grace's 3rd Birthday

2011-10-10T09:04:00.006-05:00

I thought I would highlight Grace's birthday party. We had a great time! I did a "farm theme." But honestly I didn't have to do too much because we got a pony to come and well..that's pretty much all you need for a bunch of small children! I choose pink and blue and loved the color combo. It was a cute combo!

The weather (as it is every year for Grace's birthday) was PERFECT! So we had the party outside. I made Peanut butter cupcakes and wedding white cupcakes with my favorite Swiss Meringue Butter cream frosting. I colored pink and blue. The then made little pink chocolate animals to put on top. Of course, they melted in the hot sun, but oh well! I also made my favorite push up pop cupcakes, which were a big hit with the little ones.

I followed the same theme as with Isabelle's party, I bought several pieces of material and made pendants, wreaths and table decorations with the same swatches of material. Easy!

For favors, I got cowboy hats and blue bandannas. I also got little cats and put labels on them that said, "Adopt a barn cat. My name is..." and we named each one. I got M & M's and packaged them as "Kitty Food" and we painted birdhouses with paint markers. Good stuff!

We ended the night with smores over an open fire.

Grace got some awesome presents...one highlight was new bedding! I love it and she needed it. The child has only ever had hand me down stuff, so I was glad she got something new of her own!!

Thanks again to all of the sweet family and friends who came to celebrate with us!

Happy 3d Birthday Grace!

2011-10-07T15:22:00.003-05:00

Dear Grace,

I cannot believe that my baby is three years old! Time flies and you have been, from the moment you were born, a joy and a pleasure to raise. You are sweet and funny. Even when you are sick, Daddy and I never mind getting up with you because you are the least self centered sick person I have ever met. Today we were in the grocery store and you looked at me and said, "I love you Mommy." You tell me you love me at least as much as I tell you! You cuddle and smile and make everyone laugh! You are super smart (not that I'm biased) but you talked in complete sentances before a year old. You walked at 10 months. And you are a performer! On some level, Im almost afraid you'll want to go into show business when you grow up! You dance and sing with your whole heart ALL THE TIME, and I'm not exaggerating!

Everyday, we love you more and more. We are happy to see you grow up and sad to see you grow up. Each day our baby disappears a little more and this bright little girl appears. But we love her too!

All our Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Grace @ Birth

Grace @ 1 year

Grace @ 2 years

Grace @ 3 years

A Perfect Saturday

2011-10-04T08:31:00.006-05:00

We had big plans last weekend to go pick apples. But it was COLD and rainy. Because it was also very soggy, the apple orchard closed for the day. Bummer! So we re-arranged our plans to make the best of it!

I used to travel to a small city in Ohio named Xenia to conduct a vision clinic. On the way to Xenia I passed through a small very quaint little town called Yellow Springs. It's the home of Antioch University. It's VERY small but oh so cute. They have lots of theaters, restaurants, and toy stores. They also have more than their fair share of hippie-type granola stuff. It's very tree-hugging, especially for the mid-west.

In Yellow Springs is a cider mill that is one of the only mills in Ohio that sells un-pasteurized cider. And we all know of my LOVE of un-pasteurized cider. So we set off to Peifers Orchards to get a few gallons for Grace's birthday party coming up next weekend. I know, I know, I'm planning on feeding apple juice teeming with bacteria to a bunch of 3 year olds! But they will be warned and alternative options will be offered!

I also knew that there is this great dairy farm called Young's Jersey Dairy that has amazing homemade ice cream and lovely cheese curds. I thought we could stop for lunch and make a day of it. Unbeknown st to me, they were having a big fall festival complete with all things fall festival-ish.

Our favorite (free) thing was the ability to go tour their cow barns. They had goats and baby cows and big ole' milking cows. They were docile and let the kids pet them, and the farmer even came out and showed us how to milk the cows and gave a little talk on dairy cows. The kids loved it..we loved it! All of the kids especially loved it when the cows pooped. I know, very exciting stuff, right?

Pinkalicious

2011-09-29T12:01:00.007-05:00

On my Summer To Do List was to take the kids to our local Children’s Theatre. Of course, the performance didn’t “technically” fall into the summer season, but I’ll go ahead and check it off the list anyway, because that’s what I like to do! My sister, Jona, and neice, Abby, along with my mom came down to go with us. We bought tickets the day the box office opened and it was a good thing because they were completely sold out, early on!

After a little research we figured out that Pinkalicous, the Musical, was coming to the Children’s Theatre. If you haven’t read the Pinkalicious books and you have little girls, you should get yourself a copy. It’s all about a little girl who LOVES Pink. The musical was highly entertaining, and I have to say, perfect for our age group. It was one hour long and held our 2,3, and 5 year old’s attention COMPLETELY for that hour. They barely moved…spell bound by the dancing cupcakes and pink haired character!

It was so cute to see an audience full of little girls wearing pink. Not to mention, my mom had bought the girls all Pinkalicious books (which we actually had never read) and they went on stage after the show to have all of the characters sign their books.

We ended our fun outing with pink cookies at the North Market for the girls. They had a blast…and so did we!

Goodnight Prayers

2011-09-29T12:00:00.002-05:00

We always pray with our kids before they sleep. After Conrad and I went to a great Parenting Conference put on by Focus on the Family, we started praying Numbers 6:24 over our kids each night as a blessing. And when you think about it, it really does cover all of the bases: "May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His Face shine on you and be good to you all of your days. May the Lord turn His face upon you and give you peace."

Bento Thursday

2011-09-08T06:58:00.001-05:00

Like all things blog related, I'm behind on Bento Thursday. But, with the beginning of a new school year, I have revived interest in bento-ing. It helps that I bought a few new bento boxes. With Isabelle actually entering school, I bought a couple bigger bentos. She got a cute new lunchbag(and backpack) from Aunt Brenda and Thornton for her birthday so I had to buy the matching bento box that fits in it. HAD to, of course.

I also bought a great new Laptop Lunch box with some additional containers. This is great for Conrad and I's lunch as well! And, not wanting Grace to feel left out, I bought this cute little panda lunch box, on sale for about $14 on Amazon.com.

I haven't been super creative these first couple weeks of school, but enough to keep them eating, at least. Without further ado:

In the top box you have fresh berries, fishy crackers, and DIY smores. In the bottom you have a yogurt drink and a castle turkey and cheese decorated by Isbaelle herself!This is her new Spencer Bento Box.

The top is Grace's bento box and the same lunch for Isabelle in the bottom. In Kindergarten there is no microwave to warm up food. She has a real problem with this and has told me several times already that she can't eat cold food! So we got an inexpensive thermos and I warm it up before school and apparently it's still hot at school. here you see Mac and cheese with crabby hotdogs with cheesy eyes (they don't last so well being warmed up!)Cataloup hearts and in-season raspberries, a small container of ketchup, homeade blueberry muffin, and half of a fruit roll up for a treat. Most of these little Laptop Lunch boxes have lids with them

Here you have a homeade pizza with little turkey pepperoni hearts. Berries, blueberry mini muffins, and carrots and dip. I love those little dip containers, they are the perfect size!

Here is Grace's new Panda lunchbox (so cute, right?) And the bottom is Isabelle's equivalant. They love lunchables, so I cut out little shapes out of block colby cheese and the beloved turkey pepperoni. You also have fishy crackers, fresh peaches and raspberries, and a blueberry muffin. There is also an organic fruit leather.

