Valentine cards and box decorating fun!

Makenzie with her decorated box

Kylan with his decorated box, we just cut the top and 1/2 of the side off of a cereal box and then glued paper to all sides and then he decorated it how he wanted!

The cards Makenzie made

One of the cards Kylan made

Kylan decorating a cereal box

Makenzie working on her box

Since my kids are home schooled they don't usually get to exchange Valentines with other kids because the group we used to belong to didn't have a Valentines Day Party but our new group does! This kids were so excited and couldn't wait to exchange cards with the other children in our group. We had a lot of fun making the cards and making their boxes too! Their cards were hearts that we cut out with the Cricut machine and then glued a smaller heart in the middle and on the middle heart we wrote, "You are the 'write' friend for me" and we hole punched two holes and then slide a pencil through the 2 punches. Everyone thought it was really cute and clever! We also decorated a cereal box for Kylan to put his Valentines in and Kenzie just decorated a plastic box for hers. When we were finished they said, "Mom it was so fun being crafty"!

Snowman Jr.

Most of the snow is gone but the kids wanted to go out and make a snowman so they made a little, tiny one and he's cute. His name is Snowman Jr. and he's melting as I type this! He has a carrot nose, twig arms, a yarn mouth and pretzel eyes, no we don't have any coal but my kids are creative.

Mod Podge Rocks!!!

Isn't this cute

I love Mod Podge and one day I had a comment from Amy at Mod Podge Rocks so I had to go check out her blog and of course subscribed as a reader and started following her. Well, she had a post for her birthday and if you left a comment you could win something and that something was Mod Podge of course and a Neatnix bucket. This is all very exciting stuff for a crafter, I felt like it was Christmas morning when I opened up my box of supplies this morning!!! YEA!! If you need some ideas or inspiration then go check out Mod Podge Rocks and it really does ROCK! I received an 8 oz bottle of Outdoor Mod Podge good for any project that's going to be out in the elements like rain, snow, etc. An 8 oz bottle of the gloss-lustre which I use for almost all of my crafting projects like the coasters and the domino pendants and then I received 8 oz of fabric mod podge and I can't wait to use it on a project in my daughters room with zebra fabric. I also received an 8 oz bottle of satin mod podge and then I received a tube of Royal Coat Dimensional Magic which I've never used before but can't wait to get started! Then finally I received the Neatnix bucket in orange and pink. Be sure to check out Neatnix for some adorable organizing systems, they have tons of others things besides the bucket!!

Do you look like a famous person?

When she looked like this

Not when she looked like this (I wish)

I've noticed that a bunch of my Facebook friends have a famous person for their profile pic. You are supposed to let everyone know who you look like. I don't look like anyone famous but when I was younger, thinner and much blonder I was stopped at the mall several times for my autograph and they thought I was LeAnn Rimes.

This is what I looked like back then and I don't really think I look that much like her. Who do you look like??? Let's see some photo on your blogs or in emails!

Amy's Pork tenderloin stuffed into bread

(printable recipe)


Tuscan pork Tenderloin

1 Tblsp rosemary needles (pls see my note on fresh rosemary)
1 Tblsp fennel seeds
1 Tblsp rubbed sage
4 cloves garlic, minced
Freshly ground black pepper and Kosher salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup E V Olive Oil
2 individual pork tenderloins (many times two will come in one package)
1 large loaf of good quality, crusty sourdough bread, cut length-wise and hollow out the soft interior

Crush the rosemary & fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle. Brush the rim & interior of the bread with olive oil. Evenly sprinkle all of the herbs, garlic, pepper & salt on the bread. Brown the pork on all sides in hot olive oil. Lay each tenderloin in its' bread bed. Wrap each in foil, place on baking sheet and roast in 375 degree oven for an hour. Pull back foil from pork and bread and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice and serve!


We were sitting at a restaurant with a bunch of friends and we were waiting for a birthday girl to show up for her surprise party and our friend Amy shared this recipe with me and I couldn't wait to try it. Although the recipe calls for crusty sourdough we used a Parmesan, garlic french bread and it was delicious!! Let me know if you try it and what you think. It was 2 thumbs up from both of my kids and my husband asked to put it in my recipe book so that means it's a keeper!

Icicle

This was taken at the spray park in our hometown

Snow much fun!

Since we don't get very many chances to play in the snow in the area of Oklahoma that we live in we take every opportunity to play when we have a couple of inches. Here are some pics of our playtime

What Makes Me Happy

My friend Dawn at Dawn's Diversions gave me a blog award for What Makes Me Happy. Check out her blog by clicking on the blog name she has some great posts!


I'm supposed to list 10 things that make me happy and that should be easy because it doesn't take much to make me happy!

