Halloween 2011

Tato very much wanted to be a princess this year. Olie wanted to be whatever Tato wanted to be.
The girls got to go to the ward Halloween party with Roger and Cassie while Alice and I were celebrating our anniversary.
I had to work on Halloween night so Alice and her mom took the girls to Jill's house to go trick or treating with their cousins. They told me they had a lot of fun.

My First Furniture Redo

I forgot to take a true Before and After. This is as close to before as I could remember to get. It was orange on the inside and black painted over the orange on the outside. This particular piece of furniture was purchased at the DI by my mother to house all her sheet music, and since her piano lives at our house, so does her sheet music. It's been in my house for well over two years and for some reason I suddenly decided I wanted to paint it and cover the shelves, even though I have no knowledge of how to do such a thing. Terry and I spent the next two days sanding, priming, painting and shopping for fabric and a knob to go on the drawer. It was pretty fun to see it go from heap of ugly plywood to something I am excited to have in my home.

Before

After

Now what else can I redo . . .

Tato's Birthday (and a few other stories)

Tato and Grandpa shared a birthday party at the park last month.



For some reason I'm unnaturally proud of this card I made for my father-in-law.

Daily Dora the Explorer.

Tato has come up with quite a few excuses for why she can't stop sucking her thumb yet. This is the best one I think.

Terry: Tato try to stop sucking your thumb ok?

Tato: But daddy, if I stop sucking my thumb then the spiders will get in my mouth. : O

Beautiful Princesses. They are obsessed with princesses of all kinds. Every day they have a new favorite.

One day Tato looked really sad so I asked her what was wrong. In the most depressed voice I've ever heard she replied, "Mommy, I wish I was a princess." Me too honey, me too.

Tato loves helping me cook. Here she is making pudding.

One day we were making cookies. I like to make her feel involved even though she can't do much yet.

Me: Ok Tato, read me the recipe. What do we put in next?

Tato: One Tablespoon.

Me: One Tablespoon of what?

Tato: Hmmm, of cookie.

And the post wouldn't be complete without an Olie story. The other day while they were brushing their teeth before bed, I ran to the kitchen real quick to get a glass of water for them. When I got back to the bathroom, Olie was dunking her toothbrush in the toilet over and over and over again. She is so mischievous. Thank goodness I had spares.

4th of July Vacation & Other Mischief

I guess it's high time I updated the blog. Here is what we've been up to.

Olie got caught coloring on the wall.

I made sure the punishment fit the crime.

Tato got her first haircut ever!

Before

After (I haven't gotten a very good after pic yet)

We went up to my hometown for the 4th of July weekend. It was pretty exciting since I haven't been back up there in 6 years. We did lots of things while we were there. Alot has changed but my favorite Chinese restaurant was still there so we got to eat there. Yum yum yum! I got to see a few people I used to work with at the Albertsons.

I got to see my best friend from High School and Tato and Olie got to play with her kids.

We got to walk around the greenbelt and Tato got to feed the geese.

Tato enjoyed every second of the walk.


Olie not so much.

The night of the fourth we got a really great seat for the fireworks(or what we thought was a really great seat) on the lawn of someone in my dad's ward.
We had fun with the glow bracelets and necklaces that Roger, Cassie, Dad and Ginni all bought.

And then here is some of the debris we got hit with. The first 5 minutes of the show were spectacular; best seat ever. Then Terry mentioned that he thought he got hit with something and I kind of shrugged it off. Then I got hit about an inch below my eye with something moving really fast and the rest was pretty much ruined for me. I didn't want my babies getting hit (and for heaven sakes I didn't want to get hit again), so I spent the rest of the show covering my children and my eyes. I got hit a few more times but not in the face again so it wasn't so bad. A guy a few feet in front of us got hit with a piece that was still on fire. After he put the fire out he laughed it off. I guess I'm just not that adventurous. I'll sit further away next time, thanks.
Hope everyone has had a great July so far!

Blackberry Tarts

Well, I was going to put up the cutest video of Tato, but for some reason none of my videos will upload, so you'll have to deal with another recipe.