My Little School Ager

2011-09-07T15:57:00.002-05:00

Last week Isabelle started Kindergarten. Where in the world has five years gone? Wasn't it just last week we brought her home from the hospital? Isabelle has been as cool as a cucumber about the whole thing, although the week before last before her "staggard start" day (where she and I went to school for just two hours) you could tell she was getting quite nervous with everyone asking her questions about her first day.

She's going to our church's Christian School and they have to wear uniforms. I thought this would be a battle. When I first brought the new uniforms home she turned her nose up and said, "Yuck, they look like boys clothes." But we eased her in with the plaid jumpers, complete with matching hair accessories, then introduced the polo shirts and kaki pants. She was much more okay with it after she saw all of the other little girls wearing the same things.

Conrad and I dropped her off at school the first day and no one shed one tear! It was so gradual and really, I think I got it all out when I had to leave her at daycare when she was 3 months old! That was a rough week, let me tell ya! But Kindergarten? We all seem to be holding up just fine.

It was kind of nice that Conrad's mom could be there for the first day. Being in Inda, she misses out on a lot of milestones with our kids. But at least she was there for the first day of kindergarten!

A Visit From Attah

2011-08-30T09:15:00.004-05:00

I have been really behind on blogging, I know. But life has kicked into high gear at the Michael household! Conrad recently receieved an email from his cousin asking why am Danielle Bhabi was so delinquent in blogging. With that little push from Susannah, I decided I needed to carve out some space to update you a bit.

The most exciting happenings at our house was a visit from Conrad's Mom and Brother, Alfred, who came all the way to the states from India and Dubai to see us! They were visiting for a month and actually just left on Monday. It's always a sad day when they leave. Having Conrad's family so far away, you never know when you will see everyone again.

We tried to make the most of thier visit and did a LOT of sight seeing. One of our trips where we all went was Washington DC. Oy Vey! Tragically, our small children, don't yet enjoy the rich history represented in our great capital, and the weekend entailed much crying, complaining, sweating, whining, and begging to go back to the hotel and swim. After a couple of hours of sight seeing, I graciously complied and the kids and I went back!

Mostly, we have just spent time with the fam and let the girls get to know thier grandmother again. It has been several years in between visits and being so small, they forget in between times!

A New Hiding Place

2011-08-25T14:01:00.001-05:00

Birthday Treats

2011-08-23T10:48:00.001-05:00

My OTHER splurge for Isabelle's birthday was a box of Push Up Pop Containers. If you spend much time on Pintrest or Mama Blog World, you have seen these awesome things. Do you remember eating Ice Cream Push Up Pops as a kid? Well, you can purchase the plastic containers themselves. If you purchase a small patch they can run upwards of $1 each...but if you purchase a bunch, like say 100, it's much cheaper. Yes, I did. With the intention of these making many return appearances and selling them myself on Etsy in small batches, perhaps to make my money back ??

Anyway, while I was baking cake and icing for Isabelle's birthday, I went ahead and made batches of mini cupcakes and threw them in the freezer. I took my leftover frosting (which was just enough) and colored it purple. I then put one yellow cupcake in the bottom of the push up pop, using a large french star tip, I put a dollop of frosting, added the chocolate mini cupcake on top, and then another dollop of frosting. I then added purple sprinkles and the push up pop lid. They were surpringly sturdy and got lots of ohhs and ahhs from the kids and teachers and Isabelle's preschool! I love something a little different...and pretty is always good!

By the way, let me know if you want to buy some from me, I'll give you a good deal! :)

Isabelle's Purplicious Party, Part 3 (and final!)

2011-08-16T08:40:00.001-05:00

I'm going to end my Purple Party Series on the food. Of course, food is so important to any party. And I have to re-iterate one of my soap boxes. A cake can be pretty, but if it doesn't taste good, what's the point? Oddly, I have strong opinions on this for grown up parties and weddings, but not so much for kid parties, because kids really don't care and aren't that picky when it comes to desserts.

We ordered Cane's Chicken fingers, because Cane's is amazing, and what kid doesn't love Chicken fingers? I fancied it up with little wooden food skewers I found at Meyers and attached tiny little paper flags to them with a glue stick! I cut up veggies and utilized one of my cupcake tiers for serving. Grace and I also made fruit skewers, which turned out nice, and I made some homemade salsa (because I have a garden overflowing with tomatoes!)and Mexican layer dip.

I usually put the Mexican dip in a 9x13 metal pan to bake until melty, but I thought I'd get fancy and put it into my trifle bowl. I waited until my Grandma arrived and asked her if I could bake in my trifle bowl. Sadly, she said no, so I ended up microwaving the concoction for fifteen or twenty minutes on 50% and since all of the ingredients are already cooked, it just needed warming up and melted, it turned out surprising well!

For the beverage I got this beverage dispense for $9 at Target (after I exchanged the one I bought last year that didn't work TWICE) I mixed 7 up and a tub of raspberry sherbet. It was pink, so I added purple food coloring..wah la! I also got some fancy bottles of purple and green soda's for the grown ups.

Well, I have to talk about the cupcakes for a minute. I used my good ole' faithful Martha Stewart Cupcake Book, which has gotten me through many birthdays and celebrations and rarely disappoints. I made the classic yellow buttermilk cupcake and the devil's food cupcake and topped them both with my all time favorite Swiss Meringue Butter cream frosting. Ohhhh I LOVE this frosting. It's not at all sweet, but requires a full POUND of butter for every batch. So it is super rich and is very firm so it makes for great decorating. I also have to say that it's heart stopping as it tends to separate before it comes together, which always makes me think I am going to have to make a last minute trip to the Grocery Store for a canned substitute!

I topped these cupcakes with chocolate butterflies. It really wasn't as hard as it seems, although the white chocolate that I colored purple was difficult to melt and very delicate and prone to breaking because of all of the additives I put into it in order to get it to melt! I basically downloaded a butterfly coloring page from the Internet, melted the chocolate, and put it into a little bottle, I then folded a piece of wax paper in half and taped it on top of the picture. I then traced the picture with the chocolate. Then I folded a piece of card stock in half and laid the chocolate butterfly down and put it into the fridge to harden. It lifted up from the wax paper as it got cold and lifted easily from the paper. I kept them on a plate and in the freezer overnight until I assembled them the next day. They turned out beautiful!

Isabelle's Purplicious Party, Part 2

2011-08-13T08:49:00.001-05:00

The second element of Isabelle's party involved the decorations and the activities. One tried and true activity that has made it's way to every single one of Isabelle's August birthday's is the inflatable water slide. This is a sure fire way to make a party a success. Luckily, my mom bought one and loans us it every summer for this occasion. It's huge and it is outrageous kid fun!

We added two activities to the party that were a big hit with the girls. We did make your own lip gloss and had a mani/pedi station. I searched high and low for the lip gloss idea before finally settling on a home spun recipe that basically mixed petroleum jelly and koolaid, mixed with a tiny bit of water, to add flavor and color. I put it in a baggie and let the girls moosh it around until it was blended. I snipped off the corner and let them pour it into the container.

I bought a package of small stainless steel wedding favor containers and a package of scrap booking flowers and let the girls decorate their lip gloss containers with the flowers. It was much messier than I figured, but turned out rather fun!

They then moved to "Isabelle's Day Spa" where they got their fingers and toes painted, along with nail art applied. I found some great nail stickers at Target. They also got hair glitter and what I called "Face Bling" or stick on gems for their face. This was a surprising crowd pleaser. And I told them that Indian woman wear them (bindi's) on their forehead and since Isabelle is Indian...

