Christmas Card Class

I have posted pictures and the information about this year's Christmas card class.  Hop on over to my scrapbooking blog and check it out!  Here is some insider information;  you could win these cards for FREE!!  On Friday I will be posting a blog candy giveaway on my scrapbooking blog so be sure to check back.  The blog address is http://iotamaker.blogspot.com/

A Little Too Much Cookie Fun

 Kassie really wanted to make Halloween sugar cookies so we did for FHE the Monday before Halloween.  I am particular about my sugar cookies.  I like them thick and soft.  My sister-in-law makes the best sugar cookies I have ever had so I looked up her recipe and we went to work.

 Now to the fun part. . . the FROSTING!

Forget the frosting. Lets EAT!!

Note to self - HALF THE BATCH!!!

FYI the recipe can be found online. Here is a link for the Lofthouse Cookies

Teeth Brushing

After all that candy this next post seems very appropriate!

Just don't try to take her tooth brush away!!

Halloween 2010

Another Halloween has come and gone.  I love that this one day of the year holiday has become a week long event! Ok, I might have said that with a little bit of sarcasm.  Anyways, This first picture is of Brock and Mikele right before they left for school for their class parties. I went smart this year and for costumes headed over to my amazing friend's house with all the kids in tow.  I pointed at her Halloween costume box and instructed my kids to pick a costume. It worked amazingly well.

This picture is of all the kids reading their card from Grammy Norris.

I told the kids to look through their spiroscopes and see their worst nightmare, HUNDREDS OF ME!!!

Allie loves her new book. Thank you Grammy!

My cute little bumblebee!  Allie actually liked her costume. She enjoyed the whole Halloween experience. She was very protective of her candy bucket and although she didn't like taking candy from people she didn't know, if I handed it to her she was excited about it and wouldn't give it back.

Kassie the unicorn had a fabulous Halloween.  She had a wonderful time at her preschool Halloween party! (thanks Becca) She decorated a canvas trick or treating bag, made a skeleton from noodles, painted a pumpkin, made a pet spider who is now living in her room and put on a show for the Mom's.  The girls in the preschool group had a little costume parade and then recited 2 poems.  Kassie also enjoyed the trunk-or-treat (we have no pictures because we were in charge of the activity and were too busy to pull out the camera).  Kassie also enjoyed our door to door trick-or-treating.  It became a game to see who could get to the door first.  Kassie was sitting closest to the door so she would hop out and bolt for the front door while Brock and Mikele were still climbing out from the back of the van.  All of the kids ended the night with very heavy candy buckets.  Kassie, my very picky child, doesn't like over half of her candy so she gives it all to Jason.  Jason is totally fine with it because it is the good stuff like the chocolate candy bars that she is giving away.

Mikele also had a great Halloween.  Mikele dressed up as Hermione Granger from Harry Potter.  I think she actually looks pretty good.  I did buy the tie and wand but we borrowed the robe.  She wore Brock's Sunday shirt and had the black pants and boots.  We braided her hair Thursday night so that it was bushy for school on Friday.  The top picture in this post shows her hair right after we took the braids out on Friday morning.  

Kassie and Mikele attended a Halloween party at our neighbor's house the week before and had a fabulous time!  They decorated pumpkins, ate pizza, played games and came home with a bag full of Halloween paraphernalia.  She also enjoyed her class party, trunk-or-treating, trick-or-treating and then watching a movie before bed on Saturday. Sunday was officially Halloween but we really didn't do anything except eat candy.

 

Brock was a vampire.  We also borrowed his cloak and I bought a black shirt and the face make-up.  He actually looks kind of spooky in this picture.  Talk about getting in character! Brock had a busy Halloween as well.  He had a class party on Friday followed by the Trunk-or-treat.  Then on Saturday after our little photo shoot we went trick-or-treating down main street, to our friends, the Dentons, and then trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  That night after we were home and enjoying our sugar high we watched the new Karate Kid movie. 

My Halloween Crew.  

Sadly Jason and I were too busy getting things ready for the Trunk-or-treat to even think about our own costumes.  Pretty lame I know but next year we plan to make up for this year's lack of costumes.

Allie and Kassie enjoyed an early morning treat after breakfast.  This picture cracks me up.  Check out Kassie's facial expression as Allie is scoping out Kassie's candy bucket. LOL! (you can click on the picture to make it larger)

Ah, much better. Each girl has her own candy bucket.  Happy Halloween!

Crock Pot Lasagna

For Bree. . . (and Heather)

Crock Pot Lasagna (ok just as a side note. Lasagna is one of those words that people like me who can't spell curse.  I mean seriously have you tried to pronounce that word phonetically.)

1 lb sausage
28 oz rag of spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 c. tomato sauce
1 3/4 c. cottage cheese
1 egg slightly beaten
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
12 pieces regular or oven ready lasagna
4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

In skillet, cook meat until browned; remove from heat. Drain. Stir in spaghetti and tomato sauces.  In small bowl, stir together ricotta or cottage cheese, egg, basil and oregano. In crock pot, spoon in meat sauce, place uncooked lasagna over meat sauce (break noodles if needed) and top with cheese mixture.  Spread meat sauce over cheese mixture and top with mozzarella cheese. Repeat until crock pot is full.(I usually only do about 2 layers ie.sauce, noodles, cheese sauce noodles cheese sauce sprinkle top with mozzarella cheese but my crock pot is huge)  Cook on low for approximately 4 hours.


