November 24, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone Happy Thanksgiving!  I know everyone will get busy in the next few days, us included, so I wanted to say it early!  I planned on putting a cute little Thanksgiving joke on here but instead, I'm going to share some of the things I am thankful for!





Messy Faces














Smiles x 3






13 hours








And there is so much more, I just don't have many pictures on my computer right now!

November 22, 2009

Slacker

I have really been slacking on my posts lately!  I am done with my Christmas shopping but I am still trying to finish up some projects and crafts before the holidays, so my poor little blog is being neglected!  I spent the weekend testing some new "recipes", so I can give them a trial run before giving them as gifts.  They were all a success!!  I can't share them until after the holidays, but you'll be the first to get the recipes!  If you are looking for something crafty to make for gifts, shoot me an email.  I have tons of ideas!

November 18, 2009

Yippee for a great birthday!

Once you pass the age of, oh, 21 birthday's lose a little bit of excitement.  For me any way.  But I had a good one this year!  Thanks to my mom, Jason and I got to enjoy a nice dinner at a restaurant without a dollar menu, and thanks to my wonderful neighbor and friend our dinner was kid-free!  She watched them one other night so we could go to a movie, which was fantastic, but this was the first time we have gone out to dinner without the kids since.....since K has been born!  And he is nearly a year old.  How sad is that?
I got my fun new iPhone last week as a birthday gift.  It was pretty cheap since we are already with AT&T and it was fully paid for by the money we made on eBay selling Jason's broken phone.  Can you believe a broken phone (the glass screen was shattered) sells for over $100???? Crazy.  And it's the old iPhone, not the new 3G ones.  Sometimes I think people will buy anything if it's on eBay.

November 16, 2009

Delicious Pumpkin Pancakes!

I had a pumpkin leftover from Halloween so I searched online for a recipe to use it.  I tried pumpkin bread and it was....well, it sucked.  Then I found this recipe for pumpkiin pancakes.  They were wonderful!  I always have pancake mix in the cupboard, but you can do this from scratch by adding these ingredients to your recipe.


Ingredients
1 1/2 cups pancake mix
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 large egg
1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 cup canned or pureed pumpkin
1 cup water, more or less

Directions
1. In a medium bowl, mix the pancake mix and spices together.
2. In another bowl, whisk the egg and the brown sugar together. Stir in the oil, the pumpkin, and most of the water.
3. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir with a spatula until just combined adding more water to obtain the right consistency.
Serve hot with maple syrup.

Enjoy!

November 13, 2009

I heart Soap & Glory!

I don't know if I've professed my love about Soap & Glory previously, if so I apologize for repeating myself.  This stuff is wonderful...fantastic....whatever you want to say.  I love it  Target is the only place I know of that sells this stuff (other then places online) and it's not cheap.  But it's not expensive really, it's kind of in between your basic store bought products and designer products.  They sell all kinds of bath/body products like lotions, lip gloss, body cream, etc.  And they smell fantastic.  I don't know how to describe the smell other then fantastic.  Anyway, I'm posting about this today because I made a trip to Target to pick up baby formula and noticed that Target has completely revamped their Soap & Glory section.  Yay, new products!  What's better then new products??? The old products at clearance prices!!  If my calculations were correct, the discontinued items were 75% off!  I scored $55 worth of this stuff for $15.  I have a sneaking suspicion that this stuff will show up in my Christmas stocking ;)

One of the things I got was the Sexy MotherPucker lip plumper.  Yes, you read that right, Sexy MotherPucker.  That's another thing I love about them, their clever names (The Righteous Butter, Clean on Me, Hair Supply, Calm One Calm All)  This stuff is supposed to plump up your lips up to 10X.  I really don't want my lips 10X as big but thought I'd give it a try.  Right away I could feel it tingling and panic set in, I will admit.  My top lip only got slightly bigger, which was about perfect for me.  I have to desire to have Angelina Jolie lips.  If you have that desire, you should probably look elsewhere.  But for me it was perfect.  And to top it off, it's chocolate flavored/scented!