On to decorations! My favorite part! I got THIS idea and decided we needed a purple table tu tu. I bought 10 yards of cheap tulle, thinking that would be more than enough for our small table, and it was barely enough. I think I paid $8 total for the tulle (on sale) and a roll of purple ribbon and made it myself to wrap around the table. I also bought a cheap plastic table cloth and a whole bunch of purple tissue paper that I made into about 12 puff balls of various sizes for decorations.

I also took my leftover Fat quarters and jute and cut out a mini pendant banner, which I attached with hot glue (since my sewing skills are not so stellar!). I then just cut the rest of the material into long strips and tied it to our island. I was so pleased with this last minute addition!

One of my (two) splurges were the very cool vintagy purple and white stripped paper straws I bought from Etsy. And since I wanted to highlight the great straws, I ended up going to Gordon Foods for clear plastic cups with lids. WHY I've never done this before, I don't know. I LOVE using these cups with lids myself, for everyday use. But I have to say, that although the paper straws are so cute, it's not very pleasant to drink from paper straws and they get soggy pretty quickly. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!

Isabelle's Purplelicious Party, Part 1

2011-08-10T13:30:00.011-05:00

I had a hard time deciding on theme for Isabelle's fifth birthday party. We vacillated back and forth between a few different themes and ideas. But one thing she had solid ideas about: Purple. Purple is the color Du jour in our house right now. Which is interesting because less than a year back, it was most certainly all things pink.

So after a few false starts, we finally decided on a "Spa Party." I like the idea of having birthday parties somewhere else. It cuts down on the work and honestly, it's probably cheaper than all of the stuff I do for parties! But, I so enjoy doing kids parties, and I figure it's not going to be long before they start having strong opinions on cutesy party ideas and activities!

One of the hints that I read over and over in party planning sites is to pick one color and stick with it to make a bold aesthetic statement, and boy did we ever! It was truly purplelicious! I started off by making her invitations. I saw something I liked online and copied it. It was a pair of flowery flip flops. I bought a packages of purple "card making" blank note cards, along with some contrasting scrapbook paper. I used my cricut to cut out feet and flowers, and little brads went in the center, along with thin purple ribbon for the flip flop strap. I printed out the invitation on the inside with the following wording:
"This certificate entitles you to enjoy a relaxing day of pampering at Isabelle's Day Spa in honor of Isabelle Michael's 5th Birthday. Redeemable on August 6 at 2:00pm. Call Danielle to confirm your reservation."

The next big item on my planning list were the favors. A good kids party should include some killer favors and I think we delivered this time! I got some cheap purple totes from (where else) cheaptotes.com and bought four or five Fat Quarters from Jo-Ann's as well as some buttons. I cut out different sized circles and made a flower circle (my husband makes fun of me for all of the "crafts" that I do that involve me cutting out circles!) They turned out SO CUTE, if I do say so myself!

I filled the totes with a pair of gussied up purple flip flops (Jo Ann's Bargain Big for $1 each) with a purple flower. The downside is that plastic flowers hot glued to plastic flip flops doesn't really stay. I re-glued all of them at least twice and they have probably all fallen off again! I'll have to research a solution to that before we try anything like that again!

I also handmade some beautiful headbands with rosette's on them and a little wool felt leaf. They turned out so pretty, I even like them for myself! I finished the bag off with a ring pop and a little bottle of lotion or body spray.

I cut out name tags and hand wrote the girls names on them, along with little dye cut butterflies. I attached it with jute. It was practical and pretty. All in all, I was so excited about how my little favor turned out. They were very pretty and added just the right touch to the party. Here is the breakdown of cost (because I'm always interested in this when I'm thinking of copying an idea from some one's blog:
Tote(including shipping): $2 each
Headband: $1 for six plastic headbands @ Dollar Store, along with $5 for a yard of cotton fabric, on clearance at walmart. Wool felt about 30 cents per sheet, one sheet.
Fat Quarters (which I used for several of my other decorations you'll see soon): Four of them @ $1.50 each using one of my Jo Ann's coupons
Buttons: Package of Misc pearl buttons for $3
Flip flops: $1 each, bunches of flowers (with about 5 blossoms per bunch) on sale at Jo Ann's for about $1.50 each, making them about .30 each.
Lotion/Body spray: Bought in set of three for $2.
Ring Pop: .33 @ Party City.

Stay tuned for more pictures and DIY projects for little girl birthday parties!

Playing in the Fountains at Easton: Check!

2011-08-10T13:29:00.000-05:00

On our Summer To Do List was to go to Easton Towne Center and play in the fountains. It was Grace's first time to do this. They had a blast!

Nothing Says Summer Like...

2011-08-09T22:16:00.001-05:00

Make up..or was in markers?

Gardens and waterhoses

Tutus and Popsciles, and not much else...

Tricycles and playing dress up

A Visit from Old Friends

2011-08-08T23:30:00.001-05:00

When we got home from Tennessee in July, we had a visit from old friends, Tim and Lynely. They are Wycliff missionaries to the former Easter Block and very good friends of mine from my Teen Mania days/ORU days. Actually, Lynley is my good friend, and her wonderful husband Tim, became a friend-in-law!

We had such a great time catching up on our lives over the past..ummmm 10 years we haven't really seen each other. And meeting each other's chlidren. Tim and Lynley got married while we were in college. Which we re-lived our utter shock when Lynley told us she was in love and getting married (while still in school!) and had a good laugh over our 23 year old perspectives!

Lynley and I talked non stop for about four straight days while our husbands helped take care of the kids and looked on in amazement at how many words two human beings can use in such a short amount of time.

The blogger in me is quite ashamed that I didn't take any pictures while they were here to document our time together. Oh well, Tim and Lynley, I guess you will just have to come back soon so I can get some pictures. Love you guys and thanks for coming all the way to Ohio to see us!

Happy 5 Isabelle

2011-08-07T23:36:00.005-05:00

Dear Isabelle

Today is your 5th birthday. I can't believe you have been in our lives for five whole years! Daddy and I were just thinking back to the day we brought you home from the hospital. Little four and a half pound you. After everyone left we sat on the couch staring at you and wondering why in the world they let us take you home from the hospital with such little idea of what we were doing!?

We'll we've made it through five beautiful, growing, energetic, healthy, and breathtaking years and you have been the light of our lives. You are so smart, it's scares us a little. You are so sassy, it scares us just a little too. We love your beauty and your intelligents, and we also love your strength. You won't struggle with things that most other kids struggle with...you'll probably always have good self esteem and sense of life direction. But you'll have your own set of obstacles.

Our prayer for you is that you continue to grow to know God and that He will always be your hearts desire. We pray that you learn to have compassion for the lost and those in need. And that your ears will always be open to hear the voice of God and your heart open to follow His direction. These things are the secrets to a joyful and purpose filled life.

We love you baby girl!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Isabelle@birth

Isabelle @ 1 year old

Isabelle @ 2 years old

Isabelle @ 3 years old

Isabelle @ 4 years old

Isabelle @ 5 years old

Into the Smokies

2011-08-05T14:21:00.001-05:00

One of our fun summer trips was a family vacation to Tennessee with my mom (thanks Mom for bringing us all along on your vacation!) She rented a big three level cabin, WAY up in the mountains for all of us and we spent a week hanging out, sleeping in, and enjoying the general ~~gaudiness of Pigeon Forge, TN~~ beauty of the Smoky Mountains. My mom got up early every morning with all of the grandchildren and let us sleep in (I think she thinks she has to do this to keep us coming~~, but she doesn't know that we'd come anyway~~ and she's darn right!)