This recipe came about because I was desperate for some sort of dessert, and this uses ingredients I happen to have on hand.

First I have to say that I lifted the creamy filling for these tarts directly from here, my favorite site ever, Our Best Bites. I better give credit where credit is due. Oh and the blackberry topping is modified from the raspberry sauce in the Betty Crocker Cookbook.


Blackberry Tarts

Crust
1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (about one sleeve of crackers)
1/4 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling
1 8-oz. package cream cheese at room temperature (light is fine)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/4 c. powdered sugar

Topping
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/3 cup water
10 oz frozen blackberries (it was about 3/4 of the bag that I had, it doesn't have to be exact)

Preheat oven to 375. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press it into as many cupcake liners as you can. (Believe me, you will want a lot of these) Press into the bottom of the liners and up the sides. Put them into a muffin tin and bake in preheated oven for 4-5 minutes. After they have cooled for a few minutes you can cool them in the fridge while you do the rest.

In saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Stir in water and blackberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir one minute more. Remove from heat and let it cool for a few minutes on the counter while you do the next step, then let it cool in the fridge until desired temperature. (it is good warm, cold, room temperature . . . seriously)

In a medium bowl, beat the softened cream cheese, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. In a separate large bowl, beat the whipping cream and powdered sugar until medium peaks form. Add about 1 c. of the whipping cream mixture to the cream cheese mixture. Beat until smooth and well-combined. Add the remaining whipping cream mixture and mix until just combined. Pour/spread into cooled mini crusts.

Top with blackberry topping and enjoy! These are still delicious the next day too!

And here are the girls after trying them. I kid you not, these were taken directly after eating Blackberry Tarts.

Breaded Chicken

Ok so I mentioned I might add some recipes to my blog. I've really enjoyed cooking lately and since most people blog about their passions, and cooking is fast becoming one of mine, I figured it couldn't hurt to blog about some of my more successful cooking endeavors. I realize to most of you who have been cooking for years these early recipes will seem . . . simple really, however keep in mind just a few years ago the fanciest meal I made was a can of green beans and instant mashed potatoes. I know right. (That's not to say we still don't eat those : ) Oh, and forgive the amatuer food photography.

I'm starting out with an easy recipe that I just got from just using things from my pantry. Without further ado:

Breaded Chicken - Serves 2 - 4

1 - 6 oz bag Seasoned Dressing Mix (we use Mrs. Cubbison's Classic Dressing Seasoned)
1 or 2 Chicken Breasts (use 1 breast for 2 servings or 2 breasts for 4 servings)
1 or 2 eggs (again depending on the servings)
Olive Oil
Marinara Sauce (you can just use your favorite brand)


Take the bag of dressing mix and smash it until it is dust. Using the back of an ice cream scoop works great for this. Fill a small bowl with about 1/3 to 1/2 of the breading. You definitely won't need all of it. Keep the portion you don't use in a Ziploc bag to be used for future chicken breading endeavors.

Place a chicken breast between two peices of plastic wrap. That step is vital, otherwise you will have chicken juices flying everywhere. Don't ask me how I know. Make sure to seal the edges of the plastic wrap. Take a meat mallet (have no idea if this is what they are actually called) or your trusty ice cream scoop (ours is really heavy so it works for all sorts of food bludgeoning) and pound the chicken flat. This is a great meal for getting out aggression . . .
Cut your now flattened chicken breast in half.

Scramble your egg/eggs in a small bowl. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. The oil should cover the bottom of the pan quite generously (the bread crumbs will soak up a bit so don't skimp on the oil).

Once the pan is hot dip each chicken in the bowl of egg and coat each piece. Then dip each chicken in the breading and coat each piece. Then quickly transfer to your heated skillet.

Cook on each side about 3-5 minutes. Top with a spoonful of heated marinara. I don't know if it's because this meal is so easy (especially when you already have a stash of smashed dressing mix) or if it really is that good . . . but yummmmm, I want this all the time.

