Merry Christmas!

What a busy year! And you know, its only going to continue this way, for like, forever. Kids are born, grow up, life is always changing. Trials come and knock us down for a bit, we recover, and (hopefully) learn the lesson we were meant too. And the blessings, oh the blessings! Life is sweet, isn't it?

I really like the idea of using this blog to stay connected with friends in far away places. I have done a very crappy job on my part, although I am grateful for those who frequently update! Maybe this next year will be better. I think the problem is that I feel a need to be elloquent, with proper grammar and spelling. When really, who cares, right? Staying in touch is way more important. So here is to a new year with more frequent posts.

Here are a few pictures of our little family. The boys are wonderful, crazy, exausting, adorable, all in one; growing like crazy, learning every day.

Again, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Kade's First Birthday

So hard to believe my baby is One year old, where did the time fly?? We had a little(ish) birthday party for the Birthday boy this year, with just family. Even then, there were 20+ people in my house, plus 5 kids. yikes. Instead of going the easy route and sticking with cake and ice cream, I decided to make dinner for all these people. NEVER AGAIN!! Although it turned out great, it was a LOT of work, and although my family was worth the hassle, my mental capacity took a hit and I was a cranky momma by nights end. What's the point, huh!

I did a turtle-ish party. I say 'ish' because I kept it pretty simple. I made some cute invites, made a SUPER cute birthday banner, whipped together a turtle cake, and that was about it. Simple! Here are a few pictures, Isn't he precious??!!?  
Here is the sign I made, using my Mom's Cricut machine. That thing is amazing. . . .I got the idea from emmiecakes.com.

Its a bit wonky in this picture because 1. I had 'help' putting it up, and 2. this picture was taken at the end of the evening. Trust me, Its WAAAYY cuter than the picture depicts!!

Here is his cake. It too is a bit wonky because 1. my partner in crime is MIA (not really, she just abandoned me for England) 2. I spent too much time on real food and not this bad boy and 3. I tried too hard and didn't know when to stop messing with it. It worked.

My big boy, tickling the Ivory's! He loves to play the piano!! (really, he just loves to make noise. . . .)

Whelp. Uploading pictures is taking forever and I need to turn in, so there ya go. More soon! (Don't keep your fingers crossed too long, that's what I said about posting more on our England trip. . . a month ago. . .)

May 2010

Hello! I must say- even though I rarely update our blog, I check it frequently to see if you guys have updated yours and am always glad to see what life is like in your neck of the woods. We have had a busy May/June! Chris and I had the amazing experience of going to England for a week. My BFF (how high school does THAT sound!?! But really, she is!) and her family were Sealed for Eternity in the London Temple! It was an amazing day, one of my top 5 best days thus far. Jeannette and I have known each other since elementary school, and became besties around our Junior year of high school. We have gone through a lot together- she lost her Aunt just days after my Grandmother passed away, I was living with her in Vegas when Danae died, and we spent many hours crying together as she learned of her sweet baby's fate once she was born. Gosh, sounds like our lives have been all doom and gloom, huh! Watching our children grow, overcome obstacles, make us laugh, make us yell, make us be mean, has been so much fun as we go through these stages together. And of course, we have each other to 'vent' our spousal frustrations too. And now that they have this amazing blessing in their lives, I know our friendship will get even deeper as we share experiences and thoughts of things most eternal.

While we were there, we visited London for a day. Anyone who has ever been to London knows you need about a month to see everything there is to see. I had the chance to go as a nanny in 2003. We were there a full week and didn't see all we wanted too! I think it was pleanty of time for Chris, as he is a true fan of the good old USA over all other nations, and was content seeing the highlights. We took a double-decker bus tour, which was so much fun and perfect when you are short on time!! I need to up load my pictures. . .

I need to retire now, so I will add more later!

Kade

April 23, 2010

This little guy is just, the best. He is 9 months old now, and growing! At his 9 mo apt this past week he weighed in at 18lb12oz and was 27 inches long. Tall and thin! He isn't as big of a kid as we thought, though. He grew fast at first, started wearing 6-9 mo clothes in November; he was 4 months old. He is STILL in those same clothes, but not for long.