This cabin was SO far up in the mountains that our van almost didn't make it. We got stuck on one steep incline and we had to unload the kids and Granny while my brother-in-law, Eric, used his mad All Terrain driving skills to maneuver us and our practically bald tires up the mountain. The next day, we high tailed it down to the local Wal-Mart for new tires and we were pretty fine the rest of the trip going back and forth. But there is nothing like sliding backwards down a steep gravel road, with a 100 foot drop on your right to take your breath away!

We had fun taking the kids to Ripley's Aquarium, checking out local shops and visiting (one of the MANY) mini golf/go cart/amazement park type of establishments with the kids. My personal favorite activity was shopping, which I partook of TWO days while there. I'm usually not a big shopper, but I have been so severely short on clothes that fit lately, that I had a good time at the huge outlet mall, stocking up!

On another note, Isabelle's birthday is coming up and Conrad mentioned something to her off handedly about getting her ears pierced. Well, that stuck with her and before you know it, we were at the Claire's in downtown Gatlinburg, getting the girls ears pierced for her birthday. She was a bit nervous, but she never shed one tear!

A Look Back @ July

2011-08-04T09:34:00.005-05:00

I have been so busy this summer with vacations, visitors, and checking those "fun things" off of our To Do List that I am WAY behind on the blog! I'm trying tho!

The weekend before we left on vacation, our beautiful niece Abby came to visit. Since Abby just got a new baby brother, we thought we'd take advantage of an exhausted new mommy and daddy and steal Abby away for some cousin fun. That weekend we had a home group cookout at our house. We had a surprise firework display that night too, which made the night all that much more fun! If I haven't mentioned it before, we LOVE our home group. They were such an answer to prayer for our family and some much needed fellowship in our lives.

We spent the next day at COSI building things and exploring. I think it is funny the differences in our girls. Grace jumped into the Water Table play area, dripping water, down her borrowed rain jacket and soaking her shorts..and never slowed down. Obviously, from her delayed potty training, one can tell, wet pants don't bother Grace at all! Abby, on the other hand, got her hands wet, and water splattered, ever so slightly on her little dress, and she was not a happy camper at all. She was finished at the water table! We loved having Abby there, but she was happy to go home to her Mama and Baby Jack, of course.

And we were happy because my dad met us at the same time and picked up our kids for a couple of days too. I always miss them, but my "introvert" savers those rare quite days when I can read, sleep and catch up on chores. Did you know my favorite job in high school was cleaning hotel rooms? It all makes sense now, doesn't it? I love to be alone, I love to clean. Except for the creepy things you run into in that business, it was pretty great!

We're Back

2011-07-28T12:38:00.003-05:00

We just got home from vacation...Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Sorry I didn't let you know I'd be gone, but, err..it doesn't seem very wise to announce that your house will be empty and it's inhabitors gone for such and such period of time. You could just as well put a sign on your door saying, "Come on in and take whatever you like."

Anyway, we had a wonderful, fun filled trip but we are happy to be home. Home is just..well..so nice. I love my bed. I love my kitchen. I'm working on downloading pictures from vacation to share with you. Stay tuned!

That Mean Ole' Goat

2011-07-14T13:30:00.003-05:00

My kids were at my mom and dad's for a few days this week. We missed them terribly, but we always appreciate the few days of sleep and catching up on chores. Anyway, while the kids were there my mom started telling them "stories" about when Jona and I were kids.

There was one story in particular. When we were small, I was probably about four or five years old, we lived in this house with a big apple tree orchard next to it, we called it the Apple Tree House. One day we were playing out in the orchard when the neighbors big old goat got out of his pen. He chased Jona(then about 2 or 3 years old) and I across the yard. We couldn't make it all the way to the house, but we made it to the car and climbed on top of the car and that goat had us totally stranded on top of our car. Meanwhile, my mom heard us and being quite scared of the goat herself, finally got a broom and chased it away.

My mom was telling my kids this story and they were enraptured. All week long Grace has kept mumbling about that "mean ole' billy goat that tried to eat my mama." I'm not sure how she got the eating part, but she has her own take on things!

Fourth of July

2011-07-07T14:41:00.006-05:00

Shew! We have had a jam packed summer so far and it looks like it's only going to get more busy! I have been attempting to "stay on task" and check those "fun things" off of our summer to do list. And we've done well!

Among all of our fun, we traveled up north to my parent's last weekend. It was such a fun weekend! My sister and her family came too, along with new Baby Jack, who is still in the new baby, no sleep at normal times stage. (It was a good reminder to be thankful that we have no more newborns in the Michael house!) But I did get to spend some quality time with baby Jack Sunday morning, while his exhausted parent's slept for a couple of hours. We took a look walk and cuddled for a while. He wasn't so happy to be away from his momma, but Aunt Danielle was an okay substitute, I think.

To back track a bit, we went to the Wildlife Safari on Saturday. This is a place that was apparently right down the road from us, all the while we were growing up and we never went. We all got $5 tickets from Groupon and it was SOO worth it. We brought about seven pounds of carrots and fed tons of animals from our car windows! Fun..and a lil' scary sometimes. You haven't lived until a large Buffalo, a Texas long horn, or a giraffe sticks his head in your window.

The admission also included free pony rides and camel rides for the kids. I know, totally worth $5, right?

On Sunday afternoon we packed up the kids and went to the beach for a couple of hours. The weather was PER-FECT. Mid 80's with a nice breeze. We dug in the sand and convinced the kids to get into the water. My children, especially, are leery of water they can't see to the bottom of. And Lake Erie, that day, was certainly murky from a recent storm. Not to mention, ~~their father~~ Indians, in general, are like cats when it comes to water, so we have a lot to overcome when it comes to water sports!

And, although everyone was too tuckered out to stay up for fireworks, we did have fun at a cook out at my Aunt Brenda's, followed up with a little lightening bug hunting. All in all a perfect summer weekend!

My First Pillow Creation

2011-07-06T08:43:00.001-05:00

I have been planning on making this pillow FOREVER. I was actually dreading interacting with my sewing machine. We are not good friends and she gives me a hard time every time I pull her out of her hiding spot. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but every time I sew five or six stitches, the needle jams and I pick up the material only to find hundreds of little strings on the underside of the material?! What am I doing wrong?

Anyway, I did finally finish this pillow. It involved much hand stitching and cutting out of little circles..which my husband defiantly has been mocking me for my crafts that involve circles.

And (call me cheap, in India they say you are so cheap that you kill the fly that lands in your tea and suck the tea out of the fly before discarding it!)but I found a chair on the side of the road in our neighborhood the day after our subdivision garage sale, and picked it up. It sat in our garage for a week while I sprayed it down, cleaned it up, and just in general tried to convince myself there were no critters on or in it. This chair is fab-u-lous. And the wood matched our bedroom furniture perfectly. I just knew this pillow would bring it home.

Unfortunately, it turned out smaller than I thought it would be. (After all I cut and sewed circled on this thing for several nights!) It still looks awesome tho!

Fathers Day Craft

2011-07-05T13:37:00.001-05:00

For Fathers Day the girls made homemade cards for Conrad and helped make waffles for breakfast. As usual, they chased him back into bed so they could serve him breakfast in bed. Which he things is wierd, and they think is so very cool. I mean what's not to love?: Pillows, blankets, syrup, and small children? All in the same place?

Anyway, we made these great little Daddy boxes and made him certificates for things for Fathers Day, which he has YET to use, including a professinal massage!!

We were also surprised that my dad stopped by for Father's Day! So we gave him his gift and took him out to dinner. It was an awesome day surrounded by Dad's!!

