Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!

Wow! I still can't believe it-one year already!! It was a fun day of basketball, singing Happy Birthday and cupcakes! As you can tell-he loved the cupcake!!

Boy, it seems just like yesterday that he was born but at the same time that's he's been with us all along. I'm so thankful that he is healthy and happy. He had a tough time when he was born and was in NICU for a week. That was scary. The hospital I delivered in didn't have a NICU-I never felt the way I did when they brought him down to the room to say goodbye before they transferred him.

So, we're very lucky and I count my blessings. He's fine now-crawling around. getting into the girls' stuff , and trying to climb the stairs. Oh yeah, and being spoiled by his big sisters!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby!

TGIF

Wow, can't believe it's Friday already! Time for Finish It Friday-my own personal kick in the bottom to get some things done :)

This week I have three things to finish up.......

1. I need to make certificates for my daughter's basketball team-my husband is the coach and their party is tonight-almost done with this one!

2. I need to finish cleaning out the cabinet above the desk in my kitchen. I've been working on this here and there all week. It's pretty bad when you have about 10 pairs of scissors and you can't even find one. I also got sick of random crayons raining down on my head every time I opened the cabinet :)

3. My squares are all ironed for my YCMT Making This Up As I Go Along quilt-yipppeeee!! I'm working on trimming them now so I can get to sewing them together. Hope to get this done today!!

So, I'm off to finish those certificates. Check out Courtney's blog for some more Finish It Up Friday projects. She's got a new project/ebook in the works for a travel felt book that will be so awesome for those long waits in the doctor's office (and the even longer wait once you get in the examining room!) and for all the sporting events the younger girls love to, I mean have to, attend. Can't wait for the pattern.

It's hard to believe.....

no, this post isn't about High School Musical, but if you're into HSM as much as my girls are, head on over to JesseKate Designs for this great HSM 3 giveaway and cute craft.

What I find hard to believe is that my baby is going to be one on Saturday-yikes, where did the time go????? I'm planning his party-which is next weekend-glad it's not this weekend because he's not feeling that great right now.

I used this zebra on his invitations-unfortunately I'm not that techno savvy and I don't know how to show you a picture of the actual invite-I do think it came out cute though. I went with the zebra because that's what he was for Halloween and the girls loved it-matter of fact, my 5 year old was the one who thought he should be that and we were lucky enough to find a costume on ebay. She felt so special :)

I didn't want to use just black and white so I was glad to find this zebra. I'm going to have blue dishes, tablecloth, streamers, etc. Hopefully, I'll find a blue that's close.

I don't think I want to do a zebra cake.....most of all because I don't know what I'd do for a zebra cake. I think I'm going to go with cupcakes and make some cupcake toppers. I checked around for some tutorials and found this and this. I think I can manage that-seems easy enough for midnight the night before the party :) Guess now I need to decide if I want to put the picture of the zebra on the cupcakes or a picture of my son in his zebra costume-I think I'm leaning towards him in his costume.

I think I might go with candy bars with a label I make for party favors-that'll be the next decision.

I'd love to hear if you have any other ideas or suggestions-planning parties makes me nervous and I still haven't decided what to serve for food. We'll be having lunch before the cupcakes.

Have a great day!!!

Step 2 and a half.....

That's where I'm at on the YCMT Making This Up As I Go Along quilt Well, really Kim is making up the quilt so I made up Step 2 and a half-just trying to do my part to help out!

I almost finished sewing all the squares together on Friday night but then my bobbin ran out and I was tired so bed won out over squares. They are all sewed together now (and threads trimmed) and ready to be cut. Since it's late again-when else do mom's get to sew???-I'm not going to trust myself with my rotary cutter. I think rotary cutters are best used after a good night's sleep.

Have a good night!

Menu Plan Monday-February 23rd

Here's our menu plan for this week.

Monday Chicken Stir Fry, Brown Rice

Tuesday Spaghetti and Meatballs

Wednesday French Onion Soup

Thursday Pepper Steak, Brown Rice, Green Beans

Friday Homemade Cheese Pizza, Green Salad

I don't have a recipe for the French Onion Soup yet-I'm being a bit daring :) I had it this weekend when I went out to lunch with my daughter and it was so good. I'm going to start searching for a recipe. If anyone knows of one, especially one you've tried, I'd love to see it! Share away!!

Check here for more great menu planning ideas-still happy I started doing this, although I forgot yesterday and did it quickly this morning. I'll be even happier when it's 5:00 and time to start cooking!

Have a great day! I hope to be back soon with updates of my quilt but I've got two with a yucky, coughy cold so I'm not sure. I think it's going to be a quiet afternoon of snuggling with blankets on the couch and maybe a movie.

Not just any Friday-Finish It Friday

Courtney over at Sister to Sister started Finish It Friday a couple of weeks ago with this cute, cute little banner.

She asks
Do you have any projects you have begun that you need to finish?

Did you start something this week that you were not able to complete?

Did you finish all the work around the house you wanted to do this week?

Do you have several "loose ends" to tie up with the week's posts on your blog?

Well..........I pretty much have to say yes to all of them :) Although I should have started earlier, this is the first week I've participated. My project for this week (and remember-my kids are on winter vacation!) is to finish sewing together my squares for the YCMT Making It Up As I Go Quilt. I've got them all cut out and some sewn together but I'm hoping to find some time today to get the rest done so I can move on to the next step. I'm anxious to see how they all look together.

Here's what I have so far.......