He loves to eat, and has been introduced into snacking, his favorite is Cherrios and fruit puffs. Kade's sleeping habits left a lot to be desired until I worked on it with him about 6 weeks ago. He did GREAT for about three of those weeks, but has reverted back to his old ways. Darn kid. His first tooth hasn't come in yet, so everything gets blamed on that, including his sleep issues. He does take good naps, so I try not to complain much.

Let's see, what else about Kade-ster. He loves toys, especially his older brothers dinosaurs. He isn't crawling yet, but will spring forward out of a sitting positon onto his tummy when a prized toy is just out of reach. Mommy is working on tummy time more to encourage movement.

All in all, he is a great kid! He loves his momma and is very much a cuddler. Already a social kid, he waves when you wave back and smiles at anyone who talks to him.
Ok. This is sounding a bit boring, so I will end it with a few pictures of my cutie!!

November 2009, just learning to eat

Look at that face!! December 2009

Hello!

Its been a very long time since I posted. And my blog is a little, all over the place. Not very exciting to read, at all. I am working on it a bit. More pics of my litle ones, more delicious recipes, more, period! So stick around. I promise I will be back! BTW- just because I rarely post, I love it when each of you do, so keep at it!! You inspire me!

Natalie

Made from Scratch Bread

Oh, how I love fresh home made bread. I would make it every day if it didn't go strait to the hips. I love making it, eating it, finding recipes for it, waiting for it to rise, every little part of it. I must say, I am obsessed. (I am obsessed with a few different things these days, huh!)

How delighted I was when my pal Tammie gave me this little recipe. The easiest bread ever! Takes 1 hour from start to finish, and tastes so amazing. It makes 2 very large loaves, so far I have only made a half batch because its just the 2.75 of us, and it turns out great!!

I am NOT going to re-post the recipe, but will just post the link. This gal is great! She gives a very helpful video tutorial, too. And, I think she lives just down the hill (I will keep city names off to avoid any issues!) which is even better.

Ok. Here is the link. Check it out!

Coupons. . . what a pain. . . .c

A few weeks go, Chris and I had a talk about our grocery and household items budget. We are really trying to cut back and save more each month. He would be content eating hot dogs and pb&j sandwhiches every night for dinner, while I would love a 4-course meal every night. We compromise and I usually cook one or two things that are more substantial and then we fill in with veggie quesadillas or sandwhiches. After our talk and our new resolve to save money, I took some advice from a few friends (I posted a question on FB and got lots of feedback!) and started checking out coupon blogs/sites. HOLY COW, what a can of worms that is!! I got really excited, learning I could get laundry detergent for dirt (ha ha) cheap, toothpaste for pennies, and any other toiletry product for almost free if I paid attention.

I hit the ground running, clipped my coupons from the Sunday paper, found ones from online sites, scowerd the adds both in print and on line, read every blog about couponing to make sure I found everything, got in the car with the boys, and lasted about 10 minutes in CVS. I hit a wall. Everything I was going to get for 'free' was out of stock, Kade was screaming, Zander pooped his pants and was yelling at me because he had to sit in the back of the basket, and because I forgot to bring fruit snacks, and it was just too much. This is the second week something VERY similar happened when I went 'shopping' last week. I just don't think this is going to work until my kids are a little older, like, in school. I ended up getting so frustrated at them and the annoying checker, that I ended up being in a bad mood the rest of the day, especially to my precious boys. That is just not worth it to me! They are the priority, not great deals!

 I was talking to my friend, Angie, about it, and she felt the same way. She has 4 kids, only 1 is in elementary school, and although her second is in pre-school, it just adds to the errands she already has to run. Did I mention her husband just got called to be Bishop at Church?!?! So, yeah, she is busy.

I am going to give this one more week. Maybe I can escape one evening while Chris is home and go out looking for deals. Alone. Maybe if I can focus, think, and plan better it will go smoother. Any thoughts?

White Chip Bars

***I started this post last week, but never finished it!! ***
I seriously think I have a problem. I am OBSESSED with making desserts. Like, I have to make something every week!! And I can't just use the good old stand by's. I have to try something new. The Missionaries are coming over for dinner tonight and although I have some cherry dump cake from FHE left over, I had to make something else. Mainly because there wasn't much left.