Bento Thursday

2011-06-30T07:43:00.001-05:00

In the bento on the left you have an owl turkey and cheese sandwich on top of a fishy cracker medley, with a gummy worm mixed in. In the bento on the right are fruit skewers and celery and peanut butter.

In the bento on the top you have a mini cupcake and two gummy worms (they are "potty" treats run a muck so they keep making a come back!)along with cantaloupe and strawberry hearts. In the bottom box is turkey pepperoni, turkey and cheese flower skewers and crackers.

In the top bento you have flower turkey and cheese sandwiches in th bottom is watermelon, carrots, and dip.

On the left are beef and cheese quesadillas and on the right is a marshmellow, all dressed up, and fruit skewers.
In the box on the left is an apple crusher, carrots, and dip. On the right is a turkey and cheese sandwich sushi roll skewer and a mini cupcake.

This one is a lil different. This was dinner and I made some homeade baked fries. I cut them out into little shapes and the kids ate them..a bit more..as they are really not potatoe fans.

In the top box is a paratha (Indian Bread) with a cheese stick and little raspberries with chocolate chips in the center (I had these in my lunch too..yum!!) In the bottom is Chicken Korma.

A Garden Update

2011-06-29T09:42:00.001-05:00

Wow! It has been only a few weeks since we planted our garden and boy how it has grown! Our pumpkins are starting to vine, we have little green tomatoes, and we already have TONS of big red raddishes, ripe lettuce, and spinach, and ready to use cilantro. I love just asking Conrad to run out to the garden and grab some veggies for dinner! We have been having salad from our garden for a couple of week now. LOVE it!

Unfortuantley, we had an invasion of aphids and they completely killed our spinach plant. I removed the plant and the bugs and haven't seen them on anything else. I didn't want to put chemicals on our garden so got ready to go buy some ladybugs..which I read eat aphids. We also found a bunny hiding in our squash yesterday. We were wondering how long it would take them to realize the garden was food!

But over all, we are still doing well and chemical free! We are going to have a ton of produce in a few weeks! Getting ready to give it away as I'm sure it will be more than we can handle!! Here is a picture of a salad using lettuce, spinach, and raddishes from our garden(pre aphid infest). Yum it was delish!

The Best Cinnamon Rolls Ever!

2011-06-21T14:58:00.001-05:00

I've been making these for a few years. I got the recipe from my dear friend, Kirsten. If you are looking for an easy and awesome breakfast recipe for guests, this is it!

Ingredients:
One loaf of frozen white bread
Cinnamon
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Butter
1 Cup of heavy cream
Nuts (optional)

Let the bread dough thaw and raise. Then roll it out. Take one stick of butter and spread over the dough. Then cover it with sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon. If you like nuts, you can add these here too. Roll up the dough into a long think log, then slice into one inch slices. Take the rolls and place them in an 11x13 pan. Take your cup of heavy cream, mix in about 1/4 cup of brown sugar and then pour over the dough. Let it rise overnight. In the morning, bake it at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until brown on top. Get a large platter and dump the Sticky Rolls out upside down on the plate. Delish!

The Graduate

2011-06-20T08:33:00.001-05:00

sabelle "graduated" from preschool last week. This week starts the Summer camp portion of daycare. They spend thier days going on field trips to everywhere from Big Bounce Houses, parks, Saftey Town, Water parks, and movies. They are so stoked about school everyday.

Anyway, congrats to our new little graduate!

Bento Thursday

2011-06-16T15:04:00.000-05:00

This is an at home bento. It's a sloppy joe butterfly sandwich with strawberries and corn on the cob. Consequently, the didn't touch the sandwich. They ate the eyes off of it and that was pretty much it.

In the top bento they have cheese and turkey pepperoni skewers with crackers (homeade lunchables!) In the bottom bento there is sugar free chocolate pudding and berries in the bottom.

In the bottom box is (leftover) pizza skewers with ranch dressing (which I covered with plastic wrap) In the top is carrots and berries.

In the top box there is another lunchable like lunch with cheese cut outs, turkey pepperoni and crackers. Also packed are some cashews for a little extra protein and a twizler treat. The cheese is all dressed up with pink candy pearls. In the bottom are cherries and watermelon hearts.

In the top bento is peaches and strawberries and a cheese stick. In the bottom is a mini cinnamon raisin bagel with organic peanut butter. In the little box are gushers and then you have good ole' fishy crackers.

A Visit from Tereza-Akka

2011-06-11T20:14:00.009-05:00

I have been procrastanating downloading pictures but finally got around to it today. When I did I realized that I forgot to mention that Tereza-Akka (Conrads cousin) came to visit us for a weekend. The girls L.O.V.E. Tereza and it was so fun to have her here. We showed her the town (ahem) and convinced her that she really needed to move to Ohio. We'll see how that turns out, but we gave it our all.

We took her to the zoo. Our current favorite thing to see at the zoo is the baby gorrilla. It is SO cute. And he loves little kids. So the little kids come up to the glass and press thier noses to it and the baby gorilla comes up on the other side and does the same thing. And one of my favorite things about the Columbus Zoo is that they place these great volunteers at some of the bigger exhibits and they asnwer all of your quesitons about the animals and tell you interesting facts!

My favorite animal at the zoo is the Okapi. It's the coolest animal! Apparently, it's very rare and it's limited to a very small area in the Republic of Congo. The Okapi looks like a zebra on the bottom and a big deer on the top. It's related to the giraffe.

We drug Tereza around with us to all of our fav events for the weekend. My cousin, beautiful Jenna, just graduated from high school (consequently, Jenna was BORN my freshman year of college, so ya, I'm feeling old!)

Then we took her to a home group Par-Tay. We always have fun with our home group peeps, but it was especially fun to introduce Tereza to everyone...and the kids had a blast too.

We ended the weekend with church and a tasty lunch at our local country club with beautiful scenery in the backdrop.

We miss you Tereza...come back soon!

Bento Thursday: Making Food Interesting

2011-06-09T10:40:00.004-05:00

I haven't had a chance to download pictures of this week's bentos, so I thought I'd post an old picture and talk about making food interesting for kids. As I've shared before (and had other mom's of small children echo) sometimes kids just don't like new foods or ANY food. I don't know about you, but both of my kids would eat pretty much anything I put in front of them, until they turned about two, then they rejected about 75% of everything I served.

We have held to the principle that you have to eat what mom cooks or the other alternative is eating nothing at all. There are no substitutes. This means my kids go to bed without eating quite often. Usually thier plates stay on the table until they have fallen fast asleep (because they have been known to get hungry enough to get out of bed and come down and ask to finish thier dinner).

Although, usually not for dinner, I like to make lunch, and sometimes breakfast fun! They DO eat better and try more if the food in question has eyes on it or legs. I don't know why, but it's true!

I wanted to highlight two of my favorite sites where I steal many ideas from. The first is Disney's Family Fun site..I know, I know, it's terrible commercialization, but free information!

I also LOVE Cute Food For Kids Blog. It's great and very interesting. One of the best ideas I have found there are great ideas for those Babybel Cheeses. Unfortunatley, my kids don't like to eat the Babybel Cheese. I tasted it for the first time a few days ago and I concure, they don't taste that great. Oh well, mabye I'll try one of the new Babybel's and see if I have better luck.

By the way, I know it's difficult to see with the new font, but if you click on the name of the website, the link is embedded and should take you there. Happy Bentoing!

