Packed and ready to go

     After two days of washing and packing I am ready to go! It is my first time flying with a baby and I'll be doing it by myself! Yikes... Hopefully she will behave herself. I have heard most people are pretty nice and considerate to people traveling with newborns. Let's hope so!
   
     While visiting home in Indiana I have a few stops I HAVE to make. I have only been away from Indiana for 10 months, but it feels like a decade.
   
The places I miss are:

     Texas Roadhouse
     Steak and Shake
     Fazoli's
     Pizza King
     Dairy Dream
   
The foods I can't find here:
 
     Open Pit BBQ sauce
     Ortega taco sauce

Those are only a few...

     Some of the places I plan to visit are the old bridge in Albany, the water well in granville, and the shoe tree in albany. Those are my favorite places from my childhood and I want my baby girl to see them, even if she is only two months old, haha. We will have lots of cool pictures of her. We also HAVE to get a picture of her on the new pony my dad bought for his grandkids. I can't wait. Lots of fun pictures to come next time I post. It will be at least a week before I post again. Take care!

Feeling Crafty Today...

Today the family took a trip into town. We went to Lowe's and JoAnn Fabrics. I guess we were all feeling a little crafty today. I have been wanting to do something to make the kids' room more special, so I made a sheer canopy for E's bed.

Supplies I used:

Styrofoam hoop - 4.29
12 yards total of shimmer tulle (6 yards of purple, 6 yards of blue) - 1.19/yard on sale
thread - had in the house
needle - had in the house
ribbon - leftover from another project
beads - on sale for 2.99
1 yard of flower border (not really sure what it was called) - 6.99/yard

     I started out with three yards of each color. I hot glued the purple halfway around the hoop, bunching it as I glued it. I put the other purple material on the other side. I did the same thing with the blue, glueing it on top of the purple. I took the excess that hangs on the inside of the hoop and sewed it to itself so that it wrapped completely around the hoop and was secured. The front center where the panels come together I took extra tulle and wrapped and sewed that together to create the center.
     Once I got all the tulle in place I hot glued the flower border onto the outside where the fabric was sewn together. I glued some clear beads in a symmetrical design to the center of the hoop to give it the look of a crown. This went well with E's princess themed room. Once the canopy was together I glued and sewed some ribbon to it to hang it.

     You can either screw a hook to the center of the bed on the ceiling and hang the ribbon to it or do like we did for her. She wanted it up right away and I FORGOT the hooks so we improvised with a wall hook she already had. It works just as well to hang it on the wall if you can't hang it directly above.
    E LOVES her new canopy. She feels like a princess :)

Good for when you need that chocolate fix

They turned out yummy! They are soft and the outside is kind of chewy, but still a great chocolate taste.

 You will definitely have to eat these with a fork :)

Better for you BROWNIES!

I got this recipe from one of my favorite blogs. Eat yourself Skinny! They are diet coke brownies. I'll post the link to the recipe, but it is basically a can of diet coke and a box of low-fat brownie mix. Diet Coke Brownies.  I haven't tried this yet, but I had some coke zero and a regular family size brownie mix in the cabinet I thought I would try together. They are in the oven right now.


I combined a cup and a half of coke zero with the box of brownie mix. That's it! 

Baked at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.


They will be out in a few minutes and the results will be in...

Playin' Model

Here are a few pictures from a photo shoot I did with my cousin a little over a year ago I would like to share with you all. I feel pretty, oh so pretty!

Black bean and corn BBQ pulled pork nachos

These were so good.  I was having a hard time thinking of something to fix for supper. I'll admit, I have a ton of food in the fridge, but I was lazy and didn't want to put much effort into it. This is what I came up with...

Black bean and corn BBQ pulled pork Nachos

Tostitos scoops (or your favorite tortilla chips)
Lloyd's BBQ pulled pork (microwavable)
1/2 cup black beans (canned)
1/2 cup corn (off the cob-canned or frozen)
2 cups shredded cheese of your choice (I used mild cheddar and monterey jack-use pepper jack for some heat)
Sour cream 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Spread chips out evenly. Layer pulled pork, beans, corn and cheese over top. 
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Garnish with sour cream.


Approximate nutritional values:

Serving size is about 12 chips

Calories: 430
Fat: 24g
Carbs: 36g
Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 18g


I'm very proud of how healthy we have been eating all week. My laziness made for a yummy meal tonight, but we need to get back to the healthy stuff soon! 

I would say this was a winner because I got the blessing from this gal! An empty plate! :)

Honey and Soy Chicken with Cashews

That was soooooo good! I love when I try a new recipe and it's a hit with everyone. The kids loved everything but the carrots. I guess they don't care for cooked carrots like I and my husband do. They will on the other hand scarf them down when they are fresh and dipped in ranch. So I gave them some ranch to dip the carrots in to get them through dinner tonight. haha I'm hoping eventually they will get a taste for cooked carrots, until then I guess I have to be mean 'ol mom and make them eat their veggies anyway...

Here is the link again to this yummy recipe.
Honey & Soy Chicken with Cashews

Another healthy supper to try!

....what will it be tonight!?!? Honey & Soy Chicken with Cashews! I'm cooking right now as I type this...the chicken is thawing and the carrots are boiling. We love asian inspired meals in our home and this last trip to the grocery after researching and planning these meals I felt like I left with everything from the oriental foods section. I'll let you know how it turns out and how my kids liked it once we get to try it. Until then try it for yourself. The link is above and let me know how your family liked it as well. Enjoy!

4th of July Fun

I just have to add a few pictures from this past 4th of July holiday. The kids, husband and I ventured out for the big celebration on base. There were tons of activities. Unfortunately having a newborn and it being as hot as it is we couldn't get out until later in the evening. The kids did get to ride ponies and listen to the concert. They were so cute in their red, white and blue!

Since I am just starting this blog I have a few older crafts, projects and drawings I wanted to share.

This is a drawing I did of one of my dogs. I used pastel drawing paper and Rembrandt soft pastels.

He is a shih-tzu/poodle mix named Baxter. Here is a picture of him.

...One of my latest gardening projects was this planter. Our front porch was a little bare so I thought I would spruce it up with an old wooden wicker chair turned planter. I cut a circle out of the seat just slightly smaller than the plastic planter I placed inside of it. Then I planted a variety of flowers in different colors inside it! Super simple and I was just going to toss that old chair!

Getting back to "normal"

     After an ER run and having my gallbladder removed I am back home trying to recover. Being sore and trying to take care of a newborn and two older kids is definitely a challenge. Add in the diet change, I have been one busy lady. Since coming home we have tried to eat a lot healthier. For one, my body seems to reject anything I put in it these days. For two, we all need to lose some weight and feed our bodies with better stuff. With the help of pinterest we ate some yummy LOW FAT TAQUITOS last night. They are SSSoooooo good! They will definitely be a regular meal in our household! Here is a link to the Eat Yourself Skinny! Blog where I got the recipe. I highly recommend them! Guilt-free chicken taquitos. Another concoction I would like to share is what I call TERYAKI TUNA & BROCCOLI. I have been racking my brain trying to fix my family something healthy, tasty and different. We like all these ingredients in other meals so i thought meshing them together might be a win! 

Teryaki Tuna & Broccoli

3 cans chunk light tuna

1 family size bag of frozen broccoli spears

1/2 cup water

4 Tbsp teryaki sauce

Combine all ingredients in a wok or skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat until broccoli is the tenderness that you prefer. I suggest adding in the tuna later if you want more solid pieces. Cooking longer will break up the tuna. I added a can of baby corn. My kids thought the baby corn was the coolest! Hope you enjoy :)