I scored and bought cookie dough for really cheap the other day ($1 for a tube of sugar cookie.Sweet deal, huh!) and searched the Pillsbury site for something yummy to do with it. This is what I found. The pan is siting in front of me, with one piece alredy missing. That's the beauty of making up bars like this- I can cut them up and arrange on a plate and nobody (ie Chris) will ever know just how much I have scarffed down!!

Here is the recipe-
1 16oz (or around there) pkg sugar cookie dough
1 can sweetend condensed milk
1 1/2 cup coconut
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup sliced or slivered almonds

*preheat oven to 350.
*In a greased 9x13 pan press the cookie dough down, making sure there are no holes, and try to make it even. Press the chips down firmly, into the dough.
*Sprinkle the coconut and almonds, then pour the sweetend condensed milk over all.
*Bake for 30 minutes, or until the middle is a little brown. I have a fear of buring or even over cooking things, so I took mine out a bit too soon, like before the middle was starting to brown.
*You can take an additional 1/3 c white chips, melt them, then drizzle on top after they cool a bit for a nice look.
*These are a 'white' version of magic cookie bars, so if you like those you should love these!!
 Here is the link to the official recipe, which you might want to use for reference.!!
I often buy the dry packaged cookie dough when its on sale. I am sure if you add the ingredients listed on the back, you could use that too. Or any cookie dough recipe you like! Enjoy!!

Three Whole Columns!

Hello friends! With a little bit of work, I changed things up a bit on the blog, as you can tell.
*I graduated to a three column layout, mainly so I can see everything I want too without scrolling all over the place. Organization is something I am really striving for in every aspect of my life, so I started with the blog, figuring it would be pretty easy.
*I have caught a coupon-clipping bugg and have added a few links to some great sights.
*New recipes are always fun to find, so I added some links to my favorites.

What fun, this blogging is!

Natalie

A Question

So you dear Mommies, is the answer to my issues

"This too shall pass"

or

"Welcome to Motherhood"?

I, of course, am referring to my children's total lack of sleep discipline. I really should have posted this a week ago, because, really, they are getting a smidge better. They are both asleep at this very moment, so it can't be all that bad, right??

I have to admit, I was reading a friends blog (she has a baby just a week younger than K) and felt the tinest tinge of jealousy when I read her babe is sleeping through the night! Especially since K thinks he still needs to eat 3-4 times at night. I asked how she did it, and pretty much said the baby did it herself. And this gal is so sweet, and helpful, and how can I be jealous??

Just a bit ago, I was reading another friends blog, and she blogged about this very thing! We are blessed to have friends with blogs, but often we find ourselves comparing everything, because we blog and know about everything everyone is doing! If we don't have the right attitude, we can find ourselves having negative thoughts as we catch up, and isn't that the opposite effect blogs are supposed to have?? So dear Mommies, I say we take this all with a grain of salt and love and learn from each other. There. Done ranting for the day.

Have I mentioned it is POURING outside?? Parts of our neighborhood are flooded!!

SNOW!!

The last few weeks we have had the best weather! If it has to be winter, I like California's version! This week Mother Nature decided we needed a turn at real winter, and filled Monday and Tuesday with tons of rain. Then this afternooon, it started snowing, and sticking!! YEAH!!!!! I am really hoping it keeps up enough for Mr.B to stay home tomorrow. A 4 day weekend would be heaven for this tired mommy.
Love to all!!

This picture is of Chris' car in our garage. The snow was in sheets, because it was starting to freeze. Right after we took pictures, it all fell to the ground! Glad for good timing!!

Sent to Word

This is just an experiment- My dear husband surprised me with a new laptop for Christmas this past year. I was thrilled, as mine was just about 5 years old, very slow, and ready to crash. Last summer, Chris' department received a link to purchase Office 2007 for $10! A HUGE deal!! We were going to order it, but never did. I think the thought of sitting, waiting for it to download, not knowing if my poor laptop could handle it, was just too much. Well, since we got this little beauty, I was ready! I just downloaded it today and it came with a ton of programs! AND, the best part? I can create blog posts from word, with pictures included and everything.!! How wonderful, huh!! Now I have no reason not to post. I won't go crazy, because, well, I still have two small-always-needing-SOMETHING children and I do have to occasionally cook and clean. Plus, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?? So, I am going to send this baby off, and see what pops up! One more way cool thing- the laptop has a built in camera/video feature. This is a goofy picture of my, right now, as I type this blog, Rad, huh!!