I know of at least two people on my Christmas list that will be getting some of this stuff.  So if you're female and on my list, be excited, it might be you!! :)

November 11, 2009

Getting closer!

I'm slowly getting closer to opening my Etsy store!   I have a couple of projects that I am finishing up for Christmas but in between I'm starting to build up my stash.  I've gotten great ideas from searching the web and talking to other moms, so my store will have more then just baby blankets.  I'm going to stock crib sheets, soft teething toys, taggie blankets, crib blankets, quilts, and greeting cards.  The greeting cards sound out of place but I thought they'd be nice for someone who is ordering a gift, the card would match the gift as far as colors and/or patterns.  If the store takes off I will add in more products that are not baby related.  I'd like to have a decent stash before I open so I am thinking shortly after the new year.  So everyone reading this needs to start getting pregnant so you can buy my stuff. :)

I have the name picked out on Etsy and I have business cards ordered, to throw in with the packages that are sent. I found some amazing deals at VistaPrint.  They offer tons of their products for free (before shipping) so if you are starting up a business I'd highly recommend starting there. Now I just need to work on a logo for my store header...

November 8, 2009

My baby's first bithday...

...is only a month away!  I can hardly believe it, where has the time gone?!?  I ordered the party supplies and made his birthday crown. Anyone who knows Jason won't be surprised that this will be the party theme:






and doesn't he look adorable in his birthday crown?



and yes, I know, I am bending his ear in this picture.  He's not a fan of hats so I had to be quick.  I found the pattern for this crown here and it cost me a total of $1.00 to make.  It probably took a total of 30 minutes to make, including the time it took to cut out the pieces and measure his gigantic head.  I didn't know at the time that we were doing a Super Mario party or I would have coordinated the colors better, but he'd look cute either way :)  I'm trying to plan a frugal, yet special birthday party.  This seems like the first time we've planned a birthday party where there will be other children there (niece and nephews.)  I ordered some lollipops from Etsy, some red "M" lollis for Mario and some green "L" lollis for Luigi.  I'm putting together my own favor boxes so that will save a little money too.  If I have time and get really crafty (doubtful though) I will make similar hats for the other kids, but make them look like red and green painters hats, with the kids' initials.  I love planning birthday parties, but only because I've never had to plan one for a ton of children. :)

November 4, 2009

Is it Christms yet???

I am so in the Christmas spirit these days.  Both this year and last I started shopping early and I can't tell you how much less stressful the holidays are when you're done shopping BEFORE the crazy crowds.  Last year I was 8 months pregnant in December so I started early.  I enjoyed it so much I did it again this year.  Here it is, November 4th, and I have only one...yes, ONE...person to shop for.  And I'm doing that this weekend.  I guess I do have one more left but the items I am buying for that person are perishable and I can't buy them until close to Christmas.

I'm also signing up online for giveaways galore!  You will probably see a lot of them posted here on my blog for two reasons.  1. because it obviously helps me to win when I advertise the giveaway and 2. because I like to help these mom bloggers get more fans.  I get so excited when I see that I have just one new follower, I can't imagine how much they appreciate it when they get 100 new followers!  A couple of the blogs I follow are having major giveaways for the holiday season, I have little buttons on the right side bar in a special holiday section and will add to it as I find them.  I can't even keep track of all of the giveaways I've entered but it certainly is paying off!  I've won a gDiapers started kit, a My Little Pony DVD, a $15 gift certificate for an Etsy store (from which I got K a cute new winter hat.), and I won $50.  And that was all before the major holiday giveaways.

Oh yeah, and I already have all of my Christmas presents wrapped!  Yes, I'm crazy.  I know people will say that I should save that for when Christmas is actually here, but I just love being done with it all.  I like being able to sit back and relax by the tree with some hot cocoa while everyone else is shopping and wrapping.  Suckers! :)

November 2, 2009

A fabulous Holiday season of Giveaway!

I've been a fan of Love To Shop Mom for awhile now, but starting this week (and running through December 5th) she is doing a ton of giveaways!  Seriously, like 43 items!  Each week will have a different theme and there are many different things you can do to enter.  Check it out, you won't be disappointed!


Love TO Shop Mom