I guess I should add sew my squares together and cut all the threads!!

It's been a crazy week here and I'm glad it's Friday. We've been gone the last three days and everyone is off schedule. Tuesday we were at my mother in law's, Wednesday I was at the dr/hospital all day with my 8 year old who had pains on her left side and yesterday I had jury duty. Talk about boring-we just sat there all day-I kept thinking no kids, I could be sewing :) I couldn't believe how exhausted I was when I got home-way more tired than being with the kids all day.

Have a great weekend!!

Menu Plan Monday Week 2

Oh, I love Menu Planning-it helped out so much last week.

Here's my plan for Week 2 of trying to be a bit more organized and trying some new recipes.

Monday Baked Teriyacki Chicken, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans

Tuesday We'll be at my parents' (girls are on vacation this week) so I'm not sure what we'll be having but I don't care because I don't have to cook!

Wednesday Inside Out Pizza The girls have been talking about making pizza so I thought this would be a good week to try this out-2 new recipes in one week-could be a record!

Thursday Leftovers-I have Jury Duty-Keep your fingers crossed I don't get called for anything, I only have a babysitter for one day.

Friday Beef Tacos, Salad

Check out orgjunkie.com for more meal ideas and meal planning tips.

Waahoo....I've completed step 1

I finally got my squares cut out for the YCMT Make It Up As You Go Along Quilt. Took me long enough!! Tonight I hope to start sewing them together. I'll try to get a picture up soon.

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day. Ours was busy with selling Girl Scout cookies and basketball. My husband and I had a "date" last night for pizza and a movie in the TV/Wii room-yummy-after the kids went to bed. Hope you enjoyed your day!

My girls have got the bug.....

One stomach bug-yuck!! My poor 5 year old -in the middle of the night- left us a nice present in our bed. She's feeling a bit better now-she's up and about. Here's hoping it doesn't go through the rest of the house-mom says as she knocks on wood and crosses all her fingers and toes. I hate when the kids are sick plus I don't have time for any extra laundry!


The other bug in our house is the blogging bug and it's bitten my 8 year old. I did the craft for her Brownie group the other night-fun time and she was so happy. We made candle holders out of baby food jars (very devious of me to use up all my baby food jars) with tissue paper and glue. Easy peasey and the girls were so busy and quiet. We made gift bags to put them it too. The leader found the cutest Brownie patches for Valentine's Day too so they each got one for their vests. My daughter arranged her candle holder on a paper towel yesterday and instructed me to take a picture to put on the computer so here it is........ as instructed :)




Have a great day!

Menu Plan Monday

I've been planning my meals for a few weeks now-ever since I first learned about it on Courtney's blog-but haven't gotten around to posting my meal plan on the right day! One step at a time......

I'm so glad I've started planning though. It's helped me out so much-I wish I had thought of it sooner. There were so many days that I was wondering around 4:00 what to have for dinner and then scrambling around to get it ready. Not the best time of the day when the kids are trying to do homework and tired and cranky (well, make that mom's tired and cranky!) Now I can just check my meal plan each morning and know exactly what I'm doing. It's been so helpful and makes me feel much more relaxed. At first, it just sounded like one more thing to do on Sunday, but it's not-it doesn't take long to check and see what I have in the freezer and decide what we're having-I even have started consulting with the kids and they are a big help plus they love to do it. I'd never do that if I was just trying to get it ready late in the afternoon.

Here's my plan for the week

Monday Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans- dh will be home early to man the grill-yeah!!

Tuesday Spaghetti and meatballs-crazy night for us with lots going on, this I can get ready in the afternoon and it's all set for whenever anyone has to eat

Wednesday Cheesy Potato Soup (recipe here) I think I'm going to try to put broccoli in it this time, my girls requested it, garlic bread

Thursday Chicken fajitas, salad

Friday My daughter's play is tonight and it's dinner theater so we're eating out :) leftover spaghetti and meatballs for the 3 little ones and my dad who very nicely volunteered to babysit

Next week I hope to try at least one new recipe, I've seen some yummy ones searching around. The potato soup is a new recipe for us, I've made it a few times and it's so yummy.

Check out orgjunkie.com for more meal ideas and meal planning tips.

It's a Jungle in here.....

This new little cutie is a new pattern by Courtney of Sister to Sister

It's in the set with the monkey I showed a couple of weeks ago. There's a giraffe in the set that is just as cute. The three patterns are available at YCMT. Courtney has another ebook availabe too that features a lady bug and a doggie-both cute for Valentine's Day. She's working on more animal patterns so stay tuned-I know my daughter requested a polar bear :)

This elephant pattern was just as easy to follow and sew as the monkey. The instructions were very clear. It's another great idea for a baby gift-although I've made this one for my 10 year old neice who loves elephants-she'll get a big kick out of it. I finally remembered to take a picture of it-I'll be giving it to her this weekend. Can't wait!

Have a great weekend!

Peeking out.......

from my laundry pile....

as it snows out again.....

to share some really cute snowflakes-

my favorite kind!

This was a great project for a snow day and the girls had fun. I got the idea on Make and Takes. I didn't have any watercolors though, so we used washable markers. We colored on the coffee filters and then sprayed them with a water bottle. The girls love doing that. When you spray the coffee filters, the marker colors all run together and it looks like tie dye. We let them dry and then hung them up. The pictures don't show the true colors-they're nice and bright.

Everyone wanted to help with this project!

P.S. I realized the other day that the link for the Friday Freebie was wrong-it's fixed now!