1. My sweet husband of 17 yrs and my 2 wonderful children
2. My family and my church family, I love all of them
3. My friends, I'm so blessed to have such wonderful friends
4. Scrapbooking, I love to scrapbook and it really does make me VERY happy!
5. Cooking, I know that my mom is going to give me a hard time about this one because I hated to cook and always said I wanted a private chef....but, times have changed and so have I and I really enjoy cooking for my family and friends.
6. Comments on my blog, I know that sounds funny but it's true. I woke up this morning and had 8 comments and it just made my heart sing...I'm a silly goose and I know it!
7. Movies...I love to watch a good movie, now if I could only get Kevin to like movies.
8. Traveling, I adore to travel with my family, we have the best time and have been to some really fun places. One of my favs was taking the kids on a cruise last year and when they were little we went to Hawaii for 2 weeks.
9. Blogging and Facebook, I love both of them and I'm on the computer probably WAAAYYY too often but I really do enjoy blogging and Facebook.
10. Reading, I love to sit down with a cup of tea and read a really good book and thanks to Dawn I have a bunch of new books on my list for this year! If you have any book ideas for me then leave me a comment and don't forget about the 100 books reading challenge which I'm linking all of the books I've this year in my sidebar.

Now, I'm supposed to link to some of my favorite blogger buddies...please check them out!!!


These are friends in real life

Mom of Two Girly Girls she always has great family activities

Mika at Garnett family she likes to craft, knit and cook and ohhhh is her cooking good!

Michele at My Blessings from Above she has great homeschool activities

David family advenures they have wonderful links for adoption, helping raise adoption funds, etc

Sarah at Austin family blog shows the antics of her adorable little guy

Jennifer at Reindeer School she has an adorable daughter and this is her blog about their homeschooling adventure!


These are friends in the blogger world

Mod Podge Rocks this blog is dedicated to all things Mod Podge and it totally rocks!



Traci she has all kinds of fun things and crazy posts!

Business 2 Blogger

How many of you out there have wondered how to getting into the blogging for business? Of course we know about all of these great bloggers and I'm talking mega bloggers that get paid for blogging. Have you ever thought you could get paid for blogging? I know that I have and I've tried different companies but nothing came of it until now. Check out business2blogger.com
and sign up for their service and that service is giving you the opportunity to sign up with business and blog about their products before the mega bloggers get the opportunity...who knows you could be the next mega blogger! Go sign up today...it's FREE!!!!

One of Makenzie's favorite places

Most of you know that Makenzie was our first child and she was prayed for, cried over and very much wanted, we tried for 8 years before we were blessed to adopt her. One of the first things we found out about her was that she LOVED to sleep in the middle of our bed, right between Kevin and me. Typically in Korea the family all sleep on the floor in the same room and Makenzie was used to sleep with her foster family and when we tried to put her upstairs in her own crib she didn't like it and would cry and cry and cry until we came and got her. We had said from the beginning that we would NOT let our children sleep with us but we caved in and she LOVED every minute of sleeping in our big bed and still to this day is most happy when we let her crawl in and snuggle down with us. She doesn't sleep with us anymore but loves to cuddle and one night after dance she came in and needed some cuddle time and was totally out within minutes, safe, snug and secure in the middle of our bed!

Twilight Mom's

OK ladies this for all of you Twilight Fans...and you know I am one too! It's funny!!! LOL!!!

The Boxcar Children #1

Kylan has been struggling with reading for the past couple of years and we've tried all different kinds of curriculum's like My Father's World, Saxon Phonics, Hooked on Phonics and just practice, practice and more practice and he still was just not "getting" it until I told him about The Boxcar Children books and I told him that he was going to read the first one to me. He did NOT like that idea and he cried and cried and said he couldn't do it but I insisted and told him I would help him out if he needed help with words and then I told that it was an adventure book because these kids get to live on their own in an old train boxcar and he wanted to know where the parents were so I said we just have to read the book and find out. He started in on the book and I quickly realized that he can read and he can read VERY well! I'm guessing that he just wasn't motivated before now or not interested or something but he finished the book and we are moving on to book #2 Surprise Island and he can't wait to see what the surprise is. We are in the middle of making a diorama of the boxcar and the children with the stream and everything. I will post when it's finished. Kylan wants to have a boxcar in our back yard but I told him we couldn't have an actual boxcar so we are going to put the tent up in the spring and him and Kenzie are going to "play" boxcar children. If you have any fun ideas regarding the boxcar series please leave comment!
I found some great printables on edHelper.com, they have a whole book report and comprehension questions for each boxcar book so it's well worth the $20 they charge for their service!

Mika's Penne Pasta

• 8 ounces uncooked penne pasta, cooked and drained
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil oregano and garlic
• 1 (6 ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, diced
• 1 (2 1/2 ounce) jar black olives, sliced
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Directions

1. 
   

   In medium saucepan or skillet over high heat, bring tomatoes, black olives and artichokes, including marinade, to a boil.