One on One Time with the Princess

2011-06-07T13:50:00.002-05:00

Conrad has been in New Orleans for a few days for work. Coincidentally, Isabelle went to stay with my parents for a few days during this time too. So, it has been just me and Grace on the home front for a few days. She doesn't mind at all because she is a Mama's girl. We have been having a great time swimming, going to the zoo, eating out, watching tons of movies, and having a lil' ole vacation, just the two of us.

This morning she did tell me that she wanted her Daddy. (Daddy will be very happy to hear this, since she usually asks for Mama) It was during the morning while I'm usually running around getting things ready to go, Daddy always makes time to sit and cuddle. She'll often ask, "Mama, can we go sit on the couch and just cuddle?" How could you say no to that?

Anyway, we have a couple more days of just us and it's has been wonderful and come to think of it, we'll have a lot more of when Isabelle goes to kindergarten in the Fall! More time with my Baby?? Bring it on!!

The Princess

2011-06-02T11:07:00.001-05:00

Today, as I was picking up the kids at daycare, another of the parent's was there. His son is in Grace's class. He saw me picking up Grace and said, "Ohhhhh..you must be The Princess's mom." I rolled my eyes and confirmed, Yes indeed. I am The Queen. Grace will sit on our front porch, and talk to passer's by. "Hi! I'm The Princess." Apparently, it's not only complete stranger's Grace introduces herself as "The Princess." It's her teacher's at school and other kids! She's even gone as far as to tell her teacher that she doesn't have to clean up because she's The Princess. I can see this taking an ugly turn....

Let the Games Begin!

2011-06-01T16:45:00.001-05:00

We have started some of our fun summer activities...okay actually it's just trying to suck every minute of enjoyment out of the few dry days we have had in Ohio. But we have been doing a steller job at it!

Isabelle and I used a Groupon to go and paint pottery. My little artist loved this and it was a good chance for us to do something one on one.

I remember Grandma Margie making me wonder woman bands and crown (was that what wonderwoman called it? A crown?) out of aluminum foil and I thought I'd use Chipotle's new gold foil left over from dinner to make some cool jewerly for the girls. Cheap AND fun! I know...ohhhh...ahhhhh.

I've decided that we might as well start early being the house that all of the kids want to hang out at. And we are! The neighborhood kids come and hang out at our house pretty much every night. So now it's like day camp at our house. It's a lot of pressure to do fun stuff! Nah, not really. It just involves more cookies than it used to. But we did spent a hot day running through the sprinkler, then coming in to make these simple little treats, made out of gusher candies, yogurt pretzel rings and some white chocolate. A little messy, but very popular with a handful of girls! These are called Gusher Ring Bling!

Strawberry Cookie Tarts

2011-05-31T08:21:00.001-05:00

I made these for homegroup last week. I have been loving and craving all things strawberry, since it's almost strawberry season here in Ohio. These were lovely...so good..and very simple. Thanks to Me and My Pink Mixer for sharing the recipe.

2 packages of Pillsbury Refrigerated Ready to Bake Sugar Cookies
1 tub (8 oz) Philadelpia Whipped Cream Cheese
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip
1/4 cup sugar
Fresh Strawberries

Spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray. Place one Ready to Bake Sugar Cookie in each tin.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and use a Pampered Chef Mini Tart Shaper to press them into tart shapes(or press them in gently with a spoon OR they will fall if you bake them long enough) while they are cool. Let them cool a few minutes before you remove them from the pan to a wire rack. I run a plastic knife gently around the tarts to help remove them from the pan. While the cookie tarts are cooling make the filling.
Combine whipped cream cheese, cool whip and sugar. Mix with electric mixer until fluffy.
Put filling in a pastry bag with tip and pipe into each cookie tart. Top with a strawberry or other fresh fruit.
Makes 48 cookie tarts.

Baby Jack

2011-05-27T09:03:00.002-05:00

I was waiting to make sure my sister made the official announcement, but I could hardly wait! For those of you who don't already know from facebook, my sister Jona and her husband Eric had their second child, Jack Steven. He came a little early, was perfect and the first male child on my side of the family. She went into labor early Sunday morning, so the girls and I jumped in the car and drove all the way to the hospital in thier town in time to see Baby Jack! He is perfect! Congrats, Jona, Eric, and Abby!

Bento Thursday

2011-05-26T14:42:00.001-05:00

A week (or two) in bentos!

In the top bento you have a homeade Ginger Snap and a Apple Strawberry crusher. In the bottom box is a turkey and cheese sandwich with a cheese cut out and some rice cakes.
In the top bento you have (leftovers!) Mac and Cheese and Panko Chicken nugges. In the bottom box you have watermelon, blackberries, a little tub of ketchup and half of a cheesestick and a little leftover Easter chocolate.
Leftovers strike again with Lamb Keema in the top bento, in the bottom box, you have half of a paratha, berries, and homemade "Knock you Naked Brownies"(recipe compliments of the pioneer woman)
In the top box are baby carrots with some ranch dip in the monkey box, along with fruit skewers, and some leftover Easter Candy. In the bottom box are pita pizzas with turkey pepperroni and heart confetti in the middle!
In the top box are carrots with dip. Strawberries and raspberries. In the bottom box are little (nitrate free organic) hot dog octopus and crab people with cheese eyes. Ketchup n the container, leftover Easter Candy and a Baby bell Cheese Lady bug with candy eyes! yummy!

Growing Things

2011-05-25T17:23:00.003-05:00

We convinced my dad to come down and help us plant a box garden. I was pretty proud of myself that I went to lowes all by myself and purchased everything neccessary to actually build the box and built it myself. I know it's four pieces of lumber..but you just don't understand how "home improvement challenged" I am.

Needless to say, Conrad and I put it up and I asked my dad, "How much soil do I need to get for this thing?" He said, "Ummm for that size, probably seven or eight 40 pound bags"...so ya, no. SEVERAL trips to the store and over 40 bags of organic soil, peat, and manure later and we filled the eight by eight box! Who knew forty bags fill so little??!

My Papaw Laymon was the family gardener and he passed it down to my dad, who was excited to pass it down to me...er uhhh the kids! They love love love to go out everyday and watch our garden grow and WOW is it growing! Everyday brings a new discovery and a new sprout or two.

We planted tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, radishes, onions, pumpkins, cilantro, mint, basil, asparagus, spinach, and lettuce. Oh is it all beautiful with all of this rain! So far, we are big fans of growing things, and Conrad wants to make sure I give him proper acknowledgement for all of the grunt work he put into this little plot of land..it was mostly he who lugged those 40 bags of soil to our box! Thanks Babe! And thanks Dad for making the trip down to do some dirty work!

Summer To Do List

2011-05-19T10:54:00.006-05:00

I am trying to be a little pro active in the fun department with my kids. Especially because Isabelle will be starting school in the fall and this may be our last official un-school-able time! Wow!

I have a list started with fun and exciting activities. I'm not really all that fun and exciting. Most of time I'm tired and cranky (ask my husband...er...on second thought DON'T ask him!). I hate to make excuses, but after Grace was born, I seemed to develop some signficant thyroid issues that seriously affected my energy level. And they've never been able to regulate this. Besides trying to get some medical help, I am also really praying for a solution. Mommy being tired and irritated all of the time takes a serious toll on the family!

So without further whining, here is our list:

go to the pool
do a sprinkler drive thru bike wash
camp out
go to lake erie beach
go fishing
go to outdoor movie
watch fireworks
go to safari in fremont
make sandcastle
go to grove city waterpark
go to farmers market
sprinklers at easton mall
go to a parade
start dance classes
make ice cream
pick strawberries
go to a drive in movie
go on a nature walk/park activity
go to a hilliard park activity
paint with pudding
have a marshmellow roast outside
do library reading club
Go on a family picnic
Go to Cosi
Go to Zoo
Catch fireflies to use as nightlights
go to Asian Fest
Go to Latin Fest
Go to Arts in the Alley
Star gazing
Go on vacation with all our family and new baby boy cousin to Tennessee

Feel free to make more suggestions to add to our list!