Tato

There are three new posts. I haven't put photoshop on my new computer yet, and then my camera broke anyways, so I have failed to blog recently. I figure I will put photoshop back on tomorrow but until then, here are a few updates. And by updates I mean freakin adorable pictures of my children.

Tato is a such a conscientious girl. She always gets sad when other people are sad, and she always wants to help mommy and daddy in any way she can. She is getting a little more independent and wants to be a big girl. She is growing up too fast! She wanted me to put the Mrs. Potato head earrings on her.

She has way too many "animals" as she calls them. She piles them all up on her bed and has to sleep with a few of them every night.

She likes to have tea parties with her animals and her sister (even though she doesn't like to share with her sister). Her favorite show is Veggie Tales and she sings the theme song all day long.
She likes to do art projects with her daddy like this puzzle that he painted for her. She sat right across from him and "painted" with him. She is super funny and she says the funniest things. The other day Terry was helping her count her fingers and when he got done counting she furrowed her brow and said, "Interesting."

Olie

Olie is a little sweetheart. She is quick to forgive when her sister steals her toys. She always gives her sister a big kiss when she says sorry.

We constantly find her around the house like this. Sometimes she just doesn't make it til bedtime. I think it was just during a growth spurt because she fell asleep randomly three times in one week and then hasn't done it since. I just think it's cute because her sister never fell asleep unless she was in her crib.


Olie's favorite book is Hop on Pop. She calls it On Pop. She loves to read books and especially likes to do anything her big sister is doing. She has already learned how to say no and uses that word almost exclusively. She loves to eat til her belly is protruding. Then she walks around the house sticking it out. She likes playing with blocks and answering questions about her favorite things.

Happy Birthdays!

While Terry and I both had birthdays since I last blogged, our camera broke before my birthday so I figured I'd combine the posts since their are no pictures of mine. For Terry's birthday we went out to eat wherever he wanted for both lunch and dinner. We also went mini golfing and then in the evening we watched a movie of his choice, and I wasn't aloud to veto. He uses those occasions to watch old silly movies that he used to love and this time wasn't an exception. I made him a pretty boring cake. But it still tasted good.


When he woke up that morning he saw this on his desk (table). He always eats his skittles separated by color and he always says it would be easier if he just had jars with them separated (because he loves and eats skittles so much). I am shocked that they are almost gone . . . It took three giant bags to fill those jars.

Anyways, on the bottom of each jar was a number 1-5 and on his gifts were numbers 1-5. Some were gag gifts (but still fun) because come on, I can't afford 5 nice gifts : ). So throughout the day he would pick color and then open the corresponding gift. The girls really loved this because he let them pick the color for him and then help him open the presents. All in all I think he had fun.

My birthday was very nice too. For lunch we went to Pirate Island which I love. I pretend we just go for the girls but secretly I love it. Then I got a massage and got my toenails painted. That's pretty much all I ever want for my birthday because lately it's much needed. I don't need more stuff in my life I need more . . . something else. Massages . . . and pretty toenails.

I also got an uber nice spice rack which I'm pretty excited about since I have been cooking more. I will be adding a few recipes to the blog every once in awhile just for fun. It's always nice to have new meal ideas I think. Then Terry took me out to dinner, while the girls got to play with their cousins. Terry made me a much less boring cake than I made him, but sadly there is no photographic evidence.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day! Er, 4 days ago. Ever since getting Photoshop Elements it takes so much longer to blog. I feel compelled to edit all the pictures. : ) Thanks to Terry's parents we were able to go on a date sans kids. It was wonderful. We ate at Texas Road House which has the best ever mashed potatoes and gravy.

Tato got her first Valentine from a boy. Her friend that moved across the country sent her a little package with candy, stickers, balloons and a card. It was the cutest thing ever. I would say I was more excited than her, but this time I don't think that's true.

Thanks guys for the cutest Valentine ever. Hope you're having fun getting snowed on out there. : (

That morning I whipped up a batch of pink pancake batter and Terry cooked us some heart shaped pancakes.

To be honest Terry and I don't usually do much for Valentines day but this year we had so much fun! Some holidays really are more fun with kids. (I don't think the heart shaped pancakes would have happened without them ; )