2. 
   

   Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. 
   

   Place pasta in serving bowl and pour artichoke sauce over pasta.

4. 
   

   Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.

More snow...

Measuring in the front yard

Measuring in the backyard

Looking across the street

More snow

Poor Trix his little legs just can't make it in all this snow

The deck stairs

This was this morning

Well, since my last post it has continued to snow and they are saying 4" of snow in Tulsa but we are north of Tulsa and typically get more snow then they do and of course today was no exception! We are at about 6" right now and it's still snowing!!!

Ice storm 2010

All of the weather forecasts were predicting that the 2010 ice storm would be just as bad or worse then the 2007 ice storm but so far they have been wrong click on the 2007 ice storm link to see the photos from then and take a look at the photos from today.....we are so thankful it hasn't gotten that bad and that we haven't lost power this year! Right now it's snowing and we are so thankful for that, it's much easier to get around in snow then ICE!!! It looks like we have about 3" right now and will probably add another 3" or so to that by the end of the day....look out sledding hills here we come!

Girls Club Valentine Cookie

Makenzie is in this girls club that meets once per month and they do all kinds of fun things like crocheting, cake decorating, craft projects and they also do community service projects. This week they made Valentine cookies and decorated them and then they made a little mouse out of hershey's kisses.

Kylan's hair

Kylan's dance team is called Lil' Force and they decided to use this green spray and make their hair green for dance competition. Since Kylan's hair is black I wasn't sure it would work on him but it did and almost looks like he's growing grass on his head. If you want/need some green glittering hair color you can buy it for $2 in the party isle at Wal-Mart and the brand is Party Success and of course it's temporary so it washes out easily!

Christmas card traditions

We have a Christmas card tradition at our house and I just wanted to share it with you! Every year after Christmas is over and all of the decorations are down I take all of the cards and every night when we have dinner we pull a card out of a basket that I store all the cards in and we pray for that family. It reminds us to pray for all of our friends and family and we get to see your picture or at least read a little note about how your family is!

If you didn't get a card from us in 2009 then here it is!

Duct tape jacket

For dance this year Kylan's team all needed to have matching jackets or vests and they are supposed to be black and bright green so that was hard to find until one of the mom's came up with the idea to duct tape their costume. It was fun and super easy. All you need is plenty of duct tape in your color (whatever that might be) and a t-shirt that's a little big on your child. Start in the back and duct tape long strips and make sure they overlap each other. Work small pieces around the arm holes and the neck. When the shirt is totally covered then cut it up the front and ta da it's a duct tape jacket or vest. We are going to finish it later with cool sleeves and do something crazy with the collar but not sure what.

Here are some websites that have more duct tape costumes on them
Duct tape super heroes
Duct tape fashions
Duct tape proms outfits
Duct Tape Guys

Amish Cinnamon Friendship Bread...YUM!

My friend Dacia gave me a bag of friendship bread and the recipe to go with it and it's been laying on the counter for the past week and a half getting a squeeze every time one of the kids notices it and today was the big day to bake the bread. OHHHHHH, it's really yummy and so moist! Do you have any friendship bread recipes that you love. I had not done friendship bread in YEARS I'm talking like 10 yrs...something I just forgot about I guess. Anyway who wants a starter of friendship bread??? Let me know and I will bring some over!

AMISH FRIENDSHIP STARTER

1 c. sugar 1 c. milk 1 c. flour Combine ingredients in a large, deep glass or plastic container. Cover lightly. If the container has a lid, leave it slightly open, or place a piece of cheesecloth over the container and secure it with a rubber band. Store at room temperature. Stir every day for 17 days. On the 18th day do nothing. On the 19, 20 and 21, stir. On day 22 stir and add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Stir again. On days 23, 24, 25 and 26 stir. On day 27, add 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk and 1 cup sugar. Stir. You should have about 4 cups starter. Give 1 cup each to two friends and keep the remaining two cups for yourself. Use one in Amish Friendship Bread recipe (which follows) and use the other to keep the starter going. When you give away the starter, include these instructions. How to keep a starter going: Do not refrigerate and do not use a metal spoon when stirring. On day 1 (the day you receive you starter) do nothing. Days, 2 3, and 4, stir. On day 5, stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Pour mixture into large glass mixing bowl; cover lightly. Mixture will rise. On days, 6, 7, 8 and 9, stir. On day 10, stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk and stir. Give 1 cup each to two friends, keeping one cup to make the bread and one cup for your starter.

AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD:

1 c. Amish friendship starter (from above recipe)
1 c. vegetable oil
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 - 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c milk
1 lg box instant pudding...any flavor but we used vanilla

If you want you can add 1/2 cup raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, dates, apples, etc. (of your choice)

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Place batter in a well greased and sugared 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. They also make great muffin (we made muffins and bread)