Panko Mozerella Cheese Sticks

2011-05-17T16:55:00.001-05:00

Do you like Mozerella Cheese sticks? If you do, boy, do I have a recipe for you! I have to be honest, I got this one from the one and only Pioneer Woman. That woman can cook and there are very few recipes of hers that I have tried and have been disappointed. I have made these twice for homegroup. The last time I made 48 cheese sticks and there are NEVER leftovers! So easy and REALLY...the best!
You'll Need:
16 pieces String Cheese, Removed From Wrappers
½ cups All-purpose Flour
2 whole Eggs
3 Tablespoons Milk
1 Tablespoon Dried Parsley Flakes
Canola Oil, For Frying
Marinara Sauce, For Dipping
2 cups Panko Bread Crumbs

Preparation Instructions
Slice string cheese pieces in half, for a total of 32 pieces. Place flour in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and milk. In another separate bowl, combine panko bread crumbs with parsley flakes. TO ASSEMBLE: One by one, roll mozzarella sticks in flour, then dunk in egg/milk mixture, then place in panko crumbs. Use your hand to sweep crumbs all over the mozzarella stick. Gently remove and place on a tray or cookie sheet. Repeat until all mozzarella sticks are coated.
***Place tray in freezer for 20 to 30 minutes to flash freeze.***

TO COOK: Heat 1 1/2 inches canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add mozzarella sticks 8 at a time. Watch closely and turn over to evenly brown, cooking less than 2 minutes. Do not allow cheese to bubble and leak. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Serve immediately with warm marinara sauce.

Rainbow Cupcakes

2011-05-17T10:06:00.001-05:00

For Easter, we brought treats to school for Isabelle and Grace. The girls and I decided to make Rainbow cupcakes for the occasion. The thing is kids don't really seem to appreciate really good food, so I decided not to waste my time on a homeade cake, so I went ahead and bought a plain white cake mix. We then divided the batter up in several bowls and added food coloring. We layered up the different colors in the muffin tins to achieve the rainbow look. It was a big hit!

Now, for the frosting, I just couldn't skimp. Martha Stewart has a Swiss Buttercream Frosting recipe that is THE BEST THING EVER! Although, I have to say, everytime I make it I end up beating the eggwhites in my mixer for about 30 minutes and fearful the whole time that I am going to have to make a last minute trip to the store because my frosting won't turn out! It's A.MAZING. It's not sweet, but very rich. We colored it blue and covered it with rainbow sprinkles...big hit!

Grace-ism

2011-05-16T08:58:00.001-05:00

Grace has, what I think can be easily defined as, a shoe fettish. She LOVES her some shoes. For Easter she got a new pair of sort of high heels. She has been known to wear these shoes (mostly on the wrong feet) and not much else. She runs back and forth on the front porch in her shoes and pull up singing, "A Whole New World" and spinning around.

Lately, she does a shoe change, comes up to me or her Dad, sticks her foot out and says, "Check these babies out." I have no idea where she got this.

Hidden Veggie Pops

2011-05-14T16:17:00.001-05:00

Apparently, there is much controversy around the idea of hiding vegetables in your kids food. I, personally, don't have a problem with it and have read (although just now ordered) Jessica Seinfelds book, Deceptively Delicious. As it turns out, my kids loved veggies until they turned about two, then they systematically rejected all things green. They will eat veggies well hidden in dishes I cook, tho. Isabelle is starting to pick up some positive things from school. Occasionally she'll look at the vegetable on her plate and say, "Well, it's good to try new things, right Mom?" Or she'll tell Grace, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

My kids love popsicles, like most children. So I decided to make some nutritious frozen goodness. They LOVE them and eat them for breakfast. I basically make a smoothie, but I always use blueberries because it covers the green color (which could tip them off as to the veggie content!)

Frozen blueberries
Frozen peaches
Frozen bananas
Greek Yogurt (high in protein)
Bunch of raw spinach
Splash of juice or milk

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth. Then pour into a popsicle mold and freeze. Enjoy!

Bento Thursday

2011-05-12T11:28:00.000-05:00

orgive me for skipping a few weeks, but without further ado, here are some bento lunch highlights:

In the top box you have berry skewers, half a cheese stick, and some leftover Easter jelly beans. In the bottom bento is Andra Style Chicken Palau(a family favorite Indian dish) mixed with yogurt and shaped into rice balls.

In the verticle box's are an Easter Egg turkey and cheese sandwich and a piece of homeade banana chocolate chip bread. In the vertical box's are fruit skewers, a piece of Easter Candy, and a baby bell cheese, cut into the face of a little girl, with a nori paper face.
In the top box is good ole' faithful Chicken Biriyani (a popular Hyderabadi Indian dish), which my kids LOVE. In the bottom box is the same Banana Chocolate Chip bread, and a Carrot Apple Crusher, with some blackberries thrown in.

Rewind: Palm Sunday & Easter

2011-05-09T08:30:00.006-05:00

Life has been busy lately. There hasn't been much time for blogging. But I have some great pictures to share! So I thought I'd jump back a few weeks and share about Palm Sunday and Easter. Palm Sunday at church we had an Easter Egg Hunt with 50,000 Easter Eggs. They open the football field for it. It was massive!!

On Easter, we had my whole family here for Easter. It was nice to see everyone and to host lunch at our house! Even though we live about two hours from most of my familly, they were nice enough to make the trip after church to visit us! The girls had a blast and we celebrated my mom's birthday a bit late with some of her favorite Key Lime Coconut Cupcakes with White Chocolate Key Lime frosting. Yum.

Tacky

2011-05-01T12:33:00.003-05:00

I'll admit, I have a little bit of a thing about cartoon characters...especially on textiles...shirts, shoes, bedding, etc. I think it's tacky. At this point, the idea that you could have a disney princess bedspread hasn't entered Isabelle's world, and I'm trying my hardest to keep it that way.

Also, I have to say that I am trying to instill a little bit of good taste into my girls. I don't think it's all that important in the big picture, outside of general cleanliness and modesty, but never-the-less, not a bad skill to possess for an American woman. So, you can imagine the kunundrum we have run into recently.

We were at a Wal-Mart last night getting a few last minute items. Isabelle was irrepressibly drawn to the TACKIEST item of clothing God ever allowed to be created. It was a pink, taffity, ruffly dress with Rupunzel on the front of it. Yuck. She was all like, "Ohh and ahhhh" Like I have been trying to do with McDonalds, I decided to take the brainwashing approach.

Just a bunny trail, the following conversation happened on Friday between me and Grace:

Grace: I want some chicken nuggets (as we passed a mcdonalds)
Mommy: No you don't Grace. They hide chicken feet and animal bones in those chicken nuggets. They are so bad for you! They might even make you sick!
Grace: No! No!
Mommy: Yes, it's true. It's very disguisting.
Grace: Okay, I'll just take some french fries, then.
So, I tried the same thing with the tacky clothes.

Mommy: Oh Isabelle, that is just the ugliest thing I have ever seen. It is so tacky.
Isabelle: (Offended that I could call something so pink and lovely tacky) Stop saying things are tacky mom! Everything is not tacky!
Grace: (feeling left out and apparently taking the conversation very personally) Ya, I'm not tacky, I'm bea-ful!