!

ok, so the pic didnt work but the rest did!!! Cheers!!!

Candy

I LOVE CANDY!! This girl could live on candy alone. My favorite??

PEANUT BRITTLE!! Especially See's. The great part?? Chris likes it too, but not See's, so I get the whole box to myself! And, He always buys me some for my stocking at Christmas.

This past holiday season, we made lots of candy; peanut butter fudge, Oreo Fudge, English Toffee, but the very best thing we made was this heavenly candy you make in a crock pot! It turns out like a Pay Day candy bar. Divine. Kade is waking up. . . don't want to wake Zander. . .post recipe later!

Thank goodness you can edit posts! Ok, boys happy, here is the link. I didn't take pictures of it, but there is one on the site, I think. Actually, I will just post the recipe so you don't have to go too it.


--3 cups of sugar (Baker's sugar has finer granules and will dissolve well)
--1 cup light corn syrup
--4 cups of your favorite nuts (I only used peanuts, because at that time my almonds and pecans were spoken for for other recipes, but will try a mix next time!)
--4 Tbl butter
--2 tsp vanilla extract
--2 tsp baking soda

--parchment paper or Release foil

The Directions.

I used my 6 quart crock for this.

Drop the 4 tablespoons of butter into your crockpot. Add the sugar and the corn syrup on top of the butter. Pour in the vanilla.

Cover your crockpot and turn to high for one hour.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or release foil.

After an hour, stir well to mix everything around. Add the baking soda. It will sizzle and make fun noises.
Your sugar mixture will be kind of milky-yellow and the sugar might still look granulated.

Cover again and cook on high for another 30 minutes. Check and stir. Cover and cook again for another 15-30 minutes, or until the sugar mixture is brown and looks the color of peanut brittle. Or a payday candy bar.**These are her directions, when I made it It was the 'right' color after the first 30 minute increment; I didn't want to cook it too much, although thinking about it, it would have probably been ok, its only a crock pot, not direct heat.)

Stir in your nuts.

Then, USING OVEN MITTS, carefully (CAREFULLY! seriously---use the oven mitts) pour half of the pot onto each cookie sheet and spread out with a spatula.
It will be lumpy.
that's because there are nuts.**We only used one cookie sheet, with sides, and it fit perfectly!

Let cool at room temperature for about an hour, then cut into pieces. we cut ours in 2 inch squares and wrapped each piece in waxed paper.

Prepare to be amazed. SERIOUSLY, so good. We planned on giving it out to friends, but, we ate it all. Well, my family had some. I will blame it on them!!

Happy New Year!

Hello! I hope you had great Christmas and New Year Celebrations. We did. A little chaotic, but doesn't that make it more fun? We decided to have both our sides of the family over on Christmas day, and knowing we did not have room for 15 people to have a nice sit down Christmas dinner, we opted to have breakfast instead. It was delish! Chris and I made a breakfast casserole, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls and other family members brought drinks (Chocolate milk, Apple juice, egg nog and oj), bacon and sausage, and gravy. It was just, so good. I do love breakfast! Here is the recipe for the breakfast casserole- Its really easy:

24 oz shredded hashbrowns
1/2 c butter, melted
1 c chopped ham
2 c shredded cheese (I probably used more)
8 eggs, beaten
2 c milk
1/2 tsp salt

*Press hashbrowns in bottom of a 9x13 pan. Pour butter over evenly, bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes.
*Mix eggs, salt, and milk together.
*Sprinkle ham over potatos, followed by the cheese.
*Pour egg mixture over all.
*Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 oven. ENJOY!!

The next morning I went to the store and bought some tortillas (and really cheap after Christmas candy) and we made breakfast buritos with the casserole and left over bacon and sausage. HEAVEN!

So, try it! Feel free to add onions, bell peppers, or other spices to your liking! We liked this so much I may just make it for dinner one night. Yum!