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!!