We can't say our children lack in self esteem!

Painting Easter Eggs

2011-04-18T08:13:00.000-05:00

We did our first round of Easter Eggs last week. My girls love any kind of art project, so they thought this great. They ate eggs all week long. Usual for Grace, but quite unusual for Isabelle. I think we will do another round of eggs this week. I wish I had an interesting story to go with these pictures, but I don't. The only notable thing is everyone stayed relatively clean. Whoo hoo!

Hello Sunshine

2011-04-15T20:54:00.000-05:00

Like most of you northerners, we are DYING for sunshine. My own personal vitamin D level is dangerously low...making me think about things like vacation and exposing myself to harmful gamma ray's in a tanning bed. But last Sunday we got a summer blast with temperatures close to 90 degrees! Before you start worrying about global warming, no worries...it plummeted back down to the 40's the next day. We took advantage of the sunshine and had a lil' picnic...twice that day, actually!

Bento Thursday

2011-04-14T13:53:00.001-05:00

In the top box there is a star, heart, and bear shaped rice ball, made up of lamb Keema, a spicy Indian dish, heavy on corriander...yum. In the bottom bento is carrots and dip, a strawberry, and a babybel cheese, cut out like a ladybug.

Happy 3 Abby

2011-04-13T14:02:00.001-05:00

Almost two weeks ago we traveled to Toledo for my neice, Abby's birthday. We had a ton of fun at the zoo and I thought I'd share a few pictures with you.

Living Room Updates

2011-04-12T14:11:00.003-05:00

I have been wanting to do make this great faux rosewood wreath for so long and I've been wanting to so something new in our living room, particularly in the fireplace. So I finally figured out what to do. I bought a green foam wreath and also some old paperback books at the thrift store and a ton of hot glue.

Let me say, that I am happy with the way this project turned out..but oh my goodness...it was TEDIOUS. I spent eight nights cutting and gluing paper out of these books onto this wreath and honestly, I'm still not done, the middle and sides need more! Ugg. I hung it from an old mirror that we had. Please note the mirror isn't really a mirror but some kind of wierd plastic mirror...so it's pretty scratched up and...well...wierd. But I'm cheap and didn't see the need to buy another mirror. We're(and by "we" I mean Conrad) not quite finished with it, the fireplace needs it's post winter coat of paint. But all in all, I'm quite pleased with phase one.

Grace on Easter

2011-04-11T14:50:00.002-05:00

This conversation happened on the way home from church yesterday. The last few weeks they have been talking about Easter and the crucifiction and they even showed some kind of video of the crucifiction. We have also been talking about WHAT Easter is really about. Although we color eggs and they'll get baskets, I want them to understand the vital importance to our Core Belief in Salvation. So the following conversation ensued (I wish I had it on video!)

Mommy: Grace, what is Easter about?
Grace: It's when the God Jesus hung up on the wock. There was blud. Lot's of blud. Then he died.

She almost always calls God, "the God" but the conversation went on from there. We talked about how he rose again and why he died, but really, she was pretty fixated on the "blud." It must have been a graphic movie. Oh, how I wish I could keep her in this sweet, innocent, and adorable phase for about three more years!

Bento Thursday

2011-04-07T19:17:00.003-05:00

This week one day the girls had leftover homeade chicken nuggets and shell pasta. Along with fruit and a cheesestick and two hersey kisses. not too exciting, but popular!

This day was fun! There are two hot dog octopus and an crab hotdog with cheese eyes colored with food marker. Along with pretzels and a star chocolate chip cookie. In the top bento box is a little clementine lady with a bow pick and nori paper face. And an apple toadstool.

I was making a ton of cookies for a student outreach at church and decided to try some cookie cutters when baking the cookies. They turned out great and I was wondering why I'd never heard of doing this before!?

Nope, no super mom's here

2011-04-04T07:58:00.001-05:00

The other day I was talking to my friend Natalie and I was lamenting some of my parenting struggles with her. She's not a parent, but she's always a good voice of reason and a great sounding board. While I was whining and complaining, she said, "I'm surprised, Danielle. By reading your blog, I would think you are super mom." I could have almost laughed out loud. Nope. No super mom's here. Most day's I struggle to balance my "To Do List" with the really important items like spending time with my family and having even the smallest of Devotional Times with the Lord. Not to mention, some days I just fall into bed exhausted and disappointed with myself and my very poor parenting job. If I haven't mentioned it before, we have a strong willed child. Who came by it honestly: she has a strong willed mom. So we spend many a days going head to head. I usually win, but sometimes it's at a great cost, and I'm certain it takes years off of my life!!

I think I have said this before, but I would trade all of my "craftiness" for a couple of ounces more of patience. But we get what we get and coming by the rest seems to take some time! So don't be decieved by my blog. It's not my online "journal." I certainly don't share the nitty gritty here. It's only a "highlights" type of thing. We keep the low lights to ourselves and those closest to us. Besides, one day my kids will be able to go back and read this journey of thier childhood, and I don't neccessarily want them to remember the time she and momomy threw down over her refusal to eat dinner/go to bed/put away her toys/fill in the blank.

But overall, most days I have nothin' to complain about, only things to be thankful for!

Spring Posies

2011-04-01T09:08:00.002-05:00

I had a bunch of left over material from making the wreath in Grace's room, so I decided to make some more posies for headbands and a spring wreath for the front door. With an 1/8th of a yard of inexpensive fabric, an old headband, a few pearl stickers, and a hot glue gun...beautiful! The same applies to the wreath. I just wrapped material around a styrophome wreath and made a few posies to glue onto one side. Turned out pretty! But my favorite is definitely the posie headbands!

Bento Thursday

2011-03-31T08:50:00.001-05:00

Since my kids are spending a couple of days at my parents and I am on MOMMY VACATION!I only bento'd once this week, but I got a ton of new bento-ing stuff, so I was excited to do this one!

In the bento on the top you have a bunny cheese and turkey quesadilla with candy eyes and heart necklace. You also have pretzels and pink marshmellow flowers. In the bottom bento you have carrots (because what else are bunnies going to eat?) and dip, berries, and a strawberry lady with a hat pick and a Nori paper face. Can you see her winking at you?

I also bought myself a bento! I love it, with it's seperate compartments and it's lock and lock lid. It also comes with plastic chop sticks...which I struggle with. Usually I'm pretty good with chop sticks, but these? Not so good. It even has an insulated, matching lunch bag. Love it!

Fondue Party

2011-03-30T09:33:00.001-05:00

Every Friday night we have Small Group at our House. We love love love hosting our weekly biblestudy and love the families that are a part of it! We look forward to getting together, hanging out, and studying the Bible. We also have a group full of foodies. It's fun to cook and bake for people who enjoy it and to try out all of my new recipes and old favorites on them! This last week we decided to do fondue. I tried a Garlic Cheese Fondue and a Classic Chocolate Fondue made with Ghirdelli chocolate. Another famiy brought all of the fun dippers...like cheesecake, angel food cake, strawberries, grapes, french bread, apples, and marshmellows. I think it was a hit!

Bowling Babies

2011-03-29T10:53:00.001-05:00

This weekend we took the girls bowling for the first time ever. We had a good time, although let me just say that bowling is a bit more expensive than I remember it...or maybe I've just never paid for a family of four to bowl...who knows?? The girls had so much fun. They put up the bumpers and they have these rack type of things that small children can use to get enough momentum to get the ball down the lane. I have to say it was probably the highest score I've ever gotten bowling. Gotta love those bumpers!