This is very yummy!! I have found with my over zealous crock pot that it only takes about 3 hours and if it is left longer then the noodles get a little too done for my taste. This recipe came from my new favorite cookbook; "Favorites from our Tables Millville 1st Ward" and the recipe was submitted by Pam June. 

Enjoy!

Preschool- All About ME!

 It has already been 4 weeks and was my turn teach preschool.  Our theme was "All About Me."  We made these books about each of the little girls on Tuesday.

 This group of girls crack me up.  They all say the funnies things and try to act so grown up.

 These were our triangle hats. (we talked about the shape triangle).  The girls plastered them with stickers that Uncle Denny had sent and had arrived that day! Great timing Uncle Denny!

We didn't have time for recess on our first day of school so I promised the girls that we would make it up on the second day.  We didn't get through everything that I had planned but I was going to keep my promise and it was gorgeous outside.  Some of the girls played with side walk chalk while other including Kassie captured grasshoppers for the bug catcher.  I can't believe how nice the weather is for the middle of October! Trust me I am not complaining and would love it to continue to be nice through Halloween.

Little Sleepy Head

  Allie is almost (hold on let me figure this out) 16 months old.  She has a charming personality.  She can turn on and off the tears faster then anyone I know (including me) and can be a big tease.  She thinks that she is big stuff because she can crawl up and down the stairs all by herself.  She loves to roam around the whole house getting into whatever catches her eye.  I have been known to call her my "Dud" because she isn't walking or really talking yet.  But I say it in good humor and know that she will walk when she is ready and that it is no big deal.  She LOVES her Mom. (well for now anyways) and will give me hugs upon request but nobody else.  My other kids have all gone to the dark side and would pick Jason over me. Her favorite noise is to screech at us to get what she wants.  She also likes to growl.  She is a picky eater.  She prefers white things like bananas, yogurt, ice cream, milk shakes, rice, milk and noodles.  Not very balanced and reminds me of her older sister Kassie.  If she is hungry enough she will venture to other things.  Allie loves touch and feel books. (hint for Christmas ideas)  She will rub her hands on them and laugh.  She definitely has a thing for texture.  At church she rubs her hands across the textured wall paper all through Relief Society.  Allie gets so excited when she learns something new and creates a cause and effect.  Let me give you some examples of some of her favorite tricks it to put the shapes in the shape cube, push the buttons on the ball popper and throws things down the stairs.  Oh and she has picked up a new habit of getting the doll hair combs and brushing her own hair.

  About the picture. My kids always seem to fall asleep in random places at random times.  Apparently she didn't get enough sleep because she fell asleep in her high chair the other morning.

Old Beds Made New

I have been working on this project in stages.  I must be one of those people that work better on a deadline.  Back in April of 2009 (yes 18 months ago) Jason's Mom gave us these bunk beds.  We planned to refinish them for Mikele and Kassie. I even bought a sander. This is Mikele with her bed (she looks so little!).  Well that is about as far as the project got.  Fast forward to present day. Kassie is still in a toddler bed and frankly is getting to big for it.  So now with a deadline or need in mind I got to work and sanded down the beds.  We decided to go ahead and refinish them ourselves. (well Jason decided that I could refinish them.) I spent the next couple of days painting and finally got them finished.  We left them to dry over conference weekend in our garage and then the following Saturday Jason added the bead board to the headboard.  I think they turned out alright. Just don't look to closely at the paint job.

 

Boy Mikele has grown up a lot!

 

Jason is assembling Kassie's new bed.

 Kassie trying out her new bed. Her old bed was on the wall that divided her room from ours.  She would always be banging against the wall at night.  Now she is on the other side of the room and hopefully with the bigger bed is not hitting the wall so much.

 My turn to try out the new bed.  For her birthday we are going to get her new bedding. (that was part of my deadline was to have the beds done in time for her birthday)

Our Newest Addition

After a discussion with my sister, she came to the conclusion that I needed a new pet.  I contemplated her advice carefully and after much research found the perfect new pet for our family! I quickly ordered and waited 14 agonizing days for its arrival.  I purchased a Cuttlebug!!! It is a die cutter and embossing machine.  I mainly wanted it for its dry embossing capabilities.

 

My new toy has been a huge hit among the rest of the family. The kids didn't have school on Tuesday and played with it most of the day.  My once full drawer of scraps is now practically empty. Mikele has already requested that when I get old that she will get my Cuttlebug.  (I never thought my kids would start diving up my stuff while I was still so young!) Wednesday was the first time I got to even play with it and it was only because Mikele and Brock were back in school and only if I was quick and took turns with Kassie. I even got in trouble with her because I didn't put the plates back were she had them.

 I made this card for my ward's card swap group.  Our theme is Halloween or Thanksgiving.  I stamped the front using my two new favorite Halloween stamp sets; Fright Night and Spellbound.  I just LOVE the tree from the Spellbound stamp set!

Houston We Have a Problem!

This

stopped doing this. . .

 

So we bought this. . .

 Gotta love the unexpected expenses.

Now we have a new problem.

See this little cutie. Not only does she like to watch the cloths go around but she can also reach the flashing buttons and dial and has already changed settings and turned off the washer.